Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Armenpress: Armenia does not rule out forceful response to Azerbaijani provocation

Tambiyan Samvel

Armenia does not rule out forceful response to Azerbaijani provocation

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 21:24,

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. By applying to the CSTO, Armenia has launched a military-political mechanism which envisages both political and military-political solutions with use of force, ARMENPRESS reports caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at the extraordinary parliament session.

”Since our analysis showed that, in all probability, we deal with provoking a large-scale conflict, a decision was made not to take local measures, but to launch the military-political security mechanism, because in case of local clashes, it would be very difficult in the future to substantiate who started firing, who was located where and where should be located’’, Pashinyan said.

‘’We have launched a military-political security mechanism, which envisages both political and military-political solution, including with use of force’’, Pashinyan concluded.

On May 12 in the morning the Azerbaijani armed forces crossed Armenia’s state border in the territory of Sev Lake in Syunik province and advanced up to 3,5 kilometers, trying to surround the Lake. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this action is intolerable for Armenia, as it is an encroachment on the sovereign territory of Armenia.

So far, neither the Armenian nor the Azerbaijani side have used any weapon. The number of Azerbaijani soldiers in the territory of Armenia is about 250.

Armenia has officialy applied to the CSTO for launching procedures in line with the Collective Security Treaty. Pashinyan has also sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking for military assistance in line wit Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of 1997. French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that the issue should be solved in the sidelines of the UNSC, expressing readiness to provide military assistance to the international efforts aimed at solving the situation.




Restoring lasting peace implies liberation of Artsakh’s occupied territories, release of Armenian POWs

Tambiyan Samvel
Aysor, Armenia

Twenty-seven years ago, on May 12, 1992, a trilateral, termless  agreement on a complete ceasefire and cessation of hostilities signed between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh), Azerbaijan and Armenia entered into force.The signing of the document became possible due to the mediation efforts of the Russian Federation, Artsakh MFA said in a statement.

“This agreement was preceded by a statement of the Council of CIS Heads of State dated April 15, 1994, calling for an immediate ceasefire, as well as the Bishkek Protocol of May 4-5, 1994, signed by the heads of the parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), Kyrgyzstan, the Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, as well as the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President on Nagorno-Karabakh and the head of Secretariat of the Council of CIS Interparliamentary Assembly.

Subsequently, the commitments to observe the ceasefire were repeatedly reaffirmed by the parties, in particular on July 26-27, August 29 and November 12, 1994, and were finally consolidated by the agreement on strengthening the ceasefire regime reached under the auspices of the OSCE on February 6, 1995. In April 2016, after a sharp increase in escalation caused by another armed attack of Azerbaijan on Artsakh, known as the Four-Day War, an agreement on cessation of hostilities and strict adherence to the ceasefire was again reached with the mediation of Russia.

The indefinite agreement, which put an end to the first armed aggression of Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh and its people, was considered by the international community as a document binding on the signatory parties, as well as an important instrument to prevent the resumption of bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh and create conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. The UN Secretary General, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the Council of Europe Secretary General, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries have repeatedly stated the need to strictly observe this agreement, including through joint statements at the level of heads of state.

On September 27, 2020, in flagrant violation of the trilateral ceasefire agreement of May 12, 1994, and subsequent agreements, Azerbaijan unleashed a new full-scale military aggression against Artsakh with the direct involvement of Turkey and international terrorists.

By its actions, Azerbaijan violated the provisions of the UN Charter, as well as OSCE, Council of Europe and international commitments as a whole. In particular, Baku violated such fundamental principles as the non-use or threat of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, equal rights, including the right of peoples to decide their own destiny and the faithful implementation of obligations under international law.

The totality of the wrongful acts of Azerbaijan, including non-observance of the principle of pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept), unleashing a war of aggression, cooperation with international terrorists and their use to suppress by force the inalienable right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects with the use of prohibited types of indiscriminate weapons, torture and murder of Armenian prisoners of war, illegal detention of prisoners of war and civilian captives, destruction of cultural heritage and illegal occupation, constitute crimes, which entail international legal responsibility. The ceasefire achieved through the mediation of the Russian Federation on November 10, 2020, does not remove Azerbaijan’s responsibility for violation of their previous obligations, committed war crimes, mass atrocities and the ongoing systematic violations of the norms and principles of international law.

The outcomes of Azerbaijan’s latest armed aggression against Artsakh are illegal, since they were the consequence of illegitimate use of force, as well as gross violations of human rights committed by the Azerbaijani side. Baku’s attempts to consolidate the imposed in such a way and, therefore, unlawful current state of affairs cannot be accepted, have no prospects and must be condemned and rejected by the relevant international organizations, by all responsible members of the international community, since illegal acts do not create law.

Restoring lasting peace, in our view, implies redressing the consequences of the recent armed aggression, which includes the liberation of the occupied territories of the Republic of Artsakh, release and repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages, as well as conducting negotiations in good faith under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict.”

Francophonie Parliamentary Assembly delegates visit Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan

Tambiyan Samvel

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 13:02,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the International Organization of La Francophonie visited the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan during their visit to Armenia.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie Europe mission chief Jean-Charles Luperto, France MP Sophie Mette, Catalan MP Aurora Madaula, Cameroon MP Joshua Osih, Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie administrative secretary general Emmanuel Maury and advisor for European region Fatmir Leci were accompanied by the lawmakers of the Armenian delegation to the assembly Hovhannes Igityan (head), Arman Yeghoyan, Arusyak Julhakyan and Sona Ghazaryan.

The delegates laid flowers at the Eternal Flame in honor of the victims of the genocide and then toured the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, the parliament’s press service said. 

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Swampscott selectmen commemorate the Armenian genocide of 1915

Tambiyan Samvel
Wicked Local, MA
May 6 2021
William J. Dowd

Wicked Local


The Swampscott Board of Selectmen put the town’s name among Bay State communities that have issued official proclamations commemorating the 106th anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1915.

The Ottoman Empire’s systemic and mass execution and displacement of 1.5 million Armenians began on April 24,1915, largely marching them out into the Syrian desert without food and water. 

“Armenian-Americans have been talking about this for the last century, and it’s really important for us to reflect and remember the atrocities that occurred,” Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told selectmen before they issued the proclamation on May. 3.  “One of the hardest things is when [genocides] are denied, and justice is denied.”    

When he was the Essex County Advisory Board’s budget analyst, Fitzgerald worked with former Peabody mayor Peter Torigian, whom Armenian-genocide survivors raised, for close to 15 years. 

“To hear the stories of the displacement and absolute inhumanity continues to chill my thoughts about how awful folks can be,” Fitzgerald told selectmen. “It also reminds me of how fortunate we are to live in a society where our freedoms are protected, and our rights are protected.”   

He added, “It’s important that we hold the past to account in spite of all those who choose to ignore the facts and the realities.”   

Swampscott’s proclamation endeavors to “protect historical memory, ensure similar atrocities do not occur again and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution and tyranny.” 

What happened  106 years ago is widely recognized by the world as a genocide, but it remains a point of deep contention for the Republic of Turkey. The country’s leaders deny genocide occurred, and they contend that both Ottomans and Armenians are responsible for the bloodshed.  

Armenian genocide, in the eyes of the executive branch, in the company of others  from the killing of the 6 million Jews by the Nazis to the killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge. 

“We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history,” Biden said. “We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.” 

Over the decades, Biden said the tragic history brought the genocide’s survivors to the United States shores.   

“Of those who survived, most were forced to find new homes and new lives around the world,” said Biden said on April 24. “With strength and resilience, the Armenian people survived and rebuilt their community.”   

Selectman Peter Spellios underscored Biden’s formal recognition as the right thing to do.  

“There is a lot of importance [in Swampscott issuing this proclamation] especially given what President Biden did recently,” Spellios said. “His accurate reference of this as genocide, his accurate reflection of history. That we don’t want to whitewash history, and we don’t downplay this.”   

Biden’s recognition follows resolutions passed in the U.S. Congress in 2019, formally acknowledging the Armenian genocide.  Presidents and federal lawmakers’ reticence to ascribe the genocide label lies in the fact that many saw Turkey as too strategic an ally for the United States geopolitical and militarily to lose.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been at the forefront of the Armenian-genocide-recognition movement. She praised Biden’s acknowledgement, saying its “long overdue.” 

“I commend President Biden’s decision to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide. Calling this atrocity what it was — genocide — we must recognize the horrors of the past if we hope to avoid repeating them in the future. This is an important human rights moment,” Warren said. “President Biden pledged to put human rights back at the core of U.S. foreign policy, and I applaud this affirmation.” 

Swampscott’s proclamation falls in line with Massachusetts’ storied history as a sanctuary for Armenians and for its recognition of what happened in 1915.  Massachusetts elected officials, both on local and state levels, pinned the word “genocide” to the horrific events as early as 1965.  

Today, the Bay State claims the second-largest Armenian population in the country after California.  Worcester is home to the nation’s first Armenian church,  and the Armenian Library and Museum of American resides in Watertown

Since the mid-to-late 19th century and the turn of the 20th century, Armenians fled Ottoman persecution and oppression, finding refuge in Massachusetts – especially Greater Boston, Worcester and Watertown.   

“In the years following the genocide, thousands more arrived,” reads an article on Massachusetts’ ethnic-Armenian population posted on Boston College’s Boston Global archive website.  “By 1930, there were more than 3,500 Armenians living in Watertown—nearly ten percent of the population.”  

The article goes on to read:  “In subsequent years, the town would become a major center of Armenian culture and heritage, even as later generations dispersed to surrounding suburbs.”  

 

6 famous members of the Armenian diaspora that have taken the world by storm

Tambiyan Samvel
Daily Sundial – CSUN
May 7 2021

After 106 years, President Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, using the word genocide for the first time since President Ronald Regan.

The 1915 Armenian Genocide, known as the first modern-day genocide of the 20th century, was an orchestrated crime against humanity in an attempt to annihilate the Armenian people as the Turkish Ottoman Empire massacred 1.5 million Armenian lives. Ottoman authorities first deported, hunted and murdered hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders to ensure the history of the Armenians died along with them, They then proceeded to do the same with the rest of the Armenian people.

In the world’s failure to hold the Ottoman Turks responsible for their atrocities, one does not have to think far about how Adolf Hitler got the idea to persecute and kill 6 million Jews. Hitler believed that because the world didn’t act to stop the Ottoman Turks, no one would care about the Jewish people. “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? Hitler said in his 1939 Obersalzberg Speech.

With millions of Armenians escaping their ethnic homeland to survive, Armenia now has one of the largest diasporas in the world. Armenians escaped to France, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, Russia, Ethiopia and countless other countries across the globe. With a widely spread out diaspora, it’s no question descendants of the Armenian Genocide have taken the world by storm.

Kim Kardashian West

Kim Kardashian West (David Shankbone via Wikipedia Commons)

Whether one loves to love or loves to hate Kim Kardashian West, she is one of the biggest names in Hollywood and continuously sheds light on her Armenian ancestry through the hit reality television show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” interviews and her work as a celebrity political activist.

Kardashian West inherits her Armenian roots from her late father, Robert Kardashian. She has amassed her success through her career as a reality television star and a business mogul, according to Forbes magazine. Kardashian West, who is worth $1 billion is now the second Armenian female billionaire to grace the cover of Forbes, right alongside Alex and Ani founder Carolyn Rafaelian. While being one of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers, Kardashian West continues to uphold her traditional Armenian roots through not only educating herself but educating her 285 million social media followers about the Armenian Genocide and the dire situations that surround Armenia today.

Kardashian West, who has also visited the homeland twice, plans to move production for her company Skims to the country in an effort to bring more business into Armenia, according to the Daily Mail.

Cher

Cher (Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian, changed the game of pop music for generations to come. Like Kardashian, Sarkisian was born to an American mother and an Armenian father. One of the original queens of pop, Cher has left her name in the roots of Hollywood for life. From being a part of the duo Sonny & Cher, becoming a solo megastar to being an Oscar-winning actress, she continues to inspire pop artists. Cher has also done a great deal for the Armenian community, despite never feeling a strong connection to her background due to growing up with an estranged father. Everything changed when she decided to travel to Armenia in 1993, when Armenia went to war with Azerbaijan over ownership of ethnic Armenian lands, according to the Guardian. Since going to Armenia and connecting with her roots, Cher has been extremely vocal in the support of Armenia and getting the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide for what it was: an extermination.

Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis (Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

Andy Clement Serkis, whose original surname is Sarkisian, is one of Hollywood’s most prominent actors. With roles ranging from Gollum in “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” to gaining a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ulysses Klaue in “Black Panther,” Serkis remains one of the few Armenian actors in the realm of Hollywood. Born to a British mother and an Armenian father, Serkis’ work earned him a BAFTA award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema.

Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian (Boris Baldinger via Flickr)

Serj Tankian, the lead singer of the all-Armenian metal band System of a Down, is beloved by metalheads around the world. Tankian was born to Armenian parents, with four grandparents who escaped from Armenia to Lebanon during the persecution of the Armenians. His work in the music industry earned his band a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Alternative Rock Band. Tankian has used his platform to unite rock lovers all over the globe and to educate his fans about the atrocities committed against the Armenians through his lyrics. Tankian is relentless in his fight to get the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide through continuous political activism work with both the U. S. government and the Armenian government. Tankian is also a CSUN alumnus who graduated with a marketing degree in 1989.

Kirk Kerkorian

Kirk Kerkorian (EarlyVegas via Flickr)

Known as the “Father of Las Vegas megaresort,” Kerkor “Kirk” Kerkorian was one of America’s most successful businessmen, investors and philanthropists. Kerkorian is responsible for quite literally architecting the city of Las Vegas from the ground up. Worth an estimated $4 billion, Kerkorian once purchased MGM Studios in 1969 as a film investor and later opened the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in 1973, the largest hotel in the world at the time. A descendant of Armenian immigrant parents who escaped from the Ottomans, Kerkorian honored his Armenian ancestry by donating over $1 billion to the people of Armenia after the devastating earthquake in Spitak, Armenia in 1988. Kerkorian also fully financed the Armenian Genocide remembrance film “The Promise.” The film, which starred Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, was the first mainstream American film to depict the story of the Armenian Genocide. According to the Hollywood Reporter, if it had not been for Kerkorian, the film never would have made it on the screen. “The Promise” was a project that had been in the works for quite some time as it had great meaning to Kerkorian, who ensured every detail that went into the film would be beautifully and painfully depicted before his death in 2015.

Charles Aznavour

Charles Aznavour (Roland Godefroy via Wikipedia Commons)

One of the greatest celebrated artists in France and regarded as the “French Frank Sinatra,” Aznavour was a poet who could turn his poetry into French love songs. Born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, Aznavour was a child of Armenian immigrants who fled from Armenia to France to escape the 1915 genocide. Aznavour first made his mark on the music industry when French icon Edith Piaf heard him sing and later invited him to join her on tour, according to Snippet of History. Aznavour recorded more than 1,200 songs and starred in more than 80 French films and TV shows. He was always an outspoken advocate for the Armenian cause through his charity work and countless efforts to share the horrific history of the Armenian people and the tragic fate that his mother and father escaped from. Despite being displaced from their mother country during the Armenian Genocide, Aznavour’s parents resisted Turkish assimilation by teaching their children the Armenian language, folklore and traditions to preserve their Armenian culture, according to the New Yorker. After Aznavour died in 2018, the Eiffel Tower shone extra bright, as France lost one of their most cherished singers.

The Armenian people have endured some of the worst events in history. Despite being ignored by the United States because of its security partnership with Turkey, the Armenian people’s fight for genocidal recognition has continued for over 100 years. To this day, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge their crimes.

The Armenians are a people of pride and will continue to share their history with their children to keep the culture of the motherland alive throughout the diaspora, just as these Hollywood elites have worked so hard to do.

Biden Administration Releases Statement on Armenian Genocide

Tambiyan Samvel
May 7 2021

Ryan Teutschmann, [email protected]|May 7, 2021

Saturday, April 24 marked Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, a day on which Armenians around the world remember the atrocities committed against them by the Ottoman Empire – now present-day Turkey – in 1915-16 during the Meds Yeghern, the Armenian term for the genocide. This year’s remembrance gained additional awareness from the public after President Biden released a statement specifically referring to the event as a genocide. The move followed through on Biden’s campaign promise to focus on human rights, even at the risk of alienating Turkey – a NATO ally and major power in the Middle East.
The Armenian Genocide, sometimes called “the first genocide of the twentieth century,” refers to a period of violence, deportation and death marches by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population from spring 1915 until fall 1916. The genocide targeted roughly 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman territory and resulted in “(a)t least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million” deaths, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
According to the USHMM, the genocide was sparked by fear that invading Allied armies would incite the Christian Armenians to take up arms against the Ottomans, resulting in forced deportations beginning in provinces nearer to their enemies that quickly expanded to target Armenians in the entire empire. Turkey has long denied that these atrocities were genocide and suppressed information about them, resulting in their place in history being obscured and often forgotten. Despite these efforts, the Armenian Genocide and what news of it that did escape to the wider world inspired attempts to create protections for groups and helped coin the term “genocide.”
Presidents of the United States have almost always avoided referring to the atrocities as genocide in the past due to Turkey’s position as a major NATO ally in the Middle East. This delicate partnership and the offense Turkey takes when other countries insinuate the events as a genocide meant that, until now, the Armenian Genocide had never been officially referred to as a genocide in U.S. policy. The only exception to this unspoken rule was one occasion when President Ronald Reagan used the term in the 1980s. However, this instance did not affect the overall U.S. policy on the matter, according to the Associated Press.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement soon after Biden’s, condemning his decision to recognize the genocide.
“We reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the President of the U.S. regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
In contrast, according to the Associated Press, the Armenian government praised the statement and said it hopes to serves as an example to the rest of the world to honor the memory of those horrible events.
Regardless of the international political backlash, the statement will have, Biden has already been praised by members of the Armenian-American community, activists, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other Democratic members of Congress for upholding history and recognizing violations of human rights from the past. The statement has set the tone for this administration’s stance on human rights, though how this commitment will play out remains to be seen.

Canada calls for release of all Armenian captives

Tambiyan Samvel
Public Radio of Armenia
May 7 2021
– Public Radio of Armenia

Canada welcomes Azerbaijan’s release of Armenian detainees, Globsl Affairs Canada said in a Twitter post.

It called it a key step in a comprehensive solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“Canada continues to call for the release of all detainees,” Globsl Affairs Canada said.

Three Armenian prisoners of war returned from Azerbaijani captivity on Tuesday. Over 200 Armenian POWs are still held in Baku.

Civil Contract to go it alone in snap parliamentary elections – Lilit Makunts

Tambiyan Samvel
Panorama, Armenia
May 6 2021

Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party will not form an alliance with any other political force for the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, its member Lilit Makunts, who heads the party’s parliamentary bloc My Step, told reporters on Thursday.

“Civil Contract will participate in the elections as a separate party without entering into any alliance,” Makunts said.

Meanwhile, she did not reveal the list of Civil Contract’s candidates for the early elections, adding it will be presented after May 10.

“I will just say that there will be new people [on the electoral list],” Makunts added.

Separately, she said the latest statement of Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan urging the two other former presidents of the country to form an electoral alliance is “perplexing”.

“For me, as a former member of the first president’s political team, that statement is perplexing,” the MP said, adding the 2018 Pashinyan-led movement had the same ideology as the 2008 movement led by Ter-Petrosyan. 

Artsakh records 3 new cases of COVID-19 in one day

Tambiyan Samvel

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 11:10,

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS. 3 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in the Republic of Artsakh in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,667.

52 coronavirus tests have been carried out on April 29, the ministry of healthcare of Artsakh said.

Currently, 20 infected patients receive treatment in hospitals.

On April 19 the vaccinations against COVID-19 have launched in Artsakh.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Industry is among moving forces of EEU – Pashinyan at intergovernmental council meeting

Tambiyan Samvel

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 11:44,

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he finds the industrial sector to be one of the moving forces of the Eurasian Economic Union’s economic system.

Speaking at the union’s prime ministerial meeting in Kazan, Pashinyan highlighted the importance of the 2025 EEU Industrial Cooperation document currently under discussion.

“The creation of a complete single market of products is practically not applicable without developing an agreed policy in this direction. We are interested in increasing the competitiveness of the products produced in the EEU, both in domestic and foreign markets,” Pashinyan said.

He highlighted that the new conditions in the world brought forward the need of cooperation in the healthcare, education and social sectors, with high technologies becoming more and more demanded.

Pashinyan thanked his EEU counterparts for the joint work and reiterated Armenia’s readiness for all efforts required for enhancing the economic cooperation sectors and developing the union’s integration potential.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan