Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 24.06.21:

• The parliament of the Netherlands has demanded that the government not send a delegation to the Azerbaijani capital Baku to attend the Euro 2020 quarterfinals, reported the Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands.

The respective proposal calls on the Dutch government not to send an official delegation to Baku to be on hand at the quarterfinals of the European Football Championship—and in connection with Azerbaijan's refusal to return the Armenian prisoners of war after the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

• ​The parents and other relatives of the Armenian servicemen who have been captured by Azerbaijan on Thursday held a protest rally in front of the main building of the government of Armenia.

According to one of them, the incumbent Armenian authorities keep saying that they have to wait a while more for the captives to be returned home, and that respective negotiations are underway.

Also, they expressed doubts that their captive children would be able to endure another two months, as previously stated by Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The mother of an Armenian soldier captured by the Azerbaijanis, in her turn, stressed that their children went to defend the homeland, whereas the Armenian authorities do not protect the rights of their citizens in any way.

• Turkish archaeologists have discovered the ancient fortress of Van—from the Urartu era—in the mountains of southeastern Turkey.

This fortress was built 2,800 years ago.

The belonging of this discovery is confirmed by the remains of ceramic items and the ruins of the walls.

It is known that from the 9th to 6th centuries BC., the ancient Kingdom of Urartu was located in the Armenian mountain range.

Remains of Urartian writing have been preserved in the territory of modern Armenia—in the region of Lake Sevan. And the fortress of Van was the most famous. Researchers have excavated a large storeroom at a depth of 6.5 meters in the fortress. Ceramic relics have been preserved there, Anadolu agency reported.

• Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has signed a decision to send a delegation to Russia.

As per the decision, this delegation will be sent to Moscow to attend the 13th meeting of the Armenian-Russian interstate commission on land and real estate transfer for the deployment and operation of the Russian military base in Armenia.

• Today the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan showed photos of the tactical exercises that the all-powerful army of Nakhchivan and the Armed Forces of Turkey are conducting from June 21 to 23. The photos show that Azerbaijan has deployed Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles at the aerodrome that was officially opened in Nakhchivan recently, Razminfo reported.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan reports that during the exercises, President of the Supreme Majlis of Nakhchivan Vasif Talibov met with the officers and subalterns who have taken courses for use of Bayraktar TB2 UAVs in Turkey.

• As of Thursday morning, 103 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 224,533 in the country, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, two more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,505 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 82, the total respective number so far is 216,312, and the number of people currently being treated is 2,620—an increase by 19 from the previous day.