Category: 2020

Glendale Armenian Community Sending Support Back Home

Ara Felekian
Spectrum
Nov 9 2020
By Aziza Shuler Glendale
PUBLISHED 3:28 PM ET Nov. 09, 2020

GLENDALE, Calif. — There are only 700 BMW M4 GTS’s around the world and Glendale resident, Levon Sargsyan owns one.

For a car enthusiast driving one of the rarest German cars on the roads, Levon says, is an untouchable feeling.

Coming from Armenia where he was born, a car is considered a luxury. When his family moved to Glendale, Levon was mesmerized by L.A.’s car culture.

Driving has become a stress reliever he’s turned to since his family is constantly concerned for their many relatives in Armenia where a 30-year-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan recently reignited.

Levon says hearing updates from family of the bombings and attacks gets depressing.

All of sudden, material things like getting a set of rare super sport tires to compliment his need for speed, lost value.

“So I decided to say you know what, I don’t need it. Let me just sell them because I knew they were popular wheels and they sold in literally two hours. The person came and picked them up the same day. I was able to donate that money the same night,” Levon said.

Of course, the 27-year-old posted on social media about donating the $3,500 to the Armenia Fund, and soon someone anonymously matched his donation.

Together they sent a total of $7,000 to help the people in Artsakh.

With Glendale being home to the largest Armenian population in the United States, Levon’s brother Haik Sargsyan hosted a donation drive at his local business.

In matter of days, truckloads of medical supplies, food and clothing were shipped to Armenian soldiers on the front line.

Haik said, “It does get emotional because when Armenians as a people get together it’s amazing.”

That’s exactly what Levon says is the true definition of of the movement ‘Artsakh Strong’.

“Everyday we try to do everything we can on our part, it could be financially, it could be resources, it could be spreading the word on social media,” he said. 

So when you see an Armenian driving with the Armenian flag waving, it’s a silent call for help from their second home, the U.S.

Glendale City Council recently passed a unanimous resolution to officially recognize the independence of Artsakh.

Given the Mayor of Glendale and two of the four city council-members are Armenian, this issue hits close to home for them and the thousands of Armenians in the city.

This resolution is basically Glendale taking a stand for the human rights of the people in Artsakh.

Also, calling on the U.S. and congress to do the same and intervene in the conflict and bring peace to the Armenian region.

Armenia, Azerbaijan sign peace deal to end Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Adrine Hakobian
CBC Canada
Nov 9 2020
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he has signed a deal with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday morning local time after more than a month of bloodshed.
Thomson Reuters ·

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he has signed a deal with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday morning local time after more than a month of bloodshed.

A Kremlin spokesman confirmed the news, Russian agencies reported. There was no official immediate reaction from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said on Facebook that he gave agreement “to end the war as soon as possible.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement on Tuesday that Russian peacekeepers will be deployed along the front line in Nagorno-Karabakh following an agreement to stop military conflict between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

He said he hoped the agreements “will set up necessary conditions for long-lasting and full-scale settlement of the crisis over Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The declaration has followed six weeks of heavy fighting and advancement by the Azerbaijan’s forces. Baku said on Monday it had seized dozens more settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after proclaiming victory in the battle for the enclave’s strategically positioned second-largest city.

“The decision is made basing on the deep analyses of the combat situation and in discussion with best experts of the field,” Pashinyan said on social media.

“This is not a victory, but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated, and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth.”

The fighting had raised fears of a wider regional war, with Turkey supporting its ally, Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base there.

  • Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to new Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire

  • Armenia, Azerbaijan blame each other for truce violations

Azerbaijan says it has since Sept. 27 retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a 1991-94 war that  killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.


Azerbaijan Apologizes for Downing Russian Helicopter, Killing Two

Garnik Zakarian
New York Times
Nov 9 2020

The missile attack on a Russian military helicopter caused the first acknowledged deaths for neighboring powers in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

  • A photo released by Armenia’s Emergency Ministry press office showing what it called the wreckage of a Russian military helicopter shot down near the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.Credit…Armenia’s Emergency Ministry Press Office, via Associated Press

    By Andrew E. Kramer

    • Nov. 9, 2020Updated 4:17 p.m. ET

    TVER, Russia — Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry apologized on Monday for what it said was the accidental shooting down a Russian military helicopter, killing two crew members in an incident that threatened to draw Russia more deeply into an already escalating war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is backing Azerbaijan in the conflict, while Russia has a mutual defense treaty with Armenia. Both Russia and Turkey have denied any direct role in the fighting, and Russia has sought to broker a cease-fire. But the two countries are already at odds in wars in Syria and Libya, raising the risk that the fighting in the Caucasus could mushroom into a wider conflict.

    The attack on the helicopter was the first publicly known instance of Russian soldiers dying in the war. It came a day after Azerbaijan claimed a tactical victory in the fighting with the capture of a mountaintop town. At least 1,000 soldiers and civilians have already died in the short, bloody conflict.

    Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that its Mi-24 helicopter gunship was flying inside Armenia but close to the border with the Azerbaijani region of Nakhichevan when it was shot down by a shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile.

    It said the helicopter was escorting a column of Russian military vehicles assigned to a Russian military base in Armenia, and the aircraft wreckage is on Armenian territory. Two Russian aviators died and a third was wounded, the statement said.

    The Russian military issued a statement early Monday evening saying it was investigating who had fired the missile. The Azerbaijani apology followed quickly.

    “The Azerbaijani side expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the dead crew members and wishes a quick recovery for the wounded,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It called the attack a “tragic incident.”

    The statement said the helicopter had been flying low and in the dark, near Azerbaijani troops on high alert, in an area where Russian helicopters had not been seen before. “The decision was taken to open fire,” it said.

    By late Monday, the Russian government had not responded. President Vladimir V. Putin has said the mutual defense pact with Armenia only applies to threats to Armenian territory.

    Shortly after becoming independent of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over a mountainous region, Nagorno-Karabakh, from 1992 to 1994, in which Armenian forces prevailed. The area is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it has a majority Armenian population and declared independence from Azerbaijan.

    Since that war, the enclave and some adjoining parts of Azerbaijan have been under Armenian control, though there has been repeated skirmishing along its borders.

    Fierce fighting erupted in September, and Azerbaijan has reclaimed some of the territory it lost more than a quarter of a century ago.

    Putin: Russian peacekeepers headed for Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijan & Armenia sign armistice

    Vanyan Gary
    RT – Russia Today
    Nov 9 2020
    9 Nov, 2020 22:42 


    Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Baku and Yerevan have struck a deal to end the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, and that Russian peacekeepers will be deployed along the line of contact.

    The agreement will create conditions for a long-term settlement of the crisis in the interests of both peoples, Putin said shortly after midnight Moscow time on Tuesday (22:30 GMT Monday), confirming reports of the armistice Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan described as “painful” but necessary.

    Also on rt.com War over? Armenia’s Pashinyan says signed declaration with Russia’s Putin & Azerbaijan’s Aliyev to END Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

    According to the text of the agreement that appeared in Russian media around midnight Moscow time – when the armistice was to take effect – Russia will deploy almost 2,000 peacekeepers along the line of contact and the “Lachin corridor,” the road connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia proper.

    These peacekeepers will move in as the Armenian armed forces withdraw, and will stay for five years, according to the draft. An automatic five-year extension of their mandate is envisioned, unless any of the parties objects six months before its expiration.

    Neither Armenian nor Azerbaijani forces are supposed to advance beyond their current positions. This leaves the remaining territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region somewhat surrounded, with only a 5-kilometer-wide corridor to Armenia proper, under protection of the Russian peacekeepers.

    A new road is supposed to be built through the Lachin area over the next three years, to connect Armenia with Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. In parallel, another road will be built through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan with its enclave of Nakhichevan in the southwest. Until then, Russian border troops will supervise the existing road traffic through Armenia to Nakhichevan.

    Also on rt.com Azerbaijan & Armenia at war: What you need to know about bloody conflict over long-disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh (MAP)

    The agreement also provides for the exchange of prisoners and bodies of the dead, and the return of “all refugees and internally displaced persons” in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, to be supervised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In theory, this would mean the return of both ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis displaced by the conflict since 1991, though it is unclear how that will function in practice.

    Nagorno-Karabakh was an ethnic Armenian enclave within the borders of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, but seceded from Baku in 1991 as the Soviet Union began to collapse. A 1994 armistice froze the conflict with ethnic Armenian forces in control of most of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as surrounding territory of Azerbaijan proper. 

    Renewed clashes over the region began in late September, and continued despite multiple ceasefires arranged by Moscow, and even one mediated by the US. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Azerbaijan received active support from NATO member Turkey, while Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance with Russia.


    Azerbaijani military death toll reaches 7510

    Emil Lazarian

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     11:44, 7 November, 2020

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The death toll in the Azerbaijani military as a result of the large-scale aggression launched against Artsakh since September 27 has reached 7510, the Armenian Unified Info Center reports.

    As for the military equipment, the losses of the Azerbaijani side include 262 UAVs, 16 helicopters, 25 warplanes, 749 armored equipment and 6 TOS launchers.

    Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan


    Kanye West receives 60,000 votes in US presidential election

    David Nargizian

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     12:05, 7 November, 2020

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. 43-year-old rapper Kanye West (Birthday Party) received 60,000 votes in the US presidential election, reports BBC.

    In this first presidential attempt, West appeared on the ballot in 12 states, missing the filing deadline in most others. He gathered the most votes – 10,188 – in Tennessee, a state that typically favours Republican candidates.

    But West’s political career may not be over yet. He tweeted “Kanye 2024” this week, signalling another bid to come.

    Entire village catches fire in Turkey

    Markos Nalchajian

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     13:02, 7 November, 2020

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Tepeharman village in Turkey’s Kastamonu province caught fire due to poor electrical connection, IHA news agency reports.

    According to preliminary reports, more than 10 homes and a mosque were burned.

    The fire broke out in one of the village homes due to poor electricity connection and was quickly spread across the village.

    There are no reports on casualties and injuries yet.

    The fire was neutralized today in the morning, preventing its spread to forest.

    Fires, as well as forest fires, are being reported in Turkey in recent period.

     

    Reporting by Sedrak Sargsyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

    Turkey fires central bank chief as lira slides to record low

    Karakhanian Suren

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     12:58, 7 November, 2020

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan removed the country’s central bank governor Murat Uysal from his post on Saturday after the Turkish lira reached a record low, Deutsche Welle reports.

    The decision was made by presidential decree and announced in the country’s Official Gazette, with no immediate reason given for the sacking. Uysal’s replacement after just 16 months in the job was named as former finance minister Naci Agbal.

    Uysal took on the role after a dispute between Erdogan and the previous governor, Murat Cetinkaya, over cutting interest rates.

    In the past few months, the lira has hit repeated historic lows against international currencies and by late Friday stood at 8.52 to buy one US dollar.

    The lira has lost almost 30% of its value against the dollar this year, with markets worried about a persistently high inflation rate that remains in double digits.

    Armenia’s industry shows growth tendencies: mining production increases by 16.7%

    Albert Nalbandian

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     11:55, 7 November, 2020

    YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s industrial production volume comprised 1 trillion 433 billion 11.3 million drams in January-September 2020 (nearly 2 billion 959 million 544.2 thousand USD) and increased by 1% compared to January-September 2019. In September 2020 the industrial production volume comprised 190 billion 323.4 million USD and increased by 1.8% compared to September 2019, the Statistical Committee reports.

    In January-September 2020 the output of mining industry and open mining comprised 291 billion 739.0 million drams and increased by 16.7% compared to the same period of 2019.

    Processing industry production declined by 2.7% in January-September 2020.

    Electricity, gas, steam air supply production comprised 0.4% in the first three quarters of 2020. In September 2020 the production of the field comprised 19 billion 854.8 million USD and declined by 5.5% compared to September 2019.

    Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

    Artsakh’s Shushi suffered countless damages from Azerbaijani rocket-artillery strikes

    Emil Lazarian

     

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     13:50, 7 November, 2020

    STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh’s cultural city Shushi has suffered major and countless damages and destructions from the Turkey-backed Azerbaijani aggression, Officer at the information and PR department of the State Service for Emergency Situations of Artsakh Hunan Tadevosyan told Armenpress.

    “As the city is still under fire at this moment, reporters are unable to visit Shushi and to get first-hand information what is happening there and whether the cultural centers, museums and spiritual structures have been targeted. The fire is not stopping, the city has been under intense fire yesterday during the whole day. A fire broke out. Two residential houses have been burnt, but it was possible to neutralize it on time in case when the air raid sirens were not deactivated and the city was under constant shelling. No casualties have been reported in Shushi yesterday and today”, he said.

     

    Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan