The California
Courier Online, December 14, 2023
1- Armenian
Government Adds Unnecessary
Burdens on Already Suffering Artsakhtsis
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher, California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Cologne, Germany
removes Monument to Genocide
3- Israel to Sell Updated Air Defense System,
Satellites to Azerbaijan
4- People to be
allowed to freely carry weapons in Armenia
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1- Armenian
Government Adds Unnecessary
Burdens on
already Suffering Artsakhtsis
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher, California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
As if the problems of displaced Artsakh Armenians were not
bad enough, given their forced departure from their native land and the
subsequent hardships faced by lack of housing, food, medicines and other
essential items after their arrival in Armenia, the government is now
creating more unnecessary difficulties for them.
Artsakh Armenians, who have been citizens of Armenia for a long time, are suddenly told by
the Armenian government that they are not citizens of Armenia, even though they possess passports
issued by the Republic
of Armenia. Many Artsakh
Armenians have used their Armenian passports for years to travel to foreign
countries without any problems, which means that the authorities in Armenia and
other countries accepted their passports as genuine Armenian passports. How is
it possible that Artsakhtsis were citizens of Armenia
while living in Artsakh, but not after they arrived in Armenia?
To make matters more confusing, the government of Armenia is now telling Artsakh Armenians that
since they are not citizens of Armenia,
they may apply for Armenian citizenship in the future. This is complete
nonsense. How can a citizen of Armenia
apply a second time for citizenship? If I, as a US citizen, apply for US
citizenship for the second time, American government officials will treat me as
a fool and show me the door.
I believe that the Armenian government, led by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has a hidden agenda in treating Artsakh Armenians as
non-citizens. He wants to make sure that during future elections in Armenia, Artsakh Armenians will be unable to
vote, knowing that many of them will not vote for his political party’s
candidates, since Pashinyan is the one who handed Artsakh to Azerbaijan. We
now have the additional evidence that the country’s leader is not only
incompetent, but also violates the country’s laws for political gain. This is
confirmed by the Interior Ministry’s declaration: “A person with refugee status
does not have the right to vote and be elected in national elections.”
Last week, the Republic
of Armenia’s Ministry of Interior
issued a statement in the format of “answers to frequently asked questions by
forcibly displaced citizens of the Republic
of Artsakh.” In this
first sentence, there is already an error. Artsakh Armenians are citizens of Armenia, not citizens of Artsakh or Azerbaijan.
The Ministry tried to entice Artsakh Armenians to accept
their refugee status, telling them that those who have the status of a refugee
have no obligation to serve in the armed forces of Armenia. In other words, Artsakh
Armenians, who must serve in Armenia’s
armed forces as citizens of Armenia,
are wrongly exempted from military service, in violation of Armenian law.
The Ministry also stated that as refugees, Artsakh Armenians
have no right to own agricultural land. This provision deprives them of the
ability to grow food on their own plot of land, since they do not have the
necessary funds to purchase food.
The Ministry then stated that refugees cannot travel to a
foreign country. This is also false, as Artsakh Armenians with their Armenian
passports can travel to any country after obtaining a visa, if one is required.
Some countries like Russia
do not require a visa from Armenian citizens. Thousands of Artsakh Armenians
have already left Armenia
simply by showing their Armenian passports which means that both Armenia and
other countries have recognized their passports as legitimate documents.
The Ministry then contradicted itself by stating that
“should a refugee’s passport expire, it can be renewed by presenting two photos
and the expired passport.” How can Artsakh Armenians renew their passports in Armenia, if
they are not Armenian citizens and do not hold Armenian passports?
In a further contradiction, the Ministry stated that those
Artsakh Armenians who become Armenian citizens do not lose their ability to benefit
from social assistance programs for refugees. The only requirement is that they
be classified as ‘displaced.’ If they do not jeopardize their right to receive
assistance after becoming citizens of Armenia, why are they classified as
refugees and not recognized as citizens?
Incredibly, after giving away Artsakh and repressing the
rights of Artsakh Armenians to pursue any political activity in Armenia on
behalf of Artsakh, the Ministry of Interior stated that their losses of
property in Artsakh “does not disappear or cease to exist as a result of a
change in a person’s legal status,” meaning acquiring citizenship of Armenia.
It remains to be seen if the Armenian government, beyond mere words, will be
willing to file lawsuits in international courts to defend the property rights
of Artsakh Armenians.
Artsakh Armeniams, who are citizens of Armenia, have
suffered more than enough. They should not be burdened with such unnecessary
bureaucratic nonsense.
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2- Cologne,
Germany
removes Monument to Genocide
By Jerome Wnuk
(Apollo News)—The monument to the Armenian genocide in Cologne, Germany
has been repeatedly erected and dismantled over the years. Sometime, the city
had the statue removed on the grounds that a cycle path was to be built and
sometimes for fear of “social upheaval”. After a march by Turkish nationalists,
including supporters of the far-right Grey Wolves and DITIB associations, at
the end of October, the city finally decided that the memorial should be
removed.
The memorial was erected in Cologne in 2018 to commemorate the victims of
the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1918. At that time, 1.5 million Armenians
were murdered in massacres and death marches under the responsibility of the
Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire,
which was formed by the Committee for Unity and Progress. For international
historians, the genocide is indisputable, but Turkey does not recognize the
crime.
Since its inauguration next to the Kaiser Wilhelm equestrian
statue, the memorial of the “Remember Genocide” initiative has repeatedly
caused disputes with Turkish nationalists, who have successfully put pressure
on the city. Following protests, the memorial was repeatedly removed by the
city and rebuilt by activists from the initiative – although the city’s reasons
for not granting the memorial permission and removing it often varied from time
to time.
For example, Cologne’s
mayor Reker recently justified herself with the “diverse interests of our
pluralistic urban society”, which had to be taken into account. However, this
did not stop the “Remember Genocide” initiative from putting the sculpture back
up in the city center on April 24 this year, Remembrance Day. The city then
issued a special use permit until May 24. However, this was not sufficient for
the campaign and they filed a legal complaint.
In addition to denying the genocide against the Armenians,
the Turkish participants in the demonstration did not distance themselves from
the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and even denied them. The
chairman of the youth organization “Fatherland Party” spoke to public
broadcaster WDR about the right of Palestinians to defend themselves,
explicitly including Hamas terror.
Just weeks later, the city council decided to finally
abolish the “This pain affects us all” memorial at the end of 2023. Instead, a
new memorial is to be erected to “commemorate the victims of oppression,
racism, violence and human rights violations”. At its meeting on December 7,
the city council decided on the funding for a dialogue process in which a new
memorial is to be developed. This process is expected to take two years and
cost up to 350,000 euros, according to the Kölner Stadtanzeiger.
For the Turkish right-wing extremists, who have been
fighting against the memorial for years, the Cologne city government’s caving in is a
complete success. On Facebook, nationalists euphorically wrote: “The defamation
monument will now be removed. We congratulate the Cologne city council on their decision in
favor of justice!”
This is not the first time that political pressure from
Turkish nationalists or diplomats in Germany
has led to success: in 2005, Brandenburg
removed the topic of the Armenian genocide from the curriculum due to the
intervention of Turkish diplomats. In 2011, the University
of Stuttgart refused to allow a
lecture on the genocide due to Turkish “protests from Berlin”—the university stated that it wanted
to “remain neutral”.
In 2014, due to protests against a play by Edgar Hilsenrath
which deals with the genocide, the event poster at the theatre in Constance was taken down and a statement from the Turkish
consul was read out before each performance. The premiere had to take place
under police protection.
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3- Israel
to Sell Updated Air Defense System, Satellites to Azerbaijan
By Vahe Sarukhanyan
(Hetq.am)—As reported by Defence Industry Europe some months
ago, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) performed a successful demonstration of
the Barak MX systems in Azerbaijan.
The Barak MX can deploy missiles with a range of 35, 70 and
150 km against air targets. Each launcher holds eight missiles. The weapon can
be used both at sea and on land. Moreover, the land version can be stationary,
transportable or mobile (self-propelled). Targets of this anti-aircraft system
include fighters, helicopters, cruise and tactical ballistic missiles, drones
and guided bombs.
Systems of the Barak (Hebrew for lightning) family are not
new to the armed forces of Azerbaijan.
In 2012 Azerbaijan
signed a $1.6 billion contract with IAI, which was supposed to supply drones
and the newest air defense systems. As part of this deal, in 2016, Israel
delivered the Barak 8 system and its missiles. According to information, the
Barak 8 launcher used by Azerbaijan
is mounted on the chassis of the Belarusian MZKT-7301 truck, that is, it is a
mobile weapon.
Defense analyst Leonid Nersisyan tells Hetq that the Barak
MX is a suitable option for the Azerbaijani army, because it has been using
these systems for a long time and has appropriate specialists operating the
weapon. It is easy to integrate the Barak MX into the management system of the
Azerbaijani armed forces.
“This weapon can use air defense missiles against different
targets, for example, with a 150 km range missile, which is expensive, to hit
high-priority targets, or with a cheaper 35 km range missile to hit targets
that are slow moving or nearby,” says Nersisyan.
The Barak MX is also applicable against tactical ballistic
missiles. The Russian Iskander is a tactical ballistic system in Armenia’s
arsenal.
Baku’s acquisition of the
Barak MX system is not the only result of the cooperation between Azerbaijan and
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). IAI supplies Azerbaijan with “kamikaze” type
Harop drones, LORA tactical ballistic systems, and LAHAT anti-tank missiles.
In the spring of this year, it was revealed that IAI will
sell two monitoring space satellites to Azerbaijan.
In June 2014, the European Airbus Defense and Space company
launched the SPOT 7 satellite from the territory of India.
It was acquired by Azerbaijan
in December of the same year and renamed Azersky. According to Azerbaijan, the
satellite had a wide range of applications: defense, security, response to
emergency situations, natural resources reconnaissance, maritime observation,
environmental protection, urban planning, mapping, agriculture, tourism, etc.
After acquiring the satellite, Baku announced the Azersky project cost 157
million euros.
On October 15, 2020, as the war raged on in Karabakh, the
French L’Obs newspaper wrote that although Azersky was exclusively for
monitoring Baku’s
oil and gas fields, in fact it also works in the field of defense and security.
The French periodical noted that this civilian satellite allows Baku to remotely oversee
operations against Armenians. Ilham Aliyev also confirmed this claim in
February 2021.
In fact, when the European-made Azersky (SPOT 7) got out of
control (the communication with Azersky was cut off), Azerbaijan turned to Israel for help. The Israeli Globes
wrote that in this case it is about IAI’s OptSat 500 observer satellites.
According to IAI data, these satellites take pictures in
panchromatic, multispectral (RGB+NIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrums.
The resolution of the images is 0.4 m or 40 cm, which exceeds the indicators of
Azersky (1,5 m for panchromatic and 6 m for multispectral pictures). The
lifetime of OptSat 500 satellites is seven years.
“These satellites are a very important purchase for Azerbaijan,”
says Nersisyan. “The resolution is quite good. There are commercial satellites
of this level from which you can order pictures. The best commercial satellites
are the Maxar ones, whose resolution is 0.3 m, but it’s one thing to order and
another thing is to have two of your own and have the opportunity to photograph
whatever you want.”
Armenia
also has its own observing satellite, which was sent into Earth’s orbit on May
25, 2022, from the USA.
The Spanish-made satellite, which received the name ARMSAT_1, takes
multispectral (RGB+NIR) pictures, and the resolution of the pictures is 1.8 m,
which is a weaker indicator than Azersky and the Israeli OptSat 500.
“The observation satellites are for optical reconnaissance,”
says Nersisyan. “With a resolution of 40 cm, you can’t see people, but you can
see a tank, a car, various military objects, positions quite well. Constantly
taking pictures can give Azerbaijan
quite a lot of information not only about the Armenian army, but also about
other strategic areas.”
The satellites to be acquired by Azerbaijan still need to be manufactured.
According to Globes, until then IAI must conduct satellite technology and
operation courses for Azerbaijanis.
According to Azerbaijani media, IAI will take over the
design, assembly, integration and testing of the first of the OptSat 500 satellites,
involving Azerbaijani specialists.
Furthermore, the Israelis will also help the Azercosmos
agency in designing a new center for the preparation of satellites in Azerbaijan.
Globes has reported that Azercosmos plans a long-term cooperation deal with IAI
that includes the creation of innovative and entrepreneurial centers in the
field of space activities in Azerbaijan, academic training in space
technologies, as well as the opening of a joint business center.
Summarizing Israeli military purchases by Azerbaijan, Leonid Nersisyan says that the
continuous cargo flights between the two countries show that in addition to the
supply of Barak MX and satellites, there are other contracts, which, however, Azerbaijan does
not publicize.
Nersisyan points out that, contrary to before the 2020 war, Azerbaijan now doesn’t speak much about its
military purchases of pro-Armenian bias and proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.
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4- People to be
allowed to freely carry weapons in Armenia’
(News.am)—In Armenia,
it is necessary to regulate at the legislative level the issue of citizens’
right to self-defense by using weapons. This was announced by Vilen Gabrielyan,
an MP of the ruling Civil Contract Faction and author of the package of bills
on making amendments and addenda to the Law on Arms Traffic Regulation, during
the debates on this law initiative at a meeting on December 4 of the Standing
Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly of Armenia.
According to the lawmaker, this submitted package is aimed
at eliminating possible manifestations of corruption in this domain in Armenia,
reducing the number of illegal weapons, and gradually withdrawing them from
illegal circulation in the country.
“Citizens of the country, in particular, will get the right
to carry firearms if they fulfill a number of requirements, including mental
stability, the presence of an appropriate license, etc.,” explained the MP.
It was noted that the adoption of this package of draft laws
will contribute also to the development of hunting, amateur and sports
shooting, as well as military training in Armenia.
In turn, Armen Khachatryan, deputy chairman of the aforesaid
committee and the related rapporteur, emphasized the adoption of the
legislative package, and called on his colleagues to vote in favor.
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan
presented the positive position of the Armenian government regarding this
package of bills. She highlighted their joint work with the creator regarding
the package.
And as a result of the debates, this law package was
approved by the Standing Committee on Defense and Security.
The most recent gun law in Armenia was adopted on October 5,
2022. The Law “On Regulation of Firearms Circulation”—on the acquisition of
arms, and the sale and circulation of military products—was adopted by Armenia’s
National Assembly, and was expected to improve gun control measures and
regulate the circulation of weapons and munitions.
The law came into force six months after the adoption date.
Prior to this law, gun control measures had not been changed since 1998.
“On Regulation of Firearms Circulation” specified three
types of firearms that can be purchased by Armenian citizens: Long-barreled
firearms (grooved or smoothbore firearms); Combination firearms (barreled and
smoothbore), including interchangeable, insertable grooved barrels; and Long
barreled firearms (firearms with a barrel length not exceeding 1500 mm and
caliber not exceeding 12.7 mm).
Article 15 of the law defined the right of Armenian citizens
to acquire a weapon. After gaining permission from the police, any person 21
years and older could purchase a combination or long-barreled firearm
(shotgun). The firearm must be registered with the Police within five working
days after its purchase. Being a member of a hunting association and owning a
combination firearm for five years would no longer be a requirement for
purchasing a weapon.
According to the 1998 law, an Armenian citizen could have
owned a maximum of eight firearms—up to three rifles and five shotguns. The
2022 law made it possible for a citizen to acquire 10 units of civilian weapons
with a permit to keep and carry them.
Supporters of the 2022 law believed that weapons should be
more accessible to ordinary citizens for self-defense purposes. According to
them, this does not mean people should be armed while walking down the street
or protecting themselves from their neighbors.
At the time, supporters said that it was a recognition that Armenia is in a
state of war and it is vital for its reservists to be combat-ready and in
fighting condition. The 2022 law stipulated that a citizen who is a first-time
purchaser of a civilian weapon is required to undergo a short-term training
course on gun safety rules in weapon’s training NGOs authorized by the
government and to obtain a certificate. The police determine how the training
is to be conducted.
Opponents of the 2022 law objected that it would pose undue
expense and delays on the purchase of weapons.
According to the 1998 law, in order to obtain a permit to
purchase a weapon, a citizen had to submit a medical report to the police about
health issues that would prevent the possession of weapons, such as visual
impairment, mental illness, alcoholism or drug addiction.
The medical report is issued by a polyclinic based on
medical inspections made by a medical committee. If the polyclinic does not
provide psychiatric and narcotic medical care and services, then the citizen
has to submit a medical document to the polyclinic issued by medical
institutions that provide psychiatric and narcotic medical care and services.
These documents are better known as “narco” and “psycho”
certificates. Prior to August 2022, the fee for these certificates was 3000
AMD. In August 2022, the fees increased to 20,000 AMD.
These certificates were only valid for one month; a medical
certificate was required for every time a weapon was purchased. Other one-time
fees were also assessed for each gun.
“This should not be allowed. They are making guns for the
rich again,” Ishkhan Gevorgyan, Chair of the Board of Azatazen (an NGO that
also offers military training for civilians) said in 2022 when the new law was
passed.
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