13:06, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Makun Bridge in Mets Tagher in Artsakh’s occupied Hadrut region has been destroyed by Azerbaijanis, Caucasus Heritage Watch said on Twitter.
The organization informed that the Bridge has been destroyed between April 8 and July 7 in the course of river engineering and road construction.
13:53, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian congratulated President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the Independence Day, the President’s Office told Armenpress.
“Undoubtedly, the centuries-old friendly relations of our countries are a firm and stable base for the consistent development and expansion of the mutually beneficial cooperation”, the Armenian President said in his congratulatory letter. “I am sure that we will manage to implement new joint projects and raise the inter-state partnership of Armenia and Uzbekistan to a qualitatively higher level”.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
14:54, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. On September 1, at around 11:10, the Azerbaijani armed forces once again resorted to provocation, by opening fire from sniper rifles at the Armenian positions located in the Yeraskh section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the defense ministry of Armenia said in a statement.
Serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces, junior sergeant Gegham Sahakyan, born in 1982, received a fatal gunshot wound as a result.
“The defense ministry shares the grief of the loss and extends condolences to the family, relatives and fellow servicemen of the soldier”, the statement says, adding: “The ministry strongly condemns the actions of the Azerbaijani side and warns that they will not go unanswered. The entire responsibility of the escalation of the situation falls on the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan”.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:52, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Parliament of Artsakh convened a special session chaired by Speaker Artur Tovmasyan on September 1 dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
The Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, the former Speaker of Parliament of Artsakh Ashot Ghulyan and an Armenian parliamentary delegation led by Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan were in attendance.
The parliament observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the three Karabakh wars.
Speaker Tovmasyan said the Azeri-launched wars against Artsakh in 2016 and 2020, with the latter also involving international terrorist groups, reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s explicit sinister intentions of an “Artsakh without Armenians”. “And after all this, to include any contentious issue of some kind of a status within Azerbaijan into the negotiations process simply doesn’t fit into any healthy logic.” “Despite entirely different positions around the settlement of the Karabakh conflict between the sides, we are definitely inclined towards the establishment of a proper environment aimed at continuing the negotiations process exclusively under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“Independence isn’t only a declaration, it isn’t only a Constitution, first of all it is the dignity to live independently,” said Bishop Abrahamyan in his remarks.
In turn, Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan said: “This holiday is first of all the holiday of our fallen heroes, who sacrificed their lives for us to have our homeland. We are all obliged to strengthen Artsakh, which will mean to strengthen Armenia, for their memory.”
FM Babayan said that the priority for all Armenians must become the focusing on Artsakh.
Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan conveyed the greetings of Speaker Alen Simonyan, and described the Artsakh Declaration of Independence as the only way of preserving the existence of Armenians of Artsakh.
“This is the 30th anniversary of the will of Artsakhians,” he said. “The 30-th anniversary of exercising their own right. Eternal glory to all those thanks to whom this right was exercised.”
In turn, Hayastan faction MP Armen Rustamyan said: “It is important that we celebrate this day. This is a message to our neighbors: the will of the Armenians is unbreakable, regardless of turmoil we are able to rediscover ourselves and overcome challenges. We are in a common system. The security of Armenia is interlinked with Artsakh. We have very little time to accurately assess the situation and restore what has been lost.”
“The future of our people was determined, is determined and will be determined in Artsakh,” said MP Artur Vanetsyan from the Pativ Unem bloc.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
17:13, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs Andrei Rudenko and his Azerbaijani counterpart Khalaf Khalafov held a telephone conversation on September 1, the Russian foreign ministry reports.
The officials discussed a number of issues of the bilateral and regional agenda, including the implementation process of the 2020 November 9 and 2021 January 11 statements signed by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
17:36, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, 1 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 1 September, USD exchange rate up by 0.48 drams to 493.60 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.23 drams to 583.34 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 6.75 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 679.05 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price up by 287.23 drams to 28800.96 drams. Silver price up by 7.26 drams to 381.58 drams. Platinum price up by 173.99 drams to 15885.48 drams.
17:48, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Nearly 70 representatives of Germany’s tourism sector, including tour-operators, tour agencies, trade associations, air companies and news agencies, have arrived in Armenia to participate in ‘’Fvw DRV Destination Forum’’ event, which is aimed at strengthening the touristic relations between Armenia and Germany. ARMENPRESS reports during the press-conference dedicated to the event Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan thanked the representatives of the tourism sector of Germany for organizing the ‘’Fvw DRV Destination Forum’’ event in Armenia.
Kerobyan stressed that such events are important for Armenia, as they move forward the tourism sphere in Armenia by one big step, helping companies operating in the field to expand their international ties and geography.
“We attach great importance to the projects implemented in the field of tourism jointly with the ‘’German Agency for International Cooperation” company. This four-day event shows Armenia’s interest in developing the Armenian-German economic and tourism ties,” Kerobyan said.
According to the Minister of Economy, tourism is one of the priority spheres for Armenia’s economic development.
‘’It’s not a secret that Germany is Armenia’s major economic partner among the EU Member States. The deepening of relations with Germany is one of the key directions of Armenia’s foreign economic policy, where cooperation in the field of tourism is a priority’’, Kerobyan emphasized.
The Minister said that the highest increase in the number of visits to Armenia from European Union countries since 2019 is from Germany.
‘’Fvw DRV Destination Forum’’ will be held until September 2. The German guests will tour in Armenia to discover its sights and touristic potential. A business forum will be held on September 2.
18:58, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Public Radio of Armenia is one of the leaders in the Armenian landscape, which today enters a new development era with the consolidated efforts of its team, Director of ARMENPRESS news agency Aram Ananyan said in the congratulatory message addressed to the Public Radio and its Director Garegin Khumaryan on the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the Public Radio.
‘’I heartily congratulate you and the entire staff of the Public Radio, its veterans and thousands of audience on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the Public Radio that has an invaluable role in our public life. Like in the past, today also the Public Radio is one of the leaders of Armenia’s media landscape, which today has entered into a new era of development with the consolidated efforts of your team’’, reads the congratulatory message of Aram Ananyan.
Ananyan noted that ARMENPRESS and Public Radio have a history of decades of cooperation. During this jubilee year the joint prodcast project ”A Fairy Tale Together” came into life, in the sidelines of which the children of 11 ethnic minorities of Armenia presented their folk tales in Armenian language.
‘’Our rich history of partnership inspires confidence that our joint projects will be multiplied during the upcoming years. Congratulations once again, we wish you uninterrupted broadcasting, new creative success, health and peaceful sky’’, Director of ARMENPRESS Aram Ananyan said in his congratulatory message.
20:43, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenia National Football Team Captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan has great expectations from the match against North Macedonia in the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup.
‘’My playmates carried out huge work during the last 3 matches and we won in all three matches. We are pursuing victory here. We realize the importance of the match and know that we have great opportunities in this qualifying stage’’, ARMENPRESS reports Mkhitaryan said in a press conference prior to the match.
According to Mkhitaryan, the team has developed a psychology of a winner, which was formed since the previous League of Nations. ‘’Our guys have started to believe in their opportunities and the quality of their activities has increased’’, Mkhitaryan said.
The match between North Macedonia and Armenia in the qualifying round of the World Cup will take place on September 2 at 22:45 Yerevan time.
Fighting crime in Artsakh is responsibility of Artsakh’s authorities – Prosecutor’s Office responds to Kamran Aliyev
21:34, 1 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Artsakh has responded to the statements of the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev, according to which the Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan is initiating criminal cases “in connection with crimes in the areas of temporary deployment of Russian peacekeepers.”
The Prosecutor’s Office of Artsakh responded to the mentioned announcement in a statement provided to ARMENPRESS, which runs as follows,
”Fight against crime in the territory of the Republic of Artsakh is carried out by the law enforcement agencies of Artsakh, and unlike a number of countries that are members of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, we do it with the utmost diligence to comply with the provisions of the Convention and adherence to the rule of law.
The greatest mission of the Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan may be coordinating the activities of the law enforcement system so that to assist in prevention of crimes such as the torture of a person with obvious mental health problems who got lost and appeared under the control of Azerbaijani servicemen, or firing at civilian settlements and houses regularly, day and night aimed at intimidating the civilian population, cases of desecration of corpses, torture of prisoners, murder. Of course, it’ the obligation of the Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies to investigate into such cases, but since xenophobia against Armenians and violations of rights of Armenians based on ethnic belonging is openly encouraged in that country, we cannot expect anything from them but inactivity. And if the law enforcement system is unable to prevent such crimes, to prosecute its citizens and military who have committed a criminal act, then the only thing it can do is making statements”.