Author: Karakhanian Suren

PM: Armenia decides road through which communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan will be ensured

Karakhanian Suren
News.am, Armenia
Nov 24 2021
23:57, 23.11.2021

Armenia is not only ready, but is also interested in the unblocking of communications in the region since this is an opportunity for unblocking for Armenia. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated during today’s online press conference.

“The next issue is the issue of routes, which contains quite a lot of subtleties. If this takes place within the scope of sovereignty, and Armenia says it is ready to ensure a road between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, excuse me, but Armenia decides the road through which communication will be ensured. Azerbaijan won’t be the one deciding how to enter and how to exit. However, Armenia is interested in the restoration of railway and automobile communications,” he said.

According to Pashinyan, in this case, this is about the Turkey-Azerbaijan communication, not Nakhchivan. “Basically, this is a large international road. This is a new international road, and the passage through Armenia needs to be in Armenia’s interest. I don’t understand certain analyses on why Armenia needs to refuse to give a road. Today, all countries are fighting to make sure roads, railways, natural gas pipelines and oil pipelines pass through their territories so that cargo is transferred through those territories as soon as possible. Armenia says it is interested in the opening of a railway, and not only the Nakhchivan-Meghri-Horadiz railway, but also the Kars-Gyumri railway from which Armenia will also benefit since it will have railway communication with Europe, Russia and Iran,” the premier emphasized.

EU urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to exercise utmost restraint

Karakhanian Suren

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 17:00,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The European Union is deeply concerned over the recent violence along the Armenia-Azerbaijani border, which has regrettably led to loss of life, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano said in a statement.

“The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, discussed the evolving situation with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, over the phone and called for urgent de-escalation and full respect of the ceasefire.

The , disengage their military forces on the ground and respect the commitments undertaken in the framework of the two trilateral agreements. We call on both sides to resume negotiations to work towards a comprehensive settlement of outstanding issues, including border demarcation.

The EU supports the statement of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs of 15 November. The EU reiterates its commitment to work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to help overcome tensions and contribute to building a South Caucasus that is secure, stable, prosperous and at peace for the benefit of all people living in this region”, the statement says.

Extraordinarily parliamentary session demanded by the opposition will not take place – Alen Simonyan

Karakhanian Suren

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 19:56,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENRESS. The National Assembly will not convene an extraordinary session at the request of the opposition factions, ARMENPRESS reports President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan said in a briefing, adding that they cannot even discuss that issue, since the opposition partners submitted a document at 16:40, which is not sufficient.

“Our opposition partners submitted a document at 16:40 to convene an extraordinary session. Unfortunately, due to the insufficiency of the submitted documents and in terms of time, I cannot even discuss the issue and make a decision. For example, there are no justifications, no program is presented for discussion”, Simonyan said.

Earlier, “Armenia” faction MP Gegham Manukyan had stated on his Facebook page that the parliamentary opposition factions initiated an extraordinary plenary sitting of the National Assembly at 20:00.




Baku proclaims occupied sections of Armenia’s territory as ‘sovereign territory of Azerbaijan’

Karakhanian Suren
News.am, Armenia
Nov 15 2021
Baku proclaims occupied sections of Armenia’s territory as ‘sovereign territory of Azerbaijan’
18:28, 15.11.2021

Baku has proclaimed the occupied sections of Armenia’s territory as “the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan”.

As follows from the statement that Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva made in response to the statement that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made during the session of the Security Council of Armenia, “Azerbaijani servicemen are performing their official duties in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan”. In her statement, all the attempts of the Armenian side to resist the obscene encroachments of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are labeled as ‘provocation’.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan emphasized that “the Azerbaijani servicemen are performing their official duties in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan”, and in any case, recalled that the military and political leadership of Armenia is mainly responsible for the current tension.

ANCA ‘Rising Leaders’ Seminars Set for March 2022 in Washington

Karakhanian Suren
 by Contributor

 

 November 12, 2021

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories
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ANCA’s “Rising Leaders” seminar slated for March 2022

Apply at anca.org/RisingLeaders to sign up for 3-Day Interactive Career Development and Civic Engagement Program

WASHINGTON—Armenian American university students are invited to apply for the Armenian National Committee of America’s “Rising Leaders: Career Development and Civic Education” – a three-day program in Washington, now in its second year, that introduces young Armenians to advocacy, policy, politics and media opportunities in the nation’s capital.

The ANCA is offering two participation options – March 6th to 8th, 2022, and March 13th to 15th, 2022 – to coincide with the two major Spring Break timelines at most universities. The top 25 applicants, based on academic excellence and proven community youth leadership, will be chosen for each session.

The ANCA has once again teamed up with the Armenian Youth Federation Eastern and Western U.S. and the Georgetown University Armenian Students Association in hosting these unique student-focused events, generously supported by Dean Shahinian and the family of the late ANCA activist Lucine Kouchakdjian.

Perspective participants can visit anca.org/RisingLeaders to review the program and submit their applications.  Students who are chosen for the program have two participation options – one that offers housing for the 3-day program ($100) and the other which includes program fees alone ($25). Students are responsible for travel to and from Washington. Financial aid will be provided based on need and availability.

“Building on a great inaugural experience in 2019, we are gearing up for ‘ANCA Rising Leaders 2022’ to offer even better in-person opportunities for university students to explore careers in Washington while engaging with civic leaders to advance key pro-Artsakh/Armenia priorities,” said ANCA Program Director Alex Manoukian. “We are excited to partner with the AYF Eastern and Western U.S. and the Georgetown ASA once again to offer this fun, innovative, and educational program in our nation’s capital.”

“The ANCA Rising Leaders program builds on our local and regional Hai Tahd efforts to provide hands-on advocacy training to help expand youth voices in the halls of Congress and the Administration in support of pro-Armenia and Artsakh priorities,” noted AYF Eastern Region Central Executive Chair Vrej Dawli. “We are deeply grateful to the Shahinian and Kouchakdjian families for providing dozens of bright and devoted young Armenians the chance to give voice to their values in Washington and explore career opportunities in our nation’s capital.”

“The 2020 Artsakh war is a stark reminder of the importance of an engaged Armenian American community – particularly our youth – working in Congress and with the media, and advocating from our communities across America,” said Armenian Youth Federation Western U.S. Vice-Chair Hasmik Burushyan. “We are thrilled to partner once again with the ANCA in encouraging civic participation and exploring career opportunities in Washington, DC, as university students start to make critical career decisions.”

The 2022 sessions will begin Sunday with a full day of interactive presentations by the ANCA Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway Program Advisory Committee focusing on career search fundamentals, from resume preparation and networking 101 to an overview of the Washington, DC internship and job market. Monday activities will include meetings with policy, political and media professionals, including current and former federal agency and Congressional staff, to discuss careers in the nation’s capital. Those will be followed by an extended session with ANCA team members on advancing community priorities on the federal, state, and local levels. The seminar will be capped off with the Lucine Kouchakdjian Capitol Hill Day, a full day of Capitol Hill discussions with Members of Congress and staff on strengthening U.S.-Armenia ties, supporting Artsakh freedom, and securing justice for the Armenian Genocide.

Throughout the program, ample opportunities will be provided to explore Washington, DC, and make new friends.

Over 30 students from top universities and high schools across the U.S. traveled to the nation’s capital to take part in the ANCA’s inaugural Rising Leaders Program in 2019, which was made possible, in large part, through a generous contribution by the Ararat Foundation Shahinian Educational Fund. Longtime ANCA supporter Dean Shahinian is again the major sponsor of this unique youth development program along with the family and friends of Lucine Kouchakdjian.

Dean Shahinian served in the federal government in various capacities for over 30 years, including 16 years at the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, where he worked with Committee Chairs on numerous bills and laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act.  He has staffed over 100 hearings and negotiated complex legislation with regulators and financial services industry members.  In the Armenian community, he has served on the boards of St. Nersess Seminary and the Armenian Students Association, among many others.  In 1995 and 1999, he traveled to Etchmiadzin to serve on the National Ecclesiastical Assembly (to elect the Catholicos).  He has also served multiple terms on the Diocesan Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America.

For dozens of years, living in the Washington, DC area – in addition to her cultural, education, and charitable work with a broad range of community organizations – Lucine Zadoian Kouchakdjian organized highly effective ANCA campaigns to call, write and meet with Members of Congress and engage in political campaigns, always fostering a forward-leaning spirit of civic responsibility among Armenian Americans across the nation’s capital. The Rising Leaders Capitol Hill day was named in memory of her lifetime of service to the Armenian Cause following her passing earlier this year.

For more information, email [email protected], or simply register today by visiting anca.org/risingleaders.

Robert Kocharyan: Delimitation will leave no other choice

Karakhanian Suren
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 8 2021

“After the first Karabakh war our position in the negotiations were based on our victories,” Armenia’s ex-President, the leader of ‘Armenia’ opposition alliance stated on Monday during the rally at Liberty Square in Yerevan. Kocharyan recalled that after that Armenia created a security zone, the seven regions, a combat-ready army and pointed to the fact that Armenia was the security guarantor for Artsakh. 

“There was a common border between Armenia and Artsakh which stretched from Vardenis to Araks River. That gave us strength during the negotiation process, and we were recording diplomatic successes step by step. We have now lost those advantages. One person decided to start the negotiations from a zero point, and who also nullified all advantages, likewise our victories. What are the topics today to negotiate?” asked Kocharyan, as he addressed the public. 

In his words, the talks are successful when those are based on compromise. “What is the compromise on our side today?” asked Kocharyan next. 

The ex-President also reflected on the risks of the much-articulated delimitation and demarcation statements made in the recent period. 

“Delimitation means that you directly or indirectly recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and fix the enclave status of Karabakh inside Azerbaijan. This will be the end of the Karabakh peace process and will leave only one solution for Artsakh to be inside Azerbaijan. The delimitation will leave no other choice, and this is the reality,” Kocharyan said.

Why Armenia is ultimate litmus test for future of US foreign policy By Ambassador Grigor Hovhannissian

Karakhanian Suren
Nov 9 2021
By Ambassador Grigor Hovhannissian 

–

November 9, 2021

There’s little Americans dislike more than getting mired in complicated conflicts halfway across the world. Yet as we mark today, Nov. 9, 2021—the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire that ended the latest round of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan—we ought to stop and ponder one profound question: Does doing the right thing matter anymore?

It’s not merely a philosophical conundrum, or a bit of empty rhetoric. As anyone who has paid even a bit of attention to the recent news from Afghanistan, say, or Taiwan, or Idlib knows, ours is an increasingly interconnected world. Isolationism, even when desired, rarely works. So a central challenge of foreign policy in the 21st century is being able to distinguish friend from foe.

As a former Armenian ambassador to the United States, I am well aware that diplomacy is often a game of weighing imperfect realities against each other and making sometimes difficult compromises in service of national interests. But sometimes it’s simpler than that. Sometimes all you have to do to figure things out is listen to what people are saying and watch what they’re doing.

Here’s one easy example. Suppose you had two nations trying to establish rapprochement after a bloody conflict. And suppose you heard the president of one side refer to the other as “dogs,” a “wild tribe” of “barbarians” who “cling to other countries like a leech” and “have no moral values.” And suppose, also, that this president also held POWs and civilians captive—long after the war had ended—in a clear and blatant violation of international law. Would you assume that president’s protestations of peace were sincere?

A statue of Heydar Aliyev — father of the current president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev — graces the departures hall at Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

You hardly have to be an expert in international relations to answer this question. The quotes and actions above come courtesy of Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani despot who, since seizing power in 2003, has turned his country into a benighted kleptocracy while reportedly amassing a personal fortune estimated at upwards of $900 million, including at least half a billion dollars worth of real estate holdings in Great Britain (according to the recently released Pandora Papers). Had he just been a petty Caucasus despot, Americans might have been forgiven for ignoring him. But Aliyev has now aligned himself with a much more consequential and menacing patron, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Having failed to gain membership in the European Union—its dismal human rights record and increasingly shaky democracy being key factors in scuttling its bid—Turkey has now turned eastward. It seeks to reestablish a caliphate of sorts, a zone of influence and trade stretching from the Balkans in the west to the areas populated by Turkic peoples in Central Asia.

To achieve this, it seeks a “land bridge” whose shortest path goes through Armenia. Armenia would be glad to offer trade routes and partnership but this is not the Azerbaijani-Turkish design. Seizing this land somehow is their goal.

And even though Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains at the expense of the Republic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, it now threatens Armenia itself. This, on top of continuing intimidation of ethnic Armenians along the borders of besieged Artsakh, encroachment on sovereign Armenian territory, desecration and arbitrary alteration, and outright destruction of Armenia’s early Christian heritage in the captured territories.

Grigor Hovhannissian was Armenia’s ambassador to the United States from 2016 to 2018.

All this puts Armenia—a small but scrappy Christian nation of just under three million trying to carve out a democratic space for itself on the edges of the Muslim-dominated Middle East—in direct conflict with not one but two dictatorships.

It’s a conflict we neither provoked nor desire. Consider the astonishing fact that the ruling party, on whose watch Armenia suffered a devastating war and territorial losses, won reelection in June. The government remains committed to seeing through the controversial ceasefire deal, and argues for a new era of peaceful coexistence of nations in the region.

That’s what the people of Armenia want: to continue to build their democracy and to arrive at a fair and sustainable solution to the thorny situation in Artsakh. It is a message that aligns with the perspective of young people in Armenia, in the large Armenian diaspora in the US and elsewhere, and all around the world; it is a vision for tomorrow.

What do the people of Azerbaijan want? It is rather hard to say, because no one is asking them. The Aliyevs have no plans of letting go of the resource-rich country they are busily plundering.

Which brings me back to the United States. Unless Washington stands firmly with the people of Armenia, the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance will prevail, which will mean a less secure, more corrupt, more volatile region. We don’t ask for military intervention. What we ask for is help in putting these threats to democracy and peace back in their place, a kind of realpolitik predicated, improbably perhaps, on just doing the right thing.

Veteran diplomat Grigor Hovhannissian, Armenia’s ambassador to the United States from January 2016 to October 2018, has also served as consul-general in Los Angeles, ambassador to Mexico and deputy foreign minister. Hovhannissian, 50, has a master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is currently chairman of the board of Armenia’s Ararat Bank.


https://washdiplomat.com/why-armenia-is-ultimate-litmus-test-for-future-of-us-foreign-policy/

U.S. Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs condemns killing of Armenian civilian by Azeri military

Karakhanian Suren

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 11:48, 10 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs condemned the November 8 killing of an Armenian civilian near Shushi by the Azerbaijani military.

“We condemn the violence that caused the death of an Armenian civilian,” the U.S. Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs tweeted. “We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their engagement including through the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve all outstanding issues related to or resulting from the N-K conflict.”

4 Armenian civilians – plumbers repairing a water supply pipe outside Shushi – were attacked by an Azerbaijani military serviceman on November 8. One of the plumbers, 23-year-old Martik Yeremyan, was killed while the three others were wounded.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Coronavirus: 1309 new cases, 70 deaths in Armenia

Karakhanian Suren

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 11:15,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. 1309 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 326,830, the Armenian ministry of healthcare said in a statement.

11,431 tests were conducted.

The total number of recoveries reached 289,900 (2044 in the last 24 hours).

70 patients died, bringing the death toll to 6937. This number doesn’t include the deaths of 1368 other individuals infected with coronavirus who died from co-morbidities, according to authorities.

As of November 12 the number of active cases stood at 28,625.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan meets with Palestinian counterpart in Paris

Karakhanian Suren

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 13:52,

PARIS, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Paris within the framework of the 41st UNESCO General Conference.

During the meeting the foreign ministers underscored the rich historical-cultural ties and traditional friendship between the Armenian and Arab peoples.

They addressed pressing issues of mutual interest and highlighted the implementation of practical steps aimed at deepening the Armenian-Palestinian political dialogue, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

“Issues related to the Armenia historical-cultural and religious heritage in the Holy Land were also discussed,” the foreign ministry said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan