Category: 2022

The Armenian opposition groups will begin mass demonstrations across the country on 1 May in a bid to topple Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his cabinet, one of the ARF leaders and opposition Hayastan faction MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan said.

“Our country is facing numerous problems and serious security challenges. In essence, Armenia’s existence is at stake here. This is not an exaggerated claim, but a fact,” he said at a meeting with the opposition activists marching from Ijevan, a town in Armenia’s Tavush Province, to Yerevan.

He states that the current authorities are ready to see Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan.

“This is a sacred fight and there is no turning back,” Saghatelyan noted. “The people are standing up…On May 1, mass protests aimed at ousting the capitulant will start. If they stay in power, we will finally lose everything.”

Ahead of mass rallies, the opposition activists and supporters continue small-scale protests and marches across Yerevan in an effort to get the people to rise up. Another awareness march will be held from Republic Square on Friday evening, Saghatelyan said.

In the meantime, a group of oppositionists will start marching from Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri to Yerevan at 6:30pm.

The spokesman of the opposition Homeland Party, Sos Hakobyan, has urged people not to give in to the “provocations” of the current Armenian authorities.

“We must remain united till the end, not give in to divisive provocations and take effective steps, without stealing thunder from each other,” he said in an appeal to all citizens, figures and organizations.

“If we keep it up, Nikol Pashinyan and his team will be ousted in a few days,” Hakobyan added.

Armenia’s opposition groups started small-scale protests and marches in Yerevan earlier this week in preparation for mass anti-government demonstrations.

Police detained opposition activists protesting outside the Armenian government building in Yerevan and chanting “Let’s get rid of liars!” on Friday.

Officers of a special police task force aggressively detained the activists of the Liberation Movement, forcing them into a police van without providing any explanations.

Also, they detained an activist filming the incident and forced him to turn off his phone camera.

MP Tigran Abrahamyan of the opposition With Honor (Pativ Unem) bloc on Friday reacted to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statements on the border delimitation and demarcation with Armenia.

“Today, the Azerbaijan president spoke about the process of delimitation and demarcation of the border with Armenia, noting that there is no specific map on the basis of which a border agreement will be signed with Armenia in the future,” the lawmaker wrote on Facebook.

“The latter noted that the history and maps created after the Sovietization of the South Caucasus should be taken into account when determining the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but the process should not be based on a single map. As an example, Aliyev pointed to the 1920 map alleging that “Yerevan and Zangezur were Azerbaijani territories, while Armenia had no border with Iran.”

“It’s now clear what the “peace agenda” of Armenia and Azerbaijan is about, isn’t it? In addition to distorting history, Azerbaijan has now decided to build its policy selectively: to take the most favorable circumstances for Azerbaijan from maps of different times and to settle all disputes concerning the uncertainty of maps in line with its maximalist approaches and the threat of force,” Abrahamyan said.

A consultation took place at the government of Armenia chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Artsakh’s President Arayik Harutyunyan on the programs being implemented in Artsakh and the ways to solve the existing problems. Officials representing the financial and economic bloc of the governments of Armenia and Artsakh took part in the discussion, the prime minister’s office reported on Friday.

Before starting the discussion, Nikol Pashinyan and Arayik Harutyunyan made opening remarks, which are provided below.

Nikol Pashinyan:

Honorable President of the Republic of Artsakh,

Dear colleagues,

I am glad to see you, welcome. Of course, we are in constant, daily contact, but such meetings give an opportunity to summarize the joint work, to plan further activities.

I want to emphasize the following circumstance. In fact, both before and after the 44-day war in 2020, and also during the war, we always coordinated our work and assessed it important that the authorities of Artsakh be fully informed about our plans, including the content and process, challenges and opportunities of the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh conflict.This principle has always been observed, will remain the same.

You know, sometimes I think that there is no need to emphasize that, because it’s so logical that sometimes it can even be superfluous. But once again I want to state that the number one beneficiary of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is Artsakh, the people of Artsakh. And, consequently, thinking about negotiating, implementing something secretly is simply illogical, it is simply impossible to imagine such a thing.

That’s why we are always in touch with you, Mr. President. Our other partners also work in parallel with Artsakh’s partners.

I consider it important, I appreciate your recent statement that the Artsakh authorities are also, in fact, adopting the peace agenda. And I want to say that the agenda of peace is in no way an agenda of defeat. The agenda of peace is the agenda of overcoming the horror of war, the difficulties that followed the war, it’s an agenda to guarantee the security, the rights, the future of the people. And I must say that as a result of very hard work, I have to state today that I see the way, moreover, I see the sequence of steps that should lead us to the destination that we are constantly talking about, discussing. That is, the guarantee of the security and rights of the people of the Republic of Armenia, of the Artsakh Republic and, as I have said before, there is a very important principle, that is the people of Artsakh should live in Artsakh, consider themselves Armenians of Artsakh, Armenian of Karabakh, Armenian in one word. And this is the agenda that we must move forward together.

But I also want to say that a huge part of our joint work is related to the socio-economic sphere. And this is a key issue, because it is essential that we do everything to make conditions for the people to live in Artsakh, to feel safe, to see their future living in Artsakh. Of course, this also goes for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, about the Republic of Armenia, I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction. This is very important. I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction, I am happy, when the Artsakh authorities share that conviction.

I once again welcome you, Mr. President, dear colleagues, wishing a fruitful discussion today.

Arayik Harutyunyan

Honorable Mr. Prime Minister,

Dear colleagues,

Fortunately, today there is a general political atmosphere in Artsakh, the Armenians of Artsakh first of all, of course, welcome and accept the agenda of peace, because there might be no one who knows the price of peace better than the people of Artsakh. But, on the other hand, I want to note that we do not see any direction to deviate from our right to self-determination, which we started from the first day of the movement. Therefore, I want to thank you for the opinion that any topic, any document will be discussed with the Artsakh government, and naturally, will stem from the mood of the people. Of course, it should be noted that no other way is possible, that is, it is not possible to have a document that will be rejected by the people of Artsakh. We all understand that, and in that sense we have a long political struggle.

The second is the security component, which is the most important today. Fortunately, recently it seems to have stabilized with the direct mediation of Russian peacekeepers, and today provides an opportunity to discuss socio-economic programs.

And the most important is the socio-economic at this stage. If there is no population in Artsakh, then it becomes meaningless to talk about the political struggle and security. That is why the demographics, the socio-economic programs are becoming important again today, the programs that started after the war are continuing. And we think that they should not only continue, but awe should also complete the ambitious programs we have started. And our main goal, the main issues at this stage are the political, security, demographic and socio-economic issues. We never faced any problems over those. But there are some questions on which we expect to receive answers during today’s discussion, which will determine our further steps in terms of continuing those programs. Thank you.

Nikol Pashinyan:

Mr. President, you have rightly noted that security is the number one issue today, and I have to note that the invasion of the Azerbaijani units into the responsibility zone of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh continues to be a concern for us. And we, as we have said several times, continue to hold that position, expressing hope that the representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent will consistently ensure the withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh. This is an important issue, I think it is an important issue also for the people of Artsakh for assessing the system of security guarantees that is currently introduced in Artsakh. Thank you.

Over the years, Yerevan Brandy Company has always prioritized environmental issues and made them an integral part of the everyday work. Hence, on April 29, Yerevan Brandy Company initiated tree planting project at the surrounding area of the main building with the participation of company’s employees, it said in a statement.

The project is based on the result of the work of specialists and the research of archival documents. This is not only aimed to make the capital Yerevan more appealing but also to contribute to the improvement of ecology and biodiversity. Within the frame of tree planting, various trees were planted, including Spruces, Maples, and Judea trees, which were selected taking into account both climatic, geological specificities of the area and architectural solutions of the building.

“Without the generosity of nature and the warmth of the Armenian land, it would not be possible to found brandy-making  back in XIX century. Nature is the only source without which even the most gifted masters would’ve been powerless to achieve their creative pursuits. On the anniversary of the Armenian brandy-making, we couldn’t skip this topic which symbolically reflects our gratitude towards nature. Environmental agenda has always been on the spotlight of Yerevan Brandy Company, and I am even more delighted that we strive to protect and nurture the environment and involve new communities day by day,” says Serge Khachatryan, Chief Operating Officer of Yerevan Brandy Company.

“The cooperation with the dedicated team of Yerevan Brandy Company and deep understanding of  the area’s importance for Yerevan, we managed to choose variety of plants which will make the territory appealing all year long”, – underlines PhD Kristina Vardanyan, member of the Council of the Elders of Yerevan.

Being a member of Pernod Ricard international group, Yerevan Brandy Company constantly initiates projects on the scope of “Responsibility and Sustainability”, especially stressing on the strategy of “Good Times from a Good Place”, which is based on the four pillars of S&R:

– Nurturing Terroir
– Valuing People
– Circular Making
– Responsible Hosting

The celebration of the 135th anniversary in the frames of this environmental initiative, combines all above mentioned pillars. The hosting of participants was accompanied with “Drink More Water” bar and during the event zero-waste cocktails were served.

More photos at the link below: