Category: 2021

Lebanese-Armenian Woman Just Returned To Beirut After 4 Months In Azeri Captivity

Hambik Zargarian
The 961, Lebanon
March 11 2021
Souad Lazkani·

·March 11, 2021

In a tearful and emotional reunion, Lebanese-Armenian Maral Najarian has returned home to Beirut, after spending the last 4 months in Azerbaijani captivity.

Najarian, who had survived the devastating August 4 Beirut Port explosion had last been seen on November 10th and was taken hostage by Azeris in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Like many Lebanese-Armenians who moved to Armenia after the blast, she decided to re-settle in Artsakh, the long-disputed region over which violent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan have taken place.

Tensions between the neighboring countries rose once again and a war was waged between September 27 to November 10, forcing her to take refuge in a city in Armenia.

After the armistice was declared, she reportedly went back to the hotel in Nagorno-Karabakh, where she was staying, to collect her things. However, that was the last time she was seen – until now.

Although visibly exhausted with the tinge of her traumatic experience coloring her face, Najarian is back as a survivor of multiple hellish experiences..

is back as a survivor of multiple hellish experiences..

 

AbuDhabi: Mohamed bin Zayed receives message from President of Armenia

Ani Tigranian
WAM News Agency, UAE
March 11 2021

ABU DHABI, 11th March, 2021 (WAM) — His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received a written message from President of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan, on promoting bilateral relations.

The message was delivered to H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as he welcomed Ara Ayvazyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, over a dinner banquet Sheikh Abdullah hosted for the guest.

The two top diplomats reviewed the prospects of accelerating cooperation between the two nations across various fields, including investment and food security.

The meeting also addressed a number of regional and international issues of interest, with Sheikh Abdullah hailing the privileged relations between the two sides and the UAE’s keenness to advance them to a higher level.

The Armenian minister said his country is looking forward to enhancing the bilateral relations and commended the stature boasted by the UAE at the regional and international levels.

WAM/Hatem Mohamed

Nagorno-Karabakh’s People Rebuild Amid Fragile Peace

Karakhanian Suren
Voice of America
March 11 2021
March 11, 2021 10:09 AM 
| Voice of America – English

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 is still very present in the daily lives of its people as they work to rebuild – and heal – amid a peace that many see as fragile.  Jonathan Spier narrates this report by Pablo Gonzalez in Stepanakert.

Cambera:  Pablo Gonzalez, Courtesy 

Produced by: Rod James  

[Watch the video at the link below]

Armenian PM says army chief considered dismissed

Chmshkian Vicken
Ahram Online, Egypt
March 11 2021
Xinhua , Thursday 11 Mar 2021
  – International – World – Ahram Online

Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian army Onik Gasparyan was considered as removed from office, the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office said late on Wednesday.

Gasparyan is considered dismissed because Armenian President Armen Sarkissian did neither sign his dismissal order nor did he apply to the constitutional court within the deadline prescribed by law, the office said in a statement on the official website.

Shortly after this, Gasparyan said in a statement that his dismissal is unconstitutional, and that he is filing a lawsuit to the administrative court, according to the local Armenpress.

Meanwhile, Sarkissian posted a statement on the official website, saying he has applied to the constitutional court to determine whether the Law on Military Service and Status of Servicemen is constitutional or not.

According to Armenian law, the Armenian president has three days to either approve a motion from the prime minister or return it with objections. But if the motion is sent to the president again, he has to choose to sign it or apply to the constitutional court within a certain number of days.

The statements came amid rising tension between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian army’s general staff and opposition parties on the resignation of the government.

Pashinyan submitted a second request to Sarkissian on Feb. 27 to seek the dismissal of Gasparyan shortly after the president refused to sign the request and said the motion to fire the military chief is unconstitutional.

On Feb. 25, Pashinyan dismissed Gasparyan and sent the motion to the president, accusing him of attempting a military coup.

Earlier that day, Gasparyan, his deputies and dozens of top military commanders had signed a statement, demanding Pashinyan and his cabinet resign. 

Fate of war missing haunts Armenia

Emil Lazarian
The Sun Daily, Malaysia
March 11 2021



11 Mar 2021 / 21:07 H.

YEREVAN: Ruzanna Vartanyan has spent the past five months trapped somewhere between hope and despair as she prays to see her oldest son Sarkis again.

The 18-year-old Armenian army conscript went missing a few weeks into the war last year with Azerbaijan as fierce fighting raged around him over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Now his family are among hundreds in this small south Caucasus nation searching for any sign that their loved ones may still be alive and held in captivity by Azerbaijan.

Relatives have scoured morgues, given DNA samples, quizzed returned soldiers, waited for news from battlefield search groups and pressured politicians.

But they have found no trace of their missing — and are left clinging, hope against hope, to the thought they will one day see them again.

“All I can do now is wait for my son,“ Vartanyan, 40, told AFP, struggling to hold back tears in the family’s flat in the capital Yerevan.

The disappearance of Sarkis is just half of the family’s tragedy — his father Arman was killed in the conflict after he rushed to the front to try to fight alongside his son.

“It is as if I’m not alive,“ said Sarkis’ 68-year-old grandmother Mariam.

“I have lost all the sense in my life.”

‘Mental suffering’

The fate of the missing is one of the most painful wounds haunting Armenia as it tries to come to terms with its humiliating defeat in the six-week conflict.

The war left at least 6,000 dead on both sides as Azerbaijan won back swathes of territory it lost in fighting some three decades earlier.

Under a Russia-brokered peace deal on November 9 to halt the bloodshed, the two sides agreed to return all prisoners of war and the remains of those killed in the fighting.

Moscow says it has so far mediated the return of 63 Armenians and 16 Azerbaijanis — and both Baku and Yerevan insist they do not have any more prisoners of war.

Azerbaijan does admit it is holding around 60 people who were captured in clashes after the peace deal was signed and says they are “terrorist-saboteurs” who should go on trial.

But Armenia is convinced its old foe has more captives and is using the detainees as a bargaining chip while the exact contours of the new post-war front lines are hammered out.

“I know that at least we have there several hundreds, I would say, being held captive in Azerbaijan,“ Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, told AFP.

The issue of the missing is feeding a political crisis wracking Armenia as it struggles for stability in the wake of last year’s defeat.

“Azerbaijan is using this issue of prisoners of war to put pressure on our government, our state, and to use the issue during negotiations,“ Tatoyan said.

“By doing this they cause mental suffering to our society, to our people. They play with the emotions of our people and especially of the families.”

‘Living in hell’

Relatives of the missing have met repeatedly with Armenia’s leaders — but they say it is the families and not the authorities doing the bulk of the work to find their loved ones.

Arsen Gukasyan, the uncle of missing Sarkis, has stopped working as he dedicates every moment to tracking down his nephew.

“Officials admit themselves that we have gathered more information than them,“ Gukasyan, 47, said.

He has clubbed together with other families and made repeated trips to the front line to try to help search groups, allowed to enter Azerbaijani-controlled territory, pinpoint where the soldiers went missing.

“Before, I could never imagine the sort of things I have now seen — decapitated corpses, body parts,“ Gukasyan said, recalling trips to frontline hospitals and morgues.

Lusine Margaryan has already been called in more than 20 times to view bodies returned from the front to Yerevan — but none of them have been her son Hayk.

“It is as if we are living in hell,“ she told AFP.

The last time the family spoke to Hayk was on his 23rd birthday on Oct 12 — just before an attack by Azerbaijani forces cut him and two comrades off from the rest of his squad.

“Since then there has been no trace of them,“ said Hayk’s father Armen.

Armenian officials recently told the parents that their son’s name was on a list of prisoners being held by Azerbaijan.

But the details remain hazy and the family is refusing to get their hopes up until they get confirmation.

“We just want to know for sure that he is alive — 100%,“ Armen said.

“That would be the first step out of this.” — AFP

Nagorno-Karabakh: Moscow’s Exploitation of a Conflict in the Caucasus – MIR

Garnik Zakarian
The McGill International Review
March 11 2021
By Millie Murray
On Mar 10, 2021

On September 27, 2020, violence erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nearly a month later, on November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a peace deal. In the six weeks that separated the outbreak of violence — which both sides allege the other caused––and the signing of the peace deal, over 2,700 Azerbaijani soldiers and more than 2,300 Armenians died. In late December, Azerbaijan reported that Armenian attacks left one Azerbaijani soldier dead and all six of the Armenians involved. Amid these developments, it is worth revisiting the significance of the November peace agreement, particularly its key mediator — Russia. Moscow seized the opportunity to exert influence on the former Soviet states by acting as a third party courting influence in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Putin’s courting of bitter combatants opens the region to future Russian exploitation and allows Moscow to recover its slowly disappearing political influence in the former Soviet sphere. 

Armenian protests in Martuni, Nagorno-Karabakh, 1988. “Martuni 06, 1988” by Armenian Museum of Photo and Video Materials is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked enclave of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan and is internationally recognized as Azeri territory. The most recent phase of the territorial conflict began in the late 1980s. However, only after the USSR’s dissolution in 1989 that long-fomenting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan (both former Soviet Socialist Republics) violently erupted. Like the 1980s-90s, former Soviet policy has had a large effect on the present-day conflict; Nagorno-Karabakh was designated as part of Azerbaijan by the USSR Armenian majority. In 1988, Azerbaijan violently retaliated to the brewing separatist sentiment in Nagorno-Karabakh after the region’s legislature voted to become part of Armenia. A full-scale war broke out the following year; It cost upwards of 30,000 lives and displaced close to a million people, primarily Azerbaijanis. Ethnic cleansing marred the conflict, which ended in a ceasefire under the Russia-brokered Bishkek Protocol in 1994. Since then, Armenian separatists have governed the territory as the Republic of Artsakh, causing tensions to persist and occasional fighting over the years.  

For the Artsakh government of Nagorno-Karabakh, the November 2020 peace agreement was inevitable as they steadily lost territory to Azerbaijani forces, notably the important cultural centre of the city of Shusha — the second largest settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh —  in early November. The peace agreement demands the Artsakh Republic hand its peripheral areas to Azerbaijan, a provision that came much to the jubilation of Azerbaijanis, especially those 60,000 who were forced to flee Nagorno-Karabakh after the Armenian declaration of semi-autonomy in 1994. This semi-autonomy highlights that Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, has been functionally independent since the late 90s while technically remaining an Azeri territory. The agreement has been generally considered more beneficial to Azerbaijan since it compels Armenia to withdraw forces from the area and open a transport corridor through the country to the Azerbaijani region of Nakhichevan. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that journalists based in Azerbaijan claim that “the deal should be read as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia.” Shortly after the deal’s announcement, protests erupted in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Protestors accused the government and prime minister of betrayal and insisted that they “will not give [Artsakh] up.” Religious leaders also joined the fray, and several priests of the Armenian Apostolic church denounced Pashinyan for surrendering important holy sites to Azerbaijan.

While the clashes in late December undermine the deal’s effectiveness, the episode positioned Vladimir Putin as a strong mediator, in stark contrast to his general reputation as an aggressor. Russia’s current peacekeeping role will allow Putin to use the region’s dependency on Moscow for his own diplomatic purposes. This emergent dependency creates an opportunity for Russia to maintain influence and cultivate a positive reputation through Nagorno-Karabakh. Notably, the peace agreement stipulates that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh will be present for five years. Still, it is difficult to know if the situation will have been truly resolved by then or if the future withdrawal of peacekeeping forces will reignite violence.

The Victory Monument in Stepanakert honours the sacrifices of both World War Two and the Nagorno Karabakh independence war. “Victory Monument” by David Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

 Unfortunately for the Russians, Turkey has also been an avid contender for influence in Armenian-Azerbaijani affairs. Turkey is a staunch ally of Azerbaijan; the former Azerbaijani president, Heydar Aliyev, went so far as to declare that Turkey and Azerbaijan were “one nation, two states”. Many regard Turkey’s involvement as a projection of their resource interests in the region more than their supposed solidarity with Azerbaijan, given the Nagorno-Karabakh region’s proximity to the South Caucasus’, which supplies 23 per cent of Turkish demand for natural gas. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, primarily through military power, has been considered “crucial” in Azerbaijan’s November victory. His support solidified the alliance and Turkey’s presence as a counterweight to Russia in the Caucasus. 

In early December, Turkey and Russia announced its establishment of a joint peacekeeping centre to monitor the Karabakh truce. Moscow insisted that “Turkey will have no troops on the ground under the terms of the truce deal.” If anything, this agreement highlights the importance of Russian legacy in the region versus Turkish ambition, as both nations vie for dominance in the middle east after the United States’ retreat. The peace agreement has made both Azerbaijan and Armenia increasingly dependent on Russia for the security of their respective citizens, which furthers Russia’s power in the area. In that sense, Russia is the real winner in the peace agreement, especially given the near-ubiquitous tensions that afflict Nagorno-Karabakh residents. Why are those tensions still present, and why have they led to violence even after a peace agreement? Perhaps because the agreement fails to address the root causes of the antagonism that plagues the region. 

With its position as a mediator, Russia has propped itself as the foremost regional power in the former Soviet sphere, keeping Turkey at bay. However, much to Russia’s chagrin, Turkish relations with Azerbaijan permitted the latter to insist on the presence of Turkish peacekeepers alongside the Russians. The presence of both nations as peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh risks larger regional tensions undermining the peace efforts in the region. Furthermore, both Russia and Turkey’s overt power grabs over the course of both the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the peace agreement present the potential threat of the Caucasus becoming a convenient arena for power struggles and proxy war. The only real risk to Russia’s position in the region comes from the peace agreement’s precariousness and whether Putin can maintain his position as chief mediator.

Powerful foreign powers have long exploited the tensions in smaller and more dependent nations, and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is no different. Turkey has used the conflict to bolster its position as an ally to Azerbaijan and a formidable power in the Caucasus, but Russia has truly capitalized on the violence. Russia has used the bloody conflict to garner influence in Armenia and Azerbaijan and has exploited the threat of further violence and bloodshed to create a dependency that will likely exist in Nagorno-Karabakh for a long time.

Featured Image: The flags of Armenia (left) and Nagorno Karabakh (right) fly together at the highway border crossing between the two countries. “Border Flags” by David Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

Edited by Sajneet Mangat

Armenian Maral Najarian released from Azerbaijani captivity

Jhanna Virabian
Public Radio of Armenia
March 11 2021

After spending four grueling months in captivity in Azerbaijan, civilian war hostage Maral Najarian has safely arrived in Lebanon, the Armenian Embassy confirmed the news to Hayern Aysor.

The 49 year-old Lebanese Armenian, who was released from a high-security prison near Baku on Wednesday, was finally reunited with her family at the Beirut-Hariri International Airport at around 9:30 p.m. local time, Najarian’s nephew Hovig Seferian told the Armenian Weekly.

“We have all waited for so long to get this news, and I still can’t believe it,” he told the Weekly. “I wish I could see her right now in person, but I have to wait because I’m in Armenia. I’m just so excited that I got to talk to her on the video call and that she is home safe,” he said.

Seferian said his aunt looked exhausted, but relieved to be home. “I missed you,” she told her nephew. “Thank God we survived this ordeal,” she continued in Armenian.   

Lebanese-Armenian Hagop Havatian posted photos on his Facebook page, writing that Maral Najaryan is already in her Lebanese apartment, surrounded by family and friends.

Najarian, along with her sister Ani, repatriated to Artsakh from Lebanon just before the start of the war on September 17. On November 9, Najarian told her sister that she was in Goris and would be heading towards Artsakh to retrieve her belongings with her friend Viken Euljekjian, a fellow Lebanese Armenian. That would be the last time the sisters would speak. Najarian and Euljekjian were kidnapped in Berdzor by Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Euljekjian is still in captivity.

Bright Armenia accepts President’s invitation for discussions

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
March 11 2021

Bright Armenia Party has accepted the President’s invitation for consultations, its leader Edmon Marukyan said in a Facebook post.

“We accept the invitation and are ready to participate in any discussion where it will be possible to restore civil solidarity and find ways to get the country out of a deep crisis,” Markyan said.

On Wednesday President Armen Sarkissian invited the Prime Minister, the leaders of the parliamentary factions, the leaders of the Homeland Salvation Movement for a meeting at the presidential residence on March 13.

“The political crisis in the country continues, the situation remains tense, which can have unpredictable, irreversible consequences for our state.  There are many problems, their solution requires urgent systemic changes, including constitutional and legislative ones,” the President said in a statement.

“Both the government and the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political forces have repeatedly expressed their positions. However, there is a lack of mutual understanding and a desire to meet each other. Moreover, calls for intolerance have become more frequent,” the President added.

He reaffirmed the conviction that the only way to resolve the differences is through negotiations and dialogue, “and the only way for the development of Armenia and Artsakh is the consolidation of the efforts and opportunities of all of us.”

Hampig Sassounian to be granted parole

Maral Chavushian
Public Radio of Armenia
March 11 2021

    

Asbarez – The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom informed the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region Wednesday that the Governor has decided to allow Hampig Sassounian’s release by waiving any further appeals of the court’s ruling which upheld the Parole Board’s decision to grant parole.

“We are truly grateful to Governor Newsom and his team for keeping the lines of communication open with us, for listening to our concerns, and for making the humanitarian decision to allow Hampig Sassounian’s parole to stand. We look forward to witnessing his long overdue release from prison,” stated ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian.

It is anticipated that Sassounian’s release will be processed in the coming days pending finalization of the necessary steps under law.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court on February 24 reversed a decision by Governor Newson who rejected the parole eligibility and application of Hampig Sassounian.

LA County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan vacated Newsom’s decision to reject Sassounian’s parole and reinstated the California Parole Board’s decision to grant Sassounian parole.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh rescinds Khojalu proclamation, apologizes to Armenian community

Mary Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
March 11 2021

Mayor Marty Walsh has issued a statement of apology to the Armenian community of Boston and rescinded a recent proclamation declaring February 26 Khojalu Commemoration Day, the Armenian Weekly reports.

“Unfortunately on our part, this was done without our typical review process, which includes conferring with all those potentially impacted,” the apology letter reads.

“Following conversations with leaders of the Armenian-American community, we realize that this proclamation has been hurtful to many of you.” 

For the past week, members of Boston’s Armenian community and abroad have been contacting the mayor’s office, urging him to reverse the proclamation following a call to action from the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER). 

“The ANC-of Eastern Massachusetts would like to thank the mayor for acting on this quickly. It was very clear that it wasn’t professionally vetted,” said chairman Aram Kaligian in an interview with the Armenian Weekly. “The mayor has been a friend to the community,” he continued. 

Indeed, Mayor Walsh, who is preparing for his transition to become the US Secretary of Labor, has participated in several Armenian Genocide commemorations both at the Massachusetts State House and Armenian Heritage Park, where he proclaimed that Armenians have made Boston a “stronger city.”

“Our goal when issuing a proclamation is to honor and celebrate the contributions of Bostonians from all walks of life, and not to engage in international matters that can cause pain or divisiveness,” the letter reads. 

This is not the first time that a municipal or state government has declared February 26 Khojalu Commemoration Day. Nearly identical proclamations were announced by the mayor of Portland, Maine and the governor of Minnesota. Each of these declarations followed appeals by local Azerbaijani community organizations, including the Azerbaijani Society of Maine and the Azerbaijani Association in Minnesota.

According to various Azerbaijani news sites, the Boston proclamation was adopted on the initiative of the New-England based Azerbaijan Center. All three cite Human Rights Watch in marking the 29th anniversary of the “largest massacre of the 1990s, the Khojalu Massacre.” The ANC of Eastern Massachusetts underscores, however, that the proclamations are rife with distortions and exaggerations and erase the role of Azeri troops in the fighting around Khojalu. 

“This is clearly part of a Turkish-Azeri propaganda effort to reduce the significance of the Armenian Genocide and crimes against humanity that the Turkish government has committed in the past,” Kaligian said. “It’s also a way of reducing the culpability of the present Turkish and Azeri governments in their war crimes against Armenians.”

Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, who has known Mayor Walsh since 1996 during their time together in the state legislature, commends local activists for mobilizing and asking the mayor to reconsider the February 26 statement. “This is a proud day for our community in Greater Boston. This is a proud day to be Armenian,” said Sheriff Koutoujian in an interview with the Weekly. “We were recognized, and we were respected. This is a good day for our community to show that people believe in us.”

https://en.armradio.am/2021/03/11/boston-mayor-marty-walsh-rescinds-khojalu-proclamation-apologizes-to-armenian-community/