Wednesday,
Armenia Bars Turkish Weapons Inspectors
• Emil Danielyan
Turkey - Turkish officers (L) greet Armenian colleagues inspecting their army
unit near Igdir, 28Nov2012.
Citing “unprecedented” security threats emanating from neighboring Turkey,
Armenia on Wednesday banned Turkish officers from inspecting Armenian military
bases and verifying Yerevan’s compliance with an international arms control
treaty.
It announced the decision as Turkey and Azerbaijan began joint military
exercises in the wake of deadly hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
which heightened tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
Signed in 1990 and revised in 1999, the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe
(CFE) places specific limits on the deployment of troops and heavy weapons from
the Atlantic coast to Russia's Ural mountains. Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan
signed it after gaining independence.
Signatories to the treaty are allowed to inspect each other’s compliance with
the arms ceilings through random visits to practically any military base.
Military inspectors from Turkey and other NATO member states have regularly
visited Armenia since the mid-1990s. The Armenian Defense Ministry had first
sent a group of CFE inspectors to eastern Turkey in March 2010.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said it informed the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe on Wednesday that Yerevan has decided to “suspend” Turkish
inspections of its armed forces.
Azerbaijan -- A Turkish military-transport plane lands at Nakhichevan airport, -
In a statement, the ministry attributed the move to Turkey’s “unilateral support
to Azerbaijan” and “unprecedented threats against Armenia” voiced following the
border clashes that broke out on July 12. It also pointed to the
Turkish-Azerbaijani war games, saying that they “further aggravate the
situation” in the Karabakh conflict zone.
“Any [further] military inspection conducted on the territory of Armenia by
Turkey … would adversely impact Armenia’s security interests and may jeopardize
the security of its population,” read the statement. It indicated that weapons
inspectors from other OSCE member states will be allowed to continue to visit
Armenia.
Turkey has blamed Armenia for the border clashes and vowed to boost its military
and diplomatic support for Azerbaijan. Yerevan has responded by accusing Ankara
of trying to destabilize the region.
The Armenian military said on Tuesday that it will be closely monitoring the
Turkish-Azerbaijani drills which will be held in various parts of Azerbaijan for
nearly two weeks. Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said Armenian army units as
well as Russian troops stationed in Armenia will use “all reconnaissance means”
at their disposal for this purpose.
Turkey - Senior Armenian and Turkish army officers sign a protocol, 29Nov2012.
Armenia and Turkey have carried out mutual on-site arms inspections despite not
having diplomatic relations and an open border. Neither country has accused the
other of violating the CFE.
By contrast, the Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries have never inspected each
other in line with a gentlemen’s agreement dating back to the 1990s. Yerevan and
Baku have long traded accusations of exceeding arms quotas set by the Cold
War-era treaty.
Lawmakers Want To Extend Tax Breaks, Subsidies For Armenian Border Villages
• Marine Khachatrian
ARMENIA -- Aram Vardazaryan stands inside his home which suffered of bombing
attacks in the village of Aygepar, Tavush region, recently damaged by shelling
during armed clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, July 18, 2020
Pro-government lawmakers have introduced legislation that would extend and
expand wide-ranging economic benefits enjoyed by residents of Armenian towns and
villages close to the border with Azerbaijan.
People living in the 36 mostly rural communities affected by periodical
Armenian-Azerbaijani border skirmishes have been exempt from property and
agricultural land taxes since 2015. A law initiated by the former Armenian
government also requires the state to subsidize the prices of electricity,
natural gas and water supplied to them.
Amendments to the law drafted by parliament deputies from Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s My Step bloc would extend the tax exemptions by three more years,
until January 2024. They also call for the government to continue paying half of
the local residents’ utility bills.
Irrigation water used them would also be covered by the subsidies. And their
children going to school would receive textbooks for free or at knockdown prices.
The proposed amendments would further commit the government to repairing homes
damaged by cross-border gunfire from Azerbaijan, which has been a regular
occurrence ever since the early 1990s.
The government has until now been legally obliged to help only the owners of
homes completely destroyed by Azerbaijani shelling. The latter are eligible for
new and free housing.
Armenia -- A view shows a house which locals said was damaged during a recent
shelling by Azerbaijani forces in the village of Aygepar, Tavush Province, July
15, 2020.
In addition, the bill stipulates that residents of the border towns and villages
severely wounded as a result of truce violations would not only receive free
healthcare but also financial compensation ranging from 1 million to 3 million
drams ($2,100-$6,300). The state would pay 5 million drams to the families of
civilians killed by enemy fire.
The bill, which the Armenian parliament is due to debate this fall, was
circulated in the wake of deadly fighting that broke out along the border
between Armenia’s northern Tavush province and the Tovuz district in Azerbaijan
on July 12. Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of shelling border
villages during the hostilities that lasted for several days and left at least
17 soldiers dead.
According to the provincial administration, 89 houses in three Tavush villages
were damaged as a result of the border clashes. The Armenian government has
pledged to fully repair those properties. The repairs reportedly began last week.
Armenia Reports Further Drop In Coronavirus Cases
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- Pedestrians wear face masks in downtown Yerevan, July 10, 2020.
The Armenian health authorities reported on Wednesday another decrease in the
number of new coronavirus cases and deaths caused by them.
The Ministry of Health said in the morning that 308 people have tested positive
for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, down from an average of 550-600 single-day
infections registered in the first half of July. They brought to 37,937 the
total number of confirmed cases in Armenia.
The ministry recorded more than 730 cases a day at one point in late June. This
might explain a subsequent rise in coronavirus-related deaths.
Around 15 fatalities a day were reported from July 6 through the end of last
week. Significantly fewer people infected with COVID-19 have died in recent
days, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said on Wednesday that six people infected with COVID-19 have died
in the past day. It said the virus was the primary cause of four of those deaths.
Armenia’s official death toll from the pandemic thus rose to 723. The health
authorities say 225 other infected people have died from other, pre-existing
diseases.
Armenia -- A healthcare worker in protective gear tends to a COVID-19 patient at
the Surp Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Yerevan, June 5, 2020.
Government data also shows that less than 17 percent of the latest coronavirus
tests carried out across the country of 3 million came back positive.
The positive test rate hovered between 20 percent and 25 percent in previous
days. It averaged around 30 percent throughout June and early July.
The Ministry of Health spokeswoman, Alina Nikoghosian, described the latest
figures as further proof of a continuing fall in the country’s infection rates.
She attributed it to an increased number of Armenians wearing mandatory face
masks in all public spaces and following other anti-epidemic rules set by the
government.
“We have been more vigilant during the last few months,” Nikoghosian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “I hope that this pace [of improvement] will
continue.”
Nikoghosian emphasized the fact that for several consecutive the daily number of
people recovering from COVID-19 has exceeded that of new infections. But she
cautioned that so far there has been no sizable drop in the number of COVID-19
patients that are in a severe or critical condition.
The deputy director of the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Armenia’s
largest hospital treating such patients, also spoke of an improving
epidemiological situation. “I can say for certain that the number of deaths will
fall further in the coming weeks given the decrease in severe cases,” said
Petros Manukian.
Armenia -- A priest wears a face mask at the Echmiadzin-based Mother See of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, June 11, 2020.
Manukian said that around one-fifth of intensive-care beds at his hospital are
currently vacant. As recently as on July 13, Health Minister Arsen Torosian
noted a continuing lack of such beds at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich and other
Armenian hospitals dealing with the coronavirus.
Opposition groups have for months decried the government’s handling of the
coronavirus crisis, saying that Armenia has one of the highest infection rates
in the world. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Torosian and other government
officials have dismissed the criticism.
Ever since controversially lifting nationwide lockdown restrictions in early
May, the government has put the emphasis of getting Armenians to practice social
distancing, wear face masks and follow other safety rules. It says that this
strategy is working.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian told the Armenian parliament on July 14
that the government hopes to cut the daily number of new cases to roughly 140 by
the beginning of September. He said this would allow the government to reopen
the country’s schools shut down by it in March.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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