Author: Frangulian Shushan

Azerbaijani press: Baku, Ankara mull Azerbaijani-Armenian border situation

Frangulian Shushan
15:43 (UTC+04:00)
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By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu have discussed the situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, the Foreign Ministry reported on its website on May 19.

In a telephone conversation that took place on May 19, the two ministers focused on the current regional situation, including issues related to the tensions on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border.

During the conversation, Bayramov and Cavusoglu also discussed Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Palestinian developments.

Baku has said that Azerbaijani troops were taking up positions on the country’s own borders and added that the Armenian leadership is trying to politicize the issue ahead of the June snap parliamentary elections. 

Earlier, Bayramov stated that Armenia’s appeal to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) over the tensions related to the delimitation and demarcation of the two states’ borders has no basis and is nothing but an attempt by the Armenian authorities to politicize the issue.

Armenia appealed to Russa-led CSTO to hold consultations over its border dispute with Azerbaijan months after the 44-day war in and around Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region in autumn 2020. 

The hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed after that latter started firing at Azerbaijani civilians and military positions starting September 27, 2020. The war ended on November 10 with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani Army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres and historic Shusha city. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

ANCA-WR and UCLA’s Promise Institute to Co-Host Panel Discussion

Frangulian Shushan



ANCA-WR an UCLA’s Promise Institute will co-host a panel on May 16

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region and The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law will co-host a panel discussion on Sunday, May 16 at 5 p.m. (Pacific) titled “The Armenian Genocide: Truth, Recognition and Opportunities.”

Moderated by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, esteemed panelists include U.S. Congressman David Valdao (R-CA-21); Dr. Eric Esrailian, Philanthropist and Emmy Nominated Filmmaker; Dr. Bedross Der Matossian, Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Michelle Gulino, International Legal Associate at the Human Rights Foundation.

The panel will be discussing the long road to U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the future of U.S.-Turkey relations, and the implications of the announcement on human rights atrocities all over the world from China to Ethiopia.

Register for the event, please visit: www.ancawr.org/webinar

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan 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 in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law is the center of human rights education, research and advocacy at UCLA and around the region.

Extraordinary session kicks off at the Armenian parliament

Frangulian Shushan

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 18:00,

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. The extraordinary session of the National Assembly of Armenia has kicked off.

ARMENPRESS reports the session has been initiated by ”Propserous Armenia” Party aimed at addressing the crisis situation in Syunik, Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor Provinces.

On May 12 in the morning the Azerbaijani armed forces crossed Armenia’s state border in the territory of Sev Lake in Syunik province and advanced up to 3,5 kilometers, trying to surround the Lake. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this action is intolerable for Armenia, as it is an encroachment on the sovereign territory of Armenia.

So far, neither the Armenian nor the Azerbaijani side have used any weapon. The number of Azerbaijani soldiers in the territory of Armenia is about 250.




Prime Minister Garibashvili Visits Yerevan

Frangulian Shushan
Civil, Georgia

12/05/2021 – 20:34

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, accompanied by Foreign Minister, Deputy PM David Zalkaliani, arrived in Yerevan today, where he met with acting Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, after which the two leaders delivered statements at a joint press conference.

At the joint press conference, PM Garibashvili hailed “centuries-old historical friendly relations” between Georgia and Armenia and expressed his confidence that relations between the two countries will “continue in this spirit.”

Prime Minister Garibashvili said the two leaders talked about prospects for developing existing economic and trade relations, and cooperation in the fields of transportation, energy, tourism, culture, education, and innovation. “We underlined our aspiration to have intense political dialogue,” he noted.

The Georgian PM underscored that peace and regional stability are necessary to advance existing relations, adding that Georgia “has always been a supporter of peaceful cooperation and coexistence in the South Caucasus.” Stressing that the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war “posed significant difficulties for the entire region,” he remarked that “there is no alternative to peace, negotiations, and dialogue.”

PM Garibashvili further stressed that “the Georgian people have chosen the European and Euro-Atlantic path to strengthen stability, peace, and democratic values,” and that “Armenia’s stability and democratic development is extremely important” for Georgia and the whole region.

On his part, the acting Armenian Prime Minister said, “the development of special neighborly relations with Georgia takes a key place in Armenia’s foreign policy.”

“Our age-old friendship, as well as the common values of democracy and the rule of law, form the solid foundation on which the partnership of our two states is based,” underscored Mr. Pashinyan.

According to the acting Armenian PM, the two leaders agreed to further focus on boosting trade and economic ties between Tbilisi and Yerevan, adding that they emphasized “the need to develop transit potential and the more efficient use of regional transport routes.”

Noting that “each conflict has its own peculiarity,” Mr. Pashinyan said he maintained “a balanced and constructive position on issues that are sensitive to each other,” alluding to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia regions.

“Armenian-Georgian partnership is one of the strongest guarantees for ensuring stability in our region,” highlighted the Armenian leader.

This is the second neighboring capital Irakli Garibashvili visited since his reelection as the Georgian Prime Minister in February. A week ago, on May 5, PM Garibashvili visited Baku, where he met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, PM Ali Asadov, and Milli Majlis Speaker Sahiba Gafarova.

