Category: 2021

CHESS: Grandmaster Aronian says he is leaving Armenia, will play chess for U.S.

Hambardsumian Paul
Union Leader
Feb 26 2021
  • By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber Reuters
  • Feb 26, 2021

MOSCOW – Chess grandmaster Levon Aronian said on Friday he was leaving Armenia and would represent the United States, citing what he said was Armenian officials’ indifference to chess as one of the reasons.

The 38-year-old, who is ranked sixth in the world, announced his decision on his Facebook page.

“The past year has been very difficult for all of us with a pandemic, a war and in my case there was personal adversity and the state’s absolute indifference towards Armenian chess,” he wrote, referring to six weeks of fighting between ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces over the Nagorno-Karabkah enclave.

“I was faced with a choice: quit my job or move to where I am valued,” he wrote.

Smbat Lputian, deputy head of the Armenian Chess Federation, said he regretted Aronian’s decision.

“This is a big loss for Armenian chess,” he told Reuters.

Mike Hoffpauir, president of the U.S. Chess Federation, said it welcomed Aronian’s decision to relocate to the United States.

The Saint Louis Chess Club said Aronian was moving to the U.S. city to continue his career and would represent the United States at future competitions.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) told Reuters it could not comment on Aronian’s intentions and plans.

“A player can represent the country/federations where he resides,” FIDE said. “That doesn’t necessarily imply that he changes his nationality.”

Aronian’s move follows political unrest in Armenia, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan condemned what he said was an attempted coup on Thursday after the army demanded he quit. (Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Nvard Hovhannisyan; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Kirsten Donovan)

CAUCASUS BLOG: Armenia’s day of crisis delivers anticlimax

Boris Nahapetian
BNE IntelliNews
Feb 26 2021

By bne IntelIiNews

Armenia’s political showdown, in which Armenian PM Nikol Pashinian attempted to rouse masses of supporters to join him on the streets of Yerevan after accusing army officers of trying to mount a coup, delivered something of an anti-climax by the end of February 25.

Neither Pashinian, who perhaps drew around 20,000 people to Republic Square for a speech of defiance, nor the somewhat ragtag opposition, who assembled a rival rally on nearby Freedom Square, looked capable of dealing a decisive blow in resolving the crisis. But there was very little reported violence and that is encouraging to those who remain on edge that Armenia’s troubles could yet descend into a bloody confrontation.

bne IntelliNews –

Pashinian may have been told to quit by his political opponents, the president and the church, but the opposition is made up of a bunch of parties struggling for credibility—many of its key players are remnants of, or are linked to, the discredited government that was toppled by the Armenian velvet revolution in the spring of 2018—and the prime minister appears to still be the politician in the country enjoying the highest approval ratings.

And as Pashinian attempted to recharge the wave of people power that swept him to office nearly three years ago, what did the opposition manage in response?

Vazgen Manukyan, one of the opposition leaders, called on people to start blocking the parliament, saying MPs should be brought in to vote for Pashinian’s dismissal.

“Get ready, we will stay here all night and will block the street with barricades,” he was quoted as saying by the Armenpress news agency.

“Not that impressive”

However, as the BBC’s Yerevan correspondent reported: “Neither of the rallies managed to gather considerable numbers. The opposition tried to set up some tents next to the parliament but their efforts were not that impressive, considering there were fewer than a thousand people in the vicinity. Around ten tents, a few wood-burning stoves, some makeshift tables with tea and biscuits for the protesters did not look like the sort of threat that might force the authorities to make any concessions.

“Opposition supporters said they were setting up barricades with rubbish bins. But the police had blocked all traffic in the area and kept the parliament building cordoned off, while not engaging with the protesters. A few hours later the police started leaving the area.”

For his part, Pashinian concentrated on driving home the message that any political transition in Armenia must not be at the behest of the military. “The army is not a political institution and attempts to involve it in political processes are unacceptable,” he told his supporters, urging all soldiers to simply “do your jobs”.

Pashinian then invited the opposition to hold talks on how to resolve the crisis, emphasising that any change in government must take place “only through elections”.

The Kremlin briefed reporters that Armenia’s bust-up was a local affair.

Armenia’s National Security Service urged all sides to “refrain from actions that threaten national security”.

President Armen Sargsyan, not long back from London where he got stranded with a bad bout of coronavirus, appealed to all sides to “show restraint and common sense”.

And that was that. We’ll see if enough people stick with common sense tomorrow.

Armenian crisis: President refuses to sack military chief, says PM Pashinyan’s order ‘unconstitutional’

Baghdasarian Karlen
RT – Russia Today
Feb 27 2021
27 Feb, 2021 18:42 

Armenian crisis: President refuses to sack military chief, says PM Pashinyan’s order ‘unconstitutional’ — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian has refused to approve an order to fire the country’s armed forces chief, who is accused of staging a coup, returning the draft to PM Nikol Pashinyan. The move was applauded by protesters.

Pashinyan ordered the dismissal of the head of the General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, on Thursday, in response to what he called an attempted coup against him. The order followed a joint statement by Armenian military commanders and two former presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, who called on the prime minister to swiftly resign.

Pashinyan has been under increasing pressure since November, after he signed an unpopular ceasefire deal with Azerbaijan, which ended the fighting in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh but saw parts of the region passing to Azeri control.

Pashinyan has acknowledged that the Moscow-brokered deal, which saw Russian peacekeepers deployed to the disputed region, saved the ethnic Armenian troops from complete and utter defeat. However, Pashinyan’s government has also been accused of mishandling defense policy and thus causing the military disaster in the first place.

The tension between Pashinyan and the military reached boiling point this week after he claimed that Russian-made Iskander missiles – which Moscow says weren’t used in Nagorno Karabakh – had malfunctioned during the conflict. Gasparyan’s deputy publicly rebuked the prime minister’s claim and was then fired. The General Staff’s response, calling on Pashinyan to resign, then placed Gasparyan himself in the crosshairs.

Also on rt.com A bad workman blames his tools: Armenian PM claims about Russian Iskander missiles attempt at deflection, based on misinformation

Sarkissian on Saturday returned the draft law on sacking the head of the general staff to Pashinyan and outlined his objections to it. The motion by the embattled prime minister “contradicts the constitution at its core,” Sarkissian’s office pointed out. The statement added that the president doesn’t side with any political power and only makes decisions based on Armenia’s national interests.

If Pashinyan doesn’t agree with the president’s objections, the law allows him to forward the order to the president once again. In this case, Sarkissian would have to respond by either signing it or taking the issue to the Constitutional Court. If he does nothing, the order will go into force automatically.

The news that the embattled PM’s order hadn’t been approved was announced in front of several thousand anti-Pashinyan demonstrators who gathered in Yerevan on Saturday. The crowd greeted the president’s decision with a round of applause. The people then marched through the center of the city, with the police making no attempts to stop them.

Also on rt.com Amid Yerevan turmoil & military uprising, Azerbaijani President Aliyev says Armenian PM Pashinyan has led his country to ruin

Opposition activists have been taking to the streets since Thursday, erecting barricades and setting up an encampment in the capital. They insist that the PM must go and that this demand is non-negotiable. Supporters of Pashinyan have, in turn, staged counter-protests in Yerevan.

Armenian president refuses order to dismiss army chief as political crisis worsens

Adrine Hakobian
EuroNews
Feb 27 2021
By Euronews with AFP  •  Updated: 27/02/2021 – 21:41
Opposition demonstrators carrying Armenian national and region of Nagorno-Karabakh’s flag. Armenia, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021.   –   Copyright  AP Photo

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian on Saturday refused to sign an order from Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian dismissing the head of the army, further aggravating the political crisis in the country, where several thousand people again took to the streets.

“The president, within the framework of the powers conferred on him by the Constitution, has returned the text (ordering the dismissal of the head of the army) with objections,” the presidency explained in a statement.

The political crisis “cannot be resolved by frequent changes of officials,” it added.

Shortly afterwards, Pachinian said on Facebook that he would refer the order back to the presidency, stressing that the decision had “not at all” defused the crisis.

It came as around 15,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in Yerevan for the third day of protests in a row, demanding the resignation of the prime minister.

Demonstrators marched in the centre of Yerevan, while many people cheered them from their windows or balconies.

At 7.30 pm, the procession arrived in front of the parliament, where some of the demonstrators set up camp, an AFP journalist said.

Around 5,000 demonstrators had gathered there earlier in the day, calling on parliamentarians to take action.

  • Nagorno-Karabakh: Why has there been a flare-up of violence between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces?
  • Armenia’s PM says the army attempted a coup. What’s really going on?

The catalyst for the recent unrest in Armenia is last year’s bloody conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno Karabakh region, which saw thousands killed on both sides.

Swathes of territory in and around the mountainous region were ceded to Azerbaijan when the two sides signed a November 10 Russian-brokered peace deal and Pashinyan has faced protests ever since.

The trigger for recent events was comments made by Pashinyan about the alleged ineffectiveness of the Iskander missile system.

The military’s top brass released a statement saying “the prime minister and the government are no longer able to make reasonable decisions”, according to Armenpress, the country’s state news agency.

  • Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accuses military chiefs of ‘attempted coup’

“For a long time, the Armenian armed forces were patiently tolerating the ‘attacks’ by the incumbent government aimed at defaming the armed forces, but everything has its limits,” the officials were cited as saying.

Pashinyan retaliated by sacking the head of the army’s General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, further angering the military elite.

He accused top military officers of attempting a coup, at this point rallying his supporters to gather at the march telling them: “The army is not a political institution and attempts to involve it in political processes are unacceptable.”

Armenia’s president rebuffs PM Pashinyan’s order to sack top army official

Emil Lazarian
France 24
Feb 27 2021

Armenian President Armen Sarkisian said Saturday he had refused to sign a prime ministerial order to dismiss the army’s chief of staff, deepening an entrenched national political crisis.

The move came as several thousand opposition protesters took to the streets of Armenia’s capital Yerevan for the third day running to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

They want him to go over his handling of last year’s war with Azerbaijan, which many see as a national humiliation.  

The fresh protests, which have continued on and off since the fighting ended in November, erupted Thursday when Pashinyan defied a call by the military to resign and accused the army of an attempted coup.

He also ordered the chief of the general staff Onik Gasparyan to be fired — but on Saturday, Armenian President Sarkisian, whose role is largely ceremonial, said in a statement that he would not back the move.

“The president of the republic, within the framework of his constitutional powers, returned the draft decree with objections,” the presidency said.

The political crisis “cannot be resolved through frequent personnel changes”, the statement added.

The leadership of the small South Caucasus nation appeared to be at an impasse.

Soon after the announcement, Pashinyan wrote on Facebook that he would send the order to the presidency once more, saying its decision had not defused the crisis “at all”.

Thousands protest

Meanwhile, several thousand opposition protesters marched through central Yerevan, calling for the prime minister’s resignation. Many more leaned out of windows and balconies along the way to cheer them on.

By 7:30 pm (1530 GMT) the procession arrived at the parliament building, where some protesters have set up camp, an AFP correspondent reported.

Roughly 5,000 demonstrators gathered there for a rally earlier in the day, urging lawmakers to take action.

“Pashinyan must leave for the sake of our state because his position is very weak today. Nobody takes him seriously,” Vera Simonyan, a 28-year-old IT specialist, told AFP at the rally.

Former premier Vazgen Manukyan, who has been named by the opposition to replace Pashinyan, told the crowd that he expected the political crisis to be “resolved within two to three days”.

He added: “Today Pashinyan has no support. I call on the security services and the police to join the army, to support the army.”

‘Humiliating agreement’

Pashinyan has faced fierce criticism since he signed a Moscow-brokered peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region that broke from Azerbaijan’s control during a war in the early 1990s.

Fresh fighting broke out over the disputed territory in late September, with Baku’s forces backed by ally Turkey making steady gains.

After six weeks of clashes and bombardments that claimed around 6,000 lives, a ceasefire agreement was signed that handed over significant territory to Azerbaijan and allowed for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers.

The agreement was seen as a national humiliation for many in ex-Soviet Armenia, but Pashinyan has said he had no choice but to agree or see his country’s forces suffer even bigger losses.

“He must be responsible for the defeat in the war, for the signing of a humiliating agreement,” 53-year-old locksmith Arut Zakaryan told AFP at Saturday’s rally.

For months Pashinyan had weathered the crisis with the backing of Armenia’s military, but on Thursday it too joined the calls for him to step down.

The military’s general staff said in a statement that the prime minister and his cabinet were “not capable of taking adequate decisions”.

(AFP)

Armenian president refuses PM’s order to remove army chief – Punch Newspapers

Emil Lazarian
Nigeria, Feb 27 2021
Published

Opposition supporters rally outside the National Assembly building to demand Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation over his handling of last year’s war with Azerbaijan, in Yerevan on . (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP)

Armenia’s President Armen Sarkisian said on Saturday he had refused to sign the prime minister’s order dismissing the chief of the military’s general staff, deepening the country’s political crisis.

“The president of the republic, within the framework of his constitutional powers, returned the draft decree with objections,” the presidency said in a statement, adding that the crisis “cannot be resolved through frequent personnel changes”

AFP

Armenian president discusses political crisis with independent lawmakers

Hagop Kamalian
TASS, Russia
Feb 27 2021
The sides exchanged views on the crisis on the country

YEREVAN, February 27. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian held a meeting with a group of independent members of parliament to focus on the domestic political situation and on potential solutions, the presidential press service said on Saturday.

“The sides exchanged views on the crisis on the country, on the ways to resolve it and to ease tensions. The parliamentarians briefed the president about their approaches to and views on the current situation,” the statement says.

Earlier, the Armenian president held meetings with heads of the parliamentary factions and with members of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, which supporters had blocked traffic on streets outside the parliament in Yerevan, demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.

On February 25, mass rallies of Pashinyan’s supporters and critics began in Armenia after the General Staff of the Armed Forces had called for the resignation of prime minister and his cabinet. The statement was signed by Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, his deputies and other top brass. Pashinyan slammed the move as a military coup attempt and announced his decision to dismiss the chief of the General Staff. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who, under the Constitution, is in charge of appointing and dismissing the chiefs of the General Staff at the prime minister’s initiative, has not signed that order yet.

Armenian defense ministry urges not to drag army into political processes

Toneyan Mark
TASS, Russia
Feb 27 2021
The Defense Ministry also added that the Armenian Armed Forces do their utmost to ensure the country’s security, irrespective of political processes

TASS, February 27. Armenia’s Defense Ministry urged on Saturday not to involve the national armed forces into political processes.

“We demand to refrain from making statements on behalf of the armed forces. [We demand] that the army should not be involved in political processes and that the country’s security should not be subordinate to [personal] interests,” reads the communique posted on the Defense Ministry’s site.

The Defense Ministry also added that the Armenian Armed Forces do their utmost to ensure the country’s security, irrespective of political processes.

On February 25, mass rallies of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s supporters and critics began in Armenia after the General Staff of the Armed Forces had called for the resignation of prime minister and his cabinet. The statement was signed by Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, his deputies and other military top brass. Pashinyan slammed the move as a military coup attempt and announced his decision to dismiss the General Staff chief.

Earlier on Saturday, President Armen Sarkissian sent back to the prime minister his order to dismiss Gasparyan, pointing out that the decree, according to lawyers, was unconstitutional. The president added that he was not supporting either of the political forces and that the current crisis cannot be solved with frequent reshuffles. After Pashinyan re-submitted his proposal, the president has three days to either sign the decree or to appeal it at Armenia’s Constitutional Court.

Armenian President, Ombudsman discuss return of POWs, situation in border villages

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 27 2021

President Armen Sarkissian and Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan have discussed .

The Ombudsman briefed the President on the work done by the Human Rights Defender’s staff in recent months. In particular, he presented the problems registered during the regular visits of the Ombudsman’s staff to the border regions of the Republic, noting that the Azerbaijani authorities continuously and consistently carry out planned actions violating the internationally recognized rights of the residents of the border settlements of Armenia.

The Human Rights Defender also presented his observations on the process related to the state borders of the Republic of Armenia, stating that the Human Rights Defender has already applied to the relevant international instances regarding the process accompanied by gross human rights violations.

The President and the Human Rights Defender paid special attention to the work carried out for the return of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held on the Azerbaijani side.

Arman Tatoyan provided the President with detailed information on the work done by the staff of the Human Rights Defender, noting that they cooperate with all the involved structures, as well as with international organizations.

It was agreed that the staffs of the President of the Republic and the Human Rights Defender will work together to return the captives as well as to raise the concerns and problems of the Armenian side in the international arena.

In this context, the President attached importance to the work carried out by the Human Rights Defender’s Office, professional observations and fact-finding activities.

Executions of Armenian POWs a results of Azerbaijan’s past uncondemned crimes

Tatoyan Vazgen
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 27 2021

The executions of the Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in the Hadrut region of Artsakh and other settlements fallen under the military control of Azerbaijan are the results of the past uncondemned crimes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Thirty-three years ago, on February 27-29, 1988, pre-planned massacres of Armenians were carried out in the city of Sumgait (Azerbaijan) amid the encouragement of the Azerbaijani authorities and the permissiveness of the law enforcement bodies. Hundreds of Armenians were killed, including women, children and elderly, and thousands of Armenians were forcibly displaced.

Sumgait massacre was a response to the aspiration of the people of Artsakh to assert their inalienable right to a dignified and safe life in their historical homeland and to exercise their right to self-determination. Azerbaijan opposed the attempts of exercising human rights with the policy of collective punishment, subjecting the Armenian population of the Sumgait town to severe violence and torture.

The atrocities of Sumgait instigated the ethnic cleansing and massacres of Armenians in other cities of Azerbaijan, such as Baku and Gandzak. Moreover, the unequivocal justification of such crime, the glorification of the murderers for killing Armenians were reflected in the efforts of the Azerbaijani authorities to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the use of force. 

“Last year, on September 27 the full-fledged war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people was accompanied by similar war crimes against the Armenian identity, with one difference – the murders of the civilians were not carried out by controlled mobs, but by servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces and the relevant videos were uploaded on the Internet,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“During the 44-day war, the Azerbaijani armed forces, driven by a sense of impunity, committed numerous violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, which are manifestations of mass atrocities, including ethnic cleansing and war crimes. While adhering to the behaviour of terrorist groups, the Azerbaijani armed forces committed violations against prisoners of war, civilians, barbarically destroyed historical-cultural monuments and desecrated sanctuaries,” the Ministry said.

It added that the executions of the Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in the Hadrut region of Artsakh and other settlements fallen under the military control of Azerbaijan are the results of the past uncondemned crimes.

“Today, by paying tribute to the innocent victims of the Armenian massacres in Sumgait, we once again emphasize the determination of the Republic of Armenia, Republic of Artsakh and all Armenians to live a free, independent and dignified life in their homeland,” the statement reads.