Author: Arbi Tashjian

CivilNet: President of Karabakh Speaks About the Hard Decisions He Had to Agree to

Arbi Tashjian
CIVILNET.AM

10 նոյեմբեր, 2020 11:19

The President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan delivered a speech following the late night statement about tripartite agreement of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia regarding the ceasefire agreement in the Nagorno Karabakh region. Below are key points from the speech.

"On November 8, walking in Stepanakert square in the morning, I noted that it was one of the most difficult nights of my life and one of the most difficult dawns. Why did I state this? Because on November 7, we completely lost control over the city of Shushi.

Today, I want to say that I probably had the most difficult night of my life, when I had very difficult days in 1992-94, losing many relatives, relatives who uttered their last words in my arms, but I managed to find the strength, I managed to concentrate on making decisions. I don't know what assessment history will make regarding the decision that was made yesterday, but we had to make it.

First, in terms of the situation on the front. As a result of 43 days of the fighting, we lost the Fizuli district, Jabrayil district, Kubatlu, Zangelan districts, most areas of the Hadrut district, some parts of the Martuni and Askeran districts, and most importantly, Shushi.

The fighting took place at a distance of 2-3 km from Stepanakert. If the fighting continued at that pace, we would lose Artsakh within days, would have had many more victims because the fighting, moving from the frontline to the backbone in some sense, would have irreversible consequences on the frontlines, especially for our conscripts heroically fighting for these 43 days.

We suffered very heavy human losses yesterday, during the last few hours in the Martuni district, due to the drone attacks of the adversary that we weren’t able to halt. As to why we weren’t able to, we will all answer. Yes, everyone. Since we knew that our defense army needed this, this problem exists. Everyone who has held positions in recent decades.

Certainly we didn't fight against Azerbaijan, and definitely not only the Turkish officers or military equipment was on the battlefield during the hostilities. The participation of Turkish soldiers, terrorists, mercenaries from different countries were too.

 I bow first to our soldiers, the most heroic guys in the world were our conscripts. I bow to the families and relatives of all the victims. We had to save the lives of those same conscripts.

1 civilian injured as a result of Azerbaijani bombing of Artsakh’s Stepanakert

Arbi Tashjian

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 19:15, 8 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani armed forces bombed the capital of Artsakh Stepanakert on November 8 at 18:30, injuring one civilian, ARMENPRESS was informed from the State Service of the Emergency Situation of Artsakh.

‘’During the day the situation in Artsakh’s settlements was stable but tense.

The stable situation in Stepanakert continued until 18:30. A while ago the city was bombed. There is one injured among the civilians.

The rescuers provided first aid to the injured and took to a medical center. His life is under risk.

Air raid siren in Martakert was activated twice today. The adversary tried to use military aviation against the city.

The situation in Martuni city was again calm. Today the adversary used heavy artillery here at midday against civilian infrastructures.

The situation was relatively calm in Askeran, Kashatagh and Shahumyan regions’’, reads the statement.

It’s time to open a U.S. consulate in Stepanakert – The National Interest

Arbi Tashjian

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 22:26, 7 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The National Interest website has published an article about the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, noting that it's time for the U.S. to open a consulate in Nagorno Karabakh for the sake of peace.

ARMENPRESS presents the article authoried by Michael Rubin.

'' Stepanakert is the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain region historically populated by Armenians which is now under a prolonged assault by Azeri forces, Syrian mercenaries transported into the theater by Turkey, and Turkish drones. While most of the fighting has been on the edge of the territory, Stepanakert has also come under fire. Turkish F-16s have reportedly attacked the city’s maternity hospital, and journalists reported heavy shelling on Thursday.

It may seem counterintuitive to send American diplomats to a city under siege, but opening a consulate in Stepanakert would quiet conflict and perhaps promote peace.

The case for an American consulate in Nagorno-Karabakh—or Artsakh as locals call it—is multifold. While Armenia supports Artsakh’s nominal independence and Azerbaijan argues that it should control Nagorno-Karabakh in its entirety based on Soviet-era scrambling of borders, there is little dispute that the region has been its own entity for centuries, a notion reinforced by its rugged topography.

While Kosovo provides a precedent for the region’s independence, opening a diplomatic office or establishing a consulate would both not only help the United States monitor events, but might also dissuade Azeri, Turkish, and Arab mercenary forces who would target civilians in the region.

There is precedent to recognize the importance of even a passive presence. Consider, for example, the 2011 Pearl Monument uprising and its aftermath in Bahrain. Clashes occurred frequently for a few years following and then sporadically for several more between Shi’ite protestors and largely Sunni security forces. At no point did the protestors target Americans, despite the presence of thousands of servicemen and dozens of diplomats on the island, many living in compounds adjacent to Shi’ite villages which were hotbeds of dissent. When the State Department nevertheless relocated diplomats to the capital Manama, Bahrainis were furious: The absence of Americans outside the capital city would remove a deterrent to greater violence by the government against protestors. Diplomats make the best witnesses.

Indeed, this is something that Armenians know well. It was Henry Morgenthau Sr., the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, who provided some of the most compelling contemporary accounts of the genocide against Armenians perpetrated by Ottoman Turks (and Kurds). While his efforts to end U.S. neutrality and get the Woodrow Wilson administration to speak out against the genocide failed, Morgenthau’s writing and advocacy ensured that Turkey could not sweep the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians under the rug.

Of course, in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, the State Department would have to resolve technicalities. The fact that both Armenians and Azerbaijan claim the territory on which Stepanakert sits would complicate any decision to open an office or consulate. After all, consulates typically answer to embassies in a country’s capital. The United States continues to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azeri territory even though Azerbaijan has not controlled it since Soviet days (and even then, it was an autonomous oblast). To attach the consulate to the U.S. Embassy in Baku, therefore, would be unrealistic. Simultaneously, the State Department would hesitate to link a Stepanakert consulate to the U.S. embassy in Yerevan in order to avoid implying U.S. recognition of Armenian claims in order to prevent undermining the Minsk Group process. Again, however, there is precedent: For decades, while the United States withheld recognition of Israeli claims to Jerusalem, the State Department considered the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem as distinct and unattached to any country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might categorize a U.S. consulate in Stepanakert the same way in order to bypass the objections of both Armenia or Azerbaijan.

Diplomats often complain that the U.S. State Department is under-resourced and has no budget to expand. That might be true but, at the same time, the State Department is also guilty of supporting outdated posts that contribute little to U.S. diplomacy. Consider, for example: does the United States really needs to maintain consulates in Winnipeg, Quebec City, or Halifax? Likewise, beyond the U.S. embassy in Paris, the State Department operates six additional consulates in France. Is the U.S. consulate in Rennes really that important to U.S. interests? National interests and diplomat focus shifts, and the State Department should be nimble enough to shift with it.

If diplomacy is going to be the strategy of first resort, the State Department must be willing to be on the front lines. Critics who might say the United States would be walking into a second Benghazi are wrong. Benghazi was a tragedy, and perhaps an avoidable one at that, but it should not be cause for diplomatic withdrawal. There can be no influence without presence. Nor would Stepanakert be analogous to Benghazi for an even more basic reason: U.S. allies Turkey and Azerbaijan threaten the former, while terror groups targeted to the latter. The Secretary of State should simply make clear to his counterparts in Turkey and Azerbaijan that their countries would be held accountable for any attack that endangered or damaged an American mission in Stepanakert. It is one thing for dictators like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and İlham Aliyev to attack Nagorno-Karabakh when they believe they will suffer no consequences; it is another if they risk their diplomatic relationship with the United States over an errant missile or mortar. For the sake of peace, it is time to open a Stepanakert consulate now՛՛.

Unity is the guarantee of our victory, Armenia’s President says

Arbi Tashjian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 6 2020

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian believes our unity is the guarantee of our victory.

“I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago,” the President said in an address.

“Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons. However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity,” the President noted.

Address by Armen Sarkissian, President of the Republic of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.


Dear compatriots,

For more than a month, Artsakh, Armenia, and the entire Armenian people have been fighting in a patriotic war, a war unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, and a war against international terrorism.

Our brave military units and volunteers fight selflessly, without sparing their lives.

They are fighting for freedom and dignity, for their Homeland.

We bow to our fallen heroes and their families.

My condolences to all mothers and fathers who lost their sons, wives who lost their husbands,
sisters who lost their brothers, grandparents who lost their grandchildren…

For us victory in this war means defending our home, our culture, our values, and our faith,

it means doing everything to prevent a second genocide,

It means a war for the memory of our heroes, the memory of our martyred heroes …

The patriotic war that started about 30 years ago continues.

I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago.

Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons.

However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity.
Even today, some people ask me: what is the guarantee of our victory today?

My answer has not changed: our unity.

I want to urge our political forces, politicians and public figures:

Be united and consolidated as people,

follow the example of the people …

Dear compatriots,

Besides the enemy attacking Artsakh, we have another enemy, the coronavirus epidemic, which takes lives every day.

My condolences to the families and relatives of our compatriots who fell victim to the epidemic.

In the fight against coronavirus, too, victory depends on us, on how united, consolidated, organized and disciplined we will be …

I would like to express my special thanks to the vanguard of this struggle, to all health care workers, from doctors to nurses and male nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and technical staff, who selflessly fight the coronavirus day and night. They are on the fore of another front …

Dear compatriots in Artsakh, Armenia and in the Diaspora,

Thank you for all your efforts and aspirations, for your compassion and warmth, for your unity and organization, for your support that you provide in various ways and means.

Continue your support, material and moral, through donation and charity, connections and knowledge, your direct participation or remote presence.

Realizing the seriousness of the moment and the urgency of uniting around the homeland, all the Armenians immediately joined in the work of the All-Armenian Fund, which turned into a nationwide movement.

I would like to thank all the donors from the Diaspora and Armenia.

Making donations to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, you are helping to address the plight of Artsakh families and refugees in Armenia, and to rebuild destroyed schools and homes.

I call on all Armenian businessmen, benefactors, unions, organizations, individuals living in Armenia, throughout the Diaspora, to do their utmost for the security of the Armenian people.

Our hope is ourselves and our true friends.

We will build our victory together.

God bless Artsakh, Armenia and all our people.



RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/06/2020

Arbi Tashjian 
                                        Friday, November 6, 2020

Armenian President Calls For Unity To Cope With War, Coronavirus


Armenian President Armen Sarkissian clenches his fist as he addresses the 
nation, calling for unity in the face of the Nagorno-Karabakh war and the 
coronavirus pandemic, Yerevan, November 6, 2020

President Armen Sarkissian has called on Armenian political parties and public 
figures to show unity in the face of an ongoing armed conflict in 
Nagorno-Karabakh and a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, both of which 
have claimed hundreds of human lives.
“Be united like our people is. Follow the example of our people,” Sarkissian 
said in his address on November 6.

The Armenian president said that unity was the most powerful weapon of Armenians 
that helped the newly independent nation prevail in the early 1990s when it had 
a ruined economy and was grappling with the consequences of a devastating 1988 
earthquake in Spitak.

“Thirty years ago we had no strong economy, no roads, no fuel, we hadn’t enough 
weapons. But we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves, our 
unity. Some people ask me today what the guarantee of our today’s victory is. 
And my answer hasn’t changed – it’s our unity,” he said.

Sarkissian said that besides the war in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia is also 
combating another enemy – the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives 
of more than 1,500 in the South Caucasus country of some 3 million people to 
date.

“Victory over coronavirus also depends on us, on how united, organized and 
disciplined we are,” the president said.

Sarkissian, who chairs the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, 
also called on all businessmen, philanthropists and organizations in Armenia and 
its far-flung Diaspora to donate as much as possible to the charity.

“Making donations to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund you help families from 
Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh] who have taken refuge in 
Armenia, help solve the problems of refugees, help rebuild destroyed schools and 
houses,” Sarkisian said.

“We place our hope on ourselves and our true friends. We will be creating our 
victory together. God bless Artsakh, Armenia and our entire nation,” the 
Armenian president concluded.

The current hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh between local ethnic Armenians and 
Azerbaijan broke out on September 27. The conflict has displaced tens of 
thousands of people. The ethnic Armenian army has confirmed the deaths of 1,177 
of its soldiers to date. Dozens of civilians have also been killed in shelling 
and rocket attacks during the ongoing conflict.



Russia ‘Possesses Precise Data’ On Terrorist Fighters In Karabakh


Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service

Russia possesses precise data about terrorist fighters from the Middle East 
involved in the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the country’s top 
intelligence official has said.

In an interview with RIA Novosti conducted by Russia Today news agency 
director-general Dmitry Kiselyov this week, head of the Russian Foreign 
Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin also said that Moscow sees “separate 
elements of Turkish intelligence work” in the conflict zone.

Since the outbreak of hostilities in late September Armenia has insisted that 
Islamist mercenaries from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East have been 
recruited by Turkey to fight on Azerbaijan’s side against ethnic Armenians in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Late last week ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh claimed they had 
captured at least two Syrian fighters in the battlefield. They showed videos of 
interrogations of the two men who admit they had been recruited by Turkey to 
fight for Azerbaijan.

Yerevan also claims that Turkish forces are directly helping Azerbaijan fight 
the war.

Azerbaijan and Turkey deny deploying any mercenaries in the conflict zone. 
Azerbaijan also insists that Turkey’s role in the conflict is limited to 
political and moral support only.

According to Naryshkin, Russia got its information about the presence of 
terrorist fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh from various sources in the Middle East 
and elsewhere in the region.

“We have been receiving these data from a number of countries, from different 
sources and from our different partners, partner services in the Middle East,” 
he said.

At a news briefing on November 5, spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs Maria Zakharova expressed Moscow’s lingering concerns about the 
deployment of jihadist fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that “it is fraught 
with the emergence of a new terrorist enclave in the South Caucasus.”



At Least Three Killed In Overnight Shelling Of Stepanakert


Rescuers remove the bodies of citizens from under the rubble of a building 
destroyed during shelling in Nagorno-Karabakh

At least three civilians have been killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of 
Stepanakert in what local authorities say was overnight shelling of the city by 
Azerbaijan’s armed forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto Emergency Service said that Shushi, a town some 10 
kilometers to the south of Stepanakert, was also under intensive fire last night.

“As a result of rocket fire several residential houses were burned in Shushi. 
There is also destruction in the capital [Stepanakert]. Rescue services are 
working on the spots,” the body reported in the morning.

An RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent in Stepanakert has confirmed the deaths 
of three civilians in the city, reporting at least a dozen explosions heard in 
the area last night.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan also reported shelling of its populated areas by ethnic 
Armenian forces. The country’s Defense Ministry said that the town of Tartar and 
nearby villages came under fire on Friday morning.

Both sides deny they target civilian populations in the ongoing conflict.

Meanwhile, the two sides again gave different accounts of the developments along 
the frontlines in the morning.

Armenia-backed ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh claimed to have 
conducted “effective defensive battles”, stopping attacks by Azerbaijani armed 
forces at several major sectors of the frontline. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan claimed 
its armed forces have been on the offensive in several directions, causing 
Armenian forces to retreat.

On November 5, Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto ethnic Armenian leader Arayik 
Harutiunian said he had visited Shushi (Shusha), a strategic town sitting on a 
mountaintop and overlooking the region’s capital Stepanakert, to meet with 
defenders of the town and discuss “the strategy of the struggle against the 
numerous forces of the enemy.”

As Azerbaijani forces were reportedly closing in on Shushi, Harutiunian said 
that “all possible efforts are being exerted to keep the fortress town 
impregnable.”



Moscow Remains Concerned About Jihadist Fighters In Karabakh


Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova (archive photo)

Russia has again voiced lingering concerns about the presence of fighters from 
the Middle East in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
Maria Zakharova, an official representative of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, said during a November 5 news briefing in Moscow that jihadist 
mercenaries with “blood on their hands” are being deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“All this cannot but raise our serious concern, as such developments are fraught 
with the emergence of a new terrorist enclave, now in the South Caucasus,” 
Zakharova said.

“Russia stated about it openly as soon as it got corresponding data,” she added.

In an interview with the Russian Kommersant daily earlier this week Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the number of mercenaries from the 
Middle East in Nagorno-Karabakh was approaching 2,000.

Late last week ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh claimed to have 
captured at least two fighters from Syria fighting on Azerbaijan’s side. 
According to the Armenian side, both admitted during interrogations that they 
had been recruited by Turkey.

Turkey and Azerbaijan brush aside accusations of deploying thousands of 
mercenaries to fight against Armenians.

In an interview with the Spanish EFE news agency on November 5 Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev responded to Lavrov’s remarks about the presence of 
mercenaries in Nagorno-Karabakh, calling it a rumor.

“I regret that high-ranking officials of the countries that should be neutral 
and act on the basis of the mandate given to them by the OSCE use these 
unconfirmed ‘information’ and rumors,” Aliyev said, reiterating that there are 
no mercenaries on the territory of Azerbaijan.

“There is not a single proof that any foreign fighter is fighting on our side,” 
Aliyev said.

Armenia’s arguments on the presence of mercenaries on the Azerbaijani side have 
also been supported by multiple investigative reports by Western journalists, 
some of which alleged that Turkey began recruiting jihadist fighters to be later 
deployed in Azerbaijan as early as July.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) in October one such 
journalist, Lindsey Snell, estimated that the number of Syrian mercenaries 
fighting for Azerbaijan at one point was around 2,000.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based human 
rights organization, more than 200 Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries have been 
killed in Nagorno-Karabakh since fighting broke out in the region in late 
September.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Iran adds troops near Nagorno Karabakh border

Arbi Tashjian

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 18:05, 5 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Iran sends more units and armored vehicles to the border with Nagorno Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports Iranian Azariha Telegram Channel posted a footage, showing the large armored column moving towards the border.

Iran has warned several times that presence of terrorists near its borders is inadmissible.




Recognition of Artsakh’s independence key step for solving security issue – MP

Arbi Tashjian

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 13:19,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The recognition of the independence of Artsakh has become the number one demand, the recognition is a key step to solve the security issue of the Artsakh people, Chairman of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on defense and security affairs Andranik Kocharyan said.

He said both the international community and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries should understand that today an issue of existence is being solved, and the logic – territories for uncertain status, discussed for years by the Minsk Group, can no longer operate. “Because the adversary has shown that they want territories without Armenian population. Today as well they are trying to eliminate not only the buildings, but also the people”, he said.

He said the Armenian side has formed its proposal. “The Prime Minister has presented what is urgent now in order to solve the security issue of our people in Artsakh. The recognition of the independence of Artsakh has become the number one demand”, Kocharyan said.

Kocharyan stated that Armenia today is the guarantor of the security of the Artsakh people. “And today we are fighting jointly for keeping firm the security of our people”, he said.

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

AYF Hunger Strikers Demand Artsakh Recognition, Turkey and Azerbaijan Sanctions

Arbi Tashjian

October 28,  2020



AYF members go on hunger strike to demand justice for Artsakh

LOS ANGELES—On Monday, October 26, the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States began a hunger strike in-front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles to call attention to war crimes being committed against Armenians. The hunger strike will culminate in a community-wide march on Sunday from the Federal Building to the Azerbaijani Consulate.

The hunger strikers are demanding the United States to recognize the Independent Republic of Artsakh, hold sanctions against Turkey and Azerbaijan for their blatant aggression in the region and escalation of war.

The hunger strike comes on the heels of a war that has been going on for over 30 days now — with confirmed reports of Turkey fueling the conflict by supplying weaponry and sending jihadist mercenaries to Azerbaijan. Armenians in the diaspora — many of whom were displaced during the genocide committed by Turkey in 1915 — have been protesting around the world to raise awareness and demand a call to action from the international community.

The AYF-WUS decided to hold the hunger strike in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles because “As American citizens, we are tired of our taxpayer money going to nations like Turkey and Azerbaijan who are committing war crimes against innocent civilians” stated Aram Manoukian, AYF-WUS Chairperson.

“The world needs to open their eyes to the violence being perpetrated upon Armenians in the region, a landlocked Christian nation who is forced to defend itself against dictators like Aliyev from Azerbaijan and Erdogan from Turkey” stated Alik Ourfalian, an AYF-WUS member.

The young activists say the hunger strike will culminate up to a march on Sunday from the Federal Building to the Azerbaijani Consulate, beginning at 11a.m.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation is the largest and the most influential Armenian-American youth organization in the United States, working to advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness among Armenian-American youth.

PM Pashinyan visits wounded servicemen

Arbi Tashjian

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 20:05,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan visited Central Clinical Military Hospital. Pashinyan met with the servicemen injured during the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the medical staff informed the PM about the health situation and treatment process of the servicemen. PM Pashinyan talked with the servicemen, wished speedy recovery and thanked them for selfless service.