Author: Ophelia Vardapetian

“This is paradise,” said President Armen Sarkissian Friday when he was visiting the Chinari village in the Tavush Province of Armenia, which was the target of brazen attacks by Azerbaijani forces beginning on July 12. “People here live in paradise. Many people in our country don’t even know that paradise is so close.”

Sarkissian was visiting Armenia’s northeastern border region to meet the residents who braved the attacks and whose perseverance and courage protected and defended the homeland from enemy aggressors.

Accompanied by Tavush Governor Hayk Chonanyan and the Primate of the Tavush Diocese Bishop Bagrat Gakstanyan, the president first met with the men and women of Armenia’s Armed Forces stationed there, presenting gifts to several distinguished servicemen.

Sarkissian called the troops heroes, saying Armenia is proud of its military.

“Our servicemen are the ones who truly shape our history and everyone owes them for the peace and security of our country,” said Sarkissian.

The Armenian government on Thursday approved 277 million drams ($570,000) in additional aid to four villages in Tavush that were damaged during the Azerbaijani aggression. According to the provincial administration 89 houses in those villages were hit by Azerbaijani forces. The initial allocation was 25 million drams.

Suren Papikyan, Armenia’s Minister of Local Government and Infrastructures said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday that more than 110 million drams of the new government funding will be pay for ongoing house repairs in the border villages of Aygepar, Nerkin Karmiraghbyur and Chinari. Another 84.3 million drams, he said, will be spent on refurbishing schools, which were not damaged by Azerbaijani shelling, and bomb shelters in these villages, as well as the nearby Movses village. The remainder of the funds will pay for the construction of a small park in Nerkin Karmiraghbyur and a housing complex in Chinari.

The president visited the village school, which was heavily damaged by Azerbaijani artillery strikes.

While meeting with school officials and students, Sarkissian said his sons, Hayk and Vardan, have donated new computer equipment to the school as part a campaign they have launched to donate technology to schools facilitate an easier connection by the students to their peers in the Diaspora.

“As president, as an individual and as the Sarkissian family, I support you,” said the president when talking to the school children who had gathered to greet him. “In a way I have become the friend of this school and this village.”

“Consider that this is my school as well, and if there are any issues feel free to tell me,” said Sarkissian who added that his office will resolve any issues with the school and the village.

He thanked the residents of Chinari for standing by the country’s men and women in uniform and keeping the borders safe.

“We will win if we are all united, in a united Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora,” the president told the residents of Chinari. “I am very optimistic and confident that we will overcome all difficulties through unity. All the greats have spoken about this. We are learning poems about our national unity at schools.”

“The Armenian next to you is your brother or sister,” Sarkissian said, adding if everyone thought this way, then “no one can defeat you in life.”

During his visit to Tavush, Sarkissian also toured the Tavush Textile factory, which was also damaged during last month’s attacks. The factory, which mainly produces gloves for construction workers, was also, in the last several months, producing face masks for healthcare workers combatting the coronavirus crisis.

The directors of the factory walked the president through the glove manufacturing process and added that their products are not only used domestically but are also imported to other CIS countries. They also announced that the factory will begin operating a second location in the nearby Paravakar village.

Tavush Textile on Saturday announced that 20,400 of its medical face masks will be donated as part of Armenia’s emergency relief effort to Lebanon, following the massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday.

BY MICHAEL SOSIKIAN

The Lausanne treaty signed on July 24,1923, was a very limited treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania and Serb-Croatia-Slovenia to put and end to the conflict between them, (Conflict = “state of war between armed group”), while the Sèvres Peace Treaty was an international peace treaty which put an end to World War I. (War=”hostility between sovereign nations of governments”).

The Sèvres Peace Treaty was signed between high contracting parties: the Allied and Associated powers (Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania, Poland, Portugal, The Croat-Slovene State, Czecholovakia, Armenia, Dominion of Canada, Commonwealth of Austrlia, New Zealnd, India, South Africa and the representatives of the Ottoman Empire).

Since the Sèvres Peace Treaty was signed by High Contracting Parties, “the treaty is enforceable whether it is ratified or not” (according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, Article 2-F)

On May 11, 1920 The Supreme Council of the Allied powers gave the draft of the peace treaty to the Ottoman Empire on behalf of the Allied Powers and associates. On July 22, 1920 Sultan Mehmed VI, the head of the Ottoman Empire, as legitimate ruler who represented the Ottoman Empire according to Article 3 of the Ottoman constitution, and having the vested power and authority to sign peace treaties according to Article 7 of the said constitution, means he (Ottoman Empire) accepted Article 89 of the peace treaty and signed, “ Turkey , Armenia as well as all the High Contracting Parties agree to submit to the arbitration of the President of the United States the question of the frontier to be determined between Turkey and Armenia in the Vilayets of Erzrum, Van, Bitlis and Trabizoned, and to accept his decision thereupon, as well as any stipulations he may prescribe as to access for Armenia to the sea, and as to the demilitarization of any portion of Turkish territory adjacent to the said frontier”. The acceptance of Article 89 and the submission to the arbitration means “compromise,” “ A formal document, executed in common by nations submitting a dispute to arbitration, that defines the matter at issue, the rules of procedure and the powers of the arbitral, and the principles for determining the award.”

President Woodrow Wilson, the arbitrator, issued his arbitration award on November 22, 1920 which included the determination of the frontier between Armenia and Turkey, and by which granted to Armenia 40,000 square miles of land from the regions of Bitlis, Van, Erzrum and Trabizon as an access to the Black sea.

Award was and will remain governed by International law; therefore the Lausanne treaty did not discuss the frontier between Armenian and Turkey, while the same treaty drew the frontier between Turkey and each of Bulgaria, Greece, Syria and Iraq “ articles 2 and 3”. However, because the Sèvres Peace Treaty and Lausanne treaty are successive treaties, “ the treaty where both Parties signed is the one that governs the mutual rights and obligation between the Parties ,” (Vienna convention of 1969 Article 30-b).

Although Lausanne treaty map includes territories as Turkish lands encompassing the vilayets of Bitlis, Van, Erzrum and Trabizoned (which is Armenian land as per the arbitration) , but it is not mentioned in the said treaty’s text, therefore that map is not valid according to Article 4 of the said treaty which states that “ In case of divergence between the text and the map, the text will prevail.”

In the Lausanne Treaty text there is no mention of Armenia and Turkish borders, because the border was drawn and issued by Woodrow Wilson by his arbitration award on November 22,1920 , and the said arbitration award was governed by International law, it is final and cannot be appealed.

http://asbarez.com/195742/sevres-treaty-supersedes-any-other-esepcially-lausanne/?fbclid=IwAR1Q7dO2MArJQ4nCyJTt2S3JZHnT_RTgA2PKN2eZ2cvA1TKJvMVMTylP3dg

If you want the full text in English of a number of relevant treaties, please visit:

Russian war correspondent Semyon Pegov of the War Gonzo Project was the first journalist who managed to get as close as possible to the Armenia-Azerbaijani border last week, when Azerbaijani forces brazenly attacked military and civilian targets in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush Province.

In footage released over the weekend, Pegov details how Azerbaijani forces launched the attacks against Armenia from Agdam, near the Artsakh border, where the Azerbaijani army stores its mortars and artillery, reported Public Radio of Armenia.

Pegov explained that Azerbaijanis were shooting at Armenian border positions from yards and gardens of civilian, knowing that Armenian forces would be reticent to return fire to prevent civilian casualties.

“This is not a priority for the Armenian side. They [Azerbaijani armed forces] thus hide behind the civilian population,” Pegov said.

The team has also managed to find the point from where the Armenian Anvakh border post, the target of Azerbaijani attack on July 12, can be seen.

As Azerbaijan continued its attack on Armenian border targets last week, Armenia’s Defense Ministry Spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan posted satellite photos showing the Azerbaijani village of Dondar Ghushchu of Tovruz region (located about six miles from the frontline) enclosed by artillery batteries.

“The Azerbaijan side has surrounded its own population with artillery batteries, turning them into a target, and then it complains that shots were fired by the Armenian Armed Forces at that direction,” explained Stepanyan.