Category: 2022

YEREVAN. – Past daily of Armenia writes: According to the Artsakh source of "Past" newspaper, the Armenian authorities plan to hold a referendum on constitutional changes in December.

According to information, one of the issues subject to key changes concerns the procedure for electing the president. Let us add that after the referendum, it is planned to hold presidential elections next year. The source of the newspaper reports that Arayik Harutyunyan will not only leave the post of president after the referendum but will also announce that he is going to leave politics, which he has not once talked about in his close circle.

At present, there is no particular political activity in Artsakh, but it is obvious that the internal political events will soon become more active. There is still no consensus on the candidacy of the new president, and there are no discussions at the moment. Most likely, they will start already at the beginning of next year."

More details in today's issue of the newspaper

YEREVAN. – Past daily of Armenia writes: After the revolution of 2018, in July, the government made a political decision that internal police troops should be sent to the border.

Although "participating in the defense of the country" is also included in the list of issues under the "Internal Troops" law, the former authorities did not do this, on the contrary, they were used to suppress internal political issues and especially rallies.

Coming to power in 2018, Nikol Pashinyan announced that everything is changing, the police should not be a body that protects the authorities and solves internal political problems, but should serve the country and the society, and took a bold step: he personally attended the first shift of police officers with a solemn ceremony. Starting from 18 September, policemen guarded the border in 15-day shifts.

We were informed that months ago this decision was canceled; internal troops are no longer sent to the border, even soldiers are not sent from Armenia to Artsakh, but after the war, the same officers continued to perform service at the borders of Armenia from time to time. Now it's finally stopped."

More details in today's issue of the newspaper

Contract soldier, Junior Sergeant Kristine Chichyan, 37, the chief medic of the medical aid station of a military unit of Armenia who died Saturday, was from Shirak Province.

According to Armenian News-NEWS.am’s information, she died as a result of a car accident.

An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding her death.

Earlier we reported that Chichyan on Friday sustained injuries and was taken to hospital as a result of an accident that occurred in the aforesaid military unit. But despite the efforts made by doctors, she died on Saturday.

A group of activists in Armenia staged a demonstration on top of Mount Hatis, and expressed their protest against the initiative of Prosperous Armenia Party leader—and business tycoon—Gagik Tsarukyan and the Armenian government to build a giant statue of Jesus Christ on the mountain.

Also, they showed a video of the Bronze Age monuments that are already destroyed as a result of the construction work for the aforesaid statue.

The Ministry of Environment of Armenia had announced that the aforementioned construction on top of Mount Hatis had been stopped, and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports had considered any construction on the mountain inadmissible.

The Armenian Apostolic Church had spoken against the installation of this statue, and urged Tsarukyan not to implement such an initiative, as it goes against the practice of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Tsarukyan, however, did not call off the project.

And Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government that they had received the respective documents and positively assessed the installation of a giant statue of Jesus Christ on top of Mount Hatis. According to him, this will promote tourism in Armenia.

YEREVAN. – A meeting of Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov was held in Tbilisi Saturday, hosted by Foreign Minister of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

During the meeting, Mirzoyan and Bayramov touched upon a wide range of issues regarding the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this regard, the parties discussed the implementation of previously undertaken commitments and exchanged views on further possible steps.

FM Mirzoyan reiterated the position of the Armenian side that the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict is essential within the process of achieving sustainable and lasting peace in the region, and stressed the importance of using the institution and experience of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in accordance with its international mandate.

The FM of Armenia highlighted the importance of addressing humanitarian issues, including the release and return of all Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan and finding out the fate of missing persons.

The willingness of the sides to continue the discussions was underscored.

It is obvious that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev is in a hurry. Ishkhan Saghatelyan, an opposition MP and a member of the Supreme Body of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia, told Armenian NEWS.am about this—and commenting on Saturday’s meeting between the FMs of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

"In general, the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem is in a hurry, they are trying to turn the de facto advantage they gained in the [44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [in the fall of 2020] into de jure, to document their victory because they realize that when they lose their partner in Armenia [i.e., PM Nikol Pashinyan], they will not be able to speak to Armenia in that language, and therefore all these moves and the actions are already within that framework," Saghatelyan added.

Reflecting on the process of stripping the Armenian opposition of its parliamentary mandates, the opposition lawmaker said that neither the ruling power brought them to the parliament, nor can the ruling power strip them of their parliamentary mandates.

"We do not take into account their opinion in our actions, we have worded our position very clearly, we will return to the parliament solely with our agenda, we have worded it, and we have announced it many times; I rule out in all other cases. They can't deal with us with threats, stripping us of the [parliamentary] mandate, I don't know with what [else]. We don't take [it] seriously, as that is not the agenda and challenge of our country," he said.

According to Saghatelyan, the fact that the incumbent Armenian authorities are looking for “heart-throbbing” ways to strip the opposition of its parliamentary mandate is an answer to all those who think that they will do more damage to the authorities by giving up their parliamentary seats.

"At this moment, I believe it is completely correct and justified not to give up the [parliamentary] mandates" Ishkhan Saghatelyan concluded.