Monday,
Armenia, Azerbajan Continue Prisoner Swap
• Narine Ghalechian
ARMENIA -- People stand at a Russian military plane with some of Armenian
captives upon its arrival at a military airport outside Yerevan, December 14,
2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged on Monday more prisoners under a
Russian-brokered deal that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh November 10.
Officials said a Russian plane carrying four Armenian prisoners and the dead
body of another captive landed at Yerevan’s Erebuni airport in the evening. The
commander of Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in Karabakh, General Rustam
Muradov, told reporters there that two Azerbaijanis were freed and flown to Baku
earlier in the day.
According to human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakian, two of the freed Armenians
are soldiers while the two others civilians.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian said they are already examined by doctors
and will receive “necessary medical and psychological aid” in hospital.
“The process of exchange of prisoners will continue,” Avinian wrote on Facebook.
The November 10 truce agreement calls for the exchange of all prisoners of war
(POWs) and civilians held by the conflicting sides. The first such exchange
occurred on December 14, with Azerbaijan releasing 30 Armenian prisoners of war
(POWs) and 14 civilian captives, most of them residents of Karabakh.
The latest swap raised to 54 the total number of Armenian and Karabakh Armenian
prisoners freed so far. Dozens of others remain in Azerbaijani captivity. Their
precise number is still not known.
Armenian officials and lawyers say that Azerbaijan has admitted holding fewer
Armenian POWs than were captured by it during the six-week war. Sahakian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that there is “irrefutable evidence” of about 40 POWs
not acknowledged by Baku.
A Karabakh official said last week that 40 civilian residents of Karabakh remain
unaccounted for. He said he hopes that most of these missing persons are held
captive in Azerbaijan or are hiding in areas seized by the Azerbaijani army
during the war.
Baku has so far confirmed the deaths of two Karabakh Armenians held in
Azerbaijani captivity.
Armenia Raises Tax For Army Compensation Scheme
• Anush Mkrtchian
ARMENIA -- A wounded Armenian serviceman with heavy burns, who claimed that
Azerbaijani forces had used phosphorus munitions against him, undergoes
treatment at a hospital in Yerevan, December 8, 2020
The National Assembly approved on Monday a government proposal to sharply
increase a special tax to compensate the families of thousands of Armenian
soldiers killed or seriously wounded during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
A law enacted in Armenia in late 2016 allows the closest relatives of soldiers
who die or become gravely disabled while on combat duty to receive 10 million
drams ($20,000). Wounded soldiers suffering from less serious disabilities are
eligible for 5 million drams in compensation.
In addition to these one-off payouts, the families of killed or maimed army
officers, contract soldiers and conscripts receive monthly pensions ranging from
100,000 to 300,000 drams for 20 years.
The compensation scheme is be financed from a special fund to which every
working Armenian has contributed 1,000 drams ($2) a month until now. The
six-week war with Azerbaijan has drastically increased the number of people
covered by the compensation scheme, forcing the current government to boost the
fund’s revenues accordingly.
A government bill passed by the Armenian parliament in the first reading will
significantly increase and diversify the fixed tax. Public and private sector
employees will now pay from 1,500 drams to 15,000 drams depending on their
monthly wages.
They will be divided into five income brackets that will determine the amount of
their monthly contributions to the insurance fund. The minimum sum will be
levied from people earning up to 100,000 drams a month, compared with 3,000
drams set for wages ranging from 101,000 to 200,000 drams. People making 1
million drams or more will pay the highest tax.
For their part, individual entrepreneurs will have to pay from 18,000 drams to
180,000 drams.
The parliament tentatively approved the bill even though some of its
pro-government and opposition members described the quasi-proggressive tax as
unfair.
In particular, Gevorg Papoyan of the ruling My Step bloc argued that citizens
earning 201,000 drams will have to contribute 2.7 percent of their income to the
insurance fund while only 0.85 percent of a monthly wage of 1 million drams will
have to be deducted for the same purpose. He said the government should ease the
financial burden on such citizens at the expense of high earners.
Another My Step deputy, Artak Manukian, similarly urged the government to
introduce a new tax bracket for wages exceedings 2 million drams and collect
25,000 drams from them.
It was not immediately clear if the government will agree to make such changes
before trying to push the bill through the parliament in the second and final
reading.
Government officials said earlier that the state fund has already begun
compensating participants of the recent war or their families.
Iran Reaffirms Interest In Closer Ties With Armenia
Iran -- Ali Shamkhani (R), the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security
Council, meets with Armenian Ambassador Artashes Tumanian, Tehran, December 27,
2020.
Iran has reportedly reaffirmed its intention to continue seeking closer
relations with neighboring Armenia after the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed with his Armenian
counterpart Ara Ayvazian regional security and bilateral ties in a phone call on
Monday.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Zarif and Ayvazian explored
“prospects for cooperation aimed at addressing new regional challenges.”
“The interlocutors emphasized the importance of further stepping up
[Armenian-Iranian] contacts and dialogue at various levels, based on
centuries-old friendly relations between the two peoples. They reiterated mutual
readiness to deepen the close cooperation in bilateral and multilateral
formats,” read a ministry statement.
The two ministers spoke one day after the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National
Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, met with Artashes Tumanian, the Armenian
ambassador in Tehran.
“Shamkhani expressed the Iranian authorities’ readiness to deepen cooperation
between the two countries in these difficult times for Armenia,” the Armenian
Embassy in Iran said in a statement on the meeting.
The embassy said Tumanian briefed Shamkhani on “the situation in Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh as well as regional developments.” It gave no other details.
On Saturday, Armenia’s Deputy Minister for Territorial Administraiton and
Infrastructures Hakob Vartanian held separate talks in Tehran with Iran’s Oil
Minister Bijan Zanganeh, his deputy Amir Hossein Zamaninia and Deputy Energy
Minister Homayoun Hayeri.
The Armenian Embassy reported that the two sides finalized agreements to prolong
and expand a long-running swap arrangement involving Iranian natural gas
supplies to Armenia and Armenian electicity exports to the Islamic Republic. As
a result of those agreements, a gas pipeline connecting the two countries will
operate at full capacity, said the embassy.
“Discussions about some technical issues concerning gas exports and
gas-for-electricity barter were postponed to the near future, after which a
long-term contract will be signed,” the Fars news agency quoted Zamaninia as
saying. The Iranian vice-minister did not elaborate.
The future of the swap arrangement hinges on the ongoing construction of a third
power transmission line connecting Armenia and Iran. It will allow the two
states to triple mutual energy supplies.
Work on the high-voltage line, which is mainly carried out in southeastern
Armenia by an Iranian company, was supposed to finish in September 2019.
However, it was delayed due to a host of factors, including U.S. sanctions
against Iran.
The Armenian Embassy said Vartanian’s talks with Hayeri focused on the “final
stage” of the construction.
Armenian Church Defends Calls For Government’s Resignation
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, celebrates Easter Mass at the St. Gregory the Illuminator's Cathedral in
Yerevan, April 12, 2020.
Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has
defended his decision to add his voice to opposition calls for Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.
In a televised address to the nation aired on December 8, Garegin said Pashinian
lacks popular trust after the “disastrous” war in Nagorno-Karabakh and should
step down to prevent violent unrest and end the “deep political crisis” in
Armenia. He said he made this clear at a face-to-face meeting with the embattled
premier.
Similar statements have also been made by the two number two figure in the
church hierarchy, the Lebanon-based Catholicos Aram I, and other top clergymen
in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora. Some of them have denounced Pashinian in
unusually strong terms.
A priest in the southeastern town of Sisian publicly snubbed Pashinian and
refused to shake his hand when the prime minister visited a local church earlier
this month. The Echmiadzin-based Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church
pointedly declined to criticize the priest’s behavior.
Garegin insisted on Sunday that the church is not meddling in politics. “Just
like every citizen, the church is free to express its views,” he told reporters
after leading a liturgy at St. Gayane’s Church in an Echmiadzin church.
“If the expressed views are godly, in support of national interests and for the
sake of our people then they are good for the homeland,” he said.
The medieval church was surrounded by hundreds of Armenian opposition members
and supporters during and after the liturgy. They gathered there to counter
possible protests against Garegin by government backers.
Some Pashinian supporters took to Facebook last week to call for such protests
and even a disruption of the Sunday mass in Echmiadzin in response to Garegin’s
anti-government stance. The office of Armenia’s human rights ombudsman deplored
at the weekend the resulting “hate speech” and calls for violence” against the
Catholicos circulated on social media.
President Armen Sarkissian and Armenian many public figures have also urged
Pashinian to step down and hand over power to an interim government. The premier
has rejected these calls while expressing readiness to hold fresh parliamentary
elections.
Armenian Opposition Rejects Pashinian’s Offer
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Oposition leaders Ishkhan Saghatelian (L) and Vazgen Manukian (C)
attend a demonstration outside the prime minister's office in Yerevan, December
24, 2020.
Armenia’s leading opposition forces have rejected Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s offer to discuss with them the conduct of snap parliamentary
elections.
Pashinian expressed late on Friday his readiness to hold such elections next
year but again rejected opposition demands to step down. “I can abandon the post
of prime minister only if the people decide so,” he wrote on Facebook.
A coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties trying to unseat Pashinian
with street protests dismissed the proposed consultations as a “manipulative
attempt to deflect the public demand for the prime minister’s resignation.”
In a weekend statement, the grouping called the Homeland Salvation Movement said
Pashinian lost his “moral and political legitimacy” as a result of the recent
war in Nagorno-Karabakh, “betrayed our national interests” and cannot hold
democratic elections. It again demanded that he hand over power to an interim
government that would hold such polls within a year.
In separate comments, one of the movement’s leaders, Ishkhan Saghatelian,
branded Pashinian “the country’s number one evil.” “There is only one solution:
to oust the traitor,” he said.
Armenia -- Police detain an opposition protester outside the parliament building
in Yerevan, .
The Bright Armenia Party (LHK), another major opposition group which is not part
of the movement, also insisted on the prime minister’s resignation. LHK leader
Edmon Marukian claimed that the fresh elections will be rigged if they are held
by the current government.
Pashinian brushed aside the opposition claims in an interview with Armenian
Public Television aired late on Sunday. He argued that all elections held in
Armenia during his rule have been free and fair.
Pashinian would not be drawn on when exactly he believes the snap polls should
take place. The continuing coronavirus pandemic would seriously complicate their
possible conduct in the coming months.
Virtually all Armenian opposition parties have blamed Pashinian for the Armenian
side’s defeat in the recent war in Azerbaijan and demanded his resignation.
Their demands have been backed by President Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian
Apostolic Church and many public figures.
Pashinian pointed on Friday to what described as a poor attendance of the
anti-government rallies held by the Homeland Salvation Movement. He said it
shows that the opposition campaign has not won popular support.
The movement claimed the opposite in its statement. It said the embattled
premier offered to hold elections because of the ongoing protests.
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.
Author: Boris Nahapetian
Russian peacekeepers a guarantee of security in Nagorno Karabakh – Putin
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 21 2020
Russian peacekeepers have become a guarantee of security in Nagorno-Karabakh, they risk their lives to return a peaceful life to this region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, RIA Novosti reports.
“Since November 10, Russian peacekeepers have embarked on a complex mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. Their presence has become a guarantee of compliance with the agreements on the cessation of hostilities,” Putin said on Monday at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry board.
He clarified that the Russian peacekeepers are doing a lot to improve the humanitarian situation and help refugees, to de-mine territories and restore social infrastructure, to preserve cultural, historical and religious monuments.
Fatherland Salvation Movement plans to blockade Government building before the Cabinet meeting
18:58, 23 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. The Fatherland Salvation Movement comprised of 16 opposition parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties plans to blockade all the entries of the Government building on December 24 before the Cabinet meeting, ARMENPRESS reports member of the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun party Gegham Manukyan said during the protest in the Republican Square.
‘’The last session of the Government in 2020 headed by Nikol Pashinyan will take place tomorrow at 11:00. I call on everyone to blockade the Government building from all sides from 10:00’’, Manukyan said.
Vazgen Manukyan is the candidate of the Fatherland Salvation Movement for the Prime Minister’s position. Vazgen Manukyan served as the first Prime Minister of Armenia from 1990 to 1991 under President Levon-Ter Petrosyan. He then served briefly as Defense Minister.
Manukyan was the President of the Public Council from 2009 to 2019.
Homeland Salvation Movement rally to start memorial procession as homage to war victims
15:34,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Anti-Pashinyan protesters are again rallying in downtown Yerevan.
The demonstration, organized by the Homeland Salvation Movement, is holding a commemorative procession from Freedom Square to St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, where a requiem mass will be served in honor of the Artsakh war victims.
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukyan is also in attendance.
Meanwhile, another commemorative procession began hours earlier, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other government officials led thousands of supporters to the Yerablur military cemetery. There, anti-Pashinyan protesters, families of fallen troops and others had gathered to prevent the PM from entering the cemetery as a sign of protest.
Today, Armenia began a three-day national mourning period.
The Homeland Salvation Movement is created by 16 political parties (1 parliamentary and 15 non-parliamentary).
The movement officially declared ex-PM Vazgen Manukyan as their candidate for interim Prime Minister who they say would organize early general elections.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign agreement to end two-decade old conflict
The Knight News
Dec 18 2020
While the United States remains divided over topics such as mask wearing, Armenians are being forced out of their homes due to the outcome of a conflict with Azerbaijan that dates back to the late 1980s. The two decade-long “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” has been put to rest after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, cosigned a peace deal on Nov. 9. This deal ended the most recent six-week war between the two former Soviet republics that claimed thousands of lives on both sides. It also attempted a solution to the much longer ethnic and territorial dispute, by enabling Azerbaijan to retain a great deal of territory conquered over the duration of the conflict, but allowing the much disputed Stepanakert region to remain under Armenian control, both with Russia’s protection and assistance.
There is certainly a great deal of rebuilding to be done after the series of clashes which have marked the region since the late 1980s. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began when the two were still republics of the Soviet Union. The Union at the time was composed of 13 such republics, organized by ethnicity. Between the two large regions of Armenia and Azerbaijan was a far smaller republic, named Nagorno Karabakh, that was predominantly populated by Armenians. 60 to 70 percent of the region’s inhabitants were of Armenian descent, while only about 25 percent was Azari. However, the majority of the land was inside Azerbaijan.
Since 1988, Armenians had demanded the region be formally recognized as a part of Soviet Armenia due to the largely Armenian presence. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the Armenians in the Nagnor Karabakh area were asked to move back into formal Armenian territory, their refusal sparked defiance and violence among villages which ultimately erupted into a full scale war.
“Russian troops are down in Nagorno Karabakh with peacekeepers and they’re working on
building infrastructure like electrical, water supply, and all the things that got destroyed during
wars,” explained Queens College (QC) political science professor Julie George. “Markets [have been] destroyed, trade roads, and land mines were put in place during this conflict. So they need to demine so that people walking around don’t explode.”
“What started off as a series of skirmishes became a much bigger conflict between places,” George elaborated. “In the middle of all that the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent countries. And this fight was ongoing between them.”
According to George, the Armenians initially had the upper hand and soon after 1994, a ceasefire was put in place. However, a great deal of sporadic violence which erupted between the two countries, combined with systemic intentional violence by the Azari, eventually disrupted the Armenian upper hand. The Azaris, who had powerful medians in terms of military strength, were then able to take back the occupied territory inside Nagnor Karabakh.
Although compromise and effort has been evident on both ends of the deal, the implementation has been far from simple. Many Aremnians in regions which have ceded to Azerbaijan would rather burn their homes than allow them to be taken by their enemies, and as a result, hundreds of homes in such areas have been destroyed by their owners. Despite the signing of the agreement, it is yet to be seen if tensions can truly be eased between the two neighboring countries.
And in light of a conflict with such high stakes, it is important for those in the United States busy squabbling over indoor dining and mask wearing to note that some do not even have the privilege of not needing to dispute the right to their own homes and lives.
Art: Art Auction Hopes to Help Relief Efforts in Artsakh
Hyperallergic
Dec 17 2020
Art Auction Hopes to Help Relief Efforts in Artsakh
Sixty artists from around the world are participating in this auction to benefit refugees who have fled the takeover of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, by Azerbaijani forces.
A work available in Protect ARTsakh, an online auction to raise humanitarian aid for Armenians displaced following attacks led by Azerbaijani forces. Pictured: Alisha Sofia, “T’aguhi” (2019), Ground pigments from rock sediments, gouache, sumi ink on teas dyed paper, 41.7 x 59.8 inches (courtesy the artist and Protect ARTsakh)
An online art auction is raising humanitarian aid for thousands of war-stricken Armenian families who had been displaced from the region of Artsakh (otherwise known as Nagorno-Karabakh) following attacks led by Azerbaijani forces, with backing from Turkey as well as Syrian Islamist mercenaries.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 9 marked the beginning of a mass migration of the majority of ethnic Armenians in Artsakh to neighboring Armenia. Over 100,000 out of the 150,000 Armenians in Artsakh had been forced to flee the region, leaving many of them homeless, food-insecure, and exposed to Armenia’s punishing winter weather.
The auction, titled Protect ARTsakh, presents 78 lots by 60 multidisciplinary artists from Armenia and around the world. The featured works range from paintings and photography to textile and jewelry. The auction will continue until December 20.
Artists include the participants of Armenia’s Golden Lion-winning Pavilion for Best National Participation at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015: Mikayel Ohanjanyan (Armenia); Aikaterini Gegisian (Greece); Hrair Sarkissian (Syria); Rosana Palazyan (Brazil); Silvina Der Meguerditchian (Argentina); and Aram Jibilian (USA).
Other participants include French artist Lionel Esteve, Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi, and American artists Adam Parker Smith and Bailey Scieszka, among others.
Organized by Lara Arslanian, Garabed Bardakjian, and Sarine Semerjian, with support from the Arslanian Foundation, the auction aims to assist the ongoing humanitarian relief efforts directed towards Artsakh’s Armenian refugees. The organizers also hope to raise awareness of the dire situation in Armenia and Artsakh, which are still subjected to Azeri attacks in violation of the ceasefire.
“The story of Armenians is one of survival and resilience, punctuated by terrible tragedies but also great triumphs spanning over their 3,500 years of history,” the auction’s website says. “By offering a unique selection of works highlighting unique talents of artists from Armenia and beyond, we wish to highlight the vibrant Armenian art scene but also elevate artists from around the world using their talents to give a voice to the voiceless.”
Azerbaijani forces abuse and degrade Armenian prisoners in new video
AMN – Al Masdar News
Dec 18 2020
BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:45 P.M.) – In a new video released this week, Azerbaijani soldiers can be seen abusing Armenian prisoners of war in an undisclosed part of the Karabakh region.
The video, which was shared on several social media platforms, showed the Azerbaijani Armed Forces beating two Armenian prisoners and degrading them.
🎥 Azerbaijani army brutally torturing Armenian POW’s
The Azeri says “hey; listen here, Karabakh is Azerbaijan or Armenia?”
POW; Azerbaijan
Soldier *kicks him in the face* says: Armenia is Azerbaijan too.
@amnesty if you forget 70+ torture videos again in ur reports, hmu pic.twitter.com/9x0UoM8sYj
— ASB News / MILITARY〽️ (@ASBMilitary)
Since the November 9th Moscow Agreement, which was supposed to end the Karabakh conflict, several videos have surfaced of Azerbaijani soldiers looting the homes of Armenians and abusing prisoners, with films showing gruesome executions.
Despite the presence of these videos online, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has not commented on the abuse committed by their troops against the enemy forces.
However, Azerbaijan has repeatedly accused the Armenian troops of indiscriminate shelling and ceasefire violations.
Karabakh Ombudsman: 80-year-old woman killed by Azerbaijani soldiers in her house in Vardashat village
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020
22:49, 18.12.2020
Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artak Beglaryan has posted the following on his Facebook page:
“As a result of the activities carried out within the scope of the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, we found out that it is very likely that the body of the woman found in the Vardashat village of Hadrut region during the search efforts is the body of Nina Davtyan. The identity will be ultimately confirmed based on the results of the DNA analysis.
Nina was 80 years old. She stayed in her house in Vardashat village with her husband Davit Davityan and was killed by Azerbaijani servicemen. Based on the preliminary data of the expert examination, there are firearm injuries in the chest area and on the right hand of the body, certain head bones are broken, and this can be the result of either being hit with a firearm or a rough object.
Let me mention that there is still no information about the fate of the husband.”
MEPs initiate cross partisan group of friendship and solidarity with Artsakh
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 16 2020
Politics 11:20 16/12/2020 NKR
MEPs François Alfonsi (Greens-EFA; France), Sylvie Guillaume (S&D; France) and Peter van Dalen (EPP; Netherlands) have initiated the creation of a cross-party “Group of Friendship and Solidarity with Nagorno-Karabakh” within the European Parliament, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) reports.
In a letter sent to all the members, the three MEPs called all those who are concerned about the security and survival of the Armenians living in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to engage in the friendship group.
The aim of the friendship group is to give full support to the Armenian people of Artsakh who are suffering from oppression and occupation of their historic territory.
President Sarkissian Says Government Has Not ‘Provided Satisfactory Explanation’ About Attacks on Hadrut
December 13, 2020
President Armen Sarkissian
- Calls on defense and foreign ministries to immediately present situation in Artsakh
- Urges Parliament to convene emergency session to president solutions
- Reaffirms Armenia’s 1992 Decision to Protect Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
On December 12, Azerbaijani armed forces, in violation of the November 9 ceasefire agreement, have seized the village of Hin Tagher in Artsakh’s Hadrut region and have advanced to the Khdzabert village in the same area.
The relevant bodies of the Armenian government, to this moment have not provided a satisfactory explanation about the situation and the measures taken by the Armenian side.
Given the circumstance, the President of Armenia is calling on Armenia’s Defense and Foreign ministries to immediately present to the public the situation in Artsakh, as well as efforts being undertaken by Armenia to defend the area and the successfully maintaining the ceasefire.
At the same time, the President of Armenia is calling on the National Assembly to immediately call an emergency session of parliament, which will assess the reasons for the situation created in Hadrut and efforts for its resolution.
While highly appreciating the November 9 ceasefire agreement mediated by the Russian President, the President of Armenia also would like to recall the by a decision adopted on July 8, 1992 by the Supreme Council of Armenia, the Republic of Armenia must continuously defend the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and its residents’ rights.