Author: Emil Karabekian

President of Armenian parliament, CoE Secretary General refer to situation created by the war unleashed by Azerbaijan

Emil Karabekian

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 18:48,

YEREVAN, 21 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan on October 21 met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić in the framework of the Conference of the Presidents of parliaments of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the National Assembly of Armenia, thanking for the meeting, the President of the National Assembly of Armenia mentioned that this year marks the 20th year of Armenia’s membership to the Council of Europe, emphasizing the cooperation with the Council of Europe and the support of the organization to the democratic reform process in Armenia.

He highly appreciated the role of the Council of Europe and the PACE monitoring institutions in the strengthening of democracy in Armenia. Alen Simonyan referred to the monitoring of the early elections held in Armenia in June 2021 by the Assembly and the high assessment given by it.

The parties referred to the large scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and post war situation. Alen Simonyan emphasized that Azerbaijan continues to held hostage Armenian prisoners of war and civilian persons, initiating false criminal cases against some of them. The President of the legislative body emphasized the necessity of keeping this issue in focus by the PACE.

Issues related to human rights and democracy were discussed.




Armenia asks UN court to protect it from ‘hatred’ of neighbor Azerbaijan

Emil Karabekian
Oct 14 2021

Azerbaijan has countersued Armenia in a separate case over an antidiscrimination treaty that will be heard next week.

MOLLY QUELL / October 14, 2021

A forest burns in October 2020 after shelling by Azerbaijan’s artillery during a military conflict with Armenia outside Stepanakert, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (AP Photo)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — The United Nations’ top court heard opening arguments Thursday in Armenia’s request for temporary protective measures against its neighbor Azerbaijan.

Officials in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan have complained to The Hague-based International Court of Justice, or ICJ, that Azerbaijan’s government based in Baku violated a treaty outlawing racial discrimination during the 2020 conflict over the breakaway region Nagorno-Karabakh that left 6,500 people dead. 

“It is ethnic discrimination pure and simple,” lawyer Pierre d’Argent said on behalf of Armenia. Both countries are party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial intolerance. 

The disputed 1,700-square-mile area technically falls within the borders of Azerbaijan, but 90% of its 150,000 inhabitants are ethnically Armenian. The area had been under the control of Armenian forces since an earlier war over the territory. Hostilities broke out again last year after a skirmish in a border region. 

Armenia wants the ICJ to order Azerbaijan to stop “espousing hatred of people of Armenian ethnic or national origin,” and specifically to close down a park created to celebrate Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. The Military Trophy Park opened in Azerbaijan’s capital in January 2021, displaying seized equipment and even the helmets of dead Armenian soldiers. 

Lawyers for Armenia cited multiple remarks made by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, calling Armenian people barbarians and vandals and claiming they are unable to build their own state so instead leech off of other nations.

“Generations upon generations are indoctrinated into this culture of fear and hate of anything and everything Armenian,” Armenia’s agent Yeghishe Kirakosyan told the court Thursday. 

Azerbaijan has countersued Armenia under the same treaty and has also requested provisional measures in a separate case that will be heard next week. In its rebuttal, its lawyers argue that it was Armenia, not Azerbaijan, that has engaged in ethnic cleansing. 

The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been a source of conflict since war first broke out over the territory in 1988, following the fall of the Soviet Union. A ceasefire was negotiated in 1994 after some 30,000 were killed, but the peace was fragile. Thirty soldiers were killed when more fighting broke out in 2016.

In an interview last week with France 24, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan was ready to “work on a future peace agreement.” 

Representatives for both countries will be allowed to respond in court Friday.

We expressed serious concern over external illegal sanctions against CIS countries – Belarus FM

Emil Karabekian

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 15:09, 14 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei presented details from the CIS foreign ministerial meeting, BelTA reports.

“We consistently highlight the importance of cohesion and interaction within the CIS for an effective response to common challenges and threats. In this context, we have expressed our serious concern over the constantly expanding use of unlimited and illegal unilateral sanctions against the CIS countries from outside,” Vladimir Makei said.

According to him, during the ministerial meeting, the foreign ministers had a meaningful conversation about the international agenda and cooperation in the Commonwealth. The situation near the CIS external borders was also discussed in detail, with a focus on the developments in Central Asia.

Opposition MP: Goris-Kapan road section de facto handed over to Azerbaijan

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 6 2021

A section of the road linking two Armenian towns, Goris and Kapan, has in fact been handed over to Azerbaijan, MP Anna Grigoryan from the opposition Armenia faction told reporters in the parliament on Wednesday.

“Members of the Civil Contract faction were recently in Goris and I understood from their posts that they were in Tatev. I wonder why they didn’t pass through the Goris-Kapan road section to understand the feelings of our compatriots,” she said.

In her words, the facts indicate that the Goris-Kapan road section has de facto been handed over to Azerbaijan.

Grigoryan noted that Iranian citizens have a stamp placed in their documents when entering Armenia at the Meghri customs checkpoint, and Azerbaijanis place their stamp over the Armenian one on the Goris-Kapan road section.

“When leaving Armenia, our customs officers put another stamp over the Azerbaijani one, de facto recognizing that the Azerbaijanis have full control over this road section. But there is no legal document in this regard,” the MP said.

Grigoryan recalled that as a result of the previous construction works an Azerbaijani customs checkpoint was set up on the road, adding new construction is currently underway and it is not known yet what is being built.

She noted that in order to clarify these issues, the opposition factions invited the heads of the relevant agencies to the National Assembly, but the latter refused to appear in parliament or attend a meeting of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security.

“Judging from that, I can assume that they have some kind of secret agreement, which they don’t want to speak about, or they simply don’t know what is going on,” said the lawmaker.

According to her, there are no well-maintained roads to the villages of Bardzravan, Shurnukh, Vorotan and no construction works either.

She said that the dirt road leading to the villages passes through a wooded area and is extremely inconvenient for travel in winter.

Anna Grigoryan added that currently the Goris-Kapan road is used less often than the Tatev road.

​Iran warns Israel over ‘presence’ in Azerbaijan

Emil Karabekian
Deutsche Welle, Germany
Oct 6 2021

Iran warns Israel over ‘presence’ in Azerbaijan

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says his country does not accept “geopolitical changes” in the Caucasus. Tensions between Iran and neighboring Azerbaijan have been on the rise of late.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdohallahian criticized its neighbor Azerbaijan on Wednesday during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Amirabdollahian criticized Azerbaijan’s dealings with Israel and recent military maneuvers close to Iran’s northern border.

“We certainly will not tolerate geopolitical change and map change in the Caucasus, and we have serious concerns about the presence of terrorists and Zionists in this region,” he said.

Azerbaijan has also recently carried out military operations with Turkey following Iranian maneuvers last week. However, Amirabdollahian said that Iran’s operation had been a one-off event and had been announced beforehand through diplomatic channels.

“This maneuver was carried out inside Iran by the Iranian Armed Forces and its message was peace, friendship and security in the region,” Iranian news agency Mehr News reported him as saying.

Regional disputes

Tensions between Iran and its northern neighbor have been on the rise. Azeris are the largest minority in Iran and antagonism from Baku could prove to be a thorn in Tehran’s side.

Azerbaijan is also a close ally of Turkey, Iran’s rival as a regional power. Baku has hinged a significant portion of its defense policy on Israeli technologies such as drones.

Azerbaijan relied heavily on these technologies in its war with Armenia last year when it successfully reclaimed the previously disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, known to Armenians as Artsakh.

Baku was also a major logistics center over the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan. Additionally, the city has hosted talks between high-level military commanders from the US and Russia, especially under the previous Trump administration.

While in Moscow, Amirabdollahian and Lavrov discussed the prospects of reviving the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Iranian foreign minister said he was now optimistic that the negotiations could proceed swiftly: “I emphasized that we are now finalizing consultations on this matter and will soon restore our negotiations in Vienna.”

However, Amirabdollahian also repeated a call for the US to unblock at least some foreign assets of the Iranian government which sanctions have targeted.

The previous administration in Washington in 2018 unilaterally walked out on the international deal first brokered in 2013, opting instead to apply what it termed “maximum pressure” on Tehran. Tehran responded by breaking some terms of the agreement  when it came to nuclear enrichment and inspection.

Fellow brokers China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK all hope the US will return to the deal but Iran is seeking improved terms while the US is yet to clearly signal its intent under President Joe Biden.

ab, ar/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

 

Armenian Ambassador presents credentials to President of Turkmenistan

Emil Karabekian

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 16:20, 8 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ruben Kharazyan presented his credentials to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the foreign ministry of Armenia reports.

The Turkmen President congratulated the Ambassador on assuming office and expressed hope that his activity will contribute to further strengthening the bilateral relations and effective partnership between Armenia and Turkmenistan.

The Ambassador conveyed to the Turkmen President the greetings of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Armen Sarkissian and assured that he will make all efforts to further develop and expand the Armenian-Turkmen cooperation.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Turkish press: Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders ready for summit to discuss Karabakh

Emil Karabekian
 ISTANBUL EUROPE 
OCT 05, 2021 10:43 AM GMT+3

Soldiers carry portraits of Azerbaijani service members killed in the recent conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh during a commemoration on its first anniversary, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 27, 2021. (Reuters Photo)

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian both expressed readiness for a joint summit as the second Karabakh war between the two countries is left a year behind.

Pashinian commented on the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan during a meeting with the Armenian community in Lithuania.

Noting that Armenia is ready to hold high-level talks with Azerbaijan, Pashinian said: “On July 1, I announced that we were ready for a high-level summit. This meeting can be at the level of foreign ministers or prime minister-president. I believe that there are no restrictions on the place and time of a meeting with the president of Azerbaijan.”

Arguing that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group is experienced in organizing such summits, Pashinian said: “We are happy to state that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have started to intensify their activities. We are ready to start the process of delineating the borders.”

Aliyev also said in a statement on Oct. 2: “I am ready and I have already stated my position. If the Armenian side is ready, I am also ready. Earlier this year, upon the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, we had a tripartite meeting. I can talk to Pashinian at any time when he is ready. I am open to negotiations and I think this could be a good sign that the war is over and that page has been turned. This is very important.”

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed upon in 1994.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements. During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from Armenian occupation.

The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution. The truce is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have been withdrawing in line with the agreement.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said in a statement regarding Pashinian’s plan to meet with Putin in Russia, “Pashinian is expected to visit Russia. A private meeting with Putin is being prepared.”

Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after his meeting with Putin in Sochi that Russia was ready to create a six-nation platform.

Erdoğan has frequently called for a six-nation platform comprising Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for permanent peace, stability and cooperation in the region, saying it would be a win-win initiative for all regional actors in the Caucasus.

Turkey believes that permanent peace is possible through mutual security-based cooperation among the states and people of the South Caucasus region.

He noted that the Zangezur corridor would provide opportunities for the region as a whole, in terms of trade and economy.

“Azerbaijan is carrying out widescale work for this corridor,” Erdoğan said, adding that Armenia also needs to fulfill its responsibilities.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said last week that Turkey would coordinate all steps to be taken in terms of reestablishing relations with Armenia amid positive statements in that regard, but no meeting has been scheduled with his Armenian counterpart.

Pashinian’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan last month said her country is ready to engage in high-level dialogue with Turkey. She noted that Yerevan was ready to establish the highest-level dialogue with Ankara and eliminate obstacles on the transit corridor that would have to go through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan enclave that borders Turkey and Iran.

Armenia and Turkey never established diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. The ties have further deteriorated due to Turkey’s support for its regional ally Azerbaijan, which fought with Armenia last year for the liberation of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Ankara has pledged its full support to Baku in its efforts to liberate its lands from Armenian occupation. A joint Turkish-Russian center was established to monitor the truce. Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed to the region.

Meanwhile, Aliyev Monday visited the city of Jabrayil and some surrounding villages and towns in the first year of its liberation from occupation.

Speaking in the town of Sukovushan, Aliyev emphasized that this place is of great strategic importance and that the liberation of Sukovushan provided great morale for the army.

“During the occupation, the Armenians cut off the water of the Sukovushan dam in summer and opened it in winter. While our villagers and farmers were dehydrated during the summer months, the water released during the winter months would cause flooding. This shows once again what an ugly foe we are dealing with. They used every opportunity to do us more harm,” he said.

Aliyev, who also criticized former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in his speech, said: “The analysis of the war shows once again that the losers of this war are Serzh Sargsyan and others like him. Now they want to blame Nikol Pashinian for the defeat. It is supposed that Pashinian is guilty. Pashinian came to power in 2018. Serzh Sargsyan founded the army. He served as a defense minister, prime minister, secretary of the president, head of the security service, and became president for 10 years. We destroyed that army and destroyed Serzh Sargsyan and elements like him. Let this defeat not be blamed on Pashinian. What Pashinian did is a separate issue. But we defeated Sargsyan. The army he formed knelt before us.”

My Step Foundation has new executive director

Emil Karabekian

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 13:55, 28 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Mkhitar Hayrapetyan has been elected as executive director of the My Step Foundation.

The decision was adopted today during the meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

“By the decision of the Board, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan was elected as the new executive director of the Foundation. We would like to thank Lilit Grigoryan for organizing the activities of the Foundation in the difficult post-war period”, Armenian prime minister’s spouse Anna Hakobyan, who is the chairwoman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, said on Facebook.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

4 more fallen Armenian soldiers’ bodies found in Wednesday’s search operations in Jrakan

Emil Karabekian
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 29 2021

Artsakh rescuers on Wednesday September 29, found the bodies of 4 more fallen Armenian soldiers as a result of their search operations for the 2020 Artsakh war casualties.

The remains were retrieved from the Jrakan (Jabrayil) region, the State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh’s Interior Ministry reported.

The bodies are yet to be identified through a forensic medical examination. As the source said, the future directions of the search operations will be communicated further.

Since the end of hostilities, a total of 1,677 bodies of Armenian soldiers and civilians have been found and recovered from the Artsakh territories temporarily occupied by Azerbaijan as a result of the 44-day war unleashed by it.

Park of Life to be established in Botanical Garden in memory of victims of all the Artsakh wars – PM Pashinyan

Emil Karabekian

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 20:22, 21 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech at the main event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the independence of Armenia at the Republic Square of Yerevan. ARMENPRESS presents the full speech of the PM.

‘’Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia, Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly, Distinguished Members of the Government, Security Council, MPs, Distinguished Representatives of the Judiciary, dear parents, relatives of our martyrs, dear attendees, let’s first honor the memory of all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives to the Motherland and its Independence with minute of silence.

Thank You.

But you are standing alive with your old and new wounds,

You are standing thoughtful, on the mysterious path of the new and old.

With a groan from the depths of your heart, you are speaking to the God

Pondering of a deeply hidden symbolism in your torments,

Pondering about the Word you will tell the world,

And you will become the country, where our spirits strive,

Motherland of hope,

Motherland of light.

These words of Hovhannes Tumanyan probably most accurately express the situation of our homeland, the Republic of Armenia, which is already 30 years old. What will we see if we look back at the 30-year history of our independent state? We will see successes and failures, we will see victories and defeats, we will see tears and joy, we will see inspiration and despair, we will see rapture and disappointment, we will see wars, both victorious and defeated.

The burden of the 44-day war in 2020 is hovering over this square, and perhaps this circumstance is the symbol of the crossroads that the great Tumanyan is talking about. How to live after this tragedy, how to look into the eyes of the children, widows, fathers and mothers of the victims, how to make their sacrifice not be considered meaningless.

This formula is perhaps our biggest task, to formulate the guideline of our life and future at this point of 30 years of independence for the coming decades of our independent state. My formulation is the following.

History has shown and proved that victory in wars has not always been victory in general, in the same way the defeat in wars has not always been defeat in general. We must transform our defeat into victory, but we must also transform our formula for victory, because history has shown that it is not always necessary to defeat others for a victory. To win means to overcome despair, to overcome hopelessness, to overcome the fate, to overcome death.

So where are our martyrs?

They fell so as Armenia can live, they fell so as Artsakh can live. And as long as Armenia lives, as long as Artsakh lives, they are alive. When the Republic of Armenia is developing, when Artsakh is developing, their sacrifices have achieved their goal, because it’s about the homeland of their children, their brothers and sisters.

And I want us to see the presence of our martyrs with us today, to see them as a symbol of life, and not of death, to make them symbol of victory over death, symbol of overcoming despair, overcoming hopelessness.

We have been discussing for a long time what kind of project we should carry out to eternalize the memory of the victims of all the Artsakh wars, symbolizing their presence, their living next to us. And we decided to establish the Park of Life in the Yerevan Botanical Garden, where trees symbolizing the aliveness and presence of all the victims of all the Artsakh wars will be planted, and the culmination of the park will be the Tree of Life, symbolizing the lives of all our martyrs sacrificed to the homeland.

It will not be a memorial, it will be a park of life, where children will run, make noise, play, young people will have fun, adults will walk and talk, and that park will be about that they fell in order all these people, Armenia and Artsakh can live. And the living Armenia, living Artsakh, peaceful and developing Armenian statehood must become the victory they created.

Here, in the heart of this bright square, wrapped in Armenian flags and guarded by the guard of honor, these trees will be moved to the botanical garden, symbolizing the beginning of a new era in the history of the Republic of Armenia, the beginning of an era of peaceful development.

Live Armenia and rise, live Artsakh and rise, for the sake of the martyrs who fell for you to rise.  

Congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia’’.