Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian heavily criticized Turkey on Thursday, saying it was no secret that Ankara plays a destabilizing role in the region.
“Well, it’s not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play extremely destabilizing role in our region. That role was vividly exposed during the recent 44 days of aggression unleased by Azerbaijan,” Aivazian told Al Arabiya in an interview.
“That country not only merely supported Azerbaijan but was directly involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression starting from planning to ground operations,” he added.
After six weeks of fighting late last year, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire for the enclave, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
Turkey backs Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and has criticized the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)’s so-called Minsk Group for not resolving the long-running conflict in decades of mediation. The Minsk Group is led by the United States, France and Russia.
“Turkey, I would like to recall together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war, conducted a large-scale military drill with the involvement of Turkish Air Force. That country resorted to the now usual toolkit, if the expert of foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection,” Aivazian said.
Aivazian warned that lessons must be learned from its experience of the Armenian genocide, which Turkey still refuses to acknowledge fully.
“160 years have passed since the Armenian genocide, yet Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in our region. And yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey,” he said.
If the PM Nikol Pashinyan fires army head on Monday, then the opposition will gather on this square on Tuesday, the representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun All-Union Ishkhan Saghatelyan noted during a protest in Yerevan.
“Monday is an important day in terms of resolving our issues. If on Monday the supreme traitor, the villain again resorts to lawlessness and tries to fire head of General Staff Onik Gasparyan, then on Tuesday at 17:00 we will gather on this square and together decide on further steps and actions,” he said.
To provide the world with precise information about the state of the cultural heritage in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh after the Armenian occupation, it is necessary to organize an international UNESCO mission, MP of the French National Assembly, Frederique Dumas, said, Trend reports.
Dumas made the remark in an interview with the French lagazetteaz.fr online newspaper.
“I think this is the most powerful tool to showcase the realities,” the MP noted.
“The organization of the UNESCO mission is very important, because this mission will more objectively show what happened. The main purpose of our visit to Karabakh with a group of French MPs was to show the situation in the territories of Azerbaijan after the occupation,“ said Dumas.
“Azerbaijan is a shining example of multiculturalism, protection of religions and cultures. Synagogues, Armenian churches and mosques in Baku are located nearby,” she stressed.
“Azerbaijan is a multicultural, multi-confessional state that protects the rights of minorities. I believe that Azerbaijan should always be promoted as a secular, multicultural country that protects culture and religion,” the French MP said.
Commenting on the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, Dumas noted that this authority should play the role assigned to it, that is, maintain neutrality, impartiality and ensure justice.
“The Minsk Group must show the way to peace and create opportunities for the peaceful coexistence of peoples,” the French MP emphasized.
Touching upon the resolution adopted in the French National Assembly during the Second Karabakh War on the necessity of recognizing the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”, Dumas noted that very few MPs took part in the voting.
“However, the resolution was adopted. Some circles in France, trusting the Armenian community, which claims “we Armenians are closer to you, we are also Christians”, voted for the resolution to protect them. The French government made a big mistake by not responding in time. After this resolution, mistrust towards France has already aroused in Azerbaijan. Therefore, I believe that the adoption of this resolution is a political mistake,” Dumas added.
Fresno’s Holy Trinity Church leaders visit Prelate Torkom Donoyan
Western Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan welcomed a visit on Wednesday by a delegation from the Holy Trinity Church of Fresno, led by Church pastor Very Reverend Father Ashod Khachadourian.
The delegation also included Berj Apkarian, Armenia’s Honorary Consul to Fresno who is also a member of the Prelacy Executive Council and a National Delegate, as well as members of the Executive Council and church delegates, Bill Sahatdjian and Serpouhie Messerlian, and David Sarabian, Chair and member of the Fresno Church Board of Trustees.
The visit was an opportunity for the guests to convey their heartfelt wishes to the Prelate, and congratulate him on his election as Prelate of the Western Prelacy. During the heartfelt discussion, the guests expressed their full support for the Prelate’s future endeavors and donated $10,000, requesting that a significant goal be arranged for the training of Armenian clergy in the Western Prelacy. After speaking about the efforts of the church within the Fresno community, they invited the Prelate to grant his first Episcopal visit to the Armenians of Fresno in the near future.
In return, the Prelate thanked his guests and praised their long service in the life of the church and the community, and invited them to continue their service to the faithful with renewed faith. The Prelate presented souvenirs to the visitors at the end of the visit and wished them a safe return home.
03/05/2021 United States (International Christian Concern) – This week, members of the Armenian Bar Association sent a report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance regarding the Grey Wolves. The submission comes in response to a call for information by Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume to inform her upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council on combatting the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism, and other practices that fuel contemporary forms of racism and related intolerance.
The Grey Wolves are an Islamic Turkish nationalist group whose aim is to restore the Pan-Turkism of the Ottoman Empire to the region. The group became notorious in the 20th century for its religious freedom violations, including a massacre of over 100 Alevis and an attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. ICC has covered the hatred and violence of the Grey Wolves over the past couple months amid the fighting and aftermath of the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh).
The Grey Wolves see Armenian Christians as an obstacle to achieving their goals, and have thus continually committed brutal acts of violence against them, in ways remnant of the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century. ICC further outlined the human rights violations of the Grey Wolves in Artsakh in its recent report, The Anatomy of Genocide: Karabakh’s Forty-Four Day War.
Lucy Varpetian, Chairwoman of Armenian Bar Association, praised the Special Rapporteur on the subject and felt optimistic about their submission. “In a time when ultra-nationalist policies propel discrimination and violence in many parts of the world, we applaud the Special Rapporteur’s commitment to receiving substantiated reports about the full scope of the threat of neo-Nazism and related practices,” said Vareptian.
Chairwoman Varpetian was featured on a recent ICC podcast, going more in-depth on the recent conflict, the history of Artsakh, and the threats of Pan-Turkic ideology facing the world.
The report concluded with a grim comparison, arguing that the Grey Wolves “should be understood as a dangerous ideology paralleling Nazism in form – in light of indications of state support – and in substance – in light of explicit calls for the eradication of certain ethnic groups.” The report continues, “Azerbaijan’s aggression towards Artsakh and its Armenians is both a recent manifestation of this dangerous ideology, and a warning of a disturbing, growing trend.”
ICC applauds the work of the Armenian Bar Association, and will continue to join them in condemning the actions of the Grey Wolves by engaging policymakers on the dangerous ambitions of the group.
Opposition demonstrators rally to pressure Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in the center of Yerevan, Armenia. Feb. 25, 2021. – Copyright Hrant Khachatryan/PAN Photo
Flanked by thousands of his supporters, the Armenian Prime Minister on Thursday marched through the streets of Yerevan in a bid to rally people behind him after claiming the army had attempted a coup.
While Nikol Pashinyan’s advocates came out in Republic Square in the heart of the Armenian capital, throngs of opposition protesters also convened in the city, bringing traffic to a halt and chanting “Nikol, resign!”
Euronews looks at what’s behind the swell of unrest in Armenia.
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan (centre front left carrying a megaphone) walks with his supporters in the centre of Yerevan, Armenia. Feb. 25, 2021.Hrant Khachatryan/PAN Photo via AP
The catalyst for the recent unrest in Armenia is last year’s bloody conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno Karabakh region, which saw thousands killed on both sides.
Swathes of territory in and around the mountainous region were ceded to Azerbaijan when the two sides signed a November 10 Russian-brokered peace deal and Pashinyan has faced protests ever since.
This week’s unrest centres around a “reckoning on Armenia’s perceived failings in that conflict and who is responsible,” associate fellow on the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, Laurence Broers, told Euronews.
Nagorno-Karabakh: Why has there been a flare-up of violence between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces?
The importance of the Nagorno Karabakh region to Armenia and Azerbaijan should not be underestimated.
“This is an issue of identity for both sides,” Dr Kevork Oskanian, Honorary Research Fellow at Birmingham University, who specialises in Eurasian politics, told Euronews.
“Nagorno-Karabakh is central to the identity of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis — it is very hard to compromise when it’s about such a deep-held part of your identity.”
Oskanian observes there are “two camps now ranged against each other” in Armenia.
“The opposition camp, Pashinyan, basically taking his supporters into the streets, and the army in between,” he said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: Since taking office, Pashinyan has faltered, making a series of mistakes and missteps, observed Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center think tank in Yerevan.
The leader of the “My Step” was massively popular two years ago, winning the elections in 2018 with a landslide result of over 70%, but recent polls have shown this score has dramatically slumped to around 45%.
Anti-government sentiment has surged since the November conflict, with Pashinyan’s critics criticising him for “losing the war”, according to Oskanian, and “as the losing side, he has to resign”.
The opposition: There have been ongoing opposition protests since a November 9 ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh, spearheaded by a group of 17 opposition parties, all but one of which are not in parliament,
“They mostly represent the old regime – the people who were in power before 2018 – and are more nationalist,” said Oskanian. “And, they have, of course, been demanding the resignation of Pashinyan since November.”
He went on that there has been a “to and fro” between these groups and government on whether to hold snap preterm parliamentary elections, with the opposition wanting the prime minister to resign before they go ahead.
The opposition has been fractured in terms of whether it wants the new elections or not and Pashinyan remains “less unpopular than any other figure”, according to Broers.
The army: “There’s a lot of frustration in the top brass of the general staff of the army,” he added.
They are “pushing back” and have taken a “clear stance” in a statement they sent out calling for Pashinyan to resign.
“That is quite an extraordinary thing to happen,” Broers added.
The trigger for recent events was comments made by Pashinyan about the alleged ineffectiveness of the Iskander missile system.
“He made comments in the local media that they hadn’t ignited on impact, or only a very small percentage of them had done so. So, kind of putting the blame on the army and on its procurement strategies,” Broers explained.
This came in the wake of the terrible trauma, human losses, from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, into an “already with a quite dysfunctional political context”, he added, mixed in with a country and government grappling with the COVID pandemic.
The military’s top brass released a statement saying “the prime minister and the government are no longer able to make reasonable decisions”, according to Armenpress, the country’s state news agency.
“For a long time, the Armenian armed forces were patiently tolerating the ‘attacks’ by the incumbent government aimed at defaming the armed forces, but everything has its limits,” the officials were cited as saying.
Pashinyan retaliated by sacking the head of the army’s General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, further angering the military elite.
He accused top military officers of attempting a coup, at this point rallying his supporters to gather at the march telling them: “The army is not a political institution and attempts to involve it in political processes are unacceptable.”
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accuses military chiefs of ‘attempted coup’
Broers and Oskanian were both in agreement that the move didn’t amount to a military coup. “Technically, it’s not (a coup) because you don’t have tanks on the streets. There’s no resistance by the army to take over. I think this is more a case of insubordination,” the latter said.
But the move did mark an “unprecedented intervention” in the political arena, Giragosian said.
For the experts, the only routes out of the crisis is a dialogue on elections, which is the outcome that most Armenians want, according to recent polls.
“Elections are, I think, inevitable at this point,” said Oskanian. “I don’t think the question is whether there will be elections but when there will be elections.”
Broers also called for a formal, authoritative enquiry into the recent conflict, saying it “needs to be understood and learned from, not leveraged”.
He urged people to think about the “silent majority of Armenian citizens who actually don’t want this polarisation and actually want a competent government, an accountable government, and their voices are completely lost in this very polarised, fiery rhetoric”.
Broers said he “worries about them and their concerns” amid the “very polarised context in terms of government and opposition”.
Armenia’s president, who holds a ceremonial role, is today mediating talks between the government, and members of the opposition, which Oskanian hopes “something might actually come out of”.
Jeff King continues his conversation with two Armenian Genocide descendants to hear their story and to discuss the current political climate in Turkey. Jeff sits down with Anahit Khosroeva, a genocide scholar, to talk about her unique position as an Assyrian-Armenian genocide descendant as well as the insight of her work studying genocides.
Union of Armenians of Russia supports statement made by Armenia Armed Forces General Staff demanding PM’s resignation
14:32, 26.02.2021
The Union of Armenians of Russia has issued a statement expressing its support to the statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia demanding the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan. The statement reads as follows:
“The Armenians of Russia are concerned about the situation created in Armenia due to persistent reluctance of incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign and the destructive actions of his team.
Pashinyan continues his conciliatory policy by failing to solve any social or economic issue, by leading the country to war and capitulation and by not setting up a committee to lead a probe into the causes, course and consequence of the war.
The Union of Armenians of Russia has expressed its position several times, and its position remains unchanged. Pashinyan and his whole team must resign. Every minute of their reign causes irreversible harm to Armenian statehood and the whole Armenian nation. We endorse the statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.
Pashinyan and his team are responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the war, the loss of thousands of lives and the loss of a large part of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). It is noteworthy that the leaders of Turkey, namely Erdogan and Cavusoglu are overtly supporting Pashinyan’s dictatorial regime, and after the war, they continue their Armenophobic rhetoric, humiliating the dignity of our country and people.
The Union of Armenians of Russia is certain that Pashinyan’s resignation, which is the imperative of the time and all patriotic forces of Armenia and the Diaspora, will allow us Armenians to turn this embarrassing page of our history over and will help create conditions for our people to get back on their feet and form an agenda for economic development.”
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The National Security Service of Armenia urges citizens to refrain from any actions threatening the national security and warns that any illegal action will receive a proper response by the law enforcement agencies.
“We call on our citizens not to give in to provocative actions, observe the legal order and keep vigilance. The state administration authorities of Armenia fulfill their functions.
The National Security Service warns that such possible actions can threaten the security of Armenia and any such step could be viewed as a concrete goal on weakening the state.
The National Security Service continues taking necessary measures in accordance with the current situation for ensuring and protecting Armenia’s sovereignty and security, territorial immunity”, the NSS statement says.
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”. He invited all his supporters to the Republic Square to discuss the ongoing developments.
The Armenian justice ministry has presented a draft law, according to which the Armenian Criminal Code provides for an amendment concerning insult and slander against government officials – including police officers.
According to paragraph 1 of the amended article, insult or slander against a person in public service in connection with the performance of his official duties, is punishable by a fine in the amount of one hundred to five hundred times the minimum wage.
According to clause 2, if the insult or slander against a person in the public service is committed in the media or in any other public way in connection with the performance of his official duties, it is punishable by a fine in the amount of five hundred to three thousand times the minimum wage or imprisonment for up to two years.