Category: 2022

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijani soldiers have been filmed vandalizing the St. Astvatsatsin Church in the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Karin Tak, which came under Baku’s control in the Second Karabakh War in fall 2020.

Fresh footage published online shows that the Lord’s table at the altar of the church has been broken, the inside of the church is in a state of disarray, while Azerbaijani soldiers are moving between the sacristies and climbing onto the altar.

In addition, the Azerbaijanis are heard saying a Muslim prayer inside the Christian site of worship and desecrating the Armenian cultural heritage, Monuments Watch said.

In was reported days earlier that Azerbaijan’s government has announced that it intends to erase Armenian inscriptions on religious sites in the territory that came under Baku’s control in the 2020 war.

Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006.

PanARMENIAN.Net – Yerevan has responded to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s controversial remarks about how Armenia “can’t escape” a union state with Russia and Belarus.

“Armenia can’t escape it. You think anyone needs them? They have already seen it,” Lukashenko said in an interview with Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry noted in its response that “such a unique geopolitical analysis” of the President of Belarus is primarily aimed at serving his own domestic political agenda and have nothing to do with Armenia and her foreign policy.

The Union State is a supranational organization consisting of Russia and Belarus, “with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defense policy.”

PanARMENIAN.Net – Lawmaker from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party Sona Ghazaryan has slammed the European Union’s €2b financial assistance package for Azerbaijan.

Ghazaryan ‘s comments came just days after Azerbaijan announced plans to erase Armenian traces from medieval churches in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

“I’d like to tell the international community that this policy pursued by Azerbaijan is a challenge to the decision of the UN International Court of Justice on the application of urgent measures, adopted on December 7, 2021,” Ghazaryan said.

“I would especially like to remind our partners in the European Union that they are in fact sending $2.1 billion to a country that stands out not only for its authoritarian regime, but also for its policy of vandalism against its neighbors and the destruction of our historical and cultural monuments.”

Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006.

PanARMENIAN.Net – Workers at a quarry in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) came under Azerbaijan’s fire on February 5, Artsakh’s Prosecutor General’s office reports.

In particular, the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement, several shots were fired from large-caliber machine guns at people repairing a tractor at the quarry.

In order to avoid being hurt, the workers hid for two hours before the arrival of the law enforcement officers.

The police are currently investigating the incident.

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian dairy product matsun with such labeling cannot be exported to Russia via Georgia since the latter has registered “matsoni” as its geographical indication.

A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.

The Armenian Ministry of Economy said on Monday, February 7 that as in the case of cognac and champagne in France, the name “matsoni” is registered in Georgia as a geographical indication, Armenpress reports.

Armenia has informed dairy producers that the name “matsun” sounds similar to “matsoni” registered in Georgia, which may cause problems when exporting products with this name through the territory of Georgia.

“Back in 2011, the intellectual property authorities of Armenia filed an objection against the registration of the name “matsoni” to the relevant bodies of the European Union and Georgia, arguing that this name can be confused with matsun produced in Armenia. However, the objection was not taken into account,” said the press secretary of the Minister of Economy, Gayane Antonyan.

Antonyan said, however, that the government is taking steps to clarify with the Georgian side the use of geographical indications.