The California Courier Online, Feb. 3, 2022
1- After Abandoning Artsakh, Pashinyan
Now Gives Up the Armenian Cause
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenia to Provide Artsakh with $300 Million Financial Aid In 2022
3- Roma will not extend contract of soccer player Henrikh Mkhitaryan
4- Armenia v. Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
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1- After Abandoning Artsakh, Pashinyan
Now Gives Up the Armenian Cause
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
It is simply amazing that every time Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan
opens his mouth, he makes a new and bigger blunder. To be convinced of
this, all one has to do is follow his speeches, press conferences,
contradictory statements in the Armenian Parliament, Facebook
postings, flawed decisions and unqualified nominations. To make
matters worse, he does not seem to learn from his errors. Pashinyan
neither realizes nor admits his mistakes. He seems to be incorrigible.
On January 24, 2022, the Prime Minister gave another one of his
so-called press conferences. No reporters were present to ask
questions and challenge his misstatements. It was a
poorly-orchestrated show to mislead the public. A young lady read the
questions supposedly sent by the media. When one of the journalists
complained later that his question was presented in a garbled manner,
the young lady honestly confessed that she had simply read the
questions given to her by the Prime Minister’s aides.
Among the Prime Minister’s biggest blunders was his reply to a
question about Armenian historical demands from Turkey. Pashinyan
stated that “the Republic of Armenia has never conducted a policy of
the Armenian Cause. Never.” I seriously doubt that he knows the
meaning of “the Armenian Cause.” His comment is no different than what
a Turkish official would have said. It is shameful that after the
horrendous genocide that was committed against Armenians in 1915-1923,
killing 1.5 million innocent men, women and children, and
dispossessing them of their historic homeland, the Prime Minister so
casually dismisses Armenians’ just demands and acts as if nothing had
happened. This is exactly what the Turkish leaders want—that Armenians
forget about the past and drop their demands.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister falsely stated that Pres. “Robert
Kocharian in 2005 publicly announced that Armenia does not have
territorial demands or territorial expectations from Turkey.” I recall
reporting about Kocharian’s statement back in April 2005, when a
Yerevan State University student asked him about Armenia’s demands for
land from Turkey. Kocharian cautiously responded: “This issue would
have to be taken up by a future President.” It is clear that at a time
when Armenia had its hands full dealing with the conflict with
Azerbaijan over Artsakh, it was not in Armenia’s best interest to open
a second front with Turkey over Armenian territories. Kocharian did
not say that Armenia had no territorial demands from Turkey. He simply
said that the resolution of that issue has to be taken up at a later
date. It is a shame that Prime Minister Pashinyan repeated what the
Turkish media had falsely reported rather than what was actually said
by the previous President of Armenia.
Going from one distortion to the next, Pashinyan falsely added that
Pres. “Serzh Sargsyan had made a reference to Kocharian’s statement.”
I do not recall Sargsyan making such a reference. Pashinyan continued
by stating that “Armenia never placed in doubt the Armenia-Turkey
border. You will not find a single leader or government of the
Armenian Republic who put in doubt the Armenia-Turkey border. We have
not resigned from this policy.” In reality, until Pashinyan, no
Armenian President or government had accepted the current
Armenia-Turkey border nor stated that Armenia did not have territorial
demands from Turkey.
Coming to the issue of the Armenian Genocide, Prime Minister Pashinyan
wrongly stated: “We must register that the locomotive behind the
process of the recognition of the Genocide has always been the
Diaspora and Diaspora organizations.” This is exactly what the Turkish
government would want the Armenian leader to say. There are several
things wrong with the Prime Minister’s statement.
1) Pashinyan is once again splitting the Diaspora from Armenia.
2) The Armenian Genocide is not exclusively a Diaspora issue. The
descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors constitute today over
one-third of Armenia’s population. That is why every year on April 24
over one million Armenians march to the Armenian Genocide Monument in
Yerevan.
3) All previous Armenian governments have pursued the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In fact, Armenia’s Declaration
of Independence, issued on August 23, 1990, declared the following:
“Aware of its historic responsibility for the destiny of the Armenian
people engaged in the realization of the aspirations of all Armenians
and the restoration of historical justice,” and “The Republic of
Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international
recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western
Armenia.” Significantly, the Declaration used the words “Western
Armenia,” which is now being abandoned by the Prime Minister. Later,
Armenia’s Constitution included a link to the Declaration of
Independence.
4) The pursuit of the international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide is a pan Armenian issue which concerns both the Diaspora and
Armenia. Therefore, there must be a coordinated division of labor
between the Diaspora and the Armenian government. What the Diaspora is
able to do is different from what the Armenian government can do and
vice versa.
The Prime Minister also made many other misstatements in his over
two-hour-long so-called press conference. However, an entire book has
to be written, not just an article, to expose all of his
misstatements.
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2- Armenia to Provide Artsakh with $300 Million Financial Aid In 2022
YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Artsakh
President Araik Harutyunyan met today in Yerevan to address social and
infrastructure problems in Artsakh, the press service of the Armenian
prime minister reported.
“After the 44-day war (in 2020 autumn), the Armenian government has
been much more active in assisting Artsakh to resolve its social and
economic problems,” Pashinyan was quoted as saying.
He added that the annual budget of Artsakh for 2022 is unprecedented,
“which, in principle, is natural, because the post-war reconstruction,
first of all, is very important”.
”Of course, it will require a lot of effort from us. And I think this
is normal,” Pashinyan said.
He said that in 2022 the Armenian government will provide Artsakh with
a budget support of about 144 billion drams (about $300 million), up
from more than 100 billion drams, provided in 2021.
Artsakh President Araik Harutyunyan, in turn, said that 300 apartments
have already been built and handed over mainly to the families of
displaced persons.
He said the construction of another 3000 houses has also begun. The
authorities have also repaired about 500 apartments and the design of
about another 2000 apartments is already underway.
“The Badara-Stepanakert pipeline is already under construction, which
will solve not only the drinking water problem in the capital
Stepanakert, but also in the new settlements under construction, some
of which are in the vicinity of Stepanakert. At the same time, the
construction of Badara water reservoir has already started. Work on
the Sovetar canal, which will provide an additional 3,000 hectares of
land for irrigation, is nearing completion,” Harutyunyan said.
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3- Roma will not extend contract of soccer player Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Italian club AS Roma will not extend the contract of soccer player
Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
He will be a free agent after the end of his contract, and can be
transferred to another team without payment.
Mkhitaryan’s annual salary of 3 million euros is the basis for such a
decision by the Italian club.
Mkhitaryan played in the top leagues in Europe, such as Arsenal and
Manchester United (2016-2018). He scored a goal in the 2017 Europa
League final with “Manchester United”, becoming the first Armenian
footballer to win a major European Cup. In 2013-2016 he played for
Borussia Dortmund ․ He was recognized as the best football player in
the German Bundesliga in the 2015-2016 season, scoring 23 goals and
providing 32 assists in 52 matches. He also played for Shakhtar
Donetsk (2010-2013) and Metallurg Donetsk (2009-2010). He was involved
with Pyunik Yerevan (1995-2006) in Armenia. He first played for the
Espoirs national team, and at the age of 17 was a professional
footballer for a senior team.
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4- Armenia v. Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice
International lawyer Karnig Kerkonian (pictured, right) will share his
experiences with a presentation on “Armenia v. Azerbaijan in the
International Court of Justice: The Recent Case Brought Under the
International Convention Against All Forms of Racial Discrimination”
at 7 p.m. (Pacific time)/10 p.m. (Eastern time) on Thursday, February
17, 2022.
The presentation is part of the Spring 2022 Lecture Series of the
Armenian Studies Program and is co-sponsored by the Society for
Armenian Studies (SAS).
On September 16, 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
announced that Armenia had started court proceedings against
Azerbaijan. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of racial discrimination in
violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The lawsuit followed the
44-day war fought between the two states last year. Armenia accuses
Azerbaijan of discriminating against ethnic Armenians.
It asserts that “Anti-Armenian hate is [Azerbaijani] State policy” and
has lead to “mass killings, torture and other abuse” of ethnic
Armenians.
In its court application, Armenia recorded the violent persecution of
Armenians throughout the 20th century.
Karnig Kerkonian an international lawyer, who is a member of the
Armenian delegation to the ICJ in the case against Azerbaijan, will
discuss the ramifications of the case.
Kerkonian currently leads the international and federal practice
groups at Kerkonian Dajani LLP, focusing on complex litigation
matters, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act litigation, the Alien Tort
Claims Act and commercial sanctions regime matters.
Kerkonian holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard
University and two law degrees—a J.D. from the University of Chicago
where he served on the Law Review as well as a post-doctoral Diploma
in Public International Law from Cambridge University, England where
he studied under James R. Crawford, later a Judge of the International
Court of Justice. Mr. Kerkonian presents regularly on matters of
public international law, the International Court of Justice, the
European Court of Human Rights and the application of international
law in U.S. courts.
He is an adjunct professor of public international law at Artsakh
State University.
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/armenianstudieskerkonian
For information about Armenian Studies Program presentations, please
follow ArmenianStudiesFresnoState on Facebook or at the Program
website, https://fresnostate.edu/armenianstudies.
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5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia continues the fight against COVID-19, as the country continues
promoting the vaccination phase. Armenia's Ministry of Health
announced on January 11 new restrictions to curb the fast spreading of
the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. From January 22, people above 18
must present either a vaccination certificate or a negative recent
test result prior to entering restaurants, hotels, cinemas and other
similar venues, Xinhua news agency reported citing the MInistry as
saying. As of Monday, January 10 the country had administered a total
of 1,694,518 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the Ministry.
The U.S. State Department on July 26 warned American citizens to
reconsider travel to Armenia due to the increase in cases of the
Covid-19.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a
Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Armenia due to COVID-19, indicating a
high level of COVID-19 in the country,” said the State Department.
The State Department also urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the
Nagorno-Karabakh region due to armed conflict. “The U.S. government is
unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in
Nagorno-Karabakh as U.S. government employees are restricted from
traveling there,” the State Department added.
WHO, with funding from the European Union, in September supplied X-ray
equipment to 7 COVID-19 frontline hospitals – 1 in the capital Yerevan
and in 6 other cities in Armenia.
A new law came into effect on December 10, by order of the Armenian
Ministry of Health, that would allow employers to fire workers who
refuse to provide proof of vaccination. Armenia has the lowest
vaccination rate in the region and Europe. Armenia began its mass
vaccination campaign in April with authorities planning to inoculate
700,000 of the country's 2.9 million citizens by the end of the year.
However, only 516,989 citizens had been fully vaccinated by Dec. 6.
620,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were donated to Armenia by Norway
with the support of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism within the
framework of the Team Europe initiative is already in Armenia.
"The entire infrastructure is ready to carry out a large number of
vaccinations. I add that vaccination does not exclude the disease, but
reduces the risk of contagion", Armenian Health Minister Anahit
Avanesyan reported during a recent press conference, adding that the
late entry into force of the restrictive measures was a shortcoming of
her department. According to the minister, they are currently
considering the option of requesting certification of negativity from
Covid or vaccination to enter restaurants and attend concerts.
There were 9,977 active cases in Armenia as of January 24, 2022.
Armenia has recorded 352,399 coronavirus cases and 8,028 deaths;
334,394 have recovered.
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