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Author: Jagharian Tania

Armenian captives subjected to speedy, unfair trials in Azerbaijan – Amnesty International

Jagharian Tania
Panorama
Armenia –

There was no accountability for violations committed during the 2020 war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) unleashed by Azerbaijan and its aftermath, Amnesty International said in its annual Report 2021/22.

“No substantive progress was made in investigating war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law during the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and in its immediate aftermath or in bringing suspected perpetrators to justice,” the human rights group said.

Amnesty International recalled that by the end of 2021 Azerbaijan had reportedly handed over 60 captives to Armenia, some in exchange for minefield maps in the conflict affected areas.

“The exact number of people remaining in captivity in Azerbaijan at the end of the year was unknown,” it said.

“In its September report the Council of Europe raised concerns that dozens of captives continued to be held in inhumane conditions and subjected to speedy, unfair trials, while the fate and whereabouts of around 30 Armenian captives remained unknown amid allegations of their enforced disappearance and possible killing,” reads the report.

Karabakh says still negotiating resumption of gas supply

Jagharian Tania
March 24 2022
March 24, 2022 – 17:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Secretary of the Security Council of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Vitaly Balasanyan, with assistance from the Russian peacekeepers, will coordinate efforts aimed at restoring gas supply in the country, the NKR InfoCenter reports.

“The Government of the Republic of Artsakh seeks to resolve this crucial humanitarian issue as soon as possible, and we assurethat all possible measures are being taken in the diplomatic arena, which, of course, are not subject to publicity,” the InfoCenter said in a statement from the authorities.

Beginning from March 8, over 100,000 residents in Karabakh were deprived of gas for over 10 days, and because the pipeline was damaged in territories currently under Baku’s control, the Azerbaijani military would not allow the Armenian side to eliminate the problem. Gas supply resumed on March 19, only to be interrupted again on March 22.

The Azerbaijan armed forces have also been violating the ceasefire and using loudspeakers to spread panic among the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, attempting to force them to leave their homes.

Pashinyan appeals ruling on defamation suit to higher court

Jagharian Tania
panorama
Armenia –

Nikol Pashinyan has appealed the ruling of a first instance court on a defamation lawsuit filed by Hrayr Tovmasyan, the former chairman of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, to the Court of Appeals.

The appeal was lodged with the higher court on March 21, Panorama.am learned from the judicial portal Datalex.am. It has been assigned to judge Ani Mkhitaryan.

Tovmasyan filed the defamation lawsuit two years ago after Pashinyan announced that the chief judge “offered his services” to him starting from May 2018.

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction partially granted the lawsuit earlier in March, ordering Pashinyan to refute his claims.

Pashinyan was entitled to appeal against the ruling within one month after its delivery.

Artak Zakaryan: We are living through the worst time in history

Jagharian Tania
Panorama
Armenia –

The composition of NATO will be reviewed, and there will be no more unipolar world, Armenia’s former deputy defense minister and a member of the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Artak Zakaryan told reporters on Saturday.

He states the role of China will be emphasized, while the rivalry between Turkey and Iran in the South Caucasus region will further intensify.

“And all this, to a greater or lesser extent, concerns us. As if the problems in the world are not enough, the Armenian authorities are ignorant, conspiratorial and capitulant. We are living through the worst period in history,’ he said.

“From all this we must draw the most important conclusions. We cannot change the world, the world order and adapt it to ourselves, but we must at least put what we have inside in order to be ready for any development: both for the worse and for the better,” Zakaryan noted.

He states the current government should have been changed already because it cannot handle the new challenges facing Armenia, further worsening the situation.

“An incompetent policy can lead to war, the status of an outcast state rejected by Russia and the West, deprived of economic development. We may end up in the last carriage when it comes to food security… This is where they are leading us to,” the politician said.

According to him, Armenia has not solved the issue of its security and the security of Artsakh, there is not even an amended concept of national security.

He highlighted the need for a multi-vector foreign policy, with its primary focus on cooperation with Russia. “We must also realize something very important: Russia needs a partner, not a vassal,” Zakaryan said.

Armenia Airways launches direct Yerevan-Moscow flights

Jagharian Tania
News.am, Armenia
20:36, 16.03.2022

Armenia Airways has launched direct flights between Yerevan (Zvartnots) – Moscow (Vnukovo) – Yerevan (Zvartnots) on Boeing 737 aircrafts, four times a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, the press service of Vnukovo International Airport reported.

Armenia Airways was founded in 2013, and in 2018 began active flight operations, leasing BAE 146-300 type aircraft from Romanian carrier Aviro Air, operating to this day.

To date, the fleet of Armenia Airways has replenished with four Boeing-737 type aircraft.

In the near future, the airline intends to increase the volume of flights between Armenia and neighboring countries. The plans also include active development of transportation of passengers, cargo and mail between the destinations in Russia and Armenia.

Turkey sends Syrian mercenaries of Nagorno Karabakh war to fight Russian forces in Ukraine – RIA

Jagharian Tania

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 17:31, 9 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. Turkey has sent the Syrian militants who stayed in Nagorno Karabakh after fighting for Azerbaijan against Armenian forces in the 2020 war into Ukraine to fight against Russia, RIA Novosti reported citing a source from the Syrian opposition.

“Turkey sent more than 2000 militants from Syria to Nagorno Karabakh to participate in the combat operations against Armenia in 2020, and the majority of these militants stayed there after the military operations ended. Turkey again sent some of these militants from Syria and other countries from Karabakh into Ukraine to participate in the conflict from the Ukrainian side,” the source told RIA Novosti.

According to the source, the militants were signed up into the foreign legion of the Ukrainian military.

Turkey recruited and sent foreign mercenaries – over 2500 – to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenia in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war. Despite Ankara denying this, the Armenian authorities have presented numerous evidence proving the participation of the Syrian mercenaries from the Azeri side in the Artsakh war. 

The Russian foreign intelligence service had also gathered information on Sultan Murad mercenaries’ participation in the Karabakh war.

The President of France Emmanuel Macron also said that his intelligence agencies have information that Turkey is sending mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight against Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh.

Earlier in 2021, the Armenian authorities said that the investigation has revealed that Azerbaijan pre-planned the war back in June 2020 and recruited more than 2000 Syrian mercenaries and deployed them via Turkey. Azeri authorities transferred payments namely to the Suleyman Shah and Sultan Murad terror groups.

Audio recordings of the Sultan Murad fighters in Nagorno Karabakh were intercepted during the war.

Two Syrian mercenaries captured by the Armenian forces were subsequently sentenced to life in prison. 

According to various reports, around 1000 Syrian mercenaries who survived the war did not leave Nagorno Karabakh.




Ombudsman: Recent cases confirm Azerbaijan’s indisputable intention to commit ethnic cleansing in Artsakh

Jagharian Tania
panorama.am
Armenia – March 8 2022


Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan on Monday issued a statement on the recent Azerbaijani provocations. Below is his full statement.

“In recent days, the Azerbaijani military-affiliated information sources have been spreading false rumors about the violation of the ceasefire by the Armenian side in various parts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact. In this way, Azerbaijan wants to justify the criminal encroachments on the civilian population, and at the same time, prepare the ground for subsequent actions and provocations.

On March 6, the Azerbaijani side fired at the Khramort community of the Askeran region with different caliber firearms. Today, on March 7, at around 5:00 pm, a grenade launcher was used in the same area, the projectiles exploded near the village cemetery. There are no casualties among the civilians.

In parallel with the described operations, the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is engaged in slandering and discrediting the Russian peacekeeping forces, especially the command staff, which ensure the security of the civilian population in Artsakh.

The Azerbaijani criminal actions against the physical and psychological integrity of the people of Artsakh are systemic and directed, organized with the knowledge of the Azerbaijani authorities and by their order.

All the registered cases once again prove the direct and indisputable intention of the Azerbaijani side to disrupt the normal life of the peaceful population of the Artsakh Republic and to commit ethnic cleansing in Artsakh.”


Azerbaijani press: Baku: Use of "Nagorno-Karabakh" term by Russian MoD unacceptable

Jagharian Tania
7 March 2022 19:12 (UTC+04:00)
621

By Vafa Ismayilova

Baku has described as unacceptable the use of the term “Nagorno-Karabakh” in the Russian Defence Ministry statement in the context of humanitarian aid sent to Ukraine.

“There is no administrative and territorial unit called ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Russian Federation has repeatedly declared its support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan in high-level statements. Moreover, this position was confirmed in the relevant documents signed between the two countries,” the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a statement on March 7.

The statement stressed that contrary to Russia’s official position, “there were cases of appeals to the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan with this name” in the Russian Defence Ministry’s official statements.

“Such statements may damage Azerbaijani-Russian relations and lead to an aggravation of the situation along the territory of Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily stationed,” the ministry said.

It urged the Russian Defence Ministry “to stop the practice of referring to the sovereign territories of our country under the name of administrative and territorial units that do not exist in the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed for five years in Karabakh under the trilateral cease-fire deal signed by Baku, Moscow and Yerevan on November 10, 2020. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw all its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it had occupied since the early 1990s.

The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

The deal also stipulated the return of Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the peace deal, Azerbaijan liberated 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city that had been under Armenian occupation for about 30 years.

On January 11, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed the second statement since the end of the 44-day war. The newly-signed statement was set to implement clause 9 of the November 2020 statement related to the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region.

On November 26, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed a statement and agreed on a number of issues, including the demarcation and delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border by late 2021, some points related to humanitarian issues and the issue of unblocking of transport corridors which applies to the railway and to automobile communications.

On December 14, 2021, during the Brussels meeting, organized between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders at the initiative of European Council President Charles Michel, the sides reaffirmed their commitment to the conditions agreed in the Sochi meeting.

Both sides agreed to establish a temporary working group on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The issue of demining the liberated territories of Azerbaijan was also brought up on the agenda, and the European Union’s readiness to provide technical assistance to Azerbaijan in this regard was underlined at the meeting.

The people of Nagorno Karabakh should not be discriminated against. The speech of Armenian FM at UN HRC

Jagharian Tania

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 18:31,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. On February 28, the High-level Segment of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council was held in Geneva, chaired by the Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva Andranik Hovhannisyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia. During the session, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan delivered remarks, in which he particularly noted;

“Distinguished colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a particular pleasure for me to greet you, Mr. Vice-President, as you chair this session of the Council. I would also like to congratulate all members of the Bureau under the able leadership of Federico Villegas, the President of the Council. 

The Human Rights Council is one of the key achievements of multilateral diplomacy as it provides an indispensable platform for sustaining and promoting dialogue on human rights irrespective of various international and regional crises. This Council has been envisaged to stand for all and everyone in all times. It is the inherent dignity of human beings that we have at stake here. With so many existing and evolving crises all over the world, the human rights of people in the situation of conflicts should be of particular focus of the Human Rights Council and its special procedures. 

It is with these vision and objectives that Armenia has entered the third year of its fully-fledged membership of the Council. I believe that we have been able to prove ourselves as a trustworthy and reliable partner in reacting to and addressing the outlying thematic issues and critical country situations. We are determined to continue our contribution in a most constructive and positive manner. 

In this context I am glad to announce that Armenia intends to table anew the draft resolution on the Prevention of genocide at this session of the Council. That is a subject that Armenia has been championing for many years. Our team in Geneva is going to organize a transparent process of consultations with all interested States and other stakeholders. 

After the difficulties and political crisis after the 44-day war launched by Azerbaijan snap-parliamentary elections were held, where people of Armenia reconfirmed their commitments and devotion to the values of democracy and human rights. The international observers of the snap parliamentary elections assessed that they passed in compliance with the human rights commitments and democratic standards. Most recently in this year’s Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit Armenia was ranked as a leader of the region based on such findings as electoral process and pluralism, functioning of the government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

Mr. Vice-President,

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the United Nations. I hereby reiterate my nation’s unwavering commitment to multilateralism with the United Nations at its core, and our full adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. 

It was no coincidence that the opening line of the United Nations Charter referred to “We the peoples” as the source of its legitimacy. People and their rights must be placed at the forefront and center of everything done by the United Nations as a whole. The right to self-determination has been one of the main purposes of the United Nations and use of force against this right can trigger an entire chain of human rights violations including mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing. This is something we observe during and after the war initiated by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

The UN and its bodies have been bestowed with a universal mandate to enjoy unconditional, unimpeded, unhindered access to the people in need, wherever they are and in all circumstances. We call upon the international community to assume responsibility for ensuring unconditional access to the whole territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders issued several communications to Azerbaijan raising questions with regard to the use of mercenaries, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, destruction of religious and cultural heritage in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan declined to give a proper response and in fact failed to answer to the last communications at all, in a sheer defiance to the UN Human rights machinery. 

The impunity leads to new violations. Apart from Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan continues its policy of human rights abuses now on the borderline areas of the Republic of Armenia, wherein the civilian population suffers from constant provocative actions of armed forces of Azerbaijan. This aggressive policy is accompanied by the overt violations of international humanitarian law. After 16 months of ceasefire in place Azerbaijan continues to hold 38 Armenian prisoners of war, including civilians, while the fate of hundreds of missing persons and dozen cases of enforced disappearances remain unclarified.

Mr. Vice-President,

The plight of people to whom the UN does not have access should not be forgotten. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh should not be discriminated because of their origin, language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin or other status. We strive to achieve the safe, dignified and voluntary return of the Armenians to their ancestral homes in all parts of Nagorno-Karabakh 

The provisional measures put forward by the International Court of Justice on December 7, 2021 which instructs Azerbaijan to cease racist and discriminatory policies against Armenians including destruction and vandalism of the Armenian cultural heritage should be unconditionally implemented. These measures come to prove the Anti-Armenian policies of Azerbaijan including its bellicose rhetoric, depriving the people of their means of subsistence, constantly terrorizing Armenian population and threatening with new use of force. 

Only by urgently addressing these issues will we be able to ensure stability, peace, justice and protection of universal human rights in our region. 

I thank you.”

Asbarez: Bishop Torkom Donoyan Reaffirms Prelacy’s Strong Support of ABMDR

Jagharian Tania
by Contributor

 

 February 21, 2022

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

Bishop Torkom Donoyan with the ABMDR delegation, at the Western Prelacy. Photo courtesy of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry

On June 5, prayers for ABMDR patients and families will be offered at all Western Prelacy churches.

LOS ANGELES—Western Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan reaffirmed the Western Prelacy’s continued support of the life-saving mission of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Bishop Donoyan conveyed his support during a meeting with a delegation of ABMDR representatives, which took place on February 11 at the Western Prelacy, in La Crescenta, California. The meeting was attended by ABMDR Board members including Dr. Frieda Jordan, president of the organization.

Bishop Donoyan commended ABMDR’s work in Armenia and across the diaspora, particularly in light of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On their part, the ABMDR delegation members thanked Bishop Donoyan for energetically helping advance the ABMDR mission, including making the Prelacy Hall available for ABMDR’s annual activity-planning retreat.

Bishop Donoyan informed the ABMDR delegation that, as in previous years, prayers for ABMDR patients and families will be offered at all Western Prelacy churches on June 5. Bishop Donoyan said he will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and speak about ABMDR’s activities during his sermon that day, at Holy Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church, in Encino, California. Following the church service, ABMDR representatives will be on hand to answer questions by attendees and provide information on how to join ABMDR as potential bone marrow donors.

Following the meeting with the Prelate, Dr. Jordan said, “We are deeply grateful to Bishop Donoyan for helping raise awareness of the ABMDR mission, in Armenian communities throughout the Western United States, and for his very active support of all our outreach and recruitment efforts.”

Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 32,000 donors in 44 countries across four continents, identified over 9,000 patients, and facilitated 38 bone marrow transplants. For more information, call (323) 663-3609 or visit the website.