Category: 2021

Artsakh FM meets Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

Nahapetian Zhanna
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 10 2021
September 10, 2021, 15:36

 Less than a minute

On September 10, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan was received by Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Karekin II  in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Various issues related to the current situation in Artsakh and the church-society relations were discussed during the meeting.

David Babayan expressed his gratitude to the Catholicos of All Armenians for keeping Artsakh in the focus of attention, his substantial contribution to the process of developing and strengthening our country, emphasizing the key role of the Armenian Apostolic Church in preserving the independent Armenian statehood and Armenian national identity.

Head of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan also participated in the meeting.

Turkish Democracy Project joins calls to stop drone technology supply to Turkey

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 10 2021
September 10, 2021, 10:35

 3 minutes read

The Turkish Democracy Project (TDP) has called on three US companies to cut ties with Baykar Makina, whose TB2 drones have become a weapon of choice for repressive regimes around the world and which have been implicated in attacks on civilians in Armenia while prolonging bloody conflicts in Syria and Libya. These companies now risk major legal consequences for acting contrary to international sanctions.

Turkey has expanded its drone program over the last two decades and is now the fourth-largest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) producer in the world. While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues his assault on his country’s democratic infrastructure, so too is he pursuing a foreign policy which is no longer tethered to NATO values. In Erdogan’s hands, the TB2 drone has become a tool of oppression and violence, while Baykar Makina continues to do deals with regimes that deploy their technology against civilians. TDP has called on each company to cease the provision of their technology to Baykar with immediate effect.

In letters addressed to each by TDP’s CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, TDP presented comprehensive evidence that the companies’ technology has been used in the production of drones by Baykar, which in turn have been deployed against Armenian civilians in Artsakh as well as against the same Kurdish forces who helped turn the tide against ISIS.  TDP also gave detailed evidence of the risks involved in doing business with the Turkish military industrial complex, including the legal risk to supplying Turkish drones under the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

TDP applauds those companies who have ceased engagement. For example, Garmin’s statement confirmed they were instructing all independent dealers to ‘cease selling Garmin products to Baykar’ due to the nefarious nature of their activities. TDP calls on those who continue to do business with Baykar to immediately end their relationships with the Turkish military industrial complex.

TDP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace said:

“Turkish drones are infamous for their use by Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, against Armenian civilians during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.

“Turkey’s TB2 drones have been used in Syria against Kurdish allies of the United States, and in Libya, prolonging that country’s bloody civil war. Their indiscriminate use by the Turkish military and Turkish-backed forces have been widely condemned by the international community.

“It should be a matter of serious concern to US and European lawmakers that so many major domestic manufacturing, technology and defence companies have entered into business with Turkey’s military industrial complex. It is also worrying that when confronted with direct evidence of the crimes being committed using their products, these same companies have seen fit simply to ignore it.

“Beyond the moral implications of providing drone parts to an aggressive and expansionist military that targets civilian populations, most of these companies should face grave legal consequences for their action. A coalition of 27 US congress members recently signed a letter saying that technology transfers such as the ones these companies continue to make to Turkey clearly violate the terms of the CAATSA sanctions.

“In refusing to cut ties with Turkey in the face of direct evidence of the crimes the Erdogan regime is committing using their products, these companies are demonstrating that they do not take seriously the moral or legal implications of their actions. Lawmakers must take this into account in determining how these companies ought to be dealt with.”

The companies contacted by TDP who did not respond to calls to immediately cease working with Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Makina were as follows:

  • Xilinx, Manufacturing/Technology, United States
  • Hengst of North America, Auto/Engineering, United States, Parent Company: Hengst Automotive (Germany)
  • Northrop Grumman, Aerospace/Defense, United States
  • Smart Microwave Systems, Electronics, Germany    

The companies contacted by TDP who have confirmed they have ceased working with Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Makina were as follows:

  • Comant, Manufacturing/Satellite Communications, United States
  • Viasat, Communications, United States
  • Garmin, Technology, Switzerland
  • Beringer Aero, Manufacturing, France
  • Trimble, Technology, United States

The Turkish Democracy Project is a nonprofit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed in response to Turkey’s recent turn away from democracy and toward authoritarianism.  

Armenian student on shortlist for $100k Global Student Prize 2021

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 10 2021


September 10, 2021, 14:57

 3 minutes read

Nazeli Ter-Petrosyan, a 16-year-old student at Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex, Yerevan, Armenia, has been included in the top 50 shortlist for the Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2021, a new $100,000 award to be given to one exceptional student that has made a real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond.

Nazeli, shortlisted for the Global Student Prize 2021, was selected from over 3,500 nominations and applications from 94 countries around the world.

The Varkey Foundation launched the Chegg.org Global Student Prize earlier this year, a sister award to its $1 million Global Teacher Prize, to create a powerful new platform that shines a light on the efforts of extraordinary students everywhere who, together, are reshaping our world for the better. The prize is open to all students who are at least 16 years old and enrolled in an academic institution or training and skills program. Part time students as well as students enrolled in online courses are also eligible for the prize.

Together, the Global Student Prize and the Global Teacher Prize will tell inspirational stories from both sides of education. The prizes will shine a spotlight on the great work teachers do in preparing young people for the future and the amazing promise some of the brightest students are showing in their learning and far beyond.

Chegg.org has partnered with the Varkey Foundation to create the new Global Student Prize. Lila Thomas, Head of Chegg.org, said:

“In this age of COVID, students like Nazeli have shown great courage to keep studying and keep fighting for a better future despite huge obstacles. The Global Student Prize has been launched to shine a light on their stories and listen to their voices. After all, it is their dreams, their insights and their creativity that will help solve some of the greatest questions humanity has ever faced.

“Our finalists this year have a made a huge impact in areas from the environment to equality and justice, from health and wellbeing to education and skills, from youth empowerment to ending poverty.

“We were so inspired by the achievements of these extraordinary students throughout the world that applied for the inaugural Global Student Prize that Chegg chose to double the value of the prize to $100,000.”

Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said:

“Congratulations to Nazeli for reaching the final 50. Her story clearly highlights the importance of education in tackling the great challenges ahead – from climate change to growing inequality to global pandemics. It is only by prioritizing education that we can safeguard all our tomorrows. Education is the key to facing the future with confidence.”

Nazeli Ter-Petrosyan, a student at American University of Armenia, Yerevan, in June graduated from “Mkhitar Sebastatsi” Educational Complex where she has been teaching programming skills to her peers since the 6th grade. From the very start, Nazeli had such a passion for computing that she wanted to share her knowledge with everyone by teaching seminars, conducting workshops, and blogging for a general audience. By 10th grade, she was teaching robotics to 4th- and 5th-graders, and continues to do so today.

Nazeli has also lent out her skills to public-benefit organizations in need of support. In 2018, she created a website and provided free tech support for the NGO Delure, which provides juridical support for victims of violence, soldiers, and socially vulnerable people. Since September 2020, she has volunteered as a 3D modeler for the NGO Youth Opportunities, where she is designing and modeling a future learning center. At the age of just 14, she received the Armenian Prime Minister’s Best Student award for achievements in IT, and most recently, she won entrance and is now studying in the most competitive university in Armenia at the age of just 16 – despite the obstacles of coronavirus lockdowns and a second Artsakh war in the country.

Applications and nominations for this year’s student and teacher prizes opened on Tuesday 2 February and closed on Sunday 16 May. Students who applied for the Global Student Prize are being assessed on their academic achievement, impact on their peers, how they make a difference in their community and beyond, how they overcome the odds to achieve, how they demonstrate creativity and innovation, and how they operate as global citizens.

Following today’s announcement, the top 10 finalists of both the Global Student Prize and the Global Teacher Prize will be announced in October this year. The winners of both prizes will be chosen from the respective top 10 finalists by the Global Student Prize Academy and the Global Teacher Prize Academy, made up of prominent individuals. The winners are due to be announced at an awards ceremony in Paris in November. 

Should Nazeli win the Global Student Prize, she would like to use the funds for a variety of purposes. First, she would donate money to a foundation in her country that helps injured and handicapped soldiers. Second, she would support startups whose ideas and goals are similar to her own, to acquire further experience in the startup world. Third, some funds would be used for international volunteering and workshops, for example volunteering to teach English in Asian monasteries. Finally, part of the money would be used to pay her tuition for university.

​Dilijan to host 9th Pan-Armenian Festival of Arts and Crafts

Chmshkian Vicken
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 10 2021

Dilijan to host 9th Pan-Armenian Festival of Arts and Crafts

September 10, 2021, 12:54 

The 9th traditional Pan-Armenian Festival of Arts and Crafts will take place on September 25 in Dilijan, Tavush Governor’s Office informs.

The guests of the festival will have the opportunity to watch the unique examples of handicrafts from all regions of Armenia in one place: these include carpets, embroidery, blacksmithing, fine arts, puppetry, national decorations, national costumes, etc.

There will be receptions in all the pavilions, the regions will present their local national cuisine.

The event will be accompanied by a multi-genre concert program.

Wine ad beer tasting and sale is also expected.

The traditional lavash bread will be baked in a unique tonir on the ground.

From 1915 to 2021, Armenian Communities Suffer

Lilit Nahapetian
Sept 12 2021
By ICC’s Country Correspondent

09/12/2021 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Mrs. Alvard was the gardener of the only school in the village of Nor Verinshen in Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh), currently occupied by Azerbaijanis. Her son Robert was on military duty when the war started in late September of 2020. While Robert fought on the frontline against Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression for 44 days, Mrs. Alvard moved with her daughter-in-law, Aregnazan, and six young grandchildren to Armenian territory. This current displacement is the second during her lifetime, with the first was in the late 1980s before the first Artsakh war.

In the beginning, relatives welcomed the family and provided their two-bedroom condo to stay in, along with other displaced family members, totaling 21 people. At that time everyone thought it was temporary, the war will finish in a few days or weeks, and shortly they will move back home. Mrs. Alvard naively recalls counting down the days to get back to her beautiful green garden at peak harvest season.

November 10’s agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended the war broke all the hopes of family return home permanently. A few days before handing over their district to Azerbaijanis (originally scheduled for November 15, but surrendered on November 25), Aregnazan went back to the village with her husband’s sister where she first visited the graves of her father and sister in the cemetery, likely for the very last time. “I could not bring much of the household items, but I didn’t want to leave the puppy, the ducks, and the chickens behind. I put all of them together in a big rabbit cage and brought them with me,” Aregnazan said.

36-year-old Aregnazan’s voice trembled as she recalled her final journey from Artsakh to Armenia. Crying and unable to hide her tears she remembered, “it looked like the 1915 deportation during the Armenian Genocide with only one difference – people were moving by vehicles not walking. The roads were blocked by traffic. There were cars that were damaged on the roads. The women, with their children in their arms, were waiting in that cold weather outside until the cars were repaired. Some cars were totally unloaded their cargo on road to be repaired. It was chaos, a real nightmare.”

After 10 months of moving from place to place, the family finally bought their own house with small agricultural land and fruit trees in one of the villages. The Armenian community in the Netherlands and a family from the U.S. contributed the difference sum in addition to Aregnazan and Robert’s savings.

There is still a lot of work to be done to renovate the house. To accommodate their space restrictions, part of the living room has curtains closing off a portion for the children’s room. Their roof is in desperate need of repair. In the future, the adjacent garage could be turned into rooms. They lack several household appliances and electronics, but Aregnazan does not complain. She is happy to have their own place. The family is optimistic and ready to start their new life from scratch.

In their new garden, the beehives are placed at trees. Robert, who was united with his family after the war, says they belong to his friend but together they will share the honey. The family puppy guards the beehives with pride.

“We will do agriculture work. The kids will attend the school. My 14-year-old daughter is happy; finally, she is not going to change the schools (during the last year she changed 4 of them). My 6-year-old son hasn’t gone to school after the war interrupted his first year three weeks class in Artsakh”, says Aregnaz with a sad smile on her face. She often smiles because realizes that her smile also strengthens her children.

Certainly, the family misses and remembers often their old house in Artsakh where they were happy. Aregnazan misses her two pianos she left behind. For years she used to work in the cultural club of their village where they always used to host concerts. All her kids played musical instruments as well. Like a proud mother, she opens her phone and shows the last video of her children play at Dadivank monastery last year. The family never loses hope and still believes and prays that one day they will go back home to Artsakh.

 

Armenian experts treat reservists’ training as unprecedented

Hovhannisian John
Caucasian Knot, EU
Sept 12 2021

Armenia has launched the largest military training in 30 years. Azerbaijan and Turkey have deliberately opposed them with their military exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh, military experts assert.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on September 6-11, joint exercises with Turkey were held in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani-Turkish exercises demonstrated to Armenia the vulnerability of the Lachin Corridor that links Yerevan with Stepanakert and is controlled by Russian peacemakers, Armenian political analysts have noted.

On September 15, a three-month training session for officers and enlisted military personnel with the participation of 869 reservists will begin in Armenia, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed. In parallel, another training session for 2169 reservists is held.

These are the largest military training sessions in the history of independent Armenia, Karen Ovannisyan, an expert has noted. Another peculiarity of the sessions is that reservists are busy on alert duty, he has added.

Mger Akopyan, another expert, has called the training sessions as unprecedented, explaining that after the defeat in the autumn war in Karabakh, retraining of reservists has become actual.

He also believes that the military training in Armenia and the Turkish-Azerbaijani exercises are interlinked. “The neighbours’ aggressive behaviour is obvious; and we should be ready for any scenario of events,” Mr Akopyan has stressed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on at 08:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: 
© Caucasian Knot

Turkish-Azerbaijani exercises are over in Karabakh

Arbi Tashjian
Caucasian Knot, EU
Sept 12 2021

In the Lachin District, militaries of Turkey and Azerbaijan have mastered the skills of conducting reconnaissance, setting ambushes and finding and liquidating saboteurs, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on September 6, in the Lachin (the Armenian name is Berdzor) District, which is crossed by the corridor connecting Yerevan with Stepanakert, Azerbaijani-Turkish military exercises with shooting began. They have demonstrated to Armenia the vulnerability of the Lachin Corridor, political analysts have noted.

Let us remind you that, according to Russian military experts, the Azerbaijani-Turkish exercises in the Lachin District were medium-sized and tactical in nature.

Andrias Gukasyan, a political analyst, has suggested that the aim of the Azerbaijani-Turkish joint exercises was to master offensive actions against Armenia and blocking the Lachin Corridor.

In the opinion of Azerbaijani analysts, the exercises will allow Azerbaijani and Turkish militaries to train in the combating terrorists, but they can also be regarded as a message about joint actions of the two countries in case of threats to Azerbaijan. “Revanchist ideas are still hatching in Armenia,” said Azad Isazade, a former employee of the information-analytical department of the Azerbaijani MoD.

Telman Abilov, the head of the NGO “Military Lawyers”, has pointed to the limited number of militaries at the exercises in the Lachin District. “These exercises indicate that the Shusha declaration on Azerbaijani-Turkish allied relations remains in force. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has not yet been finally settled,” Mr Abilov has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on at 03:07 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondent

Source: 
© Caucasian Knot

Once An Economic ‘Frozen Zone,’ Southern Caucasus May See Economic Boost Beyond Oil

Chalian Meline
International Business Times
Sept 12 2021
By Ilham Nagiyev 
09/12/21 AT 7:00 AM

Backed by the juggernaut of the Chinese state, the “Belt and Road” project has been a hotspot for international investment for over a decade. 

A glance at the map shows the most direct land route for trade between Asia and the West passes through the Southern Caucasus. Yet this ancient branch of the “Silk Route,” famous in history and legend, has until now been sidelined by investors and policymakers. 

All that could be about to change.

The Southern Caucasus has been in large part an economic “frozen zone,” with border conflicts in all three countries — Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been at loggerheads over Armenia’s 30-year occupation of Karabakh, and Georgia and Russia have clashed over the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. With a few isolated exceptions such as BP’s investment into Azerbaijan’s extensive Caspian oil and gas fields, the region has struggled to attract transformative FDI. 

UNCTAD’s latest World Investment Report shows the results. While Azerbaijan recorded a respectable FDI stock of $32 billion in 2019, and Georgia a modest $19 billion, the figure for Armenia — despite the efforts of its influential international diaspora — was just $5 billion. A  cocktail of conflict and closed borders has deterred all but the most adventurous of investors.

A series of changes underway in the region suggests the possibility of re-evaluation: the promised re-opening of borders, new transit infrastructure linking to global networks, national policies on economic diversification and the move beyond carbon, and a series of investor-friendly reforms. 

Taken together, these four factors could put the region back on the international investment map.

The opportunity to re-open borders is a direct result of the deal signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia last November, which marked the end of the “Karabakh war.” An important clause specifies that “all economic and transport connections in the region shall be unblocked.” While it would be naive to suppose that the passage from a generation-long conflict to peaceful co-operation could ever be easy, the economic peace dividend which this could bring — particularly to isolated and landlocked Armenia — provides a powerful incentive.

One interesting signal has been the renewed and positive economic dialogue between Armenia and Turkey after four decades of closed borders. Both countries’ leadership have in recent weeks been setting a different and pragmatic tone. Progress on the ground between the two would be a diplomatic breakthrough for economic realism and could open the door to opportunities across the region.

Recent years and months have also seen important developments in the region’s global connectivity: the Baku-Tblisi-Kars rail line, opened in 2017, provided an important link in the chain which allowed the first-ever rail freight journey from China to Turkey last December. This demonstrated the region’s central importance to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route — more memorably branded the “Middle Corridor” — just in time to remind the world during the Suez Canal blockage of the strategic importance of alternatives. At the same time, it showed that the region’s geography allows Azerbaijan and Georgia to co-operate on ambitious projects across their shared border. Meanwhile, only a few tens of kilometers of rail remain to be completed across Azerbaijan’s southern border with Iran to finalize a key route on the new and promising “Mumbai to Moscow” North/South Corridor.

Reforms have dramatically improved conditions for foreign investment. The latest Doing Business report from the World Bank, comparing the favorability of conditions across 190 states, rates Azerbaijan and Georgia in the top 40. Meanwhile, free economic zones — such as the  Alat zone — simultaneously help solve export infrastructure issues while providing attractive incentives to international investment partners and entrepreneurs.

In the 1850s, Sweden’s Nobel brothers sent agents to the Southern Caucasus prospecting for new sources of high-quality timber to use as gun stocks for their flourishing small arms business. They found the trees – but they also, quite literally, struck oil. The result was the world’s first oil boom, predating even the U.S. The brothers were swiftly followed by the Rothschilds and a host of international entrepreneurs.

The region is now moving beyond oil. But it is also moving beyond conflict and closed borders.   While politics and conflict have for so long dominated the fate of the Southern Caucasus, now is a moment when international business would do well to re-evaluate the region. Today’s prospectors might, like the Nobels, discover opportunities they hadn’t thought possible.

Ilham Nagiyev is chairman of Odlar Yurdu Organization in the U.K. and chairman of the board of A2Z LLC, a leading IT company in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Police checking the trucks with Iranian license plates in the area of Eyvazli settlement – Armenia NSS

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 12 2021
, 20:47

From midday, September 12th, the police of the Republic of Azerbaijan have been checking the documents of drivers and cargo of trucks with Iranian license plates in the area of Eyvazli settlement under Azerbaijani control, near to the Vorotan settlement on Goris-Kapan road, the Armenian National Security Service reports.

The border guards of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia are working with the servicemen of the border service of the Russian Federation Security Service to settle the situation.

Sports: FC Ararat-Armenia score 2 goals in added time, achieve volitional victory

Maghakian Mike
News.am, Armenia
Sept 12 2021

FC Van played against FC Ararat-Armenia in the sixth round of the championship of the Armenian Premier League and were defeated in the added time.

FC Ararat-Armenia’s Brazilian midfielder Luis Menezes scored a goal in the 34th minute.

In the added minute, FC Ararat-Armenia’s goal was scored by midfielder Artyom Avanesyan. The victorious goal of the guests in the added fourth minute was scored by winger Mailson Lima.

FC Ararat-Armenia are on top of the championship table with 18 points and 3 points ahead of FC Ararat-Armenia, which are in second place. FC Van are in 6th place with 7 points.

Armenian football championship, 6th round

FC Van-FC Ararat-Armenia: 1-2

Luis Menezes, 34 – Artyom Avanesyan, 90+1, Mailson Lima, 90+4