Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

EXCLUSIVE: Biden administration to officially acknowledge Armenian genocide

Nahapetian Zhanna
GZeroMedia

GZERO Staff

EXCLUSIVE: White House sources tell Ian Bremmer the Biden administration will recognize Armenian genocide – the first US president to recognize genocide by the Ottoman Empire during World War 1. Ian explains in this Quick Take:

Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here, kicking off the week. Gorgeous outside, it is spring, and I thought we’d focus today on some breaking news out of the United States on Turkey. Those of you following Turkey, know it’s been a tough couple of weeks, couple of months, year for President Erdogan. A lot of things going wrong for Turkey right now. They just pulled their country out of the Istanbul Conventions, European agreement that meant to protect women. And he also just sacked his new central bank governor. That’s four central bank governors in two years. The economy is not doing well. The Turkish lira is getting crushed, his domestic popularity not going well. And as a consequence, he’s cracking down on the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, the HDP. In fact, they’re making a legal effort to just close it down right now, the second biggest opposition party in the country and a bunch of other stuff.

But the big news, is that Erdogan is about to face another diplomatic challenge, which is from the United States. As I’ve heard from the White House, that President Biden is going to recognize the 1915 killing of Armenians under the Ottomans’ rule as a genocide.

Now, this perhaps shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. First of all, it happened a long time ago and the French already did some 20 years ago, the Canadians recognized it too, and Biden promised during his campaign that he would make the move if elected. Vice President Kamala Harris, by the way, from California, where there’s a large constituency in favor of that, she was actually co-sponsor of the Senate resolution for recognition back in 2019. And with Tony Blinken now as secretary of state, human rights is clearly much higher on Biden’s foreign policy agenda than it was under Obama, or obviously than it was under Trump.

To be fair, all of this comes on the back of President Obama, who also said when he was running for office, that he would pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide and then he didn’t do it. And indeed, the former advisors to Obama, like the old UN ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, the former deputy of national security advisor, who is Ben Rhodes, had both publicly said, they apologized for it, they said it was a mistake, that they were offering too much to Erdogan, they didn’t want to offend or upset him. First of all, Biden aware of all of this when he makes his own pledge, and Samantha Powers, going to be working in the Biden administration, she’s already been nominated to run USAID, but Biden clearly does not care as much about alienating the Turkish government. In fact, he hasn’t even scheduled a call yet with Erdogan. We’re a couple months in right now, despite repeated requests.

And the mood is getting worse. I’ve actually heard in the last couple of days from both White House and State Department officials, that Biden was incensed when the Turkish president publicly called Biden’s comments about Putin, responding to George Stephanopoulos last week about whether he was a killer or not, Erdogan, NATO ally of the United States, said that it was unacceptable for Biden to say that about Erdogan’s friend, Vladimir Putin. Then last week, in response to a bipartisan letter from some 38 senators, and it’s hard to get bipartisan groups of senators to do anything these days, calling on Biden to recognize the genocide, the White House moved further. They said, “The administration is committed to promoting respect for human rights and ensuring such atrocities are not repeated.” And critically, concluding with, “A critical part of that is acknowledging history.” And that is code in Biden-land for recognition of the genocide.

Voided front running an announcement because this week Secretary Blinken is going to a NATO ministerial in Europe, it’s face-to-face that will include his Turkish counterpart and clearly, they don’t want to blow it up right before then. But it’s obviously signaling the intention and when asked whether the statement confirmed the genocide recognition would indeed go ahead, a White House advisor told me, “That’s what he pledged as a candidate, and that’s the policy going forward.” I’ve also heard from a second White House official ask specifically about an impending announcement on April 24th, which is coming up soon, and is the genocide remembrance day, said that, “Biden is a man of his word.” So, it’s seeming pretty clear at this point. He would be the first American president to do so, that’s a big deal. Erdogan will clearly be incensed in response to that. But at this point, he’s got a pretty limited domestic constituency in the United States.

The defense companies are probably the strongest, but much less so after Turkey decided to go ahead and buy this S-400 missile defense system from the Russians, even as an American ally. In any case, Biden has shown much less concern about that kind of backlash, given his willingness to put human rights first and foremost, in the relationship with Saudi Arabia, for example, which is by far the most important arms purchaser from the United States in the world. There’s no question that a genocide recognition will make it much harder for a reset of US/Turkey relations, but I don’t really expect it. And Ankara is going to feel a lot more isolated, but they’re under massive economic pressure right now, too.

I would say really what this is all about is a broader pivot of the United States from the Middle East, wanting to end the forever wars, not consider the broader Middle East as important to US national security. Clearly focusing a lot more in Asia, on the quad, on challenging relations with China. And all of that makes Biden’s own regional decision-making a lot less constrained than historical presidents have been.

So pretty big news, quite something, I’m looking forward to what the Biden administration is going to be saying on the record on all of this but delighted to bring it to you. Anyway, that’s it for me, I hope you’re all safe and avoiding fewer people. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, be good.

A lot of Armenian POWs still held captive in Azerbaijan – Luxembourg FM

Nahapetian Zhanna
Panorama, Armenia

Foreign Minister of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn commented on the questions of the head of the Alternative Democratic Reforms (ADR) faction of the Parliament relating to the current uncertainty around the future of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) after the ceasefire. Armenpress reports. 

The questions and answers are provided below. 

Question: “What is the European Union’s approach to the legal status of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) from the perspective of international public law? The final recognition? What do you think?

Answer: EU hopes the sides will manage to find a lasting solution through negotiations which will define the legal status of Nagorno Karabakh with the consent of all parties. In this sense, EU supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and her Personal Representative.

Question: How does Luxembourg assess the approaches of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the requirements of N2357 resolution of the PACE adopted on January 25? Does the government think that the sides have implemented all the provisions of the resolution, if not, where does Luxembourg see difference in approaches in particular in the following formulations of the resolution: “to refuse from statements escalating the situation which can block the political dialogue, ensure the implementation of the humanitarian obligations assumed by the trilateral statement, such as the return of all prisoners of war and other detained persons, the bodies of the dead, the preservation of cultural heritage”?

Answer: The exchange of POWs is one of the points of the ceasefire statement which is the most problematic till now. Armenia has returned all detained persons, however, a lot of Armenian POWs are still held captive in Azerbaijan. The aggressive rhetoric between the two countries, which is especially being constantly inflamed by the Azerbaijani President, complicates the constructive cooperation. The preservation of cultural heritage of the region also remains one of the contentious issues for the sides.

Question: In the past Azerbaijan has criticized the EU and its member states for many times. On January 31 the foreign ministry of that country issued a statement, calling EU’s approaches as one-sided and based on double standards, which, it said, could damage the relations with Azerbaijan. Moreover, on December 24 Ilham Aliyev called French, Belgian and Dutch politicians as hypocrites, calling on them to open their eyes and look at the reality. What was the impact of these statements on the Luxembourg-Azerbaijan relations? Given these realities and the meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council on December 18 last year, to what extent is it appropriate to have such cooperation with Azerbaijan, also within the Eastern Partnership?

Answer: Azerbaijan is a participant of the EU’s Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership, which allows the EU and its member states to engage not only in the constructive, but also criticizing dialogue with Azerbaijan. In this way EU can become an important role-player in the context of respecting the international law and human rights by the Azerbaijani authorities.

Question: On November 19, 2020, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy made a statement over the situation in Nagorno Karabakh. Since this statement did the Luxembourg government see concrete developments in the region in terms of EU’s calls. If not, what problems still exist and who is responsible for them?

Answer: The ceasefire regime is being observed up to now since the November 10 statement, with exceptions to some incidents, however, the aggressive rhetoric has not been eliminated, and the issue of the exchange of POWs is in the deadlock. There is also no investigation of the military crimes, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh remains tense, the entry of international organizations to the region is blocked by Azerbaijan, there are still no signs for the lasting solution to the conflict.

Question: Is the EU going to provide assistance to the population of the region aimed at preventing the humanitarian disaster in Artsakh?

Answer: The EU has provided humanitarian support to the region since the crisis days which comprised 6.9 million Euros.

Question: Did the situation in Nagorno Karabakh and the aggressive rhetoric of the Azerbaijani authorities towards the EU have an impact on the European visa policy towards that country, especially for the Azerbaijani diplomatic passport holders?

Answer: The visa policy is regulated by the visa facilitation and readmission agreements signed with Azerbaijan in 2014, and nothing has changed in this respect.

Question: Does Luxembourg support the possibility of deploying observers by the OSCE in Nagorno Karabakh? Can the OSCE play a role in the process of investigating the military crimes in the region?

Answer: The deployment of OSCE observer mission is possible in case of receiving such a request with the consent of all sides. Luxembourg supports that proposal and the OSCE efforts. The OSCE’s function is to prevent and solve conflicts. It has no tool to deal with the investigation of military crimes.

Newspaper: Armenia ruling bloc MPs are divided into 2 wings

Nahapetian Zhanna
News.am, Armenia
10:35, 20.03.2021

YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: According to Zhoghovurd daily’s information, the issue of amendments to the Electoral Code has become a hot topic of discussion among the NA [National Assembly] My Step [majority] faction MPs. The thing is that the My Step [lawmakers] are divided into two wings on the adoption of the draft code.

The MPs elected by the rating election system from the provinces do their best to go to the elections with the old code, so that the rating election system is not removed from the code, whereas some members of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs are in favor of completely removing the rating election system from the Electoral Code, there be only proportional [representation] elections [in Armenia].

And now this issue has become a cause of disagreements.

Well-informed sources say that RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has not clearly told his [political] team what his final position is on this issue.

Following the announcement on the snap [parliamentary] elections, the [My Step] faction has found itself in a hopeless situation, as they were engaged in settling the issue of amendments to the Electoral Code. Now they are waiting for Pashinyan’s word for further steps.

Let us recall that with the [new] Electoral Code, the rating election system should have been changed in the first place. According to Pashinyan, it was due to this system that the former authorities were able to reproduce themselves, as they were using the resources of businessmen, “authorities,” and it was thanks to such people that they were bringing votes, not ideas.

But now, it seems the rating election system is to Pashinyan’s liking, and he also has decided to hold new elections using the tools he rejected himself.

Telecom Armenia starts work on fibre NGN J

Nahapetian Zhanna
Developing Telecoms
March 10 2021
JAMES BARTON
10 MARCH 2021

elecom Armenia has begun construction on a new fibre-optic Next Generation Network (NGN) in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

A former unit of Veon now trading as Beeline, Telecom Armenia expects the NGN to offer speeds of up to 10Gbps. Deployment has commenced in the Davidashen district of the city, although the operator does not expect to switch the network on for “several months”.

CommsUpdate quoted Telecom Armenia CEO Hayk Yesayan as saying: “We are taking a new leap into the next century by creating a new fibre-optic network that will be one of the best in the world. In existing networks, the main backbone is shared among multiple users, while in our new network, each subscriber will receive a fibre-optic channel using fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology.”

 

Armenian president invites PM, opposition for meeting on March 13

Nahapetian Zhanna
TASS, Russia
March 10 2021
On Wednesday, the armed forces’ commandment issued a statement, reaffirming the demand of former Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan for Pashinyan’s resignation and snap general elections

YEREVAN, March 10. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has invited Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, leaders of parliament factions and members of the opposition Fatherland Salvation Movement to hold a meeting on March 13 to discuss ways out of the political crisis gripping the country, the presidential office reported.

“Guided by state and national interests and in order to discuss the current state of affairs of to find ways out of the crisis, I invite the prime minister, leaders of parliament factions and members of the Fatherland Salvation Movement to hold a meeting in the presidential residence on March 13 at 12:00 (p.m. – TASS),” Sarkissian’s statement notes.

The president also stressed that the country continues to be in a political crisis which can have “unpredictable and irreversible ramifications for our state.” “There are many problems, and urgent systemic changes are needed to address them, including constitutional and legislative ones. In the current situation, my only goal was to preserve the country from blows and avert a situation that could lead to unpredictable consequences,” he added.

The statement also notes that the presidential office will wait until Thursday 18:00 for replies from the invited parties.

 

Armenian crisis

 

On Wednesday, the armed forces’ commandment issued a statement, reaffirming the demand of former Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan for Pashinyan’s resignation and snap general elections. Earlier, the prime minister said that Gasparyan had been relieved from his post after the decree to sack him was not signed by the president in time and was not challenged by him in the Constitutional Court either. Gasparyan himself slammed the decree as unconstitutional and decided to appeal it in an administrative court.

In turn, Sarkissian submitted the law on military service and the status of a service member, which determines the procedure for appointment and resignation of a chief of the General Staff, to the court for review. Meanwhile, the opposition insists that Gasparyan should remain in his position.

Armenia plunged into a political crisis after Gasparyan and top military brass called for Pashinyan to step down. The prime minister slammed the move as an attempted military coup and twice asked the president to sign the decree to dismiss Gasparyan. The opposition has already had two meetings with Sarkissian to discuss the issue twice since the crisis began.

Three more bodies found during search operations, Artsakh emergency service says

Nahapetian Zhanna
Panorama, Armenia

Three more bodies were found during the search operations in Varanda (Fizuli) region on Thursday, the State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

The remains were retrieved from combat positions of the region. According to preliminary data, they were servicemen.

The bodies are yet to be identified through a forensic DNA analysis, the service said.

Since the end of the 2020 Artsakh war, a total of 1,499 bodies of fallen soldiers and civilians have been found during the search operations.

The search will continue in Martuni’s southeastern part beyond the control of Artsakh and Varanda on Friday. 

Statement: Balasanyan, patriotic segment of Artsakh, stand with Homeland Salvation Movement, Armenian army

Nahapetian Zhanna
News.am, Armenia
Feb 27 2021
16:37, 27.02.2021

When, back in 2018, the hero of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), General Vitaly Balasanyan—Secretary of the Artsakh Security Council—was sounding the alarm that nation-betraying forces had come to power in Armenia and it was necessary to fight [against them], everyone seemed to be skeptical of the general’s words. This is noted in a statement issued Saturday by the Justice Party of Artsakh.

“However, the nation-betraying forces, realizing very well what V. Balasanyan is alarming about, were trying to isolate him in every possible way.

Sadly, the 44-day war of 2020 confirmed the general’s words and concerns.

Today, [Armenia’s] nation-betraying [PM] Nikol Pashinyan is still at the helm of power, and naturally, he continues to fight against the heroic general who was the first to expose his [Pashinyan’s] nation-betraying program.

Yesterday, information was spread in some news outlet that, allegedly, V. Balasanyan is also involved in the nation-destroying process of ‘persuading back’ RA MOD GS [(Republic of Armenia Ministry of Defense General Staff)] chief Onik Gasparyan. The same signature of the same center.

However, knowing V. Balasanyan very well, we can state that the general who achieved victory in the [19]90s, who reaffirmed in April 2016 the fact of his being a glorious military-political figure, could not have participate in the nation-destroying process of ‘persuading back’ Onik Gasparyan.

And if he even met with Gasparyan, then only to support him and inform that both he and the patriotic segment of Artsakh stand with Homeland Salvation Movement [which demands Pashinyan’s resignation] and the Armenian army,” the statement also reads in part.

Futuristic performance "The execution of Ceaușescu or Death to Traitors" staged during the opposition rally

Nahapetian Zhanna
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 26 2021

Armenian protesters demanding the resignation of PM Pashinyan and his government continue blocking Baghramyan avenue in central part of Yerevan. Before the start of the rally, the members of VETO social-political movement staged a futuristic performance named “The Execution of Ceaușescu or Death to Traitors” directed by the Head of the Movement Narek Malyan. 

After the performance, Malyan told reporters that in total six criminal cases had been instituted against him, one of them for the performance. 

“Our authorities found that the call “Death to traitors” is a threat to them, thus apparently revealing own perception of being traitors. I was arrested for what they called ‘inciting violence’ through this performance, was sent behind the bars. Then I was freed after a court decision. That is to say. I have already paid for this performance, and the authorities should invent another reason [ed for arrest],” said Malyan. 

The opposition activist said that the performance is of symbolic nature and reproduces the current realities in Armenia. “Let me remind that the Army took to the side of the people after the execution of Ceaușescu, yet the Romanian NSS stood next to Ceaușescu till the end. In  fact, this performance tells the story of a great tragedy showing how ruling pair clinging to power may end,” said Malyan. 

No cash: new campaign of Idram and IDBank against cash

Nahapetian Zhanna

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 17:38,

Idram, the leader of e-money in Armenia, together with IDBank, which continuously introduces innovative digital products to the market, declare war against cash by reminding about the relevance and advantages of non-touch and online payments.

From everyday shopping to electronic tips, from digital loan to online banking: these are only a few opportunities of e-money and benefits of Idram-IDBank business alliance. In the coming months in the frames of “No cash” campaign, via their official pages on social media and other channels the companies will present the advantages of e-money and tools offered over cash, they will tell about users and entrepreneurs who refused cash, they will work with famous artists of the town on the posters on “Cash crash”, which will be followed by an open competition on the same topic with a large prize fund.

Progressive countries have been pursuing a policy of minimizing the use of cash. In our country the pandemic has changed the picture in favor of non-cash payments, however, more than 50% of transactions are still made in cash, which deprives buyers of many benefits and hinders the process of transparency of the overall economic activity.

The Idram and IDBank business alliance, as a leading fintech digital platform, has created and offers all the necessary tools to provide the citizens with an opportunity to make safe and fast payments, and to provide the business with solutions to receive payments online and non-cash and to gather funds. Moreover, these solutions do not require any additional effort or investment in software or equipment.

Today on the whole territory of Armenia it is possible to make payments via Idram&IDBank application in more than 4400 points of sale, including supermarkets, pharmacies, service sector, in more than 400 online shops and for more than 300 services.

Idram urges to refuse cash, reminding once again that “Life is easy with Idram”.

 

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