10:30,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Filmmaker Hayk Ordyan’s Zulali will be screened September 13-18 at the Tashkent International Film Festival’s World Cinema program.
The National Cinema Center of Armenia provided partial financial assistance for the film, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport said in a statement.
10:40,
STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh have already been deployed on the 4.7 km road section of the new Stepanakert-Goris route, Spokesperson to the minister of territorial administration and infrastructure of Artsakh Viktoria Petrosyan told Armenpress.
“That temporary section of the new route connecting Artsakh to Armenia is completely asphalted. It will work with the same logic as the Stepanakert-Goris-Berdzor road. The new route is already operating and it will operate until the construction of the main section of the corridor connecting Artsakh to Armenia. Currently, Russian peacekeepers are deployed there and carry out control”, she said.
The spokesperson added that the road will be serviced throughout the year by respective specialists and assured that there won’t be any problem with traffic regardless of weather conditions.
On August 29, Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan chaired a regular sitting of the Security Council. It was noted that, according to point 6 of the Statement signed by the leaders of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation on November 9, 2020, the new route will retain the status of the corridor. Asphalting works on the 4.7 km road section temporarily connecting the route to the Goris-Stepanakert highway have been completed. As a result of the discussions, the Security Council made a decision that starting 8 PM, August 30 the communication with the Republic of Armenia will be carried out along a new route, via the territory of Berdadzor sub-region of the Shushi region.
10:53,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), or the International Aeronautical Federation, awarded the Armenian SkyBall pilot Nairi Barseghyan and his co-pilot Sergey Bazhenov the certificate of their world record, marking Armenia’s first ever record in aviation sports.
SkyBall pilot Nairi Barseghyan said that he always wanted to set a world record, but this idea became a major goal after losing his brother in the war.
The longest non-stop SkyBall flight began 08:00, February 16, 2022 in Orenburg, Russia and landed on February 17 at 18:45. The duration was 34 hours and 41 minutes (the previous record was 32 hours and 12 minutes).
“This is a world record but this doesn’t mean that we don’t have anything else to achieve, I promise to keep Armenia’s name high on many other occasions very soon in aeronautics,” the pilot added.
The flight was conducted on board an AX-9 class air balloon.
The Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan was also in attendance of the awarding ceremony. He said that the balloon flights are a very important component in developing adventure tourism.
“In any sports or events where Armenian companies or athletes are able to achieve world records are very important for us and we encourage people having recorded such results. I think we should introduce some measures in order to maximally promote this achievement around the world or in this sector to make this an attractive factor for Armenian adventure tourism,” Kerobyan said.
10:59,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenia highly appreciates the stance of the French and United States ambassadors for rejecting the Azerbaijani government’s invitation to visit Shushi, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said in response to a query from ARMENPRESS.
Question: Recently, a conference was held in Shushi with the participation of foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations accredited in Azerbaijan. What would you comment on in this regard?
Answer: We reiterate our position regarding the inadmissibility of unilateral visits to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. We are convinced that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh should be involved in the programs of international cooperation and support. At the same time, we highly appreciate the position of those countries which, having a deep understanding of the conflict, refused to participate in such unilateral action.
The Azeri government said that the French and United States ambassadors to Azerbaijan have ignored their invitation to visit Shushi for an event. Azeri president Ilham Aliyev’s Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev described the rejection as “disrespect towards Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity”, adding that the American and French sides consider the conflict to be unresolved.
11:21,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan addressed a message on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
“Today is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which was established by a resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The enforced disappearances of persons are a recurrent and ongoing violation of human rights. They are initiated by the permission or consent of state representatives and officials, and are followed by the denial or concealment of the whereabouts of the missing person.
Enforced disappearances have a severe impact both on the victims, who are usually subjected to torture and live in a constant fear on their lives, and on their relatives and family members, who are unaware of their fate, and live with constant anticipation of their return
Regrettably, the ongoing conflicts in the modern world have created a “favorable” environment for enforced disappearances, unfortunately we know this through our own example, and we continue to suffer the pain and constant battle of the victims of enforced disappearances and their relatives during and after the 44-day war.
According to the data presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross in August 2022, 303 persons are still considered missing as a result of the 44-day war in 2020.
The continuous Azerbaijani policy of providing distorted or no information at all on the prisoners of war, civilian captives, and missing persons is a blatant act of using human rights issues for political purposes, violating al norms of international humanitarian law.
Unfortunately, international response mechanisms to cases of enforced disappearances have demonstrated their lack of effectiveness during these critical days. Therefore, this is a reason to actively work with all competent actors in this direction.
At the same time, it should be noted that in order to implement the rules provided by international law, states must fix these norms in their respective domestic legislation and take all the necessary measures to ensure their implementation. Therefore, in this regard, The Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is ready to work with the Government of Armenia in the direction of improving the domestic legislation and institutional framework aimed at ensuring the rights of missing persons and their relatives.
Taking all the necessary measures within the context of the mandate of the Human Rights Defender in finding and assisting the missing persons, I strongly condemn all cases of enforced disappearances, and I call on to unite all efforts and take all the necessary measures to find all missing persons and to effectively guarantee their rights and those of their families”, the message reads.
12:40,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Iran has begun uranium enrichment with new advanced centrifuges at its underground Natanz nuclear site, according to a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report seen by the Reuters news agency.
The report said Iran is pressing ahead with its rollout of IR-6 centrifuges at the site.
IAEA inspectors verified on Sunday that Iran was feeding uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, the material centrifuges enrich, into the first of three cascades, or clusters, of IR-6 centrifuges installed at the Natanz underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), Reuters said, quoting from the confidential IAEA report to member states.
The centrifuges are being used “for the production of UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235” the IAEA said.
13:27,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. August 30 is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2010 as a reminder of terrible violations of human rights as a result of forced disappearances, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Forced or enforced disappearance of people is a violation of fundamental human rights in its nature, it violates a whole series of human rights confirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, as well as international covenants on human rights and other fundamental international documents of human rights.
This complex crime violates the person’s all rights, including the right to life, the right not to be subject to torture and other ill, inhuman treatment or punishment, the right to freedom and security, the right to fair trial, the right to know the truth about the effective means of legal protection and the circumstances of disappearance. In some circumstances the international law considers the enforced disappearance a crime against humanity”, the MFA said, adding that the international humanitarian law aims at keeping people away from arbitrary arrests.
“After the ceasefire signed on November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan still continues holding Armenian prisoners of war, including civilians, in captivity, and the fates of hundreds of missing in action and those who were forcefully disappeared as a result of the first and the 44-Day Karabakh wars are still unknown.
The absence of cooperation by the authorities of Azerbaijan makes it impossible to clearly estimate the number of missing persons and get reliable information about the fates and location of missing persons.
Azerbaijan continues ignoring the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, regarding the use of interim measures on providing information about the Armenian captives in Azerbaijan, as well as the urgent measures of the International Court of Justice applied on December 7, 2021, which oblige Azerbaijan to stop its racist and discriminative policy against Armenians.
The issue of disappearances is a humanitarian priority which must be depoliticized and solved with a firm political will and cooperation”, the MFA said, calling on the international community to assume responsibility to ensure an unconditional entry to the entire territory of Nagorno Karabakh which, it said, could mitigate the existing humanitarian crisis.
“On the International Day of Enforced Disappearances, we are expressing solidarity to the families of the victims and all those who suffer from these inhuman acts. We are fighting for the rights of the disappeared, we continue fighting for justice and against the impunity of this crime. We reaffirm our urgent call to put an end to the impunity of enforced disappearances”, the MFA added.
United States urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their diplomatic engagement
09:17,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The United States urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their diplomatic engagement and achieve a comprehensive peace agreement, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson at the Department of State, said at a press briefing.
Asked what are the expectations of the State Department from today’s meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that will be hosted by President of the European Council Charles Michel in Brussels, Mr. Patel said: “I don’t have any updates for you other than to reiterate what we’ve previously said, that the United States remains committed to promoting a secure, stable, democratic, prosperous, and peaceful future for the South Caucasus region, and we urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their diplomatic engagement and achieve a comprehensive peace agreement”.
European Women's Individual Chess Championship: Lilit Mkrtchyan shares 2-4 places ahead of final round
09:30,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The European Women's Individual Chess Championship is nearing its end.
Armenia’s Maria Gevorgyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan played against each other, with Mkrtchyan winning the game. Elina Danielyan and Anna Sargsyan ended their games in draws, while Mariam Mkrtchyan scored a victory. Meanwhile, Susanna Gaboyan lost.
Ahead of the last round, Lilit Mkrtchyan shares the 2-4 places in the standings.
09:42,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenian chess player Samvel Ter-Sahakyan scored a victory at the 4th round of the Dubai Open International Chess Tournament.
Meanwhile, Aram Hakobyan lost.
The representatives of India and Kazakhstan are leading the ranking after 4 rounds.
The tournament will be held until September 4.