Armenia • Հայաստան

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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/ar_david_hh on 2024-10-16 21:29:02+00:00.

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Armenia is ranked as a "free" country in Freedom House's 2024 internet freedom report

Country (points out of 100) freedom level (change since last year)

ICE (94) Free

USA (76) Free

GEO (74) Free (-2)

ARM (74) Free (+2)

AZE (34) Not Free (-3)

TUR (31) Not Free

RUS (20) Not Free

IRN (12) Not Free

CHN (9) Not Free

... countries that dropped or climbed the sharpest

Biggest winner: Zambia

Biggest loser: Kyrgyzstan, after President Japarov intensified his efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing

source, source, source,

Swiss politicians, citing a "documented ethnic cleansing", want Switzerland to host a dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh

A motion introduced by the Foreign Relations Committee of the Swiss National Council is calling on the Federal Council to organize an international peace forum on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The aim is to facilitate an open dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, conducted under international supervision.

The motion describes the 2023 events as a "documented ethnic cleansing" and criticizes the attempts to wipe out Armenian cultural heritage "under the guise of “renovation” with forged historical documents".

source,

UK is aware of the detention of ethnic Armenians and regularly raises the issue with Baku at senior levels: UK's Minister of State for Europe

MINISTER DOUGHTY: We have been consistent in calling for the release of all remaining prisoners of war, and the return of the remains of the deceased.

source,

U.S. State Department about the Armenian government's effort to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan before COP29

QUESTION: Azerbaijan has pushed back on human rights concerns prior to COP. They said back off, we aren’t going to listen to your concerns prior to COP. They also said that there will be no peace agreement. They don’t expect it prior to COP. That’s what Secretary Blinken was hoping for. What was your response?

SPOKESPERSON: We never tied the agreement to COP. We wanted to see a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan months ago and have been pushing for a peace agreement, ultimately hoped to get one over the line. But that’s up to the two parties, not the United States.

source, source,

Day 2: Armenian army chief visits the United States

A number of issues related to the current course of the AM-US defense partnership, upcoming programs, and regional security were discussed.

CoGS Edward Asryan met the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency Mike Miller, the Commander of the Security Support Command of the US Army Allen Pepper, and the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Teresa Guenov.

source,

DefCom MP Andranik Kocharyan about interpersonal conflicts between soldiers and preventing murders and suicides in the army

The MP says many of the deaths are a result of personal disputes after which one party feels that he "lost" the dispute and can't cope with it.

REPORTER: Does that mean you haven't been able to combat this through reforms?

ANDRANIK: The reforms were elsewhere: we were able to eliminate the "zone watchers" (zona nayogh). There used to be an entire "institute" of "zone watcher" in military bases. That's how the bases were managed. This practice has been exterminated.

However, we still have locations, remote locations, away from military bases, I'm talking about closer to frontlines, where we still don't have an inner ring of officer staff. To address this, the army is implementing education reforms to train new sergeant staff who are better trained. Until this new staff is deployed at full capacity, it will be difficult to curtail the interpersonal conflicts between soldiers through the use of crude force.

Our soldiers should take "qfurs" easier, and the commanders should understand why their subordinates sometimes fall asleep while on duty before they decide to admonish them. Why does a person fall asleep? When his body can't handle the stress. The commanders must ensure the shifts are distributed fairly.

We have launched reforms in various areas, but this problem remains in the "remote" locations. Today we have an opportunity to implement the staff reforms thanks to calm borders. If we delay this particular reform, it will damage the trust toward other reforms that we have implemented.

You have no idea how many meetings we have held with experts, psychologists, pedagogy university rector, etc. We want to better understand the psychology of a young man and what can drive them to suicide. The effort must begin from school age and continue in a military base. //

video,

PM Pashinyan invited the ambassadors of EU states for a meeting to discuss AM-EU relations

Pashinyan emphasized AM-EU multi-sector cooperation and once again stressed the Armenian Government’s readiness to deepen relations with European partners.

Pashinyan stressed the need for effective and consistent implementation of the agreements reached in October 2023 in Granada with the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, as well as in the statement adopted as a result of the AM-EU-US meeting in Brussels in April 2024.

EU Ambassador Maragos emphasized the EU’s continued support in promoting reforms in the democratic and economic spheres in Armenia.

Ambassador Maragos also emphasized the importance of the launch of the visa liberalization dialogue with Armenia and the decision to provide defense assistance to Armenia from the European Peace Facility.

Thoughts were exchanged on the possibilities of unblocking regional communication routes. Ambassador Maragos expressed the EU’s support for Armenia’s sovereignty and the “Crossroads of Peace” project presented by the Armenian Government.

SecCon Armen Grigoryan earlier said the EU observer mission should stay in Armenia for as long as there is a need for it. The EU offered Azerbaijan to install a similar mission on the Azerbaijani side of the border; Baku rejected it and criticized the EU for its presence in Armenia.

... Brussels hosted a session of the Armenia-EU Civil Society Platform

The representatives of the European Commission, European External Action Service, European Economic and Social Committee as well as heads of different Armenian and European civil society organizations attended the meeting in Brussels.

Armenia's Ambassador to EU Balayan stressed the important role of civil society in promoting the AM-EU Partnership. Balayan touched upon the achievements registered during the past months and the efforts made by the Armenian Government aimed at the strengthening of the partnership with the EU.

The EU officials and NGO representatives assessed the process of reforms in Armenia positively and assured that their organizations will continue to be consistent in solving issues.

source, source, source,

Turkish radio is being shut down by authorities after a guest mentioned the "Armenian Genocide" during a show aired 6 months ago ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/Prestigious-Hand-225 on 2024-10-16 10:43:15+00:00.

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Many of the Armenian street names remain (presumably because they haven't come up with new names yet), but the settlement names - Stepanakert, Shushi, Martuni, Martakert etc - have all disappeared, at least for me. Anyone else seeing the same?

They're already trying to Albanize the Holy Mother of God Cathedral, too.

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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/ar_david_hh on 2024-10-15 21:29:00+00:00.

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number of traffic deaths per capita is on decline in Armenia: Interior Minister

Minister Ghazaryan spoke about the accident rates during the 2014-2018 and 2019-2024 periods, and mentioned the large increase in the number of vehicles registered in Armenia:

Year: cars / deaths / injuries

2015: 560,000 / 346 / 4738

2022: 890,000 / 321 / 6153

2024: 935,000 / down YoY / down YoY

source, source,

ruling party MP clashes with the head of the Investigative Committee in the middle of a parliament session

The MPs summoned the heads of all law enforcement agencies to discuss crime stats, steps to combat crime, reforms, etc. The session lasted 7 hours.

Ruling MP Hovik Aghazaryan and IC chief Argishti Qyaramyan had an argument about a case involving the MP's family business. Accusations were thrown around, leading to them almost punching each other. The IC chief Qyaramyan was later accused by other ruling party MPs of being thuggish and inappropriate.

The MP Aghazaryan rushed back to his private office and told the chasing reporters to leave him alone because "I'm dying of hunger. Can you just leave me alone?"

As for IC Qyaramyan, he was reportedly summoned to the Government building later that evening.

source,source,source,

authorities reported authorities to authorities

Last year prosecutors filed 551 complaints against investigators for improper conduct and violating rules. It led to 7 investigators being charged with felony crimes, and another 41 reprimanded.

Prosecutors themselves were investigated by others: 41 were reprimanded, while some others were fired and demoted.

The Prosecutor General's office also requested the Justice Ministry to file 25 complaints against judges for the Supreme Judicial Council to investigate their conduct. The Ministry refused to launch a case against half of the judges. The other half were investigated and 7 of those judges were sent to SJC. The SJC acquitted 3 judges, warned 3, and fired 1.

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When the peace process started, Azerbaijan wanted Armenia's agreement on 5 internationally recognized points. Today we have an agreement on 16 points: Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan

Context: Armenia continues to pressure Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty ASAP while the Aliyev regime continues to find various excuses not to sign it.

According to a ranking member of the ruling party, Sargis Khandanyan, Pashinyan offered Aliyev to organize a two-day meeting between the foreign ministers to reach an agreement around 1 or 2 of the 3 remaining issues, followed by a meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev to sign a peace treaty before COP29.

This comes after 3-4 rejections by Ilham Aliyev to hold trilateral meetings hosted by the EU since late 2023.

Pashinyan also offered Aliyev to hold a bilateral meeting without mediators in London a few weeks ago, but Aliyev rejected it.

source, source,

Armenian army chief visits U.S.

A delegation led by CoGS Edward Asryan visited the United States. On Tuesday they participated in the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition.

source,

Armenian government members continue to meet their Turkish counterparts and present the Crossroads of Peace communication project

Infrastructure Minister Thanosyan visited Turkey for an International Road Federation forum.

Thanosyan held a bilateral meeting with the Transport Minister of Turkey Uraloğlu, and was seen presenting a brochure of Crossroads of Peace to him.

Earlier, a ranking member of Armenia's ruling party, Arman Yeghoyan, revealed that Turkey finds Crossroads of Peace beneficial for itself but is not directly "pressuring" Azerbaijan to accept it. If Armenia provides a route for Azerbaijan to connect to Nakhijevan, it will be ~20 kilometers shorter than the route offered by Iran, according to the Turkish minister. Pashinyan earlier urged Aliyev to "go for it" and get the route via Iran instead of whining about Armenia, adding that "Armenia remains open to providing a route."

source, source,

kerfuffle.mp4

The 10 shops operated by Syrian diasporans in Yerevan's Hanrapetutyun Metro station have been forced to shut down as a result of a legal dispute between the landlord Metro and a Middleman company.

A decade ago the Middleman rented the area from Metro and built kiosks for shop operators. The shop operators were renting the kiosks from the Middleman.

Metro decided not to extend the lease agreement with the Middleman in February. Metro says the Middleman failed to remove its property from the territory after the lease ended.

Metro went on to sign individual contracts with the diasporan shop operators directly, without the Middleman. As a result, the city budget will receive ֏850,000/mo instead of the ֏300,000/mo previously paid by the Middleman.

Middleman has filed a lawsuit against Metro and demands the lease agreement with Metro to be reinstated, so they can continue to act as a middleman between the shop operators and Metro. Middleman also demanded everyone stop using the kiosks built by them; the Authorities came and shut down the diasporans' shops.

SHOP OPERATOR: The Middleman says they built this kiosk. Okay, but I work inside it, what benefit do you get by shutting down my shop?

MIDDLEMAN: It's not our fault that the shop operators can't access the kiosks. They have an agreement with Metro. Metro signed illegal agreements with the shop operators to allow OUR property to be used illegally.

METRO: The Middleman has decided to punish the shop operators by filing this lawsuit against us. The Middleman was informed to vacate the territory and remove its property, but they did not remove their property.

SHOP OPERATOR: We paid millions of drams to the Middleman while they paid comparatively little to the Metro. But the Middleman wants to harm us and everyone. Neither party wanted to back down. //

REPORTER: Why didn't you remove your property in February when Metro ended the agreement with you?

MIDDLEMAN: We have filed a lawsuit to resolve the agreement unilaterally. Metro gave our property to shop operators illegally and we are unable to retrieve our property now. We want our property. //

Middleman asked Authorities to shut down the kiosks.

Shop operators were taken by surprise when the kiosks were shut close by Authorities. The Authorities say the parties were informed about the closure processes in August, and that it's not their fault that they were taken by surprise.

However, Metro accuses Authorities of not diligently informing the shop operators about the imminent closure. Metro says they received the closure warning in person and that the post office delivered the written version of the warning "late". Metro assumes the shop operators similarly received their warning letters late.

Authorities, in turn, say the court/law required them to act immediately and that they could not have waited weeks or months to execute the order to seal the shops, and that the legal case, which was filed in August, should have served as a sufficient warning for shop operators to avoid surprises.

Metro has filed a counter-lawsuit to force open the kiosks so the shop operators can return.

source,

update: Yerevan's Mergelyan Park is being renovated: VIDEO

Located in front of the Mergelyan science institute, the park will have new playgrounds, benches, and alleys.

video,

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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/AdActual3055 on 2024-10-15 19:06:18+00:00.

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A seriously, SERIOUSLY underrated ramen spot (19 Mesrop Mashtots) owned by the sweetest Japanese man. Homemade, hand-pulled noodles and only two types of pork ramen on the menu (vegetarian option available).

This Thursday (Oct 17), he is holding a special full moon event with mochi. See you there!

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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/AdActual3055 on 2024-10-15 16:50:41+00:00.

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I just moved to Yerevan and I love it so much - the food, coffee culture, it‘s truly a special place.

The one thing, however, that I just cannot get over is how absolutely rude some people are at the cinema, theater, etc.

I want desperately to engage with Armenian culture through these artistic mediums, but will honestly stop going because of the constant talking, cell phone calls, and flash photography.

For real though - who the heck picks up a phone call and spends fifteen minutes talking about a bad haircut while a performance is happening?

Am I overreacting? Does anyone else think this is unacceptable and/or makes these experiences terribly unenjoyable?

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8 minutes. Subscribe for regular reports.

problems emerged on the path of the global flow of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods; there is a search for new trade paths: PM Pashinyan about Crossroads of Peace

The prime minister underscored that the movement of goods is not unilateral: it concerns both directions: East-West and West-East. Now, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods are searching for new ways to the West.

"This is the reason that, with time, the Crossroads of Peace project has been gaining global significance," the PM said.

There is a static state in over 70% in Armenia’s borders in the region, the borders are unable to ensure the flow of goods. And the meaning of the Crossroads of Peace project is for Armenia to have its contribution in terms of servicing that huge economic flows.

... Azerbaijan is concerned that the Crossroads of Peace communication project can bring tens of billions of dollars in benefits to Armenia: Pashinyan

Pashinyan said Azerbaijan's concerns are twofold:

(1) Azerbaijan fears that if Armenia has aggressive plans against Azerbaijan, these funds generated through Crossroads of Peace can be used against Azerbaijan.

(2) If Azerbaijan has aggressive plans against Armenia, these tens of billions of dollars can be used to increase Armenia's defense capabilities and thwart Azerbaijan's aggression.

Pashinyan reminded that Armenia and Azerbaijan recently reached a diplomatic agreement to demarcate the state borders peacefully, therefore Armenia sees no reason to attack Azerbaijani forces to liberate the Armenian lands that Azerbaijan has illegally occupied since 2021.

Pashinyan also criticized Russia and Azerbaijan for violating the articles of the Nov. 9 ceasefire agreement by not allowing the return of ethnic Armenian refugees to Nagorno-Karabakh and its adjacent regions.

source, source, source, video,

Dutch Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee adopts resolutions calling for release of Nagorno-Karabakh leaders held hostage in Azerbaijan

The resolution notes: “Considering that the Azerbaijani army attacked Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, leading to the near-total displacement of the population to Armenia, with many still unable to return to their homes, and recognizing that Azerbaijan is destroying Armenian cultural heritage in that region, we call on the government to advocate for the protection of Armenian cultural heritage within the frameworks of both the EU and the 1954 Hague Convention of UNESCO.”

It also stresses the importance of acknowledging ongoing obstacles, including Azerbaijan’s continued detention of Armenian prisoners of war.

The resolution calls on the Dutch government, in collaboration with other European countries, to exert pressure on Azerbaijan to secure the release of all Armenian prisoners of war.

Baku responded by saying "calling them prisoners of war is unacceptable" and accused the Dutch side of bias.

source, source,

Armenian government wants to reduce reliance on strategic food products imported from Russia

Security Council chief Armen Grigoryan was asked about the diversification of Armenia's politics.

While speaking about the import of wheat, he said Armenia needs to diversify not only its defense partners but also food sources, and that Armenia could go as far as to replace wheat with rice as a strategic commodity if necessary.

GRIGORYAN: It should be assessed from the point of view of people's needs. Thus, strategic goods can be replaced, which will allow Armenia's economy to become more flexible and not allow others to target our strategic goods. For example, we can switch from wheat to rice as a strategic good and change our adaptability. //

This comes a week after a member of the Russian government reminded/threatened Armen Grigoryan that Armenia imports most of its wheat from Russia.

source, source,

EU will provide Armenia another €30M to support Nagorno-Karabakh refugees and promote reforms: EU Ambassador Maragos

source,

Armenia and France discussed army reforms

MOD Papikyan hosted Ambassador Decottignies to discuss the AM-FR defense cooperation in army reforms.

source,

Joe Biden's Senior Adviser responds to whiny Ilham Aliyev

Dozens of U.S. Congress members are working on a pro-Armenian resolution regarding sanctions on Azerbaijan and the Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons and other topics.

While criticizing the West for "anti-Azerbaijan" bias, Aliyev recently claimed without evidence that this Congressional resolution was drafted by none other than Secretary of State Blinken himself and handed over to the U.S. Congress members.

Joe Biden's Adviser Anthony Podesta denied the claim.

source,

leader of pro-West non-parliamentary opposition alliance Aram Sargsyan about the ongoing collection of signatures for a non-binding referendum to promote EU accession

Sargsyan says there are figures in the government who are very happy with the idea of a referendum, while others in the government are "jealous" that the overtly pro-West factions are stealing the pro-West moniker from the ruling party.

Sargsyan says their referendum demands are very flexible. They aren't demanding it to be held now or in the near future. They simply want the government to launch a process to eventually organize a referendum. This flexibility is likely to address the ruling party's opposition to a "premature" referendum because they believe a referendum must be held at the very end once Armenia completes all the technical reforms necessary for Eurointegration.

While giving the ruling party the flexibility to decide WHEN to hold the referendum, the non-parliamentary pro-West factions are at the same time attempting to force the ruling party's hand to agree to hold the referendum: "You wouldn't want to join the pro-Russian parliamentary opposition and reject the pro-EU referendum, would you?"

... Aram Sargsyan about a "corridor" demanded by Russia and Azerbaijan

Sargsyan spoke about various pro-Armenia route models and how Russia would lose influence in the region under those models.

REPORTER (Azatutyun): Does that mean they [Russia and Azerbaijan] will open the corridor through the use of force? Our guests, such as Edmon Marukyan, ANC [Levon Ter-Petrosyan party], and other political figures believe Armenia must choose the lesser of evil and grant Russia control of the route so we can avoid a war.

SARGSYAN: I disagree. By giving control of the route to Russia, our state, our statehood, will lose its sovereignty. That plan would also lead to the withdrawal of European border observers, allowing Azerbaijan to carry out any provocation it wants, any time it wants, while Russians will respond with "Well, your borders aren't clarified yet."

Russians in Armenia would behave like they did in Nagorno-Karabakh, and one day, Azeris would walk up to the shores of Lake Sevan. I'm curious what else the public figures you mentioned [who support Russian control of a corridor] would sacrifice to Russia for protection then. This would end Armenia's statehood. This would mean Russian agents would be deployed everywhere, at every checkpoint. This would mean Armenia's f...

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