Category: 2022

 13:12,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Former MP, founder of the Security and Democracy Human Rights Organization says any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan would mean “genocide”.

Zohrabyan pointed out that Azerbaijan is again making threats.

“Yesterday the Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson said that ‘Armenia isn’t drawing conclusions from the 44-day war’”, Zohrabyan said at parliamentary hearings.

“Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan in any status, be it cultural autonomy or any other status, would mean genocide, genocide of Artsakh,” Zohrabyan warned.

She pointed out the Azeri glorification of Ramil Safarov, the convicted murderer who axed to death an Armenian serviceman during a NATO training program in Hungary, whom the Azeri authorities are presenting as an “example of patriotism.” Zohrabyan said there can’t be any talk on a peace treaty in these conditions.

She warned about the danger of a total loss of Artsakh, noting that it is time to act.

“I regret that Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe. It’s not ruled out that Russia could also withdraw from the OSCE Minsk Group, and this would mean to directly fail the OSCE Minsk Group works,” she warned, adding that Armenia must rely on itself.

 13:17,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Two servicemen are under arrest amid an ongoing investigation into the death of Private Albert Siroyan.

Both suspects are comrades of the victim serving in the same military base.

One of them is arrested on suspicion of violating the code of conduct by humiliations, hazing or other violent actions (Paragraph 1, Article 359). The other suspect is arrested on abuse of power, negligence committed by an officer on duty (Paragraph 1, Article 375).

Private Siroyan’s body was found on March 16 in his military position. The body had a gunshot wound which according to authorities was inflicted by Siroyan’s service rifle. Military investigators said they’ve launched a criminal case on Article 360.1 Paragraph 2/3 of the Criminal Code, indicating that they have reasons to believe that Private Siroyan’s death was suicide and  co-servicemen are suspected in unintentional abetment to suicide.

 13:18,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. More than 3000 Iranian tourists are expected to arrive in Armenia by air to celebrate their New Year – Nowruz, President of the Armenian Tourism Federation Mekhak Apresyan said at a press conference in ARMENPRESS, adding that several flights have already been carried out.

30 flights are planned to the direction of Iran before the early April, he said.

“Of course, these days we are expecting more visits also by land, and these are hotel reservations, there is an activeness in travel agencies. Therefore, we must do everything to uninterruptedly ensure the land communication”, Mekhak Apresyan said.

As for the statistical data about the tourism flows from Iran to Armenia, Mr. Apresyan said the visits in 2021 have been a lot. Iran’s share in Armenia’s tourism visits comprised nearly 11%. The annual figure has been nearly 95,000, of which more than 9000 visited during Nowruz.

Mekhak Apresyan said the activities in the direction of Iran must be active, contributing to the increase of tourism flows from that country.

 13:27,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. The official launch of events being organized within the framework of the La Francophonie days was held at the Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the International Organization of La Francophonie.

The event was attended by representatives of Francophonie cultural, scientific and education spheres, the Embassy of France in Armenia and the distinguished graduates of the University.

Rector of the University Karine Harutyunyan said these events are very important for the students learning French in the university. “Currently nearly 500 students study French in the university as a first and second language. And, of course, the university must initiate, implement and be actively engaged in the Francophonie events”, the rector said.

The university also plans to carry out a number of events on the La Francophonie days.

The rector said the university continues cooperating and implementing a number of programs within the La Francophonie framework.

 13:48,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian-Iranian culinary festival will be held in Armenia this year in summer, President of the Armenian Tourism Federation Mekhak Apresyan said, adding that it’s very important to present a new, competitive tourism result in the post-Covid global market. Therefore, it was proposed to present the cuisines of the two neighboring countries during one event.

“I think that this is very important both for Armenia and Iran. The two countries will be presented by a joint tourism result. The Iranian side responded to our proposal with pleasure and invited us to Iran. I and President of the Development and Preservation of Armenian Culinary Traditions Sedrak Mamulyan visited Iran and discussed these issues”, he said.

According to the preliminary agreements, the festival is expected to be held on August 11. It requires a lot of preparation works. Apresyan said this event could have an important economic, cultural, tourism and political importance in terms of strengthening the friendship between the peoples, boosting the inter-cultural dialogue.

Cultural events are also planned during the festival.

 14:03,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Record amounts of snowfalls were recorded in the past three days in different parts of Armenia, the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center said.

60-70cm snowfalls were recorded in three days in different parts of Tavush, Lori and Syunik, reaching up to 100cm and more in some areas.

“In the past 40 years, snowfalls of such intensity and duration were never recorded in March,” the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center said.

Moreover, the daily mean temperature was 6-8 degrees lower in the past week.

The cyclone effect will remain this week, but with significantly lesser strength.

Snowfalls will continue in different parts of the country and temperatures will remain 5-8 degrees lower than the norm.

 14:04,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Any discussion connected with the current situation and the future of Artsakh is demanded as the latest global and regional developments put new challenges before the Armenian people, Member of Parliament of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan said during the parliamentary hearings.

According to the MP, the post-war situation in Artsakh needs to be analyzed seriously from the perspective of keeping the security issues of the people of Artsakh under constant attention, restoring the lost defense capacities and correctly combining the actions of the peacekeeping troops in the overall system. “In the previous days there was a certain activeness in the parliamentary cooperation platform, but our discussions could not be limited by topics relating only to education, culture and technologies”, he said.

He said the issues on strengthening the security of the border settlements of Artsakh and overcoming the situation caused by the recent humanitarian crisis must be definitely included in the agenda of political issues and the ideas proposed over these issues must turn into an action plan for the relevant authorities.

“Following the 2020 September war unleashed by Azerbaijan and its allies against Artsakh and particularly after the November 9 trilateral statement, we are living in a completely different, harmful security environment full of daily dangers. It’s an impression that our adversaries are still implementing a pre-designed comprehensive plan with a precise schedule and filled with calculation of our weak sides, but we are thinking every day and still cannot agree over a counter step against the provocation conducted yesterday. The psychological pressures on the bordering villages and obstructing the farming works in that settlements with all possible means are measures which are definitely not one-time. They are being done with an expectation to get some “result”, and the explosion of the main pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh in this period of the year and in such conditions when most of the population is using the natural gas for heating and hot water, of course, has been a calculated step”, Stepanyan said.

87 Armenian troops still MIA, 21 civilians missing in 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war

 14:57,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. As of 21 March, 187 servicemembers in Armenia and Artsakh are missing-in-action in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war (Artsakh war), the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Another 21 civilians are also missing.

The total number of deaths in the 2020 Artsakh war from the Armenian side stands at 3822. Investigators did not elaborate but said that this number includes both servicemembers and civilians.

The Investigative Committee said it continues the investigation into the criminal case on the war of aggression launched by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the Azerbaijani recruitment and deployment of mercenaries, deployment of banned methods and measures of warfare, Azerbaijani indiscriminate, premeditated and coordinated attacks on peaceful population of towns and cities of Artsakh and other gross violations of international humanitarian law.

The Investigative Committee also added that so far Azerbaijan returned to Armenia 150 prisoners of war (servicemembers and civilians).

 15:09,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan delivered speech at the 144^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on March 21, the Parliament’s press service said.

The main direction of the agenda of the Assembly was the joint fight against climate change, which also requires a coordinated work of the parliaments of different countries.

In his remarks the Armenian Speaker of Parliament touched upon the side impact of the climate change on international processes. He told the partners that Armenia is taking active measures to contribute to the efforts of the international community directed against the climate change and man-made disasters.

The Speaker said Armenia adopted a national adaptation program to climate change action, which deepens the cooperation between sectoral initiatives. Presenting the Armenian peculiarities of climate matters, Alen Simonyan said within the frames of a number of international agreements the Armenian government approved the 2021-2030 investment program which will contribute to the reduction of the level of emissions and increase of green zones.

He said Armenia is promoting the policy of increasing renewable energy in energy production field, adding that respective legislative reforms are being implemented.

Given the global environmental challenges and their irreversible effect on climate, the Speaker of Parliament reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to cooperate with parliaments of all member states and international organizations on this matter.

Summing up his speech, Alen Simonyan said parliaments are responsible for conventions and agreements, as well as for reforms of national legislation, and the Armenian Parliament is properly controlling these processes.

 15:16,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov on March 21.

Mirzoyan and Lavrov discussed issues related to the Armenian-Russian cooperation, mutual-visits on the high and highest levels and the events dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia, the foreign ministry said in a readout of the call.

The FMs addressed the course of implementation of the agreements reached under the trilateral statements of 2020 November 9, 2021 January 11 and 2021 November 26.

The Armenian FM presented the situation created as a result of Azerbaijani provocations and ceasefire violations in the Armenia-Azerbaijan borderzone and in Nagorno Karabakh.

FM Mirzoyan also presented to FM Lavrov Armenia’s stance regarding launching the negotiations around a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in this context attached importance to the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

The normalization process of the Armenia-Turkey relations was also discussed.

Mirzoyan and Lavrov also exchanged views on issues related to regional and international security.