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

Armenia briefs diplomatic corps on details of Sisian-Kajaran road construction project

Emil Lazarian

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 11:30,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, jointly with the Road Department Foundation, presented to a group of foreign ambassadors accredited in Armenia the details of the tender of North-South Road Corridor’s Tranche 4 section (Sisian-Kajaran section).

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan said in his remarks that the pre-qualification phase of the tender was announced recently and that they will wait 70 days for applications.

“The construction of this road section is highly important for Armenia both strategically, economically and in terms of security,” he said.

“This is a rather major and interesting project with numerous technical and specialized solutions. It will be a rather difficult and interesting road section with its kind. We are asking for your support, so that you inform major construction companies in your countries about this project so that they participate in the tender. Our goal is to attract highly experienced companies with powerful capabilities, in order to be able to organize the project properly in terms of the timeperiod and quality,” Sanosyan said.

Several high-ranking Armenian military officials fired

Emil Lazarian

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 16:23,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. At the advice of the Prime Minister, the Acting President Alen Simonyan signed a decree on dismissing several high-ranking military officials, the presidency reported. 

The dismissed officials are: Chief of the Rocket and Artillery Forces of the Armenian Armed Forces Armen Harutyunyan, Chief of the Department of Morale Support of the Armenian Armed Forces Artur Poghosyan, Deputy Chief of General Staff/Head of the General Department of Readiness of the Armenian Armed Forces Andranik Makaryan, Head of the Engineering Troops of the Armenian Armed Forces Armen Arushanyan.

France stands with Armenia stronger than ever – Secretary of State for Europe and Foreign Affairs

Emil Lazarian

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 20:20,

YEREVAN, 24 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian-French forum will be held in Paris in the near future under the auspices of the French President, which will open new perspectives for the Armenian youth and will contribute to the strengthening of the Armenian-French bilateral ties, ARMENPRESS reports Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France said during the event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Armenia-France diplomatic relations, congratulating the two countries on the important anniversary.

“For thirty years now, France has been standing with Armenia more than ever, helping it to recover and look to the future. This is a moment of joy. Long live the French-Armenian friendship! Let’s work for the coming 30 years”, the French diplomat said.

Lemoine also informed that the French side has signed an ambitious roadmap for economic cooperation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and soon a forum will be held in Paris in the near future under the auspices of the French President on the cooperation of the French and Armenian civil societies called “Ambitions: France-Armenia”.

“It will unite the main actors of bilateral relations, and I am sure it will allow to bring forward new ideas, new projects. The aim of the forum is to open a perspective for the Armenian youth, to further strengthen the ties between our two countries”, said Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.

Azerbaijani MPs falsely present Persian Blue Mosque in Yerevan as Azerbaijani

Emil Lazarian
panorama.am
Armenia – Feb 23 2022


POLITICS 16:05 23/02/2022 REGION

The two Azerbaijani MPs, who arrived in Armenia to take part in the meetings of the Bureau and committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, visited the Persian Blue Mosque in Yerevan.

MP Tahir Mirkishili shared a photo of him and another Azerbaijani MP Soltan Mammadov in front of the mosque on his Facebook page, falsely presenting it as Azerbaijani.

“We have been to the Blue Mosque. As far as we know, it is the only Azerbaijani monument preserved in Yerevan,” he wrote.

“Although there are inscriptions related to another state on its walls, its architecture, walls and spirit as a whole are affiliated with Azerbaijan. We believe that its true owners will soon be able to offer their prayers in the mosque,” Mirkishili said.

Dominant parliamentary faction disrupts meeting to discuss Shushi Declaration

Emil Lazarian
ARM INFO
Feb 23 2022
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo.The dominant parliamentary faction Civil Contract has thwarted the opposition’s attempt to convene a special meting of Armenia’s Parliament on Wednesday, to discuss a draft statement on the ratification of the so-called Shushi  Declaration by the Azerbaijani and Turkish Parliaments. The draft was  introduced by the Armenia opposition faction. 

Armenia’s Parliament was to hold a special meeting on the initiative  of the Armenia opposition faction, on Wednesday, to discuss the  Shushi Declaration. The opposition faction proposed that the RA  National Assembly issue a statement condemning the ratification of  the Shushi  Declaration and “expressing deep concern over the  ratification by the  Azerbaijani and Turkish Parliaments of the  declaration the  Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents signed in the  Azerbaijan-occupied  Shushi on June 15, 2021.” Back on June 15 and  17, 2021, Armenia’s foreign office issued relevant statements.  According to Mr Arsenyan, the statements contained all the key points  incorporated in the opposition-proposed draft. He believes the  Parliament’s position must be identical to that of the foreign  office.  In their 2021-2026 programme of action Armenia’s authorities  declared a policy of long-lasting peace and stability and are  implementing their foreign policy in line with the programme, with a  view of causing no harm to the declared policy. 

The opposition-proposed document reads that despite the assurances   that the Shushi Declaration is not aimed at a third party, its   content is obviously against the Armenian people.  “It sets the   strategic goals of the two nations that carried out a 44-day   aggression against the Republic of Artsakh, against Artsakh’s  self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the   Republic of Armenia, and the rights of the Armenian people, which   survived a genocide and was scattered throughout the world,” Mr   Tevanyan said. 

The wordings concerning the “Zangezur corridor” contained in the  declaration are evidence that Turkey and Azerbaijan are reaching   public agreements on implementation of joint expansionist programmes.   The authors of the statement also condemn the Azerbaijani-Turkish  agreement on struggling against international recognition of the   Armenian Genocide by distorting the essence of the problem and   turning it into a subject of historical research. 

“The Shushi Declaration is not based on the UN Charter or the   OSCE-approved security principles. Rather, it is based on the ‘ethnic   security’ approach, which is in conflict with the fundamental   international legal norms. According to the Vienna Convention on the   Law of Treaties of 1969, all the international treaties that are in   conflict with the imperative international legal norms are not   legitimate. The provocative and destructive Shushi Declaration is   unacceptable to the Republic of Armenia. It is a serious challenge to  regional and global security, which does not contribute to our   region’s peaceful development, is in conflict with normalization of   Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions and arouses serious   doubts about official Ankara’s real intentions,” the draft statement   reads.

Political scientist: There are no analogies between Donbass and Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
ARM INFO
Feb 23 2022
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo. There are no particular analogies in the situation between the recognition of  Donbass and Artsakh by Russia. In any case, I personally do not see  them.  Political scientist Stepan Danielyan expressed a similar  opinion to ArmInfo.

” The issue of the independence of Artsakh, its reorganization,  should have been resolved even before the truce of 1994 is reached,  at most even after that.  The issue of the independence of Artsakh,  its recognition, should have been resolved before the 1994 truce was  reached, at most even after that. However, we missed the very real  opportunities that existed at that time to achieve this recognition.  And after the 44-day war, a completely different geopolitical reality  has formed in our region. And the essence of the Artsakh issue has  been transformed into completely different realities,” he stressed.

The political scientist connects the last circumstance with the loss  of actual control over Artsakh by Armenia. This is primarily due to  Yerevan’s loss of functions to ensure the security of Artsakh. And  taking into account the provision of this security by Moscow, the  geopolitical processes around Artsakh today are controlled by the  Russian Federation, and not by Armenia.  In this light, Danielyan  noted that the very absence of any clear  reaction from Yerevan to  Moscow’s recognition of the DPR and LPR is not surprising, since the  leadership of Armenia has long been simply unable to respond to  certain international events. The political scientist also stressed  that the lack of reaction, the silence of the Armenian authorities is  due to the fact that the country has actually lost its own  sovereignty.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees  recognizing the independence of the LPR and the DPR. In addition, the  Russian leader, the heads of the LPR and DPR Leonid Pasechnik and  Denis Pushilin signed an agreement on friendship, cooperation and  mutual assistance. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei  Rudenko, the agreements signed with the DPR and LPR allow the  deployment of Russian military bases in the Donbass. However, this  has not yet been discussed. In turn, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  said that the Russian authorities guarantee the security of the  Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in accordance with the  agreements signed with them.

NK conflict not fully settled yet, but there is progress – Putin

Emil Lazarian

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 17:33,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not fully settled yet, but there is progress, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Moscow today, RIA Novosti reported.

At the meeting Putin said agreements have been reached over the development of trade and economic ties in Nagorno Karabakh.

The Russian leader said there are disputes, but Moscow will do the utmost to ensure the peaceful nature of the settlement process.

“Certain agreements have already been reached on ensuring not only the security of all the people living there, but on developing trade and economic ties, unblocking transport communications. I know that disputes continue and there is much to be done, but, on our part, we will do our utmost to ensure the peaceful nature of this process and to satisfy all the parties involved in this process”, he said as quoted by TASS.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 22-02-22

Emil Lazarian

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 18:32,

YEREVAN, 22 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 22 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.27 drams to 478.43 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.12 drams to 541.68 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.23 drams to 5.99 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.90 drams to 649.76 drams.

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

Gold price down by 3.37 drams to 29140.2 drams. Silver price down by 0.74 drams to 365.09 drams. Platinum price down by 209.43 drams to 16581.67 drams.

Zelenskyy thanks Erdogan for supporting Ukraine’s position

Emil Lazarian

Zelenskyy thanks Erdogan for supporting Ukraine’s position

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 18:43,

YEREVAN, 21 FEBRUARY, ARMENPERESS. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, thanking Recep Tayyip Erdogan for supporting Ukraine’s position, ARMENPRESS reports, the president of Ukraine announced on his Twitter page.

“I had a telephone conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I thank him for supporting Ukraine’s position over Russia’s recent provocative decisions. I also thanked him for supporting the initiative of holding a summit of the permanent members of the UN Security Council with the participation of Ukraine, Turkey and Germany”, Zelenskyy said.

Russia recognized the independence of tow self-proclaimed republics – Donetsk and Lugansk on February 21.




A draft resolution on the termination of diplomatic relations with Russia has been submitted to the Rada

Emil Lazarian

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 18:57,

YEREVAN, 21 FEBRUARY, ARMENPERESS. Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko has submitted to the parliament a draft decision to suspend diplomatic relations with Russia, ARMENPRESS reports, Ria Novosti informs.

The relevant draft resolution was registered on the website of the Verkhovna Rada on February 22.

“Ukraine must end its diplomatic relations with Russia. Today I submitted an urgent resolution to the Verkhovna Rada. Year after year, the Russian Federation only intensifies its aggression against Ukraine. Putin first occupied Crimea, then started a war in the Donbass. And now he continues to apply pressure. He recognized his puppets, the so-called Donetsk and Lugansk, as independent. By yesterday’s statement Putin himself cut off diplomatic relations with us,” Honcharenko wrote in the Telegram. He offered to urgently discuss this decision.

Russia recognized the independence of two self-proclaimed republics – Donetsk and Lugansk on February 21.