Author: Kanayan Tamar

The Washington Post: Despite State Department’s calls, Azerbaijan still refuses to return Armenian POWs – opinion

Kanayan Tamar

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YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. Despite a nudge from a senior State Department official, Azerbaijan has so far refused to return Armenian prisoners who were captured during the recent war in Nagorno Karabakh, Columnist David Ignatius said in an opinion published at The Washington Post.

“U.S. officials say that 52 Armenians are still held by Azerbaijan, despite earlier exchanges of prisoners”, the columnist says, adding that Baku claims that these are not participants of the war, but came there after the ceasefire, in late November, and are terrorism suspects, an allegation that Armenia denies.

“Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, raised the issue of the captives with Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, during a telephone call in February and requested that the International Committee of the Red Cross be allowed to visit the prisoners. The ICRC was promptly granted access. U.S. officials continued in the following weeks to advocate the release of detainees”, David Ignatius says and quoted the remarks of a senior Biden administration official who said: “We hope to see more detainees released. We’re not negotiating, but we’re urging them to exercise goodwill”.

“Observers had hoped that Azerbaijan might release the Armenian captives as a goodwill gesture at the time of the Nowruz holiday on March 20. But the Armenian detainees remained in custody”, he said.

The columnist also reminds that U.S. Congressmen have also joined the calls for the release of the Armenian POWs. A group led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, introduced a bill March 16 calling on Azerbaijan to immediately release all Armenian POWs and captured civilians.

Human Rights Watch issued a report on March 19 alleging that Azerbaijani forces had abused Armenian POWs after the war, based on interviews with four former prisoners. Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Washington, said during an interview that Azerbaijan rejected the Human Rights Watch findings but that any serious allegations of prisoner mistreatment would be investigated. 

David Ignatius stated that prisoner issue will gain additional emotional significance in April, connected with the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Turkish press: Do you live your reality or your dreams? | Column

Kanayan Tamar
 COLUMNS 
MAR 29, 2021 12:05 AM GMT+3
A man waves Turkey’s national flag at Sultanahmet Square, on the fourth anniversary of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt, Istanbul, Turkey, July 15, 2020. (Photo by Getty Images)

Both we and NATO know that Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft weapon system disturbs the U.S. not because its installation in a NATO country could be harmful to the alliance’s defense system or because of the $2.5 billion (TL 20.33 billion) Turkey will put in Russia’s pocket. It is disturbed by Turkey’s cooperation with Russia on aerial defense systems.

This partnership provides Turkey with technical training opportunities as well as missile technologies expertise. That is to say, Turkey is about to take an essential step toward achieving independence in terms of its defense, a goal that has already been nearly 70% realized.

This is mostly a national defense issue and therefore those announced percentages should be viewed accordingly, but if the list of the items and the video images rolling on TV screens when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speak can be taken as indicators of the real developments happening in Turkey then it is safe to say defense independence is a genuine issue on Turkish minds.

Mark the word “real” in the previous sentence. Ever since Hermann Hesse – a German-Swiss poet, novelist, painter and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize for literature – uttered his famous words “there is no reality except the one contained within us,” and Dr. Phil made us believe that what is contained within us as reality is what others say is true, we have lived in a post-truth age.

We see one reality in Turkey, the Pentagon sees another reality. The reality of Turkish-Russian synergy and how Turkey benefits from it does not fit into the world designed within heads in the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom.

This happens when you depart from American pragmatism and enter your own principled realism. Those principles are actually the dictates of an ideology that has already dragged the good U.S. of A. into countless wars which couldn’t be won.

Let the U.S. promise whatever it wants to promise to Greece by bringing an aircraft carrier under Turkey’s nose. It is not going to deter Turkey on its path to defense independence. U.S. President Joe Biden’s haughtiness will not discourage Erdoğan from achieving the vision, nor will the European Union nodding its collective head like a suction pump in agreement with veiled U.S. threats instill fear of the consequences in Turkish hearts

Emmanuel Macron of France has been trying this for months now. He is even selling his out-of-date Dassault Rafale aircraft to Greece for a song. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes that the warplanes will act as a deterrent to Turkey claiming its maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Let’s go back to the real truth: Turkey has been reemphasizing its willingness to join the EU, despite all their quarrels. Both the opposition and government alliances in Turkey agree on one thing: full membership in the EU.

Despite the country’s membership application having been neglected for 33 years, 11 months and 13 days, which many could consider declined, Turkey remains as adamant as it was when it applied for full European Council membership on April 14, 1987.

Turkey has renewed its full membership application on several occasions since then. Despite the obvious reluctance of the EU, most Turks sincerely support the EU quest. But no one should confuse the country’s natural tendency to be oriented towards the West with its acquired worries about the Western intentions about Turkey.

Turks have not fabricated these worries about Western intentions without reason. For them, Ottoman Empire came to its demise due to natural causes. For Turks, their survival on one-sixth of the empire’s area was achieved in spite of European and American designs.

Still today, books the purportedly tell the story of the U.S. and European grand-designs about Turkey and the region remain on top of best-selling lists.

Hence, when the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group (read France) stalls from freeing Nagorno-Karabakh from the Armenian occupation, not only people of Turkey but Azerbaijan as well remember those grand imperial schemes of the late 19th century on the region.

When those Biden neocons revive the plans for dismembering Iraq and Syria, not only the people of Turkey and Azerbaijan but all the Sunni and Shiite Arabs of the region, remember the Sykes-Picot agreements between France and England, as well as 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s maps presented at the Paris Conference.

When you do not deliver the planes that Turkey has been helping manufacture that have been paid in full to purchase, Turks are naturally going to assume that you do not want Turkey capable of sufficiently defending itself.

The absence of the F-35 warplanes is not going to make Turkey any less capable of defending itself. That is not the issue here. It is the very act of denying Turkey what rightfully belongs to it; the bullying attitude that says “We can do whatever we want to! And you can do nothing about it.” That is the message the deep state (or what former U.S. President Donald Trump used to call the “entrenched bureaucracy”) has been sending to Turkey.

But before lecturing Turkey, all prime ministers or presidents on the other side of the Danube should check their facts and their relationship with reality. Because the truth looks different from this side.

Human Rights Watch calls for international pressure on Azerbaijan over Armenian POWs –

Kanayan Tamar
Panorama, Armenia
March 23 2021

Azerbaijan’s international partners should press the Aliyev government to hold the perpetrators of the torture and degrading treatment against Armenian servicemen and civilians accountable, Human Rights Watch’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia Rachel Denber has told Armenpress news agency in an interview. The written answers of Rachel Denber to Armenpress are beloow. 

Question: During the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh War many videos posted on private Telegram accounts and groups showed Azerbaijani military servicemen humiliating, executing and committing other acts of inhumane treatment against numerous Armenian prisoners of war, including both servicemen and civilians. This is a clear violation of the third Geneva Convention which states that “prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated … In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation … Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.” In your opinion, how should the international community and human rights organizations react to this kind of conduct of the Azerbaijani military?

Rachel Denber: Human Rights Watch documented cases in which Azerbaijani forces subjected POWs to cruel and degrading treatment and torture– either when they were captured, during their transfer, or while in custody at various detention facilities. We also documented cases when they abused civilians. These are serious violations of the Geneva Conventions that rise to the level of a war crime. Azerbaijan’s international partners should press the government to hold the perpetrators accountable. They should regularly request information and updates on investigations and trials. This should be done in the framework of bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and also in multilateral fora, including the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

Question: The government of Azerbaijan continues violating the 2020 November 9 ceasefire terms regarding the exchange of PoWs and other detainees. The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev falsely stated that they have returned all PoWs and claimed that the remaining Armenians in their custody are not classified as such. The Azeri government went on to initiate fabricated criminal charges against them. Meanwhile, Armenia has returned all Azerbaijani captives pursuant to the “all for all” principle enshrined in the November 9 ceasefire. How do you assess such behavior by Azerbaijan?

Rachel Denber: Human Rights Watch is not in a position to verify the claims by Azerbaijan or Armenia about the numbers of people remaining in custody or their status. Regardless of these individuals’ status in custody, Azerbaijan still has obligations to protect their rights to decent conditions in custody, and to ensure that they are not subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/26/2021

Kanayan Tamar 
                                        Friday, 
Official Says Soviet-Era Military Maps ‘Temporarily’ Used At 
Armenian-Azerbaijani Border
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Deputy Prime Minister Tigan Avinian during a visit to Armenia’s southern Syunik 
province, January 29, 2021
Armenia and Azerbaijan are not engaged in the formal delimitation of their 
borders, while border guards are being temporarily deployed according to 
1975-1976 military maps, Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian said.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday, Avinian said that a 
process of border delimitation and demarcation would require at least the 
establishment of bilateral relations between the two neighboring nations that 
waged a war over Nagorno-Karabakh last fall.
“These are legal processes. As such we do not have legally fixed borders with 
Azerbaijan. For such processes, I think, we first need to have bilateral 
relations, because these processes presuppose the establishment of at least 
bilateral relations,” he said, adding that border delimitation and demarcation 
are a long process requiring much effort.
The need for specifying borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan arose after the 
two countries signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement last November 
putting an end to a six-week war in which more than 6,000 people were killed.
Under the terms of the document called a trilateral statement, a chunk of 
Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani 
administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
The agreement also led to the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers 
along frontline areas and a land corridor connecting the disputed territory with 
Armenia.
As Armenians withdrew from several districts it created an additional border 
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The matter, in particular, concerns Armenia’s 
southern Syunik province and eastern Gegharkunik province.
In the interview Avinian again insisted that Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed 
no other document besides the November 9 ceasefire agreement and the trilateral 
statement signed in Moscow on January 11 this year.
“In any case, I am not aware of any such document. As for the agreements on the 
Goris-David Bek section [of the road in Syunik], these agreements are with the 
Russian side, and Russian border guards are stationed there on the basis of 
these agreements,” the deputy prime minister explained.
Addressing the issue of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan, the official expressed 
confidence that Armenia will achieve results in getting them released by Baku.
“The Russian Federation unequivocally shares our approach that all prisoners of 
war and detained persons must be returned… And I am definitely convinced that we 
will achieve results. I also want to emphasize that international pressure on 
Azerbaijan in this regard is growing and will continue to grow,” Avinian said.
Armenian Constitutional Court Rules In Favor Of Kocharian
Former President Robert Kocharian greets supporters during his trial in Yerevan, 
May 15, 2019.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that a penal code article under 
which ex-President Robert Kocharian is being prosecuted does not comply with two 
articles of the country’s basic law and is, therefore, invalid.
The ruling published by Constitutional Court Chairman Arman Dilanian says that 
Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code that concerns “overthrowing the 
constitutional order” runs counter to articles 78 and 79 of Armenia’s 
constitution that deal with the principles of proportionality and certainty in 
relation to restrictions of basic rights and freedoms.
Judge Dilanian said that the decision of the Constitutional Court is final and 
comes into effect upon its publication.
The constitutionality of the penal code article was contested by Kocharian, who 
faces up to 15 years in prison under the charge, as well as David Grigorian, a 
lower court judge who ordered the former president’s release from pretrial 
detention in May 2019, at the same time suspending the case and applying to the 
Constitutional Court regarding the matter.
Kocharian’s lawyer Aram Vardevanian told media after the publication of the 
ruling that since it comes into effect immediately, it means that there is no 
longer Article 300.1 in the Criminal Code of Armenia.
“[Judge] Anna Danibekian will terminate the criminal prosecution under Article 
300.1. By virtue of the decision of the Constitutional Court, all the acts that 
referred to Article 300.1 are no longer in force and are subject to review 
starting from 2009,” Vardevanian said.
The prosecution did not comment on the Constitutional Court’s ruling immediately.
To the question of journalists whether Judge Danibekian, who presides over the 
trial of Kocharian and others, can resist it, Vardevanian said: “There is no 
case for resisting here. There is no Article 300.1 in the Criminal Code anymore.”
Kocharian, his former chief of staff Armen Gevorgian and two retired army 
generals stand accused of “overthrowing the constitutional order” in the wake of 
a disputed presidential election held in 2008.
In particular, the matter concerns the alleged use by the Kocharian government 
of the army to quell street protests.
Kocharian and the three other defendants deny that the military was used in the 
dispersal of opposition demonstrations in which 10 people were killed.
They all reject the accusations as politically motivated.
Kocharian’s lawyers also find that since the article was not in the criminal 
code in 2008, it could not be applied retrospectively against their client.
Kocharian was first arrested and indicted in July 2018, two months after the 
“Velvet Revolution” that brought current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to power.
Since then Kocharian was twice freed and twice rearrested before the Court of 
Appeals in June 2020 overturned a lower court judge’s decision to deny him bail 
and ordered him freed.
Eventually, Kocharian was freed after paying a record $4.1 million bail set by 
Armenia’s Court of Appeals.
In addition to charges related to the 2008 post-election crackdown Kocharian is 
also accused of receiving a $3 million bribe from an Armenian entrepreneur when 
he served as president in 1998-2008.
Ex-Police Chiefs Jailed For Murder Of Turkish-Armenian Journalist
Hrant Dink was a vocal proponent of better ties between Turkey and Armenia, but 
had been convicted for writing about the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman 
Turks during World War I.
(RFE/RL) An Istanbul court has handed life sentences to two former Turkish 
police commanders and two top ex-security officers over the killing of 
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink 14 years ago.
Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on January 19, 2007, outside the Istanbul 
offices of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper, where he was the 
editor. He was 53.
Dink had been an arduous proponent of reconciliation between Armenians and Turks 
and was repeatedly prosecuted for insulting “Turkishness” over his comments on 
Armenian identity and the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
After his killing, tens of thousands of people gathered in central Istanbul to 
mourn.
Seventy-six suspects were facing charges including failing to uncover the plot 
to kill Dink.
Istanbul’s main court on March 26 sentenced the city’s former police 
intelligence chief, Ramazan Akyurek, and his former deputy, Ali Fuat Yilmazer, 
to life in prison for “premeditated murder,” Agos reported.
Former top Interior Ministry officers Yavuz Karakaya and Muharrem Demirkale were 
also sentenced to life in prison.
In 2012, ultranationalist sympathizer Ogun Samast, who was 17 at the time of the 
killing, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for Dink’s killing.
Ali Oz, a former Interior Ministry commander of the Black Sea region of Trabzon 
where Samast came from, was sentenced to 28 years in prison on March 26.
Charges against another top Istanbul police chief were dropped due to the 
statute of limitation.
However, Dink’s supporters and human rights activists say the most senior police 
officials have gone unpunished and want the investigation and trials to continue.
“Some of those responsible for this assassination, including the sponsors, have 
still not been prosecuted,” said Erol Onderoglu, the representative in Turkey 
for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), who has closely followed the trial.
“This partial justice rendered after 14 years leaves a bitter taste and should 
not mark the end of the search for the truth.”
The accused in the protracted trial included U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah 
Gulen, whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for orchestrating a 
coup attempt in 2016. Gulen has lived in the United States since 1999 and denies 
any involvement in the failed coup.
The Istanbul court on March 26 ruled that Dink’s murder was committed “in line 
with the objectives of Feto” -- an acronym Ankara uses for Gulen’s banned 
movement, Turkey’s NTV reported.
Turkey claims Gulen’s network had widely infiltrated the country’s police and 
other state institutions over decades.
The court did not rule on the case of Gulen and 12 other fugitives and instead 
separated their cases.
During and immediately after World War I, as many as 1.5 million Armenians were 
killed or deported from Anatolia. Many historians, Armenia, and more than 30 
countries consider the killings to be genocide.
As the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey objects to the use of the 
word genocide.
Ankara says that about 500,000 Armenians died as a result of civil strife, 
disease, and starvation rather than a planned Ottoman government effort to 
annihilate them. Turkey also asserts that hundreds of thousands of Muslims died 
in Anatolia at the time due to combat, starvation, cold, and disease.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
Sarkisian Confirms Meeting Of Former Armenian, Karabakh Leaders
Former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (archive photo)
The office of Armenia’s former President Serzh Sarkisian has confirmed that a 
meeting of former presidents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh took place on March 
25.
“The priorities stemming from issues of vital importance to Artsakh [the 
Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh] and Armenia made it imperative to hold 
regular discussions in that format during the last Artsakh war and in the 
post-war period,” Sarkisian’s office said.
Earlier on Friday, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s spokesperson Arman 
Musinyan also confirmed that former presidents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh – 
Levon Ter-Petrosian, Robert Kocharian, Serzh Sargsian, Arkady Ghukasian and Bako 
Sahakian – met yesterday “to discuss the post-war situation in Artsakh and a 
number of issues concerning possible further developments.”
The report about the meeting of former Armenian and Karabakh leaders comes amid 
an announced meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Armenian 
counterpart Ara Ayvazian that is due to take place on April 2.
Maria Zakharova, an official representative of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, said that Lavrov will also meet with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister 
Jeyhun Bayramov.
Issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh and the South Caucasus region are expected to 
feature prominently at the meetings.
Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had a telephone conversation 
with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
The Armenian premier’s press office, in particular, said that “the two leaders 
addressed the process of the implementation of the provisions of the trilateral 
statement of November 9, 2020.”
Russia brokered a truce agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan last November, 
putting an end to six weeks of hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh in 
which more than 6,000 people were killed.
Under the terms of the document called a trilateral statement, a chunk of 
Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani 
administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
The agreement also led to the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers 
along frontline areas and a land corridor connecting the disputed territory with 
Armenia.
Judge In Fired Army Chief’s Case Turns To Supreme Justice Council
Colonel-General Onik Gasparian (archive photo)
A judge examining the case a fired army chief has turned to the Supreme Justice 
Council (SJC), an independent body monitoring Armenian courts, reportedly 
expressing his concern about possible pressure.
SJC Chairman Ruben Vardazarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday that 
judge Mher Petrosian submitted his application on March 25 evening.
Petrosian, an administrative court judge, is examining a claim filed by 
Colonel-General Onik Gasparian, who was dismissed from the post of Chief of the 
General Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces earlier this month.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian asked the president to sign his draft decree on 
Gasparian’s dismissal after the chief of the Armed Forces’ General Staff and 
four dozen other generals and high-ranking officers called for his resignation 
over mishandling last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
President Armen Sarkissian twice refused to sign the draft decree, but did not 
refer it to the Constitutional Court in due time either, thus paving the way for 
Gasparian’s dismissal “by virtue of law,” a legal term used when decrees come 
into effect due to procedures rather than an official’s signature or an official 
body’s ratification.
Gasparian filed a lawsuit with an administrative court against the prime 
minister and the president. On March 17, the court ruled that Gasparian shall 
continue to be in his official capacity until his case is heard and a decision 
on it is made.
On Thursday, however, it became known that citing incorrect grounds, the 
administrative court did not accept the lawsuit of Gasparian regarding his 
dismissal. Gasparian’s lawyer said the decision will be appealed at the Civil 
Court of Appeal.
Vardazarian said that Petrosian expressed concern about possible pressure that 
could be put on him, but did not refer to any specific case. The SJC head 
declined to give details, but said that the SJC did not see “any grounds or real 
threats to be concerned about.”
Some recent media reports suggested that National Security Service (NSS) 
officers tried to enter the office of the judge after his decision was 
published. They quoted the judge as saying that the NSS stopped its actions only 
after he contacted the SJC.
Later, the SJC said that it forwarded a copy of Judge Petrosian’s letter to the 
Prosecutor-General’s Office.
On March 18, the office of Armenia’s prime minister insisted that Gasparian was 
no longer performing his duties as chief of the Armed Forces’ General Staff as 
he had been dismissed from the post “by virtue of law.”
“The constitution does not provide for the possibility of revising an act that 
entered into force by virtue of this constitutional norm,” it said.
Four days later, on March 22, Prime Minister Pashinian said that 
Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian became the new chief of the General Staff of 
the Armenian Armed Forces “by virtue of law” despite the fact that the president 
twice refused to sign his appointment.
President Sarkissian did not refer Pashinian’s draft decree on Davtian’s 
appointment to the Constitutional Court.
Armenia, Pan-Armenian Charity To Fund Housing Construction In Nagorno-Karabakh
A joint meeting of the Security Councils of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, 
Yerevan, 
Authorities in Yerevan have announced that a total of 110 billion drams (nearly 
$210 million) in government and charity money will be spent on housing 
construction and infrastructure projects in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh.
The announcement was made during a joint meeting of the Security Councils of 
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in Yerevan on Friday.
The meeting was chaired by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian.
According to the office of the Armenian prime minister, Pashinian informed the 
participants of the meeting about “productive discussion” with ethnic Armenian 
officials from Nagorno-Karabakh that took place in Yerevan on March 25 and as a 
result of which it was proposed to implement housing and infrastructure 
construction programs in Nagorno-Karabakh at the expense of both government 
money and the funds donated by Armenians from around the world to the 
pan-Armenian Hayastan charity.
According to the report, the Armenian government suggested implementing the 
projects through Hayastan, with 52 billion drams coming from government money 
and 58 billion drams to be provided by the charity that raised the funds during 
the latest fundraiser last fall.
“In other words, we will have a sum total of 110 billion drams, with which we 
will implement housing and infrastructure construction programs. We have also 
made several other decisions, by which we will implement not only the provision 
of the roadmap that I published on November 18, 2020, that is, the restoration 
of normal life in Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh], but also 
development programs in Artsakh in order to have sufficient, high rates of 
socio-economic development. I think that the decisions made yesterday can be a 
very solid basis for ensuring these developments,” Pashinian said, adding that 
today’s discussions would also focus on issues related to “the security 
environment and strategic visions regarding the future.”
The need for large-scale housing construction in Nagorno-Karabakh arose after 
last year’s six-week war with Azerbaijan in which tens of thousands of ethnic 
Armenians were displaced from their homes. The armed conflict also resulted in 
vast destruction in the region’s capital Stepanakert and other towns and 
villages of the unrecognized republic that remained under Armenian control.
Under a Russia-brokered truce agreement, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all 
seven districts around it were returned under Azerbaijan’s administration after 
almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces.
The agreement also led to the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers 
along frontline areas and a land corridor connecting the disputed territory with 
Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader Harutiunian said today that the 
decision to allocate 110 billion drams for the restoration of housing and 
infrastructure in the region will be of “key importance in solving humanitarian 
issues and ensuring Artsakh’s further development.”
“We have already plans to build around 4,000 houses. In the coming months we are 
going to develop projects for the construction of 2,000 more houses. In these 
projects, we always take into account our current reality, at the same time 
planning land allocations, providing further employment for residents, and 
discussing modern models of cooperation,” the Nagorno-Karabakh leader concluded.
Azerbaijan regards Nagorno-Karabakh as its internationally recognized territory. 
The ethnic Armenians who make up most of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population reject 
Azerbaijani rule and had been governing their own affairs, with support from 
Armenia, since Azerbaijan’s troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the 
region and seven adjacent districts in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.
Tsarukian Party To Take Part In Elections Separately
Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (archive 
photo).
The largest opposition party represented in the current Armenian parliament will 
take part in the expected early parliamentary elections without forming any 
alliances with other parties or groups, its representative said.
Naira Zohrabian, of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), which holds 23 mandates 
in the 132-seat parliament, said during a news briefing on Friday that the BHK 
will present a separate list of candidates for the elections expected to be 
scheduled for June 20.
She said that BHK leader Gagik Tsarukian will top the party’s slate.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced early parliamentary elections 
in Armenia after talks with Tsarukian on March 18.
The same day Edmon Marukian, the leader of the other opposition faction in 
parliament, Bright Armenia, said he had a telephone conversation with Pashinian 
and agreed to the date set for the elections.
The decision came amid street protests held by a coalition of 16 opposition 
parties, including the BHK, demanding Pashinian’s resignation over the Armenian 
defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and the formation of 
an interim government before snap elections could be held in a year’s time.
Pashinian has refused to hand over power to an interim government, indicating 
that he will seek to reaffirm in snap elections that he and his political team 
continue to enjoy popular support in Armenia.
In order to get the elections to be held on June 20 Pashinian will need to 
resign at some point in late April and the parliament will need to twice fail to 
elect a new prime minister within two weeks in order to be dissolved by virtue 
of law.
Pashinian’s agreement with the opposition effectively means that neither the 
BHK, nor Bright Armenia will field their candidates when the prime minister 
resigns.
Speaking in parliament earlier this week, Pashinian said that his My Step 
alliance wants to change the current electoral code before snap elections are 
appointed.
According to the current election laws, candidates are elected to parliament 
both on party lists and in individual races. The pro-Pashinian majority in 
parliament suggests that the current mixed system be replaced with an 
all-proportional ballot.
The BHK’s Zohrabian said today that their political party will participate in 
the elections according to the electoral system that the parliament majority 
adopts.
“As for the electoral system, it is the parliament majority that determines the 
rules of the game here… For us it is much more important to have free and fair 
elections in which no administrative resources will be used,” Zohrabian said.
Earlier, Bright Armenia also indicated that it will participate in the early 
elections in any case. But its representatives have called on the parliament 
majority not to change the electoral code before the elections.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Artsakh ombudsman calls for proper probe into incident on Karmir Shuka-Stepanakert road

Kanayan Tamar
Panorama, Armenia

Artsakh Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Gegham Stepanyan studied the information spread in the media on March 25, that the cars of Armenians were stoned by Azerbaijanis on the Karmir Shuka-Stepanakert road.

The ombudsman condemns the violations of the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, and the manifestation of violence of any form, regardless of the perpetrator.

“In order to find out the circumstances of the incident, a proper investigation should be carried out by the law enforcement agencies, which should be a priority to exclude such cases, and guarantee the right of the already stressed population living near the contact area to be informed,” Stepanyan said in a statement on Friday.

“In this regard, the human rights defender positively assesses the rapid response of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the police to the publication of mass media and their readiness to take a comprehensive examination,” the statement added.

14 Years Later, Turkish-Armenian Journalist’s Assassination Leads to Life Sentences

Kanayan Tamar
Voice of America
By VOA News
04:47 PM

A Turkish court sentenced two former police chiefs on Friday to life in prison for their role in the killing of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink more than 14 years ago, the Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and a leading promoter of reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian communities, Dink was shot twice in the head outside his office in central Istanbul.

After the slaying, tens of thousands of people gathered in central Istanbul to mourn. His death plunged Turkey’s Armenian community into mourning and sparked a sprawling trial that lasted more than a decade and involved senior security officers who were accused of being aware of the plot to kill Dink but failing to act.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading “For Hrant, For Justice” during a gathering in front of the Caglayan Courthouse in Istanbul, .

Istanbul’s main court sentenced the city’s former police intelligence chief Ramazan Akyurek and his former deputy Ali Fuat Yilmazer to life in prison for “premeditated murder,” according to Agos.

Former top Istanbul interior ministry officers Yavuz Karakaya and Muharrem Demirkale were also jailed for life, while charges against another top city police chief were dropped because of the statute of limitation.

In 2011, Dink’s assassin, Ogun Samast, was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison by a juvenile court. He was 17 when the killing took place. The following January, a man named Yasin Hayal was sentenced to life in jail for instigating the killing.

Ali Oz, a former interior ministry commander of the Black Sea region of Trabzon where the gunman came from, was sentenced Friday to 28 years in jail.

Dink’s supporters and rights activists still maintain that the most senior police officials have gone unpunished and want the investigation and trials to run on. 

“Some of those responsible for this assassination, including the sponsors, have still not been prosecuted,” said Erol Onderoglu, Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), who has closely followed the trial. 

“This partial justice rendered after 14 years leaves a bitter taste and should not mark the end of the search for the truth.” 

State media said the court ruled that the murder was carried out in line with the goals of a clandestine network linked to U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim preacher whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating an attempted coup in July 2016. 

FILE – Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pa., Sept. 26, 2013.

Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999 and denies any involvement in the failed putsch, was one of 13 fugitives from justice among 76 defendants on trial in the Dink case. The court did not rule on the case of Gulen and the other 12 fugitives and instead separated their cases.

Various other defendants in the Dink case were given jail sentences on charges including accessory to murder and membership of a terrorist group — because of links to Gulen’s network — as well as faking and destroying documents, state media said.

The Istanbul court ruled Friday that Dink’s murder was committed “in line with the objectives of Feto,” an acronym Ankara uses for Gulen’s banned movement, NTV reported.

Dink’s wife, Rakel, had said in January that blaming Gulen’s movement for her husband’s death nearly a decade before the failed coup was like, “I didn’t kill him, but my hand did.”

Armenia raises the issue of destruction of Artsakh’s heritage by Azerbaijan with UNESCO

Kanayan Tamar
Public Radio of Armenia

Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Artak Apitonyan had a video conversation with the head of the Office of the UNESCO Director-General Nikola Kasianides.

The interlocutors touched upon the issue of protection of the Armenian historical and religious heritage in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, and the possibility of sending a UNESCO fact-finding mission to Artsakh.

The Deputy Foreign Minister stressed the urgency of taking steps to protect the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan, taking into account the steps taken by Azerbaijan to deliberately destroy, desecrate and distort the Armenian monuments.

Artak Apitonyan touched upon the recent manifestations of the Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenian cultural and religious heritage. In particular, it was mentioned that a video was circulated on the Internet by the BBC news service today, where it is clear that the Armenian Church of Surb Astvatsatsin near Mekhakavan (Jebrail) settlement was completely destroyed.

Referring to the preparations for the fact-finding mission, the Deputy Foreign Minister expressed strong concern over Azerbaijan’s policy of hindering the effective involvement of UNESCO.

It was stressed that Azerbaijan’s attempts to manipulate the mission and unnecessarily politicize it are completely unacceptable.

 

The Liberal Project and Its Relevance for Armenia

Kanayan Tamar
Modern Diplomacy

By Dr. Andrey KORTUNOV

The relatively recent (2017) Hollywood blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok has a memorable scene of the heavenly kingdom of Asgard collapsing. A happenstance witness to and participant in Ragnarok, the last battle between the good and the evil, King of Asgard and God Thor, finds himself unable to avert this disaster. Suddenly, when everything seems hopelessly lost, he has a revelation: “Asgard’s not a place, it’s a people.” And he sets about evacuating his people from the collapsing city.

At this point, Thor recasts himself from an aloof autocratic deity into a dynamic liberal leader. Certainly, he is no neoliberal postmodernist of the early 21st century, but rather a classical liberal of the late 18th century. He realizes that the main value of his kingdom is not the land, the state, property or mystical artifacts, but its people. Men and women. Old and young. All of them together and each of them individually. If the people remain, a new Asgard could be built, even at the other rim of the universe.

The latest events in Armenia are certainly not a Ragnarok yet, nor a trump of doom or the harbinger of a collapsing Armenian state. But amid the recent military defeat aggravated by a calcifying divide in the Armenian society coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and an economic recession, the situation in the country is extremely precarious. It is no longer merely a question of whether Nikol Pashinyan will stay in power, or what the relations between the civil authorities and the military leadership will look like, or in what terms the status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be ultimately defined. The question now concerns the future of the Armenian statehood, it being more serious than ever before in the 30 years of Armenia’s post-Soviet history.

The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the prospects of Armenia embarking on a path of liberal democracy have lost much of their lustre over the last couple of years. Many hopes had been pinned on Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure, but it brought Armenia neither the promised prosperity nor stability. Pessimism, social apathy and cynicism, as well as disillusionment with democratic institutions and the path of democratic development, are therefore on the rise. It is no accident that calls for transferring power to a technical “government of national accord” are increasingly heard in Yerevan. Some even go on to suggest it would be a good idea to bring the military into power for a while.

Yet, is there a viable alternative to the liberal project in Armenia? From the traditional Realpolitik perspective, Armenia is doomed. The country, with a population of about three million and a territory smaller than the Moscow Region, has no significant oil and gas reserves like the neighbouring Azerbaijan, nor does it have fertile lands like Georgia, Armenia’s another neighbours. The geopolitical situation is dispiriting for Armenia: the country does not even share a common border with Russia, its ally, and is surrounded by an openly hostile alliance of Turkey and Azerbaijan as well as two rather ‘backhanded’ partners, Iran and Georgia. Going back to the “pre-Pashinyan” era would mean Armenia having to get used to the role of a humble petitioner camping on the doorsteps of the faraway Kremlin offices year in and year out.

The liberal democratic paradigm is Armenia’s best chance for a future. The first, most urgent and most important task is not to merely reform the political system but to design a new national idea that would lead society away from the pernicious temptations of endless irredentism. Obsessive ideas of continuing the confrontation with Azerbaijan and taking back the lands lost last year must become a thing of the past.

Like Asgard, Armenia is not a place, it is a people. Apart from the three million Armenians living within their nation-state, the notion also includes some seven or eight million that live beyond its borders, yet do, in some manner, feel that they belong to the “Armenian world.”

Armenia’s main comparative advantage has always been its diaspora, something unique its neighbours do not have. Until now, the diaspora has treated Armenia much in the same way that successful young urbanites tend to treat their aging parents who live out the rest of their days in a ramshackle village somewhere far away: Money transfers (sometimes quite generous), trips home to soak up the nostalgia, traditional “kebab and cognac” get-togethers, declarative support for the “Armenian cause”—little else ties the diaspora with its historical homeland of global “Armenian-ness.”

If Armenia reverts to the “pre-Pashinyan” era, even this level of support will be very hard to sustain. And transforming the country into an attractive investment hub for the diaspora’s substantial funds will be nigh on impossible. Radically new development priorities are required to transform Armenia from the eternal “relation in need” into a country of opportunity. A country that lives not only by its past, but also by its future. Public discussions should focus on the continued search for such development priorities, rather than on some chimeric scenarios of “taking Artsakh back.”

Today, Armenia’s technocrats speak of the prospects of developing the country as a transportation and logistics corridor for the South Caucasus. However, here the country will face tough competition in the form of alternative transit projects, including those that involve the trans-Caspian route. There are plans to transform Armenia into a giant Caucasus mining farm, but Georgia has already beaten it to the punch. Armenia could still become a regional leader in developing the “green energy” sector, especially since there are many areas that abound in sun and wind and are short on rain and snow, areas with high mountains and unpopulated plateaus.

In any case, Armenia is now facing the task of reviving its scientific and technological potential, dramatically improving the quality of its “human capital” and warding off the emerging provincialism. All this requires the public spirit to be radically “demilitarized,” while preserving democratic institutions and procedures as a sine qua non.

The liberal project for Armenia by no means demands that Yerevan turn away from Moscow and pin all its hopes on the West. However, Russia–Armenia relations should be built as relations between two equal partners rather than on the basis of patron-client ties. Being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenia may just become the principal venue for Russia to promote its multilateral developmental projects in the Caucasus, involving Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Given its unique geopolitical situation, Armenia could also claim the role of a bridge between Russia and Europe, between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union.

Armenia’s potential role in long-term “Greater Caucasus” integration projects is no less important. Given the region’s ethnic and religious diversity, lasting peace and development in the Caucasus are only possible if it is gradually and steadily transformed from a set of states into a community of regions (which, historically, the Caucasus has nearly always been). This single ecosystem could also include Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and other historically shaped areas with their unique identities.

Such models do exist in today’s world. For example, the Swiss Confederation, where individual cantons are not united into a Swiss Germany, a Swiss France and a Swiss Italy, while enjoying considerable autonomy within a single ecosystem. Clearly, conservative groups among the national elites will be against such a “Caucasus of the regions,” being mostly interested in exerting as much control as possible over their states, both recognized and unrecognized. They are in no way interested in delegating even some of their powers to the regional level. Therefore, a stable and harmonious ecosystem in the Caucasus will hardly emerge in the near future. The Swiss Confederation did take a few centuries to emerge, though.

From our partner RIAC

Artur Vanetsyan: Nikol will be forced to resign under increased public pressure

Kanayan Tamar
Panorama, Armenia
March 6 2021

“The ongoing political crisis in Armenia will be settled within the Constitution and the laws,” the Head of Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan said at the briefing with reporters before the Saturday rally of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement. 

Vanetsyan said that much expected changes are taking place as result of the rallies as people change their mood and perception. 

“At first, the authorities tried to present this struggle as a simple fight for power between the old and new authorities, yet the public realized that the matter is about a more serious thing and refers to the existence of our country and its well-being,” Vanetsyan stressed, adding even those citizens who do not support the Movement still visit Baghramyan avenue to voice their discontent. 

“Our agenda remains the same – to remove Pashinyan, form an interim government and then go to snap elections. The people of Armenia  will decide who will come to power in Armenia through a free will,” said the opposition politician, adding Pashinyan has proved his inability to ensure fair elections. 

“Our actions will continue. Baghramyan avenue is shut down. and our supporters are here. More rallies and marches are expected. As to concrete actions, those may result in Pashinyan’s forced resignation under increased public pressure,” added Vanetsyan.

 

The mystery of Azerbaijan’s missing army chief

Kanayan Tamar
EurasiaNet.org
March 3 2021
Ulkar Natiqqizi Mar 3, 2021
Sadikov with President Ilham Aliyev last June. (president.az)

Najmaddin Sadikov had been Azerbaijan’s top military officer since 1993, the chief of general staff of the armed forces and a deputy defense minister. But in the middle of last year’s war with Armenia, on the cusp of the victory for which the armed forces had prepared nearly all those 27 years, Sadikov mysteriously disappeared.

Rumors had long swirled around Sadikov, a career Soviet army officer who joined the Azerbaijani armed forces in 1992 during the first war with Armenia. Many Azerbaijanis considered him a “traitor,” a word they often used in social media posts about him. Insinuations were made about his ties with Russia and claims that his brother was a senior officer in the Armenian armed forces. 

The rumors reached a peak during fighting in July, when a well-known and respected senior officer, Major General Polad Hashimov, along with Colonel Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed. On social media, many Azerbaijanis accused Sadikov of giving their coordinates to Armenia. 

Sadikov attended the funeral, acting as a pallbearer along with Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov. 

But at a massive demonstration in Baku that followed the funeral of another fallen officer, protesters blamed Sadikov for the deaths and called on him to resign. Rumors spread that he had been fired.

The allegations of treason appear ungrounded, but the government seems to have been worried by the harsh public reaction to Hashimov’s death and the heightened accusations against Sadikov, said Fuad Shahbaz, a Baku-based political and military analyst.

Najmaddin Sadikov (state media)

“The harsh criticism of Sadikov during the mass demonstrations in July and the demands for his resignation gave the government serious doubts about Sadikov’s image,” Shahbaz told Eurasianet. “This is likely the reason for his dismissal.” 

Sadikov still retained official support, however. In response to the many public insinuations about him, several articles in pro-government media appeared, chronicling his successful career and blaming rumormongers for slandering him. 

The Ministry of Defense issued a statement on July 21 denying the rumors that he had been fired and that his brother was in the Armenian armed forces; the ministry said the brother had been dead for more than 30 years. 

“These reports are fabrications and disinformation spread by enemy forces for provocative purposes,” the ministry said. “Unfortunately, the recent spread and discussion of news on social networks clearly shows that this is done in order to create bias, hostility and confusion in society.” 

Sadikov’s family also was mixing with the Azerbaijani elite: Azerbaijani-Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, the former son-in-law of President Ilham Aliyev and friend of former U.S. President Donald Trump, released a song in September on Instagram called “Fatima,” which many fans took as an announcement that he was marrying Sadikov’s daughter, Fatima Sadikova. Agalarov has been coy and not confirmed directly that he is marrying Sadikova, but continued to drop hints that he was.

About two weeks after “Fatima” was released, war broke out again with Armenia.

When Azerbaijan appeared to suffer significant early losses in the fighting, especially around Murovdag in the Kelbajar region, many Azerbaijanis again blamed Sadikov. Rumors again spread that he had been fired for treason.

On October 4, the Ministry of Defense published a photo showing a video teleconference among senior military leaders, including Sadikov. 

A few days later, though, Sadikov’s biography and other information was quietly deleted from the MoD’s web page. There was no official comment, though the erasure was noticed and widely commented on in social networks.

At the same time, Aliyev quietly signed two decrees to dismiss Sadikov’s nephew, Ramil Asgarov, another senior military official. In June, Aliyev had promoted Asgarov to major general. But then in two late October decrees, Aliyev first dismissed Asgarov from his position as chief of the Main Department of Special Security of the Ministry of Defense and then four days later dismissed him from active duty. Neither decision was publicly announced and the decrees passed unnoticed.

Azerbaijan went on to win the war, and on December 10 held a military parade in Baku to celebrate. Sadikov, who hadn’t been seen since that October 4 photo, didn’t appear at the parade. 

Social media speculation again spiked. One Facebook user, under a post captioned “What do you think of Najmaddin Sadikov?” commented: “Why has he not been punished before the people? Why has whatever he has done not been investigated? Why is there no news?” Others returned to Agalarov’s Instagram post and accused the pop star of marrying the daughter of a traitor.

Finally, on January 28, there was official news, of a sort. The Defense Ministry, in response to a query from state news agency APA, confirmed that Sadikov was no longer in military service. APA reported, without citing a source, that he was suffering serious health problems and was undergoing open heart surgery in Moscow. 

But other government officials began to say a bit more. 

One member of parliament, writer Agil Abbas, wrote a short humor piece about Sadikov headlined “Najmaddin Sadigov Has Become a State Secret,” which concluded with a pointed retelling of an old Soviet joke. “So, a journalist wrote about a very high-ranking government official who was a fool. The journalist was sued. The judge sentenced him to a very high sentence – 15 years. Not because he insulted that high-ranking government official, but because he revealed an important state secret.”

Abbas gave a more serious interview to a local news website, Yenicag, where he said he believed that Sadikov was under house arrest. “He made mistakes, or lost credibility, in my opinion, that’s why he was removed,” Abbas said. “If he was arrested, it would be published in the press. Because the arrest of a general could not be hidden. He is probably under house arrest in his house, or one of his villas.” 

A former state prosecutor, Ferman Rzayev, said in an online video show that Sadikov was responsible for early losses in the war. 

“Who created the tactics? Of course, Chief of General Staff Najmaddin Sadikov,” Rzayev said. “Najmaddin trapped our army, directed the attack to the right, towards Agdam. For 30 years, Armenians have built tunnels, fortifications and traps there. Najmaddin had a plan to attack the direction in which the Armenians were strongest.”

Rzayev also had implicated the current minister of defense, Zakir Hasanov. A few days later, the defense ministry responded to Rzayev’s report directly defending Hasanov, but also Sadikov, albeit indirectly. It noted that Hasanov was commanding troops in the operation led by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, i.e. Aliyev. 

“We once again call on the media, as well as electronic media, to refrain from circulating unfounded, untrue and unofficial information.” the MoD said. 

Detailed official information, however, is not likely to be forthcoming.

“The state wants a quiet solution to this and for people to forget about it,” Shahbaz said.

 

Ulkar Natiqqizi is a reporter based in Baku.