Category: 2021

One of the recent scandalous headlines is that I allegedly stated that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this Saturday during a live broadcast on Facebook, entitled “About Shushi,” also directly quoting his statement during the recent parliament-government question and answer session that, “There has never been such an option of discussion, not only now, but during the whole negotiation process, that the refugees from Azerbaijan do not return to Shushi, and Shushi had 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population before the [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] conflict and the liberation; that is, do you mean to say that the city of Shushi, with a population of 90 and more Azerbaijanis, is Armenian in its status?”

According to the PM, using this _expression_, some say that he claimed that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Pashinyan noted that he had referred to that topic while answering the question of one of the MPs that the Russian president had proposed to stop the recent Artsakh war in much more favorable conditions for the Armenian side, and Shushi would remain under Armenian control.

“During the war, there was talk of options for stopping the war, and the Azerbaijani side posited a condition for the return of Azerbaijani refugees to the city of Shushi. In fact, it was about the possibility of restoring the demographic status quo in [19]92. When we had already agreed that we should stop the war, a new condition arose that the Azerbaijani refugees shall return to the city of Shushi in accordance with the status quo that existed in 1992,” Pashinyan said.

He added that when the above-mentioned fact became clear, many people publicly accused him that there was an option for Shushi to remain Armenian in status, but he did not make use of that opportunity.

“I have responded to the reality of who and how they think that when there will be a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi, the city with that status will be considered under Armenian control, as the MP says,” Pashinyan emphasized.

According to the Armenian PM, the condition for stopping the war in the context of Shushi is to have 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population.

“It is about its current status, not about the origin; that is, we have not discussed a historical issue. We discussed a specific situation when the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Shushi in accordance with the demographic status quo existing in 1992 was proposed as a condition for stopping the war. In no way could it be considered that there is a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi without clarifying the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and we can say that it is under Armenian control,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

According to him, this matter only shows an example of media manipulation.

A criminal case has been filed on charge of attempted murder of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former defense minister and ex-commander of Artsakh Defense Army Jalal Harutyunyan. Arevik Khachatryan, head of the public relations department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia, informed Armenian News-NEWS.am about this.

Khachatryan added that the criminal case includes another charge, which is pursuant to the Criminal Code article on deliberate destruction of property, which has caused great damage.

The investigation continues.

Harutyunyan was interviewed along the lines of this criminal case.

There is currently no person with litigation status.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, and Turkish Deputy National Defense Minister Yunus Emre Karaosmanoglu got acquainted with the infrastructure and current procedures of the Russian-Turkish joint center for monitoring the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)], RIA Novosti reported.

At the end of the ceremony, the heads of delegations planted trees in the memorial park.

As reported earlier, the launch of the operations of this joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center was announced Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the opening of the joint Russian-Turkish center to control the ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

The center opened today in Azerbaijan, the Kremlin press service reported.

The hope was expressed that the activities of the center will contribute to further stabilization of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the proper observance of the agreements fixed in the statement of the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia dated November 9, 2020.

Some topical issues of Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral cooperation were discussed as well.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country is satisfied with the liberation of the occupied territories of Karabakh, Mehr reported.

His remarks came during a meeting with the chair of the supreme assembly of Nakhchivan Vasif Talibov on Saturday.

Talking about his regional trip and the negotiations held, as well as the opinions of the officials of the mentioned countries, Zarif spoke about the fact that the public accepts and is ready for regional cooperation, especially in the field of creating transport links in the region and transit routes.

He highlighted the important role of Nakhchivan in this regard as well.

The Iranian FM also noted the importance of mutual parliamentary ties between Iran and Nakhchivan.

Vasif Talibov, in turn, presented a report on the state of cooperation between Nakhchivan and Iran in trade, electricity exchange, as well as cultural issues, in particular, the Persian language.

He expressed Nakhchivan’s readiness to develop regional cooperation in the field of railways and transit, highways, customs and facilities.

Azerbaijani soldiers have opened a fire near Syunik villages, Armenian human rights defender Arman Tatoyan wrote on his Facebook.

The reports were confirmed by residents of all the villages, as well as local government bodies. The latters have submitted alarming complaints to the Human rights defender that the shooting is carried out regularly, both during the day and night. According to alarming information, shots are clearly heard in the villages aimed at intimidating civilians, primarily children and women.

The residents of the village noted that there are frequent cases when Azerbaijani soldiers shoot while being drunk.

A delegation led by the Human Rights Defender was informed of these shootings on January 9, 2021.

Special reports will be sent to international organizations, including the OSCE, the UN and the Council of Europe. Another reports will also be sent to special mechanisms of intergovernmental organizations.

The person who was extradited by the Armenian side to Azerbaijan was serving his sentence in Vardashen Penitentiary; he was convicted of crossing the border illegally, Dejavu reported on its Telegram channel.

“They exchanged the 5 Armenian captives with Anar Giasi Mammadov, who was serving his sentence in Vardashen Penitentiary since March 14, 2020, under [the Criminal Code] Article 329, Section 1: illegal crossing of the state border. It is clearly shown in the datalex.am [judicial information] website that the appellate decision on Mammadov’s case has entered into legal force and is specified—the detention remains unchanged. It is interesting on what basis, by what legal act they released Anar Mammadov, especially why they are keeping the fact of his extradition a secret,” Dejavu stated.

YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The process of appointing Lilit Makunts, the leader of the NA [National Assembly] [majority] My Step faction, as the [new] RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the USA will not go as smoothly as it may seem at first sight.

The thing is that there is not even an agrément [the agreement by a state to receive members of a diplomatic mission from a foreign country] yet. (…). Zhoghovurd daily learned that the process of granting an agrément is usually not so easy and is often also denied.

Usually, there is no mention of sending an agrément request, as well as of denying it.

Moreover, it is interesting that, as such, there is no envisioned deadline for receiving an agrément (…); that is, it is not the case that Lilit Makunts will be appointed ambassador in the coming days, as the [respective] process is actually long, and they still have to examine Lilit Makunts’ life story, whether or not her past is acceptable for the American side, and only then decide whether or not they give their consent to host her as ambassador.