Author: Hagop Kamalian

 12:31,

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. A senior Member of Parliament of Armenia is calling for stronger measures in combating drug trafficking which he described to be a national security threat.

“Perhaps we don’t fully understand the present-day situation in Armenia. We don’t realize that a very serious percentage of teenagers are drug addicts,” MP Armen Khachatryan, the Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security Affairs warned at a parliament session.

“We don’t realize that this poses a serious national security risk. And our reforms, laws, words about the bright future would be in vain if drugs were to continue spreading at this rate. We don’t realize that this is a lot more dangerous and worse than the coronavirus [pandemic],” he said.

He called for stronger measures in combating drug trafficking.

The lawmaker even suggested introducing a new employment regulation in the public sector, requiring employees to pass a drug test once or twice a year or face termination in case of refusing to do so.

Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan told lawmaker that 2023 is a year of combating drug trafficking.

 10:32,

YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. The Cabinet approved on Friday the Defense Ministry’s bill on introducing a new voluntary military service option for women.

If the bill gets final approval in parliament, women will be enabled to join the military for a 6-month service.

The recruits will serve in the training military bases.

Servicemembers will receive a 1,000,000 AMD remuneration upon completion of the 6-month service.

Furthermore, after completing the 6-month term, recruits will have the chance to sign up for contractual military service for 5 years under the Homeland Defender option, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan explained at the Cabinet meeting.

In turn, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that this move is part of his administration’s concept of having a professional army.

“At first glance it may seem otherwise but this is actually a step for having a professional army, because we are enabling women to voluntarily join the military and serve for 6 months. This isn’t going to be a walk in the military base, this will be a normal military service. As a result, there’ll be citizens who will go back to their civilian lives after being discharged and will be listed in the reserve of our military. Some of them will want to enlist into professional service, and they will join the army and will start serving contractually. I am speaking about active duty combat service,” Pashinyan said.

The bill is expected to enter parliament during the current session, thus, if passed, the service option will be available during the upcoming winter conscription.

 15:41, 13 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. It’s already been nearly four months that Azerbaijan is illegally blockading the Lachin Corridor, ignoring the February 22 binding ruling of the International Court of Justice and the clear demand by the international community to fulfill it, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani on April 13.

“With the blockade of Lachin Corridor, the terror, as well as other actions aimed at making the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh forcefully leave their homes, Azerbaijan seeks to implement a coordinated policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh. I want to especially underscore that the International Court of Justice has stated the presence of direct threats of irreversible damages to the rights of Armenians under the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination,” FM Mirzoyan said.

FM Mirzoyan repeated that in this situation, unimpeded access of international humanitarian organizations into Nagorno Karabakh and the deployment of an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh and Lachin Corridor can have important significance to end the fake narratives generated by Azerbaijan, to prevent the aggression, end human sufferings and establish stability in the region.

Mirzoyan also mentioned the violations of other terms of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement by Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan refuses to return all Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held as hostages, by continuing false trials against them,” FM Mirzoyan said.

He added that along with refusing to ensure the return of IDPs and refugees to Nagorno Karabakh under the supervision of the UNHCR as envisaged under the 9 November statement, Azerbaijan is populating the Armenian settlements that have gone under its control with Azerbaijanis.

By displaying explicit disregard for fundamental principles of international law, Azerbaijan continues belligerent rhetoric and hate speech, threatening with renewed aggression and seriously jeopardizing regional stability, the Armenian FM added.

The United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan on February 22 to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. The Lachin Corridor has been blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022.

 11:43,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. The Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia (under the R.H. Yolyan Hematology Center) plans to launch new services in 2023 which will be of “important significance” for the entire country, Professor Gevorg Tamamyan, the Head of Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, Chairman and Professor at Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology of Yerevan State Medical University, CEO of the Immune Oncology Research Institute told ARMENPRESS.

“The first center will be opened this month, the Center of Cancer Survivors, which will be a meeting point for all children who’ve completed treatment. They will continue to be monitored in this specialized center and will receive both medical and psychological-social assistance,” Tamamyan said.

The Hereditary Cancer Predisposition Clinic will also be opened this year. It is under development with support from the Children’s Health Foundation. The Youth and Adolescent Oncology Project is also in progress. Tamamyan described this program as “unprecedented” for Armenia and noted that even many developed countries don’t have such programs.

The Children’s Immunology Clinic will also be opened in 2023.

Leading researchers and doctors from around the world will gather in Yerevan, Armenia on May 19-21 for the SIOP (International Society for Pediatric Oncology) Asia XV Annual Congress.

Nelly Margaryan

 17:23, 7 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of World Health Day – the World Health Organization’s 75th anniversary – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia stands ready to enhance cooperation with WHO.

“As today we join int’l community in celebrating #WHO75 , Armenia stands ready to enhance cooperation with WHO aimed at ensuring quality health care accessible for all, promotion of healthy lifestyle & health emergencies prevention, preparedness, response & recovery. ,” Pashinyan tweeted.

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 19:04,

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. On March 31, the delegation led by the President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, Laurent Wauquiez visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial, accompanied by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to France Hasmik Tolmajyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

Harutyun Marutyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, welcomed the guests and presented the history of the creation of the memorial complex. He also referred to the three khachkars erected in the Tsitsernakaberd area in memory of the Armenians who died in the massacres organized by the Azerbaijani government in the cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad (Gandzak), Baku at the end of the last century, and the stories of the five freedom fighters of the Artsakh war buried in front of Hushapat, stressing the link between what happened and the Armenian Genocide.

The members of the delegation from France laid flowers on the khachkars and graves, paying their respect to the memory of the victims of the anti-Armenian policy implemented by the Azerbaijani authorities.

Mr. Laurent Wauquiez laid a wreath at the monument commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide, then the guests placed flowers near the eternal fire and honored the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide with a minute of silence.

Mr. Laurent Wauquiez stressed that the warm Armenian-French relations have a centuries-old history and that France should do everything to prevent another genocide against the Armenians.

Harutyun Marutyun thanked Mr. Wauquiez for standing by Armenia.

At the end of the visit, the French delegation was also in the Park of Remembrance, where Laurent Wauquiez watered the silver fir tree he had planted in 2019.