Category: 2020

Nikol Pashinyan reveals mystery of Armenia’s surrender

Emil Lazarian
Vestnik Kavkaza
Nov 30 2020
30 Nov in 11:00

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page about the negotiations on Karabakh during the hostilities, revealing the reasons why Yerevan refused to stop the Second Karabakh war until after Shusha was liberated by the Azerbaijani army. 

As it turned out, the reason was the unwillingness of Armenia’s political forces to be involved in the capitulation on the terms discussed around October 20, while Azerbaijan was ready to stop the fighting immediately.

Pashinyan wrote that on October 19 he received a call from the Armenian politician Arayik Harutyunyan, who portrays the head of the fake “NKR” regime created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and said that the war must be stopped. Harutyunyan conveyed not only his opinion to Pashinyan, but also those of the ex-leaders of the NKR Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, as well as the ex-presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, who unanimously supported the end of hostilities against Azerbaijan.

Then the prime minister called Russian President Vladimir Putin, who offered him the following conditions: postpone the solution of the issue of the status of Karabakh, withdraw the Armenian troops from the occupied regions around it, and deploy Russian peacekeepers, not inside Karabakh, but along its borders and in the Lachin corridor.

Pashinyan passed the proposal to Harutyunyan, and he agreed.

However, later, at a meeting with the participation of representatives of extra-parliamentary forces, where the Armenian PM presented his decision, many were against it, and later in social networks they began to call Pashinyan a traitor. Then he convened a meeting of the Security Council with the participation of representatives of parliamentary factions, the President of Armenia and the Catholicos of All Armenians. “I assured the opposition that I am not going to impose any responsibility on them – I just want to inform that I intend to take such a step so that it does not turn out that I want to do something in secret from the people,” he explained.

Then he called Putin again, saying that he agreed to the proposed plan, the Russian president promised to discuss this issue with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by morning.

In the morning Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan told Pashinyan that they oppose any agreement without specifying the status of Karabakh. The prime minister thinks they said this on behalf of the former presidents of Armenia. “But none of this was important, since I had already made a decision and was going to bring the matter to the end,” Pashinyan specified.

During the third conversation with Putin, Pashinyan learned that Ilham Aliyev agreed to almost all the conditions, with the exception that peacekeepers should not be deployed along the borders of the former NKAO AzSSR, but along the length of the de facto line of contact, since Hadrut and Talysh are under Azerbaijani control and they do not agree to retreat from their positions, and also Armenia had to undertake an obligation to open access to Shusha for Azerbaijani citizens.

At that time, on the 20th of October, none of the Armenian politicians agreed to the return of the Azerbaijani population to Shusha. “So the ceasefire became impossible. I said that even if I agree on Hadrut, I cannot imagine the possibility of surrendering Shusha. The President of Russia was surprised why I was against the return of Azerbaijanis,” Pashinyan recalls, adding that under this condition, Shusha would again become Azerbaijani city, because the majority of the population in it have always been Azerbaijanis.

As a result of such indecision of Armenian politicians, the war continued for another three weeks, during which many Armenian soldiers and officers died. On October 20, while Yerevan was just trying to present itself as a loser, the Azerbaijani army liberated the city of Zangilan, completing the de-occupation of the Iranian-Azerbaijani border and moving up to the southwestern section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. On October 26, shortly after Pashinyan’s refusal to surrender, the city of Gubadli was liberated, and on November 8, the liberation of Shusha was announced. The next day, Armenia surrendered and peace was concluded on tougher terms than those proposed by Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev around October 20.





Russian peacekeepers set up field hospital in Karabakh

Karagyozian Lena
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 30 2020

Servicemen of a special-purpose medical detachment have opened a field hospital in Stepanakert to provide medical aid to residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday, TASS reports.

“Subdivisions of a special-purpose medical detachment have opened a field hospital in Stepanakert,” the statement said. The ministry specified that the hospital was set up on the premises of an airport in Stepanakert.

The specialists of the detachment will provide medical care for a peacekeeping contingent as well as for the local residents. The hospital can accommodate up to 40 people.

The ministry noted that over 60 medical specialists arrived in the region, including military surgeons, general physicians, and epidemiologists. They were brought by military transport aviation Il-76 aircraft from Khabarovsk to Yerevan.

In all, in order to deploy the special-purpose medical detachment of the Eastern Military District 122 servicemen, 54 units of automotive and special equipment, 66 tonnes of material supplies will arrive in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ministry added.

Three stamps dedicated to historical and cultural monuments of Armenia put into circulation

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 30 2020
Three new postage stamps dedicated to the theme “Historical and cultural monuments. Historical and cultural monuments of Armenia” have been put into circulation.

“HayPost” CJSC has issued a donation coupon for 120 AMD attached to three postage stamps with the nominal values of 240, 330 and 350 AMD. The 120 AMD donation value will be directed to the preservation of the historical and cultural monuments of Armenia. 

The postage stamps have been printed in “Cartor” printing house in France with the print-run of

10 000 pcs each. The author of the postage stamps’ design is designer Vahagn Mkrtchyan.

The postage stamp with the nominal value of 240 AMD depicts the Agarakadzor Bridge (XIII c. A.D.) located in Vayots Dzor Region. The bridge is situated on the Arpa River, 2.5 km west of Agarakadzor village. The single arch bridge maintained until 1970’s.

The postage stamp with the nominal value of 330 AMD depicts the Monastery of Marmashen (X-XI cc. A.D.) located in Shirak Region. The monastic complex of Marmashen is situated on the left bank of the Akhuryan River. The monastic complex is one of the best complexes of the Armenian architecture. The main church of the complex was built by Vahram Pahlavouni in 988-1029.

The postage stamp with the nominal value of 350 AMD depicts Yererouyk Basilica (VI c. A.D.) located in Shirak Region. Yererouyk is a three-nave basilica, having three double cruciform pillars, two-story rooms in each corner and rich decorative carvings.



Risen Energy supplies modules to Armenian solar project

Ani Kharatian
Energy Global
Nov 30 2020

                                                                                                                                                      

Published by Sarah Smith, Digital Editorial Assistant
Energy Global, Monday, 10:10

 

Vayots Arev-1 Solar Farm, located in Vayots Dzor region in south-eastern Armenia, has been connected to the grid. Risen Energy provided its JAGER PLUS 144 mono PERC bifacial double glass modules with a total installed capacity of 5.2 MWDC for the project. The developer and EPC of project was Optimum Energy LLC – local partner and exclusive distributor of Risen Energy in region.

In recent years, to reduce dependence on external energy, the Armenian government has taken advantage of its unique solar resources and location advantages to make a national strategic direction based on clean energy. The government has also formulated a development outline, issued preferential and supporting policies, and been actively promoting the development of the renewable energy industry. The Armenian government has further implemented its national strategy successfully through the grid connection of the solar farm.

Risen Energy has maintained a keen insight into the global photovoltaic emerging market by providing their high-quality products. Risen Energy continually commits itself to the research and development of core technologies, such as MBB, bifacial, HJT and others.

Risen Energy’s role in helping the grid connection of Armenia’s largest solar farm will not only send more clean energy to the local area, but also enhance their brand influence in other overseas markets. In the future, Risen Energy will continue to provide efficient products with high quality and professional customised services, contributing to the technological progress and development of the industry.



Armenia’s first president toughly responds to Pashinyan’s post

Antranik Varosian
Aysor, Armenia
Nov 30 2020

President Ter-Petrosyan considers it senseless to refer to “the mental anguish of a genocidal plague, first president’s spokesperson Arman Musinyan said responding to today’s publication of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“He may say whatever he wants. He has no way to justify. The Armenian people will never forgive him,” Musinyan said.

