Author: Jhanna Virabian

World Commemorates Armenian Genocide

Jhanna Virabian

04/24/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Today marks the annual day when the world commemorates the 1915 Armenian genocide committed by Ottoman-era Turks. This day was chosen as the commemoration because it was when 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested, deported, and later massacred. This marked the start of a years’ long genocide which specifically targeted ethnic Christians. Millions of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians were murdered.

Normally, commemoration events are held in Turkey although the authorities make every attempt to discourage these kinds of events. The government does not necessarily ban individuals from mentioning the genocide, but through other indirect means, the outcome is often the same. The government refuses to acknowledge the genocide, at times even calling it a justified action. Though the world acknowledges the historical accuracy of the genocide, Turkey calls it a false interpretation. As such, public commemoration events in Turkey are often a subject of great controversy.

However, COVID-19 does impact the ability for normal public commemoration activities. Many have moved to an online version. Given that the government remains hostile and sensitive towards commemoration activities, and that the authorities have increased their attempts to restrict free speech online, it is important to watch their response today and in the following weeks.



Artsakh elections an example of democratic elections for the world – Vladimir Zakharov

Jhanna Virabian

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 14:25,

YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Vladimir Zakharov, Director of the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian Region, who observed the second round of the presidential election in Artsakh, says these elections are an example of democratic elections for the world.

“Both the March 31 general elections and yesterday’s second round of the presidential election were held in a democratic way. Moreover, talking to the people I saw that they are talking more about the development of Artsakh. I think the elections in Artsakh are an example for the world on how the democratic elections should be”, he said at a press conference today.

The voting in the second round of the presidential election was held in Artsakh on April 14. According to the preliminary results, Arayik Harutyunyan was elected President of Artsakh with 88% of votes. The other candidate, current foreign minister Masis Mayilyan received 12% of votes.

Reported by Norayr Shoghikyan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Serzh Sargsyan to hold press conference on 2016 April War after completion of state of emergency

Jhanna Virabian

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 14:08,

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is going to hold a press conference on the 2016 April War when the state of emergency is over in the country, the 3rd President told reporters today in the Parliament.

Serzh Sargsyan has been summoned to the Parliament to take part in the session of the parliamentary committee investigating the 2016 April War.

“Dear reporters I am more interested than you in communicating with our media outlets for a simple reason that I have nothing to hide, and the time has come that I am ready to respond to all your questions. I applied to the committee requesting to hold the session after the completion of the state of emergency, but the committee found it appropriate to hold the session on April 16, therefore, I am deprived of that opportunity because the issue is so important that I will not satisfy you by answering one-two questions. Immediately after the completion of the state of emergency I will invite all media outlets and will answer to all your questions connected only with the April events”, he told reporters.

Today’s session of the parliamentary committee investigating the April War is being held in a closed-format. The committee will provide the video recording of the session to the 3rd President.

Reported by Norayr Shoghikyan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Coronavirus: Total number of recoveries reaches 62 in Armenia

Jhanna Virabian

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 11:21, 6 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. 5 more citizens have recovered from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 62, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

As of April 6, 11:00, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia is 833.

8 deaths have been reported so far.

4,096 people tested negative.

At this moment, the number of active cases is 763.

On March 16 Armenia declared a 30-day state of emergency to battle the spread of COVID-19. The state of emergency is effective until April 14, 17:00.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan



https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1011260.html?fbclid=IwAR10qLy0Nwz00vygXFqWbkmAZi0iKDxDBq1dgku7pDaf2iOBgfaXrby4jcE

For today’s World Coronavirus update please see on Armenian News on FB today.

Armenia President: Rest in peace, dear Arianne! Be strong, dear Levon!

Jhanna Virabian
News.am, Armenia
March 31 2020

13:03, 31.03.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Armenian President Armen Sarkissian sent a letter of condolences Tuesday to Levon Aronian, a member of Armenia’s men’s national chess team and chess grandmaster, on the untimely death of his wife Arianne Caoili. The press service of the office of the President informs about this. The message states as follows:

“Dear Levon, we are in an unspeakable pain. The loss of your wife, Arianne Caoili, is immeasurable. Knowing both you and Arianne well, we knew that both of you are not ones to give up. And Arianne was fighting [for her life] until the last moment…

[My wife] Nouneh and I, of course, also our people, stand with you in sincere words of comfort and sorrow. Rest in peace, dear Arianne! Be strong, dear Levon!”

Armenia MFA: Turkey’s statement on Artsakh elections is another expression of hostile policy

Jhanna Virabian
News.am, Armenia
March 31 2020
Armenia MFA: Turkey’s statement on Artsakh elections is another _expression_ of hostile policy Armenia MFA: Turkey’s statement on Artsakh elections is another _expression_ of hostile policy

12:22, 31.03.2020
                  

The statement of the Foreign Ministry of Turkey on the elections being held in Nagorno-Karabakh is yet another _expression_ of Turkey’s hostile policy towards the Armenian people, Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“In line with its traditional method of selective interpretation of international documents, on one hand Turkey invokes the relevant UN Security resolutions and on the other hand  ignores their call to refrain from any hostile actions in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict explicitly addressed to the states in the region. While it is Turkey that has been imposing land blockade on the Republic of Armenia for decades and supporting aggressive and atrocious actions unleashed against the people of Artsakh, including in April 2016,” the statement reads.

“The reference of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry to the OSCE principles and the Minsk Process is equally groundless. We recall that the OSCE/CSCE decision of March 24, 1992, which laid a foundation for the Minsk Process, refers to the elected representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh as a participant in the process. Elections must be held to have elected representatives, and from this viewpoint, elections conducted in Artsakh don’t contradict, but derive from the logic and fundamental documents of peaceful process.

Turkey’s attempts to act as an international guardian of human rights and its appeals to the international community are more than bankrupted in the light of its constant violations of the rights of peoples and territorial integrity of its neighbors and its aggressive policy which breaches the norms of international law and democracy.”

New coronavirus clusters detected very early, says Armenian healthcare minister

Jhanna Virabian

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 14:28, 2 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. Some of the 92 coronavirus cases that were confirmed on April 2 in Armenia were new clusters, Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan said. He said that these clusters are mostly linked with imported cases of repatriated Armenians, but he said that the cases were detected early and they haven’t been widely spread.

“More than half of the 92 cases were quarantined or self-quarantined, or have had direct contact with earlier cases. There are also new clusters, especially imported cases, which we believe have been detected very early. Although their contacts are being traced as we speak, we don’t think that the circle of contacts is large,” he said.

Given the numbers, he called on the population to be on high alert and vigilant and maintain the self-isolation measures and other restrictions.

The total cumulative number of coronavirus cases in Armenia has reached 663, out of which 626 are active cases.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Rapid coronavirus test kits on the way to Armenia

Jhanna Virabian

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 19:13,

YEREVAN, MARCH 25, ARMENPRESS. Rapid coronavirus test kits are on the way to Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports Health Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan said during parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

”The test kits are on the way. We expect them every day. The delivery time of one batch is March 27, but we know that there are global logisitc issues”, Torosyan said.

On March 16 Armenia declared a 30-day state of emergency to fight the spread of COVID-19. The state of emergency is effective until April 14, 17:00.

Starting March 24, 23:59, the free movement of people is also restricted across Armenia until March 31, 23:59.

By 10:00, March 25 the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases was 265. 18 people have recovered so far.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

Azerbaijani hackers try to spread panic in Armenia

Jhanna Virabian
Arminfo, Armenia

ArmInfo. The National Security Service of Armenia has revealed several cases of hacking of account users of Armenian social networks by Azerbaijani hackers.

According to the NSS press service, in the course of monitoring the  social networks carried out by the body, in order to avoid  misinformation against the background of the situation with  coronavirus, records were revealed that there are allegedly cases of  deaths from the virus in Armenia.  As it turned out, in a number of  cases, these pages were hacked by Azerbaijani hackers and spread  misinformation on behalf of users from Armenia.

Moreover, the country’s Police also issued a statement in which it  noted that according to the agency, the Armenian users of social  networks did not know that similar records were published on their  pages in social networks. It was later established that these records  were made from Azerbaijani IP addresses. It should be noted that to  date 136 cases of coronavirus have been registered in Armenia. The  country on March 16 passed to a state of emergency, which will last  until April 14.