Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Young Artsakh men, who got lost in forest near Khnatsakh, found after 15-hour search

Kalantarian Kevo
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 1 2021

Two young men, K.S., 16, and A.P., 17, who are residents of Stepanakert, according to preliminary information, got lost in the forest belt near the village of Khnatsakh. The Crisis Management Center of Artsakh’s State Service of Emergency Situations was alerted about the incident at 8:09pm on Sunday, October 31.

The young men were athletes, who ran along a bypass road and then could not orientate themselves in the area because of fog, the State Service of Emergency Situations said in a statement.

Rescue squads and police units, led by Director of the State Service of Emergency Situations Mekhak Arzumanyan and Stepanakert Police Chief Boris Jalavyan, headed to the area to carry out search operations.

“Mobile communication was successfully established with the men at times, which was supposed to facilitate the search efforts, but because of the darkness and fog, they could not communicate their exact location,” the service said.

The search continued through the night in difficult geographical terrain, but the night searches yielded no results.

After nearly 15 hours of searching, the young men were found and brought to Stepanakert at 1:25pm on Monday.

It is also noted that their lives and health are not in danger.

Opposition MP: Nikol Pashinyan ‘crossing the line’

Kalantarian Kevo
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 28 2021

The With Honor opposition faction in the Armenian parliament has nothing to discuss with Nikol Pashinyan other than the issue of his resignation, MP Tigran Abrahamyan from the same faction told reporters on Thursday.

His comments came after Pashinyan invited the two opposition parliamentary factions to hold a discussion on Wednesday.

Abrahamyan noted the authorities had missed the opportunity to discuss various issues with the opposition. He recalled that the National Security Service (NSS) director, defense minister and prosecutor general ignored the opposition call to appear before the parliament and provide clarifications on the border issues.

In addition, the MP said instead of the foreign minister, NSS chief and defense minister, the commander of the NSS border troops and the deputy chief of the army’s General Staff were involved in the urgent parliamentary debates on the border situation and demarcation issues.

“The latter were not authorized to answer 90% of the questions on the agenda,” Abrahamyan said, adding the officials provided no significant information with regard to the other issues raised.

“As for a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, the secretary of our faction has already announced that its can only focus on his resignation,” the MP said.

In Abrahamyan’s words, Pashinyan, in fact, fails to answer the questions addressed to him during a Q&A session in the parliament, is “crossing the line” and addressing a completely different issue to avoid answering a question.

“Therefore, I don’t consider it expedient to meet with Nikol Pashinyan to discuss any issue,” Abrahamyan said.

Proceed With Caution: South Caucasus Inch Forward

Kalantarian Kevo
Oct 29 2021

By

 Emil Avdaliani

There is good news from the South Caucasus, at least for some. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bloody conflict in the mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh last year and yet 12 months later the two have agreed to reopen key railroad routes.

On October 15, the Armenian premier visited Moscow and agreed to the opening of a railway from Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave and then onto Turkey via Armenia’s southernmost region of Syunik. The proposed development will also benefit Armenia, through the opening of a rail link to Russia and Iran through Azeri territory. This seems to be a good bargain for Azerbaijan but especially for Armenia; for three decades, the country has been locked in geo-economic isolation, sandwiched between the closed borders of Turkey and Azerbaijan, and dependent on Russia and Iran.

For Azerbaijan, it answers dilemmas raised by its recent standoff with Iran, a neighbor openly unhappy that last year’s second Nagorno-Karabakh war has greatly increased the influence of Turkey. Rather than be dependent on Iranian routes, Azerbaijan will now have a shorter link to its exclave and to Turkey.

Which brings us to the biggest winner: Turkey. While the West is re-thinking its position in the wider Black Sea region, Turkey has been actively involved in the South Caucasus both by choice and necessity. It has achieved significant results, disrupting the regional status quo both through its involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and by offering alternative transportation routes to South Caucasus states with limited connectivity.

This started in the 1990s, when Turkey worked with Georgia and Azerbaijan to undermine Russia’s centuries-long monopoly on the region’s railway and road connections by pioneering east-west links.

Turkey’s grand strategy to open up the South Caucasus has developed since the second Nagorno-Karabakh war and seeks improved connections to Azerbaijan beyond the Georgia route. Armenia is critical here. Humiliatingly beaten in 2020, it has so far opted to view its post-war status in terms of realpolitik.

Circumstances are ripe for Armenia to break the blockade imposed since its victory in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war of the 1990s. With Azerbaijan now victorious, the major problem haunting potential Armenian-Turkish reconciliation has been at least partially removed. An earlier attempt to resolve this, in 2008-2009, broke down because the Azeris would not agree while Nagorno-Karabakh was under Armenian military occupation. Now however there is progress. For instance, Turkish and Azeri air carriers are allowed to use Armenian airspace. There are also rumors of further agreements in the works on border demarcation.

Armenia has also toned down the rhetoric around Nagorno-Karabakh, which signals some acceptance, at least for now, for rapprochement and the rejection of a radical irridentist policy. Better ties with Turkey would also mean a lower likelihood of military confrontation and could represent a tacit agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan of an emerging status quo acceptable to all parties.

This is a significant — and unheralded — opportunity for the region. Normalizing bilateral ties would create the basis for economic cooperation for Armenia and Turkey, neighbors with a bleak history but also with common interests, like improved trade. Progress could ultimately lead to the opening of the 300km-long (186 mile) border. Of course, agreement is one thing and implementation is another. Mutual distrust and potential interference by outside powers, as well as by nationalistically charged elements of the population, could limit the momentum behind the potential improvement, or even reverse it.

A longer-term perspective is important here. The rail agreement would offer Turkey yet another major route to penetrate the South Caucasus and reach further east to the Caspian Sea. On the surface, other powers such as Russia and Iran would also gain from improved connections. Both would have additional routes to Armenia. This is a win for Iran, which has largely been excluded from post-war developments, but it is unclear how it fits Russia’s plans; a largely sealed-off and isolated South Caucasus handed the Kremlin powerful leverage in the region. A Turkish-led reopening would reduce it.

The South Caucasus, the traditional meeting point of Europe and Asia, is now working to restore its historic connections to the wider world. Indeed, geographically the region has greater links to the south and west, including the Middle East, than to Russia, which lies beyond the formidable barrier of the Caucasus mountains.

Turkey’s and to a limited extent Iran’s inroads into the South Caucasus are instrumental in this process. Russia’s nearly two century-long domination over the region is coming to an end — the only viable instruments in the Kremlin’s hands are its spies and its soldiers, currently camped in Russia’s military bases in the occupied Georgian territories, plus units in Armenia and some peacekeepers between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Turkey’s strategy, fitting the ambitious regional agenda of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, may be an irritant to Russia but it is far more digestible than broader NATO  engagement.

In an age of US-China great power competition and tensions between the US and European Union (EU) member states like France, the West has neither the desire nor the unity for greater involvement in hotspots like the South Caucasus. For now, at least, the region must focus on the neighborhood.

New Apostolic Nunciature office opens in Armenia

Kalantarian Kevo
Vatican News
Oct 26 2021
A new office of the Apostolic Nunciature to Armenia opens on Wednesday in the capital, Yerevan. It will not, however, replace the official Apostolic Nunciature in Tbilisi, Georgia, which serves as the Holy See’s diplomatic mission to Georgia and Armenia

By Salvatore Cernuzio

As the Holy See and Armenia mark 30 years of diplomatic relations, a new office of the Apostolic Nunciature to Georgia and Armenia is to be inaugurated on October 27, in the Armenian capital Yerevan. The inauguration will take place in the presence of Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute of the Secretariat of State. 

The opening of the Yerevan office represents a provisional setup in view of a wider arrangement in order to have sufficient space to adequately support the multiple commitments of the mission of the Holy See and of the Catholic Church in Armenia.  For the Holy See, it is a further opportunity to look “at building a prosperous relationship for the benefit of all Armenians”.

The Apostolic Nunciature in Armenia was established on May 24, 1992, with the apostolic letter Armeniam Nationem of St. John Paul II. The relations between the Church of Rome and Armenia go back to ancient times, almost to the very origins of Christianity, when faith in Jesus spread from Jerusalem to the “known world”, where meetings and commercial and cultural exchanges between peoples became an occasion for debates that touched the “meaning” of life and existence.

Over the centuries, this ancient and prolific relationship between Armenia and the Holy See has grown in strength. Official diplomatic relations in modern times can be traced back to May 23, 1992, after Armenia gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Since then, the Holy See has continually maintained diplomatic representations to foster relations, along with other initiatives and channels of various Catholic institutions. The first apostolic nuncio appointed to Armenia was Monsignor Jean-Paul Aimé Gobel (1993-1997).  The current Holy See’s representative since 2018 is Archbishop José A. Bettencourt.

Over the years, the relationship between the Holy See and Armenia has also taken shape with the work and presence of the Mechitarist Congregation, the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the clergy of the Ordinariate for Catholics of the Armenian rite in Eastern Europe, the Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa in Spitak and Yerevan, the Camillian Fathers of the “Redemptoris Mater” hospital in Ashotzk, built after the 1988 earthquake, and Caritas Armenia. These are just some of the most well-known Catholic presences that draw on the resources and support of the worldwide Catholic Church and which, over the years, have provided valid support to the mission of the Nuncios in the country, who have always been able to count on the generosity and support offered by the Armenian-Catholic archbishops.

In 2019, during his visit to Armenia, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said: “The intention of all the Catholic communities present in Armenia – the Armenian-Catholic, the Roman and other rites – is to strive for the welfare of Armenian society as a whole.” “Our communities continue to do so through their activities in the spiritual, cultural, educational, charitable and humanitarian fields.”

Pope Francis visited Armenia, June 24-26, 2016.   In his meeting with the country’s civil authorities and members of the diplomatic corps, the Pontiff recalled the history of the country, marked by Metz Yeghern (the ‘Great Evil’ or what is known as the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire during World War I), which has always gone “hand in hand with its Christian identity, preserved over the centuries”. “This Christian identity,” the Pope said,  “far from hindering the healthy secularism of the state, nourishes it, favouring the shared citizenship of all members of society, religious freedom and respect for minorities.”  “The cohesion of all Armenians, and the increased commitment to identify useful ways to overcome tensions with some neighbouring countries,” he said, “will make it easier to achieve these important objectives, ushering in an era of true rebirth for Armenia.”

 

Turkish press: Flake’s nomination as US ambassador to Turkey approved

Kalantarian Kevo
 ISTANBUL DIPLOMACY 
OCT 20, 2021 9:19 AM GMT+3

Former Republican Senator from Arizona and nominee for ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake (R) walks with his wife Cheryl Flake, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., Oct. 19, 2021. (EPA Photo)

The nomination of former senator Jeff Flake as Washington’s ambassador to Turkey was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

The committee voted to approve 33 nominees for the State Department, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other critical foreign policy positions.

Among the ambassador nominees chosen by President Joe Biden are Thomas Nides for Israel, David Cohen for Canada, Claire Cronin for Ireland and Steven Bondy for Bahrain.

“The nominations move favorably to the Senate Floor for consideration by the full Senate,” said a statement by the committee.

Nominated in mid-July, Flake was a key Republican ally for Biden during last year’s White House race and endorsed the Democratic then-nominee after establishing himself as a Republican long at odds with former President Donald Trump.

Flake served in both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his time in Congress, which spanned nearly two decades.

In September, he said Turkey would face more sanctions if it purchases additional S-400 missiles from Russia.

Flake, who had rejected the so-called Armenian genocide during his term as a senator, said he would recognize it if he is appointed as ambassador.

Biden described the killings of Ottoman Armenians during World War I as “genocide” in April.

“We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said. “And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms,” he said.

“We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated,” Biden said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was quick to condemn the statement.

“We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice. We entirely reject this statement based solely on populism,” Çavuşoğlu said in a Twitter post.

With the acknowledgment, Biden followed through on a campaign promise he made a year ago. Mainly hailing from Ottoman Armenians, Armenians in the U.S. constitute significant communities in the East Coast and California.

Turkey’s position on the 1915 events is that the death of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties, added by massacres from militaries and militia groups of both sides. The mass arrests of prominent Ottoman Armenian politicians, intellectuals and other community members suspected of links with separatist groups, harboring nationalist sentiments and being hostile to Ottoman rule were rounded up in then-capital Istanbul on April 24, 1915 are commemorated as the beginning of later atrocities.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as “genocide” but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.

The list of disagreements is unusually long for the two NATO allies, including the U.S. support for YPG terrorists, the PKK’s Syrian offshoot in Syria, Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system and Biden’s declaration of the 1915 events regarding the Ottoman Armenians during World War I as “genocide.”

Armenian researcher: We need Ocalan’s model

Kalantarian Kevo
Kurdish Media – Oct 14 2021

 Researcher Nubar Malkonian said, “There is a need to evaluate Abdullah Ocalan’s model, which opens the way to liberation from capitalist systems,” and called for more efforts in order to achieve the physical freedom of the leader Abdullah Ocalan.

 NEWS  14 Oct 2021, Thu – 07:36 2021-10-14T07:36:00  Newsdesk – Jihan Belkin

 Leader Abdullah Ocalan refers to the Armenian people, and says in that, “Finding a small Armenia, west of Azerbaijan, will not be a solution to the national problem.” He also explains that  social democratic confederal system comprising many nationalities will be a suitable solution for many other peoples.

 The Armenian people are one of the ancient peoples of the region that witnessed genocides.  The issue of the Armenian massacres and their exile, which was recognized by some countries. Leader Abdullah Ocalan explained this issue in his written pleadings inside Imrali prison under isolation.

 The leader Abdullah Ocalan points out that the Armenian national cause is the tragedy of capitalist modernity in the Middle East, and says, “The Armenians are an ancient people of the region. They mostly share the Kurds areas.  

 They also represent a technically advanced culture, and although the Kurds had a similar resistance;  However, with the exception of temporary and local examples, no permanent state institutions have been established.  Armenians are one of the first Christian peoples.  Identity and belief in liberation play an important role in this.  Like the Jews who were influenced by their artistic identity around the palaces.

 ‘The cause of Armenian nationalism is Britain’

 Leader  Ocalan explains that the reason for the current situation of the Armenians nationalism, and points out that Britain is responsible for this, and says, “In order for the Armenians to overcome their problems today, they must abandon their national and religious fanaticism and Christian racism, because this matter harmed them.”

 The leader Abdullah Ocalan points out that the largest scattered community in the world after the Jews are the Armenians, and says that the Armenian issue is not resolved by the establishment of a small Armenia, and the assessment of the leader Ocalan on the subject is as follows: “The Armenians contributed greatly to the culture (civilization) of the Middle East. For five thousand years, they became victims of a great catastrophe due to the conspiracies of modernity of the 19th and 20th centuries.

 The establishment of a small Armenia in Western Azerbaijan does not mean that it solves the Armenians nationalism.  She could not avoid their tragedy.  They will always search for their lost country;  That is why the meaning of the Armenian cause today is to find their lost country.  But there are other peoples who live in the places where they are trying to find their own country.  Stealing a people’s country is an unforgivable crime.

 Once again, the danger of the nation-state is represented by the Armenian issue.  The attempt to establish homogeneous nationalities is the real reason for this fear.  The reason for this is capitalist modernity.  The perception that comes from Christianity, modernity, and the shape of the world only leads to the elimination of the Armenians.

 No matter how cruel and fascist their enemies are;  In addition to knowing the causes of the extermination committed against them, the search for new ways is a life task for them.

 Leader Abdullah Ocalan’s proposal to solve the Armenian cause

 Leader Abdullah Ocalan refers to the solution to the issue of the Armenian people and explains it as follows: “On the basis of national pluralism, democracy and confederation, Armenians and their ilk can reach the optimal solution. If they focus on the elements of democratic modernity and renew themselves as an Armenian democratic nation, they will restore their historical role in the culture (civilization) of the Middle East.  , and find the right path to liberation.Democratic solutions that are not based on the foundations and applications of the nation-state must be put on the agenda.

 To solve the Armenian issue, the borders must not only be opened;  There must also be a social democratic citizen:

 Nubar Malkonian, who conducts historical research on the massacres of Armenians, spoke to our agency about the international conspiracy and the evaluations of leader Abdullah Ocalan regarding the Armenian people.

 Malkonian explained the impact of the international conspiracy on peoples, and said in it, “The arrest of the guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan created a great void that cannot be  filled both for the Kurdish people and for the people of the Middle East.”

 ‘The Ocalan model is needed’

 Malkonian explained that the leader Abdullah Ocalan’s model is more democratic and just than the existing capitalist system, and that it constitutes a model for free life, and said, “Applying this model will undoubtedly be better. People will become freer, more intellectual, and an application of coexistence. There is a definite need  to evaluate this model that opens the way for deliverance from the capitalist system that stifles peoples.”

 ‘The Armenians lack revolutionary leadership’

 Malkonian referred to the assessment of the leader explaining the causes of the Armenian issue is nationalism, and continued, “Of course there are daily and historical problems, such as the problem of not creating a revolutionary leadership for the Armenians, as well as the need to create a struggle approach and a properly studied and evaluated organization of the history of the genocide and the organization of the Armenians in  Armenia, Syria and the Diaspora.

 Malkonian indicated that he considers the leader Abdullah Ocalan a great revolutionary for the Middle East, and made clear that his views do not only concern the Kurdish people, and said, “The views of the democratic confederation as a project of coexistence are very valuable.”  by people’s war and revolutionary leadership;  It carries a great and valuable meaning.  People who want to lead the democratic popular revolution and lead the strategy of popular war in the Middle East must certainly follow their example and implement it.”

 He said, “Without a doubt, the thought and struggle for the return of the historical lands will be an important response in order to solve the problems of today. The lands that were stolen are not western Armenia. What has been lost is a civilization that spans five thousand years. They are historical values  and culture, what has been lost is the historical land and the beautiful Armenian language. It is the Islamization and assimilation of the Armenian people who were forced to assimilate into the culture of Arabs or Kurds. If those who were displaced deepen their search for these heavy losses, they will come closer to the truth.”

 ‘They want to eliminate the thought and will of freedom’

 Malkonian commented on the goals of the conspiring countries that continue to impose isolation and said, “They want to terrorize the free decision of the Kurdish people through injustice, pressure, coercion, genocide and exile. One of the goals of isolation is the insistence of the Turkish state on the continuation of chauvinistic racist policies against freedom and peoples, and to break the will and thought of freedom.  In order to break hope and destroy the will of the people, especially the Kurdish people.”

 Malkonian called for the people to stand against these plans and continued, “Comrade Gonzalo of the Peruvian Guerilla was killed in September, under conditions of strict isolation. We must liberate the leader Abdullah Ocalan in October that is the month of revolution and freedom.  The Soviet (Russian) people were liberated by the October Revolution. We must do more than ever different things to eliminate isolation in order to build the future.”

 ‘We must free him from isolation’

 Nubar Malkonian explained that October carries a special meaning for the Armenian revolutionaries as well, and said at the end of his speech, “We must liberate the leader of the PKK from these aggravating conditions of isolation. No leader in the guerrilla deserves arrest, the enemies of peoples and freedom are the ones who deserve  places like this.”

 A

 ANHA

 

Potential Chabahar Port-Black Sea link through Armenia expected to increase turnover with Iran to billions of dollars

Kalantarian Kevo

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 10:55, 14 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia is working intensely to resolve the issues related to the Armenia-Iran road communication, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told Tasnim News Agency in an interview.

Grigoryan said the Armenian government seeks to complete the alternative road by yearend.

“We can say that this is generally a short-term issue. But there is another, more important project. In late September the Armenian government approved the North-South’s Sisian-Iranian border road project. This project is worth more than 1 billion dollars and will entirely change the region’s infrastructures. By implementing this program we also have in mind the idea of becoming a key infrastructure hub linking the Chabahar Port with the Black Sea. From this perspective we can say that this project will give great opportunity to increase trade turnover between Armenia and Iran,” Grigoryan said.

While currently the turnover between Armenia and Iran is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Grigoryan says the figure should soon pass 1 billion dollars. Grigoryan noted that this will enable to increase the trade turnover to several billion dollars in the future. He said that Armenia and Iran have a broad circle of a positive agenda in bilateral relations.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Cooperation with Sweden important for Armenia also in format of Armenia-EU relations – Parliament Speaker

Kalantarian Kevo

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 17:16, 14 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan received today Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Armenia Patrik Svensson, the Parliament’s press service said.

Welcoming the Ambassador, the Speaker has underlined that Sweden is one of the important and trustworthy partners for Armenia.

The Parliament Speaker touched upon the close and effective cooperation existing between the delegations of two countries on the different international parliamentary platforms.

Speaking about Armenia-Sweden cooperation, Alen Simonyan highly assessed the support of the friendly country in the democratic processes going on in Armenia, as well as valued the financial assistance shown by the Government of Sweden in the development of a number of spheres.

In the context of bilateral cooperation, the Speaker has affirmed that the cooperation with Sweden is important also in the format of Armenia-European Union relations.

Patrik Svensson highlighted the development of the bilateral parliamentary ties and the expansion of cooperation in many spheres.

The sides also discussed a number of issues regarding the deepening of Armenia-Sweden cooperation.

Brent oil price on the ICE exchange up over $ 85/barrel

Kalantarian Kevo

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 13:45,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The cost of a Brent crude oil futures contract for December 2021 delivery on the London ICE exchange went up by 1.23% and reached $ 85.03 per barrel, according to data from the trading floor at 10:50 Moscow time on Friday.

The last time the price of Brent exceeded $ 85 per barrel was in October 2018. By 10:05 Moscow time, the price of Brent crude oil slowed down its growth to $ 84.74 per barrel (+ 0.88%), reports TASS.

The cost of a WTI crude oil futures went up by 0.73% to $ 81.36 per barrel.

Opposition ‘Armenia’ alliance issues statement

Kalantarian Kevo
News.am, Armenia
Oct 15 2021
Opposition ‘Armenia’ alliance issues statement
22:23, 15.10.2021

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces continue to commit gross violations of the ceasefire regime established through the trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020, and even a number of Armenian servicemen have received injuries. This is stated in the statement issued by the opposition “Armenia” alliance.

“The undignified policy that the authorities of Armenia are leading after the 44-day war that began on September 27, 2020 is not preventing the gross violations of the universal principles of international humanitarian and international law that the Azerbaijani authorities continue to commit.

The constant de facto unilateral peace-loving calls and the failure to respond to aggressive statements aren’t helping establish real and dignified peace.

By using the toolkit in the National Assembly, “Armenia” alliance will take all the possible measures to receive answers to specific questions regarding the mentioned incidents and the tense situation on the borders of Armenia in general and will even hold a discussion on an urgent topic in order to ensure fulfillment of the duty to be held accountable to the people,” the statement also reads.