Category: 2020

                                        Friday, 
Turkey Declared Party To Karabakh Conflict
        • Tatevik Sargsian
TURKEY -- Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaks to a group of reporters in 
Ankara, May 21, 2019
Turkey’s strong support for Azerbaijan makes it a party to the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.
“Turkey is also a party to the conflict, standing with a brotherly state and 
defending its rights,” Akar told the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
Successive Turkish governments have unconditionally backed Azerbaijan in the 
conflict, reflecting close cultural and ethnic ties between the two Turkic 
nations. They have refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and 
kept the Turkish-Armenian border closed. They have has also provided military 
assistance to Azerbaijan.
Ankara voiced support for Baku in unusually strong terms during and after last 
month’s deadly clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Armenian 
government decried the Turkish reaction, accusing Ankara of trying to 
destabilize the region, undercutting international efforts to resolve the 
conflict and posing a serious security threat to Armenia.
Akar again blamed Yerevan for the flare-up of violence which left at least 17 
soldiers from both sides dead. “Armenia does not act reasonably by relying on 
forces standing behind it and punching above its weight,” he said, apparently 
alluding to Russia, the South Caucasus state’s main ally.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged 
Ankara to exercise restraint in its reaction to the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
hostilities when they spoke with their Turkish counterparts by phone in late 
July.
A few days later the Turkish and Azerbaijani militaries began joint exercises in 
various parts of Azerbaijan which lasted for two weeks. Akar attended the 
concluding session of the drills.
“We will continue to support Azerbaijan in its just struggle,” the Turkish 
minister said on August 13.
The drills and the more aggressive statements made by Turkish leaders raised the 
possibility of Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh conflict. A senior 
official in Yerevan said on August 3 that Armenia counts on Russia’s support in 
its efforts to counter the Turkish threat.
Armenia hosts about 5,000 Russian troops on its soil as part of close military 
ties between the two states.
Yerevan Decries Azeri Treatment Of Armenian POW
        • Artak Khulian
Armenia -- The Armenian Foreogn Ministry building, Yerevan.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of violating international humanitarian law with 
its treatment of an Armenian army officer who was taken prisoner late last week.
The Azerbaijani military claims that the junior officer, Gurgen Alaverdian, was 
captured during a failed Armenian commando raid on one of its frontline 
positions north of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry strongly 
denies this, saying that Alaverdian simply lost his way due to poor weather.
Azerbaijan’s government-controlled online media published on Tuesday an amateur 
video of Azerbaijani servicemen insulting and humiliating Alaverdian shortly 
after his capture.
Another video circulated by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry the following day, 
shows the serviceman saying in broken Armenian that he led a special army unit 
that planned to carry out “sabotage” attacks in Azerbaijan.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan shrugged off the footage, saying that Alaverdian 
was clearly forced to read out a written text badly translated into Armenian.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said, for its part, the “degrading treatment” of 
the officer amounts to a gross violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention on 
prisoners of war.
“Such practice represents a distinctive method of notorious terrorist 
organizations and, as we can observe, of Azerbaijan as well,” the ministry said 
in a statement released late on Thursday.
“Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime feeding its people with disgraceful propaganda 
and Armenophobia covers up serious setbacks suffered by its armed forces in the 
July battles [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border] by coercing the prisoner of 
war to read out its sham narratives,” it charged.
Tsarukian Again Criticizes Armenian Government
        • Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian arrives for a court 
hearing in Yerevan, June 21, 2020.
Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), on 
Friday again criticized the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic 
and other policies but stopped short of demanding its resignation.
Tsarukian described as “fruitless” government efforts to contain the spread of 
the coronavirus as he addressed hundreds of supporters in Armenia’s central 
Kotayk province.
“In terms of the number of deaths, hospitalizations and infections, we are the 
leaders in the region,” he said in a speech.
Tsarukian pointed to the officially registered deaths of 1,135 Armenians 
infected with COVID-19. “People get sick and they don’t get proper treatment,” 
he claimed.
The BHK leader, who is also one of the country’s wealthiest businesspeople, 
dismissed as insufficient the government’s wide-ranging stimulus measures 
against the socioeconomic fallout from the pandemic. He also blasted its broader 
economic policies, saying that they are not alleviating the plight of most 
Armenians.
Tsarukian went on to accuse Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration of 
undermining Armenian traditional values with what he described as plans to 
replace the teaching of the Armenian Apostolic Church history in schools with 
sex education classes. He said the BHK will hold a “big rally” soon in a bid to 
scuttle those plans.
“Let them think that we are backward. The people of Armenia will not allow sex 
classes for kids,” added the 63-year-old tycoon leading the country’s largest 
parliamentary opposition force.
Tsarukian had attacked Pashinian government and demanded its resignation at a 
June 5 meeting with senior BHK members. The move prompted angry reactions from 
the prime minister and his political allies.
Ten days later, Tsarukian was stripped of its parliamentary immunity from 
prosecution and indicted on vote buying charges rejected by him as politically 
motivated. He claims that Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in response 
to his speech.
Tsarukian did not call for the resignation of Pashinian or any other senior 
government official on Friday. He announced instead that he will hold a series 
of meetings with BHK activists and supporters across the country ahead of the 
upcoming autumn session of the Armenian parliament. He indicated that he will 
discuss with them his party’s next legislative initiatives.
Alen Simonian, a senior member of the ruling My Step bloc, dismissed the 
criticism voiced by Tsarukian, saying that Pashinian’s political team is not 
afraid of opposition rallies and other challenges. “I can’t wait to hear 
criticism from Tsarukian in the parliament,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Simonian claimed that Tsarukian as well as former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and 
Robert Kocharian and their former or current associates attack the current 
government in hopes of avoiding imprisonment on various criminal charges leveled 
against them.
“They all think that it will help them get away with stealing money from the 
state, beating up or kidnapping people, privatizing strategic facilities, 
handing out vote bribes and other things,” he said. “I believe they are wrong.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.