Category: 2020

Armenian parliamentary speaker on Gazprom Armenia submitting bid to raise natural gas tariff

Boris Nahapetian
News.am, Armenia
April 3 2020

19:39, 02.04.2020
               

If there was no coronavirus, we could have considered the natural gas tariff because it turns out that the sides had met the conditions. There was no problem regarding the tariff until April, but there might be talks over the tariff now. This is what Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan told reporters at Yerablur Military Pantheon today, touching upon the fact that Gazprom Armenia has submitted a bid to the Public Services Regulatory Commission to raise the natural gas tariff and that this particularly concerns revocation of the privilege for socially disadvantaged people.

“I believe the coronavirus pandemic should have made Gazprom Armenia review the periods for submitting the bid. I don’t believe now is the best time to submit the bid. I’m not well aware of the issue, but this is the way I see it. I’m certain that government officials are constantly negotiating with Gazprom Armenia to find the optimal solution,” he said.

Four years after the four-day April War

Hunanian Jack
Public Radio of Armenia
April 3 2020

Four years have passed since the four-day April War that claimed the lives of more than 100 Armenian servicemen.

On the night of 1 to 2 April, in flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement of 12 May 1994 and the agreement of 6 February 1995 on strengthening the ceasefire, the Azerbaijani side undertook a large-scale offensive along the entire Line of Contact between the armed forces of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan, using heavy equipment, artillery and combat aviation.

The intensity and the scale of the military actions, the number of forces and combat equipment involved, as well as the statements of Azerbaijani officials clearly indicate that the events of 2-5 April were not a spontaneous escalation, but a carefully planned and prepared military aggression.

During the hostilities, the Azerbaijani army committed numerous war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law, both against civilians and soldiers of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Starting from the very first day of the aggression, the Azerbaijani army shelled a school in Martuni region, as a result of which 12-year-old Vagharshak Grigoryan was killed, and two children were injured. In the village of Talish of the Martakert region, the Azerbaijani servicemen committed brutal murder of three elderly Armenian family members, followed by mutilation of their bodies.

The bodies of over twenty soldiers of the NKR Defense Army were also abused. Azerbaijan has so far refused to transfer the cut-off heads of two servicemen to the Karabakh side.

A ceasefire was reached on 5 April between the chiefs of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met twice on May 16 and June 20. The parties agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism, to expand the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, as well as to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Despite the agreements reached, the Azerbaijani side has been refusing to take practical steps to implement them.

Armenia health minister on placement of beds at sports/concerts complex

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
April 3 2020

15:10, 02.04.2020
                  

Beds have been placed at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, but there is also a plan to set aside halls and gyms in all the provinces of Armenia which, if necessary, will be turned into hospitals for patients in critical but stable and perhaps also critical conditions. This is what Minister of Health of Armenia Arsen Torosyan told reporters today in response to a reporter who had asked why so many beds have been placed at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex and whether there may be a new period of outbreak of the coronavirus.

“Armenia needs to be ready for any scenario, and this is not extraordinary. It would be more extraordinary, if such scenarios were not considered. The government is considering even worse scenarios, such as those in many countries where there is no room to treat patients in hospitals and gyms, and this is what makes it important for all citizens of Armenia to have a high sense of responsibility in order to not let this happen,” the minister added.

Newspaper: Salaries of Armenia doctors, nurses fighting coronavirus increase recently

Garo Vardanian
News.am, Armenia
April 3 2020

10:48, 02.04.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: “Are there many patients?” We asked the director of the Nork infectious disease [hospital in Yerevan], Mher Davidyants. “Yes, there are many, we work 24-hour shifts. The healthcare workers rest a little and start their work again.”

By the way, the salaries of the doctors and nurses who have taken on the entire burden of fighting the coronavirus have increased recently, volunteers receive several hundred thousand drams, new forces are being recruited, including in the care of the isolated, there is no shortage of volunteers, the young doctor and nurses are not very active, whereas the older medical workers, especially the nurses are working selflessly and want to work, but there is an age limit: up to 50 years of age. They are not including those over 50.

Minister of Justice: No data on Armenia citizen shall be accessible for foreign companies

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
April 3 2020

06:51, 01.04.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – There can be no motivation to keep the phone calls’ and location data. Even if the suspicion is toward law enforcement, this information is of no interest to law enforcement. Armenia’s Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan said this at a press conference Wednesday, referring to the package of amendments to the law on amendments to the Law on Legal Regime of State of Emergency, which envisages locating people’s and tracking their phone calls during a state of emergency in the country.

Asked if the public can rest assured that the respective data will be destroyed once the current state of emergency is over in Armenia, the minister replied as follows, in particular: “I am confident that there are and there will be no leaks, especially since it is being carried out by the state body within the framework of the fight against the [coronavirus] epidemic.”

He also assured that no data on Armenian citizens shall be accessible for foreign companies.

Newspaper: Aircraft departing from Azerbaijan passes through Armenia airspace

Tatoyan Vazgen
News.am, Armenia
April 3 2020

09:20, 02.04.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: As the number of aviation flights is low, to put it mildly, these days, especially in our region, a plane departing from Baku to Luxembourg, which was passing through the Republic of Armenia airspace at about 13:25, caught the eye on flightradar24 website yesterday amid the overall “emptiness.”

