Author: Kalantarian Kevo

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 3 2017
Azeri NGO urges US chef to edit Karabakh footage out of cooking show
[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Azeri edition of APA]
An Azerbaijani NGO has urged a US celebrity chef to edit footage
filmed in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh out of his show,
Baku-based APA news agency reported.
The letter, signed by the NGO called the Azeri community of
Nagorno-Karabakh and also by women who survived a 1990s deadly
military attack on an Azerbaijani town, was addressed to Anthony
Bourdain. The latter had travelled to the disputed region while
filming an episode devoted to Armenian cuisine for CNN's Parts
Unknown. Baku blacklisted Bourdain for the trip, which was made
without its consent. Azerbaijan says that those wishing to visit the
breakaway region must receive official permission from Baku; those who
fail to do so are declared personae non gratae.
The letter, a summary of which APA published, said that Armenian
troops attacked the town of Khojaly with the support of a Soviet
military unit during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The
troops destroyed the town and killed a total of 613 civilians,
including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people. Another 1,000
residents were injured, 1,275 were taken hostage and 150 went missing,
the letter said.
The signatories to the letter said they respected Bourdain's
professionality and programmes about international cuisines. However,
the letter said, although culinary exchanges bring people together in
peacetime, a "cultural programme like this one at a time of war may be
understood by people like us, who are victims of war crimes and lost
their loved ones and native lands, as support for a policy of ethnic
cleaning and forcible seizure of land".
The letter urged Bourdain to "take into account the sensitivity of the
situation and the suffering that many of us went through". "Also, we
call on you to revise your decision to include on your show the part
filmed in Azerbaijan's occupied territories which were subjected to
ethnic cleaning," it said.
The letter added: "Please, understand that we are even deprived of a
possibility to visit the graves of our parents and our other loved
ones in the occupied lands." It added that the people who wrote the
letter had for the past 25 years longed to go back to their native
lands, build their homes again and cook rice gruel, "which is an
Azerbaijani national meal" again for their children in the town of
Shusha, "in which Armenians hosted you".
APA news agency carried a summary of the address on its website. On
the right-hand side of the webpage, it placed an image of an
English-language version of the text of the address.

                                        Thursday, 
Armenia To Get Another Russian Loan For Arms Imports
 . Hovannes Movsisian
Russia -- A Russian TOS-1A multiple rocket launcher fires during the
opening of the Army-2015 international military forum in Kubinka,
outside Moscow, June 16, 2015
Russia will provide Armenia with a fresh $100 million loan that will
be spent on the purchase of more Russian weapons for the Armenian
military, it was announced on Thursday.
The Armenian government formally approved a relevant draft loan
agreement with Moscow at a weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister
Karen Karapetian.
The upcoming agreement posted on the government's website says the
funding is aimed at "further developing and reinforcing friendly
relations" between the two states. It stipulates that the Russian loan
will carry an annual interest rate of 3 percent and be repayable in 20
years, with a 5-year grace period.
The government did not publicize an annex to the deal that lists the
types of Russian-made military hardware which the Armenian side will
be able to buy with the loan.
Two years ago, the Russian government already lent Yerevan $200
million for arms acquisitions from Russian manufacturers. It
subsequently publicized a long list of weapons covered by the
deal. Those included, among other things, Smerch multiple-launch
rocket system, TOS-1A thermobaric rockets, anti-tank weapons and
shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
Armenia - The Armenian army demonstrates Buk air-defense systems
recently acquired from Russia as well as S-300 surface-to-air missiles
during a parade in Yerevan, 21Sep2016.
The Armenian military demonstrated Smerch systems as well as several
other new weapons at a September 2016 parade in Yerevan.
Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian announced on October 2 that the arms
supplies financed from the $200 million loan will be completed by the
end of this year. Other officials in Yerevan said earlier that 18
supply contracts were signed with the Russians as part of the 2015
deal.
Armenia buys Russian weapons at internal Russian prices that are set
well below international market-based levels. The South Caucasus
country is entitled to such discounts because of its bilateral
military alliance with Russia and membership in the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led security bloc
comprising six ex-Soviet republics.
Yerevan announced the impending release of the $100 million loan one
week after the Armenian parliament ratified a Russia-Armenian
agreement on a joint military force based in Armenia. Under that
accord signed late last year, "the united group of troops" is tasked
with "ensuring military security in the region."
The close military ties with Yerevan have not stopped Moscow from
selling billions of dollars worth of heavy weapons to Azerbaijan in
the past several years. Russian arms sales to Baku continued even
after unusually strong criticism voiced by Armenian leaders following
the April 2016 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. In July this year,
President Serzh Sarkisian reiterated Yerevan's discontent with the
Russian-Azerbaijani arms dealings while seemingly downplaying their
impact on the military balance in the Karabakh conflict.
Armenian Official Downbeat On Karabakh Peace
 . Sargis Harutyunyan
Russia - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (R) looks on as his
Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian speaks at a Commonwealth of
Independent States summit in Sochi, 11Oct2017.
A senior Armenian diplomat sounded pessimistic on Thursday about
prospects for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ahead of
a planned meeting of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's presidents.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators said after their latest visits
to Yerevan and Baku over the weekend that Presidents Serzh Sarkisian
and Ilham Aliyev agreed to resume their face-to-face peace talks
soon. The three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said they discussed
with them "possible topics" that will be on the agenda of the
"forthcoming summit."
Aliyev and Sarkisian did not meet on the sidelines of a summit of
ex-Soviet states held in the Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday. It
remains unclear when and where their encounter will take place. The
mediators hope that it will help to revive the Karabakh peace process.
"We must always differentiate between two planes," said Deputy Foreign
Minister Shavarsh Kocharian. "One of them is about forming an
atmosphere of trust, without which progress in the negotiation process
is impossible, and the other about making progress in the negotiation
process itself."
"It is evident that right now there are no grounds, no positive trends
that would allow us to speak of progress in the negotiation progress,"
he told reporters.
Kocharian pointed to Baku's reluctance to comply with
confidence-building agreements that were reached by Aliyev and
Sarkisian at their last meetings held more than a year ago. Those
called for the deployment of more OSCE observers in the conflict zone
and international investigations of truce violations occurring
there. Armenian leaders have repeatedly said that the peace process
cannot move forward without these confidence-building measures.
Speaking in Baku on Monday, Aliyev claimed that Yerevan has been
forced to give up its "preconditions" for resuming substantive
negotiations on a Karabakh settlement. Sarkisian angrily denied that
claim through a spokesman the following day. His press secretary,
Vladimir Hakobian, accused Aliyev of "trying to deceive the
international community and his own people."
Government Bill To Limit Power Of Armenia's Next Commander-In-Chief
 . Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian and Prime Minister Karen
Karapetian arrive for a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 29Jun2017.
Armenia's prime minister will likely have less authority over the
armed forces than the president of the republic currently has after
the country becomes a parliamentary republic next April.
The existing Armenian constitution gives the president sweeping
powers, including the right to introduce martial law, call a general
mobilization and ask the parliament to declare war.
A government bill circulated last month would transfer these powers to
the cabinet, rather than the prime minister personally, even though
the latter will become the Armenian army's commander-in-chief after
the parliamentary system of government takes effect in April 2018.
The draft Law on Defense would also introduce a more complex chain of
command. The Armenian military would be controlled by the government
and the defense minister in particular. At the same time its top brass
would be directly subordinate to the chief of the army's General
Staff. The latter will in turn report to the defense minister in times
of peace and to the prime minister during a war.
Tevan Poghosian, the director of the Yerevan-based International
Center for Human Development (ICHD), agreed that the proposed law
calls for a more collective leadership of the army. He welcomed this
change.
"There is going to be more teamwork in decision making, this is what
the parliamentary model is all about," Poghosian told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "We have always fought for ensuring
that all the levers [of power] are not in the president's hands,"
added the former opposition parliamentarian.
But Poghosian also cautioned: "The answer to the question of whether
or not a lot will change in our reality after April also depends on
who will # hold that post [of prime minister.]"
President Serzh Sarkisian has still not publicly clarified what he
plans to do after completing his second and final presidential term in
April. He said vaguely in March that he would like to "play a role, in
some capacity, in ensuring the security of our people." For his part,
Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has repeatedly indicated his desire to
retain his post.
Some observers have suggested that Sarkisian is planning to stay in
power in a different, more unofficial capacity. The president is also
the top leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, which enjoys
a solid majority in the parliament.
Armenian Top Brass Lectured On Russian Operations In Syria
 . Emil Danielyan
Armenia - Colonel-General Aleksandr Dvornikov (R), the commander of
Russia's Southern Military District, speaks at the Armenian Defense
Ministry in Yerevan, 12Oct2017.
The former commander of Russian troops in Syria on Thursday briefed
Armenia's Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian and top army generals on
Russian military operations conducted in the war-torn nation.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Colonel-General Aleksandr Dvornikov
gave the "lecture" at its headquarters in Yerevan. Photographs
released by the ministry showed that the chief of the Armenian army's
General Staff, Colonel-General Movses Hakobian, and at least two of
his deputies were among several dozen military officials attending the
event.
A ministry statement said Dvornikov, who now heads Russia's Southern
Military District, spoke about Russian tactics of fighting against the
so-called Islamic State militant group in Syria and "specificities of
modern warfare."
The statement added that the lecture was organized "within the
framework" of joint military exercises taking place at a training
center about 50 kilometers west of Yerevan. More than 2,500 soldiers
of the Armenian army, the Russian military base in Armenia and a
rapid-reaction force set up by the Russian-led Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) are taking part in the five-day drills that
began on Monday. The Russian base is part of the Southern Military
District.
It was not clear whether Dvornikov discussed the possibility of
Armenian involvement in Russian operations in Syria.
Another top Russian military official said in August that Armenia and
Serbia have expressed readiness to join a multinational "coalition"
which Russia hopes would help its troops clear landmines there. Moscow
formally proposed its creation at the United Nations in April.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said on September 11 that it is ready in
principle to send sappers to "those parts of Syria where there are no
ongoing hostilities." But it stressed that their deployment must
follow "all international legal procedures." Speaking at the UN
General Assembly in New York on September 20, President Serzh
Sarkisian clarified that such a mission would have to have a UN
mandate.
Press Review
"Zhamanak" reports that President Serzh Sarkisian raised "a number of
concrete issues important to Armenia" at Wednesday's summit in Sochi
of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The paper finds "interesting"
the fact that this happened shortly after the Armenian parliament
debated opposition calls for the country's exit from the Russian-led
trade bloc. It wonders whether Sarkisian used the opposition Yelk's
initiative to "get more aggressive vis-á-vis other EEU members" or on
the contrary to "demonstrate that he is in full control of the
situation and able to manage developments."
An Iranian analyst, Kayhan Barzegar, tells "168 Zham" that Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian did not discuss new issues with Iranian
leaders during his official visit to Tehran this week. He says that
"the most serious" Armenian-Iranian projects remain the planned
expansion of an electricity-for-gas swap arrangement, the creation of
a free economic zone on Armenia's border with Iran and the increase in
cargo traffic between the two countries. "After the lifting of
sanctions [against Iran] the political and economic agenda of
Armenian-Iranian relations has expanded," he says. "But even this does
not correspond to the full potential of those relations because Iran
has not gotten rid of the sanctions for good. What is more, the new
U.S. president is threatening Iran with new sanctions."
"Zhoghovurd" condemns the "thuggish" behavior of members of the ruling
Republican Party (HHK) who continued to insult their opposition
colleagues during Wednesday's session of Yerevan's municipal
council. "Civilized debate is not something that suits the
Republicans," writes the paper. "They are more familiar with insults
and swear words simply because the Republicans do not understand a
different language."
"Offensive statements made during the debate are unacceptable to me,"
Vahram Baghdasarian, the leader of the HHK faction in the Armenian
parliament, is quoted by "Haykakan Zhamanak" as saying. The paper is
unimpressed by this reaction to what happened in the Yerevan
assembly. It says Baghdasarian also complained on Wednesday that media
outlets ignore controversial statements made by opposition politicians
and activists.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Wednesday
The Armenian delegation to PACE proposes to annihilate the reports of
those deputies of the Assembly whose names are involved in the
corruption scandal around Azerbaijan.
Yerevan October 11
Tatevik Shahunyan. Armenian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe proposes to cancel the reports those deputies
of the Assembly, whose names are involved in the corruption scandal
involving Azerbaijan.
As the head of the Armenian delegation, deputy speaker of the National
Assembly of Armenia Arpine Hovhannisyan stated from the PACE rostrum,
the reports prepared by the deputies involved in corruption scandals,
including those involving Baku, can not inspire confidence in the
Assembly delegates, especially if these reports concern Azerbaijan
itself . "Well, how can we trust the report on Azerbaijan prepared by
Alan Deshteks if his name is being discussed in a scandal involving
Baku? What should we do in this case? If the unaccepted reports can
still be revised or canceled somehow, how to deal with the adopted
documents that the Azerbaijani lobbyists themselves prepared for the
sake of Baku? "The Armenian parliamentarian asked.
In this regard, member of the Armenian delegation Naira Zohrabyan
proposed to cancel all reports prepared by the participants of
corruption scandals fueled by petrodollars Baku.
In turn, Transparency International called on PACE to launch tough
anti-corruption measures, including sanctions against corrupt PACE
members, in order to restore confidence in the Assembly in the context
of allegations of corruption and in connection with the resignation of
the chairman. "Transparency International" welcomed this week's PACE
vote on a resolution on strengthening the rules for fighting
corruption, but calls on the organization to quickly address existing
accusations. In the statement, the organization refers to a recently
published investigation, according to which current and former PACE
members received funds to promote Azerbaijan's image abroad.
"Regarding the current and former members of the parliamentary
assembly, which turned out to be financially profitable from
Azerbaijan, an investigation must be conducted, and eventually the
authorities of their countries should take up their duties," said
Patricia Moreira, managing director of Transparency International.
The organization believes that the countries mentioned in the
investigation should begin their own investigations into reports of
political corruption. "Transparency International" also calls on the
Council of Europe to establish a permanent investigative office as an
effective mechanism for disclosing the future of money laundering and
bribery. "The Council of Europe and its member states must also adopt
procedures that would exclude a country that violates integrity rules
and takes bribes," the statement reads

                                        Thursday, October 5, 2017
Armenian Parliament Ratifies New Defense Accord With Russia
 . Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Russian Air Force officers and a combat helicopter at the
Erebuni airbase in Yerevan, 12Mar2016.
The National Assembly overwhelmingly ratified on Thursday a
Russia-Armenian agreement on a joint military force that was first
formed in Armenia more than a decade ago.
Under the agreement signed late last year, "the united group of
troops" is tasked with "ensuring military security in the region" and
thwarting or repelling possible foreign aggressions against Armenia or
Russia.
The joint contingent comprises troops from the Russian military base
in Armenia and an Armenian army corps. It has been led by Armenian
army generals since its creation in 2001.
The Armenian parliament backed the treaty, ratified by Russia's
parliament this summer, by 87 votes to 7. All of those seven deputies
represent the opposition Yelk alliance.
Yelk's representatives said during Wednesday's parliamentary debate on
the issue that the accord will limit Armenia's sovereignty and put its
armed forces under Russian control. Leaders of the pro-government
majority in the parliament dismissed those claims.
Eduard Sharmazanov, a deputy parliament speaker and the spokesman for
the ruling Republican Party (HHK), insisted on Thursday that the
Russian-Armenian military force will boost Armenia's security. He said
it will defend the country in case of a military attack by Turkey or
Azerbaijan.
Armenia -- Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for the ruling Repubican
Party of Armenia.
"If a tense situation erupts on Armenia's borders and if Armenia
appeals to its allies -- Russia and the [Collective Security Treaty
Organization] -- they will be obliged, under the CSTO statutes, to
intervene and defend Armenia," Sharmazanov told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am). "The same will be true for that military
force, if necessary."
Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakarian confirmed during the parliament
debate that the mandate of the Russian-Armenian unit covers only
Armenia's internationally recognized territory, meaning that it will
not be required to intervene in possible hostilities in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sharmazanov dismissed statements by pro-Western opposition figures
that Russia cannot be trusted because it has sold billions of dollars
worth of offensive weapons to Azerbaijan in the past decade. He
insisted that there is still no alternative to Armenia's close
military ties with Russia. "If we don't create this united military
force, what can we create in its place?" he said.
Armenian Lawmakers `Brawl' After Bitter Debate
 . Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- Parliament deputies Nikol Pashinian (L) and Artashes
Geghamian.
Nikol Pashinian, an outspoken opposition lawmaker, claimed to have
been physically assaulted by a pro-government colleague in the
Armenian parliament on Thursday after publicly deriding his
pro-Russian views.
Pashinian said that Artashes Geghamian attacked and punched him in a
corridor of the parliament building in Yerevan. "I successfully
defended myself," he wrote on Facebook. "And I shined my shoes with
him a couple of times."
Geghamian, who represents the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
(HHK), denied attacking Pashinian. "If I punch someone, rest assured
that they will be taken to hospital because I had practiced boxing for
three and a half years," he told reporters.
Asked about red spots on Pashinian's face, Geghamian said: "He
probably blushed with shame seeing as he makes ludicrous statements."
Earlier in the day, the two men bitterly argued during a parliament
debate on Armenia's military cooperation with Russia. Pashinian, 42,
mockingly reminded Geghamian of his Communist past as he deplored the
67-year-old's strong support for close ties with Moscow. "You had
better speak of Marxism and Leninism," he said.
"Watch your mouth," shot back Geghamian.
Pashinian challenged the ruling HHK to react to "this hooligan act"
when he addressed the National Assembly later in the day. He linked
the alleged incident with a recent statement by the HHK's
parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, seemingly threatening
opposition figures with violence.
"This is a very serious issue, and we intend to pursue it till the end
so that we can draw conclusions regarding the mode of our further work
here," added one of the leaders of the opposition Yelk alliance.
Geghamian is a former opposition leader who was one of the main
candidates in Armenia's 2003 presidential election. He subsequently
pledged allegiance to President Serzh Sarkisian, whom he had for years
harshly criticized. Geghamian was reelected to the parliament on the
HHK ticket in April.
Government Formalizes Delay In Highway Upgrades
 . Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - The Yerevan-Ararat highway is upgraded as part of the
North-South transport project, 2Feb2014.
The Armenian government formally acknowledged on Thursday a two-year
delay in the reconstruction of two major national highways as part of
an ambitious project to upgrade the country's transport
infrastructure.
Work on the two highways stretching almost 100 kilometers from
Ashtarak, a town 22 kilometers west of Yerevan, to Armenia's second
largest city of Gyumri was due to be completed this year in line with
the government's agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The
Manila-based bank is financing it with two loans worth over $250
million.
Officials in Yerevan admitted earlier this year that these roadworks
have fallen behind schedule. Some of them blamed Spanish and Chinese
construction firms that were contracted to carry out them.
The government formalized this delay by extending its deadlines for
expanding and refurbishing the two roads to September 2019. Transport
and Communications Minister Vahan Martirosian gave no reasons for the
decision when he spoke at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan on Thursday.
The roadworks stem from the government's North-South transport project
aimed at upgrading Armenia's main highways stretching over 550
kilometers to Georgia and Iran. Only two highways connecting Yerevan
to the towns of Ararat and Ashtarak have been completed to date,
costing $60 million in ADB funding. Their total length of is just over
30 kilometers.
Martirosian insisted on September 26 that the government is committed
to rebuilding the remaining road sections mainly passing through the
mountainous Vayots Dzor and Syunik provinces in the country's
southeast. He estimated that this will require as much as $1.5 billion
in funding, a figure equivalent to roughly half of the Armenian state
budget.
Martirosian said the government hopes to attract the investments from
private firms, rather than seek more loans from the ADB or other
international lenders. That would lead to the creation of Armenia's
first-ever toll roads, he said. The minister gave no possible dates
for the project's completion.
Silva Adamian, who coordinates a team of civic groups monitoring the
project's implementation, was highly skeptical on that score. "We will
not have that [reconstructed] road in full," she told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "We may get parts of it, but that
won't happen anytime soon. If we have something by 2025, it will be
very good."
Press Review
"Zhamanak" reaffirms its strong opposition to a new bilateral
agreement on a joint Russian-Armenian military force in a commentary
on Wednesday's parliamentary debate in Yerevan on its
ratification. The paper claims that Yerevan's continuing heavy
reliance on Moscow for defense and security is based on wrong
geopolitical calculations.
"Aravot" maintains that in 2013 Armenia could have signed an
Association Agreement with the European Union and thus avoided joining
the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). At the same time, the
paper questions the wisdom and timing of the opposition Yelk bloc's
calls for Armenia's exit from the EEU, saying that neither the
authorities nor most ordinary citizens support this idea. "We must
also take into account the fact that relations between the West and
Russia have further deteriorated in the last four years. Do we really
need to get willy-nilly involved in that tussle?" it says. While
calling Armenia's membership in the EEU an "unpleasant reality," the
paper says that it is not the root cause of the country's problems.
"Zhoghovurd" quotes Agriculture Minister Ignati Arakelian as saying
that a sharp increase in the prices of meat in Armenia is only
temporary. "There will be a [price] decrease later on," he
says. "Everything changes. The prices cannot remain unchanged." The
paper dismisses this explanation as "inadequate."
"Hayots Ashkhar" looks at suggestions that with their strong push for
the holding of a meeting of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's presidents
later this year the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group are indicating that they have "prepared something for the
parties" which has to do with their "fundamental interests." "It is
evident that the Karabakh conflict is the only conflict in the region
where major differences between the countries leading the OSCE Minsk
Group do not impede discussions on the Madrid Principles drawn up by
them before," writes the paper.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org