Author: Ekmekjian Janet

IBA World Junior Championships. Armenia, India and Uzbekistan took three gold medals in the last day

Ekmekjian Janet
Inside the Games
Nov 5 2023

 

  • By Rafael Khalatyan Yerevan

    •  

  •  Monday, 4 December 2023

The last day of the 2023 IBA World Junior Championships in Mika sport complex in Yerevan started not the way the home crowd wanted. 

A boxer with a very famous boxing last name – Arno Darchinyan (men’s 46 kg) stepped to the ring to fight against Russia’s Islam Magomedov. The fight was very close but only one judge had a draw in his scoresheet. The other four gave the victory to Magomedov, who claimed Russia’s sixth gold of the tournament.

Right after that another home crowd favourite Heghine Petrosyan (women’s 48 kg) was outboxed by India’s Payal Payal in each round. Payal brought the first but not the last gold medal for India of the tournament.

After two losses, the Armenian crowd was a little bit disappointed, but then came European champion Tigran Ovsepyan’s turn to walk to the ring. And the main contender of the gold medal brought to the public the first joy of the day. He lost a round to Bulgarian Angel Dimtrov a round, but won the other two and at the end of the bout all the judges gave the victory to the Armenian athlete. Ovsepyan added the World champion’s title to his tally.

Then it was India’s turn to have 3 finalists in a row. And they managed to win only one of them. In women’s 52 kg weight category Nisha Nisha defeated Farinoz Abdulloeva from Tajikistan by unanimous decision. Jatin Jatin (men’s 54 kg) lost his bout to Kazakhstan’s Nurassyl Tulebek. It was Kazakhstan’s fourth gold medal in the tournament. They had only four finalists, but all of them managed to win their gold medal bouts. Right after that Vini Vini (women’s 57 kg) stepped to the ring against Sevara Mammatova (Uzbekistan).

Another gold medal for Uzbekistan claimed Firuzjon Sadullaev (men’s 60 kg). His opponent in the final bout was Andranik Martirosyan from Armenia. In the first two rounds Saduellaev’s advantage was big. Martirosyan returned strong in the third round, throwed some good punches, but it was not enough to close the gap, and the Uzbek athlete won by unanimous decision. 

Siofra Lawless (women’s 63 kg) brought a lot of joy to the Irish delegation winning her final bout against India’s Sachin Sathe. Lawless was dominant in all rounds and won the fight by unanimous decision.

Right after the home crowd exploded as Argishti Hakobyan stepped to the ring in the men's 66 kg weight category final bout against Belarus’s Ivan Siniak. He won each round confidently and became Armenia’s third world champion of the tournament. 

The last four bouts of the tournament featured four more Indian boxers. The first of them won her bout and became World champion, the other three lost the decisive fights. In the women's 70 kg weight category Akansha Phalaswal defeated Russia’s Elizaveta Taymazova by unanimous decision.

When it was Armenia’s Albert Harutyunyan’s turn to enter the ring against Indian opponent. Harutyunyan produced some electric fights in the previous rounds, several times storming back from the losses in the first rounds. He ended his great journey in IBA Junior World Championships with a confident win against Sahil Sahil by unanimous decision, and brought the fourth gold to the Armenian National team.

Anna Bazhaeva (women’s 80 kg) from Russia produced the only knockout of the final day. Her heavy punches against Megha Sheokand made the referee stop the bout in the third round.

The second day of the finals ended the same way as the final’s first day. Yesterday it was Uzbekistan’s representative who won the final bout against an Indian opponent in the women’s super heavyweight category. The last day of the tournament was also closed by the Uzbekistan – India rivalry in the men’s super heavyweight category. And again it was Uzbekistan to win the gold medal. Islam Salikhov defeated Hemant Sangwan by unanimous decision and brought the fourth gold medal to his national team.

Russia won the medal competition with 7 gold, 2 silver and 7 bronze medals. Armenia came the second with 4 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze medal. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan also claimed four gold medals. Though India had the most number of the finalists – 12, only three of them became the World champion. Russia was the best also in women’s competition with four gold medals and left behind the Indian team (3 gold medals). Armenian boxers were strongest in the men’s competition with four gold medals, Russia was the second with 3 gold medals.

