Wednesday,
Pashinian, Aliyev To Meet Again In Brussels
• Heghine Buniatian
Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel meets with Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, Brussels,
December 14, 2021.
European Council President Charles Michel will host fresh talks between the
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels next week, it was announced on
Wednesday.
A spokesman for Michel gave no details of the agenda of his trilateral meeting
with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and President Ilham Aliyev, saying only that
it is scheduled for April 6.
A senior European diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told RFE/RL that the
three men will review recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone
and continue discussions on achieving regional peace and stability. They will
specifically focus on practical modalities of opening transport links between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, said the diplomat.
Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron held a virtual meeting with Aliyev
and Pashinian on February 4. The video conference came about two months after
Pashinian’s two face-to-face talks with Aliyev which were separately hosted by
Macron and Michel in Brussels.
The fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders was announced two days
after Armenia offered to “immediately” start negotiations with Azerbaijan on a
bilateral peace treaty sought by Baku. The offer in turn followed deadly
fighting in Karabakh sparked by an Azerbaijani incursion into a local village
and surrounding territory.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Baku is prepared for such
negotiations but expects the Armenian side to take unspecified “concrete steps”
first. It said the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal must be based on five
elements that were presented by it to Yerevan on March 10. Those include, among
other things, a mutual commitment to recognize each other’s territorial
integrity.
Freed Mayor Allowed To Run Armenian Town For Now
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Goris Mayor Arush Arushanian speaks with journalists after his release
from custody, March 28, 2022.
Prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday that the opposition-linked mayor of the
southeastern Armenian town of Goris can continue to perform his duties for now
despite a court ruling that bars him from holding public office.
Arush Arushanian received a suspended six-month prison sentence and was set free
on Monday nine months after being arrested on a string of charges strongly
denied by him.
Arushanian was acquitted of vote buying but found guilty of assault and abuse of
power at the end of a four-month trial. A court in Goris also ruled that he
cannot hold any local government posts for the next five years.
Arushanian’s lawyers said that he will appeal against the verdict. They insisted
that the 31-year-old can continue to serve as Goris mayor pending a higher
court’s ruling on the appeal.
A spokesman for Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General, Gor Abrahamian,
confirmed that. “There are no obstacles right now given the fact that the
judicial act has not yet taken effect,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Arushanian returned to work hours after walking free in the courtroom. A
statement posted on the website of the Goris municipality said that he will
chair a session of the municipal council scheduled for April 5.
The council elected last October is empowered to appoint and dismiss the head of
the local community comprising Goris and surrounding villages.
An opposition bloc led by Arushanian controls 13 of the 21 seats in the council.
It will therefore be in a position to install another mayor if Arushanian’s
removal from office is upheld by higher courts.
Arushanian was one of the four heads of major communities of Syunik province who
were arrested shortly after the June 2021 parliamentary elections on various
charges rejected by them as politically motivated. They all demanded Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation before joining the main opposition
Hayastan alliance set up by former President Robert Kocharian in the run-up to
the snap polls.
Armenian Central Bank Sees Serious Fallout From Ukraine War
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Export-bound brandy stored at a distillery in Yerevan.
Armenian economic growth will slow down considerably and inflation will remain
high this year due to knock-on effects of Western sanctions imposed on Russia
over its invasion of Ukraine, according to the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA).
In a report released this week, the CBA said that the country’s economy now
faces “high uncertainty and significant risks.” It predicted sizable drops in
Armenian exports to Russia and multimillion-dollar remittances from Armenians
working there.
Russia is Armenia’s number one trading partner and export market, with bilateral
trade totaling $2.6 billion last year. The Russian ruble has depreciated sharply
since the start of the assault on Ukraine on February 24.
The CBA report says that Russian-owned companies operating in Armenia will
experience major “difficulties and disruptions” because of the crippling
sanctions against Russia.
One such company, the Teghut mining giant, suspended operations on March 14. It
employs 1,100 people and was Armenia’s tenth largest corporate taxpayer in 2021.
Armenia - A newly constructed ore-processing plant at the Teghut copper mine,
20Dec2014.
The CBA already cut its economic growth forecast for 2022 from 5.3 percent to
1.6 percent in mid-March. A senior official from the International Monetary Fund
forecast a virtually identical growth rate.
The CBA also raised its benchmark interest rate by 1.25 percentage points,
citing increased inflationary pressures on the Armenian economy.
“A high inflationary environment is expected to persist in the months to come,”
reads the bank’s latest report.
Food prices in the country went up by an average of almost 13 percent last year,
reflecting a global trend. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian warned on March 3 that
fallout from the conflict in Ukraine will push them up further.
Armenia imports a large part of its wheat, cooking oil and other basic
foodstuffs from Russia. Many of its citizens are already struggling to cope with
the increased cost of living.
“What should pensioners do?” said one middle-aged woman in Yerevan. “Things are
getting worse by the day.”
Armenian Judge’s Arrest Extended
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia-Judge Boris Bakhshiyan,undated
An Armenian court has extended by one month the pre-trial arrest of a judge
prosecuted on what he sees as politically motivated charges.
Boris Bakhshiyan was taken into custody on February 7 two weeks after granting
bail to a jailed opposition figure. He rejects accusations leveled against him
as government retribution for that decision.
The accusations stem from another decision which Bakhshiyan made during an
ongoing trial presided over by him. Prosecutors claim that the 36-year-old judge
illegally ordered the arrest of one of the defendants in that trial.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), a state body overseeing Armenian courts,
allowed Bakhshiyan’s arrest despite an uproar from many lawyers and the
leadership of Armenia’s Union of Judges.
Bakhshiyan’s lawyer, Arsen Sardarian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on
Wednesday that a Yerevan court has agreed to allow investigators to hold his
client in detention for one more month, until May 7.
In recent months, opposition groups, legal experts and some judges have
repeatedly accused the Armenian government of seeking to increase its influence
on courts under the guise of judicial reforms. The authorities deny this,
insisting that the reforms are aimed at increasing judicial independence.
Armenia’s parliament controlled by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s party
approved in February legislation that made it easier for law-enforcement
authorities to indict and arrest judges.
Armenian Ministry Raided In Corruption Probe
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - The building of the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Yerevan.
Law-enforcement officers have raided the Armenian Ministry of Emergency
Situations as part of an apparent investigation into corruption.
The officers of the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) and the National Security
Service (NSS) jointly searched at least one office at the ministry headquarters
in Yerevan on Monday. It remains unclear whether anyone was arrested or charged
as a result.
Neither law-enforcement agency has commented on the extraordinary operation so
far. The ACC said on Wednesday that it will make an official statement soon.
A spokeswoman for the ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the
investigators searched the office of Ashot Hakobian, an adviser to Minister of
Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan. Hakobian did not report for work on
Wednesday despite not being on vacation, she said without commenting further.
Piloyan went on a two-week vacation hours after the raid. He was reportedly
questioned by the ACC on Tuesday. The minister has still not publicly commented
on the corruption probe.
Piloyan is a retired army general who participated in the 2020 war with
Azerbaijan. During the six-week hostilities, he received Armenia’s highest state
award, the title of National Hero, for leading what Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian called a successful Armenian counteroffensive southwest of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The award proved highly controversial seeing as Azerbaijani forces continued
their advance in that area in the following days.
Pashinian went on to appoint Piloyan as minister in November 2020 less than two
weeks after a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the devastating war.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations will be run by Piloyan’s first deputy,
Armen Pambukhchian, for now. Pambukhchian is a member of the ruling Civil
Contract party.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Category: 2022
Canada urged to join US and France in calling out Azerbaijan’s aggression in Artsakh
Panorama
Armenia –
The Armenian National Committee of Canada on Tuesday issued the following statement, regarding the rising tensions in the Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan’s renewed aggression against the peaceful Armenian population.
“The Armenian National Committee of Canada condemns – in the strongest possible terms – Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression in the Republic of Artsakh and calls upon the Government of Canada to condemn Baku and use all the diplomatic tools at its disposal to contain Azerbaijan’s renewed attempts of violence and destabilization.
“Since March 24th, Azerbaijani forces have made several incursions into the territory of the Republic of Artsakh, grossly violating the November 2020 ceasefire agreement and signalling their clear intention for renewed hostilities in Artsakh.
“Using artillery and Bayraktar TB2 drones, Azerbaijan’s latest aggression has caused several casualties, while forcing the peaceful Armenian population of nearby villages to flee their indigenous homes.
“Taking full advantage of the already fragile situation in the region, Azerbaijan is using various methods to intimidate and demoralize the local population with an end goal to ethnically cleanse the Republic of Artsakh from its indigenous Armenian population.
