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Author: Kanayan Tamar

New top appointments announced in the Armenian military

Kanayan Tamar

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 17:23,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Acting President Alen Simonyan signed decrees on new appointments in the Armed Forces.

Armen Gyozalyan was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces/Head of the General Tactical Department of the General Staff. He was earlier the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.

Seryozha Stepanyan was appointed Head of the Morale Support Department of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Vachagan Nersesyan was appointed Head of the Department of Military Training of the General Department of Readiness of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Gor Nikoyan was appointed Chief of the Rocket and Artillery Forces of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Karen Grigoryan was appointed Chief of the Engineering Troops of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Arayik Minasyan was appointed Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.

Bagrat Matevosyan was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.

No extra-parliamentary force involved in activities of 2020 war commission at the moment – senior lawmaker

Kanayan Tamar

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 12:47, 14 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The participation of extra-parliamentary forces in the works of the commission aimed at investigating the circumstances of the 2020 Artsakh War can only happen as a result of a legal decision, Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defense and security affairs Andranik Kocharyan said at a press conference.

“At this moment no extra-parliamentary force is involved in the activities of the commission. Of course, they have such a wish, because there is such a platform of extra-parliamentary forces which meet regularly and discuss issues relating to our country and also the 44-day war. And of course, these forces have such a wish, but in what legal format these desires can be implemented, it will be decided by the defense and security committee which now is also the investigative commission. In other words, it can happen only as a result of a legal decision”, Kocharyan said.

Armenpress: Turkish, Azerbaijani nationals among asylum seekers in Armenia

Kanayan Tamar

Turkish, Azerbaijani nationals among asylum seekers in Armenia

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 09:41, 16 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. 260 foreign nationals applied for asylum in Armenia in 2021, the State Migration Service said in response to a query from ARMENPRESS.

Among other nationalities, the asylum seekers include Turkish and Azerbaijani nationals.

Most asylum seekers (118 persons) are Iranian citizens. Of these 118, 42 were denied asylum while 35 had their applications suspended or dropped. 40 Iranians were granted refugee status, and three others had their refugee status revoked.

52 Iraqi citizens applied for asylum in Armenia in 2021, with 9 being granted refugee status and 4 having their application suspended or dropped.

Furthermore, 20 of the 27 Syrian citizens who applied for asylum were granted refugee status, and two had their application suspended or dropped.

In addition, 14 Cuban citizens applied for asylum: 7 were rejected, 1 was granted refugee status, and the applications of 2 others were suspended or dropped.

7 Russian citizens also applied for asylum: 4 were rejected and 1 application was suspended.

6 citizens of Turkey are also among the asylum seekers. Of these applications, 1 was denied, 1 was suspended and only 3 were granted refugee status in Armenia in 2021. 

2 Azerbaijani nationals were denied asylum in Armenia and another application was suspended in 2021.

Citizens of China, Ukraine, Jordan, Georgia and other countries are also among asylum seekers in 2021.

Demonstrators in Yerevan ask United Nations to prevent destruction of Armenian monuments by Azerbaijan

Kanayan Tamar

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 16:53,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. A demonstration was held outside the UN Armenia Office in Yerevan demanding the international community and the UN to take measures and prevent the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh by Azerbaijan.

Gayane Abrahamyan, a former lawmaker and the representative of the For Equal Rights Educational Center, told reporters that the demonstration is organized by several NGOs and public figures.

“The Azerbaijani side is falsely claiming that the heritage which is in Artsakh for centuries isn’t Armenian. This is a lie, however the actions that they are carrying out for decades cause concern that one day we wont be able to counter these lies. That’s why we are stressing that we have months. If we don’t fight against these lies now and don’t apply to all possible international organizations, namely UNESCO, we will simply lose the Armenianness of Artsakh, because the Azerbaijani authorities are trying to erase our trace. By doing so, they are trying to rule out the right to self-determination from the Armenian side and generally any aspiration in Artsakh,” Abrahamyan warned.

She reminded that the International Court of Justice ruled that Azerbaijan must take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artefacts.

Abrahamyan said they will meet the UN Armenia Office administration after the demonstration. She said they’ve addressed a letter to UNESCO last week.

Anther member of the initiative, Seda Grigoryan, highlighted the need to ensure access of international monitoring groups to the territories which Azerbaijan captured during the war. “According to the information I have the Armenian authorities are doing everything they can so that such groups are dispatched there, but Azerbaijan is denying access. International observers must go and see the monuments on the ground and document them,” she said.

Photos by Hayk Manukyan




Armenia’s food grain production drops sharply

Kanayan Tamar
  News.am  
Armenia – Feb 10 2022
Armenia’s food grain production drops sharply
21:52, 10.02.2022

In 2021, Armenia produced 149.6 thousand tons of grain, the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Economy said in response to a written request from NEWS.am.

In 2019 and 2020, the figure was 195,000 tonnes and 241,900 tonnes, respectively. This indicates a 38% decline in production in 2021 compared to the previous year.

Earlier, NEWS.am reported that Armenia’s food grain imports (458.7 thousand tonnes, including 349.8 thousand tonnes of wheat) increased by 30% after the 44-day war. Another reason for the grain shortage is apparently the high share of uncultivated arable land, which, according to the Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan, reaches up to 50%.

Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders discuss issues of demining, opening communications

Kanayan Tamar
TASS, Russia
Feb 4 2022
An agreement was reached to send a UNESCO mission to Azerbaijan and Armenia

BAKU, February 4. /TASS/. Issues of demining and opening transport communications were the focus of Azerbaijani videoconference with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel, Azerbaijan’s state news agency Azertac reported on Friday.

Aliyev “focused special attention on issues of <…> increased international assistance in the area of demining territories liberated from occupation and opening of a transport corridor, including a rail and motor roads,” it said.

According to Azertac, other topics included issues of the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, “including humanitarian problems, issues of building up trust, delimitation and demarcation of borders, the beginning of talks on a peaceful agreement.”

An agreement was reached to send a UNESCO mission to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.

Several months later, on January 11, the three leaders met in Moscow and reached an agreement on unblocking regional communications. Following this agreement, a working group at the level of deputy prime ministers was set up.


Azerbaijani press: Baku urges int’l pressure on Armenia to fulfill obligations

Kanayan Tamar
8 February 2022 17:55 (UTC+04:00)
841

By Vugar Khalilov

Baku has urged the international community to put pressure on Yerevan to fulfill its obligations regarding the fate of Azerbaijani citizens who went missing during the first Karabakh war (1988-1994).

In a statement published on its website on February 8, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said: “We call on the international community to put pressure on the Armenian side to take responsibility for clarifying the fate of the missing Azerbaijani citizens, the bloody legacy of the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war, and to demand that it fulfills its obligations.”

The ministry recalled that in exchange for the return of eight Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan, Armenia promised to provide information on Azerbaijani citizens missing in the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war and their mass graves.

However, the statement made by Yerevan on February 7 about Armenia’s non-commitment regarding the abovementioned issue should be regarded as the most extreme example of disrespect for the norms of international humanitarian law and the principle of humanism, the ministry stressed.

It was reminded that, under the 1949 Geneva Convention and its relevant protocols, as well as general international humanitarian law, Armenia is required to provide information on civilian and military Azerbaijani citizens (who were systematically killed by Armenian armed forces) and the location of their mass graves.

The ministry emphasized that humanitarian issues were one of the main topics of the videoconference held on February 4 at the initiative of French President Emanuel Macron, with participation from Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Emmanuel Macron, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

During the videoconference, Aliyev underlined that Armenia had to provide information about the mass graves of 3,890 Azerbaijani citizens (including 71 children, 267 women and 326 elderly people) that went missing during the first Karabakh war. This issue was supported by the presidents of France and the Council of the European Union. The presidents of France and the European Union Council both supported this issue.

Armenia, which is responsible for determining the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijani citizens, promised to cooperate in this matter.

The ministry stated that Armenia’s denial of its international humanitarian obligations, as well as promises made during the video conference on February 4, is completely outside the moral, ethical, and legal framework in light of Azerbaijan’s discovery and return of the bodies of 1,708 Armenian servicemen.

Furthermore, Armenia’s mass arrest and persecution of its military servicemen, who were returned by Azerbaijan as a sign of humanism, should be viewed as a special state “care” for its citizens, the ministry added.

It should be noted that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has created a DNA database of over 3,000 people based on DNA samples collected from missing persons’ families.

The fate of Azerbaijani citizens who have been missing for approximately 30 years can be clarified as a result of testing of the remains to be removed from mass graves (based on information provided by Armenia), the ministry concluded.

Yerevan reacts to Lukashenko’s controversial remarks about Armenia

Kanayan Tamar
Feb 8 2022
February 8, 2022 – 13:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Yerevan has responded to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s controversial remarks about how Armenia “can’t escape” a union state with Russia and Belarus.

“Armenia can’t escape it. You think anyone needs them? They have already seen it,” Lukashenko said in an interview with Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry noted in its response that “such a unique geopolitical analysis” of the President of Belarus is primarily aimed at serving his own domestic political agenda and have nothing to do with Armenia and her foreign policy.

The Union State is a supranational organization consisting of Russia and Belarus, “with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defense policy.”

Azerbaijan Ministry for Culture confirms course of destruction of Armenian cultural heritage

Kanayan Tamar
  News.am  
Armenia – Feb 8 2022
15:08, 08.02.2022

The Ministry for Culture of Azerbaijan has issued a statement confirming the intention to destroy and “Albanianize” the Armenian cultural heritage in the now Azerbaijani-occupied territories. This statement reads as follows, in particular:

“Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that historical and religious monuments located in our liberated territories constitute part of the Azerbaijani heritage and as such, their protection falls under the responsibility of the Azerbaijani state. Restoration of mosques along with 2 Christian churches, within the large-scale restoration and reconstruction process in Shusha [(Shushi)], can be considered as a vivid example of this. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan does not discriminate its historical and cultural heritage based on religious and ethnic ground and is committed to its obligations under international conventions, including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. It should be added that, the Ministry for Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan is currently conducting relevant monitoring procedures in the liberated territories.

When it comes to the ancient Albanian heritage in the liberated Azerbaijani territories, it should be noted that a working group has been set up to study this heritage. The working group, comprised of both local and international experts, will monitor and study this Christian heritage, subject to the security conditions on the ground. Should any falsifications be identified, they will be documented with the participation of international experts and presented to the international community. We would also like to recall that any alterations on the historical and cultural heritage, as well as altering their origin runs in contradiction with the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention.”