Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

Armenia PM to Al Jazeera: We are currently in process of constructing very strategic highway

Nahapetian Zhanna
NEWS.am
Armenia –
10:55, 14.06.2022

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Qatar, gave an interview to Al Jazeera Monday, during which he touched upon the processes taking place in the South Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations, and several other topics. Below is the text of an excerpt from this interview.

You speak in a very positive language, while Armenia’s relationship with neighboring countries is generally bad with the exception of Iran, and some are actually surprised that Iran, the Islamic Republic, stood by you in the face of Azerbaijan, the Muslim country? How do you explain this situation?

We have four neighbors, we have very good relations with two of them; I mean Georgia and Iran. Iran is a friendly country for us, which also has good relations with Azerbaijan, we do not intend not to have good relations with countries that have good relations with Azerbaijan. But now we have very close ties with Iran, by the way, we hope that by cooperating with Iran we will be able to expand our bilateral relations with Qatar as well. We are now working to develop communications between Iran and Armenia, and we are currently in the process of constructing a very strategic highway called North-South, which connects our border with Georgia to the border with Iran. We hope that as a result of this program, our economic relations with Iran will develop. By the way, the Eurasian Economic Union, I have already said that Armenia is a member of it, has a free trade agreement with Iran, which is very important in the context of our bilateral relations.

Let me to conclude this meeting with a question about your tour in the Arab region, what is your expectation from the Arabs?

I should mention that there is a very warm attitude towards the Arab world in Armenia, because we have traditional relations. Now I hope for the growth of bilateral trade between Armenia and Qatar, because there is a very positive political environment in our bilateral relations with this wonderful country.

Resistance Movement members continue protests in Yerevan

Nahapetian Zhanna
ARMINFO
Armenia – June 7 2022
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. Resistance Movement members demanding Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation marched from France Square to the office of the EU Delegation to Armenia. 

The protesters are chanting ‘Armenia without Nikol!’, ‘Nikol is a  traitor!’. They are holding posters reading “Open your eyes”, “What  happened to European values?”, “EU what the double standard?” 

The Resistance Movement marched toward the office of the EU  Delegation to Armenia in protest at European agencies’ passive stance  on law-enforcers’ actions against peaceful protesters.

Council of Europe anti-racism body to prepare report on Armenia

Nahapetian Zhanna
June 8 2022
STRASBOURG 8 JUNE 2022

A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Armenia from 30 May to 3 June 2022 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During the visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on effective equality and access to rights; hate speech and hate-motivated violence; and integration and inclusion.

The delegation held meetings with representatives of government and other authorities, the Human Rights Defender and civil society. It also visited the newly opened safe space for LGBT people in Armenia (Yerevan), to discuss the situation of Armenian LGBTI communities together with representatives of relevant NGOs.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report in 2023, in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country. The implementation of two priority recommendations will be reviewed in two years’ time after publication of the report as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.

In its previous report on Armenia, published in 2016, among other recommendations, ECRI recommended that the various action plans containing programmes for the integration of vulnerable groups include a description of their objectives, a complete set of criteria for assessing their impact on these groups, and a clear financial plan. This recommendation concerned existing stand-alone programmes and any future programmes deriving from the comprehensive integration policies which were being developed. In its interim follow-up conclusions, published in 2019, ECRI considered that this recommendation had been partially implemented.

ECRI also recommended that a national integration strategy be developed, in consultation with representatives of the vulnerable groups concerned. This strategy should also establish clear co-ordination mechanisms between all relevant ministries, implementing agencies and potential donors.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-commission-against-racism-and-intolerance/-/council-of-europe-anti-racism-body-to-prepare-report-on-armenia

EU ambassador to Armenia calls for refraining from hate speech and provocations

Nahapetian Zhanna
ARMINFO

Armenia – June 8 2022
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo.The European Union strongly supports and highlights the reforms of the democratic system of governance, the establishment of the rule of law and the fight  against discrimination in Armenia, the EU Ambassador to Armenia  Andrea Wiktorin said at a joint Conference on “The Judiciary as  Guardian of the DemocracyЇ organized by the EU/COE PGG project  “Support to Judicial reforms implementationЇ and the Republic of  Armenia Constitutional Court on 08 June 2022.

“We have always supported the implementation of justice reforms, and  for this purpose we have provided long-term and short-term support.  We highly value the efforts Armenia has made in recent years in terms  of democratic processes. It’s also very important that the political  leadership is committed to continue the constitutional reforms that  are envisaged by the 2019-2021 judicial reforms strategy”, the EU  Ambassador said.

The Ambassador said independent judiciary in a democratic country is  the guarantor of human rights and freedoms, therefore, she said, the  Constitutional Court has an important role to play to strengthen the  public trust towards judiciary.

“Armenia is facing numerous challenges, and we are very impressed  that the authorities willingly continue moving on the path of  reforms. There is currently big tension in the country, and it’s very  important that all sides work together to protect the constitutional  rights of the citizens of Armenia. We closely follow the domestic  political situation and the protests in the country. It’s very  important for the people to be able to voice their opinion freely,  and the law enforcement agencies and police forces should refrain  from using brute force. Some incidents that have taken place should  be investigated, it already happens in some of the cases, the cases  reach to the court and a ruling is being made. That’s how democracy  works”, Andrea Wiktorin said.

The Ambassador said it’s very important that all sides in Armenia  refrain from hate speech and provocations. Any violence must be  condemned, she added. “In such situation, I think, promoting trust  towards our Constitutional Court and the judiciary is more than  important”, she said.  

Ombudswoman briefs US Deputy Assistant Secretary on human rights situation in Armenia

Nahapetian Zhanna
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – June 9 2022
June 9, 2022, 13:20

 Less than a minute

Human Rights Defender Christinne Grigoryan met with US Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Kara C. McDonald․

During the meeting, the Defender presented the human rights situation in Armenia.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Cara McDonald congratulated Ms. Grigoryan on her responsible mission, then inquired about the ombudsman’s Priorities, and discussed human rights challenges.

Summing up the meeting, Cara McDonald expressed readiness for further cooperation.

Georgian Parliament Speaker, Armenian President discuss cooperation

Nahapetian Zhanna
AGENDA.GE
Georgia – May 31 2022

Cooperation in various fields between Georgia and Armenia was discussed on Tuesday between Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, and  Vahagn Khachaturyan, the Armenian President, as part of the latter’s visit to the country. 

Papuashvili called the first visit of Khachaturyan “symbolic,” adding it “once again” emphasised the importance of the relations between the two states, along with an increase in the dynamics of high-level visits between the sides.

The officials also reviewed the current developments in the South Caucasus region and the steps taken to achieve regional peace and stability, expressing readiness for further development of relations.

The Armenian President on Monday also met with his Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili in the framework of the visit.

Armenia`s premier warns gambling operators against confronting government

Nahapetian Zhanna
ARMINFO
Armenia – June 2 2022
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo. At a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan warned gambling operators against confronting the government. 

“In defiance of our agreement putting an end to advertising online  casinos, we can see instances of embedded advertising,” the premier  said. 

“Let us not practice self-deception. I would like to ask economic  entities to show initiative and remove the traps. Do not confront the  government or we will have to take other measures. No advertising of  this type anywhere,” Mr Pashinyan said.

Armenia PM chief of staff: Artsakh is frontline of our war

Nahapetian Zhanna
NEWS.am
Armenia – June 2 2022
16:26, 02.06.2022

Artsakh is the frontline of our war and, naturally, it can see more fears and problems than any of us. Arayik Harutyunyan, the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia, told this to reporters in the National Assembly Thursday—and referring to the fact that the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) authorities state that Armenia’s authorities should give up their “catastrophic position” on the Artsakh issue.

“But the Artsakh authorities are informed of all the processes that there are. I cannot say more than that. I can simply tell our colleagues in Artsakh to study the reality a little more, and they will see that there is no need for such steps, statements,” he said.

Harutyunyan claimed that the issue of enclaves is not being discussed.

“Yes. Various parties put forward those agendas, but it was said that there are no such justifications. If one side comes and says, ‘these are my maximum demands, and I cannot discuss anything else,’ everything closes there. But if you with arguments, gradually … of course, you have red lines for yourself, minimum and maximum thresholds, and you are going to the negotiations according to that logic,” said the Armenian PM’s chief of staff.

Greek Deputy Minister of National Defense to visit Armenia

Nahapetian Zhanna

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 10:36, 2 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense of Greece Nikos Chardalias will arrive in Armenia, the Armenian Embassy in Greece said.

“At the invitation of my counterpart Karen Brutyan [deputy defense minister of Armenia], I will be in Armenia on June 2 and 3, which has firm historic cooperation and friendship ties with Greece. During the visit I will have official meetings with Defense Minister of Armenia Suren Papikyan, Minister of High Technological Industry Robert Khachatryan and my counterpart Karen Brutyan”, the Greek Deputy Defense Minister said on social media, adding that meetings are scheduled also with Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and the representatives of the Greek community in Armenia.

Nikos Chardalias will also visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the victims.

Visits to the Vazgen Sargsyan military college, the National Defense Research Institute are also planned.