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 confirms its participation in Yerevan-Baku summit in Brussels in the sidelines of EU’s Eastern Partnership

Emil Lazarian

Armenia confirms its participation in Yerevan-Baku summit in Brussels in the sidelines of EU’s Eastern Partnership

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 16:56,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has agreed to participate in the Yerevan-Baku summit in Brussels in the sidelines of EU’s Eastern Partnership on December 15, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Vahan Hunanyan told ARMENPRESS.

On November 19, the EU issued a statement, saying “President Charles Michel of the European Council held phone calls on 19 November with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, in follow up to discussions earlier this week on the situation in the region and in the context of preparations of the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in Brussels on 15 December.

President Charles Michel proposed to host President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for a meeting in Brussels in the margins of the EaP Summit.

Leaders have agreed to meet in Brussels to discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which the EU supports.

During the phone calls, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have also agreed to establish a direct communication line, at the level of respective Ministers of Defence, to serve as an incident prevention mechanism”.

Azerbaijan has also agreed to participate in the summit.




Armenpress: Artsakh’s Government plans to impose a nationwide quarantine in the coming days

Emil Lazarian

Artsakh’s Government plans to impose a nationwide quarantine in the coming days

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 16:59,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Due to the epidemic situation, the Government of the Artsakh Republic plans to impose nationwide quarantine and specific restrictions in the coming days due to the existing risks of coronavirus disease, ARMENPRESS reports State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan wrote on his Facebook page. He reminded that quarantine has been in force in Stepanakert and some other communities since November 4.

“I would like to once again urge our citizens to maximally raise vigilance and preserve the safety regulations”, Beglaryan wrote, citing rising death toll in the country.

If the quarantine is approved by the Government. Wearing masks indoors will be mandatory, remote working will be promoted, mass events will be limited, in Stepanakert and some other settlements lessons will be held remotely and vaccination process will be further promoted. The option of presenting PCR tests for the unvaccinated citizens is under discussion.

Human rights activist: More and more people demand action from Armenia’s political leaders every day

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 19 2021

More and more people in Armenia demand action from the country’s political leaders every day, human rights activist Ruben Melikyan says.

“Several conclusions:

1) Intolerance towards these scourges is increasing with every passing day,

2) Every day, more and more people strongly demand action instead of words from the political leaders,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.

“The older generation should remember well Lenin’s statement made in October 1917: ‘Yesterday was too early. Tomorrow will be too late. Today is the day!’” Melikyan added.

Perspectives | Iran-Azerbaijan: A new cold war? [Azeri Opinion]

Emil Lazarian
EurasiaNet.org
Nov 19 2021
Eldar Mamedov Nov 19, 2021
The Khodaafarin Bridge on the Azerbaijan-Iran border. (president.az)

As tensions subsided following weeks of saber-rattling and hostile rhetoric, the foreign ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan had a November 5 phone call in which they blamed “ill-wishers” for trying to exploit “recent misunderstandings between the two neighbors,” as the Iranian readout put it.

But the short-term rapprochement and blame-shifting only serves to obscure larger shifts in the relationship: While the war games and insults have abated, diverging geopolitical choices continue to pull Baku and Tehran in opposite directions, augmenting the risks of periodic eruptions in the future.

Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war against Armenia, achieved with Turkish and Israeli support and Russian acquiescence, convinced Baku that its military-diplomatic strategy was vindicated and that there is little reason to alter it. Iran, by contrast, was sidelined by the war: Its peace plans proposed during the fighting elicited little interest in Baku, and Tehran has been unhappy about post-war developments, particularly by its arch-foe Israel’s expansion of its foothold on Iran’s northern borders.