To find out whether it is normal that an aircraft departing from Azerbaijan, or heading to Azerbaijan, passes through our territory, Past applied to the RA Civil Aviation Committee.

 “There are international agreements signed that civil aircrafts have the right to enter our airspace without special permission. We repeat, if they are civilian aircrafts, are not transporting dangerous cargo and public officials,” (…) an employee from the Civil Aviation Department said.

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian teams up with fellow Armenian artists Sebu & Misho for new song

Alex Jidarian
ABC News Radio
April 3 2020
System of a Down’s Serj Tankian teams up with fellow Armenian artists Sebu & Misho for new son

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Carlos Tischler/Getty ImagesSystem of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has teamed up with a pair of fellow Armenian artists for a new song.

The track, called “Introvert (Call Me Crazy),” was recorded with Sebu Simonian of the band Capital Cities, and rapper poet Misho.

“‘Introvert (Call Me Crazy)’ is a collaboration between three close friends who couldn’t be further apart geographically or artistically,” Sebu says. “The song is about introversion, desperation and psychosis.”

You can listen to the collaboration streaming on .

Dynastic Baku cannot reconcile itself to democratic processes in self-determined Karabakh

Emil Lazarian
Arminfo, Armenia
April 2 2020

ArmInfo. Baku not left unanswered, the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  Armenia on democratic elections in Artsakh, emphasizing once again  that they reject these electoral processes as such.

So, head of the press service department of the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Leyla Abdullayeva, having not  found any more convincing arguments that these elections allegedly  could not be recognized, again used the traditional policy about the  alleged and the , unwittingly reminding the famous Russian proverb ” If  your face is crooked, don’t blame this mirror, ” (a bad workman  always blames his tools, Ed. note), characteristic of the behavior of  the current authorities of Azerbaijan.

At the same time, she assured that the elections in Artsakh were  resolutely “condemned and rejected” by the international community,  apparently implying that a number of states spoke out that they did  not recognize these elections, which is quite logical, given the  status of non-recognition of Artsakh by the international community.  Meanwhile, there was no condemnation of the fact of conducting these  processes.  Apparently, the presence of a democratic republic near  the dictatorial regime of Baku cannot suit the latter.  The latest  scandalous elections in Azerbaijan, accompanied by a new wave of  landings and beatings of the political opposition against the  backdrop of civilized Karabakh electoral processes, is  incomprehensible for the apologists of the Azerbaijan’s dynastic  model of totalitarian state.

Apparently this is precisely why Abdulayeva’s statement makes a  stupid and illogical conclusion that “by the way, the fact of a  separate statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry on the” elective  “show in Nagorno-Karabakh once again proves the absence of the need  for the participation of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the  negotiations>. Although it is the presence of true democracy in the  NKR as a state unit (it does not matter whether it is recognized or  not) that can adequately represent society as a party to the  negotiation process.

The old tall tales of official Baku, like mothballs, stating that  “elections in the territory of the Azerbaijan Republic are held in  accordance with the Constitution of the country, and any act  organized in violation of this Supreme Law is not legitimate and  cannot be such> in the mouth of the same Abdulayeva can be seen as a  useless political vestigial.

Baku again has to be reminded that the modern Republic of Azerbaijan  declared independence precisely in its current territorial framework,  and there could be no talk of Karabakh in its composition, since even  then the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomy had withdrawn from the Azerbaijan  SSR in accordance with the Constitution of the USSR.

Last year, Azerbaijan declared persona non grata 238 foreigners for visiting Artsakh

Hovik Karapetian
Arminfo, Armenia
April 2 2020

ArmInfo. In 2019, 238 foreign citizens were included in the “black list of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan” for visiting Artsakh.

APA reports that this is stated in the report of the Cabinet of  Ministers for 2019.

It is noted that on the basis of received appeals and information  during 2014-2019, the names of 54 people were excluded from this  list. According to the same report, as a result of measures taken in  2019 to identify intelligence and subversive activities against the  Republic of Azerbaijan, 15 people were held accountable for  cooperation with special services of other states.

The report notes that from these persons information was received  about 12 citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic, 1 citizen of the  Russian Federation, 1 citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1  citizen of Georgia and 1 person involved in cooperation, 6 of them  were informed by the relevant state bodies.

The state intends to provide children from low-income families with tablets and Internet connection

Badalian Vardan
Arminfo, Armenia
April 2 2020

ArmInfo. To organize the distance education process, the state will provide children from low-income families with tablets and Internet connection. This was  stated during the discussions in the Government of the Republic of  Armenia under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, which were held with the aim of finding  solutions to the socio-economic problems arising from the  coronavirus.

According to the press service of the government, the Minister of  Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia,  Arayik Harutyunyan, proposed to implement such an initiative. In this  context, Prime Minister RA Nikol Pashinyan instructed Minister  Harutyunyan, together with the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, to  finalize the tools provided for in the proposal and submit them to  the government for consideration.

However, during the discussions, Pashinyan noted that in a crisis,  the government should revise the tools and speed of response to  investment proposals. , he said.  During the discussions, proposals and  ideas were presented regarding the development and promotion of  various economic areas.