Author: Hagop Kamalian

Azerbaijani press: Pashinyan again shows his helplessness, responding to BBC’s "hard" questions (VIDEO)

Hagop Kamalian
POLITICS14 August 2020 18:13 (UTC+04:00)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 14

Trend:

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to the HARDtalk program on the BBC TV channel, Trend reports.

Pashinyan was interviewed by journalist Stephen Sackur. In the BBC HARDtalk program, guests are asked critical and challenging questions, and Pashinyan found himself helpless under such pressure.

Replying to a question about the hostilities in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district in July, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of being “the first to attack.”

In response to this statement, the presenter noted: “You claim that the last conflict was unleashed by Azerbaijan, but the other side says the opposite, and we will not be able to clarify this in this program. However, one thing is clear: you have taken a number of provocative steps so far that have exacerbated the situation. For example, why did you, while visiting Stepanakert [Khankandi] in August last year, say ‘Artsakh is Armenia’ in your speech? It was an open provocation against Azerbaijan.”

Pashinyan could not clearly answer this question. Instead, he resorted to traditional historical lies, claiming that Armenians have lived in Nagorno-Karabakh for millennia.

Further, interrupting Pashinyan, Sackur asked an even harsher question.

“You are violating four resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly on the conflict, which demand the unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani lands. According to international law, your troops are carrying out occupation, and you go there and declare that these territories are yours. Obviously, you are not creating the peace there,” Sackur noted.

Pashinyan once again avoided answering, saying that Azerbaijan allegedly carried out ethnic cleansing in the early 1990s against the Armenians living in Karabakh.

The presenter then questioned Pashinyan about the construction of a road to Nagorno-Karabakh.

He asked: “I know that your government is building a road from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. This road passes through the territory of Azerbaijan. A number of European MPs in Brussels specializing in Caucasian politics reviewed the plan and considered it a violation of international law. According to MPs, this will strengthen the illegal occupation of Karabakh. Will you stop the construction of this road?”

Once again, instead of providing a clear answer, Pashinyan mumbled that the road was not being built by the Armenian government.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Karabakh sends humanitarian aid to Lebanon

Hagop Kamalian
News.am, Armenia
Aug 9 2020

22:18, 09.08.2020
                         

YEREVAN. – Another plane left for Beirut Sunday on a special flight to deliver humanitarian aid from Armenia.

 “From the people of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] to Lebanon; another plane left for Beirut,” the Armenian government informed.

 It is written, “From the people of Artsakh to Lebanon,” on the boxes sent.

 As reported earlier, the first plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia to Lebanon has landed at Rafic Hariri International Airport of Beirut on Saturday evening. Medical drugs and medical supplies were sent to the Lebanese people on board this flight.

 Another special flight from Armenia to Lebanon is scheduled for August 11, whereby aid—especially material goods and food—will be sent to the Armenian community of Beirut amid Tuesday’s powerful and deadly explosion there.

Azerbaijani- Turkish old-new agenda for Armenia

Hagop Kamalian
Modern Diplomacy
July 31 2020
 
 
 
 
 
on July 31, 2020
 
By Anna Barseghyan
 
                              
 
The armed forces of Turkey and Azerbaijan are set to conduct large-scale military exercises on Armenian border of Nakhijevan. As reported by the Turkish Defense Ministry, the military exercise will involve military personnel, armored vehicles, artillery, and mortars, as well as military aviation and air defense equipment. The exercises will be held from July 29th to August 10th, and will be hosted in various cities in Azerbaijan including-Baku, Ganja, Kurdamir, and Yevlakh.
 
Turkey and Azerbaijan have a tight military cooperation with one another, and often joint conduct military exercises. However, what is different with this particular exercise is that it was unplanned and follows a series of provocative border skirmishes Azerbaijan has had towards neighboring Armenia which have been escalating since mid-July. The choice of Nakhijevan to host these exercises is symbolic. Nakhijevan is an autonomous republic within Azerbaijan which was ceded to Soviet Azerbaijan according to a Soviet-Turkish Moscow Treaty from 1921. Nakhijevan is not connected by land to the rest of Azerbaijan, and has only a tiny border with Turkey.
 
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been engaging in a systematic culture cleansing of the country’s historic Armenian heritage in Nakhijevan which is considered the worst cultural genocide of the 21st century.
 
To make matters worse, the border of Nakhijevan is only 40 km far from the Armenian capital Yerevan and is even less of a distance from Metsamor. Metsamor being a strategic city where Armenia’s only nuclear power plant is located. On July 17, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargyakhly made a statement threatening that their weapons “are capable of hitting the Metsamor Atomic Energy Station with high accuracy, which will turn into a catastrophe for Armenia.”
 
Undoubtedly such a scenario will turn into nuclear catastrophe not only for Armenia but for the entire region including neighboring countries such as Georgia, Iran but ironically even Turkey and Azerbaijan themselves. Such statements were an open call to state terrorism and should be properly condemned by the international society.
 
Members of the European Parliament, 29 MEPs from 7 main political groups, sent a letter to the EU HR/VP of the European Commission, Josep Borrell. The MEPs called on the EU to use its leverage to put in place genuine and effective confidence-building measures mechanisms, and urge Azerbaijan to install the OSCE investigative mechanism for cease-fire violations.
 
“It is crucial that the EU uses its leverage to put in place genuine and effective confidence-building measures, notably the OSCE investigative mechanism for cease-fire violations which would prevent the sides from blaming each other for initiating deadly attacks. Armenia has agreed to discuss the details of the mechanism. Azerbaijan must do the same”, -mentioned in the letter.
 
Indeed, the investigative mechanism could be a solution. For over the past several decades each time hostilities erupt, each side ends up blaming one another for initiating hostilities. However, in the era of cutting-edge technology, it is now easier to reveal who is the culprit for initiating the violation of the ceasefire, and who is on the defense.
 
The main mediator of the conflict, the OSCE Minsk Group, has tried several times, calling on the Presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan to accept a mutually agreed upon OSCE mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations.
 
In a Press Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, they stated, “Without such a mechanism, the sides will continue to blame each other for initiating deadly attacks on the Line of Contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border.  Armenia has agreed to discuss the details of the mechanism, and we urged Azerbaijan to do the same.”
 
However, these calls from the OSCE Minsk Group continue to remain ignored from the Azerbaijani side which has refused all proposals for international mediators on producing confidence-building measures that are aimed at the consolidation of another ceasefire.
 
Armenia is also among 170 countries that endorsed UN ceasefire appeal during the COVID crisis.  Azerbaijan refused to join this initiative. Moreover, right after these skirmishes began, protests erupted in Baku, where approximately 30.000 people came out into the streets demanding war with Armenia, and challenging the government to take a harder approach towards the conflict. From the other side, Turkey also fuels regional tensions to incite unrest.
 
Moreover, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made inflammatory comments threatening Armenia that it will finish the Armenian Genocide. He pledged arms and aid to Azerbaijan, sending a chilling warning to Armenia and the at-risk Armenian population still within the territory of present-day Turkey. And yet despite such comments, Turkey and Azerbaijan aspire to make Turkey one of the mediators of the conflict at the OSCE negotiations. Azerbaijan refuses the suggestions of the OSCE Minsk Group and has a destructive approach to undermine the efforts of international mediators. However, in the sake of global peace, and regional stability the international society should be supportive of the OSCE Minsk group as the only legal framework to resolve the conflict.
 
***
 
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is over Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), a part of historical Armenia, and Armenian populated autonomous region (89% were Armenians during the Soviet time) which was forced to join the Azerbaijani Soviet Republic in 1920 by the will of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Since the Gorbachev reforms in 1988, the people of Artsakh raised their voices, using their constitutional rights, to secede from Azerbaijani SSR. As a result, Azerbaijani SSR imposed a war which ended in 1994 with the victory of the Armenian forces.  Since 1992, Nagorno Karabakh has proclaimed its independence and is currently an unrecognized republic. The main mediator of the conflict is the OSCE Minsk group including co-chairs from France, Russia and the USA. The negotiations are still ongoing.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Relative calm on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Hagop Kamalian

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 09:42, 31 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS. Overnight July 30-31 and today in the morning relative calm has been maintained on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Armenian defense minister’s spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said on Facebook.

“The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime 14 times, firing nearly 155 shots from firearms at the Armenian positions”, she said, adding that the shots were mainly fired at the Armenian military positions located in the direction of Aygepar, Chinari, Aygedzor, Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, Zangakatun, Yelpin and Bardzruni.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

German relevant authorities investigate incident of setting Armenian Embassy’s official car on fire

Hagop Kamalian

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 13:07,

YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. Germany’s relevant authorities are conducting investigation to find out the people who deliberately set the official vehicle of the Armenian Embassy on fire, the Armenian Embassy in Germany said.

On July 23, at 00:12, the official vehicle of the Armenian Embassy in Germany was set on fire. The German Federal Foreign Office, the Berlin Police and respective police agencies have been officially notified about the incident. The possibility of arson was being considered. After the recent events on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Azerbaijanis living in different countries are conducting provocations, attack Armenians and make attempts of damaging the property of Armenians.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Artsakh’s security is one of Armenia’s key interests, Secretary of Security Council

Hagop Kamalian

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 15:20,

YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. The main interests of Armenia – sovereignty, territorial integrity and the security of Artsakh, are introduced in the National Security Strategy, Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan said at a public discussion dedicated to the Strategy.

“The Strategy has a logic, here we have tried to introduce the main interests of Armenia – sovereignty, territorial integrity and the security of Artsakh. Thus, we have given Artsakh the highest level of Armenia’s interest”, he said, adding that the security of Artsakh is one of Armenia’s key interests.

He said the approaches formulated in the National Security Strategy, fully reflect the reality.

“The possible military operations of Azerbaijan are formulated in the Strategy as a key threat. Turkey is a threat in a sense that it is supporting Azerbaijan. As for the foreign policy, there is the principle of pan-Armenianism which in general clearly showed the problems with the businesses in Russia, the agenda of pan-Armenianism, as well as the unity of Armenians in different parts of the world”, he said.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenian soldier wounded from Azerbaijani shooting dies

Hagop Kamalian

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 15:04,

YEREVAN, JULY 23, ARMENPRESS. Soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces Artur Muradyan (born in 2001), who has been severely wounded recently by the Azerbaijani shooting, has died on July 23 in the central military hospital, the ministry told Armenpress.

The soldier has been in critical condition since hospitalization.

The defense ministry extends its condolences to the family, relatives and co-servicemen of the soldier.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Israel should rethink its relationship with Azerbaijan – opinion

Hagop Kamalian
Panorama, Armenia

Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey and fellow denier of the Armenian Genocide, has actively sought the eradication of the region’s indigenous Armenian inhabitants and traces of their millennia-old civilization, says an article published by The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan’s burgeoning relationship with Israel has long been predicated on the false narrative that Azerbaijan is a “country of tolerance.” Azerbaijan has often paraded the existence of a small, but vibrant, Jewish community in the country as a testament to its commitment to diversity and tolerance.

However, Azerbaijan, a dictatorship based on petrodollars that has been ruled by the same family for over a half-century, is anything but that.

Throughout Soviet occupation, the Azerbaijani SSR denied cultural, political, linguistic and economic rights to the Armenians of Artsakh (also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh) and Nakhijevan, and in the late 80s and early 90s, Azerbaijani authorities started to engage in government-backed pogroms and massacres of Armenians in Azerbaijan to suppress calls for Artsakh’s independence. These pogroms also targeted Jewish communities, which began to flee Baku en masse in response to the increasing incidents of harassment.

Azerbaijan’s assault on the region’s Armenians ultimately culminated in a full-scale war which ended with a ceasefire that effectively secured the establishment of an independent and democratic Artsakh.

For the last 30 years, the Azerbaijani government has frequently deployed rhetoric advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia itself – regularly referring to Armenians as enemies of the state – and denying the thousands of years of Armenian civilization in the region.

Throughout the early 2000s, some 28,000 Armenian cultural monuments in Nakhijevan were destroyed by Azerbaijan as part of an unprecedented cultural genocide. Independent reports have also found that Armenophobi – or anti-Armenian sentiment – has become so entrenched in government, media, and state institutions that an entire generation of Azerbaijanis have grown up listening only to hate speech towards Armenians.

This dissemination and inculcation of hatred has incited shocking incidents of violence against Armenians, including that of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani soldier who murdered a sleeping Armenian soldier during a NATO English-language training program in Hungary.

Over the course of this week, Azerbaijan has engaged in major acts of aggression against the Republic of Armenia itself, targeting civilian populations with heavy artillery and drones. In Azerbaijan, tens of thousands came to the streets chanting “Death to Armenia” and calling for a war with Armenia. These scenes, the result of the Azerbaijani government’s decades of propagating Armenophobia, are all too reminiscent of the virulent antisemitism expressed in neighboring Iran.

The institutionalization of state-sponsored racism towards Armenians should be an immediate cause of concern for any nation that has not only experienced genocide, but continues to struggle against the promulgation of racist and discriminatory rhetoric by those who deny it its fundamental right to exist. But in addition to Azerbaijan’s flagrant disregard for minority rights, the country has also long worked against the strategic interests of Israel.

Azerbaijan has been found to have funneled substantial amounts of money into sanctioned Iranian businesses as part of the “Azerbaijani Laundromat” corruption scandal.

Similarly, Azerbaijan’s major oil pipeline is 10% owned by Iran – allowing the country to bypass international sanctions and to profit from Azerbaijan’s oil industry.

Additionally, despite its overtures to Israel with respect to weapons contracts, oil supply and the monitoring of Iran, Azerbaijan has succumbed to regional pressure when it comes to issuing political support for Israel – particularly in the forum of the UN.

Azerbaijan has also refused to open an embassy in Israel due to regional pressure. On the other hand, Armenia has consistently taken tangible steps towards good faith relations with Israel – including a commitment to establish an embassy in Tel Aviv.

Given that Armenia has been made partially reliant on Iran due to the fact that 80% of its borders are under illegal blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan, it is clear that – unlike Azerbaijan – Armenia will not succumb to the pressure of malign regional actors when it comes to building relations with Israel.

Armenia, like Israel, has long fought for its very right to exist in a hostile region of states that would revel in its destruction, and has – against all odds – established vibrant democratic states in a sea of dictatorships.

The nations share a history dating back millennia, with Jerusalem being home to the first Armenian diaspora. So integral to the cultural milieu of Jerusalem, the Armenians occupy their own quarter of the Old City, separate from the Christian Quarter. Both nations are bound by the tragedy of genocide and survived its unimaginable horrors.

Israel and Armenia are bound in many intangible, human ways that have prospered despite Israel’s refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and its partnership with Azerbaijan.

Israel has chosen to take Azerbaijan at face value, accepting its oil in exchange for arms that have been deployed against Armenian civilians in ongoing border confrontations.

Israel knows first-hand the challenges Armenia faces, and has long fought against the type of state-sponsored racism Azerbaijan propagates.

The two nations share an ancient history, and are bound by their experiences as long-stateless diasporic people whose resilience has allowed them to not merely survive, but to prosper. In light of this, it’s time for Israel to rethink its relationship with Azerbaijan.

The CSTO Secretariat calls for immediate restoration of the ceasefire regime

Hagop Kamalian
Panorama, Armenia

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretariat expresses serious concern over the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border that arose on July 12, the organization’s Secretariat said in a released statement on Tuesday.

“The current situation does not contribute to the normalization of the situation on the border of the two neighboring states, one of which is the Republic of Armenia. The Republic is a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The situation indicates a violation of the agreements of ceasefire reached at the leadership level of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the statement said.

The statement next called for the need for an immediate restoration of the ceasefire regime in the CSTO responsibility zone and urged the sides
to seek settlement of conflict situations only through peaceful negotiations and to refrain from acts of provocation in order to prevent escalation of tension.

Asbarez: U.S. House Panel Implicitly Backs Artsakh Aid

Hagop Kamalian
July 9, 2020

The HALO Trust team members offer an update on Artsakh demining efforts to Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Judy Chu (D-CA) as ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan looks on (October 2019).

ANCA Continues to Work with Legislators to Ensure Ongoing U.S. Funding for a Mine-Free Artsakh

WASHINGTON—A key U.S. House panel has approved legislative report language indirectly calling for continued USAID funding for humanitarian de-mining in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“We certainly welcome this report recommendation as a step in the right direction,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “However, in light of this Administration’s all-out attack on Artsakh de-mining, it’s clear that Congress will need to do more in the underlying foreign aid bill to ensure continued U.S. support for a mine-free Artsakh.”

Support for Artsakh de-mining was included in the House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2021 Foreign Aid Bill, as follows:  “The Committee recommends funding consistent with prior years for USAID’s Humanitarian De-mining program.” The only USAID funded de-mining program currently in operation is in Artsakh, where The HALO Trust has successfully removed over 61,000 mines and cleared some 62,000 acres of land, ensuring a safer future for over 80% of Artsakh’s population.  Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who visited Artsakh last year and met with representatives of The HALO Trust, was a strong proponent of the report language, along with his Armenian Caucus colleagues, including Co-Chairs Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and others.

Congress has consistently pushed back against efforts to stop de-mining assistance to Artsakh, with over 30 Senators and 75 U.S. Representatives calling on key Appropriations Committee members to continue the assistance program, in letters sent in April and March of this year.  Last year, 22 Senators and 89 Representatives cosigned bipartisan letters defending the USAID-funded HALO-Trust de-mining program in Artsakh. In 2017 and again in 2019 the U.S. House passed amendments supporting continued U.S. aid to Artsakh.  In the lead up to today’s vote, one-third of U.S. House members testifying before the House Appropriations Committee cited Artsakh de-mining as a key priority for inclusion in the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill.

Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressional staff member James Johnson with a portion of the dedicated Artsakh demining team at The HALO Trust in Stepanakert (October 2019).

The United States has been funding humanitarian programs in Artsakh since 1998, providing clean water to rural communities, support for maternal and child health, and life-saving de-mining assistance.  Artsakh assistance has been long under attack by Azerbaijan’s Aliyev regime, and over the past two years, aggressively targeted by the Trump Administration, even as it ramps up U.S. defense and security aid to Baku.

Continued aid to Artsakh to support de-mining and rehabilitation efforts has been a key part of the ANCA’s 360-degree policy priorities to ensure Artsakh security and freedom.  In testimony to the House Appropriations Committee earlier this year, ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan argued that “The U.S. aid program to Nagorno Karabakh may require only a small expenditure, but it represents a major American investment in peace.”  She went on to note that despite exceptional progress in The HALO Trust’s effort to make Artsakh mine-free, more needed to be done.  “While the exact percentage of territory requiring clearance remains uncertain, The HALO Trust’s village-by-village resurvey has already identified 1.8 million square meters of additional contamination in the highly populated Martakert region, a figure that will certainly increase as the re-survey continues. All told, 385 people have been killed or injured by landmines or other explosives in Nagorno Karabakh since 1995, including several HALO trust employees in just the past few years,” explained Yerimyan.

Over 10,000 advocates have contacted Congress in support of continued U.S. de-mining assistance to Artsakh through the ANCA’s online action portals.  ANCA Leo Sarkisian and Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Summer program participants have been rallying nationwide constituent outreach in support of continued Artsakh aid.  Send letters to Senate and House members.  Constituents can be directly connected to their U.S. Representative by phone through the ANCA’s Quick Connect system.  Grassroots outreach to Congressional offices will continue until the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill is finalized.

The FY 2021 Foreign Aid Bill and its accompanying report were approved by the House Appropriations Committee by a vote of 29 to 21 and is scheduled to be taken up by the full House of Representatives soon.  The Senate Appropriations Committee will be taking up its version of the FY2021 Foreign Aid Bill in upcoming weeks.  The House measure did not specify amounts for direct aid to Armenia or Azerbaijan, allowing the State Department latitude to define funding levels and programs.