PRESS RELEASE Contact: Dr. Arto Vaun FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PROJECT SAVE LAUNCHES SERIES ON THE POWER AND ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY Boston, MA — Last month, Project SAVE Photograph Archives launched “Conversations on Photography,” a series in which established photographers, artists, archivists, and researchers present and discuss the impact, beauty, and relevance of photography. The inaugural speaker was Tatiana Cole, who is the Photograph Conservator at the Boston Athenaeum. On Saturday, April 9, the next speaker will be Nazik Armenakyan, one of the most important photographers in Armenia and co-founder of the 4Plus Photography Collective. Her photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde. “When I was living in Armenia, 4Plus struck me as one of the most innovative and high-quality initiatives there,” said Dr. Arto Vaun, the Executive Director of Project SAVE. “They’re an all-female group of photographers whose work is consistently extraordinary and impactful. I’m so pleased to help introduce their photographs and mission to a wider audience.” “Conversations on Photography” is the first in a number of new and unique initiatives at Project SAVE. They are also doing a complete overhaul of their website and photograph database, as well as launching the Project SAVE Artist Residency soon. “It’s an exciting time of change and transition for us,” Vaun said. “Project SAVE is growing both literally in terms of staff and photo collections, but also in terms of vision and scope. I’m looking forward to widening our reach and welcoming new supporters and lovers of photography.” For more info and to register for the next “Conversations on Photography” visit projectsave.org/events. This will be an online event.
Category: 2022
European Scientists Name New Species of Lichen in Honor of Arsen Gasparyan, Scientist at Takhtajyan Institute of Botany of NAS RA
Scientists from the University of Liege in Belgium Emmanuel Serusiaux, Nicolas Magain and Dutch scientist Peter van den Boom discovered a new species of lichen Ramalina and named it Ramalina arsenii in honor of Arsen Gasparyan, Head of Research Group on Lichen Research and Preservation at Takhtajyan Institute of Botany of NAS RA.
The results of the research of European scientists are published in the scientific journal “The Lichenologist” published by the University of Cambridge: “Gasparyan & Sipman 2016 (This new species is named after our distinguished colleague Dr Arsen Gasparyan, who revised the taxonomy of the Ramalina pollinaria group (Gasparyan et al. 2017); he also published an interesting account of epiphytic lichens in Armenia (Gasparyan & Sipman 2016)”.
During his doctoral dissertation Arsen Gasparyan conducted extensive research on lichens in Armenia. “In 2011, when I was just starting my research, 422 species of lichens were known from all over Armenia. By the time my doctoral dissertation was published, that number had risen to 617. As a result of only a few years of intensive research, 195 new species of lichen were discovered in Armenia and 5 new species in the world,” Arsen Gasparyan said.
January 27, 2022 at 15:42
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/28/2022
Monday,
Local Election Marred By Violence, Claims Of Foul Play
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Defense Minister Suren Papikian (third from right) and other senior
members of the ruling Civil Contract party hold an election campaign meeting in
Vedi, March 25, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party has won a repeat election
held in Armenia’s southern Ararat province amid accusations of foul play voiced
by opposition figures, election observers and some media outlets.
Voters in a community comprising the provincial town of Vedi and surrounding
villages went to the polls on Sunday for the second time in three months to
elect a new local council empowered to appoint the community’s chief executive.
The first election held there in December produced inconclusive results. A local
opposition bloc called My Strong Community won the largest number of votes but
fell short of an overall majority in the council. The two other election
contenders, including Civil Contract, failed to cut a power-sharing deal,
forcing the conduct of the repeat vote.
Official results showed Civil Contract winning 56 percent of the vote this time
around, enough to install its top candidate, Garik Sargsian, as head of the
community. My Strong Community got 41 percent. The opposition bloc did not
immediately concede defeat or announce plans to challenge the vote results in
court.
In January, the Armenian government appointed Sargsian as interim community
mayor in a clear effort to boost the ruling party’s electoral chances.
Opposition figures have since repeatedly accused him of abusing his
administrative levers to gain an unfair advantage over his opposition
challengers.
Armenia - Garik Sargsian.
Daniel Ioannisian, a Yerevan-based civic activist who coordinated a team of
local election observers, added his voice to the accusations on Monday.
Ioannisian singled out Sargsian’s decision to provide financial aid to
low-income local residents in the run-up to the ballot. That, he said, amounted
to vote buying.
Minister for Territorial Administration Gnel Sanosian dismissed such claims.
Sanosian, who is a senior member of Pashinian’s party, insisted that the Vedi
election was free and fair.
The election was also marred by a violent incident that occurred outside a
polling station in a village near Vedi. A local opposition activist was
reportedly assaulted by two dozen Pashinian supporters.
Ioannisian claimed that police officers guarding the polling station witnessed
the beating but did not intervene to stop it. He called for an internal police
inquiry into their inaction.
A spokesman for the Armenian police told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that no such
inquiry has been launched so far.
For its part, the Office of the Prosecutor-General said law-enforcement
authorities are investigating this incident. It said they are also looking into
several reports about multiple voting and unauthorized presence of people in
some polling stations.
Vaccinations Plummet In Armenia Amid Record-Low COVID-19 Cases
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - A medical worker fills a syringe with COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile
vaccination center in Yerevan, January 14, 2022.
The already slow pace of vaccinations in Armenia has continued to drop in recent
weeks amid falling numbers of new coronavirus cases reported by health
authorities there.
The Armenian Ministry of Health said on Monday that only ten people tested
positive for the coronavirus in the past day, the lowest single-day number of
cases recorded by it since the start of the pandemic.
The ministry reported an average of two dozen cases a day last week, sharply
down from a record high of 4,500 cases registered on February 2 at the height of
an Omicron-driven wave of infections.
The country’s infection rate has steadily declined since then despite the
Armenian authorities’ failure to enforce a mandatory health pass for entry to
cultural and leisure venues introduced on January 22. Very few restaurants, bars
and other private entities have required visitors to produce evidence of their
vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test result.
Not surprisingly, Armenia’s vaccine rollout has slowed further over the last two
months. According to the Ministry of Health, only 46,000 people received a
second dose of a vaccine in March, compared with over 120,000 such shots
administered in January.
Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the ministry’s National Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, expressed serious concern at this downward
trend. Sahakian warned that Armenians should brace themselves for a new wave of
infections anticipated by the health authorities.
“We will have a visible increase [in infections] at the end of April,” she said,
arguing that first cases of the more contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron have
already been detected in Armenia.
As of Monday, just over 967,000 people making up more than a third of the
country’s population were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Only 34,300 of them
also received booster shots.
Opposition Mayor Freed After Trial
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Mayor Arush Arushanian visits a newly repaired sports school in Goris,
June 5, 2021.
The jailed mayor of the southeastern Armenian town of Goris and surrounding
villages was set free but risked losing his post on Monday five months after his
opposition bloc’s victory in a local election.
The 31-year-old mayor, Arush Arushanian, received a suspended six-month prison
sentence for abuse of power and assault at the end of his high-profile trial. A
local court at the same time cleared him of other, more serious charges,
rejecting prosecutors’ demands to sentence him to nine years in prison.
Arushanian is 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 formed by former President Robert Kocharian in the run-up to
the snap polls.
The court cleared Arushanian of trying to buy votes. Law-enforcement authorities
claim that he ordered the head of a village close to Goris, Lusine Avetian, to
provide financial aid to local residents promising to vote for Hayastan.
Arushanian strongly denies that, saying that the poverty benefits approved by
the local council were allocated on a regular basis and had nothing to do with
the general elections.
The accusation was based in large measure on Avetian’s incriminating pre-trial
testimony against Arushanian. The village chief retracted it when the trial that
began in November.
Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L), Goris Mayor Arush
Arushanian (C) and other officials walk through the center of the town,
September 12, 2020.
The Syunik court also banned Arushanian from holding public office for the next
five years. His lawyer, Erik Aleskanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that he
will appeal against the verdict. Aleksanian insisted that his client can
continue to serve as Goris mayor pending a higher court’s ruling on the appeal.
Arushanian was reelected for a second term as a result of a municipal election
held last October three months after his arrest. A bloc led by him defeated
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party by a wide margin.
The mayor reportedly received a hero’s welcome from his supporters in Goris
after walking free in the courtroom. He told journalists that he will continue
to “fight for the homeland” and its “internal enemies.”
Two of the three other jailed Syunik community heads, who were elected to the
Armenian parliament on the Hayastan ticket, were set free in December after the
Constitutional Court deemed their arrest illegal.
The third community chief, Manvel Paramazian, was freed in October only to be
arrested again in February after the Court of Appeals overturned a Syunik
judge’s decision to grant him bail. The judge was also arrested on the same day
on charges which he rejects as government retribution.
Azeri Troops 'Withdrawn' From Karabakh Village
• Artak Khulian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A Russian peacekeeper patrols at a checkpoint outside
Askeran, November 20, 2020
Azerbaijani forces have withdrawn from a village in Nagorno-Karabakh’s east but
continue to occupy territory outside it seized by them last week, military
authorities in Stepanakert said on Monday.
The Azerbaijani army captured the village of Parukh on Thursday before advancing
towards a strategic mountain to the west of it. Three Karabakh Armenian soldiers
were killed in ensuing fighting for the sprawling Karaglukh mountain. Russian
peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh helped to largely halt the fighting on
Saturday evening.
In a weekend statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijani of
violating a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020
Armenian-Azerbaijani war. It urged Azerbaijani forces to leave the peacekeepers’
“zone of responsibility.” Baku denied violating the ceasefire regime in the area
bordering the Aghdam district regained by it following the six-week war.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Sunday evening that Azerbaijani
forces have pulled out of Parukh.
Karabakh’s Defense Army confirmed the following morning that the small village
is now “under the control of the Russian peacekeeping troops.” All of its
residents fled their homes on Thursday.
The Defense Army also said that Azerbaijani soldiers continue to hold “fortified
positions” at a section of Karaglukh but that “the main part” of the sprawling
mountain is controlled by the Karabakh Armenian side. The Russian contingent’s
command keeps trying to ensure a full Azerbaijani withdrawal from the area, it
added in a statement.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said, meanwhile, that Yerevan expects from the
Russians “concrete measures” to reverse the Azerbaijani “incursion” into parts
of Karabakh’s eastern Askeran district. It also reiterated Yerevan’s calls for a
“proper investigation” into the peacekeepers’ failure to thwart that incursion
in the first place.
The Russian military said on Sunday that the peacekeepers have managed to
“stabilize the situation” in the area. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
reporters on Monday that Moscow’s chief objective now is to ensure the
conflicting parties’ full compliance with the 2020 truce accord.
Neither side reported serious truce violations on Sunday and Monday morning.
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.
The California Courier Online, March 31, 2022
1- Turkey Can Fool Some People Some Time
But not All People, All the Time
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- ARF World Congress confirms names of ARF Central Committee
(Western US)
3- New Imprint Tadem Press Publishes
‘Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy’
4- Massive fatal crash in Studio City kills UCLA student Sera Aintablian
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
************************************************************************************************************************************************
1- Turkey Can Fool Some People Some Time
But not All People, All the Time
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The Turkish government is continuing its duplicitous game of playing
on both sides of the fence, pretending to be the friend of both Russia
and Ukraine in order to draw maximum benefit from its tightrope walk.
However, Turkey cannot keep playing this game for too long before it
falls flat on its face from the teetering tightrope. For decades, as a
member of NATO, Turkey violated its principles, bought problematic
weapons from Russia while acting as a member of the Western military
camp, refused to support the collective decisions of the organization,
and got sanctioned by the United States, its NATO partner.
Turkey has played a similar erratic role as a member of the Council of
Europe, violating the basic rules of the organization, including
repeatedly refusing to implement decisions of the European Court of
Human Rights. After all this, Pres. Erdogan has the audacity to
complain that Turkey is not allowed to join the European Union. In
reality, it should not even be allowed to remain in the Council of
Europe. Too bad NATO does not have a provision on expelling one of its
member states. Amazingly, Turkish leaders have appealed to the United
Nations to have their country become the sixth permanent member of the
Security Council with a veto power. Such a thing should never be
allowed. It would be the end of the UN.
In the meantime, Turkey is continuing its two-faced “neutrality”
between NATO and Russia in the Ukraine war. Turkey is the only NATO
member that has refused to sanction Russia and has not closed its
airspace to Russian aircraft. Turkey abstained while the overwhelming
majority of the Council of Europe voted to suspend Russia’s
membership. Turkey then turned around and voted twice in the UN
General Assembly in March in favor of a resolution condemning Russia
for invading Ukraine.
Furthermore, the Turkish Ambassador to the UN, Feridun Sinirlioglu,
delivered a scathing attack on Russia. Sinirlioglu said the war in
Ukraine is the result of the “blatant violation” of international
humanitarian law by Russia, which he described as “unacceptable.” He
then added, “For our part, we will not give up on our brothers and
sisters in Ukraine.” These words indicate that Turkey is not neutral
in this war.
While Turkey’s ambassador at the UN was sharply critical of Russia,
Turkish businessman Ethem Sancak, one of Pres. Erdogan’s closest
political allies and executive board member of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), visited Moscow and told the Russian RBC TV
channel that Turkey’s sale of drones to Ukraine was a big mistake.
Sancak also said: “We will not join in the sanctions, because if
Russia falls, Turkey would get divided. And if Turkey falls, the same
goes for Russia…. We are allies with Russia.” Sancak described
Turkey’s membership in NATO as “shameful….” He then added: “NATO is a
cancerous tumor.”
In addition, “Having gained experience in sanctions busting schemes
that undermined both US and UN Security Council embargoes on jihadist
groups and Iran in the past, the government of Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is now poised to implement a similar playbook for
Western sanctions on Russia. Hoping to make money for his business
cronies and aid his country’s embattled economy and finances, Erdogan
apparently saw the opportunity to make a profit by offering Russians a
lifeline to help overcome the restrictions and beat the sanctions,”
wrote Abdullah Bozkurt in Nordic Monitor.
In order to appease Russia, Turkey rejected U.S. suggestions to
transfer to Ukraine the S-400 missile systems it had bought from
Russia, which had resulted in the U.S. imposing sanctions on Turkey.
Furthermore, in recent days, several Russian oligarchs have brought
their luxury yachts and private jets from Europe to Turkey to avoid
western sanctions. Bahadir Ozgur, a Turkish commentator who
specializes in exposing organized crime, says Turkey is the
“gangsters’ heaven,” the Al-Monitor news website reported.
As a result of long-running sanction-busting activities by Turkey, the
Biden administration is well aware of Turkish efforts to bail out
Russia from U.S. and EU imposed sanctions. Neither the White House nor
Congress are too keen to side with Erdogan who is constantly plotting
to glorify himself and his country by trying to mend its damaged
relations with Europe, the United States, Israel, Egypt, the UAE and
Armenia.
In another failed public relations stunt, Pres. Erdogan announced
prior to last week’s NATO Summit in Brussels that he would be meeting
with Pres. Joe Biden in order to create a photo-op intended to raise
Turkey’s questionable standing in the world and his own poor rating at
home.
Despite Erdogan’s intense diplomatic lobbying, Pres. Biden refused to
meet with him at the NATO Summit, undermining his desire to gain
positive PR from such a meeting. The White House rejected a push by
the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for such a face to face encounter.
Pres. Biden, who has had a long-lasting personal dislike of Pres.
Erdogan because of his anti-western policies, did the right thing by
not providing him with further opportunities for self-aggrandizement
at a time while he continues his close relations with Russia. There is
also stiff resistance in Congress to any appeasement of Turkey.
Erdogan is constantly justifying his tightrope walk between East and
West by claiming that he is trying to play a mediating role in the
Ukrainian war. This is yet another misleading excuse for Erdogan’s
self-serving attempts to give himself and his country undeserved
importance.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- ARF World Congress confirms names of ARF Central Committee
(Western US)
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) 34th World Congress
(General Meeting) announced on March 8 that the only ARF entity
operating in the Western United States region is the ARF Central
Committee elected for a term of two years on July 18, 2021 at the ARF
Western United States 55th Regional Convention. This entity is the
only one authorized to incorporate the use of the ARF’s name and use
its flag, insignia and anthem.
The members of the ARF Western United States Central Committee are:
Zareh Adjemian, Zanku Armenian, Vicken Babikian, Harmik Baghdassarian,
Levon Baronian, Stepan Boyajian, Daron Der-Khachatourian, Laura
Hakobyan, Zohrab Kahwedjian, Mike Keleshian, Chris Keosian, Hovig
Saliba, and Khatchig Tazian.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
3- New Imprint Tadem Press Publishes
‘Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy’
A new imprint, Tadem Press, has launched its inaugural publication:
Bedros Haroian’s Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy. Tadem
Press is dedicated to address the shortage of primary sources,
especially in English, on the Armenian Genocide.
Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy offers a first-hand
account of momentous events in the 20th century: the Armenian Genocide
and decisive World War I battles. Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian is
born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman
Empire. Within one year of Haroian’s birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid
will order the Great Massacres that devastate Haroian’s family,
village, and community. Haroian is impassioned to realize justice and
reprisal for his Armenian community. When conscripted in WW I, he
eagerly joins to gain the military skills to defend his people.
Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of
Sarikamish. He then finds himself consigned to a labor battalion along
with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include
burying―at gunpoint―the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide.
Haroian escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds. He
becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion.
Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters
for their battalions. Haroian travels to Tbilisi and joins the
Armenian volunteer forces under General Andranik who succeed, against
staggering odds, in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May
1918. At the end, Bedros Haroian joins the Armenian Legionnaires in
the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in
southern Turkey.
The Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy include a
compelling Afterword by genocide scholar Fatma Müge Göcek, author of
Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present and Collective
Violence Against the Armenians, 1789–2009. Gil Harootunian, Fulbright
Scholar (Armenia), writes an insightful Editor’s Forward.
For more information, visit
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
4- Massive fatal crash in Studio City kills UCLA student Sera Aintablian
(KTLA)—A deadly crash on the 101 Freeway coming out of Studio City
left one driver dead on the morning of Thursday, March 24.
The crash was reported about 2 a.m. on the 101 eastbound transition to
the southbound 101 Freeway near Tujunga Avenue, according to the
California Highway Patrol .
Emergency crews pronounced the driver involved in the original crash
dead at the scene, Geraty said.
The victim has been identified as 20-year-old UCLA student Sera
Aintablian of Pasadena, the L.A. County coroner’s office confirmed.
Sera is the daughter of Jano and Jenny Aintablian, of Pasadena. She
completed her primary education at St. Gregory Hovsepian School, and
graduated from AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School in 2020
where she was the class valedictorian.
Sera had been a member of the AGBU AYA Pasadena Scouts for 15 years,
where she was a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient and troop leader.
She was studying microbiology at UCLA and aspired to attend medical school.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia continues the fight against COVID-19. Coronavirus cases have
been steadily increasing in Armenia since mid-January. The government
continues to promote vaccinations. There were 4,039 active COVID-19
cases in Armenia as of March 21. Armenia has recorded 422,468
coronavirus cases and 8,610 deaths; 409,819 have recovered.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
************************************************************************************************************************************************
California Courier Online provides readers of the Armenian News News Service
with a few of the articles in this week’s issue of The California
Courier. Letters to the editor are encouraged through our e-mail
address, . Letters are published with
the author’s name and location; authors are required to disclose their
identity to the editorial staff (name, address, and/or telephone
numbers for verification purposes).
California Courier subscribers can change or modify mailing addresses
by emailing .
CivilNet: Azerbaijani forces partially withdraw from Karabakh’s Askeran region
CIVILNET.AM
28 Mar, 2022 09:03
Parukh village in Nagorno-Karabakh’s Askeran region is now under the control of Russian peacekeepers, according to the Nagorno-Karabakh Information Center. A statement released by the center says the Armenian side stopped the advances of Azerbaijani forces, and maintained control over the summit of Mount Karaglukh, a strategic height near Parukh. However, Azerbaijani troops continue to hold some positions on the slopes of the mountain.
Russia reproaches Azerbaijan as fighting escalates in Karabakh
eurasianet
Mar 28, 2022
Fighting has further escalated between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan gaining new positions and Russia issuing a rare rebuke of Baku for violating the ceasefire.
The fighting was centered around the village of Parukh (which Azerbaijanis spell Farrukh), about five kilometers west of the city of Aghdam, and the nearby height of Karaglukh. It has resulted in the deaths of three Armenian soldiers and 15 wounded. Azerbaijan did not report any casualties.
The village, which had been under the protection of the Russian peacekeeping force in Karabakh, was evacuated on March 24 and came under Azerbaijan control for some time, drawing a Russian reprimand.
“From March 24 to 25 the Azerbaijani armed forces, violating the November 9 [2020] trilateral ceasefire agreement, entered the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and established an observation post,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a March 26 statement. The MoD also reported that Azerbaijan had carried out four strikes against Karabakh forces from a TB-2 Bayraktar drone in the region.
There were conflicting reports about which side controlled the area as of March 28.
Azerbaijan had withdrawn its forces “from the region of the community of Furukh” following negotiations, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a March 27 statement (using a Russianized version of the Armenian spelling).
Azerbaijan issued a combative denial of the Russian claim: “There have been no changes in the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the village of Farrukh and in the surrounding heights, which are part of the sovereign territory of our country,” its MoD said in a statement later that day. (The statement concluded with a criticism of Russia’s terminology. “There is no village with the name ‘Furukh,’” it wrote. “The name of the village under discussion is FARRUKH. We hope that in subsequent announcements, the name of the village will be indicated in the correct form.”)
The Armenian side followed with its own explanation. The de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh said that while Azerbaijani forces had withdrawn from the village itself and that Russian peacekeepers had regained control, Armenian forces maintained control of “most parts” of Karaglukh as of March 28.
During the clashes, fears rose in Karabakh of a wider conflagration. The region’s de facto leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, declared martial law on March 26, banning demonstrations, strikes, and any activity by groups “engaged in propaganda or other actions spearheaded against the defense capacity and security” of the self-proclaimed Karabakh government.
While ceasefire violations have been common since the war ended in 2020, this flareup gained additional attention coming as it did amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While it wasn’t clear what sparked this round of fighting, Azerbaijan has been seeking to take advantage of Russia’s focus on Ukraine, as well as a perception that the Russian military – the guarantors of the ceasefire in Karabakh – is not as strong as previously believed.
The surge in fighting also has been accompanied by a disruption in the supply of natural gas to Karabakh, which Armenian authorities blamed on Azerbaijan as part of its campaign to intimidate the ethnic Armenian population of the region.
The Armenian authorities took the rare step of blaming the Russian peacekeepers for the fighting. “We also expect the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh to undertake concrete, visible steps to resolve the situation and prevent new casualties and hostilities,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a March 26 statement.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has held two recent phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In one call, on March 25, Pashinyan “raised the need to investigate the actions of Russian peacekeepers in the given situation and stressed the need for returning the Azerbaijani armed forces to their initial positions with the efforts of the Russian peacekeepers,” according to the Armenian readout of the call.
On March 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reportedly held a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Zakir Hasanov, in which the two sides discussed “ways of stabilizing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and supporting security in the Caucasus.”
The United States and France also issued statements criticizing Azerbaijan for the flareup. Along with Russia, they are the other two members of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the body that has led negotiations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis since the 1990s.
“The U.S. is deeply concerned about gas disruptions and Azerbaijan’s troop movements. Armenia and Azerbaijan need to use direct communications channels to immediately deescalate,” the State Department said in a statement.
“France deplores the incidents that have occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular the armed incidents and troop movements in the Parukh and Khramort regions,” the French Foreign Ministry said in its statement. “It requests that the forces which would have advanced withdraw to their initial positions in accordance with the ceasefire declaration of November 9, 2020.”
Azerbaijan fired back; in response to the American statement its Foreign Ministry complained that the United States “has not taken any effective steps to end the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, which has lasted nearly for 30 years” and blamed Washington for falling for “fake Armenian propaganda.”
Azerbaijani analysts said that control over the heights around the village offered strategic benefits. “Armenian control over Farrukh mountain meant that all villages in the Kolanli Valley and the city of Aghdam would be under their watch,” military journalist Sakhavat Mammad wrote in a Facebook post. “They could observe not only Aghdam but several districts. Azerbaijan’s control over Farrukh mountain eliminates such threats that other territories also would change hands. Farrukh mountain is one of the most strategic peaks in Karabakh.”
There were reports in Armenian media that Armenian authorities had agreed to let the Azerbaijanis set up a post on Karaglukh in exchange for restoring the gas supply. Harutyunyan, the de facto Karabakh leader, denied the reports.
Russia and Azerbaijan trade barbs over Nagorno-Karabakh
REUTERS
https://www.reuters.com/world/azerbaijan-denies-troops-pullout-peacekeepers-zone-nagorno-karabakh-2022-03-27/
ALSO READ AT:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/1-azerbaijan-denies-troops-pullout-184930976.html
Fresno pushes off City Hall flag debate. How does it affect Armenian Genocide commemoration?
