Author: Hagop Kamalian

Amid Yerevan turmoil & military uprising, Azerbaijani President Aliyev says Armenian PM Pashinyan has led his country to ruin

Hagop Kamalian
RT – Russia Today
Feb 26 2021
26 Feb, 2021 15:29

By Jonny Tickle

Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan is running Yerevan into “abyss and ruin” and has undermined his own country’s statehood. That’s according to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who led Baku to war victory against Armenia in 2020.

Aliyev’s comments came a day after rallies were held in Yerevan, following the Armenian General Staff’s demand that Prime Minister Pashinyan resign from his post.

“These events show that Armenia is in a difficult situation. There are processes going on that undermine Armenian statehood, and the former and current leadership of Armenia is to blame,” he said at a press conference for foreign journalists, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

A power struggle broke out in Yerevan on Thursday, when a joint statement published by Armenian military figures called for Pashinyan to resign, supported by former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan. The PM is under pressure following a November ceasefire that paused fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, after an escalation in the Azeri-Armenian conflict over the region.

Nagorno-Karabakh is legally a part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by Armenia since the 1990s. The conflict was paused with a Moscow-brokered armistice agreement, which many see as a humiliation for Yerevan and Pashinyan’s government.

On Thursday, the prime minister denounced the demand to resign as coup attempt and rallied his supporters in the center of the capital. Armenia’s opposition accuses Pashinyan of capitulating to Baku by ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, at the time, the prime minister said the agreement was the only way to end the bloodshed, with Azerbaijan in a strategically dominant position.

Following Baku’s victory, President Aliyev has not toned down the rhetoric, telling Yerevan that it is time to move on and remove Nagorno-Karabakh’s status from the agenda.

“I advise Armenia and the Armenian people to talk less about this issue, not to build false hopes,” he said. “To raise this issue means to serve not peace, but confrontation.”

As part of the Azeri-Armenian truce, Yerevan and Baku agreed that Azerbaijan could keep the areas they had regained control of during the conflict. Armenia also agreed to withdraw from neighboring regions. Furthermore, Russian peacekeeping troops were deployed to the contact line.

 

Armenian president discusses political crisis with independent lawmakers

Hagop Kamalian
TASS, Russia
Feb 27 2021
The sides exchanged views on the crisis on the country

YEREVAN, February 27. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian held a meeting with a group of independent members of parliament to focus on the domestic political situation and on potential solutions, the presidential press service said on Saturday.

“The sides exchanged views on the crisis on the country, on the ways to resolve it and to ease tensions. The parliamentarians briefed the president about their approaches to and views on the current situation,” the statement says.

Earlier, the Armenian president held meetings with heads of the parliamentary factions and with members of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, which supporters had blocked traffic on streets outside the parliament in Yerevan, demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.

On February 25, mass rallies of Pashinyan’s supporters and critics began in Armenia after the General Staff of the Armed Forces had called for the resignation of prime minister and his cabinet. The statement was signed by Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, his deputies and other top brass. Pashinyan slammed the move as a military coup attempt and announced his decision to dismiss the chief of the General Staff. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who, under the Constitution, is in charge of appointing and dismissing the chiefs of the General Staff at the prime minister’s initiative, has not signed that order yet.

Artsakh President says ready to mediate in overcoming political crisis in Armenia

Hagop Kamalian

 12:44,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan says the ongoing domestic political developments in Armenia are strictly concerning. He urged all sides to show soberness and common sense.

In a statement he emphasized that now it’s the time to get out of the crises and pass through a long development and strengthening path.

“Currently being in Yerevan I am ready to bring my mediation mission in overcoming this political crisis with honor”, the President of Artsakh said.

On February 25 the General Staff of the Armenian Forces of Armenia issued a statement, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Cabinet.

In his turn Pashinyan commented on the statement, calling it as a “military coup attempt”.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

COVID-19: Armenia reports 191 new cases, 213 recoveries in one day

Hagop Kamalian

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 11:19,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. 191 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 170,011, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

213 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 161,790.

2 patients have died, raising the death toll to 3158.

2931 tests were conducted in the past one day.

The number of active cases is 4266.

The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 797 (3 new such cases).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azerbaijan hands over bodies of 106 Armenian soldiers killed during 44-day war

Hagop Kamalian

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 21:05,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. In the sidelines of the humanitarian cooperation, the Azerbaijani side handed over bodies of 106 soldiers killed during the 44-day war under the mediation of the Command staff of the Russian peacekeeping units in Artsakh, ARMNPRESS reports President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page.

Harutyunyan added that the searching works of bodies and survivors of the 44-day war still continue. ”In addition, we have started making joint efforts for discovering the bodies of Armenian and Azerbaijani victims of the war of the 1990s”, he wrote.

ICRC representatives visit Armenian captives in Baku

Hagop Kamalian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 16 2021  

Representatives of the Baku office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited Armenian servicemen and civilians held in Azerbaijan, Spokesperson for ICRC Armenia Zara Amatuni told Public TV.

She said ICRC representatives visited four Armenian captives – both servicemen and civilians – on February 1 and 2.

Zara Amatuni said the international organization does not publish the list of captives, but assures that they regularly visit those whose captivity has been confirmed by the Azerbaijani authorities.

“The so-called list is the data that we have, we record, which we regularly go through to understand whether there is progress in our work in each case,” Amatuni noted.

“However, the so-called list or any data we collect is also a confidential process between us and the relevant authorities, which we do not disclose to the public,” she said. 

Armenian President congratulates Serbian counterpart on national day

Hagop Kamalian

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 11:57,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić on the national day – the Statehood Day, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

President Sarkissian highlighted the consistent development and deepening of the friendly ties between Armenia and Serbia, which, according to him, have a firm historical and civilizational base.

“I highly value the personal relations between us. I am sure that we will be able to raise the inter-state cooperation to a qualitatively new level with joint efforts and consistent fulfillment of bilateral agreements”, the letter reads.

The Armenian President wished his Serbian counterpart good health and success, and to the good people of Serbia – peace and welfare.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

I’ll Drink to That: Wine Before and After Genocide

Hagop Kamalian
Vinography
Feb 2021

Episode 481 of I’ll Drink to That! features Zorik Gharibian of the Zorah winery in Armenia. The episode is based on a recording that occurred before the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but foreshadowing of that conflict is present in several moments.

Each year scientists discover new evidence of ancient winemaking and redraw the boundaries of what we know about our human history with wine. And each year vintners reclaim areas that have gone unplanted for years. Both chapters of the story of wine are expanding: prelude and present. This interview with Zorik Gharibian addresses both and serves as a meditation on what wine has meant to humans at different times. Zorik speaks of the Areni-1 cave, a site for winemaking dating back over six thousand years. In that era, wine was a part of sacrifices to spiritual authority. Of propitiation. He also discusses an isolated mountain vineyard, hidden from invaders, and grapes grown there as a concealed store of potential nourishment in times of distress. Wine as preservation. And he talks of reclaiming his cultural roots by reclaiming vineyard areas in rural Armenia. Wine as connection. While a cycle of strife and conflict only repeats through millennia, our concept of what sustains us repeatedly changes.

Listen to this episode:

at
 

Armenia Ombudsman: 72 civilians killed, 163 injured between 27 September 2020 and 28 January 2021

Hagop Kamalian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 12 2021
23:11, 12.02.2021

Armenia’s Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan today posted the following on his Facebook page:

“Important facts about the gross violations of the rights of peaceful civilians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) during the war that Azerbaijan unleashed in September-November 2020

During the war, more than 100,000 peaceful civilians were displaced from their permanent places of residence.

In consequence of the war, nearly 40,000 people were left homeless, deprived of their homes, personal items, the opportunity to live with basic living conditions and other rights.

As a result of the attacks of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, during the war, nearly 30,000 schoolchildren and kindergarten age children were deprived of education, 12 kindergartens and 71 schools were either damaged or destroyed.

Between September 27, 2020 and January 28, 2021, 72 civilians have been killed, including in consequence of cruel treatment and torture; 163 peaceful civilians have been injured or become disabled, health has been distorted for life.

Information according to reports of the Human Rights Defender”