Author: Bedik Zaminian

Azerbaijan Holds ‘Elections’ that ‘Lacked Genuine Competition and Choice’

Bedik Zaminian

International observers said counting the votes in the elections in Azerbaijan was difficult

A restrictive political environment prevented genuine competition in Azerbaijan’s early parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to international observers who also said that despite the large number of candidates, voters were not provided with a meaningful choice.

According to preliminary results of the snap elections, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) won 71 seats in the 125-seat parliament, with officials in Baku reporting a 47.8 percent voter turnout.

The decision to call snap elections was made during a November special session of the ruling YAP party, which explained that the current parliament did not correspond to the political course led by Aliyev and did not advance Aliyev’s reforms agenda.

The observation mission, a joint effort of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), noted that many of the 1,314 candidates used social media to reach out to the voters, but this did not compensate for the absence of campaign coverage in traditional media.

Significant procedural violations during the counting and tabulation of votes on election day raised concerns over whether the results were established honestly, the observers said.

“I regret very much that what could have been improvements did not lead to a competitive environment enabling truly democratic elections. Counting [votes] on election day was disappointing,” said Artur Gerasymov, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the OSCE short-term observer mission.

Consultations held between Armenia and Switzerland MFAs

Bedik Zaminian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 4 2020

23:52, 04.02.2020
                  

Political consultations were held between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Swiss Confederation in Bern yesterday, as reported the news service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

The Armenian delegation was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Avet Adonts, and the Swiss delegation — by acting Deputy State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Krystyna Marty Lang.

During the consultations, the interlocutors discussed a broad range of issues on the bilateral agenda, highly appreciated the political relations established between the two countries and touched upon economic relations.

The parties touched upon the activities of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Armenia and considered the main directions for programs to be carried out by the Agency in Armenia in the next stage of cooperation (2021-24).

They also exchanged views on several issues of mutual interest on the global agenda and presented their stances on regional issues. Avet Adonts presented the course of reforms undertaken by the Armenian government and the cooperation that the government has established with international partners for implementation of those reforms.

Book: Peter Balakian, Aram Arkun to present book about medieval Armenian capital

Bedik Zaminian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 4 2020

Culture 14:15 04/02/2020 Armenia

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will host a presentation by Dr. Peter Balakian and Aram Arkun entitled “The Ruins of Ani: From Sacred Landscape to Political Soil,” on Thursday, February 27, 2020, at 7:30 p.m., in Batmasian Hall on the third floor of the new NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.The program is co-sponsored by the Tekeyan Cultural Association Boston Chapter and the NAASR/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues, Massis Post reports. 

From the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, the city of Ani was the jewel of the Armenian kingdom, renowned far and wide for its magnificent buildings. By the fifteenth century, Ani was virtually abandoned, its stunning buildings left to crumble. Yet its ruins have remained a symbol of cultural accomplishment that looms large in the Armenian imagination.

Today, Ani is a popular tourist site in Turkey, but the city has been falsified in its presentation by the Turkish government in order to erase Armenian history in the wake of the Armenian Genocide. Krikor Balakian’s “The Ruins of Ani”, first published in Armenian in 1910 as “Nkaragrut‘iwn Anii aweraknerun” and now available in English, is a unique combination of history, art criticism, and travel memoir. This timely publication and program raise important questions about the preservation of major historic monuments in the face of post atrocity campaigns of cultural erasure. Balakian and Arkun served as editor and translator, respectively, of “The Ruins of Ani” (Rutgers Univ. Press).

Dr. Peter Balakian is the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities in the department of English at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He is the author of many books, including “The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response”, winner of the Raphael Lemkin Prize; “Black Dog of Fate”, winner of the PEN/Albrand Award for Memoir; and “Ozone Journal”, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Aram Arkun is the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada and assistant editor at the Armenian Mirror-Spectator. He is the author of numerous academic articles and book chapters and translations, and has served as Director of the Zohrab Center in New York City and as editor of Ararat Quarterly.


Azerbaijani press: US Ambassador talks on meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs in Geneva

Bedik Zaminian
31 January 2020 13:12 (UTC+04:00)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 31

By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:

US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Lee Litzenberger has commented on the latest meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers with mediation of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Trend reports.

He said it is always gratifying to see parties meet to conduct constructive and substantive negotiations,

Litzenberger expressed hope that the public read the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group after the talks.

“Once again, we hope that the negotiations will continue,” the ambassador said.

A meeting between the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan was held in Geneva on Jan. 28-30.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.


Newspaper: New regulations expected for Armenia public officials

Bedik Zaminian
News.am, Armenia
Feb 1 2020

10:00, 01.02.2020
                  

YEREVAN. – Past daily of Armenia writes: According to Past newspaper’s information, a draft version of a bill on the application of legislative regulations to officials is being discussed by the authorities.

To our knowledge, these regulations shall apply to officials who theoretically and practically possess, or may possess, state secrets.

It is envisaged to clearly define the list of those officials, as well as the scope of applying certain restrictions on them during and after their tenure.

According to our sources, representatives of pro-Western NGOs have been actively promoting this topic in the backstage.

In fact, if such an initiative is to be implemented, it will be possible to limit the capacity of public officials to freely move and engage in activities in the future.

Karabakh Defense Army commander: In 2019 we have significant reduction in ceasefire violations

Bedik Zaminian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 26 2020

12:18, 26.01.2020

The achievements and successes of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army in 2019 can be assessed satisfactory, but we have a lot of work in all directions. Defense Army Commander Karen Abrahamyan said this, summing up the Army year.

According to him, the important achievement of 2019 is the effective protection of the state border of Artsakh.

Abrahamyan noted that a great deal of work has been done in combat duty. “During the year, living conditions have improved in a number of military units,” he said, in particular.

In addition, according to the commander of the Defense Army, a number of shelters and bunkers were built during the year. “In the communications system we have achieved the indicators that ensure that our command is fully capable of commanding combat duty,” he added. “The strength of the army has increased to a few degrees; it has developed in all types of military (…). The air defense system has had a qualitative development over the year.”

He stated that the moral and psychological state of all the army personnel was stable, and they were ready to carry out their combat task.

As for the ceasefire, the Artsakh Defense Army commander said: “In 2019, we have a significant decrease in the number of ceasefire regime violations, which is also due to the political factor. In this context, I will outline our work in the field of cooperation with the [OSCE] Minsk Group Co-Chairs. In this respect, the meetings and the conduct of the Minsk Group monitoring were unprecedented in 2019. I would like to mention those agreements reached at the meetings of the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Music: Pianist Eva Gevorgyan to perform in Yerevan

Bedik Zaminian
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 21 2020
Culture 20:32 21/01/2020 Armenia

15-year-old Russian-Armenian pianist Eva Gevorgyan will perform a joint concert with  pianists Armen Babakhanian and Poom Prommachart (Thailand, Canada) on January 30 at Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. The concert, entitled “Armenian Piano Music Part 3” will feature works of Armenian composers,  Aram Khachaturian, Arno Babajanyan, Haro Stepanyan, Komitas, Sayat-Nova, Sheram and Jivani among them. The event is organized by TM Production

To note, Eva is studying at the music school under the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She has been playing piano since 3 years of age. Eva has been  participant of numerous competitions and festivals, a laureate of world famous competitions, received the second prize at the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition held in Dallas last year.

Eva was granted Armenian citizenship in 2019.

Music: Because of Azerbaijani Opera Singer’s Attitude Armenian Soprano Expects Apologies from Opera Organizers

Bedik Zaminian
ArMedia, Armenia
Jan 20 2020
 
 
Because of Azerbaijani Opera Singer’s Attitude Armenian Soprano Expects Apologies from Opera Organizers
 
01.20.2020, 21:59
 Region,  World
 
Opera singer Ruzan Mantashyan has issued a new statement about the cancelation of her participation in Semper Opera Ball in Dresden on February 7 because of the refusal of Azerbaijani opera singer Yusif Eyvazov to sing with an Armenian singer, “Armenpress” reports.
 
In the statement René Massis, the representative of Ruzan Mantashyan urged chairman and artistic director of Dresden Opera Ball Hans-Joachim Frey to apologize from Ruzan Mantashyan.
 
”Dear Mister Frey,
 
One could think that you were forced to do so before the intransigence of your Guest Star. This is not what would have been desirable, but the facts are there: Ruzan Mantashyan has been withdrawn from the project.
 
The best attitude would have been, to say the least, to apologize to Miss Mantashyan.
 
In this case, we could have tried to overcome this lamentable situation.
  
You haven’t even considered it necessary to establish a personal contact.
Instead, in your press release of January 15, you dismiss, in an arrogant and insulting tone, the concrete arguments we produce to back up the facts of our version.
 
By doing so, do you really want us to take another step and take this litigation to a further level ?”, reads the statement of René Massis, posted on Ruzan Mantashyan’s Facebook page.
 
There were media reports on January 13 that Azerbaijani opera singer Yusif Eyvazov had refused to sing with Armenian soprano Ruzan Mantashyan for ”political reasons”. The two singers were scheduled to sing together on February 7 at Semper Opera Ball in Dresden.
 
Later the Azerbaijani singer denied the accusations, publishing the statement of Semper Opera Ball, according to which the Opera Ball had no contract with the Armenian singer.
 
But back in December a statement had been issued, where Ruzan Mantashyan was mentioned as one of the singers. The final contract was not signed yet only for the reason that thgey negotiations were not over yet, but the agreement on the participation of the Armenian singer had been already reached.
 
 
 
 

Ex-Baku refugee: Azerbaijanis were congratulating us during 1988 earthquake in Armenia

Bedik Zaminian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 17 2020

18:01, 17.01.2020
                  

During the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, the Azerbaijanis were congratulating us on the deaths of Armenians. This is what Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, a refugee from Baku, told reporters today.

According to her, this goes to show that there had been not only physical, but also psychological pressure exerted on the Armenians for many years. “It came to a point where, in 1989, my neighbor attacked me, and we moved to the United States. Our neighbors stayed in Baku and were killed during the pogroms. Overall, we had felt a change of attitude towards the Armenians in 1988, and my entire life has been linked to memories of those horrible events,” the eyewitness said and regretted that the Armenian authorities have been passive all this time.

“Living in the United States, I see how Azerbaijan actively advances the false agenda related to the events of Khojalu, while Armenia isn’t doing anything to present the real image of the events of the past to the world,” Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte said.

From February 26 to 29, 1988, Armenian pogroms took place in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, and based on official statistics, the pogroms left 27 dead and hundreds wounded. In a matter of days, 18,000 Armenians left the city. Two years later (from January 13 to 19, 1990), Armenian pogroms took place in Baku, leading to the murders of nearly 100 people and the expulsion of more than 200,000.

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister complained about the lack of flights with Yerevan

Bedik Zaminian
  • 28.10.2019

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Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zakhariyeva complained in Yerevan that the transport communication between Armenia and her country is not at a sufficient level. He announced this during a joint press conference with RA Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.


“It took me 10 hours to get to Yerevan, while we are so close. If we have a direct flight, this time will be reduced several times. We must work in that direction to make it a reality. There are charter flights to Burgas and Varna, but we do not yet have a direct flight from Sofia to Yerevan. I can hardly imagine a businessman who would travel 10 hours one way to meet with a colleague. Therefore, we tend to improve the transportation possibilities,” said Mrs. Zakhariyeva.


He also said that Bulgaria supports RA-EU cooperation, as well as the country’s government in implementing reforms in various fields.