Author: Janet Ekmekjian

 09:50,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Seismological Network of the Seismic Protection Regional Service says it detected a magnitude 2,4 earthquake at the Georgia-Armenia border zone, 16km south-west from the town of Dmanisi at 04:45 local time November 26.

The tremors measured at MSK 3 at the epicenter.

The Seismological Network of the Seismic Protection Regional Service hasn't received any reports on residents having felt the tremors. 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 19:04,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS.  The National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly of Armenia gave a negative conclusion to the issue of abolishing the martial law in Armenia. ARMENPRESS reports ‘’Bright Armenia’’ Party had submitted the issue to the parliament.

‘’We think that the abolishment of the martial law as soon as possible will contribute to our steps aimed at mitigating the existing crisis’’, MP Gevorg Gorgisyan said.

Cabinet member, Deputy Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said that it’s necessary to be cautious about full abolishment of the martial law. Chairman of the Standing Committee suggested that the discussion of the issue should be postponed by one week.

By the vote of the committee, the draft decision of the National Assembly "On the abolition of martial law" received a negative conclusion. The issue of including it in the agenda of the special session of the parliament will be discussed on November 26, at 11:00.

Martial law was declared in Armenia on September 27, when Azerbaijan unleashed war against Artsakh.

 17:41,

YEREVAN, 24 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 24 November, USD exchange rate up by 6.99 drams to 512.31 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 8.71 drams to 608.83 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.09 drams to 6.75 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 9.09 drams to 684.65 drams.

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

Gold price down by 163.19 drams to 30310.21 drams. Silver price up by 1.15 drams to 393.74 drams. Platinum price up by 50.14 drams to 15581.71 drams.

 10:14,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be settled within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

“The United States, France and Russia are Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the main goal of which is the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. And the situation should be solved within this framework”, Pompeo said in an interview to Le Figaro, reports TASS.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:35,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The main achievement of the ceasefire in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone is the fact that “cannons are silent”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, reported by TASS.

“We need to ask military experts”, he said when asked how the Kremlin evaluates the first week of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace. “However, we primarily need to focus on the fact that cannons are silent. This is the main achievement. People are not dying. This is the most valuable thing there can be”.

On November 9 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a statement on a full ceasefire and cessation of all military actions in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone since 01:00 Yerevan Time on November 10. Russian peacekeepers are being deployed to Nagorno Karabakh.

 11:39,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that he personally bears entire responsibility for the latest developments in Artsakh, but at the same time he highlighted the need to explain all circumstances to the society.

“There is no doubt that I am the number one official who bears responsibility for what happened. I realize that due to this fact – perhaps this will sound harsh – I will stand before our people’s trial, but in this case the people must be able to make conclusions, they must know all circumstances of the case. Hearing out the very troops, the opposition and the government is an inseparable part of this process. I find it important that the developments that took place should be understandable,” Pashinyan said during an online news conference.

The PM also elaborated on the past negotiations process. He said that as of May 2018, the NK negotiations process had crossed the point of no-return when the issue had entered the “territories in exchange for nothing” logic. Pashinyan reminded that during those days, many Republicans where voicing their predictions, claiming that difficulties and surrender of territories will happen in Artsakh.

“There are three options in this case: Either these people are prophets, or the government and I are conspirators, or they knew back then on what point the negotiations process on Karabakh had stopped and where it had reached. My policy in this context was the following – to try and not agree to this all and to attempt to change the logic. And essentially, we can say that unfortunately we didn’t succeed, because we were facing a situation when there was an international consensus that the territories must be returned to Azerbaijan without preconditions. And we, indeed, we were unable to change this logic, and perhaps we didn’t accurately assess the possibilities for changing them. On the other hand, if we didn’t accurately assess it, then what should we had done? Adapt with that reality? I couldn’t adapt with that and I tried to increase Armenia’s resistibility regarding this issue. I tried to do everything in order to increase the level of capabilities of the Armenian military,” he said.

Pashinyan said the accusations in his address are contradicting one another. He said on one hand there are accusations for signing a document on surrendering territories, and on the other hand there are accusations on why it wasn’t done earlier.

“Our army, our military fought and resisted for as long as it had a concrete strategic and tactical purpose and meaning. On the other hand we are again accused in contradicting things. We are accused for the victims of war, we are accused that we took that step in order to avoid victims and not allow the blockade of 20-35 thousand people. I bear entire responsibility for this all, but to bear it fully I find it necessary for all circumstances to be explained to the public,” Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan