Author: Garo Vardanian

Highly necessary to clarify details of peacekeeping operation in Nagorno Karabakh – PM Pashinyan

Garo Vardanian

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 11:28, 4 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. The developments taking place in Nagorno Karabakh these days and the events that have taken place before are bringing about issues of systemic nature, PM Pashinyan said in remarks at the Cabinet meeting.

“I’ve numerously said that the presence and activity of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh is a key factor for ensuring the security of the Armenians of Artsakh, and we highly appreciate Russia’s efforts in ensuring security and stability in our region. A number of developments in Nagorno Karabakh that took place since November 2020, including the latest developments, raise issues among the Armenian society about the content and nature of the peacekeeping operation in Nagorno Karabakh. The December 11, 2020 capture of the villages of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher and Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan in the presence and connivance of Russian peacekeepers, the March 24, 2022 capture of the village of Parukh in NK again in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, the continuous and increasing ceasefire violations along the line of contact, the cases of physical and psychological terror against Armenians of NK in the presence of peacekeepers are simply unacceptable. In this context, it is becoming highly necessary to clarify the details of the peacekeeping operation in NK. This was needed from the beginning, parallel with the deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in NK. But we must admit that Azerbaijan obstructed this process by refusing to sign the mandate of the activities of the peacekeeping contingent in NK, whereas Armenia signed it in November of 2020 itself, and we expect this bilateral-format signed mandate to function fully,” Pashinyan said.

Chess Olympiad: Levon Aronian won’t play against Armenia

Garo Vardanian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 5 2022

In the 7th round of the World Chess Olympiad held in the Indian city of Chennai, the Armenian men’s team will meet with the US team, in which the former leader of the Armenian team Levon Aronian performs for the first time. He will not play against the Armenian national team.

In previous rounds, the Armenian team beat Madagascar (4-0), Andorra (3-1), Egypt (2.5-1.5), Austria (3-1), England (2.5-1.5), second team of India (2.5-1.5) and tops the standings with 12 points. Team USA is in second place with 11 points.

The women’s team of Armenia in the 7th round will meet with the team of Israel.

Armenian President holds farewell meeting with the Ambassador of Latvia to Armenia

Garo Vardanian

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 18:11, 5 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. On August 5, the President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received Ingrida Leverence, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to Armenia, who is completing her diplomatic mission in our country.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the President’s Office, Vahagn Khachaturyan thanked the Ambassador for the works done during her tenure and wished success in her future activities.

Ambassador Leverence noted that it was a great honor for her to work in our country and despite the fact that her tenure coincided with the difficult period caused by the pandemic and the war, she made the best efforts to expand and develop the relations between the two countries.

Mirzoyan, Lavrov discuss implementation process of trilateral agreements

Garo Vardanian

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 15:46, 2 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a telephone conversation today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

During the phone talk the implementation process of the 2020 November 9, 2021 January 11 and November 26 high-level trilateral agreements were discussed. The commitment to implement them comprehensively and effectively, particularly those relating to the unblocking of transportation and economic ties in South Caucasus, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border delimitation and the normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku, was reaffirmed.

In the context of bilateral relations, the sides paid special focus on the current situation of the Russian-Armenian ties and their further intensification prospects, including in the context of the implementation of the agreements reached during the Armenian Prime Minister’s recent official visit to Russia (April 19-20) and during the CSTO summit on May 16.

The FMs praised the high level of the mutual partnership between Yerevan and Moscow within the frames of common Eurasian integration structures.

The upcoming bilateral action plans were also discussed.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 01-08-22

Garo Vardanian

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 17:12, 1 August 2022

YEREVAN, 1 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 1 August, USD exchange rate down by 0.18 drams to 407.53 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.35 drams to 417.80 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.04 drams to 6.59 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 2.35 drams to 498.90 drams.

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

Gold price down by 11.46 drams to 22973.73 drams. Silver price up by 9.58 drams to 262.90 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

Eurasianet: Aliyevs strengthen control over Azerbaijan’s central bank

Garo Vardanian
NEWS.am
Armenia –
Eurasianet: Aliyevs strengthen control over Azerbaijan’s central bank
16:18, 27.07.2022

Thanks to a recent series of personnel reshuffles, Azerbaijan’s central bank has come under even tighter control of the country’s ruling family. Azerbaijani journalist Ulkar Natiqqizi writes about this in the article “Azerbaijan: Ruling Family Strengthens Control of the Central Bank“.

“The change of guard at the bank began in April, when President Ilham Aliyev appointed Taleh Kazimov, a loyal supporter of his family, as chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

Kyazimov is 38 years old; since 2015, he has held senior positions in the management of Pasha Bank, which Aliyev’s daughters Arzu and Leyla Aliyev co-own with their grandfather Arif Paşayev, Aliyev’s father-in-law.

This appointment was unexpected: the previous chairman of the Central Bank Elman Rustamov held this position since 1995, and in April 2020, he was re-approved for another five-year term. However, in April Aliyev, without offering any justification, proposed to parliament to dismiss Rustamov, and lawmakers obediently approved this decision and appointed Kazimov to the vacated position. Rustamov was then appointed advisor to Prime Minister Ali Asadov, but has not been heard from since. Nor is he mentioned on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.

By law, the bank must be politically independent, and many observers saw in Kazimov’s appointment a sign that Aliyev was tightening control over the banking system.

“The banking sector was already under the control of Pasha Holding. Now the Pashayevs dominate it indiscriminately,” economist and opposition politician Gubad Ibadoglu wrote on Facebook.

As it turned out, this appointment was only the first step.

In May, Kazimov hired a new advisor, Farhad Valiyev, who also held a high position in Pasha Bank’s management. Prior to joining Pasha Bank, Valiyev worked at Premium Bank and Silk Way Holding; both of these companies are also affiliated with the ruling house.