THE SUN
Following up on last year’s debate over honorary flag raising ceremonies, the Fresno City Council was set to approve a new flag-raising policy to govern which flags can be raised at City Hall.
Instead, the proposal was pulled from the agenda by Councilman Miguel Arias on Thursday.
That drew a question from Councilman Mike Karbassi: Will the Armenian flag still be allowed to be flown next month in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide?
City Attorney Doug Sloan clarified that the Armenian flag will be allowed because it has previously flown in front of City Hall.
The now-defunct flag raising policy came into consideration after talk about flying the LGBT Pride flag dominated the City Hall for an extended period last June.
Dyer initially refused to fly the Pride flag, due to what he said was an unwillingness to open the door to other groups such as the Proud Boys to fly their own flag.
But, in a tearful press conference surrounded by members of Fresno’s LGBT community, Dyer ultimately flipped and promised the rainbow flag would fly outside of City Hall.
Before that happened, however, Dyer proposed Unity Park at Eaton Plaza, which offers several flag poles for honorary events.
While Unity Park is up and running today, the city is still without a policy to govern honorary flag raisings.
The proposed resolution was placed on the agenda by the Dyer administration.
If it had passed, it would have allowed the city manager to compile a schedule of events for the year that can allow flags to be raised at either Fresno City Hall or Unity Park.
The proposal would have also allowed City Hall or the downtown water tower to be lit up with a particular color to honor an event.
Fresno residents would have been able to submit requests to the city manager’s office to have a particular flag flown.
The proposal would have allowed the following events to have flag raisings at City Hall through the rest of the year:
- Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and/or Black History month
- Veterans Day
- Greek Independence Day
- Armenian Genocide remembrance
- Indian Independence Day
- Mexican Independence Day
- Hmong American Day
- Pride Month
- Juneteenth
- Breast Cancer Awareness
- Domestic Violence Awareness
- Earth Day/Week
- Sister cities
- Police Officer Memorial Week
- National Day of Prayer
All other requests would be considered for Unity Park.
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh nervous of fresh Azerbaijan probes
Modern Tokyo Times, Japan
Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The remaining Armenian Christian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh are getting nervous concerning fresh military probes by Azerbaijan. Thus with the Russian Federation embroiled in a conflict with Ukraine, the fear is that Azerbaijan and NATO Turkey will make fresh probes against the embattled Armenians. After all, the Russian Federation is also embroiled in military operations in Syria – and on high alert from European Russia to the Russian Far East related to the intrigues of NATO in Ukraine and America having military bases in Japan and South Korea.
During the conflict that broke out in 2020, it was NATO Turkey that supported the military of Azerbaijan to push into Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey also utilized Islamist mercenaries from the battlefield of Syria to support the military advancements of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, sophisticated weapons purchased by Azerbaijan from an array of nations altered the military balance to the detriment of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Recent clashes are reverberating throughout the remaining areas under the control of Armenians. Newsweek reports, “… many Armenians fear the latest clashes may be just the beginning of something more ominous, especially as the international community’s sights are fixated on the explosive conflict in Ukraine.”
A deputy of the National Assembly in Armenia, Kristine Vardanyan, points the finger at Turkey. She said, Turkey “equally shares all the responsibility for what is happening.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said, “From March 24 to 25, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, violating the provisions of the trilateral statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia of November 9, 2020, entered the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh and set up an observation post. Four strikes were carried out with an unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB2 against Nagorno-Karabakh’s armed formations outside Furukh.”
Clashes have broken out in recent months. However, the convulsions of Ukraine might be utilized by Azerbaijan, especially if Turkey encourages the political elites of Baku to further encroach into the remaining areas of Nagorno-Karabakh under Armenian control.
Azerbaijan denies all accusations. However, the modernization of the armed forces of Azerbaijan – along with the backing of Turkey – are powerful incentives for Azerbaijan to take the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region. Hence, with the Armenian Christians knowing the painful events of history that culminated in the genocide of Armenians in the early twentieth century – the Armenians face an uphill battle to survive in the remaining areas of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Greece expresses ‘concern’ over Nagorno-Karabakh
eKathimerini, Greece
Greece has expressed its “concern” over the movement of Azeri military unites in Nagorno-Karabakh where a simmering dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated into a six-week war in 2020.
“We call for these acts to cease immediately, units to withdraw to their starting positions and respect the ceasefire agreement of November 9, 2020,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday.