Month: March 2021

President Armen Sarkissian met with Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan.

The interlocutors referred to the tense situation connected with the recent events. It was noted that regardless of the decisions made in this regard, the security and stability of the country are a priority.

President Sarkissian noted that the Armed Forces must always be under the care of all of us, he will continue to focus on the army and its problems.

On Tuesday President Armen Sarkissian decided not to sign the draft decree on dismissing Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Onik Gaspayan and forwarded it to the Constitutional Court.

Armenia and Artsakh are rated as “partly free” in a new report published by the Freedom House.

Armenia’s neighbor Georgia is also ranked as “partly free,” while Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran are all labeled as “not free.”

As a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world in 2020, democracy’s defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny, Freedom Hose says in the “Freedom in the World 2021:  Democracy under Siege” report.

“Incumbent leaders increasingly used force to crush opponents and settle scores, sometimes in the name of public health, while beleaguered activists—lacking effective international support—faced heavy jail sentences, torture, or murder in many settings,” the report notes.

“The use of military force by authoritarian states, another symptom of the global decay of democratic norms, was on display in Nagorno-Karabakh last year. New fighting erupted in September when the Azerbaijani regime, with decisive support from Turkey, launched an offensive to settle a territorial dispute that years of diplomacy with Armenia had failed to resolve. At least 6,500 combatants and hundreds of civilians were killed, and tens of thousands of people were newly displaced. Meaningful international engagement was absent, and the war only stopped when Moscow imposed a peacekeeping plan on the two sides, fixing in place the Azerbaijani military’s territorial gains but leaving many other questions unanswered,” Freedom House said.

“The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has had spillover effects for democracy. In addition to strengthening the rule of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president, Ilham Aliyev, the conflict threatens to destabilize the government in Armenia. A rare bright spot in a region replete with deeply entrenched authoritarian leaders, Armenia has experienced tentative gains in freedom since mass antigovernment protests erupted in 2018 and citizens voted in a more reform-minded government,” the report said.

It added that the signing of the trilateral statement to end the war by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sparked a violent reaction among some opponents, who stormed the parliament in November and physically attacked the speaker.

“Such disorder threatens the country’s hard-won progress, and could set off a chain of events that draws Armenia closer to the autocratic tendencies of its neighbors,”  Freedom House said.

Charges have been brought against Vazgen Manukyan, the joint candidate for Prime Minister of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, under Article 301 of the RA Criminal Code (public calls aimed at seizing power, violating territorial integrity or forcibly overthrowing the constitutional order), Rima Yeganyan, head of the information and public relations department of the RA Investigative Committee, told Armenpress.

“During rallies in Freedom Square on February 12 and 20, 2021 Vazgen Manukyan made public calls for seizure of power and forcible change of the constitutional system. In this connection, a decision was made to indict Manukyan under article 301 of Armenia’s Criminal Code,” she said.

In accordance with the RA Criminal Procedure Code, Vazgen Manukyan has been notified about the need to appear before the body conducting the interrogation on March 4.

Facebook’s Oversight Board selected a case appealed by a Facebook user regarding a comment with a meme depicting Turkey having to choose between “The Armenian Genocide is a lie” and “The Armenians were terrorists who deserved it.”

Facebook took down this content for violating its policy on hate speech, as laid out in the Community Standards.

“We do not allow hate speech on Facebook, even in the context of satire, because it creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion, and in some cases, may promote real-world violence,” Facebook said.

“We will implement the board’s decision once it has finished deliberating, and we will update this post accordingly,” it added.

In December 2020, a Facebook user in the United States posted a comment containing an adaptation of the “two buttons” meme. This meme featured the same split-screen cartoon from the original meme, but with the cartoon character’s face substituted for a Turkish flag. The cartoon character has their right hand on their head and appears to be sweating. Above the cartoon character, in the other half of the split-screen, there are two red buttons with corresponding labels, in English: “The Armenian Genocide is a lie” and “The Armenians were terrorists who deserved it.” The meme was preceded and followed by “thinking face” emoji.

The user’s comment was in response to a post containing an image of a person wearing a niqab with overlay text in English saying: “Not all prisoners are behind bars.” At this point, the Board does not have access to all the intervening comments, and the meme may have been a response to one of those intervening comments.

Facebook removed the post under its Cruel and Insensitive Community Standard after one report from another Facebook user. Under this standard, Facebook removes content that “targets victims of serious physical or emotional harm,” including “explicit attempts to mock victims and mark as cruel implicit attempts, many of which take the form of memes and GIFs.” Subsequently, Facebook reclassified its removal to fall under its .

https://en.armradio.am/2021/03/03/facebooks-oversight-board-selects-case-on-a-comment-related-to-armenian-genocide/

In the response to an urgent written question sent to the European Commission by the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Loucas Fourlas (Cyprus, EPP), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell stated on behalf of the European Commission that the latter deplores the damages caused to the Shushi Ghazanchetsots Cathedral by the Azerbaijani armed forces,  reports the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD).

In the urgent written question addressed by MEP Fourlas, it is mentioned that the Azerbaijani armed forces targeted and attacked Shushi’s Ghazanchetsots Cathedral on 8 October 2020, in violation of international rules of war. The MEP asks the European Commission whether the latter is planning to take steps “to protect both the civilian population and places of worship” in Artsakh/ Nagorno Karabakh that are currently under the Azerbaijani control.

Responding to the MEP, the European Commission stated that it deplores the destruction of religious and historic monuments in Nagorno Karabakh and underlines the importance of preserving and restoring the cultural and religious heritage.

Furthermore, in his answer the High Representative refers to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2347 (2017), which gives the definition of the war crimes, targeting of the religious, educational and cultural centers.

The European Commission also welcomes the mission initiated by UNESCO to the regions of Nagorno Karabakh currently under the Azerbaijani control aimed at establishing a first factural assessment of the Armenian cultural heritage. It will also contribute to supporting the preservation and restoration of the cultural sites.

Commenting on the response of the written question, the EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian stated: “Azerbaijan has to bear full responsibility for the gruesome war crimes committed during and after the 2020 war in Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh, including targeting civilian settlements as well as religious sites i.a. the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi. Shushi has undeniably been a historical Armenian city, an important center for culture and education, and the symbol of the Armenian revival of Artsakh. The international community and the relevant organizations must closely follow and monitor the preservation of the Armenian religious and cultural heritage in the region. We should not allow yet another act of cultural genocide, such as the destruction of thousands of Armenian medieval cross-stones in Nakhijevan by the Azerbaijani authorities in 2006. Any attempt of demolition of historic Armenian presence in Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh must be prevented and strongly condemned.”