Author: Kalantarian Kevo

 13:00,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. On April 11 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Armenia hosted the “Maraga 30: Unpunished and Ongoing Genocide” Seminar dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Maraga massacre – the genocidal killings of peaceful Armenian population of the village of Maraga in Artsakh’s Martakert region committed by the Azerbaijani military.

The seminar was organized by the NAS Institute of History, the Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO and the Center of Human Rights and Genocide Studies NGO.

“This is history and we must remember it. This was the beginning of a series of genocides perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people. Historians, all of us must work in order for this to remain in history as a memory, and that generations remember it,” NAS President Ashot Saghyan said in his remarks.

“Genocide happened all across Armenia. This was committed not only by the authorities of Ottoman Turkey but also by Azerbaijan which was created by the Young Turks and Turkey,” said Against Legal Arbitrariness Executive Director Larisa Alaverdyan.

NAS Institute of History Director Ashot Melkonyan said the Maraga massacre was one circle of the entire chain of genocidal policy.

“The genocidal policy directly passed on from the Ottoman Empire to the First Republic of Azerbaijan, it had other manifestations in the Soviet years, and during the third Republic we saw what manifestations happened by Azerbaijan in 1991-1994, in April of 2016 and in 2020. The Maraga genocide was left in the shadow. It was an example of a war crime against the peaceful population. This seminar will be another occasion to study in depth and note the entire genocidal policy which Azerbaijan inherited from Ottoman Turkey and continues to this day,” he said

The grounds and possibilities for a possible application to the international court over the Armenian Genocide was also discussed at the seminar.

The continuous genocide against Armenians, the responsibility of the Turkish-Azeri authorities and the issues of Armenians and Armenian communities in the post-war period were also discussed.

The Maraga 1992: Golgotha of the late 20th Century film was screened.

 18:07,

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The number of congressmen supporting the bipartisan bill on teaching about the Armenian Genocide is increasing in the US Congress, ARMENPRESS reports the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) informs on its Facebook page that US Congressmen Barbara Lee, James McGovern, Jackie Speyer and Jimmy Gomez have expressed their support for the bill.

The bipartisan bill on teaching about the Armenian Genocide was introduced in Congress by US Congressmen Carolyn Maloney and  Gus Bilirakis. The goal of the bill is to allocate $ 10 million to the Library of Congress over the next five years to implement educational programs on the history, lessons, circumstances, and current manifestations of the Armenian Genocide.

In particular, educational programs should address the deliberate, state-sponsored massacres, deportations, and cultural annihilation of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldeans, Aramaeans, Maronites, and other Christian minorities 1915-1923.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is currently working hard to get as many congressmen as possible to pass the bill.

 10:32, 8 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 8, ARMENPRESS. The 9^th group of the humanitarian mission of Armenia delivered 4 tons of medical and healthcare items to Aleppo’s hospitals on April 7 in cooperation with the Embassy of Armenia in Syria, the Humanitarian Demining and Expert Center of Armenia said.

The healthcare sector representatives thanked Armenian doctors for the daily medical assistance provided.

So far, the Armenian humanitarian mission has delivered 24 tons of medicine to Aleppo’s medical centers.

 15:15, 28 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. The Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission Garegin Baghramyan says he believes that there should be a discussion with the involvement of the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank in order to understand what currency would be more convenient for paying for the Russian gas.

Baghramyan made the comments at a press briefing when asked whether or not he finds the option of paying in rubles appropriate.

“As Chairman of the Commission, within my powers, I would prefer buying gas with a more firm currency,” Baghramyan added.

Baghramyan refrained from commenting on potential effects in the economy in the event of paying in rubles for gas.

“We must assess what currency is more beneficial for us. It should be viewed from an overall macroeconomic perspective.”

Earlier on March 23, the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan said the Armenian government is discussing the possibility of paying for Russian gas in rubles.

 11:51, 31 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is distorting clause 9 of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement which is about the restoration of all transport and economic connections in the region and the opening of the road linking Azerbaijan’s western regions with Nakhijevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“You know that Armenia presented comprehensive proposals on this matter. Without going into details, the essence of our proposal is the following: rebuild the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, reopen or build a road, which will also link Azerbaijan’s western regions with Nakhijevan, by conducting border, customs and other control at border checkpoints,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan noted that Azerbaijan is both accepting and not accepting this proposal, manifested when Baku says they agree to any legal regime for the launch of that road but the same regime must be applied in the Lachin corridor and they cite the November 9 state as a substantiation for this.

“This narrative is unfounded for two reasons: First of all, the November 9 statement doesn’t mention anything about any territory of the Republic of Armenia and any corridor relating to it, but it does contain the Lachin corridor term. The Lachin corridor is not, or isn’t simply a road, it is rather a territory of 5 kilometers width. According to the trilateral statement that entire territory is under the Russian peacekeeping control. Clause 9 of the trilateral statement simply doesn’t contain anything about any other country’s control on any territory of Armenia. And then, parallels between Nagorno Karabakh and Nakhijevan are strange for several reasons. First of all, Nakhijevan has land connection with Azerbaijan through Iran and Turkey. And it has air connection through the airspaces of Iran, Turkey and Armenia.

Nagorno Karabakh only has land connection with Armenia, only through the Lachin corridor, and making the Lachin corridor a territory in any way controlled by Azerbaijan would mean one thing – the exodus of Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said the comparisons of the Lachin corridor with the road in question through Armenian territory is unacceptable, and that the November 9 statement doesn’t envisage any corridor through the territory of Armenia and that Armenia has not accepted and will not accept any corridor logic.

 19:06,

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan received Ambassador of France to Armenia Anne Louyot on March 28.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the meeting focused on the situation in Nagorno Karabakh following the invasion of the Azerbaijani armed forces. Ararat Mirzoyan considered inadmissible the continuous provocations by Azerbaijan against the civilian population of Nagorno Karabakh, aggressive actions, attempts to deliberately disrupt the normal operation of vital infrastructure.

Minister Mirzoyan highlighted the appropriate and targeted response of the international community to the situation, aimed at the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani armed forces from the territory of Nagorno Karabakh and the de-escalation of the situation.

 19:42,

YEREVAN, 24 MARCH, ARMENPERSS. The protection of the line of contact in the direction of Parukh, Khramort settlements of Askeran region, ensuring the security of the civilian population living in those communities is within the mission of the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the Artsakh Republic, ARMENPRESS reports the information headquarters of Artsakh informs.

It is noted that at the moment the peacekeepers are at their bases, the negotiations are continuing.

“We once again urge the population to remain calm, the situation on all other parts of the line of contact is stable at the moment,” the statement said.

The Azerbaijani armed forces violated the line of contact in the direction of the village of Parukh in Artsakh’s Askeran region.The government of Artsakh said representatives of the Artsakh Defense Army and the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh are attempting to prevent through negotiations the further advance of the Azerbaijani troops and return them to their original positions.

As a safety precaution, women and children in the village of Khramort in Askeran region have been evacuated.