Author: Ani Kharatian

The Australian newspaper’s Weekend edition has reported on Azerbaijan’s efforts to gain a “diplomatic edge” over Armenia and the Armenian National Committee of Australia by treating “Federal politicians and their wives … to expenses-paid, business-class trips to Azerbaijan.”

Furthermore, in the article titled ‘War of words over shuttle diplomacy in Azerbaijan’, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Australia, Rovshan Jamshidov has admitted that gaining Australia’s firm backing in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute was “one of the main reasons” for opening a Canberra Embassy in 2013.

The article also quotes recent visitors to Azerbaijan as part of its government’s ‘shuttle diplomacy’, Federal MPs Luke Simpkins and Alan Griffin – the Chair and Vice-Chair of the recently-formed Australia Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Simpkins came under fire by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) recently, when he rose in Australia’s Parliament to condemn the self-determined Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh as “illegally seized” territory belonging to the Aliyev dictatorship of Azerbaijan. This statement was delivered as a Constituency Statement, when The Australian confirms there are only four Azeri-born constituents in Simpkins’s electorate of Cowan.

The Australian quotes ANC Australia Executive Administrator, Arin Markarian on this point: “Simpkins … is wined and dined in Baku, and all of a sudden develops an intimate knowledge of Caucasus geopolitics — intimate enough to take a hardline anti-Armenian view … without once visiting Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia to talk to the other side.”

Markarian added: “You can forgive Armenian-Australians for thinking something smells fishy about Simpkins.”

In MP fiduciary reports obtained by ANC Australia, it is confirmed all entertainment and accommodation expenses on these trips are covered by “the government of Azerbaijan”.

Markarian commended The Australian on shining a light on this “questionable” form of diplomacy exercised by Azerbaijan.

“We have tried to ask these questions to Mr. Simpkins, but he has avoided us. He couldn’t avoid The Australian, but yet, he still wasn’t able to answer the questions raised by its reporters and the Australian public,” said Markarian.

Markarian added: “A Parliamentarian from Western Australia, which hardly has any Azeri population, is invited to Azerbaijan. His fiduciary report of the trip reveals his on-ground expenses, including accommodation and meals, were all paid for by the ‘Parliament of Azerbaijan’, which in itself is a funny concept in a dictatorship ruled by the same family since Soviet time.”

“Then Simpkins returns to Australia and speaks in Parliament about the ‘illegal occupation’ by ‘aggressor Armenians’ of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“The Armenian National Committee of Australia and the Armenian community of Australia finds it preposterous that the native people of a land, who have exercised their rights to self-determination after years of abuse faced by a foreign dictatorship, are now called ‘illegal occupants’ of their native land… by an Australian politician who is only interested in meeting representatives of the Azerbaijani side of this conflict after a sojourn to Baku.”

– Celebrity British human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney has sparked grumblings in Azerbaijan over , before the European Court of Human Rights. Azerbaijani media which often do PR hit-jobs for the government claim that Clooney is Armenian and a Turkophobe.

“Clooney targets Turkic states in her path to fame,” screamed a headline in , an outlet long busy with whitewashing the Azerbaijani government’s human-rights record. “We would like to note that Amal Clooney is an ethnic Armenian and she represented Armenian interests in the European Court for Human Rights,” echoed the hawkish news service.

Clooney and the a British charitable organization, will represent Ismayilova in a case brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the reporter’s extended pre-trial detention, MLDI attorney Nani Jansen emailed in response to a query from EurasiaNet.org. Ismayilova, 39, was detained in December 2014 on charges of allegedly having prompted a co-worker to attempt suicide. She remained in custody even after the co-worker had dropped his charges.

The MLDI also is representing Ismayilova before the ECHR concerning the government’s failure to prosecute those involved in against Ismayilova, and the violation of her right to privacy.

Clooney and the MLDI are not involved in the better known matter of Ismayilova’s seven-and-a-half-year-long prison sentence on various criminal charges. Rights groups term the prison-term retribution for

Under the ECHR rules, Ismayilova’s September 2015 sentence must first go through the Azerbaijani appeal-process before the Strasbourg-based court can consider a complaint against Azerbaijan about it. After the Baku Court of Appeals upheld the sentence, Ismayilova’s lawyers filed a case with Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court, reported on January 18, and expect a hearing “in two to three months.”

Azerbaijani officials, bent on promoting their country’s own profile, long have had thin-skinned reactions to international shaming over Ismayilova’s sentencing.

The fact that Clooney is actually of Lebanese extraction matters little for Azerbaijan’s pro-government media, known for its time-honored tradition of blaming various woes on the country’s next-door enemy, Armenia, with which Azerbaijan has a decades-long conflict over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The attacks on Clooney focused on she led against a Turkish politician in the European Court of Human Rights. That case feeds the accusations that the 37-year-old attorney is on an anti-Turkic binge. Turkey and Azerbaijan share Turkic ties and, as close allies, both oppose Armenia on Karabakh.

“Anti-Turkic activities indeed helped Amal, a Lebanese by origin with close roots to large Armenian community in her motherland, to get distinguished in her lawyer career,” opined journalist Gunal Camal in her piece for AzerNews. The reporter maintained that the said “anti-Turkic” spree is Clooney’s “bid to catch up [with] with her husband [Hollywood star George Clooney]’s fame.”

To add a twist to the tale, the government-aligned cited Ismayilova’s two Azerbaijani lawyers, Fakhraddin Mehdiyev and Fariz Namazli,  as saying they know nothing about Clooney’s involvement in the case over Ismayilova’s sentencing. Namazli, however, is named as the Azerbaijani counsel in .

That said, a high-profile lawyer championing any of Ismayilova’s cases could be enough to rile Baku; low prices for oil, a key economic engine, already have put the government on the defensive.

Papal Nuncio Gabriel Katchea visited His Holiness Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, this morning and handed him a letter from Pope Francis on the occasion of the Armenian Christmas.

His Holiness Aram I expressed gratitude to the Vatican and especially Pope Francis for his full support to the just cause of Armenians on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The interlocutors discussed the developments in the Middle East, the rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. They stressed the need to prevent the further aggravation of the situation, the results of which could be disastrous to the whole of Middle East.

The parties also discussed the domestic situation in Lebanon with a special focus on the presidential elections.

100 LIVES has announced the launch of a new annual scholarship established in partnership with esteemed international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney,  reports. 

The new ‘Amal Clooney Scholarship’ is part of an ongoing effort by 100 LIVES – the organization behind the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity – to strengthen cross-cultural education and understanding through collaborative social and philanthropic projects.

“As a leading human rights barrister and campaigner, Amal Clooney is an inspirational role model for young women around the world. She exemplifies integrity, compassion and dedication – and typifies what it means to be a global citizen across all cultures.” said Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of 100 LIVES and UWC Dilijan College, an international co-educational boarding school hosting students from 64 countries. ” 100 LIVES recognizes the need for future generations to have greater cross-cultural understanding. The college strives to make education a force for peace by bringing together aspiring young leaders from all over the world.”

Through this new scholarship, 100 LIVES will send one female student from Lebanon to Dilijan each year to enroll in a two-year international baccalaureate program. Recipients of the Amal Clooney Scholarship will be chosen annually based on their exemplary academic performance and demonstrable interest in the promotion of human rights and international issues. The first Amal Clooney Scholarship will be awarded to Pamela Tebchrany – a dedicated Lebanese student who graduated top of her class and is fluent in Arabic, French and English. She will be using the scholarship to pursue her interests in human rights and women’s equality.

“This scholarship will give young women from Lebanon the opportunity of a lifetime,” Amal Clooney said. “Cross-cultural learning and studying abroad can be transformative. I am grateful to 100 LIVES for helping to open doors for these bright and talented young women.”

Beyond this scholarship, both Mrs. Clooney and her husband, George, have philanthropic ties to 100 LIVES. Mr. Clooney is co-chair of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity – a new $1 million global humanitarian prize recognizing those who put themselves at risk to enable others to survive. He will present at the inaugural Prize at a ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia on April 24, 2016. Mr. Clooney’s Not On Our Watch foundation is also a partner of 100 LIVES – the two organizations share a commitment to focus public attention on the impact of genocide and work to prevent mass atrocities around the world.

The annual selection process is managed by a dedicated UWC National Committee in Lebanon and based on the UWC entry requirements and Amal Clooney Scholarship criteria.

Photo:  Donat Sorokin/TASS

 

The Russian military base in Armenia has received new Orlan-10 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and started testing Navodchik-2 drones invisible from the ground, a Southern Military District spokesman told on Tuesday.

The drones are being tested at the high mountainous Kamkhud training range in Armenia by the servicemen who have undergone special retraining at the training facility in the Moscow Region, the spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, “reconnaissance units will use Orlan-10 UAVs for the first time to track extended and point targets in high mountainous areas”.

“The UAVs will be also involved in combat training of the military base’s units,” the spokesman added.

“The military base’s servicemen will also learn to deploy the Navodchik-2 reconnaissance system, prepare it for launching, use the catapult for aircraft takeoff and landing, the spokesman said.

The modern Navodchik-2 and Orlan-10 systems “will boost the volume of tasks accomplished in high mountainous areas in Armenia in the interests of reconnaissance and special units by five times,” the Southern Military District’s spokesman said.

The Russian military base is located in Armenia under an inter-governmental treaty signed between Moscow and Yerevan in 1995.

Christian Armenians have lived in Iran since thousands of years ago and their existence in the nation dates to the pre-Christ times, the  reports.

According to historic evidences and relics, their existence in the nation dates back to the B.C fith and sixth centuries. Since then, they have preserved their own social fabric and language in Iran, as well as in other countries of their diaspora.

In an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the chief Armenian bishop in Tehran, Sebuh Sarkisian, said the Armenians have been since the old times a very active community in Iran in humanitarian, cultural, literary, commercial and military sectors.

In the 17th century, the Safavid Shah Abbas transferred more than 300,000 Armenians from Armenia to Esfahan, with aim of renovating the city and creating a new social mix-up, he said. Esfahan was the first city to host the Armenians. They built their own town in Esfahan, named Newo Julfa before spreading to other countries such as India and Iraq.

According to official figures, there are some 100,000 Christians, including 80,000 Armenians, in Iran. They practice their religious rites freely. The Iranian Christians have three patriarchates. According to historic sources, the patriarchate in Tibriz is the oldest one in the country, followed by the one in Esfahan. The newest is located in Tehran.

The Tehran patriarchate groups the largest number of Armenian worshippers. It is significantly influential, managing 20 schools, 20 associations in addition to a number of clubs for the community.
The Armenians are represented with two men in the parliament. They publish a number of newspapers and the patriarchate in Tehran oversees up to 11 churches.

Bishop Sarkisian noted that the largest number of Armenians live in Tehran, followed by Esfahan and Aroumiah. He affirmed that the Armenians enjoy freedoms in Iran, unlike other countries, with exception of Lebanon. They practice their rituals without any restrictions, Sarkisian said, adding that the authorities encourage them to hold their religious ceremonies.

The Armenians view Armenia as their mother land. The Armenian schools teach the official curricula, except for the religious curricula, the Armenian language and history.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi today, Georgia Today reports.

The Armenian has left for Georgia to take part in the 6th non-official Eastern Partnership (EaP) dialogue currently underway in Tbilisi.

At this morning’s meeting the two Foreign Ministers discussed prospects of future cooperation in existing and new directions. Both  emphasised the “existing friendly, neighboring relationship between Georgia and Armenia.”

The EaP dialogue, due to be completed today, was also being attended by the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Moldova, as well as by delegations from Belarus and Ukraine.

European Union Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn also arrived in Tbilisi earlier today to participate in the talks, which were expected to focus on a range of regional economic and political issues facing EaP nations.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense has offered deep condolences to the families of two Armenian soldiers Vahe Vanoyan and Mikael Torosyan killed as a result of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side last night.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement it strongly condemns this “act of terrorist nature.” “Aware that these actions will not go unpunished and the guilty will be held accountable, the military-political leadership in Azerbaijan once again chose escalate the situation,” the Ministry said.

“At the same time, we draw attention to the fact that the steps targeted at destabilizing the situation in at the line of contact intensify day by day after the completion of electoral processes and Azerbaijan and the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to the region. This is an evidence of the non-constructive stance of Azerbaijani leadership on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and violation of the norms of international law.”

A joint Russian and Armenian air defense system project was launched long ago and is not connected to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the crisis in the region proves the necessity of such measures, political analyst Sergei Minasyan said.

Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered to sign an agreement on the creation of a joint air defense system of Russia and Armenia. The decree was published Wednesday.

The system will allow for protecting the airspace far to the south of the Russian borders, political analyst Sergei Minasyan said.

“The system will comprise air defenses and Russian combat jets deployed to the Southern Military District. This would allow for monitoring the airspace far from the Armenian borders. The system will also help modernize Armenian air defenses and improve their operational range,” Minasyan told .

The deployment of air defense missile systems, radio-radars and jet fighters to Armenia will allow for protecting the airspace far from the Russian borders, including in the Middle East, he pointed out.

According to him, the initiative was launched long ago.

“It has been in the development for over 10 years. And now it’s just a coincidence with the Syrian conflict. The situation in the so-called Greater Middle East just proves that the measures are effective,” the analyst said.

Minasyan underscored that Moscow and Yerevan laid groundwork for the project back in the 1990s.

“From political and strategic points of view there have been no significant changes. The system still works. Russia and Armenia coordinate their actions in patrolling the airspace. The new joint air defense system would just be more effective,” he said.

In remembrance of 100 years since the Armenian Genocide, professors from four different universities spoke out against denial of the genocide as part of “Denial and Memory,” a conference held at Northwestern on Friday, reports.

Held by the Buffett Institute of Global Studies’ Keyman Modern Turkish Studies, history Prof. Ipek Yosmaoğlu introduced the event to an audience of about 30 people.

“Denial of violence is even more serious,” said Yosmaoğlu. “The most terrible thing is not about the suffering, but the erasure of its memory.”

Mustafa Aksakal, who teaches about Turkish history at Georgetown University, was the first speaker. He began by telling the story of five young Armenian boys who struck an undetonated shell that fell during World War I, killing two and injuring three. Aksakal used this as an example of the destruction war brought to Armenian communities.

“In short, the first World War devastated the Middle East,” he said. “Violence begets violence, but more violence begets violent identities.”

Rachel Goshgarian, a professor at Lafayette College, spoke about Armenian historical monuments and how since the 20th century, hundreds have either been destroyed or are vanishing.

“Does this destruction, this continued use of destruction, act as a byproduct of the Armenian Genocide?” she asked the crowd.

Some of these buildings had been used for demonstrations of explosive power, or target practice for the military, Goshgarian said. Other times these places lose parts of their structures for people to repurpose them for homebuilding.

“These have been the fate of these structures” she said. “Even when the ministry recognizes these buildings have some sort of historical importance, some buildings get turned into a children’s playground.”

Kerem Ӧktem, a professor at the University of Graz in Austria, discussed memory versus recognition of the genocide and ideas like the Turkish government’s denial of the genocide. He also talked about the connection between societal power groups and recognition of the genocide.

“With very little reach out in society, it is important to see how many sides can exist in society,” he said. “Denialists are losing ground.”

Barbara Lyons, an Evanston resident who was at the event, said she is interested in the topic of the Middle East and the Armenian Genocide.

“Everything they told me were things I didn’t know,” she said. “I read about the West carving out the East arbitrarily, forming countries, and that is how this whole thing got started.”

She also commented on the shock factor of the lecture.

“The destruction of Armenian culture is what surprised me,” she said. “They didn’t just get rid of the Armenians, they wanted to get rid of remembering they were there.”