Category: 2021

 11:57,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The United States is interested in the opportunity for stable cooperation and general unblocking in the region, the Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan told the Voice of America addressing his December 15 meeting with the U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington D.C.

Grigoryan described the meeting as “productive.”

The Armenia-United States bilateral agenda was discussed, he said.

“Armenia’s democratization process is an important security factor. Armenia’s continuous democratization process has a very important role and significance in this agenda. We’ve discussed how we can continue our cooperation in this process. We’ve also discussed issues relating to the security environment in the region, as well as development of cooperation and the economy in the region,” Grigoryan said.

Addressing the Azerbaijani demands for a so-called “corridor”, Grigoryan dismissed these statements as “fake”.

“Armenia has never discussed any issue on a “corridor”. This is a fake subject, which doesn’t exist on the negotiations table, but exists outside of it, which impacts the negotiations process,” he said.

Speaking about the future status of Nagorno Karabakh, Grigoryan said that the Armenian government attaches importance to launching discussions over finding ways for a long-term solution to the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Asked whether or not a solution is possible under the current OSCE MG principles – which include territorial integrity and the right to self-determination and which in turn contradicted each other for more than two decades – the Armenian Security Council Secretary said a solution is possible if “political will exists”.

“We have this political will and we expect that Azerbaijan will have such political will so that a long-term solution is found.There’s been a lot of talk after the war as if the issue is resolved, but like I said, it’s recorded both by us and the international community that the conflict isn’t resolved. We must work in the direction of solving the issue," Grigoryan said.

 15:59,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. As ARMENPRESS is celebrating its 103^rd birthday, the news agency’s Director General Aram Ananyan felicitated staffers – past and present – as well as our readers, and expressed gratitude to everyone who’s been involved in bringing ARMENPRESS to its modern-day position.

In a statement, Ananyan reflected on the one decade of his leadership in ARMENPRESS, and how the agency grew in the last century, from its start in 1918 as the Armenian Telegraph Agency to the modern-day 6-language news agency with its renowned photography department, podcast and video divisions and also two newspapers. 

He said the news agency’s success lies behind its most important resource – the people.

“When we say the people, we mean our staffers of all generations, the readers of all generations, their trust and devotion, which did wonders and created the one-of-a-kind ARMENPRESS label. And on this anniversary, we first of all thank everyone who created ARMENPRESS by writing, photographing, and the people who created ARMENPRESS by reading us and using our media products.To all these people we say thank you.”

Ananyan added that today, the 103-year-old ARMENPRESS is a news agency which is not afraid of any professional challenge; a news agency which never abandoned its positions even during the most difficult and responsible times of the country’s history and has always done its best to fulfill its mission, and it sure will continue doing so.

 16:17,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government plans to restore the 45 kilometer-section of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, spending around 200,000,000 dollars, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told TASS.

“According to preliminary estimates of experts, the indicative cost of restoration of the railway lines passing through Armenia’s territory will amount nearly 200 million dollars. Overall the length of the railway in Armenia’s territory will be nearly 45 kilometers, while the total length will be nearly 340 kilometers,” he said.

Grigoryan stressed that the railway connection linking Armenia and Azerbaijan will function in accordance to internationally accepted regulations on reciprocal principle within the framework of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which it will pass.

 17:41,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) re-elected Serzh Sargsyan as the party’s president.

The voting took place at the party’s congress where the Third President of Armenia received 523 votes in favor and only 2 against.

Members of the HHK Executive Body were also installed at the congress with the following composition: Tigran Abrahamyan, Armen Ashotyan, Karine Atchemyan, Karen Avagyan, Vahram Baghdasaryan, Margarit Yesayan, Artak Zakaryan, Ruben Tadevosyan, Mushegh Lalayan, Davit Harutyunyan, Hayk Mamijanyan, Taron Margaryan, Gagik Minasyan, Anna Mkrtchyan, Samvel Nikoyan, Eduard Sharmazanov and Galust Sahakyan.

Armenia & Azerbaijan announce new deal

18 Dec, 2021 07:29 / 

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to construct a railroad running between their countries, after previous routes were scrapped during the two nations’ Nagorno-Karabakh conflict last year.

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister, told ministers the news in a cabinet session on Thursday, saying, “at a meeting in Brussels with the President of Azerbaijan, we confirmed our agreement to construct a railroad running from Yeraskh to Horadiz.” He added that they had also previously discussed the plan with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Sochi, in southern Russia.

There had previously been a similar route running from Yeraskh through Nakhchivan, but it was shut down after hostilities erupted between the two countries in September 2020. The conflict took place over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnically Armenian region which has been subject to territorial disputes for decades.

The train route will run from the Armenian city Yeraskh through the Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan, which is separated from the rest of the southern Caucasian country by Armenian territory. The line will terminate in Horadiz, within Azerbaijan proper, meaning it will connect Nakhchivan with the rest of the country.

The region is de jure recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but large parts of it have been de facto controlled by a pro-Yerevan administration since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. After weeks of fighting last year, Baku gained control of much of the disputed land, with Russian authorities mediating a truce between the two sides.

Azerbaijan has also proposed the construction of a “Zangezur corridor,” which would give it control of territory between Nakhchivan and the rest of the country, allowing Azerbaijani citizens to travel domestically without needing to pass through border control. Pashinyan has rejected the idea, saying that it demonstrates Baku’s territorial ambitions in the region.

Following a trilateral meeting in Sochi in November, Putin said that Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had agreed to work to properly demarcate their border, hopefully bringing the decades-long conflict to an end. However, Yerevan has warned that efforts to shift the frontier are still ongoing, and has called for Moscow’s help in maintaining the peace.