Earlier the head of the second president’s office Viktor Soghomonyan responded to Pashinyan’s post, saying that “lie and falsification are inseparable part of Nikol.”

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Armenian President Calls on The Cabinet to Resign in Light of The Karabakh Deal

Adrine Hakobian
Al-Bawaba
Nov 30 2020
Published November 30th, 2020 – 06:13 GMT
Highlights
Government that led to ‘great tragedy’ has to resign, early elections should be held, says Armen Sarkissian,

Armenia’s president said Sunday that the government should resign, new elections should be held within a year at the latest and an interim government of national accord should be formed, preferably a technocratic one.

Armen Sarkissian also criticized the Armenian government during his meeting with representatives of the Armenian community in Russia.

He described Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s signing of a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the withdrawal of Armenians from Karabakh as a “great tragedy.”

“There is a solution in any country where such a great tragedy has occurred. The government that led to this has to go,” he said.

He pointed out that the situation in Armenia was very different from two years ago when elections were held and proposed the establishment of a provisional national unity government and early elections.

Suggesting that a technocratic government be established on which all parties will agree, Sarkissian said this government could work for six months or a one-year period and lead the country to early elections.

Referendum on Constitutional amendment

Sargsyan also said that a constitutional referendum needed to be organized before the new elections to amend the constitution.

Claiming that the president or the prime minister should not make important decisions for the country alone in Armenia, Sarkissian said “the Constitution is not balanced at all in our country. There should be a balance between the Parliament, the government, and the Presidency.”

He also emphasized that the country’s president should be elected by popular vote, not by the parliament as it is now.

In 2018, Pashinyan rose to prominence as the leader of widespread demonstrations across the country against the political establishment, demanding a more democratic Armenia and an end to corruption.

He was elected prime minister by the parliament after the bloc he led received 70.4% of the vote in elections held in December 2018.

What happened in Karabakh?

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on Sept. 27 and ended with a Russian-brokered truce six weeks later.

The Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated three humanitarian cease-fire agreements during the 44-day conflict.

After nearly 30 years, Azerbaijan managed to liberate its territories from illegal Armenian occupation, while Armenia was defeated and had to sign a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan that put an end to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh on Nov.10.

Pashinyan said he had signed an “unspeakably painful” deal which allowed Azerbaijan to claim control over regions it took back in the fighting.

While Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages amid the heavy fighting, Armenians are also handing over other territories under the deal, which is being monitored by both Russia and Turkey.

This article has been adapted from its original source.

Intellectuals appeal to foreign embassies in Armenia over the return of Armenian PoWs held in Azerbaijan

Bedik Zaminian
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 30 2020

Citizens, the representatives of arts and culture sector have gathered again at Charles Aznavour square in Yerevan on Monday. For the third day in a row they are raising the urgent need to address the issue of the return of Armenian war prisoners held in Azerbaijan and the bodies of those killed in the Karabakh war.

One of the organizers of the initiative, actor Hrant Tokhatyan informed that a group of intellectuals plan to hand over a letter to the French Embassy in Yerevan, requesting assistance in making Azerbaijan implement taken commitments in line of with the trilateral statement signed on November 9.

On Sunday, the intellectuals gathered outside the Russian Embassy on Sunday with the same request.

“We are submitting these letters on behalf of all people who are here or support our initiative in any way. Our appeal to all diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia is the following – exert pressure on Azerbaijan to return the Armenian PoWs and allow to retrieve the bodies of the dead,” Tokhatyan said.

In his words, they have asked the Diaspora Armenians as well to apply to authorities of their states too residence as well as international structures to initiate the return of the captives.


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‘This is our life’: Armenians flee before Azerbaijan arrives

Vanyan Gary
Yahoo! News
Nov 30 2020
Emmanuel PEUCHOT

, 2:12 pm


Prodding her cows forward with a long stick, Asya Petrosyan drives the herd along the snow-covered Lachin corridor, the last road out of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

With Azerbaijani forces preparing to take back this district on Tuesday, the 67-year-old is rushing to bring 30 animals more than 55 kilometres (35 miles) to the town of Goris across the border in Armenia.

“We used to live here but it is being returned to (the Azerbaijanis) so we are leaving,” says Petrosyan, wrapped in a fluorescent green down jacket against the cold.

“This is our life,” she says, trudging along the road while an accompanying Lada SUV carries goods and two calves too young to make the long journey.

Lachin is the last of three districts — after Aghdam and Kalbajar — that Armenia is surrendering to Azerbaijan under a Russian-brokered peace deal that ended weeks of heavy fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The agreement, signed on November 9, sees Armenia handing back seven districts that it seized around Karabakh when the separatist region broke away from Azerbaijan’s control during a war in the early 1990s.

Lachin runs from north to south along the eastern border of Armenia down to Iran and will be under Azerbaijani control except for a few areas bordering the corridor.

– Abandoned –

Travelling north from the town of Lachin (called Berdzor by the Armenians) the next village is Qarega, set on a mountainside overlooking a deep valley.

Here residents wasted no time in leaving. The few dozen houses scattered around the village have already been abandoned, partly destroyed or burnt down.

On Sunday, a thin plume of smoke was still escaping from a building with blackened walls.

Outside another partly burnt building, 56-year-old Seryozha Ordyan of Goris is busy retrieving black plastic water pipes while his son collects firewood.

The building’s owners and their two children — relatives of Ordyan — left everything behind a few days ago. The children are now in Goris while their parents went on to the Armenian capital Yerevan to look for housing.

“We are taking this wood to heat us and their children, and I’m also collecting this pipe. It is theirs; they might need it,” says Ordyan.

– ‘We’ll stay with the Russians’ –

Along the edge of a small road leading to the village, men use chainsaws to harvest snow-covered logs and load them into a dozen vans and large trucks.

Despite the frantic efforts to clear out, there is some relief in the district.

In his office, Lachin district head Mushegh Alaverdyan says he has learned that Armenians living in some settlements will be allowed to stay.

“We have received official information that Berdzor, Aghavno and Sus will remain Armenian,” he says, referring to three towns along the roadside of the Lachin corridor.

“There will be no Azerbaijani authorities here. That is clear,” he insists, before adding more cautiously: “At this moment I cannot tell you what will happen over the next few hours.”

In the centre of town, at an intersection with the strategic road that goes to Karabakh’s main city Stepanakert, Russian peacekeepers are stationed with two light armoured vehicles.

Moscow has deployed some 2,000 soldiers between the two sides including at checkpoints along the five-kilometre-wide (three-mile-wide) Lachin corridor.

“We will stay here with the Russians… until the next bad news. My house is right next door; I’ll stay if I’m allowed,” the owner of a grocery store at the crossing says on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the possibility of Azerbaijanis using this road, the man says he is “not afraid of Azerbaijanis if they come”.

“In Russia I met a lot of them. People live on both sides of borders after wars, and things are fine.”

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Azerbaijani troops enter Lachin district in Nagorno-Karabakh

Antranik Varosian
TASS, Russia
Nov 30 2020
Earlier, Armenia’s army left the Agdam and Kalbajar districts

BAKU, December 1. /TASS/. Units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have entered the Lachin district in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service informed.

“In accordance with the trilateral statement signed by presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia, units of the Azerbaijani army entered the Lachin district on December 1 (in the early hours of December 1 Azerbaijani time – TASS),” the message informed.

Earlier, Armenia’s army left the Agdam and Kalbajar districts. In accordance with the joint statement, Azerbaijan was expected to assume control of the Kalbajar district by November 15, the Agdam district by November 20 and the Lachin district by December 1. Later the date of the Kalbajar district’s handover was reviewed over poor capacity of the only road from the district to Armenia. The Kalbajar district was handed over to Baku on November 25.

In their trilateral statement, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia said that the 5-km Lachin corridor, which will connect Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and won’t include Shusha, is due to remain under control of Russia’s peacekeeping contingent.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent’s command noted earlier that the handover of the Agdam and Kalbajar districts had been carried out as planned without any incidents or provocations.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed. The Russian peacekeepers have set up observation posts along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. The peacekeeping mission’s command is stationed in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation in the area is monitored round-the-clock.

TURKISH press: Thou shalt not assassinate

Hambik Zargarian
 COLUMNS 
NOV 30, 2020 12:05 AM GMT+3
A coffin with an image of assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh can be seen among the servants of the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran, Nov. 29, 2020. (Reuters Photo)

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333 on Dec. 4, 1981, for one and only one purpose: to stop the U.S.’ assassination practice of foreign individuals. Before that executive order, U.S. intelligence agencies and other federal authorities could kill foreign leaders and their family members as they deemed fit.

Moreover, as if it were an honorable thing to do, the CIA had published a report on those assassinations, and it was available online until the recent murder of the Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020.

For some reason, when you click on the link to that report, the U.S. congressional website reports that “a potential security risk was detected in your submitted request. The Webmaster has been alerted.”

You cannot get the list of those foreign leaders and other operatives killed by the U.S. agencies anymore from official sources but the internet still has many sites providing the list and the methods employed in those killings.

Wikileaks had published leaked documents about those methods ranging from lacing teapots with hard-to-detect chemicals to hacking into car control systems.

But thanks to incumbent President Donald Trump’s keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with business situations which usually lead him to a good outcome – except the last elections – the U.S. seems to have resumed the assassination practice.

This time it employs much more direct methods than those that involved teapots, poisonous material and staging car accidents.

In fact, Trump ordered the U.S. Army to send armed drones to blow up the target’s car on a highway. That was how Soleimani was killed.

Last week, Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in Tehran when gunmen ambushed his car. His car exploded and the gunmen also shot dead three of Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards and several family members traveling with him. He was taken to a hospital where he later died. (There are unconfirmed reports that one of the attackers was killed by a bodyguard.)

Reagan had stopped a dishonorable and cowardly tradition of the U.S. security and intelligence agencies. Executive Order 12333 had made all agencies cooperate fully with the CIA so that U.S intelligence activities would be conducted with available information. The order clearly and directly prohibited U.S. agencies from sponsoring or carrying out an assassination.

“No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination,” it said.

Previously, former U.S. President Gerald Ford had banned political assassinations and another former President Jimmy Carter had further banned indirect U.S. involvement in assassinations, but events proved that the U.S. agencies would commission Latin American armies and police to do the dirty jobs. Reagan’s ban was therefore more comprehensive: not only pulling the trigger but asking others to pull it was also banned.

According to the Times of Israel, the U.S. determined in 2007 that Fakhrizadeh’s job as a university professor was a cover for his role spearheading Tehran’s nuclear weapons development.

Following the deal with the Barack Obama administration, Iranian officials had stopped their nuclear arms program. But the Israeli and U.S. officials believed Fakhrizadeh had kept the program alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a 2018 video clip, available on YouTube, argued that Fakhrizadeh was running an organization within Iran’s defense ministry known as S.P.N.D., and was working on a what he calls “Project Amad.”

The New York Times reported that not one but three other U.S. intelligence officials had said Israel was behind the attack on the scientist. Further, the newspaper claimed that the U.S. agencies may have known about the operation in advance since the two nations are “the closest of allies and have long shared intelligence regarding Iran.”

This is an age of proxies: Russian mercenaries fighting in Libya; the U.S. is using PKK terrorists to fight against Iranian proxies in Syria; France is benefiting from the services of Armenian militias in Nagorno Karabakh, and Germany is using Greek admirals on its ships to stop Turkish commercial vessels.

Under the terms of Executive Order 12333, Trump can say “I didn’t do it. Netanyahu did!” and he can get away with the murder because nobody is going to able to prove that he was “conspiring to engage in assassination.”