Author: Chmshkian Vicken

Video showing fresh Haredi spitting attack on Christians draws wide condemnation

Chmshkian Vicken
Times of Israel
Oct 3 2023
By LAZAR BERMAN

Ultra-Orthodox Jews, including children, were filmed on Monday spitting toward Christian worshippers in the Old City of Jerusalem, amid a rise in incidents targeting priests and pilgrims in the capital.

The attack was met with wide condemnation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, including politicians from the Haredi community, who rejected the idea that spitting was a Jewish tradition or religious imperative.

In a video posted online by a reporter for the Haaretz daily, a group of Christians exiting a church carrying a wooden cross are seen walking by a group of religious Jews heading the other direction. Several of the Jews then spit on the ground in the direction of the Christians as they pass.

Some of the people in the clip appear to be ultra-Orthodox minors who spit at the Christians after seeing an adult man do so.

A border police officer walking behind the Jewish worshippers does not take any action in response to the spitting. It was unclear if he could have viewed the spitting from his vantage point.

The Latin Patriarchate did not respond to requests for comment.

Jerusalem’s Old City is especially crowded this week during the Sukkot holiday. Tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers attended the priestly blessing at the Western Wall on Monday morning.

Netanyahu tweeted that “Israel is totally committed to safeguard the sacred right of worship and pilgrimage to the holy sites of all faiths. I strongly condemn any attempt to intimidate worshippers, and I am committed to taking immediate and decisive action against it.”

He added: “Derogatory conduct towards worshipers is sacrilege and is simply unacceptable. Any form of hostility towards individuals engaged in worship will not be tolerated.”

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau spoke out against the incident, saying “such phenomena are unwarranted and certainly should not be attributed to Jewish law.”

Religion Minister Michael Malkieli from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party also condemned the incident, saying “this is not the way of the Torah, and there is no rabbi that supports or gives legitimacy to this reprehensible behavior.”

Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, head of the Ashkenazi Haredi United Torah Judaism alliance, said that “our Holy Torah commands us to act respectfully toward every person, no matter his belief, religion, or origin.”

Several officials expressed worries that the spitting attacks were harming Israel’s standing among pilgrims, a major source of incoming tourism.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the spitting “does not represent Jewish values.”

Tourism Minister Haim Katz called the idea that spitting on Christians is a Jewish custom “pathetic.”

“Instead of being a light to the nations, the actions of a handful of extremists are bringing hatred on Judaism and on the Jewish people, and are harming Israel’s image and tourism. Zero tolerance must be shown toward any religious symbols,” he said in a statement.

Elisha Yered, a former adviser to Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, drew pushback after he appeared to back the harassment, claiming that spitting at priests or churches was an “ancient Jewish custom.”

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who has led efforts in the city council to combat harassment of Christians, said police were beginning to take the issue seriously.

“We should have zero tolerance for these hooligans who are driven by miseducation and hatred, attacking peaceful worshipers anywhere in the city,” she told The Times of Israel. “After months of lobbying, we are pleased the police is taking action and arresting those responsible.”

According to police in August, 16 investigations were opened this year, and 21 arrests and detentions had been carried out in connection with attacks on Christians.

Spokespeople for the Jerusalem Police did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Catholic clergy told The Times of Israel last month that officers have been dressing as priests and monks in the Old City to catch those harassing Christians.

In August, President Isaac Herzog visited Haifa’s Stella Maris Monastery along with Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to meet with Christian leaders, as part of his recent efforts to bring public awareness to the issue of the safety of Israel’s Christian community.

Seated next to Herzog at the discussion in the monastery with the heads of Christian communities in Israel, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said that the police “are undertaking creative operations to eradicate all these small phenomena, these phenomena that affect how everyone feels. We are here to give you a feeling of security.”

“In recent months, we have witnessed extremely serious phenomena in the treatment of members of Christian communities in the Holy Land, our brothers and sisters, Christian citizens, who feel attacked in their places of prayer and their cemeteries, on the street,” said Herzog in front of the 19th-century Carmelite monastery.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman (L) meets with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III in Jerusalem on January 5, 2023. (Israel Police)

Israel’s official spokespeople and social media accounts go out of their way to emphasize Israel’s freedom of worship and to portray the Jewish state as the only safe home for Christians in a hostile Middle East.

The picture of safe coexistence usually painted by Israeli officials is starkly at odds with the experiences Jerusalem’s Christian leaders themselves describe. While they readily acknowledge that there is no organized or governmental effort against them, Christian clergy in the Old City tell of a deteriorating atmosphere of harassment, apathy from authorities, and a growing fear that incidents of spitting and vandalism could turn into violence against their persons.

In an interview in April with The Associated Press, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, an Italian prelate who is the top Catholic churchman in the Holy Land, said that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with Israel’s right-wing government emboldening extremists who have harassed clergy and vandalized religious property at a quickening pace.

In November 2022, two soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati Brigade were detained on suspicion of spitting at the Armenian archbishop and other pilgrims during a procession in the Old City. In early January, two Jewish teens were arrested for damaging graves at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion.

Hosam Naoum, a Palestinian Anglican bishop, touches a damaged grave where vandals desecrated dozens of graves at the historic Protestant Cemetery on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion in Jerusalem, January 4, 2023. (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

The next week, the Maronite community center in the northern city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha was vandalized by unknown assailants over the Christmas holiday.

Jerusalem’s Armenian community buildings were also targeted by vandals, with multiple discriminatory phrases graffitied on the exterior of structures in the Armenian Quarter. On a Thursday night in late January, a gang of religious Jewish teens threw chairs at an Armenian restaurant inside the city’s New Gate. Vandalism at the Church of the Flagellation occurred the very next week.

And in March, a resident of southern Israel was arrested after attacking priests with an iron bar at the Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Gethsemane.

Russia leaves Armenia ally to burn in Azerbaijan

Chmshkian Vicken
Asia Times
Oct 5 2023


Azerbaijan’s violent ouster of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh seized on Russia’s weakness caused by the Ukraine war
By DANIEL WILLIAMS

Vladimir Putin, self-declared protector of ethnic Russian and other allied communities along Russia’s borders, failed last week to defend nominal Armenians allies who live in Azerbaijan from being driven out of the country by the Azeri army.

Though distant geographically, the Azerbaijan offensive was a byproduct of Putin’s failure to conquer Ukraine, where the Russian leader has also pledged to defend ethnic Russian allies. Such active solidarity is one of the Kremlin’s key foreign policy talking points.

But Azerbaijan took the opportunity of Russia’s preoccupation with Ukraine to end more than three decades of war with pro-Russian Armenians living in the breakaway Azeri region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians are now effectively no longer in Azerbaijan.

Russia’s war in Ukraine seems to have played a role in the spasm of violence. The Azerbaijan government gambled that Putin would be unwilling to take on a new military operation, however small, while fighting a full-scale war in Ukraine.

Armenians inside Azerbaijan and within Armenia suspect that Ukraine had sapped Russia’s war-making abilities. “Armenia’s security architecture was 99.999% linked to Russia, including when it came to the procurement of arms and ammunition,” Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

“Today we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons, arms and ammunition and in this situation it’s understandable that even if it wishes, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia’s security needs.”  

In any event, Azerbaijan’s action is the latest of multiple, unexpected and negative events along Russia’s borders stemming from the Ukraine war.

Russia faces a new NATO adversary in Finland, which rushed to join NATO after the  Ukraine war. Before the invasion, Helsinki, even if wary of Russia, maintained a formal neutrality between Moscow and the West. Sweden, shelving a long tradition of neutrality in Europe, is also joining.  



(UN)involved in Peace

Chmshkian Vicken
October 4, 2023 Melody Seraydarian Hye Key, Columns 0

The recent developments in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have given rise to serious concerns within the international community. Artsakh has been targeted by a genocide campaign conducted by Azerbaijan — with the help of brother nation Turkey — against the indigenous Armenian population. With genocide and legal experts alike speaking out against the blatant ethnic cleansing, this genocide is reminiscent of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It is heartbreaking to accept that despite the passage of more than a century, war crimes materialize under the nose of powerful governmental and intergovernmental organizations. 

Currently, Azerbaijan has illegally detained eight Artsakh officials and Armenian citizens in Baku, including Arayik Harutyunyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahayan, Davit Babayan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Davit Manukyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan and Ruben Vardanyan, an eerie echo of Red Sunday. On Red Sunday, which took place on April 24, 1915, the Young Turks targeted, deported and murdered Armenian intellectuals and other figures that maintained any form of social, cultural or political influence in Armenia. 

(Photo: Grant is a Grant on Flickr)

The United Nations’ response has been met with criticism. The U.N. mission to Artsakh, led by Vladanka Andreeva, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, suspiciously concluded within a single day, issuing a report that has drawn significant scrutiny and skepticism. The team also included Ramesh Rajasingham, the Director of OCHA’s Coordination Division, as well as representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.N. Refugee Agency, UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The report stated that there were “no incidences of violence against Armenian civilians” and “no damage to civilian public infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, housing, or cultural and religious structures” in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh. It further declared that they “did not come across any reports – neither from the local population interviewed nor from the interlocutors – of incidences of violence against civilians following the latest ceasefire,” and “[were] struck by the sudden manner in which the local population left their homes and the suffering the experience must have caused.”

This assessment has raised questions about the U.N.’s ability to address the complex humanitarian crisis unfolding in Artsakh. Many have expressed concerns that the organization did not adequately respond to the allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide, leaving the affected Armenian population in a vulnerable and dire situation. 

The confusion ends and controversy grows when one discovers two things. First, the author of this U.N. report was Rashad Huseynov, an Azerbaijani National Information Officer of the United Nations, generally known to be a mouthpiece for the Aliyev regime – a potential explanation for the U.N.’s rushed approach. The flagrant partial authorship raises doubts about the report’s objectivity, further eroding trust in the U.N.’s ability to provide an unbiased assessment of the situation. 

Second, the mission comes one day after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev’s announcement that he donated one million USD to the United Nations Human Settlements Program (U.N.-Habitat) from the Presidential Contingency Fund. 

The U.N. report is countered by photo and video evidence showcasing the damage that has been imposed on civilians and their homes, as well as the number of deaths and illnesses that resulted from the blockade, attacks and so-called “ceasefire.” We have also heard from voices on the ground, actual Armenian civilians – not the Azeri nor the Armenian government – who resided in their ancestral homes and documented the day-to-day horror of the almost year-long blockade and its barbaric “conclusion.” 

The humanitarian crisis in Artsakh has resulted in a significant exodus of ethnic Armenians, with reports suggesting that over 100,000 people have fled the region, many describing the area as a “ghost town.” As few as 50 to 1,000 ethnic Armenians are reported to be left in Artsakh, further underscoring the scale of displacement and suffering experienced by the Armenian population in the region. The sudden departure of tens of thousands of people from their homes has created a profound humanitarian challenge that demands immediate and comprehensive attention from the international community. 

Yet, despite our understanding of how a universal global organization like the U.N. should be approaching a dire situation of this scale, the Armenian people are once again left sorely disappointed in a world that seems willing to tolerate genocidal regimes.

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Melody Seraydarian is a journalist and undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing a degree in Media Studies with a concentration in media, law and policy. Her column, “Hye Key,” covers politics, culture and everything in between from a Gen-Z perspective. She is from Los Angeles, California and is an active member of her local Armenian community.


news.am: Residents of the village of Yegtsaokh, Shushi district, evacuated

Chmshkian Vicken
Residents of the village of Yegtsaokh, Shushi district, evacuated
16:23, 24.09.2023
Region:Armenia, Karabakh
Theme: Politics, Society

Residents of the village of Yegtsaokh in the Shusha district were evacuated. As a result of recent hostilities, they remained homeless and expressed a desire to move to their relatives in Armenia. This was reported by the Artsakh Information Headquarters.

Accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, they reached Kornidzor.


IALA and AGBU host Break the Silence: A Reading for Artsakh

Chmshkian Vicken
 International Armenian Literary Alliance Announcements 0

The International Armenian Literary Alliance, in partnership with AGBU, presents “Break the Silence,” a reading hosted by Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian. The reading will feature besieged journalists from the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh and award-winning writers in solidarity around the globe, including poet Ilya Kaminsky, named by the BBC as one of the 12 artists who changed the world.

Join the virtual event on September 17, 2023 at 9 a.m. Pacific | 12 noon Eastern | 8 p.m. Armenia/Artsakh time to hear about what life is like for the 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh who have been cut off from food, medicine, gas and electricity since Azerbaijan blockaded the only road out of the country in December 2022, and learn how you can help.

Registration for the event is required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event. The full lineup of speakers will soon be announced on IALA’s event page.

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The International Armenian Literary Alliance is a nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that supports and celebrates writers by fostering the development and distribution of Armenian literature in the English language. A network of Armenian writers and their champions, IALA gives Armenian writers a voice in the literary world through creative, professional, and scholarly advocacy.


Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 11-09-23

Chmshkian Vicken

 17:29,

YEREVAN, 11 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 11 September, USD exchange rate up by 0.44 drams to 386.10 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.63 drams to 414.32 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.06 drams to 4.00 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.67 drams to 483.05 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 144.45 drams to 23930.56 drams. Silver price up by 0.32 drams to 285.63 drams.

7 facts "about Armenia’s departure from Russia". How they are seen in Moscow and Yerevan

Chmshkian Vicken
Sept 7 2023

  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Is Armenia changing course from Russia to the West

The Armenian authorities have made statements in recent days that have been actively discussed in Russia. An anonymous source from the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS that “Moscow is extremely dissatisfied with the statements of the Armenian leadership. They are seen as a consequence of Western interference, an attempt “to push Russia out of the South Caucasus, using Yerevan as a means of realizing this goal.” While “Russia does not intend to leave the region”.

Armenia’s top leadership has been openly and harshly criticizing Russia’s position on the non-fulfillment of its commitments for a long time.

The incidents on the border with Azerbaijan, when the Russian Federation and Russia’s CSTO military bloc refused to fulfill their obligations to protect the sovereign territory of their ally, became a cause for discontent on the Armenian side. Another pain point for Armenia is the inaction of the Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh to protect the Armenian population.

Russia’s position is considered by a significant part of the Armenian society, politicians and analysts as incompatible with the status of a strategic ally. However, Armenian political analysts in the majority do not share this opinion and do not agree with the opinion that Armenia is changing the vector of its foreign policy.

Here is a list of the events of the last few days that are seen as Armenia’s rejection of Russia, as well as a commentary by an Armenian political scientist on what it all means.

  • Pashinyan on Armenia’s problems and a “crisis of international law and order”
  • “Russia was a guarantor of Armenia’s security, but it has become a threat.” Opinion
  • “A curious proposal on Karabakh”: a document attributed to Lavrov

On September 6, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Anna Hakobyan flew to Kiev. She is participating in the third summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen in the Ukrainian capital. This event was first organized by the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenskaya in 2021. Its goal is to unite spouses of the world’s first ladies to exchange experiences, opinions and realize joint projects.

Anna Hakobyan was one of the speakers of the summit along with the spouses of the British Prime Minister and the President of Austria, First Ladies of Albania, Cyprus, Czech Republic.

The fact that she arrived in Ukraine with a humanitarian cargo did not go unnoticed. And after her arrival she wrote on her Facebook page that she visited an exhibition dedicated to the memory of children killed in war: “Children dying in wars is a failure of all of us adults. An unforgivable, irreparable, irreplaceable failure.”

Anna Hakobyan in Kiev, at the memorial to children killed in the war

On the same day, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said:

“In all probability, the Rome Statute will be ratified. We will discuss, understand what benefits there are, and there are many, since war crimes have been and are being committed against our country. We need it, our country needs it”.

The Rome Statute is the international treaty that established the International Criminal Court. Its creation was explained by the need for an independent court to resolve cases related to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as a suspect in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. All countries that have ratified the treaty are obliged to extradite him to the court if he is on their territory.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced that Moscow has already requested clarifications regarding Armenia’s ratification of the Rome Statute: “We will decide on our further steps based on the content of Yerevan’s response”.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s response has been voiced more than once. About a month ago, Parliament Vice-Speaker Hakob Arshakyan again said that the ratification of the document “is in no way directed against Russia, but will serve to prevent Azerbaijani encroachments on Armenia’s sovereign territory”.

  • Ratification of the Rome Statute: will the Armenian authorities go against Russia?
  • Armenia at a crossroads: will the country leave Russia’s sphere of influence

On September 2, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that “the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation are not fulfilling the mission entrusted to them within the framework of the trilateral declaration [on cessation of hostilities in Karabakh]”.

This was in response to a question whether he could explain what was keeping Russia from implementing the November 9, 2020 agreements, according to which it must guarantee movements through the Lachin corridor. This is the only road connecting the unrecognized NKR to Armenia. It has been blocked by Azerbaijanis since December last year. Russian peacekeepers, as Armenian experts say, “could not or did not want to unblock the road”.

Russian journalist and publisher with Armenian roots Aram Gabrielyanov wrote on Facebook that he suggested that the Chief of the General Staff of Armenia “bring the army to the streets” to change the government

Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan also spoke after Pashinyan’s interview about the fact that, according to the November 2020 agreements, the Lachin corridor should be under the jurisdiction of Russian peacekeepers.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in this regard that the Armenian side’s public rhetoric in connection with the Lachin corridor is “on the verge of rudeness.”

Alen Simonyan said in response to a request from Armenian journalists to comment on Zakharova’s words: “I am not going to comment on the words of some secretary of some department. By its inaction Russia actually keeps Artsakh in a blockade by itself”.

The Prime Minister of Armenia in an interview with France Presse talked about the humanitarian crisis in NK, the likelihood of war, the possibilities of normalizing relations with Azerbaijan and the “balancing” between the West and Russia

In the same interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the Armenian prime minister declared it a strategic mistake that Armenia’s security architecture was “99.999% linked to Russia”. And he explained, “We see that Russia itself is withdrawing from the region by virtue of the steps it takes or fails to take. […] One day we will just wake up and see that Russia is not here.”

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to this statement: “Russia is an absolutely integral part of this region, so it cannot go anywhere. Russia cannot leave Armenia.”

He said nothing about the failure to fulfill its obligations – neither on Armenia’s borders nor in the Lachin corridor. He only mentioned that the situation has changed: “But this does not mean that Russia is going to curtail its activities in any way.

The fact that relations between Armenia and Russia are going through hard times is already openly stated. The Armenian authorities have never criticized Moscow in such a direct way before.

On September 5, many Russian media published information that “Armenia recalled its permanent and plenipotentiary representative to the Collective Security Treaty Organization”.

Viktor Biyagov was immediately appointed Armenian Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

However, Russian experts did not take this circumstance into account and linked the recall to Armenia’s dissatisfaction with the position of the military bloc.

The problems with the CSTO are explained by the lack of a clear position on the incursion of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces into the sovereign territory of Armenia.

“Since May 11, 2021, Azerbaijan has used armed forces three times and occupied approximately 140 square kilometers of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. What do we expect from the CSTO in this regard? A statement of this fact in the form of a clearly formulated political assessment. To refrain from such an assessment by saying that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is to say that there is no CSTO zone of responsibility. And if there is no zone of responsibility, there is no organization itself,” said the Armenian Prime Minister on November 23, 2022 during the meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Yerevan.

Armen Grigoryan on cooperation with the United States, the possibility of a new war, Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, Russian peacekeepers and Russia’s fulfillment of its obligations

On September 11, the joint Armenian-American military exercise “Eagle partner 2023” will start in Armenia. They will last for 10 days.

“The purpose of the exercise is to increase the level of interaction between units participating in international peacekeeping missions within the framework of peacekeeping operations, exchange of best practices in the field of command and control and tactical communication, as well as to increase the readiness of the Armenian unit for the planned assessments of the “Operational Capabilities Concept” of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

In Moscow, this information caused concern. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:

“This causes wariness, especially in the current situation. Therefore, we will deeply analyze this news and monitor the situation.”

Andrias Ghukasyan’s opinion on the Armenian-Russian relations and the possibilities of military cooperation with France

Political analyst Areg Kochinyan does not believe that Armenia is changing course and the statements voiced are anti-Russian rhetoric:

“The country’s authorities are simply openly expressing their disagreement or dissatisfaction with Russia’s policy. In particular, on the Karabakh issue. This does not mean that the country is pursuing an anti-Russian policy. The Prime Minister of Armenia openly states that Russia’s policy and actions do not satisfy the Armenian people. And this is an objective reality. Today the lives of 120 thousand Armenians of Artsakh are actually in danger – because of the blockade and hunger,” he told JAMnews.

In recent days, the political analyst notes numerous publications in the Russian media, “stirring up hysteria”. As a vivid example he cites the discussion of information about the recall of Armenia’s representative in the CSTO.

“Recall is a diplomatic procedure, it is called recalling an ambassador for consultations. And Armenia has not recalled him, but has already appointed him Ambassador to the Netherlands. As far as I understand, a new representative will soon be appointed to the CSTO.”

Kochinyan explains the “artificial hysteria” with the intention to use this information in the future to justify his inaction in the eyes of his own and Armenian society:

“This is a preparation in case of another invasion of Armenia’s sovereign territory by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. There is every reason to believe that Azerbaijan is preparing for large-scale military actions.

Armenia is trying to bring this issue to the international level. It is trying to be on the same page with the entire civilized world, which is on the other side of Russia in the Ukrainian issue. Thus, the country creates additional security guarantees for itself”.

Political analyst Hovsep Khurshudyan believes that the Armenian authorities should resort to tough measures, including going to the international court

Commenting on the provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, says that it was necessary to “work with Russia” before sending it. He believes that this work has been done.

And statements by the Armenian Prime Minister about a new approach to Armenia’s security architecture, considers the accusation concerning Armenia’s political elite, not Russia:

“It is strategically wrong for any state to build its security policy in the logic of relations with one state.”

I am convinced that the Armenian-American military exercises to be held next week should be viewed in the logic: Armenia realizes that Russia’s guarantees are not enough.

The political analyst calls worries about the possible ratification of the Rome Statute a false narrative. He reminds that the process started long before the arrest warrant for the Russian president was issued:

“The Armenian side has always openly explained to the Russian Federation that this is necessary for the country in the logic of the process of bringing the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan to justice. And Putin, of course, will not be arrested if he comes to Armenia. Steps can be taken in this direction – Armenia can join the Rome Statute with reservations”.

Kochinyan believes that Armenia needs to increase its resilience and work with those partners with whom there is a convergence of interests. “I don’t think anyone will ever give us any guarantees or is obliged to give them,” was his response to a question whether Armenia receives signals of possible support from the West.

https://jam-news.net/is-armenia-changing-course-from-russia-to-the-west/

Armenia Crying Wolf on Lachin Border Crossing Fails To Impress UN Security Council

Chmshkian Vicken
NewsBlaze
Aug 20 2023
By

 Nurit Greenger

 –

Sun August 20, 2023


Even at the UN the call is for Armenia to end its permanent victimhood cry and end misconduct in the Karabakh Region. Armenia cried wolf over the Lachin Border Crossing and the Lachin Corridor, but failed to impress representatives in the UN Security Council.

UN Security Council (UNSC) [16 AUGUST 2023-9397TH MEETING (PM)-SC/15384]: “Lachin Corridor Must Be Reopened for Humanitarian Aid, Security Council Hears, as Speakers Urge Armenia, Azerbaijan to Normalize Relations.”

The Lachin corridor, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) wide, provides access from Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region to Armenia and the rest of the world, and it bypasses the town of Shusha, Azerbaijan. After the 2020 2nd Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to the Trilateral statement between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the corridor was put under the control of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping contingent.

The issue however is that Armenia plays the cat and mouse game – English-language idiom that means “a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes” – in every way it possibly can.

To be able to have a hand on its security, establish control over its own borders, and prevent Armenia’s illegal acts in its sovereign territories, which Azerbaijan witnessed in the past 30 plus years, on April 23, 2023 the Republic of Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint at the Lachin border crossing at the Hakari Bridge.

The question is, why do the Armenians so much object to the Lachin border checkpoint? After all, through this border crossing Azerbaijan has been facilitating Armenian residents’ safe and affirmative passage free movement, according to international law on border crossings between countries. The same applies to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel, as well as the Russian Peacekeeping contingent and humanitarian aid is not in short supply through the border crossing.

As for Armenia, for the purpose of continuing its illegal activities in Azerbaijan’s territories it constantly circulates false claims on the “worrisome and tense humanitarian situation in the region.”

The obvious reason is that for the past thirty plus years of Armenian illegal occupation of the Karabakh region, Armenia was also the master of havoc there. Now there is a new reality on the ground which Armenia refuses to accept. It refuses to accept it lost the war it started three decades ago and that the owner of the land it illegally occupied for decades – Azerbaijan – is back home; Armenia also refuses to accept Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and it wants to continue its hostilities.

First, it did not go well for Armenia’s crying wolf. In all likelihood Armenia expected the UNSC to go along with its false claims and request to condemn Azerbaijan. That did not happen.

Armenia’s PR move in the UN and beyond failed again. It was one more diplomatic defeat of and for Armenia. Sadly, around the world, Armenia told local media that Azerbaijan was carrying out illegal operations against Armenian citizens. They even convinced media that a genocide was either in progress or very likely to happen. That was all a lie.

Speakers at the UN called on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to normalize relations in order to arrive at a peace treaty. For Armenia, this is a hard pill to swallow.

Sérgio França Danese, Brazil’s envoy, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan, within their internationally recognized borders. He also urged the parties to explore mechanisms to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to Karabakh, including the feasibility of the Aghdam-Khankendi route, which Armenia opposes with its worldwide propaganda campaign and its imposed series of military and other obstructions for the normal functioning of Aghdam-Khankendi road for the delivery of goods to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

The Brazilian envoy noted the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, that offers a road map for peacebuilding and called on the parties to adhere to their commitments made at that time and remain engaged in pursuing a definitive conflict’s solution.

Ferit Hoxha, Albania’s envoy, noted that his country welcomes Armenia and Azerbaijan efforts and commitment to a long-term negotiation plan for a comprehensive peace agreement; also the plan to construct a railway connection with the readiness of the European Union to contribute financially to it, however, with the caveat that, “the road is still uphill and bumpy.”

Mr. Hoxha highlighted the tensions near the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and that both countries sharply differ on the Lachin road position’s recent development. He further raised his concern over “a profound lack of trust” between the two rivals and called on both parties to delimitate, demine and demilitarize the border in order to provide the necessary sense of security, avoid accidents and incidents which – given the volatility of the situation – could quickly lead to heightened tensions and clashes.

The Russian Federation envoy, whose country provides the peacekeeping contingency in the region, also called for the delimiting and demarcating of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and stressed that Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation is unthinkable without reliable security guarantees and the full human rights observance of the Nagorno-Karabakh’s inhabitants. He offered his Government’s compromise-based proposal to de-escalate tensions which entails a parallel corridor opening connection through Aghdam and Lachin.

Turkey’s (Türkiye) delegate emphasized Azerbaijan’s voiced concerns over Armenia’s abuse of the Lachin Corridor by supplying armed groups and conducting illegal mine exploitation – ecological genocide – in Karabakh. The Turkish delegate emphasized Azerbaijan’s obligation to observe humanitarian considerations in its territory, adding that medical evacuations through the road are readily available.

Obviously Armenia presents a humanitarian difficulty in its provocative political campaign to undermine Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The International Court of Justice rejected Armenia’s recent request for an interim measure of removing the border checkpoint. It also dismissed Armenia’s allegations that the Lachin border checkpoint is illegal.

It must be pointed out that immediately after the end of the 2020 war, Azerbaijan offered logistics and infrastructure to the ICRC for the delivery of goods to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Armenia however rejected and prevented the ICRC from delivering humanitarian assistance.

For almost 30 years Armenia has blatantly disregarded a series of UN Security Council (UNSC) statements that demanded the full, immediate, and unconditional withdrawal of its occupying forces from Azerbaijan. Armenia’s current appeal to the Council is part of a campaign to manipulate and mislead public opinion.

Odiously, Armenia resorted to the “unprecedented action” of using the ICRC to smuggle certain technologies, such as microchips, to the Karabakh region. The ICRC has to acknowledge this, since it is a serious blow to its humanitarian mandate and the possibility of achieving cordial coexistence in the region.

As of the 2020 end of war, residents who consider themselves ethnic Armenians, who remained living in the Karabakh region, are considered residents of Azerbaijan. The Government of Azerbaijan has declared often enough its commitment to guarantee and secure their access to necessary goods and services.

Armenia’s leadership has made some verbal statements recognizing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including the Karabakh region. This created a ground for cautious optimism to end the conflict for once and for all.

It is time for Armenia to convert these statements into real action and end the questioning of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty under the pretext of humanitarian needs. Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of integration of ethnic Armenian residents of the Karabakh region as equal citizens, guaranteeing them the rights and freedoms as set out in Azerbaijan’s constitution and international human rights mechanisms.

After the 2nd Karabakh War ended with Armenia’s defeat in November 2020, Armenia never fully met the commitment it signed on in the November 10, 2020 trilateral statement. Armenia is playing a silly cat-and-mouse game.

I have not been to Lachin nor have seen the border crossing checkpoint but I regularly follow Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry evidential reports and its videos on social media.

It appears that Azerbaijan’s intention is to achieve peace, but Armenia has a different agenda. Armenia uses any means it can find in its magical sack to avoid arriving at a final peace agreement and ending all hostilities. All Armenia is doing is challenging Azerbaijan’s patience.

Azerbaijan created cordial movement conditions for the ethnic-Armenian residents of Karabakh while also considering its security aspects.

Armenian origin people still living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff when crossing the border check-post. There is plenty of food in the Armenian enclave, enough to open restaurants there.

All this proves that Armenia’s claims that the Lachin corridor is blocked by Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian enclave is suffering a humanitarian crisis are lies, slander and pure propaganda.

It seems that the ethnic Armenians of the Karabakh region would easily integrate as citizens of Azerbaijan. However, it is obvious that some radical elements within their own intentional subverting agenda are hindering the good intention process.

Armenpress: Lemkin Institute issues active genocide alert in Nagorno-Karabakh, calls on int’l leaders to take immediate action

Chmshkian Vicken

 14:33,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has issued an Active Genocide Alert in Nagorno-Karabakh and called on international leaders to take immediate action against Azerbaijan to prevent further deaths after a man died of starvation resulting from the blockade.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is distressed by the news of the death of K. Hovhannisyan, 40, who died of starvation on August 15, 2023, as a direct result of the Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh, as evidenced by reports from both the coroner and the medical examiner of the Republic of Artsakh,” the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said in a statement. “The Artsakh blockade, which has been ongoing since the 12th of December, 2022, is the cause of increasing malnutrition, miscarriages, and medical complications related to people being unable to access proper food and medical care. Now, the blockade has begun to cause the direct death of Armenian citizens of Artsakh through starvation.

“This blockade is genocidal in its intent, which is to eliminate the Armenian population of Artsakh, either through mass displacement or mass starvation. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has himself said as much on several occasions, including in his statement on May 29th, 2023, when he threatened: “There will be no third invitation. Either they themselves will come to us humbly, or events will develop in a different direction. We have every opportunity to carry out any operation in that region. Therefore, the “parliament” must be dissolved, the element calling itself “president” must surrender, all “ministers,” “deputies,” and others must already leave their posts. Only in this case can we talk about any kind of amnesty.”

“The Lemkin Institute wants to make clear that leaders such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and all other leaders who have created the impunity with which President Aliyev now operates, are directly responsible for the death of this man, as well as any others who may die as a result of this blockade. They also may be complicit in the crime of genocide.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention wants to once again make clear that any individual and/or state enabling Azerbaijan in the blockade of Artsakh, whether directly through foreign aid or indirectly by refusing to use all the diplomatic tools at their disposal, is complicit in this genocide of the 120,000 citizens of the Republic of Artsakh, and could be held responsible for complicity in a court of law. It is urgent that international leaders take immediate action against Azerbaijan to prevent further deaths in the Republic of Artsakh,” it added.