Author: Lara Chatinian

San Francisco FBI Offering $50,000 Reward In Armenian Church Arson

Lara Chatinian
San Francisco CBS
Dec 17 2020
at 1:45 pm

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offered a $50,000-reward for Thursday for information leading to the arrest of an arsonist who set fire to an Armenian church back in September.

The Sept. 17 fire at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church, set by an unknown perpetrator, burned the church’s administration building where its offices, Sunday school and a library reside. No one was injured but the blaze basically gutted the building.

READ MORE: Fire Burns Armenian Church Building Overnight in San Francisco; Arson Suspected

While announcing the reward in a video recorded in front of the church, FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Craig Fair said that the investigation was about protecting the congregation’s first amendment rights, which protect the freedom of religion.

“This act of violence was not just an attack on a building, but on a congregation,” Fair said. “This was an attack on a community.”

Around the time of the fire, church leaders told asbarez.com that they suspected the fire was harassment. The incident followed an act of vandalism back in July when someone spray-painted the Krouzian-Zekarian Vasbouragan Armenian School and the adjacent community center with anti-Armenian, pro-Azerbaijani graffiti.

Inside of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church after fire. (FBI)

“For some context, in our history and around the globe, every time Armenians have been targeted, they come for our churches and our schools,” Alex Bastian, deputy chief of staff for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, tweeted at the time. “But you know what? It’s very hard to terrorize my community, no matter how hard people try. We are hardened by the millennia of hardship and the centuries of injustice. Most of us in the community are refugees, or the children of refugees, from war zones around the world.”

The FBI asked that anyone with information concerning the case contact the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office at (415) 553-7400, the San Francisco Police Department’s Anonymous Tip Line at (415) 575-4444, or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD, which guarantees the callers’ anonymity. You may also contact your local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

To see more photos of the damage from the fire, visit the FBI’s website.

Artsakh Conflict Sparks California Protests in Solidarity with Armenians

Lara Chatinian
Dec 14 2020

12/14/2020 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Over the past several months, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus region has sparked protests among some California residents, condemning the transgressions of Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey. Protestors have conducted demonstrations outside of the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles, expressing their distain towards Turkey’s involvement in the conflict.

The conflict began earlier this year with an Azeri attack against Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region (referred to as Artsakh by Armenians) controlled by Armenia. The region has long been disputed between the two countries, though it was taken back by Azerbaijan as a result of the most recent cease-fire agreement.

The protests in California began following the break of one of the cease-fire agreements between the two countries back in October. Many expect that the resumption of hostilities over the weekend will cause more protests.

Southern California is home to the largest Armenian population in the United States. Many Armenian families settled there after fleeing their homes as a result of the Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Based on the aggressive rhetoric used by Turkish and Azeri leaders today, some fear that these two Muslim-majority countries are attempting to intimidate Armenian Christians and reinvigorate anti-Christian sentiment from the genocide.

Many of the Armenian-Americans protesting were both expressing their solidarity with Armenians who remain in danger from Azeri and Turkish transgressions, while also condemning U.S. media companies for their lack of coverage on the conflict. Protestors demonstrated in front of the CNN and LA Times buildings during rallies in October.

In response, Los Angeles’ City Council approved a resolution recognizing the sovereignty of Artsakh and plans to advocate for the US government to follow suit. San Francisco’s government also took similar actions, submitting a petition to Congress calling for an end to the hostilities and reaffirming their condemnation of aggressions of the Azeri military. As more domestic pressure continues to grow, it is expected that this conflict will gain the greater attention both from Congress and the White House.






https://www.persecution.org/2020/12/14/artsakh-conflict-sparks-california-protests-solidarity-armenians/?fbclid=IwAR2jSW3Q7K541DqkTPAZ4xYzafpQXDaKoRwdPJFLWaGpFf1VXH_Gz_aA0MA#.X9kE2eGzdWw.facebook








Armenian officials report new clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh

Lara Chatinian
The Siasat Daily, Iran
Dec 13 2020
Mansoor
Published: 13th December 2020 3:46 pm IST

Yerevan: Armenian officials on Saturday accused Azerbaijan of breaching a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Separatist officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said the Azerbaijani military launched an attack late Friday that left three local ethnic Armenian servicemen wounded.

Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region to monitor the peace deal reported a violation of the cease-fire in the Gadrut region on Friday. The report issued Saturday by the Russian Defense Ministry didn’t assign blame.

Later in the day, the Armenian Defense Ministry also charged that the Azerbaijani army mounted an attack in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.

Azerbaijani authorities had no immediate comment to the Armenian statements claiming the first significant breaches of the peace deal brokered by Russia on Nov 10 that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over broad swathes of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding lands which were held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century.

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Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. 

That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.

In 44 days of fighting that began in late September and left more than 5,600 people killed on both sides, the Azerbaijani army pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept last month’s peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim much of the separatist region along with surrounding areas.

Azerbaijan marked its victory with a military parade on Thursday that was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and involved more than 3,000 troops, dozens of military vehicles, and a flyby of combat aircraft.

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The peace deal was a major shock for Armenians, triggering protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan, who has refused to step down. He described the peace agreement as a bitter but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from taking over all of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkish Ambassador summoned to Iran’s Foreign Ministry in connection with statements made by Erdogan

Lara Chatinian

Turkish Ambassador summoned to Iran's Foreign Ministry in connection with statements made by Erdogan

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 17:46,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Turkey to Iran Derya Örs has been summoned to the foreign ministry of Iran on the occasion of an excerpt from a poem recited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a parade in Baku on December 10, ARMENPRESS reports, citing Mehrnews, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

He said that Turkish Ambassador to Iran has been sumonned to the Foreig Ministry for the ''confusing and unacceptable'' remarks made by the Turkish president in Baku.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tehran expressed its resolute complaint against such remarks, calling on the Turkish government to give explanations as soon as possible.

''During the meeting with the Ambassador, the Director General of the Foreign Ministry for Eurasia Affairs stressed that the era of territorial aspirations and belligerent empires is long over. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow anyone to interfere in its territorial integrity, and history shows that Iran will not compromise on its national security'', Khatibzadeh said.

During a military parade in Baku on December 10, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recited a poem containing separatist ideas about the Araks River. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif harshly responded to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his Twitter account.




Turkey’s Erdogan, at Nagorno-Karabakh parade, says Armenia needs new leaders

Lara Chatinian
Middle East Monitor
Dec 10 2020
Turkey's Erdogan, at Nagorno-Karabakh parade, says Armenia needs new leaders

at 8:33 pm

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday renewed a call for a change of leadership in Armenia, while offering the country the chance of joining a regional cooperation group alongside Azerbaijan, Reuters reports.

Erdogan made the comments in Baku, where he reviewed a military parade marking Armenia's defeat by Azerbaijan in a war in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Erdogan, who provided military and diplomatic backing to Azerbaijan during the fighting, offered indirect support for opponents of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is under pressure at home to resign over his handling of the conflict, which ended last month.

READ: Turkey, Azerbaijan drone success should worry Europe, says European Council analyst

"We wish for the Armenian people to rid itself of the burden of leaders who console them with the lies of the past and trap them into poverty," said Erdogan.

He had discussed with his Azeri counterpart forming the cooperation initiative alongside Russia, Iran and Georgia. Armenia could also participate and see its border with Turkey reopened if it took positive steps, Erdogan told a news conference.

Armenia and Turkey signed a landmark peace accord in 2009 to restore ties and open their shared border after a century of hostility stemming from the World War One mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces. The deal was never ratified and ties have remained tense.

The Karabakh fighting was brought to a halt after Russian peacekeeping troops deployed under a deal that locked in territorial gains by Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey.

Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but is populated and, until recently, was fully controlled by ethnic Armenians after a bloody war in the 1990s which saw them seize other outlying regions belonging to Azerbaijan too.

READ: Turkey slams France's call for Nagorno-Karabakh independence

Erdogan, who reviewed the parade in Baku with Aliyev, said there was also now a need to hold ethnic Armenian forces accountable for what he said were their war crimes and destruction of villages, cities and mosques.

Armenian forces deny such accusations. They say Azeri forces and foreign mercenaries are the ones responsible for large-scale cultural destruction and atrocities. Baku denies that.

At Thursday's parade, helicopters bearing the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan flew over the nearby Caspian Sea, almost 3,000 Turkish troops marched across Baku's main square, and Azeri tanks and soldiers filed past the two men.

Armenia, Russia discuss creation of “Humanitarian Response Center” in Nagorno Karabakh

Lara Chatinian

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 16:04, 7 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he discussed with his Armenian counterpart Ara Aivazian the issues of creating a humanitarian response center in Nagorno Karabakh.

“We talked about the issues of creating a humanitarian response center,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Aivazian in Moscow. “This is President Putin’s initiative. We’ve proposed to make this center an international one, with participation of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Now the practical issues of this initiative are under discussion. Numerous Russian ministries and agencies will participate in its realization,” Lavrov said.

The Russian FM added that his talks with his Armenian counterpart proceeded in a “traditionally warm and allied, strategic-collegial atmosphere.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Turkish Press: France should give Marseille to Armenia, Aliyev says

Lara Chatinian
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Dec 1 2020
France should give Marseille to Armenia, Aliyev says
France should concede Marseille to Armenia if they are so eager for them to establish a state, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday.

“What does the French Senate have to do with our cause? If they’re so eager to, they can go ahead and give Marseille to Armenians to establish a state,” Aliyev said.

Last week, the French Senate adopted a resolution urging the government to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent republic.

France has been supporting Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, even though it is a member of the Minsk Group set up in 1992 by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Azerbaijan's parliament called for France to be stripped of its mediation role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to punish the French Senate for adopting the resolution.

The Azerbaijani president also urged its government to review ties with Paris and to appeal to the OSCE to revoke France's role as a co-chair.

Aliyev also reassured all residents of Nagorno-Karabakh that they would be embraced by Azerbaijan.

“Those who live in Nagorno-Karabakh today are the citizens of Azerbaijan. They will realize that their lives will be better,” Aliyev said, adding that everyone will accept the new truth about Azerbaijan’s liberation of occupied territories.

Prime Minister holds meeting with judiciary

Lara Chatinian

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 15:26,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has organized a meeting with representatives of the judiciary. The meeting is attended by presidents of different instance courts, members of the Supreme Judicial Council and others.

The judges told reporters outside the prime minister’s office that they don’t know what the meeting will discuss.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian President Calls on The Cabinet to Resign in Light of The Karabakh Deal

Lara Chatinian
Al-Bawaba
Nov 30 2020
Published November 30th, 2020 – 06:13 GMT
Highlights
Government that led to 'great tragedy' has to resign, early elections should be held, says Armen Sarkissian,

Armenia's president said Sunday that the government should resign, new elections should be held within a year at the latest and an interim government of national accord should be formed, preferably a technocratic one.

Armen Sarkissian also criticized the Armenian government during his meeting with representatives of the Armenian community in Russia.

He described Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s signing of a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the withdrawal of Armenians from Karabakh as a "great tragedy."

"There is a solution in any country where such a great tragedy has occurred. The government that led to this has to go," he said.

He pointed out that the situation in Armenia was very different from two years ago when elections were held and proposed the establishment of a provisional national unity government and early elections.

Suggesting that a technocratic government be established on which all parties will agree, Sarkissian said this government could work for six months or a one-year period and lead the country to early elections.

Referendum on Constitutional amendment

Sargsyan also said that a constitutional referendum needed to be organized before the new elections to amend the constitution.

Claiming that the president or the prime minister should not make important decisions for the country alone in Armenia, Sarkissian said "the Constitution is not balanced at all in our country. There should be a balance between the Parliament, the government, and the Presidency."

He also emphasized that the country's president should be elected by popular vote, not by the parliament as it is now.

In 2018, Pashinyan rose to prominence as the leader of widespread demonstrations across the country against the political establishment, demanding a more democratic Armenia and an end to corruption.

He was elected prime minister by the parliament after the bloc he led received 70.4% of the vote in elections held in December 2018.

What happened in Karabakh?

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on Sept. 27 and ended with a Russian-brokered truce six weeks later.

The Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated three humanitarian cease-fire agreements during the 44-day conflict.

After nearly 30 years, Azerbaijan managed to liberate its territories from illegal Armenian occupation, while Armenia was defeated and had to sign a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan that put an end to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh on Nov.10.

Pashinyan said he had signed an "unspeakably painful" deal which allowed Azerbaijan to claim control over regions it took back in the fighting.

While Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages amid the heavy fighting, Armenians are also handing over other territories under the deal, which is being monitored by both Russia and Turkey.

This article has been adapted from its original source.

CivilNet: ECHR demands Azerbaijan present data on fate of Armenian POWs

Lara Chatinian
CIVILNET.AM

19:53

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) says it is satisfied with Armenia’s application regarding the case for the protection of the rights of captive military personnel and detained civilians currently in Azerbaijan.

Armenia’s former Minister of Justice and human rights activist Artak Zeynalyan who represents the captives, said Saturday that ECHR will take urgent action.

“The European Court of Human Rights has requested data from the Government of Azerbaijan about their detention, their location, conditions of detention and medical care,” Zeynalyan wrote, noting that the court set two deadlines – November 30 and December 4, 2020 – for Azerbaijan to provide the information.

The captives in this case are Vahe Arakelyan, Hayk Arshatyan, Melkon Hovhannisyan, Artak Stepanyan, Nairi Ghukasyan, Erik Khachatryan, Robert Vardanyan, Narek Sirunyan, Karen Manukyan, and Arayik Galstyan. The arrested civilians are Jonik Tosyan, Edward Shahgeldyan, and Arega Shahgeldyan.