Author: Talar Tumanian

Opposition MP: Armenian authorities’ commitment to ‘peace agenda’ incomprehensible

Talar Tumanian
Panorama
Armenia –

Armenian MP Tigran Abrahamyan from the opposition With Honor faction says the Armenian authorities’ statements that they remain committed to the “peace agenda” is incomprehensible amid the fresh Azerbaijani attack in Artsakh.

“Azerbaijan’s steps can be predicted, since they are publicly spoken about. Right now we can analyze Azerbaijan’s official or unofficial media reports and clearly understand what their next step could be,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“Only the unchanging slogan of the Armenian authorities that “it’s all the same, we are committed to the agenda of peace” is incomprehensible here.

“Is it an agenda of peaceful surrender, handover of lands, escape or annihilation?” Abrahamyan said.

Armenpress: Mirzoyan reaffirms Armenia’s position on the "Shushi Declaration"

Talar Tumanian

Mirzoyan reaffirms Armenia’s position on the “Shushi Declaration”

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 18:46,

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s position on the declaration signed by the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan in Shushi has not changed, Armenia’s position is expressed in the statement made by the Foreign Ministry in June last year, ARMENPRESS reports the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said during the question-answer session with the members of the Government in the National Assembly, answering the question of MP from “Armenia” faction Aram Vardevanyan.

The MP stressed that the “Shushi Declaration” contains anti-Armenian provisions that encroach on the territorial integrity of Armenia, then reminded that it was ratified by the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Turkey, after which it was also signed by the pesident of Turkey. The MP inquired whether any action or response was given at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the June 2021 announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In response, Mirzoyan emphasized. “The position of the Republic of Armenia in connection with the Shushi Declaration has not changed at all.”

Vardevanyan noted that the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave an assessment when the declaration was at the level of a pure declaration, and asked if after its ratification any new position has been expressed.

Mirzoyan admitted that there is a serious logic in what the MP said. “We need to understand what the statement of more condemnation and sharper assessment will add, and in whose favor is this game, if this can be called a game,” the minister said.

Weekly COVID-19 cases up 8% worldwide – WHO

Talar Tumanian

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 13:10, 16 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. Over 11 mln people contracted the novel coronavirus infection worldwide over the past week, more than 43,000 patients died, TASS reports citing the World Health Organization (WHO).

The number of new infections increased by 8%, while the number of fatalities declined by 17% compared to the previous seven-day period.

At the same time, mortality continues to decline. The past seven days saw 17% less deaths than during the previous seven-day period.

According to the WHO COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, a total of 11,407,714 new cases and 43,097 deaths were reported to the global organization between February 28 and March 6.

The growth in cases was reported in the Western Pacific region (up 29%), Africa (up 12%) and Europe (up 2%). In the remaining three WHO regions, cases have declined.

Mortality grew in Western Pacific (up 12%), but declined in all other regions, most noticeably in Eastern Mediterranean (down 49%) and Africa (down 41%). Europe saw the decline of 23%, America – of 15%.

Europe accounts for 44% of all new cases registered worldwide in the past week.

The biggest number of infections was reported by the Republic of Korea (2,100,171), followed by Vietnam (1,670,627), Germany (1,350,362), the Netherlands (475,290) and France (419,632). The United States accounts for the majority of coronavirus-related deaths between February 28 and March 6 (9,078), followed by Russia (4,530), Brazil (3,301), Indonesia (1,994) and China (1,955).

As of March 15, the WHO cumulative global statistics indicated 458,479,635 cases and 6,047,653 fatalities worldwide. The number of new cases grew by 1,413,309 in the past day, while fatalities increased by 3,805.

Azerbaijan protests European Parliament resolution on destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in occupied territories

Talar Tumanian
NEWS.am
14:02, 17.03.2022

After long deliberations in Azerbaijan, the latter has decided to protest the European Parliament resolution on the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in the Azerbaijani-occupied territories.

The Azerbaijan State Committee for Work with Religious Associations has adopted a statement which was sent to the European Parliament, APA news agency reported.

The statement strongly condemns the “biased” resolution which “openly supports aggressive separatism, including attempting to give legal significance to the Armenianization of Azerbaijani historical, religious, and cultural heritage.”

The statement alleges that the aforesaid resolution was prepared “under the influence of Armenian lobby groups, does not reflect the real situation, contains false claims of Armenians amid the Azerbaijani side’s real historical and religious treatment—including of tombstones.”

“The State Committee has once again strongly condemned the European Parliament’s attempts to disseminate biased information based on Armenian sources, and called for the adoption of objective resolutions in the future,” APA added.

To remind, however, that despite these allegations, Azerbaijan obstructs the visits of international organizations—including of UNESCO—to the Azerbaijani-occupied territories, as well as destroys and “Aghvanizes” the monuments of Armenian cultural heritage in those territories.

EP creates tension by leaking Azerbaijan diplomatic letters to Armenia diaspora

Talar Tumanian
 eureporter 

PUBLISHED

 

ON

 MARCH 13, 2022

By

 EU Reporter Correspondent

Twitter appears to be showing tension in Brussels between the EU and Azerbaijan. Whilst Josep Borrell tweets his appreciation of Azerbaijan’s provision of humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine & readiness to expand gas deliveries to Moldova & south east Europe, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan is unhappy that the European Parliament has leaked diplomatic letters from him to members of the Armenian community.
In a tweet the Ambassador of Azerbaijan expresses his displeasure at the European Parliament, saying “UNBELIEVABLE, BUT POSSIBLE: How @Europarl_EN deliberately leaked letters received from AZE ambassador to ARM diaspora. I wonder if other letters addressed to EP on many sensitive issues were similarly passed to lobbyist and pressure groups in and around EP?”
https://www.eureporter.co/politics/european-parliament-2/2022/03/13/ep-creates-tension-by-leaking-azerbaijani-diplomatic-letters-to-aremenian-diaspora/


Sports: European U-23 Championship: Hrachya Margaryan and Narek Harutyunyan reach final

Talar Tumanian
 NEWS.am 
Armenia –


The European U23 Greco-Roman championship continues in Plovdiv. Armenia’s Hrachya Margaryan (65 kg) and Narek Harutyunyan (70 kg) advanced to the finals to compete for gold medals.

Armenia’s Mushegh Mkrtchyan (79kg) will compete for the bronze medal, while Edik Harutyunyan (57kg) was allowed to fight in the repechage bout and claim the bronze medal.

Two rival choices in post-Soviet space, politician says

Talar Tumanian
ARM INFO


David Stepanyan

ArmInfo.. The post-Soviet space is seeing two rival choices now – the first is isolation in company with Russia and the second is joining the civilized world in company with  Ukraine. And Armenia is sure to face this choice in the future, Arman  Babajanyan, Chairman of the For the Republic Party, said in an  interview with ArmInfo. 

“What is, in fact, going on is a fight between two leaders in the  post-Soviet space. Ukraine is being supported by the West, whereas  Russia is isolated. And I would like to stress that the predictions  of consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict for Armenia – that  they will be restricted to a conflict with Azerbaijan – are, in fact,  inaccurate. The Ukraine developments are directly related to Armenia,  and their consequences are not only a growing Azerbaijani-Turkish  threat,” he said.

In this context, Mr Babajanyan points out a need for Yerevan to  maintain friendly relations with both Moscow and the West by  remaining neutral about Ukraine. Should Armenia prefer Russia or the  West, it may lose support in dealing with Turkey and Azerbaijan. In  this context, the politician points out a need for discussing any  scenarios.  

