Author: Emma Nadirian

Armenia: stranded in Thailand

Emma Nadirian
Italy – Aug 27 2020


Pregnant, she was stuck with her partner for months in Thailand due to coronavirus. But she did not give up, and to raise the money for this forced stay she launched an online vegan restaurant. The story of Varda and her entrepreneurial initiative

27/08/2020 -  Armine Avetisyan

Varda Avetisyan, 38 – a well-known restaurant owner in Armenia – and her partner were on their way to Koh Samu Island for a vacation in Thailand on January 28th. They could not even imagine that their 2-month vacation would turn into a long-term business project. The borders closed between the countries because of the coronavirus took Varda's life in a new direction.

“January was coming to an end when my boyfriend and I went on vacation. We had not had time off for quite a long time, and planned to stay in Thailand for 2 months. We bought the return ticket for April 2. I was three months pregnant at that time. We had planned to do yoga, to relax. In short, I went for a fine vacation, which, however, became something entirely different”, Varda says.

Already in early March, the couple realised that their plans would change. In March, international flights began to be delayed one by one. “Then everybody's visas were automatically extended for three months, so that the Migration Service would not be crowded for that purpose. Just from that moment we realised that we would stay here for a long time and there would be challenges, and we started looking for a solution”, Varda recalls.

Varda was born in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, but lived in the United States for part of her life. She applied for a US exchange programme and was accepted. She went to study in America and lived there for 13 years.

She started to work in a restaurant – first she washed dishes, then waited tables, then became a manager. She likes to enter a restaurant and write a new menu, recruit new staff, and enjoy the local cuisine. Years later, she did the same in Armenia. She has set up several small restaurants in Armenia, with colourful, delicious cuisine.

She says she is very at ease in this business. “We needed money to keep living on the island. We needed to work. We had no money left, we had spent everything we had. And we were not the only ones in this situation. I decided that I should earn money with the business that was closest to my heart, cuisine. I created the “Vegan Villa” group on the Internet, posted videos and photos of my dishes, wrote the prices, and waited for further developments. After a very short time the orders came, we sold out and the work started…”.

Varda's friends, who had come from Russia and the United States to join them for leisure, helped her out. They all rented a big house, left the hotel, and started developing the business.

“Everyone had different jobs, but they quickly got into the part. It was not a bad experience, it was also a profitable business, we were able to earn enough money to cover all the costs. It was also very interesting to create dishes with the island's goods, I was fascinated by the endless range of colours”.

Varda recalls that a curfew was set on the island, so they worked at the permitted hours, delivering food to tourists stranded on the island like them.

“There is nothing impossible in life. This is another proof that it is possible to start a business from scratch and not go hungry. I'm thankful for this further opportunity”.

Then Varda's online restaurant was closed: flights reopened, tourists returned to their countries.

Varda and her partner stayed a bit longer. First their flight was delayed, and then she was in the last month of pregnancy and could not fly. The baby could be born any moment, and it would have been too risky.

Returning to Armenia, however, was very important for Varda, and she made it home one month after the baby was born. Many things awaited her. Her restaurants in Dilijan, one of the most beautiful tourist cities in Armenia, had to close because of coronavirus. The rent was too high. But she has two more, one of which was also closed, but has already reopened, with visitors especially on weekends.

"My restaurants are small, colorful. I am an optimist. I hope everything will be fine”, concludes Varda.



Turkey converts another Byzantine church into mosque

Emma Nadirian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 21 2020

<img width="700" height="414" src=”"https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/xHoly-Saviour-in-Chora.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Jc6Ao-ZWC-.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/xHoly-Saviour-in-Chora.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Jc6Ao-ZWC-.jpg 700w, https://en.armradio.am/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Holy-Saviour-in-Chora-300×177.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px"/> Gryffindor/Wikimedia commons

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a presidential decree on Friday turning the historic Holy Saviour in Chora, a medieval Byzantine church in western Constantinople that was a museum, into a mosque, the Greek Reporter informs.

The move follows the July decision to convert Hagia Sophia to a mosque, a move condemned by the international community.

The change in its status was passed in December 2019 but the decision of the State Council of Turkey had not been implemented, until today.

Chora is one of the most splendid examples of Byzantine art, and still preserves mosaics and frescoes. The interior is covered with Bible scenes and portraits of Jesus and the saints dating back to the fourteenth century.


Mosaic of the Virgin Mother with child, north dome of the inner narthex. Source: Wikimedia commonsBefore converting Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, French historian Fabrice Monnier noted, Turkey had already turned two church-museums back into mosques in recent years, the artistically less notable Hagia Sophia buildings in Iznik, formerly Nicaea, and Trabzon.

Holy Saviour in Chora is different, he told Le Figaro. “Its beautiful mosaics and frescos cover almost all the church’s walls and domes,” he said. “It would be hard to imagine it being returned into a mosque without totally covering them over.”

The Ottoman Turks turned Chora into a mosque half a century after their conquest of Constantinople in 1453, hiding its rich artwork under a layer of plaster because Islam bans iconic images.

After the Second World War, then-secular Turkey changed it into the Kariye Museum and allowed American experts to restore it to its old glory. The unique mosaics and frescos have been on display since 1958.

Armenian museum, libraries to reopen with COVID-19 guidelines in place

Emma Nadirian
Panorama, Armenia
Aug 19 2020
The museums and libraries across Armenia are set to reopen with measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The decision that came as part of a gradual loosening of the state of emergency regime in the country was announced on Tuesday by Commandant Tigran Avinyan.
 
The facilities will reopen their doors to the public under certain conditions in compliance with the government-advised social distancing guideline and other preventive measures. All staff, volunteers, and visitors will be required to wear a mask while in the building and have temperature check before entering. Hand sanitizing stations will be located throughout the buildings. There will also be a designated path through the museum galleries to ensure social distancing.
 
Up to 10 people can be present in the space of every 20 sq. meters at the same time. The group tours are advised to make by appointment and exclusively with the accompany of the guide.


Range Rover: The Armenian viper caper: Part II

Emma Nadirian
Pique News Magazine, Canada
Aug 15 2020
 
 
 
RANGE ROVER: The Armenian viper caper: Part II
 
By: Leslie Anthony
 
Aram No. 1’s American Bulldog, Jingo, who occupies exactly one quarter of a car. Photo by Leslie Anthony
 
In the Armenian capital of Yerevan to report on efforts to save the critically endangered Armenian viper, I’d joined my former doctoral supervisor Dr. Bob, Russian scientist Kolya, and our Armenian host Aram, in whose fetid apartment we camped between field expeditions.
 
After 10 days in-country, bleary-eyed breakfast again consisted of leftover food and vodka from the night before, and strong, Turkish-style coffee (Aram insisted it was Armenian-style and the Turks stole the idea) whose thick, sugary residue seemed potentially lethal. As usual, Bob downed three before he could function.
 
Aram worked at the Department of Protected Area Management in the Agency for Bioresources Management of the Ministry of Nature Protection (not joking), partnering on endangered species issues with World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Such was his official mantle; his vocation was herpetology—the study of reptiles and amphibians—which he’d pursued under that science’s Russian doyen, Ilya Darevsky.
 
Following in his footsteps, as if madness were a family business, son Levon was also a herpetologist, heading a national campaign to save the threatened, almost-cute Darevsky’s viper. This diminutive, cold-tolerant creature was found along Armenia’s border with Georgia on a single misty ridge representing no more than a dirty sock in the vast, geologic laundry pile of the Caucasus, an area of exceptional biodiversity where Europe and Central Asia collided.
 
Although Darevsky’s viper was an interesting—if not integral—part of this biological crossroads, none of the country’s snakes inspired more fascination than its flagship serpent: the Armenian viper.
 
Of the many animals named for the prolific 18th-century German zoologist Gustav Radde, Montevipera raddei was the most striking, with prominently horn-rimmed eyes and off-setting rows of rust-orange spots along its brown-black body. Such comeliness, unfortunately, saw the reptile targeted by an exploding international pet trade, contributing to a decline already turbocharged by habitat loss.
 
Although one imagined the ornate pattern to be conspicuous, we’d soon discover that in the orange-lichen-spattered rubble of its high-altitude home, the creature virtually disappeared.
 
Next day found us flashing south beneath 5,500-metre Mount Ararat, geography funneling us into the axial of Armenia’s reluctant intersection with Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan. As usual, we’d been hours late leaving. At first, the two 4WD vehicles we’d commandeered seemed perfect for Bob, Kolya, Aram, Levon, myself and our mountain of luggage. Aram would pilot his own, but we soon learned another driver—also named Aram—would command the second, an officious white jeep constellated in WWF livery.
 
Tall, red-faced, chain-smoking and garbed in a smart grey tracksuit, soft-spoken Aram No. 2 looked to be moonlighting from the Russian mafia. The assessment wasn’t far off; for years he’d piloted sealed trucks between Yerevan and Moscow, paid in cash, never knowing what contraband he transported. Creeping road piracy had ruined that bonanza, so now he’d resorted to chauffeuring indigent scientists. Given the deadly cargo we’d soon be schlepping, it was arguable which gig was more dangerous.
 
We also apparently needed a snake-wrangling field hand named Alek. He showed up in military fatigues with a jarhead haircut and a look that suggested he’d be happy to snap someone’s neck if requested. He turned out to be more of a gentle giant, however, as did Jingo, Aram No. 1’s bone-white, 65-kilo American Bulldog, who usurped the final seat and any chance of elbow room.
 
With a head the size of a watermelon, furrowed forehead, slobbering jowls and an enormous tight, pink scrotum bulging horizontally behind him, Jingo was the ugliest dog I’d ever seen. It didn’t stop there. His left eye was both skewed and bi-coloured, its top crescent the same soft brown as his right, while most of the orb glowed icy blue, a perfect bilateral schizophrenia: sad, doe-eyed puppy on the right; leering, satanic murderer on the left. Far outweighing his slight owner, Jingo inspired disbelief in all who glimpsed him; even gas-station attendants stared dumbfounded.
 
“Surreal,” offered Bob as we crept out of town, a rolling Dali painting.
 
Yerevan slid by like an unfinished basement, a stark, depressing, post-communist visage of disintegrating Soviet crap. The new regime was building atop the old master’s mess, creating pockets of corruption-fuelled opulence amidst the general mediocrity of quotidian construction, the interstices liberally piled with twisted iron, concrete, ageless garbage, and a choke of invasive plants.
 
A plague of rodents rustled through it all, and, as a result, snakes driven from their habitat by housing construction were following this food source into the city. One man even caught a deadly Levantine viper in his fourth-floor apartment. The Agency for Extreme Situations (I am not making this up…) had recorded a spike in emergency calls involving snakes. From 1995 to 1999, the annual average had been 30, with almost no cases in Yerevan. In 2004, however, 67 Armenians suffered snakebite and three died. According to the Department for Acute Intoxication (…I swear), Yerevan’s medical centre dealt with 23 of those, and had already seen 12 more by early 2005.
 
The convoy pulled into a petrol station. Both No. 1 and No. 2 rolled down their windows, respective cigarettes bobbing. An attendant interrupted his card game to slouch over, smoke curling from his hand, and bargain over gas. Money changed hands, the tanks filled amid constant argument. Cigarettes burned. Trapped in the back seat of a two-door, Bob and I contemplated the possibility of incineration.
 
“Surreal,” he said again, quite unnecessarily.
 
Find The Armenian viper caper: Part 1 here. https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/opinion/armenian-viper-caper-part-i-2601124
Stay tuned for Part 3.
 
Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based author, editor, biologist and bon vivant who has never met a mountain he didn’t like.
 
 
 

Congress has secretly blocked US arms sales to Turkey for nearly two years

Emma Nadirian 
Defense News


By Valerie Insinna, Joe Gould & Aaron Mehta



WASHINGTON — Four key members of Congress, either individually or
collectively, have quietly frozen all major U.S. arms sales to Turkey
for nearly two years in a move to pressure Ankara to abandon its
Russian-built S-400 air defense system, Defense News has learned.

The legislative action, which has not been previously reported, is
another sign of the deeply fractured relationship between the two NATO
allies, a disruption that has already led to Turkey’s expulsion from
the F-35 joint strike fighter program.

While it is unclear exactly how many potential sales have been held
back, at least two significant deals are in limbo: a follow-on
contract for F-16 structural upgrades and export licenses for
U.S.-made engines that Turkey needs to complete a $1.5 billion sale of
attack helicopters to Pakistan. Historically, the United States is the
largest exporter of weapons to Turkey.

When Congress holds up sales of major weapon systems like tanks,
planes and ships, it is typically meant to rebuke a country’s specific
military or political actions, such as when lawmakers attempted to
block sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2019. But
freezing arms sales is a diplomatic tool that the United States hasn’t
used against Turkey since 1978, after the Turkish military invaded
Cyprus.

Defense News learned of the situation from a half dozen sources in
Congress, the administration, and the defense industry, all of whom
requested anonymity because of the sensitivities involved.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and
House Foreign Affairs ranking member Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas,
acknowledged they are part of the freeze after they were contacted by
Defense News.

The two other lawmakers who can sign off on foreign military sales ―
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Bob Menendez,
D-N.J., are also part of the hold, according to multiple Capitol Hill
sources. Neither would comment for this story.

“There is serious concern over [Turkey’s purchase of the S-400] in
both parties and in both chambers on the Hill, and until the issues
surrounding this purchase are resolved I cannot and will not support
weapon sales to Turkey,” Risch said in an email to Defense News.

“An oh shit moment”

Turkey’s relationship with the United States has been strained for
several years — especially with Congress.

Lawmakers have blasted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s deepening ties
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Erdogan’s rejection of U.S.
offers to buy the Patriot surface-to-air missile system over the
Russian-made S-400 and Turkey’s military incursion last year into
Kurdish-controlled northern Syria also frustrated members of Congress.

“Turkey is a longtime strategic ally of the United States. That
relationship has deteriorated dramatically in recent years and is
quickly deteriorating further,” Risch said. “President Erdogan’s
purchase of the Russian S-400 significantly changed the nature of our
relationship. This purchase benefits our adversary Putin and threatens
the integrity of the NATO Alliance.”

Traditionally, during the arms sales process, the chairmen and ranking
members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign
Affairs Committee — the so-called “four corners” — are granted an
opportunity to dissuade the U.S. State Department from approving arms
sales to foreign governments on an informal basis. The lawmakers have
used that notification period to block sales from moving forward, but
they consider such deliberations sensitive and rarely speak publicly
about them.

Engel has refused to sign off on military sales to Turkey since mid
2018, while Risch has maintained his own hold since Turkey officially
took possession of the S-400 in July 2019, according to multiple
congressional sources. McCaul doesn’t have a blanket hold, and has, at
certain points, signed off on sales specifically in support of NATO
operations.

“Nobody has signed off on anything, roughly, for the last year,” said
one congressional source. “Nothing moves in this process until all
four of the offices have said, ‘yea.’”


A second congressional source described Turkey taking possession of
the S-400 as “kind of, pardon my language, an oh shit moment.” The
source added that Turkey riled lawmakers further in November, when it
publicly targeted a Turkish F-16 with the S-400, a move interpreted as
an implicit threat against other F-16 users, such as the United
States.

“Not only was it intentionally provocative, but it happened the day
after Erdogan was in the Oval Office,” the source said.

Turkey’s September 2017 decision to purchase the S-400 created a major
rift between Turkey and its alliance partners. NATO officials quickly
sounded the alarm that Turkey would compromise NATO’s security if it
plugged the S-400 into allied systems, as the Russian system would be
sharing a network with sensitive alliance data. Most significantly,
American officials worried that the system would be able to gain
information about the F-35, compromising the stealth capabilities of
the jet. The presence of Russian contractors in Turkey to support the
S-400 was also a concern.

President Donald Trump has yet to engage in the sort of high-profile
confrontation with Congress over Turkey such as when he vetoed
Congress’s attempt to halt U.S. sales to Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates last year. But the administration has made efforts to
lobby lawmakers in favor of individual deals with Turkey, according to
the second congressional source, who noted opposition to Turkey is
both bipartisan and bicameral.

“Right now, the mood [in Congress] toward Turkey is enormous,” the
source said. “Unless Turkey wants to change the narrative and do a mea
culpa, the president could very easily lose a veto override vote.”

Just as the Trump administration has been quiet about the hold on
sales, so have the U.S. defense contractors who would benefit from
those purchases.

Two sources with ties to major defense primes said they had not seen
evidence of a full-scale lobbying push from industry to clear the way
for these deals, which include new sales and the renewal of existing
contracts typically viewed as routine.

Instead, an unspoken consensus exists among contractors to wait out
the holds until tensions between the United States and Turkey cool, or
until new policymakers in either a Biden or second Trump
administration shift the White House’s willingness to work with
Turkey.

“We’re operating under the impression that anything that requires
congressional notification will not move forward this year,” said one
source.

Risch in particular has evinced frustration the United States could
not reach a deal on the Patriot system. Similarly, when congressional
ire was peaking over Turkey’s invasion of Syria in October, Engel
called Erdogan an “authoritarian thug” whose rule is “a glaring black
mark on Turkey’s historic secular, democratic traditions.”

“We need to pressure him while ramping up diplomacy in the hopes of
getting Turkey back on the right track as a NATO ally,” Engel said at
the time.

Another motivating issue is the lack of action from the Trump
administration on implementing the Countering America’s Adversaries
Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA.

Under that law, the Trump administration is bound to level sanctions
against any nation that purchase a major defense article from Russia,
but the administration has yet to impose those sanctions, much to the
consternation of Congress.

“Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 is unacceptable and undermines
NATO’s mission to deter Russian aggression,” McCaul said in a email to
Defense News. “The Administration must impose the sanctions required
by law in response to this purchase. Turkey must reverse course on
this destabilizing action to renew the United States’ confidence in
our defense relationship.”

McCaul supports a proposal to lift CAATSA sanctions against Turkey,
once imposed, if Turkey no longer possesses the S-400. That proposal
passed as part of the House’s version of the annual defense policy
bill.

Melissa Dalton, a former Pentagon official now with the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, called the lack of resistance
from the administration “surprising, in the sense that Turkey is an
actual ally, whereas the Saudis are just a close partner.” But she
noted that Turkey falls on a seam between the European and Middle
Eastern subject teams, both at the Pentagon and at the State
Department, and so putting together “a coherent policy to start with
is tough.”

Through a spokesman, the State Department declined to comment on the
Turkey arms hold.

In a statement to Defense News, the Turkish embassy in Washington said
“There are a number of arms procurement cases for Turkey, pending
approval in Congress. As a staunch member of NATO and an ally of the
U.S., we are confident that approval of these requests without further
delay will be a natural outcome of our strategic cooperation.

“The U.S. is our number one trade partner in defense industry and we
believe that it is in the strategic interest of both Turkey and the
U.S. to further increase our bilateral cooperation in this field.”

Industrial impact

The defense industry is watching the export issue closely.

Arms deals between the United States and Turkey totaled nearly $1
billion from 2015 through 2019, according to data compiled by the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. During that time,
Turkey ranked within the United States’ top 20 customers, with
purchases that included aircraft and missiles. Its military is now in
the market for trainer helicopters.

Not all arms deals to Turkey have stopped. Older cases that are
already underway have not paused, and any weapons sales — be it
Foreign Military Sales (FMS), where the U.S. government acts as a
go-between, or Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), in which the country
deals directly with industry — less than the $25 million threshold is
not subject to Congressional approval.

But direct commercial sales and low-tier FMS cases tend to be smaller
deals, such as spare parts, ammunition, and maintenance packages for
aging equipment. The tanks, planes and ships that form the core of any
modern military remain the province of major FMS sales.

The blockage has paralyzed negotiations for several deals, including a
follow-on contract for F-16 upgrades, according to one source with
knowledge of the matter.

Lockheed Martin is performing structural upgrades to a portion of
Turkey’s aging F-16 Block 30 fleet under a direct commercial sales
contract that expires this fall. Defense News reported in 2017 that it
would take until 2023 for Lockheed to complete modifications for all
35 F-16s included in the deal.

An industry source with knowledge of the F-16 contract said that
Lockheed is still “planning to complete the requirements” of the order
and does not “foresee any performance changes or requirement changes.”

When asked to comment about the Turkish F-16 upgrade contract,
Lockheed Martin officials said that “any questions related to F-16
sustainment work should be directed to the U.S. government.”

Another side effect of Congress’ hold is the endangerment of a $1.5
billion deal between Turkey and Pakistan for the sale of 30
Turkish-made T129s attack helicopters, an issue Defense News reported
on earlier this year.

Two major Turkish firms are licensed to domestically produce the T129
and its engine. Turkish Aerospace Industries manufactures the
helicopter through a partnership with Italian-British aerospace
company AgustaWestland. Meanwhile, the helicopter’s CTS800 engine —
originally designed by the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company, a
joint venture between U.S.-based Honeywell and U.K.-based Rolls Royce
— is made by Tusaş Engine Industries.

Because the CTS800 was originally produced in the United States,
Turkey cannot sell T129s — or any weapon system containing that engine
— without obtaining an export license from the U.S. government.

But those licenses are also being held back as a result of the
congressional block on arms deals, leaving Tusaş Engine Industries
racing to develop a replacement engine for the T129.

“Pakistan has agreed to give us another year [to resolve the problem].
We hope we will be able to develop our indigenous engine soon to power
the T129,” Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey’s top procurement agency,
said Jan. 6. “After one year, Pakistan may be satisfied with the level
of progress in our engine program, or the U.S. may grant us the export
license.”

Threatening the T129 sale to Pakistan hurts Turkey more than just
financially, said Joel Johnson, a Teal Group analyst who has
previously worked for the State Department and as a staff member on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

For one, the sale cements a relationship between Turkey and a fellow
Islamic nation, signaling the country’s pivot from the West.
Increasing annual defense exports is also a key priority for Erdogan,
who vowed in 2015 to boost arms sales to $25 billion by 2023 and to
rid the Turkish defense industrial base of its reliance on foreign
suppliers.

“This is a nerve ending that is very sensitive to Erdogan. It’s not
the helicopters, per se, it’s the symbolism of the sale that hits him
in a way that hurts,” Johnson said.

Honeywell and Rolls Royce declined to comment for this story.

The current hold marks the first U.S. arms embargo on Turkey since
1975, after Turkey invaded Cyprus and Washington halted sales of
weapons and military assistance to Turkey for three years.

Some industry officials worry that if the hold extends much beyond
2021, the relationship between American and Turkish defense
contractors could diminish as legacy contracts expire, leading Turkish
firms to seek industrial partnerships elsewhere.

“What value [does] the Hill or the administration see in holding up
these legacy areas of cooperation? Do we really think that will
influence Erdogan’s decision making?” the source said. “Will industry
be able to simply restart the defense industrial cooperation once
Erdogan is out of power in the future? I think that’s the tricky part.
The policy decision makes sense, but the byproducts of that policy
decision and the implications down the road have the potential to hurt
industry and U.S. national security.”

But Teal’s Johnson countered that Congress’ block on sales could force
the White House to work with lawmakers more closely on issues related
to Turkey, including potential sanctions or punitive measures in the
wake of the S-400 acquisition.

“Congress can’t negotiate with Turkey. They can only really go
negotiate with the White House, so the question is, what do they want
the White House to do, and is anybody talking?” he said. “Normally, if
you had a normal president, the congressional staffers would be
quietly talking to the [National Security Council] and the State
Department about what they want. … It’s hard to see the way forward
with this group.”

Even if Turkey fulfills U.S. government demands and arm sales resume,
it remains to be seen whether Turkey will still line up to buy
American weapons.

Over the past 15 years, Turkey has drastically cut its spending on
weapons imports, going from the world’s third largest importer in the
1995-1999 timeframe to 15th in 2015-2019, according to SIPRI.

The last FMS deal approved by the State Department to Turkey was in
2018: an offer to sell 80 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missiles,
and 60 PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles — a last ditch
effort by the U.S. government to entice Ankara to cancel its S-400
purchase in favor of an American air defense system. It was never
completed, as Turkey pressed on with the procurement of the S-400.

Ultimately, the Patriot deal was taken off the table.

According to figures from the State Department, in 2017 the United
States authorized more than $587 million in DCS sales for Turkey and
shipped equipment worth more than $106 million. The next year, the
United States approved more than $600 million and shipped $136 million
in weapons. In 2019, more than $615 million was authorized and over
$66 million shipped.

Although the United States remains Turkey’s biggest foreign supplier
of weapons, the country makes a fair amount of military goods
domestically, has purchased Russian arms like the S-400, and even
flirted with buying a Chinese missile system in 2013.

“They have a reasonably capable defense industrial base that is
getting more capable because of investment going in from the
government. They’ve also become a little more of a catholic shopper,”
said Douglas Barrie, a military aerospace expert at the International
Institute of Strategic Studies. “They have some options. They wouldn’t
just have to look to Europe if the U.S. was no longer seen as a
supplier nation to them. I think, on some occasions, they may look
farther afield.”

It’s unclear whether a retaliatory action like the arms sale freeze
helps bring Erdogan to the table, or whether it pushes Turkey even
further into Russia’s arms.

“The alliance is incredibly troubled at the moment, but I don’t think
it’s beyond the pale,” Dalton said. “The U.S. has a lot at stake in
terms of Turkey’s trajectory, and the NATO alliance has a lot at stake
as well. So for all those reasons, [any actions] need to be framed as
part of a broader approach.

“I don’t have high confidence that it’s being framed in that way.”

Treaty of Sevres remains essential document for fair resolution of Armenian Question – Sarkissian

Emma Nadirian

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 10:02,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian sat down with the Syrian Al-Azmenah newspaper for an exclusive interview on the Treaty of Sevres, as marks the 100th anniversary of its signing.

The questions and answers below are the official translation of the published article provided by Sarkissian’s Office.

Question: Mr. President, August 10 marks the 100th anniversary of the the Treaty of Sèvres which after WWI was signed at the Paris Peace Conference by the 13 victorious countries of the Entante on one side and the defeated Ottoman Empire on the other side. The Treaty was called to solve the tormented for decades Armenian Issue and end sufferings of the Armenians. Your opinion?

Answer: The Treaty of Sèvres in its essence was a peace treaty and with this regard it really could have solved fundamentally one of the thorniest for our region problems – the Armenian issue.

The Treaty of Sèvres was preceded by the first conference, which took place in February-March 1920 in London where a political decision was adopted that one, unified Armenian state must be created. At the same time, the Republic of Armenia, which was de facto recognized on January 19, 1920 at the Paris Conference, was accepted as its axle and some territories of Western Armenian under the Ottoman rule should had been united with it.

By the Treaty of Sèvres, Turkey was to recognize Armenia as a free and independent state. Turkey and Armenia agreed to leave demarcation of the borders of the two countries in Erzrum, Trabzon, Van, and Bitlis provinces (vilayets) to the decision made by the United States (the arbitral award of President Woodrow Wilson which on November 22 will also mark its 100th anniversary) and accept his decision immediately and all other proposals – to provide Armenia with an access to the see and demilitarization of all Ottoman territories adjacent to the mentioned border line.

Question: But the Treaty of Sèvres remained on paper…

Answer: I would rather say that the Treaty of Sèvres was not fully ratified (which means it remains unperfected and it is true that when it comes to Armenia its decisions were not implemented because the international political situation had changed but, at the same time, it was never denounced either.

The Treaty of Sèvres is a legal, interstate agreement which is de facto still in force because this document became the base for other documents, which derived from it, for determining the status of a number of Middle East countries after WWI or more recently, among them Syria (currently Syria-Lebanon) and Mesopotamia (currently Iraq-Kuwait), Palestine (currently Israel and Palestinian authority), Hejazi (currently Saudi Arabia), Egypt, Sudan, Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya.

Along with all this, the Treaty of Sèvres could have promoted the resolution of the Armenian Issue and unification of the Armenian nation on its historical lands.

It could have partly mitigated the losses inflicted on the Armenian people by the Genocide of 1915 and thus create conditions for the regulations of the relations between Armenia and Turkey and establishment of a lasting peace among the peoples of our region.

But in September 1920, the aggression unleashed by the Kemalists against the Republic of Armenia ended in the dissolution of the Armenian independent statehood and sovietization of Armenia.

Thus, the centuries-long struggle of the Armenian people for uniting in one state entity the separated parts of Armenia was unsuccessful.

But the Republic of Armenia and Armenian nation spread all over the world remain the inheritors and masters of our millennia-long history and civilization. No matter what was done or will be done, no matter how the undeniable facts are being denied, no matter how much the material monuments and Armenian traces on the territory of historical Armenia are being destructed, it is impossible to annihilate the memory of the Armenian people.

The Treaty of Sèvres even today remains an essential document for the right of the Armenian people to achieve a fair resolution of the Armenian issue.

Question: There is an opinion that the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 negated the Treaty of Sèvres.

Answer: It is simply not true and cannot be true. The Treaty of Lausanne does not contain such an annulment; moreover, it does not contain any reference to the Treaty of Sèvres. The Republic of Armenia did not sign the Treaty of Lausanne, thus we are not a party of the Treaty of Lausanne. Thus, it implies no obligation for the Republic of Armenia. In this case, the international Res inter alios acta principle (a thing done between others does not harm or benefit others). The Treaty of Sèvres and the Treaty of Lausanne are two different legal documents.

Question: Let’s get back to our times. The Middle East, which is an immediate neighbor for the countries of the South Caucasus, has become a hot spot once again: armed conflicts, civil wars, fight against terrorism, territorial disputes. Border clashes took place on the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact in mid-July which claimed human lives and created extraordinary tension between Yerevan and Baku.

Answer: Yes, these days when the entire world and we are fighting against our common enemy, the coronavirus pandemic, and regardless of the fact that conflicts all over the world have been halted, our neighboring country – Azerbaijan tried to take advantage of the situation and use in the negative sense this “window of opportunity” to unleash aggression on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Fortunately, the Armenian Armed Forces demonstrated their high battle-ready spirit and literally in two or three days were able to contain the encroachments of the opponent and thus saved our region from the blazes of large-scale clashes.

Question: The UN, EU, OSCE, various capitals made statement on these extremely dangerous developments, urging the parties to maintain peace and dialogue. And only Ankara’s tone was bellicose, in full support of Baku’s actions.

Answer: It is true that the international community responded widely to these events. It is especially true with regard to Moscow, Washington, and Paris – the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But the Tavush events raised some serious concerns.

My first concern relates to a very aggressive rhetoric of our southern neighbor – Turkey. Turkey has been using with regard to Armenia a kind of language which is inappropriate in the international relations. And this is absolutely unjustified and irresponsible. Keep in mind that this is the country which was the scene of a great human tragedy, the country which 105 years ago executed a genocide against our nation. And instead of trying to establish bridges with Armenia by recognizing those black pages of its history, they resort to a language which in fact reveals their intention to carry on with what was done 105 years ago.

The second concern is Azerbaijan’s attempt to create an impression that Armenia poses a threat to the international infrastructure which is going through Azerbaijan. This is total nonsense. These infrastructure has been in place for over 20 years, and Armenia has never had any intention to destroy it. My message is the following: Armenia has never been and will never be a threat for anyone because we are the successors of those who went through the Genocide and survived. We know all too well what suffering means, we know the human values. I am concerned that when the entire world is fighting together against the coronavirus pandemic, some are undertaking inhuman actions.

Another concern is about official statements coming from the government of Azerbaijan or relevant structures on Azerbaijan’s threat to hit the Metsamore nuclear plant. I am a physicist and know very well the real consequences of a strike on a nuclear power plant. Thus, I take these statements as an intention to carry out a terrorist act which in international relations is defined as nuclear terrorism. God forbid it happens one day, we will have a Caucasian Chernobyl. Not only Armenia will be affected but everyone, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Middle East…
Regardless of what problems exist between the country and neighbors, playing with fire of nuclear issue is unacceptable.

Asbarez: Armenian Government Delegation Assesses Situation in Lebanon

Emma Nadirian
August 10,  2020


An Armenian government delegation headed by Diaspora Commissioner Zareh Sinanyan met with Catholicos Aram I in Antelias on Aug. 9

In addition to sending the first humanitarian shipment of emergency aid to Lebanon, an Armenian government delegation also arrived in Beirut to become acquainted with the situation there following last week’s massive explosion that has rocked the country and forced the resignation of its government on Monday.

Heading the delegation is Armenia’s High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan, who is accompanied by chief of staff, Sara Anjargholian; Varag Siserian, the chief of staff of Deputy prime minister Tigran Avinyan; head of the Armenia-Lebanon Parliamentary Friendship group Hrachyan Hakobyan and director of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund Haykak Arshamyan.

Upon arriving in Lebanon on board the humanitarian flight, the delegation visited Antelias and attended a special mass officiated by His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral.

Following the church services, Aram I met with the Armenian government delegation, which was briefed by the pontiff about the scope of the destruction and the damage to Armenian institutions and individual residences and businesses.

Community officials have reported that 13 Armenians died from last week’s blast that has leveled a swath of Beirut and has left hundreds of thousands homeless.

The Catholicos emphasized the importance of prioritizing the needs of the Armenian community and said that a commission involving all community institutions is working on this matter.

Sinanyan explained to the pontiff that he and the delegation were on the ground to evaluate and assess the situation and to meet with members of the Armenian community to gain first-hand information about its needs.

In his remarks, the Catholicos spoke about the need to strengthen the Diaspora as it has played a vital role in the strengthening of Armenia.

According to Sinanyan’s office, the sides reiterated that the homeland’s doors would always be open for Diaspora Armenians.

Sinanyan reiterated this sentiment during an interview on Monday with Radio Liberty in Beirut, highlighting the role Lebanon has played in the post-Genocide Armenian reality

“We are grateful to Lebanon for the humane treatment of the Armenian people after the Genocide. We are ready to help our compatriots no matter what decision they make,” Sinanyan said.

“We will help those who want to remain and will tell those who wish to come to Armenia that the homeland is waiting for all Armenians with open doors,” added Sinanyan, explaining that about 300 Lebanese Armenians had already returned to Armenia for permanent residence before the blast with 37 returning on the humanitarian flight.

The government delegation met with Armenian Catholic Catholicos-Patriarch His Beatitude Krikor Bedros XX.

The discussion of assisting the Lebanese-Armenian community continued during a meeting with Armenian Catholic Catholicos-Patriarch His Beatitude Krikor Bedros XX.

After hearing Krikor Bedros XX’s briefing, Sinanyan explained that Armenia is providing assistance to the Government of Lebanon, the brotherly people of Lebanon, as well as the Lebanese-Armenian community.

“The purpose of the visit is to have a deeper understanding on how we can assist our Lebanese-Armenian compatriots,” Sinanyan said.

In his remarks, the pontiff stressed that Armenians around the world “have two hearts – Armenia and the Diaspora,” and was happy to note that finally Armenians have a free and independent homeland.

High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan met with Armenia media representatives

He also emphasized the importance of the assistance that was received from the Government of Artsakh. “Our brothers are with us, and this was a very beautiful gesture,” he said.
Sinanyan mentioned that two more planeloads with humanitarian aid will be delivered to Lebanon from Armenia.

On Monday, Sinanyan met with representatives of media outlets in Lebanon, among them the Aztag, Zartonk, and Ararat newspapers, Radio Sevan, Voice of Van radio stations, and representatives from AGBU’s media department.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Vahagn Atabekyan hosted the gathering at the Embassy where Sinanyan and the journalists discussed a wide range of issues, including strengthening Armenia-Diaspora relations, enhancing inter-community ties, activating communication networks. The state of the press in the aftermath of last week’s explosion, as well as prioritizing targeted areas of support for the Lebanese-Armenian community were also discussed.

Doors open to Lebanese Armenians willing to return to homeland – Zareh Sinanyan

Emma Nadirian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 10 2020
                                 , 17:01

 

Armenia’s doors are open to Lebanese Armenians willing to return to homeland, High Commissioner Zareh Sinanyan said in an interview with Radio Liberty in Beirut.

“We are grateful to Lebanon for the humane treatment of the Armenian people after the Genocide. We are ready to help our compatriots no matter what decision they make,” Snanyan sad.

“We will help those who want to remain and will tell those who wish to come to Armenia that the homeland is waiting for all Armenians with open doors,” the High Commissioner stated.

He said about 300 Lebanese Armenians had already returned to Armenia for permanent residence before the blast. Thirty-seven returned on the plane that delivered humanitarian aid.

Armenia has sent two planes with 12 tons of humanitarian aid each to Beirut, after the city was left devastated as a result of a massive blast on August 4. A third flight is expected this week.

High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan has left for Beirut to assess the needs on the ground.

Lawyer: Yerevan appellate court denies second motion to arrest Mikayel Minasyan

Emma Nadirian
Panorama, Armenia
Law 16:21 29/07/2020Armenia

The Yerevan Criminal Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied the second motion to arrest Armenia’s former Ambassador to the Vatican Mikayel Minasyan, one of his lawyers, Mihran Poghosyan, said on Facebook.

Prosecutors had appealed the ruling of a lower court rejecting their request for Minasyan’s arrest to the Criminal Court of Appeals.

"We had repeatedly stated that the second motion to arrest Mikayel Minasyan is illegal, which was approved today by the Criminal Court of Appeals,” he wrote.

“Obviously, the political authorities of the country cannot tolerate this situation and in the near future they will file to the court the third motion to arrest Mikayel Minasyan, which will be preceded by a press release on ‘another sensational and scandalous revelation’ and ‘comprehensive and objective’ "reports by the Public TV Company and RFE/RL's Armenian service," the lawyer added.

Asbarez: Sèvres Treaty Supersedes Any Other, Especially Lausanne

Emma Nadirian

Turkey’s border as envisioned by the 1923 Lausanne Treaty

BY MICHAEL SOSIKIAN

The Lausanne treaty signed on July 24,1923, was a very limited treaty between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania and Serb-Croatia-Slovenia to put and end to the conflict between them, (Conflict = “state of war between armed group”), while the Sèvres Peace Treaty was an international peace treaty which put an end to World War I. (War=”hostility between sovereign nations of governments”).

The Sèvres Peace Treaty was signed between high contracting parties: the Allied and Associated powers (Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania, Poland, Portugal, The Croat-Slovene State, Czecholovakia, Armenia, Dominion of Canada, Commonwealth of Austrlia, New Zealnd, India, South Africa and the representatives of the Ottoman Empire).

Since the Sèvres Peace Treaty was signed by High Contracting Parties, “the treaty is enforceable whether it is ratified or not” (according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, Article 2-F)

On May 11, 1920 The Supreme Council of the Allied powers gave the draft of the peace treaty to the Ottoman Empire on behalf of the Allied Powers and associates. On July 22, 1920 Sultan Mehmed VI, the head of the Ottoman Empire, as legitimate ruler who represented the Ottoman Empire according to Article 3 of the Ottoman constitution, and having the vested power and authority to sign peace treaties according to Article 7 of the said constitution, means he (Ottoman Empire) accepted Article 89 of the peace treaty and signed, “ Turkey , Armenia as well as all the High Contracting Parties agree to submit to the arbitration of the President of the United States the question of the frontier to be determined between Turkey and Armenia in the Vilayets of Erzrum, Van, Bitlis and Trabizoned, and to accept his decision thereupon, as well as any stipulations he may prescribe as to access for Armenia to the sea, and as to the demilitarization of any portion of Turkish territory adjacent to the said frontier”. The acceptance of Article 89 and the submission to the arbitration means “compromise,” “ A formal document, executed in common by nations submitting a dispute to arbitration, that defines the matter at issue, the rules of procedure and the powers of the arbitral, and the principles for determining the award.”

President Woodrow Wilson, the arbitrator, issued his arbitration award on November 22, 1920 which included the determination of the frontier between Armenia and Turkey, and by which granted to Armenia 40,000 square miles of land from the regions of Bitlis, Van, Erzrum and Trabizon as an access to the Black sea.

Award was and will remain governed by International law; therefore the Lausanne treaty did not discuss the frontier between Armenian and Turkey, while the same treaty drew the frontier between Turkey and each of Bulgaria, Greece, Syria and Iraq “ articles 2 and 3”. However, because the Sèvres Peace Treaty and Lausanne treaty are successive treaties, “ the treaty where both Parties signed is the one that governs the mutual rights and obligation between the Parties ,” (Vienna convention of 1969 Article 30-b).

Although Lausanne treaty map includes territories as Turkish lands encompassing the vilayets of Bitlis, Van, Erzrum and Trabizoned (which is Armenian land as per the arbitration) , but it is not mentioned in the said treaty’s text, therefore that map is not valid according to Article 4 of the said treaty which states that “ In case of divergence between the text and the map, the text will prevail.”

In the Lausanne Treaty text there is no mention of Armenia and Turkish borders, because the border was drawn and issued by Woodrow Wilson by his arbitration award on November 22,1920 , and the said arbitration award was governed by International law, it is final and cannot be appealed.

http://asbarez.com/195742/sevres-treaty-supersedes-any-other-esepcially-lausanne/?fbclid=IwAR1Q7dO2MArJQ4nCyJTt2S3JZHnT_RTgA2PKN2eZ2cvA1TKJvMVMTylP3dg

If you want the full text in English of a number of relevant treaties, please visit: