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

Prime Minister gets acquainted with the progress of the programs implemented by the Government in Lori Province

Emil Lazarian

 20:20, 3 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Lori Province and got acquainted with the progress of the projects implemented in communities funded by the Government, the PM's Office said.

Nikol Pashinyan's first stop was at Vardablur secondary school, where a new gymnasium was built. The Government allocated more than 237 million AMD for the project. The construction works started in May 2022.

Next, the Prime Minister got acquainted with the construction works of the new gymnasium of Stepanavan N1 school, for which more than 173 million AMD were allocated. During the tour, the Prime Minister recorded various problems and instructed the officials to rectify them in a short period of time.

The Head of the Government visited the Medovka settlement, where during the tour he got acquainted with the works carried out in the newly built modular primary school. Here too, Nikol Pashinyan recorded numerous problems. The Prime Minister made a speech here, in which he specifically stated:

"Dear students,

I'm glad to see you, but I don't congratulate you on the occasion of the new school yet, because I see quality problems.

As of now, we have been to three places and we have quality issues in all three. I can't imagine compromising on quality. And these objects also cannot be accepted and paid for until they meet our standard. Besides, what do we do? We visit a place for just 10-15 minutes, look, if something is visible at the first visual glance, it means that there are bigger problems deep down.

Mr. Ghularyan, here I see a problem related to the management of our programs. Wherever I look, there is a problem. We cannot stand in front of the children, look them in the eyes, and say: we built the school, congratulations, and leave. We have not built the school. This is a half-done job. And I don't see any reason to say anything else at this point. The quality issue should be resolved.

Is there no one from the government, no one from the governor's office, no one from the Urban Development Committee, no one supervises the works? Let's assume we didn't come, we weren't consistent, in what condition this school would be handed over to the children? Wherever I look, it seems that the builder wanted to steal 1000 drams from everywhere. You can't work like that. This is not an attitude. Do we want a kickback from the builder, does he give us money? Why are these people not doing their job? I am dissatisfied. And this is the responsibility of the Urban Development Committee, the responsibility of the construction inspector."

The school has more than 50 students, but it is designed for 144 students. Construction works started in November 2020. In Tashir, the Prime Minister got acquainted with the construction process of the medical center. The government allocated 1 billion 697 million AMD for the construction of a medical center with a capacity of 30 beds. Construction works started in October 2022, scheduled for completion in 2025.

Nikol Pashinyan also visited Hagvi settlement, where the modular building of the primary school was built. The cost of building the school designed for 144 students was more than 780 million AMD. The construction works started in November 2020. The school has a furnished playground, a solar photovoltaic station. Improvement and fencing works were also carried out.

The Prime Minister congratulated the students and teachers on the occasion of the new school. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the students will attend the newly built school from Monday, but the Government will not consider that the work has been completed.

"I think that in our lives in general, and especially in schools, we need to tone down the pathos a little and focus on the task and the work, because sometimes we don't even notice that the pathos is used to cover up the work that has not been done. And we need to focus on work and get out of this half-done mode, because half-doing seems to be our main mode of operation. This building is built for children and teachers, and everything should be adapted to them. It matters what happens in the classrooms. This building is still unfinished, has defects, the property is on the way, we still have to give it a life. We just gave you the cultivated or semi-cultivated land, you must sow, you must cultivate, you must harvest, and of course, the country and the state must also harvest the product.

Compared to the Medovka school, the impression from here is a little better, but there are many shortcomings. Are we underfunded? If we fund less, let's know we fund less. 780 million AMD have been allocated for this school. We must leave this mode of half-doing, this pathos must be overcome. The New Year ended yesterday, the toasts are over, now we need to get down to business," the Prime Minister emphasized.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, inspections are being carried out now and it is visible that the conditions of learning in schools is not so good. Of course, it also has to do with building conditions. "We should give our children the right message. First of all, the child should feel respect for himself. When we put the right architecture in terms of urban development, content, and education, the child will learn well whether he wants it or not. An appropriate environment must be formed.

I really want to address our teachers as well. The role of the teacher is fundamental. In other words, if the teacher is not within this logic, we will have problems."

The Prime Minister demanded from those in charge to be consistent and to provide appropriate solutions to all problems.

The Head of the Government got acquainted with the conditions of the new gymnasiums of primary schools named after Ghevond Alishan No. 27 and Admiral Isakov No. 23 of Vanadzor. The construction works were started in June 2022. The cost of construction of the gymnasium of school No. 27 was 83 million AMD, and for the gymnasium of school no. 23, 251 million 802 thousand AMD, which were allocated from the state budget.

The Prime Minister laid flowers in Vanadzor at the monument dedicated to the memory of the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the motherland.

Armenpress: Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly Iran bombings

Emil Lazarian

 10:00, 5 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for two explosions in Iran that killed nearly 100 people and wounded over 280 others at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani, Reuters reports.

In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the Islamic State said two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday. The Iranian government declared the bombings a terrorist attack.

The memorial was marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone.

Tehran has vowed revenge for the bombings.  The twin blasts wounded 284 people, including children.

"A very strong retaliation will be meted out to them by the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani," Reuters quoted Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as saying.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has condemned what he called Wednesday's "heinous and inhumane crime". Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the bombings.

The United Nations Security Council in a statement condemned what it called Wednesday's "cowardly terrorist attack" and sent its condolences to the victims' families and the Iranian government.

Iran vows response to Kerman terror attack

Emil Lazarian

 14:47, 5 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. Iran will respond to the Kerman terror attack, Ambassador of Iran to Armenia Mehdi Sobhani has said.

“Our nation is in sorrow,” Sobhani told Armenpress when asked whether Iran will respond to the Kerman bombings given that the Islamic State assumed responsibility for the bombings. “We are under public pressure in terms of giving a strong response. But we don’t want to act emotionally. We will respond accordingly taking into account the time and the form of the response. Terrorists can’t hold us back from our path by creating an atmosphere of fear. We will definitely punish our enemies, but we will take into account that factors [time and form of response.]”

Prime Minister congratulates all Armenians on Christmas

Emil Lazarian

 19:10, 5 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. On Christmas Eve, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated all Armenians on Christmas.  

In a video message published on his Facebook page, Nikol Pashinyan extended Christmas greetings and read the 20th Psalm.

The Prime Minister concluded his congratulatory speech with a Christmas greeting: "Christ is born and revealed. Great news for you and for us!"

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 01/05/2024

Emil Lazarian 
                                        Friday, January 5, 2024


Baku Again Demands ‘Corridor’ Through Armenia

        • Heghine Buniatian

AZERBAIJAN -- Hikmet Hajiyev, the head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department 
of Azerbaijan's Presidential Administration, gives a press briefing in Baku, 
February 26, 2021


Azerbaijan has renewed its demands for Armenia to open an extraterritorial 
corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave.

A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed that Yerevan has an 
“obligation” to do so under the terms of the Russian-brokered ceasefire that 
stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

The truce accord commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between 
Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan. It says that Russian border guards will 
“control” the movement of people, vehicles and goods. The transport links would 
presumably pass through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran.

The Armenian government has rejected Baku’s demands, saying that Azerbaijani 
passengers and cargo cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls. It insists 
on conventional transport links between the two South Caucasus states.

Iran also strongly opposes the so-called “Zangezur corridor” sought by Aliyev. 
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reaffirmed Tehran’s stance when he met with a 
visiting Azerbaijani official in October. Aliyev’s top foreign policy adviser, 
Hikmet Hajiyev, said later in October that the corridor “has lost its 
attractiveness for us” and that Baku is now planning to “do this with Iran 
instead.”

But in an interview with Germany’s Berliner Zeitung newspaper published on 
Thursday, Hajiyev said that the planned construction of a new road as well as a 
railway connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan via Iran does not mean that Baku 
has abandoned the idea of the corridor passing through Armenia.

“The route through Armenia is Yerevan’s obligation which they must fulfill,” he 
said.

Hajiyev confirmed that Baku wants to make sure that Azerbaijani people and 
cargos travelling to and from Nakhichevan are not checked by Armenian border 
guards or customs officers.

Aliyev has implicitly threatened to open the corridor by force, prompting stern 
warnings from Iran. His renewed demands for the corridor follow what Armenian 
and Azerbaijani officials call major progress made in talks on a bilateral peace 
treaty.

Armenian opposition leaders dismiss Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s regular 
assurances that the treaty will preclude another war with Azerbaijan. They also 
say that he is willing to make disproportionate concessions to Baku and get very 
little in return, a claim denied by Pashinian and his political allies.

The main purpose of the 2020 ceasefire cited by Hajiyev was to stop fighting in 
Karabakh and prevent new hostilities. The deal led to the deployment of Russian 
peacekeepers in Karabakh and gave them control over the Lachin corridor 
connecting the region to Armenia.

Azerbaijan disrupted commercial and humanitarian traffic through the corridor in 
December 2022 and set up a checkpoint there in April 2023 in breach of the 
ceasefire. It went on to launch a military offensive in Karabakh in September 
2022, forcing the region’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia.




At Least 223 Karabakh Armenians Killed During Azeri Offensive


Nagorno-Karabakh - A residential area in Stepanakert damaged by Azerbaijani 
shelling, September 19, 2023.


At least 198 soldiers and 25 civilian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh were killed 
during last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive that enabled Baku to 
recapture the region, according to a senior Armenian official.

Five children were among the casualties, Argishti Kyaramian, the head of 
Armenia’s Investigative Committee, told Armenian Public Television late on 
Thursday. He said that five other civilians and 15 Karabakh Armenian soldiers 
went missing during the 24-hour hostilities that broke out on September 19.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has acknowledged around 200 combat deaths among 
its military personnel involved in the operation. Its troops greatly outnumbered 
and outgunned Karabakh’s small army that received no military support from 
Armenia. Karabakh’s leadership agreed to disband the Defense Army in return for 
Baku stopping the assault and allowing the region’s ethnic Armenian residents to 
flee to Armenia.

More than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians, the region’s virtually entire remaining 
population, left their homeland in the space of a week. The hundreds of cars, 
buses and trucks carrying them caused a massive traffic jam on a 50-kilometer 
road leading to Armenia.

It reportedly took most refugees at least 30 hours to reach the Armenian border. 
According to the Investigative Committee, 64 of them died during the arduous 
journey due to a lack of medicine, medical aid and food.

A satellite image shows a long traffic jam of vehicles along the Lachin corridor 
as ethnic Armenians flee from the Nagorno-Karabakh.

The exodus began amid chaotic scenes inside Karabakh blamed for a massive 
explosion and fire at a fuel depot outside Stepanakert on September 25. The 
blast left at least 218 people dead. Videos posted on social media showed 
hundreds of cars parked near the depot, waiting to fuel up and head to Armenia.

The Armenian authorities maintain that Karabakh’s depopulation is the result of 
“ethnic cleansing” carried out by Azerbaijan. In October, Armenia’s human rights 
ombudswoman, Anahit Manasian, accused Azerbaijani troops of committing war 
crimes during the assault.

“There are many bodies, including of civilians, transported from 
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia that carry signs of torture and/or mutilation,” 
Manasian told reporters.

Baku denies forcing Karabakh residents to flee their homes and says the 
Azerbaijani army did not target civilians during its offensive condemned by the 
United States and the European Union.




U.S. Peace Efforts ‘Not Thwarted By Russia’

        • Anush Mkrtchian

U.S. - State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller speaks during a news 
briefing in Washington, July 18, 2023.


Russia is not torpedoing U.S. efforts to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace 
accord despite being strongly opposed to them, the U.S. State Department 
insisted on Thursday.

Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the United States and the European Union are 
seeking to drive it out of the South Caucasus, rather than end the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

In early December, the Russian Foreign Ministry also rebuked Armenia for 
ignoring recent Russian offers to organize more peace talks with Azerbaijan. It 
warned that Yerevan’s current preference of Western mediation may spell more 
trouble for the Armenian people.

“Russia does not in any way prevent us from conducting the important diplomatic 
efforts we think are necessary for Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we will continue 
to pursue them,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, told a news 
briefing in Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been scheduled to host the Armenian 
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington on November 20 for further 
negotiations on a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations. Baku 
cancelled the meeting in protest against what it called pro-Armenian statements 
made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and 
Eurasia.

O’Brien visited Baku afterwards in what appears to have been a failed bid to 
convince the Azerbaijani leadership to reschedule the cancelled meeting. Miller 
indicated that no new date has been agreed for it yet.

“We’ll have an announcement to make when we have a meeting scheduled,” he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, 
said on December 19 that Washington must reconsider its “one-sided approach” to 
the conflict before it can mediate more peace talks.

On December 28, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov revealed that Baku 
has proposed that he and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan hold direct 
talks at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian government has still not 
publicly responded to the offer.

In an interview with the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung published on 
Thursday, Hajiyev said Baku and Yerevan do not need third-party mediation in 
order to negotiate the peace treaty. “We are not against honest mediation in 
principle but prefer direct discussions,” he said.

Armenian analysts have suggested that Baku does not want Western mediation 
anymore because it is reluctant to sign the kind of agreement that would commit 
it to explicitly recognizing Armenia’s borders and thus preclude Azerbaijani 
territorial claims.

Yerevan has said, at least until now, that the two sides should use Soviet 
military maps printed in the 1970s as a basis for recognizing each other’s 
territorial integrity and delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Its 
position has been backed by the EU but rejected by the Azerbaijani side.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenpress: Iran says at least 103 people killed, 141 wounded in explosions at ceremony honoring slain general

Emil Lazarian

 19:46, 3 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. Iranian state media said Wednesday at least 103 people have been killed by explosions minutes apart targeting a commemoration for a prominent general slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020.

Another 141 were wounded,  Iranian media reports.

The blasts struck an event marking the the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, who died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.

The explosions occurred near his grave site in Kerman, about 510 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran.




Russia, Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners

Emil Lazarian

 10:25, 4 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the biggest single release of captives since the war began in February 2022.

Russia said on Wednesday that 248 of its soldiers were returned while Ukraine said 230 of its prisoners were released after mediation by the United Arab Emirates.

“On January 3, 2024, as a result of a complicated negotiation process, 248 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. The return of the Russian servicemen from captivity was made possible thanks to the humanitarian mediation of the United Arab Emirates,” TASS news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying in a statement. 

Al Jazeera quoted Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, as saying that 230 Ukrainian prisoners, including six civilians, had been released, marking what he said was the 49th exchange between the two sides.

Armenia looks forward to working jointly with Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU – FM Mirzoyan

Emil Lazarian

 10:35, 4 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has lauded Spain for its activities during its Presidency of the Council of the EU and welcomed Belgium’s presidency in 2024.

“My congratulations to José Manuel Albares and outgoing Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU for activities during exceptionally challenging times,” Mirzoyan said in a statement on X. “Appreciated that EU Council Spanish Presidency advanced our common agenda, aimed at further strengthening EU’s partnership with Armenia based on shared vision.”

“Warmly welcoming Belgium’s Presidency of EU Council, I wish every success to my counterpart Hadja Lahbib. Armenia looks forward to working jointly with Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU to further deepen & strengthen our partnership with EU to effectively meet aspirations of our citizens,” he added.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 04-01-24

Emil Lazarian

 17:16, 4 January 2024

YEREVAN, 4 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 4 January, USD exchange rate up by 0.14 drams to 405.42 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.29 drams to 444.14 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 4.44 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.42 drams to 515.09 drams.

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

Gold price down by 322.43 drams to 26617.86 drams. Silver price down by 8.56 drams to 303.44 drams.

Dačić condemns Cameron’s promise to help Kosovo recognize independence

Emil Lazarian

 19:08, 4 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dačić sharply condemned the promise of his British colleague David Cameron to help the self-proclaimed Kosovo in recognizing independence by third countries, Political Lore reports.

The British Foreign Secretary is in Pristina on a working visit, where he held meetings with the Kosovo Albanian leadership and at a press conference promised to help Great Britain in obtaining new recognition of independence for the self-proclaimed republic.

“The statement is extremely hypocritical and deserves the sharpest condemnation. I have never mentioned (Kosovo “Prime Minister”) Albin Kurti, who, like self-proclaimed Kosovo, has been refusing to implement the Brussels Agreements for 11 years, which, among others, was signed and given guarantees on behalf of the EU by the British (ex- head of EU diplomacy) Catherine Ashton, and did not mention a word about terror and the forced expulsion of over 200 thousand Serbs, the destruction of Serbian medieval Christian churches and monasteries, but Cameron promises the so-called Kosovo assistance in new recognitions and in admission to international structures,” Political Lore quoted Dačić as saying.

According to the source, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia recalled that Great Britain recognized Kosovo’s independence the day after it was unilaterally declared on February 18, 2008, and has supported Pristina since then.