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

Opposition announces rally in Yerevan on Friday evening

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –


The Armenian opposition will hold a rally in Yerevan’s central France Square on Friday evening.

“Dear compatriots, we are again gathering at France Square at 7:30pm,” opposition leader and deputy parliament speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan wrote on Facebook.

“Join your brothers and sisters in the struggle!” he said.

Saghatelyan announced a change of tactics in the opposition movement aimed at toppling Nikol Pashinyan on June 14, saying they will hold rallies in Yerevan on a weekly basis.


Armenian MP: Right of self-determination is simply a right to live for Nagorno-Karabakh people

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –


Armenian MP Hayk Mamijanyan from the opposition Pativ Unem (With Honor) faction on Friday addressed a debate on fighting vaccine-preventable diseases through quality services and anti-vaccine myth-busting held as part of the PACE summer session. His full statement is provided below.

“Thank you, honourable Chair, ladies and gentlemen,

We all know that there was a Stone Age, a Golden Era, etc. I do think that now we are living in the “Rubber Era” of European values. They bend, they fold, at the pleasure of politicians and yesterday’s discussion regarding the UK government’s reaction to the decision of ECHR proves that.

Here are some more effects: the European Parliament voted four documents urging the importance of the immediate return of POWs’ inadmissible social terror, i.e. leaving the people of Artsakh without gas supply in terms of severe winter, pointing the aggressor of a 40-day war and it had no consequences for the COE member State.

Dear lady, you were calling my motherland, the historic Azerbaijani territory. One of your colleagues in Milli Majilis was already preparing the right for Azerbaijani for a new aggression regarding the corridor. And Mister Mr Rafael Huseynov, we are not revanchists. We are patriots. More than that, no one speaks about the fact that a COE member State occupied the internationally recognised sovereign territory of Armenia and just refuses to leave.

There are some other facts regarding the internal politics of my country. For example, less than one month ago, police brutally beat and used stun grenades on the peaceful protesters on the doorsteps of the EU Embassy in Yerevan. And I am not speaking figuratively, I am speaking literally, on the doorstep of the EU Embassy in Yerevan.

Journalists and oppositional MPs were not allowed to attend an event regarding the freedom of speech. No, you heard it correctly: journalists were not allowed to attend an event regarding freedom of speech and the EU officials back then in my country were attending that event.

Hate speech was so much accumulated by the government in my country that people were killed and the motivation was really political – extremely political. There was a tape that went viral when two people, the ex-president and the current president of the highest judicial body, discussed how they are going to fabricate cases against the opposition leaders.

So, the reason for these disasters are populists and dictators and the first one changed into dictators very fast. And this is a pandemic and we have to fight it tooth and nail, just while we were fighting Covid-19.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I was told that values are rock solid. I refuse to believe that Europe has set a blind eye on democracy and human rights. I refuse to believe that Europe has forgotten the right of self-determination which is simply a right to live for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Europe used to be a flagman of Christian democratic values, even if you decided to abandon that flag, we are going to wave it proudly because it is our cross to bear.

Thank you.”

Forecast: By 2023, Pashinyan will have serious problems with holding power

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia – June 23 2022



David Stepanyan

ArmInfo.The essence of the recent statements of  Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on the settlement of the Artsakh conflict leads to the attempt to justify  his own current policy by sharing the responsibility with Levon  Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. A similar opinion  was expressed to ArmInfo by head of the Armenian Constructive Party,  political scientist Andrias Ghukasyan.

“Thus, he is trying to demonstrate that no matter who was in his  place today, the result would be the same. I personally assess such  argumentation as primitive. The fact is that Pashinyan personally  feels that he has lost in the struggle for the self-determination of  Artsakh. At the same time, many of his statements from the rostrum of  the Parliament really correspond to political realities, with the  exception, perhaps, of his conclusions on the principles of Madrid,”  he noted.

Assessing the Madrid principles as, in fact, a program for the  secession of Artsakh from Azerbaijan, the political scientist  stressed that it was Nikol Pashinyan who rejected this program. And  today he is trying not only to completely shift the blame for the  defeat on the former authorities, but also to argue that the  principles did not correspond to the interests of Armenia and  Artsakh, and that is why he rejected them in 2019.

At the same time, according to Ghukasyan, having rejected the  principles-brainchild of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Pashinyan,  as the new leader of Armenia, did not put forward any concept of a  settlement of his own. And without putting forward an alternative,  without taking a single step towards the formation of an agenda for  the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh, today he is  only reading morals from the rostrum of the parliament.

“As for the peace agenda that Pashinyan is trying to lead the country  towards, then, arguing about the need to consolidate society around  this agenda, Pashinyan means only consolidation around himself. There  is nothing new here. By 2023, Pashinyan will have serious problems  with holding power connected solely with external factors and  reasons, including the fact that the failure of the Russian  Federation in a number of areas will inevitably affect its satellite  Armenia. In this light, society remains his only chance to stay in  power. Thus, he hopes to prove to the international community that  he, let’s say, is not a good person, but the people are consolidated  around him. Accordingly, he can continue to fulfill their wishes  now,” Ghukasyan summed up. 



Human Rights Defender criticizes int’l community for its inadequate…response to facts of torture and ill-treatment of Armenian servicemen during 44-day war

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia –


Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. Armenian Human Rights Defender Kristine Grigoryan criticized the international community’s for its disproportionate and inadequate response to the facts of  torture and ill-treatment of Armenian servicemen and civilians during  and after the 44-day war in Nagorno- Karabakh in the fall of 2020.

Thus, the Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of  Armenia reports, in part, “On June 22, Human Rights Defender of the  Republic of Armenia, Ms. Kristinne Grigoryan made a video statement  during the interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on summary  executions held within the framework of the 50th regular session of  the UN Human Rights Council (June 13 – July 8 ).

During the dialogue, in her statement the Defender highly appreciated  the work of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or  arbitrary executions stressing the need for further strengthening the  mandate and allocating more resources.

The Defender reflected on the response to torture, extrajudicial and  summary executions of Armenian civilian captives and PoW during and  after the 2020 hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, which has been  inadequate and insufficient to say the least creating preconditions  for extrajudicial and arbitrary executions in other ongoing  conflicts.

Summing-up the Speech, as a guarantee of effective implementation of  the mandate the Defender stressed the imperative of visiting the  regions and territories more by Special Rapporteur emphasizing the  need for better understanding on the ground.

Highlighting the role of national human rights institutions as a  valuable partner to the Special Rapporteur, Defender Grigoryan  expressed her willingness for partnership.”  

Russian FM speak of some progress in activities of tripartite group on the opening of communications

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia –


Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo.There is some progress in the activities of the tripartite working group on the opening of communications in the South Caucasus, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov stated  at his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. 

“As for regional issues, we are ready to do everything possible to  facilitate the implementation of the three documents signed by the  three leaders in November 2020, January and November 2021. According  to our assessment, there is some progress in the activities of the  tripartite working group on the opening of communications. We are  discussing the issues to be agreed with the Armenian side. It seems  to me that a general idea is being formed on how to solve the problem  of organizing this work so that there are no artificial obstacles to  the movement of cars with maximum comfort. Russia will help in this  until the results are achieved. I do hope that this will happen soon.  We are also ready to provide consulting services on the work of two  commissions established for the delimitation and demarcation of  borders in Azerbaijan and Armenia in accordance with other  agreements. There are specific proposals on this. I would be glad to  discuss them with you.

“You mentioned the normalization of relations, the peace agreement  and provisions of the future agreement submitted by you. By the way,  we have heard that the Armenian side, Prime Minister Pashinyan, is  ready to hold talks on this issue. We are ready to help here with the  consent of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Mr Lavrov said.  

Armenian, Belarusian Prosecutors General meet in Minsk

Emil Lazarian

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 10:50,

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur Davtyan met with Prosecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved in Minsk, advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia Gor Abrahamyan said.

During the meeting Artur Davtyan thanked for the warm welcome and congratulated his Belarusian counterpart on the 100th anniversary of the Prosecution system of Belarus. He informed that the Prosecution of Armenia will mark its 104th anniversary soon.

Artur Davtyan highly valued the level and results of the cooperation between the Offices of Prosecutors General of Armenia and Belarus, adding that the implementation of the cooperation agreement signed between the two Offices in Minsk in 2005 continues contributing to this.

In his turn Andrei Shved expressed confidence that the session of the Coordination Council of Prosecutors General of the CIS states in Minsk will strengthen the partnership between the member states in countering crime in the CIS zone, will contribute to more effectively resisting the challenges emerging in the fields of security, human rights.

The sides discussed the opportunities of taking additional steps to develop the potential of the prosecutions of the two countries, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

Armenian Healthcare Ministry, Netcracker/BostonGene companies discuss cooperation

Emil Lazarian

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 11:36,

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Armenia Artak Jumayan received co-owner and Vice-President of Netcracker/BostonGene companies Michael Feinberg, the healthcare ministry said.

The guest said their company is planning to establish a Research and Development (R&D) center in Armenia with several thousand employees. Currently, the number of staffers in Armenia is 360.

BostonGene is a biomedical software company for advanced patient analysis and personalized therapy in the fight against cancer.

Artak Jumayan highlighted the role and significance of BostonGene in the field of telecommunications. He expressed hope that the cooperation will serve to the development of healthcare in Armenia through high technologies.

Armenia participates in meeting of CIS Council of Defense Ministers

Emil Lazarian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 10:59 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia’s defense chief Suren Papikyan participated in the meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member states on Friday, June 24 in Russia.

More than 20 issues were in the table, including international developments, growing dangers and challenges for the security environment of the CIS member states.

“The participants of the meeting discussed a number of issues related to the establishment of a joint humanitarian demining engineering unit, the deepening of cooperation in the field of military education, contact between the Armed Forces of the CIS member states, as well as the necessary legal and organizational work for the establishment of joint air defense systems,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Given the full agenda of the Armenian-Russian military cooperation and the allied relations between the countries, an additional agreement was reached to organize a meeting of Armenian Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan and Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu in Moscow in August.”