Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Ameriabank honored as the Best Investment Bank in Armenia for 2023 by Global Finance

Emil Lazarian

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 16:15, 21 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Ameriabank has been named the Best Investment Bank in Armenia by Global Finance, a leading international financial publication. The award recognizes Ameriabank excellence in investment banking and its ability to provide tailored investment banking and advisory solutions designed to meet the clients’ diverse financial needs.

To score and select winners, Global Finance editors, with input from industry experts, used a series of criteria—including entries from banks, market share, number and size of deals, service and advice, structuring capabilities, distribution network, efforts to address market conditions, innovation, pricing, after-market performance of underwritings and market reputation.

“Companies rely on the advice, consultation and guidance of investment bankers whenever a major initiative is in play. Perhaps their expertise is of utmost importance during tumultuous times,” said Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance. “In a year shrouded by record inflation and economic uncertainty, Global Finance is proud to recognize the accomplishments of the leading institutions in this sector with our World’s Best Investment Bank Awards for 2023.”

Artak Hanesyan, Chairman of the Management Board, CEO at Ameriabank, commented: “We are incredibly proud to be recognized as the Best Investment Bank in Armenia from Global Finance for the eighth year in a row. Despite our more diversified universal banking model of the recent years, we have been the leading corporate and investment bank in Armenia for more than a decade, serving the largest corporate clients and financing the largest strategic projects in the country.We are deeply grateful to Global Finance for this recognition and our investment banking team, whose expertise and dedication continue to position Ameriabank as a leader in the Armenian market.As we look to the future, we remain committed to financing sectors and projects that are most promising in terms of sustainability and long-term development.”

This latest award of Ameriabank comes at a time of active campaign underway on the occasion of having been named the Best Bank in Armenia by the leading international magazines in 2022 – Global Finance, Euromoney and The Banker. The “Triple Best” Campaignruns under the slogan “The Best Opportunity Is Created by People” is dedicated to all people who have stood behind the Bank’s achievements during the recent years, from clients and partners to employees of the bank. 

Ameriabank CJSC

Ameriabank is a leading financial and technology company in Armenia, a major contributor to the Armenian economy, with assets exceeding AMD 1 trillion. In the course of digital transformation, it has launched a number of innovative solutions and platforms going beyond banking-only needs of its diverse customer base, thus creating a dynamically evolving financial technology space. 

Ameria was the first in Armenia to create ecosystems for both businesses and individuals, which give one-window access to a range of banking and non-banking services, among them – Estate.ameriabank.am, Automarket.ameriabank.am, Business.ameriabank.am. 

As a truly customer-centric company, Ameria aims to be a trusted and secure financial technology space with seamless solutions to improve the quality of life.

The Bank is supervised by the Central Bank of Armenia.

Asbarez: Vatican to Commemorate St. Nerses Shnorhali

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 March 21, 2023

 

in Armenia, Arts & Culture, Latest, News, Top Stories

A special event marking the 850th anniversary of St. Nerses Shnorhali’s passing will take place at the Vatican.

A committee formed to organize the event met on Tuesday in Rome to make the preliminary preparations and announce the events, slated to take place in the fall of this year.

The organizing committee meets in Rome on Mar. 21

The organizing committee is comprised of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, representing the Catholicosate of All Armenians, Archbishop Nareg Alemezian, representing the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and Bishop Vartan Boghosian of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia, along with a representative of the Vatican.

The events marking the anniversary include an ecumenical prayer at the St. Peter Basilica, and international conference at the Pontifical Oriental Institute dedicated to the legacy of St. Nerses Shnorhali’s legacy and a concert featuring his hymns and liturgical music at the Sistine Chapel.

The committee will provide more information as it becomes available.


Asbarez: Statement on Right to Self-Determination of Artsakh and its People

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 March 21, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijanis, claiming to be environmental activists, have been blockading the Lachin corridor since Dec. 12


The Artsakh Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday detailing the aspects that make guarantees for the Artsakh population’s right to self-determination a fundamental imperative.

In addressing some of the elements threatening this principle, the Artsakh foreign ministry pointed to Azerbaijan’s continued aggression against Armenians, include the now 100-day illegal blockade of Artsakh.

Below is the text of the announcement.

For 100 days now, Azerbaijan has been subjecting Artsakh to an illegal blockade, the ultimate goal of which is to destroy the population of Artsakh by expelling them from their historical homeland. Through use of force and acts of terror, Azerbaijan is pursuing an ongoing policy aimed at forcibly suppressing the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination. At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities are overtly rejecting negotiations as a means of finding a solution to any issue.

It should be noted that for several decades, Azerbaijan has been striving to get rid of the people of Artsakh and resolve the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict by force. The first victims of such a criminal policy were, in particular, the Armenians who lived in Azerbaijan during the Soviet period. The deportation of Armenians from Azerbaijan organized by the local authorities in 1988-1990 and accompanied by massacres, torture and pogroms, marked the beginning of a new stage in Azerbaijan’s policy of persecuting Armenians. As early as in 1991, the Azerbaijani authorities continued the deportation of Armenians from Artsakh, which, in various forms and manifestations, has continued to this day.

Subsequently, in violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, and in an attempt to get rid of the people of Artsakh and suppress their right to freedom and self-determination, Azerbaijan has resorted to the use of force three times to resolve the conflict through direct military aggression against Artsakh. All three wars waged by Azerbaijan against Artsakh included massive human rights violations and war crimes, including willful killings of civilians, extrajudicial executions and torture of prisoners of war and civilian hostages, indiscriminate shelling, the use of internationally prohibited ammunition, and deliberate attacks on critical civilian infrastructure.

As a result of the aggression against Artsakh in 2020 and the occupation of a vast part of its territory, more than 40,000 Armenians of Artsakh have been forcibly displaced. All civilians who remained in the territories that came under the control of Azerbaijan were brutally killed by Azerbaijani soldiers. Azerbaijan’s provocations and attacks on the civilians of Artsakh, including willful killings, continued even after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020.

Widespread and systematic violations of the rights of the people of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, including massacres, deportations, torture and other inhuman acts, are not only encouraged, but also co-ordinated at the state level. The Azerbaijani authorities do not even hide their criminal intentions to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocide in Artsakh. This is evidenced by the numerous public statements made by the President of Azerbaijan. The most recent such statement was made on March 18 2023, during his defiantly provocative visit  to the Armenian village of Talish occupied during the 44-day aggression, the entire population of which was forcibly displaced.  The visit itself, as well as the aggressive and belligerent statements of the Azerbaijani senior leadership during that visit, indicate that official Baku plans to extend the scenario implemented in the occupied village of Talish to the entirety of Artsakh.

Along with this, throughout the entire negotiation process since the 1990s, Azerbaijan has sabotaged all efforts by international mediators, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, aimed at a peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict based on international law, each time refusing at the last moment from agreements on a compromise solution. Furthermore, after the war of aggression in 2020, the Azerbaijani authorities refused altogether from the peace negotiations, declaring the issues of the life and rights of the people of Artsakh as their internal matter.

Azerbaijan’s deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing against the people of Artsakh indicates the need for the international community to reconsider their approaches to the issue of the status of Artsakh and the political settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. The scale and gravity of the crimes committed by Azerbaijan at the state level against the people of Artsakh, as well as the ongoing genocidal policy, require decisive and urgent action by the international community, including the bodies responsible for maintaining international peace and security.

We believe that, at this stage, the development of additional legally binding obligations to resolve the conflict by peaceful means, the consolidation of the principles of non-use or threat of force and equal rights and self-determination of peoples as the basis for negotiations, as well as the restoration of the international mechanism for direct negotiations between Artsakh and Azerbaijan meet the requirements international law and the universal commitment to the protection of human rights around the world. Universal recognition of the Artsakh people’s inalienable right to self-determination is the most effective way in which the international community can guarantee the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Artsakh.

We would like stress that according to international law and international practice, the denial and forceful suppression of the right to self-determination, accompanied by massive human rights violations, as well as the rejection of negotiations as a means of resolving conflict, are sufficient grounds for recognizing the right of a people to establish an independent state.

Armenpress: Armenian patriarchate calls on Israeli authorities to take serious measures following attack on St. Mary’s Church

Emil Lazarian

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 09:34, 22 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has strongly condemned the attack on St. Mary’s Church of Gethsemane and called on Israeli authorities to take “serious measures” to protect the holy sites.

In a statement released on March 21, the Chancellery of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that “religious intolerance and hate crimes in all their forms and perpetrations will never allow the conditions of peaceful co-existence to manifest.”

Below is the full communiqué released by the chancellery.

“The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem strongly condemns the attack on the St. Mary’s Church of Gethsemane, which according to the Status Quo of the Holy Places is under the joint control of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox Churches.

Though it was the first attack on St. Mary since the beginning of this year, the Christian Holy Shrines have been in constant state of both physical and emotional duress by rogue attackers. Had these previous attacks on the Christian Holy Places been swiftly condemned by the local authorities leading to the perpetrators’ punishment to the full extent of the law, there would not be an influx of new attacks on the churches and monasteries of these Christian communities.

Religious intolerance and hate crimes in all their forms and perpetrations will never allow the conditions of peaceful co-existence to manifest. In fact, their presence – especially when gone unchecked by prevailing authorities – will encourage other hateful crimes and intolerances to take place. These actions and their lack of condemnation lead to unsafe conditions for these communities and establishes a lack of trust between worshipers, tourists, and residents with the local authorities.

Therefore, we call upon the Israeli Government and the Police to take serious measures to prevent such attacks and to protect both the Christian Holy sites and their daily worshipers from further vandalism and suchlike attacks.”

Azerbaijani military opens fire at farmers in Nagorno Karabakh

Emil Lazarian

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 12:52, 22 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened gunfire at farmers in Nagorno Karabakh Wednesday morning.

The Nagorno Karabakh Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement that H. Hartyunyan, A. Ghahramanyan, M. Jivanyan, G. Ghukasyan, K. Davtyan, A. Adamyan and D. Davtyan, all farmers from the town of Tchartar, were carrying out agricultural work in the vineyards in Tchartar when they came under Azeri fire. The shooting happened around 09:30.

The farmers are unharmed.

The agricultural works were suspended due to the gunfire from various kinds of weapons by Azerbaijani military forces from an outpost adjacent to the vineyards.

The Nagorno Karabakh authorities said they notified the Russian peacekeepers on the Azerbaijani gunfire targeting civilians.

EU countries spent over €15,6 billion on Azerbaijani gas in 2022

Emil Lazarian

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 14:07, 22 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. EU-members Italy, Greece and Bulgaria imported Azerbaijani gas worth around €15,6 billion in 2022, Interfax reported citing data from Eurostat.

In 2021, Azerbaijan’s gas exports to EU countries totaled only €3,8 billion.

In 2022, most of the Azeri gas (€13,2 billion) was bought by Italy. The figures for Greece and Bulgaria stood at €1,9 billion and €383 million respectively. Azerbaijan plans to further increase its gas exports to the EU.

Iran vows to use entire potential to resolve regional issues peacefully

Emil Lazarian

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 14:17, 22 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. The development of relations with neighbors is among Iran’s foreign policy priorities and Armenia is of great importance in this policy, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani said at a press briefing in Yerevan.

“I am visiting Armenia at the invitation of my colleague as part of consultations, and yesterday and today we had productive discussions with my Armenian colleague, as well the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. Iran’s stable position in the issue of establishing sustainable peace in the region was underscored during these discussions. And during our meetings we underscored that Iran is always a reliable partner in establishing peace and security,” Ali Bagheri Kani said.

The Iranian Deputy FM said that the regional countries themselves are the guarantors of peace and stability, and that the presence of foreign forces can’t ensure the stability and peace because these forces pursue other goals.

When asked about the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of Lachin Corridor and occupation of sovereign territories of Armenia, as well as the fake narratives on “Western Azerbaijan” and “Southern Azerbaijan”, the Iranian Deputy FM said: “God has created diplomats in order to achieve the establishment of stability through peaceful dialogue. I assume that the leaders of the regional countries are wise enough to choose dialogue for resolving issues. And Iran will use its entire capacity and potential to give a solution to the issues through peaceful dialogue.”

Azerbaijan misrepresents civilian vehicles as military transport – NK warns of new Azeri disinformation

Emil Lazarian

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 15:05, 22 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has spread another disinformation claiming that the Armenian side, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, transported troops and ammunition along the Stepanakert-Ghaybalishen-Lisagor forest road.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Ministry of Internal Affairs said that actually only civilians and humanitarian goods are transported between the settlements of Artsakh, accompanied by peacekeeping troops.

“The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has spread another disinformation claiming that the Armenian side, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, transported troops and ammunition along the Stepanakert-Ghaybalishen-Lisagor forest road.

In fact, only civilians and humanitarian goods are transported between the settlements of Artsakh, accompanied by peacekeeping troops.

We should remind that the normal communication between the capital and some villages of Shushi region has been interrupted since December 12, 2022, due to the blockade of the Stepanakert-Goris interstate highway by Azerbaijan.

Taking into account the complex geographical [terrain] of that mountain road, the traffic is organized with large and [high-clearance] vehicles, which the Azerbaijani side tries to misrepresent as military transport.

The Russian peacekeepers fulfilled their function, [stipulated] in the Tripartite Statement of November 9, 2020. Taking into account the sabotage attack on Artsakh police officers on March 5 and the additional security risks, the Russian side ensured the safe movement of civilians and cargo,” the Artsakh Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement.