Author: Janet Ekmekjian

 11:38, 20 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. The Office of spouse of the Armenian prime minister Anna Hakobyan released details from the March 4 meeting of Mrs. Hakobyan with US First Lady Melania Trump in Washington D.C..

Mrs. Hakobyan’s spokesperson Hasmik Harutyunyan told Armenpress that the meeting was held before the International Women of Courage Award.

“Before the award Anna Hakobyan and Melania Trump held a brief meeting. First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Anna Hakobyan’s visit to the United States and highlighted her participation to the Award. In her turn Anna Hakobyan introduced the activities of the two foundations chaired by her. Both sides talked about their role and mission, and in this context emphasized the importance of the role of women. Anna Hakobyan and Melania Trump also discussed the holding of the Award and stated that such events are very important and serve as a great example, as well as inspire the other women”, Hasmik Harutyunyan said.

On March 4 Armenian PM’s wife Anna Hakobyan participated in the annual International Women of Courage Award in Washington D.C. at the invitation of the US Department of State.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenian celebrated retired athlete Shavarsh Karapetyan appointed advisor to Bashkortostan leader

 10:39,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Shavarsh Karapetyan, 66, the Armenian retired athlete who became a household name after saving dozens of people from drowning in a 1976 accident in Yerevan, has been appointed to serve as Advisor to Radiy Khabirov, the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a federal subject in Russia.

According to Russian media reports Karapetyan will advise Khabirov on sports affairs.

Shavarsh Karapetyan, Merited Master of Sports of the USSR, 11-time finswimming World Record-breaker, is better known for an incident which occurred on September 16, 1976. On that day, Karapetyan was jogging with his brother alongside the Yerevan Lake, when suddenly a trolleybus crashed into it.

The trolleybus lay at the bottom of the lake some 25 meters (80 ft) offshore at a depth of 10 meters (33 ft). Karapetyan swam to it and, despite conditions of almost zero visibility, due to the silt rising from the bottom, broke the back window with his legs. The trolleybus was overcrowded, it carried 92 passengers and Karapetyan knew he had little time, spending some 30 to 35 seconds for each person he saved.

Karapetyan managed to rescue 20 people (he picked up more, but 20 of them survived), but this ended his sports career: the combined effect of cold water and the multiple lacerations from glass shards, left him unconscious for 45 days. Subsequent sepsis, due to the presence of raw sewage in the lake water, and lung complications prevented him from continuing his sports career. But two years later he attempted a comeback, and won gold at USSR championships, before a final retirement.

The main belt asteroid 3027 Shavarsh, in 1978 discovered by Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, was named after him.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:57, 11 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. All passengers who arrived to Yerevan on board a Ryanair flight from Rome, Italy on March 10 showed no signs of infectious diseases upon screening, healthcare authorities announced.  The Healthcare and Labor Inspection Agency said their personnel carried out disinfection and screening.

The agency said all arrivals to Armenia are filling in address cards which are forwarded to district clinics for further monitoring of their health condition.

Earlier the healthcare ministry issued a travel warning amid the novel coronavirus outbreak against Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, China, Iran and South Korea.  Armenian nationals arriving from these countries are advised to avoid contacts and self-quarantine for 14 days.  The Ministry of Healthcare said heightened monitoring and screening is being carried out at the Yerevan airport.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 12:37, 11 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. On March 11, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the ceasefire regime on the border of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the south-east of Akna, the foreign ministry of Artsakh told Armenpress.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (CiO) Mihail Olaru (Moldova) and Ognjen Jovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

From the opposite side of the border, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE CiO Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and staff member of the Office of the CiO Personal Representative Martin Schuster (Germany).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule.

From the Artsakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the Republic of Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

 17:08, 12 March, 2020

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS. State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Grigori Martirosyan, who is also the chairman of the inter-agency commission coordinating the preventive actions for the spread of the new coronavirus, today had a meeting with Healthcare Minister Arayik Baghryan during which they discussed the actions carried out so far and the future steps to prevent the spread of the disease, the State Minister’s Office told Armenpress.

State Minister Martirosyan was interested in the process of actions to prevent the virus, as well as the level of material and technical service equipment means.

The healthcare minister reported that as of now no case of coronavirus has been detected in Artsakh.

“Till now nearly 40 samples were sent to Armenia for testing, and all the results were negative. I would like also to inform that discussions are being organized, being in constant contact with the Armenian partners. Thanks to the complex measures taken so far all hospitals have been equipped with both single-use items, disinfectants, etc.”, the minister said.

The State Minister said that earlier the government reached an agreement with two companies according to which face masks are produced in case of necessity which are in accordance with the medical norms and are provided for additional use according to the distribution lists.

At the end of the meeting the State Minister urged all citizens of Artsakh to avoid traveling to foreign countries, business trips, except of strict necessity.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 11:24, 13 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan commented on the speech of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev made in the parliament.

Armenpress presents the MFA spokeswoman’s comment:

“At the opening session of the newly appointed parliament the President of Azerbaijan delivered an extensive speech, which time and again contains clear manifestations of hate speech towards Armenia and Armenian people.

The authorities of Azerbaijan try to disguise low level of legitimacy of recent parliamentary elections, inability to implement political and democratic reforms under the veil of aggressive, groundless and false allegations which target not only Armenia and the Armenian people, but also European countries, European structures and the International Election Observation Mission to the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

It is particularly concerning that Azerbaijani leadership tries to instrumentalize religion in its unjustified allegations, on the one hand, accusing European countries of violating the rights of migrants on religious grounds, and calling for religious solidarity in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the other hand.

The promotion of enmity against the Armenian people, accompanied by new historical and geographical “discoveries” by the President of Azerbaijan, fundamentally contradicts the commitment of Azerbaijan to build up an environment conducive to peace and prepare populations for peace.   

From this perspective it should be noted that extremely low standards of human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan seriously hinder the advancement of the Nagorno Karabakh peace process, particularly the implementation of agreements, reached within that framework. 

Attempts of the leadership of Azerbaijan to build its own legitimacy on the grounds of hatred towards the neighbouring nation and of mistrust towards the international community are irresponsible and can undermine the regional peace and security”.

Thu 05 Mar 2020 07:15 GMT | 11:15 Local Time

 17:50, 3 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has nearly 1000 laboratory test kits for detecting novel coronavirus and will get 2000 more on March 6. ARMENPRESS reports Healthcare Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan said in an interview with journalist Karlen Aslanyan, RFE/RL's Armenian Service.

“In addition, we negotiate with the UK and Russia. There are some offers also from China, Japan and the USA. We are still considering if we should get new test kits, since up till now we received the test kits from our partners as assistance. It’s possible that there will be no need for new ones, because my prediction is that we are on the way of declining outbreaks with the exception of one-two countries. Many other specialist also share my prediction”, Torosyan said.

According to the Minister, the regulations of the movements in the border checkpoints of Armenia give positive results and maybe there will be no need for getting more test kits.

32 people in Armenia are isolated with coronavirus suspicions. They stay at “Golden Palace” hotel in Tsakhkadzor.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 17:29, 1 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, accompanied by his family, Cabinet members and other government officials, paid tribute to the memory of the 2008 March 1 unrest victims today, on the 12th anniversary of the events. The PM laid a wreath near the Myasnikyan statue in central Yerevan.

A rally was scheduled to take place, but the mass gathering was cancelled after authorities confirmed the first novel coronavirus case in the country.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan