Friday,
Turkey Declared Party To Karabakh Conflict
• Tatevik Sargsian
TURKEY -- Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaks to a group of reporters in
Ankara, May 21, 2019
Turkey’s strong support for Azerbaijan makes it a party to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.
“Turkey is also a party to the conflict, standing with a brotherly state and
defending its rights,” Akar told the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
Successive Turkish governments have unconditionally backed Azerbaijan in the
conflict, reflecting close cultural and ethnic ties between the two Turkic
nations. They have refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and
kept the Turkish-Armenian border closed. They have has also provided military
assistance to Azerbaijan.
Ankara voiced support for Baku in unusually strong terms during and after last
month’s deadly clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian
government decried the Turkish reaction, accusing Ankara of trying to
destabilize the region, undercutting international efforts to resolve the
conflict and posing a serious security threat to Armenia.
Akar again blamed Yerevan for the flare-up of violence which left at least 17
soldiers from both sides dead. “Armenia does not act reasonably by relying on
forces standing behind it and punching above its weight,” he said, apparently
alluding to Russia, the South Caucasus state’s main ally.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged
Ankara to exercise restraint in its reaction to the Armenian-Azerbaijani
hostilities when they spoke with their Turkish counterparts by phone in late
July.
A few days later the Turkish and Azerbaijani militaries began joint exercises in
various parts of Azerbaijan which lasted for two weeks. Akar attended the
concluding session of the drills.
“We will continue to support Azerbaijan in its just struggle,” the Turkish
minister said on August 13.
The drills and the more aggressive statements made by Turkish leaders raised the
possibility of Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh conflict. A senior
official in Yerevan said on August 3 that Armenia counts on Russia’s support in
its efforts to counter the Turkish threat.
Armenia hosts about 5,000 Russian troops on its soil as part of close military
ties between the two states.
Yerevan Decries Azeri Treatment Of Armenian POW
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- The Armenian Foreogn Ministry building, Yerevan.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of violating international humanitarian law with
its treatment of an Armenian army officer who was taken prisoner late last week.
The Azerbaijani military claims that the junior officer, Gurgen Alaverdian, was
captured during a failed Armenian commando raid on one of its frontline
positions north of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry strongly
denies this, saying that Alaverdian simply lost his way due to poor weather.
Azerbaijan’s government-controlled online media published on Tuesday an amateur
video of Azerbaijani servicemen insulting and humiliating Alaverdian shortly
after his capture.
Another video circulated by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry the following day,
shows the serviceman saying in broken Armenian that he led a special army unit
that planned to carry out “sabotage” attacks in Azerbaijan.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan shrugged off the footage, saying that Alaverdian
was clearly forced to read out a written text badly translated into Armenian.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said, for its part, the “degrading treatment” of
the officer amounts to a gross violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention on
prisoners of war.
“Such practice represents a distinctive method of notorious terrorist
organizations and, as we can observe, of Azerbaijan as well,” the ministry said
in a statement released late on Thursday.
“Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime feeding its people with disgraceful propaganda
and Armenophobia covers up serious setbacks suffered by its armed forces in the
July battles [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border] by coercing the prisoner of
war to read out its sham narratives,” it charged.
Tsarukian Again Criticizes Armenian Government
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.
Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), on
Friday again criticized the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic
and other policies but stopped short of demanding its resignation.
Tsarukian described as “fruitless” government efforts to contain the spread of
the coronavirus as he addressed hundreds of supporters in Armenia’s central
Kotayk province.
“In terms of the number of deaths, hospitalizations and infections, we are the
leaders in the region,” he said in a speech.
Tsarukian pointed to the officially registered deaths of 1,135 Armenians
infected with COVID-19. “People get sick and they don’t get proper treatment,”
he claimed.
The BHK leader, who is also one of the country’s wealthiest businesspeople,
dismissed as insufficient the government’s wide-ranging stimulus measures
against the socioeconomic fallout from the pandemic. He also blasted its broader
economic policies, saying that they are not alleviating the plight of most
Armenians.
Tsarukian went on to accuse Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration of
undermining Armenian traditional values with what he described as plans to
replace the teaching of the Armenian Apostolic Church history in schools with
sex education classes. He said the BHK will hold a “big rally” soon in a bid to
scuttle those plans.
“Let them think that we are backward. The people of Armenia will not allow sex
classes for kids,” added the 63-year-old tycoon leading the country’s largest
parliamentary opposition force.
Tsarukian had attacked Pashinian government and demanded its resignation at a
June 5 meeting with senior BHK members. The move prompted angry reactions from
the prime minister and his political allies.
Ten days later, Tsarukian was stripped of its parliamentary immunity from
prosecution and indicted on vote buying charges rejected by him as politically
motivated. He claims that Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in response
to his speech.
Tsarukian did not call for the resignation of Pashinian or any other senior
government official on Friday. He announced instead that he will hold a series
of meetings with BHK activists and supporters across the country ahead of the
upcoming autumn session of the Armenian parliament. He indicated that he will
discuss with them his party’s next legislative initiatives.
Alen Simonian, a senior member of the ruling My Step bloc, dismissed the
criticism voiced by Tsarukian, saying that Pashinian’s political team is not
afraid of opposition rallies and other challenges. “I can’t wait to hear
criticism from Tsarukian in the parliament,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Simonian claimed that Tsarukian as well as former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and
Robert Kocharian and their former or current associates attack the current
government in hopes of avoiding imprisonment on various criminal charges leveled
against them.
“They all think that it will help them get away with stealing money from the
state, beating up or kidnapping people, privatizing strategic facilities,
handing out vote bribes and other things,” he said. “I believe they are wrong.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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