Category: 2021

YEREVAN. – The Police special forces on Friday apprehended, from outside the main government building, a young man for shouting against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia.

The Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reported from the scene that this young man was walking his dog at Republic Square in downtown Yerevan, then he turning toward the aforesaid building, he shouted “Nikol, leave!” several times.

The Police special forces immediately ran towards this young man, held him from his arms, put him in a police car, and took him away.

The police did not tell our reporter what the reason was for apprehending this young man.

YEREVAN. – Officials in charge at the government are engaged in resolving the issue of trucks coming from Iran arriving in  Yerevan. The Minister of Economy, Vahan Kerobyan, on Friday said this in a conversation with reporters at the government of Armenia.

“I believe this issue will be resolved soon. Of course, the [southern] border of the Republic of Armenia starts from Meghri [city], and the Iranian cars have no problems with entering Armenia; they have a problem with reaching [the capital] Yerevan. At the moment, this problem is being solved by a bypass road, but it is not adapted for large trucks,” Kerobyan added.

For almost two days now, the Azerbaijani armed forces have closed off the Goris-Kapan interstate motorway’s Shurnukh-Karmrakar section, as well as the section leading from Goris city to Vorotan village. It is about the M2 motorway that connects Armenia with Iran.

The economy minister said that the Armenian government is doing its best to reopen these roads as soon as possible.

But the minister did not say whether he considers these roads now blocked by the Azerbaijanis to be part of the sovereign territory of Armenia. “I am not a connoisseur of such questions. It is necessary to look at what kind of agreements there were. You, too, know very well that some parts of that road were in the territory of [former] Soviet Azerbaijan,” he said.

Kerobyan said that the task of providing food to the residents of the currently blockaded Armenian villages were discussed Friday at the Ministry of Economy. It became known Thursday that the Russian border guards had delivered food to the residents of Vorotan village.

As reported earlier, the Azerbaijani soldiers have blocked the Shurnukh-Karmrakar section of the Goris-Kapan motorway as of 11pm Wednesday, and they refuse to reopen it. About four dozen cars on this road section were evacuated Wednesday night.

And the Office of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia reported that at around 12:20pm on Thursday, the Azerbaijani servicemen had closed off as well the road leading from Goris city to Vorotan village.

Thursday’s trilateral—Armenian-Russian-Azerbaijani—respective talks had ended in the evening, but to no avail. The Azerbaijani side still keeps these road sections closed.

YEREVAN. – That problem will still be recurrent until there is clarity. The Minister of High Technological Industry, Vahagn Khachatryan, told reporters this after Friday’s government Cabinet meeting, referring to the Azerbaijani military’s closure of some sections of the Goris-Kapan interstate motorway of Armenia.

“The peace agenda does not mean being unprotected and does not mean giving up our territories; this is very clear. It is a state policy [of Armenia]. We will go to border delimitation, and we will not give up our territories. And if there will be other proposals besides the trilateral—for example, within the framework of the OSCE—, we are ready to do it. Nobody talks about giving up our territories (…). Not a single centimeter will be handed over from the territory of the Republic of Armenia,” he said.

According to Khachatryan, Armenia has always had alternative roads.

“In general, we need to have all the alternative opportunities. Yes, we sincerely want the road to be [re]opened, and that road will be [re]opened,” the minister said.

And reflecting on PM Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on the positive signals coming from Turkey and responding to them with reciprocal positive signals, Khachatryan expressed hope that these signals are truly positive.

“I hope they are truly positive and will give an opportunity for future unblocking, peace dialogue in the general regional context,” he stressed.

Tehran hopes that the latest disputes in the Syunik Province border zones, especially in the Kapan-Goris road section, will be resolved in a way that the implementation of the goal of reopening the transportation routes and unblocking won’t be disrupted, the Iranian Embassy in Armenia said in response to an inquiry from Armenpress.

The Iranian embassy said that ever since the new border delimitation issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan has entered the agenda, Tehran has been hopeful that the sides will urgently reach the kind of a mutually-acceptable solution that would ensure the normal course of relations between Armenia and its neighbors—and with minimum consequences. The embassy mentioned that the reopening of regional transportation routes and unblocking has been one of the main clauses of the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan statements.

Tehran hopes that the disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over general delimitation will be resolved in peaceful atmosphere, and without any tension or disruption in communication routes.

“We hope that the sides will resolve the latest disagreements in the Syunik province’s border zones and especially the Kapan-Goris road section in a way that the implementation of the goal of reopening of transportation routes and unblocking won’t be disrupted. Unfortunately, in the past two days we are witnessing a disruption of transit through this road as a result of the latest developments in the Syunik province, which has caused problems not only for the normal life of Armenia’s civilian population, but also a number of Iranian cargo vehicles carrying out shipments from Iran to Armenia. Due to the difficulty of the existing situation at this road’s 21 kilometer section it is required for the sides to make efforts within the framework of goodwill principle in the direction of ensuring normal course of communication and transit, until reaching an exact and concrete situation over this matter. Thus, we still hope that the disputes related to the general delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be solved in a peaceful environment without any tension or disruption in communication routes,” the Iranian embassy said.

In relation to the importance of guaranteeing the normal course of communication, the Iranian side stressed that they have always expressed their viewpoints to the authorized bodies of Armenia.

“We are hopeful that parallel to the ongoing negotiations over solving the existing disputes regarding the use of the Kapan-Goris route, the improvement and development works of alternative routes will swiftly take place, so that the conditions return to normal both from perspective of Armenia’s citizens and our commercial relations with Armenia,” the Iranian embassy said.

As reported earlier, the Azerbaijani soldiers have blocked the Shurnukh-Karmrakar section of the Goris-Kapan motorway as of 11pm Wednesday, and they refuse to reopen it. About four dozen cars on this road section were evacuated Wednesday night.

And the Office of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia reported that at around 12:20pm on Thursday, the Azerbaijani servicemen had closed off as well the road leading from Goris city to Vorotan village.

Thursday’s trilateral—Armenian-Russian-Azerbaijani—respective talks had ended in the evening, but to no avail. The Azerbaijani side still keeps these road sections closed.