Category: 2021

Tehran ‘Dissatisfied’ with Aliyev’s ‘Anti-Iran’ Remarks

Karakhanian Suren
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian voiced Tehran’s dissatisfaction with Baku while welcoming Azerbaijan’s new ambassador to Iran, Ali Alizadeh

Iran’s Foreign Minister expressed his country’s dissatisfaction with the manner in which Azerbaijani border guards have treated truck drivers from Iran, including the arrest of two Iranian drivers on the Goris-Kapan Highway. He also called “unfortunate” the recent “anti-Iran” remarks by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian voiced Tehran’s concerns when welcoming Azerbaijan’s newly appointed ambassador to Iran Ali Alizadeh.

Relations between Baku and Tehran have become bumpy ever since Azerbaijani forces, having set up road blocks on the Goris-Kapan Highway in Armenia’s Syunik Province, have been stopping Iranian commercial trucks and imposing high taxes on the drivers. Earlier this month, two Iranian truck drivers were arrested. The road blocks have impeded Iran’s trade with Armenia.

Citing Iran’s “emotional response” to the highway debacle, Aliyev told the Turkish Anadolu news agency this week that he was angry and surprised at Iran’s decision to hold military drills in the country northwest region, bordering Nakhichevan.

Amir-Abdollahian characterized Aliyev’s remarks as “anti-Iran,” and said that it was unfortunate and surprising that the Azerbaijani leader would make the statements.

He defended Iran’s right to hold military exercises as the country’s sovereign right, saying that the drills are meant to train its armed forces to ward off potential attacks by Israel.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, the commander of Iran’s ground forces General Kioumars Heydari told the ISNA news agency that the drills in question will be held on October 1 in the country’s northwest region.

He explained that the drills, called Conquerors of Khaybar, will involve artillery, armored equipment, drones and helicopters.

Heydari added that the purpose of the drills is to check and increase the combat readiness level of the military and test military equipment.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/30/2021

Garnik Zakarian 
                                        Thursday, 
Armenian Government Plans Major Rise In Spending
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 
The Armenian government approved on Thursday the draft state budget for next 
year calling for significant increases in its expenditures on infrastructure 
projects, social programs, defense and national security.
Overall public spending is to rise by over 15 percent to almost 2.2 trillion 
drams ($4.5 billion) in 2022.
The government at the same time pledged to cut the budget deficit through an 
even sharper rise in its tax revenues.
“The 2022 budget is based on our three main priorities: reforming the national 
security system, developing infrastructures and modernizing education and 
science,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during a cabinet meeting in 
Yerevan. “We will be paying a great deal of attention to national security, 
without which it is impossible to achieve long-term development goals.”
Government spending on defense is projected to grow by about 11 percent to 345.4 
billion drams ($707 million), reflecting lingering security challenges facing 
Armenia after last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
The government wants to allocate another 42.6 billion drams to the National 
Security Service (NSS), a year-on-year increase of about 23 percent. The NSS 
oversees Armenia’s border guards deployed along some sections of the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border after the six-week war.
The draft budget presented by Finance Minister Tigran Khachatrian also calls for 
a 31.6 percent surge in spending on road construction and other infrastructures 
which would total nearly 279 billion drams.
Social security would remain the single largest recipient of public funds, with 
almost 580 billion drams allocated for that purpose.
The spending increases are supposed to be more than offset by a nearly 25 
percent jump in state revenue projected at 1.95 trillion drams. The budget 
deficit would thus fall to 242 billion drams from 334 billion drams recorded 
last year.
The 2021 deficit, equivalent to 5.5 percent of GDP, was much bigger than 
expected due to a severe economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic 
and compounded by the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian economy shrunk by 
7.6 percent, forcing the government to resort to additional external borrowing 
to make up for a major shortfall in its tax revenues.
The economy returned to growth this year. Pashinian said in July that it is on 
course to expand by at least 6 percent in 2021.
The recession also pushed up Armenia’s public debt to 63.5 percent of GDP. 
According to the Ministry of Finance, the debt continued to increase this year, 
reaching $8.95 billion in August.
Khachatrian expressed confidence that the ongoing economic recovery will allow 
the government cut the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60.2 percent by the end of 2022.
Former Armenian Defense Minister Arrested
        • Artak Khulian
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Fromer Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan.
The National Security Service (NSS) confirmed on Thursday that it has arrested 
former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan in an ongoing criminal investigation into 
supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to Armenia’s armed forces.
In a statement, the NSS said that Tonoyan and Davit Galstian, an arms dealer 
also arrested late on Wednesday, are accused of fraud and embezzlement that cost 
the state almost 2.3 billion drams ($4.7 million).
Later in the day a court in Yerevan allowed the NSS to hold Tonoyan in detention 
pending investigation. A lawyer for the former minister said he denies the 
accusations and will therefore appeal against the decision.
“The criminal case contains plenty of information that disproves the 
accusations,” Sergei Hovannisian told journalists.
Galstian also protested his innocence during a separate court hearing on his 
pre-trial arrest.
Galstian owns several firms that have for years sold weapons and ammunition to 
the Armenian military. He was already arrested in February on charges of 
supplying the military with unusable artillery shells worth $1 million. 
Armenia’s Court of Appeals released the businessman reputedly close to Tonoyan 
from custody four months later.
It was not immediately clear whether or not Tonoyan, who served as defense 
minister from 2018-2020, will plead guilty to the accusations.
The NSS statement said that criminal proceedings have also been launched against 
other serving and retired military officials as part of “large-scale 
operational-investigative measures” taken by its investigators. It did not name 
those officials.
A deputy chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Stepan 
Galstian, was summoned to the NSS for questioning late on Wednesday. According 
to the Hraparak newspaper, investigators searched his and Tonoyan’s apartments.
In what appears to be a related development, the NSS also arrested late last 
week the commander of Armenia’s Air Force. It claimed that the general abused 
his powers to arrange for personal gain a $4.7 million contract for the supply 
of outdated rockets to the armed forces.
According to the security service, the Defense Ministry had refused to buy the 
same batch of rockets from a private intermediary in 2011.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan 
(second from right) inspect the new canteen of a military base in Armavir, July 
19, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appointed Tonoyan as defense minister immediately 
after coming to power in the May-April 2018 “velvet revolution” that toppled 
Armenia’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian.
Tonoyan had served as a deputy defense minister and minister of emergencies 
during Sarkisian’s rule. In April 2018, one of Pashinian’s close associates, 
Ararat Mirzoyan, described him as a “real professional” and “person of 
integrity” who will quickly modernize the Armenian army.
Tonoyan was sacked in November 2020 less than two weeks after a Russian-brokered 
agreement stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Some 
senior pro-Pashinian parliamentarians blamed him for Armenia’s defeat in the 
six-week war. The prime minister faced angry opposition demonstrations and 
fought for his political survival at the time.
Later in November, the then chief of the army staff, Colonel-General Onik 
Gasparian, said four days after the outbreak of the war he warned Armenia’s 
political leadership to urgently reach a truce agreement with Azerbaijan to halt 
the hostilities. Pashinian subsequently denied Gasparian’s claim.
However, Tonoyan not only confirmed the warning issued by the army top brass but 
also said that it was “agreed with me.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

CivilNet: Giving children the ability to hear

Emil Lazarian
CIVILNET.AM

30 Sep, 2021 08:09

Around 40,000 children are born in Armenia each year. Out of those, roughly 40 are born deaf. Thanks to a device called the cochlear implant, a simple surgery allows children to hear again. In Armenia, there is only one hospital where the cochlear implant surgery is performed, it’s in the Erebuni Medical Center. Dr. Shukuryan and his staff have been operating and giving children the ability to hear for years. They have helped around 160 children since 2004 with the crucial help of the Armenian International Medical Fund.

Karabakh representative to Armenia: Artsakh historical, cultural heritage under Azerbaijan occupation is under threat

Arpi Talalian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 29 2021
13:44, 29.09.2021

A total of 1,226 businesses in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have suffered as a result of the war last fall. Sergey Ghazaryan, the permanent representative of Artsakh to Armenia, stated about this during Wednesday’s working meeting at the National Assembly of Armenia.

Moreover, as Ghazaryan noted, 75 percent of the arable lands in Artsakh have now passed under the control of Azerbaijan.

“The historical and cultural heritage which is located in the territories that have passed to Azerbaijan—as a result of the war—is also under threat. We are talking about around 2,000 monuments. Thirteen of them are monastic complexes, 122—churches, 52—fortresses, 523—cross-stones. 127 school libraries and 12 museums—with more than 20,000 exhibits—[also] have come under Azerbaijani control,” Ghazaryan added.

Military expert: What happened a year ago is terribly dangerous game against Armenia’s ally Russia, friendly Iran

Emma Jilavian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 29 2021
14:42, 29.09.2021

What happened a year ago was not only the greatest tragedy for Armenians, but it is also a terribly dangerous game against Armenia’s ally Russia and friendly Iran. Military expert Davit Jamalyan stated about this to a press conference Wednesday—and with respect to the Armenian side’s defeat in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war last fall.

“It is quite natural that these [Armenian] authorities, which the British-Turkish forces brought to our heads, were not to make use of the assistance, help provided by these natural allies and friends during the war. If that assistance had been properly received, we would have had a different picture, and the Russian peacekeepers would not have stood under [Artsakh capital] Stepanakert, but at the borders where the [Artsakh] Defense Army had been on combat duty for years,” he added.

According to Jamalyan, now Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has become arrogant. “The Azerbaijanis have succeeded [in the war]; it was served to them on a platter. (…). As for the battlefield, their advance was the result of our tactical retreats (…),” the military expert said, in particular.

Also, Davit Jamalyan expressed hope that after the removal of the incumbent Armenian authorities from power, there shall be a pro-state committee that will find out the events that took place during the war, their causes, and the culprits.

Azerbaijanis launch construction in Vorotan section of Armenia’s Goris-Kapan motorway

Elizabeth Jabejian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 29 2021
Azerbaijanis launch construction in Vorotan section of Armenia’s Goris-Kapan motorway
17:09, 29.09.2021

Officers of the National Security Service of Armenia are stopping drivers passing through the Vorotan section of the Goris-Kapan motorway and forming a column, after which drivers proceed with the accompaniment of Russian peacekeepers. This is what Deputy Mayor of Goris Karen Kocharyan said during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Officers of the National Security Service are stopping Armenian drivers, who proceed with the accompaniment of Russian peacekeepers two hours after the column is formed. The Azerbaijanis feel free, as if they are at home, while we gather for hours. At this moment, I feel that people are sounding the alarm since they don’t know what will happen and how long this will continue. The Azerbaijanis might stop us Armenians and charge money for passing the road,” he stated, adding that the Azerbaijanis have launched construction in the Vorotan section of the motorway and that more and more Iranian truck drivers are accumulating.

After setting up a police checkpoint in Vorotan, the Azerbaijanis have been stopping Iranian truck drivers and letting them proceed after checking them and charging a fee. Two weeks ago, the Azerbaijanis stopped the driver of a microbus transporting the “Mountainous Artsakh” children’s group and wiped, with a dagger, the label portraying the flag of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) posted on the bus.

Chess: Champions Chess Tour Finals: Levon Aronian defeated by Teimour Radjabov

David Nargizian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 29 2021

In the fifth round of the Champions Chess Tour Finals (online), Levon Aronian competed with Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov and lost four matches 1.5-2.5.

The Armenian chess grandmaster was defeated in the second match, and the other matches ended with ties.

In the previous four rounds, Aronian was defeated by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura, outscored Vladislav Artemiev and Dutch chess player Anish Giri.

In the sixth round, Aronian’s opponent will be Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

PRESS RELEASE – Knowledge as Ammunition: AUA Donor Serving on the Frontline of War

Emil Lazarian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


PRESS RELEASE


Knowledge as Ammunition: AUA Donor Serving on the Frontline of War

Dr. Shant Garabedian, an AUA supporter and medical doctor based in Tennessee, rushed to Armenia when the 2020 Artsakh War broke out. “I knew I wanted to be there to help. Though, I wouldn’t make the best infantryman, I could be valuable as an emergency doctor wherever the need was the greatest,” he recalls. Dr. Garabedian serves as the Medical Director at the Dyersburg Hospital Emergency Department. When the 2020 Artsakh War flared up in September 2020, he heeded the call to defend the homeland the best way he knew how, immediately volunteering his medical expertise to support the Armenian soldiers wounded at the front line. 

Born in 1970 in Beirut, Lebanon, Garabedian was raised in a highly-respected family of Genocide survivor-descendants. His father, born in Kharpert in 1920, would tell him stories about Shant’s grandfather who was spared from the Turkish atrocities because he was a talented blacksmith who could skillfully repair horseshoes. His mother was born in Aleppo in 1933 to an orphan, who was taken to the Birds’ Nest Armenian orphanage as a five-year old after her entire family was massacred during the Armenian Genocide. These and many related stories have stayed with Garabedian throughout his life and have grown in him the determination to succeed and dedication to his nation. 

Settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985, Garabedian was involved in the youth activities of the local Homenetmen, Armenian Youth Federation, and the Armenian Church. He gradually grew an impressive professional record of success, which includes an undergraduate degree in Physiology from the University of California, Davis; a degree in medicine from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri, followed by a family medicine residency at the University of Tennessee program in Jackson, advancing all the way up to his current position as Medical Director of the Dyersburg Hospital Emergency Department in Tennessee. 

Garabedian recounts his thoughts in the early days of the Artsakh War that started in September 2020. Determined to fly out as soon as possible, he thought he would be most helpful “within the first one or two hours of a soldier’s injury to bring to bear the initial stabilization.” He immediately began preparing for his trip establishing the necessary contacts, while acquiring from personal funds the necessary emergency room supplies to take with him. These included sutures, bandages, tourniquets, and IV kits, as well as endotracheal tubes for intubation, and bag valve masks for resuscitation. Advance arrangements in place and all packed, he was on a flight to Armenia on November 2, 2020. 

Garabedian emphatically believes that it is the duty of every Armenian to serve the homeland however one can. “This is a matter of protecting our homeland, our sovereignty, our existence as a nation,” he admits as he explains the risk every serviceman takes of the unknown, the risk of not returning home, and also the risk of being permanently handicapped.


Garabedian was assigned to Goris since the Lachin throughway had closed by the time he arrived, barring safe passage to Artsakh. At the hospital in Goris, which functioned as back-up to the Khndzoresk mobile military hospital, Garabedian was involved in stabilizing the wounded soldiers brought there who would then be transferred according to the type of medical treatment or surgery they would need. 

Garabedian was subsequently commissioned to Vardenis following the intensification of the fighting in Shushi, where he worked as an intensivist in both the civilian and military hospitals. “The military hospitals at Khndzoresk and Vardenis were well-prepared,” he recalls, “and had properly-trained medics to stabilize the wounded in the field.”

Garabedian speaks with deep emotion recounting his days in those hospitals and what he has witnessed. He then unequivocally commends the volunteers, all those dedicated men and women, young and old, as well as the soldiers who exhibited such heroism and bravery. “These young soldiers would be brought in very badly wounded, and they would plead with us to quickly patch them up so they would go back to the battlefield. These soldiers displayed immense camaraderie for their fellow servicemen in battle and were determined not to let them down, and ultimately not to let down their nation.” 

Speaking to the future of Armenia, Garabedian believes the country needs to modernize its defense system and artillery based on a thorough analysis of the lessons learned from the 2020 Artsakh War. He wants to see Armenia “modernize our technology, especially in unmanned warfare, to be well-equipped and prepared to defend ourselves.” 

Garabedian goes on to speak of the important role AUA is playing in educating the young generations and preparing them to lead the future. Making special reference to the new capital campaign, Build a Better Future With AUA, he is confident that a strong STEM education will significantly contribute to building a better and more powerful Armenia. Especially with the new labs and ancillary spaces to be built, the University will be even better positioned to educate the next generation of technologically-advanced young leaders. AUA will be in a superior stance and strength to engineer innovative drone solutions, tackle chemical-mechanical challenges, realize key transformations in electrical engineering, machine learning-based innovations, and much more. 

Garabedian is a believer in the role of an AUA education, and in the shared knowledge and collaborative relationships that AUA cultivates with other universities and institutions. He is a proponent of expanding such relations, as well as research and development congruent with the long-term strategic goals of the University and those of the country. 

He believes in the projected long-term solutions that an AUA higher education can provide, and wants all young people to have access to it, elaborating that, “specifically AUA, has the quality of education that is unsurpassed in Armenia, with a strong foundation in the UC system. Without this type of education, Armenia will stagnate and the country will not push forward. Armenia needs to become a powerhouse, and with the use of brain power as our ultimate natural resource, that could become a reality.” 

Himself an AUA scholarship program supporter, Garabedian admits that the recent war has reawakened his belief in the urgency of empowering the next generation, preparing the leaders of tomorrow, and especially supporting our veteran students. Placing added emphasis on the need to amplify and further stretch the available sources of education, Garabedian recalls the benefits he had once received as an undergraduate student from the U.S. Federal Student Aid and asserts “there’s no reason why we couldn’t do the same to support our own Armenian youth. Today, we have veterans missing arms and legs, many who have gone through tremendous mental anguish and have developed stress disorders. Yet, they’re trying to make their lives better by aiming at a brighter future through education. The least we can do is to do our small part by supporting their education,” he urges. 

As a diasporan himself, Dr. Garabedian calls upon all Armenians living in the Diaspora to contribute to this new ‘Build a Better Future with AUA’ campaign. “The easiest and least intrusive way for Diasporan-Armenians, and especially American-Armenians, is to help financially; this is the bare minimum we can do, for AUA and for each of those students to benefit from an AUA education.” 

“We must now stand in remembrance of those who fell, but also with commitment to reinforce what we have and to strengthen our collective capacity to prepare the next leaders who will build Armenia.  Now, more than ever before, we need that powerful new force to get back up on our feet and build a technologically-advanced Armenia. I invite you to join me in this imperative national endeavor.” 

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.

Regards,

—

Margarit Hovhannisyan | Communications Manager

Margarit Hovhannisyan|: Communication manager

+374 60 612 514,  

[email protected]  

__________________________________________

American University of Armenia

Republic of Armenia, 0019, Yerevan, Marshal Baghramyan Ave. 40:00

40 Baghramyan Avenue, Yerevan 0019, Republic of Armenia

aua.am


Dr. Garabedian outside the Goris Medical Center.jpg
JPEG image


Dr. Garabedian with a group of full-time and volunteer physicians at the Military Hospital in Vardenis.jpg
JPEG image



JPEG image


Dr. Shant Garabedian’s medical supplies arrive at Zvartnots Airport.jpg
JPEG image

Newly appointed Ambassador of Peru delivers copies of credentials to Deputy FM of Armenia

Vanyan Gary

Save

Share

 19:38,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Newly appointed Ambassador of Peru to Armenia Juan Genaro Del Campo Rodriguez (residence in Moscow) delivered copies of credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Armen Ghevondyan.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, congratulating the Ambassador on the appointment, the Armenian FM noted that Armenia is interested in the development of relations with Peru.

The Ambassador of Peru noted that during his diplomatic mission he will make every effort to deepen cooperation with Armenia in various fields.

Armen Ghevondyan presented Juan Genaro Del Campo Rodriguez the situation created by the Azeri-Turkish aggression against Artsakh on September 27, 2020 and highlighted the issue of a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, based on well-known principles and elements.

Issues related to the development of political dialogue, the development of the legal framework, trade-economic and multilateral cooperation were discussed at the meeting, as well as a number of regional and international issues were touched upon.