19:43,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 11, ARMENPRESS. Nearly 15 people have died from a Turkish drone strike in northern Iraq.
ARMENPRESS reports Alsumaria News informs that there are 5 Iraqi border guards and 5 members of Kurdistan Workers Party are among the victims. It’s mentioned that the drone killed also 5 civilians.
Joint military exercises, which began on July 29 with the participation of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s air and ground forces, are ongoing.
“Another stage of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Live-Fire Joint Large-Scale Tactical Exercises held in our country in accordance with the Agreement on Military Cooperation has been conducted,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
“According to the plan, the efficiency and coordination of tasks, the organization of interoperability, logistical support in the course of combat operations, as well as the effectiveness of military personnel and the use of weapons and military equipment have been checked,” the statement said.
“Motorized rifle and armored units … completed their assigned tasks,” it added.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense also shared a nearly two-minute-long video footage of the drills, with the caption: “The TurAz Eagle Exercise, jointly conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Azerbaijan Armed Forces, continues successfully as planned.”
Air combat drills, involving jets and helicopters, will continue in Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Kurdamir and Yevlakh until Aug. 10.
Ground exercises, meanwhile, are being held in Baku and Nakhchivan until Aug. 5 with artillery, armored vehicles and mortars striking simulated targets.
The exercises come on the heels of a recent attack by Armenia on Azerbaijani troops in the northwestern Tovuz border region. Twelve Azerbaijani soldiers, including a major general and a colonel, were killed and four others injured in the clashes.
Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for “provocative” actions, with Turkey throwing its weight behind Baku and warning Yerevan that it will not hesitate to stand against any kind of attack on its eastern neighbor.
A week after the attack, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Azerbaijani Deputy Defense Minister Ramiz Tahirov and Kerem Mustafayev, army chief of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an exclave of Azerbaijan bordering Armenia, Turkey and Iran, came together to discuss the recent situation.
Of the security of Azerbaijan and the region, Akar said Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) would continue to do what they have to do, adding, “No one should doubt that.”
The two ex-Soviet republics for decades have been locked in a conflict over Armenia’s illegal occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The territory was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in a war that claimed 30,000 lives in the 1990s, though the recent fighting broke out on a northern section of their shared border far away from Karabakh.
11:17, 31 July, 2020
YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS. 4 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been detected in the Republic of Artsakh, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 236, the ministry of healthcare said today.
The total number of recoveries has reached 167.
The number of active cases is 68.
Currently 119 people are quarantined.
No death cases have been registered in the Republic.
So far, 5691 COVID-19 tests have been conducted.
Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
TEHRAN – Prolific Iranian ensemble Rastak has recorded a single named “They Say…” in honor of the Armenian community in Iran.
The song, which is based on an Armenian melody, is part of a project named “Borderless at Home” the ensemble initiated to reprise songs from the neighboring countries.
“They Say…” is the sixth track of the collection, which will be released on Sunday.
Rastak was established in 1997 by a group of music students in Tehran to highlight Iranian folk music.
It has given numerous performances in Australia, Canada and several countries in Europe.
“Leilu”, the fifth track of the project, was released in May. The single is based on a song from Kormanj, a group of Kurdish nomads who live mainly in Khorasan Razavi Province and North Khorasan Province.
At that time, Rastak announced that it would hand out a portion of the money raised by the single in bonuses to medical workers on the coronavirus frontline as a way to thank them.
Earlier the band released “Leili Jan”, a popular folk song from Afghanistan.
“The focus of the project is on non-Iranian people and it enjoys some certain dimensions that are expected to be welcomed,” bandleader Siamak Sepehri, who is also a tar virtuoso, previously said.
“Fortunately, we have had positive reactions from our non-Iranian audiences during various performances, and these reactions caused us to produce those songs that represent some affinities between Iranians and other nations,” he added.
Photo: A poster for Rastak’s single “They Say…”.
Consul General of Armenia in Los Angeles, Ambassador Armen Baibourtian has issued a message to members of the Armenian community in California. On the message posted on Facebook, the Consul General remind that the aggressive attacks and incursion attempts of the Azerbaijani side on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have recently spread to a number of countries around the world, where tangible Armenian community is present.
“California, in particular, has become one of the main targets of Azerbaijani provocations in this regard, as we evidenced last week’s provocative Azerbaijani actions during a peaceful demonstration of the Armenian community in front of the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, as well as the vandalism at San Francisco Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian school,” wrote Baibourtian, adding: “Given the hostility shown by the Azerbaijani side towards the Armenians, we urge our community to be extremely vigilant and cautious in the face of Azerbaijani provocative actions and to refrain from any steps that could create grounds for Azerbaijani provocations. We urge you to immediately apply to police and law enforcement agencies in case of such suspicion of a possible Azerbaijani provocation. The Consulate General of Armenia, in its turn, will do the utmost to facilitate the work of law enforcement aimed at ensuring the safety and security of the Armenian community.”
