Lors des journées Ateliers Portes ouvertes des Artistes du Père Lachaise Associés (APLA)
No tension exists between the authorities of Karabakh and Armenia, Karabakh NA Foreign Relations Standing Committee member, lawmaker Rudik Hyusnunts said, speaking to Aysor.am.
“If some individuals expressed their opinion, it does not mean it is the position of the authorities,” Hyusnunts said.
The MP stressed that the unnecessary speculations over Artsakh issue will do no good.
He stressed that it is necessary to ensure conduction of free and transparent elections in Armenia.
“Our help will be not to impede the process. If some people are trying to do it, I think their actions should be condemned,” he said.
We will end 2018 with immigration – Nikol Pashinyan
10:34,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. 2018 year will be the first during the last decades to be summed up with immigration instead of emigration, ARMENPRESS reports acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during the city-wide procession.
“All the experts say and the latest data show that for the first time in the last decades we will sum up 2018 year with immigration, rather than emigration. This is the first time during the last 15-20 years, maybe even 30 years. The Armenian people will live in their motherland free, happy and powerful”, Pashinyan said.
The acting Pm noted that a new stage of the revolution kicks off by the procession organized by him.
“Today we sum up a very important stage of the procession that kicked off on March 31, but we also start a new and much longer procession and that procession will be transferred from government to government, from generation to generation. This procession is dedicated to the eternity of the Armenian people, the Armenian statehood, and the eternity of the Republic of Armenia”, Pashinyan said.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan on November 10 signed a decree according to which Colonel Ashot Hakobjanyan has been appointed deputy chief of the Police of Artsakh, the Presidential Office reported.
Harut Sassounian
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
The heinous murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been exploited by leaders of several countries for their selfish political and economic gains, ignoring the vile nature of the crime. The main participants in this ugly game are Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.
On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen, visited Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to finalize his divorce documents so he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Khashoggi never left the Consulate. He was murdered and reportedly dismembered by a special team of Saudi investigators who were sent to Istanbul the day before, and after the killing immediately returned to Saudi Arabia on two separate private jets.
Khashoggi, who had worked for years for the Saudi government in important positions, left Saudi Arabia and settled in the United States in 2017 after becoming disillusioned with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s limitless powers. Khashoggi began writing critical opinion columns in the Washington Post, while Saudi leaders made several unsuccessful attempts to lure him back to his native land.
Initially, Saudi Arabia announced that Khashoggi had left its Consulate in Istanbul within an hour or so of his arrival. However, after leaks from the Turkish government that there was no video of Khashoggi exiting the Consulate, the Saudi authorities changed their story, claiming that the dissident journalist was killed during a fistfight at the Consulate. A week later, the Saudi leaders changed their story once again, stating that Khashoggi’s murder was premeditated and not accidental. Saudi Arabia proceeded to fire five security officials and arrested a dozen others, claiming that neither King Salman nor the Crown Prince had any advance knowledge of the murder plan. Given the fact that the Crown Prince is in total control of the country, no one believes that he was unaware of Khashoggi’s killing by the Kingdom’s top security and intelligence officials.
In the meantime, the Turkish government, which has been in constant rivalry with Saudi Arabia for the dominance of the Sunni Islamic world, has been leaking to the Turkish media drip by drip the evidence of Khashoggi’s murder. Initially, the Turks claimed that the information came from Khashoggi’s apple watch which had recorded his torture and murder. When experts advised that the apple watch did not have such a capacity, it became clear that the Turkish government used the watch as a cover up for its secret recording devices installed inside the Saudi Consulate.
In my opinion, the Turkish government’s continuous leaks to the media were meant to send a message to Saudi authorities that it would make public potentially embarrassing evidence about Khashoggi’s killing, unless the Saudis would pay a large ransom for Pres. Erdogan’s silence. It is well-known that the Turkish economy is in shambles and desperately needs tens of billions of dollars to cover its foreign debts. Not hearing a positive response, Erdogan warned the Saudis that he would personally go on national TV and reveal the “naked truth,” unless the Saudis accommodated the Turkish demands. During his speech last week, for the first time, Erdogan made public the timeline of Khashoggi murder and raised serious doubts that it was accidental. However, the Turkish President seemed to keep the hope alive that the Saudis will eventually meet his shakedown demands by not making public all of his secretly collected evidence. In his speech, Erdogan neither mentioned the name of the Saudi Crown Prince nor the Turkish possession of audio/visual materials which had recorded Khashoggi’s painful death. Instead, Erdogan asked several questions that he probably knew the answers, such as: where is Khashoggi’s body and who is the Turkish collaborator who whisked it away at Saudis’ request? Meanwhile, to squeeze the Saudis further, the Turkish press published last week gruesome images of Khashoggi’s dismembered body!
The third culprit is the United States, more specifically, Pres. Trump. When he first got the news that Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Pres. Trump kept emphasizing his own “great achievement” of selling $110 billion of advanced U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia during his last year’s visit, ostensibly creating “450,000 jobs for American workers.” As usual, Pres. Trump exaggerated the financial benefits as he had not signed a contract for the sale of $110 billion of U.S. weapons. There was actually an agreement to sell only $10-$20 billion of weapons in the next five years. Furthermore, a year ago Pres. Trump had said that the same weapon sale would create 40,000 American jobs, not 450,000. However, a few days after Khashoggi’s murder, Pres. Trump exaggerated his numbers, this time to 500,000 jobs. A week later, he increased it again to “one million jobs,” and then to “over one million jobs.”
Regardless of how many jobs would be created and how many billions would the sale of the weapons bring, Pres. Trump never expressed his condolences to the Khashoggi family. Even though Pres. Trump kept warning Saudi Arabia of “severe consequences,” he valued the price of the weapons more than a human being’s life! The only American ‘punishment’ was the suspension of U.S. visas to the 18 Saudis who were sent to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi.
Regrettably, most heads of states do not care about human beings! What’s in it for me or my nation is the common practice. In the process, leaders are willing to lie, cheat, and even murder.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée did the right thing by refusing Pres. Trump’s invitation to the White House. She did not want her grief to be exploited by a politician who only cares about his own selfish gains rather than the pain and suffering of the family members of a mutilated murder victim!
President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan on October 29 received Armenia’s acting minister of emergency situations Felix Tsolakyan, the Presidential office reported.
President Sahakyan congratulated the acting minister on appointment and wished him productive work.
During the meeting a number of issues relating to the cooperation of the respective structures of the two Armenian states were discussed.
The meeting was also attended by Director of the Artsakh Republic state service of emergency situations Karen Sargsyan.
Ani Mshetsyan. The first results of Nikol Pashinyan’s foreign policy are worrying, the Former Minister of Defense of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan wrote on his Facebook page. He, in particular, noted that 6 months, especially in the “post-revolutionary” conditions, is a short period. They can still point to the “old” authorities and “their conspiracies”, the society can still be asked for indulgence, referring to the “inexperience of the team.
The former minister of defense also noted that everyone is familiar with the feeling when after a few minutes it becomes obvious that the film being watched becomes uninteresting. “Unfortunately,” New Armenia’s” foreign policy resembles such an uninteresting and annoying film. I write these words to Pashinyan against the background of his American fiasco, which became clear during presidential Adviser on National Security John Bolton’s visit to Armenia. For the first time the goal of Armenian – US dialogue was informing of one side about the benefits of the other rather than mutual interests. It seemed that Bolton was not an Adviser to the US president, but an adviser to the Prime Minister of Armenia, who turned out to advice what to do and what not to do. It was only unclear why the Prime Minister did not recall the statement made by him in Moscow – not to interfere in each other’s internal politics, “the former Defense Minister wrote.
Sargsyan also summarized the visit of Bolton. “Armenia should get rid of its ” historical patterns”. Bolton actually repeated not only the statements of Azerbaijan that Armenia itself was to blame for its blockade, but justified Turkey for closed borders, for Ankara’s support for Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue. In addition, he also noted that Armenia not only should not expect assistance from the United States, but even investments, “Sargsyan stressed. As the former Minister of Defense noted, in the best case, investments may come from representatives of the Armenian community of the United States.
Sargsyan also wrote that in the words of Bolton that Armenia, finally, should become self-consistent and independent, bearing in mind the relations of Yerevan with Washington. Obviously, this concerned the strategic relations of Armenia with Russia. “The United States does not deny that they sold and will probably sell weapons to Azerbaijan. If you wish, you can switch from Russian weapons to American ones, but the US is absolutely not interested in how much it will cost the Armenian budget. As for Iran, Armenia has no alternative than applying US sanctions. A statement was made from the territory of Iran, a neighboring and friendly state, that the circle around Iran is narrowing. Of course, this is a very tactful reminder of partnership relations with Armenia, “the former defense minister noted .
Sargsyan stressed that from the point of view of diplomacy, it is important not only the content of statements, but also circumstances such as time and place, and until recently, the partners of Armenia were very attentive during meetings with Armenian colleagues in the territory of Armenia, as well as in the matters of statements related to neighbors and allies of the country. “What exactly has freed their hands in” New Armenia “? I hope not “black counter-revolutionaries “, and not” proud people “,” the former defense minister said.
The former minister said he did not know what was said behind closed doors. But, based on what is in the open press, “one can guess and be horrified by how in just 6 months we have turned from a country leading a balanced policy into a country in which foreign diplomats do not even think about the interests of Armenia. ” ” I don’t think that Bolton’s wording has anything to do with the Karabakh negotiation process. Usually these statements are made before the meeting and even before the visit. Consequently, these approaches reflect the position of the United States in response to the change of power in Armenia and the new foreign policy arising from it, “the politician noted. Sargsyan said that being involved in all international meetings of the Armenian leadership for 15 years, he does not remember a single case when American partners would call into question the strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia. “But I remember the special call of Vice President Joe Biden to President Sargsyan, in which the latter noted that the United States is receptive to the decision of Armenia to enter the EAEU “, Sargsyan stated. “What gives Bolt reason to think that it is possible to speak with Armenia in the language of” concessions,in exchange of open borders. “I hope not the speech of Prime Minister’s wife Anna Hakobyan on the Artsakh border. Bullets cannot be turned into jewels, bullets and weapons are needed at the border, they are needed for the state , independence and security, even in the safest country, especially in our region. Challenges to our security do not begin with Artsakh and do not end there, “the former minister said.
As for the American and Russian weapons, the former defense minister noted that Russian weapons, which are not inferior in quality to the American ones, Armenia bought from Russia at domestic price, being a CSTO country on favorable terms, besides the country has the necessary technical base for weapon service. According to the former Minister of Defense, in order to properly apply for weapons, it is advisable to buy them from one country. “And another equally important question regarding Russia is why should it give or sell weapons to Armenia at a reduced price if Armenia purchases it at a market price in another country? I have no doubt that Bolton was very aware of all this,” Sargsyan said.
According to the former minister, in the words of Trump’s representative there was not an offer to Armenia to buy American weapons, but an excuse for selling weapons to Azerbaijan. And in matters of servicing American weapons, Azerbaijan will be helped by Turkey, which has a lot of experience in this. “Meanwhile, I wonder if Bolton will call on Azerbaijan to become ‘independent’, implying its strategic cooperation with Turkey,” Sargsyan asked.
The former minister stressed that the US sanctions against Iran are not the first in these relations, and Armenia has always managed to find a balance while maintaining friendly relations with Iran and the requirements of international law. “The American partners always approached our vital interests with understanding. From the statements on the visit, and not only, we learned that in the near future Armenia could be involved in anti-Iranian policy, which poses a threat not only to Armenia, but also to the entire region” Sargsyan said, associating with this the statement of Pashinyan about the revelation of drug dealers in Syunik.
Sargsyan stressed that representatives of the American administration were often stingy regarding the assessment of the Armenian Genocide. “Sometimes they called on Armenia to continue efforts to restore relations, for which they highly appreciated the efforts and political will of the Armenian leadership. But instead of calling on Turkey to recognize its history, as President Obama did in Ankara, Bolton’s call on Armenia to break free of “historical patterns” is a new and undesirable phenomenon for us in the US policy. I am sure that the Armenian communities of the USA and the lobbyist structures will mark this, “the former minister stressed, wondering what was Armenia’s interest in Bolton’s visit to Armenia. “We should ask Nikol Pashinyan about this. I could not see it in the public part of the visit,” Sargsyan stressed.
“Mr. Pashinyan does not put blame for the failures in foreign policy on those involved in this field. They are not revolutionaries and not counter-revolutionaries. When taking important decisions, they should be listened to, and not the adventurers who build barricades on the streets and divide society into black and white. The mistakes made in this area are difficult to overcome. Basically, you are responsible for foreign policy. In this area you are constantly destroying what has been created for decades. If you don’t immediately correct the situation, the possibilities of professionals will continue huddle, as in the last six months. Of course, it’s good that you are trying to be accessible to people, but your ministers, ambassadors and advisers are people too. Receive them and listen to them, “concluded Sargsyan.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued judgments over the CASE OF VOSKERCHYAN v. ARMENIA and CASE OF AYVAZYAN v. ARMENIA concerning the March 1, 2008 events.
The two citizens of Armenia objected their arrests to the European court.
The ECHR held that there have been violations of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the arrest and detention of Grigor Voskerchyan and Masis Ayvazyan.
The court holds that the Armenian government must pay 3000 Euros to Voskerchyan and 4500 Euros to Ayvazyan in non‑pecuniary damages.
Contractual servicemen Haykaz Matevosyan, 1980, received a gunshot wound at the neck in the military positions of a regiment located in the north-eastern direction of the Armenian border at about 13:30, September 19.
Matevosyan died on the way to the hospital.
The Defense Ministry of Armenia extends deep condolences to the family, relatives and peers of the killed soldier.