Author: Antranik Varosian

RFE/RL – Armenia Condemns Azeri ‘Trophy Park’

Antranik Varosian
April 13, 2021
  • Marine Khachatrian

Armenia – A session of the National Assembly, Yerevan,April 13, 2021

Armenia strongly condemned Azerbaijan on Tuesday for opening a special park in Baku to display military equipment seized from Armenian troops during last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The “park of trophies” inaugurated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday features not only military hardware but also helmets of Armenian soldiers killed in action and degrading wax mannequins of Armenian military personnel. The public demonstration of these and other items is meant to underscore Azerbaijan’s victory in the six-week war which Russia helped to stop on November 10.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Baku of “dishonoring the memory of victims of the war, missing persons and prisoners of war and violating the rights and dignity of their families.”

“Azerbaijan is completely solidifying its position as a global center of intolerance and xenophobia,” a ministry statement said, adding that the park makes mockery of Aliyev’s calls for regional peace and stability.

Armenia’s human rights defender, Arman Tatoyan, decried the “clear manifestation of fascism.” “This once again shows that we must not allow ourselves to be numbed by Azerbaijan’s false pacifist programs,” he said.

The development also prompted uproar from senior members of the Armenian parliament representing the ruling My Step bloc.

“We are dealing with a terrorist state,” one of them, Vladimir Karapetian, declared on the parliament floor.

Opposition lawmakers seized upon the public display in Baku to again denounce Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s recent calls for a post-war normalization, including through commercial projects, of Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Taron Simonian of the Bright Armenia Party said Yerevan should forget about seeking “economic or other friendly relations with such a criminal regime.”

“I think we can end the discourse about whether Azerbaijan and Turkey are our enemies. Yes, they are enemies, old enemies. Yes, they are barbarian states,” said Arman Abovian, a deputy affiliated with another opposition party, Prosperous Armenia.

Canada scraps export permits for drone technology to Turkey, complains to Ankara

Antranik Varosian
Yahoo! News

, 6:08 p.m

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada on Monday scrapped export permits for drone technology to Turkey after concluding that the equipment had been used by Azeri forces fighting Armenia in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, said Foreign Minister Marc Garneau.

Turkey, which like Canada is a member of NATO, is a key ally of Azerbaijan, whose forces gained territory in the enclave after six weeks of fighting.

“This use was not consistent with Canadian foreign policy, nor end-use assurances given by Turkey,” Garneau said in a statement, adding he had raised his concerns with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier in the day.

Ottawa suspended the permits last October so it could review claims that Azeri drones used in the conflict had been equipped with imaging and targeting systems made by L3Harris Wescam, the Canada-based unit of L3Harris Technologies Inc.

Earlier on Monday, Turkey said Cavusoglu had urged Canada to review the defence industry restrictions.

“He conveyed concerns about Canada’s stance on defence industry restrictions imposed on Turkey and requested their review,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.

The parts under embargo include camera systems for Baykar armed drones. Export licences were suspended in 2019 during Turkish military activities in Syria. Restrictions were then eased, but reimposed during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkey’s military exports to its ally Azerbaijan jumped six-fold last year. Sales of drones and other military equipment rose to $77 million in September alone before fighting broke out in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, data showed.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa, and Tuvan Gumrukcu in AnkaraWriting by Daren ButlerEditing by Gareth Jones)

Armenian Judoka Ferdinant Karapetyan took a high position at international tournament

Antranik Varosian
Panorama, Armenia
March 29 2021

Armenian judoka Ferdinant Karapetyan took the seventh position at an international qualification tournament held in Tbilisi. As the National Olympic Committee reported, the Armenian judoka won consecutively the representatives of Israel, Austria, and Mongolia and reached the quarter-finals. As the head coach of the Armenian team informed, Ferdinant took advantage over the opponent from Kosovo in the beginning of the bout, however, as a result of a controversial decision of the referee the opponent was named the winner. 

The Armenian judoka scored 1552 points and was placed on the seventh position, improving the chances to take part in the Tokyo Olympics. 

Karapetyan is set to attend a training camp in the coming week before leaving for Lisbon on April 16 for the European Championship. 

Electoral Code changed in Armenia in run up to snap elections

Antranik Varosian
JAM News
April 2 2021
    JAMnews, Yerevan

Amendments to Armenian electoral code

The Armenian parliament adopted amendments to the Electoral Code in a rapid manner yesterday, just two and a half months before snap elections scheduled for June 20.

Elections will only be held according to a proportional electoral system, without any ‘rating lists.’

82 MPs voted for the adoption of the amendments; no one voted against or abstained.

The amendments were opposed by both opposition factions represented in parliament. Bright Armenia, moreover, stated that from this moment the legitimacy of the elections is being questioned.

A proportional electoral system presupposes the formation of elected bodies of power only according to party lists. When elections are held according to a proportional system, deputy mandates are distributed in full accordance with the number of votes gained by the parties.

Rating voting is an electoral system that is used to select one winner from two or more candidates on the electoral lists. During voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference, rather than just voting for one candidate. If the candidate receives more than half of the votes, then they win.

What the ruling party is trying to change

The My Step faction proposed the following amendments:

  • replace the rating electoral system with a proportional one
  • to establish a new threshold for parties and party unions: for parties – 4%, for blocks of two parties – 8%, for blocks of three parties – 9%, for blocks of four or more parties – 10%
  • remove the restriction on the number of parties participating in the formation of post-election coalitions and extend the period provided for their formation
  • to increase the number of forces represented in parliament from the current three to four
  • reduce the size of the electoral deposit for parties and party blocs running in parliamentary elections

The position of the gov’t

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on March 18 that early parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia on June 20.

The authorities and two opposition parties represented in parliament agreed to hold early elections to overcome the protracted internal political crisis in the country, which arose following defeat in the Second Karabakh War in the fall of 2020. Since then, the opposition has been demanding the resignation of the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who refuses to leave only at the request of opposition supporters.

Current government officials immediately announced that they want to amend the Electoral Code before the elections.

And the most important change in it was also announced in advance: elections should be held only according to a proportional electoral system, that is, according to party lists.

On April 1, during the discussion of the amendments, Vahagn Hovakimyan, a deputy from the ruling My Step faction, recalled that the electoral rating system in Armenia was criticized by all opposition parties since its introduction:

“I want to emphasize that there was initially a broad consensus among political forces on the issue of holding elections according to a pure proportional system. In the elections in 2018, the rejection of the rating system was presented in the program of all current parliamentary parties.”

Opposition does a turnabout

The Prosperous Armenia Party refused to participate in the meeting at all. And Bright Armenia criticized the proposed amendments. The faction leader Edmon Marukyan stated:

“Dear citizens, speculating in your name, an attempt is being made to make another wrong step. I officially declare that the legitimacy of the elections is called into question if the rules of the game change.”

According to the oppositionist, Armenian citizens are already deprived of the right to elect the president and mayors of large cities. “According to the authorities, if the people are given the right to choose, then people will vote for the criminals. Therefore, in their opinion, the authorities themselves should determine the electoral lists.”

“You have 44 people elected according to a rating system. Which one of you is the culprit? The problem was not in the electoral order, but in the fact that pre-election bribes were distributed. You cannot even correctly identify the problem,” the oppositionist addressed the authorities.

This criticism was answered by an MP from the ruling My Step faction in parliament, Ruben Rubinyan. He cited excerpts from Marukyan’s 2018 speeches when he opposed the rating system.

With these amendments, according to Rubinyan, they fulfill not only their promise and obligation, but also the wishes of other parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forces.

Comment

Political scientist Garik Kerian believes that the rating system is one of the most shameful electoral systems in the whole world.

“I don’t even know of a country where it is used, they say there is one or two. Where the previous authorities found them remained a mystery. This is such a mixed electoral system that even experts do not understand it.

In the 2017 elections, 2,300 people were candidates for MP, and after the elections, 8-9 resolutions were applied to calculate how many mandates each party received.

