Author: Antranik Varosian

COVID-19: Armenia reports 584 new cases in one day

Antranik Varosian

Save

Share

 11:07, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. 584 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 142,928, the ministry of healthcare said today.

1498 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 119,147.

2302 tests were conducted in the past one day.

28 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 2372.

The number of active cases is 20,812.

The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 597 (2 new such cases).

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

AFP: Armenia opposition launches ‘disobedience’ drive to unseat PM

Antranik Varosian
Macau Business
Dec 8 2020
By

AFP

Armenian protesters on Tuesday blocked streets in the capital Yerevan, launching a “civil disobedience” campaign to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to quit over a controversial peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

Shouting “Armenia without Nikol” and “Traitor”, opposition supporters blocked traffic across the capital and paralysed the city’s subway. Police detained dozens of demonstrators.

In a fresh blow to the embattled premier, the influential head of Armenia’s Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin, on Tuesday called for Pashinyan’s resignation “to avoid tragic developments” and pointed to “mounting tensions in society”.

Last week, 17 opposition parties said Pashinyan had until Monday to step down and proposed that former prime minister Vazgen Manukyan take over his duties.

Pashinyan, 45, has been under huge pressure since agreeing on November 9 to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Several thousand people have died in the conflict.

Under the agreement, Yerevan ceded to Baku parts of the disputed enclave and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian separatists since the 1990s.

The decision sparked fury in Armenia, where demonstrators stormed and ransacked government buildings and briefly took control of Pashinyan’s residence while he went into hiding.

+ Some 10,000 demonstrators rallied in central Yerevan on Saturday in the protest movement’s biggest protest so far.

Pashinyan, whose wife and son were at the front during the conflict, has said he has no plans to quit and the peace deal was Armenia’s only option, ensuring Karabakh’s survival.

Even though the ethnic Armenian enclave lost swathes of territory, it will see its future guaranteed by nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers deployed for a renewable five-year mandate.

The Armenian authorities last month said they had thwarted a plot to assassinate the prime minister. 

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters demand Armenia’s prime minister resign

Antranik Varosian
Global News Canada
Dec 5 2020
By Avet Demourian The Associated Press
Posted December 5, 2020 4:36 pm


Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched across the Armenian capital Saturday to push for the resignation of the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister over his handling of the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In six weeks of fierce fighting that ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal on Nov. 10, the Azerbaijani army reclaimed lands that Armenian forces have held for more than a quarter-century.

Armenia’s opposition parties warned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan there would be civil disobedience across the country if he does not resign by noon on Tuesday. Pashinyan has refused to step down, defending the peace agreement as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Read more: Azerbaijani leader promises ‘life will return’ to region ceded by Armenia

More than 20,000 protesters rallied in Yerevan on Saturday, chanting “Nikol ,you traitor!” and “Nikol, go away!” and then marched to the prime minister’s official residence.

“The seat of the prime minister of Armenia is currently being occupied by a political corpse,” Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition party Homeland and the former head of the National Security Service, said at the protest rally.

Several priests of the Armenian Apostolic Church joined the protest, denouncing Pashinyan for allowing Azerbaijan to take over some holy sites.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.

In 44 days of fighting that began on Sept. 27, Azerbaijan troops routed the Armenian forces and wedged deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept the Nov. 10 peace deal that saw the return to Azerbaijan of a significant part of the separatist region. It also obliged Armenia to hand over all of the areas it held outside Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan completed reclaiming those territories on Tuesday when it took over the Lachin region located between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

Armenian opposition leaders hold Pashinyan responsible for failing to negotiate an earlier end to the hostilities at terms that could have been more beneficial for Armenia. They have emphasized, however, that the opposition wasn’t pushing for the annulment of the peace deal.

Veteran politician Vazgen Manukyan, whom 17 opposition parties have nominated as their candidate for prime minister, said at Saturday’s rally that his transition government would seek to renegotiate some vague aspects of the Nov. 10 peace deal.

Manukyan, 71, served as prime minister in 1990-91, when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union and later served as defence minister during the separatist war.

