Author: Arsine Chaltikian

Azerbaijani saboteurs kill 25-year-old and 73-year-old Armenian residents in Karabakh’s Hadrut, criminal case launched

Arsine Chaltikian
News.am, Armenia
Oct 16 2020
Azerbaijani saboteurs kill 25-year-old and 73-year-old Armenian residents in Karabakh’s Hadrut, criminal case launched
00:33, 16.10.2020


Advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia Gor Abrahamyan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“A criminal case has been launched in regard to the brutal murders of two residents of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) during the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh.

Today a video was disseminated on social networks, showing how servicemen of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, clearly with the motives of national hatred, fire at an unarmed and helpless old man and one young person and continue to shoot at them on the ground.

In relation to the case of murder, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Artsakh has launched a criminal case under the elements of point 1 of part 1 of Article 416 of the Criminal Code of Artsakh.

According to the factual data obtained as a result of the measures taken, the murders of the two civilians who actually have the status of captives and were deprived of protection means — resident of Hadrut B. H. (born in 1947) and resident of Tayk village of Hadrut region Y. A. (born in 1995) were committed in gross violation of international humanitarian law and by servicemen of the sabotage group of Azerbaijan during infiltration into the city of Hadrut (at Artur Mkrtchyan Street).”


Armenia, Azerbaijan say Nagorno-Karabakh truce fails to hold

Arsine Chaltikian
Fox News
Oct 10 2020
 
 
 
They immediately accused each other of derailing the deal
 
By Associated Press
 
 
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russia-brokered cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting Saturday, but immediately accused each other of derailing the deal intended to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.
 
The two sides traded blame for breaking the truce that took effect at noon (0800 GMT) with new attacks, and Azerbaijan’s top diplomat said the truce never entered force.
 
The cease-fire announcement came overnight after 10 hours of talks in Moscow sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The deal stipulated that the cease-fire should pave the way for talks on settling the conflict.
 
If the truce holds, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan. But the agreement was immediately challenged by mutual claims of violations.
 
Minutes after the truce took force, the Armenian military accused Azerbaijan of shelling the area near the town of Kapan in southeastern Armenia, killing one civilian. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry rejected the Armenian accusations as a “provocation.”
 
The Azerbaijani military, in turn, accused Armenia of striking the Terter and Agdam regions of Azerbaijan with missiles and then attempting to launch offensives in the Agdere-Terter and the Fizuli-Jabrail areas. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov charged that “conditions for implementing the humanitarian cease-fire are currently missing” amid the continuing Armenian shelling.
 
Armenia’s Defense Ministry denied any truce violations by the Armenian forces.
 
The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and left hundreds of people dead in the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.
 
Since the start of the latest fighting, Armenia said it was open to a cease-fire, while Azerbaijan insisted that it should be conditional on the Armenian forces’ withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, arguing that the failure of international efforts to negotiate a political settlement left it no other choice but to resort to force.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the truce in Moscow after Russian President Vladimir Putin had brokered it in a series of calls with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
 
ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN FIGHTING KILLS DOZENS AS TENSIONS MOUNT IN DECADES-OLD CONFLICT
 
Russia has co-sponsored peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh together with the United States and France as co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group, which is working under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They haven’t produced any deal, leaving Azerbaijan increasingly exasperated.
 
Speaking in an address to the nation Friday hours before the cease-fire deal was reached, the Azerbaijani president insisted on his country’s right to reclaim its territory by force after nearly three decades of international talks that “haven’t yielded an inch of progress.”
 
Fighting with heavy artillery, warplanes and drones has engulfed Nagorno-Karabakh, with both sides accusing each other of targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
 
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh military, 404 of its servicemen have been killed since Sept. 27. Azerbaijan hasn’t provided details on its military losses. Scores of civilians on both sides also have been killed.
 
The current escalation marked the first time that Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey took a high profile in the conflict, offering strong political support. Over the past few years, Turkey provided Azerbaijan with state-of-the-art weapons, including drones and rocket systems that helped the Azerbaijani military outgun the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist forces in the latest fighting.
 
Armenian officials say Turkey is involved in the conflict and is sending Syrian mercenaries to fight on Azerbaijan’s side. Turkey has denied deploying combatants to the region, but a Syrian war monitor and three Syria-based opposition activists have confirmed that Turkey has sent hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
In an interview with CNN Arabic aired Thursday, Azerbaijan’s president admitted that Turkish F-16 fighter jets have stayed on in Azerbaijan weeks after a joint military exercise, but insisted that they have remained grounded. Armenian officials had earlier claimed that a Turkish F-16 shot down an Armenian warplane, a claim that both Turkey and Azerbaijan have denied.
 
Turkey’s involvement in the conflict raised painful memories in Armenia, where an estimated 1.5 million died in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915. The event is widely viewed by historians as genocide, but Turkey denies that.
 
DEATH TOLL SOARS AS ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT ESCALATES: ‘THIS IS A FIGHT AGAINST JIHADISTS’
 
Turkey’s highly visible role in the confrontation worried Russia, which has a military base in Armenia. Russia and Armenia are linked by a security treaty obliging Moscow to offer support to its ally if it comes under aggression.
 
But at the same time, Russia has sought to maintain strong economic and political ties with oil-rich Azerbaijan and ward off Turkey’s attempt to increase its influence in the South Caucasus without ruining its delicate relations with Ankara.
 
Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have negotiated a series of deals to coordinate their conflicting interests in Syria and Libya and expanded their economic ties. Last year, NATO member Turkey took the delivery of the Russian S-400 air defense missiles, a move that angered Washington.
A lasting cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh would allow the Kremlin to stem Turkey’s bid to expand its clout in Russia’s backyard without ruining its strategic relationship with Ankara.
 
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the deal was “an important first step, but cannot replace a lasting solution.”
 
“Since the beginning, Turkey has always underlined that it would only support those solutions which were acceptable to Azerbaijan,” it said.
 
While Turkey has aspired to join the Minsk Group talks as a co-chair, the statement issued by Armenia and Azerbaijan contained their pledge to maintain the current format of the peace talks.
Speaking in televised remarks after the talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan emphasized that “no other country, in particular Turkey, can play any role.”
 
 
 
 
 
 

AGBU Press Office: AGBU and Hayastan All Armenian Fund Launch #AID4ARTSAKH Matching Gift Program with $1M Grant from AGBU

Arsine Chaltikian 
AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Website: 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  
Monday, October 5, 2020
  
AGBU and Hayastan All Armenian Fund Launch #AID4ARTSAKH Matching Gift Program 
with $1M Grant from AGBU
In support of the rapidly growing need for humanitarian relief in Artsakh, the 
AGBU Board of Directors, in coordination with the Hayastan All Armenian Fund, 
jointly announced the #AID4ARTSAKH Matching Gift program, open for donations 
through November 15, 2020.  
 
These matched funds will be used exclusively for humanitarian relief and 
emergency medical equipment in Artsakh and Armenia as a result of the full-scale 
war unleashed by enemy aggression on September 27, 2020. 
 
To generate momentum behind this time-sensitive initiative, AGBU has already 
made available $1 million to the Hayastan All Armenian Fund with the commitment 
to make a matching contribution of up to $5 million, depending on total gifts 
received between now and the campaign deadline.
 
AGBU is prepared to match, dollar for dollar, up to $5 million raised during the 
campaign window which will apply for any individual donation up to $100,000. 
This raises the stakes even higher for a generous outpouring from all Armenians 
who wish to see their support work twice as hard to save Armenian lives on and 
off the battlefield.
 
"During this very critical stage in the defense effort, AGBU's matching gift 
opportunity will maximize funding when food and supplies for civilians and 
life-saving medical equipment for injured soldiers are depleting fast," stated 
Hayastan All Armenian Fund Executive Director Haykak Arshamyan. "The infusion of 
$1 million out of the gate, with the prospect of increasing that sum tenfold, 
should inspire every last Armenian worldwide to act without delay."
 
AGBU Berge Setrakian described this initiative as a "foregone conclusion". He 
noted that considering the gravity and severity of the need among those in 
harm's way, whether civilians confined to bomb shelters or injured soldiers in 
dire medical distress, there is "no question about what we are called to do at 
this dark hour."
 
To rush support for emergency relief in Artsakh, donors are encouraged to give 
online to AGBU, which will release the funds directly to the Hayastan All 
Armenian Fund as each $500,000 is generated. Please note that to qualify for the 
AGBU match, donations must be made directly to AGBU. To contribute, go to 
  or [email protected] for wire transfers. Donations may also be made to local 
AGBU offices.
 
For more information about this limited time matching program, contact 
[email protected] 
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is the world's largest non-profit 
organization devoted to upholding the Armenian heritage through educational, 
cultural and humanitarian programs. Each year, AGBU is committed to making a 
difference in the lives of 500,000 people across Armenia, Artsakh and the 
Armenian diaspora.  Since 1906, AGBU has remained true to one overarching goal: 
to create a foundation for the prosperity of all Armenians. To learn more visit 
 .


AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-EASTERN.doc
AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-EASTERN.doc


AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-WESTERN.doc
AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-WESTERN.doc


AID4ARTSAKH_ENGLISH.doc
AID4ARTSAKH_ENGLISH.doc


AID4ARTSAKH_FRENCH.doc
AID4ARTSAKH_FRENCH.doc


AID4ARTSAKH_SPANISH.doc
AID4ARTSAKH_SPANISH.doc


AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-EASTERN.pdf
AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-EASTERN.pdf



AID4ARTSAKH_ARMENIAN-WESTERN.pdf


AID4ARTSAKH_ENGLISH.pdf
AID4ARTSAKH_ENGLISH.pdf


AID4ARTSAKH_FRENCH.pdf
AID4ARTSAKH_FRENCH.pdf


AID4ARTSAKH_SPANISH.pdf
AID4ARTSAKH_SPANISH.pdf

Footage of ‘Azerbaijani Forces’ Blasted in Nagorno-Karabakh Released by Armenia’s Military

Arsine Chaltikian
Sputnik
Oct 3 2020
© Sputnik . Screenshot
World

11:45 GMT 03.10.2020(updated 12:29 GMT 03.10.2020) Get short URL
by Andrei Dergalin

The latest clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh region broke out on 27 September, with both Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of behaving provocatively.

As the armed conflict that erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh region last week continues unabated, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense has released yet another video depicting the ongoing hostilities there.

The video in question appears to show Azerbaijani forces being hit, though it’s not immediately clear exactly what kind of weaponry is being used against them.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been vying for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region since the USSR dissolved in 1989 – the last time fighting broke out in the region was only in July with both sides reporting casualties.

The latest clashes started on 27 September, with both Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of behaving provocatively.

Le Monde’s Allan Kaval undergoes surgery in Artsakh for grave injuries after Azerbaijani bombardment

Arsine Chaltikian

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 16:43, 1 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. One of the two French journalists working for Le Monde who is gravely wounded after being hit by Azeri bombardment in the town of Martuni in Artsakh is correspondent Allan Kaval.

The authorities released images from the Stepanakert hospital were Kaval is currently undergoing surgery for his injuries.

The condition of the other Le Monde reporter who was wounded is understood to be non-life threatening.

Several other reporters were wounded in the Azeri attack on the town.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

[see video]

New Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting a long time in the making

Arsine Chaltikian
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 28 2020
Joshua Kucera Sep 28, 2020


When wide-scale fighting broke out over the weekend between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, it did not come as a surprise.

For the last three months, tensions between the two sides have been rising steadily. All signs appeared to be pointing to the conclusion that Azerbaijan was preparing the ground for the most serious attempt yet to right what it sees as a deep injustice: the seizure of a large part of its territory, and the resulting displacement of more than 600,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis, by Armenian forces during a war as the Soviet Union collapsed.

In July, an as-yet-unexplained clash on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted into the conflict’s heaviest fighting in years. Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting, and more than two months on it remains unclear what actually sparked it. The majority opinion among regional experts is that it was probably an accident that got out of hand and that neither side intended to start it.

But the burst of fighting seemed to accelerate processes that had been long developing.

Days after the skirmishes started, a massive, unprecedented demonstration demanding war broke out in Baku following the funeral of a military officer killed in the battle. The demonstration, with tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis chanting pro-war slogans, brought into the open a widespread nationalist, anti-government sentiment in the country. Many Azerbaijanis blame their government for being full of talk when it comes to taking back Karabakh, but with little action to show for it.

Azerbaijan’s authoritarian government brooks no dissent but it also is deeply sensitive to public opinion. It has repeatedly made concessions on economic issues when social media discontent breaks out. While government officials tried to portray the demonstrations as largely patriotic and pro-government, they surely were aware, and frightened, of the truth.

The July fighting also brought a shift in the delicate geopolitics of the conflict. While Turkey had always been a supporter of Azerbaijan, that support was relatively shallow; Azerbaijan still got the majority of its weapons from Russia.

Following the July conflict Turkey’s involvement became much deeper than it had previously been, with unprecedentedly bellicose rhetoric coming from Ankara and repeated high-level visits between the two sides. Ankara appeared to see the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict as yet another arena in which to exercise its growing foreign policy ambitions, while appealing to a nationalist, anti-Armenian bloc in Turkey’s domestic politics.

Turkey’s tighter embrace, in turn, gave Baku the confidence to take a tougher line against Russia, Armenia’s closest ally in the conflict but which maintains close ties with both countries. Azerbaijan heavily publicized (still unconfirmed) reports about large Russian weapons shipments to Armenia just following the fighting, and President Ilham Aliyev personally complained to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Other – also unconfirmed – reports fanned in the pro-government Azerbaijani press accused Georgia of allowing Serbian arms shipments to transit its territory en route to Armenia. Whether or not any of these reports were true, the strategy appeared to be to throw up diplomatic complications for Armenia to get arms resupplies.

And all of this took place against the backdrop of Baku’s disappointed expectations of the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. When Pashinyan came to power in 2018, he deposed the former regime that had been vilified in Azerbaijan as the “Karabakh clan,” for the leading roles that its senior officials played in the 1990s war.

Pashinyan appeared to be a fresh face who could give a new impetus to the long-stalled peace negotiations between the two sides. But as time went on, he adopted the same uncompromising positions as his predecessors and on occasion rhetorically went even further, most controversially saying at a speech in Karabakh that “Karabakh is Armenia – period.”

The dashed expectations from Pashinyan appeared to create the sense in Baku that the peace negotiations were never going to yield any fruit, and that force would be the only means for Azerbaijan to regain its territories. Following the July fighting, the negotiations – already slowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic – effectively ceased.

In the two weeks or so before the conflict, there were several developments that made it appear that Baku was laying the ground for a heavy offensive. There was an unusual mobilization of reserve soldiers, and strange reports about the government seizing civilian pickup trucks for possible military use. Dubious reports from unlikely sources about Armenia importing militias from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were widely spread in Azerbaijan.

Some developments were more explicit: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a long list of “provocations” that the Armenian side had committed since Pashinyan came to power, a document that appeared aimed at an international diplomatic audience. Aliyev demanded a specific timetable for Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territories it controls, an unprecedented condition that he knew the Armenians would never fulfill.

The situation was dire enough that the U.S. embassies in Baku and Yerevan both issued statements on September 25 warning Americans to steer clear of border areas.

When fighting broke out early in the morning of September 27, Aliyev said in an address to the nation that it was a “counter-offensive” undertaken “in response to military provocation” by Armenia. But it was a thin pretext that he didn’t bother to explain further. “I am confident that our successful counter-offensive will end the occupation! It will end injustice! It will end the occupation that has lasted for nearly 30 years!” he said.

 

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.









U.S. lawmakers call on Library of Congress to adopt Armenian Genocide subject heading

Arsine Chaltikian
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 25 2020

<img width=”800″ height=”412″ src=””https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Library-of-Congress.jpg” class=”attachment-full size-full wp-post-image” alt=”” srcset=”https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Library-of-Congress.jpg 800w, 300w, 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”/>

U.S. Representative Dina Titus (D-NV) today sent a bipartisan Congressional letter, signed by more than 50 of her U.S. House colleagues, calling on the Library of Congress to revise its outdated Armenian Massacres subject heading to Armenian Genocide, in the wake of last year’s passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.296 / S.Res.150) in the House and Senate, a move strongly backed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We thank Congresswoman Titus for her principled and powerful leadership in this initiative and express our appreciation to all those – in the leadership of the Armenian Caucus and also each signatory of this letter – who are working to have books and other resources on the Armenian Genocide properly cataloged by the Library of Congress and the thousands of other libraries that use its subject heading system,” said ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan.

Rep. Titus explained, “The use of the term ‘Armenian Genocide’ by the Library of Congress would help paint an accurate picture of history and rightly honor the victims of this atrocity.”

Rep. Titus was joined by 56 U.S. House colleagues in cosigning the letter, including: Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Representatives Julia Brownley (D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Jim Costa (D-CA), TJ Cox (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Dwight Evans (D-PA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jim Himes (D-CT), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), James Langevin (D-RI), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Andy Levin (D-MI), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Edwin Perlmutter (D-CO), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Michael San Nicolas (D-GU), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Van Taylor (R-TX), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Norma Torres (D-CA), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Trone (D-MD), Juan Vargas (D-CA), and Peter Visclosky (D-IN).

Over 10,000 ANCA Rapid Responders and community advocates across the U.S. called on their Congressional leaders to take action using the anca.org/library online action portal.  These letters are part of an ongoing ANCA community action effort to secure the Library of Congress subject heading change on issues regarding the Armenian Genocide.

The letter spearheaded by Rep. Titus comes in the face of a June 19, 2020 Library of Congress correspondence informing the ANCA that it would not make this change, even in light of Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide, because it deferred to the White House and State Department. The Titus letter, notes that “while we understand the Library of Congress has said it defers to the President and State Department on terminology, we do not believe that determinations of fact by an agency of the legislative branch should be made for political reasons or under pressure from foreign governments.”

The letter makes the case that: “the current subject heading, “Armenian Massacres,” is outdated, having been created before Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide and prior to the 1948 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” It goes on to argue that “the existing heading is also inconsistent with the broad, near-universal academic consensus recognizing the Armenian Genocide as a clear case of genocide as reflected in numerous resolutions, letters, and statements by the International Association of Genocide Scholars.”

The full text of the Titus letter is provided below:

Dear Dr. Hayden,

We write to ask that the Library of Congress, an agency of the legislative branch and the research arm of the U.S. Congress, use the historically accurate term “Armenian Genocide” in its subject heading for books and other materials regarding the Ottoman Empire’s intentional, systematic, and deliberate mass murder, deportation, and exile of more than one and a half million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. We also ask that all libraries, offices, services, and other entities within the Library of Congress use the accurate term “Armenian Genocide” in relevant displays, exhibitions, reports, presentations, conferences, lectures, websites, brochures, and other official events and publications.

The current subject heading, “Armenian Massacres,” is outdated, having been created before Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide and prior to the 1948 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Lemkin himself cited the massacres of Armenians as a definitive case of genocide. In 1951, the United States, in a written statement submitted to the International Court of Justice, affirmed that the destruction of Armenians met the U.N. definition of genocide.

The existing heading is also inconsistent with the broad, near-universal academic consensus recognizing the Armenian Genocide as a clear case of genocide as reflected in numerous resolutions, letters, and statements by the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Additionally, it is contrary to the U.S. record, including President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 Proclamation; resolutions adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1975 (H.J.Res.148) and 1984 (H.J.Res.247); and, most notably, near-unanimous resolutions passed by the House (H.Res.296) and Senate (S.Res.150) in 2019 that state the sense of Congress that it is the policy of the United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to reject any denial of this crime.

Although originally created to serve legitimate academic and research purposes, the term “Armenian Massacres” has evolved into a euphemistic phrase often deployed to diminish the full historical, moral, legal, and contemporary meaning of the Armenian Genocide. In its modern usage, the outdated phrase conceals these horrific crimes.

While we understand the Library of Congress has said it defers to the president and State Department on terminology, we do not believe that determinations of fact by an agency of the legislative branch should be made for political reasons or under pressure from foreign governments. The use of the term “Armenian Genocide” by the Library of Congress would help paint an accurate picture of history and rightly honor the victims of this atrocity. Thank you for your attention to this request.


RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/23/2020

Arsine Chaltikian 
                        Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Armenia Hires Lobbying Firm For ‘Strategic’ Talks With U.S.
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
U.S. -- Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole salutes before the flag-draped coffin of 
former U.S. President George H. W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol rotunda in 
Washington, December 4, 2018
The Armenian government confirmed on Wednesday that it has hired a 
Washington-based lobbying firm ahead of fresh negotiations with U.S. officials 
which it hopes will boost U.S.-Armenian relations.
Lobbying records in Washington revealed last week a one-month contract between 
the government and the Alston & Bird law firm worth $10,000. It was signed on 
September 15 by Armenian Ambassador to the United States Varuzhan Nersesyan and 
Bob Dole, a former pro-Armenian U.S. senator who now works as a special counsel 
at Alston & Bird.
“We will assist the Republic of Armenia in its efforts to build on the strategic 
partnership with the United States in advance of planned diplomatic talks in 
October of 2020,” the 97-year-old Dole said in a letter to Nersesyan.
“During the course of this engagement, Alston & Bird will monitor current events 
relevant to US-Armenia relations and provide strategic counsel with respect to 
improvement of that relationship,” he wrote. “These services may include 
outreach to United States Government officials as well as Members of Congress 
and their staffs.”
The lobbying firm will help Yerevan prepare for the final round of the 
U.S.-Armenia Strategic Dialogue which will take place in Washington next month. 
The Armenian delegation is expected to be headed by Foreign Minister Zohrab 
Mnatsakanian.
“The format and level of the final meeting is still being discussed,” said 
Armella Shakarian, head of the U.S. and Canada desk at the Armenian Foreign 
Ministry. It should be ascertained over the next week, she said.
Armenia - Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian (R) and U.S. Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of State George Kent are about to sign an agreement after the first 
session of the U.S.-Armenia Strategic Dialouge in Yerevan, May 7, 2019.
The first session of the “strategic dialogue” was held in Yerevan in May 2019. 
Senior U.S. and Armenian officials discussed a wide range of issues and pledged 
to strive for closer bilateral ties. The two sides held two more sessions via a 
video link earlier this month.
Shakarian said that the dialogue has widened the scope of issues on the agenda 
of U.S.-Armenian cooperation. “We expect the implementation of more far-reaching 
projects and the development of economic ties with the United States,” she told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The official added that defense and security issues are also on the agenda of 
the dialogue. “We are discussing ways of deepening relations in these areas,” 
she said.
U.S. officials promised greater financial assistance to Armenia following the 
May 2019 talks. Washington increased that assistance by 40 percent, to over $60 
million, last year to support the implementation of the Armenian government’s 
ambitious reform agenda.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised the government’s declared efforts to 
root out corruption, strengthen the rule of law and improve the domestic 
business environment when he congratulated Armenia on its Independence Day on 
Monday.
Armenian Opposition To Demand Snap Elections
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Ishkhan Saghatelian, a leader of the opposition Armenian 
Revolutionary Federation, at a news conference in Yerevan, April 30, 2019.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and two other opposition 
parties will demand the holding of fresh general elections at their first joint 
rally scheduled for October 8, a Dashnaktsutyun leader said on Wednesday.
Dashnaktsutyun, the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and Hayrenik Party announced 
their decision to rally supporters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Tuesday. In a 
joint statement, they denounced Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his cabinet 
and cited “the need for the formation of a new kind of national government.”
“The main demand is pre-term parliamentary elections and that requires the prime 
minister’s resignation,” Dashnaktsutyun’s Ishkhan Saghatelian told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service. “Other details will be voiced at the rally.”
Just hours after the three parties made the announcement, it emerged that a 
court in Yerevan scheduled for Wednesday a hearing on the pre-trial arrest of 
the BHK’s indicted leader Gagik Tsarukian sought by prosecutors. Tsarukian and 
his lawyers did not show up for the hearing, leading the court to postpone it 
until Friday.
Alen Simonian, a senior lawmaker from the ruling My Step bloc, claimed that the 
planned rally is aimed at helping Tsarukian avoid arrest on vote buying charges 
strongly denied by him.
Saghatelian categorically denied such a connection. “We are saying the opposite: 
that these authorities keep trying to silence their political opponents through 
criminal cases and persecution,” he said.
The Dashnaktsutyun leader insisted that the rally will take place as planned 
even if Tsarukian is arrested. “We hope that the authorities will not opt for 
that,” he said.
The three parties agreed in June to work together in challenging the government 
shortly after Tsarukian was stripped of his parliamentary immunity from 
prosecution and charged with bribing voters ahead of 2017 parliamentary 
elections. The BHK leader, who is one of Armenia’s richest men, rejects the 
accusations as politically motivated.
With 8.3 percent of the vote, Tsarukian’s party came in a distant second in the 
last general elections held in December 2018 and widely recognized as 
democratic. Dashnaktsutyun got only 3.9 percent, failing to win any parliament 
seats.
Dashnaktsutyun and the BHK had for years been represented in former President 
Serzh Sarkisian’s government toppled during the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” They 
joined Pashinian’s first cabinet formed in May 2018 but were ousted from it five 
months later when the prime minister accused them of secretly collaborating with 
the former ruling Republican Party.
The third opposition party, Hayrenik, was set up early this year by Artur 
Vanetsian, the former head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS). 
Vanetsian fell out with Pashinian and resigned as NSS director in September 2019.
China Opens New Embassy Complex In Armenia
Armenia -- Chinese Ambassador Tian Erlong (R) shows Armenian President Armen 
Sarkissian around China's newly built embassy complex in Yerevan, September 23, 
2020.
President Armen Sarkissian visited China’s new and sprawling embassy complex in 
Armenia on Wednesday, saying that its construction highlights Beijing’s desire 
to deepen Chinese-Armenian relations.
Work on the Chinese Embassy’s new building and adjacent facilities in Yerevan 
began three years ago. Officials said at the time that it will be China’s second 
largest diplomatic mission in the former Soviet Union.
“You are the first and most honorable guest of our new embassy,” Chinese 
Ambassador Tian Erlong told Sarkissian before showing him around the 
40,000-square-meter compound.
Sarkissian toured the compound ahead of China’s National Day that will be marked 
on October 1. He congratulated Tian and other Yerevan-based Chinese diplomats on 
the upcoming holiday.
“I think China can be proud of such presence,” the president told the envoy at 
an ensuing meeting. “We regard this [new embassy complex] as China’s bid to 
deepen Chinese-Armenian relations and elevate them to a higher level.”
Armenia -- Armenian President Armen Sarkissian (R) visits China's newly built 
embassy complex in Yerevan, .
“Despite their different size, Armenia and China have many similarities: they 
both are global nations in a certain sense,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping praised bilateral ties when he congratulated 
Sarkissian on the 29th anniversary of Armenia’s declaration of independence on 
Monday. He said Beijing and Yerevan support each other in the international 
arena on “issues which are vital for the interests of the two countries.”
“I attach great importance to the development of the Chinese-Armenia relations 
and I am ready to make, together with you, joint efforts to elevate our 
multifaceted cooperation to a new level,” Xi wrote in a congratulatory message.
Xi reaffirmed China’s desire to deepen political, economic and cultural ties 
with Armenia when he met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Beijing in May 
2019. “Constructive and productive relations with China are very important for 
us,” Pashinian said, for his part.
China -- Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian in Beijing, May 14, 2019.
In August 2018, Pashinian attended the inauguration of a new school in Yerevan 
built by the Chinese government. He said that having many Chinese speakers is an 
“economic necessity” for Armenia.
China is Armenia’s second largest trading partner after Russia. According to 
official Armenian statistics, Chinese-Armenian trade totaled $405 million in the 
first half of this year.
Sarkissian called on Wednesday for closer commercial ties between Armenian and 
Chinese high-tech companies. “I would be very happy to make my modest 
contribution to the development of Chinese-Armenian economic relations in the 
area of high technology,” he said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia, IAEA discuss extension of NPP’s operational lifecycle

Arsine Chaltikian

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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan had a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Deputy General Director Dazhu Yang in Vienna within the framework of the agency’s 64th General Conference.

Papikyan and Yang discussed the Armenian NPP’s operational extension program and raising the safety level, as well as a wide range of issues relating to the development of nuclear energy in Armenia.

The sides were pleased to note the process of the programs currently under implementation as part of IAEA’s technical support to Armenia.

Issues related to training of personnel, development of professional potential in nuclear energy sector through joint programs were discussed.

Earlier on September 21, Papikyan held a with IAEA General Director Rafael Grossi.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian kids head back to school despite smoldering COVID-19 outbreak

Arsine Chaltikian
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 15 2020
Ani Mejlumyan Sep 15, 2020

  Armenian students return back to school with new epidemiological rules in place. (photo: Facebook, Government of the Republic of Armenia, Areg Balayan)

Armenian kids have headed back to school after six months away, while their country became one of the world’s biggest COVID-19 hot spots.

First-graders started in-person classes on September 14, while everyone else started September 15. Armenia is still wrestling with the coronavirus, with 2,975 active cases, and schools have taken precautions to make sure that the return to school doesn’t start a new outbreak.

All students now get temperature checks before entering the building, and hand sanitizer dispensers are attached to the walls. The two-person school desks – traditionally the source of either close friendships or bitter resentments – now have only single students sitting at them. 

The “Day of Knowledge” – as the back-to-school day is known across the former Soviet Union – had a forlorn look this year. Not only was it two weeks later than the traditional September 1, but there were no ceremonies, students wore masks nearly as big as their heads and teachers struggled to make sure the youngsters maintained appropriate social distance.

Kids appeared to understand the importance of the new rules.

“There is a coronavirus and I don’t want to infect my grandma and grandpa,” one first grader told the local service of RFE/RL in a report from Yerevan school N53.

Teachers are taking on more responsibility as a result of the coronavirus, said one of N53’s administrators, Seda Karakhanyan. “We won’t be just teachers but also doctors and parents to the kids,” she said. “Because all the responsibility for their health is on us.”

The Ministry of Education has offered teachers older than 65, who face an especially high risk from COVID-19, not to work while continuing to receive their salaries. But none of the teachers at N53 took the offer.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited another Yerevan school, N153, on the morning of September 15 to give a welcome speech. “Some might think that it’s possible to buy a Mercedes G-class without an education,” he told the assembled students. “But if it’s possible to buy one, it’s not possible to create one without an education,” he said.

He also emphasized the need to maintain the coronavirus protocols. “You already bear a big responsibility, you are walking inside [the schools] with masks, we all understand how inconvenient it is … But you are being responsible for your grandparents and other’s grandparents,” he said.

Despite having the heaviest coronavirus outbreak in the region – for a time it was one of the world leaders in per capita infections – Armenia also has taken the speediest route to restarting schools.

In Azerbaijan, schools also started on September 15, but only for classes 1-4 and only two to three days per week. (Armenian students will go six days a week, but for shorter periods than normal.) Azerbaijani fifth- through ninth-graders will return to school on October 1 but have been doing online classes since September 1. High schoolers will start October 15.

In Georgia, schools also were supposed to restart on September 15, but a new wave of infections – the country has set new records in several recent days – scuttled those plans at the last minute, and now in-person learning has been postponed to October 1. 

The government announced the return to in-person learning on August 10, with a Facebook video by Education Minister Arayik Harutyunyan explaining the new sanitary conditions schools would have to observe: Classes would be no larger than 20 students, desks would be a minimum of 1.5 meters apart, and classrooms would have to be no less than 54 square meters for a group of 20 students. School buildings should be ventilated three times a day for 10 minutes, and kids eat at their desks rather than in the cafeteria. 

Following that announcement, some suggested that it may be too hasty a decision.

“We should launch a pilot project with several schools in the capital and in some villages, collect and analyze data in order to understand how dangerous it is for the health of teachers and students, and how it affects the spread of the virus,” said David Melik-Nubaryan, a public health expert at Yerevan State University, told RFE/RL.

Others, though, focused on the harm to students’ long-term education caused by prolonging online learning. “Distance learning damages the quality of education,” education expert Serob Khachatryan told Armenian new website ankakh.com. “I don’t think we have yet manage to implement distance or hybrid learning at a professional level.”

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.