Category: 2022

Men Acquitted After Dancing on Armenian Church Gate

Eduard Nalbandian
March 14 2022

03/12/2022 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – A Turkish court recently acquitted three people who danced upon the gate of an Armenian church in July 2021. The three men were filmed dancing on the Armenian church in Istanbul surrounded by a large crowd protesting COVID-19 regulations.

They were released 48 hours later and two were placed on probation. Their actions sparked outrage among the Armenian community and activists who claimed they dishonored Surp Takavor Church and was part of a long string of vandalism at minority Christian sites, including looters at historic buildings.

Turkish, Armenian foreign ministers meet in bid to normalize ties

Nahapetian Zhanna
DW – Deutsche Welle, Germany

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan met for the first official sit-down talks since 2009. Ankara and Yerevan have troubled history and no diplomatic relations.

Turkey and Armenia have recently allowed charter flights between the two countries as they inch towards reconciliation

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he held “productive and constructive” talks with Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan on Saturday. The diplomatic forum in Turkey marks the first time foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia met for sit-down talks since 2009.

Cavusoglu told reporters that they were “making efforts for stability and peace.”

Armenia’s Mirzoyan echoed similar sentiments, saying “we are continuing the process of normalizing relations without preconditions… we are making efforts.”

The meeting, which lasted for 30 minutes, was held in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.

Turkey and Armenia are historically bitter rivals and share no diplomatic relations.

The main issue between the countries stem from the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915, during World War I.

Armenia calls it a genocide, and says 1.5 million Armenians were killed that year. Turkey has rejected the genocide label and has denied that it was systematically orchestrated. Ankara accepts that a large number of Armenians were killed, but says the numbers are exaggerated by Armenians and that Turks were killed as well. 

The German Parliament in 2016 recognized the killing of Armenians as constituting a genocide, as did the United States in 2021. A dozen other bodies and countries like the European Parliament, France and Canada recognize Ottoman killing of Armenians as genocide.

Additionally, normalization of ties between Turkey and Armenia have been hampered by fierce dispute between Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought violence wars over the region in the late 1980s and 1990s, with tensions flaring most recently in 2020.

Turkey cut diplomatic ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993, in solidarity with all Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan was at the time engaged in a conflict with Armenian separatists in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan is majority Muslim, while Armenia is majority Christian.

In 2009, Armenia and Turkey signed a landmark peace accord to restore ties and open borders, but the deal was never ratified amid pressure from Azerbaijan.

In 2020, during the bloody Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ankara once again supported Azerbaijan and accused Yerevan of occupying Azeri territories.

A Russian-brokered truce that ended the conflict removed Turkey’s main objection to talking to Armenia, which was Yerevan’s support for the local Nagorno-Karabakh government’s claim of independence from Azerbaijan.

The war also saw Azerbaijan restore control over large parts of its former province of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

The first commercial flights for two years between Turkey and Armenia resumed in early February, but the land border remains closed. 

rm/dj (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Azerbaijan to build road to Nakhichevan bypassing Armenia

Chakhmakhchian Vatche



  • JAMnews
  • Baku

Azerbaijan to build road to Nakhichevan

Azerbaijan has agreed with Iran on the construction of a transport corridor to its exclave – Nakhichevan, bypassing Armenia. Railway and motor roads in this corridor will pass only 5 kilometers from the border of Armenia.

  • Armenian-Azerbaijani escalation: reports from both sides
  • Nagorno-Karabakh gas pipeline damage: technical problems or Azerbaijani sabotage?
  • “Peace treaty is a priority” – statements of Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministries

An official delegation from Iran headed by the Minister of Roads and Urban Development paid a visit to Azerbaijan. During the visit, a memorandum was signed between the two countries on the construction of a transport corridor between the main part of Azerbaijan and its exclave, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, through the territory of the Islamic Republic.

The transport corridor, which will consist of railways, roads and power lines, will run just 5 kilometers from the southern border of Armenia.

On January 11, 2021, at a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow, a tripartite statement was adopted, providing for the opening of all communications between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

One of the main points in this project was the Zangezur corridor, which was supposed to connect the main part of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan, and also serve as a transport line for rail and road communication between Armenia and Russia.

The Zangezur corridor was also considered as one of the ways of direct communication between Turkey and the countries of the region. Iran has also expressed interest in this project.

More than once, Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have drawn parallels between the Zangezur and Lachin corridors.

According to the Azerbaijani side, if the Lachin corridor connects Armenia with the part of Karabakh where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed, then the main part of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan should be connected by the Zangezur corridor with a similar status.

“If there is no Zangezur corridor, then there will be no Lachin corridor”, the Azerbaijani side claims.

The Armenian side does not agree with this approach, and flatly refuses the term “corridor”, preferring to call it “road”. Armenia also insists on its sovereignty over the Zangezur corridor, and puts forward the conditions for customs and border control on this road by Armenia itself.

In recent days, the situation around the part of Karabakh, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily stationed, has become tense.

According to the Armenian side, for the fifth day in Khankendi (Armenians call this city Stepanakert – JAMnews) there is no natural gas. According to local sources, there was a rupture in the gas pipeline supplying fuel from Armenia. The rupture site is located in the territory controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces, and so far it has not been possible to obtain permission to repair the gas pipeline. There are also reports of power outages in Khankendi and adjacent settlements.

Armenian-Azerbaijani escalation in Karabakh: Armenia blames the tensions on Azerbaijan’s “gross violations of the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh”, while Baku cites attack from “Armenian separatists”

At the same time, the ceasefire regime has been violated in this region dozens of times every day in recent days. The parties blame each other for this.

The Armenian side also reports on the calls of the Azerbaijani side to the local population to leave these settlements.

The Azerbaijani media recently published information about the withdrawal of part of the Russian peacekeeping forces from Karabakh.

Azerbaijani experts call the actions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Karabakh “elements of a hybrid war.”

According to the head of the Azerbaijani analytical center Atlas, Elkhan Shahinoglu, the signing of a memorandum with Iran on the creation of new communication routes between the main part of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan is an “interesting move”.

“This is the message of official Baku to Armenia and Russia that Azerbaijan will use an alternative option due to the delay in the decision on the Zangezur corridor.

This option is also useful for Iran, which will increase its participation in the region and receive additional profit.

The benefit for Azerbaijan is that Armenia again remains out of the game, economic ties with its southern neighbor are strengthening.

But this alternative option has its own issues that raise questions. Today, dialogue and cooperation prevail between Tehran and Baku, and what if there will be tension, as it was quite recently?

If some centers in Iran do not interfere in the internal affairs and decisions of Azerbaijan, then there will be no problems and the use of communications will benefit both sides”, Shahinoglu .

“The memorandum on the creation of new communication lines between Eastern Zangezur and Nakhichevan through the territory of Iran is a new regional economic direction in the post-conflict period”, political observer Agshin Karimov believes.

Now the most urgent question is whether the Zangezur corridor through Armenia losing its relevance? I will say this, it entirely depends on the position of Armenia.

So far, Azerbaijan’s position is such that a parallel structure is being created through the territory of Iran. But this does not exclude the construction of another corridor through Armenia. An extensive system of paths is being created.

But of course, with this project, Azerbaijan receives a new instrument of pressure on Armenia. In the future, the manipulative capabilities of Armenia are not only decreasing, they are disappearing.

The logic of Azerbaijan can be expressed in four points:

  • The new road does not negate the relevance of the Zangezur corridor;
  • If the Zangezur corridor loses relevance, there will be an alternative road;
  • If the road through Iran operates without alternative, the principle of Azerbaijan “Without the Zangezur corridor, there is no Lachin corridor” will come into force;
  • Thus, the Lachin corridor will lose its status, and Armenia will lose its connection with Karabakh.

And what if Armenia agrees to the construction of the Zangezur corridor on Azerbaijan’s terms? In this case, the road through Iran will be connected to this corridor and another transport branch will appear.

In any scenario, Azerbaijan has practically proved that Armenia, in case of disagreement with the new realities, will remain outside of regional projects.

In this regard, it is noteworthy that the new road to Nakhichevan lies only 5 kilometers from the southern border of Armenia.

This project was prepared in cooperation with Turkey, and creates a new economic hub of Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran cooperation.

Apparently, Russia also agrees with the new economic configuration in the region. The reason for this can be called the Kremlin’s disagreement with the “balancing policy” of Yerevan, and Moscow supports projects that deprive Armenia of room for maneuver. Because Russia has completely different plans for Armenia.

And what forced Iran to increase the level of cooperation with Azerbaijan and move away from Armenia? I think it has to do with security issues. Tehran’s strategists understand that in the boiling world geopolitical situation there are threats to the Islamic Republic as well.

And in such a situation, Tehran prefers to position itself next to Baku and Ankara”, Kerimov .

Meeting of Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers a sign of improving relations

Ophelia Vardapetian
EuroNews, EU
By Daniel Bellamy  with AP

Turkey and Armenia have agreed to press ahead with efforts to establish diplomatic relations “without conditions” that could lead to reopening their borders for trade, their foreign ministers said on Saturday.

Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Çavuşoğlu on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum near the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya during a rare visit to Turkey.

Mirzoyan said he welcomed Turkey’s invitation to the forum “as a positive signal” for improved relations between the two countries with decades of bitterness and no diplomatic ties.

