Author: Emil Karabekian

Expert responds to Pashinyan’s statement on ‘Azerbaijani territories’ under Armenia’s control

Emil Karabekian
Panorama
Armenia – April 8 2022

Armenian expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan, who heads the Chair of Iranian Studies of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Yerevan State University (YSU), dismissed the allegations that “there are Azerbaijani territories under Armenia’s control”.

“In fact, it cannot be the case, because when, figuratively speaking, a nomadic tribe, unknown to the history of human culture, once settled on some piece of sacred Armenian land by a decision of some collective farm head, it does not make that piece of land sanctified by the blood and sweat of our ancestors “Azerbaijani” at all,” he wrote on Telegram.

“Finally, the extreme vulnerability or even almost complete lack of strategic depth of the territory of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh makes every piece of land in our homeland extremely important and vital to ensure our continued existence and strength,” the expert said.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Nikol Pashinyan said: “There are Armenian territories that are under the control of Azerbaijan and there are Azerbaijani territories that are under Armenia’s control. These issues should be solved through negotiations, of course, based on de-jure substantiated protocols and facts of legal significance.”

Pashinyan, Michel and Aliyev discussed possibility of cooperation on finding out fates of missing persons

Emil Karabekian

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 15:39, 7 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 7, ARMENPRESS. During the meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on April 6, the possibility of cooperation on finding out the fates of missing persons was also discussed, the Armenian PM said at the Cabinet meeting today.

“The humanitarian issues were among the key topics of the discussion. The European Council President emphasized the necessity of releasing all captured persons. We also discussed the possibility and issues of cooperating around finding out the fate of the missing persons”, the PM said.

He reminded that after the two Artsakh wars the Armenian side has 985 missing persons, 208 of whom have been declared missing after the 44-day war, and 777 after the First Artsakh War. Pashinyan emphasized that it is necessary to continue the work on finding out their fate.

Refugee and Humanitarian Crisis during the Great War and the Armenian Genocide

Emil Karabekian
New Jersey – April 7 2022
Holocaust Resource Center (HRC) of Kean University is hosting ““ presented by Dr. Asya Darbinyan,  Postdoctoral Scholar at Martin-Springer Institute. Dr. Darbinyan’s talk will focus on the humanitarian emergency and refugee crisis during the Armenian genocide.

Event will be held virtually via Zoom:
– Tuesday, April 12, 2022 @ 7:00 pm EST

We would greatly appreciate it if you would kindly share this opportunity with your community. Participants will receive professional development hours.

To register, Click Here

Parukh crisis was caused by breach of agreements – reveals Pashinyan

Emil Karabekian

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 11:48, 31 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh will take concrete steps to withdraw the Azerbaijani troops from the area of responsibility of the peacekeepers and to restore the status quo recorded in the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

Pashinyan added that the crisis in Parukh was caused as a result of violations of the agreements.

He said that with the purpose of de-escalating the situation in the region, an agreement had been reached to reciprocally withdraw a number of positions from the Parukh-Khramort section and the Russian peacekeeping contingent had to guarantee this agreement. Several Armenian positions were withdrawn, Russian peacekeepers were deployed into the area, however the Azerbaijanis invaded into the Russian peacekeepers’ area of responsibility right before the eyes of the peacekeepers.

“We regret to record this, and the fact that despite clear statements made by the Russian Defense Ministry, the USA, France and the UN, the Azerbaijani military invasion into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh still continues as of today. We expect that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh will take concrete steps to withdraw the Azerbaijani troops from the area of responsibility of the peacekeepers and to restore the status quo recorded in the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement.

We also expect that the actions or possible inactions of the Russian peacekeepers during and after the invasion will be subject of a proper investigation. Let’s not forget that before these events the Azerbaijani military was firing mortars for 10 consecutive days at the village of Khramort. In some villages of Nagorno Karabakh the Azerbaijani troops were opening small arms fire and still continue firing at residential homes and farming tractors, with farmers inside. Such cases happened in Nor Shen, Amaras and Taghavard villages, while on October 9 of 2021 a farmer was shot dead by Azerbaijani sniper fire at the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Martakert while working in the agricultural fields,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan warned that the obvious goal of such actions by Azerbaijan is to complete ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

MEPs inquire about Nagorno Karabakh situation, provocations unleashed by Azerbaijan

Emil Karabekian

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 14:30, 31 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Members of Parliament of Armenia Hayk Konjoryan, Arman Yeghoyan and Arusyak Julhakyan met in Brussels with MEPs Loucas Fourlas, who is also the head of the friendship group with Armenia, and Fabio Massimo Castaldo, the Parliament’s press service said.

The meeting took place in the European Parliament.

The MEPs inquired about the current situation in Nagorno Karabakh and the provocations unleashed by Azerbaijan.

The joint actions aimed at preventing the potential of further escalation in the region were discussed.

The sides attached importance to the necessity for concrete and addressed steps restraining the actions of Azerbaijan.

Karabakh: Azerbaijan destroying Armenian heritage in newly-occupied areas

Emil Karabekian
PanArmenian
Armenia – April 2 2022
April 2, 2022 – 13:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijan is destroying the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh territories it has recently invaded, resorting to overt falsifications, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Karabakh said in a statement on Saturday, April 2.

Since March 24, the area around the village of Parukh, the ruins of the settlement of Karaglukh and the nearby height of the same name have been occupied by the enemy, the Ministry said.

“Apart from its strategic significance, the area is also important for its historical, cultural and natural environment,” the statement said, revealing that about 20 monuments are officially registered in said areas, including 2 churches, the famous Shikakar-Karaglukh fortress, cultural monuments with great archeological value, cemeteries, khachkars, tombstones.

The area, however, has not been sufficiently studied, evidenced by research conducted in December 2021, which uncovered thirty other monuments.

“Having the bitter experience of the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan, which organizes and encourages cultural vandalism in the occupied territories of Artsakh at the highest level, we confidently declare that the historical and cultural heritage of Parukh and Karaglukh is also endangered under the Azerbaijani occupation,” the Ministry said.

In particular, the Ministry said, the Azerbaijanis have dug out remains from an Armenian cemetery dating back to the 9th-12th centuries and are now claiming that the bones are allegedly from a mass burial site for Azerbaijanis killed in hostilities in the settlement of Ivanyan.

The surface of those bones is smooth, which means that they can not be 30 years old, and in fact go back centuries, while “the nomadic ancestors of the Azerbaijani population invaded these parts of Artsakh only in the 18th-19th centuries,” the Ministry added.

“Therefore, taking into account the systematic and deliberate crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the rich Armenian and Christian cultural heritage in the previous decades, which gained new momentum with the aggression of 2020 and were registered by many international organizations, including the European Parliament in a resolution dated March 9, 2022, we call on the international community, cultural protection and human rights organizations to not remain indifferent and to take measures against the cultural ethnocide committed by Azerbaijan. We regret that to date UNESCO, despite its obligations, has not sent a fact-finding mission to the occupied territories of Artsakh and is not making significant efforts to prevent the commission of new crimes by Azerbaijan.”

Concerns about the preservation of cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh are made all the more urgent by the Azerbaijani government’s history of systemically destroying indigenous Armenian heritage—acts of both warfare and historical revisionism. The Azerbaijani government has secretly destroyed a striking number of cultural and religious artifacts in the late 20th century. Within Nakhichevan alone, a historically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani forces destroyed at least 89 medieval churches, 5,840 khachkars (Armenian cross stones) and 22,000 historical tombstones between 1997 and 2006.

U.S. suggested Turkey transfer Russian-made missile system to Ukraine

Emil Karabekian
Reuters
By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) – The United States has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

U.S. officials have floated the suggestion over the past month with their Turkish counterparts but no specific or formal request was made, the sources told Reuters. They said it also came up briefly during Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s visit to Turkey earlier this month.

The Biden administration has been asking allies who have been using Russian made equipment and systems including S-300s and S-400s to consider transferring them to Ukraine as it tries to fend off a Russian invasion that began on Feb. 24. read more

The idea, which analysts said was sure to be shot down by Turkey, was part of a wider discussion between Sherman and Turkish officials about how the United States and its allies can do more to support Ukraine and on how to improve bilateral ties.

The Turkish authorities have not commented on any U.S. suggestion or proposal relating to the transfer to Ukraine of Ankara’s S-400 systems, which have been a point of long-standing contention between the two NATO allies.

Turkish foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

Turkish sources and analysts said any such suggestion would be a non-starter for Turkey, citing issues ranging from technical hurdles related to installing and operating the S-400s in Ukraine, to political concerns such as the blowback Ankara would likely face from Moscow.

Washington has repeatedly asked Ankara to get rid of the Russian-built surface-to-air missile batteries since the first delivery arrived in July 2019. The United States has imposed sanctions on a Turkey’s defence industry and removed NATO member Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet programme as a result.

Ankara has said it was forced to opt for the S-400s because allies did not provide weapons on satisfactory terms.

U.S. officials are keen to seize this moment to draw Turkey back into Washington’s orbit. Efforts to find “creative” ways to improve the strained relationship have accelerated in recent weeks, even though no specific proposal has so far gained traction, U.S. and Turkish sources have said.

“I think everyone knows that the S-400 has been a long standing issue and perhaps this is a moment when we can figure out a new way to solve this problem,” Sherman told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk in an interview on March 5.

It was not clear what exactly she meant and the State Department has not answered questions about her comments. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the suggestion made during her visit to Turkey.

The effort is also part of a wider bid by the Biden administration to respond to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s plea to help protect Ukraine’s skies. Russian or Soviet-made air defense systems such as S-300s that other NATO allies have and S-400s are sought after.

One source familiar with U.S. thinking said Washington’s floating of the possibility came as a result of the renewed effort to improve ties at a time when Ankara has been spooked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish President Erdogan had not received a specific heads up from Russian President Vladimir Putin on his plans of a full-scale attack on Ukraine, another source familiar with the discussions said.

Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has said the invasion is unacceptable and voiced support for Ukraine, but has also opposed sanctions on Moscow while offering to mediate.

Ankara has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, analysts say, with which it has close energy, defence and tourism ties. But Ankara has also sold military drones to Kyiv and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering the Kremlin. Turkey also opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

“Turkey has managed to walk on the razor’s edge and a transfer of a Russian S-400 would certainly lead to severe Russian ire,” said Aaron Stein, director of research at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute. “And for Erdogan, the S-400 has become a symbol of Turkish sovereignty, so trading it away wouldn’t be all roses and flowers.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-suggested-turkey-transfer-russian-made-missile-system-ukraine-sources-2022-03-19/

Putin tells Scholz that Kyiv is stalling peace talks with Moscow

Emil Karabekian

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 14:54,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a phone call on Friday that Kyiv was attempting to stall peace talks with Russia but that Moscow was still keen to continue negotiations, Reuters reported citing a press release from the Kremlin.

“It was noted that the Kyiv regime is attempting in every possible way to delay the negotiation process, putting forward more and more unrealistic proposals,” Reuters quoted a readout issued by the Kremlin.

“Nonetheless the Russian side is ready to continue searching for a solution in line with its well-known principled approaches.”

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 18-03-22

Emil Karabekian

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 17:24,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 March, USD exchange rate down by 1.89 drams to 488.60 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.57 drams to 539.32 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.14 drams to 4.79 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 5.32 drams to 641.34 drams.

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

Gold price up by 456.34 drams to 30626.77 drams. Silver price up by 4.69 drams to 398.06 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

Azerbaijan’s statements on peace, to put it mildly, are not sincere – Human Rights Defender

Emil Karabekian

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 13:17,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. The policy of pressures in Artsakh, evicting Armenians from Artsakh by Azerbaijan continues, Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan told reporters today after the Cabinet meeting.

“At this period there were the problems with gas supply in such cold weather conditions. The fact that Azerbaijan was not allowing to repair the damaged gas pipeline is one more proof that this is a policy managed just directly from one point. The goal is clear – ethnic cleansing and evicting Armenians from Artsakh”, she said.

Asked in such situation how it is possible to establish peace with Azerbaijan, the Ombudswoman said: “From the perspective of the Human Rights Defender, it’s obvious and I had a chance to say on this that no Defender, and I am not an exception, could say that peace is something bad, but I think that this is the consensus of all of us, but the statements about peace must be proved and insured by actions. At this moment we must record that the events and escalations of at least the past two weeks, including the humanitarian tension, show that there is just no environment and action for talks about peace, and, to put it mildly, they are not sincere by Azerbaijan”, Kristinne Grigoryan said.