Month: June 2022

Armenians hold Arab League, World responsible for Turkey for settlement in their lands

Jhanna Virabian
Kurdish Press – Belgium
 The co-chair of the Armenian Social Council, Arief Kasbian, held the Arab League and the international community responsible for Turkey’s settlement projects on the lands of the displaced Armenians in the occupied Syrian regions, Turkey and its endeavors to change the demography of the region, indicating at the same time that this policy is an extension of the Armenian massacres at the hands of the Ottomans in the nineties of the last century.  .
 NEWS  28 Jun 2022, Tue – 07:44 2022-06-28T07:44:00  Al-Hasakah – Hanar Ibrahim

 The Turkish occupation state continues its settlement projects within the occupied Syrian areas amid the silence of the international forces, despite the rejection of the region’s residents and the warnings of the Autonomous Administration and human rights organizations in north and east Syria against Turkey’s efforts to carve out and annex the occupied Syrian lands.

 The Turkish settlement projects are funded by “Qatari, Kuwaiti, and Palestinian” organizations and associations, especially in the Afrin canton, the occupied Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî/Tal Abyad areas.  It was within the land of the Armenian diaspora in Girê Spî / Tel Abyad.

A local source from the town of Al-Ali Baglia in the occupied canton of Girê Spî / Tal Abyad told our agency on June 23 that the Kuwaiti “Sheikh Zayed Organization” had started building a religious complex on a land of 170 dunums owned by the Armenian diaspora Akop.

 With Kuwaiti money, the occupation is building a religious complex on the land of an Armenian diaspora in Girê Spi – Hawar News Agency (hawarnews.com)

 Commenting on the issue, the co-chair of the Armenian Social Council in al-Hasakah Canton, Arief Qasbian, confirmed to our agency that “the occupation of the lands and the forced displacement of the Armenians, and the seizure of their lands, is a systematic and continuous policy pursued by the Turkish occupation state, to eliminate the history, civilization and presence of the Armenians,” indicating that this policy began  since the massacres of Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans.

 Arief noted that their occupied areas in northern and eastern Syria are witnessing a demographic change before the eyes of the world, considering the silence of international forces as tacit approval and partnership in the genocide of the Armenians and the rest of the region’s components of the Kurds, Arabs, Circassians, and others.

 Arief Kasbian pointed out the silence of the Arab community towards the Arab organizations participating in financing the settlement projects of the Turkish occupation state, saying: “The organization that supports the settlement project on the lands of the Armenians is Kuwaiti, and Kuwait is a state in the Arab League, but the League is silent and did not express a clear position regarding the settlement on the Syrian lands.  through these Kuwaiti organizations.

 Arief Qasbian also held the community and international forces, led by the League of Arab States, responsible for the actions of the Turkish occupation state in terms of displacing the people, seizing their property, and changing the demography of the region.  Turkey’s settlement projects in northern and eastern Syria.

 The co-chair of the Armenian Social Council in Al-Hasakah Canton, Arief Qasbian, called on human rights organizations and the United Nations to intervene and limit the project, which she described as “the Turkish-Kuwaiti-Qatari project”, and the crimes of the Turkish occupation state against the peoples of the region, and to protect the existence of the components in light of attempts to exterminate them.

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https://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/armenians-hold-al-world-responsible-for-turkey-for-settlement-in-their-lands-h31510.html

Watch the report in Arabic at the link below

الأرمن يحمّلون الجامعة العربية والعالم مسؤولية استيلاء تركيا على ممتلكاتهم والاستيطان أراضيهم 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OpO3I0uopI&t=220s


Farmland in Karabakh being given to powerful Azerbaijanis – report

Kalashian Nyrie
Heydar Isayev Jun 28, 2022

Agricultural land in the territories Azerbaijan retook in the 2020 war with Armenia are being developed by companies connected to top government officials, a new investigation has found.

Abzas Media, an independent news outlet, on June 23 published a report detailing which companies have gotten government contracts to farm land in Karabakh. Many of the companies, several of them little-known, are connected to high-ranking officials, including the daughters of President Ilham Aliyev.

Abzas reported that the state Agency for Development of Small and Medium Businesses (KOBIA, in its Azerbaijani acronym) presented, at an October 2021 exhibition called “Rebuild Karabakh,” a short list of companies that had been awarded government deals to carry out agricultural work in various parts of Karabakh.

According to the agency’s figures, which hadn’t been publicly shared elsewhere, a total of 8,376.5 hectares of land had been leased in 2021 to five companies: Agroinkishaf-2017, Agro Fresh, Agro Diary, Azersun, and Kraun Ko.

It’s “no coincidence that these companies popped up in liberated lands in Karabakh,” Abzas said, given the close connections many of them have with the government.

While it wasn’t clear how those 8,000-plus hectares were allocated, KOBIA did identify a small number of specific, separate deals. Azersun, a giant Azerbaijani food monopoly, was awarded 9,000 square meters of land in the Gubadli district, in a project valued at 40 million manats [$23.5 million]. Azersun is owned by Turkish businessman Abdolbari Gozal, who is known to be close to the ruling family.

Agro Dairy was awarded a project worth 851,000 manats [$500,000] on 5.2 hectares in the Aghdam and Fuzuli districts. The company belongs to Pasha Holding, owned by members of the powerful Pashayev family of Aliyev’s wife, Mehriban Aliyeva.

Aliyev has mentioned the role of Azersun and Agro Dairy in Karabakh. In a visit to the Hajigabul district in April 2021, where he was visiting an “agropark,” a large-scale, state-backed agribusiness venture, Aliyev met the director of Agro Diary. Aliyev said that he had “recommended both those managing Agro Diary and Azersun to build agroparks in the liberated lands of Karabakh.”

A previous investigation by the independent news agency Turan found that the majority of the new agroparks established in Karabakh were connected to figures close to the government.

Kraun Ko-R was given a project worth 20 million manats [$12 million], on 2.3 hectares in the Zangilan district, Abzas reported, citing the KOBIA presentation. Kraun Ko-R’s ownership significantly overlaps with those of companies belonging to the family of Ali Naghiyev, the chief of the State Security Service, the Abzas investigation found. And its legal address happens to be the same as those of companies belonging to Baylar Ayyubov, the chief of the presidential security service.

And that is likely the tip of the iceberg, as the KOBIA presentation did not appear to cover all new government contracts for agricultural work in Karabakh. Kraun Ko-R’s director, Sabuhi Abdullayev, has said that his company planted wheat on 24,000 hectares in Gubadli, Zangilan, and Jabrayil districts in 2021 alone. “We plan to expand the land on which we are farming as soon as more territories are cleared of landmines,” he told Public Television.

Since the end of the war, Azerbaijan has undertaken a massive reconstruction campaign in the territories it retook, which were left largely destroyed after 30 years of Armenian occupation. The work so far has consisted mainly of landmine clearance, building infrastructure like airports and roads, and setting up several new, heavily promoted “smart villages” in the Zangilan district. The reconstruction work has focused heavily on the city of Shusha, which has been formally designated as Azerbaijan’s “cultural capital.”

The government hasn’t provided specific information on when the more than 600,000 Azerbaijanis displaced from those territories in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s might be able to return to live. But it appears to be moving ahead with allowing big businesses to start farming work there.

In a February speech, President Aliyev briefly touched upon the agricultural work being undertaken in Karabakh. “Various agricultural projects are now being implemented in the liberated areas. I can say that a sowing campaign is planned on 40,000-50,000 hectares this year. This will contribute to our food security,” he said.

According to an April 2021 presidential order, the Ministry of Agriculture “is temporarily entrusted with the implementation” of new agricultural work “in the the liberated territories of Azerbaijan,” including “leasing of agricultural lands for production and processing of agricultural products” and “exercising control over the use of leased lands.”

The Ministry of Agriculture did not respond to Abzas’s inquiry about to whom land in Karabakh had been leased and on which criteria they were selected. 

Heydar Isayev is a journalist from Baku.

Armenia, Azerbaijan trade new Karabakh accusations

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
The National Post

Author of the article:

Reuters
Publishing date:

Jun 27, 2022 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan traded new accusations on Monday with the president of Azerbaijan, saying his neighbor was failing to take action on a treaty to end 30 years of hostility over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The dispute over the region, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians, flared in 2020 into a six-week war in which Azeri troops regained swathes of territory. The two sides agreed to work on a peace plan after Russia brokered a ceasefire.

Pashinyan, quoted by Russian and Armenian news media, said Azerbaijan was politicizing peace efforts, including the issue of building a rail link through Armenia between Azerbaijan and its western enclave of Nakhichivan.

The target of large protests in recent weeks accusing him of making too many concessions on Karabakh, Pashinyan also said more than 50 Armenian servicemen faced treason charges.

While Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev have held a series of meetings in the past 18 months, progress towards a peace treaty has been slow.

“Azerbaijan refuses to talk, publicly accusing Armenia of refusing to talk,” Armenia’s Armenpress news agency quoted Pashinyan as telling an online news conference. “My assessment is one: it is done to legitimize a new war against Armenia.”

On the allegations against Armenian officers, Russia’s TASS news agency said Pashinyan told reporters that “a great many affairs are now happening behind closed doors and the public is unaware of them … More than 50 serviceman are accused of espionage and treason.”

The TASS account gave no further details.

Aliyev last week accused Armenia of inaction on the treaty.

Armenia was failing to abide by its “legal obligations” to allow free access for construction of the rail line, Azerbaijani media quoted him as saying after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Pashinyan said Aliyev was blocking progress on the issue by linking it to the return to Armenia of prisoners of war. (Reporting in Winnipeg by Ronald Popeski; editing by Richard Pullin)

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/crime-pmn/armenia-azerbaijan-trade-new-karabakh-accusations
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https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/2089099-armenia-azerbaijan-trade-new-karabakh-accusations
Armenia, Azerbaijan Trade New Karabakh Accusations | World News | US News

Pashinyan says corridor connecting Armenia to Karabakh will be changed

Alex Nanijanian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 10:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has revealed that there is a “preliminary understanding” that Lachin corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will be changed.

Pashinyan made the demarks during an online press conference organized for the media and non-governmental organizations on Monday, June 27.

He cited the trilateral statement from November 9, 2020, according to which “the Parties have agreed that a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin corridor shall be determined within the next three years.”

“During this time, we have been holding discussions, preliminary agreements have been reached,” the Prime Minister said. “The purpose of this change is to provide a more reliable, stronger and better road connection for Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.”

Asked what will happen to the residents of Aghavno and Sus communities, which are situated within the current corridor, Pashinyan said: “In case of a change in the route, the territories that are not part of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region will pass under the control of Azerbaijan. The problems of the residents of Aghavno will be solved with the help of the Artsakh government.”

https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/301164/Pashinyan_says_corridor_connecting_Armenia_to_Karabakh_will_be_changed

Armenia stresses "key role" of OSCE Minsk Group in Karabakh peace

Aram Torosian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 11:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias on Monday, June 27 and stressed the key role of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship in promoting the peace process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Armenia appreciates the position of Greece in support of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the mandate and within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship,” Mirzoyan said in a statement for the press.

“I presented to my colleague in detail the situation created around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the position of Armenia on the processes aimed at establishing regional peace and stability, the negotiations on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“I also touched upon issues related to the processes of the unblocking of the regional economic communications and transport infrastructure, the works within the Commission of delimitation and border security and overall the process on peace agreement.”

The Second Karabakh war lasted 44 days and ended when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev signed a ceasefire statement on November 9, 2020. Under the deal, the Armenian side returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.

Moscow rejected Washington’s invitation to discuss Karabakh – DoS

Karakhanian Suren
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 13:11 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Russian Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group has rejected the invitation of his American counterpart to discuss the future of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs said on Tuesday, June 28.

“The U.S. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair spoke with her counterparts today to discuss the future of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Bureau said in a tweet.

“It’s unfortunate the Russian Co-Chair did not accept the invitation. We look forward to the Minsk Group’s continuing work.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said days earlier that Moscow doubts Washington’s sincerity about readiness to cooperate with Russia within the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Her comments came after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Karen Donfried noted the United States was ready to work with Russia on achieving peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan canceled meeting with Armenia, Pashinyan says

Chatinian Lara
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 15:12 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Azerbaijan has canceled a meeting between Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council Armen Grigoryan and Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev.

Pashinyan told an online press conference on Monday, June 27 that the meeting was supposed to be held in Brussels.

According to him, Yerevan has also proposed a meeting between the Foreign Ministers but no response has been received from Baku so far. Pashinyan said Azerbaijan’s claims that Armenia is allegedly delaying negotiations on a peace treaty are “strange”.

Following Pashinyan’s remarks, media reports from Azerbaijan cited a diplomatic source as saying that the meeting in Brussels did not take place because there were “real reasons” for that.

“If the Armenian side makes contradictory statements every day, continues to talk about the mechanism of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, and makes territorial claims against Azerbaijan, then what is the point of holding meetings?” the source reportedly said.

Russia planning to establish technopark in Armenia

Nahapetian Zhanna
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 16:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia is planning to establish a joint technopark in the near future, Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma Alexey Gordeev told reporters in Yerevan on Tuesday, June 28.

According to him, the possibility of significantly increasing investments in the establishment of joint ventures, both in industry and in agriculture, was discussed at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan.

He added that issues of mutual certification of products in the markets of Russia and Armenia were under serious consideration, so that these goods would be perceived as products of domestic production.

“A separate topic was how we can use the potential in education and science, create the right chains of interaction,” Gordeev noted.

Armenia: Ruling party to sack opposition’s deputy parliament speaker

Greg Madatian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia –
– 18:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The ruling Civil Contract party has made a decision to remove Ishkhan Saghatelyan from the opposition Armenia bloc from the post of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

MP Artur Hovhannisyan from Civil Contract said Tuesday, June 28 that lawmaker Vahe Hakobyan, also from Armenia bloc, will be sacked as the head of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.

President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan said earlier in the day that Civil Contract was going to discuss the possibility of firing opposition deputies for missing out on work due to a months-long campaign demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Days earlier, opposition lawmaker from “I Have Honor” bloc, Chairman of Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan resigned. Vanetsyan went on a sit-in in mid-April and launched a campaign against Pashinyan and his government. Pashinian came under fire after he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and set up a joint commission on demarcating the borders.

Yerevan and Marseille keen to expand cooperation

Jhanna Virabian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia –
, 16:19

 1 minute read

The perspectives of deepening the 30-year cooperation between Yerevan and Marseille were discussed during Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan’s meeting with the deputy mayors of Marseille.

Mayor of Marseille Benoit Payan was unable to receive the delegation as he tested positive for Covid-19.

Greeting the Mayor of Yerevan, Deputy Mayor of Marseille Yanick Ohanissian noted that the collaboration between the two cities has a big potential for development and expansion, which should be used for the benefit of the residents of Yerevan and Marseille.

Expressing gratitude for warm welcome, Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan stressed that the visit is a good opportunity to outline priority directions for working out a new three-year program. The parties attached importance to experience exchange between specialists and stressed that the cities encountering similar problems should join their efforts to achieve results.

https://en.armradio.am/2022/06/28/yerevan-and-marseille-keen-to-expand-cooperation/