Category: 2020
Armenia continues to suffer skyrocketing COVID cases – including the prime minister
Armenia humanitarian mission in Syria demines 17,471 sq. m. in May
The sappers of the fourth group carrying out Armenia’s humanitarian mission in Syria have demined an area of 17,471 square meters in May, during which homemade shells and anti-personnel mines were found, the Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise of Armenia reported.
A total of 170,209 square meters have been demined since the first day of the mission, and 142,000 square meters of which were handed over to the Syrian authorities.
Due to the coronavirus restrictions, the doctors from the fourth group provided medical assistance to 549 locals in May. Thus, from February 2019 until today, Armenia’s humanitarian mission to Syria has provided medical assistance to a total of 12,584 patients.
And on June 1, the specialists of the Armenian group carrying out a humanitarian mission in Syria handed the gifts that were collected during an event to the Armenian Retirement Home of Aleppo and the orphanage of the local Armenian community.
Azerbaijani Press: Azerbaijan Says It Reserves Right to Use Force to Liberate Occupied Territories
By Mushvig Mehdiyev June 1, 2020
Over 10,000 personnel and more than 120 tanks and armored vehicles of different types attended weeklong military drills from May 18-25 / Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has continued for nearly 30 years, with diplomacy failing to achieve any lasting solution. While Armenia evades political negotiations, officials in Azerbaijan say the Caspian country reserves the right to use military force if its lands remain occupied.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said that the Azerbaijani army is entitled to exercise this right to liberate occupied territories in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The ministry explained that such measures, if taken by Azerbaijan, would be devastating and destructive for Armenia compared to what took place in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
“The only language in which you need to speak with the enemy is the power of arms, with the use of which we will push the occupying forces of Armenia to leave the borders of our territories. Azerbaijani soldiers will certainly achieve this by the power of their weapon,” the ministry said in the statement, which was carried by 1news.az.
The statement follows recent provocations by Armenia in the occupied territory. On May 21, the illegal separatist regime in the occupied lands held a so-called “inauguration” for the region’s self-proclaimed “president”. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan traveled to the occupied Shusha city of Azerbaijan and attended the event on his second visit to the region in May. He also called for international recognition of the occupied region’s illegitimate separatist regime.
The government of Azerbaijan described Pashinyan’s visits as a threat to peace, a provocation and a violation of obligations under international law and the conflict resolution procedures by the government in Yerevan.
The conflict in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region is a result of Armenia’s illegal claims to the historically and internationally recognized lands of Azerbaijan. Growing anti-Azerbaijan sentiments in Armenia eventually led to a bloody war in the early 1990s. Armenia’s full-blown military campaign against its eastern neighbor enabled it to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts in 1991-1994. The four-year bloody war claimed the lives of 30,000 Azerbaijanis and displaced one million others.
Armenia has refused to pull its forces out of the occupied Azerbaijani lands despite International calls and four UN Security Council resolutions adopted at the height of the war in 1993. The counterproductive approach of Armenia’s officials in diplomatic procedures and fatal violations of the ceasefire by the country’s forces regularly trigger hostilities along the Line of Contact in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The sudden midnight shelling of the civilian villages of Azerbaijan by Armenia’s military in 2016 led to the most brutal military actions since the ceasefire took hold in 1994. The four-day war claimed the lives of 320 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 30 tanks and armored vehicles of various types, as well as 25 artillery complexes, according to data compiled by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan. The military of Azerbaijan managed to liberate 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of territory from Armenia’s occupation, including the strategic Lalatapa and Talish high hills.
The next clashes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies broke out on May 20 in 2018, known as Gyunnut clashes or Operation Gyunnut. The clashes and subsequent military operations of the Azerbaijani army ended in regaining the control over several occupied villages and strategic positions within the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an exclave in the southwest of Azerbaijan. By the end of May, the Nakhchivan Separate Combined Arms Army took the control back over Gyunnut, a village that has been annihilated by the Armenian forces in 1992. In addition to the village, Azerbaijan took new positions in two strategic points.
Coronavirus: Armenia reports 13-fold increase in cases in two months
The epidemic situation in Armenian remains dire, the Head of Armenia’s National Center for Disease Control and Prevention Artavazd Vanyan stated on Tuesday.
“We had threefold increase in coronavirus cases in April to compare with March, while in May the cases soar 13-fold in two months. That is to say after lifting the restrictions, large public gatherings followed,” Vanyan said at a briefing following the regular meeting at the Commandant’s Office.
The Head of the Center called once again on the public to maintain safety measures and avoid organizing and attending public events.
“If we fail to limit our interactions, the negative dynamics will continue. It is especially recommended to refrain from attending memorial ceremonies and funeral. Another problem remains people’s gatherings in the their yards in the evenings,” said Vanyan.
Vanyan also warned against pilgrimages which may result in uncontrolled spread of the virus.
Why is coronavirus recovery rate falling in Armenia?
The coronavirus recovery rate keeps decreasing in Armenia, sparking concerns about the situation with the infection in the country.
3,145 people reportedly recovered from the disease on May 25, while the recoveries stand at 3,427 on June 2, i.e. 282 patients have overcome the virus in 8 days. Only 25 coronavirus recovered were recorded in the past 24 hours.
Panorama.am asked the Ministry of Health for comments on the issue.
Spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan reminded that the ministry has switched to a new policy since May 22 when coronavirus patients showing mild symptoms are no longer hospitalized or isolated. Such people now receive treatment at their homes.
“Their data is entered into the system and only 14 days later they are removed from the system, being declared cured,” she said.
Accordingly, an increase in the number of recoveries can be expected on June 6, 14 days after May 22.
In Nikoghosyan’s words, the figures published by the ministry and the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention refer to those recovered and discharged from hospitals.
As reported earlier, the citizens receiving home treatment will not be tested for coronavirus again.