Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday first attended a reception hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in honor of the heads of country delegations.

If no one wants to allow a new genocide of Armenian people, Karabakh should not be part of Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan, on Tuesday stated about the aforesaid in his address at the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Reflecting on the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, Pashinyan noted, in particular, that being part of Azerbaijan would mean a complete annihilation for the people of Karabakh.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday met with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, in New York.

The interlocutors discussed Armenian-Iranian relations and underscored the development of bilateral economic cooperation, but added that it is considerably below the level of bilateral political relations. They deemed necessary to take effective steps to promote trade and economic relations and to realize the existing potential.

Iran is ready to cooperate with Armenia in the exchange of energy, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated during the meeting.

“Iran highly assesses the link to the Black Sea via the territories of Armenia and Georgia,” Rouhani said. “In this context, the North-South Corridor [in Armenia] is important, and Tehran stands ready—from the viewpoint of technical and engineering services—to finish this corridor and the highway.”

President Rouhani invited PM Pashinyan to Iran, and he expressed a conviction that this trip will provide an opportunity to more comprehensively discuss the avenues for the expansion of bilateral cooperation.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Tuesday met with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Andrew Schofer (USA), Stéphane Visconti (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) as well as Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, within the framework of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

First, Mnatsakanyan once again reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to achieving solely a pacific resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. The Armenian FM also stressed the importance of forming a climate that contributes to peace.
n addition, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan drew the three co-chairs’ attention on Azerbaijan’s recent attempts to strain the situation along its border with Armenia and line of contact with Artsakh, and as a result of which two servicemen from Armenia’s Armed Forces and Artsakh’s Defense Army have fallen. The Armenian FM added that the peaceful population was also targeted, and stressed that such actions of Baku pose a major threat to the Karabakh peace process.

Ruben Melikyan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh , on Wednesday resigned from this office.

“Yesterday, we publicized the Republic of Artsakh Human Rights Defender’s special report on the facts of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan, thus, basically concluding the fact-finding function we had started on the occasion of the April 2016 war,” Melikyan wrote, in particular, on Facebook. “After completing that task, I already reserve myself the right to implement the personal decision I made still one or two months ago; that is, submitting a resignation from the office of Artsakh Ombudsman.

“At present, I see myself outside the state system—in the domain of the function of human rights.”

The diplomatic passport of the captain of the Armenian national football squad, Armenian football fans’ idol Henrikh Mkhitaryan, was revoked on Tuesday, Hraparak (Square) newspaper  reported.

“Senior officials, MPs, and those to whom are issued by the decision of the RA [Republic of Armenia] Prime Minister, have such a passport; that is, they are those persons who are the ‘ambassadors’ of the Armenian people and state outside—those who raise the standing of the state. And Heno [Henrikh Mkhitaryan] definitely is among them."

The Armenian side stands ready to send the minor Turkish citizen to his homeland, Tigran Balayan, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia (RA MFA), said.

He noted that Yerevan on Tuesday announced that the criminal case against this Turkish citizen—who had illegally crossed the Armenian border—is dropped.

Umut Ali Özmen, 16, a resident of Turkey’s Kars Province, had crossed the Armenian-Turkish border on July 24. A criminal case was filed into this incident, and on charges of illegally crossing the Armenian state border.