Author: Garo Vardanian

Azerbaijani press: Increased political, diplomatic pressure on Yerevan will force it to give maps of minefields to Azerbaijan – Russian expert

Garo Vardanian
COMMENTARY23 March 2021 15:59 (UTC+04:00)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar.23

By Jani Babayeva – Trend:

Armenia is showing a non-constructive position, refusing to hand over minefield maps to Azerbaijan, Editor-in-Chief of the Russian National Defense magazine, military expert Igor Korotchenko, told Trend.

“For almost 30 years of occupation of Azerbaijani lands, Armenian troops have carried out mining of huge territories. I myself recently visited the Fuzuli and Aghdam districts and I want to say that there are warnings at every step – “Mines”, “Mined”. This is a huge problem, and it certainly has a humanitarian character. The mines left by the Armenian troops also blow up the civilians of Azerbaijan, who are returning to the previously occupied districts, there were cases when Russian peacekeepers were also injured,” Korotchenko noted.

According to the expert, it is necessary to increase the political and diplomatic pressure on Yerevan in order to force it to hand over the maps of minefields to Azerbaijan.

“In any case, this problem is of an international nature, it must be voiced from all platforms, from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to international forums, in order to jointly force Yerevan to fulfill the basic requirement emanating from the norms of international humanitarian law – to give the maps of minefields to Azerbaijan,” he said.

“Moscow should support the absolutely fair demands of Azerbaijan and put pressure on Yerevan so that the Armenian side will hand over the maps of the minefields,” the expert stressed.

“So far, Armenia is not doing this, even deliberately. It is a continuation of the previous unconstructive and hostile course. This policy of Armenia is unequivocally condemned by absolutely everyone,” Korotchenko added.

Lawyer: Armenia’s Constitutional Court ‘saved’ current authorities from charges and punishment in future

Garo Vardanian
Panorama, Armenia

Armenia’s Constitutional Court “saved” the current authorities from charges and punishment in the future by ruling that Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code does not comply with the Constitution and is invalid, lawyer Lusine Sahakyan said on Saturday.

“By declaring Article 300․1 of Armenia’s Criminal Code unconstitutional and invalid, the Constitutional Court saved the incumbent authorities from charges and punishment under that article in the future,” she wrote on Facebook.

“Thus, there is nothing extraordinary about the fact that those who became judges of the Constitutional Court as a result of an unconstitutional process also seem to have voted in favor,” Sahakyan added.

The ruling issued by the top court on Friday says that Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code concerning the “overthrowing the constitutional order”, under which former President Robert Kocharyan and three other former senior officials are being prosecuted, runs counter to Articles 78 and 79 of the Constitution. The articles deal with the principles of proportionality and certainty.

Robert Kocharyan and his lawyers asked the high court to determine the constitutionality of Article 300.1 back in 2019. The defense team of the former president argued, among other things, that the clause was added to the Criminal Code in 2009 and cannot be used retroactively against him.

Armenian Opposition Blockades Parliament to Demand PM Quits

Garo Vardanian
US News
March 9 2021
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content March 9, 2021, at 1:50 p.m.

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Police wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, block opposition demonstrators during a rally to pressure Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Thousands of opposition supporters blockaded the Armenian parliament building and engaged in occasional scuffles with police on Tuesday to press a demand for the country’s prime minister to step down. (Stepan Poghosyan/PHOTOLURE via AP) The Associated Press

By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters blockaded the Armenian parliament building on Tuesday to press a demand for the country’s prime minister to step down.

Nikol Pashinyan has rejected the opposition’s pressure to resign over a November peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in which Azerbaijan routed the Armenian forces.

The political tensions escalated last month when the military’s General Staff demanded Pashinyan’s resignation, and he responded by firing the chief of the General Staff, Col. Gen. Onik Gasparyan.

On Tuesday, the opposition sought to build pressure on Pashinyan by urging its supporters to blockade the parliament. Thousands of opposition demonstrators surrounded the parliament building and engaged in occasional scuffles with police.

Vazgen Manukyan, a veteran politician whom the opposition named as a prospective caretaker prime minister, predicted that the military won’t accept Pashinyan’s order to dismiss the General Staff chief.

“The army will not step back because it’s not just one man’s problem,” he said.

As part of maneuvering to defuse the political crisis, Pashinyan offered to hold an early parliamentary vote later this year, but rejected the opposition’s demand to step down before the vote.

Artur Vanetsyan, the former head of the National Security Service who leads the Homeland opposition party, emphasized that “we believe that that the elections mustn’t be held under Nikol Pashinyan’s rule.”

Pashinyan has faced opposition demands to resign since Nov. 10 when a Russia-brokered peace deal ended 44 days of intense fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh that killed more than 6,000. The agreement saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century.

Pashinyan, a 45-year-old former journalist who came to power after leading large street protests in 2018 that ousted his predecessor, has defended the peace deal as the only way to prevent the Azerbaijani army from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region, which lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the peace deal.

____

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

BREAKING: President rejects PM’s motion on appointing Lt. General Davtyan as new Chief of Staff

Garo Vardanian

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 13:24, 11 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian rejected the Prime Minister’s motion on appointing Lt. General Artak Davtyan as the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Sarkissian’s Office told ARMENPRESS that he returned the motion with objections.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Aliyev makes provocative statements about internationally recognized territories of Armenia – Tatevik Hayrapetyan

Garo Vardanian
Public Radio of Armenia
March 12 2021

Aliyev makes provocative and inadmissible statements about the internationally recognized territories of the Republic of Armenia, Tatevik Hayrapetyan, member of the “My Step” parliamentary faction, said at today’s sitting of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons.

Humanitarian aspect of the Nagorno Karabakh war were on the agenda of the meeting.

“The reality is that Azerbaijan, a member state of the Council of Europe, launched an aggression against the civilian population of Artsakh with the obvious support of another member state, Turkey. Although a trilateral statement on ceasefire was signed on November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan continues to fail to fulfill its obligations,” Hayrapetyan said.

She noted that many Armenian prisoners of war are still being held in Azerbaijan, which is unacceptable. At the same time, she said, humanitarian issues are difficult to overcome unless there is a political solution.

“Yes, Azerbaijan has taken the path of aggression, which is not a political solution,” the MP stated.

She drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan continues to use hate speech and threatening language.  

“President Aliyev of Azerbaijan makes provocative and inadmissible statements about the internationally recognized territories of the Republic of Armenia. This is inadmissible. It must receive an adequate response from the international community,” said Tatevik Hayrapetyan.

British HALO Trust provided Turks with maps of minefields in Artsakh

Garo Vardanian
Panorama, Armenia

The UK’s HALO Trust company, engaged in charitable activities in Artsakh, provided the Turkish special services with maps of the minefields in Artsakh, allowing them to successfully pass through those areas during the 44-day war in 2020, the Artsakh president’s special representative, Boris Avagyan, told 24News.

“I learned from reliable sources that the HALO Trust, which operated under the name of a British charitable organization and was engaged in landmine clearance, obtained maps of the minefields of the Armenian side during its activities in Artsakh and handed them over to the Turkish special services,” the media outlet quoted him as saying.

“As a result, the enemy was able to successfully pass through the minefields during the war. Under the pretext of studying dangerous areas, the company carried out reconnaissance operations throughout the territory of Artsakh.

“This company was founded in 1988 by Colin Campbell Mitchell, a British member of parliament and former colonel in the British army,” Avagyan said. 

CivilNet: BREAKING: Azerbaijan Releases Armenian Woman After Months in Captivity

Garo Vardanian
CIVILNET.AM

11 Mar, 2021 03:03

Maral Najarian, the Lebanese-Armenian woman captured by Azerbaijani forces in Karabakh soon after the Second Artsakh War, has been released. 

After months in captivity, Najarian, who was born in Lebanon, was reunited with her family at the Beirut-Hariri International Airport at around 9:30 p.m. local time. 

At around 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Najarian was flown from Azerbaijan to Istanbul, Turkey where she was held most of the day, Armenian Weekly reports.

Human rights activists say that Azerbaijan still holds over 200 Armenian hostages, most captured after the signing of the November 9 ceasefire. They include military personnel, as well as civilians and women.

Hayastan All Armenian Fund announces financial support to families of 5,564 militia-members in Artsakh

Garo Vardanian

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 16:25, 9 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund announced that it will provide financial support to the families of 5,564 volunteers who signed up to serve in the militia of the Defense Army during the 2020 war.

“The social issue of the people of Artsakh remains a priority for the Hayastan All Armenian Fund”, the organization said.

“This social assistance program will support the families of servicemen and alleviate their immediate post war challenges by providing 1 billion 112 million 800 thousand AMD, approximately USD 2.1million.”

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund said it will continue supporting veterans with various programs to help in returning to civilian life.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian parliament majority bloc: Opposition Bright Armenia Party leader’s statements not even subject to discussion

Garo Vardanian
News.am, Armenia
March 1 2021
Armenian parliament majority bloc: Opposition Bright Armenia Party leader’s statements not even subject to discussion
14:25, 01.03.2021

The statements by Bright Armenia Party and leader of the homonymous parliamentary faction Edmon Marukyan aren’t subject to discussion. Armenia has a Constitution, and we, as deputies, must be responsible for implementation of the Constitution. This is what leader of the ruling My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Lilit Makunts told reporters today, touching upon Edmon Marukyan’s proposal according to which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had to take back the proposal sent to the President for dismissal of the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Commenting on Marukyan’s proposal according to which Bright Armenia Party is ready to sign a memorandum, based on which the political party won’t nominate its candidate for Prime Minister in parliament so that the National Assembly is dissolved, Makunts assured that the ruling party is ready to take practical steps with regard to Marukyan’s proposal.

COVID-19: Armenia reports 508 new cases, 191 recoveries in one day

Garo Vardanian

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 11:09, 6 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, ARMENPRESS. 508 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 174.257, the ministry of healthcare said today.

191 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 164.654.

4 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 3219..

3016 tests were conducted in the past one day.

The number of active cases is 5560.

The number of people who had been infected with COVID-19 but died from other disease stands at 824.