The search operations to find casualties of the 2020 war and those missing in action will continue in Kovsakan direction on Friday, Artsakh’s State Service of Emergency Situations reported.
Since the start of the ceasefire, a total of 1,539 bodies of fallen troops and civilians have been recovered from the former combat zones.
14:49, 9 April, 2021
YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. The Congressional Armenian Caucus has started collecting signatures on bipartisan U.S. House letter calling on President Joe Biden to join with Congress in clearly and directly recognizing Armenian Genocide in his April 24 statement, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reports.
The petition has been initiated by Congressmen Adam Schiff, Gus Bilirakis, Frank Pallone Jr., David G. Valadao, Jackie Speier.
Last month, 38 U.S. Senators called on President Biden to do the same.
Full text of letter:
“Dear President Biden:
Later this month, on April 24, the world will mark the 106th anniversary of the first days of the Armenian Genocide, the systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and the displacement of millions more. Yet for decades, while leaders around the world recognize the first genocide of the 20th Century, the President of the United States has remained silent. We join with the proud Armenian American community and all of those who support truth and justice in asking that you clearly and directly recognize the Armenian Genocide in your April 24 statement.
We know that this is an issue you are well acquainted with from your time in the Senate and as Vice President, including shepherding S.J.Res. 212 (designating April 24, 1990, as a National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide) through the Judiciary Committee in 1989. We also appreciate that as Vice President you attended the centenary anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015 at the National Cathedral. It was during the centennial that His Holiness Pope Francis at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica said this about the Armenian Genocide: “concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it.”
The historic fact of what occurred a century ago is not in serious dispute. American diplomats of the period documented the mass slaughter of the Armenians, though they had no word for what they were witnessing. It was only decades later that Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide”, and did so specifically with the attempted extermination of the Armenian people in mind.
In accurately describing the Genocide this year, you will be joining both the House and Senate which overwhelmingly passed resolutions doing so in 2019. Additionally, the Library of Congress has already taken the important step of cataloging books on the subject under historically accurate Armenian Genocide subject heading.
Mr. President, as you said last year in your April 24 statement, “Silence is complicity.” The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end. We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth”.
Armenia’s economic decline of 2020 will reach the mark of 7.6% and recover up to 3.4% in 2021, according to the World Bank’s latest economic update for Europe and Central Asia.
According to the documents, Armenia was making gradual improvements to its business environment, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the war derailed the progress.
“Armenia suffered a severe COVID-19 outbreak, and the country’s conflict with Azerbaijan escalated dramatically in September 2020. Although the November 10th ceasefire halted hostilities, Armenia has since entered a period of heightened domestic political instability. These twin shocks led to a sharp economic contraction, increased poverty, and a fiscal deterioration. Nevertheless, Armenia maintained overall macroeconomic stability and healthy external buffers through the crisis,” the report said.
According to the WB assessment, inequality increased in the region, driven by the pandemic and resulting shutdowns, as well as unequal access to social services and digital technologies. In some countries, children in the poorest two-fifths of households were 20 percent less likely to be engaged in learning than children of the top one-fifth. Women are suffering more violence than previously: 25 percent of respondents in Lao PDR and 83 percent in Indonesia said that domestic violence worsened due to COVID-19.
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15:08,
YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh has commented on the recent attacks by the Azerbaijani side with stones on the Armenian civilian vehicles.
Armenpress presents the MFA’s comment:
“Over the past week, the Azerbaijani side has twice resorted to provocations aimed at preventing the resumption of normal vital activity of the population of the Republic of Artsakh. On March 25 and 29, 2021, the Azerbaijani side targeted with stones civilian vehicles moving along the Karmir Shuka – Stepanakert and Stepanakert – Goris highways. Moreover, in the second case, a vehicle carrying the remains of those deceased during the military aggression of Azerbaijan, Turkey and international terrorists against Artsakh was attacked.
Such provocations against the civilian population of Artsakh testify that either Baku does not control the Azerbaijani armed units in the occupied territories of Artsakh, or the Azerbaijani authorities deliberately and purposefully undermine the stability in the region and the peacekeeping mission carried out by the Russian Federation. The actions of the Azerbaijani side blatantly violate the norms and principles of international law.
In this regard, we consider it necessary stress that these incidents are also a consequence of the illegal presence in the occupied territories of Artsakh of Azerbaijani armed units and international terrorist groups under the patronage of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The provocative actions of the kind deserve the strongest condemnation, and the organizers and perpetrators must be punished appropriately. Impunity and inaction are fraught with unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the region”.
YEREVAN. – With his personal qualities, features, past, connections, and in his essence, the only person I see who is able to get the country out of this situation is [ex-President] Robert Kocharyan. Independent MP Gevorg Petrosyan on Wednesday told this to reporters in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (RA).
“I am not saying that the years of his rule were flawless, [that] all people were happy, no. But today we must rise above low values and give priority to high values. For me, as an RA citizen, the supreme value today is the interest of preserving Armenia, the Armenian nation,” Petrosyan added.
Asked whether if Kocharyan announces that he will run in the forthcoming snap parliamentary elections, he will join him and also run for parliament, Gevorg Petrosyan responded: “I respect Mr. Kocharyan very much, but I am not the person who, if he [Kocharyan] announces that he is running in the elections, I will go and say, ‘You know, I want to, too.’ There are negotiations, there are issue to clear, there are points to agree on. Today I see him [Kocharyan], but my unilateral wish is not enough; naturally, his side must have that wish as well. Maybe I am an unwanted person for them. There will be meetings, negotiations, and it will be much more definite in about two months.”
14:48,
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Precipitation is forecast in Armenia in the daytime of March 20 and on March 23-25 in most of the regions, the ministry of emergency situations reports.
Air temperature will gradually rise by 5-7 degrees in the daytime of March 20 and on March 21-23.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
BAKU, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s army will hold a massive anti-terror drill next week, the country’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
The drill will commence on March 15 in mountainous terrain and will bring together 10,000 troops, according to an official statement.
A total of 100 tanks, up to 200 missiles, 300 military aviation assets, and drones will be used in the exercise.
The four-day drill will train troops to fight terrorist groups and conduct counter-terrorism operations.
Late last year, Azerbaijan liberated several strategic cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation during the six-week Karabakh war.
Prior to this victory, about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory was under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.
*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk
Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian within the framework of discussions with parliamentary and non-parliamentary forces initiated by him, met today with the head of Bright Armenia parliamentary faction Edmon Marukyan.
President’s press service reports that during the meeting the interlocutors discussed the situation created in the country, the ways of resolving and overcoming the domestic political crisis.
In this pre-context they attached significance to the dialogue between the political forces and reaching mutual understanding over conduction of snap parliamentary elections.
READOUT
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON
MARCH 5, 2021
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Ned Price:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today. Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Armenia bilateral partnership. The Secretary stressed the significance of respect for the rule of law and democratic institutions, and he expressed our continuing support for the development of democratic processes and institutions in Armenia. The Secretary welcomed efforts to achieve a lasting political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict benefiting the people of the region.
BAKU. Azerbaijan. March 3
By Samir Ali – Trend:
Measures to detect weapons abandoned by the Armenian Armed Forces during the Second Karabakh War in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan continue, the Barda regional group of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan told Trend.
Officers of the Fuzuli Regional Police Department conduct regular raids on the service territory, inspect the abandoned trenches of the Armenian troops.
In the course of regular events, weapons and ammunition abandoned by Armenian servicemen were found in the Fuzuzli district, namely: two ‘IGLA-S’ air defense systems, four machine guns, seven grenades of various types, an anti-tank grenade launcher, more than 19,000 rounds of shells of various calibers, 144 projectile and machine gun stores.