Month: December 2020

Pilgrimage to Armenian St. Thaddeus Monastery in Iran inscribed on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Nyrie Kalashian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 18 2020
Culture 12:32 18/12/2020 Region

Pilgrimage to the Armenian St. Thaddeus Apostle Monastery in northwestern Iran has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

The joint application submitted by Armenia and Iran was approved at the 15th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held online on Thursday.

Permanent Representative of Armenia to UNESCO Christian Ter-Stepanian thanked the committee for the decision to inscribe the element on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In particular, he noted that the inscription of the element was made possible due to close cooperation with Iran. The ambassador stressed that the initiative is a testament to the strong friendly relations established between Armenia and Iran, as well as the commitment of the two countries to the values of promoting tolerance and cultural diversity.

Azerbaijani forces abuse and degrade Armenian prisoners in new video

Emil Lazarian
AMN – Al Masdar News
Dec 18 2020
by News Desk

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:45 P.M.) – In  a new video released this week, Azerbaijani soldiers can be seen abusing Armenian prisoners of war in an undisclosed part of the Karabakh region.

The video, which was shared on several social media platforms, showed the Azerbaijani Armed Forces beating two Armenian prisoners and degrading them.

                            

Since the November 9th Moscow Agreement, which was supposed to end the Karabakh conflict, several videos have surfaced of Azerbaijani soldiers looting the homes of Armenians and abusing prisoners, with films showing gruesome executions.

Despite the presence of these videos online, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has not commented on the abuse committed by their troops against the enemy forces.

However, Azerbaijan has repeatedly accused the Armenian troops of indiscriminate shelling and ceasefire violations.



Moment Azerbaijani military’s TikTok video is disrupted by Armenian artillery

Maral Chavushian
AMN – Al Masdar News

Dec 18 2020
by News Desk

BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:10 P.M.) – A new video shared this week showed the moment a TikTok clip for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was disrupted by artillery fired by the Armenian troops nearby.

In the video, the Azerbaijani troops can be seen posing with their assault rifles before Armenian artillery shells fall nearby, causing the soldiers to halt the filming.






Karabakh Ombudsman: 80-year-old woman killed by Azerbaijani soldiers in her house in Vardashat village

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020
22:49, 18.12.2020


Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artak Beglaryan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“As a result of the activities carried out within the scope of the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, we found out that it is very likely that the body of the woman found in the Vardashat village of Hadrut region during the search efforts is the body of Nina Davtyan. The identity will be ultimately confirmed based on the results of the DNA analysis.

Nina was 80 years old. She stayed in her house in Vardashat village with her husband Davit Davityan and was killed by Azerbaijani servicemen. Based on the preliminary data of the expert examination, there are firearm injuries in the chest area and on the right hand of the body, certain head bones are broken, and this can be the result of either being hit with a firearm or a rough object.

Let me mention that there is still no information about the fate of the husband.”


Newspaper: How did ex-President Kocharyan manage to leave Armenia?

Kevo Kalantarian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020
09:25, 18.12.2020


YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: It became known yesterday that RA second President Robert Kocharyan is leaving for Moscow on a three-day visit, but no details about the meetings were provided.

Here it is noteworthy the fact that Robert Kocharyan, being in the status of a defendant in court, has obstacles to leaving the country. He was allowed to leave the country until November 7 by a special decision.

Zhoghovurd daily had written back in its November 3 issue that Kocharyan was supposed to leave for Moscow with RA First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, but he had taken a coronavirus test, which was positive, and until the 14 days set had passed so that it would be possible [for him] to go to Moscow, the allowable period of his departure from the RA had already expired.

And now how did Robert Kocharyan manage to leave the country? In response to this question of Zhoghovurd daily, the head of the office of RA second President Robert Kocharyan, Viktor Soghomonyan, noted: "The court has allowed [it]." Soghomonyan, however, did not specify what meetings the second president will have in Moscow, whether he will meet with RF [Russian Federation] President Vladimir Putin, and what the main agenda of the meetings is.


Newspaper: Why are Armenia forces coming down from their positions in Syunik Province

Garik Boshkezenian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020
09:58, 18.12.2020


YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: Yesterday, all day, the situation was tense in the RA Syunik Province. Since early in the morning, the residents of Syunik, the leaders of several communities had closed off the Yerevan-Kapan motorway, demanding an explanation of what security guarantees would be given to them, and what was expected in the near future when they would be instructed to hand over the adjacent heights to the enemy [Azerbaijan].

The situation became tenser when Kapan Mayor Gevorg Parsyan announced that today the heights of Kapan and 13 villages will be handed over to Azerbaijan, for which time is given until today, 17:00.

And what [military] positions are we talking about? Zhoghovurd daily has learned that on the day of the well-known non-pro-Armenian statement of November 9-10, before the signing of the document, the Armenian side has positioned on favorable terms. And today, when the demarcation work is to be carried out, it turns out that the Armenian forces are standing further ahead than needed, and that is why they are coming down from the positions.

We are talking about the parts of Kubatlu and Zangelan (…).


Yuri Kotenok: Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh can explode at any moment

Varazdat Torgomian
News.am, Armenia

Dec 18 2020
14:22, 18.12.2020

Armenia is facing a difficult challenge, and the opportunity is the real deepening of allied ties with Russia. This is what Editor-in-Chief of Segodnya.ru, military correspondent Yuri Kotenok, who was severely wounded during the shelling of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, told reporters today.

According to him, perhaps it is necessary to sign a new treaty within the scope of the already Union state and perhaps Armenia can hold a referendum for deepening of cooperation with Russia. “The threats that Armenians and Russians faced a century ago are still current. Armenian society is split into two, but Armenia has the opportunity to overcome the consequences and move towards the establishment of allied and friendly ties with Russia. It was Russia that maintained the territories that were maintained and is providing humanitarian aid. The lack of organization caused by the events in Nagorno-Karabakh have a negative impact on people’s moods,” Kotenok said.

He clarified that now it is necessary to meet the conditions of the signed statement, receive the support of the peacekeeping contingent as the guarantor of security and negotiate with the adversary. “Nagorno-Karabakh is a state, even though it is unrecognized. In any case, it’s not over yet, the situation can explode at any moment since the truce is very fragile. Armenia doesn’t have much time to prepare. It needs to solve the military issues and modernize the economy. The people need to get over the “defeated army” complex,” he concluded.


Armenia Chamber of Advocates: Lawyers will join actions aimed at expressing no confidence in PM Pashinyan

Arpi Talalian
News.am, Armenia

Dec 18 2020
17:32, 18.12.2020

A meeting of the Advocates’ Club took place at the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia, its chairman Ara Zohrabyan informed on Facebook.

As a result of the discussion, the lawyers who are members in this club decided to join the December 22 protests, including strikes, to express no confidence in PM Nikol Pashinyan; and on that day, to march from the location of the Chamber of Advocates to the National Assembly (NA) and then to the Prosecutor General's Office to hand the following documents: a) the demand to the NA speaker to lift the current martial law in Armenia and to express no confidence in the Prime Minister, b) the appeal to the majority My Step parliamentary faction members who are lawyers by profession to leave the faction, and c) a crime report to the Prosecutor General.




ANN/Armenian News – Conversation with Arthur Khachatryan of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun

Varazdat Torgomian

Armenian News Network / Armenian News

Conversation on Armenian News: Conversation with ARF’s Arthur Khachatryan

ANN/Armenian News

Guest

  • Arthur Khachatryan

  • Hovik Manucharyan

  • Asbed Bedrossian

Hello and welcome to the Armenian News Network, Armenian News. We’ll be talking about the demands of the political opposition in Armenia for a provisional government to lead the country out of the crisis following the catastrophic loss in the war in Artsakh. 

This episode was recorded on Thursday, .

Following the trilateral Karabakh ceasefire of Nov 9, the Armenian opposition has nearly universally condemned Nikol Pashinyan’s agreement to the deal. 

The largest opposition grouping, called Movement of the Salvation of the Homeland (Հայրենիքի փրկության շաժում in Armenian), composed of 17 political parties including the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Prosperous Armenia, and the Republican Party, are demanding Pashinyan’s immediate resignation and the appointment of their unified candidate, Vazgen Manukyan as interim PM. 

This group has been holding regular protests featuring a growing number of participants, with the latest gathering Wednesday, December 17, estimated to be 20K in size. 

Today, we’ll be talking with a representative of one of the political forces behind the movement, to better understand the internal political developments in Armenia and specifically the goals of the Movement of the Salvation of the Homeland.

To talk about these issues, we are joined by:

Arthur Khachatryan, who is a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF Dashnaktsutyun) Supreme Council in Yerevan. In the past, he held government posts such as Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development, Governor of Shirak, and Minister of Agriculture. Currently, Arthur is a professor of finance at the French University of Armenia and lectures on Leadership at the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia.

What made the ARF Dashnaktsutyun join forces with the 16 other political parties and what is the broad position of the movement, and the ARF specifically?

Especially during the earlier days of the protest, we heard that many of the organizers of the protests were being detained by police and national security forces. Can you say that police intimidation is still taking place and how has it affected the leadership of the protests?

Nikol Pashinyan criticized this movement for being an “elitist protest”, not representative of the entire Armenian populace. How would you respond to that?

How does the ARF differentiate from the wider opposition goals, especially during the “provisional” 6-12-month period that you suggest? Specifically, we’ve heard Vazgen Manukyan express a position on foreign funding of Armenian NGOs for instance. Is that position also shared by the ARF?

What do you think of the government’s proposal and effort to change the electoral code? Is this a change that should be prioritized in the interim period?

The Alliance settled on Vazgen Manukyan as the interim Prime Minister to head a provisional government and lead to preterm elections. As the politics evolve in Yerevan, if the situation requires that a different potential candidate be nominated, would the ARF support that? What are the red lines for the ARF about who might or might not be acceptable as an interim Prime Minister?

During the 2018 elections the ARF didn’t receive sufficient votes to gain any seats in the parliament. What are your party’s plans for becoming a relevant political force, represented in the parliament in Armenia? What is your party’s vision for Armenia over the next 5-10 years?

That concludes this Conversation On Armenian News. We hope it was helpful in your understanding of some of the issues involved. We look forward to your feedback, including your suggestions for Conversation topics in the future. Contact us on our website, at groong.org, or on our Facebook Page “ANN – Armenian News”, or in our Facebook Group “Armenian News – Armenian News Network”.

Special thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. On behalf of everyone in this episode, we wish you a good week. Thank you for listening and we’ll talk to you soon.

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Armenia, Artsakh, Karabakh, Opposition, Salvation of the Homeland, ARF, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Dashnaktsutyun, Arthur Khachatryan, Stepanakert