“I can say that it was a very productive and constructive meeting,” Çavuşoğlu said.

Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Yerevan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Until recently, there was a century of ongoing hostility between both nations after Ottoman Turkey carried out a genocide against Armenians in 1915 when an estimated 1.5 million were killed.

Turkey has neither admitted to the severity of the genocide nor the scale of its killings, saying only 300,000 died.

The two countries have appointed special representatives who have held two rounds of talks in Moscow and Vienna to improve ties.

Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their mutual border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.

This time around, however, Azerbaijan has given the nod for the reconciliation efforts, and Çavuşoğlu has said that Ankara would “coordinate” the normalisation process with Baku.

As a first step toward reconciliation, charter flights between Armenia’s capital Yerevan and Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul resumed earlier this year.

https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/12/meeting-of-turkish-and-armenian-foreign-ministers-a-sign-of-improving-relations

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Turkey, Armenia hold ‘constructive’ talks on mending ties

Badalian Vardan
Al-Jazeera, Qatar

Foreign ministers of the two countries meet in the first sit-down between the two top diplomats since 2009.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that he held “productive and constructive” talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan as they bid to mend ties after decades of animosity.

The two met on Saturday at a diplomatic forum in Antalya on Turkey’s southern coast. Ankara has had no diplomatic or commercial ties with Armenia since the 1990s but they held talks in January in a first attempt to restore links since a 2009 peace accord, which was never ratified.

Saturday’s meeting was the first sit-down meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers since 2009. They spoke briefly on the sidelines of an OSCE meeting in November last year.

“It was a very productive and constructive conversation,” Cavusoglu told reporters after the talks, which lasted 30 minutes. “We are making efforts for stability and peace.”

Speaking through a translator, Mirzoyan said: “We are continuing the process of normalising relations without preconditions … We are making efforts.”

The two countries are at odds over several issues, primarily the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey.

Armenia says the 1915 killings constitute a genocide. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies killings were systematic or constitute genocide.

The two countries have said the January talks were “positive and constructive,” raising the prospect that ties could be restored and borders reopened.

Tensions flared during a 2020 war over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Turkey accused ethnic Armenian forces of occupying land belonging to Azerbaijan. Turkey has since called for a rapprochement, as it seeks greater regional influence.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Turkey, Armenia agree to press ahead with mending fences

Greg Madatian
WGN Radio, Chicago
by: SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and Armenia have agreed to press ahead with efforts to establish diplomatic relations “without conditions” and continue the normalization efforts that could lead to the reopening of their shared borders for trade, their foreign ministers said Saturday.

Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum near the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya during a rare visit to Turkey.

Mirzoyan said he welcomed Turkey’s invitation to the forum “as a positive signal” for improved relations between the two countries that have had decades of bitterness and have no diplomatic ties.

“I can say that it was a very productive and constructive meeting,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Turkey and Armenia also have a more than century-old hostility over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey.

The two countries have appointed special representatives who have so far held two rounds of talks in Moscow and Vienna to improve ties.

It is their second attempt at reconciliation. Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the agreement was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.

This time around, however, Azerbaijan has given the nod for the reconciliation efforts. Cavusoglu has said that Ankara would “coordinate” the normalization process with Azerbaijan.

Cavusoglu told reporters in Antalya: “Azerbaijan is also pleased with the steps that are being taken and the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia.”

As a first step toward reconciliation, charter flights between Yerevan and Istanbul resumed earlier this year.

TURKISH, ARMENIAN FMS HOLD ‘FRUITFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE’ MEETING IN ANTALYA

Arpi Talalian

Entornointeligente.com / The two neighbouring countries’ relations entered a new phase after both countries appointed special representatives, which held their first meeting on January 14 in Moscow. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that Azerbaijan supports the normalisation process between Ankara and Yerevan. (AA) A historic bilateral meeting has taken place between the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Armenia on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

Speaking to reporters, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described the meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan as “extremely fruitful and constructive.”

Cavusoglu also noted that Azerbaijan supports the normalisation process between Ankara and Yerevan.

READ MORE: Turkiye, Armenia resume flights as normalisation looms

For his part, the Armenian minister said his country is determined to dedicate efforts for peace and stability in the region and that it is working to normalise relations with Türkiye.

‘Without preconditions’

Turkish-Armenian relations entered a new phase after both countries appointed special representatives, which held their first meeting on January 14 in Moscow.

The envoys from Türkiye and Armenia, Serdar Kilic and Ruben Rubinyan, held their second meeting in Vienna on February 24 and “reiterated their agreement to continue the process without preconditions.”

The three-day high-level Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the resort city of Antalya in southern Türkiye has brought together participants from 75 countries, including 17 heads of state, 80 government ministers, and 39 representatives of international organizations. 

READ MORE:  Erdogan: Turkey may open borders if Armenia takes positive steps for peace

Source: AA

The Insurgent History Calendar: March 12

Yeghisabet Arthur
FlaglerLive

MARCH 11, 2022 | FLAGLERLIVE

Mustafa Kamal Aataturk, the man who modernized and secularized Turkey, led the Turkish revolution after World War I, was born on this day in 1881. He may be considered a great man by Turks. But his legacy is marred by an atrocity: instead of stopping it, he played a significant role in furthering the genocide of Armenians–an inspiration to Hitler’s genocide of Jews–and their forced conversions to Islam. Turkey to this day denies the Armenian holocaust, which began with massacres in the 1890s.

The United States denied the Armenian genocide–as unconscionable an act as denying the Shoah–until President Joe Biden finally did in a statement on April 24, 2021: “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms. Of those who survived, most were forced to find new homes and new lives around the world, including in the United States.” Ataturk died of cirrhosis of the liver at 9:05 a.m. on Nov. 10, 1938 (his friend and closest aide, Salih Bozuk, tried to kill himself with a gun. He only wounded himself). The New York Times reported his death on its front page. Armenians were never mentioned.


Azerbaijan submits to Armenia a new proposal on normalization of relations between them

Emil Lazarian
By

 Policy Desk

 –

 

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jehun Bayramov announced that his country has handed Armenia a new proposal of five articles on the normalization of relations between them and is waiting for a response.

This came in a statement to The Eastern Herald, Friday, on the sidelines of his participation in the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, which is being held in the Turkish state of Antalya.

He noted that the main reason for the lack of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan for many years was the “occupation factor”.

“Everyone knows that more than 30 years ago Armenia occupied the Azerbaijani territories by force and expelled the Azerbaijani citizens,” said Peramov.

He indicated that Armenia’s occupation of his country’s lands was the main obstacle to establishing relations between the two countries.

He pointed to the demise of Aqaba after his country regained control over occupied governorates after launching an operation to liberate its lands.

On September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched an operation to liberate its occupied lands in the Karabakh region.

After fierce battles that lasted 44 days, on November 10, 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia reached a ceasefire agreement, which stipulated the restoration of Baku control over the occupied provinces.

He stressed that his country supports the normalization of relations with Armenia despite all the difficulties and problems that occurred in the past, and stated that a year ago, his country’s President Ilham Aliyev expressed his readiness to sign a peace agreement with Armenia.

He stated that his country had not received a response from Armenia to its proposal a year ago.

He added, “There was no response from the Armenian side to our (previous) proposal. To show its goodwill, the Azerbaijani side recently submitted a new (second) proposal to Armenia.”

He continued, “If Armenia sincerely wants to normalize relations, then this is a very good opportunity for them. Armenia’s response will soon become clear and we will take appropriate steps.”

He explained that the proposal consists of 5 articles that include basic principles, and considered the preconditions for starting the normalization process unacceptable.

Earlier on Friday, the work of the second edition of the forum was launched in the state of Antalya, southwest Turkey, and will be held at the “Nest” Exhibition and Convention Center, from March 11-13, under the slogan “Rebuilding Diplomacy”.

https://www.easternherald.com/2022/03/12/azerbaijan-armenia-new-proposal/ 



AP: Turkey, Armenia agree to press ahead with mending fences

Karakhanian Suren

Turkey, Armenia agree to press ahead with mending fences


 By SUZAN FRASER

Associated Press

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey and Armenia have agreed to press ahead with efforts to establish diplomatic relations “without conditions” and continue the normalization efforts that could lead to the reopening of their shared borders for trade, their foreign ministers said Saturday.

Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum near the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya during a rare visit to Turkey.

Mirzoyan said he welcomed Turkey’s invitation to the forum “as a positive signal” for improved relations between the two countries that have had decades of bitterness and have no diplomatic ties.

“I can say that it was a very productive and constructive meeting,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Turkey and Armenia also have a more than century-old hostility over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey.

The two countries have appointed special representatives who have so far held two rounds of talks in Moscow and Vienna to improve ties.

It is their second attempt at reconciliation. Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the agreement was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.

This time around, however, Azerbaijan has given the nod for the reconciliation efforts. Cavusoglu has said that Ankara would “coordinate” the normalization process with Azerbaijan.

Cavusoglu told reporters in Antalya: “Azerbaijan is also pleased with the steps that are being taken and the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia.”

As a first step toward reconciliation, charter flights between Yerevan and Istanbul resumed earlier this year.

READ ALSO 
https://yourvalley.net/stories/turkey-armenia-agree-to-press-ahead-with-mending-fences,291272