Day: April 4, 2024

Turkish Foreign Ministry expresses concern over Armenia-EU-US trilateral meeting  news.am

Автор Тигрануи Мартиросян, Ереван Национальное Собрание Армении приняло в первом чтении предложенный правящей фракцией «Гражданский договор» проект закона о семейном насилии, включающий запрет на проверку девственности. Законопроект поддержали 63 депутата, против высказались 32 парламентария, еще один воздержался. Авторами проекта являются трое женщин-депутатов от фракции «Гражданский договор». «Вы не считаете, что проверка на девственность – это […]

Today the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an interagency conference that discussed reflections and insights from the COP 28 Climate Conference and preparations for COP 29 which will take place in Baku in November, the MFA said on X, Report informs

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Bassirou Diomaye Faye, President of the Republic of Senegal, Report informs citing AZERTAC.

Amendments to Georgia’s Electoral Code, which imply the abolition of mandatory gender quotas, were approved by the Parliament in the third, final reading, with 85 votes against 22, Report informs citing the First Channel.

Illegal Western sanctions against Belarus violate the right to development, freedom of movement, and block access of the most vulnerable to a range of critical medicines, the Council said in a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus said on

The first-ever consular consultations between the foreign affairs ministries of Azerbaijan and Montenegro took place in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica, Report informs citing Azerbaijan’s MFA.

Armenia has detained a former Nagorno-Karabakh official on espionage charges following his move to Armenia months after the region’s surrender.

News of Sargis Galstyan’s arrest surfaced on Wednesday, with Armenia’s Investigative Committee announcing the charges.

They stated that Galstyan, who previously held several official positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, was arrested whilst moving from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Armenian media reported Galstyan was arrested in Syunik.

While not divulging their identities, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed on Wednesday that they had escorted two people from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia on 29 March. Media in Armenia have speculated that the two were Galstyan and his wife, Margarita Shahnazaryan.

In October of last year, Tatul Hakobyan, a journalist from Armenia, reported that Azerbaijan had appointed Galstyan as Stepanakert’s ‘commandant’. Hakobyan additionally reported that Galstyan had previously held several positions in Nagorno-Karabakh’s former government — including in its National Security Service — and had enjoyed good relations with former presidents Bako Sahakyan and Samvel Shahramanyan.

Galstyan was also appointed deputy head of the presidential staff by Shahramanyan’s decree in September.

With all but a handful of the region’s Armenian population fleeing to Armenia following Nagorno-Karabakh’s surrender to Azerbaijan in September of last year, Galstyan and his wife were one of the few Armenians who remained in the region. The territories previously inhabited by over 100,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have since been largely deserted.

[Read more: The last bus out of Nagorno-Karabakh]

In an interview with RFE/RL, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan stated that the charges brought against Galstyan could be because of his rumoured appointment as commandant in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, his decision to stay in the region following its surrender, or his posts on social media.

Stepanyan told RFE/RL in December that Baku sponsored content created by the few of the region’s remaining population to influence Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to return.

He added that Galstyan’s wife had been posting videos from the deserted region stating it was safe.

However, Galstyan’s nephew, Davit Galstyan, the leader of Nagorno-Karabakh’s opposition Ardarutyun faction, has denied that his uncle was appointed as a commandant. He suggested that he stayed in the region to help other Armenians who remained.

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

The post Former Nagorno-Karabakh official detained in Syunik for espionage appeared first on OC Media.

President Ilham Aliyev congratulates President of Senegal  Trend News Agency