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YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS. During the period from June 21 to 27 the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire regime in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact more than 190 times by firing nearly 1600 shots at the Armenian positions, the Artsakh Defense Army said in a press release.
The Artsakh Defense Army forces adhere to the ceasefire regime and continue confidently fulfilling their military tasks.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
06/27/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Turkey’s state-run media has announced the outcome of a five-hour Presidential High Advisory Board meeting held on June 16th which addressed the Armenian genocide. Following this meeting, President Erdogan decided to develop a so-called “new autonomous and civilian structure” which would focus on the genocide.
The Armenian genocide murdered, deported, or forcibly converted over 1.5 million Christians living in Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire. Turkey has refused to acknowledge their country’s role in this, despite international recognition and scholarship saying otherwise. The authorities also continue policies which helped facilitate the genocide. Turkey is currently engaged in a military conflict that has raised their sensitivity to Armenian genocide recognition.
The new institution presented by President Erdogan would conduct research and develop strategies to refute the Armenian genocide. This proposal was supposed to have been discussed three months earlier, when Armenians opened lawsuits in the US courts related to the genocide, but was delayed because of COVID-19. Since most institutions in Turkey are state-run, there is no expectation that this expectation that this institution will be autonomous from government interference.
The news department of the Public TV Company of Armenia serves the interests of the authorities, Media Advocate initiative said in a statement on Saturday, referring to a recent report on a response letter of President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio to Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan. The statement reads:
“The Public TV Company is spreading misinformation on its 1lurer.am news website, misleading the public, proving once again that the Public Television’s news department serves the interests of the authorities and is deprived of its own position.
This time 1lurer.am published an article entitled: “Gianni Buquicchio urges Hrayr Tovmasyan to respect Constitution.”
Neither the original nor the Armenian translation of the Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio’s letter contains such wording.
This was noticed and discussed on social media, after which Public TV made some changes. “In his letter to Tovmasyan, Buquicchio called for respect for the Constitution, and the Ministry of Justice reminds that there is a full agreement with the Commission.”
One can judge from this title that Gianni Buquicchio’s appeal is addressed to Hrayr Tovmasyan, while the text reads: “I have been closely following the developments in Armenia concerning the constitutional amendments. I regret that they are not in line with the clear recommendations of the Venice Commission.”
In fact, Buquicchio expressed concern about the constitutional changes, pointing out the problems in it.
Media Advocate initiative urges the management of the Public Television’s news department to once again reconsider the title of the article and stop the pro-government working style.”
Third President of Armenia, Artsakh Hero Serzh Sargsyan on Friday reacted to a statement made by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the same day, his office reported. Below are Sargsyan’s full remarks.
“When did we run into such an absurdity?” Ilham Aliyev, the successor to Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime, who is praised by the one who seized power in our country two years ago to the point that he prefers to learn the background of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process from Aliyev, today has cynically stated that the whole history of Armenia’s independence is a story of shame.
The president of Azerbaijan speaks the same language and describes the previous years of Armenia’s independence in the same way as Nikol Pashinyan in his infamous speeches delivered from the UN rostrum, at the PACE plenary session.
Dictator Aliyev teaches democracy lessons to Armenia, names the Armenian army, the officers and generals of our glorious army. He speaks of violence against journalists and other outrageous illegalities and corruption of the incumbent Armenian authorities. It is not surprising that Aliyev can afford such a thing, that Aliyev can hate the glorious Armenian army because of the shameful defeat of his country in the war; he can hate the second and third presidents of Armenia, our army generals. We expected that his country, obsessed with his own incompetent leadership, could do so after the drivel talks by Nikol Pashinyan, who called Armenia “a completely failed state.”
As for Ilham Aliyev, he knows very well that if he and Nikol Pashinyan are talking about corruption and embezzlement in Armenia, then the Panama Papers and bank accounts associated with his name and his family members, the bribery of European deputies, and many other scandalous revelations are talked about and discussed by international investigative journalists and organizations, authoritative newspapers.
Aliyev has a long tongue because our incumbent rulers proved to be incompetent and anti-national, but he must remember that the latter are transient like his regime, while strong with its victorious army and many patriotic Armenian heroes, the Republic of Armenia stands ready to defy the arrogant aggressor.
And let him not forget that in the near future, when the patriotic and powerful forces come back to power in Armenia, the international community will again force him to recognize the independence of the Artsakh Republic.”