Tuesday,
Armenian Soldier Killed At Border With Azerbaijan
An Armenian serviceman was killed at the border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday,
Armenia’s Ministry of Defense reported.
It said that the incident occurred in the afternoon at the southwestern border
with Azerbaijan’s Nakhijevan exclave and that 26-year-old contract soldier
Zohrab Simonian was fatally wounded in the chest after a shot fired from
Azerbaijani military positions.
The incident comes days after Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations over
fresh border fighting that left at least one Azerbaijani soldier killed and one
Armenian soldier injured.
On March 6, the Armenian military claimed to have thwarted an Azerbaijani
commando raid on one of its positions along the northeastern section of
Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.
According to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, an Azerbaijani “sabotage” unit
attacked the outpost but was repelled by Armenian soldiers deployed there,
“suffering losses” as a result.
Azerbaijan’s State Border Guard Service, whose troops protect that section of
the border, denied the attempted incursion. It said that Armenian troops opened
“intensive” fire on some of its positions from heavy machine-guns and sniper
rifles earlier that day.
Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement later on Tuesday,
describing the latest ceasefire violation as “yet another attempt of Azerbaijan
to intentionally escalate the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state
border.”
“Regular attempts by Azerbaijan to escalate the situation on the state border
with Armenia, to expand the geography of escalation and refrain from applying
the existing mechanisms of de-escalation attest to the deliberate nature of
Azerbaijan’s attempts to undermine regional security and peace,” it said.
“Such actions of Azerbaijan demonstrate that the establishment of international
risk reduction mechanisms is an important priority of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process, and the implementation of agreements reached in that regard is a
necessary condition for the advancement of the peace process.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for
years.
A war in the early 1990s in which some 30,000 people were killed left ethnic
Armenians in control of the region.
Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have brought little progress.
Armenian, Russian PMs Discuss ‘Global Economy’ Processes
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Mishustin, Kazakhstan, Jan. 31, 2020
Processes taking place in the global economy have become a subject of discussion
during a telephone conversation between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin.
The conversation was reported by Pashinian during a constitutional referendum
campaign rally in the southern town of Kapan on Tuesday.
“I’ve had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Mikhail Mishustin. We discussed the processes taking place in the global market
and economy, and our plans,” the Armenian prime minister said, without
elaborating.
Pashinian took a vacation today to start a series of rallies ahead of the April
5 referendum in which his political team seeks the termination of powers of
seven of the nine judges of the Constitutional Court, including the body’s
chairman Hrayr Tovmasian.
His remarks at the rally in the provincial town came amid growing concerns among
Armenians about the economic situation in Russia fueled by plummeting oil prices.
The Russian ruble continued to depreciate on Tuesday reaching a four-year low
against the U.S. dollar amid a nearly 30-percent plunge in international oil
prices –the largest decline since 1991.
Russia is one of the key trade and economic partners of Armenia. According to
Armenia’s Statistics Committee, the Russian market accounted for nearly 28
percent of Armenia’s exports (worth over $730 million in absolute terms) in 2019.
Armenian Economy Ministry spokeswoman Anna Ohanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service (Azatutyun.am) on Monday that the Armenian government was conducting “a
comprehensive analysis” of the global and regional economic trends influenced by
the falling oil prices and the tumbling Russian ruble in order to send “correct
signals” to local manufacturers and exporters.
She said that changes taking place in Russia cannot but have an effect on the
Armenian economy, which is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union,
a post-Soviet trade bloc also including Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
“The Russian Federation is one of our main trading partners. The Eurasian
Economic Union, and Russia in particular, are a market for a considerable amount
of our exports. Naturally, changes taking place there cannot but have an effect
on our economy. Other things being equal, a depreciating ruble may have an
impact on the competitiveness of Armenian manufacturers as compared to other
main producers,” Ohanian said.
Pashinian Starts Rallies In Provinces Ahead Of Referendum
• Artak Khulian
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses a campaign rally in Meghri,
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian took a vacation on Tuesday to get
actively engaged in political campaigning ahead of next month’s constitutional
referendum in which citizens will be asked to approve the termination of powers
of several High Court judges.
Pashinian and his political team believe Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr
Tovmasian and six other judges elected before the 2015 constitution was fully
enforced in April 2018 must be removed from office and new judges must be
elected to replace them in order to maintain the spirit of the constitution.
To this end, the pro-government My Step faction in parliament initiated the
constitutional amendment in February amid objections from opposition groups,
including the extra-parliamentary former ruling Republican Party of Armenia
(HHK) that alleged that Pashinian is simply seeking to gain control over the
Constitutional Court and thus tighten his hold on power.
The HHK and other opposition parties have abstained from taking part in the ‘No’
campaign ahead of the April 5 referendum, considering the holding of the
referendum itself unconstitutional.
Tovmasian and other judges to be affected by the change have also accused the
government of putting pressure on the judiciary in an attempt to jeopardize its
independence.
In his speech at today’s rally in Meghri Pashinian described the Constitutional
Court as “the only remaining institution in Armenia that is not in compliance
with the current constitution.”
“The Constitutional Court today does not represent the people. I urge you to go
to polling stations on April 5 and confirm that you are sending home this old
Constitutional Court, which had patronized all electoral frauds in Armenia in
the past,” Pashinian said.
Pashinian earlier claimed that Tovmasian, who co-authored the 2015 constitution,
had struck a deal with the then government to be elected chairman of the
Constitutional Court only days before the new constitution was to be fully
enforced.
Running the court under the previous constitution allows Tovmasian, who is now
49, to hold the post until he is 65, that is until 2035. By contrast, had
Tovmasian been elected after April 9, 2018, he would be confined to just one
six-year tenure.
In his speech in Meghri Pashinian said: “Under the new constitution the election
of the Constitutional Court’s chairman should be held once every six years and
the same person cannot be elected for more than one term. But according to their
interpretation, the next election should be held in 2035. It would be the same
if we as a bloc that was elected to parliament for five years concocted some law
that would allow us not to hold the next elections until 2035 because of some
‘legal practice’ or something like that.”
Speaking at a rally in the town of Kapan, Syunik’s provincial center, Pashinian
emphasized that the vote of Armenian citizens in the upcoming referendum will be
a sovereign decision.“There is no force in the world that can challenge the
decision of Armenia’s sovereign citizen,” stressed the prime minister, comparing
the upcoming ballot with the 1991 referendum in which an overwhelming majority
of Armenians voted in favor of gaining independence from the Soviet Union.
Pashinian visited several other towns in Armenia’s southern Syunik province and
held rallies there today. He is expected to proceed with the campaign and hold
more public rallies in other provinces of the country in the coming days.
The ‘No’ campaign in the current referendum is represented by a group of lawyers
who have said they will not engage in public campaigning, but will limit their
campaign to Facebook posts about alleged violations and reports to the Central
Election Commission.
Former deputy Justice Minister Ruben Melikian, who represents the ‘No’ campaign,
complained on Tuesday about what he described as yet another case of the prime
minister using his administrative resource to promote his political campaign.
He, in particular, pointed to the fact that Pashinian went to Syunik on board a
helicopter that is assigned to the prime minister by law. “Using the helicopter
citizen Nikol Pashinian got an advantage in his campaign over the opposite
side,” Melikian claimed.
Earlier, the representative of the ‘No’ campaign also criticized Pashinian and
other members of his political team for allegedly campaigning in their official
capacity. The officials shrugged off the criticism.
Teenage Victim Of Domestic Violence Regains Consciousness In Armenian Hospital
• Susan Badalian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) and Health Minister Arsen Torosian (L) visit
13-year-old Nazeli Khachatrian in hospital, Yerevan, March 8, 2020
A teenage girl from Gyumri who was severely beaten up by a man who had also
beaten her mother to death has regained consciousness, according to a hospital
official in Yerevan.
Nazeli Khachatrian, 13, has been treated for multiple traumas, including a brain
injury, in an intensive care unit of Yerevan’s Surb Astvatsamayr Medical Center
since last week.
The girl allegedly tried to intervene to stop the beating of her mother by her
cohabitant on March 5. Her 43-year-old mother succumbed to her injuries later
that day.
Police arrested a 28-year-old man in Gyumri. He was later charged with
manslaughter and “premeditated infliction of severe harm to other persons’
health.” The man faces up to 10 years in prison under the charges.
The case has shocked the Armenian public, renewing the debate in the country
about the need to make domestic violence a more specific crime in the penal code.
A group of civil activists held a march in Gyumri on Monday raising their
concerns about cases of domestic violence and what they described as
indifference that exists in society towards the problem.
World Vision’s child protection program manager Aida Muradian believes it is
necessary that domestic violence be separated from beatings in the criminal
code. “We are dealing with the case of domestic violence, but this is not
reflected in the indictment. Why is it so important?.. Because the victim of
domestic violence is subjected to violence by a member of her own family. As a
rule, the victim of domestic violence is in a certain dependence on the
perpetrator -- be it emotional, economic or some other form of dependence. This
means that these are significant circumstances that affect the case, and they
cannot simply be ignored,” she said.
On March 8, International Women’s Day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
together with Health Minister Arsen Torosian visited 13-year-old Nazeli in the
hospital’s intensive care unit when she was still switched to an artificial
ventilation apparatus.
“Many of us took with pain the news about this girl and her killed mother, but
let’s admit that this girl and her mother have also become victims of the
opinion that violence in general and violence against women in particular can
have some justification,” Pashinian wrote in a Facebook post later that day.
Gevork Derdzian, of Yerevan’s Surb Astvatsamayr Medical Center, cautioned on
Monday that despite regaining consciousness and having said a few words, “the
condition of the girl still remains heavy, as she has multiple injuries.”
Nazeli, according to the hospital spokesman, is under doctors’ strict
supervision.
The teenager, whose father died two years ago, has now become an orphan. Her
other close relatives have refused to adopt her, but according to child custody
workers in Gyumri, there are people who are ready to take care of the girl.
Armenians Urged To Return From Italy Over Coronavirus
Italy - A man wearing a protective mask passes by the Coliseum in Rome on March
7, 2020
Armenian citizens who are currently in Italy have been urged to “urgently
suspend their trips and return to Armenia” because of the spread of the new
coronavirus (COVID-19) in this part of Europe.
In a statement issued on Tuesday Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also
urged Armenian citizens to strictly refrain from visiting Italy “given the
measures being taken by the Italian authorities aimed at preventing the spread
of COVID-19.”
Authorities in Yerevan also called upon citizens who are currently in Italy to
remain in constant contact with Armenia’s embassy in Rome.
Later on Tuesday the Irish budget airline Ryanair, which entered Armenia’s civil
aviation market earlier this year, announced suspension of all flights from
Yerevan to Italy and back until April 8.
Italy appears to have become the hotbed in Europe for COVID-19, a new
coronavirus infection that broke out in China late last year, affecting more
than 100,000 people and killing over 4,000 people globally since then.
The whole of Italy, a country of some 60 million people, has been placed under
quarantine, as the Italian authorities have stepped up efforts to tackle the
coronavirus outbreak that has affected more than 9,000 people and left 463 dead
in the country.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced late on Monday that he was
extending restrictions on travel, which had been in place in the north,
throughout the country.
Earlier, authorities in Armenia also urged citizens to temporarily avoid
visiting Iran, China, South Korea, Japan and EU countries (particularly Italy,
Germany, France and Spain) over coronavirus risks, except in urgent cases.
Armenia reported its first and yet only coronavirus case on March 1. A
29-year-old citizen of Armenia who had been evacuated from coronavirus-hit Iran
along with scores of others had tested positive and was hospitalized. Thirty-one
other citizens who may have had close contact with the infected person had also
been placed under a two-week quarantine in a disused hotel in Armenia’s resort
town of Tsaghkadzor.
No new coronavirus cases have been reported in Armenia since then as the country
tightened control at its border with Iran and re-introduced entry visas for
Iranian citizens.
Armenia’s universities and schools resume classes on March 9 one week after
being closed by the government following the confirmation of the first
coronavirus case.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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