Wednesday,
Pashinian Signals Support For Azeri Control Of Karabakh
Icelan - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses a Council of Europe
summit in Reykjavik, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appeared to confirm on Wednesday that he agreed
to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh during the weekend
talks with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev held in Brussels.
“Three days ago, with the mediation of European Council President Charles
Michel, we made a step further, emphasizing that Armenia recognizes Azerbaijan’s
territory of 86,600 square kilometers and Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia’s
territory of 29,800 square kilometers,” Pashinian said in a speech delivered
during a Council of Europe summit in Iceland.
The total Soviet-era area of Azerbaijan cited by him includes Karabakh.
Michel likewise said in Brussels that Aliyev and Pashinian “confirmed their
unequivocal commitment to … respective territorial integrity of Armenia (29,800
square kilometers) and Azerbaijan (86,600 square kilometers).” That was
construed by Armenian opposition leaders as further proof of Pashinian’s
readiness to help Baku regain control over Karabakh.
One of those leaders, Armen Ashotian, condemned Pashinian’s confirmation of
Michel’s statement as “treasonous.” Pashinian thereby “annexed Karabakh to
Azerbaijan,” Ashotian said in a Facebook post.
Commenting on the Brussels summit earlier this week, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry emphasized “Armenia’s acceptance of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territorial integrity.”
Pashinian stopped invoking the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination a
year ago. Since then, he has spoken instead of the need to protect their “rights
and security.”
Karabakh’s leadership has criticized the Armenian premier’s statements on the
conflict with Azerbaijan made over the past year. On Monday, it accused the
European Union and Michel in particular of turning a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s
five-month blockade of Karabakh’s sole land link with Armenia.
Speaking in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, Pashinian also denounced the blockade.
At the same time, he called for the start of “Baku-Stepanakert negotiations
aimed at providing security and human rights for the Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh under an international mechanism.”
Aliyev has repeatedly rejected such a mechanism and ruled out any status for the
Armenian-populated region.
Armenian Soldier Killed In Fresh Borer Clash
ARMENIA -- Soldiers walk in a trench at an Armenia border post near the village
of Sotk, June 18, 2021
An Armenian soldier was fatally wounded on Wednesday in what the Defense
Ministry in Yerevan described as a fresh Azerbaijani truce violation on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
He died on his way to a hospital in Armenia’s eastern Gegharkunik province. The
ministry said Azerbaijani forces also opened fire at an ambulance that evacuated
the soldier, wounding a paramedic.
According to a ministry statement, the incident, denied by the Azerbaijani
military, happened near the Armenian border village of Sotk. The area was the
scene of deadly fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces last Thursday
and Friday which reportedly involved artillery and combat drones.
The United States expressed serious concern at those clashes, urging both sides
to withdraw troops from their long border.
The latest ceasefire violation at that border section was reported three days
after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev made progress during peace talks in Brussels mediated by the European
Union.
Baku seemed satisfied with the outcome of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry emphasized “Armenia’s acceptance of
Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territorial integrity.”
Armenia Also Reports Massive Seizure Of Cocaine
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - A photo of what the National Security Service described as cocaine
seized by it on May 13, 2023.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency on Wednesday claimed to have seized about one
ton of cocaine one day after an even bigger consignment of the drug, allegedly
bound for Armenia, was found in Italy.
The National Security Service (NSS) said the cocaine was discovered in boxes of
fruit imported by an Armenian company from Ecuador via Panama, Italy and
Georgia. In a statement, the NSS did not name that company or report any arrests
in connection with the unprecedented find.
The statement also said that the drugs were found on Saturday. It did not
explain why the NSS waited for four days before announcing the largest-ever
cocaine seizure in Armenia.
The security service refused to comment further when contacted by RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), which comprises the national customs
service, also declined a comment. The SRC had made massive seizures of heroin
smuggled from neighboring Iran in 2014, 2017 and 2021.
The NSS announcement came one day after police in Italy seized 2.7 tons of
“extremely pure” cocaine which they said was destined for Armenia. The haul was
found in refrigerated banana containers shipped to the southern Italian port of
Gioia Tauro from Ecuador.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General said that it is looking into the
Italian police report.
Opposition politicians and other critics of the Armenian government seized upon
the report to again blame it for soaring drug trafficking and abuse in Armenia.
The number of drug drug-related crimes recorded by the Armenian police nearly
doubled last year.
It is not clear whether NSS investigators believe that the huge quantity of the
cocaine seized by them was intended for the small Armenian market or whether
Armenia was used as a transit point.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian insisted that he does not know which Armenian
food-importing company is accused of smuggled the drugs. “I know about this case
as much as you do,” he told reporters.
“I can only say that we are very concerned about both these developments and the
overall situation with drugs in Armenia,” the Hraparak daily quoted Kerobian as
saying.
Russia’s Lavrov Blasts West’s ‘Provocative’ Policy On Armenia
• Astghik Bedevian
U.S. - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov listens as he chairs a UN Security
Council meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York, April 24, 2023.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the West of pressuring
Armenia to end Russia’s military presence in the South Caucasus country and rely
instead on the United States for defense.
“We have information that they are signaling to the Armenians, ‘Come to us, kick
the Russians out of your territory, remove the [Russian] military base and
border guards too, the Americans will help to ensure your security,” he told the
Russian TV channel Tsargrad in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
Lavrov condemned the alleged Western policy as a “blatant provocation.” The
Armenian Foreign Ministry declined to immediately comment on his claims.
Lavrov already decried in March “undisguised attempts by Western countries to
estrange Armenia from Russia.” He also renewed Russian allegations that the U.S.
and the European Union are seeking to hijack Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements
brokered by Moscow during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The traditionally close Russian-Armenian relations have deteriorated
significantly since last September due to what Yerevan sees as Moscow’s
reluctance to defend it against Azerbaijani military attacks on Armenian
territory.
Armenia - Russian and Armenian troops hold a joint military exercise, November
24, 2021.
In January, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian went as far as to question
the need for close military ties with Russia. Pashinian said that they may be
putting Armenia’s security and territorial integrity at greater risk. The
Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the claim as “absurd.”
These lingering tensions have fuelled speculation about a pro-Western shift in
Armenia’s geopolitical orientation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that the West wants to “squeeze Russia out
of the region” when it reacted in February to the deployment of 100 or so EU
monitors to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan. The monitoring mission
was requested by the Armenian government.
Speaking to Tsargrad, Lavrov again rebuked Yerevan for refusing a similar
mission offered by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in
November.
“If Yerevan had confirmed what had already been agreed [by CSTO member states] …
I am convinced that Armenia would have benefited and gotten a more stable
situation,” he said.
Pashinian’s government has attributed its refusal to Russia’s and other CSTO
allies’ failure to publicly condemn the “Azerbaijani aggression” against
Armenia. It has given the same reason for rejecting “military-technical
assistance” offered by the Russian-led military alliance last fall.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Anna Tamamian
Turkish Press: Armenia got the message: Ankara’s warning sends a clear signal to Yerevan
Armenia got the message: Ankara's warning sends a clear signal to Yerevan
Yahya Bostan
Azerbaijanis call it the "Homeland War". The Second Karabakh War, which lasted 44 days and was supported by the Turkish military intelligence, has fundamentally changed many things in the region. Azerbaijan regained its homeland territories while Türkiye's influence in the Caucasus region increased. Iran suffered a strategic setback. Armenia was forced to return the lands it unjustly seized 30 years ago. The Western world could not intervene in this development that happened outside its control and was left out of the game.
A short parenthesis… Last week, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia met at the White House. In the coming days, Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan will meet in Brussels. The West is trying to get involved in the game by preparing the ground for such meetings.
Closing the parenthesis, the Second Karabakh War was also the first conventional warfare in which Turkish drones were used, as they were previously tested in Syria and Libya. The success of the UCAVs has led to the rewriting of the war doctrine.
Perhaps the most important impact of the Karabakh War was the favorable ground it created for regional peace. Those who expected more violence after the war were wrong. Ankara and Baku put forward a peace project that included Armenia to consolidate their gains and prevent further conflicts. They forced Armenia to embrace peace with a win-win approach. In this context, a normalization process was initiated between Ankara and Yerevan.
However, things are not going exactly as planned. While peace talks continue, reports of conflict occasionally come from the Azerbaijan-Armenia border. For example, three Azerbaijani soldiers lost their lives in a recent hot conflict.
The Nemesis Monument opened in Yerevan was an attempt to dynamite the fragile process. The monument is dedicated to Armenian assassins who targeted Turkish political and military figures. This was a malicious, provocative, and purposeful attempt.
As soon as Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu received the news of the opening of the monument, he activated the sanction card. "We will not allow flights from Armenia to third countries, including VIP flights," he said.
What does this mean?
"In flights to Armenia from third countries, Turkish airspace will not be used. Planes taking off from Yerevan and heading to, for example, a European country, will have to find a longer and more costly route. This includes VIP flights as well.
However, Ankara's reaction will not be limited to this. It is stated that more effective steps will be taken if the Armenian administration does not prevent such provocative actions. With this initial move, Ankara is sending the message, "If you don't come to your senses, we will also block direct flights." Saying "if provocative actions continue, the normalization process will end."
So, did Yerevan receive this message? The first statement on the issue came from Pashinyan. Saying that the monument was opened by civil society organizations, Pashinyan used the _expression_, "The government did not make this decision. It was a wrong decision, and its implementation was also wrong." Armenian Parliament Speaker Simonyan also said, "The monument is not a manifestation of Armenia's foreign policy."
It is not expected that Yerevan will remove the monument from its place due to domestic political reasons. However, it is predicted that Pashinyan and his team will be more sensitive to such provocations that could affect the normalization process in the future. As one source put it, "The stone we threw reached its target."
ANKARA DOES NOT ACCEPT PRECONDITIONS
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was in Moscow the day before yesterday as part of normalization talks with Syria. Türkiye, Russia, Iran, and Syria's intelligence chiefs, as well as Defense Ministers, came together in a quadrilateral meeting to discuss normalization opportunities.
The Turkish delegation had made comprehensive preparations before going to Moscow. A message was given to the Syrian regime and other parties, "Let's cooperate on terrorism, terrorism is a common enemy." The importance of stability and the political process for Syrians to return to their country was emphasized at the meeting. Since the first meeting, the Syrian regime has continued to insist on "withdrawing Turkish troops from Syria." As I have written before, Ankara cannot and will not accept this while the terrorist threat continues. Türkiye does not demand a precondition in this regard. It also strongly expresses its support for Syria's territorial integrity.
The concrete result of the meeting was a decision to prepare a roadmap for the continuation of negotiations. The parties will work on the roadmap and present it to the leaders. This is a new stage in the normalization process. But there is still a long way to go."
https://www.yenisafak.com/en/columns/yahya-bostan/armenia-got-the-message-ankaras-warning-sends-a-clear-signal-to-yerevan-3664242
US Says Armenia, Azerbaijan Should Seize ‘Peaceful Solution’ After Clashes
BARRON'S
- FROM AFP NEWS
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Armenpress: Azerbaijan continues shelling Armenia’s eastern borders in Gegharkunik
19:55,
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. As of May 12, at 7:40 p.m., the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces continue to fire at the Armenian positions located in the Kut sector, ARMENPRESS was informed from MoD Armenia.
"Azerbaijani armed forces are also using mortars in the direction of the Armenian positions located in the Sotk sector. The units of the Armed Forces of Armenia take appropriate protective and preventive measures.
The Ministry of Defense will issue an additional message," the message stated.
Azerbaijan attempts to dictate its conditions to Armenian side in talks – Ambassador-at- large Edmon Marukyan
10:15,
YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is attempting to dictate its conditions to the Armenian side in the negotiations, Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan said on May 11 amid the Azerbaijani shelling of Armenian positions in Sotk.
“The provocation unleashed by the Azerbaijani side on the border of Armenia once again proves Azerbaijan's constant policy of putting pressure on the Armenian side through force and threats. Shelling the Armenian positions and the ambulance evacuating wounded soldiers shows Azerbaijan’s indiscriminate actions and an attempt to dictate its conditions to the Armenian side in the negotiation process,” Marukyan tweeted.
The Azerbaijani military has been shelling Armenian positions near Sotk since 06:00, May 11.
Three Armenian servicemen have been wounded in the attack.
Furthermore, the Azerbaijani forces shelled an ambulance which was evacuating the wounded Armenian troops.
Armenians avenged genocide by assassinating its organizers in five countries
May 9 2023
ByTeam Mighty
An exhibition dedicated to Operation Nemesis at the genocide museum in Yerevan, Armenia.
When Israel avenges the Holocaust or terrorist crimes against Jewish people, the world takes notice – and Israel wants them to. From the Nazi hunters led by Simon Wiesenthal and the abduction and extradition of Adolf Eichmann to Operation Wrath of God, the revenge killings against Arab terrorists for the 1972 Munich Massacre, Israel wants people to know crimes against Jewish people will not be tolerated.
Armenians, meanwhile, have been struggling for more than a century just to have the genocide against their people recognized as such by the international community. But whether the world recognized the genocide or not, Armenians were just as determined to get their revenge against the Turkish people who planned and organized it. They called theirs “Operation Nemesis.”
Nemesis is often defined as the inescapable agent of someone’s downfall. It was an appropriate name for Armenia’s retaliation against the perpetrators of the mass killings against the Armenian people in the middle of World War I.
In 1915, Turkey was part of and central to the dying Ottoman Empire. During World War I, the empire was aligned with the Central Powers, dominated by Germany and Austria-Hungary. At the turn of the 20th century, the Ottomans lost a series of wars, which meant they lost territory, power, and prestige, and rulers began to worry the significant Armenian population would declare independence.
ARF congress who started Operation Nemesis against Armenian genocide.
In the years before, mass killings of Armenians were sporadic, but in 1915, the Ottoman Empire arrested, imprisoned, and deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians from the Empire. As many as 1.2 million were forced to march out of Turkey and wander into the Syrian desert. They were starved, thrown into concentration camps, forcibly converted to Islam, or just outright murdered by Turkish nationalists.
The number of Armenian dead in the ethnic cleansing during and after the First World War is estimated to be as high as 1.5 million, and today only some 34 countries and a handful of civilian and religious organizations have officially recognized the killings as a genocide. But Armenians knew it from the start.
In March 1921, Talaat Pasha, who was the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire during the genocide, left his home in Berlin. He never returned. An Armenian man named Soghomon Tehlirian walked up behind him, put a gun to the back of his left ear, and pulled the trigger. It was Talaat’s orders to round up 200 leaders of Armenians inside the empire that started the genocide in earnest.
The front page of the Ottoman newspaper İkdam on 4 November 1918 after the Three Pashas fled the country following World War I. Showing left to right: Djemal Pasha, Talaat Pasha, and Enver Pasha.
Talaat wasn’t the first victim of Operation Nemesis, but he was the most wanted target – and he wasn’t the last. Named for the Greek goddess of divine retribution, Nemesis was an operation designed to assassinate the planners and perpetrators of not just the Armenian Genocide, but also the slaughter of tens of thousands of Armenians in Baku (in Azerbaijan). They were specifically targeting members of the CUP (also known as the Young Turks) who betrayed the Armenians and tried to wipe them out.
The first to fall to Nemesis was the first Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Fatali Khan Khoyski, assassinated in Tbilisi, Georgia. Talaat Pasha was second. In Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union and in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the genocide’s perpetrators fell one-by-one. The last assassination was Minister of the Navy Djemal Pasha in 1922.
More than 100 years after the final assassination of Operation Nemesis, Armenia unveiled a monument to the assassins in its capital city of Yerevan. Turkey and Azerbaijan immediately condemned the construction of the memorial, a tribute to just how hard the memory of the genocide lives on.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/armenian-genocide-operation-nemesis/
RI Senate unanimously passes Armenian Genocide resolution
Armenian flag flying over the RI State House on April 24, 2023
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Armenian tricolor proudly flew over the Rhode Island State House on April 24 and 25, as well as in the RI Senate on Tuesday, as the Armenian Genocide resolution (No. 937) was introduced by a grandchild of survivors.
Senator David P. Tikoian (Smithfield, North Providence and Lincoln) began his remarks on the Senate floor by expressing sincere gratitude to Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna Gallo of Cranston. Senate President Gallo, a longtime supporter of the Armenian community and cause, encouraged Tikoian to sponsor and introduce the resolution this year, taking over a role she has had for many years. The late Senator Maryellen Goodwin, a Smith Hill native who passed away last week, played a major role for many years, along with Senator Gallo.
Reading of the Armenian Genocide resolution with Senate Pres. Pro Tempore Hanna Gallo looking on
Senator Tikoian spoke to his fellow senators after the reading of the resolution about its importance to him as a descendant of orphans of the Genocide, Garabed Topalian and Tarviz Mesrobian. “It is because of their survival that I stand before you today,” Tikoian said. He explained the importance of recognizing the Armenian Genocide each year, making the connection between the events of World War I and the Holocaust during World War II.
“It is only through learning and remembering past atrocities, as we are doing here today, that we work towards their prevention and become a more humane society,” Tikoian stressed, recalling the Senate’s passage on March 30 of a resolution designating April as Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month, which he cosponsored with Senator Josh Miller.
Senator David Tikoian speaking about the importance of the Armenian Genocide resolution
“Passed by the entire Senate,” stated Senate President Gallo as every senator on the floor stood for passage of the resolution.
Sen. Thomas Paolino (l.) with Sen. Tikoian
Senator Leonidas Raptakis (Coventry) of Greek descent and Senator Thomas Paolino, who represents parts of Lincoln, North Providence and North Smithfield, spoke in support of the resolution. Senator Paolino noted that he was proud to support this legislation in honor of his late grandmother, who was Armenian.
Senator Leonidas Raptakis speaking in support of the resolution
The Rhode Island Armenian community is grateful for the Senate’s passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, following last week’s passage of the resolution introduced in the RI House by Rep. Katherine Kazarian (East Providence). Rep. Kazarian follows in the footsteps of longtime supporter Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Arthur Corvese (North Providence).
Community members with Sen. Tikoian (back center), including (l. to r. In front) his aunts Margaret Moorachian and Carol Mesrobian and his mother Ann Tikoian.
Armenia to provide new loan to Nagorno Karabakh
15:13,
YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia will provide a 3,5 billion-dram loan to the government of Nagorno Karabakh.
The decision was approved at the Cabinet meeting on April 27.
The funds, issued at a 0,01% interest rate with a 4-year repayment period, are intended as an additional funding for mitigating the social tension in the post-war period.
Torchlight march marks mass deaths of Armenians [+Links]
YEREVAN, Armenia — About 10,000 people bearing torches on Sunday night marched through Armenia’s capital to commemorate the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed in Ottoman Turkey more than a century ago.
The march from a central square to a sprawling memorial complex began with activists burning the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have spiraled in recent months since the blockage of the road leading to the ethnic Aremenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.
Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.
While Turkey concedes that many died in that era, the country has rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.
Armenia on Monday formally observes Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the start of the killings in 1915.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/apr/23/torchlight-march-marks-mass-deaths-of-armenians/
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3rd-generation Armenian family business continues to serve handmade chocolates despite life’s twists & turns
April 13 2023
Mignon Chocolate is a third-generation family business specializing in handmade chocolates and truffles with stores in Glendale and Pasadena.
Watch the video report at the link below: