Category: 2021

The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia has published new evidence from the speech of the president of Azerbaijan as a manifestation of Armenophobia.

The ombudsman’s respective statement reads:

“These are segments from the speech of the 7th Congress of the ‘New Azerbaijan’ party of the President of Azerbaijan. This presentation simply begs these questions: who, after all, is speaking in fascism language; and, how will there be peace under these conditions when the President of the country (Azerbaijan) proudly emphasizes that an entire generation has grown up with hatred towards Armenia and its population.

‘The younger generation has grown up with (…) hatred for the enemy, and this young generation has liberated our lands from the invaders.’

‘Armenia is in an isolated state today, while we are building relations with all our neighbors very effectively, based on friendship and good neighborliness. This was also a kind of preparation. I want to say frankly that if preparatory work had not been done in this area, then we could have faced difficulties in the second Karabakh [(Artsakh)] war. Armenia has isolated itself. In other words, we isolated it from regional projects, from oil and gas projects, ruined their economy, and we can say with a sense of pride that we are the main factor here, as any independent economic expert can confirm. We exposed Armenia as an ambivalent and unstable country with no future. Demographic problems arose, which in itself led to shrinking of the economy.’

‘Today Armenia shies away from cooperation, attempts to hamper the implementation of the Zangazur corridor. But they will fail. We will make them. We will force them. We will achieve our goals, just as we drove them out of our lands.’

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender expresses their thankfulness to Mr. Ruben Melkonyan, the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and to Ms. Mariam Melkonyan, a lecturer at the same faculty for their highly professional assistance in analyses and interpretation of relevant materials.”

YEREVAN. – Past daily of Armenia writes: These days, the focus of internal political events is the well-known statement of Armed Forces General Staff chief Onik Gasparyan and dozens of other high-ranking officers demanding the resignation of [PM] Nikol Pashinyan.

According to Past newspaper’s information, in separate meetings, including with military circles, Nikol Pashinyan promised to resign on March 9 or 10, after which snap [parliamentary] elections shall be organized.

According to the newspaper’s sources, Nikol Pashinyan actually assured that on March 9, when Onik Gasparyan’s dismissal decision will come into force, and when, in fact, he [Pashinyan] will not see any danger from the army, he will resign and hold snap [parliamentary] elections in May.

However, neither the general nor the political and analytical circles believe, to put it mildly, Pashinyan.

On the other hand, the prevailing opinion is that if snap elections are held by these authorities, an unprecedented amount of administrative resources will be used, and the election results will be falsified.

Georgia is creating problems for the export of a certain sort of Armenian wines to Russia. This is what President of the National Wine Center of Armenia Avag Harutyunyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, there are problems with the import of wines made from the Armenian sorts of the “Kakhet” and “Mskhali” grapes into Georgia which have to be transported to Russia later.

Harutyunyan clarified that he doesn’t know if the problems are being solved or not, but there are problems linked to inspections.

“Georgia thinks the potential customers are misled and says the Armenian wines allegedly look like wines made from Georgian sorts of grapes. However, neither “Kakhet” nor “Mskhali” is a Georgian sort. The Georgians think we Armenians are violating their laws. This can’t be referred to as positive in any way,” the wine expert noted.

Representatives of the Kataro wine factory which used to be located in Togh village of Hadrut region before the war in 2020 and another wine factory in Hadrut have expressed the desire to reopen the factory in Artsakh and open franchises in Armenia. This is what President of the National Wine Center of Armenia Avag Harutyunyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am today.

According to him, there was a need for franchises in Armenia because if there are no franchises, it would be impossible to obtain certificates of origin of wines due to the stances of Azerbaijan and Russian peacekeepers.

“We’re currently holding talks over the reopening of the factories in Askeran and Stepanakert. Armenians of the Diaspora have also made proposals to show support,” he said. He stressed that the wine factories in Martakert and Martuni were partially damaged as a result of shelling during the war and that repair works are being carried out.

YEREVAN. – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, sensing that his “political child” [Nikol Pashinyan] found himself in a rather serious situation, is trying to help again, also trying to overshadow the part of [former] President [Robert] Kocharyan’s interview that referred to the scenario of a possible military coup by Onik Gasparyan [chief of the army General Staff]. Ara Vardanyan, former Executive Director of the Hayastan (Armenia) All Armenian Fund,  said this to a press conference Tuesday, referring to First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s statement Monday about the General Staff’s statement demanding the resignation of PM Pashinyan and his government.

“Among all the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, the person who should be most grateful to Kocharyan is President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. He should be thankful that today he is comfortably at home in his residence, and is not in prison. The industry of Armenia was destroyed during his time. I believe that Levon Ter-Petrosyan should go to church every day, light a candle, and bow before President Kocharyan just because he is in freedom. As a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, I would advise him to shut up altogether,” said Vardanyan.

According to him, Ter-Petrosyan is trying to stay in the political field and have political weight. “All the things that Levon Ter-Petrosyan does support Nikol Pashinyan to some extent. Also, they are preparing the groundwork to find other [political] forces which he will support in case of Pashinyan’s possible removal [from power],”Ara Vardanyan stated.

The Staff of the President of Armenia has issued the following clarification:

“Once again, some media outlets have spread misinformation according to which President Armen Sarkissian has allegedly sent a mediator to Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan to convince him to resign. Once again, the Staff of the President of Armenia states that this information is clearly false and does not correspond to reality at all.

President Sarkissian and Onik Gasparyan meet whenever it is necessary and hold talks, and official news is provided in this regard. Thus, there is no need for any mediator, much less a fake mediator.”

The Azerbaijani authorities have put more than two dozen Armenian citizens on the wanted list, Trend reported referring to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office.

The citizens of Armenia have been put on the international wanted list in criminal cases concerning crimes committed by the Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijan from September 27 – when Azerbaijan and Turkey launched aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh – to date.