Author: Bedik Zaminian

Putin, Erdogan discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

Bedik Zaminian
TASS, Russia
May 5 2021

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused in a phone call on Nagorno-Karabakh, including the activities of the Russian-Turkish ceasefire control center, the Kremlin said on Wednesday after the two presidents’ talks.

"[They] touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, including in the context of activities of the Russian-Turkish center monitoring the ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities in the conflict zone," the statement said.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 05/04/2021

Bedik Zaminian 
                                                Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Three Armenian Prisoners Freed By Azerbaijan

        • Artak Hambardzumian
        • Narine Ghalechian

ARMENIA -- People stand at a Russian military plane with some of Armenian 
captives upon its arrival at a military airport outside Yerevan, December 14, 
2020

Azerbaijan freed and repatriated on Tuesday three more Armenians who were taken 
prisoner during or shortly after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

They were reportedly flown to Yerevan by a Russian military plane late in the 
evening. All three men are soldiers, according to Armenian Deputy Prime Minister 
Tigran Avinian’s office.

In a statement, the office said their release was made possible by joint efforts 
of Russia, France and the United States and what it called broader international 
pressure exerted on Baku.

“We hope that this process will have a logical continuation and quick 
conclusion,” added the statement.

Sixty-nine Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians were freed earlier 
this year and last December in prisoner exchanges arranged by Russian 
peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh. More than 100 others are believed to remain 
in Azerbaijani captivity.

Yerevan insists on their immediate and unconditional release, citing the terms 
of a Russian-mediated truce agreement.

Baku claims that they are not covered by the agreement because they were 
captured after it took effect on November 10. Azerbaijani officials have branded 
them as “terrorists.”

The European Union last week called on Azerbaijan to free all remaining Armenian 
prisoners “as soon as possible” and “regardless of the circumstances of their 
arrest.” The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group 
called for their release earlier in April.

Meanwhile, two Yerevan-based human rights lawyers said on Tuesday that 19 
Armenian POWs and civilian captives were murdered by Azerbaijani servicemen 
after their capture. In a joint statement, they said they have filed relevant 
lawsuits at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The lawyers, Siranush Papian and Artak Zeynalian, have also appealed to the 
Strasbourg court on behalf of the families of other prisoners believed to remain 
alive.

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Aman Tatoyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, 
for his part, that his office has monitored Azerbaijani social media accounts 
and found 17 videos of Azerbaijani soldiers beheading Armenian prisoners or 
murdering them otherwise.

Tatoyan said the office has also collected about 100 Azerbaijani video clips 
depicting the torture and degrading treatment of other captives. He said it will 
submit the video material to international human rights bodies.



Armenian Central Bank Again Hikes Key Interest Rate

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia- Martin Galstian, the chairman of the Central bank of Armenia, at a news 
conference in Yerevan, May 4, 2021.

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) raised its main interest rate on Tuesday for 
the third time in about five months, citing continuing inflationary pressures on 
the domestic economy.

The CBA’s governing board set the refinancing rate at 6 percent, up by 0.5 
percentage points.

The board already raised it by 1 percentage point on December 15 and by another 
0.25 percentage points on February 2 amid rising consumer prices in the country. 
A major depreciation of the Armenian currency, the dram, was another factor 
behind the tightening of its monetary policy.

In a statement, CBA said the latest rate hike is also aimed at curbing 
higher-than-expected consumer price inflation.

According to Armenia’s Statistical Committee, 12-month inflation reached 5.8 
percent in March, surpassing a full-year target of 4 percent set by the Armenian 
government and the CBA for 2021.

Food prices were up by an average of 7.4 percent year-on-year. Statistical 
Committee data shows particularly drastic increases in the cost of imported 
basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and sugar.

The CBA governor, Martin Galstian, said the surge reflecting a global trend, 
coupled with the weaker dram, is the main cause of the higher inflation rate. He 
admitted that the authorities may well fail to meet their 2021 inflation target.

Speaking at a news conference, Galstian was confident that the CBA’s latest 
decision to raise the minimum cost of borrowing will not slow Armenia’s recovery 
from a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic and aggravated by the war 
with Azerbaijan.

In fact, he said, the Armenian economy now seems on course to growth faster than 
was recently projected by the Central Bank. But he declined to forecast any 
growth rates.

The economy shrunk by 7.6 percent last year. The CBA forecast in March that it 
will expand by 1.4 percent in 2021.



‘Syrian Mercenaries’ Sentenced To Life In Prison

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - Yusef al-Haji, a Syrian man captured during fighting in 
Nagorno-Karbaakh, is shown on Armenian television, November 3, 2020

An Armenian court on Tuesday handed a life sentence to two Syrian men who were 
captured during last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army took them prisoner in fierce fighting with 
Azerbaijani forces stopped by a Russian-mediated ceasefire November 10. They 
were handed over to Armenia to stand trial on a string of criminal charges, 
including terrorism.

The trial lasted for just a few hours, with both defendants, identified as 
Muhrab al-Shkheri and Yusef al-Haji, apparently pleading guilty to the 
accusations.

The court in the southeastern Armenian town of Kapan sentenced them to life in 
prison, backing investigators’ claims that that they are mercenaries who were 
recruited by pro-Turkish militant groups to “terrorize civilians” in Karabakh 
and commit other war crimes.

The trial prosecutors said the Syrians underwent military training at a camp in 
northern Syria in June-September 2020 before being transported to Azerbaijan via 
Turkey. In addition to a fixed wage of $2,000, the recruiters also promised to 
pay $100 for every Armenian killed by them, according to the prosecutors.

Both men admitted being mercenaries in their testimonies shown on Armenian 
television late last year. Armenian officials portrayed that as further proof 
that thousands of Syrians fought in Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side for money.

The Armenian claims were backed by France and, implicitly, Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters 
from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the outbreak of large-scale 
hostilities in and around Karabakh on September 27. Russia also expressed 
serious concern about the deployment of “terrorists and mercenaries” from Syria 
and Libya in the Karabakh conflict zone.

Turkey and Azerbaijan denied the presence of any foreign mercenaries in the 
Azerbaijani army ranks. Baku dismissed the Syrians’ televised confessions as a 
fraud.

Multiple reports by Western media quoted members of Islamist rebel groups in 
areas of northern Syria under Turkish control as saying in late September and 
October that they are deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with the Turkish 
government.



Armenian Judge Claims Government Retribution

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia -- A court building in Yerevan, June 9, 2020.

A judge in Yerevan claimed on Tuesday that the Armenian authorities are trying 
to punish him for his refusal to sanction the arrest of a man accused of 
plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

The man, Ashot Minasian, was the commander of a volunteer militia from the 
southeastern town of Sisian which participated in the autumn war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Minasian and three opposition figures were detained in November amid 
anti-government protests in Yerevan sparked by Armenia’s defeat in the six-week 
war. The National Security Service (NSS) charged them with plotting to kill 
Pashinian and overthrow the government.

All four men rejected the charges as politically motivated before being freed by 
courts.

Judge Arman Hovannisian cited a lack of evidence produced by the NSS when he 
ordered Minasian’s release. Armenia’s Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in 
response to an appeal lodged by prosecutors.

It emerged last week that the Ministry of Justice has asked the Supreme Judicial 
Council (SJC) to take disciplinary action against Hovannisian. It cited 
prosecutors’ claims that the judge violated the law when deciding whether or not 
to issue the arrest warrant.

Both the ministry and the Office of the Prosecutor-General on Tuesday refused to 
elaborate on the alleged violations.

Hovannisian alleged, meanwhile, government retribution for his decision not to 
remand Minasian in pre-trial custody. He claimed that the law-enforcement 
authorities themselves are acting illegally.

Under Armenian law, judges can face disciplinary proceedings for gross 
misconduct or procedural violations discrediting the judiciary, rather than 
rulings handed down by them. Only higher courts can declare those rulings 
illegal or unfair and overturn them.

It is not yet clear when the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) will consider the 
ministry’s petition. The independent body is empowered to nominate, sanction and 
fire judges.

The SJC chairman, Ruben Vartazarian, himself was controversially suspended and 
charged with obstruction of justice on April 15 weeks after Pashinian’s 
political allies accused him of encouraging courts to free dozens of opposition 
members and other government critics detained in recent months.

Vartazarian denies the accusations. He says that Pashinian’s administration has 
ordered the criminal proceedings against him in a bid to replace him with Gagik 
Jahangirian, an SJC member reputedly allied to Pashinian.

Jahangirian was named as acting head of the SJC pending the outcome of the 
criminal investigation because of being the oldest member of the judicial 
watchdog.



Armenia Condemns Azeri ‘Destruction’ Of Karabakh Church


NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A view shows Ghazanchetsots Cathedral damaged by recent 
shelling in Shushi/Shusha, October 8, 2020

Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Tuesday of vandalizing Nagorno-Karabakh’s largest 
Armenian church located in the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shushi (Shusha).

Photographs taken from nearby hills and publicized on Monday showed the Holy 
Savior Cathedral stripped of its conical dome and cross that was perched on it. 
Other parts of the 19th century church, commonly known as Ghazanchetsots, were 
covered in scaffolding.

Azerbaijani authorities did not immediately comment on those changes. Karabakh’s 
human rights ombudsman, Gegham Stepanian, said they are trying to “distort” the 
appearance of the white stone church “under the guise of renovation works.”

The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning what it called an 
act of “vandalism aimed at depriving the Shushi Cathedral of its Armenian 
identity.”

“It’s noteworthy that Azerbaijan is carrying out actions at the Shushi Cathedral 
without consulting with the Armenian Apostolic Church, which clearly violates 
Armenian believers’ freedom of religion,” said the statement. “It is equally 
concerning that Azerbaijan has started to change the architectural appearance of 
the church before the launch of a UNESCO expert assessment mission.”

Senior Armenian lawmakers added their voice to the condemnation during a session 
of the National Assembly. Lilit Makunts, the parliamentary leader of the ruling 
My Step bloc, accused Baku of seeking to “eliminate all traces” of Armenian 
history and culture from territory occupied by the Azerbaijani army during last 
year’s war.


NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Arthur Sahakyan, 63, prays inside the damaged Holy Savior 
Cathedral of Shushi/Shusha, October 13, 2020.
The Shushi cathedral was twice hit by long-range Azerbaijani missiles during the 
war. The missiles left a gaping hole on a lower roof of the church but did not 
damage its dome.

Azerbaijani forces captured the strategic town overlooking the Karabakh capital 
Stepanakert just days before a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the 
hostilities on November 10. Armenian officials have since repeatedly accused 
them of desecrating Armenian cemeteries, churches and other monuments in and 
around Karabakh.

Yerevan has also expressed serious concern about the fate of the medieval 
Dadivank monastery located in the Kelbajar district just west of Karabakh.

Although the district was handed over to Azerbaijan in late November, Russian 
peacekeeping forces set up a permanent post at Dadivank to protect Armenian 
clergymen remaining there. The peacekeepers also periodically escort Karabakh 
Armenian worshippers to the monastery for religious ceremonies.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Turkey vows response to Biden’s decision to recognize Armenian genocide by Amberin Zaman

Bedik Zaminian
Al-Monitor
April 26 2021

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin did not provide details on a reaction, but he said it will be "of different forms, kinds and degrees."
Protesters take part in a demonstration outside the US Consulate in Istanbul on April 26, 2021, as a banner reads "An answer of USA's lies, close the US base in Incirlik," following the decision of US President Joe Biden to recognize the Armenian genocide in 1915-1917. – OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Amberin Zaman
April 26, 2021

Turkey has vowed to respond to President Joe Biden’s use of the term genocide in a formal statement April 24 to mark the 106th anniversary of the mass killings of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915. It was the first time a US president referred to the Armenian tragedy in those words, a measure of the awful state of US-Turkish relations but also of Biden’s ethical foreign policy stance.

