Author: Emil Lazarian

 17:37,

YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia Securities Exchange and Central Depository of Armenia wrapped up the results of the annual AMX AWARD 2023 ceremony and declared the most active and prominent exchange members, market participants and issuers. 

On June 9, at the annual ceremony held in the heart of the capital, at Holiday Inn hotel, AraratBank was awarded 2 prizes: The Bank was recognized the Best Corporate Bonds Underwriter in Exchange's Corporate Securities Allocation System, and Arman Mlayan, Chief Dealer at AraratBank, was declared winner of the nomination of Partners with the Most Significant Contribution to the AMX Trader Testing Process.

The award ceremony aims at encouraging the companies actively involved in stock markets and depository services and acting in accordance with the rules of professional ethics.

Awards are granted once a year to  based on the results of the year.

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 11:31,

YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Two off-duty servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were killed on Monday in a car crash while traveling on the Vardavank-Kapan road.

The victims were traveling in a Ford Transit. No one else was in the car besides the two off-duty servicemen, with one of them being the motorist, authorities said. Other vehicles were not involved in the crash.

The car is said to have crashed into a gorge in the switchback section of the road.

The motorist died instantly while the passenger succumbed to his injuries after being taken to the Kapan hospital.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

 14:41,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. No significant changes will happen in the Armenian-Turkish normalization process after the 2023 Turkish general election, a senior researcher has warned.

Turkey will maintain its precondition on Armenia’s normalization with Azerbaijan, an important factor for Turkey’s foreign policy, Professor Ruben Safrastyan told ARMENPRESS when asked about the prospects of Armenian-Turkish normalization after the elections.

Safrastyan, noting that Azerbaijan recently postponed a planned foreign ministerial with Armenia, and that the new Erdogan government has discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks during its first session, said that “something is in the works” in Ankara, the results of which will be seen in a few days.

Moreover, Safrastyan claims that Azerbaijan actually postponed the foreign ministerial talks with Armenia planned in Washington on June 12 at new Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s request.

“The new foreign minister Hakan Fidan has expressed some discontent over the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations process, and the Azerbaijani side postponed that meeting at his request. Given Fidan’s previous work and his skills in covert diplomacy, it’s clear that Azerbaijan’s maximalist demands put forward to Armenia at his mediation will become stronger. Tomorrow Erdogan will visit Azerbaijan. He had announced that he would make his first visit as newly elected President to Azerbaijan. Erdogan will present Turkey’s approach to Ilham Aliyev during that visit,” Safrastyan, the Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at National Academy of Sciences said.

The turkologist also pointed out the fact that Erdogan changed the entire Cabinet, whereas in the past he used to keep some of the ministers in place.

Professor Safrastyan noted that Erdogan has appointed his long-time loyalists to key positions, such as Hakan Fidan, who was the head of national intelligence and is now the foreign minister, and Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s long-time spokesperson who is now the head of national intelligence.

“The appointment of a young relative of Serdar Kilic, the Turkish envoy for talks with Armenia, as presidential spokesperson is also noteworthy,” Professor Safrastyan said.

According to Safrastyan, Erdogan will continue pursuing the same course with the goal of becoming one of the countries who determine the world’s fate. In this context, Fidan’s appointment as foreign minister is no coincidence given his previous experience of carrying out “personal assignments” and “covert diplomatic tasks” by Erdogan, Safrastyan said.

However, the grave financial-economic situation in Turkey will force Erdogan to carry out more work domestically.

The appointment of Mehmet Şimşek as Minister of Treasury and Finance, and Hafize Erkan – a U.S.-educated official as Governor of the Central Bank, are aimed at resolving the financial-economic crisis, Safrastyan said.

The new Cabinet also faces huge work in eliminating the consequences of the devastating earthquake and ensuring massive investments.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the oath of office for a new five-year presidential term on June 3.

The foreign ministerial talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were planned to take place June 12 in Washington D.C. On June 8, the authorities that Azerbaijan requested to postpone it.

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 16:39,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. Servicemembers of the Homeland Defender military service option who successfully passed the qualification exams and were appointed to positions in the Peacekeeping Brigade received the blue beret of peacekeepers in a ceremony on Monday.

Defense Minister Suren Papikyan visited the Peacekeeping Brigade headquarters to personally hand over the blue berets to the servicemembers in an induction ceremony. 

Papikyan said that the new servicemembers who joined the peacekeeping brigade will assume the responsible mission with honor because they will represent Armenia in their mission deployments abroad.

Attaching importance to the qualification process in the military, Papikyan emphasized that the procedure must be continuous, serving as one of the important measures for developing the army as part of reforms.

After presenting the blue berets, Minister Papikyan also awarded Private Nver Chavishyan with a symbolic gift as the first servicemember in the Homeland Defender program to have garnered the highest score in the qualification exams.

 17:14,

YEREVAN, 12 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 12 June, USD exchange rate up by 0.22 drams to 386.40 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.62 drams to 416.19 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 4.68 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.28 drams to 485.82 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 61.87 drams to 24352.90 drams. Silver price up by 8.18 drams to 302.07 drams.

 18:24,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. On June 12, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh published an updated version of the ad hoc trilingual report on the violations of individual and collective human rights as a result of the 6 months (182-day) blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh.

The report comprehensively and in detail presents data on the violations of 7 individual rights, 5 rights of vulnerable groups and 4 collective rights, which reflect the deepening humanitarian crisis and the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan towards the people of Artsakh.

Below are presented some basic data reflected in the Report on human rights violations as a result of the 182-day blockade:

• The movement of people passing through the Stepanakert-Goris highway (along the Lachin corridor) has decreased by about 198 times (2246 entries and departures instead of 445,900);
• Almost 58 times less car traffic was recorded on the road compared to what should have been in case of no blockade (2,867 car entries and departures, performed only by the Red Cross and Russian peacekeepers, instead of 167,440);
• Approximately 13 times less vital cargo was imported compared to what should have been in case of no blockade (5,574 tons instead of 72,800 tons);
• Due to the suspension of the pre-planned operations, about 1400 citizens lost the opportunity to solve their health problems via operations;
• Azerbaijan has completely or partially interrupted the gas supply from Armenia to Artsakh for a total of 117 days;
• The electricity supply from Armenia to Artsakh has been completely cut for 154 days now, which led to the introduction of rolling blackouts followed by numerous accidents;
• According to preliminary estimates, about 11,000 people have actually lost their jobs and sources of income (including cases of job retention)
• The country's economy suffered loss in the amount of about USD 346 million;
• A number of violations of rights are more pronounced in case of vulnerable groups, in particular 30,000 children, 9,000 people with disabilities, 20,000 older people, 60,000 women (women and girls) and 15,000 displaced persons.

In addition to the continuous and multiple violations of the provisions of the Tripartite Statement of November 9, 2020, the mandatory execution of the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations (UN) on ensuring unhindered entry and departure of people, cars and cargo along the Lachin corridor has not been implemented by Azerbaijan, which once again tramples on the highest international values and principles. Moreover, after that the Azerbaijani side resorted to new aggressive actions which resulted in human losses and new sufferings among Artsakh people. Since April 23, the Azerbaijani side has installed an illegal checkpoint near the Hakari bridge. Consequently, the international community has not only the right, but also an indisputable obligation to implement the decision of the Supreme International Court of Justice by practical means as soon as possible and to prevent future Azerbaijani crimes, including the new planned and brutal crime against humanity.

All the violations of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh are carried out within the framework of its state policy of racial discrimination (Armenophobia) and are deeply directed against their right to self-determination and the fact of its realisation, aimed at finally resolving the conflict to their advantage via ethnic cleansing based on the “no people, no rights” logic.

The systematic and consistent policy of ethnic hatred pursued by Azerbaijan, which manifested itself both during the aggression against the people of Artsakh in 2020 and after the establishment of the ceasefire regime, indisputably proves that any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan is tantamount to ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and the genocide of the Armenians of Artsakh. Therefore, in the context of the Artsakh conflict, the right to self-determination is equal to the right of people to live in their homeland.

The fundamental right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh, as well as the Azerbaijani encroachments and threats against their physical existence on the basis of racial discrimination are more than sufficient grounds for the protection of the people of Artsakh by the international community, as well as the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh based on the principle of “remedial recognition”.

The report is available at the following link: https://artsakhombuds.am/en/document/1028.

 11:35,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security. A key finding of SIPRI Yearbook 2023 is that the number of operational nuclear weapons started to rise as countries’ long-term force modernization and expansion plans progressed.

The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2022.

Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,512 warheads in January 2023, about 9,576 were in military stockpiles for potential use—86 more than in January 2022.

Of those, an estimated 3,844 warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and around 2,000—nearly all of which belonged to Russia or the USA—were kept in a state of high operational alert, meaning that they were fitted to missiles or held at airbases hosting nuclear bombers.

Russia and the USA together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. The sizes of their respective nuclear arsenals (i.e. useable warheads) seem to have remained relatively stable in 2022,

In addition to their useable nuclear weapons, Russia and the USA each hold more than 1,000 warheads previously retired from military service, which they are gradually dismantling.

SIPRI’s estimate of the size of China’s nuclear arsenal increased from 350 warheads in January 2022 to 410 in January 2023, and it is expected to keep growing.

‘We are drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history,’ says Dan Smith, SIPRI Director. ‘It is imperative that the world’s governments find ways to cooperate in order to calm geopolitical tensions, slow arms races and deal with the worsening consequences of environmental breakdown and rising world hunger.’

 11:16,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is expected to testify at the parliamentary select committee probing the causes and course of the 2020 Second Karabakh War.

The commission said it sent a formal invitation to Pashinyan to attend a session on June 20 at 10:00.

PM Pashinyan has agreed to participate, the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security Affairs said in a statement on Monday.