Category: 2022

President Armen Sarkissian of Armenia arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a working visit.

Sarkissian was met at the Abu Dhabi International Airport by the UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Mariam Almheiri, according to the Office of the President of Armenia.

YEREVAN. – Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: In recent days, Zareh Sinanyan, the [High] Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, has once again appeared in the spotlight of media and social media users; particularly the fact that he had commented on his own photo on Facebook—congratulating himself on Christmas.

According to Past newspaper’s information, the pro-government circles noticed this episode and were the first to publicize [it] and consistently started "circulating" the topic in the social domain.

According to our government source, this is not accidental. The authorities want to get rid of Sinanyan, and this was just another pretext to carry out information anti-propaganda [against him].

Let us note that the fact of appointing Sinanyan to that post was not unequivocally accepted by various circles of the Armenian diaspora, and the negative moods towards him have increased even more because of his activities—more specifically, inaction—and, in general, the incomprehensible policy pursued by the RA on diaspora affairs.

The Coordinating Council of French-Armenian Organizations (CCAF) issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s threats against Valerie Pecresse, the President of the Ile-de-France Regional Council of France and a candidate for the French presidency, Armenpress reported. 

Aliyev had stated that the Azerbaijan was unaware of Pecresse’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), and if they knew she was there, the Azerbaijani authorities would not have allowed her to leave Nagorno-Karabakh.

The CCAF called on the French authorities to demand an explanation and apology from Azerbaijan for making such terrorizing statements against a French presidential candidate, and added that the French government ought to recall its ambassador from Baku and expel the Azerbaijani ambassador from Paris if this explanation and apology are not issued by the Azerbaijani authorities.

Talking to the news media, Pecresse herself stressed the seriousness of making such threats against a presidential candidate, and noted that presidential candidates must be free to go wherever they want.

Pecresse said she does not feel intimidated by these threats, but that she is shocked by the French government’s silence regarding these threats.

The French politician said she would want the French government to officially respond to such threats voiced by the president of a foreign country to a French presidential candidate

Valerie Pecresse had visited Armenia and Artsakh December 21-23, 2021. The ex-foreign minister of France and former European Commissioner Michel Barnier as well as the head of the Republicans in the French Senate, Bruno Retailleau, had accompanied her during this visit.

The number of tourist visits to Armenia in December 2021 was 66,738, the Tourism Committee informed in response to a written inquiry by Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Most of these tourists came to Armenia from Russia (24,048), Georgia (10,946), Iran (5,965), the Philippines (1,912), Ukraine (1,454), India (1,451), USA (1,193), United Arab Emirates (1,077), Kazakhstan (680), France (658), and Turkey (620).

STEPANAKERT. –  Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Minister of State Artak Beglaryan on Saturday received Yeghishe Kirakosyan, the representative of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights, the state minister's office reported.

Beglaryan lauded the work of Armenia’s representative in protecting the rights of Armenians at international instances, and briefed Kirakosyan the gross violations of the rights of the people of Artsakh—and due to the aggressive and Armenophobic policy of Azerbaijan. Also, state minister stressed that the priorities of Artsakh and the rights of its people need to be kept at the core of legal processes.

Both sides stressed the need to continue their contacts and take joint steps to protect the rights of the people of Artsakh.

Armenian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Varuzhan Nersesyan, had a video talk with Feryal Clark, a member of the UK-Armenia Friendship Group in the British parliament and an ethnic Kurdish MP from the Labour Party, the Embassy of Armenia in the United Kingdom reported.

Congratulating the ambassador on his appointment, Clark expressed confidence that with his appointment, bilateral relations will be considerably intensified—including at the parliamentary level.

Ambassador Nersesyan, in his turn, thanked Feryal Clark for supporting pro-Armenian initiatives, and noted that he will work actively in a number of domains and, from that point of view, the support of Armenians' friends in the UK Parliament will be invaluable.

Noting that she considers herself a friend of Armenia and the Armenian people, Feryal Clark said that she is ready to be engaged—as much as possible—in various initiatives related to Armenia.

First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan has responded to iLur's question about the domestic political situation in Armenia. He said as follows:

1) The [PM Nikol] Pashinyan regime seeks to retain power at all costs without discriminating in means.

2) The opposition, led by [ex-Presidents Robert] Kocharyan and [Serzh] Sargsyan, despite internal contradictions, seeks to seize power at all costs—also without discriminating in means.

3) Accordingly, in all three camps there is a complete lack of awareness of national interest, the inevitable consequence of which is new disasters threatening our nation.

4) The search for a way out is the obligation of solely the conflicting parties and the intelligentsia.

5) The remaining layers of the society do not have leverage at the moment to have an effect on the situation. The active players of political science and media serve almost entirely the interests of these three camps.