Author: Karagyozian Lena

                                        Wednesday, 
Military Authorities Report Another Non-Combat Death
Armenia - An Armenian soldier on combat duty on the border with Azerbaijan 
(file photo)
A second soldier within a space of one day has been reported dead in the 
Armenian military in conditions that local authorities say were not related to 
immediate combat duties.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday morning Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman 
Artsrun Hovannisian said that 19-year-old combat medic Hamlet Avagian serving 
in Armenia’s armed forces died at the northeastern section of the Armenian 
border with Azerbaijan on March 12.
“The death was not caused by an enemy shot,” said Hovannisian. “We offer our 
condolences to Hamlet Avagian’s family and friends.”
Later, the Armenian Defense Ministry issued a statement, saying that Avagian 
slipped and fell into a gorge while going from one military outpost to another 
for the purpose of administering medical aid. It said the conscript died from 
the injuries he sustained during the fall.
“Investigation is underway to establish the circumstances of the case,” the 
Defense Ministry’s press office said.
On Tuesday, a soldier was arrested in Nagorno-Karabakh on suspicion of killing 
a fellow conscript in the ethnic Armenian defense army reported earlier that 
day.
The Armenia-based Investigative Committee did not immediately disclose the 
identity of the arrested soldier.
Earlier, military authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh reported that in the early 
hours of March 12, 19-year-old conscript Karen Karapetian sustained a fatal 
gunshot wound at an outpost in the northeastern direction of the ‘line of 
contact’ with Azerbaijan.
Still at the early stage of the probe investigators ruled out that the Armenian 
soldier might have been killed with a bullet released from Azerbaijani military 
positions.
OSCE Head Upbeat On Karabakh Peace Process
Armenia/OSCE - Miroslav Lajcak, OSCE's Chariman-in-Office, and Zohrab 
Mnatsakanian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, at a joint press conference in 
Yerevan,13Mar 2019
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sees all grounds 
for a ‘positive impetus’ to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the 
organization’s visiting top official said in Yerevan after talks with his 
Armenian counterpart on Wednesday.
At a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian, OSCE 
Chairperson-in-Office, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak describes his 
meeting with Armenia’s top diplomat as “very constructive.”
“I am here to reaffirm our ongoing support, in particular, to finding a 
peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and at the same time I 
express my absolute support to the actions and involvement of the Minsk Group 
co-chairs in the process,” said Lajcak.
The OSCE chairman-in-office, in particular, hailed the reduction of casualties 
along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I am convinced that all this will promote the implementation of a multi-sided 
process of finding a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Challenges are a lot, 
but I think that we have all the grounds to give a positive impetus to the 
process, considering the developments of the past months,” Lajcak said.
The OSCE chairman-in-office also stressed the importance of preparing the 
peoples for peace. “We understand that the conflict has not been settled yet, 
but we are convinced that the stage-by-stage, step-by-step approach and the 
developing dialogue, as such, will result in at least small improvements in 
peoples’ lives,” Lajcak said.
For his part, Armenian Foreign Minister Mnatsakanian said that during his 
meeting with the visiting OSCE official he reiterated that “the security and 
status of Nagorno-Karabakh are absolute priorities for Armenia.”
“I have also reiterated the approach on ensuring Nagorno-Karabakh’s involvement 
and its resolute voice in the process,” the Armenian minister said.
Mnatsakanian also stressed the need for introducing mechanisms for the 
prevention of border incidents, reducing risks of such incidents and enhancing 
confidence-building measures that were agreed at several meetings held through 
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ mediation in the past.
During the press conference the visiting top OSCE official was also asked to 
comment on Armenia’s stated position that Nagorno-Karabakh should become a full 
party to the negotiations that are currently conducted between Yerevan and Baku.
Lajcak stressed that any possible change of the format of negotiations needs to 
be acceptable to all parties and expressed confidence that the Armenian 
government has the “right formula” for continuing negotiations in the existing 
format.
During his visit to Yerevan the OSCE chairman-in-office also meet with Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
According to the press office of the Armenian prime minister, during the 
meeting Pashinian reaffirmed Armenia’s support for an exclusively peaceful 
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE 
Minsk Group co-chairmanship and presented “Yerevan’s principle-based position” 
on settlement process.
While in Armenia OSCE Chairman-in-Office Lajcak was also due to meet with 
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan.
Georgian President Visits Armenia
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian receives Georgian President Salome 
Zourabichvili, Yerevan, 
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday began her two-day visit to 
Armenia to meet with the neighboring country’s political leadership, including 
her counterpart Armen Sarkissian.
The two presidents met for talks in the Presidential Palace in Yerevan in the 
afternoon following a reception ceremony.
President Sarkissian told his Georgian counterpart that “the Armenian and 
Georgian peoples have a centuries-old history of friendship, which will surely 
continue in future generations.”
In his words, Armenian-Georgian cooperation in all spheres – from culture to 
science and modern technologies – has a huge potential for development and 
“everything needs to be done to make this cooperation deeper and more 
profitable.”
The official website of the Armenian president quoted the newly elected 
Georgian leader as noting that Sarkissian was the only president who attended 
her inauguration in December.
“It was a great honor for me. It was a sign of friendship between our two 
countries, which our society and I personally highly appreciate,” said 
Zourabichvili.
The president of Georgia said that the two nations “have a long way to go 
together, and it depends on them how they use the great potential in the 
region.”
Zourabichvili said that the two countries are united not only by geography, but 
also by the ethnic Armenian population of Georgia.
Before her meeting with President Sarkissian, at whose invitation she is 
visiting Armenia, the Georgian president visited the hilltop memorial to 1915 
Armenian Genocide victims at Tsitsernakaberd, accompanied by Armenia’s Deputy 
Prime Minister Tigran Avinian and Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian.
Zourabichvili also met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on March 13.
During the meeting Pashinian stressed that at present there is a “historic 
opportunity” for raising Armenian-Georgian relations at a new level. Pashinian 
reminded that as prime minister he paid his first international visit to 
Georgia, which, he said, shows how great importance Armenia attaches to 
developing relations with its neighbor.
For her part, Zourabichvili stressed that Armenia and Georgia have a lot in 
common geographically and historically, share a common vision for the future 
and have a lot to do together.
While in Armenia the Georgian president is also expected to meet with Armenian 
Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan and supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic 
Church, Catholicos Garegin (Karekin) II.
Parliament Allows Temporary Import Of Right-Hand Drive Cars
        • Arus Hakobian
Armenia - Right-hand drive cars block a street in Yerevan during a protest held 
by their owners, 7Jan2018.
Armenian lawmakers have allowed owners of already purchased right-hand drive 
vehicles to import them to Armenia within the next several weeks.
A relevant amendment to the law banning the import of such cars was passed 
unanimously in the first reading on Wednesday. It will be in effect until May 1 
and will apply to about a thousand right-hand drive cars purchased until 
December 30, 2018 and waiting to be cleared through customs.
The move comes as a concession to a large number of importers who claimed to 
have been misguided on the application of the April 2018 ban that they say they 
thought was supposed to be a temporary one.
Like most countries of the world Armenia uses right-hand traffic which requires 
steering wheels to be on the left side of vehicles. Nevertheless, Armenian 
authorities have not prevented imports of a growing number of right-hand drive 
cars over the past decade.
According to the Armenian traffic police, there are presently 32,000 such cars 
in the country. Most of them are cheap second-hand vehicles manufactured in 
Japan. Police officials say they cause a disproportionately large share of 
traffic accidents.
Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies Hakob 
Arshakian made it clear in parliament today that this is the last concession of 
the government concerning the ban on the import of right-hand drive cars and 
such cars purchased after December 30, 2018 will not be allowed for import.
As for the right-hand drive cars already in use, the minister said that there 
will be no obstacles in terms of their continued use.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” claims that the March 12 joint meeting of the Security Councils of 
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in Stepanakert can be viewed as ‘historic’ in the 
sense that it laid on the negotiating table a new issue, which “amounts to 
canceling the so-called Madrid principles that have been discussed thus far.” 
“Yerevan does not state directly about that, but in practical terms it declares 
that the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairs should present clearer and more 
unambiguous grounds for negotiations which would not leave room for 
misinterpretations,” the paper writes.
Lragir.am focuses on the part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s statement at 
the joint meeting of the Security Councils of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in 
which in the context of “preparing the peoples for peace” he spoke about his 
readiness to engage in dialogue with the people of Azerbaijan. “How will he be 
preparing the people of Azerbaijan for peace? There are, of course, different 
methods – from dialogue to imposing peace on someone. During the first Karabakh 
war it took place with the imposition of the ceasefire agreement… Since then 
the governments in Baku have been preparing their people for anything but peace 
and it is difficult to imagine that it is possible to change the situation in 
Azerbaijan,” the online paper comments.
“Zhoghovurd” sees new “obstacles” on the way of the Armenian government’s 
attempts to negotiate a lower gas price with Russia. “It became clear yesterday 
that Gazprom will pay more for the transit of its natural gas via Georgia. The 
issue of Armenia’s achieving diversification in its energy sector becomes 
topical again in this context. After all, Armenia’s dependence on Russia for 
gas inherited from the previous government is a serious problem and will remain 
such for a long time. The prospect of Armenia’s becoming a transit country for 
Iranian gas was recently discussed during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
visit to Tehran. Now Armenia needs to raise its gas cooperation with Iran at an 
appropriate level at the same time carrying out successful negotiations with 
Russia over the gas price,” the daily observes.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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