Category: 2021

 12:45,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Member state of the Council of Europe is violating the fundamental human rights and the international law and what should be done for preventing it?, member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tatev Hayrapetyan said in her remarks delivered at the PACE plenary session.

She noted that two months after the signing of the statement on the ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan is refusing to return the Armenian prisoners of war.

“When we are talking about procedures, I want to ask a question to all of us: what to do if a member state of the Council of Europe is violating the fundamental human rights for years? We have witnessed how Azerbaijan has used the “caviar diplomacy” to hide its dictatorial reality and human rights violations. We had reports on this topic. We all remember the case of Luca Volonte. The latter was sentenced to four yours in prison for taking bribes from Azerbaijani officials. Volonte is just the tip of the “iceberg”, in fact the matter is much deeper”, the Armenian MP said.

According to her, the recent Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against the peaceful civilians of Artsakh, which was accompanied by war crimes, has been completed with the mediation of the Russian side, however two months after the signing of the statement on the ceasefire Azerbaijan is refusing to return the Armenian POWs.

The ECHR has applied an interim measure regarding the issue of POWs, urging Azerbaijan to provide respective information. Four days later one of the prisoners of war has been brutally killed.

“This is unprecedented and is a gross violation of the human rights convention. As a female lawmaker I also want to emphasize that there is also a woman captive in Azerbaijan. The only fault of my compatriot Maral Najaryan is that she is Armenian and was delivering bread to our soldiers who were defending the peaceful population of Artsakh.

Dear colleagues,

This debate is about values. The CoE member state is violating the fundamental human rights and the international law and I want to ask a question: what to do to prevent it?” she added.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 11:35,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Head of the opposition Bright Armenia faction of the Armenian Parliament, member of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Edmon Marukyan has been re-elected as first Vice-Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the lawmaker said on Facebook.

“Today I was re-elected as the first Vice-Chairperson of one of the most important committees of PACE – the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The Committee Chairperson has three deputies. My candidacy has been presented by the PACE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group”, he said.

The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rightscomprises 85 members and their alternates to which should be added the presidents of the 5 political groups as ex-officio members. It deals with a wide range of legal and human rights topics, appointing parliamentary rapporteurs mandated to prepare reports based on in situ research, hearings and exchanges of views with experts. This work culminates in resolutions and recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) addressed to member states and other Council of Europe bodies. The Committee has three sub-committees: on human rights, on crime problems and the fight against terrorism, and on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:46,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian calls the Armenian-Iranian agenda comprehensive, based on the centuries-old friendly relations between the two peoples.

“Our friendship is the best example of inter-cultural dialogue and various religions and civilizations’ living side by side, the basis of which is the mutual trust and respect. This is the key of achieving peace and stability in the region”, the FM said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Yerevan.

FM Aivazian said Armenia attaches importance to the high level of the political dialogue existing with Iran, the close commercial ties and the cooperation in the fields of mutual interest. According to him, this meeting is a good occasion to exchange views on the prospects of multi-sectoral cooperation, to outline the future actions.

“I am confident that we will be able to further strengthen and develop our mutually beneficial cooperation with joint efforts. Iran is Armenia’s 4^th trading partner, and of course, the promotion of commercial cooperation has a special place in our agenda. Of course, our discussions gave a special place to the regional security and stability-related issues, and we will continue exchanging views over them during the day”, he said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:08,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani media outlets continue their policy of distorting the facts. This time they have distorted the remarks of German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

In particular, Sputnik Azerbaijan reported that the German FM, commenting on the issue of involvement of mercenaries by Azerbaijan into the war against Artsakh, has stated that no evidence has been found on that.

Meanwhile, the transcript of the full speech of the German FM shows that he hasn’t made any such statement, quite the contrary, the minister stated that they are aware of this issue, adding that this is not the only conflict where Syrian mercenaries are involved in.

“We are familiar with the issue of Syrian mercenaries involved in the war against Nagorno Karabakh. I think we need to understand that this is not the only conflict at this moment where Syrian mercenaries are involved in. We have a similar situation also in Libya. Based on the information we have [over Karabakh], we suppose that there are still some Syrian mercenaries left in the conflict zone, and all international efforts were made to understand how they have been used, their actual number and who bears responsibility for their presence, however, we do not have a final information on this matter yet”, the German FM has said.

He stated that Germany, as a member state of the OSCE Minsk Group, is ready to make efforts for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:02,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The number of Center for Armenian Studies operating in different countries of the world will increase, Deputy minister of education, science, culture and sport Artur Martirosyan said at a press conference in Armenpress, adding that there are plans to add 2 more such centers to the already existing 8 ones.

“As for the location of these new centers, let me not open the brackets. It is conditioned by several factors, we are working with our Embassies. The interest of the hosting side is also very important so that they will provide co-financing and ensure the continuation of the program. I attach importance to these centers to open in influential institutions. We are thinking about new formats in cooperation with the influential structures of the Diaspora so that the expansion of these centers will not take place only at the expense of the state budget. And we have put a task for all these centers to be in network cooperation”, the deputy minister said.

The new centers will mainly run the same policy as the current ones do. The popularization of the Armenian culture and education will be the focus of their activity.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:27,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan received today new Ambassador of Belarus to Armenia Alexander Konyuk, the ministry told Armenpress.

Minister Badasyan congratulated the Ambassador on appointment, expressing confidence that his activity will contribute to the development and strengthening of the ties between the two countries.

The Belarusian Ambassador thanked the minister for the meeting and assured that during his tenure in Armenia he will do the utmost for expanding and deepening the cooperation between the Armenian and Belarusian ministries of justice.

Previously serving as Prosecutor General of Belarus, the Ambassador was interested in Armenia’s fight against corruption, in particular the action on establishing an Anti-Corruption Committee.

Minister Badasyan introduced the goals of creating such Committee and informed that it will investigate corruption crimes, as well as will conduct an operational-intelligence activity.

Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting.

An agreement was reached to strengthen the mutual collaboration.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 11:37,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government has proposed the Parliament to convene an extraordinary session.

The session will be convened on February 3, at 11:00.

The agenda of the session will include the package of bills on making changes and amendments to the Judicial Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Justice Academy, as well as the Law on Social Assistance, etc.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:39,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan received today Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress.

Welcoming the Ambassador, Speaker Mirzoyan once again highlighted the importance of allied relations between Armenia and Russia and highly valued the active engagement of the Russian side in terms of stopping the hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh and overcoming the ongoing humanitarian problems. He emphasized that the return of Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan is the most important issue for the Armenian side, expressing confidence that the Russian partners will continue their mediation efforts on this direction for the implementation of the respective point enshrined in the November 9 trilateral statement.

The Parliament Speaker also noted that the trilateral statement has not solved the Karabakh conflict, adding that the Armenian side is ready to resume the negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship over the status of Nagorno Karabakh, based on the peoples’ right to self-determination.

In his turn the Russian Ambassador introduced the activity of the humanitarian center established by Russia, as well as the operation of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh. He stressed the need to continue the peaceful negotiations within the Minsk Group for the complete solution of the conflict, as well as for clarifying the status of Nagorno Karabakh.

During the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues relating to activating and deepening the cooperation of the Armenian and Russian parliaments in bilateral and multilateral platforms.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 11:48,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia doesn’t find that the results of Azerbaijan’s aggression and the use of force against Artsakh could create grounds for lasting peace or be considered as an opportunity for regional cooperation, Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian told his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during a meeting in Yerevan.

“Now our region is facing new, most serious challenges which were created as a result of Azerbaijan’s dangerous attempt to solve the Karabakh conflict through force. Armenia doesn’t find that the results of Azerbaijan’s aggression and the use of force against Artsakh could create grounds for lasting peace or be considered as an opportunity for regional cooperation. Iran is an important country in the region, and we respect Iran’s approaches through which it builds its relations with its direct neighbors. Nevertheless, we’d like to once again emphasize that it is only the lasting peace addressing everyone’s interests – where there are no winners or losers, so-called victories or defeats – that could create true guarantees for advancing security, stability and development in the region,” Aivazian said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan