12:09,
YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani armed forces opened gunfire at military positions of Armenia deployed in the section of the village of Tegh in Syunik Province at 11:45, June 15, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia said in a statement.
The Azeri troops used small arms and mortar fire in shelling the Armenian positions.
WATERTOWN, Mass.—The ARF Sardarabad Gomideh has initiated a free tutoring program for the Armenian youth of our greater Boston community. The goal is to provide in-house tutoring opportunities for subject classes, as well as standardized exams such as the SAT and ACT. Two ARF Sardarabad members, Vazrik Chiloyan and Garen Chiloyan, both of whom grew up in Watertown and attended St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School, are leading this effort.
Garen has experience teaching math from his time as a doctoral student and during his teaching postdoctoral years. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Northeastern University in 2012 and his doctorate in mathematics from the University of Connecticut (UConn) in 2021. In the past, he has taught calculus and linear algebra at the university level.
Vazrik has been tutoring students for over a decade in math and physics, as well as the math portion of the SAT, ACT, GRE and LSAT. Following graduation from Watertown High School, Vazrik attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a bachelor’s degree in 2011, with a double major in mechanical engineering and physics and a minor in mathematics. He then continued his education to earn a doctorate studying nanophysics in the mechanical engineering department of MIT in 2018.
Garen and Vazrik are excited to be of service to the community and to spark a greater interest and passion for math and physics education among the Armenian youth.
Tutoring sessions will take place weekly throughout the summer in Watertown and are free and available to anyone interested in the greater Boston Armenian community.
13:19,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. The contradictions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over unblocking are technical, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan has said.
“There is a common understanding over this issue, but there are technical disagreements. The main red line in Azerbaijan’s position is that they argue that their citizens, while traveling from Baku to Nakhijevan, are not moving from Azerbaijan to a third country and in their perception this implies a facilitated option. Our stance is that we are in favor of unblocking of all roads, and if we talk about peace we shouldn’t put forward strong preconditions and cause tension, or create a war situation, because in such situation that road would be meaningless. It would be good if the Azerbaijani side understood this all,” Simonyan told reporters.
Simonyan also commented on clause 9 of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement which says that Russian border guards shall exercise control over transport connection from Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan. He said that Armenia has its sovereign territory where laws of Armenia are enforced.
“If at some point Armenia were to consider outsourcing any of its functions to the bodies of another country, then that would be its own internal issue, but at this moment there is no decision or discussion on that issue,” Simonyan said.
He added that Armenia displayed its will and emphasized that it will not grant any extraterritorial corridor through its territory.
“It seems that this has been understood, that no such thing was planned or talked about. Although some tried to manipulate and claim that Prime Minister Pashinyan had promised something. It is obvious that there is no such thing, because even the President of Russia spoke about this, and it’s clear that this wording is no longer present in the Azerbaijani rhetoric,” the Speaker said.
The Speaker of Parliament also denied the Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev’s claim that Russia will control the roads to Nakhijevan in Armenian territory. Simonyan said there is no such decision and that the negotiations are ongoing as the parties try to bring their positions closer.
“If Azerbaijan wants the Russian side to control the entry, then Armenia could also want some representation of a third country to control the entry to Azerbaijan, because border unblocking is a mutual process. If the Azerbaijanis should travel to Nakhijevan through Armenian territory, it means that the citizens of Armenia shall also be able to travel to Russia or any other country through Azerbaijani territory. The conditions must be the same, and our position over this issue is unequivocal,” Simonyan said.
Speaker Simonyan ruled out anything being imposed upon Armenia because Armenia’s authorities are legitimately elected. “If the authorities of Armenia were not elected authorities, then perhaps there could be coercion. Armenia is having big successes in its democracy levels, and from now on the world is viewing this all as an attack on democracy. Yes, we have our mistakes, and not everything is perfect, but the progress is obvious, the government’s will to resolve and correct the existing problems is obvious. This all can’t go without a response,” he said.
15:51,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday congratulated President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Belarus.
“Accept my wholehearted congratulations on this significant day, the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Belarus,” Pashinyan said in a letter to Lukashenko. “During the last three decades, the Armenian-Belarusian interstate relations based on mutual respect and trust, were marked with progressive development of mutually beneficial and efficient cooperation in various sectors. I am sure that mutual willingness to further deepen the Armenian-Belarusian cooperation and the active high and highest-level dialogue will further contribute to strengthening and expanding the bilateral agenda, as well as productive cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, for the benefit of the peoples of Armenia and Belarus. On this meaningful day for our nations, I wish you robust health, success and all the best, and best wishes and prosperity to the friendly people of Belarus,” the Armenian PM said.
17:15,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank is forecasting 6,9% economic growth in 2023, while inflation will stabilize around 4%, Central Bank Governor Martin Galstyan said at a press conference Tuesday.
The Central Bank lowered the refinancing rate by 0,25 percentage points and set it at 10,5%.
The dropping demand in commodity markets continues to contribute to deflation and inflation pressures from global markets on Armenian markets are significantly weakening.
“A higher than expected economic activity is seen in the second quarter of 2023, mostly contributed by the high growth in construction and services,” Galstyan said.
The inflation environment is being mitigated.
The central bank revised the economic growth projections for 2023, increasing its original projection by 1% and is now forecasting 6,9% growth next year due to the rapidly growing construction and service sector.
The prices of imported goods are dropping faster than expected, Galstyan added.
09:48,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan doesn’t generally seek to fully cut off its relations with Iran but is rather aiming to push Iran to launch the Rasht-Astara section of the North-South corridor and build the 162km long railway, according to expert on Iran Harut Artin Arakelyan.
Azerbaijan has already reached its goal since Russia and Iran have already agreed to invest joint resources for launching that section, Arakelyan told ARMENPRESS, speaking about the prospects of the reopening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran.
Nasser Kanaani, the official representative of the Iranian foreign ministry, earlier said that the Tehran-Baku negotiations are now shifting from the phase of tensions to the phase of discussing the reopening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran.
“Iran is displaying unique diplomacy, it’s not in a hurry, allowing time to solve many issues. Nonetheless, for strengthening control against Azerbaijan and bringing it on its side, meeting Baku halfway in regional logistic issues will definitely be used in Iran’s foreign policy as an important direction. The parties will achieve the reopening of the Azerbaijani embassy to be directly interlinked with the launch of the North-South corridor through Azerbaijani territory,” Arakelyan said.
The expert said the discussions on reopening the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran were definitely expected. Moreover, this isn’t mainly Azerbaijan’s desire, because the goal of its sponsors, especially Israel, is to spread anti-Iranian sentiments. That’s why Iran continues to conduct military exercises, because the drills basically have a preventative nature.
Nevertheless, according to Arakelyan, there will still be some feuds between the two countries especially in the media sector because Iran’s rivals Israel and the UK have great influence over Azerbaijan, and they will try to limit Iran’s aspirations in the South Caucasus, but if Iran were to normalize its relations with Azerbaijan it would thus strengthen its positions in the region.
According to Arakelyan, Iran will nonetheless not succeed in completely bringing Azerbaijan on its side and keeping control over it, thus it will seek to treat it as a colleague, preventing the influence especially from Israel, which is attempting to develop good-neighborly ties with all neighbors of Iran and create obstacles for Tehran in the region.
“It’s not like Iran is silently looking at this all, Tehran recently showcased its air defense arsenal, ballistic missiles with a range of 1400 kilometers. Iran is simultaneously strengthening its positions in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, showing that it can successfully counter Israel and compete against it also for expanding its zones of influence in Azerbaijan. By cooperating, the Iranian and Azerbaijani governments will be able to silence anti-Iranian elements in Azerbaijan,” the expert said.
If Azerbaijan-Iran relations get normalized, Armenia will also have a lever in terms of suppressing Azerbaijan’s encroachments by establishing closer ties with Iran, thus regional stability stems from Armenia’s vital interests, the expert added.
13:04,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side is expressing concern regarding Turkey’s plans on opening a consulate in Shushi and especially viewing it as a message to Armenia.
Member of Parliament Sargis Khandanyan, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Armenian Parliament, told reporters that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on opening a consulate in Shushi doesn’t contribute to the process of achieving peace and stability in the region.
On one hand they make statements that regional stability and peace is needed, and on the other hand they make statements that don’t contribute to this process. “Thus this statement causes concern, we must follow the developments,” Khandanyan said.
The Turkish-Azerbaijani rhetoric has remained the same, Khandanyan said.
During his latest visit to Azerbaijan, Turkish President Erdogan said that Turkey plans to open a consulate in Shushi, the town in Nagorno Karabakh which was captured by Azerbaijani forces during the 2020 war. Erdogan said that the move would be a "message to the whole world and especially Armenia."
13:30,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The two foreign nationals wounded in the latest Azerbaijani shooting attack in Armenia are construction workers from India, authorities announced.
The two Indian nationals were working at the construction site of the steelworks (metallurgical plant) in Yeraskh when it came under Azerbaijani cross-border gunfire.
The two victims were identified by the Defense Ministry as Indian citizens Muhammad Asif and Mirhasan Sahajan.
The steelworks in Yeraskh is being built with foreign investments.
The healthcare ministry reported that the two Indian nationals are in moderate condition.
"Today, two Indian citizens Muhammad Asif and Mirhasan Sahajan, who were involved in the construction works of the plant, were wounded in the wake of the Azerbaijani fire in the direction of the metallurgical plant being built with the measures of foreign investments in Yeraskh," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement posted on Facebook.
17:30,
YEREVAN, 13 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 13 June, USD exchange rate up by 0.81 drams to 387.21 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.92 drams to 418.11 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 4.63 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.83 drams to 486.65 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 41.07 drams to 24311.83 drams. Silver price down by 0.68 drams to 301.39 drams.
The president of Azerbaijan announced the inevitability of opening the "Zangezur corridor."
“We have had an exchange of views on the soonest opening of the Zangezur corridor. The sooner it opens, the better it is. Opening of the Zangezur corridor is inevitable, ” Ilham Aliyev said in a press statement following an expanded meeting with visiting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, APA reports.
“We will continue our efforts in this direction either way. Opening of this corridor will open up new opportunities for all the countries and have a positive impact on the regional cooperation,” Aliyev added.
“The speedy solution of the Zangezur corridor issue will provide us with two important opportunities. Turkey’s connection with Nakhchivan will be stronger thanks to the steps to be taken in the area of road and railway communication. These relations will enable the strengthening of relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan,” Erdogan said, for his part.