Author: Karapet Navasardian

Garegin Chugaszyan: In 2018, the authoritarian system collapsed, but did not disappear

Karapet Navasardian
Arminfo, Armeni
Dec 25 2018
Ani Mshetsyan

ArmInfo. In 2018, the authoritarian system collapsed, but did not disappear, on December 25 at a press conference,  member of the “Sasna Tsrer” party Garegin Chugaszyan said.

He noted that the transition from authoritarianism to democracy cannot take place in one day; this is a very complicated process. “In order to eradicate this phenomenon in Armenia, it is necessary to destroy political and economic monopolies,” Chugaszyan said. A member of the Sasna Tsrer party also noted that as a result of the early parliamentary elections, a multi-polar National Assembly was not formed, however, he found it positive that the RPA had lost its levers of government.

Chugaszyan also stated that in 2018 there were omissions, among which he pointed to the holding of elections under the unreformed Electoral Code, which caused difficulties for a number of parties to participate in electoral processes. Another omission, he considered that the authorities did not initiate constitutional reforms.

Referring to the appointment of the former head of the intelligence department of the Armenian General Staff Arshak Karapetyan to the position of advisor to the prime minister, Chugaszyan called this a state agency. He disagreed with the opinion of the. Prime Minister Pashinyan and Acting Defense Minister Tonoyan that in the days of the April war the Armenian side had intelligence. “In fact, during the April war, intelligence did not provide enough information, and the country’s high command did not take the necessary steps to prevent an enemy attack. We expect the current authorities to assess all this, and it will become obvious that the events that followed the April war will have arrested Zhirayr Sefilyana and insurgency “Sasna Tsrer” were interrelated, “he concluded.

AP: Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria

Karapet Navasardian
Associated Press
Dec 21 2018


Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria

By MATTHEW LEE and SUSANNAH GEORGE
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press.

The Dec. 14 call, described by officials who were not authorized to discuss the decision-making process publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, provides insight into a consequential Trump decision that prompted the resignation of widely respected Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It also set off a frantic, four-day scramble to convince the president either to reverse or delay the decision.

The White House rejected the description of the call from the officials but was not specific.

“In no uncertain terms, reporting throughout this story is not true,” National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said. “It is clear from the context that this false version of events is from sources who lack authority on the subject, possibly from unnamed sources in Turkey.”

The State Department and Pentagon declined to comment on the account of the decision to withdraw the troops, which have been in Syria to fight the Islamic State since 2015.

Despite losing the physical caliphate, thousands of IS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, and the group continues to carry out insurgent attacks and could easily move back into territory it once held if American forces withdraw.

The Dec. 14 call came a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu agreed to have the two presidents discuss Erdogan’s threats to launch a military operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels in northeast Syria, where American forces are based. The NSC then set up the call.

Pompeo, Mattis and other members of the national security team prepared a list of talking points for Trump to tell Erdogan to back off, the officials said.

But the officials said Trump, who had previously accepted such advice and convinced the Turkish leader not to attack the Kurds and put U.S. troops at risk, ignored the script. Instead, the president sided with Erdogan.

In the following days, Trump remained unmoved by those scrambling to convince him to reverse or at least delay the decision to give the military and Kurdish forces time to prepare for an orderly withdrawal.

“The talking points were very firm,” said one of the officials, explaining that Trump was advised to clearly oppose a Turkish incursion into northern Syria and suggest the U.S. and Turkey work together to address security concerns. “Everybody said push back and try to offer (Turkey) something that’s a small win, possibly holding territory on the border, something like that.”

Erdogan, though, quickly put Trump on the defensive, reminding him that he had repeatedly said the only reason for U.S. troops to be in Syria was to defeat the Islamic State and that the group had been 99 percent defeated. “Why are you still there?” the second official said Erdogan asked Trump, telling him that the Turks could deal with the remaining IS militants.

With Erdogan on the line, Trump asked national security adviser John Bolton, who was listening in, why American troops remained in Syria if what the Turkish president was saying was true, according to the officials. Erdogan’s point, Bolton was forced to admit, had been backed up by Mattis, Pompeo, U.S. special envoy for Syria Jim Jeffrey and special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk, who have said that IS retains only 1 percent of its territory, the officials said.

Bolton stressed, however, that the entire national security team agreed that victory over IS had to be enduring, which means more than taking away its territory.

Trump was not dissuaded, according to the officials, who said the president quickly capitulated by pledging to withdraw, shocking both Bolton and Erdogan.

Caught off guard, Erdogan cautioned Trump against a hasty withdrawal, according to one official. While Turkey has made incursions into Syria in the past, it does not have the necessary forces mobilized on the border to move in and hold the large swaths of northeastern Syria where U.S. troops are positioned, the official said.

The call ended with Trump repeating to Erdogan that the U.S. would pull out, but offering no specifics on how it would be done, the officials said.

Over the weekend, the national security team raced to come up with a plan that would reverse, delay or somehow limit effects of the withdrawal, the officials said.

On Monday, Bolton, Mattis and Pompeo met at the White House to try to plot a middle course. But they were told by outgoing chief of staff John Kelly and his soon-to-be successor Mick Mulvaney that Trump was determined to pull out and was not to be delayed or denied, according to the officials. The trio met again on Tuesday morning to try to salvage things, but were again rebuffed, the officials said.

The White House had wanted to announce the decision on Tuesday — and press secretary Sarah Sanders scheduled a rare briefing specifically to announce it. But the Pentagon convinced Trump to hold off because the withdrawal plans weren’t complete and allies and Congress had not yet been notified, according to the officials. The first country aside from Turkey to be told of the impending pull-out was Israel, the officials said.

Word of the imminent withdrawal began to seep out early Wednesday after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel started to inform his commanders on the ground and the Kurds of the decision.

Following the official announcement the White House emphasized that the U.S. will continue to support the fight against IS and remains ready to “re-engage” when needed. But in a tweet, the president said U.S. troops would no longer be fighting IS on behalf of others.

“Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”

____

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey.

Sports: Armenia names its top10 athletes of the year

Karapet Navasardian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 21 2018

Armenian Ministry of Sport and Youth has published the list of the “10 Best Athletes of the Year” following the vote through SMS vote and the voting of the media accredited by the Ministry as well as the voting of the coaches of the Armenian Olympic and Non-Olympic sports teams.

The following Armenian athletes made it to the top 10: Arthur Alexanyan (Greco-Roman wrestling), Arthur Tovmasyan (Sports gymnastics), Ferdinand Karapetyan (Judo), Vladimir Harutyunyan / Lev Sargsyan (Synchronous jump), Arsen Ghazaryan (Sambo), Maxim Manukyan (Greco-Roman wrestling)
Simon Martirosyan (Weightlifting), Gor Minasyan (Weightlifting), Grigor Mkhitaryan (Sambo), and Edgar Stepanyan (Cycling)

To note, the extended list of the nominees comprised 21 names. The SMS voting took place on December 7-21, and the media and coaches voted on December 21. 

Arms race in the region should stop, Armenia’s MFA Spokesperson says

Karapet Navasardian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 20 2018
Arms race in the region should stop, Armenia’s MFA Spokesperson says

2018-12-20 15:49:36

The arms race in the region has always been high on the regional agenda

She added that Armenia’s acting Minister stressed during the recent OSCE Ministerial meeting that the reduction of threats should be of primary importance to the OSCE member states.

She also quoted Zohrab Mnatsakanyan as saying that the sale and supply of weapons simply contributes to the threat of its use. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan also advised the participating states to review their attitude.

“What could be business to some, is fatal to our people,” Naghdalyan said.    

“Reducing the arms race in the region is always high on the agenda of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign affairs,” the Spokesperson added.

She stressed that the arms race contributes to the growth of instability. The Spokesperson added that the Ministry has been raising the issue during meetings on different levels and on multilateral platforms.

“The position of Armenia is that the arms race in the region needs to be stopped,” Anna Naghdalyan stated.

Newspaper: Azerbaijani man violates Armenia border

Karapet Navasardian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 15 2018
Newspaper: Azerbaijani man violates Armenia border Newspaper: Azerbaijani man violates Armenia border

10:13, 15.12.2018
                  

YEREVAN. – A Zhamanak (Time) newspaper source close to the Russian border-protection service in Armenia has informed that, several days ago, Russian border guards arrested a border trespasser—whose citizenship was not determined—in Ararat Province, the newspaper reported.

“The latter claimed that he was a Georgian citizen, but an ethnic Azerbaijani. It is unknown as to for what objective he violated the border and ended up on the territory of Armenia,” Zhamanak wrote.

Canberra: Mr. Tony Zappia, MP speech on Federation Chamber Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: 70th Anniversary

Karapet Navasardian
Parliament of Australia
December 3 2018
Chamber: Federation Chamber on 3/12/2018                
Item: Federation Chamber – PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: 70th Anniversary                
Questioner :
Answer :
Speaker : Zappia, Tony, MP
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       Mr ZAPPIA (Makin) (18:46): I speak in support of the motion on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Last month, Australia and many countries around the world commemorated the signing of the armistice that brought to an end the killing, maiming and horrific cruelty of World War I—but not for all people. For the Armenian people, the horrors and suffering continued. It was estimated that, by 1923, up to 1.5 million Armenians had perished, leading to what has often been described as the first act of genocide of the 20th century. The plight of the Armenian people touched the hearts of people across the world, including here in Australia.

As a representative from South Australia I’m proud to recall our state’s involvement in relief efforts for the Armenian people. South Australia was one of the most significant contributors to the Armenian Relief Fund of Australia for survivors, led by Adelaide pastor Reverend James Cresswell, who was unanimously appointed national secretary of the fund. Reverend Cresswell agreed to undertake a tour of the devastated regions, and reported on the work of the Australasian orphanage established in Lebanon to aid child survivors of the death marches. Several years ago I attended a display at the Pilgrim Uniting Church in Adelaide highlighting Reverend Cresswell’s work in what was by then described as the Armenian genocide. I also note South Australia’s commitment to the acknowledgement and prevention of genocide, drawing particular attention to a motion passed by the South Australian state parliament in 2009, recognising the events in Armenia between 1915 and 1923. In the past I’ve stood in this place to present a petition calling for the house to assist the Christian and Yazidi minorities in the Middle East facing persecution at the hands of ISIS, and to recognise and respond to that. I also attended commemoration services in Adelaide for victims of the Srebrenica massacre.

We’ve only recently begun to see progress on these fronts, through international tribunals that have sought to bring to account the perpetrators of these great crimes against humanity. But in many cases justice has been elusive, and for the victims it has been too little too late. As we debate this motion today, we are reminded of the importance of identifying the warning signs to ensure that we are able to act to prevent these crimes from being committed.

Today’s motion also refers to the author of the convention against genocide and the man who invented the word ‘genocide’ 70 years ago, Dr Raphael Lemkin. My understanding is that he did this in order to describe the scale of the atrocities committed against the Armenians during the First World War and against the Jewish populations of Europe during the Second World War. The evidence of Armenian massacre, starvation, poisoning, death marches and even mass burnings is irrefutable.

I make three closing observations. Those who deny the atrocities committed against the Armenians between 1915 and 1923 continue to perpetrate an injustice by contributing to a cover-up. Those who are indifferent to those events are accepting of them or condoning of them and therefore give licence to others to do the same. Indeed, we saw that on many other occasions in the 20th century. Conversely, recognition of atrocities will bring a sense of closure and solace to survivors and family descendants. It will also send a message to the world that such acts of horrific cruelty to others are not acceptable and, if perpetrated, those responsible will ultimately be held to account. To date, some 29 countries have recognised events in Armenia as genocide. On the 70th anniversary of the UN genocide convention, and as a founder and signatory of the convention, Australia should ensure that the convention is honoured whenever and wherever genocide occurs.

Azerbaijani Press: Low turnout in Armenia shows people’s disappointment in Pashinyan’s promises

Karapet Navasardian
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 11 2018
15:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Low turnout in Armenia shows people’s disappointment in Pashinyan’s promises, Evgeny Mikhailov, Russian political analyst and expert on international issues, said in an interview with Azernews.

He was commenting the results of early parliamentary elections held in Armenia on December 9.

“The low turnout of the population at the polling stations showed the new leadership of the republic in the person of Nikol Pashinyan that the people are already disappointed in his promises and do not understand where Pashinyan leads Armenia to,” the expert said.

Mikhailov believes that Pashinyan urgently needs to build a dialogue primarily with Russia, which has recently also been disappointed with the anti-Russian attacks from Pashinyan’s supporters.

“This is the only way out. The rest of the world does not need Yerevan, and in vain the new government feels hope for some Western countries and their help. The republic will simply be sold off in parts, and the population will leave the country. Again, if Moscow does not intervene. The return of the Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and talks on assistance from Baku, can be the way out of the crisis for Armenia, but this issue will be decided upon apparently by the government,” he said.

The analyst noted that it is more difficult to build relations with Pashinyan. 

“On the contrary, having pro-Western views, he is inclined to try to unleash a conflict and draw some international forces and, above all, the U.S. into it. That is, taking into account the above-mentioned facts, it can be assumed that Russia will sharply oppose this, including by increasing pressure on Yerevan in the soonest possible restoration of the protectorate of Azerbaijan in its occupied territories,” said Mikhailov.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

As a result of Armenia’s armed invasion into Azerbaijan’s legal territory, the two neighboring countries have remained locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Despite Baku’s best efforts, peace in the occupied lands remains a mirage in the distance as Armenia refuses to comply with international law.

Longlaville : la famille Balasanyan repart en Arménie

Karapet Navasardian

Le Républicain Lorrain– France
4 déc. 2018




Longlaville : la famille Balasanyan repart en Arménie

  • Vu 9573 fois
  •                
Photo HD Zenhya, Gurgen et leurs jumelles, Julia et Jiana, sont repartis en Arménie. Les filles, nées en France, vont se retrouver dans un pays qui leur est totalement étranger. Photo René BYCH
  • REAGIR

De guerre lasse, la famille Balasanyan a décidé, dans la soirée de lundi, d’accepter son retour “volontaire” en Arménie. Les parents, Gurgen et Zenhya, avaient signé cet accord suite à leur signification d’expulsion de leur logement d’urgence.

Ils sont partis mardi de chez eux aux aurores, à 5h. Ils avaient rendez-vous avec l’Office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration (Ofii) à 10h à l’aéroport. Leur vol étant prévu vers 13h à destination de l’Arménie. « La famille a décidé d’honorer la date de départ fixée, de peur de ne pas voir aboutir un nouveau recours », indique, désabusée, Émilie l’Huillier, une des mères d’enfants scolarisés à l’école Paul-Doumer de Longlaville, qui a soutenu les Balasanyan.

« Leur famille va effectuer huit heures de route entre l’aéroport et leur village. Et ils n’auront pas la possibilité de revenir en France. Je suis inquiète et triste par rapport aux enfants. Ils ont apprécié le soutien apporté », reprend Émilie l’Huillier.

Lundi soir, une dernière réunion avait lieu dans les locaux de la mairie de Longlaville, en présence de membres de la municipalité, des Balasanyan, de parents d’élèves et d’une avocate. Cette dernière avait évoqué la possibilité de lancer un recours devant le tribunal administratif. Gurgen et Zenhya avaient émis plusieurs demandes de naturalisation avec promesse d’embauche à la clé. Elles avaient toutes été refusées.

« Nous respectons la décision de la famille. Elle avait signé un accord un peu contrainte et forcée. Nous l’aurions accompagnée si elle était restée en France. Elle craignait d’avoir des problèmes plus graves si elle restait sur le territoire », note Jean-Marc Duriez, maire de Longlaville, parlant au nom de la municipalité. La famille était intégrée.

Les jumelles de Gurgen et Zenhya, Julia et Jiana, vont donc se retrouver à l’étranger. Les jeunes filles sont nées en France, ont une éducation française puisqu’elles ont suivi toute leur scolarité dans l’Hexagone, de la maternelle au CP. Elles comprennent l’arménien mais ne le parlent pas et ne l’écrivent pas, l’alphabet n’étant pas latin dans ce pays.

Stéphane MALNORY.

https://www.republicain-lorrain.fr/edition-de-longwy/2018/12/04/longlaville-la-famille-balasanyan-repart-en-armenie




Sports: UEFA to assist Armenia with construction of new national stadium

Karapet Navasardian
MediaMax, Armenia
Dec 5 2018

Photo: FotoPyK

Mr. Vanestyan and FFA Vice President, Secretary General Armen Melikbekyan met in the Irish capital with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and Director for National Associations Zoran Lakovic. They discussed a broad range of areas for cooperation, particularly the programs for infrastructure development that FFA plans to carry out in Armenian marzes over the next 4 years.

The Armenian delegation introduced UEFA officials to the plan for construction of a new national stadium. Aleksander Ceferin said UEFA is ready to support the Armenian Football Federation with planning, expert assistance and professional consultations to make the new stadium compliant with UEFA standards, said FFA.

Vladimir Yevseyev: Azerbaijan has no weapons equivalent to "Iskander" missile system

Karapet Navasardian
Arminfo, Armenia
Dec 1 2018

ArmInfo. The fact that Russia supplies armaments and military equipment to Armenia levels Azerbaijan’s quantitative superiority. This was stated on December 1  at the meeting of the Lazarev Club in Yerevan by Deputy Director of  the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Evseev.

He noted that a special place in the supply of weapons is occupied by  the Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems and multiple  launch rocket systems. Evseyev stressed that today Azerbaijan is in  search of suppliers of military equipment, which by its  characteristics would be equivalent  to the capabilities of  “Iskander”. “That is why Azerbaijan bought the installation of the  Polonez MLRS from Belarus. However, I want to note that this  installation is still inferior to Iskander. Azerbaijan buys drones  from Israel, and Armenia has acquired electronic warfare from  Russia,” the expert said.

Evseev also said that Azerbaijan still does not abandon its attempts  to again achieve qualitative superiority.  “In the event that  Azerbaijan nevertheless succeeds in achieving a qualitative  superiority again, it can push them to force actions. In addition, I  want to emphasize that in the current situation, any change in the  line of contact is very dangerous for Armenia and Artsakh. The thing  is that “security zone” located around Karabakh is a good defense for  the territory of this republic. Any change of the border can lead to  the loss of not only the security zone, but also the entire Karabakh,  “the expert stressed.

In this regard, Evseev stressed the importance of Armenian-Russian  cooperation, which is the guarantor of Armenia’s security against  possible aggression from Turkey and Azerbaijan, “Evseev concluded.