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Author: Ekmekjian Janet

Armenian President congratulates Lebanese counterpart on Independence Day

Ekmekjian Janet

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 16:31,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian congratulated his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun on the national day – the Independence Day, the Armenian President’s Office said.

“The Armenian-Lebanese relations, which are based on the traditional friendship and sincere sympathy between our peoples, have always been distinguished with a unique warmth and mutual trust. We managed to ensure a high level of political dialogue with joint efforts, conduct mutually beneficial cooperation in international platforms, develop the cultural, educational and scientific contacts.

At critical moments our nations assisted one another, shared their grief and joy, fought and today also jointly fight for the restoration and preservation of justice, universal rights and values.

Armenia highly appreciates Lebanon’s brotherly attitude to the Lebanese-Armenians. As a devoted citizens of Lebanon, the representatives of the Armenian community play a full role in the country’s political, economic, social, cultural, educational and sports fields and with their activity have greatly contributed and continue contributing to Lebanon’s development and progress.

There is a big potential in the relations of our countries, and the targeted use of it will promote the mutually beneficial partnership.

I am confident that with joint efforts we will expand and strengthen the bilateral partnership for the benefit of the welfare of our peoples.

I wish you all the best and success in overcoming the challenges facing Lebanon, and to the good people of Lebanon – lasting peace and welfare”, the Armenian President said in his congratulatory letter.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azerbaijani press: Azerbaijan discloses number of servicemen killed in recent border fighting with Armenia

Ekmekjian Janet
POLITICS17 November 2021 11:29 (UTC+04:00)


BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 17

Trend:

Seven servicemen of the Azerbaijani army were killed during the military operations conducted on November 16 on the state border due to the provocations of Armenia, Trend reports citing the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Their names are Umid Niftaliyev (lieutenant), Orkhan Jabbarov (warrant officer), Natig Aliyev (super-conscript junior sergeant), Elchin Aghayev, Elmin Alizade, Elchin Aliyev and Murad Khalilov (soldiers).

Besides, according to the ministry, 10 Azerbaijani servicemen were wounded in the battles.

“The situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border has stabilized since the evening of Nov. 16. The provocation committed by Armenia on the state border failed,” the ministry said. “The operational situation is controlled by the units of the Azerbaijani army. The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan continue to serve in the sovereign territories of the country.”

The responsibility for the tension and confrontation that arose as a result of the Armenian provocation rests entirely with the military-political leadership of Armenia, added the ministry.

Azerbaijan loses 7 troops in border clashes with Armenia

Ekmekjian Janet
Al-Arabiya News, UAE
Nov 17 2021


The Associated Press, Moscow

Seven Azerbaijani service members were killed and 10 more were wounded in clashes with Armenia on the border between the two ex-Soviet nations, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Armenian officials reported one casualty and said 13 of their troops were captured during Tuesday’s hostilities, while 24 more have gone missing.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The clashes appear to be the worst outbreak of hostilities between the two countries since a six-week war last year over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh that killed some 6,600 people.

The Armenian Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan’s military of opening fire on Armenian positions. The Azerbaijani government, meanwhile, accused Armenia of a “large-scale provocation” on the border.

The fighting ceased on Tuesday evening after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke on the phone with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts and urged them to stop. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation at the border.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Moscow brokered a peace deal last November to end six weeks of fighting over the territory. The Russia-brokered truce allowed Azerbaijan to reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that the Armenia-backed separatists controlled.

Tensions on Armenia-Azerbaijan border have been building since May, when Armenia protested what it described as an incursion by Azerbaijani troops into its territory. Azerbaijan has insisted that its soldiers were deployed to what it considers its territory in areas where the border has yet to be demarcated. Clashes have been reported ever since.

Pashinyan accused Azerbaijani forces Monday of another incursion, and reports of fighting, with the use of artillery, followed Tuesday from both countries.

Armenia’s Security Council has called on Russia to help protect the country’s territorial integrity.



https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/11/17/Azerbaijan-loses-7-troops-in-border-clashes-with-Armenia
Read also:

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/11/17/azerbaijan-border-clashes-armenia/
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2021/11/17/azerbaijani-troops-killed-in-clashes-with-armenia/
 

PM Pashinyan receives Vice President of Lithuanian Seimas – Flights between Yerevan and Vilnius to be launched

Ekmekjian Janet

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 18:22,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Vice President of the Lithuanian Seimas Andrius Mazuronis.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the visit of the parliamentary delegation of Lithuania to Armenia and noted with pleasure that the relations between the two countries have been dynamically developing in the recent period. In this regard, the Prime Minister highlighted the bilateral mutual visits, noting that Armenia is interested in developing cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other spheres.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed particularly the need to strengthen trade and economic ties and take appropriate steps in that direction. The Prime Minister highlighted the organization of the upcoming flights between Yerevan and Vilnius, which will give a new impetus to the expansion of cooperation in the field of tourism.

In his turn, Andrius Mazuronis thanked for the warm reception, adding that Lithuania also attaches special importance to the development of multilateral relations with Armenia. The Vice President of the Lithuanian Seimas noted that he was impressed with the democratic reforms being implemented in Armenia, and stressed that his country is ready to contribute to their effective implementation with its experience, including through programs envisaged by the European Union. In terms of strengthening bilateral cooperation, the latter also highlighted the continuous development of inter-parliamentary ties, noting that this visit will also best serve that purpose.

During the meeting, the sides touched upon the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as the processes taking place in the South Caucasus region.

Turkish press: Armenian forces open fire on Azerbaijani army positions

Ekmekjian Janet
Zehra Nur Duz   |16.11.2021


ANKARA

The Armenian armed forces once again opened fire on the Azerbaijani army positions on the border Tuesday, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The Azerbaijani army positions in the Yellija and Barmagbina settlements of the Kalbajar region, Galakend, Daryurd, Novoivanovka, Garaveliler settlements of the Gadabay region, Aghbulag, Aghdam, Garalar, Gosha, Kokhanebi, Hajally, Alibeyli, and Asrik Jirdakhan settlements of the Tovuz region, as well as Kohnegishlag settlement of the Aghstafa region, were subjected to intensive fire, the ministry said in a statement.

Armenian troops used various caliber weapons to target the army positions, the statement said.

“Azerbaijani forces took adequate retaliatory measures,” it said, adding that the operational situation is currently under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces.

In a later statement, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Armenian forces have carried out “large-scale provocations” against the combat posts of the Azerbaijani army in the Kalbajar and Lachin regions of the state border.

“Armenian military formations launched a sudden military operation in order to capture the high grounds in this direction of the state border and take more advantageous positions, thereby gaining military superiority,” the statement said.

Two Azerbaijani soldiers were injured in the attacks, it noted.

Armenian forces, using weapons of various caliber and grenade launchers, also caused material damages at the combat posts.

The Azerbaijani army immediately carried out an emergency operation, the statement also said, adding that the movement of the Armenian forces was blocked, while its forces and means were damaged.

Armenian soldiers were detained, and a large number of weapons and ammunition were seized.

From an operational-tactical point of view, the attack carried out by the Armenian military units seeking to gain a short-term superiority through large-scale provocations completely failed, the statement added.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, with the Armenian army attacking civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

The fighting ended with a Russia-brokered agreement on Nov. 10, 2020.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

Asbarez: Yerevan Hints at Possible Road to Nakhichevan, As Aliyev Again Touts ‘Zangezur Corridor’

Ekmekjian Janet
by Asbarez Staff

 

 November 12, 2021

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Traffic on the Goris-Kapan Highway in September

Despite assurances by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that his government opposes the creation of a so-called “Zangezur Corridor,” Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan said Yerevan and Baku were discussing the possibility of having a road that would link Azerbaijan proper to Nakhichevan.

This announcement was made while President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, once again, touted his plan to create a “Zangezur Corridor,” when speaking at the summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States being held in Istanbul.

Grigoryan said in an interview with Armenia’s Public Television channel that a working group comprised of the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia is exploring ways to create a route to Nakhichevan through Armenia.

Armenia’s National Security Chief said that if Azerbaijan wants to have a road only to Nakhichevan, it would be expedient to use the Khndzoresk-Bichenek section of the highway.

“In return, we will receive the Khndzoresk-Horadiz section [of the road]. But these  issues are still under discussion. We are not talking about a corridor, but about providing a road,” Grigoryan said.

This statement comes a day after Azerbaijan informed Armenia that it would begin operating customs checkpoints on 13-mile stretch of the Goris-Kapan Highway. Pashinyan on Thursday told his cabinet that Baku’s actions stem from Yerevan’s opposition to the “Zangezur Corridor,” the creation of which he said was out of the question for his government.

Aliyev, in turn, told the Council of Turkic Speaking States that Azerbaijan’s victory in the war brought with it the development of regional communications and transportation links, saying that the opening of the “Zangezur Corridor” was a cornerstone of that plan.

“This [the corridor] will create vast opportunities for the entire region. The corridor has great potential and will unite all the countries in the Turkic world, connecting us to Europe,” Aliyev announced.

According to the ArmInfo news site, Grigoryan did not explain how a 13-mile stretch of road within Armenia’s sovereign territory was transferred to Azerbaijan, without the completion of the process to demarcate and delimit the borders.

When Azerbaijani forces began blocking the Goris-Kapan Highway in late August, Pashinyan announced that he had surrendered that 13-mile stretch to Azerbaijan in December. Last week, Pashinyan explained that he had given the order to pull back troops from the area in order to avoid military escalation on the border.

Grigoryan told Armenia’s Public Television that there are alternative roads to the Goris-Kapan Highway.

Armenian Defense Minister pays working visit to Artsakh

Ekmekjian Janet

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 19:59, 8 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. At the invitation of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Artsakh Kamo Vardanyan, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Arshak Karapetyan paid a two-day working visit to the Republic of Artsakh on November 6.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the MoD Armenia, accompanied by the Commander of the Defense Army, Arshak Karapetyan visited military bases, met the servicemen on combat duty, got acquainted with the fortification of the positions, as well as the social and living conditions of the servicemen.

In one of the military units of the Defense Army, addressing the servicemen guarding the borders of Artsakh, the Armenian Defense Minister stressed that the most important guarantee of peace is an army capable of fulfilling its combat tasks.

Highly appreciating the efforts made to protect the borders of Artsakh during the 44-day war and after it, Arshak Karapetyan awarded a number of servicemen of the Defense Army with diplomas and departmental medals of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia.

On the same day, in Stepanakert, Arshak Karapetyan, within the framework of cooperation between the Defense Ministries of Armenia and Artsakh, participated in a working meeting of the leadership of the Defense Army, during which a number of issues related to security issues were discussed.

On November 7, Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan also visited Syunik region, in particular, the territory of Sev Lake (Black Lake). The Minister walked around the shore of the lake, met the soldiers on duty, thanked them for the round-the-clock combat duty.

Speaking about the possible solutions to the problem of infiltration of Azerbaijani units into the territory of the lake, the Minister once again assured that there is no alternative to the restoration of the state border, the Azerbaijani military must leave the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

During the visit, Arshak Karapetyan paid special attention to the construction of military positions in that highland zone, the accommodation conditions of the servicemen, and instructed the leadership of the military unit to correct the registered problems in a short period of time.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/11/2021

Ekmekjian Janet 
                                        Thursday, 
Four Killed In Yerevan Shootout
Armenia - Law-enforcement officers at the scene of deadly shootings in the 
Kanaker district of Yerevan, .
Four men, including a reputed crime figure, were killed and four others wounded 
in a shootout that erupted in Yerevan early on Thursday.
The Armenian police said it occurred in the courtyard of a house in the city’s 
northern Kanaker suburb. Police officers found two assault rifles and four 
pistols at the scene.
The Investigative Committee said later in the day that four people have been 
arrested in connection with what was one of the deadliest shootings in Armenia’s 
recent history. The law-enforcement agency did not identify them or comment on 
possible causes of the bloodshed.
Armenian media reports said the victims included Artur Ghazarian, a 42-year-old 
underworld figure nicknamed “Tuy,” and Artyush Simonian, a former parliament 
deputy and business executive.
Both men lived in Kanaker. Armlur.am reported that Simonian, 61, returned to 
Armenia from the Netherlands on Monday.
The publication also said investigators believe that the overnight killings were 
either the result of a bitter dispute between two groups of men gathered in the 
Kanaker house or an armed attack carried out by a third party.
Opposition Vice-Mayor Rearrested
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Menua Hovsepian, a deputy mayor of Goris.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals allowed investigators on Thursday to again arrest an 
opposition-linked deputy mayor of the southeastern town of Goris one month after 
he was set free on bail.
The official, Menua Hovsepian, was first taken into custody on August 17 
following the arrest of Goris Mayor Arush Arushanian. The two men affiliated 
with the main opposition Hayastan alliance are facing criminal charges which 
they both reject as politically motivated.
Arushanian remains behind bars despite his and his political allies’ landslide 
victory in a municipal election held in Goris on October 17. The election 
outcome is widely regarded as a serious setback for Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and his Civil Contract party.
A local court granted Hovsepian bail and ordered his release three days before 
the vote. The Court of Appeals overturned that ruling in what the vice-mayor’s 
lawyer, Armen Melkonian, denounced as a “political decision” aimed at 
intimidating other opposition members.
Melkonian argued that his client posted bail worth 30 million drams ($63,000) 
and did not obstruct the investigation into the high-profile case after his 
release.
“Thirty million drams is not 30 cents; it’s a serious guarantee that a person 
won’t do anything wrong,” Melkonian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Hovsepian is accused of misusing public funds and coercing local residents to 
campaign for Hayastan in the run-up to the June 20 parliamentary elections. His 
lawyer insisted that the charges are baseless.
Goris and surrounding villages make up a major community of Armenia’s Syunik 
province bordering districts southwest of Nagorno-Karabakh that were retaken by 
Azerbaijan during and shortly after last year’s war. The mayors of virtually all 
provincial towns and villages blamed Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the war 
and demanded his resignation.
Some of them, including Arushanian, encouraged supporters to disrupt Pashinian’s 
visits to the region. Four Syunik mayors were arrested shortly after the June 
elections. One of them was freed late last month.
Armenian, Azeri FMs Meet Again
Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan (left) of Armenia and Jeyhun Bayramov of 
Azerbaijan.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met late on Wednesday for the 
third time in less than two months for talks hosted by their French counterpart 
Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov also met with Le Drian as well as the U.S., 
Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group separately before their 
face-to-face talks held in Paris.
Le Drian tweeted afterwards that he brought them together to “help reduce 
tensions” between Armenia and Azerbaijan one year after a Russian-brokered 
ceasefire stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“France remains fully engaged in in the Minsk Group,” he said. “We do not forget 
the victims of the war interrupted a year ago.”
The first meeting of Mirzoyan and Bayramov took place in New York on September 
24 in the presence of the group’s co-chairs. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei 
Lavrov organized and presided over their second encounter in Minsk on October 14.
The French Foreign Ministry said Le Drian sought to “keep up the momentum” in 
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations.
“In these various exchanges, the Minister reiterated France's desire to 
contribute to the strengthening of dialogue between the parties,” a ministry 
spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, during his meetings in Paris 
Mirzoyan stuck to the official Armenian line that the Karabakh conflict remains 
unresolved and requires a “comprehensive” settlement based on the mediators’ 
peace proposals. He also condemned the recent killings by Azerbaijani forces of 
two Karabakh Armenian civilians and Baku’s reluctance to free dozens of Armenian 
prisoners.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said, for its part, that Bayramov discussed 
with the Armenian foreign minister and the mediators ways of normalizing 
Azerbaijan’s relations with Armenia given the “new realities in the region.”
The co-chairs issued no joint statement on the Paris talks as of Thursday 
afternoon. In their last statement released on October 8, they reiterated their 
“willingness to visit the region in the near future to discuss next steps in the 
process.”
The visit has still not taken place. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suggested 
over the weekend that it is delayed by Azerbaijan, which claims to have ended 
the conflict with its victory in last year’s war.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the mediators should be able 
to resume their visits to Karabakh as part of their peace efforts.
Armenians Barred From Azeri-Controlled Road
        • Nane Sahakian
        • Artak Khulian
        • Anush Mkrtchian
An Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at on the main road conneting Armeia to Iran, 
September 14, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian faced fresh opposition allegations of a sellout 
on Thursday after Azerbaijan expanded border controls at a section of the main 
highway connecting Armenia to Iran, effectively making it off limits to Armenian 
vehicles.
The 21-kilometer section is part of contested border areas along Armenia’s 
Syunik province which were controversially handed over to Azerbaijan following 
last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani forces set up a checkpoint there on September 12 to tax Iranian 
commercial trucks transporting cargo to and from Armenia. The move caused 
serious disruptions in Armenian-Iranian trade operations and raised tensions in 
Baku’s relations with Tehran.
Pashinian assured lawmakers on September 15 that the passport and customs checks 
will not apply to Armenian nationals in line with Armenian-Azerbaijani 
understandings reached last December.
Opening a weekly session of his cabinet on Thursday, Pashinian announced that 
Baku “unofficially” notified Yerevan on Wednesday that starting from midnight it 
will extend the border controls to Armenian vehicles. He said the Armenian 
government therefore decided to “redirect” Armenian travellers to an alternative 
road connecting Syunik’s administrative center Kapan to another provincial town, 
Goris, and bypassing the border area.
The 70-kilometer bypass road has been mostly rebuilt in recent months. Pashinian 
acknowledged that it is still not convenient enough for heavy trucks and needs 
further upgrades.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a cabinet meeting in 
Yerevan, .
Meanwhile, Armenian border guards deployed in Syunik banned trucks and cars with 
Armenian license plates from entering the Azerbaijani-controlled section of the 
old Goris-Kapan highway. An RFE/RL crew was also not allowed to drive along it 
and film the mountainous area.
The shutdown created serious logistical problems for several Armenian villages 
situated along the highway. They can now communicate with the rest of Syunik 
only through dirt roads that are impassable for ordinary cars. Pashinian said in 
this regard that “no village will be cut off” from other Armenian-controlled 
territory.
The prime minister suggested that Baku imposed the border checks because of 
Yerevan’s refusal to agree to a special transport corridor that would connect 
Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via the portion of Syunik bordering Iran.
As he spoke hundreds of protesters led by several opposition parliamentarians 
clashed with riot police outside the main government building in Yerevan. The 
police detained dozens of protesters after refusing to let the lawmakers enter 
the building to demand further explanations from Pashinian.
One of them, Anna Grigorian, accused the government of ceding the Kapan-Goris 
road section to Azerbaijan “without any legal basis.” Gegham Manukian, another 
lawmaker representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance, suggested that the 
Azerbaijani border checks were the result of a secret deal with Pashinian.
Armenia - Riot police detain an opposition protester outside the main government 
building in Yerevan, .
In a statement, the alliance headed by former President Robert Kocharian charged 
that Pashinian’s administration allowed Baku to set up the checkpoints in 
“Armenia’s sovereign territory.” It reaffirmed its pledges to topple the 
government with a “nationwide resistance” campaign launched earlier this week.
“As long as this regime remains in power such disgraceful concessions can be 
expected every day,” said Hayastan. “The individual holding the post of prime 
minister does not decide anything anymore. It is Azerbaijan that makes decisions 
in his place.”
Pashinian insisted during the cabinet meeting that “the Azerbaijani checkpoint 
is not located on Armenian territory.”
Armenia - Riot police clash with opposition protesters outside the main 
government building in Yerevan, .
Syunik borders the Zangelan and Kubatli districts southwest of Karabakh which 
were mostly recaptured by Azerbaijan during the six-week war stopped by a 
Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. Pashinian ordered Armenian army units 
and local militias in December to withdraw from the rest of those districts as 
well as territory located along the Soviet-era Armenian-Azerbaijani border, 
which has never been demarcated due to the Karabakh conflict.
The troop withdrawal sparked angry protests from local government officials and 
ordinary residents of Syunik. Opposition leaders in Yerevan likewise accused 
Pashinian of hastily and illegally ceding those lands to Baku.
Pashinian said late last month that the withdrawal prevented an Azerbaijani 
attack on Syunik. Hayastan responded by demanding that prosecutors launch 
criminal proceedings against the prime minister.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Azerbaijani Press: Israeli ex-PM: Azerbaijan’s victory in Karabakh war important historical event

Ekmekjian Janet
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 5 2021
5 November 2021 12:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Ayya Lmahamad

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has described Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in the 44-day war with Armenia late last year as an important historical event.

He made the remarks in an interview with journalists during VIII Global Baku Forum – “The World after COVID-19” held in Baku on November 4-6.

The former prime minister noted that by this war, Azerbaijan itself implemented the UN Security Council resolutions.

“Liberation of Azerbaijani lands from occupation also means the restoration of international justice,” he added.

Ehud Barak also noted that the development of Azerbaijani-Israeli relations continues in all spheres. He expressed confidence that friendship and brotherhood between the two countries will continue to strengthen and develop.

Speaking about climate change, Barak underlined that the situation with it will worsen if necessary steps are not taken. He underlined that it is important to prevent environmental pollution.

“It is necessary to create alliances, coalitions, for which steps must be taken,” the former prime minister added.

Barak stressed that at first, everyone thought that the COVID-19 vaccination would last for a year.

“But as you can see, this is not enough, the whole world is still being vaccinated. I am sure that the only way to protect from COVID-19 pandemic is vaccination, so vaccines must be evenly distributed among all countries,” he added.

Azerbaijan and Israel have been expanding bilateral cooperation over the years. The cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is based not only on economic partnership but also on traditional historical, cultural roots and mutual respect and trust. Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the state independence of Azerbaijan and to establish diplomatic relations.

Moreover, Israel was among the first countries to voice support for Azerbaijan over its just position and its territorial integrity during the 44-day Second Karabakh War. In January, Azerbaijan expressed its willingness to involve Israel in the restoration of the country’s newly-liberated territories. Thus, Israel will build a buffalo farm in Azerbaijan’s liberated Zangilan region.

Organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center under the patronage of President Ilham Aliyev, the next Global Baku Forum under the motto “The world after COVID-19” kicked off in Baku on November 4.

The 8th Global Baku Forum brings together high-level representatives, including former heads of state and government, officials of international and non-governmental organizations from more than 40 countries, as well as other distinguished guests to discuss issues of global importance.

The forum will last until November 6.