Armenia’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 2,718 Armenian servicemen were killed in the latest fighting. At least 55 Armenian civilians also were killed.

Azerbaijan said this week that 2,783 troops of its were killed and more than 100 were still missing. The government said 94 of its civilians also were killed and more than 400 were wounded.

Azerbaijan celebrated the end of fighting as a national triumph, and President Ilham Aliyev established a new Nov. 8 national holiday called Victory Day to commemorate the event.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said it will conduct a military parade next Thursday involving 3,000 troops and 150 military vehicles. It said the show will also feature trophy weapons seized from the Armenian forces.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan that day. Turkey has strongly backed its ally and used the hostilities to expand its clout in the region. Earlier this week, Russian and Turkish military officials signed documents to set up a joint monitoring centre to ensure the fulfilment of the peace deal.

Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to monitor the peace deal and to facilitate the return of refugees. The Russian troops will also ensure safe transit between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia across the Lachin region.

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.

‘Government Cannot Act in the Spirit of 2018 Mindset,’ Says President Sarkissian

Antranik Varosian

December 5,  2020



President Armen Sarkissian

President Armen Sarkissian on Saturday called for an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect in the country, while warning that the Armenian government cannot act in the spirit of the 2018 public mindset, given the post-war realities in Armenia.

Sarkissian’s remarks seemed to be a direct response to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who minutes before concluded an address to the nation on Facebook Live, where he once again criticized the opposition, which is demanding his resignation after he signed the November 9 agreement that ended the war but saw Armenia making major territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

In his remarks Saturday, Pashinyan stressed that Armenia’s last parliamentary elections, held in December 2018, when his My Step bloc won a clear majority, were widely recognized as democratic. In an apparent reference to the opposition forces, which are calling for the creation of a “national accord” government and nominated Vazgen Manukyan as their candidate, Pashinyan said that “some circles” want to come to power through a fraudulent vote.

Sarkissian, who has himself endorsed the concept a “national accord” body and has pushed for snap elections with the current government’s resignation, said Saturday that Armenia is in a “deep post-war crisis,” adding that the government could not act within the 2018 public mindset since “today’s reality is completely different.”

The dueling messages from Sarkissian and Pashinyan came hours before a scheduled opposition-organized rally, which drew thousands to Yerevan’s Freedom Square, where among other representatives, Manukyan, the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, addressed the public.

“Today our state and our public are in a deep post-war crisis. This has to be said without any hesitation, without deceiving ourselves, and, at the same time, without despair. We must fully comprehend and accept the existence of this crisis and do everything we can to overcome it, together, hand in hand,” said Sarkissian in his written message.

“Regardless of the positions we hold, our political beliefs and views, our personal likes and dislikes, we must think about the future of our state, our country and our people,” said the president. “Each of us has the right to express our opinions, dissatisfaction and demand an explanation from the authorities for the enormous human and territorial losses caused by the war.”

In emphasizing the need for an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect, the president’s appeal to the nation was to ensure that their actions were in accordance to the rule of law.

He also appealed to law enforcement bodies, which in the past weeks have brutally arrested opposition protesters, saying while maintaining law and order is important, they must remember that “the person in front of you—in the streets of Yerevan—is our compatriot, one of us, man or women, young or old. Among them are people who a few days ago defended the homeland, each of us, you.”

“Any violence, disproportionate use of force and measures are inadmissible and unacceptable. In your actions you must show responsibility and the highest professionalism and humanity,” added Sarkissian to his appeal to law enforcement.

“Today we need groundbreaking decisions. Any solution must receive national consent. We must be able to restore the atmosphere of tolerance, mutual respect, to bring together all the positive and vital qualities of our people, to turn them into a collective force, which will be the guarantor of our future success. The activities of the President and institution of the president are aimed at that very goal,” said Sarkissian.

Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan back to work after undergoing several surgeries for assault injuries

Antranik Varosian

Save

Share

 16:15, 1 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan is back to work after undergoing several surgeries for injuries he suffered overnight November 10 when a crowd of protesters attacked him outside the parliament building in Yerevan.

His aide Vahan Kostanyan told ARMENRESS that Mirzoyan will initially work at a partial schedule.

“He has returned, on a non-full schedule, because he still has some health issues,” Kostanyan said.

Kostanyan says the Speaker is generally doing fine but he is still recovering.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenpress: Earthquake near Georgian town of Dmanisi felt in Armenia’s Lori province

Antranik Varosian

Earthquake near Georgian town of Dmanisi felt in Armenia’s Lori province

Save

Share

 21:23,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. On November 30, at 19:09 local time, the Seismic Protection Survey Seismological Network of the Armenian ministry of emergency situations detected an earthquake at the northern latitude 41.310 and eastern longitude 43.980 geographic coordinates (Georgia, 19km south-west from the town of Dmanisi) with 2.9 magnitude and 10km depth, the ministry told Armenpress.         

The tremor measured magnitude 4 points at the epicenter area.

The earthquake was also felt in Metsavan and Dzoramut villages of Armenia’s Lori province with magnitude 2-3 points.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

TURKISH press: Former French ambassador slams senator’s Nagorno-Karabakh remarks

Antranik Varosian
 ISTANBUL DIPLOMACY 
NOV 30, 2020 11:49 AM GMT+3
Senators listen to Senate President Gerard Larcher of the conservative Republicans party after his reelection in Paris, Thursday, Oct.1, 2020. (AP File Photo)

Aformer French diplomat and an academic criticized a French senator for exploiting the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh and distorting the truth about the issue.

Former French ambassador to Israel, the United Nations and the U.S. Gerard Araud and French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) Deputy Director-General Didier Billion criticized Senator Valerie Boyer for his recent remarks about recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh and requesting sanctions against Turkey and Azerbaijan, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported Monday.

“The French Senate is proud to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh and demand sanctions against Turkey and Azerbaijan,” the senator said on Twitter.

In response to Didier, Araud said the senate’s decision has disqualified France as a mediator in international conflicts, as he called it a “decision against national interests.”

Thanking Araud for his remarks, Billion said the senate’s decision was a big mistake, ignorance of international law, distortion of facts and “unfortunately, an acknowledgment of weakness.”

France's adoption of a resolution to recognize the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh region drew heavy criticism from both Ankara and Baku for ignoring international law as well as U.N. decisions.

The symbolic resolution does not mean the French government will recognize a sovereign Nagorno-Karabakh but sends a message of support to France’s large Armenian community. No country recognizes the region – which Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds over for decades – as independent.

The French resolution calls on the government to “recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and use this recognition as an instrument of negotiations for the establishment of a sustainable peace.” It also calls on the government to pursue a tougher European response toward Turkey, which has supported Azerbaijan in the conflict.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27 continuing for 44 days, throughout which Baku liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

On Nov. 10, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered deal to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive solution.

Anglo Asian Mining lowers Gedabek guidance as Armenia dispute ends

Antranik Varosian
London School of Economics, UK
Nov 24 2020

Tue, 24th Nov 2020 12:23

     

(Sharecast News) – Azerbaijan-focussed gold, copper and silver producer Anglo Asian Mining updated its guidance for turnover and production at the Gedabek contract area in the west of the country on Monday, to between 68,000 and 72,000 gold equivalent ounces for the year ending 31 December.
The AIM-traded firm said that was primarily due to some delays in underground development, resulting from the conscription of a number of engineering staff, together with slowed tunnelling progress due to underground rock faulting.

It confirmed that it was still on track to achieve turnover for 2020 of more than $100m.

The board said staff members who were conscripted due to the territorial dispute with Armenia were expected to return to work early in 2021, after the military demobilised.

Its operations at Gedabek suffered no physical damage, and were said to be operating normally.

Anglo Asian said that, with a peace agreement signed, it would shortly inform the market on its plans for the three contract areas, included in its 1997 production sharing agreement with Azerbaijan, located within those areas that had now become accessible.

"On reflection, this has been a challenging year for the company," said chief executive officer Reza Vaziri.

"The difficulties started with the on-going restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic."

Vaziri said the year was ending with a peace treaty in place between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with international peacekeepers helping maintain the agreement.

"Despite all these headwinds, it is a testament to the entire workforce that the company has continued in operation and remains on track to achieve a turnover of over $100m for the year, with a significantly strengthened balance sheet, whilst still paying dividends to shareholders."

At 1207 GMT, shares in Anglo Asian Mining were down 3.61% at 121.45p.

Armenian Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh Mourn a Lost War but Doubt that Peace will Last

Antranik Varosian
Washington Post
Nov 23 2020
By Liz Cookman and

Robyn Dixon

Moscow bureau chief and foreign correspondent

November 23

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh — For Armenian soldiers on the losing side of the short but brutal Nagorno-Karabakh war, the loss of territory to Azerbaijan remains so bitter that some say they would have preferred to fight on.

The sting of the Moscow-brokered peace deal was acute at a military outpost in Stepanakert, the main city in the enclave governed by a pro-Armenian government but within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.

It also reflected the wider outrage in Armenia and among ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, raising further questions about whether the pact can hold despite nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers deployed to enforce it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Armenia on Friday that the only alternative to the truce would be another “suicidal” war.

In biting cold and clutching plastic cups of homemade ­cognac, the Armenian troops watched the smoke from houses in the hilltop town of Shusha — known in Armenia as Shushi — which was ceded to Azerbaijan’s government.

Azerbaijan lost Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts in the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war after ethnic Armenians in the enclave split away. Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence was not recognized by any state, including Armenia, and more than two decades of peace talks under the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe failed to bring agreement on the return of territory to Azerbaijan or on the enclave’s status.

Under the deal brokered by Putin, Azerbaijan recovered the seven districts and part of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the strategic town of Shusha.

Many of the dead in Nagorno-Karabakh were conscripts, barely older than children. Others were volunteer soldiers from across Armenia and the diaspora who left their lives and jobs behind to join the war effort.

“Rescuers found one man alive today,” said a 40-year-old soldier, an Armenian who left his home in St. Petersburg and a job at a granite plant to fight.

He spent five days battling in a village below Shusha, traveling from the front line in the east of the enclave. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss his views on the war and the cease-fire.

The Armenian fighters held out for as long as they could, he said, but they were outgunned by Azerbaijan, which had a critical battlefield edge with attack drones purchased from ally Turkey and others.

“It hailed shells. They hit our transportation, and eventually they surrounded us in three different areas. This is how we were defeated, and they could go on to take Shushi,” he said, using the Armenian name for the town. “We were so close to each other. I killed an Azerbaijani soldier at a range of just 15 meters.”

[Cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh brings protests in Armenia, celebrations in Azerbaijan]

Senior Russian officials — Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and others — arrived in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Saturday to reinforce the deal, as protests over it continued.

Shoigu said nearly all Russian peacekeepers were in place. “A total of 23 posts have been deployed. We’re monitoring the road to Stepanakert, ensuring the return of refugees. Peaceful life has already been established. And our main task is preventing bloodshed,” Shoigu said in a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has faced calls to resign over the deal.

“If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have a cease-fire. We would have stood until the end, and we would have been victorious,” said Seryan Karabeteyan, 48, a construction worker and veteran from the 1990s war who also fought in Shusha.

“But there were a lot of casualties. We took out a lot of wounded and a lot of dead from the gorge with many types of injuries, but mostly bullet wounds,” he said, bundled in a thick military coat. His father-in-law was killed in 1992 fighting in the last war.

“For sure there will be war again, sooner than you think, and I will be back. Whether my wife is ready for it or not, my death would be for our Armenian nation,” he said.

The Kalbajar district is one of the seven adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians for decades but were being returned to Azerbaijan under the terms of the truce.

Many in the area burned their houses, killed their animals and cut down trees, determined to leave nothing behind for the Azerbaijanis.

Some scrawled their names on cliff walls in a last statement of ownership.

“Did I put on a roof and make renovations so that an Azerbaijani can enjoy it? It is better to destroy the things you love than allow that. Those who couldn’t take their stuff killed the animals and burned the rest,” said Hovsep, 35, a pig and sheep farmer who gave only his last name.

He volunteered on the front line for six weeks as a machine-gun operator. He smoked a cigarette and watched with weary eyes as flames licked through his home after he set it ablaze.

[Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal puts fearful Armenians on the move]

One couple took a plastic bottle they had filled with spring water from their garden, with tears in their eyes. It was for their children, who had already fled to Yerevan, as one last reminder of home.

“My husband has told Russian peacekeepers to live here,” said Alina Ohanyan, 47, who was also fleeing her home near the Dadivank Monastery, a religious site for 1,000 years.

She worked with a friend to rip up the floorboards in the house her family built 20 years ago. They removed the windows and said they would not leave anything useful behind.

“[My husband] even asked if he could join their regiment so he could stay,” she said, referring to the Russian peacekeepers. “He told them that they can take this house and live in it, but if an Azerbaijani will live in it, then they must burn it to the ground.”

Many believe, or at least hope, that they will return someday.

“The cease-fire won’t stay this way. It won’t last long,” war veteran Pavel Makunyan said as he brought his band of 150 volunteer soldiers down from their front-line post near Askeran after the fighting finished.

“We have been fighting for decades, and we will fight on,” he added. “Maybe not today, but tomorrow.”

Makunyan is a well-known figure in Armenia. He served in Soviet forces before fighting in the 1990s war and later becoming one of the main figures in a hostage crisis in Yerevan in 2016, when he and others seized a police station by force and called for the resignation of the government at the time.

His men gathered in the border town, hugging one another and returning their guns while smoking cigars and sharing pomegranates, the juice dripping onto the ground.

“You know, when we came, I said we are nothing without a victory, but we have not been defeated,” Makunyan told them. “It will not end with this, but future generations — we have something to fight for.”

Dixon reported from Moscow.


France demands international deployment to implement Armenia-Azerbaijan peace accord

Antranik Varosian
News Cast
Nov 20 2020

By Pratyaksha Mitra on November 20, 2020No Comment

Paris: – It was decided in the peace accord, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Russian initiative, that Russian peacekeeping force will be deployed there. But now, Turkey also is making moves to deploy its soldiers and France has become aggressive against this. French President Emmanuel macros has made a strong demand that the Minsk group, who had mediated in the previous Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, must participate in the implantation of the peace accord.   

War flared up between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in September, in the Nagorno Karabakh region. The war has ended after a long 40 days and the intervention of Russian President Vladimir Putin proved vital in ending the war. As per the peace accord signed with the Russian initiative, Azerbaijan will retain the parts won by it. At the same time, it was noted that the Russian military would remain deployed in the region connecting Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh. The military and security agencies of Azerbaijan will be present in the regions awarded to Azerbaijan, into the peace agreement. But now, reports are being received that Turkey has started moves to have its military deployed in the region. The Turkish parliament has passed a bill to that effect. Claims are also being made that Turkey is talking to Russia over the issue. The possible Turkish deployment in Nagorno Karabakh has become a cause of concern for France and it is believed that the demand for an international squad has emerged from the same concern.  

French President Macron has raised the issue of the refugees who left Nagorno Karabakh during the period of the war. Macron said that repatriation and settlement of these refugees is an important issue. The French President demanded the presence of the international squad saying that therefore, the participation of the Minsk Group will be important for proper implementation of the peace accord. The Minsk Group has French representation along with the United States and Russia. Turkey had strongly opposed the Minsk Group and had fired salvos of criticism against it. Taking the same thing into account, the French President seems to have proposed participation of the Minsk Group.  

In the last few years, France has vehemently opposed the aggressive Turkish policies and at times has even resorted to action. The two countries are consistently at loggerheads over the issues of Syria, Libya, immigrants in Europe, tensions in the Mediterranean Sea and terrorism and the tension between the two countries is said to be scaling dangerous levels.