10:00,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Greco-Roman Wrestling Team finished 3rd in the team ranking at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships in Bucharest with 3 medals.
Olympic champion Artur Aleksanyan won his 7th gold at the European championships. Malkhas Amoyan took his 3rd bronze. Manvel Khachatryan also won bronze.
The weapons, ammunition and equipment purchased by Armenia from India, France and other countries do not meet quality standards, Report informs referring to the Armenian publication “Past.”
“The radar devices purchased from France do not meet the requirements, and the French side does not sell missiles to Armenia designed to destroy targets detected by these devices. As for military vehicles purchased in France, their low quality has been mentioned more than once, which is also evidenced by refusal of the Ukrainian side to supply them,” reads the article.
As for the purchase of weapons and ammunition from India, according to military experts, the Armenian army lacks the experience and necessary skills to operate them.
The leader of the All-Armenian Front movement, former Defense Minister Arshak Karapetyan, recently spoke about the low quality of weapons supplied from these countries. He said that a number of contracts he signed for the purchase of weapons have already been canceled by the current authorities. This includes a contract with Serbia for the purchase of weapons and ammunition worth several hundred million dollars.
Thus, the publication notes that the recent statement by the current Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan that the army is provided with the necessary weapons through purchases from India, France and other countries is an attempt to mislead the Armenian society.
“He is trying to impress the Armenian society with such statements that the army is allegedly arming itself with modern weapons and ammunition by refusing Russian supplies,” the article says.
11:16,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government plans to buy a €23,000,000 building in Paris which was once the private mansion of the late ex-President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The building will house the Armenian embassy in France.
The mansion is located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
The decision on approving the purchase is included in the February 15 Cabinet meeting agenda.
In accordance with an agreement between the government and the seller, the government must pay 10% of the total amount as a prepayment. The Cabinet meeting’s item is on approving the provision of 2,3 million euros for the prepayment.
In recent weeks, Yerevan has been awash with claims that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is seeking to make monumental changes to the country’s constitution ahead of a potential agreement to normalise relations with Azerbaijan. Though constitutional reform has been policy for all successive administrations, on January 19, while visiting the Ministry of Justice, Pashinyan made it clear that he would like changes to extend well beyond that.
“[…] the Republic of Armenia needs a new Constitution”, Pashinyan said. “Not constitutional amendments but a new constitution”.
On January 23, the Ministry of Justice submitted a reform plan recommending that the current system of rule by a “stable" or “majority” system of governance should be transformed into a minority model to make it less likely for one party to monopolise power. In particular, however, the constitution “should make the country more competitive in the new geopolitical environment”.
The Armenian opposition reacted harshly, interpreting his words as confirmation of Yerevan being ready to make more concessions to Baku in order to sign a long-delayed peace deal. In particular, those critics believe that the government intends to remove a controversial preamble to the existing constitution that refers to the 1990 Declaration of Independence.
The declaration mentions a 1989 joint decision on the “Reunification of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Mountainous Region of Karabakh”. In August last year, Pashinyan had already fuelled such speculation by noting that the declaration contained a “confrontational narrative with[in] the regional environment that [has] kept us in constant conflicts with our neighbours”.
Speaking on 24 January, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan confirmed Baku had raised concerns with the preamble and other legislation. Discussion would likely be part of talks, he confessed, but on February 1 Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev warned that failure to change the constitution could prevent any agreement.
Yerevan is quick to point out that constitutional reform has long been planned. Pashinyan gained power in 2018 when Serzh Sargsyan attempted to retain power past his two-term limit presidency by becoming prime minister under a constitution reformed three years earlier. Pashinyan attempted to reform the constitution in April 2020, but was prevented from doing so by the pandemic, the 44-day war and snap elections held post-conflict.
Since last year, however, the opposition has also accused Pashinyan of seeking to usher in a ‘fourth republic’ to distance himself from the third, the post-Soviet Republic of Armenia formed in 1991. On February 1, in an interview with Armenian Public Radio, he did not deny such claims. Critics have claimed that could extend to changing state symbols.
Last year, for example, Pashinyan took exception with the some of the current symbols on the country’s coat of arms, and especially the depiction of Mount Ararat in neighbouring Turkey. This year, National Assembly President Alen Simonyan also suggested changing the anthem, something that he has advocated for since 2019, almost a year after Pashinyan’s 2018 Velvet Revolution.
In 2004, Georgia had also changed its state symbols following the Rose Revolution in 2003. This included the flag, coat of arms and national anthem.
The opposition claims that the electorate would reject such changes, especially if the it believed that pressure from Baku was behind them, and possibly even from Ankara. But there are other potential obstacles too. For a referendum to pass, not only should over 50% of voters agree, but turnout should exceed 25% of the country’s electorate.
Even if Armenians were to accept the changes, given the low voter turnout in last year’s Yerevan’s municipal elections, that could prove a tall order. According to others, including Pashinyan ally Aram Sargsyan – brother of the late Defence and Prime Minister assassinated in the parliamentary shootings of 27 October 1999, holding a referendum alongside snap-elections could be a possible solution.
This matches other rumours suggesting that early parliamentary elections could be held given Pashinyan’s falling ratings. Though the opposition is hardly popular, government support could drop even lower by 2026 when the next elections are scheduled.
"As far as I understand […], they will hold the referendum this fall at the latest, and I have no doubts that it will be held on the same day as fresh parliamentary elections", Sargsyan told RFE/RL’s Armenia Service last week. "I think they wouldn't mind […] this spring [but] organising a constitutional referendum takes a lot of time".
11:38,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has commented on the latest Azeri aggression targeting Armenia which left 4 soldiers dead and 1 wounded.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that 4 on-duty servicemen near Nerkin Hand in Syunik Province were killed as a result of the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan on February 13. He expressed condolences to the families and friends of the fallen troops and said that the shooting was yet another manifestation of Azerbaijan’s destructive policy.
He reminded that Armenian authorities had launched an investigation into Azeri allegations that a day before an Armenian border guard had opened fire and wounded an Azeri soldier. Troops are instructed to not allow ceasefire violations and not give in to provocations, and thus, if the investigation were to conclude that a violation had taken place, those guilty would face consequences. “Nonetheless, the next morning Azerbaijan opened intense fire at the abovementioned position, which resulted in four deaths. The description of events shows that Azerbaijan’s intentions remain the same: to engage in a policy of military coercion against the Republic of Armenia. It is our impression that Azerbaijan doesn’t display any interest in ensuring border stability and security and there are numerous grounds for this. For example, back in 2022, we reached an agreement that the delimitation commissions’ mandate should include also border security issues. In accordance with the agreement, the Republic of Armenia created the Commission on State Border Delimitation and Border Security Issues between the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan, assuming that the commissions would also work around matters of border security, but Azerbaijan, despite the agreement, named its commission the State Commission for State Border Delimitation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, skipping the security component. This and several other circumstances give the grounds to conclude that Azerbaijan continues to engage in the so-called ‘give me what I want through talks otherwise I will take it through war’ policy,” Pashinyan said.
12:16,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Azerbaijan is avoiding by all means all options proposed for border delimitation with Armenia.
Speaking at the February 15 Cabinet meeting, Pashinyan warned that this could mean that Azerbaijan intends to launch military actions in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning it into an all-out war against Armenia.
“Have you seen Azerbaijan regularly speak about what it describes as the territories of the four villages, at the same time refusing to accept that the territories of vital importance of 31 non-enclave villages of the Republic of Armenia are under Azerbaijani occupation. Our position in this situation is highly constructive. What we are saying is that in order for the troops to pull back from their positions, it is necessary to reproduce the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on the map and on the ground and pull back the troops of the two countries from that line of the border. After the reproduction, if it turns out that there are troops before that line, they must be withdrawn from both sides against the already demarcated border. Official Baku is trying to formulate this event in a way so that the Azeri troops won’t anyhow pull back from the territories of the 31 villages in Armenia. This is not a constructive stance,” Pashinyan said.
He reiterated Armenia’s readiness for concrete solutions, principles of which are already agreed upon.
He said that the principles include the agreements signed in international platforms: the Armenia-Azerbaijan reciprocal recognition of territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, which should serve as the political framework for the delimitation process.
“This means that we are only left with technical work: to reproduce on the maps and on the ground the de jure 1991 border of the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs and solve the issue by identifying the legal grounds. The so-called exclave-enclave issue must be addressed in the same way. For example, in order to determine the territory of Artsvashen, it should be drawn based on legal documents and solve that issue as result of future talks. But Azerbaijan is regularly refusing to go for solutions, trying to take the path of localization. We are ready even for that option and to carry out demarcation province by province, by reproducing the border in every section, and then carry out the adjustment of troops deployment, according to the reproduced border line, and then go to the next section, and leave the exclave issues for the last phase,” Pashinyan said, adding that Armenia is ready for both options: to either carry out demarcation along the entire border at once or by sections.
“But it seems that Azerbaijan is rejecting this option as well. Our analysis shows that there can only be one reason for this, and the reasons could be their [intentions] to launch military actions in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning the military escalation into a large-scale war against the Republic of Armenia. This intention is read in all statements and actions made by Baku,” Pashinyan said.
12:36,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has responded to Azerbaijan’s accusations regarding Armenia’s arms acquisitions.
“Azerbaijan continues threatening rhetoric regarding our military reforms and arms acquisitions by Armenia. Having a strong and combat ready military is the legitimate right of every country,” Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting. “No one can deny this. Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of all neighboring countries and doesn’t have any goals outside its own territory. By the way, this is our long-term strategy because we believe that legitimacy is a highly important component for ensuring the security of the Republic of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia has exclusively legitimate goals in the defense sector, which is the protection of its internationally recognized territories,” Pashinyan said.
13:41,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has confirmed his participation in the Nuclear Energy Summit to be held in Brussels in March 2024, according to the Ambassador of Belgium to Armenia Eric De Muynck.
“A nuclear energy summit will be organized on March 21 in Brussels and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has already confirmed his participation,” the Belgian Ambassador said in an interview with Armenpress when asked on possible bilateral visits between the two countries. “He will be in Brussels during that time and will have the chance to meet with representatives of the Belgian government.”
Following the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Atoms4NetZero initiative, leaders from around the world will gather at a Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels in March to highlight the role of nuclear energy in addressing the global challenges to reduce the use of fossil fuels, enhance energy security and boost economic development.
Hosted jointly by the IAEA and Belgium, the Summit will take place on 21-22 March 2024.
Co-chaired by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, it will be the highest-level meeting to date exclusively focused on the topic of nuclear energy, which is attracting growing interest from many countries because it can both help to cut the consumption of fossil fuels while meeting rising demand for low-carbon dispatchable electricity.
14:23,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The Amaryan Charitable Foundation announced a 18 million AMD donation to the Senior Center program in Goris, Syunik region, implemented by the WINNET Goris Development Foundation with the support of 301 Land of Wisdom Foundation. The Senior Center’s goal is to ensure the well-being of displaced elderly people from Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) who are without family. The money will go towards the purchase of the Center’s building.
The center, developed by WINNET Goris Development Foundation, will feature 24 rooms, a social canteen, and a daytime activity center, ensuring access to basic necessities and social services. Additionally, it will offer a safe and secure environment for this vulnerable group, enabling them to combat the feeling of loneliness and isolation through social interaction and activities.
"This initiative deeply resonates with our Foundation’s beliefs and values," said David Amaryan, co-founder of The Amaryan Charitable Foundation. "What happened in Artsakh created a serious humanitarian challenge, and by contributing to organizations like WINNET Goris Development Foundation, which has been engaged in social programs in Syunik for over 15 years, The Amaryan Charitable Foundation aims to make a real difference in the lives of those affected by this crisis”.
“Our roots are from Syunik and this region holds a special place in our hearts. We knew we had to contribute to this initiative addressing the urgent needs and challenges faced by Syunik,” stated Vardan Amaryan, co-founder of The Amaryan Charitable Foundation emphasizing the importance of coordinated relief efforts. “This Social center will provide much-needed shelter and support for elderly individuals who have lost their homes and loved ones."
Ruzanna Torozyan, Executive Director of WINNET Goris Development Foundation shared that after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, their Development Foundation expanded the scope of its activities, providing humanitarian relief to families displaced from NK. “It was obvious that the most vulnerable in this difficult situation are the elderly remained without care, pensioners who feel the need to be taken care of. It is important to create conditions so that elderly people can be provided with decent social services, activities, and entertainment. There are many initiatives, and we need partners to implement them. The Amaryan Charitable Foundation was the first to respond for which we are grateful. We value the trust and willingness to take care of the issues of older people. We are sure that this cooperation will positively change the lives of hundreds of elderly people. Their warm smiles, bringing some happiness in their lives is the most important thing for us. All efforts and contributions for the implementation of this big initiative are undoubtedly welcome” noted Ruzanna Torozyan.
About The Amaryan Charitable Foundation
The Amaryan Charitable Foundation, established by David Amaryan, an Armenian entrepreneur and investor, the founder and executive director of the Balchug Capital and Vardan Amaryan, a businessman and the founder of the Apricot Capital investment company. The Foundation aims to cultivate growth of individuals and communities through initiatives in education, sports, culture, and youth development.
About WINNET Goris Development Foundation
WINNET Goris Development Foundation's activities are aimed at expanding socio-economic opportunities for women and promoting their active participation in public life. Since 2020, the Foundation has expanded the scope of its activities, providing humanitarian relief to families forcibly displaced from Artsakh, providing development and social programs for women and the elderly.
About 301 Land of Wisdom Foundation
301 Land of Wisdom Foundation implements projects in Armenia in the fields of culture, science and education aimed at preserving and developing the cultural identity and values of the Armenian people.
Patriarch Daniel of Romania welcomed Tigran Galstyan, the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Romania, on a presentation visit on Wednesday.
Patriarch Daniel congratulated the newly-appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Bucharest and wished him a successful diplomatic mission in Romania.
The Ambassador expressed gratitude to the Patriarch of Romania for the privilege of receiving him and emphasized the outstanding relations between the two nations.
According to a press release issued by the Department for inter-church and inter-religious relations of the Romanian Patriarchate, Patriarch Daniel conveyed optimism that these relations would be strengthened throughout his term, particularly by fostering spiritual and cultural connections.
The ambassador stated that his initial official encounter was with the Patriarch of Romania after presenting his credentials, as he desired the diplomatic endeavors to commence under God’s blessing.
In addition, Tigran Galstyan reminisced about the Armenian community’s centuries-long presence in Romania and the significance of Patriarch Vasken I, Catholicos of All Armenians, who was a symbol of the Armenian people’s resurgence of national consciousness and was born and educated in Romania.
During the meeting, Patriarch Daniel emphasized the Christian faith’s significance and role in safeguarding the Armenian people’s identity amidst challenging historical periods. Furthermore, he stated that the two peoples have shared historical experiences.
Preserving and advancing spiritual heritage is thus imperative within a geopolitical and religious context beset by difficulties.
After the meeting, the Patriarch of Romania specified that the organization of pilgrimages in Armenia and Romania and the development of collaborative initiatives constitute a practical means of fostering mutual understanding between the two peoples.