Author: Khondkarian Raffi

‘Caviar Diplomacy’: What is the price of Europe’s silence on Azerbaijan’s use of phosphorus weapons?

Khondkarian Raffi
Panorama
Armenia – Feb 23 2023

The Armenian version of the report “Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan Silenced the Council of Europe” can shed some light on the silence and indifference of international organizations in the wake of Azerbaijan’s months-long blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the sole road linking Artsakh to Armenia.

On February 19, the birthday of prominent Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan, which is also celebrated as Book Giving Day in Armenia, the presentation of the report translated into Armenian by journalist Siranuysh Muradyan, who has covered the Council of Europe activities for many years, and published by the Newmag Publishing House was held in Yerevan.

The book’s cover features former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt, former Chairman of the European People’s Party Group in PACE Luca Volontè and German MEPs Karin Strenz and Axel Fischer, who were deprived of their parliamentary immunity, under the gaze of dictator Ilham Aliyev.

Experts of the think tank European Stability Initiative (ESI) identified European officials involved in the “caviar diplomacy”: they received bribes from Azerbaijan to lobby for the country, remain silent or defend Baku’s interests. ESI revealed the facts in two reports for 2011-2012 and for 2016-2017. The report was followed by the resignation of Pedro Agramunt as PACE president. Azerbaijan has not been held to account for its corrupt activity to date.

Siranuysh Muradyan began translating the 156-page report back during the 2020 war in Artsakh.

“I want the Armenian readership to know about Baku’s disgraceful activity. I want the people to know the price of Europe’s silence on the use of phosphorus munitions during the war, the use of weapons banned by the European Convention or the bombing of a maternity hospital in Artsakh,” she said.

Despite the ongoing prosecutions in Germany following the corruption revelations and Italy’s conviction of former MEP Luca Volontè, who received a €2.5 million bribe from two officials from Azerbaijan, Muradyan is unhappy with the response of law enforcement agencies in the PACE member states to the scandalous revelations.

“This research has to bring some consequences. For more than a decade, the names and photos of the corrupt persons have been disclosed in the reports, however the results are totally unpleasing. Several investigations have caused a stir in the Bundestag now. There is also the 4-year prison sentence handed down to Luca Volontè in Italy. But the tentacles of Baku’s corruption scandal are everywhere. Therefore, European and German law enforcement authorities should thoroughly investigate whether Otto Hauser, Alexander Funk, Kay Wegner, Daniela Ludwig, Markus Held and others were also involved in the scandal,” Muradyan stated.

The journalist-translator stresses if a PACE delegate is involved in a corruption scandal, it means the whole Parliamentary Assembly is also involved in it, as PACE is committed to imposing sanctions for violations of the European Convention. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan continues blocking the Lachin Corridor and creating a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh amid the salience of the world community, while PACE claims to promote human rights, rule of law and democracy.

“Which of these principles is now respected in the Berdzor Corridor? The European Stability Initiative experts, too, constantly talk about the weak response following their revelations, there are many persons who must face prosecution,” Muradyan told Panorama.am, stressing that new facts have been added to those presented in the report over the recent years, the PACE Anti-Corruption Body has released a 200-page report which reveals the disgraceful picture in the Council of Europe.

“We normally link the caviar diplomacy to Azerbaijani corruption. But we should remember that it is not one-sided, it is also about European and Western corruption. To-be diplomats should be well aware that when representing the interests of their country they may meet with people who have personal interests,” said political analyst Tevan Poghosyan, speaking about the importance of translating the report and stressing the need to work with the right institutions.

Former MP Naira Karapetyan, who has worked at PACE for many years, stressed that she was a witness to the published book and saw the developments following the backstage agreements.

“PACE has now forgotten everything that got flesh and blood in 2017, when these revelations resulted in stricter rules of conduct for parliamentarian, including declaration of assets, monetary limits on gifts. It was supposed to restrain Azerbaijan a bit, but amid the game of world powers, Azerbaijan stood with Ukraine and got the green light and the support of many, becoming a direct fuel partner of Europe,” Karapetyan said, urging the Armenian delegation to make intense efforts to disclose Azerbaijan’s actions to PACE.

Artsakh’s Foreign Minister Sergey Ghazaryan strongly believes that even now the Azerbaijani leadership spares no effort to “buy” the support of the Council of Europe and to silence critics of Azerbaijan’s human rights violations and poor state of democracy.

Ghazaryan also underscored in his speech at the book presentation that during the 44-day war and after it the international structures continued turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people, which has resulted in Azerbaijan’s brazen conduct to the extent that the Azerbaijani troops are now stationed on Armenia’s sovereign territory and Baku has been keeping Artsakh and its 120,000 people under siege for over two months amid the inaction of the institutions claiming to defend universal human rights.

The top photo is from the page of the American University of Armenia.


Arming Armenia: India to export missiles, rockets and ammunition

Khondkarian Raffi
India Times – Sept 28 2022
SECTIONS

By 

Manu Pubby

, ET Bureau

DefenceIndia has signed a significant export order for missiles, rockets and ammunition to Armenia as the Asian nation is engaged in a prolonged border conflict with neighbour Azerbaijan. The government to government route was used to sign a number of contracts for the supply of arms and ammunition to Armenia earlier this month.

While the value of the contracts has not been revealed, it is estimated that weapons worth over Rs 2,000 crore will be supplied to the country over the coming months. India has been making significant efforts to increase weapons exports, with policy reforms and active support of the government to secure overseas orders.

Sources told ET that the order includes the first-ever export of the indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers that are already in service with the Indian Army. The potent weapon has been designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is manufactured by private sector companies in India. The Army has recently placed orders for six additional Pinaka regiments and is testing extended range rockets as well.

India will also supply anti-tank rockets as well as a range of ammunition to Armenia under the bundled deal. This is not the first time that weapon systems have been exported to Armenia. In 2020, India beat competitors from the region to supply four Swathi radars to the nation for an estimated Rs 350 crore.

Designed to the specifications of the Indian Army, these radars are used to track incoming artillery shells, mortars and rockets and give a pinpoint location of enemy launchers and positions. The radars have been successfully employed on both Pakistan and China borders.

India has been making focused efforts to increase defence exports, with a target of Rs 35,000 crore worth of equipment to be sold abroad by 2025. Last year, annual defence exports were close to Rs 13,000 crore, driven primarily by the private sector.


Blinken says he met Pashinyan, discussed security of Armenia

Khondkarian Raffi
 TASS 
Russia – Sept 24 2022


The meeting took place on September 22, US Secretary of State said

WASHINGTON, September 24. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York and they discussed the security of Armenia.

“We discussed Armenia’s security. We continue to urge the parties to engage in the peace process, as there can be no military solution to the conflict” between Baku and Yerevan, Blinken said on Twitter. He said the meeting took place on September 22.

https://tass.com/world/1512661

Pelosi champions the global struggle for democracy in Taiwan, Armenia -analysis

Khondkarian Raffi
Jerusalem Post
Sept 18 2022


By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is emerging as the global face of the US support for democracy worldwide. Her trip to Armenia over the weekend in the wake of clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia follows one to Taiwan in August. In both trips, and in many other meetings and speeches, she has spoken up about the importance of defending democracy globally.

The Biden administration had promised that the US would be “back” under Joe Biden’s leadership, and it is Pelosi and her recent trips that have shown how the US can be “back” in its support for values like democracy.

In August, in Taiwan, she said that the US commitment to the country and its democracy was “ironclad.” Her trips to Taiwan and Armenia are important because in both cases these are small states that face major hurdles and those hurdles are linked to authoritarianism. The rise of authoritarian countries and their decision to work together against the US has threatened smaller states. Some small countries have simply joined the league of authoritarians.


At the meetings in Uzbekistan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group of authoritarians gathered around Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iran joined the SCO last week, and Russia and China hobnobbed. China’s leader said new “color revolutions” must be prevented when he met with Putin. The message was clear: Russia and China, working with Turkey and Iran, will work to suppress and crush democracy and dissent worldwide.


Meanwhile, in Armenia, Pelosi said, “Democracy is a very fragile thing” in comments on September 18. She said that security and democracy go together. She added that the US would do everything to care for democracy in Armenia.

When Pelosi was in Taiwan she said that countries were facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.” She said the same thing in Armenia. She also said it means a great deal to stand with democracies. “We want to be helpful in discreet ways.”

