19:39, 1 April, 2021
YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has kicked off in Moscow, ARMENPRESS reports press secretary of the MFA Armenia Anna Naghdalyan wrote on her Facebook page.
The meeting is in the sidelines of the session of the Foreign Ministers of the CIS member states.
By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Judge Andranik Simonyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Lori Province on Friday was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, ArmLur.am reports.
And this is in the case when in recent times this judge was practically absent from work and the court hearings on criminal cases under his jurisdiction were not being held. The judge’s workload was noted as the reason, but the actual reason was his not showing up for work.
And according to the information ArmLur.am has received, Simonyan was not appointed Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee by chance. According to reliable information, he will be appointed Deputy Director of the National Security Service (NSS) in a few days, after which he will be appointed Director of the NSS.
It means that his appointment to the post of the Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee pursues other goals.
By Emilio Luciano Cricchio
Armenia’s Former Presidents Robert Kocharyan, Levon Ter-Petrossian and Serzh Sargsyan, along with two former Presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, have held a meeting.
According to Arman Musinyan, Ter-Petrossian’s spokesman, the five former Armenian and Artsakh leaders discussed the post-war situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as other topics.
The meeting took place on March 25, in an undisclosed location, and was later also confirmed by the office of former president Serzh Sargsyan.
Kocharyan, Ter-Petrossian, Sargsyan, Ghukasyan and Sahakyan, furthermore met during the Second Karabakh War, on October 21, 2020, making it the first such meeting that took place between all the former leaders of Armenia and Artsakh.
Kocharyan, Sargsyan and Ter-Petrossian have all called for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. Pashinyan used to be a political ally of Ter-Petrossian before 2012.
Prior to the 2018 Armenian Revolution, Kocharyan and Ter-Petrossian were considered by many to be political archrivals.
18:42,
YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan and his Russian counterpart Alexey Overchuk held a working meeting in Moscow.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Armenian Deputy PM, the sides discussed Armenian-Russian bilateral trade and economic cooperation issues. During the meeting the sides also referred to the joint works carried out in the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union.
17:29,
YEREVAN, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Ayvazian gave an interview to Al-Arabiya news agency, referring to the domestic political situation in Armenia, Turkey’s participation in the war against Artsakh unleashed by Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the MFA Armenia, the interview runs as follows,
Question: Now from Abu Dhabi via ZOOM we connect with His Excellency Ara Aivazian, Foreign Minister of Armenia. Welcome to the program. First, what are the reasons for President Sargsyan to decline the signing of the decree.
Ara Aivazian: Well, thank you, indeed, it is a pleasure to be with you. Of course, you know that we have a very complicated situation in the aftermath of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation also had its repercussions on the internal situation in Armenia. Of course, we are now confronting internal difficulties, but I would like to emphasize the fact that Armenia is a democracy, may not a perfect one. And the recent years we witnessed significant achievements in this regard. This is the path of development that we have chosen and we are not going to backtrack from this path. As for the internal processes within Armenia, this is going on strictly upon the provisions of the Constitution. And it’s my conviction that the current difficulties can be overcome through dialogue, consolidation and unification of our society both in Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to safeguard and protect our state and national interests.
Question: Mr. Ayvazian, you said the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was the cause of the political crisis in Armenia and the attempted coup.
Ara Aivazian: Of course, the results of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan had its negative impact on internal stability in Armenia but I strongly disagree with the qualification of the attempted coup d’etat in Armenia.
Question: This is not an attempted coup, so what is it Minister?
Ara Aivazian: This was a kind of political positioning of some members of General Stuff. They just made a political statement, which is not an attempted coup itself. This was also the assessment of different countries and international organizations. There are no elements of a coup d’etat in Armenia. And Armenia continues to be a democracy and the current situation, as I said, will be dealt according to democratic standards in our society.
Question: Minister, Armenia said, that without Turkey’s support to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan would not have achieved military victory against Armenia. What is your assessment of Turkey’s involvement in the crisis?
Ara Aivazian: Well, it’s not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play an extremely destabilizing role in our region. That role was vividly exposed during recent 44-day aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan. That country not only merely supported Azerbaijan, but was strictly involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression started from planning to ground operations. I’d like to recall that Turkey together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war conducted a large-scale military drill with the involvement of Turkish air force. That country resorted to the non-usual toolkit: export of foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection.
The involvement of Turkish-affiliated foreign terrorist fighters in the war is a well-known fact that was confirmed by international media, world leaders, and many international bodies, such as the UN Working Group on Mercenaries. And it is also verified by captured terrorists who revealed the chain from recruitment to their transfer to the region.