“Aside from its military aggression, Azerbaijani forces have cut off the gas supply to the Republic of Artsakh, further exacerbating the already disastrous humanitarian situation in the region. Additionally, reports have confirmed that Azerbaijani forces have been periodically warning the residents of frontline villages and the capital city of Stepanakert to flee or face violence.
“Such psychological warfare, coupled with aggression and a systematic disinformation campaign cannot be left unpunished. While the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group have clearly called out Azerbaijan’s aggression, Canada has remained silent in the face of this latest rise in tensions.
“In November 2020, Canada welcomed the trilateral ceasefire agreement that brought an end to hostilities. Azerbaijan’s latest acts are a brazen violation of that very agreement that Canada welcomed. Therefore, we call upon the Canadian Government to join the US and France in calling out Azerbaijan’s aggression and take all the necessary measures to deter further Azerbaijani violence and ensure that Baku abides by the ceasefire agreement of November 2020.”
https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2022/03/30/Canada-Azerbaijani-aggression/2660781
The ANCCanada Statement can be read at
MP: Azerbaijan tries to break the backbone of Armenian-held part of Artsakh
Panorama
Armenia –
Tigran Abrahamyan, an Armenian MP from the opposition With Honor faction, says that many people have no idea of the territorial and strategic significance of the village of Parukh and the adjacent Karaglukh height in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) partially occupied by Azerbaijani forces at this point.
“During its recent advance, Azerbaijan managed to occupy a territory in the Karaglukh area that is many times bigger than the entire administrative territory of Parukh,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Abrahamyan underscores that various sections of the Karaglukh mountain “pose a bigger strategic threat that Parukh.”
“The Azerbaijanis used Parukh as a staging post, and immediately after the invasion they built bypass roads to break through to various parts of Karaglukh, set up and fortify positions, ensure uninterrupted supplies for themselves and then create new problems for the livelihood of Artsakh,” he stated.
“If Azerbaijan gets away with it and does not withdraw its troops to their initial points, an unprecedented situation will be created to break the backbone of the part of Artsakh that is currently under our control,” the lawmaker said.
Armenian captives subjected to speedy, unfair trials in Azerbaijan – Amnesty International
Panorama
Armenia –
There was no accountability for violations committed during the 2020 war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) unleashed by Azerbaijan and its aftermath, Amnesty International said in its annual Report 2021/22.
“No substantive progress was made in investigating war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law during the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and in its immediate aftermath or in bringing suspected perpetrators to justice,” the human rights group said.
Amnesty International recalled that by the end of 2021 Azerbaijan had reportedly handed over 60 captives to Armenia, some in exchange for minefield maps in the conflict affected areas.
“The exact number of people remaining in captivity in Azerbaijan at the end of the year was unknown,” it said.
“In its September report the Council of Europe raised concerns that dozens of captives continued to be held in inhumane conditions and subjected to speedy, unfair trials, while the fate and whereabouts of around 30 Armenian captives remained unknown amid allegations of their enforced disappearance and possible killing,” reads the report.
Opposition MP: Armenia experiencing most difficult stage of its independent statehood
Panorama
Armenia –
Armenia is living through the most difficult and dramatic stage of its independent statehood at this point, according to MP Elinar Vardanyan of the opposition Hayastan faction.
“It is necessary to concentrate our resources and take precise steps to get out of the current situation,” she told a discussion on the “Armenian agenda, internal solidarity and pan-Armenian resources” on Wednesday.
Vardanyan states that internal solidarity and pan-Armenian resources are different aspects of one and the same issue.
She underscores that Armenian society has been split into various camps in recent years, due to which people’s resistance has been broken.
“Currently, there is a major rift among Armenians all over the world, which is worrying,” the lawmaker said, stressing the need for measures to eliminate it.
She calls for a proper assessment of pan-Armenian resources and their proportionate distribution to counter the threats facing Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian Diaspora.
Undue restrictions on freedom of expression continued in Armenia in 2021 – report
Panorama
Armenia –
The right to freedom of _expression_ continued to be unduly restricted in Armenia in 2021, Amnesty International said in its annual Report 2021/22.
“The government introduced several legislative amendments curtailing independent media and other critical voices,” the human rights group noted.
“In March, the National Assembly increased the maximum fine for insult and defamation to AMD 6 million (approximately US$12,000). In August, another set of legislative amendments criminalized insulting public figures, making repeated insults punishable by up to three months’ imprisonment.
“In September, police opened a criminal case under this new law against a Facebook user for insulting the prime minister in a comment under a photo featuring him,” the report said.
Amnesty International stated that the Armenian authorities continued the prosecution on “trumped-up charges” of human rights defender Sashik Sultanian in retaliation for his criticism of the treatment of the Yazidi ethnic minority in Armenia.
“An investigation into his alleged incitement of national hatred had been opened in October 2020, after he published an online interview on problems faced by the ethnic Yazidis. His trial started in August and was ongoing at the end of the year. If convicted, he could face three to six years in prison,” it said.
Ex-minister: Politicians have done everything to split Armenian society
Panorama
Armenia –
Political figures have done everything to divide Armenian society, crossing all the “red lines”, Hrachya Rostomyan, Secretary General of the Armenian National Olympic Committee and former Minister of Sport and Youth of Armenia, said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a discussion on the Armenian agenda, internal solidarity and pan-Armenian resources, Rostomyan pointed to the deep polarization in all groups of society, including in families.
He underscored that there are internal and external forces that benefit from the split in society.
Rostomyan calls for a dialogue between all strata of society to overcome the polarization which “will not lead to anything good”.
“Intellectuals, athletes, and religious leaders should play a key role in this regard,” he added.
Azerbaijan puts Russian MP on international wanted list
Panorama
Armenia –
The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against Mikhail Delyagin, a member of the Russian State Duma, for his remarks about Azerbaijan and has put him on the international wanted list, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.
On March 28, during a program aired on the Russia state TV, the Russian lawmaker called for the “punishment” of Azerbaijan for its aggressive actions in Nagorno-Karabakh and suggested hitting its oil industry with nuclear weapons.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that his statement “does not correspond to the official policy line of the Russian Federation.”
Milwaukee Rep’s musical ‘Titanic’ takes on special meaning for the great-granddaughter of a survivor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
March 28 2022
Jim Higgins
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When Melissa Vartanian-Mikaelian learned her employer, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, was performing “Titanic” this season, she was “super excited,” because the musical reminds her of the greatest love story she knows.
Her great-grandfather, David (Davit) Vartanian, an Armenian immigrant seeking a better life in North America, survived the Titanic sinking in 1912, and was reunited with his wife Mary 11 years later.
Decades later, when David’s daughter Rose put her visiting grandchildren to bed, Melissa and her sister Jennifer would say, Tell us a story of when your Dad jumped off the Titanic.
More than a century after the British passenger liner foundered in the North Atlantic Ocean, interest remains high in the stories of people rich and poor who survived the sinking — and the more than 1,500 who didn’t.
RELATED:100 unsinkable facts about the Titanic
The musical “Titanic,” by Maury Yeston and Peter Stone, premiered in 1997, the same year as James Cameron’s popular movie “Titanic,” but they are not connected. The Broadway production won multiple Tony awards, including best musical and best original score.
Milwaukee Rep artistic director Mark Clements sees Cameron’s movie as an action vehicle, but he says the musical concentrates more on characters, including the immigrants traveling third class and people like Fred Barrett, the Titanic’s lead stoker.
But fear not, Clements promises plenty of visual spectacle in the Rep’s staging of “Titanic.” Performances begin April 5. With a cast of 30 actors, it will be one of the largest musicals the Rep has staged.
Vartanian-Mikaelian, the Rep’s managing director, called it “very special” that “the place I have given 20 years of my career to is doing a production that has such historical relevance to my family. It is like my two worlds are colliding in a really beautiful way. I have felt truly honored that so many of my colleagues have taken an interest in hearing about my family history.”
The Titanic sank on his birthdayDavid Vartanian married a fellow Armenian, Mary, in 1911. Soon after, he left the turbulent Ottoman Empire, with the plan of sending for Mary when he established himself.
He was in the ocean liner’s steerage level with other passengers when the Titanic struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912 — his 22nd birthday.
“They knew something was happening. Exactly like in the movie, they broke down the gate so they could get out,” his daughter Rose Vartanian told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl in a 2009 interview.
In that same interview, Rose Vartanian told Stingl that David, swimming in the icy water, grabbed onto a lifeboat. Passengers, fearing it would capsize, rapped on his hands to try to make him let go. That’s the story Melissa Vartanian-Mikaelian heard growing up.
But when Melissa talked with the Brantford Expositor newspaper in Ontario for an article in 2012, she learned details about her great-grandfather’s experience that made his survival even more remarkable.
More:‘Ragtime,’ new twist on classics make Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s next season much ado about something
After being rescued and then treated for a few days in a New York hospital, David Vartanian arrived in Ontario. Shortly thereafter, he and another Armenian survivor were interviewed by the Expositor, which published an article in 1912 about their experiences.
Melissa learned that shortly before the Titanic foundered, David and some other men, none of whom spoke the same language, discovered a collapsible lifeboat that had not yet been lowered. Working together despite the language gap, they released it into the ocean. It started to wash away, so they jumped into the water and swam for it.
After going down twice, David managed to make the lifeboat with a “big swim,” he told the Brantford journalist. Others already in it pulled him aboard.
Unfortunately, they had traveled only 20 yards or so when the collapsible lifeboat went down. Finding himself in the water again, David swam to another lifeboat where, this account says, others in that lifeboat paid little attention to him, so he managed to pull himself into it. He was one of the 700-plus survivors rescued by the RMS Carpathia.
As he established himself first in Canada and then in the United States, David Vartanian tried every means he could to get messages to his wife, Mary. He learned in 1915 that her village was raided during the Armenian genocide; he could no longer be certain even if she was alive.
Finally, he connected with her brothers, who had come over to work in the United States, learning that she had fled the genocide all the way to Syria, before eventually returning to her home village. David and Mary were finally reunited in 1923 at Niagara Falls.
The Vartanians settled in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he was known as Titanic David. “The lower half of my grandfather’s body had a bluish tint from being in the frigid water for so long, and remained that way,” his grandson Greg told a reporter for The Armenian Weekly in 2009.
“Dad never showed any further interest in swimming,” Rose said.
At some point after the 1940 census, the Vartanians moved to Detroit, where David died in 1966.
Melissa said her grandmother Rose was “kind of obsessed” with all things Titanic, taking her and her sister to any event or exhibit related to the doomed ocean liner within driving distance. Rose felt, and Melissa herself feels, it is important to learn the history and honor both the souls that survived and the ones who didn’t.
So Melissa was pleased when a major traveling exhibit of Titanic artifacts came to the Milwaukee Public Museum in 2008-’09.
She was home sick a day from work, watching “The Morning Blend” on WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) during its “Wedding Week” promotion, when she heard about a contest with the first prize of an expenses-paid wedding at the Titanic exhibit. Already involved in planning her wedding to Vache Mikaelian, Melissa entered and won the contest. She understands why some people might see the whole episode as incongruous. But to her, it was a way of honoring her legacy.
Her husband was completely on board.
“It’s her family history,” he told Stingl in 2009. “It’s become an important story to me, too, now.”
Melissa was in high school when the musical “Titanic” opened on Broadway. She bought the original cast recording on CD and listened to it “nonstop.” She also bought the CD for her grandmother Rose to hear.
“I love the music, the score. The orchestrations are phenomenal. And it’s so majestic,” she said.
As the Rep’s managing director, Melissa oversees human resources, facilities, information technology and other departments, so she is privy to artistic planning discussions, and she knew that performing “Titanic” had been under consideration for several years. It originally was scheduled for autumn 2020 but was delayed by the pandemic shutdown.
Of course she wants you to see the Rep’s production of “Titanic.” Mark Clements “has been really sincere in trying to honor the memory of all of those that lost their lives that night, or fought for their lives that night,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine any better director to lead this massive production.”
But she also hopes you will stay with this story after you leave the theater.
“Explore the people that were on this boat and their stories. Explore more about the ship and how it was built and why it was built and what happened afterwards,” she said.
Contact Jim Higgins at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @jhiggy.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater performs the musical “Titanic” April 5-May 14 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.
Azerbaijan`s operation cause of much graver problems for Artsakh
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan
ArmInfo.Many people have a vague idea of the strategic importance of the village of Parukh, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the opposition bloc With Honor, wrote in a Facebook post.
During their last advance the Azerbaijani troops occupied much larger territories than the village of Parukh within its administrative borders.
“I am writing it because some people, knowingly or unknowingly, are giving priority to the village of Parukh alone, whereas the strategically important parts of the Karaglukh ridge can be a source of a much greater threat that Parukh itself.
“The Azerbaijanis used Paraglukh a transit point and, immediately after invading it, they built bypass roads to get to different part of Karabglukh and strengthen their positions, ensure uninterrupted supplies nd cause new problems to the very life in Artsakh,” the MP wrote.
Artsakh is facing much more serious problems now, and Azerbaijan’s operation has created an even graver situation. –