Mayis Nersesyan (62 kg) earned the first ever gold medal for Armenia at the European Grappling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania, over the weekend, the Armenian Grappling Federation said.
The Armenian athlete outcompeted his Israeli rival in the final of the Grappling Gi event to be crowned European champion.
( Azerbaijani Defence Ministry – Anadolu Agency )
ISTANBUL
Azerbaijan criticized comments by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the situation surrounding the Lachin road.
“It is regrettable that the Prime Minister could not accept the rejection of Armenia’s two main claims that demonstrations organized by a group of Azerbaijani environmental activists on the Khankendi-Lachin road were ‘organized by the Azerbaijani government’ and ‘Azerbaijan’s natural gas, electricity, internet, etc. in court,’” according to a statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
It said Pashinyan’s comments on the ICJ’s decision are inversely related to the court’s ruling and is Armenia’s effort to present “its dreams as if they are real.”
“First of all, let’s note that Prime Minister Pashinyan’s comment that the Court registered the claim that the Lachin road was closed does not in any way coincide with the text of the Court’s decision on temporary measures, and the decision does not mention that the road was closed,” it said.
The statement also said the ICJ’s request is not the same as Armenia’s, which it said concluded Azerbaijan “must see to use all the measures at its disposal.” It said the court did not accept Armenia’s claim that movement along the road was “free” and provided for “all” persons, goods and vehicles.
“With this, the court gave additional support to Azerbaijan’s position and rejected Armenia’s request that movement through the Lachin road should be carried out ‘freely’, that is, without any control, as claimed by Armenia,” it said.
The statement added that Pashinyan’s statement “distorting the court’s decision regarding landmines shows that the Armenian side is still abdicating its responsibility in this matter.”
“The Azerbaijani side has repeatedly stated that the use of the Lachin road should be legal and transparent, and abuse of the road should not be allowed,” it said. “However, Armenia’s rejection of this proposal without giving any reason is an indication of Armenia’s lack of interest in transparency on the road to Lachin and its intention to continue abuses,” it said.
Since Dec. 12, Azerbaijani ecologists representing nongovernmental organizations had been protesting Armenia’s illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Karabakh region, where Russian peacekeepers have been stationed since the end of the fall 2020 conflict and a January 2021 pact with Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.
Armenia
The Armenian government has revived the Amulsar gold mining project, which was shut down by protesters in 2018. Armenia granted Lydian Canada Ventures a license to develop a massive gold deposit in the Vayots Dzor province in 2016. The project was halted after environmental activists shut down roads leading to Amulsar in June 2018 shortly after the Velvet Revolution. Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said on Wednesday that the Armenian government, in partnership with Lydian and the Kazakhstan-based Eurasian Development Bank, would raise $250 million to finish construction of the gold mine. Kerobyan said Lydian would pay between 30 and 40 billion AMD ($75-100 million) in taxes each year. He also said the mine would raise Armenia’s GDP by one percent.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has blamed Iran for the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran on January 27. The chief of security was killed and two security guards injured after a gunman broke into the embassy. “Those who sent the terrorist, those representatives of the Iranian establishment who did this brutal act against Azerbaijan, must be brought to justice,” Aliyev said on February 17. Azerbaijani officials had previously linked the attack to a “recent anti-Azerbaijan campaign against our country in Iran.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded on February 19 to avoid “politicization” of the attack. Azerbaijan-Iran relations have been deteriorating recently, in part due to Iran’s support for Armenia in its ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani police arrested five activists who held a protest on Monday calling for the release of political prisoner Bakhtiyar Hajiyev. Hajiyev has been imprisoned since December 9 on charges of hooliganism. Two members of the Democracy 1918 movement have been placed in custody for 30 days, while three independent activists were released shortly after their detention. Hajiyev escalated his ongoing hunger strike on February 16 and stopped drinking water for five days. The US-based Helsinki Commission has called Hajiyev’s imprisonment a “gross injustice and sharp violation of basic human rights obligations.”
Georgia
The ruling Georgian Dream party announced its support on Tuesday for the controversial foreign agent bill. The proposed legislation would require non-governmental organizations and media outlets that receive more than 20-percent of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence,” or pay a penalty of up to $9,400. Critics have compared the bill to Russia’s foreign agent law. Over 280 civil society and media groups released a joint statement on Tuesday condemning “the attempt to adopt this Russian law” as an attack on free civil society organizations and critical media. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has also opposed the bill, stating it would take Georgia further away from its “European future” and “closer to the vicious model of Russia.”
14:46,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan participated in the opening ceremony of the “IDEX AND NAVDEX 2023” exhibition in United Arab Emirates.
After the opening ceremony, the Armenian Minister of Defense toured the pavilions of the companies represented at the exhibition, the ministry said in a press release.
“Suren Papikyan got acquainted with a number of the latest models of the military industry, had meetings with the leaders of large military industrial companies, discussed a number of issues related to military cooperation. Minister Papikyan also visited the Armenian pavilion,” the ministry said.
15:37,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. On February 17-19, 2023, with the technical support of Ucom, the 15th international seminar initiated by the Armenian Aikido Aikikai Federation was held in Yerevan, and hosted 35 foreign guests.
International seminars are a great opportunity for Aikido athletes to discover new tricks, improve their skills and set new benchmarks.
Moreover, it is a formed culture in Aikido to hold festivals during the seminars, within the framework of which the participants demonstrate their mastery.
“This year, with the technical support of Ucom, the demonstrative performances were organized in online format, so that as many aikidokas as possible around the world would have the opportunity to follow the festival”, mentioned Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom.
“I want to express my profound gratitude to Ucom for the willingness to assure super powerful internet connection and for the execution of all the essential actions as fast as possible”, said Armen Avetisyan, the president of the Armenian Aikido Aikikai Federation.
Source: Xinhua
Editor: huaxia
2022-09-25 23:16:31
To select the “king of pears,” local farmers in Luozhuangzi Town, China’s Tianjin, brought their best pears to participate in a competition. Join Anush Minasyan, an Armenian expat, to visit the fun event. #GLOBALink
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Thursday,
U.S. To Promote Peace For ‘People Of Karabakh’
UN - U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations
General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, .
President Joe Biden has pledged continued U.S. efforts to facilitate an
Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement which he said should benefit “the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Congratulating Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Armenia’s independence
anniversary marked on Wednesday, Biden also reaffirmed U.S. support for “the
Armenian people’s democratic aspiration, sovereignty, and security.”
“The United States stands with Armenia as you continue working to combat
corruption, develop accountable institutions, strengthen rule of law, and
advance respect for human rights,” read his congratulatory message publicized by
Pashinian’s office on Thursday.
Biden also said: “Recent hostilities [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border]
underscore the need to redouble our diplomacy so Armenia can look to a
prosperous and peaceful future, which includes normalization of relations with
neighbors.”
“We remain committed to working with you and other parties to promote a peaceful
resolution to the conflict, including for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” added
the U.S. president.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly stressed the need for a
“long-term political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” on August 24
when he announced the appointment of a new U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group. The mediator, Philip Reeker, visited Yerevan and Baku last week amid
deadly border clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry denounced Blinken’s statement, saying that the
U.S. risks being left out of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process with its
attempts to “revive” the Minsk Group. It again claimed that Azerbaijan’s victory
in the 2020 war with Armenia put an end to the Karabakh conflict.
The outgoing U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Lynne Tracy, has repeatedly stated over
the past year that Washington considers the conflict unresolved because there is
still no agreement on Karabakh’s status.
Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leaders remain strongly opposed to any settlement
that would restore Azerbaijan’s full control over the territory.
Civic Groups Demand Armenian Police Chief’s Resignation
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia- The chief of the Armenian police, Vahe Ghazarian, speaks during a
cabinet meeting in Yerevan,July 14, 2022.
Over three dozen nongovernmental organizations on Thursday condemned the violent
break-up of a protest staged by angry parents of Armenian soldiers killed during
the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and demanded the resignation of the national
police chief.
The several dozen parents gathered at the main entrance to the Yerablur Military
Pantheon in Yerevan early on Wednesday to try to prevent Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian from laying a wreath there on the occasion of Armenia’s Independence
Day. They blame him for the deaths of their sons as well as at least 3,800 other
Armenian soldiers killed in action.
Riot police dispersed the protesters shortly before senior officials led by
Pashinian arrived at the military ceremony. At least 37 grief-stricken men and
women were dragged away, forced into police vehicles and detained in dramatic
scenes that caused uproar on social media.
The Armenian police defended the crackdown and said it must not be “used for
political purposes.” They said at the same time that the police chief, Vahe
Ghazarian, ordered an internal inquiry into his officers’ actions.
Armenia - Police detain the mother of an Armenian soldier killed in the 2020 war
in Nagorno-Karabakh at the Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan, September 21,
2022.
In a joint statement, the Armenian civic groups dismissed the official
justification for the use of force, saying that it was both illegal and immoral.
They said that Ghazarian must step down.
The statement’s signatories included an NGO headed by Gayane Abrahamian, a
former pro-government parliamentarian. She said that Pashinian will bear
responsibility for the violence unless he fires Ghazarian or tells the police
general to resign.
Abrahamian believes that the prime minister should have personally talked to the
parents before deciding whether to go ahead with the wreath-laying ceremony.
“I’m sure that it was possible to somehow negotiate with those people,” she told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Neither Pashinian nor his office has commented on the Yerablur incident so far.
The same group of parents has demonstrated regularly in Yerevan since April. The
protests were sparked by Pashinian’s remarks made in response to continuing
opposition criticism of his handling of the devastating war with Azerbaijan.
“They [critics] say now, ‘Could they have averted the war?’” Pashinian told the
Armenian parliament on April 13. “They could have averted the war, as a result
of which we would have had the same situation, but of course without the
casualties.”
The protesting families say Pashinian thus publicly admitted sacrificing
thousands of lives.
Iranian Army Chief Warns Against Armenian Border Change
IRAN -- Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri
speaks during an international conference in Tehran, February 23, 2021.
Iran’s top army general warned on Thursday that his country would resist
attempts to redraw neighboring Armenia’s borders as he commented on recent
border clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.
“As we have stated many times, we will not tolerate changes in the borders of
the countries of the region, and we advise Azerbaijan and Armenia to solve their
problems through dialogue,” Major-General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri said during a
military parade in Tehran.
“We will not tolerate changes in the borders through war and we will not remain
silent,” he added in a speech cited by Iranian news agencies.
Bagheri echoed warnings repeatedly issued by Iranian leaders both before and
after the outbreak on September 13 of large-scale fighting at various the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border. One of those sections is close to Iranian territory
bordering Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province.
Syunik is the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. Baku has been pressuring
Yerevan to open a special land corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan
exclave through the province.
The Armenian government rejects these demands while expressing readiness to
restore conventional transport links between the two South Caucasus states.
Tehran also opposes the land corridor, fearing a loss of Iran’s common border
with Armenia.
“Iran’s border with Armenia is a historical route that must be preserved without
any change,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reportedly
stressed in a September 14 phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun
Bayramov.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, likewise warned against “the
closing of the Iran-Armenia border” when he met with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan in July. Ankara has backed the Azerbaijani demands for the Syunik
corridor.
A senior Armenian diplomat said on September 15 that Baku is planning another,
even more-large-scale military offensive in a bid to “realize the unlawful
ambitions towards establishing an extraterritorial corridor through the
sovereign territory of Armenia.”
Fresh Skirmishes Reported On Armenian-Azeri Border
• Astghik Bedevian
• Tatevik Sargsian
ARMENIA -- Firefighters work among the ruins of a house in the village of Sotk
hit by Azerbaijani shelling during border clashes, September 14, 2022.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating the ceasefire that
stopped heavy fighting on their border last week.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said one Armenian soldier was wounded when his
unit came under cross-border mortar and small arms fire on Wednesday evening.
“The enemy fire was silenced by retaliatory actions,” said Aram Torosian, the
ministry spokesman.
He clarified afterwards that the skirmish occurred near Sotk, a border village
in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province which was heavily damaged by Azerbaijani
shelling last week.
For its part, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that early on Thursday
Armenian forces opened fire on its troops in the Kelbajar district bordering
Gegharkunik, using mortars, grenade launchers and automatic weapons. It also
claimed that an Armenian “sabotage group” tried unsuccessfully to attack their
Azerbaijani positions in the area.
Torosian dismissed the claims as “disinformation.” No further truce violations
were registered as of Thursday afternoon, the official told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
The fresh skirmishes were reported hours after Azerbaijani President Ilham again
blamed Armenia for last week’s fighting and threatened it with further military
action.
“I hope that this [escalation] finally taught them a lesson because they saw
that nothing can stop us,” Aliyev said during a visit to Lachin, another
Azerbaijani district sandwiched between Armenia and Karabakh. “Nobody’s phone
call, no statement or initiative will stop us.”
Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that Azerbaijan is
trying to force Armenia to fulfill its “maximalist demands.” He charged earlier
that Baku wants Yerevan to fully accept the Azerbaijani terms of a bilateral
peace treaty and to open an “exterritorial corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to
its Nakhichevan exclave.
On Monday, Mirzoyan met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in New
York for talks hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines
of the ongoing annual session of the UN General Assembly. Blinken urged the two
sides to prevent further hostilities and “return to the peace process.”
The United States reportedly helped to stop the September 13-14 border clashes
which left at least 280 Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers dead.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Expressing his concern about the escalation of tension and border conflicts between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, he urged the two sides to practice self-restraint and resolving disputes peacefully and based on international law.
He stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept any changes in the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is carefully monitoring the developments related to this issue, he said stressing the need to respect the territorial integrity of the two countries.
He offered Iran’s readiness to provide assistance to resolve the disputes between the two neighboring countries.
Gunmen kill more than 40 people in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region – Reuters
14:03, 3 September 2022
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Gunmen killed at least 42 people in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, two residents who buried the bodies in mass graves said on Friday, the latest killings in the country’s most populous region where escalating violence has left hundreds dead, Reuters reports.
The latest attack by an armed group against local residents occurred on Tuesday, they said, in the Amuru district, around 370 km (230 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa.
They said the victims were all Oromos and described the attackers as members of a volunteer militia known as Fano, mostly composed of ethnic Amharas.
Clashes between the Oromo and Amhara, Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, have been rising in recent months.
YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: On August 30, the Investigative Committee (IC) of Armenia released a message that the former commander of the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] Defense Army (DA), [ex-defense minister and Artsakh President’s chief advisor] Lieutenant General Mikayel Arzumanyan was detained. The IC’s explanation presented as to why they detained Mishko, who is well-known in Artsakh, was the following in one word: they accuse him of handing over Shushi [to Azerbaijan]. Arzumanyan, in fact, may have valuable information about who actually handed over Shushi, or on whose instructions it was handed over.
After this detention, we were told a noteworthy episode from the contacts those days between Mikayel Arzumanyan, who was appointed the Artsakh DA commander on October 26, 2020, and [Prime Minister of Armenia] Nikol Pashinyan during the last days of the war. It turns out that Pashinyan telephoned Arzumanyan very often, inquiring about the situation at the front, and every time he asked the same question. “Did you hand over the Shushi?” At first, Arzumanyan was surprised by that question, and then one day he got angry that, “Should we give [it]?” And when the Prime Minister of Armenia interfered too much and bothered with his “pointless questions”, Mikayel Arzumanyan sharply said: “From now on, direct your questions to Onik Viktorovich.” We are talking about Onik Gasparyan, the [then] Chief of the General Staff Armed Forces of Armenia. After that, relations between Arzumanyan and Pashinyan became strained.
And on the eve of the fall of Shushi, enemy drones hit a position in Shushi whose location, according to the military’s claim, was impossible to guess if the adversary had not had the coordinates.