The 2023 was a good sporting year for Armenia, as they have previously hosted the Weightlifting European championship, 2023, EUBC Youth European Championship and the 2023 World Sambo Championship, and the IBA World Junior Championships were the best way to close the year.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1142821/iba-world-junior-championships

Armenians prepare to defend themselves against Russia as relations sour

Ekmekjian Janet
Dagens.com
Nov 29 2023

In the southern Syunik province of Armenia, residents are preparing for the worst amid rising tensions and changing regional dynamics.

According to Moscow Times the community's response to this looming threat is embodied by VOMA, a paramilitary group that offers a three-month program in emergency first aid, weapons training, and mountaineering – skills crucial for survival in the rugged terrain near the Azerbaijani border.

VOMA, which operates 22 branches across Armenia, has seen a surge in attendees following Azerbaijan's offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region that was quickly overtaken, causing a mass exodus into Armenia.

This influx of people seeking training is not just a reaction to immediate threats but also a reflection of a broader geopolitical shift.

Many Armenians feel abandoned by the international community, particularly by Russia, Armenia’s historic ally. Despite promises to mediate conflicts and the presence of Russian peacekeepers, Moscow did little to intervene in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Russia's apparent inaction is perceived as a historic shift in its regional policy.

Armenia, which has long relied on Russia for arms supply and political support, is now grappling with the reality of a strained relationship. This situation is further complicated by Armenia’s recent overtures to the West, including joint military drills with the U.S. and aid to Ukraine.

Experts believe that Russia's cold shoulder towards Armenia is partly due to its increased isolation because of the Ukraine war.

This has made southern partners like Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran, which provide links to global markets, more valuable to Russia. Additionally, Armenia's move to join the International Criminal Court, which could obligate Yerevan to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to visit, has further strained relations.

With the West also unlikely to provide the level of support Armenia needs, the country finds itself in a precarious position.

The growing instability and the fear of further Azerbaijani aggression, possibly to create a land corridor to its exclave of Nakhichevan, have left residents like Mariam and the trainees at VOMA bracing for uncertain times.

Armenpress: Antisemitism and intolerance on national or religious grounds have no place in Armenia – Foreign Ministry

Ekmekjian Janet

 22:01,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has condemned the vandalism targeting a synagogue in Yerevan.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan, in response to a media query, said that antisemitism and intolerance on national or religious grounds have no place in Armenia.

“As we have already stressed before, the Republic of Armenia considers any attack on any religious institution and in particular any manifestation of vandalism, any disrespectful action towards the synagogue in Yerevan impermissible. Such cases of intolerance or its incitement are unacceptable, and criminal proceedings have already been initiated by the competent authorities of the Republic of Armenia. We categorically reject any manipulation of the incident, subject, be it for political, propaganda or other intentions. Anti-Semitism and intolerance on national or religious grounds have no place in Armenia,” Badalyan said in a statement.

Prime Minister receives the delegation led by the President of the OSCE PA

Ekmekjian Janet

 17:33,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Pia Kauma.

The Prime Minister emphasized the fact that the OSCE PA session will be held in Yerevan for the first time and expressed hope that effective discussions and active dialogue will take place within the framework of the session, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.

Pia Kauma thanked for organizing and hosting the OSCE PA session at a high level, adding that the processes taking place in the South Caucasus and the international arena will be discussed.

The sides referred to the humanitarian problems of more than 100,000 forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing policy, as well as to the steps taken by the Armenian government to overcome them. The support of the international community in solving the existing problems was emphasized.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the process of normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. The importance of continuing the peace process based on the principles agreed upon in the trilateral meetings held in Brussels on May 14 and July 15, 2023 was emphasized.

Nikol Pashinyan and Pia Kauma exchanged views on regional peace and stability, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

More than 2 million tourists visited Armenia for the first time

Ekmekjian Janet
Nov 8 2023
  • JAMnews
  • YerevanHow many tourists have visited Armenia?

“This year Armenia received more than two million (2 million 50 thousand) tourists for the first time and there are still two months to go. The number of visitors has exceeded all expectations,” the Tourism Committee reported.

According to the Minister of Economy, each tourist spends about 1200 dollars in the country. The top three countries whence most visitors come to Armenia have not changed: Russia, Georgia and Iran.

The Tourism Committee reports that the number of tourists from Turkey and Azerbaijan has also increased.

  • Attempts to preserve the tourism business on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan
  • A family business in the border town of Jermuk
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In the first 9 months of 2023, the number of tourists increased by almost 50%. According to the Statistical Committee, the most came from Russia — 50.7% of the total number of visitors, a total of 931,695 people.

“Next are visitors from Georgia with 10.1% (185,082 people), then tourists from Iran with 6.3% (116,062 people).”

The United States and France are also in the top five, at 1.2% each.

Only in October 2023, 195 thousand tourists visited Armenia. From the Tourism Committee they say that this is the best data for October compared to previous years:

“155 thousand tourists came in 2022, 192 thousand in 2019”.

The Statistical Committee reports that “in January-September 2023, 13 Azerbaijanis [from Azerbaijan] visited Armenia, which is 2.6 times more compared to the same period last year”. There is no data on how many Azerbaijanis with citizenship of other countries visited Armenia.

Compared to last year, the number of Turkish tourists increased by 43.7%.

In 2023, 9050 Turkish citizens arrived in Armenia. In January-September 2022, it was 6300.

Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said that the budget invested in the tourism sector has been increased 6.5 times. According to the draft budget for 2024, it is planned to invest 13 billion 188 million drams (almost $33 million) in tourism.

According to the minister, a new program for the development of tourism infrastructure is planned to be launched next year.

https://jam-news.net/how-many-tourists-visited-armenia-in-2023/

Azerbaijani court sentences Armenian man to 15 years for war crimes

Ekmekjian Janet
Nov 7 2023
 7 November 2023

ByIsmi Aghayev
Vagif Khachaturyan in court. Photo: Trend.az

The Baku Military Court has sentenced Vagif Khachatryan, an ethnic Armenian from Nagorno-Karabakh, to 15 years in prison for war crimes committed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Khachatryan was accused of taking part in a massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Meshali, near Khojali, charges he denied. 

A 1992 report by the Russian human rights group, Memorial, cited ‘severe violence against the civilian population’ in Meshali by ethnic Armenian forces on 22 December 1991. According to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor’s Office, 25 Azerbaijanis were killed, 14 injured, and 358 displaced during the events in Meshali.

Khachatryan, 68, was arrested at Azerbaijan’s Lachin checkpoint between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia in July, before Azerbaijan took control of the region. He was being evacuated through the Azerbaijani blockade of the region by the Red Cross for heart surgery in Yerevan.

He was charged with genocide and deportation or forced transfer of a population and had faced 14 to 20 years or life imprisonment. However, prosecutors requested he be given 15 years.

In his closing statement before judgment was passed, Khachaturyan said that while the massacre at Meshali had taken place, he had not taken part in it.

‘I am a man who believes in God. May God punish those who committed that crime’, Khachaturyan said, adding that while the perpetrators remained at large, it was him ‘standing before the court’

He has maintained throughout the trial that he worked as a driver at the time of the massacre, and was in the nearby village of Badara, where he lived, when it took place.

Armenian authorities have repeatedly criticised Khachaturyan’s prosecution. Following the verdict, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender condemned the trial as not ‘observing the international legal standards and guarantees related to human rights’. They called on international rights groups to ‘respond immediately’.

https://oc-media.org/azerbaijani-court-sentences-armenian-man-to-15-years-for-war-crimes/

PM Pashinyan emphasized the importance of resolutions adopted by PACE regarding the rights of Armenians in Karabakh

Ekmekjian Janet

 18:33, 7 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Kimmo Kiljunen and Boriana Åberg, Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Prime Minister's Office said in a readout.

The Prime Minister welcomed the visit of the co-rapporteurs to Armenia and emphasized the close cooperation of the Armenian government and the Council of Europe, particularly in the effective promotion of democratic reforms and other directions. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the development of democracy and the reforms agenda is the strategy of the Armenian government and that consistent work in that direction will be continuous. The Prime Minister presented the steps implemented and planned by the government within the framework of the anti-corruption policy. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the reforms have also contributed to the formation of a level playing field in the economy and the economic growth in our country.

