Alashkert becomes Armenia’s football champion
19:32, 28 May, 2021
YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. The champion of the 2020/21 Armenian football season is Yerevan’s Alashkert. ARMENPRESS reports the champion was decided only in the last round. “Alashkert” competed with “Ararat-Armenia”, the champion of the previous two seasons.
‘’Alashkert’’ won with the lowest score, maintaining the first place (46 points) and becoming the champion of Armenia for the 4th time.
Nikol Pashinyan’s delegation arrives in Paris
23:38,
YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in Paris, the correspondent of ARMENPRESS informs from Paris.
Pashinyan’s working visit to France and Belgium will last from June 1-2.
Nikol Pashinyan will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand and President of the Senate Gérard Larcher.
On June 2 Pashinyan will meet with President of the European Council Charles Michel. PM Pashinyan is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Alexander de Croo.
“Choosing the Armenia bloc, you choose a living, constructive, cultural and creative Armenia,” Armenia bloc’s MP candidate Lilit Galstyan, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) Supreme Council, said on Saturday, presenting the key points of cultural policy outlined in the pre-election program of the alliance entitled “365 days: The future starts today.”
She stressed that for their team culture will also become a key state policy priority along with education and science.
“Three years ago, when the ministries of culture, sports and education were merged under the pretext of optimization, it was clear that the role of culture in national identity and statehood was not appreciated, but it was by no means a coincidence,” she said.
Galstyan attached importance to culture as one of the key tools to overcome the deep “crisis of values” in the Armenian society and form a citizen of Armenia, saying along with the language and faith, “culture is the main pillar of our identity.”
Lilit Galstyan noted that a breakthrough program for cultural development titled “Armenia-2026” will be adopted, taking into account the cultural capital.
The candidate said that they plan to restore the Ministry of Culture to implement the commitments undertaken and programs in the sphere of culture.
YEREVAN, ARMENIA – Azerbaijan captured Six Armenian soldiers Thursday, the latest in a series of escalating border incidents after last year’s war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The United States called on both sides to resolve the situation “urgently and peacefully.”
The clash came at a delicate time for acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who faces snap elections next month.
The Armenian defense ministry said that its forces were carrying out engineering work in a border region when Azerbaijan’s army “surrounded and captured six servicemen.”
Azerbaijan’s military, however, branded the Armenian soldiers as a “reconnaissance and sabotage group.”
It said they had “tried to mine supply routes leading to Azerbaijan army positions” and “were surrounded, neutralized and taken prisoner.”
“The situation is tense and explosive,” Pashinyan said during his visit to the eastern Gegharkunik region, where the soldiers were captured.
Speaking separately at a meeting of his security council, the prime minister suggested that international observers be deployed on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
US, France express concern
The U.S. expressed concern about the escalating tension and called for the release of the six soldiers and for the two sides to return to the negotiating table.
“We call on both sides to urgently and peacefully resolve this incident,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “We also continue to call on Azerbaijan to release immediately all prisoners of war and other detainees, and we remind Azerbaijan of its obligations under international humanitarian law to treat all detainees humanely.”
Washington would consider any movements in the nondemarcated part of the border area as “provocative and unnecessary,” the statement said.
France urges caution
In France, the foreign ministry similarly urged both sides “to show the utmost restraint and to refrain from any provocation.”
This was just the latest in a string of border incidents between the historic rivals stretching back over several months, and it further strained the cease-fire Russia brokered last year.
Last year, the two ex-Soviet countries in the Caucasus region fought for six weeks for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region in Azerbaijan that separatists had controlled for decades.
Some 6,000 people were killed in the conflict, which ended after Moscow brokered an agreement between Yerevan and Baku that saw Armenia hand large sections of territory it had controlled for decades to Azerbaijan.
Among the recaptured territories was Kelbajar district, which lies across the border from Gegharkunik, the site of the latest incident.
The cease-fire, monitored by 2,000 Russian peacekeepers, has largely held, but tensions persist.
Snap polls
A senior Armenian army representative said there were 1,000 Azerbaijani soldiers on Armenian soil near Gegharkunik.
For now, he said, incidents were being resolved peacefully, but “if a decision is taken to use force, then they will be destroyed.”
Azerbaijan said that Armenia had deployed tanks to the area.
Armenia said one of its soldiers was killed earlier this week when shooting broke out with Azerbaijan’s forces, an incident Baku denied responsibility for.
Earlier in May, Armenia accused Azerbaijan’s military of crossing its southern border to “lay siege” to a lake shared by the two countries.
Elections ahead
And all of this comes in the run-up to snap parliamentary polls in Armenia on June 20, which Pashinyan announced under pressure from opposition protesters.
For months they have staged rallies demanding the prime minister’s resignation.
They hold him accountable for what many in Armenia believe was a humiliating defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan’s army, and for agreeing to hand over swaths of territory to Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan, 45, says he had no choice but to concede or see his country’s forces suffer even bigger losses. Fresh elections are the best way to end the postwar political stalemate, he says.
Earlier this month, Pashinyan said Armenia and Azerbaijan were in Russian-mediated talks on the delimitation and demarcation of their shared borders.
He also said the two governments could discuss territorial swaps.
Russia’s role as the broker between the two countries has largely come at the expense of Western powers such as France and the United States. All three are part of a mediating group that had tried but failed for decades to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan around the collapse of the Soviet Union in a conflict that claimed the lives of 30,000 people and displaced many more.
14:27,
YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan participated in the CIS prime ministerial meeting in Minsk, Belarus.
Grigoryan delivered remarks during the session, briefing the heads of government of the CIS countries on the ongoing developments at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, emphasizing that the Azeri actions are an explicit threat also for the entire region and everyone else.
“The caretaker Deputy Prime Minister underscored that only the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Azerbaijani forces from Armenian sovereign territories, as well as the return of captive Armenian servicemen, can create conditions for considering the issues within the framework of political-diplomatic set of tools,” Grigoryan’s Office said.
May 19, 2021
The Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi before (left), and after Azerbaijani occupation of the city
SYDNEY—The Uniting Church in Australia, which is the third-largest Christian denomination in the country, condemned acts by the Azerbaijani dictatorship to “to destroy places of religious significance” in light of evidence the regime of Ilham Aliyev is desecrating indigenous Armenian places of worship following their illegal occupation of the Republic of Artsakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
The Uniting Church in Australia was asked by the ANC-AU to respond to the appropriation of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of Holy Savior as images emerged of the sacred site being removed of its domes, angels and Armenian inscriptions under the cover of “restorations” by Baku, and their Assembly has condemned these acts in the strongest of terms.
Their statement “condemns any acts that deliberately seek to destroy places of religious significance for other communities,” “acknowledges that reports coming out of Artsakh are concerning and especially distressing for people in Australia whose cultural and religious heritage is connected to this region,” and “acknowledges that Armenian members of our Uniting Church have expressed to us their anguish at hearing reports and seeing images that are emerging from the region showing the destruction and damage of Armenian cultural and religious structures including churches.”
The statement specifically acknowledges that “one of the major sites impacted, the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, which was visited by a group of UCA leaders in a visit in 2019,” referring to a visit coordinated by Reverend Krikor Yomshajekian.
Furthermore, the Uniting Church in Australia’s call for international action to “take all possible and appropriate measures to protect the sites” echoes the call by the Bishops of the Australian Catholic Church earlier this week.
ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian thanked Rev. Yomshajekian and the Uniting Church in Australia for their principles stance.
“The Uniting Church in Australia’s call for a stop to the desecration of Ghazanchetsots and other religious sites in the indigenous Armenian Republic of Artsakh means two of the largest Christian denominations in this country have spoken for action by the Federal Government and UNESCO against Azerbaijan’s criminal occupation and destruction of Nagorno Karabakh’s cultural heritage,” said Kayserian. “We thank Rev. Krikor Yomshajekian for his leadership and the Uniting Church in Australia for their principled condemnation.”
This month, the Armenian National Committee of Australia wrote to prominent religious bodies throughout Australia, requesting their support in response to the destruction of Armenian churches.
By Trend
Since the Nagorno-Karabakh problem no longer exists, the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) must be abolished, French Senator Nathalie Goulet told Trend and Lagazetteaz.
“This group must be abolished. It is useless. Because in any case, this institution did not have a balanced policy, and for almost 30 years it has not achieved anything. Consequently, the OSCE MG should be abolished. The Nagorno-Karabakh problem no longer exists, Azerbaijan has liberated its territories from the Armenian occupation,” said Goulet.
The senator said that she had arrived in Azerbaijan to participate in the discussions of the International Center of Nizami Ganjavi on the topic ‘South Caucasus: Regional Development and Prospects for Cooperation’.
“I will also make a trip to the liberated territories and express my support for Azerbaijan. Because there are no so many officials in France who support Azerbaijan. Let me remind you that only I voted against the recognition of the “independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh in the French Senate,” she said.
Goulet also commented on the publications of the French president on social networks regarding tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, artificially created by Armenia.
According to the senator, France adheres to an ambivalent position on this issue.
“As is known, the president of the French Senate leaves for Armenia with a large delegation. Earlier it was not so that a delegation of such a level made a visit to Armenia, and then did not visit Azerbaijan. Even President Nikolas Sarkozy, after spending one night in Yerevan, then came to Baku. Now, for reasons related to the upcoming elections, the parliament is pursuing a different policy. Today, there are points of view in France that differ from the official one. Thus, today France is clearly on the side of Armenia, and I regret it. Unfortunately, there is no balance anymore,” said Goulet.
The official also expressed her attitude to the plundering of Azerbaijani lands by the Armenian invaders, their destruction of all the monuments of Muslim culture.
“Azerbaijani MPs in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have been raising these issues for many years, so we are well aware of this,” the senator emphasized.
Goulet also assessed the prospects for increasing the role of Azerbaijan as a transport hub in the region.
“Azerbaijan is an island of stability in the region. Azerbaijan is also an energy and transport hub for the South Caucasus,” the official added said.
Razminfo specialized military website has studied a video circulated by Azeri users on social media and concluded it had been filmed in the near-border area of Armenia’s Gegharkunik province, bordering with Karvachar region which is currently under the control of Azerbaijani forces.
The portal has identified the exact location with a satellite view, indicating the clip has been made on a peak of a mountAIN 6 kilometers away from north-east of borderline Kut village. The geographic coordinates of the location is 40.18924486527808, 45.96873917393403.
The military experts assert the Azerbaijani forces have occupied the peak and secured their presence in a favorable position. “If the Armenian side had taken steps earlier, it would have saved control over the hill,” the portal said.
The team of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan carried out fact-finding mission on May 15 in the village of Verin Shorzha in Vardenis community of Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province and the adjacent pastures, as well as in Kut village of Geghamasar community in relation to gross violations of border residents’ rights because of illegal presence of Azerbaijani military in the sovereign territory of Armenia from May 12.
“Evidence acquired by fact-finding activities of the human rights defender on illegal acts of Azerbaijani military confirms the absolute necessity for the ombudsman’s proposal on security zone to guarantee rights of Armenia’s border residents,” the ombudsman’s office said.
“The results of the visit will be summarized, and steps will be taken to protect the rights of the border residents of Armenia,” it added.