With its newly consolidated alliances and fresh military confidence, Baku felt it could largely ignore its southern neighbor’s concerns. That explains the arrest in September of two Iranian truck drivers transiting Azerbaijani-controlled land en route to Armenian-controlled parts of Karabakh. While the incident could have been resolved through quiet backroom diplomacy between the two capitals, Baku chose to send a public message to Tehran that it won’t tolerate what it saw as encroachments on its sovereignty. That triggered unprecedented Iranian military exercises next to the Azerbaijani border.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev tried to put on a brave face but couldn’t hide his surprise and unease about Tehran’s escalations. While pro-government websites responded to the crisis by extolling the might of Azerbaijan’s armed forces, military confrontation with Iran – a country with eight times the population – clearly is not in Baku’s interests. All the more so because even Baku’s main ally, Turkey, is unlikely to fight a war with Iran on Azerbaijan’s behalf.

In recent years relations between Turkey and Iran have been on a downward spiral in several areas. The South Caucasus is one of them, as Tehran resents Ankara’s expanding reach there, most of all its rising influence in Baku. Both sides, however, have been mindful not to let things deteriorate too badly and have taken steps to de-escalate. On November 15, Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian shared his “delight” at hosting his “brother” and Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Tehran. That visit was reportedly a precursor to a visit to Tehran by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during which some kind of roadmap for future relations is expected to be discussed.

Even if such a document were to be signed, it likely wouldn’t drastically change the current trajectory of Turkish-Iranian relations. With political Islam receding in Turkey, and conservative nationalism resurgent, Ankara will continue to bolster its alliance with Baku while trying to expand its influence further east into the Turkic republics of Central Asia.

That explains Turkey’s support for a transportation route linking it with Azerbaijan (what Baku calls the “Zangezur corridor”) through Armenia, potentially cutting off Iran. But preserving channels of dialogue can make the differences between Ankara and Tehran more manageable. Turkey also realizes that, should relations sour further, Iran can leverage its ties with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) against Ankara. Policymakers in Baku would be wise to realize the limits of the Turkish support in any potential future conflagration with Tehran.

Azerbaijan’s close relations with Israel represent a different set of variables. Baku strongly benefited from Israel’s military technology, particularly drones, during the war with Armenia. Pro-Israel organizations also are a mainstay of Baku’s lobbying efforts in Washington directed, in no small degree, to neutralizing the rival Armenian lobby and blunting human rights criticisms. In exchange, Azerbaijan is expected to continue providing a platform for Israel’s intelligence activities aimed at Iran.

Meanwhile – already after the latest Baku-Tehran spat cooled down – the state-run Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy is proudly hosting a member of a group of Washington pundits who openly advocate for Iran’s dismemberment on ethnic lines because that, in their view, would benefit Israel. In this context, given the bellicose statements from Israeli officials concerning Iran’s nuclear program and the uncertainty surrounding the revival of the multilateral agreement that held it in check, Tehran continues to see Azerbaijan as a potential staging ground for an Israeli military attack.

This growing threat perception is leading Iran to build up its deterrence against Baku. Recently, the influential website Iranian Diplomacy, linked to former high-ranking diplomat Sadeq Kharrazi, published an article criticizing the government’s purported “appeasement policy towards Ankara and Baku” and calling for a more robust defense of “Iran’s national interests in the north.”

In practical terms, one immediate way of doing so is for Iran to pivot towards Armenia. Many in Baku saw the recent trucking spat as ending in Azerbaijan’s favor, as Iran committed to banning its trucks from travelling to Nagorno-Karabakh. The reality, however, is more complex: While Tehran indeed conceded on that issue, it also has made it clear that it will henceforth prefer Armenia, rather than Azerbaijan, as its conduit for north-south trade, thus depriving Azerbaijan of some potentially lucrative business opportunities.

Resurgence of irredentism

Other Iranian moves could be even more fraught for Azerbaijan. Iran’s efforts to cultivate pro-Iranian constituencies, primarily through Shiite religious organizations, have not yet borne fruit. Few in Azerbaijan are attracted to the Iranian system of governance, and not all devout Shiites are pro-Iran.

