Saturday, Armenian, Azeri Security Chiefs Meet Again Russia -- Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service, hosts a meeting of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Moscow, December 28, 2020. The heads of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s main security services met again on Saturday to discuss the implementation of the Russian-brokered agreement to stop the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. In a short statement, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said the meeting took place in no-man’s-land at a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border about 70 kilometers south of Yerevan. The statement said NSS Director Armen Abazian and the chief of Azerbaijan’s State Security Service, Ali Nagiyev, discussed “the exchange of prisoners and the search for missing persons.” “Contacts on these topics are continuing,” it added without elaborating. Abazian and Nagiyev already discussed these issues late last month at a meeting in Moscow hosted by Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service. The NSS said afterwards that they reached unspecified “understandings.” The ceasefire deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 9 calls for the exchange of all prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians held by the conflicting sides. So far 54 Armenians have been freed and returned home. Dozens of others remain in Azerbaijani captivity. They include 62 Armenian soldiers who were taken prisoner in early December when Azerbaijani forces seized the last two Armenian-controlled villages in Karabakh’s Hadrut district occupied by them during the six-week war. In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres publicized earlier this week, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov branded the soldiers as “saboteurs” and indicated the Azerbaijani authorities’ intention to prosecute them on relevant charges. The Armenian Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned Baku’s plans as a gross violation of international law and the Karabakh truce agreement. It accused the Azerbaijani side of “using Armenian prisoners of war as hostages to advance its political agenda.” Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Tambiyan Samvel
Missing soldiers’ relatives start sit-in outside Etchmiadzin military unit
News.am, Armenia
Jan 7 2021
20:53, 07.01.2021
The relatives of the missing servicemen have started a sit-in near the military unit of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia.
“It is already 80 days and there is no solution. They had said they shall enter Zangelan for search operations, but they do not enter; they say the enemy [i.e., Azerbaijan] does not allow [it]. And what will we do if we go home now? We will stay [here] until the issue is resolved. We do not go in front of the government because our children were taken [to the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war] from this military unit,” the mother of one of these missing servicemen told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
To note, for a long time now, the parents and relatives of these soldiers are staging frequent protests outside the aforesaid military unit.
Not articles but the investigation should answer questions about the Karabakh war, Marukyan says
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 6 2021
“The prime minister believes the articles are a good genre to communicate own thoughts and he is ready to continue tis type of communication. In response, I noted that articles are not a good genre and investigation is the process should answers many pending questions,” Edmon Marukyan, the leader of Bright Armenia parliamentary faction told reporters on Wednesday.
Marukyan’s remarks came at a request to comment on the article “The Origins of the 44-Day War,” authored by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Marukyan reminded that his faction had proposed to set up a fact-finding mission to examine all circumstances of the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh and the proposal had been sent to all political forces on December 20.
“When the group is established, all involved parties will be testified, foreign ministers, chiefs of General Staffs of Armed Forces, soldiers, volunteers among them. Our people will give no rest to us until they get answers to all questions. Those questions cannot be answered through articles, since the genre itself is a monologue. You choose convenient questions for you to give answers. Instead, we would raise inconvenient questions. To respond to inconvenient question a fact-finding mission should be formed,” said the head of the opposition faction.
He didn’t rule out institution of criminal cases as a result of the group work.
Asbarez: Armenian Bar Association Issues PSA on the Loss of Artsakh Investments
January 2, 2020
Armenian Bar Association
Follows Up with “Roads to Recovery” Webinar
On November 26, the Armenian Bar Association issued a public service announcement (PSA) for owners of property and businesses in the parts of Artsakh occupied by Azerbaijan. The purpose of this outreach effort is to highlight the rights and guarantees afforded under international law arising from Azerbaijan’s actions which negatively affected the property in Artsakh. The PSA describes the international investment law and customary international law regimes that protect foreign-owned investments and property from destruction and unlawful taking by a home State.
A key pillar of the international investment law is the network of dozens of bilateral and multilateral investment protection treaties that Azerbaijan has agreed to with other sovereign States (meaning countries). The treaties directly extend to the individuals and companies of those States the substantive and procedural guarantees described in the relevant treaties. Although the exact provisions vary from treaty to treaty, typical protections include the guarantee not to be deprived of the value of an investment without prompt and adequate compensation and the obligation by Azerbaijan to accord full physical protection and security to investments within its territory.
Most of the treaties also allow injured business owners to seek compensation directly from Azerbaijan in an international arbitration proceeding under the auspices of the World Bank or another international organization.
The Armenian Bar’s PSA concludes with three important steps for all business and property owners in Azeri-occupied Artsakh: (i) document all titles to personal and real property; (ii) review the list of bilateral and multilateral investment protection treaties concluded by Azerbaijan and see which treaties may afford coverage to the investor or one of the intermediary investment vehicles; and (iii) contact the relevant countries’ commercial attachés at the respective embassies in Baku, Azerbaijan to notify them of the existence of property and investments within the Azeri-occupied territory.
Building on the premise of potential legal actions stemming from the recent hostilities, on December 17, 2020, the Armenian Bar Association hosted a webinar program titled “Roads to Recovery under International Law.” It was the first installment in the Artsakh Sequel broadcasts, with this one explaining the implications of the 2020 war under international law. The gist of this initial program was the accountability of Azerbaijani State entities and officials for wrongful acts under international law.
In the panel, arbitrator Grant Hanessian of Hanessian ADR and attorneys Levon Golendukhin of Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP and Harout Ekmanian of Alston & Bird LLP discussed and exchanged ideas on the various fora available under international law for seeking such accountability for war crimes and other wrongful acts in connection with Azerbaijan’s aggression, including some of the considerations involved in the pursuit of investment arbitration claims for destroyed and expropriated investments. The lively and informative presentation was moderated by Armenian Bar Association Board Member, Armen K. Hovannisian.
Chamber of Advocates head urges Armenian PM to make public all his ‘written and verbal arrangements’ with Azerbaijani leader
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 4 2021
The chairman of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates has called on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to immediately disclose “all his written and verbal arrangements” with the Azerbaijani leader.
“As a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, I urge Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to immediately make public all his written and verbal arrangements with Azerbaijan not described in the November 9 document,” Ara Zohrabyan wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
“In the meantime, I demand answers to the following questions:
“Does Nikol Pashinyan communicate with [Ilham] Aliyev personally or through intermediaries?
“Are the painful and unilateral concessions made in Syunik Province expected also in other regions across the Republic of Armenia, particularly in Ararat, Tavush and Gegharkunik Provinces?
“When are our prisoners of war going to be returned?
“P.S. I propose our compatriots to join these inquiries,” he said.
TASS Press review: Nagorno-Karabakh map redrawn
TASS, Russia
Dec 30 2020
Top stories in the Russian press on Wednesday, December 30
© AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
This outgoing year has shown that the post-Soviet space remains a volcano, which is belching out wars, revolutions and other shocks even 30 years after the breakup of the USSR. The key event for the post-Soviet states in 2020 was the second war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lasted for 44 days. Unlike the first war in the early 1990s, which resulted in Azerbaijan’s defeat, this time Baku clinched victory, regaining control over a significant part of territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh and also a part of this mountainous region. A peace deal between Yerevan and Baku was reached due to Russia’s mediation. Moscow will not only monitor the compliance with the ceasefire but will also become a guarantor of a future long-term settlement to the Karabakh conflict, Kommersant writes.
The key point of the trilateral deal was an agreement to deploy Russian peacekeepers to the conflict zone in order to prevent the resumption of a military confrontation and create conditions for relaunching the diplomatic process, which has been stalled for a quarter of a century.
The second Karabakh war, which broke out on September 27, was predetermined by many factors. Among those, which ensured Azerbaijan’s victory, was its superiority in armaments, first of all, its total air domination thanks to unmanned aerial vehicles purchased from Israel and Turkey. Experts say Armenia was caught off-guard by advanced “kamikaze drones.” Among other factors for Azerbaijan’s victory was the assistance of Turkish military advisers, and the direct participation of Turkey’s military on the battlefield, which included pilots and gunners, as well as mercenaries from the Middle East (although Azerbaijan strongly denies this).
When touching on the reasons for Armenia’s defeat, experts blame the short-sighted policy of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who allowed the war to break out even though the country was not ready for it, as well as strategic and tactical errors by Armenia’s military command. Azerbaijan’s triumph debased Pashinyan’s calls to grant Nagorno-Karabakh a special status. A huge majority of Armenians believe that the prime minister is to blame for the shameful defeat and the opposition is demanding his resignation. Even if the current wave of protests fails to topple the premier and his government, Pashinyan’s prospects in the next or early elections seem to be rather vague, according to the newspaper.
continue reading other news items at
Protesters rally outside parliament
10:49,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Demonstrators are rallying outside the parliament building in Yerevan, protesting against the ruling bloc. “As lawmakers of the majority, with your inaction you have destroyed the National Assembly as a counterbalance to the executive branch, as a primary mandate institution. And you will answer for this,” one of the protesters announced.
Another protester said they demand the lawmakers to start a process of declaring no confidence to the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Meanwhile, an extraordinary session of parliament is expected to debate the ruling bloc’s motion on sacking MP Naira Zohrabyan (BHK) from her position as Chair of the Human Rights Committee of Parliament.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Conscription for mandatory military service to start December 25
11:20, 24 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The winter conscription for mandatory military service will start on December 25 in Armenia, the Cabinet approved during a session today.
Servicemen who have passed their mandatory 2-year service will be demobilized by February 14.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Court in Armenia denies request for arrest of Goris mayor
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 24 2020
A court in Armenia on Thursday ruled against the arrest of Arush Arushanyan, the mayor of the town of Goris in Syunik Province.
The court denied the motion to arrest the mayor due to the lack of grounds.
Arush Arushanyan left the courthouse to a smattering of applause by his supporters gathered in the courtyard.
Video by PARA TV
Ensure your financial and information security
17:37,
Fraud cases have become frequent recently. Unknown people enter people’s apartments by presenting themselves as charitable organization workers, take their mobile telephone, fill in all the necessary details, even take picture of the person, apply for a loan on behalf of them and transfer the money to their own accounts.
Considering the fact that the mobile telephone is an important object for storing your personal information, please don’t give your phone to other people, don’t let them make any transaction and moreover, don’t provide them with your personal details in order to avoid fraud.
Please avoid intermediaries offering you loans via social networks or other means, especially when they ask you to provide your Idram application password and PIN code.
To ensure your own financial security, please:
- Don’t let anyone to make transfers from your Idram wallet, bank card or online/mobile banking account on your behalf, even if you know the person.
- Don’t provide anyone with your username and password of your bank card, mobile banking application or website.
- Don’t provide the number, copy or photo of your passport, bank card details or other secret information to unknown websites.
- Before making a transfer, please check well all the details, even if they write to you from your friend’s or relative’s account.
In cases of fraud please contact the Bank by telephone: 010 59 33 33.