Tuesday,
Government Nominates New Candidate For High Court
Armenia -- Edgar Shatirian speaks to RFE/RL, Yerevan, November 27, 2019.
The Armenian government formally nominated on Tuesday a new candidate to replace
one of the three members of the Constitutional Court controversially dismissed
in June.
The decision was announced one week after the previous government nominee,
Vahram Avetisian, withdrew his candidacy opposed by some lawmakers representing
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc.
Avetisian, who is a senior law professor at Yerevan State University (YSU), also
faced strong opposition from political allies of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian. They argued, in particular, his father, Davit Avetisian, upheld
prison sentences handed to Ter-Petrosian supporters when he served as a senior
judge from 2008-2016.
The new government candidate, Edgar Shatirian, is a 40-year-old law lecturer
whom the pro-government majority in Armenia’s parliament appointed to a state
anti-corruption body late last year. Shatirian resigned from the Commission on
Prevention of Corruption after its four other members declined to choose him as
commission chairman.
President Armen Sarkissian and a national convention of Armenian judges
nominated two other candidates for the Constitutional Court in early August. The
parliament controlled by My Step is expected to vote on their and Shatirian’s
candidacies next month.
In June, Pashinian’s bloc pushed through the parliament controversial
constitutional changes calling for the gradual resignation of seven of the nine
Constitutional Court justices, who were installed by former Armenian governments.
The amendments required three of them to resign with immediate effect. They also
stipulated that Hrayr Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but remain a judge.
Tovmasian and the ousted judges have refused to step down, saying that their
removal is illegal and politically motivated. They have appealed to the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated.
Red Cross Seeks Access To Armenian POW In Azerbaijan
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- The Ministry of Defense building in Yerevan.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that its
representatives in Baku are trying to visit an Armenian army officer who was
captured by Azerbaijani troops over the weekend.
The Azerbaijani military claims that the junior officer, Gurgen Alaverdian, was
taken prisoner 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. Its spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanian,
said the ministry has launched an internal inquiry to ascertain all
circumstances of his disappearance.
“Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are now engaged
in a dialogue on this issue with relevant authorities in Armenia and
Azerbaijan,” Zara Amatuni, the spokeswoman for the ICRC office in Yerevan, told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“Usually, the Red Cross’s role in such situations is to receive permission to
immediately visit [detained] individuals in order to be able to verify, through
periodical visits, their treatment and detention conditions and to help them
keep in touch with their families,” she said.
The ICRC hopes to be allowed to visit Alaverdian in custody “as soon possible,”
added Amatuni.
Azerbaijan’s government-controlled online media released, meanwhile, a video of
Azerbaijani servicemen insulting and humiliating the captured Armenian officer.
Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, condemned it as a manifestation
of ethnically motivated hatred and violation of international conventions.
“We have taken note of these troubling facts,” said Tatoyan. “With appropriate
analyses I have appealed to … relevant international bodies, human rights
commissioners, the Red Cross and others to bring the matter to their attention
and to show the blatant violation of human rights.”
Armenian Health Minister Denies Resignation Talk
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian at a news conference in Yerevan, March
26, 2020.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian denied on Tuesday press reports about his
resignation after being allowed to take a three-week vacation despite the
continuing coronavirus crisis in Armenia.
According to an executive order signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian,
Torosian will be on vacation from August 31 to September 19.
The order coincided with newspaper reports saying that Torosian has tendered his
resignation. He deactivated his private and official Facebook accounts, followed
by tens of thousands of Armenians, at the weekend for unclear reasons.
A spokeswoman for Torosian, Alina Nikoghosian, dismissed the resignation claims.
She also insisted that the 38-year-old minister’s vacation had been “planned”
beforehand.
“The minister did not submit and is not going to submit a resignation request to
the prime minister,” Nikoghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The Yerevan daily “Zhoghovurd” also reported on Tuesday that a task force
coordinating the Armenian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has
demanded a detailed financial report from Torosian.
The Armenian Ministry of Health did not confirm or refute the information.
Still, the ministry issued a statement saying that since March the health
authorities have spent a total of around 10 billion drams ($21 million) on
treatment of COVID-19 patients and other measures against the disease.
Armenia has had one of the highest infection rates in the wider region, with
nearly 43,000 coronavirus cases and at least 858 deaths recorded in the country
of about 3 million so far.
Both Torosian and Pashinian have repeatedly defended the government’s handling
of the coronavirus crisis strongly criticized by Armenian opposition groups.
They have argued, in particular, that the daily number of new confirmed cases
has shrunk by more than half since mid-July despite the virtual absence of
lockdown restrictions in the country.
Citing the downward trend, the government decided earlier this month to reopen
all schools and universities on September 15.
The Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday morning 111 new infections and the
deaths of 8 more people infected with COVID-19.
Yerevan ‘Working’ On Immigration Plan For Lebanon Armenians
• Narine Ghalechian
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Workers at Zvartnots airport in Yerevan load relief supplies onto a
plane bound for Lebanon, August 8, 2020.
Armenia’s government is working on a wide-ranging plan to help ethnic Armenian
citizens of Lebanon immigrate to their ancestral homeland, according to a senior
official in Yerevan.
According to various estimates, there are between 80,000 and 120,000 Armenians
living in Lebanon at present. The vast majority of them are descendants of
survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
The once thriving community has shrunk dramatically since the outbreak of the
Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Many of its remaining members have also been gravely
affected by Lebanon’s ongoing economic woes aggravated by the August 4 massive
explosion in Beirut. At least 13 Lebanese Armenians were among 181 people killed
by the blast.
The Armenian government sent three planeloads of humanitarian aid to Lebanon in
the wake of the blast. It faced growing calls from opposition and public figures
in Armenia to facilitate the “repatriation” of Lebanese Armenians.
Lebanon -- A man stands next to graffiti at the damaged port area in the
aftermath of a massive explosion in Beirut, August 11, 2020.
Zareh Sinanyan, the government’s high commissioner for Diaspora affairs, said on
Monday that his office is already working on a relevant “package” of government
measures.
“We are putting together a social, economic, educational and healthcare package
for those people who do not want to stay in Lebanon, who plan to emigrate and
would like to come to Armenia,” Sinanyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“We want to bring them to Armenia,” he said. “We do not want them to move to
another country. I hope our compatriots will be a little patient. I believe that
this package will be ready soon.”
Sinanyan was among several Armenian officials who flew to Beirut on August 9 on
board a plane carrying medicines, food and other relief supplies. They met with
Lebanese officials and leaders of the local Armenian community.
According to Sinanyan’s office, as many as 25,000 residents of Lebanon already
have Armenian passports or residency permits. More than 100 of them were flown
to Yerevan just days after the Beirut blast.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets with Zareh Sinanyan, the
newly appointed commissioner of Diaspora affairs, Yerevan, June 14, 2019.
Sinanyan said ahead of his trip to Lebanon that many other community members
want to relocate to Armenia “in the medium or long term.” “They cannot do that
now because they want to solve issues connected with their properties affected
by the explosion,” he explained.
Thousands of ethnic Armenians from Lebanon’s neighbor Syria have fled to Armenia
during the bloody conflict in the Arab state. Many of them have struggled to
find decent jobs in a country that has long suffered from high unemployment.
Sinanyan, who himself is a U.S. citizen born and raised in Yerevan, cited
Armenia’s “limited resources” when he commented on a possible mass immigration
of Lebanese Armenians on August 14.
“We would have very much liked to provide all immigrants with free housing, work
and the best economic, social and healthcare packages,” the official told a news
conference. “But Armenia is not the United States or Switzerland. At any rate,
we are ready to do our best.”
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.
Category: 2020
Trout sorting device is launched on shores of Armenia’s Lake Sevan
News.am, Armenia
Aug 25 2020
11:43, 25.08.2020
Armenia MP: Azerbaijanis’ videos are gross violation of officer Gurgen Alaverdyan’s rights
News.am, Armenia
Aug 25 2020
13:41, 25.08.2020
Gomselmash launches harvester supplies to Armenia
BelTA, Belarus
Aug 25 2020
Photo courtesy of Gomselmash
GOMEL, 25 August (BelTA) – The Belarusian agricultural machinery manufacturer Gomselmash has made the first supplies of grain harvesters GS12A1 to Armenia, BelTA learned from the company.
Grain harvester GS12A1 is a modification of harvester GS12. High productivity is secured by a 330hp engine. Two such harvesters have already been successfully working in Armenia. According to the company, harvesters were made taking into account the wishes of Armenian agrarians.
Armenia Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vilen Avetisyan and Chief of the State Agricultural Equipment Institution of the Ministry of Agriculture Anania Soghomonyan visited grain fields in Martakert Province, where Gomselmash combine harvesters are in action. “Anania Soghomonyan said that the combine harvester meets the best analogues of world producers in its class. In Armenia, many agrarians consider it more appropriate to use Belarusian agricultural equipment,” the company said.
Gomselmash has been actively supporting and developing its export-oriented policy. Another batch of machine sets of GS12A1 (ESSIL KZS-760) grain harvester was recently sent to the assembly plant in Kazakhstan.
According to the company, today more than 30% of grain harvesters in Kazakhstan are equipment of the Kazakhstan-Belarus production: GS5A (ESSIL КЗС-730), GS10 (ESSIL КЗС-740), GS12 (ESSIL КЗС-750) and GS12A1 (ESSIL КЗС-760). In H1 2020 more than 300 vehicles were shipped.
Gomselmash and AgromashHolding KZ assemble grain harvesters ESSIL in Kazakhstan since 2007. AgromashHolding KZ produces a lineup of grain harvesters and offers maintenance services across the country.
The Belarusian holding company Gomselmash is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machines. It is one of the leaders on the world market of harvesters and other sophisticated agricultural machines. The company uses the Palesse trademark to market lineups of grain and forage harvesters, ear corn harvesters, potato harvesters, mowers, and other agricultural machines. Harvesters are used in fields of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, Baltic states, and other countries. Gomselmash operates an extensive distribution chain, joint ventures, and assembly enterprises.
Armenia: gross salaries up $20 mln in July despite crisis
JAM News
Aug 25 2020
- JAMnews, Yerevan
Prosperous Armenia Party leader surprised to hear about increase of tuition fees
News.am, Armenia
Aug 25 2020
23:59, 25.08.2020
Russia and Iran’s Dangerous Energy Gambit in the Caucasus
BESA – The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies
Aug 25 2020
<img width=”300″ height=”215″ src=””https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Map-via-Wikimedia-Commons-300×215.jpeg” class=”attachment-single-thumb size-single-thumb wp-post-image” alt=”” />
Map via Wikimedia Commons
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,708,
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: There are signs that the current escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, far from being incidental to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is driven by Russia’s and Iran’s economic warfare against a competing state and the need to return Europe to dependency on their oil and gas in light of US sanctions. Armenia benefits from the bellicose activity thanks to a sophisticated information warfare campaign in a heated US election year that has been unmatched thus far by Azerbaijan. But Baku can still turn its underdog position around by pursuing an assertive and affirmative policy against aggressors on military, political, media, and legal fronts.
After Armenia’s attack on Azerbaijan’s borders on July 12, a flurry of speculative articles appeared that contained obvious disinformation intended to portray what had happened as either a continuation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, an extension of Armenian-Turkish tensions, or part of a larger proxy conflict between Turkey and Russia, which is present in Syria and Libya and has most recently divided NATO.
At first glance, the chain of events that led to the current conflict seems straightforward. Armenia attacked Azerbaijani positions without warning, putting at risk civilians residing in the Tovuz area. At least 11 members of the military and one elderly civilian were killed.
Armenia then proceeded to boast about having taken out a general for the first time ever while simultaneously claiming it had been provoked. Several other senior Azerbaijani officers were also killed, which points to a premeditated attack, not an act of spontaneous violence. Indeed, this development calls into question the narrative that the current escalation is just the latest in a series of skirmishes arising from Armenia’s illegal occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has become a protracted crisis due to a combination of ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis from both Armenia and the occupied territories, the turning of over a million Azerbaijanis into refugees and IDPs, the turning of Armenia into a virtually monoethnic state, and the destruction of cultural heritage.
The last major escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place in 2016, when Azerbaijan reclaimed the strategic village of Çocuq Mərcanlı. As residents of the liberated village and elsewhere along the ceasefire line can attest, unprovoked violations are a part of daily life. Armenian snipers targeting civilians have wounded or killed many and forced many others to vacate their houses.
But this most recent attack was not launched from the occupied region, but rather along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in close proximity to geopolitically essential oil pipelines.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the US Elin Suleymanov warned that Israel’s oil supply could be endangered due to these border clashes. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline “provides Israel with 40% of its oil,” but also ensures that Russia and Iran cannot monopolize delivery to Europe and Israel from the Caspian region. Azerbaijan, already a top competitor to Russia and Iran in supplying European energy needs, is about to bypass Armenia and Russia to become a significant supplier of gas to southern Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor, which is scheduled to be fully operational by year end.
The diversification of Europe’s LNG sources undermines Russian and Iranian political power, which is premised on the threat of leaving Europe out in the cold. Their positions were already precarious when the US ended all oil trade waivers for the Islamic Republic last year. It only just lifted waivers on Russia’s construction of the Nordstrom II pipeline (initially sanctioned in December 2019). Circumventing US sanctions is a matter of survival for these regimes.
Iran in particular has faced economic devastation due to Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign. Tehran, already more dependent on Beijing as a result of a recently concluded 25-year trade deal, has essentially rented out the oil fields in Ahwaz to China.
For Armenia, the new escalation has potentially favorable military and political ramifications. Armenia is part of a military bloc known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The current conflict may be an attempt to draw Azerbaijan into a bigger conflagration with CSTO members, who are pledged to protect one another. According to Fariz Ismailzade, Vice Rector of the ADA University, the likelihood that this gambit will succeed is diminished by Azerbaijan’s good relations with two CSTO member states: Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Armenian lobbyists are trying to gain a political advantage by portraying the crisis as a standoff with Turkey (a position to which Turkey lends credence by offering to arm Azerbaijan) as well as with France (a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, which focuses on finding a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) and various other NATO members.
In the US, ANCA, a well-organized and politically influential Armenian lobby group, has been playing up the perception of the inseparability of the two Turkic countries in the public mind and taking advantage of general American ignorance of historical and political realities. It is attempting to tie Azerbaijan to Turkey’s Ottoman past and current neo-Ottoman ambitions. In addition, ANCA has manipulated various ethnic and religious biases in pursuit of political support, even attacking Israel’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan George Deek, who is Christian.
ANCA also seeks to benefit politically from a heated US presidential election year. It anticipates a more favorable outlook in Washington in the event that the Democrats prevail in November and is now planting the seeds of anti-Azerbaijan action, such as a proposed bill that would freeze all military sales to that country. The proposing of such a bill required a provocation, such as an act of war, which is why ANCA has been at the forefront of creating the perception that Azerbaijan struck first.
This is not a one-off event. ANCA cultivates relationships with both members of Congress and figures in the think tank world, constantly pushing the idea of “Artsakh,” a fake republic in the otherwise empty occupied territories that is unrecognized by anyone except Russia. ANCA creates layers of legal fictions via continuous unilateral actions such as repeated requests for large humanitarian packages from Congress for the ersatz entity, tying these requests to aid for Armenia proper.
There are red flags pointing to the planned and strategic nature of this operation. Indeed, in retrospect, there were warning signs, such as Iran’s growing presence in the vicinity and more direct assistance to Armenia for weeks prior to the attack. A few weeks prior to that, Iran and Armenia reinstated a visa-free regime, perhaps contributing to Armenia’s poor handling of COVID-19. In June, Russia and Armenia were engaging in talks about running biological labs, a convenient cover for bringing Russian biological weapons close to Azerbaijan, a development that would threaten all of the Caucasus and should concern the US.
Armenia and Russia are also interested in developing joint military forces. Not only is Russia completely running the show, but it is increasingly erasing any semblance of Armenia’s independence and asserting its own military presence in the region in a manner that can only be described as menacing. All these factors independently of each other should have been causes for concern, but their all occurring at once when the US is struggling with internal crises and a beleaguered foreign policy in a hotly contested election year points to a premeditated operation designed to help advance a political agenda.
Azerbaijan’s information warfare against Armenia has been partially successful, such as its display of sophisticated Israeli drones that Armenia, with mixed results, has tried to claim credit for downing. On the political front, however, the outcome so far has been largely driven by ANCA’s organized campaign.
Azerbaijan should respond to these attacks through a combination of methods. First, it should strive to become a “country brand,” like Singapore, by diversifying its economy away from oil dependency, becoming a hi-tech hub for the region, and building investor confidence through joint ventures and the expansion of electronic government services. Ismail Rustamov, the representative of Azerbaijani society in the US, has suggested steps focused on investor confidence to help overcome perceptions of business risks.
Azerbaijan should form a closer joint defense relationship with the US, benefiting from joint training and insights from experienced field operatives and officers. Additionally, greater resources need to be marshalled for information warfare and the political aspect of the battle being waged, including supporting professional media to counter disinformation, building personal and long-term relationships with public officials at all levels, and, most importantly, vigorously pursuing legislative and legal relief in US, European, and international bodies. Armenian officials responsible for human rights abuses should be sanctioned. Only when Azerbaijan shows its willingness to combat fake news while broadening outreach efforts—while passionately and rightfully combating attacks on its physical sovereignty and territorial integrity—will its allies fully support the verity of its claims and understand the global and geopolitical stakes of siding with or giving a pass to Armenia’s aggression.
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Irina Tsukerman is a human rights and national security attorney based in New York. She has written extensively on geopolitics and US foreign policy for a variety of American, Israeli, and other international publications.
Israeli historian Stefan Ihrig to speak on “the Armenian Genocide and the 20th Century”
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 25 2020
Two Lebanese-Armenian families move to Artsakh
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 25 2020
Iranian Ambassador: Historical-cultural ties between Iran and Armenia compels to further strengthen the partnership
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 25 2020
Armenian Minister of Emergency Situations (MES) Feliks Tsolakyan hosted on Tuesday H.E. Mr.Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Armenia, the press service at the ministry reported. Minister Tsolakyan congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment and wished success in his future activity.
During the meeting, the interlocutors exchanged thoughts on prospects of future cooperation between the respective structures of the two countries, specifically the possibility of conducting rescue operations in the border areas and activate cooperation in other directions.
Ambassador Zohouri thanked for the reception, stressed that the century-long historical-cultural ties between Iran and Armenia compels to further strengthen the partnership.
The Minister and Ambassador agreed to intensify bilateral meetings among the representatives of the emergency agencies, outline joint projects and fulfill them.