Category: 2023

Armenian expert rejects ’empty illusions’ about lasting peace with Baku’s barbaric regime

Talar Tumanian
Panorama
Armenia –

Iran specialist Vardan Voskanyan has denounced Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over his renewed territorial claims against Armenia, insisting lasting peace with Baku’s barbaric regime is impossible.

Speaking at a summit of Turkic states on Thursday, Aliyev again called the territory of present-day Armenia “Western Azerbaijan”.

“Do you realize that Azerbaijan, an artificial entity, refuses to acknowledge not only the existence of Artsakh, but also Armenia, as well as our hard-earned basic right to live in our sacred homeland and have a state,” Voskanyan wrote on Telegram on Friday.

“All illusions that any lasting peace is possible with the barbarians who do not even recognize our basic rights are empty and dangerous and, in fact, clear the way for a new genocide.

“Also empty and dangerous are all those “thoughts” that someone will fight against the barbarians instead of us. We could have supporters fighting with us, but no one will fight for Artsakh and Armenia instead of us,” the expert said.

ICRC facilitates transfer of 12 seriously ill patients from Artsakh to Armenia

Maral Chavushian
Panorama
Armenia –

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has facilitated the transfer of 12 more severely ill patients from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Armenia amid the blockade, the Artsakh Ministry of Health reported.

The patients with serious oncological and cardiovascular diseases were transported to specialized medical facilities in Armenia on Friday, the ministry said in a statement.

Ten patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with an accompanying team.

Planned surgeries remain suspended in Artsakh hospitals due to Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the sole road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, which started back on 12 December.

Seven children are in neonatal and intensive care in the Arevik Medical Center.

Five patients, including one critically ill, remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Center.

The Red Cross has helped transfer a total of 194 patients from Artsakh to Armenia for urgent treatment since the start of the blockade.

ISW: Russia is losing its influence on Armenia

Boris Nahapetian
News.am
Armenia –
13:01, 17.03.2023

Russia’s redeployment of elements of its “peacekeeping force” from Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine is eroding Russia’s influence with Armenia. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote this in its report, which continues as follows:

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of preparing to conduct a new large-scale attack and genocide against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh at an unspecified future time on March 16. Pashinyan stated that Armenia should appeal to the United Nations Security Council if the Russian Federation is unable to uphold the November 9, 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire that Moscow helped broker with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan previously accused Russia’s “peacekeeping force” in Nagorno-Karabakh of “not fulfilling its obligation” under this ceasefire in December 2022 after Russian forces failed to secure passage on the only road through the Lachin Corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia’s “peacekeeping force” in Nagorno-Karabakh is very likely understrength. The Russian military redeployed elements of the 15th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade — Russia’s only dedicated peacekeeping brigade — from Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine in March 2022.

Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces severely degraded the 15th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, killing about 800 and wounding about 400 soldiers of the brigade’s 1,800 soldiers that deployed to Ukraine as of June 2022. Russia will likely lose military influence in other post-Soviet states since Moscow has redeployed elements of permanently stationed Russian forces from Russian bases in Kyrgyzstan, occupied Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), and Tajikistan to fight in Ukraine.”

Armenia opposition MP: Azerbaijan is building up military equipment

Kanayan Tamar
News.am
Armenia –
13:46, 17.03.2023

Opposition MP Taguhi Tovmasyan is in daily contact with the residents of Armenia’s border region and with the military, who alert that they had seen movement and alerted her, about which she considered it necessary to contact Armenia’s international partners so that a possible escalation of tension could be prevented as much as possible. Tovmasyan told about this today to reporters in the National Assembly—and referring to the reports about the buildup of Azerbaijani armed forces on the borders of Armenia.

“It is clear that if military equipment is being built up, it is not done for no reason; it is done to prepare for a certain [military] operation. I have received alarms from Gegharkunik, Tavush [Provinces], and all along Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)]. There was a movement of [Azerbaijani] military equipment that worried people.

“There is already quite a big and intense reaction; everyone is interested. I have reactions from various superpowers at the highest level that they are following the process, will follow the further developments with great attention as well, trying to prevent certain actions,” the Armenian opposition MP said.

Azerbaijan announces speeding up of construction within ‘Zangezur corridor’ framework

Yeghisabet Arthur
News.am
Armenia –
14:56, 17.03.2023

Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov has made yet another provocative statement regarding the “Zangezur corridor.”

Asadov, presenting the 2022 report on the activities of the government at the Azerbaijani parliament, announced “the great importance of opening international and regional transport-logistics corridors, in particular, the Zangazur [(Zangezur)] corridor,” APA reported.

“Azerbaijan continues the work of creating the necessary infrastructure in its territory, within the framework of the Zangazur corridor. The construction work of the Horadiz-Aghbend railway has been completed by 38 percent, and the Horadiz-Jabrayil-Zangilan-Aghbend highway—by 74 percent. The construction of the two roads will be completed in 2024,” Asadov said.

To note, the term “Zangezur corridor” refers to Azerbaijan’s territorial ambitions towards Armenia.

PM Pashinyan congratulates Irish counterpart on national holiday

Emma Jilavian

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 11:25,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar on the occasion of the Irish national holiday.

“I congratulate you and the friendly people of Ireland on the Irish national holiday, St. Patrick’s Day,” Pashinyan wrote in a telegram to Varadkar. “Armenia attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with Ireland based on democratic values, both on bilateral and multilateral platforms. I believe that there is a significant potential for cooperation between our countries, and I want to reaffirm the readiness of the Armenian side to maximally ensure the realization of this potential.

I sincerely hope that in the near future we will have an opportunity to meet and discuss the Armenian-Irish bilateral agenda, enriching it with promising programs for the benefit and welfare of our countries.

I wish you good health and all the best, and prosperity and well-being to the friendly people of Ireland further.”

Armenia manager claims Mkhitaryan turned down multiple offers to hold talks

Emma Nadirian

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 12:38,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. The head coach of the Armenian national football team Alexander Petrakov revealed that he’s numerously attempted to contact Henrikh Mkhitaryan but the Inter Milan star refused to take part in any discussion.

“From the very first day that I’ve come to Armenia I tried to contact Henrikh Mkhitaryan. I asked the football federation, everyone, to help me contact him and speak to him personally. I even tried to contact him through former colleagues at Shakhtar Donetsk. But he turned down, saying that he’s made a decision and won’t change it,” Petrakov said at a press conference on Friday. 

He added that he tried to contact the former Armenia captain through retired goalkeeper and coach Roman Berezovsky, but he again refused to talk. Petrakov said he even offered to fly to Milan to meet personally, but Mkhitaryan again refused.

CSTO Secretary General agrees that Aliyev’s latest speech ‘contradicts the Prague and Sochi statements’

Mary Lazarian

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 13:38,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. The visiting CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov has concurred during a meeting with a top Armenian official that the latest speech by the Azerbaijani leader “contradicts the Prague and Sochi statements”.

Tasmagambetov, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), who is now in Armenia on a two-day trip, met with the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan on March 17 in Yerevan.

“Armen Grigoryan presented the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The sides also discussed the recent statement made by the Azerbaijani President, noting that it contradicts the Prague and Sochi statements,” Grigoryan’s office said in a readout.

Grigoryan also congratulated Tasmagambetov on his appointment as CSTO Secretary General. They discussed the situation in the CSTO area of responsibility, and the Secretary General reported on the situation regarding the delimitation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on March 16 made false claims and bellicose statements against Armenia during the Organization of Turkic States summit.

Aliyev referred to the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia under the fictitious name “Western Azerbaijan”.

In a statement on Friday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned that Aliyev’s speech was “a clear manifestation of territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia and preparation of another aggression.”

ICRC facilitates transfer of 12 patients from Artsakh to Armenia

Karapet Navasardian

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 14:00,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated the transfer of 12 patients from blockaded Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh to Armenia for treatment, the Ministry of Healthcare of Nagorno Karabakh reported Friday.

“Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia, 12 patients from the Republican Medical Center the Republic of Artsakh with serious diseases of the oncology and cardiovascular system have been transported today, on March 17, to specialized medical institutions of the Republic of Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

10 patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with an accompanying persons.

Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of the Republic of Artsakh.

7 children remain in the neonatal and intensive care unit of the Arevik medical centre.
5 patients remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Centre, 1 of them in critical condition.

A total of 194 patients have been transported so far from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and support of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the ministry’s statement reads.

Azerbaijan gives preliminary confirmation on participation in Yerevan European Weightlifting Championships 2023

Ekmekjian Janet

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 16:15,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has confirmed participation in the upcoming European Weightlifting Championships 2023 in Yerevan according to preliminary information, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Karen Giloyan has said.

“At this moment we have confirmation from Azerbaijan regarding their participation, but this isn’t final yet. By the end of March the federations of the countries that have submitted a bid have to make a financial transfer to the European federation. Thus, the Azerbaijani team’s participation will be finally confirmed when they’ll have completed all envisaged steps,” Giloyan said.

The European Weightlifting Championships 2023 will take place April 15-23 in Yerevan.