14:33,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Army of Artsakh is denying reports that some of its positions and a command post are besieged.
“The information spread by some Facebook users on “besieged” positions and a command post are false,” the Defense Army said in a statement, adding that these fake “manipulative” reports seek to mislead the public.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
14:59,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan doesn’t rule out the possibility of changing the frequency of the PCR test requirement for unvaccinated employed citizens from the current twice-a-month to weekly.
Speaking to reporters, Avanesyan stressed that the newly initiated requirement which came into effect October 1 is effective.
The ministry is now looking into the experience of other countries.
Speaking about the pace of vaccinations, she said that around 17,000 people got the jab on October 15 alone. “This is a repeating figure. This high indicator was maintained over the past week and we expect that the number of people getting vaccinated will further increase next week,” she said.
Avanesyan said the healthcare system is deploying around 1900 new beds for COVID-19 patients, but warned that resources aren’t unlimited.
“We must do everything we can to maximally suppress the spread of the disease in the next two or three weeks,” she said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
2nd Army Corps in charge of protecting Armenia’s eastern border ready to fulfill any objective, says deputy commander
15:16,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The situation at the eastern border of Armenia is peaceful and stable at the moment, and the recent military escalation in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact where an Azeri attack left 6 Armenian troops wounded did not impact the stability of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, Deputy Commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the Armenian Armed Forces Colonel Hayk Petrosyan told reporters at a military post.
Colonel Petrosyan, who is in charge of the military morale of the 2nd Army Corps, stressed that his troops are a combat-ready formation capable of fulfilling any military objective. He said that any adversary provocation will receive adequate assessment from the Armenian military.
“We are now located in one of the military positions of the army corps protection area where border protection is conducted. The combat position is being equipped, it’s already in the final phase, there are observation posts, firing positions where on-duty troops are observing the adversary’s movement with the purpose of assessing and controlling the nature of its potential actions,” Colonel Petrosyan said.
He said that the latest provocation against their positions took place on July 28, when Azerbaijani servicemen attacked a military position near Vardenis, but were repelled.
Nevertheless, he added, despite the post-war military-political situation and significant changes of the line of contact the Azerbaijani military’s conduct hasn’t changed.
“The adversary is the same adversary,” he said. “The 2nd Army Corps, which is deployed at this border, is a combat-ready formation capable of fulfilling any objective. This was proven during the military actions of the 44-day war. Particularly now the army corps is capable of neutralizing any adversary provocation,” the colonel said.
“As a seasoned military expert I can assure you that the adversary is evaluating the military formations and military bases which stand in front of it. If the adversary were to think that they could fulfill some kind of an objective they will definitely go for it. We are not allowing this, we will thwart it with relevant actions,” the colonel said.
Reporting by Aram Sargsyan
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran have reached a boiling point in recent weeks. There are three main reasons behind the strained relationship, including perceptions that Azerbaijan has been strengthening ties with Israel amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. Azerbaijan also launched a joint military exercise with Pakistan and Turkey — a country competing with Iran in Middle East leadership — on September 1. Additionally, in mid-September, Azerbaijan imposed a road tax on Iranian trucks traveling through Azerbaijani territories.
Iran and Azerbaijan are divided by a 700-kilometer border. Parts of this territory and the entry roads were long under Armenia’s control, following the first Karabakh war that ended with the 1994 ceasefire. In 2020, after the 44-day second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan regained control over large swathes of this territory, including entry roads and land on the Iranian border.
Azerbaijan also resented perceptions that Tehran backed Armenia during the recent conflict. Despite this, the relations were somewhat normal until Azerbaijan decided in September 2021 to impose road tax on Iranian trucks using roadways that are now under the control of Azerbaijan. When Armenia controlled those roads, vehicles could pass freely without having to pay any tax.
Two Iranian truck drivers were arrested on September 15, 2021, further escalating tensions. Baku officials said the two are still being detained and have been charged with smuggling and illegally crossing the Azerbaijani state border.
Northern Iran is populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis who make up the largest non-Persian minority in Iran. During the war last year, ethnic Azerbaijanis organized protests in support of the war in several cities in Iran. “Iran has traditionally stayed neutral in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But as tensions have risen, the narrative in Azerbaijan has shifted toward portraying Iran as purely and actively pro-Armenian,” wrote journalist Joshua Kuchera in his overview of tensions on October 12. Not all agree with this view, though, as political analyst Eldar Mamedov: explained in an interview with Eurasianet, “Iran has repeatedly supported Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity on the level of political and religious leadership.”
Iran repeated its support for Azerbaijan during the 44-day war when President Hassan Rohani’s chief of staff Mahmud Vaezi told Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev that, “The stance of the Islamic republic on Azerbaijan has always been clear and transparent as it has always recognized the neighboring country’s territorial integrity and respected it.”
Others, like Touraj Atabaki, professor emeritus of the social history of the Middle East and Central Asia at Leiden University in the Netherlands, believe Iran is concerned about being politically sidelined. In an interview with Radio Liberty, Atabaki said, “Turkey has the second-largest NATO army, and Pakistan is a nuclear power in the region. When these two countries join Azerbaijan in military maneuvers, it worries Russia and Iran — and the Islamic republic’s military maneuver [reflects] its concern.”
In addition, Iran views Azerbaijan as Israel’s proxy, explained Abbas Qaidari, a researcher on international security and defense policy. Israel and Azerbaijan share a military alliance, and Azerbaijan has received Israeli military and surveillance equipment. “That relationship has been strong for years, although it has been newly visible since last year’s war, in which Azerbaijan used Israeli weaponry to significant effect,” wrote journalist Joshua Kuchera on September 30.
To understand a rapidly changing situation, here is a timeline of the most recent events:
August 26 — Azerbaijan blocked the Goris-Kapan road, Armenia’s only highway to Iran, for nearly 48 hours. Goris and Kapan are the two main towns of southern Armenia. In addition to connecting these two towns, the road includes a 21 kilometer-long segment that passes through Azerbaijan’s newly regained territory.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan summoned Iran’s ambassador to Baku to share a diplomatic note expressing Azerbaijan’s dissatisfaction with Iranian trucks illegally entering parts of Karabakh now controlled by Azerbaijan.
September 12 — Azerbaijan launched a joint military exercise with Turkey and Pakistan.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry asked the Russian Defense Ministry that Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh prevent “illegal crossing of third-country vehicles into the territories of Azerbaijan.”
September 13 — Azerbaijan confirmed it set up checkpoints and was collecting customs payments at the Goris-Kapan road.
September 23 — Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
September 27 — President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency that Iranian trucks were using that route “illegally” prior to the second Karabakh war.
He also criticized the Iranian military exercises, saying to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency: “Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?”
September 30 — Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s new ambassador to Tehran, said Iran wouldn’t “tolerate the presence and activity” of Israel against the country’s national security and the country will take actions if such need arises.
The country also announced it would hold large-scale military exercises near the Azerbaijani border, following another set of drills in the same region reported Eurasianet.
October 1 — Tehran launched military drills near its northwestern border with Azerbaijan.
October 3 — Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted in Azerbaijani, “those who dig pits for their brothers will fall into those pits themselves.”
In response, Azerbaijan held another joint drill with Turkey, this time in its Nakhchivan enclave on October 5.
The rehearsals of the Unwavering Brotherhood-2021 exercise, which will be held in Nakhchivan with the participation of our 3rd Army Command and Azerbaijan Nakhchivan Army Command, were carried out successfully.
October 4 — Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Iran’s claims of a third-party presence, calling them baseless.
October 5 — President Ilham Aliyev dismissed Tehran’s allegation of an unofficial Israeli presence in the country. “Let them open their eyes and look. Where do they see Israel here? Not a single person lives here. There is not a single building here. Is there proof? No,” Aliyev told reporters speaking to them from Jabrail, just a few miles from the border with Iran. The president asserted that baseless allegations wouldn’t go unanswered.
The same day, Azerbaijani media reported that Iran cut off its airspace to Azerbaijani military flights, while Azerbaijani authorities shut down a mosque and an office of Seyyed Ali Akbar Ojaghnejad, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing a spike in COVID infections at the mosque.
October 6 — Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said Tehran was “deeply concerned by Israel’s presence in the Caucasus.”
October 13 — Questions over what triggered the tensions remain. However, both Iran and Azerbaijan expressed interest in resolving the current diplomatic crisis through dialogue on October 13. Following a phone call with his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, the two officials announced the de-escalation effort.
At the same time, the museum is continuing to offer virtual programs for members and supporters around the world.
The next online concert hosted by the museum will feature young vocalists and musicians from the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. TUMO is a free education center for teens in Armenia specializing in technology and design. The TUMO Band is led by Arik Grigoryan, a member of the popular rock band Bambir. The group met during his music workshop at TUMO and they perform genres from rock to classical, fusing the traditional with the modern.
“Our goal is to return to hosting cultural events such as this in our gallery, but we are happy to host the performances online and to partner with musicians in Yerevan and other cities for our local, national, and international members and friends,” explains Executive Director Jason Sohigian.
“This exciting concert was recorded exclusively for the Armenian Museum, and it is free to attend thanks to a generous grant from the Dadourian Foundation, whose mission is to promote Armenian cultural identity,” adds Sohigian. “We do hope that viewers join the museum as members, though, as it supports our mission to preserve and share Armenian heritage and culture. We’ve had an impressive response to our 50th anniversary membership drive and would like to continue the momentum.”
TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is made up of self-learning activities, workshops, and project labs that cover technology and design including computer programming, animation, game development, robotics, 3D modeling, filmmaking, and graphic design. More than 20,000 students currently attend TUMO centers in Armenia on a regular basis. In recent years, TUMO centers have opened in Paris, Moscow, Tirana, Berlin, and Beirut.
TUMO’s music program explores many genres and instruments, as well as songwriting, composing, and the use of digital audio software.
The 19 members of the band range in age from 14 to 23, and they go to TUMO twice a week for the afterschool music program. Ten of the group members are vocalists, and others play instruments such as cello, guitar, violin, and flute. This concert will include original songs by the band, as well as music written to accompany stories by Hovhannes Tumanyan, Mesrop Mashtots, and Rumi. Create Account
The Armenian Museum of America is the largest Armenian museum in the Diaspora. It has grown into a major repository for all forms of Armenian material culture that illustrate the creative endeavors of the Armenian people over the centuries. Today, the museum’s collections hold more than 25,000 artifacts including 5,000 ancient and medieval Armenian coins, 1,000 stamps and maps, 3,000 textiles, and 180 Armenian inscribed rugs. In addition to more than 30,000 books in is research library, there is an extensive collection of Urartian and religious artifacts, ceramics, medieval illuminations, and various other objects. The collection includes historically significant objects, including five of the Armenian Bibles printed in Amsterdam in 1666.
The Armenian Museum of America is currently open noon to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The concert will stream online on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) via the museum’s Facebook page, YouTube Channel, and website www.ArmenianMuseum.org, and it will be available online for later viewing.
KAREN MIRZOYAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Azerbaijan on Monday asked the World Court to order neighbouring Armenia to hand over maps it says show the location of landmines on its territory, while the judges consider tit-for-tat claims that the other side violated an anti-discrimination treaty.
This time last year, Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before Russia brokered a ceasefire.
Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov told judges that the emergency measures sought were urgently needed to protect against the “dire threat” posed by what it says is Armenia’s refusal to hand over the maps.
The alleged campaign of placing landmines “is quite simply a continuation of Armenia’s decades-long ethnic cleansing operation and an attempt to keep these territories cleansed of Azerbaijanis”, Mammadov said.
Armenia’s agent before the court, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, dismissed the Azeri claims as ” manufactured and defensive moves”.
He pointed out that Azerbaijan itself planted hundreds of thousands of landmines in the conflict area in the early 1990s.
Armenia has already handed over two minefield maps and “we stand ready to provide any more maps in our possession”, Kirakosyan said.
Last week, Armenia also sought emergency measures from the World Court. Lawyers for Armenia told judges then that Azerbaijan promoted ethnic hatred against Armenians.
Azerbaijan rejected Armenia’s claim and said that it was the other way around and that it was Armenia that carried out ethnic cleansing.
The requests for emergency measures are part of tit-for-tat cases filed at the World Court last month where both Armenia and Azerbaijan claimed the other country has violated the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which both states are signatories.
The hearings on Monday and last week do not go into the merits of the cases but instead deal with requests from both sides for emergency measures while the court considers the claims.
The World Court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, is the UN court for resolving disputes between countries. It has yet to determine whether it has jurisdiction in this case.
A postage stamp dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Alexander Kemurdzhiana has been put into circulation.
The right part of the postage stamp with the nominal value of 230 AMD depicts a prominent Armenian scientist, engineer-constructor and inventor Alexander Kemurdzhian (1921-2003). He created the world’s first lunar and interplanetary rovers, which traveled hundreds of kilometers on the surface of the Earth satellite and the neighboring planets, transmitting the first invaluable information about the unknown universe to the humanity.
The left part of the postage stamp depicts the first lunar rover “Lunokhod 1” designed by A. Kemurdzhian.
Date of issue:
Designer: David Dovlatyan
Printing house: Cartor, France
Size: 40,0 x 30,0 mm
Stamps per sheet: 10 pcs
Print run: 20 000 pcs
Spain is planning to open a diplomatic mission in Armenia in 2022, El Diaro reports.
The government’s plans to open diplomatic missions in Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan are outlined in the draft state budget for FY 2022.
The policy is in line with the country’s desire to strengthen bilateral relations with the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The government anticipates that “structured dialogue will be promoted with the countries of the Eastern Neighborhood of the EU, and with the Central Asian Republics within the framework of the new EU-Central Asia Strategy.”
The budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation provides for the opening of diplomatic representations in Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
The Ministry also plan to carry out 28 trips and visits by delegations to these countries over the next year.