The parliament of Artsakh has installed Artak Beglaryan as the new Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the country.
Beglaryan said on Facebook that he was elected with 29 votes in favor and zero votes against.
“Assuming this responsible function is an honor for me, which I will fulfill with the utmost responsibility,” he said.
Excerpts from Beglaryan’s speech in parliament are available in Armenian.
President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian signed a decree on concurrently appointing Ambassador to Germany Ashot Smbatyan (residence in Berlin) as Ambassador to Liechtenstein.
The President signed the decree based on the prime minister’s proposal.
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has awarded the title of People’s Artist of Armenia to actor, scriptwriter Yervand Manaryan, 94.
“I made a decision to award Yervand Manaryan the title of People’s Artist of Armenia. He did not receive this truly earned title for many years because of his political opposition views. The decision will come into effect de jure after the president signs it,” Pashinyan said on Facebook.
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Throughout, thousands perished most awfully and countless fled, triggering a crisis that continues to fray the ties that bind Europe and feckless leadership in Washington impacted America’s standing on the world stage and caused some to view America as a “paper tiger.”
Now, ISIS is all but beaten. What of Iran? What of Russia’s systemic control of Syria and entrenchment in the Middle East? What are the next steps?
Leaving Russia to its own devices in a unilateral American withdrawal ought not be an option, demonstrated by strategic blunders of the recent past. Iraq will likely not recover from America’s cut and run performance. Syria, unstable and amongst the most treacherous places globally, seems at a crossroads, despite Russian assertions of a thorough reconstruction.
The conflagration, however horrible, was instructive in exposing actors’ egoisms, desires for larger spheres of influence, irredentism and neo-Imperialism has brought to the fore striking alliances not readily seen by even the most adroit observers.
Iran continues its attempts to establish a foothold in Syria with which to attack Israel directly while numerous Iran-affiliated terrorist groups vie for territory, influence and blood. Iran’s own proxy, Hezbollah, the largest and best equipped of the terrorists, awaits orders from Teheran while ruling de facto Lebanon. Only Israeli airstrikes slow Iran’s entrenchment.
Russia’s goals are quite simple on their face. It is the road that is complex and fraught with danger for the United States. Russia actions are, in the short term, toward regional hegemony.
The disconcerting and long-term goals are two-fold — a restoration of power and influence in the world order and on the world stage and as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated it in absolute terms, a national resurgence in the mold of the Soviet Union and the Tsars before it, with the notion that Russians anywhere belong to Moscow.
In characteristic form, Moscow intends to begin its trajectory toward the recapture of past glory with a grand plan for the complete reconstruction of Bashar al Assad’s Syria — lock, stock and barrel. Disconcertingly, Russia means to provide its proxy, Armenia, with a premier role in the project, leaving ample ground for abundant mischief and bad acts.
The involvement of an economically and politically stranded Armenia portends of decades-old complex relations with Moscow. Armenia’s involvement promises it the same fate as Assad, permanently on the wrong side of the U.S. and Western nations.
But why Armenia? It is exceptionally odd for an economically long-besieged nation to participate in another’s national reconstruction project.
Armenia, a nation of just 2.5 million people, experiences year to year net drops in population and a severe brain drain, as Armenians leave in droves in search of a viable future. Knottily, Armenia’s economy, too, is largely owned by Russian oligarchs, thus earnings are principally had by Russians.
Likely, this is Armenia’s due for mortgaging its future to Moscow for weapons and money mainly used to maintain its illegal hold on Nagorno Karabakh, a region internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan and occupied by Armenia for more than two decades. A frozen conflict, Nagorno Karabakh is documented a part of Russia’s gambit to keep neighbors unstable to reinitiate what was once called by the Soviet Union its “near abroad.”
As a de facto Russian vassal state, Armenia is one of only three nations to recognize Assad, the exceedingly questionable company being Russia and Iran. Extraordinarily, Armenia announced it is sending troops to Syria to serve under Russian command.
Iran, too, uses Armenia in a similar manner and with the same financial benefits to Yerevan. Ever-perturbed that neighbor Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority and Shi’a state yet secular and allied with the West, Iran wishes to wield power over Azerbaijan use it as a buffer. Funny how history repeats itself
Regardless of predicament, Armenia, vis a vis Syria, is going to find itself in Washington’s cross-hairs. Given recognition of the Assad government and Armenia’s military support for Damascus, John Bolton’s visit to the region takes on extra significance.
Well-funded lobbying groups such as Armenian National Committee of America-ANCA (reportedly Kremlin-funded) wishes Congress to see Armenia as a U.S. ally deserving of the many millions of American tax payer funds each year, whereas the truth is Armenia is an ally of Russia and Iran, and decidedly not an ally of America.
There is some logic to Armenia participating in this costly endeavor, as within Syria, Syrian-Armenians have remained fiercely loyal to Assad throughout the war, battling opposition forces at each turn. In early 2014, the pro-Assad “National Defense Forces” were assisted by 17,000 Armenian volunteers.
Concurrently, in July, the Armenian government sent 94 tons of “humanitarian aid” to Syria. Delivered by Russian military aircraft via the Russian Defense Ministry, it was the fifth-recorded Armenian distribution during the civil war, each collaborative efforts with Moscow.
Notably, a significant cadre of American observers believes these were wholly illegal weapons transfers from Moscow through Yerevan to Damascus.
Despite promises of change following Armenia’s “velvet revolution,” new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan oversees the same pattern of obedience and heavy dependence on Moscow.
His first trip, within days of taking office, was to the Kremlin for a closed-door meeting with Mr. Putin. Weapons transfers (Yerevan borrows funds from Moscow to pay for copious Russian arms) came early in his tenure, announcing the deployment of Russian-built Tor air defense systems.
And, in early September, Pashinyan announced a joint Armenian-Russian project and reconstruction plans for Syria “to help the Armenian community of Aleppo and Syria.” Sadly, the notion of a moribund state of Armenia as a savior in post-war Syria is suspect, at best.
An Armenian lawmaker, Aram Manukyan, put it best, acknowledging that his nation “plays almost no role” in the realm of interstate economic relations regionally.
It is exceeding unlikely that Armenia, a geo-strategically extraneous, economically floundering nation, may conceivably play any role in healing the battered state, Syria. Gloomily, for the people of Armenia, it means a simple matter of supporting Russia’s neo-Imperialistic policies in return for the Kremlin’s generosity on which to live.
More likely, Armenia’s involvement is as a Russian tool to open the region to more Russian dealings and bringing the Arabic-speaking Armenia diaspora in the Middle East under Moscow’s control.
Dr. Theodore Karasik is a Senior Advisor at Gulf State Analytics
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
Wednesday,
Armenian Parties Concerned Over Election Bill Failure
• Gayane Saribekian
The parliament building in Yerevan
A number of political parties not represented in Armenia’s outgoing parliament
have voiced their concern about the prospect of “apolitical elections” ahead
after the former ruling party twice effectively blocked amendments to the
electoral laws earlier this month.
The current government led by popular leader Nikol Pashinian had drafted
amendments to the Electoral Code envisaging the scrapping of a controversial
system of so-called rating ballots that was first used in the 2017
parliamentary elections and is widely believed to have been instrumental in
ensuring the victory of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK).
Under that system, voters across Armenia cast their ballots not only for
political parties and alliances as a whole but also for their individual
candidates running in a dozen nationwide constituencies.
Many political experts believe that such individual races degrade political
competition and make financial resources and government connections more
essential in securing votes.
Thus, a few HHK candidates wielding considerable financial resources and
connections provided the bulk of votes for the party in the 2017 polls.
The Pashinian government twice brought amendments that also envisaged
safeguards against vote rigging and other major changes such as lower vote
thresholds for winning seats in parliament and recovering election deposits,
but in both cases the bill failed to get the support of two-thirds of the
lawmakers as required by the constitution.
The HHK said it deemed it wrong to change the Electoral Code less than two
months before expected general elections. It also accused the government of
ignoring a number of alternative proposals.
Now the prospect of holding snap elections in December under the current
Electoral Code has raised concerns among a number of extra-parliamentary
political parties.
Deputy Chairman of the Armenian National Congress Party (HAK) Aram Manukian
regretted the failure of the passage of election law amendments, noting that
they would have created prerequisites for forming a political parliament. Under
the current legislation, in his words, “the vicious phenomena inherent in the
former government are inevitable.”
“It is already obvious that there will be no ideological competition, it is
already obvious that there will be no competition of programs, but everything
again will come down to a revolutionaries versus counterrevolutionaries
struggle and the political component will be lost in the process,” said
Manukian, adding that the HAK, which is led by ex-president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, still has not decided whether it will take part in the elections
in such conditions.
“Discussions are continuing, but it is obvious that our trump card – the
presentation of a liberal economic program as a model for the development of
Armenia – will no longer be a serious factor in the upcoming campaign,” the
HAK’s deputy chairman said.
The failure of the parliament to adopt the new Electoral Code did not change
the decision of another extra-parliamentary party – Heritage, of former foreign
minister Raffi Hovannisian – to participate. “The Heritage Party participated
in elections in conditions of violence and intimidation, and we have no
problems in terms of participation,” said Chairman of the party’s board Armen
Martirosian.
Martirosian, however, sees a certain opportunity for the former ruling party to
use the current electoral legislation in order to regain some of its positions.
“Unfortunately, the existing Electoral Code is anti-political, anti-party and,
I would even say, anti-state. In fact, the former government will have a very
good opportunity to try to reanimate itself to a certain extent, and it is
obvious that with such a multitude of loyal heads of rural communities it will
be very difficult [for the authorities] to prevent vote buying in villages,” he
added.
Varuzhan Avetisian, one of the leaders of the newly established Sasna Tsrer
party, said that difficulties were expected, but he stressed that they rely on
their supporters. “I have some concerns that there will also be attempts to rig
the election results, and some of this rigging will go undetected, since it is
a very elaborate mechanism… Some local kings will again have the opportunity to
enter the parliament. And, unfortunately, the next parliament will not fully
reflect the political will of the people,” said Avetisian.
The Armenian parliament is expected to be dissolved on November 1 after failing
to elect a new prime minister in a vote scheduled for that day. Snap
parliamentary elections then will be held in the first half of December.
A local civil group, “We Are Owners Of Our Country”, has called a protest
outside the parliament building on October 31 demanding that lawmakers amend
the current Electoral Code before the holding of fresh general elections.
Armenia Downplays Istanbul Declaration On Karabakh
Anna Naghdalian, a spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
at a press conference in Yerevan, 24Oct,2018
Armenia has downplayed the significance of a declaration referring to
Nagorno-Karabakh adopted by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and
Azerbaijan at their meeting in Istanbul earlier this week, reminding that “the
OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group
co-chairmanship is the only format with an international mandate to help settle
the conflict.”
“It is within this format that the principles of the conflict settlement are
set forth as a whole. A selective treatment of those principles does not in any
way contribute to the efforts towards a peaceful settlement,” Armenian Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian said on Tuesday.
“Wordings made outside the framework of the Minsk Group co-chairmanship and
contradicting it are artificial and have nothing to do with the settlement of
the problem,” she added.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was one of the issues on the agenda of a
trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan that
was held in Istanbul on October 29.
In the declaration adopted after the end of the negotiations Mevlut Cavusoglu,
Mohammad JavadZarif and Elmar Mammedyarov called for a peaceful resolution of
conflicts in the region “based on the principle of territorial integrity.” The
three foreign ministers specifically highlighted the importance of solving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with this principle.
Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, declared independence
from Azerbaijan amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, triggering a war that
claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
A cease-fire was called in 1994, but decades of internationally mediated
negotiations with the involvement of the OSCE’s Minsk Group have failed to
result in a resolution. The Minsk Group is co-chaired by the United States,
Russia and France.
Armenian Parliament Passes Amnesty Bill
Armenia - Results of parliament's voting on the amnesty bill, Yerevan,31Oct,2018
The Armenian National Assembly on Wednesday voted to approve an amnesty bill
timed to the 100th anniversary of the First Armenian Republic and the 2800th
anniversary of the foundation of Yerevan marked this year.
Seventy-two lawmakers of the 105-seat body voted in favor of the bill, with no
one voting against the measure or abstaining from the vote.
The second reading of the bill and its final adoption are expected on November
1.
Acting Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian, who presented the draft legislation in
parliament, said the proposed amnesty would in one way or another apply to an
estimated 6,500 people, with 660 of 2,888 due to be released from prisons.
Specifically, according to Zeynalian, convicts serving sentences of up to three
years in prison are to be released and prosecutions of people, launched before
October 1, 2018, on charges punishable by up to three years in prison are to be
discontinued. Amnesty will also cover people who committed crimes by negligence
and face up to five years in prison.
First and second-group disabled convicts serving sentences of up to six years
in prison as well as some other categories of convicts, including pregnant
women, people aged above 60 or below 18 who meet specific criteria, are also to
be covered by the amnesty.
The current amnesty also applies to members of the Sasna Tsrer armed group that
seized and held for two weeks a police compound in Yerevan in July 2016 and
members of the radical opposition Founding Parliament movement who were tried
and convicted of plotting a coup in 2015.
The amnesty does not apply to people who committed heavy crimes, were engaged
in trafficking, obstructed journalists’ professional work, committed high
treason, terrorist acts, sabotages and other serious crimes.
As for convicts serving life sentences, according to the acting justice
minister, an individual approach will be shown in each case, as, he said, the
Ministry is not entitled to revise sentences of such convicts.
Families of a number of convicts serving life sentences have staged protests in
front of the National Assembly building demanding that the current amnesty,
which the government describes as the largest ever in Armenian history, be also
somehow applied to their relatives.
Ex-President Sarkisian Vacates Government Villa
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
Former Armenian President and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday left
the government villa in Yerevan where he continued to live after resigning from
office in April, the ex-leader’s aide told RFE/RL’s Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am).
According to Nairi Petrosian, the head of Sarkisian’s office, the ex-leader
will live in a house in Dzoraghbyur, a village just outside capital Yerevan.
As a former president, Sarkisian is entitled to a house provided to him by the
government. After resigning as prime minister on April 23, Sarkisian and his
wife continued to live in the government villa next to the family of Nikol
Pashinian, who moved in after becoming prime minister on May 8.
Still in early October Prime Minister Pashinian’s chief of staff Eduard
Aghajanian said that in November Sarkisian would have to vacate the premises
that he had occupied for more than 10 years.
Shortly before the change of government, then Prime Minister Karen Karapetian’s
cabinet decided to grant the house to Sarkisian as his property. Amid criticism
and growing public protests Sarkisian relinquished the right of ownership two
days after being controversially elected by parliament on April 17 as prime
minister to continue to occupy the number one post in the country after two
straight five-year terms as president. Sarkisian then quit his office amid
antigovernment protests led by then opposition leader Pashinian.
Already as prime minister Pashinian instructed his chief of staff to provide
the ex-president with a house, but, according to the government, Sarkisian has
rejected all proposed options, including a house in Yerevan’s administrative
district of Avan with a market price of $1,250,000.
According to Aghajanian, the reasons for the rejections were mainly connected
with security concerns.
“In the case with the Avan house, for example, they cited the presence of some
electric wire or line over the house, which, according to them, created a
security problem,” he said.
“That [house in Avan] was our last offer. We are not going to propose any other
options,” Pashinian’s aide concluded.
Armenian Entrepreneur Accuses Ex-Minister Of Taking A Bribe
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia -- Silva Hambardzumian, a businesswoman, speaks to RFE/RL. 31Oct.,2018
Armenian businesswoman Silva Hambardzumian claims that in 2008 she gave a $14
million bribe to the then environment minister and current lawmaker Aram
Harutiunian to obtain a mine development license.
“I transferred $8 million to a bank account in Dubai that he mentioned to me
and paid another $6 million by installments through a person whose name was
Suren Avagian,” Hambardzumian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
“I had contacts with Aram Harutiunian since 2007 and bought three organizations
from him. Then, when I mentioned my intention to buy several mines, I was told
that others had offered bribes for that. I asked to quote the amount I should
pay and he said it was $14 million. He gave the bank account number of another
person named Araks Dilanian and on February 2, 2008 I transferred that money,”
the entrepreneur claimed.
Hambardzumian said that she received a license after allegedly giving the
bribe, but soon afterwards that license was suspended. She said she demanded
that Harutiunian return the money and he promised to provide real estate
instead, but eventually did not keep his promise. “He told me I could do
anything, but would get nothing. After that meeting I went straight to the 6th
police department [combating organized crime] and reported the crime,” she said.
Hambardzumian claimed that Araks Dilanian, to whom she paid the money by
installments, transferred it to the Dubai bank accounts of three Armenian
citizens. “One of those citizens is Gagik Karapetian, the director of the Sevan
Psychiatric Hospital, another is his worker Viktor Martirosian, and I didn’t
know the third one. After I received those papers it turned out that the third
person was Armen Khachatrian, who is the director of property owned by Aram
Harutiunian.”
The director of the Sevan Psychiatric Hospital, however, denied that he was
involved in the case. “I don’t know such a person. Please do not call me over
that matter, do not disturb me,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am).
Attempts by RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) to contact MP Aram
Harutiunian were not successful throughout the day.
The lawmaker affiliated with the former ruling Republican Part of Armenia did
not even attend the National Assembly session today.
Last week acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stated from the parliament
tribune that one of the MPs was suspected of taking bribes. He did not give the
name of the suspect, but local media began to circulate the name of former
environment minister Harutiunian.
Pashinian also said that the law-enforcement authorities expected a document
from another country’s foreign ministry.
Hambardzumian said that in order to finalize the legal case, they will soon
receive official papers regarding the three citizens from Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.
“Our [Special] Investigative Service wants to clarify the passport data of
those people. Soon they will send it, too,” she said.
Asked whether she acknowledged that giving a bribe is also a criminal offense,
Hambardzumian said that it wasn’t in 2008. “I think and have always thought
that giving a bribe should be punishable, but since there was no way of dealing
with the former government otherwise, since it was impossible to do any
business without giving a bribe, I guess many people like me had to do so,” she
said.
The Special Investigative Service has not yet confirmed whether it is
investigating the case.
Ex-Chief Investigator In Post-Election Unrest Probe Charged With Falsifying
Evidence
• Naira Bulghadarian
Vahagn Harutiunian, former head of the Investigative Group on March 1-2, 2008
post-election violence
The former head of an investigation group conducting a probe into the 2008
post-election unrest has been charged with falsifying evidence in the case and
is now wanted by Armenian authorities, according to the Special Investigative
Service (SIS).
In a report released on Wednesday the SIS said Vahagn Harutiunian, who was the
senior investigator of the Service in 2007-2011, “organized the falsification
of evidence, in particular, with a view to hiding the real circumstances of the
unconstitutional use of armed forces during the March 1-2, 2008 events in
Yerevan, including the illegal use of firearms by officers of the armed forces.”
The report says about a 1,000 used cartridges of firearms discovered at various
sites where the deadly events were unfolding were subsequently replaced with
the same types and calibers of cartridges fired from the same types of weapons
belonging to the police troops.
The SIS said a ballistic expert assisted in the falsification and later
provided a false conclusion regarding the cartridges. The expert, who is not
identified by his full name yet, was also charged in the case. Both men have
been put on the police wanted list. The SIS has asked the court to choose
arrest as a measure of restraint against both Harutiunian and the ballistic
expert.
Harutiunian, who has the rank of a major-general of justice, quit his senior
position at the Armenian Investigative Committee in July.
While leading the investigation into the 2008 post-election violence, in which
10 people were killed, Harutiunian repeatedly denied at meetings with
journalists that the probe was being conducted improperly.
Press Review
Ahead of the expected dissolution of parliament Lragir.am writes: “The
parliament which is to be dissolved symbolizes the criminal oligarchy that
ruled in Armenia for two decades during which the state system kept improving
the mechanisms and ideology of usurping power that were supposed to keep the
ruling party in power forever. But this parliament will soon become history and
the next parliament is likely to be a transitional one, since there will be no
election in classical terms – it will be the confirmation of the revolution and
full transition of power.”
The editor of “Aravot” suggests that after the revolution a parliament
dominated by loyalists of the former government became a potential source of
instability in the country: “The problem is not even how the outgoing
parliament was elected, but in the relations between the legislative and
executive branches of power. In conditions of the [government’s] lacking a
stable majority in parliament these relations are far from being harmonious,
and such a situation could harm our state.”
“Zhamanak” notices a “panic” among a majority of Armenian parties regarding the
prospect of their participating in elections under the existing electoral
system that implies so-called rating ballots. “The failure of the amendments in
parliament will make their lives considerably more difficult. The amendments
implied that they could hope to get into parliament even by polling some 2
percent of the vote, but now it seems impossible. Besides, these political
parties do not possess enough candidates to run in individual races under the
rating vote system,” the paper writes.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton (left) meets Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Oct. 25, 2018
YEREVAN—Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said there will not be a resolution to the Karabakh conflict if it is not acceptable to the people of Armenia and Artsakh and its government.
Pashinyan was responding to a statement made by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton who, while visiting Yerevan last week, said that Pashinyan’s victory in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections would be a good opportunity for the government to take “decisive action” toward a resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
“You know, everyone speaks on their own behalf. John Bolton speaks for himself,” Pashinyan told reporters Saturday outside of a ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Armenia’s parliament.
“John Bolton, or anyone for that matter, cannot speak on my behalf. Let me say, that there cannot be a resolution [of the Karabakh conflict] if it is not acceptable to the people of Armenia, Artsakh and the government of Artsakh,” emphasized Pashinyan.
“In terms of a universal resolution of the issue, it is clear that any solution should also be acceptable for the people of Azerbaijan,” said Pashinyan who stressed the need for transparency in the process.
“People are still driven by old habits; as in the times when they used to make decisions behind closed doors and advance things behind the people’s backs.We don’t prescribe to this approach, because, I don’t know how they did it in the past, but I don’t think that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved by any one person, or any government or by me or a prime minister,” said Pashinyan.
“The ones who determine whether to resolve or not resolve the Karabakh conflict are the Armenian people, and specifically the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh and in this case also the Diaspora, because this is a Pan-Armenian issue,” said Pashinyan.
“They are moving forward with the logic that they have some kind of ownership of the Karabakh issue, and now they are attempting to sell it to me, without asking my opinion,” emphasized Pashinyan in an apparent reference to Bolton and other forces attempting to secure concessions from him. “The Armenian people will resolve the conflict.”
Harut Sassounian
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
The heinous murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been exploited by leaders of several countries for their selfish political and economic gains, ignoring the vile nature of the crime. The main participants in this ugly game are Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.
On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen, visited Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to finalize his divorce documents so he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Khashoggi never left the Consulate. He was murdered and reportedly dismembered by a special team of Saudi investigators who were sent to Istanbul the day before, and after the killing immediately returned to Saudi Arabia on two separate private jets.
Khashoggi, who had worked for years for the Saudi government in important positions, left Saudi Arabia and settled in the United States in 2017 after becoming disillusioned with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s limitless powers. Khashoggi began writing critical opinion columns in the Washington Post, while Saudi leaders made several unsuccessful attempts to lure him back to his native land.
Initially, Saudi Arabia announced that Khashoggi had left its Consulate in Istanbul within an hour or so of his arrival. However, after leaks from the Turkish government that there was no video of Khashoggi exiting the Consulate, the Saudi authorities changed their story, claiming that the dissident journalist was killed during a fistfight at the Consulate. A week later, the Saudi leaders changed their story once again, stating that Khashoggi’s murder was premeditated and not accidental. Saudi Arabia proceeded to fire five security officials and arrested a dozen others, claiming that neither King Salman nor the Crown Prince had any advance knowledge of the murder plan. Given the fact that the Crown Prince is in total control of the country, no one believes that he was unaware of Khashoggi’s killing by the Kingdom’s top security and intelligence officials.
In the meantime, the Turkish government, which has been in constant rivalry with Saudi Arabia for the dominance of the Sunni Islamic world, has been leaking to the Turkish media drip by drip the evidence of Khashoggi’s murder. Initially, the Turks claimed that the information came from Khashoggi’s apple watch which had recorded his torture and murder. When experts advised that the apple watch did not have such a capacity, it became clear that the Turkish government used the watch as a cover up for its secret recording devices installed inside the Saudi Consulate.
In my opinion, the Turkish government’s continuous leaks to the media were meant to send a message to Saudi authorities that it would make public potentially embarrassing evidence about Khashoggi’s killing, unless the Saudis would pay a large ransom for Pres. Erdogan’s silence. It is well-known that the Turkish economy is in shambles and desperately needs tens of billions of dollars to cover its foreign debts. Not hearing a positive response, Erdogan warned the Saudis that he would personally go on national TV and reveal the “naked truth,” unless the Saudis accommodated the Turkish demands. During his speech last week, for the first time, Erdogan made public the timeline of Khashoggi murder and raised serious doubts that it was accidental. However, the Turkish President seemed to keep the hope alive that the Saudis will eventually meet his shakedown demands by not making public all of his secretly collected evidence. In his speech, Erdogan neither mentioned the name of the Saudi Crown Prince nor the Turkish possession of audio/visual materials which had recorded Khashoggi’s painful death. Instead, Erdogan asked several questions that he probably knew the answers, such as: where is Khashoggi’s body and who is the Turkish collaborator who whisked it away at Saudis’ request? Meanwhile, to squeeze the Saudis further, the Turkish press published last week gruesome images of Khashoggi’s dismembered body!
The third culprit is the United States, more specifically, Pres. Trump. When he first got the news that Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Pres. Trump kept emphasizing his own “great achievement” of selling $110 billion of advanced U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia during his last year’s visit, ostensibly creating “450,000 jobs for American workers.” As usual, Pres. Trump exaggerated the financial benefits as he had not signed a contract for the sale of $110 billion of U.S. weapons. There was actually an agreement to sell only $10-$20 billion of weapons in the next five years. Furthermore, a year ago Pres. Trump had said that the same weapon sale would create 40,000 American jobs, not 450,000. However, a few days after Khashoggi’s murder, Pres. Trump exaggerated his numbers, this time to 500,000 jobs. A week later, he increased it again to “one million jobs,” and then to “over one million jobs.”
Regardless of how many jobs would be created and how many billions would the sale of the weapons bring, Pres. Trump never expressed his condolences to the Khashoggi family. Even though Pres. Trump kept warning Saudi Arabia of “severe consequences,” he valued the price of the weapons more than a human being’s life! The only American ‘punishment’ was the suspension of U.S. visas to the 18 Saudis who were sent to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi.
Regrettably, most heads of states do not care about human beings! What’s in it for me or my nation is the common practice. In the process, leaders are willing to lie, cheat, and even murder.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée did the right thing by refusing Pres. Trump’s invitation to the White House. She did not want her grief to be exploited by a politician who only cares about his own selfish gains rather than the pain and suffering of the family members of a mutilated murder victim!
Artsakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan (right) with the head of the Belgian legislative delegation Jean Jacques Flahaux
STEPANAKERT—The Foreign Minister briefed the guests on Artsakh’s foreign policy priorities, specifically the activities aimed at the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh and expansion of international cooperation. The current developments surrounding the Karabakh conflict resolution process were also discussed.
Mayilyan stressed the role of parliamentary diplomacy in engaging Artsakh in international processes and raising awareness about Artsakh abroad․ In this context, Mayilyan noted the importance of the Friendship Group and the Friendship Circle with Artsakh established in Belgium’s Flemish Parliament and in Brussels’ Walloon Parliament, which provides opportunities to expand international cooperation with Artsakh.
The sides also exchanged views on a range of issues related to the strengthening and developing cooperation with Belgium.
Representatives of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, headed by the its president, Kaspar Karampetyan, also attended the meeting.
Mayilyan accompanied the Belgian delegation to a meeting with Artsakh President Bako Sahakian.
Armenian Genocide survivor Sirvard Kurdian
A Toronto woman believed to have been one of the last Canadian Armenians to have survived the Armenian Genocide died on Sunday, at age 106, reported our sister publication Horizon Weekly based on Canada.
Sirvard Kurdian, 106, was only 2 when the men and boys in her town, including her father, were rounded up and slaughtered by Turkish forces in 1915.
She was born three years before the forced deportations began, when she was forced with her siblings and mother to walk from Erzerum in eastern Turkey to Mosul in Iraq. The journey took six months.
Kurdian’s mother “put the children (in saddle bags) on both sides of an ox,” she later learned. Her brother, about 5 years old, walked, pleading for water. But Kurdian’s mother told her that, “every time we stopped at a spring, the guards would urinate in it.” She had to pay for clean water and even so the little boy died.
When the family reached Mosul, in what is now Iraq, they were welcomed by Arabs. After a while they moved on to Aleppo in Syria, where more than 100,000 Armenian survivors settled, including orphans.
There, Sirvard attended school and rose to the top of her class, enthusiastically reading and reciting poetry. At 15, she met and married a young orphaned Armenian man, Khatchik Kurdian.
In 1974 Khatchik Kurdian passed away. in 1991 Sirvard moved with her family to Canada.