Category: 2021

Nagorno Karabakh: thirty years ago the people said Yes to independence but still waiting for freedom

Talar Tumanian
Dec 10 2021

Let’s try to go back in time and understand what really happened in that patch of land in those years. As the territory of Artsakh (historically Armenian) is known it was forcibly incorporated in Azerbaijan in 1921 with the direct interference of Stalin. Later, in 1923 it was incorporated into the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic as a oblast autonomous. It should be emphasized that, in 1923, 94.4 percent of the population of Artsakh was Armenian and that, as a result of Azerbaijan’s discriminatory, aggressive and violent policy, dropped dramatically.

The turning point was in 1988, when the local parliament of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast passed a resolution calling on Moscow, Yerevan and Baku to withdraw the region from Soviet Azerbaijan and to annex it to Soviet Armenia. Both Moscow and Baku considered it unacceptable.

Read Also

In response to the desire for self-determination of the population of Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani authorities organized the massacres of the Armenians turning them into military actions. As a solution to the conflict Azerbaijan chose war and not peace. In 1991 Artsakh declared its independence in full compliance with international law. It should be noted that the referendum took place in accordance with existing legal regulations. Two dozen international observers were present on the day of the referendum and later presented their report.

The Armenian population dreamed of being able to realize their rights and being able to choose to be independent. Their will was instead responded with attacks and aggressions. On the day of the referendum, Stepanakert and other Armenian settlements were under constant bombardment, but the determination of the population was so great that nothing could stop the voters. According to data provided by the authorities, ten people were killed and eleven civilians were injured. In fact, the report of two dozen international observers following the referendum stated that the referendum was held “under conditions of armed aggression” by Azerbaijan against Artsakh.

Note that the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno Karabakh refused to participate in the referendum, even if the electoral commission had created the necessary conditions for the conduct of the referendum throughout the territory of the republic, including their settlements. In those years the Azeris living in Artsakh made up about twenty percent of the population and did not participate in the referendum on the orders of Baku.

Read Also

Back in 1991, in the midst of the horror and hatred promoted by the Azerbaijani authorities, the people of Nagorno Karabakh did not hesitate to say yes to independence. For thirty long and uncertain years, the people of this unrecognized republic waited their turn to be able to be free and independent. Thirty years after this referendum, the international community continues to remain impassive and mute. Indifference that is perceived as an insult to humanity, felt particularly strongly exactly one year ago, when Azerbaijan unleashed the war by attacking the entire territory of Nagorno Karabakh. The Azerbaijani authorities spared nothing: scenes of violence, war crimes, use of prohibited weapons, acts of vandalism. The peace treaty signed on November 9 ended the 44-day war won by Azerbaijan in the first place thanks to the military support of Turkey and the involvement of foreign terrorists.

The war is over but not in the memories of the Armenian population. It had a dramatic impact on the physical, social and emotional well-being of the inhabitants but has not taken away the hope of a brighter future, when their undeniable right to self-determination will finally be recognized. When the dust of indifference is blown away, hope always remains and it is possible to understand its true essence only when one decides to act.

* Professor of Italian at the Brusov University of Yerevan and at the American University in Armenia, he collaborates for some Armenian and Italian newspapers

https://d1softballnews.com/nagorno-karabakh-thirty-years-ago-the-people-said-yes-to-independence-but-still-waiting-for-freedom/


10 stories of hyperinflation in history

Ani Basmajian
Dec 5 2021

  • By Amanda Push
    Stacker

    •  

  • Dec 5, 2021

    •  

We can overcome difficulties if we have clear vision: President Sarkissian meets with Armenians in Qatar

Yeghisabet Vorskanian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 11 2021
, 17:22

 3 minutes read

If we have a clear vision, program, discipline, commitment, we will get out of the difficult situation, President Armen Sarkissian said at a meeting with Armenians of Qatar.

Within the framework of his working visit to the State of Qatar, President Armen Sarkissian met with members of the executive body of the Armenian community of Qatar at the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Doha.

The President was welcomed by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the State of Qatar Armen Sargsyan, the Pastor of the Armenian Diocese of Qatar, Archbishop Poghos Tinkjian.

In his speech, the President referred to the Armenian-Qatari relations, as well as the situation in Armenia.

Noting that the Armenian Embassy in the State of Qatar was opened with the active support of the Emir of the State of Qatar, President Sarkissian once again thanked the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the friendly people of Qatar for this “special step of friendship.”

“We must do everything to strengthen and expand this friendship, the fraternal relations between the two peoples,” the Armenian President said.

Referring to his working visit, President Sarkissian particularly noted. “During this visit, I met with the Emir, Emir’s father, Sheikha Moza and other officials. They reaffirmed their warm attitude towards our state and people and their readiness to cooperate.”

“We see this cooperation in different directions, first of all in the field of culture and education. I mean the “Qatar Foundation”. We spoke with Sheikha Moza of the Foundation about the cooperation between educational systems and startups in the field of modern technologies, science, artificial intelligence, information technologies. Sheikha Moza was in Armenia for a day years ago, she is very impressed and intends to pay another visit,” Armen Sarkissian said.

“There are programs related to Armenia-Qatar economic relations. They can be, for example, in the field of tourism, where Qatar has a huge potential. The same applies to Armenia. Unfortunately, that potential has not been utilized. Actually, tourism in Armenia can increase several times, it can bring a huge investment to our country. Cooperation between institutions at the state level in the field of energy, new technologies and modern technologies is also essential,” the President said, noting that the interest of Qatar in investing in Armenia is of great importance.

“I have had many visits not only to this country, but also to the UAE, and recently for the first time a high-ranking Armenian state delegation visited Saudi Arabia, a country with which we have not had diplomatic relations for 30 years. And I’m glad to say that during that visit, my meetings with Prince Mohammed bin Salman established a relationship. I saw the same warm attitude there. We have not had diplomatic relations for 30 years, and the head of state says the warmest words about our people,” President Sarkissian noted.

“We must move forward, that is the logic of life. One of the greatest values of Armenians is a very strong sense of survival. If we were able to survive after the Armenian Genocide, we were able to recover in different centers of the world, from Qatar to Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Moscow, to build churches and a schools in distant Siberian cities, to remain Armenian, then we are able to look to the future, recover and move forward,” the President emphasized.

“This defeat is painful, it is tragic, because we lost thousands of young lives, we have boys in captivity, we must do everything to bring them back, because each of them is a member of our family. But we must also think about the future. If we do not think today, we will face even greater difficulties,” he added.

“If we have a clear vision, program, discipline, commitment, and unite nationally, I am sure we will get out of this situation. The past of our people proves that we have all the highest values to get out of this situation, to think about further victories – economic, political and demographic,” Armen Sarkissian concluded.

Sports: “Armenian Sniper” Gary Chivichyan scores his first NBA G League points

Mike Maghakian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 11 2021
, 13:34

 1 minute read

Armenian Sensation Gary Chivichyan scored his first points in the NBA G League for the Agua Caliente Clippers as they defeated the Santa Cruz Warriors in Ontario, California, Zartonk Media reports.

The “Armenian Sniper” entered the game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter in front of a large group of Armenian supporters who were chanting “We Want Gary” throughout the game as they donned Armenian flags. The crowd cheered loudly after Chivichyan’s triple.

The match against the Warriors marked Chivichyan’s first G League game in an already busy career, seeing him be a member of 3 teams in his career. He started his career in the G League after he was drafted by the Lakeland Magic. This was followed by 2 subsequent trades to the Iowa Wolfpack and eventually the Agua Caliente Clippers. On October 23, Gary become the first ever Armenian to be drafted into the NBA G League. The LA born player was drafted by the Lakeland Magic in the second round with the seventh pick of the draft.

In June of 2020, Chivichyan broke the news as he was a nominee for the ESPYS 2020 Honorary Outstanding Senior award, becoming the first Armenian nominee in the history of the ESPYS awards.

Chivichyan joins Andre Spight Mkrtchyan, A.J Hess, and Ryan Boatright as the only 4 Armenian National Basketball team players to play in the NBA G League.

Poll results: Russia, Armenia and Georgia are your favourite entries from Junior Eurovision 2021 before rehearsals

Emil Lazarian
wiwibloggs
Dec 11 2021
    • POSTED ONDECEMBER 11, 2021
    • BYJONATHAN VAUTREY

    Junior Eurovision 2021 will finally get underway next Sunday 19 December, with 19 countries hoping to take away the trophy. 

    A few weeks ago, we asked you to vote for your favourites based on the studio cuts of this year’s entries. Y’all made your voices heard and cast a total of 20,508 votes.

    And now we have the results…

    Coming out on top of the poll is Tanya Mezhentseva from Russia. Her song “Mon Ami” picked up 3,358 votes, which is 16.37% of all those cast.

    Tanya returns to Junior Eurovision after previously representing Russia in 2019. She topped our pre-rehearsal poll two years ago as well, alongside her duet partner Deberel Oorzhak. It seems Tanya has retained many of her fans from the last time she competed at the contest.

    Second place in our poll goes to Armenia’s Maléna. Although she had been selected to represent her country at last year’s contest, Maléna unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity in the end after Armenia withdrew.

    However, she’s come back in 2021 with a bang. The fandom instantly went wild as soon as she released her song “Qami Qami”, and this is naturally represented in these poll results. Maléna earned 2,258 votes (11.01% of the total).

    The final spot on the poll’s podium is for Niko Kajaia from Georgia. He’s aiming to put a grin on everyone’s face with his entry “Let’s Count The Smiles”. And it seems he’s already succeeding at doing just that, as he encouraged 1,456 of y’all to vote for him (that’s 7.10% of the total number of votes).

    While many contestants decide to add some extra English-language lyrics into their songs, Niko instead sings the majority of the chorus in French – making it a perfect song for a contest held in Paris.

    1. Russia: Tanya Mezhentseva – “Mon Ami” – 3,358 votes (16.37%)
    2. Armenia: Maléna – “Qami Qami” – 2,258 votes (11.01%)
    3. Georgia: Niko Kajaia – “Let’s Count The Smiles” – 1,456 votes (7.10%)
    4. Poland: Sara James – “Somebody” – 1,421 votes (6.93%)
    5. Ukraine: Olena Usenko – “Vazhil” – 1,228 votes (5.99%)
    6. North Macedonia: Dajte Muzika – “Green Forces” – 1,190 votes (5.80%)
    7. Italy: Elisabetta Lizza – “Specchio (Mirror On The Wall)” – 1,118 votes (5.45%)
    8. Spain: Levi Díaz – “Reír” – 936 votes (4.56%)
    9. France: Enzo – “Tic Tac” – 911 votes (4.44%)
    10. Albania: Anna Gjebrea – “Stand By You” – 822 votes (4.01%)
    11. Azerbaijan: Sona Azizova – “One Of Those Days” – 773 votes (3.77%)
    12. Malta: Ike & Kaya – “My Home” – 771 votes (3.76%)
    13. Serbia: Jovana & Dunja – “Children’s Eyes” – 725 votes (3.54%)
    14. Netherlands: Ayana “Mata Sugu Ao Ne” – 702 votes (3.42%)
    15. Germany: Pauline – “Imagine Us” – 668 votes (3.26%)
    16. Ireland: Maiú Levi Lawlor – “Saor (Disappear)” – 659 votes (3.21%)
    17. Bulgaria: Denislava & Martin – “Voice of Love” – 532 votes (2.59%)
    18. Portugal: Simão Oliveira – “O Rapaz” – 509 votes (2.48%)
    19. Kazakhstan: Alinur Khamzin and Beknur Zhanibekuly “Ertegi alemi (Fairy World)” – 471 votes (2.30%)

    However, these results only tell half the story. Things could all change once we see the final performances and how each country presents their song on stage.

    Online voting is set to open at the end of this week. When it does so, we’ll also open a flash poll and ask you to choose who you’ve officially voted for. This might be able to give us an insight into where the votes will be heading come Sunday afternoon.

    https://wiwibloggs.com/2021/12/11/russia-tanya-mezhentseva-a-favourite-win-junior-eurovision-2021-before-rehearsals/267639/









    Newspaper: Bill that ‘pampers’ Armenia banks to have very serious consequences

    Garo Vardanian
    News.am, Armenia
    Dec 11 2021
    09:41, 11.12.2021

    YEREVAN. – Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The draft law "On Non-Cash Transactions" has already been adopted in the NA [(National Assembly)] in the first reading. According to the draft, as of 2022, carrying out cash transactions in excess of 300 thousand drams will no longer be allowed between individuals, and in the case of organizations and individual entrepreneurs, only the non-cash principle will apply.

    Chairman of the Chamber of Auditors, Nairi Sargsyan, noted in a conversation with Past that as a result, the country will face very serious problems. He pointed to many possible problems, also saying that for various reasons, an attachment has been imposed by the CESJA [(Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts)] on the [bank] accounts of almost half of the RA population, and people avoid opening a bank account.

    According to him, a problem will arise in terms of the payments of tourists, who will not be able to make purchases in excess of 300 thousand drams in cash, whereas [credit] card payments are not favorable options, taking into account also the rather high commissions charged by banks.

    He did not rule out that in case the bill is adopted, the banks, using their monopoly position, may increase the cash commissions.

    "That is, it turns out that with this step we are ‘pampering’ the banks. In addition, it should be taken into account that in many cases the RA population avoids non-cash payments. This will have very serious consequences for the poor, as well as for people unfamiliar with new technologies."

    Investigative Committee: Staff left combat positions and fled as a result of which adversary invaded Armenia territory

    Lena Karagyozian
    News.am, Armenia
    Dec 11 2021
    15:39, 11.12.2021

    YEREVAN. – A number of Armenia servicemen in charge on duty on November 16 have been arrested, whereas one soldier showed exceptional courage. This is noted in a statement issued Saturday by the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

    As per this statement, on November 16, the Azerbaijani army units attacked three Armenian military positions located in the Kilisali-border Ishkhanasar section of Syunik Province, during which the head of the Armenian military position involved in the combat duty, a senior, and two observers violated the rules of combat duty.

    In particular, the servicemen of the combat duty positions tried to negotiate with the Azerbaijani servicemen who had invaded the territory of the combat position, and who tried to capture the personnel on combat duty. The personnel of these positions left them and fled, as a result of which the servicemen of the Azerbaijani army invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia—the combat positions, which came under the control of the adversary, and the 24 servicemen who fled the combat positions were captured by the adversary. The dead bodies of three of them—Gurgen Sargsyan, Artur Martirosyan—and Davit Amiryan—who were killed, were handed over to the Armenian side on November 17 and 20, seven Armenian servicemen—including the abovementioned four servicemen—were returned by Azerbaijan on November 26 and December 4, whereas the whereabouts of 14 servicemen is still unknown.

    On December 6, the serviceman in charge of the mentioned combat position, a senior, a junior sergeant, and two observers were arrested on suspicion of violating the rules of combat duty or military service. On December 8 and 9, criminal charges were brought against them, a petition was filed with the court to remand them in custody, and the court granted this petition.

    In addition, it turned out that the deputy commander of the military unit's battalion in terms of moral and psychological support had violated the rules of combat duty. The servicemen of the Azerbaijani army invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia—a combat position, the 13 Armenian servicemen remaining at this combat position were captured by the adversary, and the combat position came under the control of the adversary. The dead bodies of captured soldiers Taron Sahakyan and Arsen Gasparyan were handed over to the Armenian side on November 17 and 19, respectively, four other servicemen were returned to the Armenian side by Azerbaijan on December 4, whereas the whereabouts of the other seven servicemen are still unknown. .

    On December 6, a major was detained, a criminal charged was brought against him, a petition was filed with the court to remand him in custody, but this petition was denied. This court decision has been forwarded to the prosecutor, with a request to consider an appeal.

    Criminal charges have been brought against the acting commander of the defense battalion of the same military unit and the observer of the combat position, and they have been remanded in custody.

    The investigation continues.

    The body conducting the proceedings considers it necessary to also present to the public the exploits of the Armenian position guards who stood out with their exceptional courage while performing their duties during the mentioned military operations. In particular, on November 16, Private Gurgen Sargsyan, a contract soldier on duty in the mentioned military position located in the Kilisali-border Ishkhanasar section of Syunik Province, did not surrender to the adversary during the attack and capture attempt by the adversary forces, showed fighting spirit, exceptional courage, and killed himself by detonating a hand grenade.

    Iranian date to be exported to Armenia

    Emil Lazarian
    Panorama, Armenia
    Dec 11 2021

    Iran exported 137,000 tons of dates (khurma) in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), which was 14 percent more than the exported amount in the same period of time in the past year, the data of the Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) showed, according to Tehran Times report. 

    The source named India, France, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Britain, the U.S., Indonesia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada as the major buyers of Iranian date.

    "The total production for this year will be 4.5 million tons, of which 2.5 million tons will be consumed domestically, and another two million is intended for export to Russia, Iraq, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan," the head of National Association of Iranian Dates (NAID) told the source. 

    Ishkhan Zakaryan to continue serving as independent MP after quitting opposition Pativ Unem faction

    Emma Nadirian

    Save

    Share

     11:04,

    YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament Ishkhan Zakaryan is quitting the opposition Pativ Unem faction and will continue serving as an independent lawmaker.

    Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan said at today’s session that Speaker Alen Simonyan received on December 9 an official letter from Zakaryan notifying on his withdrawal from the bloc.

    Other details weren't immediately available. 

    Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan