Author: Kanayan Tamar

Armenian, Iranian transport ministers discuss Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor

Kanayan Tamar

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 16:11,

YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s caretaker Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan held a meeting with the visiting Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammed Eslami.

They discussed the possibilities for enhancing the partnership between the two countries in road transportation sector, and also the construction of the interstate highways spanning to the Armenian-Iranian border, as well as issues of bolstering Armenia-Iran transit shipments and regulations and facilitations in the cargo transportation procedures, the ministry said in a readout. 

Papikyan expressed certainty that Eslami’s visit will boost the further development of Armenian-Iranian transport communication. He presented to his Iranian counterpart the Armenian government’s priorities in improving road and transport infrastructures, including by highlighting the construction of the North-South highway and the possibilities it will create in increasing trade-economic turnover between the ports of the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea.

Minister Eslami reaffirmed Iran’s readiness towards mutually-beneficial initiatives contributing to deepening of economic ties, namely in bringing to life the Persian Gulf-Black Sea international transport corridor project. Eslami expressed Iran’s interest in expanding auto and rail communication with Armenia and involvement in the construction of the southern parts of the North-South road. In this context the sides exchanged ideas over the possibilities of enhancing the participation of Iranian companies in the projects aimed at infrastructure improvement in Armenia.

Papikyan briefed his Iranian counterpart on the development and launch of construction of the Sisian-Kajaran and Kajaran-Agarak parts of the North-South road. Stressing that high-level standards of construction are ensured, the minister said that involving state resources will create good prerequisites for the involvement of foreign, including Iranian construction companies.

Issues of facilitating the procedures and regulations in transit cargo shipments were also discussed. Papikyan said that the Armenian government has initiated a package of legislative changes which envisages to revise the tariffs and calculation parameters of the payments charged for Iranian transit cargo shipments through Armenian territory, and that as a result of the changes the tariffs will be lowered several times.

Other issues of inter-departmental cooperation were also discussed, and the joint work within the framework of the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission was touched upon.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Fresno Armenians Get a Building, Not an Entire School; Former Trustee Calls It a ‘Consolation Prize’

Kanayan Tamar
GVWire
May 20 2021

The new campus at Ventura and 10th will be named for Francine and Murray Farber. (GV Wire illustration/Justine Cha)

Nancy Price
May 20, 2021

Fresno Armenians Get a Building, Not an Entire School; Former Trustee Calls It a ‘Consolation Prize’ – GV Wire

The Fresno Unified School Board on Wednesday rejected the community’s overwhelming support to name the new campus at Ventura Avenue and 10th Street for veteran newsman and Fresno native Roger Tatarian.

After an hourlong discussion, the board voted 5-2 to name the campus that will house alternative education programs after local philanthropists Francine and Murray Farber.

Trustees Veva Islas and Terry Slatic, who rarely find themselves on the same side of an issue, cast the dissenting votes.

“We do not accept the consolation prize. Roger was the clear community choice.” — Former FUSD Trustee Michelle Asadoorian

Wednesday’s vote does not ease the political morass that developed after members of the Armenian community went public with their campaign to have a school named after a prominent member of their community — a campaign that former Bullard area Trustee Michelle Asadoorian said has been ongoing for years.

The motion by Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas to name the campus for the Farbers included a proposal intended to placate the vociferous and numerous supporters of Tatarian, who noted his local and worldwide impact as well as the fact that there are no Fresno Unified schools bearing an Armenian name.

Jonasson Rosas proposed naming specific buildings on the alternative education campus for Tatarian, longtime Fresno Unified administrator Dolphas Trotter — who received more support in community nominations than the Farbers — and for labor icon Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers.

Fresno Armenians Get a Building, Not an Entire School; Former Trustee Calls It a ‘Consolation Prize’ – GV Wire

The administration building on the Farber campus would bear Trotter’s name, the early childhood center would be named for Huerta, and the career technical education building for Tatarian, she said.

The School Board agreed in the 5-2 vote to take up the proposal at the next board meeting.

If the project stays on track, trustees could vote on the construction bid by next fall, and the campus could open for classes by August 2023.

Related Story: Take a Tour Through Fresno’s Planned $60M High School at Former …

Asadoorian, who now works as a trustee liaison for the district, on Thursday called Jonasson Rosas’ proposal a “consolation prize” that the Armenian community rejects.

“We do not accept the consolation prize,” she said. “Roger was the clear community choice.”

Slatic, in arguing for the new campus to be named for Tatarian, noted that none of Fresno Unified’s 110 schools are named for an Armenian, even though Armenians represent 7% of the city’s population. The district has schools named after Blacks, Latinos, Jews, and Hmong leader Vang Pao, but Armenians have been shut out, he said.

Fresno Armenians Get a Building, Not an Entire School; Former Trustee Calls It a ‘Consolation Prize’ – GV Wire

The district conducted a community survey that netted 1,667 nominations before it closed on May 7. In the survey, Huerta received 30 nominations. By contrast, Sunnyside’s beloved principal Tim Liles, who died suddenly last year, had 41 nominations but went unmentioned by district officials. Likewise, former Fresno Unified administrator Holland Locker, also beloved by many, had 68 nominations but was bypassed in the building naming.

Tatarian, who retired from the United Press International as editor-in-chief and then returned home to Fresno to teach and mentor journalism students, had 925 nominations in the community survey. Trotter, who served as the district’s interim superintendent in 2000, netted 120.

Related Story: Tatarian Name for New Fresno School Is Runaway Community Choice

Tatarian died in 1995, Trotter in 2009, and Locker in 2019.

Trotter’s supporters included former City Councilwoman Cynthia Sterling, who noted that the longtime administrator had made significant contributions to the district, including teaching and mentoring students at Fresno County’s old juvenile hall at 10th and Ventura, the site of the new campus.

“It would be an honor and a privilege to have the school named after him,” she told the trustees.

Jonasson Rosas said the naming is not a popularity contest, but a decision that according to board policy is up to the trustees.

She had made clear her support for the Farbers early on. In addition, her husband Luiz Chavez, president of the Fresno City Council and a former Fresno Unified trustee, authored a resolution in support of naming the campus for the Farbers.

The couple’s philanthropic efforts include Steve’s Scholars, named after their late son Steve Farber, which provides college scholarships to Tehipite students who maintain their grades, attendance and do community service, and who graduate from a Fresno Unified high school.

Fresno Armenians Get a Building, Not an Entire School; Former Trustee Calls It a ‘Consolation Prize’ – GV Wire

Asadoorian told GV Wire on Thursday that Chavez had approached her prior to Wednesday’s meeting with the offer to name a building on the campus after Tatarian.

“Luis Chavez … had requested to meet with me to try to strike a deal, which I found highly unusual because city councils should not be entering into school meetings,” Asadoorian said.

Jonasson Rosas said she also included in her motion naming a building for Huerta because residents had expressed support in emails and phone calls for considering the name of the iconic labor leader.

Those calls and emails apparently are in addition to the nominations that were made in the district survey that was released Monday after local news organizations, including GV Wire, submitted a public records request.

Asadoorian said she questions why the School Board even asks for input if it is going to be disregarded.

“The School Board is very aware that they get to do whatever they want. So don’t patronize the public in the future by asking for community input. Just go and do what you want. They have that right,” she said.

When asked by GV Wire after Wednesday’s meeting about the point of having a survey if the School Board ignores the will of the community, Jonasson Rosas said, “It’s not a vote tally in terms of who gets the most votes. Ultimately, as you saw in the board policy, it is up to the discretion of the board to choose the naming of the facilities. And I think it was a good, inclusive group of individuals that are all worthy of recognition.”

Jonasson Rosas would not identify Huerta’s supporters who called and sent emails but said they indicated they had not had an opportunity to participate in the survey.

Francine and Murray Farber

More than a dozen members of GO Public Schools Fresno were on hand for Wednesday’s School Board meeting at Gaston Middle School, asking the School Board to delay the vote and reopen the survey because many parents lack internet access or online prowess.

District spokeswoman Amy Idsvoog detailed the wide variety of communications tools, including emails and press releases, that the district had distributed in multiple languages to alert parents about the survey.

Islas, who made a motion to table the naming decision, said the parents needed time to have input. Her motion, which was not seconded, came after Jonasson Rosas’s motion that was quickly seconded by board president Valerie Davis.

Trustee Claudia Cazares said that if the communication process is flawed, the district needs to address it. But the same process to notify parents has been used up to this point, with no complaints, she said.

And she questioned why past School Boards had not made a greater effort to recognize an Armenian with a school naming. To accuse the current School Board, the first to be a majority of Black and brown people, to be discriminatory and not inclusive is unfair, Cazares said.

But Asadoorian said there were prior efforts to obtain a school naming for Tatarian. Members of the Armenian community were prepared to ask for Tatarian to be the namesake for the new elementary but were told it had been promised for the Farbers. So, they agreed to bow out and wait for the next school, she said. At the time, Asadoorian said, Jonasson Rosas indicated she would support an Armenian name for the next new school.

But then poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera’s name surfaced and was selected for the new southeast Fresno elementary, Asadoorian said.

The Armenian community believes Tatarian deserves an entire school named after him, Asadoorian said. She said it’s likely the trustees will either name a building after him, in flagrant disregard of the community’s wishes, or name the building after someone else and then say later that the Armenians had their chance but chose not to accept the naming honor.

“So that’s really a concern to us,” Asadoorian said. “We want inclusion and equality, just like has been awarded the Jews, the Blacks, the Latinos. That’s what our hopes are for the future.”

Armenia Says Some Azerbaijani Forces Leave Its Soil, Return to Original Positions

Kanayan Tamar
Tasnim News Agency, Iran
  • May, 23, 2021 – 17:45
  • Other Media news

“After the provocations carried out by Azerbaijan’s forces on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border the situation is relatively stable, as of noon on May 23 no incidents have been recorded. Late on May 22 some Azerbaijani forces, which had entered Armenian soil, returned to their original positions,” the statement said, TASS reported.

On May 12, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that Azerbaijan’s forces tried to carry out “a certain effort” in one of Syunik’s border regions in order to “adjust the border”. As the ministry stated, after the measures taken by the Armenian forces, the Azerbaijani servicemen halted these works.

In the evening of the same day, Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting of the republic’s Security Council, during which he slammed these events as an encroachment on Armenia’s territory. According to Pashinyan, the Azerbaijani forces crossed the country’s border, going 3.5 km deep.

The sides held talks to iron out the situation several times. The latest round of negotiations took place on May 16 with Russia’s mediation.

Armenpress: Azeri troops open fire at villager, servicemen in Artsakh

Kanayan Tamar

Azeri troops open fire at villager, servicemen in Artsakh

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 10:20,

YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. A criminal case was opened into the shooting by Azeri troops in the direction of a civilian and a group of servicemen of the Artsakh Defense Army near the village of Shosh. The civilian and the Artsakh servicemen were carrying out engineering works at a military position when they came under fire.

The prosecutor general’s advisor Gor Abrahamyan said that the Azeri servicemen opened gunfire from firearms for 7 minutes with intent to kill and destroy property motivated by ethnic hatred.

The civilian who was operating an excavator and the servicemen survived because they were able to take cover. The excavator was damaged.

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenia acting PM: New government has supported country’s demographic growth

Kanayan Tamar
News.am, Armenia
Armenia acting PM: New government has supported country’s demographic growth
15:43, 10.05.2021
R

Armenia’s new government has supported the country’s demographic growth. This is what acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during today’s discussion on election of Prime Minister in parliament.

According to him, the government has increased childcare benefits and introduced programs for support to families through mortgage loans. Pashinyan added that even though many citizens are discontent and say the outcome of the justice reforms wasn’t the outcome that the authorities were seeking to achieve, the reforms are revolutionary, and the judiciary has never been independent before the revolution.

Nikol Pashinyan issues message on Victory Day

Kanayan Tamar

 

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 11:09, 9 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Ministr of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan issued a message on Victory, Shushi Liberation and Artsakh Defense Army Formation Day.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message runs as follows,

‘’Dear compatriots,

Congratulations on the 76th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is a great holiday that we are justifiably proud of. We have always celebrated it and we will continue to mark this day, since the Armenian people made a huge contribution to the fight against fascism in the 20th century.

We suffered huge losses in that struggle. More than 500 thousand Armenians took part in the devastating war in the armies of the Soviet Union and allied nations, in the ranks of the resistance movement. 300 thousand Armenians fell for the sake of mankind’s victory; 107 were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

All this makes us assert that together with other Soviet nations, the Armenian people played a decisive role in bringing about the Great Victory. We went a long way towards halting the destructive war and saving human civilization from the clutches of fascism.

Our military matured during the Great Patriotic War, reaching unprecedented heights and gaining high professionalism in warfare. In the years following the war, thousands of Armenians went to serve in the Soviet Army; many of them joined the top military brass. We are proud of them; we will always keep their memory alive.

Many of them survived the Soviet Union and formed the backbone of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and the Defense Army of the Artsakh Republic. They liberated Shushi by merging with the heroic spirit of the modern-day Hayduks. Strong with the fighting spirit and the unwavering determination of the Armenian people, they had a decisive say in the struggle for Artsakh’s freedom.

Unfortunately, Shushi is not with us today. We mourn its captivity, but realize that we must celebrate the Shushi Liberation Day. It is one of the glorious chapters in Armenia’s modern history. It has been of great importance for our people. Liberated Shushi was a bulwark to ensure the security of Artsakh. At the same time, it provided preconditions for state-building efforts in Artsakh, made irreversible the fight for the right of Artsakh-based Armenians to self-determination.

We remember all those who gave their lives for the liberation of Shushi the ancient Armenian city. We bow to the memory of our martyrs who perished in the wars unleashed against the Armenian people.

Eternal glory to them!

Our pain is deep, our wounds are incurable. But we know that their sacrifice was not in vain: they fell for the defense of their homeland; they fell for the sake of freedom.

We must keep their memory alive and we must build on their noble cause. We will betray them if we fail to strengthen and develop our homeland. We will betray their memory if we fail to build a strong state to ensure the revival of Artsakh”.

Azerbaijan Commits War Crimes Against Armenians.

Kanayan Tamar

May 6 2021

Azerbaijan Commits War Crimes Against Armenians 

05/06/2021 Azerbaijan (International Christian Concern) –  According to lawyers at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), 19 Armenian prisoners of war were tortured and killed by Azerbaijani servicemen. Artak Zeynalyan and Siranush Sahakyan, who are representing all Armenian captives, accused Azerbaijan of war crimes and appealed to the ECHR. The list of 19 killed includes 12 civilians and seven servicemen.

Azerbaijan also continues to degrade Armenian heritage through the demolition of religious sites. Photos and videos confirm the vandalism against Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi. Angels sitting atop pillars at the main entrance were destroyed and a fence running along the perimeter of the property has been taken down. Just a few days later, photos indicate that the domes had been removed from the church as well.

Satellite imagery also shows the destruction of an Armenian cemetery in Mets Tagher. The site was in use when Armenians evacuated in late 2020. In the same village, not too far away from the destroyed cemetery, sits Surb Amenaprkitch church. Nearby construction appears to be threatening the 175-year-old church as land next to it has been leveled and trucks remain parked in the clearing.

In one incident of justice, two Syrian mercenaries were given life sentences in Armenia for criminal charges including terrorism. The two men, Muhrab Muhammad Al-Shkheir and Yousef Alabed Alhajj, pleaded guilty to the charges that took place during the Nagorno-Karabakh war. According to the court, the Syrians underwent military training from June to September 2020 before being sent to fight. Investigators claim they were recruited by pro-Turkish militant groups to “terrorize civilians” and commit war crimes. In addition to a fixed salary of $2,000, recruiters also promised an additional $100 for every Armenian killed. Some sources report different numbers, but regardless the Turkish-hired mercenaries were given incentives to mutilate or kill Armenians. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey deny the presence of any foreign mercenaries and Azerbaijan responded to the confessions claiming fraud.

Armenians are a predominately Christian community who have suffered multiple genocides because of their combined ethnic-faith identity. The events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 were reminiscent of the 1915 genocide which almost eliminated them from their native lands.


Turkish press: Turkey’s defense, aerospace exports reach $950M in Jan-April

Kanayan Tamar
A Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat reconnaissance aerial vehicle manufactured by Turkey’s Baykar Makina takes part in a military parade marking the end of the Nagorno Karabakh military conflict, Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10, 2020. (GettyImages)

Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry generated $950 million in exports in the first four months of this year, with the United States taking the lead among importing countries.

Sector exports jumped by 47.7% from the same period in 2020, according to Trade Ministry and Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) data compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA).

Foreign sales from the defense and aerospace industry increased in all four months from January to April with exports totaling $166.9 million, $233.2 million, $246.9 million and $302.5 million, respectively.

The commercial capital Istanbul had the highest defense and aerospace exports in January-April. During this period, exports from the city climbed 86.8% on an annual basis to $387.5 million.

It was followed by the capital, Ankara, and the central Turkish city of Konya with $204.5 and $131.7 million, respectively.

The U.S. was the top export market for the defense and aerospace industry sectors with over $386 million during the period, up 56% from a year earlier. It was followed by Azerbaijan with exports worth $117.3 million, up 1,234%, and the UAE with $90.3 million.

Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry exports to Azerbaijan in the first four months of the year surged by 1,234% compared to January-April 2020, when the sales totaled only $8.7 million.

The jump in the exports to the Caspian country came amid Azerbaijan’s victory over retaking its Armenia-occupied lands in Nagorno-Karabakh. The country relied heavily upon Turkey-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the operations, delivering a heavy toll on Armenian military equipment and thus allowing Azerbaijan to liberate its lands.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s April total exports increased 109%, compared to the same month last year, reaching $18.8 billion. This was the highest April export figure of all time.

In the January-April period, Turkey’s exports amounted to $68.8 billion.

Turkish press: Russia’s foreign minister vows retaliation against EU sanctions

Kanayan Tamar
Elena Teslova   |07.05.2021
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meets Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan (not seen) during his official visit to Yerevan, Armenia on May 06, 2021. ( RUS Foreign Ministry Press Office – Anadolu Agency )

MOSCOW

Russia will retaliate against sanctions imposed by the European Union, although it considers the restrictions placed on Russian citizens and entities “a road to nowhere,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday. 

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan following a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan, Lavrov said the EU has introduced sanctions against Russia “without any persuasive grounds.”

“We will not leave unanswered such attacks on Russia, on members of the Russian leadership, on parliamentarians of the Russian Federation, and on our companies whose only culpability in the eyes of the European Union is their registration in a country that the EU has chosen to declare an aggressor illegally and for no reason,” he said.

Commenting on Russia’s recent decision to blacklist eight top EU officials, Lavrov said: “We declared persona non grata those people in the European Union structures and in a number of EU member states due to the fact that they took a decisive part in the next wave of sanctions against our officials, including parliamentarians.”

He added that the exchange of sanctions started “from an anti-constitutional coup” which happened despite the guarantees given to the Ukrainian leadership by the European countries.

“If we talk about relations between Russia and the European Union, between the Brussels structures, then the entire architecture of these relations, which was probably unprecedented in its time, was destroyed by Brussels in connection with the events that took place in Ukraine.

“We should have a claim against Europe for supporting and encouraging the coup in Ukraine, contrary to its obligations. It’s sad, but it’s not our choice. Once again, if you just look at the statistics of everything that happened after March 2014, you will instantly see who started this series of sanctions and what is the reason why we cannot help but respond to this hostility,” he said.

Ukraine has been plagued by conflict in its eastern regions since the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in March 2014 after he rejected the Ukrainian-European Association Agreement, followed by Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has seen more than 13,000 people killed, according to the UN.

– Karabakh conflict ‘stabilized’

Turning to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Lavrov said the situation there has been stabilized and there are only minor incidents that are quickly tackled by Russian peace-keeping forces.

He then called for not politicizing the peace process in the region, saying the issues of the routes connecting the region, line of contact, delimitation and demarcation of borders are being resolved.

“These are practical, understandable things that need to be resolved in order for the region to breathe freely and live a peaceful life. Those who try to leave these issues for later and first engage in political discussions, in my opinion, put the whole process on its head. It is much easier to solve political issues when people begin to live normally on the ground,” he said.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27 last year, Armenia launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and even violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the six week-conflict, which ended with a Russian-brokered truce, Azerbaijan liberated several strategic cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from Armenian occupation. The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

A joint Turkish-Russian center was established to monitor the truce. Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed in the region.

Turkish press: Biden remarks interfere in Turkish internal affairs: Malaysian NGO

Kanayan Tamar
 ANKARA DIPLOMACY 
APR 26, 2021 9:32 AM GMT+3
President Joe Biden holds speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during a press-time address from the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 11, 2021. (AP Photo)

U.S. President Joe Biden’s statements on the 1915 events are an “interference in Turkey’s internal affairs,” Azmi Abdul Hamid, the president of the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organization (MAPIM) stated on Monday.

Condemning the remarks, Hamid told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he found it wrong that Biden chose a side, agreeing with the Armenian claims.

Last Saturday, President Joe Biden called the events of 1915 a “genocide,” breaking with American presidents’ long-held tradition of refraining from using the term.

Biden’s remarks came in a customary statement on the anniversary, a day after speaking with President Erdoğan. Biden is said to have acknowledged during the conversation that he planned to go ahead with the statement and was seeking to placate the expected uproar from NATO ally Turkey.

“Western countries remain silent on the genocide that Israel continues to carry out in Palestine and India in Kashmir,” Hamid said, adding that the Indian army “has killed about 600,000 Kashmiris” since 1947 and Israel has “displaced millions of Palestinians.”

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara David Satterfield has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry over Biden’s statement recognizing the so-called “Armenian genocide.” A statement from the ministry said that Ankara’s strong reaction was expressed to the envoy by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkey denounced Biden’s statements regarding the 1915 events in the “strongest terms.”

“It is clear that the said statement does not have a scholarly and legal basis, nor is it supported by any evidence. With regards to the events of 1915, none of the conditions required for the use of the term ‘genocide’ that is strictly defined in international law are met,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It underlined that the understanding of the events of 1915 cannot be altered according to politicians’ current political motives.