Then, on June 1, another high-ranking Pasha Bank employee, Gular Pashayeva, also became an advisor to Kazimov.

And on July 22, Kyazymov promoted Pashayeva to general director of the Central Bank. On the same day, Oksana Ismailova, who had held the same position at Bravo Supermarket, one of the largest businesses within Pasha Holding, which brings together all the family firms, became the new head of the Central Bank’s human resources department.

“The Central Bank has officially become a branch of Pasha Bank. Long live Pasha Azerbaijan!” – this is how one Facebook user commented on the latest appointments. The satirical news site Hamam Times responded to these events with speculation about how they might affect the national currency, the manat.

“In short, from now on, the fate of Azerbaijan’s national currency is in the hands of former employees of Pasha Bank or Pashayev’s people,” Hamam Times wrote. – What do you think will be more profitable for Pashayev – a strong manat, a weak manat, a fixed rate or a floating manat?”

CHW closely monitoring earthmoving close to St. Yeghisha Church of Mataghis

Garo Vardanian
Panorama
Armenia –

CULTURE 11:30 26/07/2022 NKR

The Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) is closely monitoring earthmoving adjacent to the St. Yeghisha Church of Mataghis, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“As of July 5, the basilica appears structurally unchanged since the 2020 war. But the proximity of earthmoving raises concern,” it said on Facebook on Monday.

According to the inscription engraved on the lintel of the southern entrance, the construction of the church took place in 1892-1898, the Artsakh Monument Watch says in its historical overview.

The inscription says: “The Church of St. Yeghisha was built by the united people of Mataghis. It was started in 1892 and was completed in 1898” (Fig. 2). During the visit of M. Barkhudaryants in 1894-1895, the church was still half-built and unconsecrated (Barkhutaryants 1895, 231).

Architectural-compositional description

The church is a three-nave basilica, built of local light brown rough and hewn stones. The dimensions of the monument are 15.07 meters long and 8.16 meters wide (Figs. 3-4). It is completely plastered inwardly. The semi-circular bema is high, has two vestries, it is vaulted, the roof is covered with earth (Fig. 5).

The entrance is from the south, three windows open from the east, two from the south and one from the west.

The condition before, during and after the war

Before the war the church was completely standing. Hot battles took place in the village of Mataghis during the Second Artsakh War and it is not known to what extent the monument was damaged. After the war, a video was spread by Azeris on social media, where it was visible how several men in military uniforms enter the church and break the icons. The video also shows that various broken objects are scattered on the floor (Cultural vandalism in St. Yeghisha Church of Mataghis – Monument Watch).

UK to host Eurovision 2023

Garo Vardanian

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 16:16,

YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC have confirmed that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in the United Kingdom on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine’s UA:PBC, the Eurovision TV said.

This decision had been made following the exploration of hosting the Contest in Ukraine, and regrettably concluding that for safety and security reasons this was not possible. 

As a result of those discussions, the BBC, as runner up in the 2022 Contest, was invited by the EBU to act as Host Broadcaster for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

Ukraine, as the winning country in 2022, will automatically qualify for the Grand Final of the upcoming Contest.

“We’re exceptionally grateful that the BBC has accepted to stage the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK in 2023,”said Martin Österdahl, the Eurovision Song Contest’s Executive Supervisor.

Opposition MP reacts to former Armenian army chief’s ‘remarkable statements’ on 2020 war

Garo Vardanian
Panorama
Armenia – July 18 2022

MP Tigran Abrahamyan of the opposition Pativ Unem faction has called the latest statements of Tiran Khachatryan, a former chief of the Armenian military’s General Staff, on the 2020 Artsakh war “remarkable”.

“Former Deputy Chief of the General Staff Tiran Khachatryan has made quite remarkable statements, which reveal new details about the 44-day war, confirming the existing suspicions,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday.

The lawmaker highlighted that General Khachatryan held a top position during the war, thus possessing military information which a “small number of people” had access to.

“In an interview with 168.am, the latter has confirmed that former General Staff Chief Onik Gasparyan ordered the army corps and the Artsakh Defense Army to go on the defensive, but there were some personnel who was not fully prepared for the enemy attacks, hinting at the Defense Army,” Abrahamyan said.

“Moreover, Khachatryan claims that before the war there was an order from the Chief of the General Staff to be at the defense points, but former Defense Army Commander Jalal Harutyunyan was not there when the war broke out.

“The main reason of our defeat in the war was that despite reliable data on the outbreak of hostilities (they say that the intelligence had even revealed the exact day of the war outbreak), the armed forces, particularly the Defense Army, were not fully deployed, carrying out only certain reinforcements, which in such circumstances was extremely inadequate.

“Moreover, the intelligence reportedly made it clear that the main target of the offensive would be Artsakh, thus the Armenian army corps not only took appropriate measures to put troops on high alert, but also had time to redeploy the ammunition bases, which was not the case with the Defense Army, the bases of which were hit by Azerbaijani forces immediately after the start of the war,” the MP said.

Official: Armenia to no longer deploy troops to Karabakh

Garo Vardanian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia – July 19 2022
July 19, 2022 – 12:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan says that conscripts from Armenia will no longer be deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) for military service.

According to him, the process is nearing completion and will end in September.

Grigoryan added that conscripts in Artsakh will continue being drafted for military service in the Artsakh Defense Army, Armenpress reports.

“During the war, a number of units from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia went to help the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh. After the establishment of the ceasefire and the deployment of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation, the withdrawal of the units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh is logical,” Grigoryan said.

The Secretary maintained that Nagorno-Karabakh won’t be left without protection as the Defense Army will continue to ensure the security of the country.