Category: 2022

Lawyer: Historically, death penalty is unacceptable in Armenia

Emil Lazarian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Sept 1 2022
21:26, 01.09.2022

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan proposes reinstating the death penalty in Armenia. According to him, the study of materials with cases of high treason recorded during and after the 44-day war proves that encroachments on state security make the issue of tightening punitive policy regarding this type of crimes a priority.

Lawyer Mihran Poghosyan told NEWS.am that, for example, Armenian citizens, he said, would no longer be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

"To envisage the death penalty for treason without making the issue of who investigates these treason cases, whether they have enough professionalism to be able to solve all this, who will sentence a person to life imprisonment? I can't agree with the thought that a judge like Mnatsakan Martirosyan will sentence any citizen," Mihran Poghosyan stressed.

The lawyer is sure that the Prosecutor General will reject the idea of bypassing the ban on the death penalty, because, in his opinion, it is unacceptable to apply the death penalty to people in case of committing any crime.

"The types of crimes are very different. For some, high treason is considered a serious crime, for some, the prosecutor is still conducting a political prosecution, for others, rape or the murder of a young child. From this point of view, to single out treason and put it on a different plane in order to once again create an impression in society that we think so much about the state that we suggest the death penalty to those who have committed treason," Poghosyan said.

Given the fact that Armenia is a member of several international bodies, the lawyer responded to a question about whether it was problematic for Armenia to circumvent the ban on the death penalty.

"Before 2003, Armenia had a Criminal Code adopted in 1961, which also stipulated the death penalty for certain crimes. In Armenia there were people sentenced to death: that is, the use of the death penalty by firing squad. At the same time during the time of independent Armenia there were sentences by which a person was sentenced to death, but the sentences passed after independence were not carried out. In 2003, when a new code was adopted, the death penalty was excluded. And that sentence was commuted to life imprisonment for those convicts," said the lawyer.

Mihran Poghosyan noted that Armenia has always tried to stay away from the use of the death penalty. "There is also a historical problem. The Armenian people have suffered greatly from the use of the death penalty. That's why we have not accepted the death penalty," he stressed.

The lawyer also responded to a question about the consequences of possibly including the death penalty in the Constitution.

"In legal terms, we cease to be part of the European legal system, that is, when we have problems with the law, we ask the opinion of the Venice Commission, appeal to the ECtHR. In such a case, we will be unacceptable for international structures. We will not be a subject of discussion. We will be in legal isolation, which will not have good consequences," he explained.

Analyst: In Brussels, Artsakh’s status within Azerbaijan is being discussed behind closed doors

Ani Kharatian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Sept 1 2022
Analyst: In Brussels, Artsakh's status within Azerbaijan is being discussed behind closed doors
22:56, 01.09.2022

The West needs the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation and the Karabakh issue to be urgently resolved in negotiations with Yerevan and Baku, because in this case the peacekeepers in Artsakh as well as the Russian base in Armenia will leave the region. After that, the energy resources, including those from Central Asia, will flow freely to Europe, which will reduce its dependence on Russia. This information was reported by analyst Argishti Kiviryan when he appeared on NEWS.am during the program The Power Factor.

According to him, the West is ready for solving the aforementioned problems at any cost, including at the expense of Armenian interests.

"According to his vision, Armenia as the losing party should agree to the conditions of Baku, which will not agree to grant Artsakh a status. The West is trying to show Yerevan that it will try to persuade it to negotiate some kind of autonomy within Azerbaijan. In this sense, Pashinyan's statement that Armenia agrees to any status for Artsakh, if the security of Artsakh Armenians is ensured is quite remarkable. It's another matter that Baku doesn't want to do that either," Kiviryan added.

He believes that the issue of granting Artsakh an autonomous status within Azerbaijan is being discussed behind closed doors in Brussels. According to his assessment, Moscow wants to preserve its relations both with Yerevan and Baku, but it cannot benefit from the final solution to the conflict since in that case it would have to leave the region. It benefits from the current state.

"The interests of Moscow and Yerevan coincide in this, and a peace treaty is not on the list of priority issues for Russia. The acceleration of the process may become dangerous for Armenia and for those who will try to speed it up," the analyst believes.

He stressed that the issue of communications depends on the situation in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.

 "Azerbaijan doesn't need these roads and checkpoints, it needs a corridor not under Armenian control. Baku openly speaks about it. By giving up the corridor, Armenia will become not even a Turkish vilayet, but an Azerbaijani district. Instead of Yerevan, which has lost its sovereignty, Russia and Iran speak in this matter, because they do not need a corridor. Moscow would not mind if the corridor were under its control. Iran wouldn't mind, either, if it also had leverage over it," Kivirian concluded.

Sports: Arsen Zakharyan’s move to Chelsea could still happen – report

Emil Lazarian
PanARMENIAN
Armenia – Sept 1 2022
September 1, 2022 – 16:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Football Association of England is not blocking the possible transfer of Dynamo midfielder Arsen Zakharyan to Chelsea, Sport Express reports.

Negotiations are ongoing, and the decisive round will take place on September 1, the parties will discuss options for making the transition. Chelsea have not lost interest in the Russian player of Armenian origin.

Reports claimed earlier that Zakharyan's move to Chelsea was unlikely. Zakharyan has just a £12.6m release clause. However, the deal will not go ahead because of sanctions on the Russian economy due to the war in Ukraine.

Food: Armenia’s Ancient Ovens Are Hot Again

Jhanna Virabian

Aug 30 2022
BY BARBARA WOOLSEY AUGUST 30, 2022
Sevan trout, baked in bark from a birch tree at Tsaghkunk restaurant. DAVID EGUI

Hrachya Aghajanyan will never forget the moment soil cascaded onto his head when he tried to open the door to a tiny abandoned shack in his grandparents’ Armenian village.

“I closed it quickly before the roof caved in,” says Aghajanyan. “The lady who owned the property said not to go in because the wood could be saved for her fireplace.” The ceiling, and the house, remained intact. So did one of the home’s most treasured objects: an 11th-century tonir.

In ancient Armenia, peasant homes like the one Aghajanyan tried to enter always had a tonir, a small tandoor oven built from clay and stone into the ground. The tonir was essential to daily life, used for baking the every-meal staple of lavash bread, providing warmth, and even hosting sacred ceremonies such as marriages. Its round “eternity” shape mimicked the sun, a key symbol of Armenia’s heritage that is found throughout local architecture.

Despite such historical importance, many tonirs were covered up and fell into disuse during the rise of industrial baking in the late 1980s. But a new generation of Armenians is giving the tonir a renaissance, both by modernizing old ovens and building new ones to cook both traditional Armenian and non-traditional dishes.

Aghajanyan, a former Armenian Ambassador to Denmark and Norway, discovered the tonir in the soil-covered shack in 2019. He was in Tsaghkunk, about a half-hour’s drive from the capital Yerevan, working for a historical-cultural NGO called Bnorran (“The Cradle” in English). He figured the property’s main building, a former canteen for Soviet farmers where his aunt used to work, could be an interesting restoration project.

As a kid, when staying at his grandparents’ home about a kilometer away, Aghajanyan would often walk by and hope his grandmother would give him a treat. Only in adulthood did he appreciate the sweet tonir-cooked pastries and the lavash his grandmother would make in her home, toiling for hours over the embers with other local village women. When they were young, he and his cousins were not aware of the oven’s sacred importance—they would run and jump over the stone covers, naughtily light small fires, play Hide and Seek, and even smooch their crushes inside.

In spring 2019, a three-month excavation of the shack next to the canteen revealed artifacts dating as far back as the 11th century, including the tonir. “When I saw it, I knew we could attract thousands of visitors,” he says

Aghajanyan purchased the property, renovated the canteen, and in June 2021, the restaurant Tsaghkunk (named after the village) was born. The found tonir has been covered in glass and preserved as a historical attraction, but the restaurant uses two new tonirs to cook dishes made from Armenia’s diverse local pantry, which includes wild herbs and flowers, grains and seafood. Tonir-centric recipes, like the signature roasted duck and beetroot, take a New Nordic approach to Armenian cuisine. They have been partly developed by Mads Refslund, cofounder of Noma, which is widely recognized as the world’s best restaurant. Aghajanyan cultivated the Refslund connection via a contact from his ambassador days.

According to Armenian food historian Ruzanna Tsaturyan, the popularity of tonirs has increased substantially in the last 30 years. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, food shortages and electricity crises saw people baking their own lavash bread and barbecuing meat with tonirs. The rise of new gastronomy and tourism businesses in Armenia has cemented a renewed interest in tonir cooking, including a recent Smithsonian Institution program and lavash being named to UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage List in 2013.

“During the period of industrialization, we didn’t understand the treasure of the tonir,” she says. “Nowadays, I’m sure no one in the entire region would touch one single stone if they discovered a tonir on their land.”

Restoring and building tonirs is a thriving trade. Gexam Gharibyan is one of the handful of Armenia’s remaining tonir craftsmen. He has been in the profession for 46 years and represents the third generation of the family business.

Gharibyan remembers the old Soviet days, when he mixed clay by foot and the family made pitchers instead of tonirs due to their lack of popularity. Now he cannot keep up with orders for tonirs for Armenian businesses and private customers, at home and abroad. While his son had originally wanted to leave the family business due to its physically demanding nature, he changed his mind 20 years ago after seeing how profitable it had become.

Gharibyan is now working on modernizing the craft with new ideas. He has invented a pizza-oven tonir and portable tonirs with wheels for catering events, “since Armenians think everything tastes better when it’s cooked in clay,” he says.

Meanwhile, Hrachya Aghajanyan, with all the time spent at his restaurant Tsaghkunk, is also never too far from his roots. Now that he is the father of a 12-year-old girl, being in the place where he grew up and spreading the taste of tonir cooking and Armenian heritage is even more important to him—and what he considers part of an infinite cycle, like the tonir’s shape itself.

“Our cemeteries are on the hill of this village,” he says. “Tradition is forever. You can enjoy and appreciate the world, but this is the place where you came from and where you’ll end.”

Armenian-Australians demand answers after Australian diplomat attends Azerbaijani propaganda event in occupied Shushi

Kanayan Tamar
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
, 16:18

 2 minutes read

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has protested on behalf of the Armenian-Australian community with a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), following the participation of a representative of Australia’s Embassy to Turkey and Azerbaijan to a propaganda event hosted by Baku in the ethnically cleansed and occupied village of Shushi in the Republic of Artsakh.

Defence Attaché, Captain Ben Esler was in Shushi for a “reconstruction conference” hosted by Azerbaijan’s petro-dictatorship of Ilham Aliyev despite Australia’s allies who Co-Chair the United Nations-sanctioned OSCE Minsk Group, the United States and France, boycotting the event being hosted in a village that has been ethnically cleansed of its Armenian populations, where Armenian churches are being converted into mosques.

In the ANC-AU’s letter, Executive Director Michael Kolokossian questioned the unacceptable decision of Australia to participate in the event.

Kolokossian asked: “In what wisdom did Australia feel obliged to visit the currently occupied, and ethnically cleansed territory of Shushi whilst our closest allies––most notably the U.S and France of the OSCE Minsk Group, tasked with managing a peaceful resolution to the conflict––rejected invitations to the ‘reconstruction conference’ in Shushi which has never been part of Azerbaijan?”

The ANC-AU also explained that Australia’s participation in such a conference in the occupied territories of Shushi represented “outright complicity in Azerbaijan’s systematic campaign of cultural genocide in the occupied territories of Artsakh, which the European Parliament has condemned as ‘historical revisionism’”.

Kolokossian added: “Why is Australian taxpayer dollars funding Australian diplomatic delegations to petro-dictatorship’s occupying territories, and accused of committing systematic cultural genocide?”

“Seeing as Australian diplomatic representatives are touring the occupied city of Shushi, they should take a quick pit-stop at Baku’s ethnic hatred ‘theme park’ celebrating dead Armenian soldiers before coming home.”

Kolokossian added: “The Azerbaijani government is not ‘reconstructing’ Shushi, they’re dismantling and desecrating the sacred Armenian Holy Saviour Cathedral, falsifying the region’s historical roots as part of their propaganda campaign in claiming ownership of a region that was never there.”

The ANC-AU letter has requested an urgent meeting with members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss this grave and concerning matter to the Armenian-Australian community.

Earlier, Australia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Miles Armitage, celebrated the visit of his Defense Attaché in a Twitter post.

New report details violations of the rights of the people of Artsakh by Azerbaijan in August 2022

Emil Karabekian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
, 16:49

 2 minutes read

The Human Rights Ombudsman Published an Ad Hoc Trilingual Report on the Violations of the Rights of the People of Artsakh by Azerbaijan in August 2022

Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman’s office has published an ad hoc trilingual report (Armenian, Russian, English) on the violations of the rights of the people of Artsakh by Azerbaijan in August 2022, which has been sent to the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, organizations with a primary mandate of human rights protection and other human rights institutions.

The first section of the report presents details on the systematic and continuous crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh after the November 9, 2020 Statement. After the establishment of the ceasefire, Azerbaijan committed more than 112 crimes that caused human casualties and significant material damage. As a result of those crimes 3 civilians and 15 military servicemen were killed, 126 persons were subjected to attempted murders (48 civilians, 78 militaries), and 65 people (14 civilians, 51 militaries) were wounded in various degrees. The section also made a reference to the Azerbaijani aggression launched against the people of Artsakh in August 2022 and its consequences.

The second section provides details on the existential importance of the Corridor connecting the Republic of Artsakh to the Republic of Armenia (Lachin Corridor) for the people of Artsakh, the inadmissibility of changing its legal regime, and Azerbaijan’s illegal demand of changing the route of the Corridor much earlier than was agreed under the November 9, 2020 Statement. It has been stated in the section that to advance its illegal demands, Azerbaijan continuously uses or threats to use force, grossly violating international law.

The third section introduces details on the depopulation of Berdzor, Aghavno, and Nerkin Sus communities of the Kashatagh region of Artsakh, resulting in gross violations of fundamental human rights, also referring to the European Court of Human Rights’ interim measures issued on August 19, 2022, and expanded on November 3 of the same year, which call on the parties “to refrain from such actions that could lead to a violation of the rights of civilians protected by the Convention.”

The fourth section provides some proof of the drastic increase in hate speech and other manifestations of Armenophobia by the state officials and public figures of Azerbaijan, parallel to the August escalation. It has been stated that Azerbaijan is clearly violating the order of the International Court of Justice issued on December 7, 2021, particularly paragraph 2, according to which Azerbaijan must “refrain from engaging in or tolerating hate speech against Armenians… punishing all acts of racial discrimination, both public and private, against Armenians, including those taken by public officials.”

The fifth section makes a reference to the necessity of clarifying the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping mission, which will provide effective mechanisms for properly countering the ceasefire violations and for ensuring stable and lasting peace.

The report was prepared on the basis of studies conducted by the Human Rights Defender’s Office, on the visits to various communities, citizens’ houses, on private conversations with citizens, and information received from state-authorized bodies. The aim is to document the cases of violation of the rights of the people of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and their various manifestations and to draw the attention of international institutions and human rights organizations to the situation in Artsakh.

Lavrov says Yerevan, Baku and Moscow have made progress in reaching agreements

Nyrie Kalashian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
, 18:40

 1 minute read

The trilateral working group consisting of representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia has made significant progress in reaching agreements on the unblocking transport links in the South Caucasus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, TASS reports.

“The issues of unblocking trade, economic, transport ties in the South Caucasus are being handled by a trilateral group chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is working rhythmically, contacts on delimitation of the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia were held recently. This trilateral working group, established by the decision of the three presidents of November 9, 2020, has made significant progress in reaching agreements. I hope they will be formalized in the very near future. What is especially important s that this work is not carried out in a vacuum, not in isolation, but in close coordination with broader transport projects, including the North-South corridor project, which our Iranian partners are also interested in,” he said.

Abdollahian noted, in turn, that Iran has a very privileged geopolitical position. ” We see the strengthening of transit routes, including the diversified North-South routes, s an important factor for development, as well as for food security in this region,” he added. The Iranian Foreign Minister also expressed the country’s readiness to complete the construction of the unfinished section of Rasht – Astara.

Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders agree to continue substantive negotiations on drafting of the peace treaty

Lena Karagyozian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
, 20:11

 1 minute read

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Brussels on August 31 under the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel.

Issues related to the release of prisoners and the clarification of the fate of the missing, border delimitation and border security, de-blocking the region, the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, and the Nagorno Karabakh issue were discussed.

An agreement was reached to continue substantive negotiations at the level of foreign ministers on the drafting of the peace treaty. The meeting of the foreign ministers will take place within a month.

The next meeting of the Commission on Delimitation and Border Security will take place in Brussels in November.

The next meeting of the leadsers of the countries will take place in November.

EU’s Michel stresses the importance of release of Armenian detainees by Azerbaijan

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
, 20:28

 1 minute read

Our discussions focused on recent developments in the South Caucasus and the relations between the EU and both countries, President of the EU Council Charles Michel said after taljs with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Below are Charles Michrl’s remarks in full:

Our exchanges were open and productive – and I would like to thank both leaders for that. We reviewed the entire set of issues on our agenda.

It is positive to see that quite a few steps have been taken to take forward the agreements reached during our last meeting.

Peace Agreement

Today we agree to step up substantive work to advance on the peace treaty governing inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and tasked the Foreign Ministers to meet within one month to work on draft texts.

Humanitarian issues

We also had a detailed discussion on humanitarian issues, including demining, detainees and the fate of missing persons.

President Michel stressed to Azerbaijan the importance of further release of Armenian detainees.

The EU will continue to be engaged in these questions.

Border issues

We reviewed progress on all questions related to the delimitation of the border and how best to ensure a stable situation.

We agreed that the next meeting of the Border Commissions will take place in Brussels in November.

Connectivity 

We reviewed progress of discussions on the modalities for unblocking the transport links.

With all these discussions, I would like to underline that it is important to take the population along on both sides and prepare them for a long-term sustainable peace.

Public messaging is critical in this regard – in a sensitive situation like this every word spoken in public is obviously listened to by the other side and weighed.

The EU is ready to further step up its support towards a long-term sustainable peace. The EU will also continue to push for the advancement of economic development for the benefit of both countries and their populations.

We have agreed to meet again in this format by the end of November.

Artsakh’s international recognition ‘has matured’, ombudsman says

Garo Vardanian
Panorama
Armenia – Aug 31 2022

The concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination include cases of gross human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan during the aggression against Artsakh in 2020 and beyond, Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Gegham Stepanyan said on Wednesday.

“We note with satisfaction that the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the fulfillment of the obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination include cases of gross human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan during the aggression against Artsakh in 2020 and beyond,” he said in a statement.

“Concerns voiced by the Committee regarding the incitement of racial hatred and propagation of racist stereotypes against persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin, including by Azerbaijani government officials, as well as the lack of proper investigation, are the best evidence that discriminatory policies in Azerbaijan are implemented at the state level.

“All the other cases pointed out by the Committee, such as grave human rights violations committed by the Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and civilians, including extrajudicial killings, torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detentions, as well as the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage are carried out in accordance with and in furtherance of the discriminatory state policy of Azerbaijan.

“The observations presented by the Committee are part of the systematic and large-scale discriminatory policy of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh pursued for decades. The implementation of the discriminatory policy of Azerbaijan at the state level indicates that the path chosen by the people of Artsakh and the independent state-building have no alternative. We believe that the international recognition of Artsakh has matured as manifestation of fulfillment of the international community’s obligation to take effective measures to prevent gross human rights violations,” reads the statement.