Month: April 2021

 13:00, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia issued a statement on the 5th anniversary of the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh unleashed in April, 2016.

“Five years ago, on the night of 1 to 2 April, 2016, the Azerbaijani authorities, in flagrant violation of the commitment on ceasefire, launched a large-scale military offensive against Artsakh, attempting to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the use of force.

During the offensive, the armed forces of Azerbaijan deliberately targeted the civilian population and infrastructure. The four-day war against Artsakh was accompanied by cruel murders and torture of the servicemen and civilians of Artsakh, as well as mutilation of the bodies of the victims. Those who committed these crimes on the grounds of national hatred were later awarded by the Azerbaijani authorities at the highest level.

In the aftermath of the April war, inspired by the impunity of the committed war crimes and violations of human rights, the Azerbaijani authorities intensified their bellicose rhetoric and propaganda of hatred against Armenians.

This policy resulted in unleashing new military aggression by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in 2020  with the direct involvement of Turkey and the latter’s affiliated foreign terrorist fighters causing numerous irreversible human and material losses. Considerable part of Artsakh’s territory fell under the Azerbaijani military occupation, tens of thousands of citizens became refugees. 

The large-scale wars unleashed against Artsakh in April, 2016 and September, 2020, as well as the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan during those hostilities, demonstrated that Artsakh cannot be under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan with any status.

Only addressing the consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh and the determination of the status of Artsakh will serve as a basis for lasting peace and stability in the region. Armenia and the Armenian people will make every effort to fully restore all the rights of our compatriots in Artsakh for a free and dignified life in their historical homeland,” the foreign ministry said in the statement.

 13:29, 2 April, 2021

BERN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. 33 MPs of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland have called for pressure on Turkey in a letter which highlights human rights violations committed by Turkey in its own country and in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Armenia, ANF reported.

The lawmakers urged the Swiss government to postpone ratification of the country's new free trade agreement with Ankara until Turkey implements the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.

Mentioning Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “warlike” foreign policy, the Swiss lawmakers said in the letter that “[Erdogan] has encouraged Azerbaijan to resort to force to settle a territorial conflict with Armenia”. The MPs also noted that Turkey recruited and sent mercenaries to Azerbaijan in total violation of international law.

Turkey sent thousands of Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan to attack Artsakh in the 2020 war. Several of these mercenaries were detained by Armenian forces and testified how they were recruited in Turkey.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

 14:25, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. Russia has provided around 15,000,000 dollars in financial assistance to the victims in Nagorno Karabakh after the 2020 war, Russia’s deputy FM Andrey Rudenko told the Novoye Vremya newspaper.

“The Russian Federation’s direct financial assistance to the victims in Nagorno Karabakh comprises nearly 15,000,000 US dollars as of today,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 14:56, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Council of the CIS Foreign Ministers, which kicked off today in Moscow, continues in an extended format, Armenian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said on Facebook.

Earlier she informed that the session of the CIS foreign ministerial council has launched in a narrow format.

On the sidelines of the session Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian met with his Russian and Turkmen counterparts.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:56, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. Today’s session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers was a good opportunity to assess the works done over the past 30 years and outline the concrete directions of the future work, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said summing up the results of the session in Moscow, reminding that this year the organization is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

The Russian FM stated that it was important to examine the implementation process of the cooperation boosting plan between the foreign ministries of the CIS member states from foreign policy perspective. Lavrov reminded that this three-year program was approved last year at the initiative of Turkmenistan.

“We agreed to continue the practice of adopting joint statements aimed at spreading in the international organizations. The fresh evidence of this was the adoption of the statement on strengthening international law by the CIS foreign ministers on March 18, which we consider very relevant in a situation when some Western countries are trying to replace the international law with some rules”, the Russian FM said.

He said during today’s session they agreed to coordinate the steps at different bilateral platforms, including in the UN, the OSCE, etc.

The Russian FM also informed that today they have approved the draft agreement on countering criminal income laundering, terrorism funding, spread of weapons of mass destruction. “We have also adopted some decisions in military and humanitarian spheres, including a cooperation in youth exchange, physical culture and sports fields”, the Russian minister said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 16:07, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian received today Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The officials discussed the current agenda of the Armenian-Russian relations.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 16:53, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. 10 cases of the UK variant (B.1.1.7, VOC-202012/01) of the coronavirus have been recorded in Armenia, the health ministry said.

The ministry said it had submitted 12 samples of the novel coronavirus on March 18th for complete genome sequencing which was carried out by experts from the Institute of Molecular Biology Human Genomics and Immunomics Laboratory, the Bioinformatics scientific team and scientists from the Armenian-Russian University’s Department of Bioengineering, Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 17:13, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. From now on, the residents of private houses wishing to benefit from Ucom fixed services will be connected to the fastest fixed network in Armenia in accordance with the simplified procedure, at more affordable rates and possibility of individual approach in each case. Ucom’s television, fixed telephony as well as internet services are now more accessible for private house subscribers.

In particular, in case of the fiber-optic connection of up to 100 meters, the subscriber of the private house will pay the common fee of 15 000 drams, after which he/she will pay 200 instead of the previous 400 drams per meter. Moreover, in case of subscribing to uMix M or uMix L packages for 12 months, the connection fee of 15 000 drams will not be charged.

“From now on, the private house connections to the Ucom’s fixed network will be carried out not only in accordance with a simplified procedure and at more affordable rates, but also with individual approach to every subscriber. Fill out the connection application online via this link ucom.am/private”, wrote Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom, in his Tweeter microblog.

Let us add that the residents of private houses can fill out the application to connect to the Ucom fixed services both online and at any Ucom sales and service center. The connection will be done within 10 business days, based on the individual measurement and calculations.

 17:21, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. The session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers was held today in Moscow. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian also participated in the session, the MFA told Armenpress.

The discussion focused on issues relating to strengthening the cooperation between the CIS participating states, raising the efficiency of the organization, etc.

During the session the foreigner ministers of the CIS states touched upon the current regional affairs, as well as approved the draft decision on the statement of the leaders of the CIS participating states addressed to the nations of the participating states and the global community on the 80th anniversary of the launch of the Great Patriotic War.

In his remarks, the Armenian FM stated that the victory in the Great Patriotic War is also a clear call to build peace without wars, conflicts and violence.

In the context of regional security and stability-related issues, the FM drew the attention of the session participants to the current humanitarian situation in Artsakh caused by the recent Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression with the involvement of foreign terrorists. He presented in details the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan during the military operations, such as the deliberate targeting of the peaceful civilians and civilian infrastructure, the inhuman treatment against the prisoners of war and other detained citizens, stating that all these actions were aimed at eliminating the indigenous people of Artsakh in their historic homeland.

Minister Aivazian also touched upon the implementation process of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement, stressing the necessity of the immediate return of Armenian prisoners of war and detained civilians from the Azerbaijani captivity.

In addition, the minister also raised the issue of alarming facts on vandalism against the Armenian religious and cultural heritage. He emphasized the impermissibility of another cultural genocide by Azerbaijan, noting that the establishment of peace on the ruins of the Armenian churches is impossible.

Summing up his remarks the minister said lasting and stable peace in the region is possible to achieve only through the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on the principles of the international law, the people’s right to self-determination and equality, within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:33, 2 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan has issued a statement over the 5^th anniversary of the April War.

Armenpress presents the Ombudsman’s statement:

“On this very day, 5 years ago, on 2 April, Azerbaijani armed forces committed unprecedented war crimes.

In the early morning of April 02, 2016, i.e. at the very beginning of the hostility in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), Vagharshak Grigoryan, a 12-year-old student of the Martuni region Nerkin Tshartar secondary school was killed as a result of targeted shelling of the school. Four other 11, 12 and 13-years old children were heavily wounded.

Within very few hours, Azerbaijani soldiers committed terrific brutalities. One of the vivid examples is the killing of an elderly couple, Valerik Khalapyan and Razmela Vardanyan and the complete destruction of their house in Tallish. They were shot in their home and were tortured, with their ears cut off.

Azerbaijani soldiers also murdered Valerik Khalapyan’s 92-year-old mother, Marousya Khalapyan. Azerbaijani soldiers, acting with motivation of hatred, destroyed everything in the Khalapyan family house.

Azerbaijani soldiers killed and beheaded a member of Artsakh Defense Army Kyaram Sloyan. After beheading the head was taken by the retreated Azerbaijani troops. Later, pictures of Azerbaijani soldiers holding Sloyan’s decapitated head surfaced in social networks (in particular: VKontakte). Soon thereafter, a video emerged in the internet, showing an Azerbaijani holding the severed head of Sloyan to the public. In the relevant screenshot, a serviceman in a uniform holding the head of Kyaram Sloyan is seen, taking photos with Sloyan’s head, holding by the ears, as well as a hand of a person, most probably without uniform, holding the head.

No matter by what name you refer to it, at the highest level in Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Armenian people, and the citizens of Armenia are considered enemies; and, a whole generation has grown up feeling hatred and enmity with state patronage. This is what the President of Azerbaijan is proud of.

These are just a few of cases among many cases of torture and cruelties committed by Azerbaijani soldiers.

The real situation (state of affairs) is that a genocidal policy is being pursued.

That is based on objective and concrete evidence.

Impunity breeds new and more serious crimes which we witnessed during the September-November 2020 war”.