In an April 25 interview with the Reuters news agency, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin called the characterization “simply outrageous” and said, “There will be reaction of different forms and kinds and degrees.” He did not specify what these would be and would only say, “At a time and place that we consider to be appropriate, we will continue to respond to this very unfortunate, unfair statement.”

So far Turkey’s only move was to summon US Ambassador David Satterfield in the late evening of April 24 for a formal protest. In fact, Ankara’s response has been remarkably muted given the decades of diplomatic and financial capital it spent on seeking to prevent just such a statement. Turkey’s swashbuckling president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has yet to comment.

Meanwhile, Erdogan's overtly anti-American interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, reserved his ire to a single tweet. “The United States does not know history. Because it has no history of its own. Therefore, the words that were put in its president’s mouth have no value whatsoever,” he said.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party and Erdogan’s informal coalition ally, did make some hawkish noises but has not recommended any sanctions against the United States.

This is in sharp contrast with the main opposition parties, which blasted Biden for labeling the bloodletting organized by the Young Turks who ruled Turkey in the last days of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, as most credible historians do. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party was the sole outlier, calling in a statement for Turkey to “face up” to the Armenian genocide.

So what can Turkey actually do? The prevailing consensus is that it has limited leverage due to the parlous state of its economy, aggravated by a fierce third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has battered Turkey’s multibillion-dollar tourism sector. Turkey’s mounting diplomatic isolation is cited as another reason Ankara will have to live with Biden’s statement.

At least 30 countries have already recognized the genocide, including Russia, Germany and the Netherlands, “and in those instances too, Turkey’s response did not go beyond angry statements,” recalled Berk Esen, an assistant professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. In this instance too, the government “is likely to engage in bellicose rhetoric principally aimed at pacifying public fury. At the same time, it will seek to bait the opposition into a debate then accuse it of not responding forcefully enough to Biden’s statement, but such tactics are likely to backfire,” Esen predicted. “The government is continually losing support,” he added.

Sinem Adar, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, concurred. “Just as the government’s room for maneuver has shrunk domestically, with the election of Joe Biden, it shrunk on the foreign policy front too. Biden’s April 24 speech needs to be assessed within this light,” Adar noted.

That is not to say that Turkey doesn’t have some leverage. It could, in theory, be less cooperative on Afghanistan peace talks that are meant to ease a full US withdrawal from the war-ravaged Central Asian state. Ankara agreed to host the talks in April — they have now been delayed — using its close alliance with Pakistan, which has considerable leverage on the Taliban, observed Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Turkey director for the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Or it could limit US activity at Incirlik air base, he speculated. Last but not least, Turkey might, with Russia’s blessings, mount yet another attack against the United States' Syrian Kurdish partners in northeast Syria. But Unluhisarcikli does not believe that Ankara would resort to any of these measures, least of all before Erdogan and Biden are due to meet for the first time since the latter became president, on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June. “Any of these actions would incur a considerable cost for Turkey as well,” he said.

Some warn, however, that the Biden administration’s message that Turkey’s geostrategic value no longer trumps all else may push Ankara further into the arms of Russia and even China. Adar disagrees. “The ruling elite views Turkey’s NATO membership as a valuable lever and will refrain from adding new strains to existing ones.” Adar was alluding to the ongoing standoff between Washington and Ankara over Turkey’s acquisition of Russian-made S-400 missiles.

As such, further rapprochement with Moscow would be “an unintended consequence” of its hard power-driven foreign policy, she added.

Either way, said Merve Tahiroglu, Turkey program coordinator at the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington-based think tank, "Biden’s statement ought to be a wake-up call for Ankara about the consequences of playing the United States off of each other and the damage that has done to Turkey’s relationship with the United States.”

Read more:

Turkish press: Turkey should activate S-400s, demand refund for F-35s: MHP leader

Bedik Zaminian
 ANKARA POLITICS 
APR 27, 2021 2:44 PM GMT+3
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli speaks at his party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Turkey, April 27, 2021. (AA Photo)

Relations between Turkey and the United States are at a historical junction, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said Tuesday, adding that Ankara should now take steps to activate the advanced S-400 Russian air defense system and demand a refund from the F-35 Lightning II jet program.

Back in December, the U.S. decided to impose sanctions on Turkey over the purchase of Russian-made missile defense systems.

Ties between NATO allies Turkey and the U.S. were badly strained in 2019 over Ankara’s acquisition of the advanced S-400 air defense system, prompting Washington to remove Turkey from its F-35 Lightning II jet program. The U.S. argued that the system was incompatible with NATO systems and could be used by Russia to covertly obtain classified information on the F-35 jets. Turkey, however, insists that the S-400 would not be integrated into NATO systems and would not pose a threat to the alliance.

Bahçeli said his party would support all decisions taken by the state and criticized U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remarks on the 1915 events. He said Washington “should first give account for the millions of innocents the U.S. killed in Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Speaking during his party's parliamentary group meeting, Bahçeli further stated that the U.S. has caused the deaths of 1 million people in Iraq and another 1.5 million in Afghanistan.

Underlining that Biden’s words damaged the relations with its ally and will take many years to repair, he said the "U.S.’ alliance was a lie and strategic partnership a fairy tale."

Last Saturday, Biden called the events of 1915 a "genocide," breaking with American presidents' long tradition of refraining from using the term.

Biden's remarks came in a customary statement on the anniversary, a day after speaking with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Biden is said to have acknowledged during the conversation that he planned to go ahead with the statement and was seeking to placate the expected uproar from NATO ally Turkey.

After the remarks, the Turkish nation stood united against the misrepresentation of history, as citizens from all political views flocked to social media platforms to express their anger. The Turkish government and opposition parties have also stood united against Biden’s move.

Erdoğan on Monday following the Cabinet meeting called upon U.S. authorities to come to Turkey and "inspect the evidence with regards to 1915."

"I am speaking based on evidence, unlike Biden. We have over 1 million documents related to the 1915 events in our archives. I am wondering how many documents the United States has," he said.

"Armenian gangs, who were at least 150,000 to 300,000 people, carried out massacres in Turkish territory. Furthermore, they partnered with Russian forces to fight against us. The Ottoman authorities took precautions," he said, underlining the crimes perpetrated by the Armenian gangs at the time.

Erdoğan once again voiced Turkey's proposal to set up a joint history commission.

Turkey's position on the 1915 events is that the death of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties, added to by massacres commited by militaries and militia groups on both sides.

The mass arrests of prominent Ottoman Armenian politicians, intellectuals and other community members suspected of links with separatist groups, harboring nationalist sentiments and being hostile to the Ottoman rule before being rounded up in then-capital Istanbul on April 24, 1915, is considered the beginning of later events.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.

The significance of U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide

Bedik Zaminian
New Europe
April 30 2021

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<img src=”"https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/p15a.jpg" alt="Richard Giragosian" class=""post-thumb-wrap" style = "background-size: cover;background-position: 10%;width:50px;height:50px;background-image:url('');margin:5px 0;border-radius: 90px;border: 1px solid rgb(88, 90, 12);border-radius: 50px/50px; /* horizontal radius / vertical radius */""> By Richard Giragosian

Founding Director of the Regional Studies Center

| New Europe

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Like every U.S. leader before him, President Joseph Biden issued a commemorative statement on April 24 to mark the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.  But this year’s statement was eagerly anticipated, as the Biden Administration was widely expected to break with the previous position by boldly acknowledging and affirming the Armenian Genocide.  

Unlike previous American presidents, those hopes and expectations were met with no political equivocation or use of semantics.  Breaking with recent precedence, President Biden fully embraced the suffering of the Armenians by referring to the massacres and forced dispossession in 1915 as clear components of the crime of genocide.  

Although with some nuanced language in the statement’s reference to Ottoman Turkey rather than the modern Republic of Turkey, the U.S. president’s commemorative recognition of the Armenian genocide was significant for several reasons.  

Clearly, for Armenians both in Armenia and throughout the global diaspora, the moral clarity and moral courage of the Biden statement, which directly and explicitly refers to the Armenian genocide twice, was hailed as a long-sought vindication of a determined campaign to secure official U.S. recognition.  And as an emotional vindication, the statement was especially welcome in Armenia, in light of the lingering shock from an unexpected loss to Turkish-backed Azerbaijan in the war for Nagorno Karabakh late last year.

But in real terms, the Biden statement has no legal or even policy implications for Armenia.  Nevertheless, it does extend significant credence and political capital to the Armenian quest for recognition and reassurance.  It may also help to end the destructive and counter-productive state policy of genocide denial by the Turkish government. 

This latter point also offered a second significant factor, whereby other Western countries, such as the UK for one prominent example, will be hard-pressed to follow suit and come under pressure to no longer back or buttress Turkish denial of the genocide.  In this way, the Biden recognition only exposes the moral weakness of other Western leaders who may still cling to Turkey’s policy of denial and historical revisionism.

And third, it was a move to not necessarily punish Turkey, but to help Turkey to more sincerely deal with its difficult past.  It was not vindicative, but rather, was a vindication of history.  

But a fourth factor of significance stems from the decision by the United States to call the bluff of the Turkish government and to face down the bellicose threats from Turkey over genocide recognition.  In this way, the U.S. statement demonstrated that geopolitics are no longer an effective excuse for genocide denial.

<img class="size-full wp-image-538377" src=”"https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442.jpg" alt="" width="5000" height="3332" srcset="https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442.jpg 5000w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-300×200.jpg 300w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-768×512.jpg 768w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-1024×682.jpg 1024w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-696×464.jpg 696w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-1392×928.jpg 1392w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-1068×712.jpg 1068w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-630×420.jpg 630w, https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/h_55146442-1261×840.jpg 1261w" sizes="(max-width: 5000px) 100vw, 5000px" />A child sits on his father’s shoulders holding an Armenian flag as thousands take part in a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the Armenian genocide in front of the Turkish consulate in Los Angeles, California. EPA-EFE//ETIENNE LAURENT

From this perspective, the genocide recognition is in part a move to regain some of the United States’ moral standing that was lost under Donald Trump and stands out as an element in a broader strategy to correct the policy mistakes of the past as a course correction.  And while it is precedent-setting, making it difficult for any U.S. president to retreat later, it also helps Washington to begin to regain and restore the moral high ground in international relations. 

And moving forward, the U.S. statement also makes the genocide issue less confrontational for Turkey and offers a fresh opportunity for Turkey to reengage in the earlier diplomatic effort with Armenia to “normalize” relations.

But most importantly, the Biden announcement is more about defining a principled moral stand to defend the historical veracity of the Armenian genocide and less about Turkish sensitivities or excuses.  And its relevance is lasting, for not only affirming the past but to also safeguard the future to deter any future reoccurrence of genocide or related heinous crimes against humanity.

What Biden’s genocide remark means to Turkey, and to Armenians

Bedik Zaminian
CBS News

BY PINAR SEVINCLIDIR

UPDATED ON: APRIL 29, 2021 / 3:52 AM / CBS NEWS

stanbul — Turkey and the U.S. have once again found each other at odds after President Joe Biden's characterization of the Ottoman atrocities committed against ethnic Armenians more than 100 years ago as genocide. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called Mr. Biden's statement "baseless, unfair and untrue." 

Erdogan said the American leader's "wrong step" would hinder bilateral relations, and he hinted strongly at hypocrisy, urging the U.S. to "look in the mirror."

Breaking with previous administrations, Mr. Biden described the deadly forced deportation of well over a million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire — modern-day Turkey — at the beginning of World War I as "a genocide."

"Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring," Mr. Biden said in a statement on April 24, widely recognized as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.   

His use of the word brought immediate, sharp condemnation from Turkish officials. The country's foreign ministry said the words would not change history, and it summoned the U.S. Ambassador in Ankara to deliver a formal complaint.

Even political rivals inside Turkey closed ranks over Mr. Biden's statement. Turkey's leading opposition Republican People's Party echoed the government's criticism and called the statement "a serious mistake."

Historians say that in the summer and autumn of 1915, Armenian civilians were forced from their homes and marched through the valleys and mountains of Eastern Anatolia (Turkey) towards the Syrian desert. Armenian leaders say 1.5 million civilians died of starvation and disease as about 90% of the ethnic group in Anatolia were driven from their homes.     

Turkey's government says Armenian armed gangs posed a national security threat as they were colluding with Western-allied Russia to enable the occupation of eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey admits that Armenians were deported, but it disputes the numbers, putting the death toll at a few hundred thousand and insisting there was no intention of eliminating a race of people. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, modern-day Turkey's state policy has been to reject any description of the treatment of the Armenians at the time as genocide.  

People hold pictures of victims during a memorial to commemorate the 1915 Armenian mass killings, April 24, 2018, in Istanbul, Turkey.CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turkish leader to offer condolences for the Armenian deaths when, in 2014, he acknowledged that the events of 1915 had "inhumane consequences," and expressed hope that those who had died were at peace.

Historian Umit Kurt is skeptical of the defense offered by Turkish officials of the deportations. He told CBS News that officials who deny the charge of genocide should explain why Armenian properties were seized and then sold off by the state. The homes were distributed among local Ottoman elites and Muslim refugees quickly after the Armenians were forced out, virtually erasing the ethnic group's longtime presence in the region. 

"The seizure of properties shows the Ottoman rulers never expected Armenians to return." Kurt told CBS News. 

The decision by the U.S. leader to use the highly-charged word was "political," Faruk Logoglu, a former Turkish Ambassador to the United States, told CBS News. "Biden's decision is likely to stir the hornet's nest, and it will have medium and long-term consequences for Turkey-U.S. ties."  

For sure, Mr. Biden's remark couldn't have come at a more delicate time for the two NATO allies.

The relationship has been strained for years over Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems. The Russian missiles are considered a threat to NATO's own defense systems in the region, and it all comes at a time when Russia is locked in a standoff with the West over its actions in eastern Ukraine — the sharp edge of Russia's geographic sphere of influence.

The U.S. sanctioned Turkey specifically over the purchase of the Russian missile systems and kicked the country out of the project with NATO partners to develop the advanced F-35 fighter jet.

The rift between Turkey and the U.S. has also deepened in recent years over America's support for Kurdish rebels in Syria. The U.S. has relied for a decade on the Syrian Kurds as an affective ally in the fight against ISIS extremists, but Turkey considers Syria's Kurdish militias terrorists with links to the PKK, an armed separatist group fighting for greater autonomy in southern Turkey.

In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Biden said he'd "spent a lot of time" with Erdogan, and he called him an "autocrat."

On Monday night, Turkey's government said Mr. Biden would meet his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of a NATO summit in June. The genocide remark will be just the latest issue adding to the tension in the room.

Survivors and descendants — including a vocal Armenian diaspora in the United States — have campaigned for decades to get other governments across the world to recognize the killings as an act of genocide. About 30 countries have now characterized the events that way.

Recent history has also been marked by trauma for the roughly 60,000 ethnic Armenians who still live inside Turkey. The assassination of a prominent Armenian journalist, Hirant Dink, by a Turkish ultra-nationalist in 2007 showed that the small community could still be targeted.

A recent survey conducted by a foundation set up by Dink's family found that Armenians are still the most-maligned minority group by Turkish media outlets.   

"Most of the Armenians in Turkey have to hide their identities in public life," Rober Koptas, the former editor of Armenian newspaper Agos, told CBS News. "They often have two names — one Turkish, one Armenian. They have these dual identities. It is a bit schizophrenic to be an Armenian in Turkey and the reason for that is fear."

Koptas said that while genocide is only a word, it means a lot for Armenians. 

"The word genocide is politically important because of Turkey's denial," he said. "If the Turkish stance was different, maybe Armenians would not be hung up on the terminology so much."

Armenia plans to export solar panels, liquor to Canada

Bedik Zaminian

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 15:39,

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan held a meeting with Canadian Ambassador to Armenia Alison LeClaire.

Kerobyan and LeClaire both attached importance to the Armenian-Canadian cooperation and outlined potential directions for cooperation.

They pointed out the following directions: trade and investments, industry, high technologies, education and tourism.  Kerobyan expressed certainty that the Armenian-Canadian economic relations have big potential to bolster and develop.

The possibilities of exporting Armenian production, namely solar panels and alcoholic drinks, into Canada were discussed.

“The minister attached importance to the opportunities of establishing business ties with leading Canadian companies engaged in the production of cannabis and emphasized that Armenia has an attractive environment for business activities, given the country’s climate conditions and high quality workforce. In addition, Canadian investors can use the opportunities of the industrial zones which are currently being built in Armenia, to facilitate the process of moving their industrial branches to Armenia, as well as entering the EEU market without obstacles,” the ministry of economy said in a news release.

Highlighting education for economic development, Kerobyan and the ambassador attached importance to implementing joint educational and specialized development programs.

The discussion also addressed exchange of experience programs in rendering financial services and agriculture.

Kerobyan expressed readiness to support Canadian financial institutions, banks, namely venture funds, to get established in Armenia, noting that Armenia has one of the most transparent and trusted financial systems in the region, thanks to which several leading international banks are operating in Armenia for already many years.

Issues of organizing business meetings with participation of private sector representatives of the two countries were discussed. On this occasion the minister proposed to hold an Armenian-Canadian business forum in the second half of 2021.

Armenia’s Pashinyan to step down in late April

Bedik Zaminian
TASS, Russia
Elections will be held on June 20, the outgoing PM said
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

YEREVAN, April 14. /TASS/. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that he will step down during the last ten days of April in order to disband parliament and call early elections.

"I will tender my resignation during the last ten days of April as it was agreed between the parliamentary forces and the president," Pashinyan told parliament on Wednesday. "In order to adhere to all protocol procedures on the seventh day I will nominate myself for premiership. All other factions will refrain from nominating their candidates, and my party My Step will not elect me as prime minister. Then my faction will nominate me and reject my candidature again. The parliament will be disbanded and elections will be held on June 20," he said.

“Azerbaijan consolidates its position as a global center of intolerance and xenophobia” – Armenia MFA

Bedik Zaminian

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 13:46,

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s foreign ministry has issued a statement on the opening of the “park” dedicated to Artsakh war in Azerbaijan, the ministry told Armenpress.

“On April 12, with the participation of the President of Azerbaijan a “park” dedicated to Artsakh war was opened in Baku, where along with the Armenian military equipment the mannequins of the servicemen of the Armenian armed forces, personal belongings of the soldiers of Armenia and Artsakh and the helmets of killed Armenian servicemen were displayed. The opening ceremony of the “park” and the remarks of the President of Azerbaijan demonstrate that the above-mentioned action is aimed at publicly degrading the memory of the victims of the war, missing persons and prisoners of war, violating the rights and dignity of their families. 

At a time when the consequences of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh haven’t been fully addressed, when numerous Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijani captivity, with the organization of such an "exhibition" wrapped in the elements of marauding, Azerbaijan is finally consolidating its position as a global center of intolerance and xenophobia. Such anti-human behavior of the Azerbaijani high-ranking leadership is more vocal than any statement or PR-campaign on peace, tolerance and multiculturalism.

On one hand, the Azerbaijani leadership is making observations about possible revanchisme on the part of Armenia, and on the other hand, with such exhibition, attempts to perpetuate the revanchisme, inhumanity and interethnic hatred. Such steps manifest how far the Azerbaijani leadership stands from its own declarative statements on the post-conflict situation, regional peace and reconciliation”, the statement says.