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47-647: The alliance was founded on 4 May 2020 by 16 political leaders from the dissatisfaction of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia by the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan . The alliance then shifted its focus onto the shortcomings of the Government of Armenia during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war . The alliance is critical of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement which followed and actively called for

94-555: A conference of democratic forces including opposition political parties and civil society took place in Yerevan. Delegates from the National Democratic Pole, European Party of Armenia , Hanrapetutyun Party , Union for National Self-Determination , and over a dozen representatives from Armenian civil society organizations participated. Members of the conference called on the Government of Armenia to announce its withdrawal from

141-505: A rally in Yerevan. On 15 March 2021, the alliance marched in front of the French embassy in Yerevan. Participants called for developing a strategic partnership and greater military cooperation between Armenia and France . On 23 March 2021, members of the alliance delivered a letter to the Embassy of Iran in Yerevan. The letter requested assistance from Iran to provide an alternative guarantee to

188-631: A rotating basis, the OSCE Troika is also a permanent member. The co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Brice Roquefeuil of France , Ambassador Igor Khovaev of the Russian Federation , and Ambassador Andrew Schofer of the United States . The Minsk Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh is attended by the same participating States that are members of the Minsk Group. The Conference is headed by

235-535: A settlement. The last summit between Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan , organized by Minsk Group, took place on October 16, 2017 in Geneva , Switzerland. The presidents agreed to take appropriate actions in order to reinforce the negotiations process and decrease tensions on the Line of Contact. After the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war , Azerbaijani government took a position that OSCE Minsk Group should no longer be dealing with

282-493: A visa on arrival either. Additionally, passengers who have been to most of Europe , as well as South Korea and Japan , within the past 14 days, are no longer allowed to enter Armenia. The border of Armenia with the Republic of Artsakh has also been closed in order to prevent the virus from spreading to the unrecognized republic (which "de facto" proclaimed its independence in a nationwide referendum on 10 December 1992). Before

329-489: Is nearing its limit, and that people should already resort to self-isolation as a preventative measure. Of the confirmed cases, 133 were linked to the clusters of cases from Ejmiatsin and a sewing factory in Yerevan. As of 24 March, there are 235 confirmed cases. 26 patients have pneumonia , 6 of whom are in intensive care , though they are not intubated (not on artificial respirators ), and are under constant supervision. On 26 March, Armenia's Health Ministry announced

376-579: The 2020 Armenian constitutional referendum . As of 18 March, in addition to 799 people in self-isolation, there were 444 people in quarantine, gathered in the Golden Palace Hotel of Tsaghkadzor and the Monte Melkonian Military College of Dilijan . On 21 March, Armenia's Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said they have over 600 in quarantine in different regions of Armenia. He added that Armenia's capacity for quarantining people

423-457: The 2020 Belarusian protests . The alliance wished the people of Belarus freedom and democracy. On 26 February 2021, Tigran Khzmalyan stated that Armenia must remain democratic and to be cautious of Russian interference in Armenia's domestic affairs, during a protest. On 5 March 2021, Ara Papian called for strengthening bilateral relations with the United States and proclaimed that Armenia should increase its cooperation with NATO , during

470-603: The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War , France received particularly harsh criticism in Azerbaijan, to the point of being viewed as "unworthy" to hold the position of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair. After the French senate passed a resolution calling for recognition of independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's parliament passed a resolution calling for France to be expelled from the Minsk Group. On January 12, 2022, Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan would prevent

517-712: The CSTO and Eurasian Union and to realign Armenia's military integration with the United States and the West. In addition, the participants signed a declaration calling on the government to immediately submit an EU membership bid for Armenia. COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia The COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2 ). The virus

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564-647: The Eurasian Union , while the European Party of Armenia actively calls for Armenia to begin first steps of accession negotiations to the European Union . The alliance takes part in daily street protests in central Yerevan and has organized several other protests throughout Armenia. Several supporters of the alliance have been arrested for participating in unauthorized protests. The alliance itself has been charged by local police for holding rallies in violation of

611-551: The Kashatagh Province , 39 km from Berdzor and 89 km from Stepanakert and was taken by ambulance to the Kashatagh medical center on the morning of 2 April. All 17 people who had been in contact with this person, none of whom had symptoms, had self-isolated in advance for safety reasons. On 4 May, the national stay-at-home order was partially lifted and non-essential businesses were allowed to reopen, provided that

658-523: The Novavax and 50'000 doses of the Janssen vaccine . Armenia used to provide vaccines to the people for free, Armenians and non Armenians alike. This encouraged many Iranians to cross to Armenia to get vaccinated, following which Armenia imposed restrictions on vaccines for non-residents. The countries and international organizations that have sent aid and funds to the Government of Armenia , to help fight

705-623: The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. A rally was held on 20 March 2021 and the crowds, along with the Armenian flag, also waved the EU, French, and US flags. Supporters also chanted that, “From now on, the winds will blow from the West, not from the North.” The alliance maintains several administrative offices throughout Armenia, as well as, an overseas office in Los Angeles . On 10 May 2021, Tigran Khzmalyan announced that

752-718: The 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R t was lower than 1.0 in July and August, above 1.0 in September and October, and around 1.0 in November. In September, the Armenian Government decided to impose a covid related quarantine , which is still in place. In July 2021, the Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesian announced Armenia would be able to purchase 300'000 doses of

799-581: The Armenian and the Azerbaijani delegations. According to them the ten-year-long OSCE mediation had not been effective enough. On 19 December 2015, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a summit in Bern , Switzerland under the auspices of the Co-Chairs. The Presidents supported ongoing work to reduce the risk of violence and confirmed their readiness to continue engagement on

846-819: The Azerbaijanis, but a member of several Kremlin-led organizations together with Armenia" with previous experience in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to Matthew Bryza , former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan , the EU would make more sense as a co-chair, because it would represent more of Europe and has experience mediating similar conflicts in the Balkans. Thomas de Waal , a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe , suggested that France leaves its co-chair position in favour of another European country with "more balanced relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan", such as Germany or Sweden, or an EU-wide position. Former US co-chair of

893-585: The Chairman-in-Office to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorno-Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The Conference is to take place in Minsk . Although it has not to this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk Group spearheads

940-768: The Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Conference. In early 2001, representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Russia and the United States met in Paris and in Key West , Florida. The talks in Key West however were largely kept secret and were not followed upon. On 7 October 2002 during the CIS summit in Chișinău , the usefulness of the Minsk Group in peace negotiations was brought up for discussion by both

987-401: The European Party of Armenia is leaving the National Democratic Pole alliance, and that the party would participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections independently. On 18 May 2021, the National Democratic Pole confirmed that they would participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections, with Vahe Gasparyan leading the alliance. Following the election, the alliance won 1.49% of

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1034-471: The Minsk Group Richard E. Hoagland , reflecting on his work with the Minsk Group, wrote that "very, very little ever got accomplished" by the group. He suggested that the Minsk Group redefine its mission, e.g. by enabling reconstruction to its approved mandate, otherwise it may continue as "an intriguing backwater of international diplomacy". According to Carey Cavanaugh , another former US co-chair of

1081-516: The Minsk Group, the organization’s consensus-based decision-making process and its rotating leadership rendered it “structurally flawed” to act as a peacemaker, and the United Nations would have been a better option to facilitate peace. For analyst Laurence Broers, the Minsk Group’s future remains unclear, with its failure caused by factors like the normative ambiguity of its attempts to balance

1128-470: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as "it has been resolved". Ilham Aliyev in his interview to the local media on January 12, 2022 said that after 30 years of experience, the Minsk Group co-chairs "are on the verge of retirement" and therefore "he wishes them good health and a long life". The format where Russia, the US, and France worked as a team for a long period stalled due to geopolitical confrontation between Russia and

1175-399: The OSCE Minsk Group and a number of other OSCE mechanisms on 16 February 2024. In 2015, Azay Guliyev , an Azerbaijani MP, proposed including of Turkey and Germany to the co-chairmanship, whereas Azerbaijani foreign affairs expert Rusif Huseynov proposed Kazakhstan as an additional co-chair in the Minsk Group as a "big actor in the post-Soviet area with population culturally similar to

1222-521: The OSCE Minsk Group ceased its activities at the initiative of the U.S. and France. Azerbaijan's foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov also noted that interaction between the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group has been completely paralyzed and that the peace process cannot be held hostage to and be guided by a non-existent format. Ilham Aliyev declared during a state-sponsored press conference in Shusha on 21 July 2023, that Azerbaijan will never accept any revival of

1269-464: The OSCE Minsk Group, saying that "We don't have very good memories of their actions" and that steps to revive the Minsk Group negotiating format are practically impossible, likening the format to a "broken vase". After the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19–20 September 2023, which led to the dissolution of the de facto Republic of Artsakh , Aliyev called for officially abolishing

1316-715: The OSCE effort to find a political solution to this conflict. On 6 December 1994, the Budapest Summit of Heads of State or Government decided to establish a co-chairmanship for the process. The Summit participants also expressed their political will to deploy multinational peacekeeping forces as an essential part of the overall settlement of the conflict. Implementing the Budapest decision, the Hungarian Chairman-in-Office Marton Krasznai issued on 23 March 1995,

1363-563: The Russian, French and American co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group visited Armenia. Karen Donfried , the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs , said on 20 June 2022 that even if Azerbaijan does not support OSCE Minsk group process, the United States and France will continue participating in it, and that will include cooperation with Russia. Sergei Lavrov stated during his visit to Azerbaijan on 24 June 2022 that

1410-527: The West. Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on April 8, 2022 said “Our so-called French and American partners in this group, in a Russophobic frenzy and in an effort to cancel everything related to the Russian Federation, said that they would not communicate with us in this format." This, however, did not create a peacekeeping vacuum, as European Union has intensified its efforts to provide reconciliation between Armenia with Azerbaijan. In April 2022,

1457-432: The businesses require customers wear masks and limit the number of customers inside stores and restaurants. On 14 May, the country's state of emergency was extended until 13 June. However, preschools, shopping centres, and gyms reopened and public transport resumed starting from 18 May. On 1 June, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Model-based simulations suggest that

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1504-411: The countervailing principles of self-determination and territorial integrity; its secretive, narrow and top-down modus operandi ; and its default to performative over substantive diplomacy since 2011, when occasional summits in far-away capitals with little or no interaction in between made the peace process alien to Armenian and Azerbaijani societies. Broers considers the Minsk Group to be "an artifact of

1551-542: The country's first death from COVID-19. The patient was a 72-year-old male Armenian citizen with multiple pre-existing conditions. On 1 April, Armenia reported its 4th death. On 6 April, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia would start to produce COVID-19 tests at the Institute of Molecular Biology. On 7 April, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh . The person had returned from Armenia to Mirik village of

1598-543: The energy security of Armenia, in order to counterbalance Armenia's overdependence on Russia for its energy needs. On 25 March 2021, members of the alliance met with the President of Armenia, Armen Sarksyan , to discuss the on-going domestic crisis in Armenia, including ways to overcome internal and external challenges. On 29 March 2021, overseas members of the alliance held a rally in Glendale, California . On 21 February 2023,

1645-589: The large-scale repatriation of the Armenian Diaspora to Armenia, and upholding the sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh . In terms of foreign policy, both the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party and the European Party of Armenia, are considerably Pro-Western and Pro-European . The alliance calls for a truly independent Armenia and rejects both Turkish and Russian influence in Armenia and Artsakh. Both parties oppose Armenia's current membership in

1692-549: The law. The alliance requested a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group , in order to discuss the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the self-determination of Artsakh. On 11 August 2020, the alliance released a statement condemning Alexander Lukashenko , the President of Belarus . The alliance accused him of using violence and persecution against the people after the presidential election and during

1739-458: The mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process. The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: The Minsk Group is headed by a co-chairmanship consisting of France , Russia and the United States . Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating states: Belarus , Finland , Germany , Italy , Sweden , Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan . On

1786-595: The pandemic , includes: OSCE Minsk Group The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh . The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992, requested

1833-497: The popular vote, failing to win any seats in the National Assembly . The alliance continues its activities as an extra-parliamentary force. As of 27 May 2020, 81 prominent political, social and other figures have joined the alliance. Key members of the alliance include: The alliance supports the creation of a new constitution , improving the defense and security of Armenia, reforming the criminal justice system, encouraging

1880-533: The post-Cold War unipolar world" in the settings of growing multipolar world. In Azerbaijan, OSCE 's Minsk group is not popular, the presence of large Armenian diasporas in three co-chair countries - Russia, France, and the United States, strategic alliance between Russia and Armenia raising questions about fairness of the group. Criticism of the group for inefficiency started back in Heydar Aliyev 's era, followed by his son and successor Ilham Aliyev . During

1927-406: The reports on his Facebook page that the COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Armenia . On 16 March, Government declared a state of emergency lasting until 14 April to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The emergency measures included the closure of all educational institutions, closing the borders with Georgia and Iran , banning gatherings with over 20 people, and postponing

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1974-485: The resignation of Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister. The alliance proposed for itself to assume interim power for a period of one year, which would then be followed by elections. The creation of the alliance was proposed by the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party ; with the party calling for unity among all pro-democratic forces in the country. The European Party of Armenia joined subsequently. The alliance

2021-582: The virus was confirmed to have arrived in Armenia, 118 tests were performed in February with negative results. To date, Armenia is reported to have performed 1,065,211 tests, of which 222,139 were positive. On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which

2068-572: Was also endorsed by key members from the Union for National Self-Determination , as well as, several independent politicians. On 26 February 2021, the Citizen's Decision Party held a joint rally with the National Democratic Pole in Yerevan. On 5 April 2021, Board members of the National Progress Party announced its decision to join the National Democratic Pole. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Pole

2115-432: Was confirmed to have reached Armenia on 1 March 2020 when its first case was reported. It has spread to all of the regions ( marz ) of Armenia and has caused 4,400 deaths (not including 1,077 more deaths as a result of "other reasons"). Armenia has suspended visa-free travel for Chinese citizens since 1 February, shortly after it implemented a 90-day visa-free regime on 19 January. Citizens of Iran can no longer receive

2162-465: Was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003 , but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Armenia's National Center for Disease Control provides daily update of numbers from the previous day every morning at 11:00 here On 1 March, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed

2209-542: Was very skeptical of the then ruling My Step Alliance , the Republican Party of Armenia , and the newly established Homeland Salvation Movement , and had accused these parties and their leaders of serving Russia's interests above all. The alliance believes Armenia's alignment with the European Union, NATO , and the United States, is necessary as a result of public frustration with Russia's treatment of Armenia during

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