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Author: Anna Tamamian

Two more members of opposition ‘Armenia’ bloc apprehended

Anna Tamamian
News.am, Armenia
16:50, 17.07.2021

This morning, police officers apprehended also Maria Petrosyan and Nikoghos Hovhannisyan, members of the opposition “Armenia” bloc—led by second President Robert Kocharyan. Hovhannisyan himself informed about this on Facebook Saturday.

“Freedom for political prisoners,” he added, in particular.

Police officers have been carrying out tight surveillance at the main building of the Armenian government since Saturday morning.

They have apprehended from there 16 people, including “Armenia” bloc member Gegham Nazaryan who is the father of a soldier who died in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war last year, as well as Taron Ghazaryan, Garnik Melkumyan, and Vardan Galstyan—members of the student union of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation-ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party—, who tried to hold a peaceful protest outside this government building.

Armenpress: Tigran Sahakyan appointed chairman of the Criminal Court of Appeal

Anna Tamamian

Tigran Sahakyan appointed chairman of the Criminal Court of Appeal

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 21:05, 9 July, 2021

YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian signed a decree appointing  Tigran Sahakyan as the Chairman of the Criminal Court of Appeal. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, Sahakyan has been appointed for a three-year term.

Azerbaijani press: Azerbaijan allocates funds for protection of state border in liberated Kalbajar district

Anna Tamamian
22 June 2021 15:23 (UTC+04:00)
536

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on power supply to protect the state border in Kalbajar district on June 22.

In accordance with the order, to ensure reliable and uninterrupted power supply to protect the state border in Kalbajar district, 24.5 million manat ($14.4 million) will be allocated to Azerishig OJSC from the funds envisaged in the Azerbaijani state budget for 2021 for the restoration and reconstruction of the Azerbaijani territories liberated from the Armenian occupation.

The Ministry of Finance was instructed to allocate funds in the amount specified in this order while the Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to resolve the issues arising from this order.

Asbarez: Armenian Consulate General Honors Paul Krekorian

Anna Tamamian
by Contributor

 

 June 22, 2021

 

in Armenia, Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

Armenia’s Consul General to Los Angeles Ambassador Armen Baibourtian (left) with LA City Councilmember Paul Krekorian

GLENDALE—Armenia’s Consulate General in Los Angeles hosted a reception on June 17 in honor of Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian to express gratitude for the his consistent support of Armenia and Artsakh. The reception was attended by public, religious, political and cultural leaders and community representatives.

After welcoming remarks by Armenia’s Consul General in Los Angeles Ambassador Armen Baibourtian, remarks were delivered by Western Primate Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the University of Southern California’s Institute of Armenian Studies, prominent lawyer Rafi Ourfalian, and State Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian. The speakers praised Krekorian for his efforts to advance the Homeland. All clergy present at the event said a prayer for Krekorian and his wife Dr. Tamar Krekorian.

In his remarks, Baibourtian highlighted the importance Krekorian’s activities and efforts for the City of Los Angeles, the State of California, the U.S. as well as Armenia and Artsakh in his capacity as a former member of the State Assembly and L.A. City Councilmember.

“There are many examples that attest to Paul Krekorian’s full and unwavering devotion towards the welfare and betterment of the Homeland of Armenia and Artsakh,” said Baibourtian.

Community leaders gathered to honor LA City Counilmember Paul Krekorian

In 2012, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the Los Angeles-Shushi Friendship City agreement, and in 2013, the Los Angeles City Council recognized the independence of the Republic of Artsakh as a sovereign state by a special adopted resolution as a commitment to the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh.

Within the first days of last fall’s Artsakh War, Krekorian began to unite and consolidate California American political and state leaders in pursuit of ending the Azerbaijani unleashed war against Artsakh. As a result, and thanks to his efforts, on October 5, members of Congress and California lawmakers joined Los Angeles City Council members and leaders and other officials at a joint press conference that raised awareness about and condemned Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh.

During the 44-day war and in its aftermath, thanks to Krekorian, the L.A. City Council unanimously adopted a resolution confirming the support of the City of Los Angeles to the people of the Republic of Artsakh. At Krekorian’s initiative, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously adopted yet another resolution, in which it demanded Azerbaijan to immediately release the Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians. Moreover, November 9th was declared as a Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the victims of Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh.

LA City Councilmember Paul Krekorian with his wife, Dr. Tamar Krekorian

Baibourtian added that “the continued support for Armenia and Artsakh also have a consolidating effect and a unifying role for the Armenian community of California”.

In his remarks, Krekorian stated: “My response to the kind words of commendation and encouragement expressed today would be very brief—I was just doing my job. We should always be with our Homeland and cherish it.”

In the concluding part of the program, Anna Mouradian, Chief of Staff of LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, presented certificates of appreciation to Krekorian and his spouse, Tamar on behalf of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

During the event, Armenian folk music was performed by duduk player Jivan Gasparyan Jr., the grandson of the world-famous Jivan Gasparyan, as well as guitar player Andranik Kzirian.

Reporters without Borders: A team of Spanish journalists threatened with death by Azerbaijani forces

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia
June 24 2021

A group of Spanish reporters were threatened with death by Azerbaijani forces, while reporting on their position, close to the border with Azerbaijan in the Gegharkunik province of Armenia. The incident is reported by Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organization aiming at defending journalists and media representatives. 

“Reporters Without Borders condemns this unacceptable act toward journalists!” the organisation tweeted on Thursday. 

Relatives of Armenians detained in Baku stage a sit-in protest to demand their return

Anna Tamamian
JAM News
June 24 2021
    JAMnews, Yerevan

Relatives of Armenian citizens detained in Azerbaijan after the second Karabakh war are staging a sit-in protest which started on the evening of June 23. Families of the detainees demand specific information about the current situation of their loved ones and their immediate return to Armenia.

The decision to hold a protest was made after a meeting with acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. According to the relatives of the Armenian prisoners, they were not satisfied with the results of the meeting.

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“There is not a single structure left in Armenia or Karabakh, as no matter where we apply, nobody refuses to help, however, to no end. Seven months have passed. Everyone says – today, tomorrow, in a month. But they are not giving us specific dates”, said one of the protesters.

The relatives of the prisoners announced an indefinite sit-in protest which will last until the issue is resolved.

“We have nowhere else to go. This is the only way left”, said another protester.

The protesters told reporters that at a meeting with the acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan they received no encouraging information from him.

“He cannot say anything concrete. He asks us to wait, be patient. But my patience has run out”, said one of the protesters gathered outside the government building.

Another protester explained that the sit-in is addressed not only to the Armenian authorities but also to international structures.

Mels Hambardaryan, whose brother is now detained in Azerbaijan, said that all the protesters are most concerned about the “absurd trials of Armenian prisoners in Baku”:

“Our guys are there alone, without any help. We call on international organizations to send mediators and take measures to preserve the rule of law. We call on the authorities of the Republic of Armenia to file a lawsuit against Azerbaijan as soon as possible, as it violates a number of international treaties, as well as the Geneva Conventions, to which it has been a party for 21 years. This must be done very quickly so that we can stop Azerbaijan”.

Until recently, the exact number of people held captive in Azerbaijan has not been reported in Armenia. Only a few days ago Nikol Pashinyan said that the confirmed number of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan at this moment is 60 people. The prime minister said that there is also some information about another 110 detained persons.

Meanwhile, human rights activists believe that the number of people held in Azerbaijan is much higher and may reach up to 200 people.

Baku refuses to return the prisoners, stating that some of them are saboteurs accused of being “soldiers of luck, terrorists and war criminals”. In Azerbaijan trials against Armenian prisoners are already underway.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the situation, stated that Baku uses prisoners of war as political hostages.

The Ombudsman of Armenia believes that the trials of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan completely contradict the principles of international law. Cases against them are justified by the “confessions” of the prisoners themselves.

After the war, 89 prisoners returned to their homeland. The last group of 15 prisoners returned to Armenia on June 12. In return, Armenia provided maps of minefields on the territory of the Agdam region, which came under the control of the Azerbaijani side following the results of the second Karabakh war.

The exchange of prisoners and other detainees, as well as the bodies of the dead, is stipulated in the trilateral agreement of November 10, 2020 on the cessation of hostilities, which was signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia has already returned all Azerbaijani prisoners, including those who were convicted in Karabakh for grave crimes and murders before the last war.

 

Armenian Church urges immediate release of doctor Armen Charchyan

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on Thursday called for the immediate release of famous doctor Armen Charchyan, Director of the Izmirlian Medical Center owned by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In an official statement, the Mother See condemned the charges against the doctor as “persecution”, adding the court ruling to arrest him is “disproportionate”.

“We urge the competent institutions to release Professor Armen Charchyan immediately, taking into account his poor health condition and the circumstance of a minor child in his care.

“Honored doctor Armen Charchyan has saved thousands of lives in the most difficult situations, and today as well, heading the Izmirlian Medical Center of the Mother See, he continues to provide unceasing service to our people and the homeland.

“We believe that the preliminary investigation of the criminal case can be conducted without isolating Dr. Armen Charchyan from the society,” reads the statement. 

Assembly Statement on Presidents Biden & Erdogan’s NATO Meeting

Anna Tamamian
Washington, D.C. – During President Joe Biden’s press conference today at the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, the President stated that he had a “productive” conversation with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Biden Administration’s recognition of the genocide was not discussed during the presidents’ bilateral meeting.
In the lead-up to today’s meeting between Presidents Biden and Erdoğan, it was widely reported that Erdoğan was going to “blast [Biden] for his recent recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” with national security advisor Jake Sullivan indicating that President Biden was prepared to talk about the Armenian Genocide.
 
The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) applauds President Biden’s commitment to America’s values and U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. President Biden’s affirmation of the Armenian Genocide this April showed America at its best. 
The Assembly remains deeply concerned about the destructive role that Turkey played during the 44-day war last Fall, launched by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people amid a pandemic, and the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from their historic homeland of Artsakh (Nagorno- Karabakh). The Assembly recalls President Biden’s “demand” from last year that Turkey stay out of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and work “to prevent interference by third parties, including nation-states like Turkey.”
President Erdoğan needs to be judged by his actions and not his words. He continues to inflame tensions in Artsakh. He is scheduled to travel to Shushi on June 16, home of the historic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral – deliberately targeted by Azerbaijani shelling in last Fall’s war – for the groundbreaking of a Grey Wolves school, led by the Turkish Grey Wolves organization, recently banned in France, and which is known to be an ultranationalist terrorist group.
Throughout the G7 and NATO summits, President Biden made it plain that the defense of democracy demands the attention of America and its allies and partners around the world. It is clear through its actions domestically and internationally – in Artsakh, Cyprus, Libya, Syria, and in the Mediterranean Sea – that the authoritarian Erdoğan regime is diametrically opposed to democratic values and the rule of law. As Secretary Blinken emphasized during his nomination hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. should be clear-eyed in its current relationship with Turkey and the Assembly urges the Administration to remain vigilant in this regard.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

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NR# 2021-53

Robert Kocharyan meets with former PM Karen Karapetyan

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia
June 15 2021

Armenia’s ex-President, the leader of “Armenia” bloc Robert Kocharyan had a meeting with Armenia’s former PM Karen Karapetyan. The meeting took place at the central office of the bloc, according to the report by the press service ‘Armenia’ alliance. During the meeting, Kocharyan and Karapetyan discussed number of programmes and projects to be implemented in the future, the source said. 

To remind, Karen Karapetyan on Monday issue a statement, expressing his support to Robert Kocharyan in the upcoming parliamentary elections. 

Armenia’s Pashinian holds last major pre-election rally

Anna Tamamian
BNE Intellinews
Pashinian addresses the thousands gathered in Yerevan’s Republic Square.
By Neil Hauer in Yerevan

Armenia’s acting PM Nikol Pashinian held his last major pre-election rally on June 17, gathering supporters in Yerevan’s Republic Square following an exhaustive tour of Armenia’s provinces.

Estimates placed the attendance at around 20,000 supporters.

On June 20, the small, impoverished South Caucasus country holds snap parliamentary polls called by Pashinian in an attempt to diffuse a political crisis that broke out after last autumn’s disastrous Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan.

The moment of truth has arrived,” declared Pashinian, who turned up at the rally in the capital’s Republic Square with his wife and children.

“On June 20 we will come to the polls to stage a steel revolution,” he added as the crowd cheered and chanted “Nikol!”

“Steel mandate”

During an aggressive campaign that sparked warnings from the country’s rights ombudsman, Pashinian has urged voters to give him a “steel mandate” and brandished a hammer.

Many at June 17’s rally said Pashinian should not be blamed for the mistakes of his predecessors and defended his track record.

“We do no not want the old regime to return,” one supporter, Mikael Kirakosyan, told AFP.

The 60-year-old engineer-turned-businessman said that “anarchy and corruption” had reigned in the ex-Soviet country of nearly 3mn people before Pashinian came to power after a bloodless uprising in 2018.

Karine Harutyunyan, a 53-year-old homemaker, said Pashinian was an “honest” man.

 

“We trust him, we love him, we respect him!”

Pashinian, a former newspaper editor, swept to power in 2018, spearheading peaceful protests against corrupt elites who ruled after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

bne IntelliNews – Armenia’s Pashinian holds last major pre-election rally

But many Armenians now feel betrayed, saying he led the country into a six-week war with arch-enemy Azerbaijan and signed an unpopular truce agreement last year that surrendered swathes of territory. The war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave claimed more than 6,000 lives.

“I will not vote for Pashinian again,” said Elya Martikyan, a 29-year-old nurse.

“He’s good at making threats, at brandishing a hammer.”

Fear of further polarisation

Many also fear that instead of bringing relief after the trauma of war, the election could further polarise the country.

Polls show that Pashinian’s Civil Contract Party is neck-to-neck with ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s electoral bloc.

Both politicians are also planning to hold multiple rallies after the election.

bne IntelliNews – Armenia’s Pashinian holds last major pre-election rally

Pashinian has said he expects his party to win 60% of the vote, an estimate some pollsters call “fantastical”.

US-based political observer Arthur Martirosyan said Pashinian would not go down without a fight and might mobilise his supporters if he loses.

“For him, it’s a matter of life and death,” Martirosyan, a senior consultant with conflict management firm CMPartners, told AFP. He said Pashinian could face an inquiry over his handling of the war if he loses power.

A poll last week showed Kocharyan’s bloc leading with 24.1%, followed by Pashinian’s party with 23.8% and ex-leader Serzh Sargsyan’s bloc with 7.4 percent.

‘No one to exceed 30%’

Aram Navasardyan who directs the pollster that carried out the survey, Marketing Professional Group (MPG), predicted that no one would get more than 30% of the vote.

A record four electoral blocs and 22 parties are running in the elections and most have campaigned on a pro-Russian platform.

Russia, a long-standing strategic ally, helped broker the truce agreement with Azerbaijan and its peacekeepers have been deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Only a handful of parties are expected to win seats in parliament.