11:56,
YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. 2 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected in Artsakh in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2751, the ministry of healthcare reports.
51 COVID-19 tests were carried out on May 27.
The number of hospitalized patients is 20.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will very soon present a plan for peaceful settlement of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
“I am convinced that the proposal is mutually beneficial and will be implemented in short period of time with the assistance of the international community,” Pashinyan wrote on Facebook.
The Republic of Armenia (RA) Human Rights Defender’s fact-finding work in Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces have confirmed that on May 12 and 13, the Azerbaijani armed forces, being illegally in the RA sovereign territory, have threatened shepherds, the RA border residents, with weapons. Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan wrote about this on Facebook.
“In the early morning of May 12, in Syunik, in the area from the RA Sev Lake region to the village of Verishen in the Goris community, the Azerbaijani armed forces approached the village shepherd grazing animals, threatened him, and demanded—with a showing of weapon—to leave his cattle barn and pasture.
The fact-finding work of the Human Rights Defender showed that the barn of the shepherd of Verishen is located in the area of pasture constantly used by the residents of Akner, Verishen, and a number of other villages, at a depth from Sev Lake to Verishen civil settlement, and Sev Lake itself is in the RA territory.
In Gegharkunik, on the pastures—at the areas of the hills (cattle barns)—near the village of Verin Shorzha in the RA Vardenis community, on May 12, about 10 Azerbaijani armed servicemen approached the shepherd of the village of Verin Shorzha and threatened him—with showing a weapon—speaking to him in Armenian, too.
On the same day, when 6 shepherds from Vardenis and Ayrk villages were grazing their large and small cattle near the water basin near the same pasture in the RA territory, several dozen Azerbaijani armed servicemen approached them, threatened them with weapons, and gave them 5 minutes to leave; otherwise, they threatened to capture him.
On May 13, about 50 Azerbaijani servicemen similarly threatened—with weapon—the shepherd of Verin Shorzha village, and demanded that he leave; otherwise, threatening to kill or capture him.
In addition to the noted, on May 12, a shepherd from the village of Kut in Geghamasar went to a cattle barn on his hillside near the village and found armed Azerbaijani servicemen—about 50.
During the visit of the Human Rights Defender, it was found out that the pastures are provided to people on a lease with the documents of the local authorities; that is, it is about illegal deprivation of rights on a legal basis.
According to the shepherds, they can longer use the pastures. Moreover, in the village of Kut, for example, residents said they were forced to stop sending animals to the mountains.
The issue is that the Azerbaijani military is physically present in the pastures that are legally owned by the people present, and in some cases it is impossible to use them because they are under Azerbaijani target.
At the same time, the shepherds have informed that they could not even approach the pastures, as in the event of such an attempt, the Azerbaijani military open fire; this also applies to grass.
These circumstances mentioned by the pastors were confirmed by other evidence obtained by the Human Rights Defender, such as pasture use documents, local studies, relevant photographs, etc.
The RA Human Rights Defender’s fact-finding activities on May 12 and 13, 2021 prove that the Azerbaijani military, being armed, have committed criminal acts against the border residents—threatening to kill them or capture unarmed civilians, illegally demanding to leave the pastures and the cattle barns of the hills of the shepherds belonging to them by legal documents provided by the RA competent authorities.
The Azerbaijani armed forces have violated the internationally recognized rights of the RA border residents and enshrined in the RA Constitution—to life, physical and mental inviolability, property, and other vital rights. Moreover, they were wearing masks when communicating with civilians.
It is obvious that in order to protect the RA border residents from such illegal actions, a security zone should be established around Gegharkunik and Syunik along all sections of the border with Azerbaijan.
The issue is that such actions are not single. The fact-finding work of the Human Rights Defender in recent months has registered other cases of the Azerbaijani military’s violation of the rights of the shepherds who are RA border residents.
PS. This photo shows an example of a pasture being under the target of Azerbaijan,” the Human Rights Defender of Armenia added.
05/21/2021 Artsakh (International Christian Concern) – This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on his visit this week to northern Europe, during which they discussed their governments’ roles in overseeing mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. These talks come during a week when tensions between the two countries have risen after Azerbaijani troops encroached 3.5 kilometers into Armenian territory.
