Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Artsakh Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs Artak Nersisyan commented on the disinformation of the Azerbaijani side in an interview with news.am.
Question: Recently, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan has accused the Armenian side of shelling the Azerbaijani territory and threatened to strike an artillery blow on the NKR settlements. How would you comment on this statement?
Answer: The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh has already refuted this statement of the Azerbaijani side. We, in turn have repeatedly noted that by accusing the Armenian sides of violating the ceasefire regime the Azerbaijani authorities, in fact, try to conceal their responsibility for escalating the tensions on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan and undermine the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group cochairs aimed at the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means. As for the threats of Azerbaijan to shell the settlements in the depth of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh, this is an extremely irresponsible statement.
It should be noted that it is not for the first time that the Azerbaijani side makes such statements. Thus, back in April 2016, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister threatened to launch missile strike on Stepanakert, the capital city of Artsakh. It seems that the Azerbaijani side does not fully realize the seriousness of its actions and statements, since any attempt to implement such threats will have quite predictable and extremely dangerous consequences, first of all, for Azerbaijan itself.
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani opposition
Monday
Scandal around the "Peace Platform"
Baku / 29.05.17 / Turan: The "Public Platform", created a few months
ago from public figures of Azerbaijan and Armenia, seems to begin to
fall apart. Thus, one of the Armenian members of this public
association Vahan Martirosyan made accusations against Azerbaijan. So,
this former political refugee, who hid for several months in Baku with
his family, suddenly stated that the Peace Platform was a product of
Azerbaijani special services and called on not to trust its members.
After leaving Baku, Martirosyan resided in a third country and
cooperated with one of the pro-government websites of Azerbaijan for a
long time. He thanked the Azerbaijani authorities for a long time and
supported the activities of the "Platform for Peace" in every possible
way, however, for some unknown reasons, he now began to say that he
does not trust the Azerbaijani authorities and urges his compatriots
in Armenia not to yield to Baku propaganda, but on the contrary to
resist it in every way.
Whatever the reasons for such a "metamorphosis", this indicates that
attempts to create an authoritative structure from someone else are
doomed to failure. At one time, human rights activists of Azerbaijan
and Armenia actively cooperated in humanitarian issues and raised the
issue of reconciliation of the two peoples at a serious level.
However, to some in Baku, this seemed a betrayal and a dangerous
undertaking. Moreover, human rights activists were accused of treason
and even imprisoned as Armenian spies. But now, the "peacekeeper"
selected by the Azerbaijani authorities from Armenia beautifully spat
in the face, the authors of this venture called "The Platform of the
World". -02B-
With Azerbaijan and Pakistan currently pursuing a strategic partnership (see EDM, September 28, 2016; December 15, 2016), Armenia and India have decided to step up their cooperation across several dimensions. Indeed, the past six months were marked by a visible reinvigoration of Armenian-Indian bilateral ties, which culminated with a visit to Yerevan, on April 24, of a high-level Indian delegation led by Vice President M. Hamid Ansari (Gov.am, April 24). The Indian vice president held meetings with Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and President Serzh Sargsyan. The meetings resulted in the signing of three important agreements.
Notably, the two sides agreed to a cultural exchange program for 2017–2020 as well as collaboration in youth affairs. Moreover, they acknowledged their close partnership in the information technology (IT) sector, exemplified by the operation of the Armenian-Indian Excellence Center in Information and Communication Technologies, founded in 2010 (Parliament.am, January 12, 2010). However, the most interesting agreement is related to India’s intention to build an Earth observation satellite (EOS) for Armenia. Under this deal, New Delhi also agreed to train Armenian scientists in the use of the system and handling and interpreting its data. Reportedly, the satellite will be operated by a joint Armenian-Indian group of specialists, serving the needs of both countries (Gov.am, Business Standard, April 25; Spacewatchme.com, April 28).
Armenia has sought its own observation satellite since 2011, and has approached both Western countries and Russia as potential partners for cooperation. Then, in 2016, Yerevan procured the Iskander-E short-range, land-mobile ballistic missile system from Moscow (see EDM, October 5, 2016), which added further motivation for Armenia to gain access to its own Earth observation satellite. Even though EOSs are predominantly devoted to peaceful purposes, such satellites could likely also be used to provide guidance, navigation and control services for various military operations. From this perspective, the cooperation with India on a shared EOS becomes particularly important against the background of Armenia’s mounting standoff with Azerbaijan. The escalatory military rhetoric, progressively amplified by officials in Yerevan and Baku, has pushed Armenia to openly declare it could use its Iskander-E system for “active” (in other words, pre-emptive) defense measures (President.am, March 25). This boosts India’s importance for Armenia, as their partnership on satellite data collection and analysis can help make the latter country less dependent on Russia—Armenia’s critical security ally that plays an ambivalent if not fomenting role in the Karabakh dispute.
Also during his April 2017 visit, Indian Vice President Ansari touched upon further steps needed to deepen political dialogue and economic ties with Armenia. He emphasized ramping up contacts between the two countries’ businessmen as well as intensifying bilateral collaboration in the spheres of high technologies, education, culture, agriculture and health (Aravot, April 25).
According to reports, both parties seek to foster mutually beneficial comprehensive strategic cooperation (Asbarez, April 25). The solid groundwork for such an intensive alignment was allegedly laid out as early as 2011, when two large Armenian delegations, led by Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and subsequently by then–National Security Council Secretary Artur Bagdasaryan, visited New Delhi. Since then, India has repeatedly stressed its interest in investing in Armenia’s military industry complex and establishing a joint arms production consortium (Panorama, April 3, 2011).
Aside from Ansari’s formal working meetings with Armenian officials last month, the Indian side made a particularly notable gesture. The Indian delegation paid a visit to the Armenian Genocide museum-memorial, just days ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s trip to India, scheduled for April 30. Ansari paid homage to the dead there (Times of India, April 27). But although India has clearly been taking certain steps toward officially recognizing the early 20th century Armenian massacres in Turkey as a “genocide,” it is careful to maintain its positive high-level relations with Ankara intact.
For years, Azerbaijan and Pakistan have been coordinating their positions within various international organizations in order to speak with one voice regarding the disputes in Karabakh as well as in Jumma and Kashmir (see EDM, December 15, 2016). In turn, Armenia and India also increasingly demonstrate reciprocal solidarity when it comes to discussions of these unresolved disputes in international platforms. As a case in point, India (along with Armenia, the United States, Russia and four other countries) firmly opposed the United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution 62/243, adopted in March 14, 2008 (Un.org, March 14, 2008). According to Yerevan, the draft resolution ostensibly expressed a one-sided, anti-Armenian interpretation of the ongoing developments in the breakaway region of Karabakh. Furthermore, Armenian and Indian officials repeatedly underscore the importance of coordinating a common stance on the international stage over both the Karabakh and Kashmir conflicts (Hetq, November 12, 2010).
Looking ahead, Yerevan and New Delhi are preparing to sign a “strategic” accord focused on partnership in defense and security. The pending document will cover mutual support and military cooperation. The agreement is supposed to be forged later this year, during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to India (, April 25).
Acting Armenian Patriarch Aram Ateşyan resigns, paving way for elections
ISTANBUL
Aram Ateşyan, the acting patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, resigned on May 24, paving the way for patriarchal elections, Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos has reported.
Ateşyan, who had been appointed to the post by the state seven years ago when Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan fell ill and could no longer perform his duties, announced his resignation on May 24 during a meeting with foundation executives and benefactors, the daily quoted some participants as saying.
His resignation opens the way for the elections for a new patriarch as the post of acting patriarchy had to be abolished in order to initiate the election process, according to church traditions.
Mesrob II had to withdraw from his position in 2008 due to a deteriorating health condition, diagnosed as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). His seat remained vacant for two years as the Armenian community disagreed internally over how to proceed with the elections. Finally, in 2010 Ateşyan was appointed to the position through a letter from the Istanbul Governor’s Office.
Members of the community had previously express unease at the fact that patriarchal elections could not be held and that Karakin Bekçiyan, who was unanimously elected as the “değabah” (locum tenens) on March 15, had been prevented from taking office.
That unease sparked a campaign against Ateşyan on social media.
WASHINGTON — Bodyguards belonging to the Turkish president’s security detail were involved in Tuesday’s mass brawl outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence here, senior U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News.
The well-dressed guards in suits and ties were captured on social media purportedly showing protesters being kicked and bloodied as uniformed authorities tried to contain the flaring violence. Nine people were hurt and two others were arrested, police said Wednesday, although none of those detained were guards — raising questions about their impunity under the law.
Disturbing Videos Show Turkish President’s Guards Beating Protesters in DC1:20
The State Department said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. was “communicating our concern to the Turkish government in the strongest possible terms.”
“Violence is never an appropriate response to free speech, and we support the rights of people everywhere to free _expression_ and peaceful protest,” said spokeswoman Heather Nauert.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government blamed the protesters, whom they said — without providing evidence — were affiliated with “terrorist” groups.
“The violence and injuries were the result of this unpermitted, provocative demonstration,” read a statement from the Turkish embassy. “We hope that, in the future, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that similar provocative actions causing harm and violence do not occur.”
Emergency personnel were called to the ambassador’s residence on upscale Embassy Row — only blocks from the homes of former President Barack Obama, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — at about 4:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump had met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the White House just hours earlier.
Related: Trump and Erdogan Meet Amid Tensions Over Arming Kurds in Syria
A photojournalist for the local CBS affiliate tweeted that the gathering appeared to be made up of pro-Turkey demonstrators. But the event devolved into chaos when someone was reportedly seen carrying a flag of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria linked to a group that the United States wants to arm — over the objections of Turkey. The Turkish government considers them to be an offshoot of the terrorist organization the Kurdistan Workers Party.
D.C.’s Metropolitan police in a tweet condemned the fighting as standing “in contrast to the First Amendment rights and principles we work tirelessly to protect each and every day.” Police officials said they plan to pursue all charges and find others involved.
Erdogan, meanwhile, has been accused of cracking down on journalists and his opposition following a coup attempt last summer that led the Turkish strongman to tighten his grip on power.
<img class=”img-responsive img_inline” src=””https://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_20/2003311/170517-turkey-protests-violence-njs-1243p_f7bea3e445b7034cb9f6301a42f3afef.nbcnews-fp-360-360.jpg” alt=”Image: Violent clashes broke out between protesters and supporters of Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan” title=”Image: Violent clashes broke out between protesters and supporters of Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan” />
Violent clashes broke out between protesters and supporters of Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington. VOA
Two of those hurt in Tuesday’s fracas were seriously injured and taken to the hospital by ambulance, emergency personnel told NBC News.
In footage distributed by international broadcast outlet Voice of America, one man with a bullhorn could be seen on the ground getting kicked repeatedly, including by someone in a suit. Blood dripped down his face.
A separate tweet from a Washington-based Kurdish affairs analyst appeared to show a man in a suit grabbing a woman from behind with his arm around her neck.
The melee prompted Samantha Power, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Obama, to tweet Tuesday that “clearly Erdogan’s guards feel complete impunity, drawing on tools of repression they use at home & knowing he has their back, no matter what.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement that such a “violent attack on a peaceful demonstration — is an affront to DC values and our rights as Americans.”
But the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency blamed local police for being unable to quell the violence and said the guards were merely responding to “terrorist” sympathizers.
Those guards aren’t likely to suffer from any fallout, according to Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
<img class=”img-responsive img_inline” src=””https://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_20/2002981/170517-turkey-protest-washington-njs-938a_45995bfe65353798d312cbe6d8c303f1.nbcnews-fp-360-360.jpg” alt=”Image: Protesters rally against Erdogan in Washington” title=”Image: Protesters rally against Erdogan in Washington” />
Opponents of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan rally in Lafayette Park as Erdogan met with and President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on May 16, 2017. Shawn Thew / EPA
Foreign security details are protected under diplomatic immunity afforded to their countries’ leaders, he said. If protesters feel as if their civil rights were trampled, he added, they don’t have any meaningful recourse under international law.
“It’s going nowhere,” Giacalone told NBC News. “This is not American police. There’s no Civilian Complaint Review Board. (Protesters) can cry or scream, but the guards are covered.”
Embassy properties, he added, also aren’t technically under the jurisdiction of the United States. It’s unclear how much of the altercation outside of the Turkish ambassador’s residence took place on embassy property.
“Americans need to understand that these guys are used to dealing with radicals in their own countries and getting away with it,” Giacalone said. “They don’t play.”
At a historic reception set at UCLA, Creative Armenia was officially launched with a mandate to discover talent and empower stories of impact in the digital age. The event was co-hosted by Teri Schwartz, Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and Dr. Eric Esrailian, producer of The Promise, who is also a founding member of Creative Armenia’s advisory board.
Grammy Award winning musician and activist Serj Tankian and social impact filmmaker Carla Garapedian introduced the organization’s first initiative – a $5,000 from the Oscar-winning director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda and The Promise). Filmmakers everywhere were invited to take part in Creative Challenge 001: Art of Impact with a submission of a short film, no more than 60 seconds, that takes on a human rights issue important to them.
“For me film is the greatest medium to confront catastrophe and expose the conscience,” Terry George says in the video. “The medium itself is the struggle of light against shadow.”
Launched in partnership with the The Promise, the Gulbenkian Foundation, a major anonymous benefactor, and a global network of supporters, Creative Armenia reflects the Armenian community’s increasing interest in the realm of human rights and entertainment. The Promise, which in recent weeks catapulted the saga of the Armenian Genocide onto the big screen, has been accompanied by a storm of human rights activity off screen – including the establishment at UCLA of a 20 million-dollar Promise Institute for Human Rights. All proceeds of the film will be going to charitable causes.
“To have something like this come out of a dark chapter of our history, moving toward the light, is extraordinary,” said Esrailian. “And it is heart-warming to see it all coming together at UCLA.”
Dean Schwartz added: “We look forward to the exciting work that Creative Armenia will be doing, as it plays a leading role at the cross-section of human rights, entertainment, and creative technologies.”
“We are at the beginning of a new cultural coalition,” said Garin Hovannisian, founder of Creative Armenia. “And we are proud to be building together this dynamic new cultural infrastructure.”
Creative Armenia is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles and Yerevan, Armenia. Its online platform is the hub of its programming, with its signature creative challenges, fellowships, video productions, and a digital magazine.
One of Europe’s oldest human rights bodies is being urged to set up a far-reaching anti-corruption investigation next week, amid fresh allegations of vote rigging that have put its credibility on the line.
Two people with high-level experience of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly (Pace) have told the they believe its members have been offered bribes for votes by Azerbaijan. The 324-member body is made up of delegates from national parliaments who meet four times a year in Strasbourg.
Arif Mammadov, a former Azerbaijani diplomat turned dissident, alleged that a member of the oil-rich country’s delegation at the Council of Europe had €30m (£25m) to spend on lobbying its institutions, including the Council of Europeassembly.
“Everyone” in the Azerbaijani delegation had heard of this number, although “it was never written down”, he told the Guardian. “It was said this money was to bribe members of the delegations and Pace generally.”
Tobias Billström, a Swedish delegate to the assembly and former justice minister, said “very credible members” had told him they had been offered bribes to vote in a certain way. He is one of 64 parliamentarians to have signed a resolution calling for an independent investigation into “serious and credible allegations of grave misconduct” centred on an Azerbaijani vote.
Allegations of “caviar diplomacy” have swirled around the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly for years, with Azerbaijan accused of offering cash and luxury gifts in exchange for favourable votes.
The claims were first laid out in a 2012 report by the European Stability Initiative thinktank, but have gathered momentum since Italian prosecutors began investigating a former chair of the centre-right group, Italian deputy Luca Volontè.
Volontè is accused of accepting €2.39m in bribes from Azerbaijan in exchange for supporting its government in the Council of Europe. He faces a trial for money laundering, and Milan’s public prosecutor is appealing a decision to drop a corruption charge against him. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
Although one fifth of MPs at the Council of Europe called for an urgent inquiry in January, assembly leaders failed to take a decision at their last meeting in March.
Pressure is building on the assembly president, Pedro Agramunt, to ensure that a robust investigation is set up when it meets later this month.
Agramunt, a Spanish centre-right politician, is already facing criticism for meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Asssad, on a Syria visit organised by the Russian government. He was accompanied by Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, as well as MPs from Belgium, Italy and Serbia, according to Russian media.
Members of the assembly believe the trip, which came two weeks before chemical attacks near Idlib, could tarnish the credibility of the Council of Europe as a human rights defender. The Socialist group has declared itself “extremely concerned and worried” and the head of the French delegation has made an official complaint.
Critics say Azerbaijan uses the assembly to add a veneer of legitimacy to the authoritarian rule of its president, Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled the country since 2003.
One case concerns the decision of assembly members in 2013 to vote down a critical report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan by German social democrat Christoph Strässer. The Strässer report concluded that Azerbaijan’s judicial system was used to silence or intimidate critics of the Aliyev regime and was rejected by 125 votes to 79 with 20 abstentions.
Volontè is alleged to have played a key role in orchestrating the defeat with payments to him channelled through a company with a connection to Azerbaijan’s ruling family, according to a recent report by the investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Strӓsser said he knew Azerbaijan was giving out money but had no proof votes were bought. He said he wanted to see an investigation “as a point of credibility”.
“If there is any suspicion that there could be corruption within these structures and this was ignored, I think it might be the end of the Council of Europe.”
No ‘Lavrov Plan’ on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has ever been compiled, Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview with Azeri-Press Agency.
The collective proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group are the only option currently on table, Sergey Lavrov said.
“I have publicly stated on many occasions that there is no Lavrov Plan,” he said. “The ideas that are now up for discussion are based on the proposals worked out collectively by the three states co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.”
“To be more precise, those are the provisions of joint statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement by the presidents of Russia, the United States and France. They are well-known,” he added.
According to the Russian minister, the sides generally stick to these agreements, but have different approaches to the sequence of measures that have to be implemented to achieve the target.
“Any changes or new plans that change the system developed by the co-chairs are ruled out,” he said. “Above all, we need to help the sides find a balanced political solution that would allow drafting legally binding documents.”
Moscow, Washington and Paris speak with one voice on the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he went on.
According to Lavrov, co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group actively engage in discussions on the issue. “During their regular visits to the region, they, as a rule, speak with one voice at talks with the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said. “I believe that a team approach of this kind is an example of how (sides) should cooperate in settling international conflicts.”
“I expect our close cooperation on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement to continue with both Washington and Paris,” Lavrov added.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement issue is a very delicate subject, so details of talks are confidential,” he said. “At the same time I can say that many aspects have already been agreed upon. A few questions remain. But they are most difficult.”
“No consensus has been reached so far,” the minister added. “But nevertheless the work continues.”
“We are concerned about what is going on in a nearby region,” Russia’s top diplomat continued. “That’s why we are interested in restoring peace and stability in the region, in opening borders, in bringing back refugees, in resuming trade and economic ties. This is why the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains among the absolute priorities of our foreign policies.”
Lavrov denied allegations that no practical steps toward reconciliation have been made so far.
“The Karabakh issue is constantly in the spotlight of attention of international mediators, who take collective and individual efforts intended to solve this problem,” the minister said.
“As far as Russia is concerned – a three-party summit on the issue was held last year at the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” he said. “At all times, the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement issue holds a prominent place during Vladimir Putin’s meetings with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
According to Russia’s top diplomat, the issue was discussed in detail during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s March 15 visit to Moscow.
“Naturally, top diplomats don’t stand aside. A detailed discussion on the matter with Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan took place in February, and with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov in early March,” Lavrov added.