Hundred and six years have passed since the Armenian Genocide, yet Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in our region.
Yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey. World has continuously witnessed the destabilizing role of Turkey in the Middle East, in the Eastern Mediterranean and now in the South Caucasus. Impunity inspires and entails new crimes, and these words are fully describing the attitude and stance of Turkey towards its neighbours.
Question: Minister, you spoke about Turkey’s role in the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. And you said Turkey provided fighters in the conflict. Is this role of Turkey still going on?
Ara Aivazian: Well, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are now claiming that conflict is solved. And by saying this they tried to validate the use of force as an effective means, legitimate means to solve the conflicts. I would like to stress that this is a very dangerous precedent for conflict resolutions in international relations. Now we are hearing confusing messages from official Ankara. And I would like to say that based on the common past with Turkey, it’s high time not to be guided by the messages but real actions. And I believe that the international community should play a conducive role that Turkey changes its aggressive attitude towards Armenia.
Regarding foreign terrorist fighters and mercenaries, which were exported, transferred to our region, I think this is an issue of regional and international security and that issue should be solved by an unequivocal stance of the international community. The terrorist fighters and mercenaries should be pulled out from our region.
Question: Minister, does Armenia consider that the international community is working hard to find a solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis?
Ara Aivazian: First and foremost, Armenia does not consider that the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan creates the basis for the solution of the conflict, nor an opportunity for regional cooperation. Armenia stands ready for the resumption of the peace process, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and they are Russia, US and France. We have to address the core pending issues, which are not addressed in the statement of November 9, signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. I would like to remind that the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a territorial dispute; it is about the survival of autochthonous population of Artsakh of the Armenian origin, which lived there for thousands of years; it is about their rightful self-determination, their right to master their own destiny. So, we have to address the right of those people to self-determination, which entails also the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. It should be very clear for Azerbaijan and Turkey that the current status quo, which occurred after the aggression and the illegal use of force can neither be stable, nor acceptable for ensuring a lasting peace, security and stability in the region.
19:04,
YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has invited PM Pashinyan, heads of parliamentary groups and Fatherland Salvation Movement (FSM) to hold a meeting at the Presidential Residence on March 13 to discuss the domestic political situation in the country and find mutually acceptable solutions for overcoming the crisis.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, the announcement runs as follows,
‘’The political crisis continues in the country, the situation remains tense which can lead to unpredictable and irreversible consequences for our country and statehood.
There are numerous problems, and urgent and structural changes are necessary for solving them, including Constitutional and legislative changes.
Both the authorities and parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forces have expressed their positions several times. But there is no mutual understanding or desire to make a step towards one another. Moreover, calls for intolerance have become more frequent.
In the existing conditions my only goal was and remains keeping the country away from shocks and preventing the creation of situations that can lead to unpredictable consequences.
Resolving the situation is an urgent imperative stemming from the interest of the state and the people.
Guided by national interests, I invite the Prime Minister of the Republic, heads of parliamentary groups and the Fatherland Salvation Movement to meet at the Presidential Residence on March 13 at 12:00 to discuss the existing situation and find mutually acceptable solutions for overcoming the crisis.
I reaffirm my confidence that negotiations and dialogue are the only way to settle disputes and disagreements, and the only path for the development of Armenia and Artsakh is the unification of the efforts and capacities of all of us’’.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Jeyhun Alakbarov Trend:
Employees of the US International Conflict Resolution Center have visited Azerbaijan’s Tartar district liberated from the Armenian occupation, Trend reports.
Christopher Chambers, a board member, and Austin Clayton, a researcher, inspected houses in Tartar shelled by Armenia during the Second Karabakh War, witnessing the aftermath of Armenia’s vandalism.
During the 44-day Second Karabakh War of Azerbaijan, as a result of the aggression of the Armenian Armed Forces, the damage caused to the district’s population amounted to 63.6 million manat ($37.4 million).
17:43, 3 March, 2021
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Healthcare Minister of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan urges the citizens to return to the strict regime of wearing masks amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, ARMENPRESS reports Avanesyan said during parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.
‘’The low number of cases caused some relaxation among the population and many today don’t wear the masks. But in the last 2 weeks we can witness rise of the virus. Today 14% of the tests were positive and I ask and urge to return to the strict regime of wearing masks and try to prevent the spread of the virus’’, the Minister said, adding that wearing masks has a very important role on the prevention of the spread of the virus.