Category: News

On 2 April 2016, Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic downed an Azerbaijani Air Force Mi-24G attack helicopter, which was carrying out a combat flight during the military aggression of Azerbaijan against the NKR. The following has been collected from the crash site of the downed helicopter:

–       flight maps;

–       pilot tablets;

–       user manual for night vision equipment;

–       personal notebook of one of the pilots;

–       VHF ACR500-A 30-420 MHz radio;

–       ARK-U2 automatic radio compass;

–       – SARPP-12 flight data recorder with a cassette;

–      –  part of the helmet-mounted night vision device;

–       – 10 links with eight 20 mm cannon shells;

–       – optoelectronic module with a gyro-stabilized platform.

The analysis of data from the seized property (flight documentation) revealed that:

1. between 31 March and 1 April 2016, the downed Mi-24G as part of a squadron flew from Baku “Kala” air base to “Zhdanovsk” with a stopover at “Kyurdamir” air base;
2. the route and the specified targets on the flight map indicate that the crew was tasked to attack targets in the territory of NKR, at a depth of three to ten kilometers from the Line of Contact;
3. according to the flight map, an advanced landing ground had been prepared to reduce the time for aircrafts to go into combat;
4. in the area of mount Lyalya Ilyagi, a grid was applied with the possible directions of aviation spotters’ work with a group of army aviation helicopters;
5. the total duration of flight of the downed helicopter is about three hours;
6. objective control data contain records of three separate flights, including the last one.

The NKR Defense Ministry earlier provided this information to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia to introduce it to military attaches of foreign countries accredited in Yerevan.

According to radar reconnaissance of the NKR air defense forces, during the 4-day aggression up to 60 aircraft-flights of the Azerbaijani armed forces were recorded, of which 40 with the use of various types of weapons on the positions of the NKR Defense Army. This is confirmed by the analysis of the armaments, technical equipment, flight maps, pilot`s notebook, as well as the transcript of the SARPP-12 data found at the crash site of the Mi-24G. In the first 12 hours of aggression by the Azerbaijani armed forces, 40 army aviation helicopters were involved.

The actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces, as well as the documents seized from the downed Mi-24G show that the 4-day military aggression of Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was planned in advance by the Azerbaijani leadership.

Today, at the K. Demirjian Sport and Concert Compound President Serzh Sargsyan participated at the opening of the which was conducted under the subtitle Living Witnesses of Genocide
At the Forum the President of Armenia made a statement.

Statement by the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan at the opening of the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide

Distinguished guests,
Distinguished participants of the Global Forum,

One year ago, on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, I had the honor to declare the launching of the work of this Global Forum, with a strong faith in its mission and success. That mission was to identify the issues related to the prevention of genocide, develop the avenues for their resolution and consolidate the potential of the civilized humankind in order to register a decisive victory over the crimes against humanity in the 21st century.

Today, as one year has passed since then, I can state with the outmost certainty that we have achieved those objectives: the first forum found extensive response both with the expert community and thousands of people both in Armenia and way beyond its borders. It provided with an opportunity to the world to discuss anew genocide as the gravest crime committed by human beings. That was a reason good enough for us to make this conference a permanent platform for those individuals, genocide survivors, their successors and, of course, States and international structures that are determind and consentaneous to make their contribution to this universal struggle.

I warmly welcome you all, and I am very glad that we are united.

Ladies and gentlemen,
2015 was an important milestone for us to grasp anew the one hundred year-long struggle of our nation for its right to exist and restoration of historical justice. The Armenian Genocide Centennial was marked not by mourning but the messages of gratitude and revival that we sent out to the world, as well as determination to make the Republic of Armenia one of the pioneering forces to lead the struggle against that crime. Our vision is crystal crisp: it is necessary to instill consciousness of the absolute inadmissability of genocide in order to prevent such catastrophes unfolding.

2015 was important in that context since a number of Heads of States, Parliaments, international structures, religious organizations, prominent individuals expressed their solidarity to our joint struggle against genocide by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

The current logics of the global development unambiguously registers that we are all interdependent, and that interdependence transforms a failure of one into a failure of all, and that is also true for a success or suffering. Today it is difficult to imagine a security challenge that threatens only one nation. Therefore, none of us can consider oneself ensured against the horrors that our ancestors went through in the 20th century, that our contemporaries are surviving in the 21st century unless we decide that we should state ‘never again’ regardless of the price that every one of us should pay. That same logics also reminds us that a genocide committed at any corner of the world should be viewed as a failure for the international community as a whole, and the prevention of it is the duty of every single one of us individually and of the humankind collectively. Hence, it is natural that those, who underwent and survived genocide and their generations shall be continuously looking at the international community and pressing for justice.

Distinguished participants,
The general heading for this year’s conference is “Living Witnesses of Genocide” that allows us to uncover the issues of outmost importance related both to addressing the consequences of genocide and its prevention. Today there are here with us living witnesses that survived genocide. People, who felt on their own skin the indescribable and unutterable horrors of genocide, irremidiable pain of loss, yearn, homeland dispossession, and at the time they should have bade farewell to their own past and future. For every single one of them it was hard to be optimistic, but they are here to register that genocide perpetrators have not won. I strongly believe that they all have gone through a valorous path and throughout that path they met people, who extended helping hand, assisted in their recovery and inspired their hopes… People, who revolted against the scourge of their time and did not bear with indifference, who neglected their very own interests since they could have not beared with injustice, who risked themselves in order to save one more human life.

Today, unfortunately, the humankind still lacks humanness. It is demostrated by the wave of denial by the genocide perpetrators and their successors. It was rightly noted by the Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel that to deny would be akin to killing victims a second time. In some instances denial is expressed through violation of the right to remembrance and awareness. Denial imposes constant feeling of fear unto the survivors and their successors since those who deny or justify what had happened do not directly exclude the possibility of ruccurence of that very same crime should there be aproppriate conditions for that.

Meanwhile, I believe that the international legal documents related to the crime of genocide do not pay due attention to the international legal regulation of the issues related to the genocide survivors. The same is also true for the international legal regime related to the refugees. It is critical to understand how to define a special legal status for survivors of genocide and other crimes against humanity through the improvement of the existing legal mechanisms or introduction of new legal norms; otherwise, perhaps, it would be impossible to comprehensively approach this issue.
Any reasonable adjudication of a crime requires also recognition of the rights of the victims concerning their losses and suffering. Certainly, it is also true for the survivors of genocide and other crimes against humanity. Necessary mechanisms should be installed, which will allow both recognizing that right and implementing it.

Distinguished colleagues,

As recent crises in the Middle East have demonstrated, nowadays the issue of genocide prevention remains urgent and topical. Lately, the world has been watching with repulsion how the terrorists of the Islamic State have been torturing, beheading and mutilating innocent people, including women, children, and elderly people. The world is shocked with the barbarities that are carried out by a gang of thugs, who can hardly be called to justice and can be fought against barely with missiles.
Nevertheless, if the thugs that carry out atrocities are fought with missiles, a question comes up: what kind of responsibility should bear a State, a subject of international law, for condoning and carrying out similar crimes?

What would you say of a country, a fully-fledged subject of international law, a member of the UN, Council of Europe and various other structures, a signatory of the humanitarian conventions, whose script is not much different from that of the Islamic State? Just a few weeks ago, during the large-scale offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, Azeri soldiers were not content with just shooting their arms: they mutilated elderly people, Armenian soldiers, decapitated them and cut off their ears and presented those actions in the social networks as a manifestation of heroism. It was all evidently encouraged by the Azerbaijani authorities. Is not it bizarre that a country that pursues such barbaric policy and violates all the norms of civilized conduct, these days is going to host a conference under the rubric of “Alliance of Civilizations?” Is this an approach to be tolerated? We must get to the point, when a display of such hatred shall not be tolerated, when any government shall refrain from such conduct mindful that it may be hold responsible for it.
We as the international community must swiftly and resolutely eradicate all such instances of genocidal conduct wherever they should occur, as it was done some days ago by the leadership and public of Sweden with regard to the hate speech directed against Armenians by the Turkish nationalist Barbaros Leylani. This requires our concerted effort, perhaps even subordination of geopolitical interests, ability to voice strict and targeted condemnation. Unless we are able to nip such conduct in the bud, we will have to deal with the elimination of their various and unpredictable consequences; we will continue to face various crimes nourished by hatred – crimes, among which are the terrorist activities that gain new range and scale on our continent.

Ladies and gentlemen,
On the Armenian Genocide Centennial the Armenian nation sent out a message of gratitude to the entire world. The Hundred Lives initiative and the Aurora Prize were launched on behalf of the survivors and as a token of appreciation to those who in the direst times came to the Armenian people’s rescue. I congratulate and express my admiration to the nominees of the Prize. All your stories are very touching; at the same time, those are inspiring and encouraging. I thank the founders of this project – Vartan Gregorian, Noubar Afeyan, and Ruben Vardanian, organizers of the award ceremony, as well as all those who have contributed to the implementation of this momentous initiative.

I wish all of us productive work. I also wish that future generations learn about crimes against humanity only from books.

The negotiation process cannot continue as long as there is shooting or threat of shooting in the direction of Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today, as he commented on the results of the Russian Foreign minister’s visit to Armenia.

According to Kocharyan, the first and most important outcome was the reiteration of the fact that the 1994 ceasefire agreement remains in force, and the utmost goal today is to ensure peace and stability.

The Deputy Foreign Minister attached special importance to the statement that concrete measures reinforcing the ceasefire regime should be initiated not only by the Co-Chairs, but also the German Presidency of the OSCE.

Referring to Sergey Lavrov’s remarks on Kazan document, Kocharyan said: “There are two platforms. The first one is the Madrid document, which led to Kazan, which Azerbaijan turned down. The second platform are the proposals targeted at reinforcement of the ceasefire regime, implementation of confidence-building mechanisms,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister confirmed that the Madrid Principles envisage concessions, but it’s up to Nagorno Karabakh to make a decision. “No Armenian official will ever be able to solve the issue of territories and status for Artsakh,” he concluded.

A ceremony Friday at Fresno City Hall commemorated the 101st anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide, in which as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire over several years, the reports.

For the oldest members of the Armenian diaspora in Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, the wounds and memories of the genocide are particularly acute, as it was their parents and grandparents who lived through the systematic deportations and killings in their historic homeland. But Friday’s ceremony also held special meaning for younger Armenians carrying on efforts to maintain their ethnic identity and strive for recognition of what their ancestors endured.

Young Armenian Homenetmen scouts raised the U.S., California and Armenian Republic flags on the City Hall flagpoles as about 250 members of the Valley’s Armenian community gathered on the lawn. The ceremony included speeches by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno; Danny Tarkanian, son of former UNLV and Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian; and Raffi Hamparian, national chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America.

Hagop Minasyan, a 16-year-old student at Fresno’s Central East High School, was one of several boys holding signs declaring “Turkey guilty of genocide” in front of City Hall. His great-grandparents were genocide survivors, and his parents were the first generation of his family to come to the U.S.

Michael Rettig, 24, of Fresno held a sign with a picture of his maternal great-great-grandfather, Mgrdich Dinjian. “He was hacked to death early in the killings,” Rettig said. “He worked in one of the churches, and the story is that he had a lot of books, that he was an intellectual.” He added that the activism of younger Armenians is sparked “especially when we find a personal connection, like this photo of my great-great-grandfather, who was killed along with two-thirds of the Armenians” in Turkey.

He and others are upset not only with Turkey’s longstanding denial of the genocide, but also with the cultural “erasure” of Armenian culture in Turkey. “Armenians lived there for thousands of years, and now there’s no trace of us,” Rettig said. “That is why we have to protest.”

The popularity of social media is also making the genocide more relevant and meaningful to younger Armenians, said Tanya Toramasian, a 20-year-old college student who recently moved with her family from Chicago to Fresno. She watched the ceremony and listened to speakers with an red, blue and orange Armenian flag draped over her shoulders.

“I personally met my great-grandmother who was a genocide survivor, so it touches me even more because I actually met her and heard her stories about what she went through,” Toramasian said. “Our voice is the loudest thing, and with social media, everyone is learning now about the Armenian genocide. … We’re the youth, and we need to make sure everyone knows about it. That’s why there are so many of us here today.”

That’s the sort of enthusiasm that Hamparian – who lives near Pasadena and works in government affairs for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority – sought to inspire with his remarks.

Hamparian recited the names of seven Armenian soldiers who died in fighting earlier this month between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh in the region of Artsakh, historically one of the last Armenian kingdoms and now part of Nagorno-Karbakh. After each name, Hamparian declared that “he died three weeks ago in defense of Artsakh. He died to prevent another Armenian genocide. He died for me and for you.”

“It is fair and reasonable for us today here in the diaspora, here in California, in the abundant Central Valley, to ask ourselves: Can we have heroes here?” he said. “Yes, we do have heroes here, who make our community work (and) who remind a new generation to rise and raise others.”

He invoked the title of the hit movie “The Revenant,” and explored the French origins of the word meaning “to come back.” “This word is especially relevant to us. … We are, after all, a people who have come back from annihilation.”

Costa spoke of his empathy for the memory of genocide from growing up among Armenian families in the Rolinda area west of Fresno. “While I may be an ‘odar’ (an Armenian word for non-Armenians), today we are all Armenians,” he said.

“Through the recognition of the Armenian genocide, we pay tribute to the perseverance and the determination of those who were able to survive, as well as the Americans of Armenian descent who have helped strengthen this country,” Costa added. “As we reflect this day, it is fitting that we honor the thousands of Armenian men and women who began lives in the U.S. after witnessing unspeakable tragedies.”

One of those was Tarkanian’s paternal grandmother, Rose, who was a child when Ottoman Turkish soldiers raided her village. Her mother put her in a dress with coins sewn into it, put Rose and her brother on a horse and sent them out of town before the soldiers arrived. Rose’s father and older brother were both beheaded by soldiers, he said, “and the rest of the villagers were herded into the church where the soldiers burned them alive.”

And Hamparian exhorted the crowd to fight “in a very American way” to push for presidential recognition of the genocide and changes in U.S. policy toward the conflict over Artsakh by strengthening Armenian churches and community organizations “to fight for your diaspora to be in the arena.”

“To change U.S. policy on Artsakh will not be easy. To change U.S. policy on the Armenian genocide will not be easy,” he said. “But nothing in life that is worthwhile, that has value, is ever easy.”

Roughly 30 individuals joined hands on the steps of Sproul Hall on Friday afternoon to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the reports.

The annual event, called United Hands Across Cal, was hosted by the Armenian Students’ Association, or ASA, to bring attention to the history of the killing of about 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, an event that is widely viewed by historians as a genocide.

Despite the heavy rain, students came together for an hour of speeches, poetry and special singing performances conducted in both English and Armenian. Members clasped one another’s hands, with some attendees crying, throughout the event.

“Holding hands was important because instead of being a bunch of people by ourselves, we were united as one,” said ASA president and campus senior Maria Elvajyan.

The Armenian Genocide typically refers to the deaths that began with the killing of a large population of Armenian intellectuals living within what was the Ottoman Empire, which is now modern-day Turkey. The official date associated with the beginning of the Armenian killings is April 24, 1915.

Turkey and other countries, including the United States, do not use the word genocide to describe the killings. To date, more than 20 countries worldwide have officially recognized the massacre as a genocide.

“The purpose of the event today was to denounce denial,” said Levon Korganyan, cultural chair of ASA and a campus senior. “Mostly it is a celebration of our resounding presence here and the fact that we are still thriving and so alive and so passionate about both the past and also the perpetuation of our culture into the future.”

Many wore matching T-shirts for the event and hung an Armenian flag to honor their ancestors. Behind the circle of people stood 10 painted wooden boards that formed a world map depicting other genocides and crimes against humanity.

“There is a sense of injustice that Armenians feel,” said Hasmig Seropian, campus Armenian language lecturer. “And this will not go away no matter what generation it is.”

The Friday event occurred toward the end of Armenian Genocide Awareness Week, a weeklong event hosted by ASA each year. Members of ASA camped out on Memorial Glade at night all week and hosted a number of events, including a cultural show and movie screenings.

The theme of this year’s event is Mnayun, which translates to “eternal”  in Armenian. It also means “We are. We will always be,” Elvajyan said.

ASA ended the event on an upbeat note, with a group dance to an Armenian song.

“We are celebrating the fact that we are here after 101 years … dancing to our music and appreciating our culture,” Elvajyan said. “Our culture is alive and we are very proud of it.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued the following statement on the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide;

On this day, we mark the 101^st commemoration of the tragic loss of life of the Armenian population during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Both the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons have adopted resolutions referring to these events as genocide.

We preserve the memory of those who lost their lives, and those who suffered during this genocide and pay our deepest respects to their descendants, including those who now call Canada home.

In solemnly acknowledging this event, let us use this moment as an opportunity to look forward and strengthen our collective resolve to ensure such acts are never again repeated.

While we must never forget the lessons of history, we must also be reminded that past injustices do not serve our communities if they divide us. Canadians of all backgrounds and faiths stand together in reaffirming our collective commitment to the values of pluralism, human rights, and diversity.

On this anniversary, please join me in my hope for a peaceful future based on tolerance, respect, and reconciliation.

On 23 April Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the town of Hadrout and held there a working consultation to discuss issues relating to the army’s activity and implementation of operational tasks by the Hadrout regional administration’s departments in this sphere

The President gave concrete instructions towards proper fulfillment of the discussed issues.

NKR deputy defense minister, head of the Artsakh Union of Freedom Fighters, Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of the “Yerkrapah” Volunteers Union organization’s board Manvel Grigoryan and other officials partook in the consultation.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today survivors of genocides and crimes against humanity from Cambodia, Rwanda and Iraq, who have arrived in Armenia to participate in the Second Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide.

Minister Nalbandian emphasized the participation of outstanding scholars, political and public figures, artists and especially survivors in the global forum.

Minister Nalbandian attached importance to the joint efforts of the international community targeted at the prevention of genocides and elimination of their consequences. He noted that the Global Forum held in Armenia for the second year in a row has become an important platform for struggle against genocides and crimes against humanity.

Nadia Murad of Iraq presented the violence against Yazidis and the story of the barbaric killing of her family. She asked for Armenia’s support in raising awareness about the issue.

Minister Nalbandian assured of Armenia’s committment to maintain efforts towards raising the issue of the genocide of Yazidis on different international platforms.

The participants of the meeting hailed Armenia’s role in preventing genocides. Edward Nalbandian briefed the guests on Armenia’s initiatives and efforts in that direction.