Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Robert Kocharyan: No case of fabricated persecution against my teammates will be forgotten and forgiven

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama, Armenia

Armenia’s ex-president Robert Kocharyan, the leader of “Armenia” political alliance issued a statement on Saturday. “Over the past several days I receive reports that law enforcement bodies exert pressure in separate places on my teammates. I can forgive any infringement or injustice against me for to close the page of the defeat and for the sake of national unity. However, I want to warn that no case of a fabricated persecution against my teammates will be forgotten and forgiven. I assure that any official involved in lawlessness will answer for their actions before the law soon.”

To note, Kocharyan’s statement came days after the head of his parliamentary election campaign Armen Gevorgyan  was charged with money laundering by Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS).

Armenian, Russian defense ministers discuss regional situation

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 10:16,

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian caretaker Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu spoke over the phone in the evening of May 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

According to the readout, Harutyunyan and Shoygu discussed the regional situation and the implementation of the objectives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh, as well as other issues of bilateral interest.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenia, Kurdistan Region to cooperate in fields of technology, education

Elizabeth Jabejian
Rudaw, Kurdistan Province, Iraq
Khazan Jangiz

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region  — Armenia and the Kurdistan Region are developing ties in the fields of technology and education, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said as the Region’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani meets with officials in Yerevan.

A “preliminary agreement” was made between Yerevan and Erbil to bring Armenian companies to the Kurdistan Region “to teach youth aged 10-18 computer and IT skills,” read a KRG statement released on Friday.

The deputy PM met with a delegation of IT companies and senior officials including Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, and Minister of Industry and Technology Hayk Chobanyan,  where they “decided on creating joint teams between the Kurdistan Region and Armenia to share Armenia’s experience with the Region in the fields of e-government and IT.”

The two sides also discussed “joint projects” between the polytechnic universities in the Kurdistan Region and Armenia.

Talabani is in Yervan for a three-day visit at the invitation of the Armenian government, accompanied by Minister of Planning Dara Rashid, and head of Council of Ministers’ office, Omed Sabah.

On Saturday, the second day of his trip, Talabani met with Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian to discuss initiating “direct flights between the Kurdistan Region and the Armenian Republic which are supposed to begin next month,” Talabani’s spokesperson Samir Hawrami told Rudaw.

““The two sides agreed on the importance of establishing trade ties and facilitating the issuance of visas and benefiting from Armenia’s experience in the field of energy in the Kurdistan Region,” he added. 

Armenia opened a consulate and cultural center in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil in a ceremony in February. 

“Armenians have settled in this country at various stages of history, including in Iraqi Kurdistan, and have received exceptionally friendly treatment from the authorities,” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Artak Apitonyan said at the time.

More than 2,000 Armenians currently live in the Kurdistan Region, Yerwant Nisan, an Armenian community leader, and a former MP in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament told Rudaw in January.

 

Incompetent regime ruling in Armenia possesses neither internal nor external tools to ensure Armenia’s territorial integrity

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama, Armenia

The Executive Board of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) expressed on Thursday its concern over the situation in Syunik province in Armenia, specifically the illegal crossing of the RA state border by the Azerbaijani armed forces and their advancement of 3.5 kilometers into the  Sev Lich area.   

“The Executive board notes that these developments came as a result of criminal inaction of Armenia’s capitulant leadership, failure to properly assess the situation, the deep crisis in the state management and security as well as the destructive consequences of the recent Artsakh war,” the statement issued by the party said. 

It added that the case of violation of the RA territorial integrity poses risks for escalation, and the authorities fail to undertake necessary measures to prevent and neutralize the existing risks. 

“As a result, Azerbaijan is expanding the tools for pressure on Armenia to create favorable ground for new concessions from Armenia and puts forward new demands. The  incompetent regime ruling in Armenia possesses neither internal nor external tools to ensure Armenia’s territorial integrity,” the statement said, adding every day the regime stays in power, brings dangers threatening Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian people increase.

Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem: Armenian community is calm

Elizabeth Jabejian
News.am, Armenia
23:44, 12.05.2021

The Armenian community is in good condition. This is what Supreme Archimandrite Samvel Aghoyan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem told Armenian News-NEWS.am, adding that there is no danger at the moment and that the people are calm.

On May 9, Gaza fired missiles in the direction of Israel, after which the Israeli army struck HAMAS’s military post in the south of Gaza.

Today it was reported that Israel has refused to accept HAMAS’s offer for a ceasefire that HAMAS had transmitted through international organizations.

Shelling continues in Israel’s borderline regions. One of the missiles fired from Gaza struck a grocery store in Hof Ashkelon. There was nobody in the store, meaning nobody was hurt, but the building is destroyed.

Death toll in Israel’s strikes on Gaza rises to 35

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 10:14,

YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The number of people killed by Israeli missile strikes in the Gaza Strip since Monday has risen to 35, TASS reports citing the Al Mamlaka TV channel.

According to the coastal enclave’s health ministry, Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians on Wednesday night. Earlier, 15 people were killed on Tuesday. The overall death toll since Monday stands at 35, including one woman and 12 children.

The number of injured Gaza residents has reached 233.

Israeli missiles struck the coastal enclave in response to rocket launches by Palestinian radicals. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of the radical Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip) said it had launched over 200 rockets at Israel’s Tel Aviv and Beersheba late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday. Five Israelis are said to have been killed.

An exchange of missile strikes between Israel and Palestinian radicals from the Gaza Strip followed an outburst of unrest near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City in early May. More than 700 people have been hurt in riots in recent days. Clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli police were triggered by an Israeli court ruling to seize dwelling houses in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from Arab families who have been living there for more than 50 years in favor of Jewish resettlers who had reportedly owned these buildings before 1948. The houses allocated by Jordan as the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem are located some 500 meters from Al-Aqsa.

Russia committed to ensuring Armenia’s security: FM

Elizabeth Jabejian
Daiji World, India
May 7 2021
  •   Fri, 12:22:04 PM

Yerevan, May 7 (IANS): Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here that Moscow is committed to ensuring the security of its ally Armenia.

Lavrov made the remarks during the meeting with Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

“We are committed to the ensuring the security of our ally, the Republic of Armenia. This has been confirmed in your talks with President (Vladimir) Putin, as well as during the intensive and regular interactions between our Ministries,” Lavrov told Pashinyan.

Lavrov also stated that Russia will continue to make efforts for the solution of all humanitarian issues concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the return of all the detainees, together with the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

For his part, Pashinyan assured the Russian Minister that Armenia is committed to implementing the agreements on the cease-fire of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that broke out in September 2020.

He reiterated that the peace process should be resumed to seek a final peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Prior to the meeting, Lavrov met his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan and participated in a joint press conference in Yerevan.

The two sides also signed an inter-governmental memorandum on ensuring biological security.

Lavrov arrived in Armenia on Tuesday for a two-day visit.

Armenia, Russia sign biosecurity memorandum

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 13:39, 6 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Russia signed an intergovernmental memorandum on ensuring biological security.

“Today we signed an intergovernmental memorandum regarding issues of ensuring biological security,” Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Armenian caretaker FM Ara Aivazian. “With its implementation a goal is set to contribute significant effort in the development of future cooperation over this delicate topic which is becoming more actual. It will help to strengthen our common area of biosecurity,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov said this issue will be advanced in multilateral formats as well, such as the CSTO and the CIS.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian Ombudsman sends excerpts from Aliyev’s Armenophobic speeches to the OSCE

Elizabeth Jabejian
Public Radio of Armenia
May 4 2021    

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has attached excerpts from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s Armenophobic speeches to official letters sent to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“In these speeches, the President of Azerbaijan speaks in the language of force and threats, uses words that demean the dignity of the entire Armenian nation, the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, are intimidating, cause tension in the Armenian society, while emphasizing the superiority of the Azerbaijani people,” Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said in a Facebook post.

This new process initiated by the Human Rights Defender will be continuous. From now on, the speeches and messages of the President of Azerbaijan will be subject to special monitoring.

“Our goal is to show the genocidal policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, which is a serious threat to gross violations of human rights, constitute a threat of new atrocities, and endanger peace and security,” Tatoyan said.