Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia and the Shnorhali Choir are singing “Hayer Miatsek” (Unite Armenians) by Gusan Haykazun (Armenian composer and songwriter Gagik Nazaryan) in a video shared by Cilicia TV.
ArmInfo. The European People’s Party (EPP) has issued a statement on the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The statement reads:
“We commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915. We reaffirm the recognition and condemnation of the Genocide and great national dispossession of the Armenian people on the eve of its 107th Anniversary.
“We join and strongly support the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides, the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the establishment of historical justice. We invite Turkey to take the necessary measures pursuant to its international commitments to recognize and to condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire and to face its own history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity.
“We strong believe that such move will promote long-lasting peace, stability and human rights in the whole region”
ArmInfo. No one better than the Russian peacekeepers will be able to fulfill these obligations in Nagorno-Karabakh. Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan stated this during a press conference on Facebook on the air of RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
So, in order to clarify what is the reason for his assertion that the presence of peacekeepers from Norway or other countries will untie the hands of Azerbaijan to violate the ceasefire regime, Babayan noted that the question is not whether Norway is loved or not loved in the NKR or Armenia.
” It is important to be realistic. Our future is in danger. And first of all, those who now live here can lose everything. This is not the time for practical proposals. Until the peacekeepers from Norway come, and even the question is whether they will come, whether they will be able to do anything, whether they will be able to save something, whether they have experience in maintaining peace! The Russian Federation has been here for centuries,” the head of the Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, Babayan asked a counter question, what is wrong with the fact that the Russian Federation is in Nagorno-Karabakh. “What is the logic that you want the Norwegians? Do you want the best for Artsakh? If you serve other interests, then we are not in this game. Nobody better than Russian peacekeepers will be able to fulfill these obligations. But this does not mean that we are against Norway, all efforts should be directed to the salvation of Artsakh,” the diplomat said, once again calling for refraining from political speculation.
When asked about the inability of Russian peacekeepers to stop Azerbaijani provocations, Babayan asked a counter question: Will not the Azeris take such steps in the case of the Norwegians as well?
The NKR Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that all provocations by Azerbaijan, which are carried out with the support of Turkey, are directed, including against Russia. “If there were peacekeepers from other countries, they would have entered Stepanakert long ago and would have killed everyone. And only the presence of Russia is a restraining factor,” he said, emphasizing once again that it is the presence of Russian peacekeepers that does not allow the outbreak of a new large-scale war.
When asked why Artsakh will not hold a referendum and vote for joining Russia, Babayan stressed that this issue is not on the agenda today. At the same time, the head of the NKR Foreign Ministry noted that today the most important thing is not to be part of Azerbaijan.
“I would like to emphasize that neither in the short term nor in the long term, we will not accept attempts to forcibly annex Artsakh to Azerbaijan. This is the most important thing and we must build a development vector on this,” he said.
Referring to the statements of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia about the need to lower the bar on the Karabakh issue, which is requested by the international community, the Minister drew attention to the disunity of the international community today and pointed to the need to be guided by our own national interests.
Speaking about the prospects for the resumption of the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Babayan recalled that this is the only platform where the United States, France and Russia worked together.
According to him, against the background of the processes around Ukraine, the activity of the format has been frozen due to disagreements between Russia and the West, but he expressed hope that it will be restarted in the future. At the same time, in this vein, he drew attention to the complexity of the process of dismantling the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. “The main thing for us now is the preservation of peace and stability in the region,” the diplomat said.
ArmInfo. On April 26, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan met with heads of parliamentary factions in the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh., the press service of the Artsak mfa reports.
A wide range of issues related to the recent regional developments, the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict and the foreign policy of Artsakh were discussed.
David Babayan stressed that the priority issues of the foreign policy agenda of Artsakh remained unchanged; the international recognition of the independence of Artsakh, comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict with the full-fledged participation of official Stepanakert, as well as the expansion and consolidation of bilateral relations and preservation of the status of Artsakh as a geopolitical actor.
The Minister noted the importance of maintaining the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity and the perception of Artsakh as a supreme value by the Armenian people in the context of providing effective solutions to the aforementioned issues.
Minister Babayan also highly appreciated the role of parliamentary diplomacy as an effective means of achieving foreign policy goals.
ArmInfo.At 6.24pm, an accident took place at the intersection of Leo-Paronyan streets.. According to the preliminary data of the Operative Management Center of the RA Police, a Toyota traffic police car, which was currently used for official purposes, ran over a woman.
According to the source, the woman was taken to the “Nairi” medical center. The investigation clarifies the circumstances of the incident.
It should be noted that several media outlets had spread information that the car was part of the escort of the Prime Minister of Armenia. They report that after the accident, none of the motorcade cars stopped to provide assistance to the victim. At the same time, the media refer to the testimony of eyewitnesses of the incident. According to eyewitnesses, the woman was pregnant.
YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: According to our sources in the Armenian community in Washington, [Armenian ambassador to US] Lilit Makunts avoided participating in the April 24 [Armenian Genocide commemoration] events of the [local Armenian] community.
Makunts’s avoidance of the April 24 events in Washington is seen as an evasion of the Armenian authorities’ from claimancy and, in general, from the topic of international recognition of the genocide, which, according to the community’s perception, is something like a crime.
Makunts marked April 24 with only a small group of her own people, including embassy staff and their families, laying flowers at the cross-stone placed inside the embassy gates.
The [local] Armenian community says that the embassy-community relationship has never been in such a deplorable state. Makunts has divided the Armenian American community into black and white and communicates only with a small group of her own.
The opposition youth held protest actions, with the flags of Artsakh Nagorno-Karabakh), at the Yerevan universities.
First, they placed the flag of Artsakh at the yard of the Armenian State University of Economics, after which they released colored smoke into the air—and as a sign of their fight.
The participants of this protest action urged the university students to join the fight that has started for Artsakh and sovereignty.
Holding a huge flag of Artsakh, they then continued their awareness campaign in the other Yerevan universities as well.
These youth are informing the university students that a big march will take place in Yerevan later today.
Sos Hakobyan, the spokesman for the Homeland Party, released footage showing a police officer hitting an activist and then using unlawful force.
“A crime report will be submitted to the Police on this fact. The guys are tougher than they were this morning. Not one step back will be taken,” Hakobyan wrote on his Facebook page.
Citizens bring toys and candles to the intersection of Leo-Paronyan Street in Yerevan, where a car from the prime minister’s motorcade hit a 28-year-old pregnant woman to death.
“People come to the Leo-Paronyan Street intersection, put a candle and leave a soft toy for the woman and the unborn baby…,” former TV commentator Lilit Tumanyan wrote on her Facebook page.
Earlier, the Investigative Committee announced the detention of the driver of Pashinyan’s motorcade, who ran over a pregnant woman to death.
The world famous violinist Ara Malikian is originally from Lebanon, but lives in Madrid and is the first violinist of the Royal Opera House. Malikian and his co-host Jesús Calleja came to Armenia within the framework of CuatroTV’s Planeta Calleja travel show and shared the beauty of his historic homeland with the audience.
The musician shared his impressions of the shooting on his Instagram page. The violin solo on top of the mountain was one of the most striking episodes. Judging by the footage the crew also went to the temple of Garni, was delighted by the “Symphony of Stones”.
“Don’t forget to watch another edition of Planeta Calleja. Together with Jesús and his cool team we went to Armenia and discovered the homeland of my grandparents,” Ara Malikian captioned his publication.