Month: June 2022

ArmInfo. A September Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cited the “catastrophic impact” of the  long-running conflict “on the cultural heritage and property of the  region, for which both Armenia and Azerbaijan have a responsibility.”  This is stated in the US State Department annual Report on  International Religious Freedom: Armenia.

The report notes, “The constitution states that everyone has freedom  of thought, conscience, and religion.  It recognizes the Armenian  Apostolic Church (AAC) as the national church and preserver of  national identity but also establishes separation of religious  organizations and the state.  The law prohibits, but does not define,  proselytism, which may be interpreted as forced conversion.”

According to the report, “The trial continued of a prominent Baha’i  lawyer, Edward Manasyan, charged in 2017 with organizing illegal  immigration; Baha’i community members said they believed the charges  were brought because of his religion.  The country’s highest court of  appeal, the Court of Cassation, rejected a Baha’i appeal alleging the  government had illegally wiretapped the group and used the  information gathered to prosecute Manasyan.  Yezidi human rights  activist Sashik Sultanyan was indicted on charges of “inciting  hatred” based on off-the-record comments he made to a journalist  criticizing the treatment of Yezidis in the country that were  surreptitiously recorded and posted online by the journalist.   Sultanyan’s prosecution drew strong criticism from international  human rights groups. 

 In February, the government announced it planned to remove a course  on the history of the Armenian Church from the mandatory school  curriculum as part of a broader educational reform, generating  significant public debate.  A September Parliamentary Assembly of the  Council of Europe resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cited  the “catastrophic impact” of the long-running conflict “on the  cultural heritage and property of the region, for which both Armenia  and Azerbaijan have a responsibility.” Representatives of some  religious minorities, such as the Seventh-day Adventists and several  evangelical groups, as well as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, reported that  public attitudes towards them had generally improved compared with  the previous year and reported little or no negative content in the  media during the year.  Anonymous social media users, however,  continued to target the evangelical Word of Life Church with online  hate speech and harassment,” the report reads.

” Some members of the Jewish community and civil society members  reported that antisemitism, including negative speech by members of  the public and vandalism, increased after Azerbaijan used  Israeli-supplied weapons during intensive fighting in the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the fall of 2020.  During June  parliamentary elections, an opposition figure who had never held  elected office criticized the Word of Life Church and Jehovah’s  Witnesses, referring to them as “sects,” a term these religious  groups did not use to describe themselves and which was generally  perceived as pejorative.  Human rights groups stated that verbal  targeting of religious minorities, both on and offline, decreased  during the year, as the individuals who had previously targeted  religious groups largely pivoted to discussing the aftermath of fall  2020 fighting and COVID-19.  On February 12, the Holocaust and  Genocide Memorial was vandalized for the third time since the 2020  fighting.  Representatives of minority religious groups stated that  societal and family pressure remained a major deterrent for ethnic  Armenians to practice a religion other than the Armenian Apostolic  faith.  The U.S. Ambassador and other embassy officials continued to  promote religious tolerance, respect for religious minorities, and  interfaith dialogue during meetings with government officials.   Embassy representatives raised with government officials and members  of parliament the cases of criminal prosecution of Yezidi and Baha’i  leaders and monitored their trials.  The Ambassador and other embassy  officials regularly consulted with religious groups, including the  AAC, evangelical Christians and other Protestants, Jehovah’s  Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of  Jesus Christ), Yezidis, the Jewish community, Apostolic Assyrians,  Pentecostals, and Baha’is, and individual members of the Muslim  community, to discuss the state of religious freedom in the country.   Embassy officials engaged government officials and civil society  representatives to discuss the impact of the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict on religious group

ArmInfo.Yerevan Municipality lost in court to Armenian businessman Samvel Aleksanyan regarding the construction of his building on the municipal territory, Mayor  Hrachya Sargsyan told reporters on June 3.

“The court ordered the Yerevan Municipality to legalize the  construction,” he said.

As Sargsyan explained, the city administration lost the case in all  court instances and was forced to legalize the building.

It should be recalled that in September 2020, former MP, businessman  Samvel Aleksanyan filed a lawsuit against the Yerevan Municipality  because of the decision taken by Mayor Hayk Marutyan. The businessman  applied to the Administrative Court with a demand to invalidate the  decision No. 2898-A adopted on September 16, 2020 by the Mayor of  Yerevan.

According to this decision, Samvel Aleksanyan carried out the  construction (in 2015) of illegal buildings- constructions on a land  plot owned by the state, at the address of Shrjanain St 102/4,  Malatia-Sebastia administrative district, in connection with which  administrative proceedings were initiated at the mayor’s office.  Thus, Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan decided not to legalize the  unauthorized buildings and structures at the specified address. In  addition, he instructed the head of the Malatia-Sebastia  administrative region, with the support of the Department of Urban  Planning and Land Control and the public order service, to dismantle  these unauthorized buildings and free the state-owned land from  illegal possession. 

ArmInfo. The situation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be on the agenda of the talks of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Turkey. Official  representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova,  announced this on June 3 during a weekly briefing.

She noted that on June 8 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will  pay a working visit to Ankara for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister  Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“It is planned to discuss the state of and prospects for deepening  bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues of trade and economic  cooperation in the context of the application of illegitimate  sanctions against Russia by the West.

There will also be an exchange of views on topical issues of the  regional and international agenda, primarily on the current situation  in Ukraine, as well as in the Syrian, Libyan and Nagorno-Karabakh  settlement, on the situation in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Central  Asia,” she said. 

ArmInfo. We don’t want war, but we want to be respected. Former Secretary General of the CSTO, former Chief of the General Staff of Armenia, Colonel-General Yuri  Khachaturov stated from the rostrum on France Square in Yerevan.

At the beginning of his speech, the Armenian general spoke about the  background of the resignation of first President of Armenia Levon  Ter-Petrosyan on February 3, 1998, when Prime Minister Robert  Kocharyan, Minister of Defense Vazgen Sargsyan and Minister of  Internal Affairs and National Security Serzh Sargsyan did not support  Ter-Petrosyan’s proposed plan for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict, which included the demilitarization of the conflict zone  and the return to Azerbaijan of a number of settlements taken during  the hostilities of 1992-1994.

“Then they said that people will come to power, whose coming will  cause bloodshed, that there would be a war. And what really happened?  We lived in peace for 20 years, lived like winners. We were proud of  our army and state. There was no war. They said we want war, but we  didn’t want war. Even now they say we want war, but we don’t want  war, we want to be respected,” he said.

At the same time, Khachaturov expressed bewilderment at the behavior  of officials and parliamentarians from the ruling power when they are  asked a question about the future of Artsakh. “I don’t understand  these ministers and the rest officials, they are asked a simple  question. Are you in favor of Artsakh being part of Azerbaijan? They  say we cannot answer. I understand that they can do nothing to  prevent Artsakh from becoming part of Azerbaijan, but at least say  that you do not want NKR to be part of Azerbaijan. Can’t you do that,  aren’t you Armenian? “Then who are you?” He asked.

Khachaturov also bowed before the parents of the soldiers who died  for the homeland, calling them saints, while urging them not to  condemn those who did not come to the square. According to him, each  of them experiences the pain of loss in their own way.

Referring to the work of law enforcement officers, the general  expressed bewilderment and indignation at the behavior of people in  uniform. He shamed all those law enforcement officers who use  disproportionate brute force against peaceful demonstrators,  especially women.

“When did we get to the point where the police drag women by the  hair, kick them in the stomach? Guys, behave more modestly, remember  that you are all in the field of view of our citizens,” he said,  adding that they would not succumb to the provocations of law  enforcement officers and will not beat law enforcement officers in  response. According to him, the authorities are just waiting for  this.  “Don’t wait, we won’t beat you. Viva Armenia, Viva Artsakh,  Viva the Armenian people,” Khachaturov summed up.

It should be noted that a rally of the opposition Resistance Movement  is taking place in France Square.  It should also be noted that the  Armenian parliament today at 16:00 convened an extraordinary meeting  at the request of the “Hayastan” and “I have the honor” opposition  factions. On the agenda is the discussion and adoption of a statement  on Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The meeting  did not take place due to the lack of a quorum. Only 33 opposition  MPs attended the meeting, while 54 MPs  were needed for a quorum.   The ruling Civil Contract faction announced last week that it would  not take part in an extraordinary meeting of the Armenian parliament,  initiated by the “Hayastan” and “I have the honor” opposition blocs  and scheduled for June 3. The Civil Contract stated that they would  not succumb to political blackmail and would not take part in an  extraordinary meeting, but would continue to protect the rights of  Artsakh and its population at all levels and platforms.