10:53, 22 January, 2021
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The government of Artsakh plans to merge its State Service of Emergency Situations and the Police into a single body – the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The parliament’s press service reported that the bills on creating the new ministry have been introduced and will be submitted for plenary debates upon the positive conclusion by the state-legal affairs committee.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:11, 22 January, 2021
YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The CDC reports 183 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Armenia, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 165,711.
2042 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
9 people died from COVID-19 complication, raising the death toll to 3030. This number doesn’t include the deaths of 744 other people (2 in the last 24 hours) infected with the virus, who died from other pre-existing illnesses, according to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The total number of recoveries is 154,259 (213 in the last 24 hours).
The number of active cases as of 11:00, January 22 stood at 7678.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:17, 22 January, 2021
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh authorities say they have found the remains of 1 killed serviceman and 3 civilians during search operations in the combat zones of the 2020 Artsakh War.
State Service of Emergency Situations spokesperson Hunan Tadevosyan told ARMENPRESS that the civilian casualties are identified. “The body of Marina Hayrapetyan, an elderly woman, was found in the Drakhtik village of Hadrut. The bodies of Serzhik Avagyan and Yura Arushanyan were found in a park at the village of Azokh in Hadrut. They were also elderly persons. A medical examination is being carried out. The body of the serviceman was found in Jrakan (Jabrayil). The serviceman, according to preliminary reports, was a volunteer. Overall, the bodies of 1251 servicemen and civilians were found during search operations so far,” he said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:35, 22 January, 2021
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. 8 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Artsakh in the past 24 hours.
73 tests were conducted on January 18, the ministry of healthcare told Armenpress.
A total of 2274 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Artsakh.
The death toll stands at 31.
The ministry of healthcare has again urged the citizens to follow all the rules to avoid new outbreaks and overcome the disease.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Al Jazeera By Andrew Wilks Jan. 23, 2021 [The state-run body says the eye-shaped blue amulets – believed to date back to at least 3,300 BCE – are incompatible with Islam.] Ankara, Turkey – The state-run religious authority has caused alarm by proclaiming the use of talismans to ward off “the evil eye” prohibited under Islam. The proliferation of the eye-shaped blue glass amulets in Turkey is widespread, as is the belief in their ability to ward off malevolent or jealous intentions. In a recently published fatwa – a legal or general decree by a religious authority or court – the Diyanet, which governs all matters relating to Islam in Turkey, denounced the use of the ornaments, known locally as nazarlik or nazar boncugu, as forbidden. “Although the nature and condition of the evil eye are not known precisely, it is accepted by religion that some people can create negative effects with their gaze,” the Diyanet said in an advisory published on its website. “In our religion, attitudes, behaviours and beliefs that attribute the ultimate influence on anything other than Allah are forbidden. For this reason, it is not permissible to wear evil eye amulets and similar things around the neck or anywhere for the purpose of benefiting from them.” Ancient talisman Belief in the power of the evil eye to cause harm dates back to ancient times and is widespread across the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. The logic behind this conviction is that success or admirable objects inspire envy, which can be transmitted in a harmful gaze. Amulets are used to intercept the curse and protect the wearer. The tradition is believed to date back to at least 3300 BCE and has become widely adopted in Turkey. Nese Yildiran, professor of art history at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, said the blue colour of the beads relates to the sky god of the Central Asian Seljuk Turks. “The Great Seljuks who accepted Islam continued the use of this colour in architectural decoration,” she said. The use of two shades of blue, cobalt and turquoise in Muslim art “was also the result of expression with the understanding of Islam”, which incorporated the name of God and Arabic calligraphy, Yildiran added. The charms are given to newborn babies – as new additions to the family are thought to be especially susceptible to the evil eye – and are also worn as jewellery. More commonly though, they adorn homes, workplaces, cars and buses – more or less any place where they can be hung. In a sign of the digital era catching up with ancient folklore, a nazarlik emoji was created in 2018. “Many people believe in the power of the evil eye,” said Cansu Polat, a 35-year-old construction engineer who wears a small nazarlik around her neck. “I’ve known many cases where people are complimented on something, like a new pair of shoes and shortly after they trip and scuff them. This is the evil eye, or so a lot of people think. Either way, it can’t hurt to have some protection.” A harmless tradition Given the pervasive nature of the symbols, many Turks have questioned why the Diyanet decided to issue a denouncement of a harmless tradition. “They’re just for decoration really,” said Aysegul Aytekin, who runs a small gift shop in Ankara. “They’re probably the best-selling product here, but I don’t think people really believe in the power of them. It’s just a nice tradition and they make good decorations.” However, there are plenty who attest to the influence of the totems. Mahmut Sur, 58, has been making the symbols in his workshop in the village of Nazarkoy, near the western city of Izmir, since boyhood. “This is a belief,” he said. “They are blue because it’s thought that the colour blue distracts evil energy. Of course, I believe in them. It’s part of a culture that goes back 3,000 years. “When you wear an amulet, if someone with bad energy looks at you the amulet averts the bad energy and protects you,” he added. The Diyanet, or Directorate of Religious Affairs, did not respond to a request for comment. Criticised, ridiculed In the past, it has been criticised and ridiculed for issuing fatwas against other practices, such as men dying their moustaches and beards, feeding dogs at home, tattoos and playing the national lottery. “For Anatolians, it is cultural and traditional to believe in the protective power of blue beads,” Yildiran said. “The misconception of the Diyanet is in thinking it can abolish this traditional belief after ages.” Instead, such pronouncements further alienated people from the directorate, “which has caused a huge social reaction with the enormous expenditures and waste they have made in recent years”. The Diyanet has also been criticised for previous proclamations that appeared to condone or belittle child abuse and violence against women. In such cases, the body has said its statements were misconstrued. It has also come under fire for lavish spending on items such as luxury cars for its officials, as well as its growing budget, which at about $1.75bn outstrips those of both the foreign and interior ministries.
Amnesty International By Stefan Simanowitz Jan. 23, 2021 At the end of each year, the demise of the world’s most endangered species is charted in a sadly familiar list, from tigers and snow leopards to rhinos and gorillas. But it’s not just wildlife that is at risk. Today marks the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, a moment to recognize the threats facing lawyers around the world who dare to stand up for human rights. In recent years Amnesty International has felt the impact of these threats close to home, through the government crackdown on our colleagues in Turkey. One was a sunny morning in June 2017 I got a call. Taner Kılıç, our then chair of Amnesty International Turkey and a tireless asylum rights lawyer in Izmir, had been arrested in a dawn raid. Detention orders for 22 other lawyers had also been issued. A month later, Idil Eser, then director of Amnesty Turkey, was arrested along with nine others, including human rights lawyer Günal Kurşun. Taner Kılıç, Idil Eser and the other nine arrested were all accused of absurd terrorism-related charges and held in pre-trial detention for many months – almost 15 in Taner’s case. During a three-year trial involving 12 court hearings, each and every allegation presented by the government was comprehensively exposed as a baseless accusation. And yet, last July, Taner was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for ‘membership of the Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization’. Turkey blames the Gülen movement for the 2016 attempted coup. İdil Eser, Günal Kurşun and another human rights defender, Özlem Dalkıran, were also convicted and sentenced to one year and 13 months for ‘assisting the Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization’. A few months later in November, a regional appeals court upheld the unfathomable convictions, rubberstamping the miscarriage of justice. The four defenders have taken their case to the highest appeals court. The fact that these politically motivated verdicts swept up several lawyers drove home the increased danger to the legal community in Turkey. Their cases are far from rare. Detaining lawyers has become routine practice, deepening the climate of fear and repression across the country. Hundreds of lawyers are now believed to be in pre-trial detention or serving prison terms in Turkey’s overcrowded jails. They are regularly targeted through abusive criminal investigations and unfair prosecutions, accused of the alleged crimes of their clients. Veteran human rights lawyer, Eren Keskin, has been on the receiving end of more than 100 criminal prosecutions for her role as a ‘symbolic editor’ of the now shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper. If the sentences pending against her, Taner and Günal are upheld on appeal, all three, who are currently on bail, would be sent to prison and unable to practice law again. In September, almost 50 lawyers were arrested in dawn raids across Turkey. They are facing charges because the clients they had been representing are accused of being part of the Gülen movement. The latest blow came in November, when dozens of lawyers were among more than 100 people issued with detention warrants as part of what Turkish authorities called “terrorism-related investigations” in Diyarbakır. Commenting on the increasing number of arrests, the Istanbul Bar Association said: “A lawyer cannot be identified with their client. Intimidation which hopes to restrict the lawyers’ duty will impact the public as much as lawyers and gradually destroy confidence in justice.” The targeting of defence lawyers with criminal charges for executing their duties contravenes the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and critically undermines the right to a fair trial. Lawyers are also coming under physical, sometimes fatal, attack. Tahir Elçi, a prominent human rights lawyer, died after being shot in the south-eastern province of Diyarbakır in 2015. Two years ago, Turkey was the focus of the global ‘Day of the Endangered Lawyer’. Dozens of lawyers protested behind a banner that read ‘If lawyers lose their voice, citizens lose their breath.’ But little has improved in Turkey since then. Instead, the targeting and harassment of lawyers through the misuse of the justice system has become more acute. Through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws, Turkey is eroding the basic tenets of the rule of law. In such a repressive climate the people who step up in defence of human rights violations themselves become targets. The job of defence and human rights lawyers is increasingly vital in Turkey, but ever more dangerous. * Stefan Simanowitz is Amnesty International’s media manager for Europe.
11:32, 22 January, 2021
On January 22 of this year, IDBank will issue bonds under the abbreviation AMANLBB2CER7. The total volume of the nominal coupon bonds of the first issue of 2021 is USD 5 million. The maturity of the bonds is 30 months, the annual coupon interest rate is 5%, and the coupons should be paid quarterly.
The bonds will be placed starting from January 22, 2021 to April 21, 2021, after which they will be listed in OJSC “Armenian Stock Exchange” and will be quoted by the Marketmaker.
To get bonds it is necessary to fill in the form and present it to the Bank, then the bonds will immediately become visible in Idram&IDBank application. To view the bonds, it is necessary to enter the “Banking” section in Idram&IDBank application, choose the “Bonds” section where all necessary information about the bonds is presented: the abbreviation, quantity, nominal value, annual coupon interest rate, payout date and the date of redemption. This means that the clients will have an opportunity to manage their funds in a more flexible way.
You can get the detailed information about the bonds here.
The funds attracted by means of nominal bonds are considered to be guaranteed bank deposits and are guaranteed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Armenia.
The Bond prospectus was registered by the CBA, resolution N 1/291A of the Chairman of the CBA. The electronic version of the prospectus and the are available on the official website of the Bank.
THE BANK IS CONTROLLED BY CBA
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1041066.html?fbclid=IwAR2mxQlvAZpeIMfLiX85jDOO32fGR9rAmemxhzDAqmQdsGSvO_w0ha3tMC4
11:41, 22 January, 2021
YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament will convene an extraordinary session today at 12:00.
The lawmakers will debate the election of members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The ruling My Step faction has nominated Gagik Jhangiryan’s and Davit Khachaturyan’s candidacies for the members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
12:10, 22 January, 2021
YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. US President Joe Biden’s nominee to serve as Secretary of State, Antony Blinken – in written responses submitted following his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – expressed support for U.S. funding to meet the security needs of Armenia and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We welcome Secretary-designate Blinken’s commitment to renewed U.S. leadership that supports the security needs of Armenia and the protection of Artsakh” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “In the wake of months of reckless U.S. indifference to Azerbaijan’s relentless aggression, we look forward to constructive, responsible engagement by the Biden-Harris Administration on the full range of issues of special concern to Americans of Armenian heritage and our many coalition partners.”
In four detailed responses to Questions for the Record submitted by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Blinken voiced support for “the provision to Armenia of security assistance and aid to strengthen democratic governance and promote economic growth, both of which will help to strengthen Armenia’s security and resilience.” He added that: “In light of the recent outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, our administration will review our security assistance to Azerbaijan”, noting that, “if the circumstances warrant, the Biden-Harris administration will be prepared to suspend waivers of requirements under section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.” In three of his responses, he underscored his commitment to “working with Congress and the Secretary of Defense to determine the appropriate level of assistance to meet the security needs of Armenia and the region.”
In response to a question by Chairman Menendez regarding U.S. reengagement in the OSCE Minsk Group process in a way that advances “a sustainable peace that reflects the interests of Armenians, not just Aliyev, Erdogan, and Putin,” Blinken stated that he will “reinvigorate U.S. engagement to find a permanent settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that protects the security of Nagorno-Karabakh and helps to ensure another war does not break out. This includes stepping up our engagement via the Minsk Group, of which the United States is a co-chair, and additional diplomatic work to prevent any further interference by third parties.”
Following the revolution in 2018, Armenians were satisfied that they finally overcame a corrupt regime. After losing a war and experiencing democratic backsliding, the people who brought Pashinyan to power might be the ones bringing him down
January 13, 2021 - Tatevik Hovhannisyan
If we follow Plato’s understanding of regime transitions, it appears that Armenia can soon become a ‘tyranny’. This issue can be traced back to the beginning of the ‘Karabakh’ movement and the desire for independence from the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union was a classic example of a totalitarian regime. It possessed a centralised government that faced little to no opposition, as well as an (at least publicly) obedient citizenry. In relation to Plato’s description of tyranny, it appears that many modern totalitarian regimes have adopted a very similar model of rule.
Despite this, when the pressures of Soviet totalitarianism proved too much to bare, citizens searched for ways to change the system. Starting in Poland with the rise of Solidarity, demonstrations against the region’s communist regimes soon resulted in a domino effect reaching other countries, including Soviet Armenia. Following this, ethnic Armenians also started to demand the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) autonomous region from Soviet Azerbaijan.
Both the people and political elite of the ‘Karabakh’ movement expressed their desire to see an ‘aristocrat’ among them become the leader of their newly established country. This was Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first democratically elected president of Armenia in 1991. He was chosen as he was a prominent scholar, highly intelligent (‘wise’, as Plato would say), spoke six or seven languages, and was able to negotiate and represent his nation well. For a short time, Armenia enjoyed the rule of its ‘wise’ leader, who was even able to give speeches in the UN General Assembly in English. As Plato said, however, a ‘Philosopher King’ will only remain on the throne until “the gold is mixed with copper and the iron with silver, and as a result the balance between virtue and human weaknesses is shifted”.
In keeping with Plato’s outlook, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was eventually removed from the throne by the country’s ‘timocrats’ or ‘warriors’. In the case of Armenia, these soldiers were those who fought in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in order to make sure that Ter-Petrosyan could not “give back the lands”. This outcome would have been unacceptable for the warriors, as Artsakh represented the base of their power and influence. How could they let him give away their pride – the region for which they had fought without the final status for Nagorno Karabakh? Besides, there was also an ongoing security issue for both Artsakh and Armenia, which was ‘ensured’ by the adjacent regions to Artsakh (until the status of Artsakh will be solved). This issue does not exist any more as the recent Moscow-brokered agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia those regions were given back to Azerbaijan. The current situation has created new challenges for Yerevan and the internationally unrecognised Republic of Artsakh.
A ‘timocracy’ often emerges due to the inherent drawbacks of ‘aristocracy’. In reality, a timocratic system represents a combination of both aristocratic and oligarchic elements. Power is crucial in a timocracy, which is strengthened at the expense of virtue. The desire to accumulate property is very typical in this system. The seeds of this type of rule were already planted under Ter-Petrosyan. These later blossomed during the rule of Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia. With warriors in power, strict order and rule is maintained in the country. Subsequently, citizens must become more obedient to their government. Eventually, the warriors’ desire for power grows at such a rate that timocracy gradually turns into an ‘oligarchy’.
Such oligarchic rule was clear during under Kocharyan and it became even stronger under his successor Serzh Sargsyan. In an oligarchy, those who have money become the leaders of the country. As a result, materialism grows and becomes a key part of the oligarchic system. Laws are written to protect the property of those in power and their relatives. During this time, strict measures are taken to protect the property of the oligarchs. In an oligarchy, the society is divided into rich and poor and this social polarisation eventually becomes so clear that one day the society finds itself threatened by revolution. Following this, the ‘democratic’ leader comes to power. In the case of Armenia, this occurred as a result of the “Velvet Revolution” in 2018.
In a democracy power belongs to the people. Despite this, the leaders, who are meant to be the voice of the people, may start doing what they want without consulting the population. This issue is typical in societies where there are no established democratic traditions. During and right after the revolution, the Armenian people were mostly willing to ignore minor violations and infringements by the new leader. After all, Nikol Pashinyan was “their king”. Should the ‘king’ continue to ignore previous promises, however, the people may start to behave in a similar way to their beloved leader of the revolution. Blocking the streets, for example, is a method that has proven to work well in Armenia. This has become a key tactic for various interest groups in the country. For example, importers of right-hand drive vehicles blocked government buildings and organised a demonstration in order to challenge a decree that threatened their business interests. There are many other examples of these protest tactics in the country. Today, Pashinyan has become a victim of his own success. His own revolutionary tactics are now being used against him by people demanding his resignation following the country’s recent capitulation.
According to Plato, “democracy is the son of oligarchy”. If in many cases the oligarch, according to him, has temperate characteristics, the democrat is characterised to have insatiable desires. In Armenia, for example, the oligarchs were earning money by evading taxes, while the revolutionary government justified its own desire to earn money by introducing a bonus system for its “well-deserving” public servants. Or when many oligarchs were found to be smoking marijuana in private, the democratic parliament members started to speak about the necessity of legalising the drug. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing, this should not be a priority immediately following the country’s military defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh. Military and civilian captives are still being held by Azerbaijan, their return still remains a crucial issue and many people are homeless and jobless as a consequence of the war. There are more urgent challenges to deal with at the moment!
Democrats are by nature adventurous and this creates the instability that leads them to lose control. This situation can ultimately lead to anarchy. This appears to describe what is happening in Armenia now. After the disgraceful capitulation, Nikol Pashinyan is unable to manage government affairs and has been distracted by micromanagement. Referring to Plato, democrats in an anarchic society are usually afraid of being killed as they soon find themselves with many enemies. After the revolution in 2018, Pashinyan could freely walk the streets. Now, his security in parliament has been strengthened with additional forces from the police. This is an example of how a democratic leader can become a tyrant.
Nikol Pashinyan in 2018. Photo: Ավետիսյան91 wikimedia.org (cc)
The end of the cycle
Pashinyan is not able to run the country because he has spent all his life criticising the previous regime. The ability to criticise government and have an effective opposition is essential to building truly democratic institutions, but not enough to govern. The prime minister should have spent time strengthening state security, enhancing democratic institutions, creating favourable conditions for investment and improving strategic relations in accordance with the country’s geopolitical peculiarities. However, he has shown that he now only acts in accordance with his own desires. He has divided the country into ‘black and white’. He started to abuse the power by violating the principle of independence. For instance, he has publicly ordered the courts to open cases against the officials of previous corrupt regimes and has even demanded that the police and the national security services “hunt” his opponents. Overall, he has turned hatred into a principle of governance and lies into a form of governing. The country’s military capitulation has led to anarchy and no public institution has functioned properly ever since.
This situation can not last for a long time. According to Plato, a new cycle should start with the creation of an aristocracy. Plato’s aristocrat, when updated for modern times, resembles a modern technocrat. Today’s Armenia needs technocrats and it does not matter what political party they represent. This is because both the country’s ‘old’ and ‘new’ political factions include many acceptable politicians. Armenia must put an end to this distorted ‘democracy’ and anarchic regime. The country needs a technocratic government, which will help the country rise from its knees, establish the rule of law and continue on its chosen path to real democracy otherwise it will collapse.
This article was originally published in Armenian in the daily online news outlet Aravot.
Tatevik Hovhannisyan is a political scientist, specialised in political communications and civil society affairs. She is a graduate of the “Hannah Arendt” Promotion at the College of Europe in Natolin, 2019-2020.