Month: December 2020

UK Statement in response to the joint statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries

Liana Toganian
UK Government
Dec 11 2020
Speech

Delivered by Ambassador Neil Bush at the OSCE Permanent Council, .

Published
From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Neil Bush                

Thank you Mr Chair.

The United Kingdom welcomes the 3 December statement by the Co-Chairs. We fully support their ongoing efforts towards securing a sustainable and fully negotiated settlement in relation to Nagorno-Karabakh. In agreeing to the existing ceasefire, we recognise that both sides had to take difficult decisions to ensure the safety and security of their people, and we urge all parties to support both Armenia and Azerbaijan in recovering from the conflict.

We urge all parties to abide by international humanitarian law and to ensure that all displaced persons are provided with necessary support and that all returns are safe, voluntary and dignified. We welcome the efforts of humanitarian agencies including the International Committee of the Red Cross and encourage all parties to continue to work with these agencies to support the displaced persons and provide much needed humanitarian support. We continue to support the efforts of the ICRC in ensuring the exchange of prisoners of war and urge all parties to ensure they prioritize this.

The UK will continue to support the efforts of the Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs. Finally, the UK echoes the calls from the Co-Chairs in their 3 December statement which whilst welcoming the progress made urges full implementation of all outstanding obligations. We encourage Armenia and Azerbaijan to receive the Co-Chairs in the coming weeks to resolve all outstanding issues.

Thank you Mr Chair.

Published

Armenian dram keeps on losing its value

Kanayan Tamar
ArmBanks, Armenia
Dec 11 2020

11.12.2020 17:27

YEREVAN, December 11. /ARKA/. The Armenian dram continues to devalue and the economic situation is difficult, Edgar Karapetyan, director for strategy and innovation at Galaxy Group of Companies, wrote on his Facebook page. He said the US dollar is already trading at 520-525 drams.

“Many people ask why the Central Bank does not take action to restrain the devaluation of the dram. To do this, it is necessary to present the whole picture. In particular, over the past 3 months, Armenia's international reserves have decreased by $381 million to about $2.3 billion as of late November (about 20% of GDP and 45% of imports). There is no doubt that the reserves were used in the domestic market to restrain the dram's devaluation against the US dollar,” Karapetyan said.

In addition, according to him, in the next three months, the Central Bank will have to pay off loan obligations in the amount of $1.1 billion, as a result of which state reserves will decrease, at best, to $1.1 billion (about 10% of GDP and 22% of import).

“This indicator is already risky enough,” Karapetyan said. He also noted that the ratio of public debt to GDP at the current rate is already 67.4%, which, according to international organizations, is also a risky indicator.

According to him, only 47% of government treasury bonds were placed the day before, with an average yield of 7.6% (2% higher than in the summer).

“Thus, the country is experiencing a significant economic recession, a reduction in state budget revenues, a significant increase in government spending, and inadequate government administration. At the same time, there is no necessary financial inflows such as investments, exports and remittances and there is no trust in the government,” Karapetyan said. -0–

Russian peacekeepers use Uran-6 mine clearing robot in Nagorno-Karabakh

Babken Chilingarian
TASS, Russia
Dec 11 2020


Russian peacekeepers have so far cleared over 80 hectares of land and 24.8 kilometers of roads of mines

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. Russian deminers have used the Uran-6 mine clearing robot to clear a part of the Stepanakert airport area in Nagorno-Karabakh of mines, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"The robot helps ensure the safety of deminers and increase the effectiveness of mine clearance activities. In addition, demining activities were carried out along the Stepenakert-Shusha motorway and on Achapnyak Street in the city of Stepanakert," the statement reads.

Read also
Over 360 Karabakh residents obtain medical help at Russian mobile hospital in Stepanakert

Russian peacekeepers have so far cleared over 80 hectares of land and 24.8 kilometers of roads of mines, and defused 4,577 explosive devices. "Explosive devices are taken to a specially equipped area and deactivated in accordance with safety requirements," the ministry added.

In addition, peacekeepers are assisting in the restoration of power lines, a gas pipeline and electrical substations.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over the disputed territory, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said that Azerbaijan and Armenia would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian observation points have been established along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor connecting the region with Armenia. The peacekeeping operation’s command is stationed in the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of Stepanakert.

Civilians return to Nagorno-Karabakh after war

Diana Dabaghian
Mission Network News
Dec 11 2020
By Kevin Zeller

Azerbaijan (MNN) — The month-long war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended last month with Azerbaijan largely taking back the territory it lost during the conflict in the early 1990s.

Russia brokered the cease-fire and has sent peacekeeping troops to the region to preside over the process. Azerbaijan gained the upper hand in the conflict using advanced military technology like drones, as well as with help from neighboring Turkey.

This photo shows an Armenian Apostolic church that was hit by shelling. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons, Public Domain)

Eric Mock of Slavic Gospel Association says about 5,000 soldiers died in the conflict. Now, people who fled the fighting have begun to return. “The challenge is the fighting caused great destruction. Some people when they left were so fearful that they would never get their homes back that they actually burned their homes. The shelling destroyed other homes. Some people from Armenia that had left are returning to find other people living in their homes. There’s probably about 70,000 people that were displaced on both sides of the border.”

As winter arrives in the region, the local churches have been trying to supply people with blankets, heaters, and shelter. SGA works with several of these churches, providing them with resources to purchase these much-needed supplies.

Through SGA’s Immanuel’s Child program, you can even reach children in this war-torn region. Learn more here.

But the situation could get worse for Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which changed hands from Armenia, an ethnically Christian country, to Azerbaijan, an ethnically Muslim nation, after the war.

Churches may not enjoy the same protections they did when the region was under Armenian control. Mock says, “We were hearing about Armenian Apostolic churches that were being desecrated by people that would break the crosses off the top of churches and paint Muslim slogans on the sides of the building. The regained territory for Christians is an area that may be more hostile for them.”

We need to pray that Christians in these regions would remain bold for Jesus and that He would comfort and strengthen them during a difficult time.

Pray also that as these Christians work to help those around them, many would see their care and be drawn to the love of Jesus.

Russia’s ‘Peacekeeping’ Operation in Karabakh: Foundation of a Russian Protectorate (Part Two)

Arbi Tashjian
Jamestown Foundation
Dec 11 2020

06:14 PM Age: 1 day

(Source: Daily Sabah)

Russian troops deployed to Upper (“Nagorno”) Karabakh exceed by far the number stipulated in the November 9 armistice agreement (see EDM, November 12, 13) due to the additional deployment of Russia’s Humanitarian Response Center personnel. This supplementary manpower is drawn mainly from military or militarized institutions—Ministry for Emergency Situations, Ministry of Defense, Federal Security Service (FSB)—the numbers of which have yet to be disclosed (see Part One in EDM, December 8). That personnel, augmenting the “peacekeepers,” has taken charge of civil-administration tasks in Upper Karabakh (post-conflict reconstruction, infrastructure maintenance, distribution of humanitarian assistance).

The “peacekeeping” troops’ commander is a three-star general, Rustam Muradov, with another flag officer (Major General Andrei Volkov) as chief of staff. Such a high-ranking command looks disproportionate to the official number of 1,960 “peacekeepers.” Prior to this mission, Muradov served as Russia’s chief representative on a joint armistice observation center in Ukraine’s Donbas, then as a combat commander of Russian forces in Syria (Hero of Russia award for the victory in Deir ez-Zor). Muradov is a native of Dagestan and an ethnic Tabarasan (Kavkazsky Uzel, November 12).

Although Russia does not officially recognize the Karabakh “republic,” Russia’s “peacekeeping” and “humanitarian-response” missions do cooperate with the de facto authorities (as Russia also does in the unrecognized Transnistria, and did in Abkhazia and South Ossetia long before recognizing them officially). Such cooperation with the de facto authorities is not only well-nigh inevitable for practical considerations but also politically useful, as it helps to entrench the de facto authorities and advance their eventual acceptance on the international level.

The Karabakh “republic’s president,” Haraik Harutiunian, “officially” received Muradov as early as November 13 and then received the department heads of Russia’s emergency situations ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Kutrovsky and Vladimir Solovyov, on November 17. The meetings dealt with cooperation between Karabakh’s authorities and the two Russian missions (Armenpress, November 13, 17, 23). According to Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, “cooperation with Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership has been established” (TASS, December 4).

Russia’s “peacekeeping” and “humanitarian” missions currently operate in Karabakh de facto, without a legal basis thus far. According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russia is only now “considering the legal implications of the Russian peacekeepers’ area of responsibility” (TASS, December 7). Maps published by Russian military authorities show that area of self-arrogated responsibility covering the entirety of the Armenian-controlled rump-Karabakh (divided into a northern and a southern area of Russian responsibility). It does not currently extend to the Azerbaijani-controlled southern part of Upper Karabakh.

Russia’s “peacekeeping” operation violates at least two cardinal norms established by the United Nations for legitimate peacekeeping operations: requiring a UN or other legitimate international mandate as well as barring troop contributions from neighboring countries or from countries already involved in the conflict at issue. Russia has also breached the consensus of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group and its co-chairmanship (Russia, United States, France), whereby any hypothetical peacekeeping operation in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict theater would have to exclude troops from countries allied to either side, from neighboring countries, or from the co-chairing countries. These exclusions, covering Russia and Turkey first and foremost, held from the Minsk Group’s foundation in 1994 until October–November 2020, at which point Russia proposed and deployed its “peacekeeping” operation, blindsiding the US and French co-chairs as well as the OSCE and the UN.

Russia is not only Armenia’s military-strategic ally but is now also accurately considered the “guarantor of Karabakh’s security.” Russia practically guarantees the Karabakh “republic’s” separate existence, as opposed to its return to Azerbaijan without a “republic’s” status. Above and beyond the local Armenian population’s safety, Russia guarantees the continuation of the “Karabakh republic’s” state structures: its own “president, government, parliament,” complete with the Karabakh Defense Army. Similarly, Russia had protected the proto-states in Abkhazia and South Ossetia while recognizing Georgia’s territorial integrity officially from 1991 through 2008, at which point Moscow recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia officially. At present, Moscow continues recognizing Moldova’s territorial integrity officially, even as it operates a Russian protectorate in Transnistria.

Moscow has taken the position all along that its security guarantees for Armenia do not cover Karabakh. This remains Moscow’s official position, but its “peacekeeping” and humanitarian operations have turned Russia into the “Karabakh republic’s” protector, a fact clearly recognized by all parties concerned. While respecting Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity officially, Moscow acts to make the restoration of that integrity conditional on negotiation processes that Russia can decisively influence, thanks primarily to its military presence on the ground.

The United Nations looks content, as it has been all along (Tajikistan 1992–1997, Abkhazia and South Ossetia 1992–2008, Transnistria from 1992 to date), not only to tolerate Russia’s breaches of the UN’s own peacekeeping standards but to legitimize them directly or indirectly. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, informed Lavrov by telephone that he “welcomes Russia’s role in achieving the armistice” and that “UN agencies will interact with Azerbaijan, Armenia and with Russia’s peacekeepers to resolve the humanitarian problems” (TASS, December 3). Guterres’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, followed suit, urging “all sides to carry out the armistice stipulations,” and modestly confining the UN’s own role to humanitarian assistance. Guterres plans to dispatch a fact-finding mission “to assess together with Russia” the needs for humanitarian assistance in Karabakh and adjacent districts. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations plans merely to send a humanitarian de-mining mission to Karabakh (TASS, November 23, December 3, 4).

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations presides over peace-support missions worldwide, excepting the conflict theaters in former Soviet territories. All UN secretaries general and their peacekeeping departments have, from 1992 to date, conceded a Russian peacekeeping monopoly there. Such a monopoly is a basic ingredient to Russia’s sphere-of-influence rebuilding efforts.

Moscow does welcome international organizations to play auxiliary roles alongside Russian “peacekeeping” missions. A symbolic international presence on the ground confers a semblance of legitimacy on Russia’s unilateral operations without influencing them in any way—not even objecting to Russia’s breaches of the UN’s own peacekeeping norms (see above). Russia has successfully used the UN and OSCE in this way in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and it has played cat-and-mouse with the OSCE in Transnistria and in Ukraine’s Donbas.

Russia currently encourages the United States and France, co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group, to associate themselves with Russia’s “peacekeeping” efforts in Karabakh. According to Lavrov, the US and France could usefully participate by mobilizing international humanitarian assistance and contributing to the preservation of historical and religious monuments in the area (TASS, December 7).

Moscow agreed in principle, on November 11, to a limited presence of Turkish unarmed military-technical observers in a Russian-Turkish joint center on the ground “in Azerbaijan.” However, Moscow currently obstructs the negotiations with Ankara regarding the parameters of the joint center. The Russian side apparently attempts to confront Turkey with the alternative options of having a modest Turkish presence or none.

The unrecognized Karabakh “republic’s” state structures (president, parliament, government, army) are not going away but continue to exist and function under Russia’s protection. This situation basically reproduces the cases of Abkhazia and South Ossetia before 2008, until Russia ended up recognizing them as independent “states.” They were and remain Russian protectorates. The long road to their official recognition included Russian passportization of their residents and inclusion into Russia’s security, economic, logistics, and information spaces (see EDM, June 18, 2014, December 2, 2014, December 7, 2020; see Commentaries, February 5, 2010). According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Karabakh’s “parliament” is drafting “legislation” to confer “state-language” status on the Russian language alongside Armenian (TASS, December 2).


Nagorno-Karabakh: Syrians used as ‘cannon fodder’

Babken Chilingarian
Arab News
Dec 11 2020
Armenian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint after a truce agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh. Syrians have detailed how they were duped into fighting in the conflict. (AFP/File

  • Life-changing $2,000 offer for ‘sentry work’ ended in vicious front-line combat, recruits say
  • Fighter tells BBC: ‘I was paralyzed by fear, death was all around us’
Updated
Arab News
00:37

LONDON: Four Syrian nationals have claimed they were sent into battle in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as mercenaries, despite only enlisting for sentry duties in Azerbaijan.

The claims, made directly to the UK’s BBC, come as Turkey and Azerbaijan deny using mercenaries in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

In August, people in rebel-held areas of northern Syria were told that there was paid employment overseas.

One of the Syrians told the BBC: “I had a friend who told me that there is a very good job you can do, just to be at military checkpoints in Azerbaijan.”

Another said: “They told us our mission would be to serve as sentries on the border — as peacekeepers. They were offering $2,000 a month. It felt like a fortune to us.”

Both enlisted for the work through Turkish-backed rebels that make up the Syrian National Army, a group opposed to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The civil war in Syria caused an economic breakdown and a decline in wages, and few people in the region now earn more than $1 a day. As a result, the promised salary seemed like a “godsend,” one of the Syrians said.

Recent estimates say that between 1,500 and 2,000 men enlisted and traveled to Azerbaijan via Turkey on a military aircraft.

However, the men were deliberately misled. They were being recruited for war, despite many having no military experience. The deadly ruse was discovered when they were taken to the front line and ordered to fight.

One of the Syrians said: “I didn’t expect to survive. It seemed like a 1 percent chance. Death was all around us.”

Azerbaijan and its regional ally Turkey have denied using mercenaries in the conflict. However, researchers have gathered a photographic evidence, drawn from videos and images posted online by fighters, that reveals a different story.

The Syrians were deployed on the southern side of the Azeri line, where both sides suffered heavy casualties. The fighters told the BBC that they “came under heavy fire” and were traumatized by their experiences. They chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal from military higher-ups.

“My first battle began the day after I arrived,” said one.

“Myself and about 30 guys were sent to the front line. We walked for about 50 m when suddenly a rocket landed near us. I threw myself to the ground. The shelling lasted for 30 minutes. Those minutes felt like years. It was then that I regretted coming to Azerbaijan,” he said.

“We didn’t know what to do or how to react,” said another fighter, who added that he and many of his fellow recruits had almost no experience of war, let alone military training.

“I saw men dying, and others who just went running. They didn’t have any sense of where they were going, because they were basically civilians,” he said.

The four men claim Syrian recruits were provided with almost no protective equipment or medical support. Many fighters bled to death from wounds that medics could have treated, they added.

“The hardest moment was when one of my mates was hit,” said a fighter who was later hospitalized after suffering shrapnel wounds. “He was 20 m away from me when the shell landed. I saw him fall. He was calling to me and screaming. But his spot was exposed to the Armenian machine guns. I couldn’t help him. In the end he just died there.”

Another Syrian fighter said he was “paralyzed by fear” when the shelling began.

“I remember I just sat on the ground and cried, and my injured friends started to cry as well,” he said. “One guy suffered a shrapnel wound on his head. He died right there. Every day I see this. When it comes to me, I sit and cry, even now. I don’t know how I survived this war.”

Estimates of the Syrian death toll in the conflict vary. Official figures report a total of 2,400 casualties on the Armenian side and nearly 3,000 on the Azeri side. But Azerbaijan does not acknowledge that Syrians were among the dead.


Cultural Heritage Is Caught Up in the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh

Hagop Kamalian
Atlas Obscura
Dec 11 2020
by Tom Mutch
The Dadivank monastery is an example of Armenian church architecture, located in Azerbaijan and watched by Russian peacekeepers. Stanislav KrasilnikovTASS via Getty Images
After being photographed with a cross in one hand and an automatic rifle in the other, Father Hovhannes became a viral sensation in Armenia. He says he never intended to become a symbol of defiance during the recent war over Nagorno-Karabakh, the region within Azerbaijan that has attempted to break away and declare itself the “Republic of Artsakh,” with the support of the Armenian government but no other forms of international recognition. “I was showing that we need both god and our weapons to defend our homes,” he says. “The book of our enemy allows them to take any land that they please.” He is the abbott of the stunning medieval monastery of Dadivank, within the disputed territory. He says he is prepared to die to defend it—but for the time being, he’s not able to be there at all.

Standing in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the outskirts of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, Hovhannes is tall and broad-shouldered, with a thick white beard. His priestly collar pokes from the top of a thick black leather jacket, like a rock star who traded his guitar for the liturgy. His congregation treats him as such, crowding around him for blessings in place of autographs. Only his furrowed brow and downcast eyes betray his worries.

Dadivank, his monastery, is one of the greatest examples of Armenian church architecture, and dates to between 700 and 1,100 years ago. It is nestled in the forested ravines that make up Kalvajar region of Azerbaijan, around 125 miles away from where he stands. Until recently, it was controlled by forces loyal to Artsakh, but under the terms of a Noember 2020 peace agreement imposed after their bruising defeat in a war, it has been handed to Azerbaijani control.


Father Hovhannes gained widespread attention for his efforts to protect the church. Courtesy Tom Mutch

“Not only is the monastery holy, like any house of god, it is a symbol of our Armenian identity as Christians that stretches back two millenniums,” he says. It is a great point of Armenian pride to have been perhaps the first Christian nation, and it is said that this heritage comes from this monastery specifically, founded in the first century by Dadi, a disciple of Thaddeus, the apostle who spread the Christian faith to the region. It has persisted through Mongol, Persian, and Russian dominion, as well as the two more recent wars over Nagorno-Karabakh.

This site was long believed to be the burial site of Dadi himself. This claim was thought to be folklore, until an excavation in 2007 appeared to uncover his tomb. For the abbott, who had overseen a project of painstaking reconstruction since the region’s capture by Armenians in the 1990s in the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, the find was a vindication of his efforts and beliefs. It appeared, to many Armenians, to be a confirmation of their historical claim to the land.

Cross monuments called khatchars (left) and an apse (right) at Dadivank Monastery. Lusnyak93/Wikimedia (left); Emad aljumah/Getty Images (right)

Dadivank is the most significant of hundreds of Armenian churches and historical artifacts that are in the process of being handed over to Azerbaijan. Hovhannes has serious concerns about its future. After the 1915 genocide saw Armenians expelled from Anatolia, successive Turkish governments systematically razed Armenian sites there. In the aftermath of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan destroyed hundreds of khatchars (uniquely styled cross monuments), a medieval cemetery, and around 90 churches.

Astghik Pashinyan, a 29-year-old tour guide from Yerevan, made her last visit to Dadivank a few days before the handover. She describes the loss as “incredibly painful.” “The road was only recently fixed, so we have only just recently begun take tourists there,” she says. “They have all been so pleased with the beauty of the site and the hospitality of the locals. Now we believe the Armenian script and frescoes of the church will be destroyed.” She saw that Armenian soldiers had made preparations to move some of the church’s relics, including its bell and crosses, to Armenia to protect them.

An inscription in medieval Armenian script at the monastery. Courtesy Tom Mutch

Azerbaijani officials, including Culture Minister Anar Karimov, state—without specific evidence—that the church’s inscriptions, in medieval Armenian script, are fake, added in the 19th century. Instead, they claim that the site is a remnant of a little-known Turkic civilization called “Caucasian Albania,” which would make the region rightfully Azerbaijan’s. Most serious scholars find these tortuous explanations to be nonsense, as described in journalist Thomas de Waal’s Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. Neil Hauer, a journalist and researcher who specializes in the region, called it a “a straight up lie.”

On the other hand, Cavid Aga, a respected Azerbaijani scholar of the heritage of the Caucuses, points out that Armenians have also failed to recognize legitimate Azerbaijani heritage. “In Armenian historiography the Azerbaijanis are a people that magically appeared in 1918, they do not accept us as an authentic nation,” he says. “They label all Azerbaijani heritage as Persian or Turkmen.” He points out that heritage sites such as the Mausoleum of Turkmen Emirs in southern Armenia and the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha, Azerbaijan, not far from the Armenian border. He says they have been misleadingly labeled by Armenians as having been built by foreign invaders, even though the people who founded them were from the area, and are ancestors of modern Azerbaijanis. “Even though the state of Azerbaijan was created at the end of the Russian Empire, that does not mean its people are aliens to this land,” he says.

Armenians visit the Dadivank Monastery just before the handover of the region to Azerbaijani forces. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

In the moment, the preservation of heritage such as the church is less subject to competing claims than it is to the reality of power on the ground. For now, Russian troops are providing a temporary solution. The warring sides have agreed to a shaky deal whereby Moscow’s peacekeepers will protect the monastery and guarantee safe passage for worshippers. Every Sunday, Armenians who wish to visit can be picked up from the regional capital of Stepanakert and taken to the monastery under armed guard. It is an echo of the medieval Treaty of Jaffa, which ended the Third Crusade. Then, Saladin allowed Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem unharmed—in exchange for acceptance of Muslim control of the Holy Land.

Hovhannes does not believe the agreement with Azerbaijan, and its Turkish supporters, will hold. “Every bite they take just makes them hungrier. Now they want all of Artsakh.” he says. “Then they will come for all of Armenia!”

After speaking about his concerns in Yerevan, Hovhannes gathers his priests and the deacons for an evening service. Dressed in a variety of red, blue, and gold vestments, they recite prayers in melancholy voices in front of an image of the virgin and child. They read from Psalm 123: “Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud.”

Additional reporting by Ezras Tellalian.

Armenia’s NSS arrests Azerbaijani in Armenia’s Berdavan community

Markos Nalchajian
Aysor, Armenia
Dec 11 2020

Armenia’s National Security Service arrested an Azerbaijani in bordering Berdavan community of Tavush province.

“He illegally crossed the Armenian state border. We have received operative data about it. After search works the person was discovered,” NSS representative told Aysor.am, adding that a criminal case has been filed.

“The person has status of a suspect. No other information may be reported agreed with secrecy of preliminary investigation,” NSS official said.

Aliyev lays claim to ‘historical lands’ in Armenia. Moscow, Yerevan react

Vanyan Gary
JAM News
Dec 11 2020
Aliyev lays claim to 'historical lands' in Armenia. Moscow, Yerevan react

    JAMnews, Yerevan

At a military parade in Baku dedicated to the victory in Karabakh, President Ilham Aliyev called the capital of Armenia, as well as Zangezur, that is, the Syunik region, and Sevan the ‘historical lands’ of Azerbaijan.

President Aliyev’s provocative statements caused an extremely negative reaction amongst the Armenian public; political circles in Russia reacted as well.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that political statements should not negate the achieved result of the cessation of hostilities in Karabakh:

“The situation in the region is very difficult, a lot of efforts have been made to return it to a peaceful course, to end the hostilities, to bring the parties to the negotiating table and launch the very difficult process of returning refugees, restoring infrastructure, creating prerequisites and conditions for normalizing life in this region in all spheres.”

  • “Self-determination is a key point in the negotiations on Karabakh” – Armenian FM
  • Recording suggests Aliyev offered Sargsyan $5 billion for regions around Karabakh

Comments from the Press Secretary of the Prime Minister of Armenia:

Armenian PM Press Secretary Mano Gevorgyan lamented that the territorial claims on Armenian lands may cast in doubt Azerbaijan’s readiness to establish peace, and may endanger entire regional peace and security:

“In addition, such statements make the international recognition of the right of the Armenians of Artsakh to self-determination more than relevant in terms of preventing the new genocidal aspirations of Azerbaijanis against the Armenians of Artsakh.”

The press secretary of the Armenian Prime Minister also commented on the recently delivered speech of Turkish President Erdogan at a parade in Baku.

“Let the eternal soul of Enver Pasha shine,” Erdogan said at the time.

Gevorgyan says the celebration of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire by the Turkish presidency deserves condemnation: “Such positions are questionable under the auspices of the Turks, in which case they are ready to contribute to regional peace and stability.”

Commentary of the Ombudsman of Armenia

Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan responded to the statements made at the parade in Baku on his Facebook page.

“The speeches of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey, according to the Ombudsman, are a manifestation of terror, a clear threat to the life and health of the entire people of Armenia, the entire civilian population”, he said.

The Ombudsman of Armenia believes that these statements confirm the Azerbaijani policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide by terrorist methods in Karabakh during the last war:

“The speeches of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey contained the same accents and words of hatred and enmity that the Azerbaijani military used during this war in the course of torture, brutal killings of Armenian military personnel and civilians or inhuman treatment of them with exceptional cynicism.”

Aliyev’s previous statements

Aliyev has repeatedly called Yerevan the ‘historical territory’ of Azerbaijan. Moreover, during a speech at the 6th Congress of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party in 2018, he said:

“Yerevan is our historical territory, and we, Azerbaijanis, must return to this historical land. This is our political and strategic goal, which we must gradually approach.”

https://jam-news.net/response-to-aliyevs-statements-claims-on-the-territory-of-armenia-yerevan-zangezur-syunik-sevan/

Opposition MP predicts snap elections in Armenia in no later than 6 months

Lara Antonian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 11 2020

MP Edmon Marukyan from the opposition Bright Armenia Party predicts snap elections in Armenia in no later than 6 months, but says his prediction may fall short.

“In June or July we will discuss why it failed to happen. Politicians predict one thing, and then, if it does not happen, they explain why it didn’t happen,” Marukyan told a briefing at the parliament.

He stressed the political history of Armenia saw only one case when the opposition demand was fulfilled – the resignation Serzh Sargsyan in 2018.

The opposition MP said that he has no information on any discussions with the authorities regarding the conduct of new elections.

“If we are talking about the adoption of a new Electoral Code, and then about the conduct of elections, naturally, there should be discussions, because the rules of the game should be clear to all players,” Marukyan said.

According to the MP, if the new Electoral Code is adopted, the elections must be held in 6 months, as required by the Venice Commission, but if the law is not amended, elections may take place even tomorrow.

According to Marukyan, the pre-election rules include equal distribution of free airtime among all the parties and candidates and exclusion of attempts to silence one party by another in return for several million dollars.

Edmon Marukyan believes that only Bright Armenian can hold fair elections, because they do not trust anyone but ourselves.

He called for guarantees to ensure fair elections and rule out possible vote buying cases regardless of which political force organizes them.

In response to a question about the recognition of Artsakh’s independence, the deputy said that there are circumstances containing state secrets in the process, therefore he will refrain from making further comments, only adding that it has been a month since they began to work on the matter with the relevant bodies.