Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Former Police Chief’s Properties Investigated
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Vladimir Gasparian (L), the chief of the Armenian police, argues with
a protester in Yerevan, 26Jun2015.
Law-enforcement authorities have launched a criminal investigation into a luxury
compound belonging to Vladimir Gasparian, a former chief of the Armenian police.
The Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that the properties located on the
northern shore of Lake Sevan may have been built and officially registered in
violation of Armenian laws strictly regulating construction in the
environmentally sensitive area.
In a statement, the law-enforcement body said a government agency registered the
entire compound in January 2018 despite suspicions that some of its 14 houses
and other structures had been built illegally. It said the registration was
controversially recommended by the leadership of the state-run Sevan National
Park (SNP).
Vahe Gulanian, who ran the SNP at the time, categorically denied breaking any
laws or government regulations when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service. He
described the Investigative Committee statement as “flawed.”
The statement said that the Investigative Committee is conducting a criminal
investigation into forgery and failure to prevent illegal construction and
seizure of public land. It has not charged anyone so far.
A spokeswoman for the committee said investigators have not questioned Gasparian
as part of the inquiry.
A lawyer for Gasparian, Tigran Atanesian, scoffed at the probe in a short
Facebook post. “Don’t you know other heroes?” wrote Atanesian.
According to the Investigative Committee statement, the criminal case was opened
as a result of an ongoing separate investigation into Gasparian’s threats voiced
against RFE/RL reporters last month. The former police chief accosted and
threatened them with violence as they filmed his compound while collecting
material about illegally built villas along the Sevan coastline.
Obstruction of news reporting and other journalistic work is a criminal offense
in Armenia.
Gasparian headed the national police service from 2011 to 2018. He was sacked
immediately after the “Velvet Revolution” of April-May 2018 that toppled the
country previous government.
In September 2018, Gasparian was charged with abusing his powers to benefit
people working for former President Serzh Sarkisian’s brothers. He denies the
accusations.
Yerevan Slams Turkey's Ban On German Military Flights To Armenia
Germany -- The Airbus A310 of the Federal German Air Force named Theodor Heuss
at the military section of Tegel Airport in Berlin, 24Jun2011
The Armenian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday reports that Turkey has
refused to allow a German military transport aircraft to fly over its airspace
en route to Armenia.
The plane was due to pick up Armenian soldiers and transport them to Germany for
further training preceding their deployment in Afghanistan.
Some 120 Armenian servicemen serve in Afghanistan under German command as part
of a NATO-led multinational force. The Armenian military rotates them on a
regular basis.
The German magazine “Der Spiegel” reported on Friday that the Airbus 310
aircraft of the German Air Force was on its way to Yerevan in late July when
Turkish air traffic controllers unexpectedly refused, without any explanation,
to give it overflight permission. The plane had to return to a German military
airfield as a result, it said, adding that the Armenian soldiers were flown to
Germany over Russia’s airspace in mid-August.
“As far as I know, the Defense Ministry did not refute that information,” said
Anna Naghdalian, the spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
“It is condemnable that Turkey now also obstructs NATO-led and UN-led
peacekeeping operations based on its anti-Armenian positions,” Naghdalian told
reporters. “We have raised this issue with our international partners through
diplomatic channels.”
Armenia -- A German army general gives medals to Armenian soldiers serving in
Afghanistan.
Ankara has not denied the “Der Spiegel” report. According to the report, the
German military, the Bundeswehr, regards the Turkish move as a “deliberate
provocation” by a NATO member state.
The German plane was reportedly not allowed to fly over Turkish territory just
days after the outbreak of heavy fighting on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan,
Turkey’s closest regional ally. Ankara blamed Yerevan for the weeklong
hostilities, which left 17 soldiers dead, and voiced support for Baku in
unusually strong terms.
The Armenian government responded by accusing the Turks of trying to destabilize
the region, undercutting international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and posing a serious security threat to Armenia.
Karabakh Leader Sees No Peace Deal With Azerbaijan
Nagorno Karabakh -- Karabakh President Ara Harutiunian airs a live video message
on Facebook, Stepanakert, May 29, 2020
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unlikely to be fully resolved in the
foreseeable future, Ara Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, said on Wednesday.
“The likelihood of resolving this problem within decades is very low,”
Harutiunian told a news conference in Stepanakert. “We don’t see that happening.”
“That is why through strengthening our army we should force the enemy to reckon
with the Armenian force of Artsakh (Karabakh) and maintain the status quo until
major geopolitical developments that could lead to some temporary or rather
partial resolution of the Karabakh conflict,” he said. “A full resolution is not
possible.”
The Karabakh leader said that the international community has already brokered
such an interim solution to the conflict in Kosovo, an Albanian-populated former
province of Serbia recognized as an independent state by most Western nations.
Harutiunian spoke to reporters on the 19th anniversary of Karabakh’s declaration
of independence from Soviet Azerbaijan which came just four months before the
breakup of the Soviet Union and was followed by a bloody Armenian-Azerbaijani
war for the territory.
Azerbaijan never recognized the legality of that declaration. It continues to
consider Karabakh an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan occupied by
Armenia.
Harutiunian’s remarks came amid efforts by international mediators -- and Russia
in particular -- to revive the Karabakh peace process following the recent heavy
fighting at a volatile section of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that both Yerevan and
Baku now seem interested in further easing tensions and resuming peace talks
mediated by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. He
stressed that the talks should continue to focus on a framework peace accord
which was first put forward by the mediators in 2007 and has been repeatedly
modified since then.
The mediators’ so-called Madrid Principles call for a phased settlement that
would start with Armenian withdrawal from virtually all seven districts in
Azerbaijan proper fully or partly controlled by Karabakh Armenian forces. In
return, Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population would be able to determine
the dispute region’s internationally recognized status in a future referendum.
Red Cross Still Seeking Access To Armenian POW In Azerbaijan
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, at a news
briefing in Yerevan, December 20, 2018.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have
still not been able to visit an Armenian army officer who was captured by
Azerbaijani troops late last month, officials in Yerevan said on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the ICRC office in Yerevan, Zara Amatuni, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service that the ICRC is continuing its “dialogue” with relevant
Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities regarding the officer, Gurgen Alaverdian.
She would not say when the Azerbaijani side could allow ICRC representatives in
Baku to meet and speak with Alaverdian.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry also reported continuing efforts to arrange such a
visit. “Given the sensitivity of the issue I won’t give other details,” said the
ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian.
The Azerbaijani military claims that Alaverdian was taken prisoner during a
failed Armenian commando raid on one of its frontline positions north of
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry strongly denies this, saying
that Alaverdian simply lost his way on August 22 due to poor weather.
Yerevan has said that Baku’s treatment of the Armenian serviceman constitutes a
serious violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention on prisoners of war. It has
specifically decried an Azerbaijani Defense Ministry vide shows the serviceman
saying in broken Armenian that he led a special army unit that planned to carry
out “sabotage” attacks in Azerbaijan. It says he was clearly forced to read out
a written text badly translated into Armenian.
The Azerbaijani authorities brought a string of criminal charges against
Alaverdian following the release of the video last week.
Naghdalian deplored this and other “trumped-up” criminal cases brought against
Armenian citizens held in Azerbaijani captivity.
“I want point out in this regard that two citizens of Azerbaijan have crossed
into Armenia in the course of this year alone,” she told a news conference.
“Unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia has not prosecuted them or portrayed them as
prisoners of war and fully respects their dignity and human rights.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 26
By Samir Ali – Trend:
Gurgen Alaverdyan, commander of the Armenian sabotage group, detained on August 23 while trying to commit a provocation in the direction of Azerbaijan’s Goranboy district, provided detailed information about himself and told about the attempted provocation, Trend reports on August 26.
Alaverdyan admitted that he serves in the Armed Forces of Armenia and that he was tasked to penetrate the territory of Azerbaijan as part of an intelligence mission.
At about 05:45 (GMT+4) on August 23, the sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Armenian armed forces made an attempt to commit a provocation in the direction of Azerbaijan’s Goranboy district.
As a result of the decisive actions of the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces stationed in this direction, the reconnaissance group of the Armenian armed forces was forced to retreat, incurring losses.
During the battle, the commander of the Armenian sabotage group, First Lieutenant Gurgen Alaverdyan (born in 1989) was captured.
PM Pashinyan congratulates Indian Prime Minister on Independence Day
11:00,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi on the country’s Independence Day. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message reads, in part:
“On behalf of the people of the Republic of Armenia and on my own behalf, I warmly congratulate you and the friendly people of India on Independence Day.
Armenia highly appreciates the traditionally warm relations with India, anchored on our peoples’ centuries-old historical ties, goodwill and mutual trust. I am convinced that through joint efforts we will be able to impart a new quality, content to our bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres and foster their comprehensive development.
I wish you good health and every success, as well as peace and prosperity – to the friendly people of India.”
“I See Wings,” the symphonic ballad recorded by Detroit performing artist Kenny Watson and featured in the documentary An Armenian Trilogy, has been released on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. The film about American composer Dan Yessian’s journey from advertising music creator to writing his first classical composition in remembrance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide victims, has also now been released with subtitles in French, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Eastern Armenian on Vimeo. The film was recently released on Amazon. Yessian composed “I See Wings” in collaboration with his longtime songwriting partner David Barrett, who is known for composing the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship anthem “One Shining Moment.”
“The song “I See Wings” is a memorial to all souls lost to the atrocities of hate,” explained Yessian. “While the Armenian Genocide happened a century ago, the age-old question of why people harm others due to differences remains too relevant today. My hope is the language of music can provide some healing.”
Watson said, “The lyrics are about a connection to ancestors and for me that would be to my African heritage. The song is beautiful, moving and calls out to anyone whose relatives have suffered unjustly.”
Yessian, who is of Armenian descent, was asked by his priest to write a classical composition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, when 1.5 million Armenian citizens were massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1915-1922. The three movements of the composition, called “An Armenian Trilogy–The Freedom, The Fear and The Faith,” were originally written for piano and violin before being fully orchestrated. The documentary follows Yessian from his childhood as a budding clarinet player, to the early years of his business, through the success of his international music company, and then to Armenia where his composition was performed by the world-renowned Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. The film has been shown at festivals throughout the U.S. and won Best Score, Audience Choice and Exceptional Merit awards.
Yessian is the founder of Yessian Music Inc., with offices in Detroit, L.A., NY and Hamburg, Germany. He was inducted into the Adcraft Hall of Fame in 2018. The company creates TV commercial music for brands such as United Airlines, Ford, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Nintendo, Disney, Walmart and Toyota.
By Mushvig Mehdiyev August 3, 2020
Massive joint military drills of Azerbaijani and Turkish armed forces, which kicked off on July 29, continue in full swing in various parts of Azerbaijan with both air and land forces participating.
"Another stage of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Live-Fire Joint Large-Scale Tactical Exercises held in our country in accordance with the Agreement on Military Cooperation was conducted," the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan reported on August 1.
"According to the plan, the efficiency and coordination of tasks, the organization of interoperability, the logistic support in the course of combat operations, as well as the effectiveness of military personnel activity and the use of weapons and military equipment were checked."
The joint air combat drills involving the jet and helicopter units of the two countries are set to continue in the coming week in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, the second-largest city of Ganja, as well as the southwestern Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the Yevlakh and Kurdamir districts in the central part of the country. The artillery, armored vehicles and mortar units are expected to complete assigned tasks, including the destruction of mock targets in the firing fields in Baku and Nakhchivan until August 5. The Turkish Air Force dispatched F-16 fighter jets, as well as Atak attack helicopters, to Azerbaijan for participation in the drills.
On August 1, the Combined Arms Army, the armed forces in Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan located in the country’s southwest corner, surrounded by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey, and the Armed Forces of Turkey shifted to a state of full combat readiness and were relocated to the exercise areas as part of the drills, according to Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry.
The large-scale training of the two neighboring countries follows four days of deadly border skirmishes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops which broke out on July 12. The Armenian military's artillery fire on Azerbaijani positions stationed in the Tovuz region on the border with Armenia triggered the bloody clashes. The armed forces of Azerbaijan lost 12 servicemen, including one general, and one civilian during the skirmish. Although Armenia officially reported four deaths in its army, the country's civil society slammed authorities for deliberately hiding the true death toll, which is believed to be more than 30.
Meanwhile, the government of Turkey voiced strong support for and solidarity with Azerbaijan in protecting its territorial integrity. The Foreign and Defense Ministries in Ankara announced that Turkey will not spare any efforts to take Azerbaijan's side in repelling any attack on the country's borders.
"Turkey will not hesitate to stand against any attack on the soils of Azerbaijan. Mobilizing all of our political, diplomatic and social connections in the region and around the world in this regard is our duty," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said, accusing Armenia of stalling negotiations to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and creating new conflict zones in the region.
Peace and stability in South Caucasus remain shaky due to several conflict zones, including the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is over 30 years old. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s with the dramatic rise in anti-Azerbaijan sentiments in Armenia, as well as Armenia's illegal claims to Azerbaijan's historic Nagorno-Karabakh region, where partial Armenian population was living side by side indigenous Azerbaijanis.
These sentiments transitioned into a full-blown military campaign in 1991, when Armenia launched an attack on Azerbaijani lands. The bloody war lasted until a ceasefire was reached in 1994. Armenian forces killed 30,000 Azerbaijanis and displaced one million throughout the hostilities, while forcibly occupying Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven districts around it.
The lands that comprise 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory remain under Armenia's occupation to date. Yerevan continues to defy four UN Security Council resolutions calling for the withdrawal of its forces from occupied lands and the return of internally displaced Azerbaijanis to their native land.