19:12, 5 December 2023
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay working visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday which are expected to last no longer than one day, Tass quoted Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
"Tomorrow, President Putin’s working visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will take place," the Kremlin official said.
Keynote Speaker Pastor Larry Osborne with former Christian Endeavor members at the UACC's 60th anniversary banquet held on Nov. 5
BY JOYCE ABDULIAN
There certainly was “Joy In the House” on November 5 at the United Armenian Congregational Church’s 60th anniversary banquet at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles. Spectacular views of the city mirrored the festivities inside.
As the multi-generational group of guests arrived at the sold-out event, there was a celebratory atmosphere with warm greetings among family and friends. The conversation centered on reminiscing of their youth days with Christian Endeavor, and church camp days.
Co-chairs Jack Muncherian and Arsine Phillips and the event committee members planned and executed a memorable and a successful evening.
Master of ceremonies, the joyous Shogher Shanoian, masterfully guided the program. One highlight was the amazing twelve-year-old Gizelle Hosharian who opened the evening singing the American and Armenian Anthems.
A heartfelt video greeting and message by Senior Pastor Rev. Harut Khachatryan was met with joy and prayerful gratitude. He closed by reciting the lyrics of the hymn, “Trust and Obey.”
Joseph Stein, one of our much loved and admired faithful friends, shared a devotional and prayer for our dinner. Gracing each table was a magnificent arrangement of red roses generously donated by Francis DeMirjian, in loving memory of her precious daughter, Debbie. Dinner conversations created a joyous atmosphere.
The musical program, a medley of Armenian songs led by keyboardist Greg Hosharian and violinist Angela Amirian, brought down the house with loud cheers.
Keynote speaker, author, and Pastor Larry Osborne of North Coast Church, was introduced by Paul Agbabian. Mr. Agbabian asked former C.E. members under Pastor Osborne’s direction to stand. which was a wonderful tribute.
Pastor Osborne spoke fondly of his time at UACC introducing his wife, Nancy Kouyoumjian Osborne, whom he met during his UACC tenure. Referencing the banquet theme of Joy, he shared three attributes necessary for joy— patience, trust, and confidence. He elaborated on how each of us represent Christ’s love in unique ways.
Each year the Board of Trustees has the joy of presenting an award to one of our faithful UACC. volunteers. Trustee Board chair, Aleen Khanjian, in her ebullient manner, read the biography of the honoree revealing the much-deserved recipient, Rita Tilkian Hasserjian. Rita referenced her gratitude and shared how her godly grandparents and parents encouraged service.
The memorable evening came to a close with a benediction by Pastor of Christian Education Rev. Shant Barsoumian, followed by the audience joyfully singing “God Bless America.”
LOS ANGELES—The Promise Armenian Institute (PAI) at UCLA is pleased to announce Grant and Fellowship Opportunities for the 2024-2025 academic year. These opportunities are available to promote scholarship in areas relevant to the PAI mission.
The UCLA PAI offers Faculty Research Grants, Course Development Grants, Faculty/Scholar Travel Grants, Student Research or Travel Grants, Dissertation Year Fellowships and Postdoctoral Fellowships for research in fields represented within Armenian studies, such as Armenian language, literature and history, as well as all other academic fields—including but not limited to the social sciences, health sciences, humanities, music, arts, engineering and public policy—with a research emphasis on or direct relevance to Armenia or Armenians.
These one-year grants and Ph.D. fellowships are available to UCLA personnel at the appropriate level, while postdoctoral fellowships for up to two years in duration are available to Ph.D. or other doctoral degree recipients from outside or within UCLA.
The PAI strongly encourages collaborative research projects between UCLA faculty and scholars/institutions in the Republic of Armenia.
Scholars with doctoral degrees from institutions in Armenia or other non-U.S. institutions are strongly encouraged to apply for a PAI Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Additional funding opportunities are available through the UCLA PAI-affiliated Operation Armenia (OA) program for public health or healthcare-related research pertaining to Armenia and/or Armenians globally, with emphasis on proposals that are in alignment with the Republic of Armenia’s stated healthcare and public health priorities, such as implementation of universal health coverage, emergency preparedness and primary care strengthening.
Finally, the UCLA Armenian Music Program invites students enrolled in a college, university or conservatory in California to submit an original chamber composition inspired by Armenian culture, music and/or history for the Annual Tigran Mansurian Composition Competition.
To learn more about these funding opportunities and access the appropriate electronic applications, please visit the Funding Opportunities page at the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute website.
For the coming academic year, fellowship and research grant applications will be accepted during the period December 1, 2023, through February 1, 2024, unless otherwise specified, while PAI travel grant applications will be accepted three times a year, beginning on the first Friday and ending on the tenth Friday of Fall, Winter and Spring Quarters.
Interested applicants are invited to visit the Current and Past PAI Grant/Fellowship Recipients page to learn more about recently funded projects and fellows.
Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) led a bicameral and bipartisan group of 60 legislators urging U.S. security assistance and refugee aid to Armenia to address Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population and ongoing threats against Armenia’s sovereignty.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sixty U.S. Senators and Representatives, led by Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), called on congressional leaders to send security assistance to Armenia and provide additional refugee relief aid for Artsakh genocide survivors as part of the national security supplemental funding bill, set to be reviewed as early as next week, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Specifically, the Padilla-Eshoo letter – broadly supported through ANCA-led nationwide grassroots action – calls for $10 million in U.S. foreign military financing (FMF) for Armenia and requests humanitarian assistance allocated in the supplemental aid bill to be made available to Armenia to meet the needs of the 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh forced from their homes following Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of the region’s entire Armenian population in September 2023.
“We thank Congresswoman Eshoo and Senator Padilla for partnering in this bicameral call on President Biden to invest in Armenia’s security and meaningfully support Artsakh’s refugees,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “With President Biden lining up on the wrong side of Armenian issues – arming Azerbaijan and abandoning Artsakh – Congress is stepping up, leading America’s response to the escalating threats that Turkey and Azerbaijan represent to Armenia’s very survival.”
“Azerbaijan’s brutal, unprovoked military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh on the heels of their months-long blockade of the Lachin Corridor has created a horrific humanitarian crisis, forcing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees to flee their homes,” said Senator Padilla. “The U.S. must step up to address this emergency. I strongly urge congressional leadership to include essential security and humanitarian assistance for Armenia in the foreign aid package.”
Rep. Eshoo noted, “I’m proud to partner with Senator Padilla in leading this timely bipartisan effort to secure aid for Armenia in the upcoming national security bill. Armenia urgently needs U.S. aid to defend its democracy against Azerbaijani aggression and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. As Congress prepares legislation to support our vulnerable democratic allies around the world, Armenia must be included.”
In the letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), legislators cite Azerbaijan’s September 19 attack on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and forced displacement of Artsakh 120,000 indigenous Armenians.
“We are particularly concerned that Azerbaijan will continue its aggression by invading the sovereign territory of Armenia. Ominously, Aliyev recently referred to southern Armenia as “western Azerbaijan” and called for the “liberation” of eight Armenian villages along the Azerbaijani border,” state the congressional lawmakers. They go on to stress, “At this inflection point for the Caucasus, U.S. leadership is needed to deter further Azerbaijani aggression and enable Armenians to defend their democracy.”
Joining Senator Padilla and Representative Eshoo in cosigning the bicameral, bipartisan letter are Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Fetterman (D-PA), Edward Markey (D-MA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR); and Representatives Alma Adams (D-NC), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Don Beyer (D-VA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Joaquín Castro (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), James McGovern (D-MA), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), Grace Meng (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Scott Peters (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Deborah Ross (D-NC), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Trone (D-MD), David Valadao (R-CA), and Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).
The full text of the letter is available here.
Monday, December 4, 2023
Armenian Parliament Majority Opposes Karabakh Ballot Initiative
• Anush Mkrtchian
• Shoghik Galstian
Armenia - A meeting of the parliament committee on legal affairs, Yerevan,
December 4, 2023.
Pro-government lawmakers rejected on Monday an opposition-backed ballot
initiative to legally ban Armenia’s leadership from recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh
as part of Azerbaijan.
The initiative dubbed Hayakve (Armenian vote) was launched by a group of
Armenian political activists and public figures this summer following Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s controversial pledge to recognize Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh through an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
The campaigners have specifically demanded two new articles of the Criminal Code
which would make the Armenian government’s recognition of Karabakh’s
incorporation into Azerbaijan and its refusal to seek greater international
recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide crimes punishable by between 10 and 15
years in prison. They argue that this would be in line with a 1990 declaration
of independence adopted by Armenia’s first post-Communist parliament.
Armenian law requires the parliament to discuss any initiative backed by at
least 50,000 citizens. Hayakve has collected 58,000 signatures in support of its
demands.
The parliament committee on legal affairs gave a negative assessment of the
initiative at the end of a heated discussion that lasted for seven hours and
involved bitter recriminations between its pro-government and opposition
members. The decision means that the National Assembly controlled by Pashinian’s
Civil Contract party is unlikely to even include the issue on the agenda of its
plenary session on Tuesday.
Armenia - Citizens sign a petition on Nagorno-Karabakh in Yerevan, June 29, 2023.
Artsvik Minasian, a parliament deputy from the main opposition Hayastan
alliance, accused Civil Contract of “deceiving” Armenians who voted for it in
the June 2021 general elections. Minasian argued that in its election manifesto
the ruling party pledged to assert the Karabakh Armenians’ right to
self-determination.
The Armenian government stopped making references to that right on the
international stage one year before Pashinian declared that it recognizes
Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan. It cited instead the need to protect the
“rights and security” of the Karabakh Armenians through the Armenian-Azerbaijani
peace treaty and other international mechanisms.
Pashinian’s administration appears to have stopped seeking such security
guarantees as well after the recent Azerbaijani military offensive that restored
Baku’s full control over Karabakh and forced its practically entire population
to flee to Armenia.
Alen Simonian, the Armenian parliament speaker and a key Pashinian ally, said
last week that the peace treaty should not contain any special provisions on
Karabakh and the return of its ethnic Armenian residents.
Eduard Aghajanian, another senior Civil Contract lawmaker, backed Simonian’s
stance on Monday, saying that the security of the Karabakh Armenians will be
best ensured in Armenia.
“Right now it’s better to concentrate on eliminating the consequences of the
Artsakh people’s post-traumatic stress and doing the best to establish peace,”
Aghajanian told reporters.
Armenian Soldier Killed On Azeri Border
• Susan Badalian
Armenia - Armenian soldiers take up positions on the border with Azerbaijan,
August 2, 2022.
An Armenian soldier serving on the border with Azerbaijan was shot dead on
Monday in what official Yerevan described as an Azerbaijani ceasefire violation
aimed at torpedoing peace talks.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry said the soldier, Gerasim Arakelian, was fatally
wounded by sniper fire at an Armenian army post near the village of Bardzruni
bordering Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied the “provocative information,” saying
that its troops did not breach the ceasefire.
The head of the Bardzruni administration, Arsen Aleksanian, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service that local residents heard the sounds of cross-border gunfire.
Serious truce violations at that section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have
been rare until now.
“We strongly condemn these actions of the Azerbaijani side aimed at provoking a
new escalation, dragging out the peace process and bringing it to a dead end,”
the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the deadly incident.
The statement also said that Baku is “continuously rejecting offers from various
international actors to continue negotiations” with Yerevan.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan deplored Baku’s “refusal to come to meetings
organized by various international actors, including the U.S. and the EU” when
he addressed last week an annual conference of the top diplomats of OSCE member
states. His Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov said Yerevan itself is
dragging out talks on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled EU-mediated talks with
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian planned for October. Bayramov similarly
withdrew from a November 20 meeting with Mirzoyan that was due to take place in
Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and proposed
direct negotiations with Yerevan.
Armenian Official Sheds Light On ‘Weapons Not Supplied By Russia’
• Shoghik Galstian
RUSSIA – The Pantsyr S-1 air defense missile system is seen atop the Russian
Defense Ministry headquarters in Moscow on April 17, 2023
Russia has failed to provide Armenia with any of the weapons or other military
equipment covered by bilateral defense contracts worth $400 million signed after
the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior Armenian official said on Monday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his political allies have repeatedly made
such claims over the past year amid Armenia’s worsening relations with Russia.
But they gave no details of those contracts. The Russian government has still
not reacted to those claims.
Armenia’s Deputy Defense Minister Hrachya Sargsyan is the first official to
reveal the amount of money which Yerevan claims to have paid Russia’s
state-owned arms manufacturers. But he declined to specify the types of weaponry
that are listed in those contracts.
Sargsian said the contracts remain valid and the Armenian side still hopes the
Russians will fulfill their obligations. “I think that the issue will be solved
through our partnership,” he told reporters.
Pashinian said on November 24 that the two sides are discussing the matter and
he hopes they will reach an agreement. Russia itself “needs weapons” now, he
said, clearly alluding to its continuing war with Ukraine.
In Pashinian’s words, one of the options under consideration is for Russia to
write off part of Armenia’s debt to it in exchange for not delivering the
weapons in question.
Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of weapons and ammunition. But
with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and tensions between Moscow and
Yerevan continuing to grow, the Armenian government is increasingly looking for
other arms suppliers.
Since September 2022 it has reportedly signed a number of defense contracts with
India worth at least $400 million. In October this year, it also signed two arms
deals with France.
Pashinian and members of his political team say that this is part of their
broader efforts to “diversify” Armenia’s defense and security policy. They
regularly accuse Moscow of not honoring its security commitments to its South
Caucasus ally.
More French Arms Supplies To Armenia Revealed
UAE - A French ACMAT Bastion armoured personnel carrier at a defense exhibition
in Abu Dhabi, February 25, 2015:
France will deliver a total of 50 armored personnel carriers (APCs) to Armenia
as part of growing military ties between the two nations, according to French
lawmakers.
The first batch of over two dozen Bastion vehicles apparently bound for Armenia
was spotted in the Georgian port of Poti and reported by Azerbaijani media about
a month ago. The Armenian Defense Ministry declined to explicitly confirm the
delivery.
The APCs manufactured by the French company Arquus were not part of defense
contracts signed by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Armenian
counterpart Suren Papikian during the latter’s visit to Paris in late October.
One of those deal calls for Armenia’s purchase of three air-defense radar
systems from the French defense group Thales. Lecornu and Papikian also signed a
“letter of intent” on the future delivery of Mistral short-range surface-to-air
missiles.
In a joint report on a French budgetary bill, two members of France’s Senate
revealed that “24 Bastion-type armored vehicles … are being delivered to Armenia
and they should be joined by 26 other vehicles of the same type currently in
production.”
The senators, Hugues Saury and Helene Conway-Mouret, said French arms supplies
to Armenia should not be confined to “defensive” equipment.
“This distinction between defensive and offensive weapons is not very practical
in reality, as has been demonstrated by the war in Ukraine. Let us not repeat
the same mistakes by belatedly delivering equipment that could be necessary
right from the beginning,” says their report submitted to the French upper house
of parliament late last month.
France - French Defense Minsiter Sebastien Lecornu and his Armenian counterpart
Suren Papikian sign a memorandum of understanding in Paris, October 23, 2023.
Saury and Conway-Mouret indicated in this regard that Yerevan wants to acquire
French artillery systems as well. Paris should therefore consider providing
155-milimeter CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to the Armenian military, they
said.
Azerbaijan condemned the French-Armenian arms deals earlier in November, saying
that they will “bolster Armenia’s military potential and its ability to carry
out destructive operations in the region.”
Armenian officials countered that Yerevan’s arms acquisitions are a response to
an Azerbaijani military build-up which has continued even after the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. They argued that Azerbaijan’s military budget is three times
bigger than Armenia’s. Israeli media reported around the same time that Baku has
purchased more Israeli Barak air-defense systems in a deal worth as much as $1.2
billion.
In the past several months, Azerbaijani cargo planes have reportedly carried out
dozens of more flights to and from Israel’s only airfield through which
explosives can be flown into and out of the country. According to the Haaretz
daily, the frequency of such flights spiked in the run-up to Azerbaijan’s
September 19-20 military offensive in Karabakh.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
The California
Courier Online, December 7, 2023
1- Azerbaijan Plans Takeover of Armenia
To Create ‘Western Azerbaijan’
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher, California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Attorney
Hrair Kaladjian Sworn in as Riverside County Judge
3- Armenian
Soldier Killed On Azeri Border
4- Bruce
Janigian Concludes Armenian Trilogy with ‘Uncle Yeghia’s Basement’
************************************************************************************************************************************************
1- Azerbaijan Plans Takeover of Armenia
To Create ‘Western Azerbaijan’
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher, California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
While Armenians are dealing with the dispossession of
Artsakh and trying to cope with its tragic consequences, Azerbaijan is escalating its demands by
launching a campaign claiming that the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia
is supposedly ‘Western Azerbaijan.’ No
sensible person in the world would take such an outrageous lie seriously,
simply because Azerbaijan
was founded a little over a century ago, while Armenia has been in existence for
thousands of years. Even Coca Cola is older than Azerbaijan!
After establishing the ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ with
the blessing of Pres. Aliyev, Azerbaijan
has embarked on a worldwide campaign to disseminate its ridiculous scheme
around the world and at the United Nations. Those Armenians who are concerned
about Azerbaijan’s
expansionist plans over the Syunik province
of Armenia or the so-called Zangezur
Corridor should be more alarmed about Azerbaijan’s
enormous appetite to take over all of the Republic of Armenia,
after occupying Artsakh.
Here are four actions Azerbaijan has taken at the UN in
recent months:
1) Azerbaijan’s
Ambassador to the UN Yashar Aliyev circulated to all members of the General
Assembly and Security Council a letter by the ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ on
January 17, 2023, stating that “All Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of
nowadays Armenia
and their descendants have the right to return to their homeland.”
2) A second letter was submitted by Azerbaijan to
the UN on February 22, 2023, accusing Armenians of carrying out acts of
“violence, genocide, massacres and other crimes against humanity and gross
violations of human rights. This process was particularly violent and cruel in
1905–1906, 1918–1921, 1948–1953 and 1987–1991.” The letter added that “in
nowadays Armenia,
Azerbaijani historical and cultural heritage, including mosques and graveyards,
were massively destroyed, toponyms were changed and systematic racial
discrimination was carried out against Azerbaijanis.”
Moreover, Azerbaijan
demanded that the UN take the following steps for the settlement of
Azerbaijanis in Armenia:
“− Obtaining a legally binding international agreement with
appropriate verification and guarantee mechanisms ensuring the voluntary return
of Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of nowadays Armenia to their
homeland in safety and dignity;
− Securing the return process with appropriate security,
humanitarian and socio-economic assistance programs;
− Establishing international monitoring, accountability,
security, intervention and other necessary activities to prevent the recurrence
of expulsion, discrimination and harm to the returned population;
− Ensuring sustainable rehabilitation and reintegration of
returnees through the implementation of reconstruction and reconciliation
measures under international supervision.”
Azerbaijan’s
UN Ambassador demanded that Azeris who return to Armenia
“have unimpeded communication with the Republic of Azerbaijan.”
This is a very alarming suggestion which means that the Republic
of Azerbaijan wants to have a road
under its control within the territory
of Armenia. The letter
added that Azeris returning to Armenia
should not be dispersed throughout the country, but kept together as a group
and their safety and rights ensured. Even more alarming is the demand that
Azeris be able to “use the Azerbaijani language in the legislative, executive
and judicial branches of the [Armenian] Government.” Azerbaijan
added the following ridiculous demand: “Azerbaijanis shall be entitled to form
local security forces and take an appropriate role in courts” of Armenia. This
actually means that Armenia
will be an appendix to Azerbaijan
rather than a sovereign republic.
Furthermore, to ensure the safety of Azeris returning to Armenia, Azerbaijan “considers it necessary
to deploy an international security mission with an appropriate mandate and comprising
the forces of countries trusted by Western Azerbaijanis in the areas to which
they will be returning.” In other words, Azerbaijan
wants to station foreign troops on Armenia’s territory, which is
completely unacceptable. Azerbaijan
also stated that “The Government of Armenia shall ensure the return of property
and community lands belonging to Azerbaijanis and pay compensation for property
damage and losses caused by preventing the use of property.” Those who make
such insane demands are living in a make-believe world.
3) The ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ delivered a letter to
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in April 2023, requesting him “to send a
special UN mission to Armenia for launching the process of safe and dignified
return of Azerbaijanis expelled from this country.”
4) The ‘Western Azerbaijan Committee’ submitted a report in
October 2023 to the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
According to the Azeri media, the UN Committee “demanded that Armenia address
the issues raised by the Western Azerbaijan Committee.” If there is any truth
in this claim, I hope that Armenia’s
UN Representative responded to Azerbaijan’s
allegations and exposed the Azeri lies.
This is the vindictive enemy that Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan naively believes he can sign a ‘Peace Treaty’ with. This unnecessary
‘Peace Treaty’ will actually undermine Armenia’s interests. Azerbaijan is already demanding that the rights
of “Azeris expelled from Armenia”
be included in such a treaty, thus providing the ground for future aggression
and occupation by Azerbaijan.
The Azeri letter to the UN in fact includes such an alarming provision: “the
[Azeri] Community will aspire to include the creation of conditions for the
return of Western Azerbaijanis to their homeland as an obligation of Armenia in the peace treaty to be concluded
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
The only way to end this nonsense is for Armenia to stop the slippery slope of making
endless concessions to Azerbaijan
and reject all of its unacceptable demands.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- President of Iraq visits Armenia
In 2022, attorney Hrair Kaladjian was sworn as a judge in Riverside County where he volunteers his time for
the Courts while actively maintaining his private law practice.
Originally from Ethiopia,
Kaladjian has called California
his home for over 40 years. He has an undergraduate degree in Biology and a
Juris Doctorate from Southwestern
Law School.
As a grandchild of genocide survivors, Kaladjian is active
in his local community reminding the world that the crime of the Armenian
Genocide remains unresolved. After the 2020 war on Armenians, Kaladjian filed a
lawsuit against the State Department for illegally waiving section 907 of the
Freedom Support Act, which made its way to the United States Supreme Court.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
3- Armenian Soldier Killed On
Azeri Border
An Armenian soldier serving on the border with Azerbaijan was shot dead on Monday, December 4
in what Yerevan
described as an Azerbaijani ceasefire violation aimed at torpedoing peace
talks.
Armenia’s
Defense Ministry said the soldier, Gerasim Arakelian, was fatally wounded by
sniper fire at an Armenian army post near the village
of Bardzruni bordering Azerbaijan’s
Nakhichevan exclave.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied the “provocative
information,” saying that its troops did not breach the ceasefire. The head of
the Bardzruni administration, Arsen Aleksanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service
that local residents heard the sounds of cross-border gunfire. Serious truce
violations at that section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have been rare
until now.
“We strongly condemn these actions of the Azerbaijani side
aimed at provoking a new escalation, dragging out the peace process and
bringing it to a dead end,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement
on the deadly incident. The statement also said that Baku
is “continuously rejecting offers from various international actors to continue
negotiations” with Yerevan.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan deplored Baku’s
“refusal to come to meetings organized by various international actors,
including the U.S.
and the EU” when he addressed last week an annual conference of the top
diplomats of OSCE member states. His Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov
said Yerevan
itself is dragging out talks on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled
EU-mediated talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian planned for
October. Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 20 meeting with Mirzoyan
that was due to take place in Washington.
Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian
bias and proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
4- Bruce
Janigian Concludes Armenian Trilogy with ‘Uncle Yeghia’s Basement’
Writing as Avery Mann, former government official and think
tank director Bruce Janigian concludes his trilogy of Armenian themed
novels—The Mark Jamison Adventures—with just released Uncle Yeghia’s Basement.
Charlie Epson pulls his oars against the tides every morning
in a silent contest with his past. He is among a very special cohort monitored
within the Angel Landing Yacht Club; those whose career misadventures in public
service exposed them to matters never to be shared. Yes, this group needs to
drink a lot. But like their glasses filled to the brim, they are permitted good
conversation without spilling. When an old colleague winds up in the bay with a
broken neck and former Soviet assassins arrive looking for laundered Ukrainian
funds to help their war effort, Bjorn Ingman and Mark Jamison are once again
called into action in this thrilling new mystery, the third volume following on
Angel Landing and Persona Non Grata: End of the Great Game by the same renowned
author.
In his first novel, Angel Landing, former government agent
and think-tank director Mark Jamison needs a quiet coastal refuge for his
breathing problems, and maybe some space to sort out his life and what remains
of his marriage. What he finds in the mysterious little village of Angel Landing
quickly escalates into a series of adventures to save the planet, or at least
its male inhabitants, and soon forces him to confront his past and the assumptions
that brought him here.
Janigian’s last novel, Persona Non Grata: End of the Great
Game included a historic and globe-spanning romp through Armenia’s past
as the last best hope of saving humanity. How the rich past of this small
nation could save the future of the world involves lost Byzantine secrets, a
mysterious chess master and his relationship with the Vatican and
Kremlin.
Uncle Yeghia’s Basement continues Janigian’s passion for
truth telling and disclosing secrets along the way, from the unknown realities
of the Pacific War to Ukraine,
and the destruction of Nord Stream 2 pipelines. The novels feature half
Armenian protagonist Mark Jamison, the thinly disguised alter ego for the fully
Armenian Janigian, whose international adventures included foreign
correspondent in Beirut, Fulbright scholar, legal adviser for USAID and the
Navy, and vice president of the American University of Armenia.
The trilogy is available on Amazon.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
************************************************************************************************************************************************
California Courier Online provides readers of the Armenian News News Service with a
few of the articles in this week's issue of The California Courier. Letters to
the editor are encouraged through our e-mail address, .
Letters are published with the author’s name and location; authors are required
to disclose their identity to the editorial staff (name, address, and/or
telephone numbers for verification purposes).
California Courier subscribers can change or modify mailing addresses by
emailing .
12:06, 4 December 2023
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan still hasn’t responded to Armenia’s latest proposals on a peace treaty, Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan told reporters Monday.
“We’ll make an announcement when we receive an answer,” Safaryan said.
On November 21, Armenia conveyed to Azerbaijan its latest proposals on signing a peace treaty.
13:16, 4 December 2023
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The First Lady of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda visited Armenia on November 28-29.
At the airport, First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda was welcomed by Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan and the Ambassador of Poland to Armenia Piotr Skwieciński.
As part of the visit, Agata Kornhauser-Duda met with representatives of the Polish community in Armenia, as well as with students and teachers of the Polish language. As part of the ‘Aid to Poles in the East’, the First Lady provided material assistance as well as educational and teaching materials, the Embassy of Poland said in a press release.
During the visit to Yerevan, the First Lady of Poland was hosted by Mission Armenia, where she met with the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.
The 'Mission Armenia' Charitable Non-Governmental Organization was founded in 1988 by a group of volunteers, who united their efforts to bring aid to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake in 1988 and to the refugees, who fled the war for Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s.
During her talks held with refugees, the First Lady asked, among others, how the forced displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh took place, as well as what they needed most and how they envisioned their future.
The meeting was attended by Alla Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the organization and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Armenia.
In connection with the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, RARS and the Ministry of National Defense, implemented, among others, humanitarian transportation for refugees. In response to UNHCR's appeal, funds in the amount of USD 300,000 were also provided. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Yerevan, in cooperation with Armenian Caritas, provided a special aid for a group of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh who currently live in the Tegh community.
The First Lady of Poland also visited the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, where she met with representatives of the Polish community in Armenia. The meeting was enriched by the performance of the "Poloniada" choir. After the concert, the First Lady toured the Museum, where she became acquainted with the life and activities of Komitas, the creator of Armenian national classical music.
Monday, November 27, 2023
Russia Tightens Border Controls For Armenian Trucks
November 27, 2023
• Narine Ghalechian
• Shoghik Galstian
RUSSIA - Cars and heavy trucks are lined up near the Upper Lars border crossing
with Georgia, November 21, 2023.
Hundreds of Armenian trucks were stuck at the main Russian-Georgian border
crossing on Monday after Russia reportedly tightened import and export controls
on them amid its unprecedented tensions with Armenia.
Truck drivers said that the Russian customs service is subjecting them to
stricter sanitary and other checks, causing long lines of the heavy vehicles on
both sides of the Upper Lars crossing vital for the Armenian economy.
“I’m stuck at Lars for a second day,” one driver told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“There is a problem with paperwork. It’s not just me but also other Armenian
trucks.”
“According to our information, several trucks have already returned [to Armenia]
and about 200 others are waiting in line,” Garnik Danielian, an opposition
parliamentarian, wrote on Facebook.
Deputy Economy Minister Arman Khojoyan confirmed that Russian customs officers
have turned away some of the Armenian trucks carrying goods for the Russian
market. But he did not give any numbers.
“As the head of the State Revenue Committee told me yesterday, it’s not that
they are turning away all goods or entire categories of goods,” he told
reporters. “We also have cargo crossing the border.”
Khojoyan would not say whether he believes there is a political reason for the
stricter border checks introduced by the Russians.
RUSSIA -- An Armenian truck passes through the newly expanded Upper Lars border
crossing with Georgia, June 21, 2023.
Artur Khachatrian, another Armenian opposition lawmaker, suggested that Moscow
is retaliating against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s decision to boycott last
week’s Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Minsk which
highlighted a significant deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations.
“I think that Russia is sending certain messages [to Yerevan],” said
Khachatrian. “Let’s acknowledge that this is not accidental.”
The truck driver, who did not want to be identified, also felt that he and his
Armenian colleagues remain stuck at Upper Lars because of the tensions between
Moscow and Yerevan.
“The [Armenian] government picked a fight with the Russians and the Russians are
now retaliating in this way,” he said.
Russia is Armenia’s leading trading partner, accounting for more than one-third
of the South Caucasus nation’s foreign trade. It has long been the main export
market for Armenian agricultural products, prepared foodstuffs and alcoholic
drinks.
The total volume of Russian-Armenian trade, mainly carried out through Upper
Lars, has skyrocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting
barrage of Western sanctions against Moscow.
Armenian entrepreneurs have taken advantage of those sanctions, re-exporting
various goods manufactured in Western countries to Russia. This explains why
Armenian exports to Russia nearly doubled to $2.6 billion in January-September
this year.
Yerevan Won’t Rule Out CSTO Exit
November 27, 2023
• Shoghik Galstian
Belarus - The presidents of Russia and other CSTO member states meet in Minsk,
November 23, 2023.
Armenia could leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) due to
the Russian-led alliance’s reluctance to openly support it in the conflict with
Azerbaijan, a leading member of the ruling Civil Contract party said on Monday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also did not rule out such a possibility on
Friday one day after boycotting a summit of the leaders of Russia and other CSTO
member states held in Minsk. He again accused the CSTO of not honoring its
security obligations to Armenia.
“There is a defined situation in which we would definitely leave [the CSTO,]”
Gevorg Papoyan, the deputy chairman of Civil Contract’s governing board, told
journalists. “We don’t have that situation yet.”
“But there is also a situation where we would definitely participate in those
[CSTO] meetings. There is no such situation either,” he said, alluding to an
effective freeze on Armenia’s participation in the alliance’s activities.
Papoyan did not specify those “situations.” Nor did he say if Pashinian’s
government wants to obtain security guarantees from Western powers before
officially reorienting Armenia’s towards the United States and the European
Union.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Yerevan of planning such a reorientation in
late September as tensions between the two longtime allies rose further
following Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh which Moscow did
not prevent, stop or even condemn.
In recent months, Pashinian has repeatedly said that the alliance with Russia
cannot guarantee Armenia’s national security. His refusal to attend the CSTO
summit in Minsk stoked speculation about the South Caucasus state’s imminent
exit from the alliance.
Alen Simonian, the Armenian parliament speaker and another senior Civil Contract
member, said last week that he will not attend an upcoming session of the CSTO’s
Parliamentary Assembly.
CSTO Head Downplays Armenian Boycott Of Summit
November 27, 2023
Armenia - CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov at a meeting with
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian, Yerevan, March 16, 2023.
The secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on
Monday downplayed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s refusal to attend last week’s
summit of the leaders of ex-Soviet states making up the Russian-led military
alliance.
Imangali Tasmagambetov, who is due to visit Yerevan soon, claimed that Pashinian
did not fly to Minsk for the summit last Thursday for merely “technical” reasons.
“In my view, it makes no sense to draw any categorical conclusions from this
situation,” Tasmagambetov told the TASS news agency. “Armenia was and remains
our ally.”
Pashinian’s boycott of the summit highlighted his government’s mounting tensions
with the other CSTO member states and Russia in particular. Pashinian on Friday
again accused the CSTO of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia. What
is more, he did not rule out the possibility of eventually pulling his country
out of his alliance.
Speaking on the eve of the Minsk summit, the Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that Pashinian’s administration is planning a
“radical change” of Armenia’s traditional geopolitical orientation at the behest
of Western powers. The ministry had earlier accused it of “ruining”
Russian-Armenian relations.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed over the weekend the
criticism of the CSTO voiced by Pashinian as well as other Armenian leaders.
Peskov expressed hope that Yerevan will soon resume its “full-fledged
participation in the organization.”
Earlier this year, Armenia also refused to participate in CSTO military
exercises and boycotted a meeting of the defense ministers of the bloc’s member
states.
Armenian Authorities Seek To Dispossess Tsarukian
November 27, 2023
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian speaks at an election
campaign rally in Aragatsotn province, June 15, 2021.
The Armenian authorities have moved to confiscate hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of assets belonging to Gagik Tsarukian, one of Armenia’s richest
men leading a major opposition party.
The assets include the largest of Tsarukian’s companies and about 90 properties
owned by him or members of his family. The authorities are also seeking to seize
over 86 billion drams ($213 million) in revenue generated by them. All this may
well account for most of the vast fortune made by the tycoon since the early
1990s.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General announced late last week that it has asked
an Armenian court to approve the seizures in accordance with a controversial law
that allows the authorities to confiscate assets deemed to have been acquired
illegally. It said the court has already agreed to freeze them pending a verdict
in the case.
A statement released by the law-enforcement agency did not publicize any
evidence in support of its claims that Tsarukian and his family have amassed
their wealth illegally. The tycoon’s lawyers were quick to reject the claims and
insist that “the origin of Gagik Tsarukian’s assets is illegal.”
“There is weighty evidence of that, which will be presented to the court and the
Office of the Prosecutor-General as soon as possible,” they said in a statement.
The lawyers declined to comment further when contacted by RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service at the weekend. It thus remained unclear whether they see any political
motives behind the case.
Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court
hearing on his pre-trial arrest, September 25, 2020.
Tsarukian is the founding leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party
(BHK) that had the second largest group in the country’s former parliament. It
challenged Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and demanded his resignation even
before the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tsarukian was charged with vote buying and arrested in September 2020 just days
before the outbreak of the war. The BHK leader, who rejected the accusations as
politically motivated, was freed on bail one month later.
Like other opposition groups, the BHK blamed Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in
the six-week war and tried to topple him. It failed to win any parliament seats
in snap general elections held in June 2021. Tsarukian has kept a low profile
since then.
The law invoked by the prosecutors allows them to seek asset forfeiture in case
of having “sufficient grounds to suspect” that the market value of an
individual’s properties exceeds their “legal income” by at least 50 million
drams ($100,000). Armenian courts can allow the nationalization of such assets
even if their owners are not found guilty of corruption or other criminal
offenses.
Over the past two years the prosecutors have petitioned courts to dispossess
dozens of former officials, including ex-Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert
Kocharian, and their relatives. So far there have been no court verdicts in any
of those cases. Tsarukian is apparently the first person who risks losing his
assets despite having never held any executive posts in government.
Armenia - A screenshot from an Aravot.am report on expensive property
acquisitions by current Armenian officials, March 15, 2023.
Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed the law in question as a major
anti-corruption measure that will help his administration recover “wealth stolen
from the people.” Opposition figures counter, however, that Pashinian is simply
keen to suppress dissent and cement his hold on power.
In November 2021, opposition lawmakers appealed to the Constitutional Court to
declare the law unconstitutional. They said that it contradicts articles of the
Armenian constitution guaranteeing the presumption of innocence and property
rights. The court, dominated by judges installed by the current government, has
still not ruled on the appeal.
Also, Pashinian is facing growing media allegations that members of his
entourage themselves are enriching themselves or their cronies. In February this
year, the prime minister publicly urged senior officials to sue publications
“falsely” accusing them of illicit enrichment. In March, hackers hijacked the
YouTube channel of an Armenian newspaper just as it was about to publish a video
report detailing expensive property acquisitions by several senior government
officials and pro-government lawmakers.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.