Category: 2019

Armenia is committed to ensuring free elections in Artsakh. Avinyan

Emil Lazarian
  • 09.08.2019

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Armenia is committed to ensuring free, fair and democratic elections in Artsakh. We are fully ready to implement that commitment. RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan announced this in a briefing with journalists.


He noted that the citizens of Armenia and Artsakh should be free to express their will. 


Avinyan also expressed the opinion that there is no tension between Armenia and Artsakh and there will not be any.

A loaded gun was found in a passenger’s luggage at “Zvartnots” airport

Garnik Tadevosian
  • 09.08.2019

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“Zvartnots” airport security officers found a loaded gun in the luggage.


2019 by airport security staff. On August 8, at around 08:05, during the inspection of the baggage of a passenger departing on Yerevan-Paris flight 1061, “EKOL Special 99, 99mm” was found. EU-1520760″ pistol loaded with 6 bullets.


According to the established procedure, an appropriate protocol was drawn up and the passenger and the found gun were handed over to the police of the “Zvartnots” line department.


The airport thanks the Zvartnots security staff for their professional work and ensuring the safety of passengers at the highest level.

Nikol Pashinyan and Dmitry Medvedev met

Nahapetian Samvel
  • 09.08.2019

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The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, who is on a working visit to Kyrgyzstan, had a meeting with the President of the Government of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, today.


The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia discussed a wide range of issues related to the Armenian-Russian strategic relations, referred to the current agenda of bilateral cooperation. Nikol Pashinyan and Dmitry Medvedev, in particular, talked about further development of trade and economic ties, increasing the volume of goods turnover, and the implementation of joint projects. Nikol Pashinyan and Dmitry Medvedev stated that there is a dynamic growth in bilateral relations, and it is necessary to continue active work in the direction of strengthening and developing Armenian-Russian alliance ties.


The head of the Russian government welcomed Armenia’s successful presidency in EAEU and noted that there is an upward development in bilateral relations, which is evidenced by the frequency of high-level official meetings and contacts at different levels, both in the heads of state, intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary formats.


The RA Prime Minister positively evaluated the process of strategic cooperation between Armenia and Russia and spoke with satisfaction, in particular, about the progress recorded in the field of tourism. 2019 according to the results of the first 6 months, the number of Russian tourists visiting Armenia increased by 19 percent compared to the same period last year. And this is when the total number of tourists visiting Armenia in 2019 according to the results of the first semester, it increased by 12.8 percent. Prime Minister Pashinyan also noted with satisfaction that the operative mechanism for solving issues arising in Upper Lars is functioning effectively. In the context of the further development of bilateral relations, the head of the RA government emphasized the full use of the EAEU’s full potential.


During the meeting, the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia touched on cooperation in the field of gas, nuclear power plant, air transportation, as well as a number of other issues on the agenda of bilateral relations. The parties also exchanged ideas on issues discussed in the Armenian and Russian mass media recently.

Bankruptcy proceedings were filed against Gagik Tsarukyan’s brandy factory

Tambiyan Samvel
  • 09.08.2019

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Bankruptcy proceedings were filed against Yerevan “Ararat brandy-wine-vodka combine” OJSC of PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.


According to Armdaily’s sources, the application was submitted by “Duff Alco Trans” LLC. The company’s lawyer, Harutyun Harutyunyan, confirmed our information, adding that the bankruptcy application has been accepted into proceedings and a temporary bankruptcy administrator has already been appointed. It is about AMD 120,000,000.


According to the lawyer, his client company has been providing cargo transportation services to “Ararat cognac-wine-vodka combine” OJSC for a long time and there has always been mutual understanding and good partnership relations between them. “Ararat cognac-wine-vodka combine” OJSC refused to pay the money after once again providing cargo transportation services, and since “Duff Alco Trans” LLC had also involved vehicles belonging to other companies in the cargo transportation process, “Duff Alco Trans” LLC, in its turn, was unable to pay them and faced serious financial problems.


According to the lawyer, according to the conviction of “Duff Alco Trans” LLC director Hayk Grigoryan, the owner of “Ararat cognac-wine-vodka combine” OJSC is not aware of this situation, otherwise he would not have allowed such a situation to develop.

Referring to the interview given by Sedrak Arustamyan to another media, as if this is all a slander, the lawyer stated that he believes that Arustamyan was given incomplete information about this issue, otherwise, he would have taken effective measures to resolve the issue, as there have always been warm partnership relations.

Artsakh President meets volunteers of 7th Summer Pan-Armenian Games

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Aug 11 2019
Artsakh President meets volunteers of 7th Summer Pan-Armenian Games Artsakh President meets volunteers of 7th Summer Pan-Armenian Games

20:28, 11.08.2019
                  

Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan met with young volunteers who took an active part in organizing the 7th Summer Pan-Armenian Games, Artsakh President’s press service reported.

The President thanked them for their hard and diligent work, wished them success and all the best.

Turkish Press: Turkey’s Syriac Christians hail government initiatives

Jalatian Sonya
Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
Saturday
Turkey’s Syriac Christians hail government initiatives
 
Ali Murat Alhas |
 
 
Representatives of Syriac community salute steps taken to boost religious freedom by restoring, opening places of prayer
 
ANKARA
 
Despite a rising tide of racism and xenophobia across the globe, Turkey remains an exception with its democratic reforms and respect-based policies towards non-Muslim minorities in the country, particularly since the early 2000s.
 
The latest example of Turkey’s positive approach in this regard was visible last Saturday, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Istanbul of St. Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church.
 
President Erdogan was proud that a new church would open and said it would add “new richness” to the cultural mosaic that is Turkey, a land that has been home to scores of civilizations throughout the course of history.
 
The church — the first to be built since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 — is projected to be completed within two years and was greatly welcomed by the Syriac Christian community.
 
In recent years, the Turkish government has stepped up efforts to restore and open churches and synagogues and has achieved fruitful results, including many places of worship that have had their doors shut for over a century, according to presidential sources.
 
The Trabzon Sumela Monastery, Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Akdamar island in eastern Van province, Armenian Church of St. Giragos in the southeastern Diyarbakir, Great Synagogue of the northwestern Edirne — the largest of its kind in Europe–, Stipol Synagogue in Istanbul and St. Aho Monastery in the southeastern Batman province are only the latest restored places of worship in Turkey.
 
Today, over a dozen of other places of worship are under restoration in every corner of the country, including the St. Giragos and Mar Petyun Chaldean churches in Diyarbakir previously damaged in attacks by the PKK terror group, which over three decades has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants.
 
Yusuf Cetin, the metropolitan bishop of Istanbul Syriac Church, said the laying of the cornerstone of the new church in Istanbul was a source of pride for the Syriac community.
 
The construction of the Syriac church “shows the democracy in our country, human rights and religious freedom,” Cetin asserted, stressing this was a clear example that people could freely perform their religious duties in Turkey.
 
“Security forces protect us on our religious holidays [and] on Sunday. I would like to thank everyone, notably the president,” he said.
 
Cetin went on to say that the Syriac community in Turkey had not been able to open schools or university departments studying the Syriac language, but this has also changed in recent years.
 
“Thanks to our government, following a judicial decision, we were able to open a private kindergarten in 2013 in Yesilkent [neighborhood of Istanbul],” he said, adding the school belonged to the Syriac Orthodox St. Ephrem Association.
 
He added that a Syriac literature department was founded at Artuklu University in the southeastern Mardin province, another source of happiness for the Syriac community, which has a history of 5,500 years.
 
“As a religious leader, we stand with unity and solidarity no matter which country we live in, and we commemorate our statespeople with our prayers during religious ceremonies and pray for every person in the country regardless of their religion or ethnicity. After all, we are on the same ship,” he said.
 
Cetin also commented on the recent deadly terrorist attacks in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, where mosques and churches were targeted, killing hundreds.
 
“It is God who gives life and should be the one to claim it,” he said, slamming acts of terror with religious motivations behind them.
 
“One of the commandments given to Moses says ‘Thou shalt not kill’. It is a deadly sin to do this,” he said, referring to terrorism.
 
Erdogan’s gesture attracted significant attention worldwide. It was a plus point for our country, and the prejudices of many were broken with the construction of the new Syriac church, he added.
 
Sait Susin, head of the Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church Foundation in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district, spoke highly of the Turkish government’s steps to restore synagogues and churches across Turkey, saying the Syriac community in Turkey faced no restrictions or limitations while performing their religious duties.
 
“Churches and synagogues are part of the cultural richness in our country. They have huge potential in terms of religious tourism,” Susin said, praising the restoration of places of worship.
 
He said religious rites are held once a year, arguing the places of worship should be open to religious ceremonies all year long.
 
According to Susin, Muslims and Syriac Christians in Turkey lived throughout history in almost total harmony, with all of the church foundation’s business-related issues being conducted in collaboration with Muslims.
 
Underlining that Syriacs faced difficulty in expressing themselves two or three decades ago, he said the various communities were now more accustomed to each other and that Muslims knew Syriac Christians well enough that their behaviours were based on respect.
 
“It should be acknowledged that belief is a matter between God and a human being. One’s belief and clothing should not be interfered with by anybody,” he added.
 
Referring to the recent terrorist attacks on houses of worship, he said: “Regardless of the motive, it is wrong that something dies at the hands of a man, whether it be a tree, animal or anything.”
 
He stressed that negative attitudes towards religions, such as Islamophobia, were not acceptable and should be condemned.
 
“The more equal rights are given to the minorities in a country, the stronger democracy grows,” he said, calling on the international community to do the utmost and take the necessary steps to prevent racism and xenophobia from growing across the globe.

Armenian, Russian premiers hail ‘dynamic’ growth in relations

Emil Lazarian
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website
Aug 9 2019
Armenian, Russian premiers hail ‘dynamic’ growth in relations

[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Russian edition of RFE/RL]

The prime ministers of Armenia and Russia have highlighted dynamic growth in bilateral ties.

Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev made the remarks at a meeting in Kyrgyzstan on 9 August, the report said. It was citing the press service of the Armenian prime minister who it said was paying a working visit to the Central Asian country.

The two men discussed a wide range of matters related to Armenian-Russian strategic relationship and touched on current matters regarding bilateral cooperation. They discussed further development of commercial and economic relations, increase in trade, and implementation of joint projects. The two prime ministers said there was dynamic growth in bilateral relations and called for more of active work to step up and develop relations between the two allies, the report said.

Pashinyan praised Armenian-Russian strategic cooperation and highlighted progress in tourism. He said that the number of Russian tourists in Armenia in the first six months of 2019 saw a 19-per-cent increase on the same period in 2018. The total number of foreign tourists in Armenia in the first six months of 2019 increased 12 per cent, Pashinyan added. He also hailed the efficient operation of the rapid reaction mechanism for problems emerging at the Verkhny Lars border checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border. In the context of further development of bilateral Armenian-Russian relations Pashinyan highlighted the importance of full use of the overall potential of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.

The two prime ministers also touched on matters related to cooperation in the fields of gas, atomic energy, air transportation, and other current matters. They also exchanged opinions on matters that have been reported by Armenian and Russian media lately, the report concluded.

Azerbaijan and the changes in Armenia

Emil Lazarian
The Times of Israel
Aug 10 2019
 
 
 
Azerbaijan and the changes in Armenia
 
 
THE BLOGS
 Rufat Ahmadzada
  
The political processes that resulted in the sacking of the Sarkisian regime in the face of pressure from the Armenian people’s movement and the election as prime minister of the leader of the Popular Movement, Nikol Pashinyan, have led to the isolation of the Aliyev regime in the region. This month when the centenary of the Trans-Caucasus republics will be celebrated, there are already two republics with parliamentary systems in the South Caucasus, but unfortunately Azerbaijan is not one of them. The political status quo since 1993 has led to the country becoming more authoritarian through the total violation of human rights and freedoms and the formation of a monarchic authoritarian political system. As is evident from political theory, authoritarian regimes always see danger for themselves in the paving of the way to democratisation and political pluralism through popular movements in neighbouring anti-democratic regimes, and always seek to prevent these processes by any means. The replacement of the pro-Russian Sarkisian in Armenia with the popular candidate Pashinyan has made the Aliyev regime uncomfortable.
 
In a situation in which the Azerbaijani nation has been deprived of political freedoms in subordination to the Aliyev family monarchy, the country has reached the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic not as a leading democracy, but as a dictatorship governed by a medieval feudal mentality. After the appointment of Ilham Aliyev as president yet again in April, his personnel appointments show that the Aliyev regime does not intend to make any reforms. As a rule, we must admit that authoritarian regimes are not going to make any political reforms of their own volition. The Armenian scenario once again proved that an authoritarian regime could be changed by strong pressure from the people. The family monarchy transfers Azerbaijan’s natural resources to offshore accounts, crudely violates political freedoms and human rights, and acts against the development of the country. The regime intends to maintain its authority with the support of foreign patrons, especially Russia. The transformation of Armenia into a country where political freedoms and other democratic indices are developing and democracy has been firmly established is a threat to the Aliyev regime. In order to maintain its continuity, the regime may go for adventurism such as derailing the democratisation process by opting for military confrontation in the region with Russia’s support.
 
The ultimate goal of the establishment of the monarchic regime, which Ilham Aliyev started with a referendum in March 2009, is his wish to bring his heir to power as his father once did. Aliyev is preparing his son for the presidency. This once again shows that the Aliyev regime has become an open threat to Azerbaijan’s statehood, and that it is really important to eliminate this threat in the near future and restore Azerbaijan’s statehood. While the values and ideals of the people who created the Azerbaijan Republic 100 years ago made Azerbaijan known in the international media as the first Muslim republic or the most developed Muslim country, the Aliyev regime makes Azerbaijan known in the world as a monarchic dictatorship which is violating the rights we were born with. With the destruction of republicanism, political pluralism and democratic institutions by the political regime, Azerbaijani statehood can no longer be said to exist. It is ridiculous to speak of statehood under the rule of one family.
 
Azerbaijan could be the true political and moral successor to the Azerbaijan Republic, which ensured Azerbaijani statehood, parliamentarianism and political freedoms at the highest level and protected universal human rights at the highest level. The current Aliyev dictatorship is not statehood, but anti-statehood.
 
Back in 2011 before the civil war began in Syria, the country had been governed by a family dictatorship for many years and political freedoms had been harshly stifled. Everyone is now aware of the disasters that monopoly rule and socioeconomic injustices have brought upon this clan country. Taking into account the similarity between the Assad and Aliyev regimes, the future of the Azerbaijani people is in great danger, and our people should seek to prevent this danger.  
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A native of Azerbaijan, I write extensively on political developments in the Caucasus, Iran and the Middle East, including for the website www.astna.biz. I have a Masters’ degree in International Politics & Human Rights from City, University of London.

Amid Iran crisis, U.S. offers big military aid boost to Azerbaijan

Kajoyan Gevork
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 9 2019
 
 
Amid Iran crisis, U.S. offers big military aid boost to Azerbaijan
 
The Pentagon program would give more than $100 million to help Baku improve its maritime security against threats from Tehran.
 
Joshua Kucera Aug 9, 2019
An Azerbaijani sailor in a U.S. maritime security program in Romania last month. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Bigley/DVIDS)
 
As the U.S. has ratcheted up diplomatic and military pressure on Iran, it has been quietly offering neighboring Azerbaijan more than $100 million in military aid. The money appears aimed at countering threats from Tehran.
 
The U.S. Defense Department allotted $58.6 million in fiscal year 2018 and $42.9 million the following year to Azerbaijan’s border and customs services, according to Pentagon reports to Congress obtained and published by Security Assistance Monitor (SAM), a Washington, D.C., watchdog.
 
The funding plans represented a significant increase in U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan from previous years, and far outstripped the assistance given to nearly any other country in the region. Over those two fiscal years, the military aid to Azerbaijan would exceed that provided to Georgia, the U.S.’s most loyal and visible partner in the region.
 
U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan since 2000 (Security Assistance Monitor)
 
Moreover, the Pentagon has not released all the budget information for the program for fiscal year 2019, meaning that the real figure spent on the program this year could be well over $42.9 million, the director of SAM, Christina Arabia, told Eurasianet.
 
The money comes from the Pentagon’s main training and equipping fund, which is subject to looser oversight than the larger State Department-run military aid programs. Over the last two years Azerbaijan was the third-largest recipient of aid from that program, behind only Lebanon and Jordan, “both of which are major strategic U.S. counterterrorism partners,” Arabia said. It’s not clear if the aid was actually delivered. Even if the aid wasn’t delivered, “the fact that DoD is even notifying Congress” of the program “is hugely significant because it went from receiving no aid through this program to being the third-top recipient in” fiscal year 2019, Arabia said.
 
Both sides, however, have been very quiet about the aid. Recent formal policy statements about U.S. military programs in the area have not mentioned Azerbaijan or the Caspian Sea at all. The Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
 
In response to written questions about the aid program from Eurasianet, the U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a brief statement: “The United States engages in defense and security enhancement programs, to include border security and counter-proliferation efforts, with willing partner nations around the world.”
 
Over the years Azerbaijan has gotten a variety of aid from the U.S. to build up its naval and coast guard forces on the oil- and gas- rich Caspian Sea. The Caspian Guard program in the early years of the “war on terror” helped train Azerbaijani naval special forces. The U.S. also has donated second-hand patrol boats to Azerbaijan, as well as to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. But the dollar figure on this new aid program is significantly higher than anything the U.S. has spent before.
 
From the American perspective, the Caspian Sea is particularly strategically sensitive because it borders Iran, and the U.S. has long quietly worked to help Azerbaijan stand up for itself against the significantly stronger Iranian Caspian military presence. A fascinating series of Wikileaked U.S. diplomatic cables described a tense 2009 standoff between Iranian and Azerbaijani vessels, and demonstrated the U.S.’s deep involvement in advising Baku on how to resolve the situation and more generally in helping Azerbaijan with its maritime security.
 
While the documents justifying the new aid don’t explicitly cite Iran, there are several elements that point to a focus on that perceived threat. The fact that the Caspian is a closed sea means the potential threats are already limited. This funding is presented as part of the U.S. European Command’s “Southern Border Security” program, a rubric which would fit Iran and no other of Azerbaijan’s neighbors. The receiving agencies are identified as the border control and customs agency offices in Astara, a coastal Azerbaijani city on the border with Iran.
 
The timing of the new aid package is noteworthy because while U.S.-Iran tensions have spiked since Donald Trump became president in 2017, Azerbaijan-Iran relations are enjoying a period of relative calm. The signing last year of an agreement to delimit the boundaries of the Caspian Sea removed one persistent irritant. And since President Hassan Rouhani took over from his more Islamist predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, promotion of Shiism abroad – previously one of Baku’s biggest complaints against Tehran – has “become secondary,” wrote Azerbaijani analyst Azad Garibov in a recent piece for the Eurasia Daily Monitor. “[T]he major problems that had generated mutual suspicions and kept bilateral relations strained for most of Azerbaijan’s post-independence history have recently been largely resolved,” Garibov wrote.
 
That thaw also has been reflected in the bilateral military relationship. Two years ago, Iranian and Azerbaijani warships first began paying friendly calls to each other’s ports. That practice has continued this summer and on July 28 two Iranian corvettes arrived in Baku as part of a friendly international naval competition.
 
The new funding package is aimed at “counter[ing] transnational threats” and “help[ing] Azerbaijan’s stability by helping its security forces develop the capacity to secure its borders, detect and prevent terrorist operations, counter WMD proliferation, and respond to crises,” David Trachtenberg, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, wrote in a report to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The report was obtained by SAM and provided to Eurasianet.
 
The money is earmarked for vehicles including 15 high-speed boats, 14 “underwater target detection” systems, 25 pickup trucks, and 34 all-terrain vehicles. The package for Azerbaijan is to include communications equipment including radios, naval radars, and transponders for the Automatic Identification System (a universal tracking system for ships). It also earmarks funds for training on “underwater surveillance.” It does not include anything that would be classified as lethal. The U.S. also will maintain the equipment for two years, after which Azerbaijan takes responsibility.
 
U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan is nominally restricted by a provision in the law known as Section 907, but since 2001 that restriction has been regularly waived. The most recent waiver was signed in April and allows military aid to Azerbaijan as long as it helps counter terrorism, supports U.S. forces, or contributes to Azerbaijan’s border security, and can’t be used to attack Armenia.
 
Analyst Emil Sanamyan noted in a blog post, however, that some border guard forces have been involved in fighting with Armenia. Sanamyan was the first to publicly identify the Azerbaijani funding, and noted that while Azerbaijan has been getting a big boost the U.S. has cut its military aid to Armenia.
 
Sanamyan’s post occasioned some discussion in the Armenian and Azerbaijani press. “The strengthening of Azerbaijan’s control over its land, sea, and air borders meets the strategic interests of the U.S., whose companies have invested many billions of dollars in oil and gas projects in the Caspian, and the U.S. military conducts transit to Afghanistan via Azerbaijan,” said a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Rasim Musabeyov, the news website 1news.az reported. Musabeyov said the key takeaway was the strategic interest from Washington toward Azerbaijan: “For Azerbaijan what is important is the very fact of the aid and its source, rather than its amount.”
 
Musabeyov also claimed that a recent uptick in ceasefire violations between Armenia and Azerbaijan was related to this funding program: “I guess that the reason for this activity is so that the Armenian lobbyists in the U.S. Congress have a reason to disrupt this large-scale ($100 million dollar) American aid to Azerbaijan’s border forces.”
 
Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer said that the aid is more oriented toward law enforcement and would not necessarily be useful in a military conflict with Iran. But he said that Azerbaijan was benefiting from the growing U.S. attention toward Iran. “American-Iranian relations have worsened quite quickly, so Azerbaijan finds itself in Washington’s focus and Armenia, not. Armenia is seen, probably, as an Iranian ally,” Felgenhauer told the website Moscow-Baku.