Author: Jirair Kafian

Pre-election campaign launches in Armenia

Jirair Kafian

Save

Share

 09:05, 7 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The electoral campaign for the snap parliamentary elections officially launched in Armenia on June 7.

The campaign will last until June 18.

The snap parliamentary elections will take place on June 20, but the electronic voting will kick off on June 11 until June 13.

26 political forces – 22 parties and 4 blocs, are participating in the elections.

Below is the list according to their numbers:

  1. “Fair Armenia” party
  2. “Armenian National Congress” party
  3. “Civil Contract” party
  4. “Zartonk” National Christian party 
  5. Liberty party
  6. Alliance “With Honor”
  7. United Homeland party
  8. Pan Armenian National Statehood party
  9. Bright Armenia party
  10. Our Home Is Armenia party
  11. “Republic” party
  12. “Hayots Hayreniq” party
  13. “Free Motherland” alliance
  14. “Prosperous Armenia” party
  15. Democratic Party of Armenia
  16. “5165 national conservative movement” party
  17. “Citizen’s Decision” social-democratic party
  18. “Shirinyan-Babadjanyan Democrats Union”
  19. “National Agenda” party
  20. Verelq party
  21. Liberal party
  22. “Armenian Eagles. United Armenia” party
  23. European Party of Armenia
  24. Armenia alliance
  25. “National Democratic Axis” pan-Armenian party
  26. “Sovereign Armenia” party

 

Editing and Translating by AnetaHarutyunyan

Top Economist Exposes Erdogan’s Lies on Bankrupt Turkish Economy

Jirair Kafian

June 1, 2021



Harut Sassounian

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is completely ignorant about economics, met with the chief executive officers of 26 major American companies and told them many falsehoods about the Turkish economy. The reality is that the Turkish economy is bankrupt and millions of Turkish citizens are on the verge of starvation, while the coronavirus is raging like wildfire, making Turkey the fifth largest country in the world in terms of infections.

Here are some of the lies Erdogan told the American CEO’s:

“None of the problems experienced in many countries and the disruptions in the supply chain have been experienced in Turkey. At a time when many economies in the world came to a standstill, we continued our investments in both the public and private sectors.

“Thanks to the efforts of our private sector, the support of our state and dynamic epidemic measures, our economy closed 2020 with growth. With a rate of 1.8%, we became the country with the highest growth in the G-20 after China.

“Despite the serious economic contraction in our traditional export markets and the contraction in foreign demand, we reached an export figure of $170 billion. The trade volume between Turkey and the United States increased by 4 percent and exceeded $21 billion.

“In the January-April period of 2021, our exports increased by 33.1 percent compared to last year.

“Our industrial production increased by 12.3 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. We also observe a significant increase in investment demand in Turkey.

“The total direct investments of the United States in Turkey reached $13 billion, while the investments of Turkish companies in the United States reached $7.2 billion. I would like to thank all American companies who trust Turkey and the Turkish economy.”

Surprisingly, Erdogan then decided to tell the American CEO’s of President Joe Biden’s acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, thus informing them of the horrible mass crimes committed by Ottoman Turkey against the Armenians.

“Even though President Biden’s statement about the 1915 events puts an additional burden on our relations, I believe that the meeting we will hold with Mr. Biden at the NATO Summit [in June] will herald a new era,” Erdogan stated hopingly.

Erdogan then contradicted his many cruel, inhuman, anti-Semitic and racist public statements and policies by claiming: “We have never, and never will, allow distorted mentalities such as xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and racism to find ground in our society. We resolutely continue our efforts to reform the economy, freedoms, laws and justice according to changing conditions and needs. We presented our Human Rights Action Plan and our Economy Reform package to the public.”

Here is the list of the CEO’s that Erdogan met with:
Cargill, David Webster, Senior Vice President – Food Ingredients and Bio Industrial Ventures; DowAksa, Douglas Parks, CEO; Hilton, Chris Nassetta, President and CEO; MetLife, Nuria Garcia, President — Europe, Middle East and Africa; Netflix, Spencer Neumann, CFO; Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Stan Deal, CEO; Kellogg Company, Steven Cahillane, President and CEO; Google, Karan Bhatia, Vice President – Public Policy, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific; GE Aviation, John Slattery, President and CEO; Varian Medical Systems, Chris Toth, CEO; PepsiCo, Silviu Popovici, CEO Europe; Amazon, Susan Pointer, Vice President — Public Policy; Cheniere Energy, Anatol Feygin, CCO; Citi, David Livingstone, President and CEO — Europe, Middle East and Africa; Procter & Gamble, Loic Tassel, President — Europe; Progress Rail, Marty Haycraft, President and CEO; Tellurian Inc., Octavio Simoes, President and CEO; Medtronic, Rob ten Hoedt, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe; Archer Daniels Midland, Ismail Roig, President — Europe, Middle East and Africa; Microsoft, Samer Abu Ltaif, Corporate Vice President — Head of Europe and Middle East; Cisco, Michael Timmeny, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Strategy; Honeywell Aerospace, Mike Madsen, President and CEO; Nova Power Solutions, Steve Ziff, President and CEO; The Coca-Cola Company, Jenny Stoichkova, President — Europe and the Middle East; Johnson & Johnson, Giorgio Milesi, President — Emerging Markets; and Baker Hughes, Zaher Ibrahim, Vice President — Middle East, Turkey, North Africa.

Economist Daron Acemoglu

Let us now turn to one of the top economists in the world, Daron Acemoglu, an Armenian born in Turkey, who is now Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. His name is often mentioned as a future Nobel Prize nominee.

During a video interview, Acemoglu directly contradicted Erdogan’s propagandistic picture of the Turkish economy, by stating: “I have great fear the economic crisis may deepen in Turkey.”

Here are excerpts from Acemoglu’s description of the deplorable condition of the economy in Turkey:

“When Turkey went to the presidential election and all the power gathered in the palace, it had a great impact on the economic policy.

“These nationalist and authoritarian populist regimes or these movements generally weaken state capacity when they come to power. This is both a strategy and something they do unintentionally because they can’t rule legally. We see this in India, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, and Hungary.”

“The countries where the most people died from the coronavirus in the world were Brazil, Turkey, India, Russia and populist authoritarian regimes such as America during the Trump administration.

“Turkey has been experiencing the most critical economic crises in the last five years. There were major crises that started not only after the pandemic, but also before the pandemic. The increase in debts, the worsening of balance sheets, could a correct result be brought against them? No. Why? There are few people in the bureaucracy who can deal with the economy properly and improve it. Especially the cadres established under Berat Albayrak [Minister of Economy and Treasury and Erdogan’s son-in-law] could not bring the right approach to what needs to be done. Democracy has many advantages over dictatorships and authoritarian systems. But one of the biggest advantages is their tendency to keep the biggest mistakes, talents and incompetence in the lead, is much weaker. Especially when the presidential election in Turkey and all power gathered in the Palace, this had a great impact on the economic policy.

“Especially in the last five years, unemployment and inequality have reached very high levels [in Turkey].

“Shopping malls and construction companies, which have had a huge problem in their balance sheet for five years, are still standing. How long will they be able to stand? What will be the effects on banks? How long will we be able to keep the interest rate policy this way, while our reserves have decreased so much? These dimensions are likely to go much more negative.

These problems are not only in Turkey, there are problems in other parts as well, but wherever you see these problems, you see the role of decisions not to manage the economy correctly.”

I hope the American CEO’s will pay more attention to Acemoglu’s accurate assessment than to Erdogan’s propaganda which has led Turkey to economic disaster.

Aivazyan Explains Resignation While Other Ministry Officials Step Down

Jirair Kafian

June 1, 2021



Outgoing foreign minister Ara Aivayan during a farewell visit on May 31

Government said to hold off on appointing a new minister until after June 20 election

Armenia’s outgoing foreign minister on Monday said his decision to resign from his position stemmed from a belief that Armenia’s diplomats must not be put in a predicament to implement policies that would jeopardize Armenia’s sovereignty and national security. Over the weekend deputy foreign minister Gagik Ghalachyan and ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan also resigned.

Aivazyan submitted his resignation Thursday after a meeting of Armenia’s national security council, during which Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan proposed the deployment of international monitors along Armenia’s border. He also called for the withdrawal both Armenian and Azerbaijani troops from the border as a means to stem the escalating standoff at the Armenian border, which was breached by Azerbaijani forces on May 12 when they violated Armenia’s sovereignty have advanced their positions entering Armenia’s Gegharkunik and Syunik provinces.

“The reason for my decision to resign was to make sure that there are never any suspicions that this ministry could take any sort of steps or agree to any sort of ideas or initiatives that goes against our statehood and national interests,” Aivazyan said during a farewell address at the foreign ministry on Monday.

“In general, diplomats are perceived as conformist and adaptable individuals keen to avoid conflicts,” Aivazyan said. “I believe that in these difficult times we do not have a right to do that, and I am confident that there will be principled diplomats among us who will become role models for our society.”

While Aivazyan did not elaborate on concrete government policies and decisions that prompted his resignations, Pashinyan went on the defensive in his quick response through his press secretary.

“While we thank Mr. Aivazyan for his service, we believe our national and state interests require Mr. Aivazyan to provide a public explanation about who or how steps were going to be taken that could jeopardize our country’s national or state interests,” Pashinyan’s press secretary Mane Gevogyan told Armenpress on Monday.

A government spokesperson said Tuesday that the post foreign minister will likely remain vacant at least until the June 20 parliamentary elections. The spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday that ministerial duties will be performed by one of Armenia’s deputy foreign ministers, without naming him.

Caucasian Knot | Armenia accuses Azerbaijani soldiers of stealing herd at border

Jirair Kafian
The Caucasian Knot, EU
June 6 2021
< /div>

Azerbaijani militaries opened fire at a shepherd in the Gegarkunik Region and captured a cow herd from him; then, there was a shootout with Armenian soldiers, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that earlier the Armenian MoD stated that at the border, its militaries had to open a warning fire in order to suppress Azerbaijani soldiers’ attempts to erect some fortifications there.

The Armenian MoD has stated that the fire was also opened on the Armenian militaries, who arrived at the venue of the incident. “After our response actions, Azerbaijanis stopped the fire. There were no casualties,” the MoD has added. The Armenian party managed to return most of the livestock,” the “Sputnik Armenia” has reported.

Kut villagers have explained that the shepherd was riding a horse. The shots did not hurt him, but hit the horse and several cows. About 50 cows have been stolen, the “Yerkir.am” writes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 5, 2021 at 11:43 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

See earlier reports:

Armenia blames Azerbaijan for attempts to erect border fortifications, ASFS reacts to reports on shootout at border, Two Armenian soldiers wounded in clash with Azerbaijani militaries.

Source: CK correspondent

Source:
© Caucasian Knot


President of Armenia meets with speaker of lower house of Kazakh Parliament

Jirair Kafian

Save

Share

 14:04, 4 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met with speaker of the lower house of the Parliament (Mazhilis) of Kazakhstan Nurlan Nygmatulin on the sidelines of his working visit in Nur-Sultan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

Stating that this year is remarkable for Armenia and Kazakhstan as the two countries celebrate the 30th anniversary of their independence, Nurlan Nygmatulin highlighted the expansion of productive cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and peoples.

He said the implementation of the agreements reached during the Armenian President’s meetings with Kazakhstan’s President will contribute to the strengthening of the Armenian-Kazakh multilateral cooperation and political dialogue. He assured that the Kazakh parliamentarians will play a role in this process.

Speaking about the inter-parliamentary relations, Nurlan Nygmatulin highlighted the close cooperation of the Armenian and Kazakh parliamentarians within the EAEU, CIS, CSTO and other structures.

President Armen Sarkissian said Kazakhstan is a very close partner for Armenia in the CSTO, the EAEU and is actively engaged in all matters. He once again stated that the two countries have many commonalities and a great potential for joint projects.

The officials discussed the agenda of the bilateral and multilateral relations. President Sarkissian informed that Armenia will soon hold snap parliamentary elections, hoping that the new parliament and government will contribute to the development of the Armenian-Kazakh relations.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Russian peacekeepers held a training session on the defence of an observation post in Nagorno-Karabakh

Jirair Kafian
Panorama, Armenia
June 3 2021

The servicemen of the Russian peacekeeping contingent continue to perform tasks to monitor compliance with the ceasefire regime on the line of demarcation of the parties in their area of responsibility, as well as ensure the safety of motor transport, transportation of food and various goods along the Lachin corridor, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. 

Also, as planned, the military personnel of the Russian peacekeeping contingent carry out combat training activities, conducting training to repel an attack on an observation post and prevent violations against the civilian population. Upon receiving the signal, the peacekeepers are ready to take up defence in pre-equipped positions in the shortest possible time.

“The task of the observation post is to monitor compliance with the trilateral agreement, monitor compliance with the ceasefire, control the organization of the safety of transit vehicles and the civilian population, as well as the suppression of illegal actions against the civilian population,” said the commander of the observation post Elbrus Kesaev.

According toi the source, over the past week, no ceasefire violations were recorded in the area of responsibility of the peacekeeping contingent, no provocative actions against Russian servicemen were noted.

All observation posts of the Russian peacekeeping contingent are equipped with Blockpost fortifications designed to protect military personnel from small arms and shrapnel, as well as to conduct circular surveillance of the nearby territory.

Opposition "Armenia" bloc’s representative on photos and videos showing bags of deceased servicemen’s bodies

Jirair Kafian
News.am, Armenia
June 2 2021
Opposition “Armenia” bloc’s representative on photos and videos showing bags of deceased servicemen’s bodies
21:56, 02.06.2021

This is concealment at the highest state level. With this, the authorities sought to make sure they don’t lose any votes during the elections. This is what representative of the opposition “Armenia” bloc Arpine Hovhannisyan said during today’s briefing, commenting on the sensational photos and videos showing the bodies of servicemen wrapped in plastic bags. According to her, it’s hard to imagine that something like this could have happened.

“This is a matter of political, legal and moral responsibility. From the legal perspective, dismissing an official is not a sufficient justification. We are dealing with mockery of bodies. A criminal case had to be launched immediately. I don’t think Nikol Pashinyan didn’t know about this. All questions need to be addressed to the law-enforcement authorities,” she said.

Yesterday the presses disseminated photos, and later, videos were disseminated on the Internet showing the remains of deceased servicemen that had been thrown on the floor in the morgue of a tuberculosis hospital in the city of Abovyan.

Military expert Tigran Abrahamyan reacts to Pashinyan’s statement on Armenia’s defeat in war

Jirair Kafian
Panorama, Armenia

Military expert Tigran Abrahamyan, the head of the analytical center Henaket, on Monday reacted to caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war in Artsakh.

“Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that he is proud of our defeat in the war amounts to self-incrimination,” he wrote on Facebook.

Incidentally, Abrahamyan is on the list of candidates of the Armenia bloc running in the snap parliamentary elections slated for June 20.

“This statement should mark the last chapter of his tenure in political, legal and moral terms,” he said.

The expert stated Pashinyan’s statement made the “real mission of his image” and the reasons for Armenia’s defeat in the war clear to the Armenian society.

“Not only should he not be re-elected, but also he should not have the opportunity to participate in the public and political life of the country.

“Even in this seemingly hopeless situation, Armenia and Artsakh have a chance of revival, which is based on the total absence of Pashinyan from our life,” Abrahamyan said. 

Armenia Says Six Soldiers Captured By Azerbaijan At Border

Jirair Kafian
International Business Times
By Mariam HARUTYUNYAN
05/27/21 AT 4:21 PM

Six Armenian soldiers were captured by Azerbaijan Thursday, the latest in a series of escalating border incidents after last year’s war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, with the United States calling on both sides to resolve the situation “urgently and peacefully”.

The clash comes at a delicate time for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of snap elections next month. He called for international observers on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Armenian defence ministry said that its forces were carrying out engineering work in a border region when Azerbaijan’s army “surrounded and captured six servicemen”.

Azerbaijan’s military however branded the Armenian soldiers as a “reconnaissance and sabotage group”.

It said they had “tried to mine supply routes leading to Azerbaijan army positions” and “were surrounded, neutralised and taken prisoner”.

The capture of six soldiers comes at a delicate time for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (L) ahead of snap elections next month Photo: ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT PRESS SERVICE / STR

“The situation is tense and explosive,” Pashinyan said during his visit to the eastern Gegharkunik region, where the soldiers had been captured.

Speaking separately at a meeting of his security council, the prime minister suggested the deployment of international observers be placed on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The US expressed concern about the escalating tension and called for the release of the six soldiers and for the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

“We call on both sides to urgently and peacefully resolve this incident,” State Department spokeswoman Ned Price said in a statement.

Last year, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought for six weeks for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that had been controlled by separatists for decades Photo: AFP / ARIS MESSINIS

“We also continue to call on Azerbaijan to release immediately all prisoners of war and other detainees, and we remind Azerbaijan of its obligations under international humanitarian law to treat all detainees humanely.”

Washington would consider any movements in the non-demarcated part of the border area as “provocative and unnecessary,” the statement said.

In France, the foreign ministry similarly urged both sides “to show the utmost restraint and to refrain from any provocation.”

This was just the latest of a string border incident between the historic rivals stretching back over several months and further strains the ceasefire brokered by Russia last year.

Last year, the two ex-Soviet countries in the Caucasus region fought for six weeks for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region in Azerbaijan that had been controlled by separatists for decades.

Some 6,000 people were killed in the conflict, which ended after Moscow brokered an agreement between Yerevan and Baku that saw Armenia hand large sections of territory it had controlled for decades to Azerbaijan.

Map of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Photo: AFP / Paz PIZARRO

Among the recaptured territories was Kelbajar district, which lies across the border from Gegharkunik, the site of the latest incident.

The ceasefire, monitored by some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers, has largely held, but tensions persist.

A senior Armenian army representative said there were some 1,000 Azerbaijani soldiers on Armenian soil near Gegharkunik.

For now, he said, incidents were being resolved peacefully, but “if a decision is taken to use force, then they will be destroyed”.

Azerbaijan said that Armenia had deployed tanks to the area.

Armenia said one of its soldiers was killed earlier this week after shooting broke out with Azerbaijan’s forces, an incident Baku denied responsibility for.

Earlier in May, Armenia accused Azerbaijan’s military of crossing its southern border to “lay siege” to a lake shared by the two countries.

And all of this comes in the run-up to snap parliamentary polls in Armenia on June 20, which Pashinyan announced under pressure from opposition protesters.

For months they have staged rallies demanding the prime minister’s resignation.

They hold him accountable for what many in Armenia believe was a humiliating defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan’s army, and for agreeing to hand over swathes of territory to Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan, 45, says he had no choice but to concede or see his country’s forces suffer even bigger losses. Fresh elections are the best way to end the post-war political stalemate, he says.

Earlier this month, Pashinyan said Armenia and Azerbaijan were in Russian-mediated talks on the delimitation and demarcation of their shared borders.

He also said the two governments could discuss territorial swaps between the two countries.

Russia’s role as the broker between the two countries has largely come at the expense of Western powers such as France and the United States. All three are part of a mediating group that had tried but failed for decades to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan around the collapse of the Soviet Union in a conflict that claimed the lives of some 30,000 people and displaced many more.

Injuries on both sides reported after clashes at Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Jirair Kafian
JAM News
    JAMnews, Yerevan

A fight between Armenian and Azerbaijani servicemen broke out in the border region of Syunik on May 20, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia reports.

The conflict was caused by several videos that have been circulating on social media for several. Initially, a video of Azerbaijani military men attacking and beating Armenian soldiers was released, and, on the next day, another video showing the Armenian Armed Forces expelling Azerbaijani servicemen from their territory appeared on social media.

As a result of the fight, eleven Armenian soldiers were injured and hospitalized.

The Armenian Defense Ministry reported that servicemen from both sides were injured in a recent fight.

The ministry urged the public to stop disseminating videos on social media, as they “may hamper the peaceful resolution of the problem, and contribute towards the unnecessary escalation of the ongoing tensions”.

The situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border of the two countries has worsened since May 12 and remains tense. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have advanced their positions several kilometers deep into the territory of Armenia, in the Syunik region towards the Sev Lich reservoir (Black Lake), as well as into the territories of the Gegharkunik region.

Armenia insists that the servicemen of Azerbaijan have to immediately withdraw from the sovereign territory of Armenia, while Azerbaijan refuses to comply and insists that the territories in question, in fact, belong to Azerbaijan.

When commenting on the recent events, the Armenian Foreign Ministry stated that “the introduction of a false agenda on the so-called disputed territories may become a dangerous precedent for justifying the use of force in other regions as well”.

  • Armenian-Azerbaijan border crisis deepens as Azerbaijan fails to attend negotiations
  • Will upcoming elections in Armenia just be a repeat of the past?

“On May 20, at around 10 am, a group of Azerbaijani servicemen crossed the border near the village of Khoznavar in the Goris region. They walked about 1.5 km and settled down, after which they began to shout threats at the approaching Armenian servicemen. The Armenian military managed to turn them back to their original positions”, the statement of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia says.

However, the Azerbaijani military made a second attempt to cross the border on the same day at 21:10, however, upon crossing it, they were met by the Armenian servicemen, and the dispute between the two sides turned into a fight. As a result, 11 Armenian soldiers were injured and hospitalized.

“The Armenian servicemen managed to expel the Azerbaijani soldiers to their original positions again”, the Prosecutor General’s Office reports.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense also issued a statement in connection with the incident between the Armenian and Azerbaijani military, which says that the conflict was resolved with the efforts of the higher command:

“In general, the situation is stable. Units of the Armed Forces of Armenia fully control the situation and keep Azerbaijani servicemen isolated. “

The Armenian Foreign Ministry also commented on the aggravated situation in Syunik, which the two sides have not been able to resolve for more than a week.

“Setting conditions through the use of force or the threat of force is a flagrant violation of international law. Armenia will not succumb to such pressure”, said MFA press secretary Anna Naghdalyan.

Anna Naghdalyan added that the demarcation and further delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan should become part of the process of a comprehensive peaceful settlement of the conflict. Within its framework, “the issues of de-occupation of the territories of Artsakh and determination of its final legal status under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group should be resolved”:

“In this situation, the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia to their initial positions as of May 11 can create the necessary conditions for resolving issues within the framework of political and diplomatic tools”.

Anna Naghdalyan also touched upon the question of how the international community reacts to the aggravation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border:

“Our international partners, acting from the standpoint of international law and sincerely interested in stability and security in the South Caucasus, have unequivocally stated that Azerbaijan must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the sovereign territory of Armenia”.