Author: Ani Tigranian

Flights to resume between Turkey and Armenia

Ani Tigranian
Jan 25 2022
Turkey and Armenia will resume flights on February 2
Written byArzu Geybullayeva



Turkey and Armenia will resume flights on February 2, 2022, for the first time since November 2019. There are currently no direct flights between the two countries. Previously, passenger flights were operated by Atlasjet, an airline company that went bankrupt in 2019. The announcement comes amid attempts to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia.

The decision was first announced last year by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Shortly after the announcement the two countries also appointed special envoys on a reciprocal basis.

On January 14, the two envoys, Serdar Kilic, a former ambassador to the US, and Ruben Rubinyan, deputy chairman of Armenia’s National Assembly, met for the first time in Moscow. Following the meeting, the two countries announced that the charter flights operated by the Turkish budget carrier Pegasus Airlines and Moldovan low-cost airline FlyOne would resume operations on February 2.

According to Reuters reporting, “Pegasus will hold its first flight from Istanbul to Yerevan on February 2 with a return flight on February 3, a spokesperson for the airline said, adding the route would open with three reciprocal flights per week.”

In a statement issued by Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, FlyOne flights will be landing at Istanbul Airport at 19:50 while the flight for Yerevan leaving Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport will depart at 23:35 local time the same day.

Other positive developments include Yerevan lifting an embargo on Turkish goods in light of positive developments in normalization process last year. The decision was imposed on December 31, 2020 in retaliation after Ankara backed Baku during the 44-day war with Armenia over the Nagorno Karabakh territory.

During the January meeting in Moscow, the parties focused on “boosting trade and transport links as well as appointing diplomatic representatives,” reported FT.

Turkey and Armenia were close to finding some common ground in 2008 when Turkey's then-President Abdullah Gul traveled to Yerevan to watch the first of the two qualifying World Cup matches between Turkey and Armenia. A year later, Serge Sarkisian, the Armenian president, traveled to Turkey's province of Bursa to watch another football game between the two national teams. The game and Sarkisian's visit to Turkey followed the signing of a series of protocols in Zurich that were designed to normalize relations between the two countries. Described at the time as “football diplomacy,” the negotiations eventually fell through after Turkey withdrew due to mounting pressure from Azerbaijan. Armenia formally declared the protocols null and void in 2018.

While there is no date set for the next meeting between Turkey and Armenia, one Turkish news agency reported on January 21, that it will likely take place in Turkey or Armenia as there was no longer a need for a third country involvement, the news agency said, citing diplomatic sources.

The ongoing negotiations are a positive sign, something that is repeated across the board by a number of experts and observers covering the regional developments. However, as International Crisis Group country analysts note in their brief released on January 13, “More such stepping stones will be needed to help rebuild low trust between the sides. A disruption of this effort to establish neighbourly ties – only the third effort in as many decades and an important opportunity for Turkey, Armenia and the whole region – could only make that mistrust sink lower.”

https://globalvoices.org/2022/01/25/flights-to-resume-between-turkey-and-armenia/

Can Armenia-Turkey ties improve in the shadow of the Armenian genocide?

Ani Tigranian
India – Jan 27 2022

POSTED BY: GOPI JANUARY 27, 2022


By Aditi Bhaduri

New Delhi, Jan 27: The recent talks between Armenia and Turkey in Moscow, while surprising, were not totally unexpected. This had been a long time in the offing. The two – it would not be out of place to call them civilisational foes – had long ago met to start a diplomatic dialogue – in fact back in 2010. 

However, nothing came out of it. Armenia has now appointed a lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party, Ruben Rubinyan as special envoy to work on the normalisation of ties with Turkey, while Ankara has appointed former ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic for the same. They met in Moscow on January 14.

Now, after the end of the war for Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan has wrested decisively from Armenia's control, it is expected that Turkey and Armenia would begin normalisation of relations. Currently, the two countries do not have any diplomatic relations. The reason goes back to the last millennium where 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered by Ottomans, often thought to be the modern world's first genocide. The ghost of that slaughter lives in the collective consciousness of Armenians the world over. While major powers, including the USA and Russia, have recognised the genocide, Turkey has refused to do so, fearing threats of reparations if it was to do so.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict remained a reason for Turkey to not engage diplomatically with Armenia. Turkey opposed Armenia's control over the enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, which in Ankara's view was territory of Azerbaijan, a fellow Turkic nation. In 1993, it sealed the border with Armenia, depriving the small landlocked country a transit route through Turkish territory.

When war once again broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, most Armenians believed they were fighting the Turks rather than the Azeris. Turkish technology, Turkish arms, Turkish military counsellors won the war for Azerbaijan. After the swashbuckling speeches and promises of victory by Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinian, the defeat was not merely a military or economic or territorial loss for the Armenians; it was a huge psychological setback for them. Riots broke out on the street and there were many calls for Pashinian to resign. To put it mildly, he is not in a strong position today.

With the end of the war, with Azeri control over most of the contested territory, and with Russian and Turkish joint peace keeping operations, the equation has changed. Economically backward Armenia has the proverbial carrot dangling before it: normalising relations with Turkey will open up a host of connectivity and therefore economic opportunities for it. On the other hand, having a corridor to Azerbaijan through Armenia – the Zangezur Corridor – would greatly aid both Azerbaijan and Turkey. It would especially benefit Turkey's outreach to both Azerbaijan, Caspian Sea, and the Turkic countries of Central Asia. That would also open up land connectivity for Turkey to South Asia – to Afghanistan where Turkey is keen to play a major role and of course to its ally Pakistan, with major implications for India. Undoubtedly, opening up the corridor would benefit Azerbaijan and Turkey far more.

Will Armenia be willing to do so?

As such, Armenia may have nothing to lose but much to gain by it. But going by the mood of the people, the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh after two long decades to Azerbaijan because of Turkish intervention, the incomplete rehabilitation and resettlement of its displaced residents, it seems a tough call. Capping all this is the fact that the negotiations have been entered into by the government that lost the war and the deeply unpopular prime minister.

For one, Armenians do not want any preconditions attached to the talks.

However, one of the preconditions laid down by Turkey is for Armenia to give up its support for international recognition for the Armenian Genocide; yet another is that Armenia recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan; and open up the Zangezur Corridor.

The Armenian Genocide remains a deeply emotional issue for Armenians everywhere and a greatly unifying factor, as also a marker of the Armenian identity. While the Republic of Armenia may some day in the future give up this support, to do so right now would add salt to injury. Moreover, there is huge pressure exerted by the Armenians in the diaspora, many of whom have had victims amongst their families.

Secondly, suffering defeat in war to arch-rival Azerbaijan after more than two decades is bad enough. And recognising Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan eliminates any further opportunity to work out some kind of mechanism for joint control of the Zangezur corridor to Turkey and arch-rival Azerbaijan would be double humiliation. To that end, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan is on record saying that, "The issue of the corridor is a red line for us, everyone is aware of it: Azerbaijan and all the countries that have anything with Armenians are aware of it."

Finally, Turkey's announcement that it would be coordinating the matter with Azerbaijan is another red flag to the Armenians. Therefore, while Armenia-Turkey normalisation of ties is neither unexpected nor impossible, it will probably remain improbable in the near future. At least not till passions on both Armenian and Azeri sides have cooled down and till the government of the day is perceived to be more mindful of Armenian sovereignty and security interests.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

–indianarrative

https://www.socialnews.xyz/2022/01/27/can-armenia-turkey-ties-improve-in-the-shadow-of-the-armenian-genocide/

Armenian Minister of Justice holds meeting with Ambassador of Belarus

Ani Tigranian

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 17:00,

YEREVAN, JANAURY 24, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Justice of Armenia Karen Adnreasyan received Ambassador of Belarus to Armenia Alexander Konyuk, the ministry reports.

Minister Andreasyan presented the judicial reforms and the program of introducing electronic justice system.

The Ambassador said the justice ministry of Belarus is interested in the digitization of the field of civil status acts registration in Armenia. He was also interested in the capacities of the justice ministry’s Expert Center SNCO, and an agreement was reached to sign a contract between the expert center based in Belarus and the Armenian justice ministry.

The Ambassador also said that he is conducting studies over the Armenian Genocide and is concerned over the issue, adding that Belarus has also become a victim of genocide in 1941-1945.

CivilNet: A recap of Pashinyan’s dubious claims and false statements

Ani Tigranian
CIVILNET.AM

19 Jan, 2022 05:01

CivilNet has put together Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s dubious claims and false statements over the last year.

1. Price of water

During the parliamentary election campaign of December 2018, Pashinyan announced that the tariff on drinking water would not increase during the next six years. “According to the previously signed agreement, in December, that is now, drinking water should have become more expensive in the whole republic, but we were able to work with Veolia Water, and agreed that there will be no increase in the price of drinking water in Armenia until 2024.”

On November 30, 2021, however, the Public Services Regulatory Commission announced that from January 1, 2022, the tariff on drinking water will increase by 20 drams, from the current 180 to 200 drams.

2. Separation of business and politics

In June 2018, while presenting his government’s program, Pashinyan attached great importance to the separation of politics and business.

“The following conceptual issues […] the practical separation of politics and business are of key importance and will become a landmark for the government’s activities,” Pashinyan said.

Despite that, in the June 20, 2021 parliamentary elections, businessmen Khachatur Sukiasyan and Gurgen Arsenyan appeared on the list of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. Both were elected as parliament deputies.

3. Changes in the defense budget

During the June parliamentary election campaign, Pashinyan claimed that the defense budget had grown by almost 50 percent during his tenure.

“We have increased the defense budget by 48% – by 63 billion AMD, during 2018-2020.”

In reality, military spending increased not by 48%, but by 27% in 2020. It increased from 238 to 303 billion AMD.

4. The Shushi Conundrum

One week after the end of the 44-day war, Pashinyan insisted that the war could have been avoided if the seven regions surrounding Karabakh and Shushi were handed over to Azerbaijan.

“Could we have avoided war? Yes, we could have, if we had agreed to hand over seven regions to Azerbaijan, and Shushi,” he said.

Pashinyan’s claim was refuted by then-Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan. “At any given stage of the peace process, there was no question about giving up Shushi,” she said.

Pashinyan was also refuted by Russian President Vladimir Putin who said that, “As for the city of Shushi, the issue of its surrender has never been raised […] this issue arose during [the 2020 Karabakh War], this crisis.”

Later, Pashinyan himself admitted that previous peace processes did not mention the handing over of Shushi to Azerbaijan, but they mentioned the return of the Azerbaijanis to the city.

5. Use of the Iskander Missile System

In February 2021, Pashinyan made a scandalous statement about the use of the Iskander missile system during the 44-day war. “Why didn’t the Iskander [missiles] explode, or only exploded at 10% capacity?”

Russia, which sold the Iskander to Armenia, replied to Pashinyan’s claim with the following statement․ “The Russian Federation’s Ministry of Defense got acquainted with the statement of the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with bewilderment and surprise that the “Iskander” missiles used by the Armenian armed forces in Nagorno Karabakh did not explode or exploded only by 10%. […] According to our objective and reliable information, […] none of these missile systems were used during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. ”

After this announcement, Pashinyan took a step back. His spokesperson announced, “As a result of the juxtaposition of the available facts and data, the Prime Minister of Armenia came to the conclusion that he was not properly informed about this situation.”

Later on, local investigators discovered that the Iskander had in fact been used during the 44-day war.

6. Status of Karabakh

In January 2021, Pashinyan published an article claiming that the Russian proposal for a solution to the Karabakh conflict did not mention the question of the region’s status.

“The now well-known Russian proposals, which were conceived in 2013 and finalized in 2015, provided for the return of the seven regions to Azerbaijan…, for the return of refugees, and for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers. The package of proposals has no mention of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, it bypasses this issue,” Pashinyan wrote.

Former Russian co-chair of the Minsk Group Igor Popov disputed Pashinyan’s claim. “It is not right to claim that Russia has offered to return the seven regions [in exchange] for nothing, or forget about the status,” Popov said.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan agreed with Popov. “I definitely agree with Mr. Popov on the fact that the status of Artsakh was the most important principle for the settlement of the conflict.”

7. State borders are not determined by domestic laws

After the war, Pashinyan repeatedly insisted that the 2010 law on “Administrative Territorial Division” defined Armenia’s state border with Azerbaijan.

During his visit to Sisian in December 2020, for example, he stated: “Today’s borders, the description of the administrative borders of our communities were determined by the law on the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia, that law was adopted in 2010.”

The Law on Administrative Territorial Division is about the internal divisions of the state, it regulates the issue of local self-government bodies, and does not clarify the borders with other countries.

Translated by Zara Poghosyan

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 18-01-22

Ani Tigranian

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 17:29,

YEREVAN, 18 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 January, USD exchange rate up by 0.03 drams to 481.52 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.27 drams to 548.74 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 6.28 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.61 drams to 656.02 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 77.19 drams to 28142.55 drams. Silver price down by 1.29 drams to 356.3 drams. Platinum price down by 60.98 drams to 15094.2 drams.

Earthquake in Armenia: shocks felt in Syunik, Vayots Dzor regions and in the capital of Artsakh

Ani Tigranian
  NEWS.am  
Jan 16 2022
09:02, 16.01.2022

 An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3 occurred on January 16 at 07:25 local time (03:25 GMT) on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border – 12 km southeast of the city of Kapan in the Syunik region of Armenia. This is reported by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic.

The earthquake coordinates are 39.14⁰ north latitude and 46.52⁰ east longitude.

The source of the earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3 lay at a depth of 10 km.

The strength of the tremors in the epicenter was 5-6 points.

An earthquake of magnitude 4-5 was felt in the town of Kapan in the Syunik region and in a number of villages in the Syunik region. Shocks of magnitude 3-4 were felt in the cities of Vayk and Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor region, as well as in the capital of Artsakh, Stepanakert.

Azerbaijan hands over 5 Armenian servicemen with Hungary’s mediation

Ani Tigranian
TASS, Russia
Dec 29 2021
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has confirmed this information

BAKU, December 29. /TASS/. Azerbaijan handed over five Armenian servicemen detained on November 16 back to Armenia with Hungary’s meditation, Azerbaijan's State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons reported Wednesday.

"Led by the principles of humanism, on December 29, 2021, Azerbaijan handed over five Armenian servicemen to the Armenian side with Hungary’s mediation," the statement says.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has already confirmed the return of the five servicemen.

Besides, Baku handed over an Armenian citizen, who got lost and crossed into the Azerbaijani territory.

Previously on December 4 and 19, Azerbaijan also handed over 20 Armenian servicemen, captured during November 16 clashes.

RTE’s Fair City star Nyree Yergainharsian celebrates Armenian heritage onscreen in hit Irish soap

Ani Tigranian
Mirror – Ireland
Dec 24 2021

Exclusive: Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’

By Katie Gallagher

Fair City star Nyree Yergainharsian is the pride and joy of Ireland’s Armenian community as she celebrates her heritage onscreen in the hit Irish soap.

The actress, best known as Carrigstown’s Melanie, was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and an Armenian father.

Dubbing herself a ‘full throttle hybrid’, Nyree said she is proud to be able to represent both cultures through her character on the national broadcaster.

But not as proud as her father, who is the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Armenia in Ireland and her right hand man for information on her heritage for the show.

She told the Irish Daily Mirror: “It is really great, my dad is heavily involved with the Armenian community in Ireland and he is the Armenian consul here so I know that the whole Armenian community were really excited.

“Because they’ve really integrated into Ireland and some are like me where they are a parent from each or maybe they are Armenians who just moved and emigrated to Ireland.

“And they are just so proud and delighted to see that Ireland’s favourite soap is representing them so well.”

As Nyree was born and raised in Ireland, she isn’t fluent in Armenian, and often enlists the help of the community and her dad when it comes to speaking the language on the show.

She explained: “I ask a lot of them when it comes to information or bits and pieces and every now and again.

“I get bits from him [dad], I never spoke it fluently. It was just very hard in the 80s and 90s there weren’t many Armenian families so even to practice that would have been very hard. “But now it is great I’m able to share that with my dad. And he helps me a lot with including the language in the program.

“So it is really nice to be represented in that way and to represent the community, I know they are really proud,” she added.

Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’ with Mondo and the kids, to ensure they are celebrating both Irish and Armenian traditions at the dinner table.

And it seems the episode will see art mimicking reality for the star, who said she has always grown up with a mix of both cultures in her home.

“Our dinners are always a bit of a hybrid so Christmas for us never stood out when there was a mix of dishes. It never seemed strange to us because it was the same all year.

“We would always have the same thing that every family would have had growing up in the 80s and 90s but you would have had a middle eastern twang to everything.

“Christmas dinner we always had homemade hummus on the table and always a little bit hybrid so it wouldn’t be too far from home for me anyway.”

Like many around the country, the star will sit down with her family tomorrow[Sat/Christmas Day] to watch the Christmas special.

“We always look forward to the Christmas episodes because we are all together for them.”

But with a week of ‘trysts, lies, and shootings’ billed for the festive specials she’ll have a job on her hands trying not to spoil the shocks and surprises from her eager family and fans.

“When my scripts come in they are always dying to know what is happening and looking for a bit of gossip before it comes out they think they are ahead of the game.”

Teasing what is to come in Carrigstown in the New Year, she added:

“People think we have much more insight knowledge but actually we love making the predictions as well and I am really excited now because I know next year some of the predictions I have made recently are actually coming true.

“And they are really exciting. I think the fans are going to absolutely adore it.”

Fair City airs on RTE One Christmas Day at 8.50pm, and again on St Stephen’s Day, December 26


https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/rtes-fair-city-star-nyree-25774920?fbclid=IwAR0LRa6lIYGd1wI5Fd7qH64Um-EFwMn1GqRzeEm4jS-qFWATq2oMdztAFAc

Cavusoglu: Turkey’s goal is to implement ‘Zangezur project’

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 20 2021
Cavusoglu: Turkey's goal is to implement ‘Zangezur project’
15:31, 20.12.2021

The Turkish foreign minister once again touched upon the topic of normalizing relations with Armenia.

Mevlut Cavusoglu recalled that both Armenia and Turkey have already appointed envoys in this regard, and that they will meet in the nearest future, according to Hurriyet daily of Turkey.

Cavusoglu stressed that Turkey's goal is to implement the railways and motorways, especially the "Zangezur project," connecting the countries in the region.

"Turkey will do its best to implement these projects," said Cavusoglu, adding, however, that Turkey will coordinate with Azerbaijan all its steps in connection with Armenia.