Author: Anna Tamamian

 13:36, 7 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The Lav Eli, The Beautified Project and Nemra rock bands are teaming up to deliver a joint charity concert to help children and young people who are battling cancer.

The proceeds of the September 9 concert at the Yerevan Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall will be directed to the City of Smiles Charity foundation which will help ensure the treatment of children and persons under the age of 25 who have cancer or blood diseases.

“We are very grateful to the Lav Eli, The Beautified Project and Nemra for responding to our request,” said Esther Demirchyan, the Executive Director of City of Smiles. “It is important to secure the medication for the children. In case of having additional resources we try to make structural improvements as well, such as to open a pediatric palliative department. It will be the first of its kind in Armenia, and the proceeds of the concert will be entirely directed for treatment.”

Lav Eli founder Mher Manukyan, speaking at a press conference, emphasized that people should regularly remind themselves that it’s not all about profit in show business and elsewhere. “In a world which is getting more and more material we ought to remind ourselves that there are important values, humanitarianism, empathy, readiness to lend a helping hand.”

“The concert is going to be special also in terms of the format. An acoustic evening is expected without percussions,” said Van Nemra, frontman of Nemra. He said they are happy to be sharing the stage with Lav Eli and The Beautified Project.

The Beautified Project founder Andre Simonyan reminded that they were planning to celebrate their anniversary of foundation in 2020, but the event was delayed due to the pandemic and then the war. “And we weren’t motivated to sing, but when the foundation called we momentarily said yes without thinking about it, and I am very grateful for this initiative. I am happy that Lav Eli and Nemra have joined, they are very good friends,” Simonyan said.

The concert is sponsored by Imagine HUB by Soft.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenians around the globe celebrate 30th anniversary of independence of Artsakh

 08:34, 2 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Today, September 2, 2021, marks the 30th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Artsakh, formerly known as the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

On this day in 1991, a joint sitting of lawmakers from the Nagorno Karabakh provincial council and the Shahumyan regional council proclaimed the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) within the borders of the former NKAO and Shahumyan region. The move was in line with the then-active legislation, particularly the April 3, 1990 law which entitled national autonomies to determine their status on their own.

On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno Karabakh held a referendum, where the overwhelming majority, 99,89%, of the population voted in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan. After this, Azerbaijan totally blockaded NKR and launched military aggressions.

The Artsakh Liberation War began when for the first time in September of 1991 Azerbaijan bombarded Stepanakert with Alazan rockets from Shushi. In 1994, at the request of Azerbaijan a trilateral (Azerbaijan, NKR, Armenia) ceasefire agreement was signed on May 12.

15 years after independence, in 2006, the people of Artsakh adopted the country’s Constitution through a referendum, again on September 2.

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey and engagement of mercenary terrorists, launched a large-scale war against Artsakh. The war lasted until November 9 when a trilateral statement at the mediation of Russia was signed to stop the military operations.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

MediaMax, Armenia
Sept 1 2021

 17:29, 28 July, 2021

VARDENIS, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. Deputy head of Geghamasar community of Armenia’s Gegharkunik province Vardan Margaryan says he didn’t notice panic today among the residents of border communities connected with the escalation of the situation in the border by the Azerbaijani side.

“I just came from the meeting with the locals, everything is normal. There haven’t been shots in the direction of villages, the shots were fired in the positions, they have been heard, but it doesn’t change anything among the people”, he told reporters.

On July 28, at around 03:40, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a provocation and violated the ceasefire in the northern-eastern section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Three Armenian servicemen have been killed, four others have been wounded in action. The Azerbaijani attacking forces have been repelled to their initial positions, suffering losses. The sides have reached an agreement on ceasefire at the mediation of the Russian side.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:18,

YEREVAN, JULY 30, ARMENPRESS. Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Marina KALJURAND, the European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur on Armenia, MEP Andrey KOVATCHEV, and the European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Željana ZOVKO, have issued a joint statement on the recent deadly clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ARMENPRESS presents the full text of the statement: “We deplore the death of three Armenian servicemen on 28 July in clashes with Azerbaijani forces at Armenia’s Gegharkunik province border after Armenian positions and several villages were reportedly fired at since early morning, and express our deep condolences to their families. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a series of incidents or provocations over the last months, including violations of the inter-state border that began with the incursion of Azerbaijani troops into Armenian territory on 12 May. The recent exchange of fire at the Nakhchivan border, where another Armenian soldier died, was no less concerning. We call on both sides to strictly observe the ceasefire and refrain from any provocations. Any possible disagreements about the border must be addressed through negotiations in a border delimitation and demarcation process, not through the use of force and unilateral actions.

All forces need to pull back to positions held before 12 May and in line with the provisions of the Tripartite Ceasefire Statement. To de-escalate the situation, it is of utmost importance that inflammatory rhetoric ceases immediately. In this context, we condemn in particular recent statements by Azerbaijani representatives regarding so-called ‘West Zangezur’ and referring to the territory of the Republic of Armenia as Azerbaijani ‘ancestral land’.

Such statements are highly irresponsible and threaten to undermine regional security further. We recall the EU’s commitment to support confidence-building measures and the addressing of any issues at the negotiating table, including through the resumption of negotiations on a lasting conflict settlement and the future status of Nagorno Karabakh”.