Nikol Pashinyan referred to the forced deportation of more than 100,000 of our compatriots from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing policy and the resulting humanitarian situation, as well as the steps taken by the Armenian government to overcome it. The assistance of the international community in solving the existing problems was emphasized. The Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of the resolutions adopted by PACE regarding the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia, United States discuss development of military cooperation

Ekmekjian Janet

 15:32, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. On November 1-3, at the invitation of the U.S. European Command, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, First Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Edward Asryan visited the U․S․ European Command Center in Stuttgart.
On November 3, Lieutenant General Edward Asryan held a meeting with the Deputy Commander for U.S. European Command Lieutenant General Stephen Basham.
During the meeting issues related to the development of the Armenian-American military cooperation were discussed, the Ministry of Defense said in a readout.
Lieutenant General Edward Asryan briefed on the details of the ongoing reforms in the Armed Forces of Armenia and the support expected from the US.
Lieutenant General Stephen Basham expressed the willingness of the US to continue supporting current cooperation programs in the following areas: professionalization of Armed Forces, professional sergeant staff's strengthening, modernization of the management system, peacekeeping, military medicine, military education, combat readiness, trainings, etc.
Issues related to regional security were also discussed.
On the sidelines of the visit, Lieutenant General Edward Asryan also visited the Joint Multinational Readiness Centre of the U.S. Ground Forces in Europe and the NCO Academy located in Hohenfels.

Investor ignores Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s cancellation of land deal and starts demolition works

Ekmekjian Janet

 15:58, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The investor who sought to buy some 25 percent of the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem has ignored a letter by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem cancelling the controversial real estate deal and has started demolition works, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem warned Monday.

The party relevant to the cancelled contract, instead of giving a legal response, reacted with the demolition of walls and a parking lot, scraping of asphalt pavements and even threatened to cause more harm, the Chancellery of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

“Yesterday they even brought security guards armed with high powered rifles and tactically trained dogs demanding an evacuation of the Armenian presence in the parking lot. As a reaction to this, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, members of the St. James Brotherhood, and members of the Armenian community, gathered in the Armenian Gardens and peacefully expressed their discontent. After a few hours, the two sides agreed to disperse until the Patriarchate receives an answer to their sent cancellation letter,” the Chancellery of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem added in a communique.

Armenia PM Hopes For Azerbaijan Peace Deal ‘In Coming Months’

Ekmekjian Janet
BARRON'S
Oct 26 2023


FROM AFP NEWS

Armenia PM Hopes For Azerbaijan Peace Deal 'In Coming Months'

________________________________
By Irakli METREVELI

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday he hoped to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months, after Baku recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh from ethnic-Armenian separatists in September.

Yerevan and Baku have been locked in a decades-long conflict for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated region of Karabakh.

Baku reclaimed the mountainous enclave in late September in a 24-hour offensive that ended decades of Armenian separatist rule.

"We are currently working on the draft agreement with Azerbaijan on peace and the normalisation of relations, and I hope this process will successfully conclude in the coming months," said Pashinyan.

The future peace treaty would be based on the mutual recognition of the Caucasus neighbours' Soviet-era borders, he told an international economic forum in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said a peace treaty with Yerevan could be signed by the end of the year.

Yerevan had expressed fears that energy-rich Baku might try to press its advantage.
Its concern is that it might – with the help of ally Turkey — seek to forcibly connect its Nakhichevan exclave with Azerbaijan proper by capturing lands in southern Armenia, the so-called Zangezur corridor along the Iranian border.

It has also accused Baku of "ethnic cleansing" as almost all of Karabakh's ethnic Armenian population — some 100,000 people — fled for Armenia after Baku's lightning offensive, sparking a refugee crisis.

Pashinyan said Armenia was ready "to open, reopen, rebuild, build all regional communications" if its sovereignty over the area is not questioned.

Baku has vowed to ensure the rights of Karabakh's Armenians are protected. It has denied having any territorial claims to Armenia, saying it could set up a land link with Nakhichevan via Iran instead of Armenia.

Pashinyan also said Thursday that he hoped the border between Armenia and Turkey could be opened for citizens of third countries and diplomats "in the near future".

Ankara closed its border with Armenia in the 1990s in solidarity with ally Azerbaijan.

In 2020 and in the 1990s, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars for control of Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but home — at least until recently — to a majority ethnic-Armenian population.

With the traditional regional power broker Russia bogged down in its Ukraine war, the European Union and United States have taken a lead role in brokering an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

But the talks have so far failed to produce a breakthrough and Aliyev has recently expressed scepticism about Western mediation efforts.

Citing France's "biased position," he refused to attend another round of peace talks with Pashinyan in Spain earlier in October. They had been due to take place under the mediation of the EU chief Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Aliyev said peace talks with Yerevan could be held in Georgia "if Yerevan agrees", but Pashinyan — who is keen on Western mediation — rejected the idea.

On Monday, Iran and Russia denounced Western "interference" in tensions between Yerevan and Baku at a foreign ministers' meeting in Tehran that also included top diplomats from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.