Author: Chatinian Lara

Yerevan Calls on International Community to Stop Azerbaijan’s Aggression

Chatinian Lara
by Asbarez Staff

 

 August 3, 2022

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry


Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on the international community to take immediate measures to stop Azerbaijan’s aggression, after Azerbaijani forces ramped up their attacks against Armenian targets in Artsakh, as a result of which two Artsakh soldiers were killed and 19 others were wounded.

“Despite the steps undertaken by the Armenian side for achieving stability and peace in the region, Azerbaijan continues its pre-planned policy of terrorizing the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, subjecting them to ethnic cleansing and creeping occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said a statement by the foreign ministry.

“The Republic of Armenia, reiterating its commitment to the agenda of establishing peace and stability in the region, calls on the international community to undertake measures toward halting the aggressive behaviour and actions of Azerbaijan and launching the necessary international mechanisms for that,” the statement added.

In its statement, official Yerevan also pointed to the Azerbaijani incursion in Parukh in Artsakh’s Askeran region in March, as well as an broad attack the villages of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher in December, 2020—all areas under the jurisdiction of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

We consider statements of the Azerbaijani side to unilaterally change the legal regime in the Lachin Corridor defined by provision 6 of the Trilateral Statement unacceptable, and reaffirm that the road passing through the Lachin Corridor can be changed only according to the plan approved by the parties to the statement,” said the foreign ministry referring to Baku’s most recent efforts to reroute traffic in Lachin onto its almost completed road, when the agreements stipulate that changes would be undertaken once the road connecting Armenia with Artsakh is completed.

“As it is clearly defined by the Statement from November 9,  within the next three years, the parties (i.e. the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan) should determine the plan for the construction of a new traffic road through the Lachin Corridor connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, with the subsequent redeployment of Russian peacekeeping contingent for the protection of that road,” explained the foreign ministry.

“We emphasize that there is no such plan approved within a trilateral format so far, and we call on all parties to the Trilateral Statement to adhere to their commitments, to put immediate efforts to implement the conditions established by the Statement of November 9, including the maintenance of a ceasefire regime, the opening of regional communications, the release and return of prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees,” added official Yerevan.

“We consider it necessary to underscore once again that the Republic of Armenia has fulfilled all its obligations. The reason for the non-implementation of a number of provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9 is the arbitrary interpretations, continued aggressive rhetoric and actions by Azerbaijan,” said the foreign ministry.

This story was updated to reflect that the number of injured has changed to 19.




Attacks on journalists on the rise in Armenia

Chatinian Lara


  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Eleven journalists in Armenia were victims of physical violence from April to June 2022. During the same period, 24 cases of violation of the right to information were recorded. Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Speech, gave these figures while presenting a new report on violations of freedom of speech and the rights of journalists. He also pointed out that no one had been held accountable for any of these violations.

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Melikyan further said that from January to March, one case of physical violence against journalists was on record, while in April—June of last year there had been eight.

In Melikyan’s view, these attacks arise from the tense socio-political situation in the country. He believes it no coincidence that the number of attacks on journalists increased sharply in the second quarter of 2022, for it was during those months the opposition and its supporters took to the streets demanding the resignation of the prime minister:

“The period from April to June 2022 was quite busy. The radical opposition organized agitation. And ten out of eleven attacks on journalists were committed during this period. Another incident occurred in the country’s parliament.”

According to Melikyan, during scuffles between protesters and the police, both journalists and cameramen had been injured. Yet there were cases of targeted attacks against representatives of media.

He also elaborated on incidents of non-physical pressure on media and their employees. From January to March of this year twelve such incidents had occurred, and eleven from April to May. In the same period last year, 44 cases of pressure on journalists were filed.

“When the number of attacks rises, other types of pressure decrease,” the expert observed.

Freedom House report on Armenia: Armenia is still far from democracy, despite the fact that “it has taken steps to strengthen it”

According to the committee, from April to June of this year, 24 violations of the right to information had occurred, but a court case was opened for just one of them.

Ashot Melikyan explains that media consider going to court a waste of time.

Furthermore, from January to March 2022, there were 45 violations of the right to information. Melikyan acknowledges that this indicator is thus going down, but emphasizes that the situation remains alarming, as it is still difficult for journalists to receive information from government agencies:

“The situation is really very bad. There are times when the answer is delayed, so they refuse to provide information without any justification or with strange justifications. Not to mention vague answers that do not correspond to the issues.”

Ashot Melikyan brought up an amendment made in early June to the law “On Freedom of Information”. According to this amendment, state bodies that unreasonably refuse to provide information subject to publication face administrative punishment, a fine of 30 to 70 thousand drams (approximately $75-170).

He believes that if even a few of those committing these offenses are punished, it will have a chilling effect.

Regarding the spread of disinformation, the chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Speech stated:

“If the authorities deal with the issue of disinformation, there will be much less of it in the media. Very often it is the lack of official information that makes some journalists or the media publish something based on assumptions or rumors. True, often this is done on purpose.”

https://jam-news.net/attacks-on-journalists-on-the-rise-in-armenia/







$1.2 million from Kachigian family trust establishes UCLA lectureship in Armenian studies

Chatinian Lara
UCLA Newsroom
Armenian language scholar Hagop Kouloujian has been appointed to the position for a five-year term
Jonathan Riggs | 

Key takeaways:

  • Late siblings George and Alice Kachigian were longtime supporters of Armenian scholarship at UCLA.
  • The inaugural lectureship holder, Hagop Kouloujian, seeks to revive Western Armenian by having students compose creative works in the endangered language.

The UCLA Division of Humanities has received a $1.2 million bequest from the estate of siblings George and Alice Kachigian to support the Armenian studies program in the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures. As part of the gift, the department created the Kachigian Family Lectureship in Armenian Language and Culture.

The inaugural holder of the lectureship will be Hagop Kouloujian, a UCLA scholar and instructor who specializes in Western Armenian, a language that since the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century has been spoken almost exclusively by people in the diaspora. Kouloujian was instrumental in having it designated an endangered language by UNESCO in 2010.

“We are grateful for the kindness and visionary support of the Kachigian family,” said David Schaberg, dean of humanities and senior dean of the UCLA College. “Their generosity will contribute to the vitality of this endangered language and culture.”

Los Angeles, with the largest Armenian-speaking population outside Armenia itself, and UCLA are natural settings for such scholarship. Since the launch of the Armenian studies program in 1969, UCLA has been a destination for students interested in the field, and the creation of the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute in 2019 cemented the university’s leadership role in Armenian research and public impact programs.

Courtesy of Hagop Kouloujian
Hagop Kouloujian, UCLA’s inaugural Kachigian Family Lecturer in Armenian Language and Culture

Kouloujian’s ongoing Language in Action project at UCLA, funded by the Portugal-based Calouse Gulbenkian Foundation, exemplifies his “creative literacy” approach, which focuses on teaching students by encouraging their own creative output. His students have produced hundreds of pieces, ranging from creative works to nonfiction, with the goal of contributing to the vitality of Western Armenian language and culture.

In May 2022, for example, the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures held an event to celebrate the publication of “Girkov useloo, inchoo hos em?” (“To Say With Passion, Why Am I Here?”), a full-length volume of poetry written in Western Armenian by the late Tenny Arlen, a 2013 UCLA comparative literature graduate who learned the language and wrote most of the collection in Kouloujian’s courses.

Donors George and Alice Kachigian, for whom the lectureship is named, were active members and generous supporters of the Los Angeles Armenian community. Although they moved to Oregon 30 years ago following the deaths of their parents and brother Harold, they continued to support UCLA’s Armenian studies program throughout their lives, providing research funding for faculty in the divisions of social sciences and humanities.

Alice died in 2017, and after George’s death in 2019, the siblings’ estate left generous funding to the Armenian studies program and the department of neurology at UCLA.  

“The Kachigian family were friends to all, donated to many causes and counseled anyone who requested their help. They lived lives of goodness and kindness,” said Rafe Aharonian, trustee of the Kachigian Living Trust. “George, Alice and Harold wanted to help the youth learn more about Armenian heritage, and courses like Dr. Kouloujian’s encourage connections between UCLA students of Armenian heritage who might otherwise not have met.”

The Kachigians’ legacy will live on in all those at UCLA and elsewhere who, through the family’s generosity, have developed a deep connection to and appreciation for Armenian culture and language, said Kouloujian, who will hold the lectureship for five years.  

“My aspiration for this lectureship is to continue to enhance UCLA’s Armenian work with forward-looking activities and community impact projects that will help invigorate the future of this language and culture,” he said. “I want to share the enduring, evolving beauty and power of Armenian with as many people as possible.”

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/bequest-establishes-ucla-lectureship-in-armenian-studies

Forecast: Russia`s influence in the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe will decrease sharply

Chatinian Lara
ARMINFO
Armenia –
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo. The influence of the Russian Federation in the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe will sharply decrease in the foreseeable period. This is due  to the intermediate Ukrainian results of the geopolitical  confrontation between the Russian Federation and the collective West.   Independent political analyst Saro Saroyan expressed a similar  opinion to ArmInfo.

“In particular, the Russian Federation and Turkey have a very  specific plan regarding the South Caucasus, namely, to finally turn  the region exclusively into their zone of influence, excluding any  role of the West here. It is clear that this, in turn, implies the  withdrawal of the USA and the EU from the Karabakh settlement, along  with the destruction of the Armenian factor in the region. However,  the current course of military operations in Ukraine has completely  defeated the implementation of all these agreements between Moscow  and Ankara,” he emphasized.  

According to the analyst, as a result, Moscow was forced to reckon  with the Brussels negotiation format between Armenia and Azerbaijan,  as well as some other new geopolitical realities in the region, which  still remains its priority zone of influence. While the beginning of  the Russian-Ukrainian war was laid precisely by the 44-day war. In  Saroyan’s opinion, in this way, Russia tried to insure its southern  borders against possible destabilization, in fact, anticipating it.   And after that, try to solve its problems in Ukraine.  According to  him, all this was due to the impossibility for Russia to solve such  problems without the consent of Turkey.  

According to the analyst, over the past few hundred years, the  essence of relations between the Russian and Ottoman empires, by and  large, has not changed and, as before, rests on rivalry for the  straits and hegemony in the Black Sea. That is why Moscow did not  have the opportunity to resist the West, ensuring tectonic shifts in  Ukraine, in particular on the Black Sea coast, without agreements  with Ankara. And regarding Artsakh, Turkey and the Russian Federation  fulfilled the agreements. However, all this did not find a  continuation in the Ukrainian direction, primarily due to Moscow’s  inability to force Kyiv to stop the war and secure its own  territorial and other acquisitions. 

PM comments on quality of road construction works

Chatinian Lara

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 11:50,

YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. During the Cabinet meeting today Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the quality of ongoing road construction works in the Republic.

The PM stated that in fact, the problems connected with the work quality have not been solved.

“Problems connected with quality emerge from time to time. In some cases, of course, there are additional factors that contribute to it, but in any case we should keep our focus on the qualitative part of the work. Moreover, in addition to the problem of quality of roads, we also have a problem of traffic of cars exceeding the specified weight. Our political decision is that we should have a road scale system”, he said, adding that works are underway on this direction and some equipment has already been purchased.

Armenpress: Armenian Deputy FM highlights the role of Armenia, Rwanda in the prevention of genocides

Chatinian Lara

Armenian Deputy FM highlights the role of Armenia, Rwanda in the prevention of genocides

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 20:38,

YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Mnatsakan Safaryan met with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta on July 11, who is on a working visit to Armenia.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, at the beginning of the meeting, the interlocutors talked about the prospects for the development of comprehensive relations between Armenia and Rwanda, emphasizing the existing potential for developing mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs specifically mentioned the importance of the joint and consistent efforts of Armenia and Rwanda as genocide survivors in preventing and condemning genocides.

The parties also referred to the effective cooperation of the two countries within the framework of the International Organization of the Francophonie.

Opposition MP urges ex-army chief to respond to Armenian authorities’ accusations

Chatinian Lara
Panorama
Armenia – July 8 2022

MP Tigran Abrahamyan of the opposition Pativ Unem faction has urged Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, the former chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, to respond to the Armenian authorities’ latest allegations against him.

Andranik Kocharyan, a senior lawmaker from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, said the top military general approved a “disgraceful plan” to use Russian-made Iskander missiles during the 2020 war in Artsakh.

Abrahamyan says the accusations against the former General Staff chief are rather serious, adding “only a very limited number of people are familiar with the matter.”

“From purely political point of view, no statement issued by the incumbent authorities can be trusted by the public, especially since earlier their leader said that the Iskander missiles [used at the war] exploded only by 10%. But in this case, Onik Gasparyan should respond [to the allegations],” the MP wrote on Facebook on Friday.

“Under the current government, it is simply impossible to find out many circumstances of the war, but before such an opportunity arises, i.e. before the government changes, Onik Gasparyan and other retired army officers should repeatedly respond to the authorities’ accusations and simply speak the truth.

“I know perfectly well that the vast majority of military personnel consider it pointless to speak publicly and be engaged in public debates, they don’t see themselves in that role, but it’s high time to speak up. Don’t support us, but at least protect yourself!” he noted.’

Azerbaijan will exert pressure on Armenia from Nakhichevan to force Armenia`s authorities into further concessions – MP

Chatinian Lara
ARMINFO
Armenia – July 7 2022
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan will exert pressure on Armenia from Nakhichevan to force Armenia’s authorities into further concessions, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the  opposition parliamentary faction With Honor, said. 

Yesterday’s ceasefire violation in the western section of the border  suggests that thee interregional highway is a target as well.

In this context, the opposition MP notes that the Azerbaijani troops  advanced in this direction in July 2010, three months after the  “well-known events” (velvet revolution). 

“That advance not posed a great threat not only to the neighboring  settlements but also to the Yerevan- Yeraskh-Goris highway,” Mr  Abrahamyan said. 

“Azerbaijan is most likely to exert pressure on Armenia from  Nakhichevan at the current stage to ensure Azerbaijan’s advantage in  unblocking the regional transport links and force Armenia’s  authorities into further concessions,” the MP said.