Russia brokered a ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan in December to end fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh) after Azerbaijani troops aided by Turkish-paid Syrian mercenaries attacked in September. Russian peacekeepers are now present in the region to ensure that fighting does not break out again.
Russia and the United States are both members of the OSCE Minsk Group, a collection of states formed in 1994 mandated to oversee mediations and ensure peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Many Armenian groups within the U.S. have been calling for American leaders to take a more active role in this group to ensure that Azerbaijan does not continue to commit aggressions with Turkey against Armenians.
Azerbaijan still holds an estimated 200 prisoners of war in captivity, many of them Armenian Christian civilians. Armenians are a predominately Christian community that has suffered multiple genocides because of their combined ethnic-faith identity. The events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 were reminiscent of the 1915 genocide which almost eliminated them from their native lands.
With the recent movements of Azerbaijani troops into Armenian territory, Russian and American mediation may prove to be even more vital in the coming weeks.
With alleged document no territory of Armenia will be conceded, My Step deputy Ruben Rubinyan told the reporters on Friday.
“No handing over or exchanging of territories has been discussed,” Rubinyan said.
Asked whether there are exact timeframes of signing the document, Rubinyan said it depends on whether Armenia’s condition is accepted or not.
To note, Armenia’s former ambassador Mikayel Minasyan published an extract from a document Armenian PM, Russian and Azerbaijani leaders are going to sign.
Minasyan said with it the Armenian authorities are handing to Azeri side five villages of Tavush province and one in Ararat.
Later, at the cabinet sitting on Thursday, Pashinyan stated that if Azerbaijan carries out the arrangements he will sign the document.
18:58,
YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov positively assessed the works of Russia in South Caucasus in terms of the settlement of Nagorno Karaakh conflict, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS, Lavrov said during ‘’New knowledge’’ marathon.
‘’Now we help to normalize the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the general situation in South Caucasus, where an opportunity has been created 9including due to our mediation) to open all the economic and transport communications that had been closed since early 1990s due to Karabakh conflict’’, the Russian FM said.
17:18,
YEREVAN, 20 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 20 May, USD exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 520.74 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.28 drams to 634.57 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 7.07 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.42 drams to 735.23 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price up by 364.51 drams to 31616.77 drams. Silver price
down by 13.38 drams to 463.34 drams. Platinum price down by 401.02 drams to 20040.39 drams.
The rally of “Armenia” bloc, formed by second President Robert Kocharyan as well as the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation-ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Reviving Armenia Parties, was held Sunday at Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan.
The government “platforms” rushed to announce some numbers of its participants, which, however, were so artificial that they became a subject of ridicule on social media.
But according to Past.am’s information, the respective calculations of independent specialists, the police, and the National Security Service (NSS) are quite far from the data provided by the abovementioned circles.
According to Past.am’s sources at the law enforcement, the police and the NSS, about 33,000 people took part in this rally.
09:15, 8 May, 2021
YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian signed a decree on posthumously awarding Major-General, Hero of Artsakh Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan with the Order of Motherland for his exclusive services provided to the creation, development of the Armenian Armed Forces, the protection and security of the Homeland, the Presidential Office said on Facebook.
The Order of Motherland is awarded for exceptional services of nationwide importance rendered to the Republic of Armenia in the spheres of the defense of the state and strengthening of law and order, as well as for creation of significant national values. Person awarded with the Order of Motherland is considered a National Hero of Armenia.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, May 7. /TASS/. The National Assembly of Armenia has cast 81 votes for changes to the Electoral Code. A session of the parliament was aired live by local news portals on Friday.
“Some 81 individuals voted for [it]. There were 0 against [it] and 0 abstaining. The decision is clear,” President of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan asserted.
Thus, the passing vote threshold for parties has been lowered from 5% to 4%. Simultaneously, the percentage threshold for blocs has been raised – for three-party blocks it will amount to 8%, while it will be 10% for blocs of more than four parties.
Broadcasts of election debates on the public TV have been enshrined in law, the list of budgetary expenses will be expanded, an opportunity of increasing the number of lawmakers in the National Assembly will be significantly decreased.