18:22,
YEREVAN, 23 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. President Vahagn Khachaturyan today had a meeting with UK Ambassador to Armenia John Gallagher.
Ambassador Gallagher congratulated President Khachaturyan on the occasion of assuming the position and wished success.
At the meeting the sides exchanged views about the Armenian-British bilateral relations, regional security issues.
Azerbaijan has intensified the violations of human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Andranik Hovhannisyan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Un Office in Geneva, said at the Human Rights Council debate on “Human rights situation that require Council’s attention.”
“For more than ten days the gas pipeline that supplies hydrocarbon energy to Nagorno-Karabakh was cut from the territories that are under control of armed forces of Azerbaijan. The latter obstructed the access to the area for conducting necessary mending activities, leaving more than 120 thousand people to freeze in the still winter conditions of the mountainous terrain,” the Ambassador said.
“The Ombudsperson of Nagorno-Karabakh registered that the temperature in the hospitals was 15 degrees Celsius at best, which affected also the treatment of 51 newborns and their mothers at the maternity wards. 65% of the schools in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped operating. The attendance of the kindergartens dropped down to 22%,” he added.
He noted that the disruption of gas was not an isolated incident. Besides that, Azerbaijan constantly exerts to the threat and use of force, as well as obstructs the people from obtaining their means of subsistence, if we are to name but a few of its actions.
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Azerbaijan should get a clear signal that at all times and circumstances the protection of these inalienable rights prescribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should not be compromised,” the Permanent Representative stated.
“Azerbaijan has turned the disruption of gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh into a weapon of collective punishment of the people. For ten days residential buildings, hospitals and schools were left without heating. The gas supply was restored briefly during the weekend only to be cut again on Monday. Yesterday, the civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh – children, elderly, disabled people – again were obliged to spend a night without heating in the freezing winter conditions of minus four degrees Celsius. It is a humanitarian disaster,” Andranik Hovhannisyan stated.
“Azerbaijan resorts to these violations of human rights in the absence of clear and loud international reaction. We emphasize the necessity of sending a strong signal that the human rights should be respected at all times and in all circumstances. This is a collective commitment, which requires an unwavering support,” he said.
“Azerbaijan installed loudspeakers in the vicinity of the Armenian villages close to the Line-of-Contact. It has been intimidating and terrorizing the rural indigenous population by threats spread through those loudspeakers, forcing the civilian population to leave their ancestral homes,” the Ambassador added.
“Azerbaijan has also kept under fire those villages. Some villages have already evacuated women, children and elderly, which came to add to another 40 000 Armenians who were displaced by the recent war,” he added.
“We also highlight that Azerbaijan exploits the HRC floor to disseminate ungrounded allegations. In this context Armenia would like to remind that International Court of Justice by its order of 7 December 2021 practically rejected a number of allegations that had been put forth by Azerbaijan. The Court having considered the terms of the provisional measures requested by Azerbaijan ruled out, in particular, the false narrative that Azerbaijan has been actively promoting and pushing forward on the demining-related operations. Moreover, Armenia, as a humanitarian gesture, has handed to Azerbaijan all the maps of the minefields under its disposal,” Amb. Hovhannisyan noted.
In the same manner, he said, Azerbaijan tends to ignore the plight of more than 1 000 missing persons from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The truth is that over the years Azerbaijan rejected any cooperation in this regard, he stressed.
The European Union is concerned about reports of a renewed disruption of the gas supply to Stepanakert, EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Following the first disruption of the supply on 8 March the EU encouraged Azerbaijan’s active engagement on the matter, which led to repair works and the resumption of the gas supply on 19 March.
“There is an urgent need to ensure the immediate resumption of the gas supply to the affected local population, in particular in the context of the dire weather conditions, and the EU calls on the authorities in control to allow this to happen.
“The European Union is closely following this and other developments in the region and will continue its engagement towards sustainable peace and stability for the South Caucasus,” reads the statement.
Armenian media outlet Hetq has released a photo series of David Ghahramanyan from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which has again been deprived of gas supply.
Without gas supply: 11-month-old Arpi is taking a bath near the stove.
The grandpa and grandma are warming up and pondering on the current events.
Supermarkets in Stepanakert are emptying their bread shelves.
Gas cylinders are donated to evacuees from various districts of Artsakh and families with many children.
Children have staged a performance at the Stepanakert State Drama Theater after Vahram Papazyan. The disruption of gas delivery and adverse weather conditions do not prevent Stepanakert children from receiving spiritual nourishment.
Tatev, a mother of many children, and her 5 children were forcibly displaced from Hadrut. They have been living in the former Malysh restaurant in Stepanakert for a year now. The only source of heating in the house is a small electric heater…
The full photo story is available here.
ArmInfo.Hypothetical membership in the still hypothetical Union State will lead to the loss of not only Armenia’s sovereignty, but also new territories. Leader of the “Republic” party, former Prime Minister of Armenia Aram Sargsyan, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
“We have already gone through all of this once, with all the relevant consequences. Accordingly, today the Armenian people must first of all rely on themselves, namely, on the combined potential of the Armenians of the whole world. It is necessary to make every possible effort towards achieving consolidation around common for all Armenians’ goals and only then, of course, to harmonize Armenia’s foreign and economic policy through its diversification towards democratic, technologically advanced states,” he stressed.
Commenting on the current situation, the politician expressed the opinion that Turkey, with the support of Russia, is today trying to force Armenia to sign the peace agreement proposed by Azerbaijan. While the US and the EU continue to consider the establishment of the status of Artsakh within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group as a means of achieving peace in the South Caucasus.
In the light of the latest “gas” games of Baku, Sargsyan recalled that these and other problems caused by Azerbaijan, according to the document dated November 9, 2020, will first of all have to be solved by Russian peacekeepers. And the fact that for a whole week the Russian military were unable to finally restore the gas supply to Artsakh, were unable to approach the pipe on neutral territory, in his opinion, speaks of their unwillingness to resolve this issue.
“One call from Foreign Minister Lavrov would be enough for Baku to restore the gas supply to Artsakh. Even in the current geopolitical situation. But if Moscow wants to resolve this issue, but cannot, then this becomes a reason for drawing completely different conclusions in Armenia” , he emphasized. Commenting on the reasons for the current aggressive behavior of the Aliyev regime towards Artsakh and on the borders with Armenia, Sargsyan conditioned it by the desire of the dynastic ruler of Azerbaijan to keep the Armenian people in a state of anxiety and tension in order to snatch as many concessions from Armenia as possible during the upcoming negotiations. In any case, the politician does not believe that at this stage, Aliyev is able to transform the tension he is whipping up into full-scale military operations. First of all, due to the fact that by doing so he will deal a final, already mortal blow to the reputation of the Russian Federation, with all the attendant consequences.
ArmInfo. The issues voiced by the residents of Tsovagyugh and Semenovka communities of Gegharkunik region are in the focus of attention of the Human Rights Defender (RA). This is stated in the statement of the office of the RA Human Rights Defender.
The message received by ArmInfo notes that the Human Rights Defender and representatives of the Gegharkunik regional department of the HRD were informed about the problems voiced by the residents of the abovementioned communities at today’s protest action.
“Today, from the very first moment of blocking the road by residents and until now, we are closely following the voiced demands and are in direct contact with representatives of the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Infrastructure and Gegharkunik region. Representatives of the HRD are also in touch with individual residents on the spot. The Human Rights Defender will continue to keep the issues raised by the residents in the field of his immediate attention, will contribute to resolving the situation within his competence,” the RA Human Rights Defender said in a statement.
It should be noted that today, March 23, residents of the villages of Tsovagyugh and Semenovka of the enlarged community of Sevan blocked the Yerevan-Sevan highway and demanded a meeting with the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Gnel Sanosyan. The villagers are against the enlargement of the communities. In this regard, they demand that Sanosyan come personally and solve their problems. The protesters say that the road will be closed until Sanosyan himself arrives. Residents of the community also asked for forgiveness from all citizens who suffered today as a result of the road closure. “Our war is not with the government, our war is with Sanosyan. Let him come personally and we will open the road,” the protesters said, noting that Sanosyan had already deceived them earlier. Sanosyan has not yet responded to the demand, the road continues to be blocked. It should be noted that the residents of Semyonovka and Tsovagyugh on December 5, 2021, boycotted the elections to local governments. It is also worth noting that the inhabitants of the Armenian villages in the majority opposed the enlargement of communities, assuring that this would lead to a new outflow of the population. However, the opinion of the villagers was ignored.
The National Assembly on Wednesday did not pass the package of bills—submitted by opposition MPs Ishkhan Saghatelyan, Aram Vardevanyan, and Aghvan Vardanyan—which proposed criminalizing any _expression_ against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia.
The MPs of the ruling majority “Civil Contract” Faction voted against these drafts—which received 30 votes in favor, 63 against, and 1 abstention.
13:14,
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan met in Berlin with Niels Annen, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Security Council of Armenia said in a press release.
The sides discussed the further development prospects of the Armenia-Germany economic and technical partnership.
Both sides emphasized the importance of constant development of Armenia’s democratic institutions. They agreed to continue the contacts on matters of bilateral and multilateral interest.
16:18,
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. Two Armenian boxers entered the finals at the EUBC U22 European Boxing Championship in Croatia after defeating their opponents from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Ruslan Aslikyan (57kg) and Artur Shakhpazyan (63,5kg) will fight for gold during the March 23 finals.
In the semi-finals, Aslikyan defeated Tahir Akkoyun of Turkey and made it to the finals, while Shakhpazyan scored a 4:1 victory over Jalal Gurbanov of Azerbaijan.
Shakhpazyan will face Turkey’s Ozmen Kerim while Ruslan Aslikyan will face Italy’s Michele Baldassi in the finals.
In the women’s division, Armenian boxer Elida Kocharyan (60 kg) won bronze.