Author: Kalashian Nyrie

Armenpress: [Sunday] The Azerbaijan military airbase has been destroyed by the Armenian military!

Kalashian Nyrie

Ganja military airbase is ‘no more’ – Artsakh says

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 10:49, 4 October, 2020

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The Ganja military airbase used by the Azeri forces to attack Artsakh’s civilians has been completely destroyed, Artsakh’s presidential spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan said.

“The Ganja military airport is no more,” he said.

“Despite numerous warnings, the Azerbaijani terrorist army continues targeting the peaceful population of Stepanakert with Polonez and Smerch systems. From now on the military facilities permanently deployed in Azerbaijan’s major cities are legitimate targets of the Defense Army. I am calling on the Azerbaijani population to immediately leave these cities to avoid possible losses,” President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan said.

Harutyunyan warned that the entire responsibility falls on the Azeri leadership.

UPDATES: The original version of this article has been updated with President Harutyunyan’s statement. 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

President of Azerbaijan tells Armenia to ‘leave our territory, and then, the war will stop’

Kalashian Nyrie
CNN News
Oct 2 2020

By Aren Melikyan in Yerevan and Arzu Geybullaeva in Istanbul

Updated 1557 GMT (2357 HKT) October 3, 2020

(CNN)President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has said Armenia and its military forces “need to leave our territory, and then, the war will stop and then the conflict will come to an end.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera, President Aliyev went on to say that once the war is over “maybe some time later people of Azerbaijan and Armenia can again live together, in peace.”
Aliyev, however, gave no indication that a cessation of hostilities would end anytime soon, adding: “I think Armenian government overestimated their so-called importance on global arena, overestimated the possible international support to them and made very serious mistakes provoking us, attacking us and now they are suffering the very serious defeat.”
    Rebels from Syria recruited to fight in conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, source says
    Long-simmering tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have flared up in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region in recent days, with both sides accusing each other of attacking civilians amid reports of casualties.
    The neighboring countries have long been at odds over the mountainous territory — which is situated within the borders of Azerbaijan — and fought a war over it that ended in 1994.
    Although the conflict finished with a Russian-brokered cease-fire, military skirmishes between the two sides are not uncommon.
    Further evidence has emerged this week of rebels from Syria being recruited to fight as mercenaries in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, over the disputed enclave.
    But both Azerbaijan and Turkey have denied the presence of Syrian rebels in the conflict — something that Aliyev maintained in his Al Jazeera interview, adamant that no such fighters were in the country.
      Aliyev urged French President Emmanuel Macron to provide proof that Syrian mercenaries were fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying, “He made the statements without any evidence. Let him give us evidence. Let him give us proof.”
      In a statement released Saturday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned: “The political-military leadership of Azerbaijan will pay a high price for committing such grave crimes against the Armenians of Artsakh, for importing terrorists to the region and for undermining the regional security.”

    Aren Melikyan reported from Yerevan, Armenia and Arzu Geybullaeva reported from Istanbul. Rory Sullivan and Jennifer Hauser contributed reporting.


    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/03/asia/azerbaijan-armenia-president-intl/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0Uc49AlwprYbpEkaZ_ww5KmTwL2BEmVqFkDQby2_XEKLjQonWwGGnyaJ8

Trump, Putin and Macron call for “immediate cessation of hostilities” in Nagorno Karabakh

Kalashian Nyrie

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 16:18, 1 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump have issued a joint statement regarding the situation at the Nagorno Karbakh conflict zone.

“The President of the Russian Federation, the President of the United States of America and the President of the French Republic, representing the Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, condemn in the strongest terms the recent escalation of violence along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

We deplore the loss of human lives and extend our condolences to the families of those killed and injured.

We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities between the relevant military forces.

We also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit without delay to resuming substantive negotiations, in good faith and without preconditions, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” the statement says according to the French MFA.

Tiny ethnic Armenian enclave may spark a wider conflict

Kalashian Nyrie
Herald Mail Media
Sept 30 2020

  • By Laura King Los Angeles Times (TNS)
  • Sep 30, 2020
  •    

It’s an old conflict, with some dangerous new twists.

Fierce fighting has flared this week between Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighboring ex-Soviet republics in the southern Caucasus region, a key energy corridor that sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Russia and the Middle East.

The focus of the conflict is Nagorno-Karabakh, a tiny mountainous enclave that is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but whose population of about 150,000 is majority ethnic Armenian.

If fighting that erupted Sunday escalates into all-out war, it could potentially drag in big regional powers — Turkey, a U.S. ally in the North Atlantic Treat Organization that has strong ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties to Azerbaijan; and Russia, which is friendly with both countries, but has a defense alliance with Armenia, as well as a military base there.

On Tuesday, Armenia and Azerbaijan traded angry accusations as well as intensifying artillery fire along their border. In what would mark a significant escalation, Armenia said one of its warplanes was shot down Tuesday by a Turkish F-16 that took off from Azerbaijani territory. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan issued heated denials of responsibility for any downed Armenian warplane.

The latest fighting, which has killed scores and wounded hundreds, has prompted outside calls for conciliation. But diplomatic efforts have so far been sluggish, which some analysts blame in part on preoccupation with the coronavirus crisis.

“Since the advent of COVID-19, there has been a lack of proactive international mediation,” said Olesya Vartanyan, a senior South Caucasus analyst for the International Crisis Group. “No shuttle diplomacy, no calls to the leadership in Baku and Yerevan” — the respective capitals of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Here is a look at the roots of the long-running conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, and why it holds the potential to become a wider threat.

TURBULENT HISTORY

In the rugged pocket of territory — historically inhabited by both Christian Armenians and smaller numbers of Muslim Turks — resistance to Azerbaijani rule goes back decades.

In the Soviet era, Nagorno-Karabakh gained autonomous status, but its struggle to break away from Azerbaijan outright began even before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Fighting from 1988 onward killed about 30,000 people and displaced 1 million. That battle ended with a 1994 cease-fire and de facto self-rule.

But no country, not even Armenia, recognizes it as an independent republic, although Armenia and the Armenian diaspora provide it with financial support. Violent flare-ups have occurred periodically, including in 2016, when clashes left at least 200 people dead, and in July and August.

Not surprisingly, the two sides do not even agree on what to call the thickly forested 1,700-square-mile area, which is only about 1 1/2 times the size of Yosemite National Park. Ethnic Armenians use an ancient name for the region, Artsakh. The widely recognized name of Nagorno-Karabakh is a compound of the Russian word for “mountainous,” and the Russianized version of an Azeri word meaning “black garden.”

STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE

The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh is seen as a potentially destabilizing element in the strategic South Caucasus region, long a fault line between empires. Azerbaijan, via pipelines to Turkey, supplies about 5% of Europe’s gas and oil, and any escalation in fighting could imperil that flow.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could also accentuate regional rivalry between Russia and Turkey, which have competed for influence in an array of volatile venues, including Syria and Libya.

TURKEY’S ROLE:

Turkey held large-scale military exercises with Azerbaijan in July and August, and has vocally taken its ally’s side in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two share a common enmity with Armenia, whose relations with Turkey are shadowed by the Ottoman Empire’s mass killing of Armenians beginning in 1915.

Domestic political considerations also color Turkey’s current stance. Long-ruling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has seen a significant erosion of popular support in advance of 2023 elections, and “whenever this has happened in the past, he uses foreign policy to mobilize his nationalist base,” said Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey program. “Now we’re seeing that in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Turkey repeated Tuesday that it would stand with “brotherly” Azerbaijan, but has avoided saying whether it is providing drones, warplanes and military experts, as Armenia claims. Azerbaijan denies receiving such aid.

Armenia’s change of leadership in its 2018 revolution raised hopes that tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh might ease, but those prospects have since dimmed. Even before this flare-up, Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, has taken what Turkey views as an unyielding position on the enclave’s future.

THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA

The worldwide Armenian diaspora is far larger numerically than Armenia’s actual population of about 3 million. One of the world’s largest concentrations is in Southern California, and the community has watched the latest escalation in and around the enclave with dismay and alarm.

On Tuesday, the Armenian National Committee of America’s western region called in a statement for Azerbaijan to be held accountable for “egregious violations of fundamental human rights” and “perpetration of war crimes against civilian populations.”

MEDIATION EFFORTS

Russia, France and the United States have worked in the past to calm outbreaks of trouble in Nagorno-Karabakh, but this time, no coordinated effort has so far emerged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, uneasily eyeing a popular uprising in the former Soviet republic of Belarus and weathering international condemnation over the poisoning of dissident Alexei Navalny, may be motivated to seek to play the role of statesman. He has repeatedly called for calm, most recently in a conversation Tuesday with Armenia’s leader. But with his long-held ambitions to burnish Russia’s great-power image, Putin may also want to avoid seeming to accede to Turkey’s wishes.

In the United States, a heated presidential campaign spares little attention for a conflict with which many Americans are unfamiliar, but Democratic contender Joe Biden on Tuesday urged the Trump administration to call on leaders of both Azerbaijan and Armenia to immediately de-escalate. He also said Washington must demand that “others — like Turkey — stay out of this conflict.”

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, traveling in Greece, on Tuesday called for a halt to hostilities. President Donald Trump’s wording on the matter, however, has been more vague; he said this week the conflict was being looked at “very strongly.”

———

(c)2020 Los Angeles Times


Indian President congratulates Armenia on Independence Day

Kalashian Nyrie

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 16:09,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. President of India Ram Nath Kovind congratulated Armenian President Armen Sarkissian on the Independence Day, the Armenian President’s Office told Armenpress.

On behalf of the Indian government, people and himself personally President Ram Nath Kovind addressed warm wishes and congratulations to President Sarkissian and the Armenian people.

“India and Armenia are united by warm and friendly ties. Our bilateral and multilateral cooperation and human contacts have expanded in social, political, cultural and other spheres within the course of years. I hope that our joint efforts will further strengthen the multisectoral cooperation between India and Armenia”, reads the Indian President’s congratulatory letter.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia’s population should be at least 5 million by 2050 – PM

Kalashian Nyrie

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 13:15,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The population of Armenia should reach at least 5 million by 2050, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said while introducing Armenia’s 2050 Transformation Strategy.

“1,5 million jobs must be created by 2050. The talk is, of course, about new jobs”, he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is introducing Armenia’s transformation strategy – the pan-Armenian agenda directed for Armenia’s development by 2050.

The PM is presenting the strategy in the Matenadaran on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of Armenia’s Independence.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Anna Melikyan’s film wins prize at Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival

Kalashian Nyrie
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 19 2020
Culture 11:16 19/09/2020World

“The Trio” by Russian-Armenian film director Anna Melikyan won a prize at the 31st Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival for best cinematography, Vesti.ru reported.

A film about a love triangle, “The Trio” was included in the main competition program of the most important Russian film festival along with 12 other full-length films.

Russian director Dmitry Davydov won the grand prize of the Kinotavr Film Festival for his film “Scarecrow”.

The film festival took place in Sochi on September 11–18.



Another My Step lawmaker steps down

Kalashian Nyrie
Aysor, Armenia
Sept 17 2020

My Step lawmaker Armen Pambukhchyan has submitted resignation application on September 17, NA speaker Ararat Mirzoyan stated.

“If during a week he does not take it back, the NA speaker makes statement and a report on suspension of his duties is being prepared,” Mirzoyan stated.



ANN/Armenian News Conversations – Telecommunications security in Armenia, evolution and future challenges – 09/15/2020

Kalashian Nyrie

Armenian News Network / Armenian News

Conversations on Armenian News: Telecommunications security in Armenia, evolution and future challenges

ANN/Armenian News

Table of Contents

Hello and welcome to Armenian News Network, Armenian News. I’m Hovik Manucharyan.

In this Conversation on Armenian News episode, we’ll be talking about security in telecommunications in Armenia. Our guest is an expert in security and has spent over 8 years as chief corporate counsel for one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Armenia.

Before we start, please help us increase our reach by subscribing and liking us on whatever platform you listen to us on, and help spread the word by sharing this podcast on your social media channels. Thanks in advance!

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  • Hovik Manucharyan

  • Asbed Bedrossian

Our guest today is David Sandukhchyan, who is a lawyer with 20 years of experience in telecommunications, cyber law, media and personal data protection. He was Chief Counsel for over 8 years at Beeline, one of the leading Armenian telecom operators, which operates Armentel. David is a certified ISO information security auditor, and works as an independent consultant out of Toronto, Canada.

Welcome and thanks for joining us again David.

Major milestones in development of Armenia’s telecommunications market:

  • Armentel

  • Orange

  • UCOM

Let’s spend 5 minutes informing our listeners how we got to today. 

The telecommunications market in Armenia started with the monopoly of the incumbent operator ArmenTel owned jointly by the Greek state-owned company OTE (90%) and Armenian government (10%). The sale-purchase agreement granted ArmenTel (recently rebranded to VEON) exclusive rights to provide basic telco services including international Internet connectivity, mobile and fixed telephony. ArmenTel’s monopoly remained until 2005 when after a series of negotiations, the monopoly on mobile communication was abolished and the second operator entered the market. In 2007 OTE sold its shares to Vimpelcom, a Russian private company operated under the Beeline trademark. Shortly after that Armenian government agreed to sell Vimpelcom the remaining 10% of state-owned shares in exchange for liberalisation of all telecommunication markets. 2008 can be seen as the beginning of Armenia’s liberal telecommunications market. Today, Amenia has three major mobile service providers: two (VEON-Armenia and MTS-Armenia) owned by Russian businesses and one (Ucom) owned by a mixed capital of Armeian and Russian rich families. There are also three leading wireline operators: also, two Russian (VEON-Armenia and GNC Alpha also known as Rostelecom) and Ucom. One of the most recent development in Armenia’s telecom market has been Ucom’s intention to purchase VEON that failed due to criminal charges that were brought against one of its owners, Gurgen Khachatryan, the son of former head of state revenue service authority Gagik Khchatryan, who has been arrested and charged with misuse of the state budget and money laundering. The story did not stop there, but it’s outside of our scope here today.

Over the past few months we’ve seen a public tussle between Georgia’s regulatory commission and an Azeri company called NEQSOL which acquired 49% of Caucasus Online, a Georgian telecommunications company. How does this deal affect Armenia’s national security given that a significant portion of its internet traffic goes through Georgia (including Caucasus Online)?

  • Georgian Authorities Seek to Block Azerbaijani Investment in Telecommunications Infrastructure

  • Wouldn’t want us to be exaggerating. Sale of 49% of Georgian internet provider shares to Azerbaijan will not pose a threat to Armenia’s information security – minister

  • Azerbaijani Press: Georgia’s Actions to Seize Foreign Company Disrupt Telecommunications Corridor Between Europe & Asia

External nation-state threats:

  • Interception

  • Traffic analysis

  • Denial of service

In general, purchasing or controlling shares (for example by an Azerbaijani company) does not immediately result in substantial threats for Armenia in terms of information security. The company would remain Georgian and in the control of the Georgian government and unless major shareholders would want a corporate risk of illegal spying on Armenian data traffic it would not affect the security of international communication of Armenian citizens and government. A slide from corporate integrity to pervasive international cyberhacking that affects the Armenian citizens and government would not go unnoticed and there would be opportunities for Armenia to react. However, this doesn’t mean that the situation will remain comfortable for Armenia: risk of interception of both voice and data traffic will constantly need to be monitored, assessed and managed on an ongoing basis. But the news is a good trigger to think how Armenia should secure its connectivity with the world and what should be done to improve resilience of the country’s communications system. 

One of the solutions might be Armenian companies investing in trans-Georgian fiber-optic cable.  Georgia has relatively (compared with other countries of the region) liberal telecommunications legislation including enforceable infrastructure sharing regulation. The first step the Armenian government must take is to encourage investments in building such a cable system that both Armenian operators and Georgian businesses may benefit from. 

That concludes this week’s Conversation On Armenian News on telecommunications security in Armenia. 

We look forward to your feedback, including your suggestions for Conversation topics in the future. Contact us on our website, at Armenian News.org, or on our Facebook Page “ANN – Armenian News”, or in our Facebook Group “Armenian News – Armenian News Network”.

Special thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. I’m Hovik Manucharyan, and on behalf of everyone in this episode, I wish you a good week. Thank you for listening and we’ll talk to you soon.

Additional:  David Sandukhchyan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Artsakh, Karabakh, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Telecommunications, Caucasus, Armentel, Beeline, UCOM, Vimpelcom, VEON, Greece, OTE, Monopoly, FDI, Infrastructure, Investment, Cellular, Internet, Data, Fibre, Optic, Channel, Black Sea, Caspian, Cable, NEQSOL, fiber optic, Caucasus Online