Author: Kanayan Tamar

26 MPs of pro-Kurdish party charged with ‘offending Turkish state’ after calling for Armenian Genocide recognition

Kanayan Tamar
 NEWS.am 
Dec 27 2021
26 MPs of pro-Kurdish party charged with ‘offending Turkish state’ after calling for Armenian Genocide recognition
17:28, 27.12.2021

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ankara threatens to conduct an inquest into 26 deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for calling on the Turkish government to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The deputies are charged with “offending the Turkish state”, in accordance with Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Turkey, for a statement that was made on April 24th (Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide), Ahval reports, citing T24 news website.

During the session of the Central Executive Body on April 24th, the HDP called on Turkey to recognize the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, and this sparked Ankara’s heated reactions.

According to T24, political figures of the HDP will be under examination, if the Turkish Ministry of Justice approves of the inquest.

The politicians are charged with “offending the “Turkish nation and the Turkic Republic””, T24 reports, citing the record on the trial.

Armenia PM: Catastrophe took place in Karabakh negotiations in 2016

Kanayan Tamar
News.am, Armenia
Dec 24 2021
00:36, 25.12.2021

The most important topic and the one that is somewhat complicated is for the government to be able to present all the layers of the process of negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict when talking to the public — the issue on the rights of Azerbaijanis who lived in Nagorno-Karabakh has never been challenged during the whole course of negotiations. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated during his online press conference today.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast has never been viewed as merely and only an Armenian entity during the process of negotiations because during the negotiations it was recorded that Azerbaijanis also lived in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and the protection of their rights was part of the negotiations. I have stated that when there were talks about a referendum for adjustment of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, there were also talks about the whole population of Nagorno-Karabakh. This means not only the Armenian population, but also the Azerbaijani population,” he said.

Pashinyan declared that today people are making statements that have nothing to do with the content of the negotiations as of 2018. “When I say that a catastrophe took place in the process of negotiations in 2016, this is the context that I’m referring to. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast has always been considered an Armenian and Azerbaijani entity, at least with respect to the population,” he said.

Asked what catastrophe took place in 2016, Pashinyan said the following: “A very important thing took place — in 2016, the Co-Chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group] presented three packages of proposals in which, since 2011, there hadn’t been a phrase about Nagorno-Karabakh obtaining an interim status. Throughout the process of negotiations, the Armenian side’s position has been to do everything possible to make sure the conflict is ultimately resolved in the domain of the Minsk Group. In 2016, in essence, the parameters of the solution to the issue were moved to the UN Security Council.

The issue that will be solved is the issue on which part of the country Nagorno-Karabakh will be in until the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is determined, even with an interim status. When this is in the United Nations Security Council, this is very predictable because back in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution stating that (a) “Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan” and (b) it recognizes the territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan. This is the catastrophe that took place in 2016. This is important in that if that status of Nagorno-Karabakh is recorded, it means that the adjustment of the final status will be in accordance with the Constitution of Azerbaijan,” the Prime Minister said, adding that, in essence, the issue on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was returned to the domain of the UN Security Council in 2016.

Touching upon the allegations against him about giving lands, Pashinyan said they are groundless allegations.

Armenian PM, Russian Deputy PM discuss prospects for restoring transport communications in the region

Kanayan Tamar
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 22 2021
, 11:15

 1 minute read

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk.

Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin were present at the meeting. The interdepartmental delegation headed by the Russian Deputy Prime Minister is in Yerevan for the sitting of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.

The Russian Deputy Prime Minister thanked for the reception and emphasized that the bilateral contacts were quite intensive this year. A number of business missions, representatives of Russian business, who are very interested in working in Armenia, visited Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan and Alexei Overchuk discussed issues related to the agenda of Armenian-Russian cooperation and economic ties. The interlocutors referred to the volumes of bilateral trade in 2021 and noted hailed the growth in that direction. The sides attached importance to the efforts to develop trade and economic and investment cooperation, to fully utilize the existing potential in the sphere.

The parties exchanged views on the prospects for the restoration of transport communications in the South Caucasus, the activities of a trilateral working group headed by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Coordination Steering Group Armenia: Secondary data review (SDR) matrix

Kanayan Tamar
Relief Web
Dec 23 2021
Format
Assessment

 

Source
  • REACH

    •  

 

Posted
23 Dec 2021

 

Originally published
23 Dec 2021

 

Origin
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Context

A year has passed since the outbreak of the Nagorno Karabakh (NK) conflict in September 2020, which left over 90,000 people of NK displaced from their homes and relocated to Armenia. As of May 2021, the majority of these people have returned to NK , and those who remain (approximately 28,719 people ) are expected to stay for the longer term, due to the movement of their areas of origin (AoO) under Azerbaijani control and other factors (such as security concerns and socioeconomic challenges) that increase their vulnerability.
Additionally, the movement dynamics are still changing, though much slower than at the onset of the conflict outbreak and displacement to Armenia.

Most of the refugee-like population has settled in Yerevan, which hosts larger livelihood opportunities, in Syunik, which is the closest marz to Nagorno Karabakh, and which hosts the vital route connecting Armenia to NK, and in marzes adjacent to Yerevan, such as Kotayk, Ararat and Armavir. Relatively smaller shares of the refugee-like population remained in the other marzes – Lori, Shirak, Tavush, Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor.

According to the latest data, most of the refugeelike population rents an apartment and a smaller share of the population lives with a host HH or in an own apartment. Nevertheless, there is still a share of the remaining refugee-like population living in collective centres/sites4 , conditioning these groups being among the most vulnerable.
Given the continued presence of refugee-like population, there is a need to make a shift to early recovery programming and development response after the completion of immediate emergency assistance, especially as the Inter-Agency Response Plan (IARP) is being updated for the duration till the end of 2021. An understanding of continuing conflict and displacement-related needs, and the data challenges in assessing them, must be considered in longer-term.

Azerbaijan returns 10 others military detainees to Armenia

Kanayan Tamar
Dec 19 2021
Baku, Dec 19 (Prensa Latina) Azerbaijan handed over 10 soldiers to Armenia who had been captured during clashes in the Kalbajar border region on November 16, as a result of the mediation of the European Union.
  • Published by: Lino Céspedes Rodríguez

According to the State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Citizens, on December 4 Baku also handed over 10 Armenian soldiers and in return, Yerevan gave Armenia maps of minefields in the Karabakh area.

Intense fighting between the armed forces of both countries took place on 16 November in the border areas of the Syunik region in Armenia.

Yerevan stated that the Azerbaijani army launched an offensive deep into Armenian territory, compromising the state highway that connects the capital of the republic with southern regions of the country and Iran.

For its part, Baku blamed Armenia for the incident, and accused its armed forces of provocation by attacking border checkpoints of the Azerbaijani army.

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Pro-government MPs boycott special parliament sitting initiated by opposition

Kanayan Tamar
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 15 2021

Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract faction on Wednesday boycotted a special parliament sitting initiated by the opposition to discuss issues related to the border delimitation and demarcation with Azerbaijan.

The sitting had been initiated by the Hayastan (Armenia) faction.

The attendance fell below the quorum of 54 MPs. Only 30 opposition lawmakers registered for the sitting.

Armenian Speaker of Parliament, Kazakh Ambassador discuss development of bilateral cooperation

Kanayan Tamar

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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. On December 14, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Armenia Bolat Imanbayev, the Parliament’s press service reports.

The Head of the Armenia-Kazakhstan Friendship Group Vagharshak Hakobyan also attended the meeting.

After exchanging greetings Alen Simonyan congratulated the Ambassador on the occasion of Independence Day to be marked in Kazakhstan in the near future.

The Head of Parliament highlighted the development of cooperation with Kazakhstan, in the bilateral format, as well as in the international parliamentary structures.

The sides touched upon the cooperation of the two countries in the CIS Inter-Parliamentary, the CSTO Parliamentary Assemblies, in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and in the EAEU.

In the context of bilateral relations, the Speaker also underlined that the inter-parliamentary cooperation, where he considered as a key issue the role of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

The post-war situation was discussed, particularly the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners of war and the captive persons by Azerbaijan.

In strengthening of the Armenian-Kazakh relations the parties highlighted the role of the Armenian community of Kazakhstan.

Turkey and Armenia start normalizing relations?

Kanayan Tamar
Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 14 2021
 13 Dec in 22:00

Turkey and Armenia will mutually appoint special envoys to discuss steps to normalize ties, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced Monday.

The two countries will also restart charter flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, Çavuşoğlu said at his ministry’s budget discussions in the Parliament, according to TRT Haber.

Çavuşoğlu said Turkey would coordinate steps to normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

On December 10, the first meeting of the “3+3” Consultative Regional Platform was held in Moscow under the co-chairmanship of Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, Azerbaijan’s Khalaf Khalafov, Armenia’s Vahe Gevorkian, Turkey’s Sedat Onal, as well as Director General of the Eurasia Department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Alireza Haghighian.

Bodies of hundreds killed in Karabakh handed over to Baku, Yerevan

Kanayan Tamar
Iran Front Page
Dec 9 2021
By

 IFP Media Wire

 –

December 9, 2021

More than 1,900 bodies of those killed in the latest escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh have been handed over to Armenia and Azerbaijan by Russian peacekeepers, Rustam Muradov, deputy commander of the Russian Southern Military District, told TASS on Thursday.

“The peacekeepers returned more than 1,960 bodies to the local authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Search operations are continued,” he said, adding that more than 100 soldiers on both sides were released from prison and returned to their home countries.

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. As per 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. In addition, a number of districts came under Baku’s control.

Armenia human rights activist: Number of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan is 80 more than the confirmed one

Kanayan Tamar
News.am, Armenia
Dec 10 2021
18:15, 10.12.2021

Azerbaijan has concealed the number of Armenian prisoners of war. Before the incident that took place on Nov. 16, based on confirmed data, 40 prisoners of war are held in Azerbaijan, but this is not the real number. At least another 80 are in captivity, but Azerbaijan refuses to officially state that they are captives. There is no information about their destinies to date. They are either held in captivity or killed. This is what advocate for the Armenian prisoners of war in the European Court of Human Rights Siranush Sahakyan said during today’s discussion.

She expressed regret that the officially declared number is inaccurate and says she is surprised why inaccurate numbers have been announced. “Azerbaijan also hasn’t confirmed the number of those who were captured after the Nov. 16 incident, and representatives of the Red Cross haven’t visited them in Baku. “Based on the studies of human rights activists, 32-33 servicemen were captured,” Sahakyan said, adding that the Armenian side is in an unmatched position with Azerbaijan in the sense that it is paying analytical centers and lawyers to present the reality in favor of Baku.

“In the context of application of dual standards, the International Court of The Hague rejected Armenia’s request to release the Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan immediately. This goes to show that Armenia needs to rely on itself. Nevertheless, it is necessary to positively assess the fact that The Hague obliged Azerbaijan to ensure equality before the law and refrain from using violence. This doesn’t mean that violence is ruled out in Azerbaijan. If Azerbaijan continues to use violence against the prisoners of war under international protection and if this is documented again, there will be more international pressure to hold Azerbaijani officials, soldiers or representatives of the army liable. These actions will be interpreted as not only actions against the Armenians, but also actions against the reputation of international courts,” Sahakyan concluded.