Author: Arbi Tashjian

Armenpress: Putin, Erdoğan discuss implementation of agreements over Nagorno Karabakh

Arbi Tashjian

Putin, Erdoğan discuss implementation of agreements over Nagorno Karabakh

 17:45, 18 February, 2021

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The sides discussed various issues, including the implementation of the agreements over Nagorno Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports the press service of the Kremlin informed.

The Presidents of the two countries recorded with satisfaction the launch of the works of the joint Russian-Turkish center for observing ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenian analyst’s attorney: Body implementing proceedings has wrong notion of VPNs and IP addresses

Arbi Tashjian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 21 2021
Armenian analyst’s attorney: Body implementing proceedings has wrong notion of VPNs and IP addresses
12:02, 21.02.2021

Co-founder of Quartet Media, political analyst Karen Bekaryan’s attorney Gor Mikayelyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“I’m not Aram Sargsyan’s attorney, but based on the materials attached to the petition for Mr. Bekaryan’s arrest, it is prima facie clear that Karen Bekaryan, Ara Saghatelyan and Aram Sargsyan can be linked to any fake Facebook user just like each and every one of us. It’s clear that the body implementing proceedings has wrong notions of the work of VPNs and IP addresses, not to mention the mutually exclusive views based on wrong conclusions (i.e. the act was qualified under Article 226 or 226.2 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (inciting national, racial or religious hatred) which is prohibited by the Criminal Code) or the bringing of a charge under Article 307.4 of the Criminal Code of Armenia which has been terminated by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia.

P.S. In these conditions, how could the “wretched” chairperson of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ensure fulfilment of the order without harsh repression against judges?”

COVID-19: Armenia reports 223 new cases in one day

Arbi Tashjian

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 11:00,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. 223 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 169,820, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

101 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 161,577.

1 patient has died, raising the death toll to 3156.

3211 tests were conducted in the past one day.

The number of active cases is 4293.

The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 794 (1 new such case).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Syrian air defense deflect Israeli missile attack near Damascus

Arbi Tashjian

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 09:47,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Syrian air defense systems deflected an Israeli missile attack on the outskirts of Damascus, TASS reports citing SANA news agency.

“Today, Israel carried out a series of missile strikes from the occupied Golan Heights and from Galilee, hitting some targets near Damascus”, a military source said, according to the report, adding that the Syrian Armed Forces were able to destroy most missiles.

There were no reports on victims and damages.

Armenian ruling party backtracks on early vote

Arbi Tashjian
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 8 2021
Ani Mejlumyan Feb 8, 2021 
| Eurasianet

Armenia’s ruling party has walked back plans to hold snap elections, implausibly claiming that there is “no public demand” for an early vote.

At the end of December, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he would be open to early elections some time in 2021. Although no specific plans were made after that, the snap election appeared to be the consensus solution for how to get out of the political crisis in which Armenia has been mired since losing the war to Azerbaijan in November.

Now, though, he appears to have changed his mind. Following a February 7 meeting between Pashinyan and his ruling My Step alliance in parliament, the bloc released a statement on Facebook: “The prime minister’s proposal to hold snap parliamentary elections did not receive a positive response from the parliamentary opposition. There was no demand for early elections among the general public, either.”

But many Armenians are casting doubt on both those contentions. The parliamentary opposition appeared to be open to snap elections, but on the condition that Pashinyan step down first.

My Step has instead been taking steps to amend the constitution so that it would be able to dissolve parliament, thus triggering early elections, without the prime minister himself resigning.

“If you want snap elections, go for it – no one is stopping you,” said Edmon Marukyan, the head of the opposition Bright Armenia party in remarks to parliament on January 18, which he reposted on Facebook following the My Step announcement. But he added that the only constitutional way to dismiss the parliament was for Pashinyan to first step down.

It’s also not clear how My Step determined that there is no public demand for early elections. “What metrics did they use to measure the public demand?” asked journalist Karine Ghazaryan on Facebook. “Facebook surveys are not a basis.”

Pashinyan has been badly weakened by the loss in the war, and as time goes on his political standing appears to only diminish. In one vivid episode, he attempted to travel to southern Armenia to meet with residents of villages newly abutting Azerbaijani forces, but was forced to turn back when angry residents – including local officials – blocked the way.

“Imagine you can’t visit parts of the country you claim to govern because the local population and local mayors won’t allow you, and yet you harbor the illusion you can be a country’s leader,” tweeted Artyom Tonoyan, a scholar at the University of Minnesota, in response to the My Step announcement. “The audacity of it all.”

There are regular protests in Yerevan calling for Pashinyan to step down, but they have remained limited in size in part because there is no clear alternative for a new prime minister.

“If the people wanted snap elections, they would take to the streets,” said My Step member of parliament Hayk Konjoryan in a February 8 interview with RFE/RL. “In meetings with us, many people are asking us not to hold snap elections.”

Ishkhan Saghatelyan, an official with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun, one of the parties that has been coordinating the street rallies, predicted that the protests would grow with the cancelation of the early vote. “The citizens who thought they were going to get rid of the government through snap elections are now going to go to the streets,” he wrote on Facebook. “They will feel the public demand very tangibly.”

The My Step announcement concluded by saying that the bloc “continues to support the prime minister and the government in the implementation of the roadmap presented on November 18.” That referred to a declaration immediately following the war in which the government promised to tackle a number of issues, from returning refugees to their homes to overcoming the COVID pandemic. It did not stipulate any political changes. Currently, the next elections are scheduled for 2023.

My Step’s announcement came shortly following the declaration by Robert Kocharyan, a former president and Pashinyan’s main political foe, that he intended to contest the upcoming elections. “Yes, we will run, we will fight, and we will win,” Kocharyan told journalists at the end of January.

It’s not clear what chances Kocharyan might have in an election. He is deeply unpopular, but so are most other prominent figures in Armenia now. Pashinyan ally Andranik Kocharyan (no relation to Robert) told RFE/RL: “Those who have been rejected before aren’t going to be chosen by the public.” But that neglected the history of Pashinyan’s own mentor, Kocharyan’s predecessor as president Levon Ter-Petrossian, who attempted a comeback in 2008 and many believe he would have won if not for election fraud and the violent breakup of subsequent protests. Shortly after coming to power in 2018, Pashinyan’s government charged Kocharyan for his alleged role in those events.

Whether or not Kocharyan was a viable candidate, his reentry into politics may have accelerated the prospect of snap elections in a way that made the ruling party uncomfortable, said political analyst Aghasi Yenokyan, a frequent Pashinyan critic. “Kocharyan’s announcement could have prompted others in the opposition to get in line with elections, whether with him or separately, and the pre-election campaign would have been kickstarted,” he said in an interview with news website Yerevan Today.

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

Desecration of Holocaust memorial condemned in Armenia: “Foreign trace” suspected

Arbi Tashjian

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 15:13,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenian public-political circles consider “an act of vandalism” and strongly condemn the desecration of the memorial honoring the victims of the genocides of the Jewish and Armenian peoples which is located in the Circular Park of Yerevan City, and call for a swift investigation to bring the vandals to account. Yerevan law enforcement agencies launched an immediate investigation and city authorities have sent specialists to restore and clean the memorial from the paint.

Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan strongly condemned the vandalism of the “Live and Not Forget” memorial. In a statement, Simonyan called for a proper investigation to apprehend those who committed the “vicious” act.

“We strongly condemn the desecration of the memorial of the Genocides of the Jewish and Armenian Peoples located in the Yerevan Circular Park,” Simonyan said in a statement. “This manifestation of vandalism is nothing else but a crime against universal values, and it should be properly investigated, and those who committed this crime should be held to account in order to rule out and prevent the repetition of such incidents in the future,” Simonyan said.

Photo – Vice Speaker Alen Simonyan laying flowers at the memorial on January 27, 2021 – Holocaust Remembrance Day

The Vice Speaker noted that such “vicious” acts are deprived of any morals and do not have a place within a society which survived genocide and is the most vocal advocate of fighting against this crime.

In turn, Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan expressed hope that law enforcement agencies will give a swift and adequate response to the incident.

“Such an encroachment against any memorial is an unequivocally unacceptable and condemnable act which should be ruled out from our city. Representatives of various nationalities have been living side by side in Yerevan for centuries, proudly bearing the honorable title of being a Yerevantsi together with their ethnicity, and no any motive can disrupt this solidarity. I hope that law enforcement agencies will give a swift and adequate response,” the Yerevan Mayor said in a statement.

Photo – Flowers and a wreath seen at the memorial after a commemoration event honoring Holocaust victims on January 27, 2021 

Honored Artist of Armenia, Jewish-Armenian composer William Weiner said he sees “a foreign trace” in the vandalism and that he is certain that this couldn’t have been committed by an Armenian. “As a citizen of Armenia, as a native Yerevantsi, I very much regret that things like this are happening here. I don’t understand it, I don’t want to understand it, this is the country where never before have things like this happened, and I cannot understand who organized this. This is unacceptable for me. I am sure this wasn’t committed by an Armenian. I am certain that this is from outside,” Weiner told ARMENPRESS.

Prosperous Armenia Party Member of Parliament Naira Zohrabyan, who is a member of the parliamentary Armenia-Israel friendship group, also condemned the vandalism.  “This is vandalism. Regardless what our attitude is (it is definitely negative) for the Israeli arms sales and overt military and political support to Azerbaijan during the latest Artsakh War, the Holocaust memorial can’t be desecrated. We publicly express our protest to Israel’s policy, but desecrating the memory of victims is vandalism, and I think it doesn’t befit us. I condemn Israel’s military support to Azerbaijan and the Israeli foreign ministry’s statements supporting the Turkish-Azerbaijani military aggression, but I bow before the memory of the innocent victims of the Holocaust,” Zohrabyan said.

The “To Live and Not Forget: To the Memory of the Victims of the Genocides of the Armenian and Jewish Peoples” memorial in the Circular Park of Yerevan was vandalized on February 12.

Yerevan police said they have launched proceedings to find and apprehend the suspects who vandalized the memorial.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan




Armenpress: Armenian Ombudsman meets with Russian Ambassador, emphasizes urgency of returning POWs

Arbi Tashjian

Armenian Ombudsman meets with Russian Ambassador, emphasizes urgency of returning POWs

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 21:58, 1 February, 2021

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan met on February 1 with Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Human Rights Defender, a number of issues, including the importance of the urgent return of the Armenian war prisoners kept in Azerbaijan were discussed.

Arman Tatoyan highlighted the effective cooperation with the Russian Embassy.

Armenian opposition protests outside parliament to demand Pashinyan’s resignation

Arbi Tashjian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 3 2021

The opposition Homeland Salvation Movement on Wednesday staged another protest outside the National Assembly building, demanding the resignation of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Hayk Mamijanyan, the head of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Youth Organization, again accused the premier of failing to deal with several pressing issues in the country and instead trying to maintain his grip on power.

“Those include the issue of the prisoners of war (POWs), the social and army building problems, not to mention that now border villagers have to negotiate with the Azerbaijani military on the border demarcation,” he told reporters. “Leaving aside these problems, the National Assembly has convened a special sitting to discuss the issue of establishing courts of arrest to get rid of people like me, my friends, dissidents, patriots, who do not want traitors to rule in Armenia and keep these people behind bars more easily. In addition, we have an MP, Anush Beghloyan, who seems not to understand well whether she is a deputy of the Armenian or the Turkish parliaments. We have gathered here also to remind this woman that she is a lawmaker of the Armenian National Assembly,” Mamijanyan noted.

The opposition politician states an Armenian MP has no right to say “stupidities” on international platforms.

Separately, Mamijanyan dismissed reports that the Homeland Salvation Movement, a coalition of 17 opposition parties, is facing some problems.

“We continue our work on all fronts and have already achieved small victories, but the most important issue – the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan – remains. I am not going to unveil our plan for today’s activities, which also include surprises. I believe that as a result of daily pressure, Nikol and his team of traitors will feel that they have nothing to do in Armenia. A person who fails to put the issue of the repatriation of our POWs on the agenda of negotiations has no right to hold talks on our behalf,” Mamijanyan stated.

He also joked that the opposition repeatedly holds a protest in Yerevan “jointly with police officers.”

“When the Homeland Salvation Movement holds a rally of 1,000 people, the authorities deploy 1,000 police officers at the demonstration. But even in that case, Nikol moves around Yerevan in fear,” the politician added.

Ombudsman: State policy of Armenophobia continues in Azerbaijan

Arbi Tashjian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 2 2021

The state policy of Armenophobia continues in Azerbaijan, Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said in a statement on Tuesday. The full text of his statement is below. 

“The Azerbaijani authorities continue to violate the internationally recognized rights of the border residents of Armenia (based on specific findings).

In particular, on the inter-community road leading from the Armenian city of Kapan to Chakaten and a number of other villages which connecting peaceful residential communities, the Azerbaijani military, on January 22, 2021 erected a sign with the words “Welcome to Azerbaijan” which was displayed in Azerbaijani and English, and leading up to it, with Azerbaijani flags.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia has been receiving alarmed and anxious calls from the residents of Kapan, as well as the villages of Chakaten, Shikahogh, Srashen, Tsav, Nerkin Hand, Shishkert, and especially more so in recent days. These reactions are equally due to the placement of  flags on those sections of the road. The head of the community of Kapan has already provided the relevant information to the Defender.

The residents of these neighborhoods have issued alarms that these steps by the Azerbaijani authorities are deliberate and are aimed at grossly violating their physical security and emotional well-being, property and other vital rights, as well as violative of the health and welfare of the resident children.

By carrying out these demonstrative targeting of civilians, coupled with the practically daily shootings are undeniably exacerbating tensions in those Armenian villages.

Immediately after these alarms, a detailed study was initiated in the Syunik regional and central subdivisions of the Human Rights Defender’s Office. Field observations were made, as well as a number of discussions were had with the residents. Consequently, the referenced alarms raised by those who reside in Kapan and by the community bodies there were all confirmed.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia considers it necessary to consider these steps of the Azerbaijani authorities at least from the point of view of the following factors:

1) The state policy of organized hatred and enmity towards Armenians continues in Azerbaijan;

2) The highest authorities of Azerbaijan openly speak about the Armenian people in a language of ethnic cleansing and genocide, insulting the dignity of the entire Armenian people;

3) There are open calls for a new war against Armenia in Azerbaijan by not only public figures but even by human rights defenders in that country;

4) For more than a month now, the Azerbaijani military has been firing with small and large caliber weapons, at times while under the influence of alcohol or visibly drunk. This, as observed by the villagers in the immediate proximity of the mentioned villages of the Kapan in Armenia;

5) On the way from Kapan to Chakaten village, there are Azerbaijani soldiers, and other armed personnel;

6) As for the process of determining the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan, within the framework of which such signs and flags were placed, it appears that the Azerbaijani soldiers are proceeding with gross violations and are endangering human life and rights, all of which contradicts the foundations of the international human rights system and the rule of law. Therefore, the outcome is not supported by law;

7) The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan have committed and continue to commit torture, inhumane treatment and other war crimes against the military and civilians of the Armenian side. This was especially so during the September-November 2020 war, but has continued hence.

Therefore, it is clear that the referenced measures of the Azerbaijani military were taken in a manner which violates the rights of the residents of Armenia’s border communities, by openly intimidating them (including children and women). This situation can not contribute to peace in the region in any way, but rather, it causes increased tensions, and violates the internationally recognized rights and interests of civilians as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

Reports on these findings will be sent to international organizations, including the OSCE, the UN, and the Council of Europe (with the necessary supporting evidence). Separate reports will also be sent to special mechanisms of intergovernmental organizations.”

Armenian student questioned over his last name

Arbi Tashjian
City News, Canada
Jan 29 2021
 

“It’s hard to believe at this point that it was not aimed at our ethnicity,” says Jessica Mukhtarian, after a video showed a Montreal teacher questioning a student over his Armenian last name during a virtual class. Samsara Rainville reports.
Jan 29, 2021, 3:06 PM 
Watch the TV report at