Figuratively, I interpreted this as “a selective system of scratching the left ear with the right foot.” With this electoral system, it was under no circumstances allowed to go to the polls.

There is a British system – 100% majority, or Italian – 100% proportional, when a person votes for a party and each party gets as many seats as they gave for it.

Why did you have to come up with such complex nonsense?”

Budget revenue over-performed by 22,3 billion drams in Q1, says Pashinyan

Antranik Varosian

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 12:04, 1 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. According to Q1 data of 2021 the budget revenue was over-performed by 22.3 billion drams, and trade turnover recorded significant growth as well, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

He said trade turnover grew more than 8%.

“Proceeding from results of the first quarter the finance ministry is recommending that we increase the budget’s yearly revenue projection by 40 billion drams. These are rather good indicators for a crisis, post-war year,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Kremlin unaware of any report Iskander missile fragments allegedly found in Karabakh

Antranik Varosian
TASS, Russia
April 2 2021
The spokesman recalled that Russian-made Iskander tactical missile systems had not been used during the conflict escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh in the autumn of 2020

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday he was unware if the Defense Ministry reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Azerbaijani forces had allegedly found fragments of Iskander missiles in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“No, as far as I understand, this is new information,” the Russian presidential spokesman said. “I am unaware if there was a report by the Defense Ministry and if our top brass has any detailed information about that. This, of course, is their prerogative, to a larger extent,” he said.

The Kremlin spokesman recalled that Russian-made Iskander tactical missile systems had not been used during the conflict escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh in the autumn of 2020.

“This [the missiles’ non-use] was confirmed,” he said. The Russian presidential spokesman added that the Kremlin “has no information” about where the fragments allegedly discovered by the Azerbaijani side had come from.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with foreign media on February 26 that Azerbaijan had not identified any launches of Iskander missiles during the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Military experts polled by TASS said later that Iskander missiles had not been used during the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh at all. The Russian Defense Ministry also dismissed the rumors that Iskander systems had been employed during the hostilities in the region.

Community of Practice unites Armenian national and local stakeholders in the fight against corruption and promotion of open government – News 2021

Antranik Varosian
Council of Europe
April 1 2021
Co-operation Remote meeting 1 April 2021

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Amelie Tarschys-Ingre (Sweden, ILDG) addressed members of the Community of Practice on public integrity and ethics in local governance in Armenia during an online meeting held on 30 March 2021, by admitting that “there is no such thing as a “corruption-free zone”, but she invited all meeting participants to unite in fight against corruption, which continues to be today one of the major risks for local democracy. She highlighted that “the experience of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe shows that tackling corruption requires long term action covering all aspects of governance and accountability. This is exactly why we, local elected representatives, need to be even more accountable to the citizens we serve than other actors of society or appointed officials. By electing us into office, people have placed their trust in us. Let us be worthy of their trust in us and lead by example, fostering governance that is both democratic and ethical.”

The aim of the meeting was to gather all members of the Community of Practice to discuss and identify challenges faced by national and local authorities in Armenia in terms of corruption, public ethics, transparent governance and citizen participation in decision-making processes. More than 40 representatives of local authorities, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Open Government Partnership Secretariat, Swiss Development and Co-operation Agency, Communities Association of Armenia and others, had an opportunity also to become better acquainted with practical tools developed under the Community of Practice with the support of the Congress during 2020, be introduced with planned activities for 2021-22 and to provide their feedback and suggestions.

Referring to the presentations of experts, national and local stakeholders, as well as of Ms Tarschys-Ingre, members of the Community of Practice have reached a consensus on further actions that national and local authorities need to take to improve local governance and make their communities as corruption-free as possible. They have concluded that the Community of Practice represents a unique platform for a regular dialogue between national and local authorities not only on corruption issues and the promotion of open government, but voiced for exchanges and further support in view of related roles and functions of local elected representatives, the division and scope of their responsibilities, the situation of local finances and the quality of local democracy in Armenia overall.

Event was organised in the framework of the project “Strengthening the Communities Association of Armenia and Transparent, Participatory Local Governance in Armenia”. It is implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, with the financial support of the Swiss government, in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022.

