11:24,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received today Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, the President’s Office told Armenpress.
A range of issues related to the protection of human rights and cooperation between the relevant structures of the two Armenian states was discussed during the meeting.
Artsakh Republic Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan and other officials attended the meeting.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenian expert in Azerbaijani studies Taron Hovhannisyan commented on the outcomes of Saturday’s public debate between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Munich.
The expert stated the Azerbaijani president had attended the discussion without having a clear agenda.
“He came for a show, which proves that Azerbaijan is not ready to resolve the conflict,” he said.
In Hovhannisyan’s words, Aliyev spoke of a key norm of the international law – the right to self-determination – with contempt, advising Armenians to “find other places on earth to self-determine themselves for the second time, not in Azerbaijan.”
“Aliyev confirmed their demands that they need Karabakh without Armenians, or rather the whole region without Armenians,” the expert noted, adding that Azerbaijan is not ready to be confined to any territory and has further-reaching plans related to Zangezur.
Taron Hovhannisyan stressed the importance of removing the term “territories” from the Karabakh peace process and hailed the prime minister’s attempt to classify the conflict as a matter of security, which had been done before as well.
According to the expert, it is crucial to show Azerbaijan’s destructive policy during events similar to the Munich debate, but the Armenian side failed to do it.
19:59,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Reporter Dana Mazalova who interviewed former president of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov and published the article in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” reaffirms that irrespective of the efforts of the incumbent president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to distort the reality, her article is in full compliance with what former Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutalibov said during the interview which took place in April, 1992.
The reporter regrets that she was unable to preserve the recording due to technical reasons.
“There was no internet, there were no computers, but I reaffirm that what I wrote back then are what Ayaz Mutalibov said, I have not added anything. Now he can deny it as he wants, but he said it the way it is printed in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” newspaper. I have the copy of that newspaper and its available on the net, Ayaz Mutalibov has said it”, Dana Mazalova said in an exclusive interview with ARMENPRESS. Mutalibov gave an interview to Dana Mazalova after 1 month following his resignation.
Mazalova heard about the tragic events of Khojaly from the video recordings of cameraman Chingiz Mustafayev, who had personally made exclusive records. “Chingiz, whom I met in Kislovodsk, told me in his apartment how those people were killed, they were hurting their knees so they couldn’t go. The knees… the most vulnerable place on human’s body. I was scheduled to take an interview from Ayaz Mutalibov the next day. I could not help asking him what I had seen in the records made by Chingiz. Of course, I did not say the name of my friend Chingiz not to harm him. After 2 months Chingiz was killed”, the reporter recalls with grief.
Dana Mazalova told also about another recording of Chingiz Mustafayev. The bodies of the victims of Khojaly events were seen in a video recording done on February 28 in front of the military positions of the “Popular Front” of Azerbaijani troops. According to Muslim traditions, the bodies should have been buried within two days, but Chingiz Mustafayev could record them also on March 2, but this time the bodies were taken to another place and were vandalized. In the video recording of February 28 it could be seen that Azerbaijani soldiers were walking near the bodies.
“I feel very guilty for not taking and copying those recordings. I feel so sorry up till now. I think you understand that my interview with Mutalibov was the result of those video recordings and my conversations with Chingiz”, Mazalova said.
To the remark of the reporter of ARMENPRESS that incumbent president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev used the public platform of Munich Security Conference on February 15 to deny the words of Mutalibov, Mazalova emphasized, “I will put this way. We know that Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide up till now”.
One month after the Khojaly tragedy Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutalibov was interviewed by Czech reporter Dana Mazalova.
– What would you say about the Khojaly events, after which you resigned? At the time, bodies of people from Khojaly were discovered not far from Aghdam. Someone had shot them in the legs beforehand to prevent them from running away. Afterwards they were axed. On February 29th my colleagues filmed them. When we next filmed on March 2 these corpses had been scalped. What kind of strange game was that?
– As the rescued residents of Khojaly say, all that was organized to create grounds for my resignation. I don’t think that the Armenians, who had manifested a clear and knowledgeable approach to such situations, would have allowed Azerbaijanis to obtain evidence that tied them to fascist acts. If I declare that it was the fault of the Azerbaijani opposition I could be blamed for slander. But the overall picture of the conclusions is as follows: the Armenians had, in any case, provided a corridor to let the civilians escape. Why then would they shoot? As soon as Khojaly was surrounded by tanks it was necessary to immediately lead the civilians out. Earlier I had given similar orders regarding Shushi – to evacuate women and children and to leave only men in the city. It’s one of the laws of war – civilians must be rescued. My conduct was appropriate and unambiguous – I gave such orders, but why they weren’t followed in Khojaly is not clear to me.
Photo from “Novoe Vremya”
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
15:43, 8 February, 2020
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian’s spouse, First Lady Nune Sarkissian has undergone a surgery at the Astghik Medical Center in Yerevan.
President Armen Sarkissian is currently at the hospital.
After the surgery, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Nune Sarkissian in the clinic.
Other details weren’t immediately available.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
ArmInfo. The Chamber of Advocates of Armenia made a statement regarding the decision of the Parliament on submitting draft amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia for referendum.
The Council of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Republic of Armenia notes that the rule of law and the separation and balance of powers, which have been enshrined in Articles 1 and 4 of the Constitution of the Republic, are of key importance in the establishment of the rule of law.
The Council of the Chamber of Advocates calls on the deputies of the National Assembly, the Government and political forces to concentrate on ensuring the further progress of judicial and legal reforms, including, in particular, removing obstacles to the professional activities of lawyers, ensuring the right to a trial within a reasonable time, increasing confidence in the courts, introducing an effective system for monitoring the implementation decisions of the Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Cassation, and so on. The Chamber of Lawyers expresses its readiness to closely cooperate with state bodies in various formats regarding the implementation of these real reforms.
The day before, the Armenian parliament decided to submit draft amendments to the Constitution to the referendum. Thus, this question is referred actually to the will of the citizens of the country. During the meeting, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan spoke. In particular, he stated that at one time the Republican Party of Armenia usurped power belonging to the people. Pashinyan emphasized that the issue of the Constitutional Court should be decided by the people of Armenia. The prime minister also called on judges of the Constitutional Court to resign before the president signs the referendum law.
In turn, PACE has already spoken on this topic. PACE co-rapporteurs for monitoring in Armenia called on Yerevan to send a bill to the Venice Commission on amendments to the republic’s constitution in order to remove the head of the Constitutional Court and a number of judges and wait for her answer. They noted that this opinion, in the case of a referendum, would be valuable to all parties.
17:58,
YEREVAN, 31 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 31 January, USD exchange rate is down by 0.09 drams to 478.60 drams. EUR exchange rate is up by 0.33 drams to 527.80 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is down by 0.05 drams to 7.56 drams. GBP exchange rate is up by 4.72 drams to 627.78 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price is up by 69.31 drams to 24285.08 drams. Silver price is up by 3.87 drams to 272.74 drams. Platinum price is down by 156.73 drams to 14987.27 drams.
Lydian will supposedly apply to arbitrary which will create legal issues for the country, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the reporters today in Kapan.
“Today too I urge to open the road and consider the actions of our dear compatriots illogical as because of them the issue has entered a deadlock. The issue will not be solved unless the road is opened,” Armenia’s PM said.
He stressed that he is interested in exploitation of the mine.
“I can say both yes and no. I am interested in the exploitation of Amulsar mine as it is related to Armenia’s security environment. If Amulsar was exploited this year we would have had not 7,5 but much bigger economic growth and thousands of jobs,” the head of the government stated.
“On the other hand in no case I will agree to exploitation of Amulsar if it harms the health of the people of Armenia, Jermuk and nearby communities and causes not restorable harms to the country’s nature,” Pashinyan said.
The PM said as far as the road to the mine is closed we cannot conclude whether the exploitation will harm or not.
“I consider such actions illogical, disrespectful, not stemming from Armenia’s interests,” the head of the government said.