Pashinyan says no talks with Azerbaijan on return of displaced Armenians
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday firmly denied that Armenia is engaged in negotiations with Azerbaijan over the return of displaced Armenians or Azerbaijanis to their former homes, including Nagorno-Karabakh and Baku.
Addressing reporters at a government briefing, Pashinyan said such discussions have “never” been part of the bilateral agenda. He warned that both issues, the return of Armenians to Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis to Armenia, are being deliberately manipulated to provoke political tensions.
“We are not discussing the return of Armenians to Karabakh, to Baku, or to other places, nor are we discussing the return of Azerbaijanis,” Pashinyan declared. “These topics have a provocative effect on the current political situation. They can escalate one another and often that is exactly what happens.”
He accused some political figures of exploiting the issue for “cheap political manipulation”, claiming they alternate between inflaming one narrative and then another when the first fails to gain traction.
“This is nothing more than low-level political exploitation,” Pashinyan added.
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Turkish Press: Erdoğan invited to European summit in Armenia
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been invited to attend a European Political Community summit in Armenia on May 4, a meeting that comes days after Turkey and Armenia held talks on reopening a rail link between the two countries.
The summit in Yerevan will be co-chaired by European Council President António Costa and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan under the theme “Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe.” The European Council says leaders will discuss democratic resilience, connectivity, economic security and energy security.
Turkey has not announced whether Erdoğan will attend. The European Council says 48 heads of state and government have been invited, including those of the 27 European Union member states, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and several Balkan and non-EU European countries.
A visit by Erdoğan to Yerevan would carry weight because Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic relations and their land border has been closed since the 1990s. Relations have long been strained by Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan and by the dispute over the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which many countries recognize as genocide. Turkey rejects the genocide label.
The invitation also comes during renewed steps toward normalization. On Tuesday Turkish and Armenian officials met in the eastern Turkish province of Kars as part of a joint working group on rehabilitating and operating the Kars-Gyumri railway. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the sides emphasized the need for the railway to begin operating soon to improve regional transport links.
The railway issue is one of the most concrete steps in the slow normalization process between the neighbors. Ankara and Yerevan agreed in 2021 to appoint special envoys to work toward restoring ties and reopening the border. In December 2025 they also agreed to simplify visa procedures for holders of diplomatic, special and service passports, saying they remained committed to full normalization without preconditions.
The Yerevan meeting will be the eighth summit of the European Political Community, a forum launched in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to bring together European Union and non-EU leaders for political coordination. The platform does not issue binding decisions, but it gives leaders space for bilateral and multilateral meetings.
Erdoğan attended the first European Political Community summit in Prague in October 2022, the Budapest summit in November 2024 and the Tirana summit in May 2025.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to attend as a guest, a move Costa described as part of a wider effort to defend peace, shared prosperity and multilateralism.
The European Political Community meeting will be followed by the first EU-Armenia summit on May 4 and 5, also in Yerevan. Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will represent the European Union, while Pashinyan will represent Armenia.
The EU has deepened ties with Armenia as Yerevan has sought closer relations with the West following its rift with Russia over security. Armenia adopted a law in 2025 launching a process aimed at closer integration with the EU, though Pashinyan has said any eventual membership would take time and require a referendum.
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Sports: Georgia and Armenia to jointly host the 2029 FIFA Under-20 World Cup
FIFA has selected Georgia and Armenia to jointly host the 2029 Under-20 World Cup. This will be the first time that these two countries from the South Caucasus region will host a FIFA tournament.
The decision was made during a FIFA Council meeting held in Vancouver, Canada, just before the 76th FIFA Congress. This tournament, held every two years, brings together 24 youth teams from around the world and is considered a platform for future stars. The Football Federation of Armenia described this as a ‘historic achievement’ and stated that it symbolizes the trust of the international football community.
The federation’s president, Armen Melikbekyan, mentioned that this tournament will provide local players and fans with a World Cup-like experience. Meanwhile, the president of the Georgian Football Federation, Levan Kobiashvili, expressed confidence that this event will give a new direction to the development of football in the region, calling it a ‘unique moment’ in Georgia’s independent football history. The competition began in 1977 in Tunisia, originally known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, and was renamed to its current form in 2007.
So far, 23 editions have been played, with Argentina Under-20 winning the most titles at six, while Brazil Under-20 follows with five titles. Recently, Morocco won the title in the tournament held in Chile in 2025.
The next edition in 2027 will be jointly hosted by Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. FIFA’s decision is seen as a significant step for regional sports development, with hopes of revitalizing youth football in the coming years.
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Verelq: What did Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafaev discuss and agree on?
2026 On April 29, in Aghveran, the Republic of Armenia, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Shahin Mustafaev, the 13th meeting of the State Border Demarcation and Border Security Commission between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State Commission for the Demarcation of the State Border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia was held.
It was noted with satisfaction that the 13th meeting of the commissions is again held in the territory of one of the parties, in the Republic of Armenia, in Aghveran.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged detailed thoughts on organizational and technical issues related to demarcation measures.
The parties have agreed and exchanged the texts of the following draft guidelines on the procedure for the implementation of demarcation works:
“Guideline on the procedure of work of border demarcation expert groups during the demarcation of the state border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan”,
“Guideline on the procedure for creating a map of the state border delimitation between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan”,
“Guideline on the procedure for formulating and publishing documents on the demarcation of the state border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan”.
The parties agreed to approach their governments for appropriate approval of the guidelines.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Mher Grigoryan, and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Shahin Mustafaev, separately exchanged thoughts on issues of mutual interest.
It was noted that the transit of goods to the Republic of Armenia through the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan is successfully carried out and is currently ongoing.
It was noted with satisfaction that Azerbaijan supplies oil products to Armenia, which indicates the formation of trade and economic ties between the two countries.
There was also a discussion with the participation of representatives of the business circles of the parties on the issues related to the development of trade and economic cooperation, mutual supplies of goods and services, as well as transit transportation.
It was specially emphasized that the achieved results were made possible thanks to the political will of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
According to the results of the meeting, a corresponding protocol was signed.
The parties have agreed to coordinate the date of the next meeting in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
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Not border demarcation, but resettlement of 300 thousand Azerbaijanis
“Hraparak” daily writes:
The CP deputies were also surprised by the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation to Armenia yesterday.
They did not know anything in advance about the visit or, even more, about the agenda, they were informed when the Azerbaijani press wrote early in the morning that the Azerbaijani plane had landed at the “Zvartnots” airport and an Azerbaijani delegation had arrived in Yerevan.
Later, the Azerbaijani media wrote that the delegation of Azerbaijan is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, who, together with Mher Grigoryan, is the co-chairman of the state commission for the demarcation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
However, later in the political backstage it was said that the visit was not related to border demarcation issues, but to resettling 300,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia.
According to the information, Azerbaijani businessmen have also arrived in Armenia with Mustafaev, and a meeting will be held with Armenian colleagues at the “Abrikot” restaurant in Aghveran on bilateral economic issues. On the Armenian side, there were mainly those businessmen who recently participated in the breakfast with Pashinyan.
This is more of a test visit, they are trying to check the reaction of the Armenian people, in other words, to adapt them to the idea of coexistence with Azerbaijanis in the future.
It is said that the process will start after the elections, if Pashinyan is re-elected.
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“Strong Armenia” and “HayaVote” signed a memorandum of cooperation
On April 29, the chairman of the “Strong Armenia” party, Samvel Karapetyan, received the representatives of the “HayaVote” national civil association.
Representatives of the leadership of the “Strong Armenia” alliance and the “Land of Living” party were also present at the meeting.
During the meeting, in the presence of the chairman of the “Strong Armenia” party Samvel Karapetyan, the coordinator-representative of the “Strong Armenia” alliance Narek Karapetyan and the coordinator of the “HayaVote” national civic association Avetik Chalabyan signed a memorandum of cooperation, by which the parties committed to unite their efforts in the 2026 election of the National Assembly. to achieve the removal of the current administration and the formation of a new national government through the June 7 elections.
For this purpose, the “Strong Armenia” alliance of parties and the “HayVote” association agreed to jointly implement the pre-election campaign, based on the maximum coordination of their political programs, as well as to jointly implement the control of the legitimacy of the electoral process.
To remind, on April 10, “HayaQuen” and Arman Tatoyan’s “Unity Wings” initiative announced that they are ending cooperation.
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10 days have passed since Onik Gasparyan’s fiery proposal. so what?
10 days have passed since Onik Gasparyan’s fiery proposal. the government rejected it, and the opposition forces and journalists considered the topic and format of its discussion at least debatable.
The former head of the State Security Service, instead of acting on the created realities, continues to position himself in the “bunker”, and has transferred the game to a notorious person, who was previously his adviser.
The latter, who is in very dubious connections inside and outside, and it is not yet clear who “parachuted” him down to the GSH and made him the bearer of military and state secrets, is an ordinary thorn whose job is to target the opposition field and the former authorities of Artsakh.
In fact, Gasparyan was not looking for contact with the public or its separate groups, journalists, but with the government, from which he continues to remain silent after receiving a rude rejection.
HG: Onik Gasparyan, I warn you that if your former adviser continues his immoral behavior, you will receive a mirror reaction, with harsher vocabulary.
Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the NA “I have an honor” faction
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Additions and amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure
In the regular session of April 29, the Standing Committee on State-Legal Issues discussed the second reading and gave a positive conclusion to the draft law “On Amendments and Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Armenia” authored by RA NA Deputy Rustam Bakoyan.
According to the author, the draft law was not changed after the first reading.
The project concerns two important criminal justice institutes. The first is a motion not to instigate a public prosecution or to stop it, and the second is a completely new controlled supply and go undercover investigation operation.
At the suggestion of the author, the discussion of the legislative package “Bankruptcy Code of the Republic of Armenia” was postponed for up to two months.
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PAP will continue its work to improve people’s lives and develop the country
“Prosperous Armenia” party continues to expand its presence both in Yerevan and throughout the republic.
Another new office was opened in Ajapnyak administrative district. Such initiatives are important especially from the point of view of ensuring direct contact with citizens, because their opinion and observations should become one of the key bases for making state decisions.
“Prosperous Armenia” will continue its consistent work for the improvement of people’s living conditions and the development of the country, based on the trust and active participation of citizens.
Gagik Tsarukyan
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