Month: December 2020

 16:22, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Gevorg Simonyan has been appointed deputy minister of healthcare of Armenia.

The respective decision has been signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to the PM’s another decision, Shavarsh Grigoryan has been relieved from the position of deputy minister of healthcare.

Edited and Translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 16:30, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament adopted a message addressed to the international community and organizations over the return of the Armenian prisoners of war and captured citizens from Azerbaijan, calling on to demand Baku to immediately hand over the POWs to the Armenian side and stop torture and inhuman treatment against them.

The message was adopted following the Parliament’s urgent debate which was held in a closed-format.

Main rapporteur, head of the opposition Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan proposed to adopt the message and read the text:

“The National Assembly of Armenia,

Based on the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1949 Geneva Conventions on Prisoners of War, the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other international agreements on international law of human rights and humanitarian law, customary international law, principles of right recognized by civilized nations,

Taking into account the commitment of the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides to return all persons who are in captivity, as well as the bodies,

Recording that the Azerbaijani side is artificially prolonging the process of the return of POWs and bodies, is obviously hiding the real number of prisoners of war, captured and other detained persons, is continuing ill, inhuman treatment, tortures, physical and psychological sufferings against them,

Strongly condemning the video recording and spreading of the torture and inhuman treatment by the Azerbaijani side through its armed forces in media outlets and social networks,

Taking into account the widespread and systematic policy of the Azerbaijani authorities on spreading organized hatred against ethnic Armenians, is addressing the international community – the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee Against Torture and the Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, the European Committee on Prevention of Torture, the International Committee of Red Cross and other international and national organizations dealing with human rights, as well as individuals, inter-parliamentary organizations, as well as the Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.

And the National Assembly calls on

to urge Azerbaijan to immediately hand over the prisoners of war, captured and other detained civilians to the Armenian side,

to urge Azerbaijan to stop torture, inhuman and ill treatment against prisoners of war, captured and other detained civilians,

to oblige Azerbaijan to stop the Armenophobic policy in all spheres of public life, such as in educational facilities, in public remarks of public, military and political figures, in media outlets, social networks, etc”, the statement says.

The message was adopted unanimously, with 100 votes in favor.

The full text of the statement is available in Armenian.

 

Edited and Translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:24, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, 8 DECEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 8 December, USD exchange rate up by 1.59 drams to 514.13 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 3.98 drams to 623.74 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.14 drams to 7.03 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 6.99 drams to 686.77 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 374.39 drams to 30744.34 drams. Silver price down by 6.61 drams to 392.58 drams. Platinum price down by 557.41 drams to 16909.84 drams.

 

 18:27, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The ECHR has decided to apply interim measure for another 23 individuals that have been taken hostage by Azerbaijan as a result of the war against Artsakh, ARMENPRESS reports lawyers Artak Zeynalyan and Siranush Sahakyan wrote on their Facebook pages.

5 of the hostages are civilians.

The ECHR has demanded documented information from the Azerbaijani government about the detention place and conditions of another 23 Armenian war prisoners. The court has set a deadline of December 7, 9, 10, 11 and 14 to provide the required information.

‘’In addition, the Government of Azerbaijan, in response to the inquires made by the European Court in previous cases, gave a evasive and incomplete answer, in particular, did not give a documented answer to where and in what conditions the Armenian prisoners of war are kept, have they been submitted for a  medical examination, stating that the details will be presented" in the near future’’, the lawyers said.

 18:31, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to support in the demarcation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, Armen Sarkissian once again thanked the Russian President for the efforts to stop bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh and establishment of the ceasefire, allowing to avoid new casualties and tragedies.

At the same time, the President of Armenia noted that, unfortunately, there is still a potential danger of new disputes between the parties in connection with the demarcation issue.

Given the exceptional importance and urgency of the issue, President Sarkissian asked the Russian President to assist in completing the demarcation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to exclude further tensions and negative developments.

 19:46, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. More than 1126 people returned to Artsakh from Armenia on December 8. The repatriating refugees were escorted by the Russian peacekeepers.

The total number of refugees returning to their homes has reached 36 thousand.

 18:04, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the Armenian-U.S. partnership and the continuous works for the implementation of the bilateral agenda.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the prospects of future development of the Armenian-U.S. relations. The sides referred to the situation and developments over Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) conflict.

 19:38, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Russian and Turkish FMs Sergey Lavrov and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held another phone talk today, discussing the issue of Nagorno Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports TASS informed.

The sides also referred to the situation in Ukraine and the incident with Russian reporters of NTV in Turkey.

Two Russian reporters were shooting videos near the factory of Bayraktar UAVs nearby Istanbul. The Turkish side insists that they were not accredited. The reporters were arrested on December 3, but today they have returned home.

Melikset Poghosyan appointed Governor of Syunik Province

 20:48, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Melikset Poghosyan, who had been reviled of the post of Vice Governor of Syunik Province of Armenia, has been appointed the Governor of the province, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Government.

Former Governor of the province Hunan Poghosyan had resigned on November 30.