In Taiwan she had said, “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. In Armenia she quoted Benjamin Franklin’s comments about the need to have security and freedom. The point she was making is you need security to protect freedom, but you can’t just have security, you need freedom and democracy internally to maintain it.


Meanwhile, in Armenia, Pelosi said, “Democracy is a very fragile thing” in comments on September 18. She said that security and democracy go together. She added that the US would do everything to care for democracy in Armenia.

When Pelosi was in Taiwan she said that countries were facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.” She said the same thing in Armenia. She also said it means a great deal to stand with democracies. “We want to be helpful in discreet ways.”

In Taiwan she had said, “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. In Armenia she quoted Benjamin Franklin’s comments about the need to have security and freedom. The point she was making is you need security to protect freedom, but you can’t just have security, you need freedom and democracy internally to maintain it.


PELOSI HAS EMERGED as an unlikely champion of democracy around the world in an era when many US politicians and organizations are afraid to disturb the status quo. Some of them have bad memories of the 1990s and 2000s, when the US became a kind of global policeman. They also know that anger about US meddling has led to the opposite effect the US intended in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, there are voices in the US, such as the Iran lobby and various figures, who describe themselves as “realists” or “pragmatists” and support a US foreign policy in which the US will work with Russia to “balance” China, or work with Turkey against Iran. Some have even suggested working with Iran against the Gulf states. Many of these voices seem to adore dictatorships. They prefer a “stable” authoritarian regime that can be used rather than a complex democracy.

The Middle East is an arena in which there appears to be little chance of new democracies emerging. There are countries with democratic institutions such as Israel, but there are many that have seen any struggle for democracy eroded. In some cases the countries that have supported extremism, such as Qatar or Turkey, have been US partners or allies. This is an ironic trend, where the US partner and ally will crush democracy, even as US leaders talk about US “values.”

For instance, the US backs the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria in the fight against ISIS. The main country attacking the SDF and using drones to kill civilians in eastern Syria is NATO-member Turkey, a country that suppresses democracy. Turkey also has worked to stop democracies from joining NATO, threatening to veto Sweden and Finland’s applications.

Ankara was also at the SCO this month, hanging out with autocracies. This means the US has an unenviable record of being an ally of countries that do the most to destroy democracy. The trips by Pelosi show that the US can turn a corner on this trend of either legitimizing authoritarians or excusing and ignoring them for “realpolitik.”

Another trend that is being confronted is the tendency of some on the Right in the US to embrace authoritarians. For instance, the Hungarian system, and even Russia, have figured prominently in some right-wing magazines and talking points as inspirations for the Right. This shift in the American Right, from a movement that generally liked democratic institutions and opposed the breakdown of law and order, to ideologies inspired by authoritarians abroad, means that commitment to democracy spans a foreign and domestic struggle in the United States.

Pelosi’s decision to use shuttle diplomacy and travel to places where she sees democracy being threatened, to spread the message of US commitment is important. The question that many countries will ask, such as those who attended the SCO last week, is whether the US will really stand with Armenia, Taiwan and other countries.


More than 10 Armenian servicemen taken captive by Azerbaijan

Khondkarian Raffi
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 17 2022
, 13:02

 Less than a minute

More than 10 Armenian servicemen were taken captive by Azerbaijan during the September 13-14 Azerbaijani attack. spokesperson for the Armenian representation to the ECHR Hasmik Samvelyan told Armenpress.

She said the numbers could still change and declined to provide more information on the captives already identified.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) earlier requested Azerbaijan to provide information by September 22 about the 1 identified (as of September 13) Armenian captive and the remaining unidentified captives seen in footages.

At least 135 Armenian servicemen have been killed in the large-scale attack unleashed by Azerbaijan shortly after midnight on September 13.

The ceasefire has been holding since 8 pm, September 14.

Lawyer: Historically, death penalty is unacceptable in Armenia

Khondkarian Raffi
NEWS.am
Armenia – Sept 1 2022
21:26, 01.09.2022

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan proposes reinstating the death penalty in Armenia. According to him, the study of materials with cases of high treason recorded during and after the 44-day war proves that encroachments on state security make the issue of tightening punitive policy regarding this type of crimes a priority.

Lawyer Mihran Poghosyan told NEWS.am that, for example, Armenian citizens, he said, would no longer be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

“To envisage the death penalty for treason without making the issue of who investigates these treason cases, whether they have enough professionalism to be able to solve all this, who will sentence a person to life imprisonment? I can’t agree with the thought that a judge like Mnatsakan Martirosyan will sentence any citizen,” Mihran Poghosyan stressed.

The lawyer is sure that the Prosecutor General will reject the idea of bypassing the ban on the death penalty, because, in his opinion, it is unacceptable to apply the death penalty to people in case of committing any crime.

“The types of crimes are very different. For some, high treason is considered a serious crime, for some, the prosecutor is still conducting a political prosecution, for others, rape or the murder of a young child. From this point of view, to single out treason and put it on a different plane in order to once again create an impression in society that we think so much about the state that we suggest the death penalty to those who have committed treason,” Poghosyan said.

Given the fact that Armenia is a member of several international bodies, the lawyer responded to a question about whether it was problematic for Armenia to circumvent the ban on the death penalty.

“Before 2003, Armenia had a Criminal Code adopted in 1961, which also stipulated the death penalty for certain crimes. In Armenia there were people sentenced to death: that is, the use of the death penalty by firing squad. At the same time during the time of independent Armenia there were sentences by which a person was sentenced to death, but the sentences passed after independence were not carried out. In 2003, when a new code was adopted, the death penalty was excluded. And that sentence was commuted to life imprisonment for those convicts,” said the lawyer.

Mihran Poghosyan noted that Armenia has always tried to stay away from the use of the death penalty. “There is also a historical problem. The Armenian people have suffered greatly from the use of the death penalty. That’s why we have not accepted the death penalty,” he stressed.

The lawyer also responded to a question about the consequences of possibly including the death penalty in the Constitution.

“In legal terms, we cease to be part of the European legal system, that is, when we have problems with the law, we ask the opinion of the Venice Commission, appeal to the ECtHR. In such a case, we will be unacceptable for international structures. We will not be a subject of discussion. We will be in legal isolation, which will not have good consequences,” he explained.

Armenian, Azeri officials discuss ‘organizational issues’ on border delimitation

Khondkarian Raffi
Panorama
Armenia – Aug 31 2022

The second session of the commission on delimitation and border security between Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Moscow on Tuesday, chaired by Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

Ahead of the meeting, Russian Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Aleksey Overchuk held meetings with Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafayev and welcomed the continuity of the commission’s works.

“The sides discussed organizational and procedural issues, exchanged detailed views on the regulation of the joint activity and further workings of the commissions. They expressed gratitude to the Russian side for organizing the meeting at a high level,” reads the statement.

An agreement was reached regarding the holding of the third meeting within the agreed terms, the ministry said.

Trilateral working group significantly progressed in reaching agreements, says Lavrov

Khondkarian Raffi

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 16:57,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The trilateral working group (Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial) on unblocking of connections in South Caucasus has significantly progressed in reaching agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“The trilateral group with participation of the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is dealing with unblocking of connections in South Caucasus. It is working rhythmic, parallel with the meetings on border delimitation. The latest contacts were held very recently. The parties have significantly progressed in reaching agreements,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov expressed hope that the agreements will be formulated very soon.

“This work is conducted not in vacuum or isolation but it is very closely related with broader transport projects, including the North-South, in which our Iranian partners are also interested,” Lavrov said, adding that in practice there are significant movements in this process.

Regarding more global and regional significance, Lavrov said that logistic hubs could be built which would be independent from countries that are displaying inappropriate attitude to the interests of their partners in the region.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/31/2022

Khondkarian Raffi 
                                        Wednesday, 
Court Agrees To Free Armenian Oppositionist
        • Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Opposition politician Avetik Chalabian stands trial in Yerevan, August 
1, 2022.
An opposition figure prosecuted on what he sees as politically motivated charges 
was expected to be set free on Wednesday night after Armenia’s Court of Appeals 
agreed to grant him bail.
Avetik Chalabian was first arrested on May 13 on charges of trying to pay 
university students to participate in anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan. 
He went on trial on July 26 and was released from prison the following day 
because of the expiry of his detention period.
Although prosecutors did not ask the judge presiding over the trial to extend 
the detention, he decided to send Chalabian back to jail on August 3. 
Chalabian’s lawyers challenged the decision in the higher court, asking it to 
release their client on bail. The prosecutors did not object to the request.
The court set the bail amount at 15 million drams ($37,000). The oppositionist’s 
family and legal team scrambled to raise the sizable sum after a Court of 
Appeals judge, Ruzanna Barseghian, announced the decision in the evening.
Barseghian was scheduled to rule on the appeal at noon. Commenting on the delay, 
one of the defense lawyers, Varazdat Harutiunian, suggested that she resisted 
government pressure to keep Chalabian under arrest.
The charges leveled against him are based on leaked audio of short fragments of 
his conversation with the head of the student council of the Armenian National 
Agrarian University. Chalabian’s lawyers say that the recording was doctored by 
the authorities. They have repeatedly demanded the release of full audio of the 
conversation.
Chalabian, who leads a small opposition party, has also accused the authorities 
of forcing his younger brother Ara to resign from Armenia’s Central Bank because 
of his political activities.
Ara Chalabian headed the bank’s Department of Corporate Services and Development 
until announcing his resignation in late July. He gave no reason for his exit.
Armenian news websites claimed earlier in July that the bank chairman, Martin 
Galstian, told Ara Chalabian to quit, citing an order from Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian. The Central Bank and Pashinian’s office did not confirm or refute 
those reports.
EU Head Hosts Another Armenian-Azeri Summit
Belgium - EU Council President Charles Michel meets with Armenia's and 
Azerbaijan's leaders in Brussels, .
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan reportedly agreed to intensify discussions 
on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty when they met again in Brussels on 
Wednesday for talks hosted by European Council President Charles Michel.
It was their third trilateral meeting in five months held in the Belgian 
capital. It lasted for about four hours.
“Today we agree to step up substantive work to advance on the peace treaty 
governing inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and tasked the 
Foreign Ministers to meet within one month to work on draft texts,” Michel said 
in a statement released after the meeting.
The Armenian government likewise said that the two ministers will meet before 
the end of September to “continue substantive negotiations” on the peace accord 
sought by Azerbaijan.
Michel already said in early April that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged to “move rapidly” towards 
negotiating such an accord.
Baku wants the treaty to uphold Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. Yerevan 
has said, for its part, that it should address the disputed territory’s status. 
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers most recently met in Tbilisi in 
July.
Michel also said on Wednesday that he, Aliyev and Pashinian “reviewed progress” 
on ongoing efforts to restore Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links and demarcate 
the border between the two South Caucasus states.
“We agreed that the next meeting of the [Armenian-Azerbaijani] Border 
Commissions will take place in Brussels in November,” added the head of the 
European Union’s top decision-making body.
The commissions met in Moscow on Tuesday. Russian officials led by Deputy Prime 
Minister Alexei Overchuk also participated in the meeting.
Michel reported no further agreements on the transport links. He said in May 
that Aliyev and Pashinian agreed on “principles of border administration, 
security, land fees but also customs in the context of international transport.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan are to reopen their border to commercial and passenger 
traffic under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped their 
six-week war for Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that the deal calls for an exterritorial land 
corridor for Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave passing through Armenia’s Syunik 
province. He has said that passage through the corridor must be exempt from 
Armenian border controls. Yerevan has rejected his demands.
Russia Scoffs At EU Mediation In Armenian-Azeri Talks
RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova speaks at a news 
briefing in Moscow, January 20, 2022.
Russia on Wednesday dismissed the European Union’s continuing efforts to broker 
Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements, saying that they are driven by geopolitics, 
rather than a sincere desire to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that the EU has nothing to offer the 
conflicting sides as European Council President Charles Michel hosted fresh 
talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels. It was their 
third meeting in five months.
“We see that the EU’s activity in the South Caucasus is determined by 
geopolitical ambitions,” said Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. 
“In our opinion, this basically has nothing to do with a real desire to 
facilitate the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.”
“I would say that these are pseudo-initiatives of the Europeans,” she told a 
news briefing in Moscow. “They are more like an attempt to shamelessly 
appropriate the laurels of mediation [from Russia,] which is not backed up by 
anything.”
“We, as mediators, are working, and this work brings concrete results and is 
assessed accordingly by the parties. As for those who pretend to be mediators 
while not being intermediaries, apparently they are just not capable of offering 
anything,”
Moscow has repeatedly deplore the EU’s mediation efforts before, saying that 
they are part of the West’s attempts to hijack Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks 
and use the Karabakh conflict in the standoff over Ukraine. A senior EU diplomat 
insisted in June that the 27-nation bloc is not competing with Russia in its 
pursuit of the conflict’s “comprehensive settlement.”
Michel held his latest trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev the day after senior Armenian 
and Azerbaijani officials met in Moscow for the second round of negotiations on 
demarcating the border between the two South Caucasus states. Russian officials 
led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk also participated in the talks.
Overchuk and his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts also co-head a trilateral 
commission dealing with practical modalities of establishing 
Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links in line with a Russian-brokered ceasefire 
that stopped the 2020 war in Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the commission has 
made “substantial” progress towards reaching concrete agreements. “I hope that 
they will be formalized very soon,” he said.
Former Karabakh Army Chief Arrested In Armenia
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian (left) and Karabakh army 
commander Mikael Arzumanian, December 3, 2020.
Armenian law-enforcement authorities have arrested a former commander of 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s army on criminal negligence charges stemming from the 2020 
war with Azerbaijan.
Lieutenant-General Mikael Arzumanian was reportedly taken into custody 
immediately after entering Armenia from Karabakh earlier this week. The 
Investigative Committee officially confirmed his arrest and indictment late on 
Tuesday.
In a statement, the law-enforcement agency claimed that Arzumanian failed to 
properly perform his duties after being appointed as commander of Karabakh’s 
Armenian-backed Defense Army on October 27, 2020, one month after the outbreak 
of the war. It specifically blamed him for the capture by Azerbaijani forces of 
the strategic Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) which occurred less than two 
weeks later.
The statement said Arzumanian did not deploy more troops around Shushi in the 
days leading up to the town’s fall and misled the public about the situation on 
the ground.
It was not clear whether Arzumanian will plead guilty to the accusations. His 
lawyer could not be reached for comment.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Azerbaijani soldiers patrol at a checkpoint on a road 
outside the town of Shushi (Susa), November 26, 2020.
Arzumanian, 49, was replaced by another Karabakh general last year. He has 
worked as an advisor to Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, since then.
Harutiunian on Tuesday voiced support for Arzumanian through his spokeswoman, 
who described the latter as “one of our best military commanders.”
“His efforts made during the 2020 war are also undeniable,” the official, Lusine 
Avanesian, told the Artsakhpress news agency. “True, he took command of the army 
only 12 days before the end of the war, but he made large-scale efforts to 
conduct military operations effectively.”
Armenian opposition leaders questioned the credibility of the charges leveled 
against the Karabakh general. They included Seyran Ohanian, a former defense 
minister who was hastily named to coordinate the defense of Shushi just days 
before the town’s capture.
“Mikael Arzumanian was the [wartime] commander of the Defense Army for only 
10-12 days,” Ohanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “It was hard 
to turn things around in that situation.”
Armenia - Parents of soldiers killed in the 2020 Karabakh war rally outside 
prosecutors' headquarters in Yerevan to demand Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's 
prosecution, .
Other opposition figures went farther, saying that Arzumanian’s arrest is part 
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s efforts to deflect blame for the disastrous 
war.
“Everyone except the supreme culprit is guilty,” Artur Vanetsian, a former 
National Security Service director, said in a sarcastic Facebook post.
The Armenian opposition holds Pashinian primarily responsible for the outcome of 
the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 9, 2020. 
The prime minister has put the blame on Armenia’s former leaders.
Arzumanian took over as Karabakh army commander after his predecessor, Jalal 
Harutiunian, was seriously wounded in an Azerbaijani missile strike. Harutiunian 
was appointed to a senior military position in Yerevan after recovering from his 
wounds. He is not known to be facing any criminal charges.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenian festival celebrates wine [Video]

Khondkarian Raffi
Aug 30 2022


Armenian festival celebrates wine

Updated: 30/08/2022

The aim of the festival is to promote and develop winemaking in Armenia, which has centuries-old wine making traditions.

About 4,000 people visited the site over the two days, including foreigners.

The festival takes place on the land of the villa of Khanjyan, a monument of state importance to Armenia.

The building is a sumptuous round mansion built in 1936 for Aghasi Khanjian, one of Armenia’s communist leaders. It now stands derelict.


VIDEO REPORT at