Russia looks forward to first results of working group on Nagorno-Karabakh

Frangulian Shushan
TASS, Russia
On January 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed on establishing a working group of Deputy Prime Ministers that would focus on reviving transportation and economic ties in the region

BAKU, May 11. /TASS/. Russia is anticipating the initial results of the trilateral working group seeking to restore transportation and economic links in Nagorno-Karabakh quite soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the negotiations with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov Tuesday.

“We commend the work of the trilateral group of the Deputy Prime Ministers of the three states, which – I would rather not get ahead of myself and voice any assessments for them – is operating quite productively. We have all reasons to believe that we will have the first results of this work in the nearest future,” the top diplomat said.

On January 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed on establishing a working group of Deputy Prime Ministers that would focus on reviving transportation and economic ties in the region. Baku and Yerevan have challenged the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, when it declared independence from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic.

CSTO welcomes ceasefire deal on Tajik-Kyrgyz border

Frangulian Shushan

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 13:16, 4 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has applauded the ceasefire deal on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border and the pullout of military units and equipment, the CSTO said in a statement, reports TASS.

“The CSTO welcomes the agreements on establishing a ceasefire on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, the withdrawal of additional military units with military equipment and the commitment by the sides to regulating contentious border issues via political and diplomatic means in the spirit of alliance and good neighborliness, which forms the basis of the organization’s activity”, the statement says.

The situation on the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan near the Golovnoy water intake facility escalated on April 28, after skirmishes had erupted between the residents of the two countries’ border areas. On April 29, clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik servicemen broke out. Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of using mortars, automatic weapons and Mi-24 military helicopters. On the evening of April 29, the parties agreed to a ceasefire and the pullout of troops, however, these hostilities continued periodically in certain locations until May 1.

Turkish Media Account Accuses US of Mass ‘Genocide’ of 84 Million People Amid Armenia Spat

Frangulian Shushan
Sputnik
May 1 2021
10:52 GMT 01.05.2021(updated 11:07 GMT 01.05.2021) Get short URL
by Ilya Tsukanov

Already shaky relations between the US and its Turkish ally took another turn for the worse last week after Joe Biden formally recognised the actions of the Ottoman Empire against Armenians in the early part of the 20th century as genocide. The move sparked outrage throughout Turkey and demands to leave NATO or kick US troops out of the country.

Clash Report, a Twitter and Telegram security-related news account allegedly linked to the Turkish military, has posted a chart accusing the United States of a litany of horrific crimes throughout its 240+ year history.

In tweets posted in both Turkish and English, the account points to nearly two dozen grisly events going back to the 1800s, starting with the “US genocide against Native Americans,” and alleging that “70 million Native Americans were slaughtered in their own land.” It goes on to call the enslavement of 35 million people from the African continent “Black Genocide,” saying that the minority “still face[s] racism in the US” today.

It lists off a number of other “genocides,” from the alleged killing of “over a million civilians[s]…by the US forces” in the 1899-1902 Philippine-American War, to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Korean War, the coups in Iran and Guatemala and the “massacre in Cuba” by US-backed Batista forces. The list goes on with the Vietnam War, the mass killings of communists in Indonesia, the “massacre in Cambodia and Laos,” which Clash Report blames on the US, the 1973 coup in Chile, massacres by US-backed forces in Argentina, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, and the US invasions of Grenada and Panama. The chart also features the Gulf War, the war in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the “Darfur Coup,” the Arab Spring, the Syrian War and “US-backed Israel’s massacres of Palestinians.”

 

© Photo : Twitter / @clashreport
Chart compiled by Turkish military-linked Twitter account Clash Report accusing US of a range of horrific crimes.

 

Altogether, Clash Report accuses the United States of the “genocidal” killing of nearly 84 million people.

The post was met with mixed reactions by Clash Report’s followers, with some readers suggesting that although they didn’t support most of these conflicts, wars do not constitute genocide. Some asked why the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia was not mentioned. Others dismissed the report as “nonsense propaganda,” or pointed to Turkish involvement in some of these events, such as the ongoing war in Syria or the history of the Ottomans in the African slave trade.

Clash Report’s controversial tweet comes in the wake of the Biden administration’s announcement last Saturday that henceforth, the United States would recognise the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of Armenians. Between 1915 and 1917, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were murdered, and millions more were systematically ethnically cleansed from Anatolia.

© Wikipedia / W. Walton after Louisa and Godfrey Charles Mundy
Chief of Major Chinese Paper Accuses Australia of ‘Genocide’ of Its Aborigines Amid Uyghur Criticism

The Turkish government has long rejected the term “genocide” to describe the events, and has urged the US president to reconsider the recognition. Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the recent statements by Washington would have a “destructive impact” on Turkish-US ties, and suggested that historians, not politicians, should determine how to label historical events.

On Wednesday, following protests outside Incirlik Air Base demanding the withdrawal of US forces, and demonstrations outside Turkey’s Izmir NATO HQ urging Ankara to withdraw from the Western alliance, the Turkish military clarified that US troops were able to be stationed on Turkish soil only because Ankara allows it.