Mr Babajanyan notes the West does not demand that Armenia “decide on  its position on Ukraine,” while Armenia is not making any proposals.  According to him, Yerevan shares the responsibility for the absence  of an Armenian agenda in the West. In this context, he recalls the  proposals for Yerevan drawing up a clear security and defense  cooperation agenda the West made in the wake of the 44-day war.  “I  personally was convinced of the willingness displayed by the United  States and, of course, by France.  But I have never seen Yerevan’s  initiatives. And I cannot understand how it happened that we did not  even attempt to convert the friendly relations with France into a  contractual basis. Armenia has not a single document cementing  relations with the country that has repeatedly shown its friendly  attitude and willingness to support our country.  I am sure that no  threats from the North must ever prevent Armenian- French relations  from being cemented by means of a strategic partnership agreement,  with a defense component enshrined in it. The present geopolitical  situation and Armenia’s interests require it,” Mr Babajanyan said. 

The discussion of the second meeting of the Armenian and Turkish special representatives was much more specific

Talar Tumanian

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 17:37, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan positively assesses the second meeting of the Armenian and Turkish special representatives held in Geneva.

“I assess the second meeting of the representatives of Armenia and Turkey as positive. You can read everything in the statement made by the representatives. The parties reaffirmed that the process takes place without preconditions, that the end result of the process is the normalization of relations, and, of course, for us, the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border”, ARMENPRESS reports Mirzoyan as saying, answering the question of MP from “Civil Contract” Party Sargis Khandayan.

FM Mirzoyan mentioned that during the second meeting the discussion was much more specific than the during first meeting.

“At the same time, I think we all understand that it is difficult to expect very tangible results even from the second meeting, a process that must provide solutions to the problems of centuries and decades,” Mirzoyan concluded.

Parliament speaker: Azerbaijan’s sole purpose is to achieve final occupation of Artsakh

Talar Tumanian
panorama.am
Armenia – Feb 28 2022


Speaker of Artsakh’s National Assembly Artur Tovmasyan released the following statement on the 34th anniversary of the pogroms against Armenians in Sumgait:

“Dear compatriots,

34 years have passed since the Sumgait pogroms,

Many peoples and nations around the world have suffered and continue to suffer from genocide, and for the Armenian people it’s about the past and the present, but never the future.

Azerbaijan, an artificial state born in early 20th century, has pursued an anti-Armenian mission since its formation, as evidenced by the 1988 Sumgait pogroms and the recurrent wars.

Azerbaijan’s sole purpose and obsession is to achieve the final occupation of Artsakh and the annihilation of the ethnic people.

Impunity and intolerance pushed the Azerbaijani authorities to commit new genocidal acts.

Armenophobia reached its peak in the September 2020 war unleashed by Azerbaijan, in particular in the form of inhuman treatment of the population of Artsakh and Armenian captives, murders, torture and cultural genocide.

Strongly condemning the Sumgait crime and Azerbaijan’s long-standing policy of Armenophobia, we call on the civilized world to take effective steps to prevent the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan against the Artsakh Armenians.

We need to get out of this difficult situation, continue to live on our ancestral land, and demand that our rights be respected.

My homage to the memory of all our compatriots who fell victim to the Azerbaijani violence and all fallen heroes of the Artsakh wars.”

Tigran Abrahamyan: Armenian authorities ‘decapitated’ army’s General Staff amid regional threats

Talar Tumanian
panorama.am
Armenia – Feb 25 2022


MP Tigran Abrahamyan, who represents the opposition With Honor bloc, has denounced the Armenian authorities’ decision to dismiss the chief of the military’s General Staff and several other top military officials in these “turbulent times”.

Chief of the General Staff Artak Davtyan, his deputy Andranik Makaryan, as well as the heads of three General Staff divisions were sacked according to presidential decrees signed on Thursday.

“Analyzing the regional situation, I highlighted the need for increased vigilance and special measures by the state structures ensuring security in Armenia and Artsakh. I believe that the situation in Ukraine could have severe consequences for our region as well,” he wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

“But what did the Armenian authorities do? They decapitated the General Staff of the Armenian military in response to regional threats.

“I am not talking about the new appointees, since I know almost everyone. The problem is the abrupt personnel changes in these turbulent times,” Abrahamyan said.