But over decades of international ostracism, Iran has developed highly adept skills of asymmetric warfare. The fact that Tehran today lacks any credible proxies or allies in Azerbaijan does not mean that it won’t keep trying. Iran will simply adapt to a strategic landscape that is different from Lebanon or Iraq, where the “proxy strategy” has so far proved more successful.

Internal developments in Azerbaijan and Iran, meanwhile, are contributing to a deepening of the divide between the two nations.

Authorities in Baku have been using the crisis with Tehran to launch a crackdown on alleged “Iran sympathizers” in the country, by closing down a number of Shiite religious websites and detaining some prominent Shiite clerics, even though the evidence of their pro-Iranian activity is flimsy at best. Meanwhile, the state-affiliated media continue to accuse Iran in harsh terms of meddling in Azerbaijani affairs.

While in Azerbaijan there has been a resurgence of irredentism inspired by the thought of “reunifying” the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan with the northern Iranian provinces largely populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis and known to nationalists as “southern Azerbaijan,” in Iran a countervailing movement also has gained momentum.

From this angle, it is Azerbaijan that must be reunified with the “Iranian motherland” after being forcibly incorporated into the Russian empire in the 19th century. These views have gained fresh prominence in Iran, especially on the level of public discourse. The influential reformist daily Shargh is instrumental in disseminating them. But such views are not limited only to reformist circles, as Iranian nationalism is increasingly serving as a glue around which different segments of the population can rally.

With both Baku and Tehran digging in on their current foreign policy trajectories, and public attitudes in both countries increasingly seeing each other through an adversarial lens, both neighbors appear destined to continue on this collision course for the foreseeable future. 

 

Eldar Mamedov is a political adviser to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament. This article reflects his personal views and not necessarily the opinions of the S&D Group and the European Parliament.

  

Producer Eric Esrailian Gets Papal Medal, Announces Terry George Northern Ireland Peace Process TV Project

Emil Lazarian
VARIETY Magazine
Nov 18 2021

Courtesy Eric Esrailian

Los Angeles-based physician and producer Eric Esrailian, who recently received a medal from Pope Francis for his philanthropic activity around awareness of the Armenian Genocide, is developing a TV series entitled “Ceasefire” about the Northern Ireland peace process.

Oscar-winning Irish writer-director Terry George (“In the Name of the Father”) is attached to direct. 

“Ceasefire” is to depict the dynamics and diplomacy that facilitated the historic Good Friday peace agreement of April 1998, which helped transform Northern Ireland after decades of bitter conflict, in hopes that it can help similar political situations.

“You look at the events around the world and you say: ‘Where has there been a successful brokering of peace between two hostile opposing forces?’” Esrailian said, citing other political flashpoints such as the Israel–Palestine conflict and the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

“If you read more about the ceasefire between Loyalists and republicans in Northern Ireland you see how the tension goes back literally hundreds of years,” he added.

“You can’t find two groups of people more bitterly opposed to one another, yet a ceasefire was successfully accomplished,” Esrailian noted. “I think that’s a fascinating subject matter; it’s relevant and timely.”

Esrailian also underlined that George — who has depicted “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland in early work like “Some Mother’s Son” and “The Boxer” — has a great grasp of the series’ subject matter and of the U.S. involvement in brokering the peace treaty. The “Ceasefire” series is being shopped around and “there is a lot of interest,” he said.

George previously directed Armenian genocide drama “The Promise,” which was bankrolled by late billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, and starred Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac. In 2017, prior to its U.S. release, the movie screened at the Vatican Cinematheque in a clear sign of Catholic Church support.

More recently, Esrailian was among the producers of the Discovery Plus doc “Francesco,” directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, in which the pope talks candidly about hot button issues such as same-sex couples, women’s rights and sexual abuse in the church. “Francesco” also features footage of Francis’ 2016 visit to Armenia, during which he used the term “genocide” to describe the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I, sparking an angry reaction by the Turkish government, which strongly denies that a genocide occurred.

“For nearly 100 years the Turkish government influenced storytelling in the United States by suppressing the story and pressuring the U.S. State Department,” Esrailian noted.

But in 2019, the U.S. recognized the Armenian genocide through two congressional resolutions passed by both houses of Congress.

“I’m someone who loves working in storytelling for social impact,” said Esrailian, who on Oct. 25 received the Benemerenti medal from Pope Francis for exceptional service to the Roman Catholic Church, becoming the first Armenian to receive this honor.

 

While Armenia is talking about peace, Azerbaijan is multiplying xenophobic statements – FM

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 20 2021
, 16:23

 1 minute read

Armenia makes every effort to establish lasting peace in the region. However, for this process to be effective, the efforts must be bilateral, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in an interview with Le Figaro.

“The rhetoric of the two sides is very different. Armenia speaks of opening all channels of communication, while Azerbaijan insists on the so-called “corridor” (with Nakhichevan). Armenia, as a manifestation of goodwill, is ready to hand over all the maps of mines located in the region at its disposal, but Azerbaijan, despite its obligation, does not release the Armenian prisoners of war,” the Foreign Minister said.

“While we are talking about peace, Azerbaijan is multiplying xenophobic statements. Testament to that are the speeches of the President of Azerbaijan, the so-called “Military trophy park” that opened in Baku this spring,” the Foreign Minister noted.

Asked how far this hate speech can go, the Foreign Minister said. “The answer to this difficult question is in Baku. Hatred can lead to annihilation or genocide. The Armenian people know that.”

“Lasting peace is important, but it is difficult to imagine the presence of the Armenian population in the territories controlled by Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, no Armenians live in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan, which is a factual proof of ethnic cleansing,” Ararat Mirzoyan stated.

Armenian expert: We must get ready for ‘new inevitable clash’ with enemy

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 20 2021

Vardan Voskanyan, an Armenian expert on Iran and head of the Chair of Iranian Studies at the Yerevan State University (YSU), believes Armenia must get ready for a new clash with Azerbaijan, calling it “inevitable”.

“For years, attempts have been made to convince us that peaceful coexistence with the enemy is possible according to a conventionally very simplified formula, “Let’s concede this and peace will come”. In fact, this is a delusion stemming from improper knowledge about the enemy, an illusion of settling down in a comfort zone that does not exist in Advanced Asia, the vanity of which we see almost every single day,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, even after colossal losses, we as a nation and a state do not want to realize that such a comfort zone in the region, where the sacred land of our ancestors is located, has never existed in the long run, does not exist now and will not exist in the foreseeable future.

“Thus, it is necessary to prepare not for some stillborn ‘era of peace’, but for the inevitable next clash with the enemy, and the first step to be ready for it and to succeed is to brace ourselves for the inevitability of such a confrontation, rather than to stick to the unrealistic and destructive approach ‘concessions in exchange for peace’,” Voskanyan stated.

Newspaper: Armenia soldiers are prohibited from filming episodes from their service, posting them on internet

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 20 2021
09:36, 20.11.2021

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The Azerbaijani side disseminates videos—on various Telegram channels—of the Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes of the recent days, of how the Azerbaijani soldiers take Armenian soldiers captive, beat, debase [them]. And this gives the impression that ours are meager, do not know how to fight, surrender quickly, do not defend themselves and the [military] positions entrusted to them.
Of course, there are such shameful scenes, too, and there is a need to find out why our soldiers have found themselves in such a situation. But ours have fought heroic battles, too—destroying the enemy, which, however, is not video recorded and not disseminated by us.
We were told that the soldiers of the Armenian army are forbidden to film the episodes of their [military] service and disseminate [them] on the internet. It is about the heroic episodes with the participation of our soldiers during military operations.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijanis are able to film, disseminate what they have done—even what they have not done—, carry out a psychological attack, and they are winning in the information war. [But] ours even passed a law banning journalistic work at the border, not realizing that it means losing in the information war and conceding to the enemy.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/19/2021

Emil Lazarian 
                                        Friday, 
Ruling Party MP Says Russia Offers Border Demarcation Process ‘From Zero’
        • Astghik Bedevian
Left to right: members of the Civil Contract parliamentary faction Eduard 
Aghajanian, Andranik Kocharian and Artur Hovhannisian during news briefings in 
parliament, 
Russia has offered Armenia to start the process of demarcation and delimitation 
of its Soviet-era border with Azerbaijan “from zero,” a senior lawmaker 
representing the ruling Civil Contract party said on Friday.
“And Armenia has given its consent to participate in the initial stage of this 
work,” Andranik Kocharian, head of the parliamentary defense committee, added 
during today’s news briefings.
Another Civil Contract lawmaker Eduard Aghajanian, who heads the parliamentary 
foreign relations committee, said that Russia has already been informed about 
Armenia’s position in writing.
Still during a cabinet meeting on Thursday Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said 
that Russia’s Defense Ministry had presented proposals on “the preparatory stage 
of border delimitation and demarcation” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He said 
that the proposals were acceptable to Yerevan.
Asked to elaborate about what proposals were made to Armenia, Aghajanian said: 
“It is too early to talk about their content at the moment, we are talking about 
beginning preparatory work. After reaching an agreement on certain technical 
issues Armenia will be ready to form a commission to start the actual work.”
What appear to be fresh Russian proposals were revealed two days after the 
latest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan along their un-demarcated border. 
Armenia admitted some territorial losses in what it claimed to be Azerbaijani 
aggression against its sovereign territory.
Pashinian said in parliament on Wednesday that Azerbaijan has occupied a total 
of 41 square kilometers of sovereign Armenian territory since starting border 
incursions last May.
Ruling party lawmakers today did not rule out that a possible exchange of 
territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the context of Azerbaijani enclaves 
that existed during the Soviet times may come up during discussions as part of 
the border delimitation and demarcation process.
“At this moment I have no idea what maps will be used during the process and 
what logic will be applied. I think it is too early to speak about this issue 
now,” the head of the parliamentary foreign relations committee said.
A representative of the opposition Hayastan faction, meanwhile, accused 
Pashinian of trying to implement some agreements “reached behind the people’s 
back under the guise of ensuring peace against the backdrop of border tensions.”
“By and large, the government is trying to use what happened – the losses, the 
casualties – for a false peace formula,” Artsvik Minasian claimed.
Members of the opposition Pativ Unem parliamentary faction Tigran Abrahamian (L) 
and Hayk Mamijanian during news briefings in parliament, 
Hayk Mamijanian, secretary of the other opposition Pativ Unem faction, claimed 
that “it turns out that Armenia enters the process of border demarcation under 
the threat of use of force.”
Another Pativ Unem lawmaker Tigran Abrahamian suggested that “if Azerbaijan 
continues its current behavior and the Armenian authorities continue to show 
their undignified attitude, in a year or two Azerbaijan will not need to 
delimitate and demarcate its borders with Armenia, because the problem they 
[Azerbaijanis] are trying to solve through seeming negotiations, in fact, will 
have been solved through the use of force.”
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service asked Civil Contract’s lawmakers to comment on what 
stage Armenia’s application to Russia for military assistance is at the moment.
Aghajanian said that Armenia had applied to Russia to restore its territorial 
integrity and the problem is expected to be solved as a result of the proposed 
demarcation and delimitation process.
“Russia’s military intervention is not an end in itself. The most important 
issue at the moment is to ensure the inviolability of the sovereign territory of 
the Republic of Armenia, and border delimitation and demarcation is one of the 
tools that will ensure that result,” the pro-government lawmaker explained.
Pashinian Addresses Azerbaijan’s ‘Military Provocations’ At EEU Gathering
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C) addressing a session of the Eurasian 
Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan, 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again accused Azerbaijan of ratcheting 
up tensions in the region by means of military provocations as he addressed on 
Friday a Yerevan gathering of heads of government of several former Soviet 
nations making up the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Addressing his counterparts from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, 
Pashinian said on the second and final day of the Eurasian Intergovernmental 
Council’s workings in the Armenian capital that like last year’s event held 
after the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh today’s event is also taking place amid 
a tense atmosphere in Armenia.
“I cannot but notice that just like a year ago, when we were hosting a regular 
session of the [Eurasian] Intergovernmental Council, today Armenia is facing 
serious challenges threatening its security,” the Armenian leader said.
“Our region has been plunged into a new phase of tensions, which, unfortunately, 
led to more loss of life. The responsibility for this lies with Azerbaijan, 
whose military provocations are aimed at violating the territorial integrity of 
our country, aborting the agreements reached under the trilateral statements of 
November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021,” Pashinian added.
Simmering border tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan turned deadly on 
November 16 as both sides accused each other of large-scale provocations and 
aggression.
At least six Armenian and seven Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in the fighting 
that was stopped due to a ceasefire mediated by Russia.
The new border escalation was followed by renewed international calls on Armenia 
and Azerbaijan to engage in a process of delimitating and demarcating their 
Soviet-era border.
Pashinian said on Thursday that a Russian proposal on the “preparatory stage” of 
the border delimitation and demarcation process was acceptable to Yerevan.
Discussions at the Yerevan sessions of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council 
focused on a wide range of issues related to cooperation in the post-Soviet 
integrational space, including the 2020 situation in mutual trade, the 
development of the agro-industrial complex, the harmonization of the positions 
of the member states on the climate agenda, the EEU biosafety strategy, the 
development of e-commerce, and others.
According to the Armenian prime minister’s office, documents were signed as a 
result of the sessions.
It was also decided that the next sitting of the EEU Intergovernmental Council 
will be held in January 2022 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Armenian Death Toll In Recent Border Clashes Rises To Six
An Armenian soldier near a military outpost along the border with Azerbaijan 
(file photo)
At least six Armenian soldiers were killed in the November 16 clashes with 
Azerbaijani forces along the border between the two countries, military 
authorities in Yerevan said on Friday.
Shortly after a Russian-mediated ceasefire was reached on Tuesday, Armenia’s 
Defense Ministry admitted one dead, saying that communication with 24 other 
Armenian soldiers had been lost, while 13 soldiers had been taken prisoner by 
Azerbaijan.
In a statement released today the ministry reported the names of five servicemen 
killed in the clashes, including one officer, saying that the identity of 
another soldier killed in the fighting could not be established yet.
“Intensive work with the mediation and participation of the Russian side is 
underway to repatriate soldiers who were taken prisoner or went missing as a 
result of the fighting,” the ministry said.
It added that the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as of November 
19 morning remained “relatively stable and under the control of the Armenian 
Armed Forces.”
Azerbaijan said that seven of its soldiers were killed and 10 others were 
wounded in the Tuesday fighting that turned out to be the worst since a 
Russian-ceasefire put an end to Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities over 
Nagorno-Karabakh last November in which nearly 7,000 people were killed.
The latest fighting was followed by renewed international calls on Armenia and 
Azerbaijan to engage in a process of delimitating and demarcating their 
Soviet-era border.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that a Russian proposal 
on the “preparatory stage” of the border delimitation and demarcation process 
was acceptable to Yerevan.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenpress: Military denies ordering high-ranking personnel to disengage

Emil Lazarian

Military denies ordering high-ranking personnel to disengage

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 09:51,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS.  The Armenian Ministry of Defense is denying as fake news the newspaper report claiming that during the November 16 Azerbaijani attack the Armenian military had ordered officers above the rank of Major to disengage from the combat zone.

“A media outlet report claimed that “During the latest military operations in Syunik officers above the rank of Major were not allowed to man positions in active combat zones”. This report has nothing to do with reality. We once again strongly call to refrain from spreading fake news,” the Ministry of Defense said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan