LOS ANGELES – The Armenian National Committee of America – North San Fernando Valley endorsed Councilmember John Lee for re-election to Los Angeles City Council District 12 on Tuesday. Councilmember Lee is a friend of the Armenian community and has a proven track record of working to improve public safety, homelessness, and quality of life in the North Valley.
Councilmember Lee has served the City of Los Angeles in various capacities for over 20 years. In 2019, Lee was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, representing District 12, including the Northridge, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, and North Hills communities. He is the first Asian American to represent District 12.
Lee has been supportive of the Armenian community in the Northern San Fernando Valley. He worked with LAPD to provide more patrol units around Cabayan Elementary School in North Hills during the incidents of vandalism at Armenian community schools. He also worked with a city task force to address homelessness around the Massis Homenetmen Gym in Chatsworth, where hundreds of children and families congregate for sports and Homenetmen Scouts. In addition, Lee has attended events at the Armenian Center in Granada Hills and engaged with community members at Armenian institutions in the North Valley.
During his tenure as Lee has prioritized public safety, homelessness, and quality of life, three issues common to every Armenian in the North Valley. He currently serves as the Chair of the Public Works Committee, Vice Chair of the Public Safety Committee, Vice Chair of the Neighborhoods & Community Enrichment Committee, and is a member of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee and the Housing & Homelessness Committee.
“The North San Fernando Valley supports John Lee for his re-election campaign to LA City Council CD 12 due to his countless efforts to provide public safety and quality of life for our children, families, and communities,” said Sarkis Aposhian, Chair of the ANCA – North SFV. “We know that John will continue to be a strong advocate for the Armenian community in his next term on the City Council.”
Primary elections will take place on March 5, 2024. Visit hyevotes.org for more voter information.
The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.
Author: Emil Lazarian
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS
Asbarez: Schiff Urges Biden Administration to Take Action in Artsakh
Rep. Adam Schiff speaks at a protest in Washington demanding the immediate lifting of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh in February
Representative Adam Schiff on Monday issued a statement in support of the people of Artsakh and urged the Biden Administration “to take action to protect the people of Artsakh and their right to self-determination.”
For decades, Schiff has been a vocal advocate of the rights of the people of Artsakh and in April introduced a resolution calling for the recognition of Artsakh’s self-determination and independence.
Below is the text of Schiff’s statement.
From the day the blockade of the Lachin Corridor began, I, alongside my colleagues in Congress and Armenians around the country, have urged the White House, the State Department, and USAID, to take action to protect the people of Artsakh and their right to self-determination.
With Azerbaijan’s refusal to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid in, and transport patients requiring urgent medical attention out of Artsakh, the need for the international community to take action and find a lasting solution to the conflict grows with each passing day. I’ve persistently called for Azerbaijan to lift the blockade and allow humanitarian aid to move freely via the Lachin Corridor, and I have urged President Biden to take immediate action to address the dire situation in Artsakh.
From condemning ceasefire violations, advocating for the release of Armenian prisoners of war, to calling for sanctions and accountability for Azerbaijan, I’ve always been steadfast in my commitment to ensuring the protection of fundamental rights for the people of Artsakh.
As a Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, I’ve also advocated for international action to end this crisis peacefully. If we truly stand for democracy and human rights, we must recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh and oppose the ethnic cleansing and threats of genocide faced by the Armenian community in their ancestral homeland.
By using all tools at our disposal, including pushing for U.S. humanitarian aid to Artsakh, cutting off military and other assistance to Azerbaijan, and imposing sanctions on those responsible for this crisis, we can ensure Artsakh’s safety now and in the future.
I will be with you every step of the way and will always stand with the people of Armenia and Artsakh.
14 new cases of measles confirmed
11:49, 7 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS. 14 new cases of measles were confirmed last week, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the ongoing local outbreak in Armenia to 373, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday.
As of August 7, the number of active cases stood at 147 but only 4 patients were hospitalized.
226 patients have been treated and discharged from hospitals.
260 of those infected are children, while the 113 others are adults.
Former IBF, WBO world champion Arthur Abraham calls on UN to unblock Lachin Corridor
12:41, 7 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS. Retired Armenian-German professional boxer Arthur Abraham has called for the opening of the Lachin Corridor, stressing that 120.000 people are fighting for survival.
In a video message shared on YouTube, the former IBF middleweight and WBO super-middleweight world champion said, “Since December 12, 2022, a severe humanitarian crisis has been created in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor.
The Lachin Corridor is the only road of life connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia and the whole world.
120.000 innocent civilians are struggling to survive in the absence of food, medicine and other vital supplies.
30.000 children, 20.000 elderly, 9.000 people with disabilities and 2.000 pregnant women are calling for help, but the world is silent.
The harsh reality of starving people is a humanitarian disaster that calls for immediate action.
I call on the United Nations and the civilized world to intervene. Open The Lachin Corridor.
Sincerely,
Arthur Abraham.”
[see video]
MEP Costas Mavrides accuses Azerbaijan of war crime in Nagorno-Karabakh, calls on EU to impose sanctions
13:58, 7 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS. Member of the European Parliament Costas Mavrides (Cyprus) has accused Azerbaijan of committing a war crime in Nagorno-Karabakh by blocking the Lachin Corridor and called on the international community to impose sanctions against Baku.
Asked on the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, MEP Mavrides told ARMENPRESS Brussels correspondent Lilit Gasparyan that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor since last December is a humanitarian emergency and a blatant violation of international law by Azerbaijan.
He added that the blockade constitutes a war crime under international law.
“The current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with the blockage of the Lachin Corridor since last December is a humanitarian emergency and a blatant violation of the international law by Azerbaijan. 120,000 native Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh including 30.000 children, with no medicines, no food, were blockaded by the Azerbaijanis. Following that, we had the binding International Court of Justice order that requires Azerbaijan to take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons. And what has Azerbaijan done since then? Nothing. The complete and arbitrary blockade of the Lachin Corridor, in particular the obstruction of the delivery of humanitarian cargos for the basic needs of the people of Nagorno Karabakh under siege, is considered a war crime under international law,” the MEP said.
Mavrides recalled his recent questions to EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
“In the relevant debate last month, in June, with the HR/VP Joseph Borrell, during the plenary session of the European Parliament, I posed to him the following questions: “With all the understanding, do you consider today Azerbaijan as a reliable partner? Second question, which is very specific: Based on the facts, is Azerbaijan committing a crime like ethnic cleansing, yes or no? And do you consider the response of the EU so far as proportionate to “the crime in the making?” European Parliament has a strong position on this, urging Azerbaijan to respect the relevant decisions and immediately reopen the Lachin corridor. Though decisions on the foreign policy and sanctions are taken on the European Council level where the Heads of State and Government participate and the High Representative can have an important political role,” MEP Costas Mavrides added.
The Member of the European Parliament described the EU monitoring mission in Armenia (EUMA) as “an important step for political and practical reasons,” and called on the international community and the EU to take drastic measures such as imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan.
“The EU decision to launch an EU civilian mission in Armenia has been also an important step for political and practical reasons. Considering that the situation on the ground deteriorates with Azerbaijan to continue its policy of starvation in Nagorno Karabakh and to disrespect the international organisations’ decisions, it is time for the international community and EU to take more drastic measures, such as imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan,” Mavrides added.
Opinion The kleptocracy strikes back. An Azerbaijani economist should be freed.
The Washington Post
Aug 6 2023
On July 23, Mr. Ibadoghlu and his wife, Irada Bayramli, were stopped in their car outside of Baku by a group of 20 people in civilian clothes who beat them and took them in to police custody. Ms. Bayramli was released later that day, but Mr. Ibadoghlu was remanded by a court to three months and 26 days of pretrial detention on spurious charges of corruption.
Mr. Ibadoghlu, who has taught over the years in the United States and Europe, was until recently a senior visiting scholar at the London School of Economics. He has led the Economic Research Center in Azerbaijan, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on economic development and good governance. In 2014, Mr. Aliyev’s regime ordered a freeze on the group’s bank accounts in a wider crackdown on civil society. Mr. Ibadoghlu, who was a 2015 Reagan-Fascell fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, is also chairman of the Democracy and Prosperity Movement, founded in 2014, which the Azerbaijani government has refused to grant official status as a political party.
After his arrest, the authorities charged Mr. Ibadoghlu with counterfeiting, saying they found $40,000 in cash in the offices of his organization, and association with the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey blames for an attempted coup in 2016. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that Mr. Ibadoghlu was detained based on information from Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan. The charges are absurd.
The true reason for his detention is more likely related to events in June, when he helped found the Azerbaijani Youth Educational Foundation in Britain, aimed at preparing a new generation of Azerbaijani professionals. Mr. Ibadoghlu said it would be funded by donations, but also seeks to get funds that corrupt Azerbaijani politicians siphoned from the state and stashed in Britain. From 2012 to 2014, members of the ruling elite used a secret slush fund to pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, launder money and otherwise benefit in what was called the Azerbaijani Laundromat, exposed by a consortium of journalists working under the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The British government has recovered some of the illicit funds. Mr. Ibadoghlu clearly perturbed Mr. Aliyev with his plan to tap the spoils of the kleptocracy for his youth training project.
Mr. Aliyev also seeks to crush political opposition at home. In January, he signed a law that sharply restricts the ability of opposition political parties to function. As a result, Azerbaijan’s three most prominent opposition parties were recently denied registration — and face the possibility of being disbanded. Mr. Ibadoghlu had attempted six times without success to get his group registered, most recently in July.
Mr. Ibadoghlu is diabetic and has hypertension. His family says he has been denied access to medicine, and they fear for his health.
Meanwhile, the United States has been pressing Mr. Aliyev to ease the blockade that Azerbaijan has imposed around Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave, leading to a humanitarian crisis there. Azerbaijan is seeking to regain full control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which ethnic Armenian forces have controlled for three decades. Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in peace talks. Any contacts with Azerbaijan about the crisis should also include a plea for the immediate release of Mr. Ibadoghlu.
As it rebuilds Karabakh, Azerbaijan eyes Israeli investment
Aug 7 2023
BAKU—Israel is among Azerbaijan’s top 10 trading partners, with trade between the two countries reaching $1.7 billion last year, according to figures from the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry.
The ever-growing commercial ties come amid burgeoning relations between the Jewish state and the predominantly Shi’ite secular Muslim nation, that have developed from a centuries-long affinity into an unprecedented strategic partnership.
The trade figures for last year, the majority of which come from the oil sector, represent an 85% increase in trade turnover compared to 2021, according to ministry officials.
For Israel, ties with Azerbaijan—which shares a 428-mile border with Iran, a country home to tens of millions of Azerbaijanis—are of strategic importance, both as a conduit for reconnaissance and because it supplies an estimated 30% of the Jewish state’s oil. At the same time, Azerbaijan is a leading purchaser of Israeli military hardware, which helped Baku win its 2020 war with archrival Armenia.
More than 90 Israeli companies are currently operating in Azerbaijan, including in the agriculture and economic industries, with their investment totaling $30 million, according to the ministry.
“Our priority is to promote [trade in] the non-oil sector as part of an economic diversification plan,” said Guntakin Mirzayeva, head of the ministry’s Division of Intergovernmental Commissions and Bilateral Documents, in an interview with JNS.
Azerbaijan is especially interested in Israeli know-how in hi-tech, green energy and agriculture, officials said.
Rebuilding Karabakh
About a dozen Israeli companies have also expressed interest in undertaking projects in the mountainous Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan won back from Armenia in the war, although agreements are still pending Azerbaijani approval, according to the ministry official.
The vast construction work underway in the region—which requires a special permit to enter—is currently being carried out by Azerbaijan and its historical ally Turkey.
The Azerbaijani government has allocated over $2 billion from the state budget for reconstruction in the area, which is slowly being demined and repopulated after more than three decades of conflict, the ministry official said. Two airports have already been constructed in the region over the last two years, although they are currently not in service. Construction cranes and bulldozers—as well multiple police checkpoints—are omnipresent in the region.
Decades of conflict and lingering tensions
Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, which are a six-hour drive from the capital Baku and snake around the border with Iran and Armenia on still unpaved roads, was the venue of three decades of conflict between the two former Soviet Republics, which have fought two wars since the end of Soviet rule. Three years after the 2020 war ended, a small mountain road that is the only route from Armenia to the territory remains the most immediate flashpoint of the unresolved conflict.
An Azerbaijani checkpoint on the route, which Baku set up this spring, citing security considerations on its sovereign territory, including the transport of weapons, has impeded food supplies to the region and aggravated still-simmering tensions between the archrivals, drawing international condemnation. Azerbaijan rejects the criticism, and says that the situation at the border is being used as a PR exercise to divert public opinion from what is happening on the road. On-and-off European-, Russian- and American-brokered talks aim to resolve the latest dispute—whose underpinnings are based on the decades of mistrust, bitterness and rivalry.
Demining and rebuilding
In the meantime, Azerbaijani officials are busy at work in the area, removing the estimated one million mines left in the area from the three decades when Armenia held the territory. Only about 20% percent of the mines have been removed to date, with officials estimating that it will take decades to remove them all.
“The biggest obstacle for us is the demining,” said Mirzayeva.
According to Azerbaijani officials, approximately 2,000 landmines are being uncovered per square mile.
Once each area is cleared, building is permitted in the area. While only 1,000 Azerbaijanis are now back in the region—which was once home to hundreds of thousands of people—the government plans to repopulate it with some 140,000 in the next three years, including many whose families once lived there three decades ago, officials said. Tens of thousands of Armenians live in the area as well. In all, about 10 million people live in Azerbaijan.
Cooperation broadening
Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan George Deek told JNS that cooperation between the two countries, once limited to the energy and defense sectors, is vastly broadening to economic and agricultural fields amid the flourishing ties, including what is expected to be the first Israeli desalination plant on the shorelines of the Caspian Sea, near Baku, which would be the second such plant in the country.
“We are certainly very willing and interested to further the presence of Israeli companies in Azerbaijan, and we are in constant dialogue with local officials to advance such cooperation,” said Deek.
https://www.jns.org/world-news/israel-azerbaijani-relations/23/8/7/308259/
Turkish Press: Azerbaijan says it intercepted Armenian 4-rotor copter over military positions in Karabakh
Yeni Safak, Turkey
Aug 7 2023
Aug 7 2023
Azerbaijan says it intercepted Armenian 4-rotor copter over military positions in Karabakh
Armenian quadcopter tried to fly over Azerbaijani military positions in Basarkechar district, says Defense Ministry
Azerbaijan on Monday said that it intercepted an Armenian four-rotor helicopter over its military positions in the Karabakh region.
“On Aug. 7, around 1:30 p.m. (0930GMT), a DJI Mavic 3 quadcopter belonging to the Armenian armed forces tried to fly over positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in … the Basarkechar district,” the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said the quadcopter was detected and brought down by Azerbaijani units in the area using “special technical means.”
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes. The war ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.
Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between the neighboring countries rose in recent months over the Lachin corridor, the only land route giving Armenia access to Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh expects int’l community to move from words to action to end crimes committed by Azerbaijan
14:17, 5 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on all concerned states, international organisations and other actors to move from words to action in order to put an end to the international crimes committed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people.
In a statement released on August 5, the Nagorno-Karabakh foreign ministry said that the prevention of genocide is an erga omnes obligation, which requires every State to take active and continuous efforts to prevent the commission of such crimes.
Below is the full statement released by the Nagorno-Karabakh foreign ministry:
“We attach great importance to the calls made at the highest level by the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe and other respected international actors for the immediate lifting by Azerbaijan of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor. At the same time, it is evident that such appeals have no impact whatsoever on the leadership of Azerbaijan, which, in a climate of impunity and complete lack of accountability, continues its genocidal policy and subjects 120 thousand people of Artsakh to starvation, creating unbearable living conditions for them.
“In their statements and calls periodically made by international structures, organisations and individual states, all of them without exception have acknowledged the fact of the unlawful blockade of the Lachin Corridor and emphasised the need to restore the freedom of movement along the corridor. However, no specific and effective measures are being taken in this direction. Meanwhile, the humanitarian catastrophe and human rights crisis in the Republic of Artsakh are deteriorating with each passing day.
“The recent statements coming from Azerbaijan about the possibility of using alternative routes for the alleged delivery of humanitarian relief to Artsakh once again demonstrate that Baku is using the blockade as a weapon and a means of exerting pressure on the people of Artsakh. The Azerbaijani authorities exploit the suffering of people and the humanitarian catastrophe they have created in order to achieve their political goals. Such actions and behaviour by Azerbaijan must be strongly rejected by the international community as inhumane.
“In this regard, once again, we strongly urge all concerned states, international organisations and other actors to move from words to action in order to put an end to the international crimes committed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people. We remind that the prevention of genocide is an erga omnes obligation, which requires every State to take active and continuous efforts to prevent the commission of such crimes.
“Ending the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and human rights crisis in the Republic of Artsakh is a real challenge to the effectiveness of involved international actors. We are convinced that, in accordance with their commitments, they are capable of addressing such evident and egregious violation of international order by Azerbaijan and preventing the crime of genocide. Otherwise, all calls for peace and normalisation will be detached from reality and devoid of any substance and prospect.”
Czech Ambassador visits entrance to Lachin Corridor
16:30, 5 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. The Czech Ambassador to Armenia Petr Piruncik has visited the entrance to the blocked Lachin Corridor.
“In the Lachin corridor. I wanted to see with my own eyes a place that I hear a lot about and I also often talk and write about,” Ambassador Piruncik posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. He also posted photos and a video.
On August 2, Ambassador Piruncik participated in the opening of the EUMA mission’s Kapan hub and had a meeting with Syunik Governor Robert Ghukasyan.