Category: 2022

Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan claims he was just joking when he said he would resign if Armenia failed to record a double-digit economic growth in 2021.

His comments came in response to a question of Aregnaz Manukyan, an MP from the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) faction, at a parliament session on Wednesday.

Taking the parliamentary floor, the lawmaker played a recording of one of Kerobyan's speeches, where he made the promise.

The minister stated that the recording was incomplete.

"If you listen to the full recording, you will realize that it was a comment I made in jest,” Kerobyan said. “By the way, are you as demanding of the international financial institutions the forecasts of which for Armenia also did not come true?"

"You see, after such a response we will have to treat all your statements as something of a joke. And I'm telling you in all seriousness that you just lied,” Manukyan retorted.

Today, January 19, marks the death anniversary of National Hero of Armenia Movses Gorgisyan.

Movses Gorgisyan (1961-1990) was a politician and one of the leaders of the Nagorno-Karabakh movement. He was one of the founders of the Army of Independence. Widely known for his speeches on the independence of Armenia, he was also an active advocate of Artsakh's independence campaign.

Born in Yerevan, Gorgisyan graduated from the Department of Culture of the Armenian State Pedagogical University in 1984, with the qualification of a stage director and producer. In 1986-1987 he worked at the Theatre of Goris. In 1987, he joined the national movement, becoming a member of the Union for National Self-Determination.

Gorgisyan led the demonstrations for independence in Yerevan, being jailed in 1988. He was also an editor of the Armenian edition of Glasnost magazine. Gorgisyan was the first person to hoist Armenia's tricolor flag on 28 May 1988 for the first time. This was the same day the First Republic of Armenia was founded 70 years prior.

In late 1989, Gorgisyan and several other members of the Union for National Self-Determination founded the Army of Independence, an armed group which engaged in violent clashes with the Soviet and Soviet Azerbaijani authorities in the Armenian SSR and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

Gorgisyan was killed in a battle with Azerbaijani forces attacking border villages in Ararat Province on 19 January 1990 and was buried at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex.

He posthumously received the highest title in Armenia, the National Hero of Armenia award.

Talented Japanese pianist Takahiro Akiba has been awarded the Medal of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Armenian musical culture in Japan, the Armenian Embassy in the country reported.

Armenian Ambassador Areg Hovhannisyan handed over the medal to the pianist at the Armenian Embassy on January 17. They also discussed the cultural projects to be implemented in the near future, in particular, the events that are planned for the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Japan.

A recital by violinist Keiko Urushihara and Takahiro Akiba will be held in Tokyo on March 13. The concert program features music pieces by prominent Armenian composer Arno Babajanian to commemorate his 100th birth anniversary. 

January 19 marks the 15th anniversary of the assassination of prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist, the editor-in-chief of Istanbul-based Agos newspaper Hrant Dink.

Dink was one of Turkey's most prominent Armenian voices. Dink was critical of Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide in the beginning of the 20th century. The journalist was prosecuted three times for denigrating Turkish nation and received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists after a series of articles he wrote on Armenian identity. As a result of lawsuit filed in charge of “insulting and defaming Turkishness” Dink was sentenced six months in prison by the criminal court in 2005. Two years later he lost his life in a gun attack on his exit from Agos newspaper murdered by 17-year-old nationalist Ogun Samast. More than 100,000 people marched in the funeral procession for Dink. "We are all Armenians," chanted mourners in an extraordinary show of affection for the journalist.

Hrant Dink was born in Malatya on September 15, 1954, the eldest of three sons to Sarkis Dink – one of the survivors of the Armenian Geocide.  He received his primary education at the Protestant Armenian Primary School and his secondary education at the Surb Hac Armenian High School, working as a tutor at the same time

Dink was one of the founders of Agos weekly, the only newspaper in Turkey published in Armenian and Turkish. The newspaper opened up the channels of communication to the society at large for the Armenian community the participation of Armenians in the political-cultural life in Turkey increased greatly, and public awareness in Turkey of the issues of the Armenians started to increase. Dink was one of the first public figures who started writing about the Armenian Genocide, the issues of Armenia community and the rights of national minorities.

Despite threats on his life, he refused to remain silent. He always said his aim was to improve the difficult relationship between Turks and Armenians. Active in various democratic platforms and civil society organizations, Hrant Dink emphasized the need for democratization in Turkey and focused on the issues of free speech, minority rights, civic rights and issues pertaining to the Armenian community in Turkey.

Meanwhile, he believed that diaspora Armenians should be able to live free of the weight of historical memory. "Turkish-Armenian relations should be taken out of a 1915 meters-deep well."

It has been 15 years since judicial process that began after the murder is still not completed. 

32 years ago, on January 13-19, 1990 a systematic and mass massacre of the Armenian population was carried out in Baku with apparent permission and support of the Azerbaijani authorities, the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Artsakh Republic Gegham Stepanyan said in a statement. In his words, hundreds of Armenians were killed, dispossessed and hundreds of thousands of Armenians tortured during the week-long atrocities.

"Armenian population of Baku and other cities were deported under the direct threat of physical existence, and found refuge in Artsakh, Armenia and other countries of the world without receiving international status and support. Over the years, Armenian cultural heritage in those areas was vandalized and desecrated, their historical value and significance were distorted by the Azerbaijani authorities being adapted to their political expediencies.  

"The realization, encouragement and glorification of the Armenian massacres by the Azerbaijani authorities and unfortunately by the Azerbaijani society is systematic, large-scale and has a clear chronology: in 1905 and 1918 – the massacres in Baku, February, 1988 – Sumgait and in November of the same year in Gandzak-Kirovabad, 1990s – again in Baku, Maragha, 2004 – the glorification of Ramil Safarov who axed Gurgen Margaryan, the killings of civilians and the torture of the Armenian military during April 2026 war, and Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression of 2020, are undeniable evidence of the systematic policy of Armenian massacres and its consequences.

Due to the poisoning of the society by the authorities for years, intolerance, hatred against and murder of Armenians, vandalism against Armenian cultural heritage and desecration of monuments in Azerbaijan have become not only a state but a national policy. This is a fact against which the urgency of taking measures is also enshrined in the decision of the UN International Court of Justice. 

Under the false slogans of peace building in the region, Azerbaijani authorities continue to commit widespread violations of the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh creating an atmosphere of fear, despair, disrupting normal life in Artsakh, isolating the people of Artsakh from the world.

There is ample material documenting the crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenians, it only takes an impartial and courageous eye to see it all and give a proper assessment. Unfortunately, these crimes have not received a clear legal assessment from the international community. This impunity is one of the focal reasons why Azerbaijan allows itself grossly violate the norms of international law, to speak with hatred about an entire nation without any fear it may be held accountable. 

Guided by the most fundamental principle of the universality of human rights, pursuing the unconditional observance of this principle and restoration of justice, we will continue to demand the condemnation of the crimes against Armenians and the prevention of new crimes," Stepanyan wrote. 

The Armenian side has prepared and submitted a package of proposals on de-escalation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border area, which also contains measures aimed at enhancing stability, Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan stated during the Q/A session in parliament.

In Mirzoyan's words, the proposals were passed to the Russian side and at their mediation to the Azerbaijani side and other partners. He added that the Armenian side is now waiting for the feedback. 

"Apparently, I cannot publish details, and there is no need to do that now. I can only state that the proposals stem from the approach earlier voiced by the government and the prime minister about the simultaneous withdrawal of the troops from the contact line and establishing additional security mechanisms," Mirzoyan said, adding the package had been discussed at the Security Council. 

The Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of General Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee continues the preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated on the facts of unleashing and waging an aggressive war by the military-political leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh, during armed conflict using mercenaries recruited in advance, using prohibited methods of waging war, not separating civilians from military personnel, targeting civilians of peaceful settlements of the Republic of Artsakh for systematized, deliberate and intentional attacks, particularly targeting the civilians deep in the rear and civilian infrastructures, committing acts considered serious violations of international humanitarian law. 

As the Investigative Committee reports, through the criminal case it was found out that the total number of the military personnel and civilians killed in the Republic of Artsakh and in the Republic of Armenia in the result of the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan is 3,809. As of the location of 199 servicemen and 21 civilians is unknown.

To this day 141 captured servicemen and civilians in total have been handed over to the Republic of Armenia by the Republic of Azerbaijan, the source said.