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12:25, 2 June 2022
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, appointed Vicar of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, Very Rev. Fr. Kirakos Davtyan as Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin said.
ArmInfo.Armenia has the potential to counter geopolitical challenges and threats; But not with this power. A member of the Council of the Republican Party of Armenia, former Deputy Minister of Defense Artak Zakaryan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
“We, you know, have our own calculations based on the current situation in international relations and related, including regional trends. I can say that another month and a half of the implementation of Pashinyan’s “peace agenda” and we will find ourselves in a state of a new war. In this light, only stopping all these stupidities of the authorities will allow Armenia to avoid such dangerous prospects. The latter is possible only if they are removed from power,” he noted.
The Republican is convinced that there is no agenda for peace, not only in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, but also in the world, in international relations, in general. In this light, the very fact of the presence, voicing of such a falsified agenda by the leadership of Armenia, according to his estimates, is surprising not only among the Armenian opposition, but also among the leaders of Armenia’s partner countries.
Zakaryan is convinced that the achievement of peace is possible only through struggle, and not through falsified political principles, especially those containing defeatism and the desire to achieve peace through more and more concessions to the enemy. According to the Republican, such a policy is a priori doomed to failure and devoid of any prospects. Moreover, in his opinion, this is already understood even in the ruling party itself. ” Even if we put aside the agenda and plans, but we cannot and will not allow the implementation of this classic political idiocy. The opposition will not allow the achievement of a fantasy world by surrendering our real territories and interests. We will not allow them to give up our potential development opportunities in the future. Because these opportunities are the basis for preserving the Armenian statehood, sovereignty and independence,” Zakaryan concluded.
ArmInfo. There exist redlines not to be crossed. Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan, Gegham Stepanyan, Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, told reporters on the sidelines on the Future Armenian forum as he responded to a question about possible signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement in Brussels, which would grant cultural autonomy to Nagorno-Karabakh.
No autonomy is acceptable to the Artsakh people. “It is not an end in itself nor is it a whim. The Artsakh people know what it means to be autonomy in Azerbaijan on the basis of clear demographic indicators and the discriminatory policy implemented by Soviet Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani population was steadily increasing in Nagorno-Karabakh, whereas the Armenian population was decreasing. The Azerbaijani way of life and culture was being forced on the Artsakh Armenians. We have repeatedly stated we are not going to be part of Azerbaijan whoever agrees on or adopts anything,” Mr Stepanyan said.
And even if such a document is adopted, the Artsakh people will not accept it.
“If a decision happens to be removed from reality, can it be forced on us? The statements by our National Assembly and everyday statements by our foreign office suggest that the Artsakh authorities and people are unanimously stating there exist redlines that cannot be crossed. The Artsakh people’s fate cannot be decided without their will considered. Those sitting in Brussels or in Washington cannot decide on the life Stepanakert or Martuni residents must live. It is absurd,” Mr Stepanyan said.
Following various meetings, he has the impression that Artsakh is being persuaded into agreeing to join Azerbaijan under the pretext of international mechanisms of protection of rights.
“Our clear answer was: ‘Do not be deceived. It is impossible.’ We are witnessing a discriminatory policy followed by a 30-year-period of Azerbaijan’s policy of hatred toward Armenians. What rational person would think that Artsakh could be part of Azerbaijan after that and the Artsakh people’s rights would be protected in Azerbaijan,” Mr Stepanyan said.
Azerbaijanis brutally murdered 80 civilians, and Azerbaijan is systematically destroying Armenian cultural monuments in the occupied territories.
“What autonomy is being talked about?” Mr Stepanyan said.
https://arminfo.info/full_news.php?id=69586&lang=3
Tuesday,
Pashinian Briefs Blinken On Armenian-Azeri Summit
U.S. - Secretary of State Antony Blinken gathers papers after a Senate Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken the results of his latest talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
in a phone call on Tuesday.
According to the Armenian government’s readout of the call, Pashinian “shared
his impressions” of the five-hour talks hosted and mediated by the European
Union’s top official, Charles Michel, in Brussels on Sunday.
He described them as “generally positive” while complaining about “comments”
that “had nothing to do with the content of the discussions” held in Brussels.
Pashinian apparently alluded to Aliyev’s claim that Armenia will open a
permanent land corridor that will connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhichevan
exclave. A senior Armenian official denied the claim earlier on Tuesday.
“The Secretary of State reaffirmed the U.S. readiness to continue supporting
Armenia's democratic reforms, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
the demarcation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the opening of regional
communications, and the establishment of regional stability,” read the Armenian
government statement.
The statement also said Blinken praised Yerevan’s “efforts to establish peace
and stability in the region.”
Blinken commended Pashinian on May 2 for the “courage and flexibility”
demonstrated by him in the talks with Baku.
Addressing the Armenian parliament on April 13, the prime minister said the
international community is pressing Armenia to scale back its demands on the
status of Karabakh and recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled
Yerevan’s intention to make such concessions to Baku.
The country’s leading opposition groups responded by accusing Pashinian of
planning to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. They launched on
May 1 daily demonstrations in Yerevan aimed at forcing him to resign.
Commenting on the peaceful protests on May 9, the U.S. State Department urged
the Armenian opposition to refrain from violence and “respect the rule of law
and Armenia’s democracy.”
Armenia, Azerbaijan Start Talks On Border Demarcation
ARMENIA -- Azerbaijani (L) and Armenian checkpoints at the Sotk gold mine on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Gegharkunik province, June 18, 2021
Deputy prime ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met on Tuesday for the first
round of negotiations on demarcating the long and heavily militarized border
between the two states.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin
Mustafayev held the talks at an undisclosed section of the border one day after
being appointed as chairmen of separate Armenian and Azerbaijani government
commissions on the border demarcation.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said they discussed “procedural and organizational
issues relating to joint activities of the commissions.” Grigorian and
Mustafayev decided to hold their next meetings in Moscow and Brussels, the
ministry said without giving dates.
The two men have also co-headed, together with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister
Alexei Overchuk, a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group dealing with
practical modalities of opening transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The group has not met since December.
Grigorian’s meeting with Mustafayev came two days after the latest
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit hosted by European Council President Charles Michel
in Brussels. Michel said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev agreed to launch the demarcation process “in the coming
days.”
The process is meant to end long-running border disputes and skirmishes between
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that have broken out regularly throughout the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was supposed to get underway shortly after
Aliyev’s and Pashinian’s trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin held in Sochi last November.
The Armenian government insisted until this spring that the delimitation and
demarcation of the border should begin after a set of confidence-building
measures, notably the withdrawal of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops from their
border posts. Baku rejected that demand.
Yerevan Denies Agreeing To ‘Corridor’ For Azerbaijan
• Astghik Bedevian
Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev inspects a newly built road in Nakhichevan,
May 10, 2021.
Armenia denied on Tuesday Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s claim that it has
agreed to open a permanent land corridor that will connect Azerbaijan to its
Nakhichevan exclave.
A senior Armenian official insisted that during their weekend meeting in
Brussels Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reached understandings only
on conventional transport links between their countries.
European Council President Charles Michel, who hosted the meeting, said early on
Monday that the two leaders agreed on “principles of border administration,
security, land fees but also customs in the context of international transport.”
He did not elaborate.
Speaking with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan later in the day,
Aliyev said the two sides agreed to open a “Zangezur corridor” that will consist
of a road and railway connecting Nakhichevan to the rest of Azerbaijan.
Aliyev has repeatedly demanded such a corridor. He said late last year that
people and cargo using it must be exempt from Armenian border controls. Armenian
leaders rejected his demands.
“Armenia’s position has not undergone any changes,” the secretary of the
country’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, told the Armenpress news agency,
commenting on Aliyev’s statement. “In the territory of Armenia, no road or
transport link can function by the logic of a corridor.”
“All understandings reached in Brussels fit into the frames of public statements
previously made by Armenian officials,” said Grigorian.
In written comments to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service sent on April 18, Pashinian’s
office said the prime minister believes that the so-called “Zangezur corridor”
demanded by Baku would jeopardize Armenia’s territorial integrity. His domestic
political opponents are unconvinced by such assurances.
Aliyev and Pashinian reportedly agreed on the practical modalities of
Armenian-Azerbaijani rail links during their first trilateral meeting with
Michel held in December. But they failed to patch up their differences on the
status of the highway for Nakhichevan.
Armenian Foreign Ministry Blocked By Opposition Protesters
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Riot police clash with opposition supporters blocking the Foreign
Ministry building in Yerevan, .
Opposition leaders and their supporters blocked the Armenian Foreign Ministry
building in Yerevan on Tuesday during a fourth week of daily protests aimed at
forcing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign.
The protesters broke through a police cordon and surrounded the building early
in the morning, preventing ministry officials from entering or leaving it for
nearly three hours.
“With this blockade we are demonstrating that every working hour inside this
building is against our national interests,” said Ishkhan Saghatelian, one of
the protest leaders. “We are expressing our outrage by disrupting the work of
state agencies.”
Riot police jostled with the crowd at one point. They made one arrest but did
not manage to unblock the building’s entrances.
Several opposition parliamentarians entered the ministry’s premises two hours
after the start of the blockade. Mobile phone footage circulated by some of them
suggested that the building was largely empty.
Armenia - Opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelian argues with a senior police
officer outside the Armenian Foreign Ministry, .
Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian was one of the few diplomats
encountered by the oppositionists. Safarian pointedly declined to fulfill their
demand to publicly declare that Azerbaijan will not regain full control over
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia’s main opposition groups accused Pashinian of planning to formally
recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh before launching the “civil
disobedience” campaign on May 1. They doubled down on their accusations
following Pashinian’s fresh talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hosted
by European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels on Sunday.
Michel said after the talks that the two leaders agreed to “advance discussions”
on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty sought by Baku. He said he told them
that it is “necessary that the rights and security of the ethnic Armenian
population in Karabakh be addressed.”
Armenia - Opposition protesters block the entrances to the Foreign Ministry
building in Yerevan, .
In a statement issued on Monday, the opposition portrayed Michel’s comments as
further proof that Yerevan has stopped defending the Karabakh Armenians’ right
to self-determination that had long been accepted by the United States, Russia
and France.
“Nikol Pashinian is not legitimate and does not have a mandate of Armenia’s
citizens’ and the Armenian people to lead our country to new concessions and
cater for the Turkish-Azerbaijani agenda,” the statement charged. “Agreements
reached with him do not reflect the view of the Armenian people and are null and
void.”
Opposition leaders have said that the protests will continue until Pashinian is
removed from office. Their next major rally was scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Pashinian and his political allies reject the opposition demands for his
resignation. They also accuse the opposition of misrepresenting the prime
minister’s policy on the Karabakh conflict.
Reprinted 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.
Anoush Baghdassarian is the recipient of the 2022 Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Award. Graduating with an unprecedented 4,000 pro bono hours during her time at Harvard Law School, Baghdassarian is a stand-out student in the clinical and pro bono community, according to Harvard’s official website.
Having participated in a variety of clinics spanning international human rights to government lawyering, Baghdassarian’s résumé is a model of devotion to knowledge, advocacy, and selflessness.
The Andrew L. Kaufman Pro Bono Award is granted each year in honor of Professor Andrew Kaufman ’54, who has been instrumental in creating and supporting the Pro Bono Service Program at Harvard Law School. The award is given to a J.D. student in the graduating class who exemplifies the pro bono public spirit and an extraordinary commitment to improving and delivering high quality volunteer legal services to disadvantaged communities.
Anoush’s personal drive began long before arriving at Harvard Law; growing up, Baghdassarian’s connection to her Armenian heritage sparked her mission to address and prevent human rights violations. She founded Rerooted Archive, an archive collecting the testimonies of Syrian-Armenians to document the Armenian community of Syria before, during, and after the Syrian conflict.
“It has been a 100-year open wound that I felt so intensely that I began doing what I could to close it, and importantly, what I could to prevent other communities from suffering from the same affliction, the same impunity, the same ethical loneliness,” says Baghdassarian. “The intrinsic motivation to help heal these wounds has been my guiding star in each endeavor I have undertaken.”
After graduation, Baghdassarian will work at the International Criminal Court as a visiting professional through the support of the International Legal Studies fellowship.
12:11,
YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the 132nd session of the CoE Committee of Foreign Ministers in Turin, Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Serbian FM Nikola Selaković, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a press release.
The sides were pleased to note the positive dynamics of development of bilateral relations and expressed readiness to promote the Armenian-Serbian relations which are based on historical and friendly ties.
Views were exchanged on cooperation based on mutual interests within the framework of international organizations, particularly the Council of Europe.
Issues of mutual interest of the regional and international agenda were discussed.
FM Mirzoyan presented Armenia’s position on establishing regional peace and stability and the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Humanitarian issues were also addressed, particularly the need to repatriate the Armenian POWs and other captives held in Azerbaijan and the protection of Armenian cultural and religious heritage in territories that have gone under Azerbaijani control.
FM Mirzoyan also presented details of the Armenia-Turkey normalization process.
LOS ANGELES—The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region has announced its full list of endorsements ahead of the upcoming primary elections.
As a part of the endorsement process, the ANCA-WR Board works in conjunction with its local chapter constituents to carefully review each incumbent’s track record and each new candidate’s responses to a written questionnaire. Interviews are then conducted to determine which candidates are best able to serve the needs of the Armenian-American community. ANCA-WR endorsements are based largely on the candidate’s preparedness and ability to address issues ranging from justice for the Armenian Genocide, promoting Armenian Genocide education in public schools, support for the independent Republics of Armenia and Artsakh, and local community needs.
The ANCA-WR encourages all eligible Armenian-American voters to register and vote in the primary elections.
The California primary will be held on June 7. California residents should visit the Elections and Voter Information page for questions or call the ANCA-WR office at 818-500-1918 for more information.
Primary elections will also be held in Oregon on May 17th, Nevada on June 14th, Colorado on June 28th, and Arizona and Washington on August 2nd. A full list of primary dates can be found on the HyeVotes website.
For information on voter eligibility, voter registration, and the candidates, please visit the website.
The full list of the ANCA-WR’s primary endorsements is as follows:
California
U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives
California Governor
California Lieutenant Governor
California Attorney General
California Insurance Commissioner
California State Controller
California State Senate
California State Assembly
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Assessor
Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education
Mayor of Los Angeles City
Los Angeles City Controller
Los Angeles City Attorney
Los Angeles City Council
Glendale City Council
Glendale City Clerk
Glendale Unified School District Board of Education
Glendale Community College Board of Trustees
Nevada
U.S. House of Representatives
Nevada Secretary of State
Clark County Sheriff
Las Vegas City Council
Arizona
U.S. House of Representatives
Colorado
U.S. House of Representatives
Oregon
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington
U.S. House of Representatives
The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization in the Western United States and working with its network of local offices and chapters throughout the region, the ANCA-WR ensures that the concerns of the Armenian American community are heard in the halls of government. All members of the community who are U.S. citizens are encouraged to support the Armenian Cause by voting in each election.
30 years of diplomatic relations also speak of 30 years of friendship – Ambassador of Uruguay to Armenia
09:59,
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Uruguay to Armenia Eduardo Rosenbrock Bidart says Armenia and Uruguay are taking a number of steps to further develop and strengthen the bilateral relations.
May 27 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In an interview to Armenpress, the Ambassador said that Uruguay attaches great importance to the relations with Armenia. “30 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations also speak of 30 years of friendship”, he said.
Eduardo Rosenbrock Bidart said that the opening of the Embassy of Uruguay in Armenia on September 30, 2021 was a historic event as Uruguay has never had a political representation in Armenia before.
“And I am pleased to note that our friendship will further strengthen in the end of this year or in the beginning of the next year by the long awaited opening of the Embassy of Armenia in Uruguay, which will lay a foundation for firmer and longer relations”, the Ambassador said.
Uruguay was the first country to officially recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide. The Ambassador says that Uruguay, being a small country, but having a very large and active Armenian community, made that move as a humanitarian gesture.
“Acknowledging the Armenian Genocide was a very important step, and it took a lot of effort from Uruguay to do that. Uruguay was the first to take a step, let’s say, towards laying the groundwork for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and served as an example for the other countries. Our country will continue also in the future and will support by all means the recognition of the Genocide”, he said.
The events marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenia-Uruguay diplomatic relations have launched in the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. During the event the Armenian community of Uruguay handed over a number of important materials about the Armenian history, the Armenian Genocide to the Museum-Institute.
Interview by Gayane Gaboyan
Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan
Los Angeles realtors are working with the Department of Justice and the FBI to try to sell a mega-mansion that belonged to an Armenian politician facing criminal corruption charges in his home country.
The 30,000-square-foot palace is located in the swanky Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles just a few doors down from Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion. The home, listed for $63.5 million, belonged to former Armenian finance minister Gagik Khachatryan.
Known by the DOJ as the “super minister” in Armenia because of his political power and responsibilities while in office, Khachatryan served as the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia between 2008 to 2014 and as the Minister of Finance between 2014 to 2016.
Federal prosecutors allege that Armenian businessman Sedrak Arustamyan paid Khachatryan over $20 million in bribes for special tax relief for his businesses and that the money was used to purchase the home in 2011. Armenian prosecutors discovered millions in unpaid taxes after Khachatryan left office in 2016.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the DOJ alleged in a court filing that Khachatryan purchased the house for $14.4 million using the illicit cash, and that he and his sons had formed entities and phony loans to “to receive, disguise and conceal illegal bribe payments.”
Khachatryan and his sons, who the DOJ allege partook in the bribery, were criminally charged with receiving bribes in Armenia in 2019, while charges against Arustamyan are pending.
In the DOJ’s filing, prosecutors wrote that Khachatryan’s sons sought to raise their kids in Los Angeles at the home. After an investigation into the family came to light in Armenia in 2016, the sons fled the country.
With 11 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms, the mansion went on the market on April 7. Real estate brokerage Hilton & Hyland is trying to sell the house as federal prosecutors move to seize the property.
“I’ve been told by the FBI that I can continue to do showings,” realtor Richard Maslan told The Los Angeles Times. “If we receive an offer and both the seller and the Justice Department agree on a sale price, we can still sell it.”