Armenian advocates’ report on Armenia President concealing dual citizenship forwarded to Special Investigation Service

Antranik Varosian
News.am, Armenia
April 1 2021
Armenian advocates’ report on Armenia President concealing dual citizenship forwarded to Special Investigation Service
22:55, 01.04.2021

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia has forwarded to the Special Investigation Service the report on crime filed by 53 advocates in regard to the fact that President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has concealed his dual citizenship, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office Arevik Khachatryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am today.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am had presented the content of the report on crime filed by the advocates.

Based on the report, between 2003 and 2012, Armen Sarkissian was a citizen of the United Kingdom for at least 10 years and was elected President of Armenia on March 2, 2018, but hadn’t met the requirement to be a citizen of Armenia for the past six years. Sarkissian could only be elected President of Armenia, if his citizenship had been terminated before March 1, 2012 (to March 1, 2018 – 6 years).

With regard to citizenship, the Chief of Staff of the President of Armenia made a reference to the statement of information provided for by the Armenian legislation which was submitted to the National Assembly during the election of the President.

What is interesting is the letter of the Head of the Passport and Visas Department of the Police of Armenia dated 25 March 2021 by which it was reported that the State Population Register didn’t state any information on President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian being a citizen of another country, including as of March 2, 2018.

The statement of information on Armen Sarkissian being a citizen of Armenia in the past six years was issued for his election taking as a basis the information in the State Population Register and the statement that Armen Sarkissian made in his application that he is not a citizen of another country. In this regard, it should also be mentioned that other regulations for verifying Armenian citizenship are not prescribed by any legal act.

Asbarez: Lost Religious Relics from Dikranagerd and Akhtamar Find New Home at Ararat-Eskijian Museum

Antranik Varosian

March 23, 2021



Oil lamps from St. Giragos and St. Sarkis Churches of Dikranagerd) and a flabellum from Holy Cross in Akhtamar at Ararat-Eskijian Museum

MISSION HILLS, Calif.—Ararat-Eskijian Museum has acquired five unique items from the 18th and 19th centuries, which were used in Armenian churches in the cities of Van and Diyarbakir.

The flabellum (kshots, in Armenian), or ceremonial fan, dates from the late 1700s, and originates from the Cathedral of Holy Cross on the island of Akhtamar in Lake Van. The four oil lamps (gantegh, in Armenian) date from the late 1800s, and originate from St. Giragos and St. Sarkis Cathedrals in Dikranagerd (Diyarbakir).

The Armenian inscriptions on the objects explain that they were originally gifted to the corresponding churches by patrons and parishioners on different occasions.

During the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century, as religious and cultural sites were pillaged and looted, these relics, along with countless other treasures and heirlooms of Armenian heritage, were stolen and seemingly lost forever to the Armenians.

However, about 35 years ago, these four oil lamps “resurfaced”, when they traveled from Trabzon to Istanbul into the hands of an antique dealer. Recognizing the Armenian script engraved on the objects, the dealer realized their significance and brought them to the attention of an Armenian family that collects such relics. The flabellum was “found” in similar fashion 20 years ago.

Considering the important and active role the three cathedrals, from where these relics originate, played in the spiritual, religious and cultural lives of the Armenians of the region, Ararat-Eskijian Museum Director Maggie Mangassarian-Goschin says the Museum is proud of this acquisition and grateful to the generous donation from the Abrahamian Trust that made it possible. “These objects had an interesting journey through history undergoing attempts to melt, deface and erase the Armenian inscriptions and, thus, their provenance. They are silent witnesses of a lost time but have now found a new, eternal home here.”

The items are currently displayed in Ararat-Eskijian Museum, but they will soon be moved to their permanent and more appropriate location in Ararat Home’s Sheen Memorial Chapel.

Following COVID-19 restrictions, Ararat-Eskijian Museum welcomes visitors on Saturdays and Sundays, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., or on weekdays by appointment, which can easily be made by calling (747) 500-7585. The Museum is located on the Ararat Home campus at 15105 Mission Hills Road, in Mission Hills.