Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned of a “very high likelihood” of new Azerbaijani attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia in a lengthy and wide-ranging press conference Tuesday. It was his first question-and-answer session with reporters since January.
Credits: Ruptly
09:54,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. Forbes magazine has included the Armenian Ucraft website builder in its Best Free Website Builders Of 2023 list alongside GoDaddy, WordPress, Wix, Mailchimp and others.
The top 10 website builders were selected by the Forbes Advisor Small Business team using “product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights.”
Ucraft is a free website builder with a drag-and-drop editor, hosting, CMS and e-commerce functions. You can build and publish a website for free and connect it to your own domain—a function that’s unusual for totally free site builders.
11:06,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. The Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Armen Simonyan will participate in the High Level Regional Conference on Accelerating Rail Digital Transformation in Asia and Pacific in New Delhi, India.
The conference is scheduled to take place April 4-7 in New Delhi.
11:45,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. A proposal to erect a statue of Charles Aznavour has been passed by the Yerevan City Council.
Charles Aznavour, the world-famous French-Armenian singer, died in 2018 at the age of 94. Aznavour sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries.
A square in central Yerevan was named after him in 2001. In 2004, Aznavour received the title of National Hero of Armenia – the country’s highest state award – in recognition of his support for his homeland.
Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan told city councilors on March 15 that ahead of the legendary crooner’s 100th anniversary of birth the Aznavour Foundation proposed to install his statue in Yerevan. Avinyan said the central part of France Square in downtown Yerevan – where the Jules Bastien-Lepage statue by Auguste Rodin is currently standing – has been chosen as the location for the statue of Aznavour. Avinyan said the location was selected given that city authorities already had plans to move the Jules Bastien-Lepage statue closer to the sidewalk for passersby to have a better view.
Avinyan said that by installing the Aznavour statue the city will “properly appreciate, value and promote the world famous Armenian artist, great humanitarian and public figure’s creative heritage and eternalize his memory.”
The motion was adopted by the city council unanimously.
13:10,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministries of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) warned on Wednesday that the Azerbaijani defense ministry is again spreading disinformation.
The Azeri defense ministry accused the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Defense Army of Artsakh of opening fire. Yerevan and Stepanakert denied the accusations, labeling it as disinformation.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia said that “the statement released by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan claiming that from 00:15 to 02:30 March 15 the units of the Armed Forces of Armenia opened fire at Azerbaijani positions deployed in the eastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderline is untrue.”
In turn, the Defense Ministry of Artsakh said that “the statement released by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan claiming that Defense Army units periodically opened fire on March 15 at Azerbaijani positions deployed in the occupied territories of Martuni and Askeran regions in the Republic of Artsakh is yet another disinformation.”
13:29,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament has condemned in a new report Azerbaijan’s 2022 attack on Armenia, as well as its military incursions since May 2021and urged the return of all forces to their initial positions. It also called on Azerbaijan to ensure freedom and security of movement along Lachin Corridor.
The Report on EU-Azerbaijan relations notes that civilian traffic between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh on the Lachin Corridor has been blocked, the torture of POWs during the September fighting, the extrajudicial cases of torture and other abuse by Azerbaijani forces against Armenian civilians, including against older people, as well as a case of extrajudicial execution in 2020 and 2021.
“…the EU is ready to play an active role as a reliable trade partner and honest broker in mediating a sustainable peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, basing its action on the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” reads the report. It also mentions that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had “implications for the South Caucasus and has further complicated the security situation in the region.”
The European Parliament “strongly condemns the latest large-scale military aggression by Azerbaijan in September 2022 against multiple targets in the sovereign territory of Armenia, which constituted a serious breach of the November 2020 ceasefire statement and contradicted earlier commitments, including those made in the framework of EU-mediated talks; condemns the military incursions made across the non-delimited border since May 2021; urges the return of all forces to their initial positions; condemns any attempts to undermine the peace process and urges all parties to the conflict to refrain from further use of force; reiterates that the territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan must be fully respected by all parties; underlines the EU’s readiness to be more actively involved in settling the region’s protracted conflicts; is seriously concerned about the blockade of the Lachin corridor; urges the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure freedom and security of movement along that corridor as prescribed by the trilateral statement of 9 November 2020; calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to address all concerns relating to the functioning of the Lachin corridor through dialogue and consultations with all the parties involved.”
The report mentions that “Azerbaijan’s record in terms of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is still very negative and needs to be improved before the EU further deepens its political and energy partnership with the country.”
13:42,
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan revealed on Wednesday the types of armaments and equipment that the Armenian military recently acquired.
“The [arsenal] of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia was replenished with various types of unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-tank measures, air defense measures and modernized systems , tracked and wheeled engineering equipment, de-mining equipment, camouflage nets, communication equipment, optical devices, grenade launchers, various types of ammunition and other types of munitions and military equipment measures, which I will not disclose here publicly,” Papikyan told lawmakers at the Defense and Security Affairs Committee hearing on the Government Program’s 2022 performance report.
16:32,
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is rigging the draft peace treaty with Armenia with booby traps in order to continue its aggressive policy against Armenia even after the possible signing of the agreement, PM Nikol Pashinyan warned on Tuesday.
“What’s Azerbaijan doing? Azerbaijan says ‘I’ve won the war, what negotiations, what proposals? I’ve won, I am sending a paper, I’ve sent my five principles, sign it, and if you don’t sign it in 2023 I will launch a major attack’. And now, our reporters, realizing this situation, are asking whether we could go and sign something which would constitute a capitulation. And I am saying, no,” Pashinyan said, adding that he is ready to go for solutions that would ensure sustainable and lasting peace in the region.
Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan is using threats in the negotiations process, as it did before the 44-Day War. “Before the war Azerbaijan’s negotiations position was the following – ‘give me what I want to gain through war, or else I will take it through war’. And that was a very difficult choice,” Pashinyan added.
The Armenian Prime Minister said that a highly important position is beginning to develop among the international community. “We are presenting proposals to Azerbaijan but Azerbaijan is sending them back with most of our proposals scratched off. And when we present this problem to our international partners, they tell us that this isn’t peace, because what’s being proposed won’t lead to lasting peace, on the contrary it would lead to new crises. We are ready to go for solutions which, being far from what we dream of, would nonetheless lead to lasting and sustainable peace,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan added that peace must be earned rather than imposed. He said that in the past many people believed that peace can be imposed, but if that was the case a treaty with Armenia’s terms would’ve been signed. Pashinyan said that now it is Azerbaijan that thinks peace can be imposed, while Armenia is saying that it doesn’t favor the policy of imposing.
16:51,
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of Parliament of India Shri Om Birla within the framework of the 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Bahrain.
The priorities of the need to cooperate on bilateral and multilateral platforms between the two countries were discussed, the parliament’s press service reported.
Both sides highlighted the further deepening and strengthening of the inter-parliamentary relations as an important direction of Armenia’s foreign policy.
The parties stated the opportunities of parliamentary diplomacy, pointing out the Friendship Groups. Speaker Simonyan said that he is looking forward to the creation of the Friendship Group with Armenia in the Parliament of India.
“Armenia is interested in the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in different directions, including the defense, trade, transport and communication, health, agriculture, culture, science and education, information and high technologies, tourism and other spheres,” the parliament’s press service quoted Alen Simonyan as saying. He underscored that the presence of several thousands of Indian students in Armenia greatly promotes the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.
Issues related to the security in the region were also discussed. The crisis resulting from the closure of the Lachin Corridor and the need of its solution was also discussed.
Speaker Simonyan noted that from May 12, 2021 the armed forces of Azerbaijan violated the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia three times and illegally invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia. He said that Armenia highly appreciates the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India that the Azerbaijani military should be withdrawn from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
17:14,
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said there is no crisis in Armenia’s relations with Russia. He described the relations between Yerevan and Moscow to be very frank.
“Our relations with Russia are very frank, I don’t see a crisis,” Pashinyan said at a press conference. “We speak, discuss, and we record that there are problems, a part of which are objective. These problems aren’t subjective to have a crisis impact on the relations. Our relations are in a normal state, which doesn’t mean that there are no mutual concerns,” the Prime Minister said.