Author: Aram Torosian

Opposition MP accuses Pashinyan’s team of ‘lying shamelessly’

Aram Torosian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 8 2021

MP Arman Abovyan from the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party has reacted to the statement of the ruling My Step bloc’s parliamentary faction following a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday.

The My Step faction said in the statement that the premier’s call for snap elections later in 2021 has not received support by either the parliamentary opposition or the public at large.

"Pashinyan's political team is again trying to lie ineptly, or rather they are lying in a shameless way,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Let me remind them that the parliamentary opposition, represented by the Prosperous Armenia faction and Gagik Tsarukyan personally, refused to discuss with Pashinyan ONLY the conditions for holding elections and the remaining issues (under the current regime), righteously demanding that Pashinyan step down without political bargaining.

“Moreover, Tsarukyan himself has repeatedly stated that there is no alternative to a change of government in Armenia and snap elections must be held after Pashinyan's resignation and the transitional period. So stop lying, it will not help you extend your grip on power,” Abovyan said. 

9 more bodies of fallen servicemen found during search operations, Artsakh says

Aram Torosian

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 10:18, 2 February, 2021

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. 9 more bodies of fallen servicemen have been found during the search operations in the direction of Varanda (Fizuli), official of the State Emergency Service of Artsakh Hunan Tadevosyan told Armenpress.

“According to the preliminary data, they are servicemen (either volunteers or reservists). Forensic examination will be conducted to identify them.

So far, a total of 1354 bodies have been found as a result of the search operations.

Today the search operations will be carried out in Hadrut region”, he said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

In Nagorno-Karabakh, a village split in two by a ceasefire struggles to get

Aram Torosian
Reuters
Feb 2 2021


Artem Mikryukov and Nvard Hovhannisyan

TAGHAVARD, Azerbaijan (Reuters) – Ethnic Armenian farmer Lenser Gabrielyan looks with sorrow at his land in the village of Taghavard, now cut off from him and his family under the terms of a peace deal which ended last year's war in the South Caucasus enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Within weeks of the conflict's outbreak in September, military forces from Azerbaijan had entered Gabrielyan's picturesque mountain settlement and made big territorial gains.

A Russia-brokered ceasefire last November cemented Azeri advances in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but had been controlled by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Local resident Lenser Gabrielyan, 65, stands on the ruins of his farm that was destroyed by shelling near the village of Taghavard in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, January 16, 2021.

REUTERS/ARTEM MIKRYUKOV


Local resident Lenser Gabrielyan, 65, stands on the ruins of his farm that was destroyed by shelling near the village of Taghavard in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, January 16, 2021.

REUTERS/ARTEM MIKRYUKOV

The accord split Taghavard, which stretches for three kilometres along an unpaved road towards a mountain range and which had a pre-war population of over a thousand ethnic Armenians.

It also left Gabrielyan, who has lived there since his birth, with his house on one side of a new border and his farmland on the other.

"Now we have nothing to do," lamented the 65-year-old, as he walked near a barn that used to house livestock, but whose roof had since collapsed under shelling.

"I used to farm. But almost all the land was left under Azerbaijani control… No tractor is left here, all the equipment is in the hands of the Azeri side."

Azeri forces took control of the upper western end of the settlement. Those ethnic Armenians who did not flee now live in the east, protected by ethnic Armenian military units.

Gabrielyan's family, including his ten grandchildren, stayed. But like other families, they are now struggling to get by as fields where livestock used to graze and a nearby forest, where they used to chop firewood, are under Azeri control.

Before the war, his family kept sheep and pigs. Most of them were lost when the village became a battle field and Gabrielyan says his family will run out of firewood in a month.

"I don't know what to do," he said. "Everything is in ruins."

Before the war, residents also enjoyed running water to their homes from wells located in the upper part of the village. That access has now been lost.

An alternative water source – a pipe located several hundred metres away from houses is now the only option. A Reuters reporter watched recently as residents brought several plastic bottles and metal cans of water loaded onto two donkeys back home. The journey took them around 30 minutes.

FEARS OF WAR

Gabrielyan's daughter-in-law, Minara, cried as she showed pictures of her brother, who was killed in combat on the same night when the peace deal was agreed.

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She says she is scared to live in their house, which is only hundreds metres away from Azeri outposts, which are visible on sunny days.

"We don't know now what it is – war or peace? We can't go out freely or sleep calmly at night. We wake up from every noise because we are afraid," she said.

A Reuters reporter saw an Azerbaijani soldier on guard on a hillside overlooking the village, just several dozen metres away from ethnic Armenian military positions.

Lenser Gabrielyan picks up fragments of exploded shells when walking in a nearby field, still criss-crossed with trenches, and says it worries him that his grandchildren have to live so close to a hostile army.

"We're staying here," he said. "(But) I don't know what will happen. It is dangerous".

(Reporting by Artem Mikryukov in Taghavard and Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan. Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Alexandra Hudson)

For Armenians in Israel, a Sad Holiday and an Identity Crisis Following Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

Aram Torosian
Ha'aretz, Israel
Jan 25 2021

The recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has left many Armenians in Israel angered by their adopted homeland’s reported role in helping arm Baku and its ongoing refusal to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide as a holocaust


Harout Baghamian and Diana Galstyan in the Armenian compound in Jerusalem's Old City, January 2021.Credit: Emil Salman

On January 19, when the Armenian Orthodox-Christian community traditionally celebrates Christmas in Israel, a decorated tree stood tall but abandoned in the Armenian compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. This year, it seems, no one wanted to celebrate following the brief but bloody war with Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The entire Armenian community is in national mourning,” says Harout Baghamian, 39, head of the Armenian National Committee in Jerusalem. “The most recent war is over, but thousands of our people are dead, many more thousands are wounded and we have lost part of our homeland.”

Christine Movsesyan, 35, says she feels as if she has lost a part of herself. Born in Armenia, she moved to Israel when she was 9 years old. She served in the Israel Defense Forces and now lives in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, where she manages a nongovernmental organization. “I’m an Armenian and an Israeli – and both parts of my heart are broken,” she tells Haaretz via Zoom.

Then, smiling into the camera, she adds forcefully, “Armenians are lions, and even a wounded lion is still a lion. And now, at Christmastime, we received a gift: Our NGO, the Union of Armenian Communities in Israel, was legally registered this week. Now we will be able to help our people.”


A clergyman walking through the Armenian compound in Jerusalem's Old City, January 2021.Credit: Emil Salman

‘Still shooting at night’

Nagorno-Karabakh is a 4,400-square-kilometer (about 1,700-square-mile) enclave, completed surrounded by Azerbaijan. Its residents are overwhelmingly Christian Armenian. The vast majority of Azerbaijan’s 10 million population is Muslim, along with tiny Christian and Jewish communities. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but defines itself as the independent Republic of Artsakh and is allied with Armenia.

According to most media reports, the fighting was brutal with extensive use of suicide drones and other attacks on civilians. The 44-day conflict began last September and ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire on November 9. Under the agreement, Azerbaijan will keep control of the areas it captured, including Shusha (the region’s second-largest town), while Armenia will also return the surrounding territories it first occupied in 1994. Azerbaijan will also gain land access to its additional enclaves bordering Turkey and Iran.

  • 'I’m Jewish and Armenian. Israeli weapons are killing my people'
  • Hospital bombed by Azerbaijan, a town deserted. IN PHOTOS: the War in Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Recognizing the trauma of the Armenian genocide doesn’t diminish the Holocaust
  • Armenia signs 'painful' deal with Azerbaijan and Russia to end Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

David Saghyan, 36, was born near Shusha and moved to Israel as a young adult. Today, he lives in Haifa and works as personal trainer. “All of my father’s family is in Artsakh,” he says. “Two of my friends are missing; another has been killed. Supposedly things are calmer now and the Russians are preventing the Azerbaijanis from murdering us all. But I’m in constant contact with my friends and family, and they tell me there’s still shooting at night.”


Burnt vehicles and a damaged building on the outskirts of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh following the cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, November 13, 2020. Credit: STRINGER/REUTERS

Baghamian says that while the fighting is over, the situation now is much worse for the Armenian-Christian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. “The conflict brought Armenian defeat and loss of territory, the deaths of thousands of Armenian soldiers and civilians. We’ve lost much of our homeland. We are afraid of the Azerbaijani occupation.”

Born in Jerusalem, Baghamian sees both Armenia and Israel as his homelands. “We’re like Jews who live in the Diaspora but feel very closely and very personally connected to Israel,” he says. “They have family and friends here, and Israel is part of who they are. That is how we feel.”

The Armenian community in Israel is estimated to be about 5,000 to 6,000-strong. Widely believed to be the oldest diaspora in the world, the community has had a presence in Jerusalem at least since the fourth century, after Armenia accepted Christianity. However, some believe an Armenian presence in the region dates back much further – to the time of Tigranes the Great (140-55 B.C.E.), who extended his empire over the northern areas of what is now known as the Middle East.

The local community is made up of three groups: those who trace their history specifically to Jerusalem over several centuries; those who are the descendants of the orphan survivors who were brought to Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine after the 1915 Armenian genocide; and the more recent arrivals, who came to Israel after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.



The Armenia Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City. Armenians have lived in the city since the fourth century, and possibly even centuries earlier.Credit: Emil Salman

The largest community can be found in Jerusalem – almost all of whom reside in the Old City’s Armenian Quarter – along with other communities in Jaffa, Bat Yam, Haifa and Petah Tikva.

The Armenian compound, within the Armenian Quarter, is the local community’s religious, social and administrative center. This large area features private homes and residences for the clergy and Patriarchate, meeting rooms and clubhouses, schools, a library and offices. It’s generally closed to visitors unless they’re accompanied by a member of the community, and the compound’s heavy gates are shuttered at night.

In Jerusalem, most of the community’s children attend the Armenian School, where lessons are taught in English. Baghamian was enrolled there too, but because the curriculum was British, he was accepted as a foreign student when he chose to study international relations at the Hebrew University.

“Most of us speak Armenian and some Hebrew at home, and when we grow up most of us are part of Israeli-Jewish society,” Movsesyan explains. “Very few of us speak any Arabic at all, and most of us don’t feel part of the Arab or Palestinian community. My children were baptized in church and we celebrate Armenian holidays, and they attend ‘regular’ Israeli secular schools. Their friends and teachers know they’re Christian, but it really doesn’t matter to anyone and I’ve never experienced any discrimination.”

Ongoing tensions

The 1915 Armenian genocide – which Armenians in Israel refer as the Armenian holocaust, in both Hebrew and English – is a central part of the Armenian identity. “The last survivors of the holocaust are long gone, yet every child feels as if he or she ‘remembers’ those horrible events,” Baghamian says. “My father thought of himself as a second-generation survivor, just as Jewish children of Holocaust survivors think of themselves.”

Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan thus increases Armenian fear of and rage at Azerbaijani control over the disputed region. Indeed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made statements alluding to “finishing the job of our grandfathers.” Like many Armenians, Baghamian believes that, given the chance, Erdogan would conquer Armenia and attempt to annihilate its Armenian-Christian population.

Israel’s strategic relationship with Azerbaijan and its continued refusal to recognize the Armenian holocaust are therefore a constant source of tension between the community and the state.

Israel is a leading exporter of arms to Azerbaijan. While Israel’s Defense Ministry did not respond to questions from Haaretz for this report, in 2016 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said his country had bought $4.85 billion in defense equipment from the Jewish state, including, according to some sources, cluster bombs and suicide drones (which are banned internationally). Israel also purchases approximately 40 percent of its oil from resource-rich Azerbaijan.

Haaretz columnist Yossi Melman reported that four Ilyushin-76 planes, operated by an Azerbaijani airline, touched down and took off from the Uvda air base in southern Israeli during the recent conflict. According to Israeli political scientist Emmanuel Navon, speaking on I24 News, Israel has sold cutting-edge technology, including Iron Dome air defense systems and attack drones, to Azerbaijan, and has taught its military how to use them.

Israeli officials have said they have no knowledge of or involvement in how Azerbaijan uses any weapons it acquires.

Katrin Gougassian, an Israeli-born housewife from the Armenian community in Jaffa, scoffs at the Israeli response that it’s not responsible for how the Azerbaijanis use those weapons. “The world has seen the footage: Israeli weapons have killed Armenian civilians. Now we know – Israel is responsible too.”


The Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, January 2021.Credit: Emil Salman

Diana Galstyan, 33, is a graduate student in film studies at Tel Aviv University says she is “living in a painful dissonance. I am Jewish-Israeli; I came to Israel as a Jew from Armenia. I served as a weapons technician in the IDF, and now I feel as if the weapons I helped develop have killed my family and friends. I’m in mourning for one of my countries; I’m furious with the other.”

The reported sale of weapons to Azerbaijan has also heightened decades-old anger at Israel over its nonrecognition of the atrocities of 1915, when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed in events that scholars widely believe were the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest..

Despite repeated debates in the Knesset and pressure from Jewish groups in Israel and abroad, Israel has constantly maintained that because of the importance of its relationship with Turkey, Israel does not want to offend Ankara by recognizing it. More recently, its strategic relationship with Azerbaijan has increased tensions for local Armenians.

In 2001, then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres denied “Armenian allegations” regarding the 1915 genocide, denouncing them as efforts to create a parallel with the Holocaust in World War II. “Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. What the Armenians went through is a tragedy, but not genocide,” he said at the time.

“Sometimes, I think that Israeli officials want to hold onto the exclusivity of the Holocaust for their own cynical reasons,” Movsesyan tells Haaretz. “And every time there’s new [diplomatic] trouble with Turkey, some Israeli official ‘threatens’ to recognize the Armenian holocaust as a way to punish Turkey. They should recognize it because it’s true and because we shared in this fate – not because we are pawns in some cynical game.”

Kevork Gougassian, 47, notes that a memorial to the Armenian genocide was recently built in Petah Tikva. “It’s good to have a memorial. But it was established by contributions from the community. I wish that the Israeli government, even if it doesn’t formally recognize the holocaust, would recognize the pain by creating a public memorial.”


Kevork Gougassian next to a Christmas tree. Armenians in Israel traditionally celebrate Christmas on January 19. Credit: Meged Gozani

During the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, local Armenian organizations and ad hoc groups organized demonstrations, and the Azerbaijani-Turkish-Armenian conflict spilled over into Israel: During one incident, Azerbaijani supporters, waving Turkish and Azerbaijani flags, attacked a convoy of Armenian flag-wielding protesters who were returning from a demonstration in Jerusalem.

Baghamian says the events of recent months have forced him to question his own identity. “I have started to ask: What makes me Armenian? What makes me Israeli? I’m safe, warm and happy here – why should I care what happens over there? On the other hand, my people are from over there – so why should I feel attached to here? I’m angry at Israel. I’m angry at the Armenian government, too, because it hasn’t been able to build our nation the way Israel has.

“I feel disappointed and betrayed by all sides,” he says. “I wonder if, in some very small way, I understand how my grandfather felt when the Armenians were abandoned by everyone.”

Yet, at the same time, all those interviewed agree that the situation has led to energetic organizing within the community, culminating in the establishment and legal recognition of the Union of Armenian Communities as a nonprofit in Israel. The union, led by Movsesyan, is now planning to both participate in and raise funds for relief operations for Armenia, including sending prostheses for wounded soldiers, training Armenian medical rehabilitation staff, and rebuilding kindergartens and schools that were destroyed during the fighting.

“The Israeli people are offering their help to our nonprofit in so many ways,” Movsesyan says. “They recognize the connections between our two peoples, even if the Israeli government refuses to.”


 

Armenia SC Secretary congratulates Jake Sullivan on appointment as Biden’s National Security Advisor

Aram Torosian

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 10:21, 25 January, 2021

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan sent a congratulatory letter to Jake Sullivan on his appointment as National Security Advisor to the President of the United States of America, Mr. Grigoryan’s Office told Armenpress.

The letter reads as follows:

“Dear Mr. Sullivan,

Please accept my warmest congratulations on your appointment as National Security Advisor to the President of the United States.

I am confident that your knowledge and experience will significantly contribute to the promotion of the US national security and foreign policy agenda.

Armenia attaches great importance to its bilateral relations with the United States of America based on the shared values of democracy, protection of human rights and the rule of law. We also attach great importance, to the role of the United States as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the final resolution of the status of Nagorno Karabakh. I am confident that the United States' efforts will be instrumental in ensuring comprehensive stability and security in our region.

I hope to meet with you soon to discuss the Armenian-American partnership to make it more inclusive and comprehensive”.

Pashinyan: We can’t say Shushi with 96% Azeri population is under our control without clarifying Karabakh status

Aram Torosian
News.am, Armenia
Jan 30 2021
12:18, 30.01.2021

One of the recent scandalous headlines is that I allegedly stated that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this Saturday during a live broadcast on Facebook, entitled "About Shushi," also directly quoting his statement during the recent parliament-government question and answer session that, "There has never been such an option of discussion, not only now, but during the whole negotiation process, that the refugees from Azerbaijan do not return to Shushi, and Shushi had 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population before the [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] conflict and the liberation; that is, do you mean to say that the city of Shushi, with a population of 90 and more Azerbaijanis, is Armenian in its status?”

According to the PM, using this _expression_, some say that he claimed that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Pashinyan noted that he had referred to that topic while answering the question of one of the MPs that the Russian president had proposed to stop the recent Artsakh war in much more favorable conditions for the Armenian side, and Shushi would remain under Armenian control.

"During the war, there was talk of options for stopping the war, and the Azerbaijani side posited a condition for the return of Azerbaijani refugees to the city of Shushi. In fact, it was about the possibility of restoring the demographic status quo in [19]92. When we had already agreed that we should stop the war, a new condition arose that the Azerbaijani refugees shall return to the city of Shushi in accordance with the status quo that existed in 1992," Pashinyan said.

He added that when the above-mentioned fact became clear, many people publicly accused him that there was an option for Shushi to remain Armenian in status, but he did not make use of that opportunity.

"I have responded to the reality of who and how they think that when there will be a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi, the city with that status will be considered under Armenian control, as the MP says," Pashinyan emphasized.

According to the Armenian PM, the condition for stopping the war in the context of Shushi is to have 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population.

"It is about its current status, not about the origin; that is, we have not discussed a historical issue. We discussed a specific situation when the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Shushi in accordance with the demographic status quo existing in 1992 was proposed as a condition for stopping the war. In no way could it be considered that there is a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi without clarifying the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and we can say that it is under Armenian control," said Nikol Pashinyan.

According to him, this matter only shows an example of media manipulation.

Report: The Anatomy of Genocide – Karabakh’s Forty-Four Day War

Aram Torosian
Jan 21 2021

From the Introduction:

“War erupted in the South Caucasus on 27 September 2020 when Azerbaijan and Turkey launched a joint military operation named Operation Iron Fist into the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh). A truce was brokered by Russia forty-four days later which ceded significant parts of Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

During those forty-four days, Azeri and Turkish-paid Syrian mercenaries published multiple accounts and footage demonstrating possible war crimes against the local community. Following the truce, Turkey entered a peacekeeping role alongside Russia. Nevertheless, Turkey demonstrates biased support to Azerbaijan, who persists in violating the truce’s terms and the basic principles
of human rights.

The dynamics of this conflict are deeply complex, but have strong religious freedom implications impacting the future of Karabakh’s local community. The strategic planning by Turkey and Azerbaijan show an intent of mass extermination, thereby genocide, of Karabakh’s Armenian residents because of their combined faith and ethnic identity.

These identities are important to the Pan-Turkic ideology driving Azerbaijan and Turkey’s activities in Karabakh. This ideology is hidden behind highly symbolic language. Tactics used to promote this ideology include erasing Christianity from the historical memory of Karabakh, dehumanizing local residents, dismantling their identity, and using a variety of impression management maneuvers to limit the ability of international observers to name this war for what it is: genocide.”


https://www.persecution.org/2021/01/21/report-anatomy-genocide-karabakhs-forty-four-day-war/

Belarus takes part in Armenia’s elevator modernization program

Aram Torosian
BelTA, Belarus
Jan 21 2021
Belarus takes part in Armenia's elevator modernization program

MINSK, 21 January (BelTA) – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Armenia Aleksandr Konyuk met with Director General of Belarus' Mogilevliftmash Sergei Chertkov and CEO of Armenia's Rafelgrig Rafael Grigorian (a dealer of the Belarusian elevator producer) on 20 January, BelTA learned from the Belarusian embassy in Armenia.

The parties discussed the status and prospects of cooperation between Belarus and Armenia in terms of modernization of the elevator sector in Armenia. The parties stressed the positive experience of installing Belarusian elevators in 2020 as part of the comprehensive program of the Yerevan City Hall.

The heads of Mogilevliftmash and Rafelgrig confirmed the intention to continue active cooperation in the area.

The California Courier Online, January 21, 2021

Aram Torosian

The California
Courier Online, January 21, 2021

 

1 –        Armenia’s Defeated Leader Is Unable

            To Resolve
Problems from the Lost War

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2-         Renowned
Humanitarian, Educator
Garbis Der-Yeghiayan
Passes Away

3-         Armenia continues to fight COVID-19
pandemic

4-         COMMENTARY: An
alum’s view on 'Censorship and Corruption at AUA'

5-         Letters to
the Editor

 

*****************************************

******************************************

1 –        Armenia’s Defeated Leader Is Unable

            To Resolve
Problems from the Lost War

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

There are three reasons why Armenia is in such a state of chaos
and confusion:

The first reason is that Armenia, as the defeated side in
the war, has very little leverage in the implementation of the “Statement” or
agreement signed on Nov. 9, 2020 by the President of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister
of Armenia and President of Russia.

The second reason is that since the text of the “Statement”
was vague, key details were left out causing uncertainty.

The third problem is that Prime Minister Nikole Pashinyan,
as the demoralized head of the defeated side, is in no position to resolve or
minimize the damage caused by the war. The reasons for his ineffectiveness are:
his failings during the war and his mismanagement and inexperience throughout
his tenure as Prime Minister.

The only proper course for Armenia is for Pashinyan to resign
on his own free will without any pressures, demonstrations, and ugly
confrontations. While it is horrible that Armenia was defeated by powerful
outside enemies during the war, it is much worse when Armenians treat each
other as enemies. Those who say that no one can replace Pashinyan are insulting
the Armenian nation. No one is irreplaceable. There are plenty of competent and
intelligent Armenians both in Armenia
and the Diaspora who can manage Armenia
competently. The new leader should be neither a part of those in power now nor
those of the past. The Armenian people will choose Pashinyan’s successor
through democratic elections. Armenia
needs fresh blood!

Returning to the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement, it is strange that
specific deadlines were set for several of its provisions—such as the
withdrawal of Armenian troops from the various territories surrounding
Artsakh—but point 8 of the agreement, the “exchange of prisoners of war,
hostages and other detained persons, and dead bodies” had no specific deadline.
Prime Minister Pashinyan should have insisted on a deadline before signing the
agreement. Thousands of Armenian families are in an extremely tragic situation,
not knowing whether their loved ones are dead or alive. Meanwhile, many of the
Armenian prisoners of war are being tortured by Azeri officials in
contravention of the Geneva Convention. Azeri soldiers have shamelessly
videotaped themselves decapitating or cutting off the ears and limbs of
captured Armenian soldiers and civilians. This is a continuing war crime which
should be presented to international courts.

Armenia
and Azerbaijan
exchanged a small number of prisoners shortly after the war. The fate and the
number of the rest of captured Armenian soldiers remain unknown.

After a lengthy and frustrating wait, the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Russia finally met in Moscow on January 11,
2021, to take decisions on two key points: 1) the exchange of prisoners of war
and hostages; and 2) determination of the final status of Artsakh, according to
an announcement made before the meeting by the Armenian Prime Minister’s
office.

Shockingly, after the Moscow
meeting, a new agreement was signed by the three leaders mentioning only point
9 of the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement: “the unblocking of all economic and
transportation routes in the region.” This means that Armenia would be able to
use the railway that starts in Northern Armenia, crosses Nakhichevan and exits
in Armenia’s South on its way to Iran. Armenia
would also be able to use the railway that crosses mainland Azerbaijan, reaching Baku
and then Moscow.
Azerbaijan, on the other
hand, would have a route through Southern Armenia linking Nakhichevan to
mainland Azerbaijan.
Very short deadlines were set to form high level committees on the
transportation routes without mentioning either the exchange of prisoners of
war or the final status of Artsakh. Amazingly, Pashinyan announced immediately
after the summit meeting: “Today we failed to resolve the issue of prisoners of
war, this is the most sensitive issue. We agreed that we will continue [talks]
in this direction. I hope we will be able to come to a concrete solution as
soon as possible…. Unfortunately, it is impossible to resolve all issues in one
meeting.” The Moscow meeting was a second defeat
for Armenia.

Pashinyan’s comments should be unacceptable to all
Armenians, regardless of whether they support him or not. How could he have sat
in a meeting for four hours with Presidents Putin and Aliyev and not insisted on
the immediate exchange of the prisoners of war? Two months have passed since
the ceasefire! No one knows when Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan will meet again to
resolve this critical issue. This is no way to defend Armenia’s
interests, even considering the dire situation of a defeated country. Pashinyan
should have made clear at the meeting that priority number one was the exchange
of prisoners. Unless it was decided that these prisoners would be exchanged
within a few days, he would refuse to discuss any other issue with them. How
can Armenia and Azerbaijan discuss the unblocking of
transportation routes between the two countries while Armenian prisoners are
languishing in Baku
jails and tortured? Furthermore, neither the November agreement nor the
subsequent Moscow announcement indicated who
will pay for the construction of the road and railway linking Nakhichevan to
mainland Azerbaijan through Armenia.

While Armenia’s
Prime Minister continues to negotiate from a position of weakness, the Azeri
side is becoming even more strident; warning Armenia’s leaders not to travel to
Artsakh after the Armenian Foreign Minister went there. Azerbaijan
insisted that this was a violation of the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement, although
there is no such prohibition in the agreement. In addition, Azerbaijan
announced that the Armenian prisoners of war would be tried as ‘terrorists’;
therefore, not subject to an exchange. Even though Armenia is in a very difficult
situation after the war, Armenian leaders have to fight hard to protect the
country’s interests as much as possible. The more subservient Armenia’s
leaders behave, the more demanding Azeris and Turks become.

Regrettably, Pashinyan seems to have convinced himself that
unblocking transportation routes between Armenia
and Azerbaijan would boost Armenia’s
economy. I seriously doubt this is true. Would any Armenian feel safe traveling
or sending goods through Azerbaijan?
Who will protect them? More problematic is Armenia’s agreement to allow
Azerbaijan a road and railway link between the two countries, allowing Turkey
to cross Nakhichevan, and then through Armenia’s Southern region reach mainland
Azerbaijan and onwards to the Turkic Republics of Central Asia. This is the
century-old Pan-Turanian dream of Turkey which is now about to become
a reality. Such a route would undermine Armenia’s sovereignty and endanger
its existence. The Armenian people and its government should do everything in
their power to block this Pan-Turanian connection. Giving access to Azerbaijan and Turkey
to cross Armenia’s
territory has absolutely nothing to do with the Artsakh war and such a
provision should not have been included in the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement.

I fear that Armenia’s
downhill slide will continue as long as the country is ruled by a Prime
Minister who is primarily responsible for the loss of Armenian lands and the
deaths of thousands of soldiers.

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2-         Renowned
Humanitarian, Educator
Garbis Der-Yeghiayan
Passes Away

LOS ANGELES—Prof. Garbis Der-Yeghiayan, president of
Mashdots College, passed away on January 12 in Los Angeles due to a rapid
deterioration of his health after testing COVID-19 positive.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1949, Der-Yeghiayan earned bachelor’s
degrees in Political Science/Public Administration and Mathematics (Summa Cum
Laude) as well as Master’s degrees in Educational Administration and
International Relations from the American
University of Beirut. At the age of 17, he began teaching
at both the elementary and high school level in Beirut
before serving as high school principal in Lebanon at the age of 22. After
moving to the United States
in 1976, he attended Northwestern University earning his doctorate in Human Development
and Social Policy, and the University
of La Verne earning a
second doctorate in Educational Management.

Prof. Der-Yeghiayan served as dean and president, as well as
professor of Education and International Relations at the American Armenian
International College/University of La
Verne from 1976 to 1992. Afterwards, he served for
many years as president and professor of Educational Management and
International Relations/Public Diplomacy at Mashdots
College in Glendale, California.
He authored fourteen books on current affairs, history and education, and has
presented more than 100 scholarly papers at international conferences.

Prof. Der-Yeghiayan served on 11 non-profit boards and
committees, including Commissioner of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department Inmate Welfare Services. He was the host of three weekly live television
programs.

Prof. Der-Yeghiayan was a dedicated Rotarian. He joined the
Rotary Club of La Verne in 1981, served with distinction as president in
1984-85 and International Service chair 1982-84 and 1985-1998. Through his
efforts, the Rotary Club of La Verne was able to establish the first Rotary
Club in the former Soviet Union.

Prof. Der Yeghiayan held the record for organizing 30
consecutive peace conferences for Rotary International. He was internationally
renowned as a visionary peacemaker and was the recipient of numerous awards
from world leaders. In appreciation of his unprecedented efforts in
peace-building and conflict resolution, the Peace Institute of Rotary
International District 5300 was named in his honor in 2014.

In March, 2019 Dr. Der Yeghiayan led a high-ranking Rotary
peace delegation to the Holy Land.

Prof. Der Yeghiayan is survived by his wife, Angela; his son
James and Tanya Der Yeghiayan, and their children, Micah, Ethan and Caleb; son
Johnny and Tiffany Der Yeghiayan, and their daughter, Juliana; his brother
Samuel; brother, Hopig; and sister, Knar Der Yeghiayan Toutounjian and family;
and many relatives, colleagues, students and friends.

 

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3 –        Armenia continues to fight COVID-19
pandemic

The Armenian government has commissioned 600,000 doses of
coronavirus vaccines from World Health Organization-backed COVAX; medical and
social workers, seniors and people suffering from chronic diseases will be the
first to get vaccine shots free of charge, and according to Gayane Sahakian,
the deputy director of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention,

The first vaccine which COVAX will make available to the
participating countries is the one produced by AstraZeneca, which will deliver
it to COVAX in February or March.

They will be enough to vaccinate 300,000 people. According
to the Ministry of Health, there were 8,614 active coronavirus cases in Armenia as of
January 18. Armenia
has recorded 164,676 coronavirus cases and 2,998  deaths; 153,064 have recovered.

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4-
        COMMENTARY: An alum’s view
on 'Censorship and Corruption at AUA'

By Prof. Armen Hovakimian

 

I have read the opinion piece written by an anonymous
faculty member of the American University of Armenia (AUA), titled “Censorship
and Corruption at American University of Armenia,” published in The California
Courier (January 14, 2021) and would like to offer a comment. Though I don't
agree with many of the author's statements, I do think the author raises issues
that are important not just for AUA but for many other institutions in Armenia.

First, let me say that I am an AUA alum and graduated from
its MBA program in 1993. I am a tenured full professor in US and neither my
career nor my livelihood depends on AUA. I am very grateful for the role AUA
has played in my life and I know my friends feel the same way. Over the years,
the class of 1993 has made various financial contributions to AUA, including to
AUA’s 100 Pillars fundraising campaign and its ChangeMakers campaign. None of
this would have happened if we did not strongly believe in AUA and its mission.

Let me now turn to three specific issues raised in the
anonymous opinion.

First, I do believe in the right of the faculty and students
to express their opinions, both inside and outside the university. I have seen
the letter signed by 45 members of the faculty and personally see no issues
with the letter. That said, I have noticed that the letter was also signed by
some members of the university leadership, specifically three of its five
deans. That could be problematic for the University for number of reasons. The
rules governing the behavior of students, faculty, and the leadership are
typically different. What may be ok for students may not be ok for faculty.
What may be ok for faculty may not be ok for leadership. The general public is
likely to attribute an individual’s view to the institution when the individual
is a member of the leadership of that institution. Yet, it is important for an
institution like AUA to be apolitical. The mission of AUA is to have a positive
impact on its students and the community at large and contribute to the advancement
of Armenia.
That mission can be jeopardized if the community views AUA as an institution
affiliated with some political forces and against some others. Furthermore, the
faculty and students may feel that they have to toe a certain line if it is
expressed by a politically outspoken administrator. Subordinates may feel
compelled to sign a petition that bears the signature of a senior
administrator. People who decline to sign may be as concerned about retribution
as those who do. For these reasons, senior administrators have a responsibility
to vet their potentially controversial public statements with the university.

Second, let us consider the university’s reaction. As an
alum, I have received the email on the topic of diversity of opinions sent to
the University community from the President of the University. I’m not sure if
this is what the anonymous author calls “an attack of freedom of speech,” but I
did not find anything objectionable in it. There was no warning against
expressing an opinion in the President’s email. If I were to guess I would say
that the President might have simply felt that it was a good time to remind
everyone about certain university policies as one could anticipate further
expressions of political views, both within the University and more publicly.

Obviously, I do not know anything about what else might have
happened within the university in the aftermath of the letter. The anonymous
author alleges recriminations from colleagues who did not agree with the letter
and that faculty were summoned by the President. I hope the University
addresses this allegation. Since I do not know the content, the form, or the
extent of these interactions, I will not comment on how appropriate they were,
except to say that just like the 45 signatories of the letter, other faculty
have a right to express their views, including to their colleagues, as long as
that happens in a respectful nonthreatening manner.

Third, the anonymous opinion accuses the University of
corruption in relation to its hiring of the current acting provost and his
spouse. Again, I do not know any details, but the fact itself is neither
surprising nor corrupt. I have no doubt that it is very hard for AUA to hire
qualified faculty or administrators from abroad. There is nothing corrupt in
offering a joint appointment to both spouses, assuming they are both qualified
for the positions they are taking. That happens in US universities as well. My
understanding is that that the acting provost assumed the position because the
previous provost resigned to take a position of a president at another
university. It is not surprising that one of the deans was asked to step in as
an acting provost. The fact that the spouse also works at the University is not
a disqualifying factor for such an appointment. What typically happens in such
cases is simply that the person with administrative power recuses himself or
herself from any administrative decisions that directly affect their spouse. I
can only assume that is what happens at AUA as well.

Let me finish by stating that the views expressed in this
letter are mine only. I deeply care about AUA as an institution and believe in
its mission and that is the only motivation behind this letter.

Armen Hovakimian is a professor of finance at the Zicklin School
of Business at Baruch
College, at The City
University of New York.

He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Yerevan
Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from American
University of Armenia, and a PhD in finance from Boston College.

************************************************************************************************************************************************

5-         Letters to
the Editor

 

 

Dear Editor:

 

As a response to the article “Censorship and Corruption at American University
of Armenia”
published in The California Courier on January 14, 2021, we officially state
that the article is factually inaccurate.

Prior to publishing the article, the editor(s) did not take
the necessary step of fact-checking the piece. The University was never
contacted in order to confirm any information. As a result, the article is
merely an _expression_ of individual perception and opinion, which does not
correspond to reality.

 

The American University of Armenia

Yerevan,
Armenia

 

 

Dear Editor:

 

Regarding Raffy Ardhaldjian’s letter on the January 14, 2021
California Courier issue.

In my opinion, we lost the war in 1994 immediately after we
defeated Azerbaijan
and liberated Artsakh and the surrounding areas. At that time when Aliyev
accepted defeat and asked for cease fire, Ter-Petrosyan/Armenia agreed. But
instead of demanding that “we will stop the war only if Aliyev/Azerbaijan
signed a peace treaty accepting that Karbajar and Artsakh belong to Armenia and
Azerbaijan has no more claims.” Ter-Petrosyan almost immediately after the
victory was ready to return to Azerbaijan
the buffer zones “to establish peace.” Just imagine the victor not the
vanquished was ready to return territories liberated by war for peace.

As for the current loss, I agree that Armenia throughout
history has had poor diplomats and we should add no oil, and Mr. Ardhaldjian is
right at the end Azerbaijan won—but because of Turkey’s and Israel’s, Jihadist
Mercenaries’, Pakistanis’ and Putin’s/Russia’s help. These are not
justification by Mr. Sassounian and others, these are facts. Second, blaming
the Armenian Lobby is wrong; they did their utmost and accomplished a lot. As
for, “it takes humility to accept such defeat.” This is not a sport event,
discussion, etc. This is war; therefore, humility has no place.

 

Bedros H. Kojian

Orange, CA

 

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California Courier Online provides viewers of the Armenian News
News Service with a few of the articles in this week's issue of The California
Courier.  Letters to the editor are
encouraged through our e-mail address, .
However, authors are requested to provide their names, addresses, and/or
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Courier subscribers are requested not to use this service to change, or modify
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or by phone, (818) 409-0949.

Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh begin coronavirus vaccination

Aram Torosian
TASS, Russia
Jan 15 2021

The day before, about 2,000 doses of Sputnik-V vaccine were delivered to a special-purpose medical unit

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Military doctors have begun vaccination against coronavirus of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters.

"Military medics of the Russian peacekeeping contingent have begun vaccinating peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. The day before, about 2,000 doses of Sputnik-V vaccine were delivered to a special-purpose medical unit for further use in special thermal containers," the ministry said.

Vaccination will be in two stages: the first component of the vaccine will be administered to all peacekeepers by the end of January, the second component – by February 21.

The core of the peacekeeping contingent is made up of units of the 15th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Central Military District. The command is located in Stepanakert.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The agreements included the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopping at occupied positions, as well as deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region.