Category: News

The military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, unleashed by Azerbaijan in the early hours of April 2, was accompanied by war crimes, flagrant violations of the laws and customs of war, as well as norms of international humanitarian law, the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

On April 2, as a result of the deliberate artillery shelling of civilian settlements, a 12-year-old boy, Vagharshak Grigoryan, was killed, and two other kids were wounded near the secondary school in the NKR Martuni region. In the village of Talish of the NKR Martakert region, three elderly members of the Khalapyan family, the eldest of whom was 92 years old, were brutally killed and mutilated by an Azerbaijani subversive group. Traces of torture and mutilation were also registered on the bodies of the deceased servicemen of the NKR Defense Army, transferred to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by Azerbaijan on April 10.

This is not the complete list of the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army during the military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Grossly violating the norms of international humanitarian law Azerbaijan poses itself against the entire civilized world by openly challenging it.

In accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular, Article 1 of all Geneva Conventions, the High Contracting Parties undertook the obligation not only “to respect” the norms of the Conventions, but also “to ensure respect” in all circumstances.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is taking steps to provide the international community, including the specialized agencies, with  these egregious facts of inhuman acts committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces and will consistently seek to ensure not only the strongest condemnation of these crimes, but also holding the perpetrators accountable. There can be no justification for such acts committed by Azerbaijan.

Initiatives for Development of Armenia Foundation (IDeA Foundation) thanks all individuals and organizations that support 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. We express our deepest gratitude to the partners of Aurora Prize Inaugural Сeremony: producer of the legendary Armenian brandy “ARARAT” – Yerevan Brandy Company, Armenia’s Leading Telecommunications Operator VivaCell-MTS and Panarmenian Media Group.

“We are grateful to the companies that have joined us in sharing the ideas and values of our initiative. This is especially relevant today, when the humanitarian challenges of the world are as urgent and important as a century ago, ” Edgar Manukyan, CEO of IDeA Foundation, noted.

“The idea of honouring heroes a hundred years later on behalf of all the survivors of the Armenian Genocide in gratitude to their saviours, and launching a new global initiative, is unique, and we are very delighted to contribute to its realization”, said Igor Arakelyan, Chief Operation Officer of Yerevan Brandy Company.

“Aurora Prize is a clarion call to go back to the core values of our human nature, to cherish once again the need of helping each other and save each other’s lives. We join Aurora Prize initiative to celebrate those people who are putting their lives at risk to save others,”stated VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.

“It’s a great honour for us to be the main media partner of Aurora Prize. I hope that 100 LIVES initiative and Aurora Prize will make the world kinder and the people more humane”, Chairman of the Board of Panarmenian Media Group Armen Arzumanyan said.

The Inaugural Ceremony of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity will take place on April 24 in Yerevan, Armenia.

By Harut Sassounian 
Publisher, The California Courier

In last week’s large-scale attack on Artsakh (Karabakh), the Azeri military killed and injured dozens of Armenian soldiers and civilians, using the sophisticated weapons purchased from Israel and Russia for billions of dollars.

The Armenian government and Armenians worldwide accused both Israel and Russia of responsibility for the innocent Armenian lives lost in the recent Azeri invasion.

Prof. Israel Charny, a righteous Jew and a staunch defender of human rights, could not remain silent knowing that his country — Israel — had a bloody role in the Armenian killings. As Executive Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, Dr. Charny sent a scathing commentary to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, under the provocative title: “Would Israel Sell a Used Drone to a Hitler?” Here is what he wrote:

“If the Nazis were not at all murdering Jews but ‘only’ were murdering say hated Slavs, Gypsies, and Jehovah’s Witnesses; and if our beloved State of Israel were in existence; would you agree to our selling arms to the Nazis?

“Israel is reported to have sold billions of dollars of arms including to governments that are killing or threatening to attack victim peoples. Last week, there came reports that an Israeli drone in the hands of Azerbaijan — a huge arms customer of ours — was responsible for the deaths of six Armenians in the Armenian enclave Nagorno Karabakh.

“I am ashamed!

“The Armenians were the victims of a major genocide 100 years ago that has even been called the ‘Armenian Shoah’ by some Israeli scholars, including from Bar Ilan University. A great deal of their national and cultural concern continues to focus passionately on the memory of that genocide (does that sound familiar to us Jews?). For many years now, we Israelis — whether led by Labor or Likud — have insulted and hurt the Armenian people by failing to recognize their genocide officially and formally. Would we ourselves tolerate another government — say the U.S. or England — failing to recognize the Holocaust because of their realpolitik interest with the perpetrator government?

“One senior Armenian official has written several of us in Israel to express his deep pain as well as indignation now not only at our cowardly and self-serving denials of the Armenian Genocide, but also at our thick military trade alliance with Azerbaijan. I am reminded of the prophet Nathan crying out to King David for an earlier though more delectable murderous act of self-interest: It’s bad enough that you killed him, are you also taking a profit from the sordid affair? The Azeris are a Turkic people who adhere to Turkey’s bizarre and fascist tradition of rewriting history and denying the Armenian Genocide.

“In general, how much do we Israelis want to strengthen our economy by lucrative arms sales? Of course, ‘everyone’ in the world is doing it, but do we have to also? Have we given up the image/dream of Israel as a moral leader of peoples on this planet? Is this idea tiresome, naïve, and childlike in a madly destructive and self-destroying world?

“An alternative concept could be that along with our building arms first and foremost for the defense of Israel, that we sell — or contribute — arms only to underdog peoples who are facing mass destruction, and/or to allies like the U.S., who are essentially committed to shared democratic values and peace. Of course, we will still be making some mistakes, but at least our conscience will be more clear that we have not delivered used arms to the ‘Nazis.’

“To my Armenian colleagues and friends, I can only say that as a Jew and as an Israeli, I am mortified — and angry.”

Prof. Charny’s harsh words are fully justified as both Israeli and Russian officials have shamefully pledged to continue shipping more weapons to Azerbaijan!

Dr. Charny has never shied away from expressing his critical views on Israel’s immoral policies on Armenian issues. In a scathing letter in 2001, he told Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres: “You have gone beyond a moral boundary that no Jew should allow himself to trespass…. As a Jew and an Israeli, I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust.”

Prof. Charny should be highly commended for his bold and righteous stand, taking to task the callous leaders of his own country!

“Azerbaijani suffered a military defeat, as it failed to reach the goals it had posed thanks to our officers and soldiers. Today we hold a trump card given us by the Armenian soldier, and we should use this in diplomacy, as well,” Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, told reporters today.

According to Demoyan, one of the reasons of the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh is the end of the “oil honeymoon.”

“The military adventurism was not just Ilham Aliyev’s caprice, this means the weakness of the state of Azerbaijan needs to be saved, and at least a small victory on the Karabakh front is the only tool at this point,” Demoyan said.

According to him, it was meant to ensure unity, to create new myths and heroic stories, that cement artificial state and artificial ethnic communities.

However, Demoyan said, Azerbaijan failed to achieve the goals. “The cement
fell to the ground like spot putty,” he said.

“In the current situation the two Armenian states have to come forth with a joint statement outlining our expectations and making it clear what we are ready for. The Armenian side should insist that Azerbaijan must be held accountable for the launching of large-scale military actions, for the unprecedented violation of the ceasefire regime, or whatever it was.”

Demoyan believes it’s high time to review the National Security Strategy. “Nothing has changed in the documents since 2007, while we’re facing a new situation and new challenges today,” he added. According to AGMI Director, the recent developments have changed the situation, and this cannot but affect the negotiation process.

A prosecutor has demanded a 7-year imprisonment for prominent Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan who stands charged with stealing $700,000 from the mother of former Bashkortostan senator Igor Izmestyev who was sentenced to life for terrorism, RAPSI reported on Tuesday from Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court.

The prosecutor also asked the court to collect from the businessman 20.8 million rubles ($310,000) in damages in favor of the injured party.

Investigators believe that the businessman has misled the woman by promising a reduced sentence for her son. In practice, he could not influence the judgment. The maximum penalty for such crime is 10 years in prison.

Hayrapetyan has pleaded not guilty. According to his lawyer, the case has been framed up.

Hayrapetyan also stands charged with involvement in an embezzlement case under which Ural Rakhimov, son of the former head of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov, sold Bashneft, a midsized oil company he headed for three years, to the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema in 2009 at a huge “discount” of $500 million.

In early October 2014, Hayrapetyan was placed under house arrest. His defense attorney asked the court to release him, citing health problems.

The situation in Nagorno Karabakh will be discussed at the plenary session of the European Parliament today.

Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will make a statement, which will be followed by a debate.

Ahead of the debate on Nagorno-Karabakh in the European Parliament (EP) this evening, several European politicians have already expressed their views on the worrisome situation in the region, calling for different measures of support to Karabakh.

One of them is the Vice-President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras. He has already taken the floor during the European Parliament plenary opening yesterday, demanding the inclusion of Nagorno Karabakh in the peace negotiations and calling for its full international recognition based on the democratic referendum of 1991, as well as Karabakh’s working democratic institutions, low corruption levels, and well respected judiciary.

Likewise, MEP Françoise Grossetête, who is Vice-President of the EPP group in the European Parliament has also referred to this matter. She has tabled a written question, deploring civilian victims and asking the EU High Representative/Vice-President, Federica Mogherini, for measures to enforce and respect the cease-fire.
Lastly, MEP Jordi Sebastia has sent an inquiry to the EU High Representative/Vice-President, underlining atrocities committed by Azerbaijan on Karabakhi civilians and asking the EU to stop “calls on both sides” in situations where there is clearly one culprit. MEP Sebastia has recently travelled to both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh accompanied by EuFoA.

European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) welcomes these important voices. “We are very proud that our awareness-raising activities are bearing fruit”, comments EuFoA Director, Mr Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa. “In our opinion, all our European friends have a constructive message that could help to bring a sustainable solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”.

A team visited one of the artillery positions of the Nagorno Karabakh Army and spoke to the soldiers there.

Member of the European Parliament Josep-Maria Terricabras (Spain) calls or international recognition of Nagorno Karabakh.

Addressing the EP plenary session, Mr. Terricabras reminded that on December 10, 1991 the people of Nagorno Karabakh voted for independence in a referendum and added that this democratic process was responded by a military offensive by Azerbaijan with more than 30 thousand dead.

“Subsequently, ceasefire between Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia was signed. The creation of the Minsk Group in 1992 was a breakthrough, but Azerbaijan has refused to implement a mechanism for monitoring the violations of the ceasefire, the MEP said.

“Nagorno Karabakh has fully democratic institutions, an exemplary judicial system, and low levels of corruption. For this reason we request the inclusion of representatives of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations of the Minsk Group, precisely because they determine the future of the country’s inhabitants,”Josep-Maria Terricabras said.

He concluded that the “for the resolution of the military conflict, it is necessary to recognize internationally the new independent state.”