Thursday,
Iran Irked By Azeri Claims To Yerevan Mosque
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- The facade of the 18th century Blue Mosque in Yerevan, February 24,
2022.
Iranian diplomats and clerics have criticized Azerbaijani lawmakers for claiming
that a 18th century Shia mosque in Yerevan managed by Iran is an Azerbaijani
monument.
The two pro-government lawmakers arrived in Armenia earlier this week to attend
a session of a parliamentary assembly of the European Union and ex-Soviet states
involved in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program.
While in Yerevan, they also visited the city’s Blue Mosque and later posted on
social media photographs of themselves sanding at its picturesque courtyard.
Both men wrote that the Muslim shrine is the “sole Azerbaijani monument”
preserved in the Armenian capital and expressed confidence that its “real
masters” will be able to pray there soon.
The Iranian Embassy in Armenia hit back at the Azerbaijani deputies on Wednesday
in a series of tweets written in Armenian, Persian and English. It also posted
photographs of Persian-language inscriptions on the walls of the mosque and
adjacent structures.
“The Blue Mosque, a symbol of Iranian art, has been active again in the last 3
decades as the praying and congregation place of Muslims residing in Armenia and
a touristic attraction,” wrote the embassy.
“A great pleasure that its centuries-old Persian epigraphy has been preserved!
Who can read them?” it said in English.
Mahmoud Movahedifar, an Iranian clergyman serving there, made the same point as
he showed RFE/RL journalists around the mosque on Thursday. He insisted that it
has distinctive features of Iran’s traditional Islamic architecture.
“What language is this: Persian or Azeri?” he asked. “Even if there was a single
tile here with an Azerbaijani inscription we would recognize that fact.”
“If those gentlemen claim that this is an Azerbaijani mosque then let them show
one trace of Azerbaijani history here,” he said.
Armenia -- Mahmoud Movahedifar speaks at Yerevan's Blue Mosque, February 24,
2022.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly described Yerevan and other
parts of Armenia as “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
Movahedifar complained that neither he nor other people working in the mosque
were informed about the Azerbaijanis’ visit beforehand.
“Had I known about their visit, I would have immediately come here and shown
them all this evidence and said: ‘If you say it’s Azeri, show me a single piece
of evidence,’” he said.
The Blue Mosque was built in 1766 at a time when most of the territory of
modern-day Armenia was part of the Persian Empire. It was shut down by Soviet
Armenian authorities in the mid-1920s. Its buildings and courtyard were used for
mostly secular purposes in the following decades, up until the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
The mosque complex was reopened as a religious institution in 1996 after being
thoroughly renovated by the Iranian government in line with an agreement with
Yerevan’s municipal administration. It now also houses an Iranian library and
cultural center.
Top Armenian Generals Sacked
• Artak Khulian
Armenian - Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian (second from right), the chief of
the Armenian army's General Staff, and other officers conclude "staff
negotiations" with a visiting Russian military delegation, Yerevan, July 17,
2021.
The chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Artak
Davtian, and four other generals were dismissed on Thursday through presidential
decrees initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The Armenian government gave no reasons for the sacking of Davtian, one of his
deputies, Lieutenant-General Andranik Makarian, as well as the commanders of the
army’s artillery and engineer units and the head of a General Staff division
dealing with army morale.
All of the generals except Davtian were replaced later in the day. The
government did not immediately name a new army chief.
In what appears to be a related development, the chiefs of Armenia’s military
intelligence and rear services were relieved of their duties last week.
Pashinian installed Davtian as chief of the General Staff in March 2021. The
previous holder of the top military position, Colonel-General Onik Gasparian,
was fired after he and four dozen other high-ranking officers accused
Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanded its resignation.
Davtian was widely expected to be sacked after being indicted last fall in a
criminal investigation into supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to the
country’s armed forces.
Two other generals as well as former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and a
private arms dealer were arrested as part of the same criminal case in
September. They and Davtian were charged with fraud and embezzlement that cost
the state almost 2.3 billion drams ($4.7 million).
As they went on trial on January 19 the suspects denied the accusations stemming
from the purchase of allegedly outdated air-to-surface rockets for the Armenian
Air Force.
The latest sackings coincided with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian’s
first visit to Moscow that began on Thursday. The Armenian Defense Ministry said
Papikian will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and “other
high-ranking officials.”
Turkish, Armenian Officials Hold More Talks
Armenia - Armenian deputy parliament speaker Ruben Rubinian (left) and Turkish
diplomat Serdar Kilic,January 14, 2022
Special envoys of Turkey and Armenia met in Vienna on Thursday for the second
round of negotiations on normalizing relations between the two neighboring
states.
In virtually identical statements, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries
gave few details of the talks held by veteran Turkish diplomat Serdar Kilic and
Ruben Rubinian, a deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament.
“The Special Representatives confirmed that the ultimate goal of the
negotiations is to achieve full normalization between Turkey and Armenia, as
agreed during their first meeting in Moscow [on January 14,]” read the
statements. “They exchanged views on possible concrete steps that can be
mutually taken to that end and reiterated their agreement to continue the
process without preconditions.”
There was no word on the date and venue of the next round of the talks between
Kilic and Rubinian.
Ankara and Yerevan had described their January 14 meeting as “positive and
constructive.” Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan afterwards voiced
cautious optimism over the success of the dialogue welcomed by Russia, the
United States and the European Union.
Ankara has for decades linked the establishment of diplomatic relations with
Yerevan and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border to a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on February 10 that his
government will continue to coordinate the Turkish-Armenian normalization talks
with Baku.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said earlier
this week that he is ready to improve relations if Armenia if the latter is
“determined to continue the process that has started with the special
representatives.”
“We are pleased with the will of Armenia to normalize [relations] with us,” he
said, according to Turkish media.
Armenia In No Rush To Evacuate Citizens From Ukraine
• Naira Bulghadarian
UKRAINE -- Smoke rise from an air defense base in the aftermath of an apparent
Russian strike in Mariupol, .
Armenia did not move to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine or tell them to leave
the country on Thursday hours after a large-scale military attack launched by
Russia.
The Armenian Embassy in Kyiv instead urged them to contact the mission and
inform it about their whereabouts. It publicized emergency phone numbers on its
website and social media accounts.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry indicated last week that despite the looming
threat of a Russian invasion it has no plans to evacuate the embassy or the
Armenian consulate general in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
The ministry said on Wednesday that Yerevan regards both Russia and Ukraine as
“friendly countries” and hopes that they will resolve their standoff through
“diplomatic dialogue.” It did not immediately react to what Russian President
Vladimir Putin called "a special military operation" against Ukraine launched
the following morning.
In a nationally televised speech early on Thursday, Putin sought to justify the
offensive operation by claiming that he has to stop Ukraine from acquiring
nuclear weapons and attacking two breakaway region in the eastern Donbass region
which Moscow recognized as independent republics earlier this week.
UKRAINE -- CRIMEA -- A Russian armoured vehicle moves across the town of
Armyansk, northern Crimea, early on February 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Moscow has launched a
full-scale attack on his country, with missile attacks targeting “our military
infrastructure” and border guards in several cities.
There was immediate and widespread condemnation from the West, with vows of new,
tougher sanctions to be slapped on Moscow.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the action an “unprovoked and unjustified"
attack on Ukraine and said the world would “hold Russia accountable.” The
European Union likewise accused Moscow of “grossly violating international law
and undermining European and global security and stability.”
UKRAINE - Cars drive towards the exit of Kyiv after Russian President Vladimir
Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, .
Ukraine is officially home to some 120,000 ethnic Armenians. According to the
Union of Armenians of Ukraine, their actual number is much larger and only half
of them are Ukrainian nationals.
Ruben Makarian, a representative of the union, spoke of a “first wave of panic”
among Armenians living in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions making up Donbass.
“In the Lugansk region, local authorities announced an evacuation [of the
population,]” Makarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service from Kyiv. “But there is
no specific evacuation of local Armenians yet. I am in constant touch with the
leaders of the [Armenian] community there.”
Regular flights between Yerevan and Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were
cancelled on Thursday after Ukraine closed its airspace to commercial aircraft.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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