COVID-19: Armenia reports 383 new cases, 509 recoveries in one day
11:12,
YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. 383 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 36,996, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.
509 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 26,243.
8 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 700.
The number of active cases stands at 9,833.
The number of people who had a coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 220 (2 new such cases).
So far, 155,664 people have passed COVID-19 testing.
Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenian PM’s wife urges Azerbaijani women to join Women For Peace campaign
11:56,
YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. Spouse of the Armenian prime minister Anna Hakobyan commented on the recent clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis abroad.
In a Facebook post, Anna Hakobyan said on July 13, when the active military operations have started on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as a result of the Azerbaijani attack and had a tendency to deepen, she has urged the Azerbaijani women and mothers “to call on their country’s leadership to stop the military operations and do not endanger the lives of Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers”.
“I did this as author of the Women For Peace campaign, which aims at uniting women against wars, creating a favorable environment so that the leaders of the conflicting countries will search for solutions to conflicts around negotiation table.
Several mothers of Azerbaijani soldiers responded to this call through Azerbaijani media outlets greatly controlled by the leadership, and the answer was the following: “As a mother of a soldier I state: Fight. Go ahead Azerbaijani soldier. Fight. Homeland is the only mother of soldier. The fight for the homeland is a sacred fight”.
Thus, according to the Azerbaijani state propaganda, the Azerbaijani mothers rejected my call on stopping the military operations and moving towards peace. Instead, they announced that they are sending their sons to fight and die in the sacred fight. A large number of Azerbaijanis were killed in the following days”, Anna Hakobyan said.
She said it’s already several days the “sacred fight for the homeland” has gone beyond the boundaries of the conflict zone.
“Azerbaijanis living in Russia, different European countries started various actions against Armenians in that cities in order to avenge their killed compatriots. Firstly, they were stomping on Armenian apricots, then banned the sale of the apricot in the trade centers owned by them, then attacked the Armenian women during the protest, set on fire the vehicle of the Armenian embassy, broke the cars, stores of Armenians, attacked and beat an Armenian man.
The Azerbaijani actions didn’t go unanswered: our compatriots, of course, had to defend themselves”, she said, adding that now not only the life of soldiers is under danger, but also the life of Armenians and Azerbaijanis living in Moscow, Brussels, Los Angeles, etc.
“I urge the Azerbaijani women and mothers to be more courageous and join the Women For Peace campaign.
As violence brings new violence”, Anna Hakobyan said.
11:56,
YEREVAN, JULY 23, ARMENPRESS. US Congressman Jim Costa condemned the recent attack unleashed by Azerbaijan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, urging to revise the US assistance to Azerbaijan.
“Beginning July 12 the Azerbaijani soldiers approached the Armenian border, a place that has been one of contention, and opened fire on Armenian civilians in Tavush province. Since then the conflict, sadly, has escalated. The Azerbaijani forces have been indiscriminate in attacking Armenian schools, factories, factories producing personal protective equipment that are essential during this pandemic. Azerbaijan must be held accountable”, Jim Costa said in his remarks.
The Congressman said now more than ever before it’s critical to work towards peace with Artsakh.
“We must re-evaluate the US security assistance to Azerbaijan immediately. As well as increase aid to Armenia to counter this Azerbaijani aggression. In the appropriations bill yesterday, a $20 million augmentation was made to the country of Armenia. I urge my colleagues to support that and to urge immediate action condemning Azerbaijan’s disgraceful actions,” the Congressman added.
Armenian soldier at their posts on the border in Tavush Province
Azerbaijani forces suffered heavy losses late Tuesday when Azerbaijan’s elite forces attempted to breach Armenia’s border for another failed try to capture the “Anvakh” military outpost.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported the new round of attacks took place at 11:30 p.m. local time Tuesday. The Armenian Armed Forces repelled the attack, causing significant losses to the Azerbaijani forces.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanayan said based on preliminary reports, not only did Azerbaijan’s elite forces suffer losses, some of the troops have been trapped. There were no Armenian casualties.
As of 12:50 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the shooting had dissipated on the border, according to Stepanyan, who said that the leadership of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces “is not in control of the situation.”
“A little while ago, the enemy again attempted to attack in the direction of ‘Anvakh’ [military outpost]. They were pushed back with losses,” said Defense Ministry representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan. “Aliyev’s ‘Elites’ have been trapped.