Author: George Mamian

Turkish Press: Solution in occupied Karabakh a must to normalize ties with Armenia, Erdoğan says

George Mamian
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 15 2018
 
 
 
 
Solution in occupied Karabakh a must to normalize ties with Armenia, Erdoğan says
 
DAILY SABAH WITH
ISTANBUL
 
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (R) and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev visit the Turkish Cemetary in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sept. 15, 2018. (AA Photo)
 
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday a solution in Azerbaijan's occupied Karabakh region is the absolute precondition for Turkey to improve ties with Armenia.
 
Addressing top Azerbaijani officials including his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and other attendees of a ceremony held for the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku in Azatliq Square, Erdoğan said: "We want good relations with our neighbors but solving the Karabakh problem is the absolute precondition for Turkey to improve ties with Armenia."
 
The president added that it is pointless for Armenia to expect Turkey to open its borders while it continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan's lands and prevent more than 1 million Azerbaijanis to return to their homeland.
 
Erdoğan also recalled the 1992 Khojaly massacre that killed hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens.
 
"Those who cannot explain what happened in Khojaly 26 years ago, the massacre in Upper Karabakh, and declare the killers heroes, should not give Turkey any kind of history lesson," Erdoğan said, referring to genocide allegations over World War I killings of Ottoman Armenians.
 
The Khojaly Massacre is regarded as one of the bloodiest and most controversial incidents of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control of the now-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region between 1988 and 1994.
 
On the heels of the Soviet Union's dissolution, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in Karabakh on Feb. 26, 1992, after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks, assisted by an infantry regiment.
 
The two-hour offensive killed 613 Azerbaijani citizens, including 116 women and 63 children, and critically injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures. Also, 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during the massacre remain missing.
 
The conflict over predominantly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh displaced hundreds of Azerbaijanis as the Armenian occupation extended far beyond the borders of the de jure autonomous region, which has declared independence as the Republic of Artsakh and only recognized by Armenia.
 
Ankara and Yerevan did not establish formal diplomatic ties after Armenia declared independence in 1991 and in 1993, Turkey closed its border with Armenia in response to the Armenian aggression in Karabakh.
 
Erdoğan visited Azerbaijan to attend ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku by the Caucasian Islamic Army, comprised of Azerbaijani and Turkish soldiers.
 
Erdoğan arrived in Baku at 12.30 p.m. local time (0830GMT) at Haydar Aliyev Airport, where he was greeted by Azerbaijan's Vice President Yagub Eyyubov, Deputy Foreign Minister Ramiz Hasanov, Azerbaijan's envoy in Ankara Hazar Ibrahim and Turkey's envoy in Baku Erkan Özoral. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar accompanied Erdoğan on his visit.
 
He then held a bilateral meeting meeting with Aliyev at the Youth Palace.
 
The two presidents later visited the Baku State Cemetery, where the tombs of Azerbaijan's founding President Heydar Aliyev and the January 20, 1990 massacre victims are located.
 
Erdoğan and Aliyev also visited the Turkish Cemetery of Baku, where the fallen soldiers of the Caucasian Islamic Army during its 1918 campaign were laid to rest.
 
The campaign was launched by the Ottoman Empire to support the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, established in May 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire, to liberate the city from Bolshevik and Armenian revolutionary Dashnak fighters. Baku was liberated in September 1918, but Turkish troops had to retreat and transfer the city to the British in November 1918 due to Ottoman defeat in the WWI.
 
 

Minister of Education and Science: You are used to that ministers looked up others from above (video)

George Mamian
  • 17:49 | August 30,2018 | Social
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Minister of Education and Science Arayik Harutyunyan urge people not to critisize just one separate video of his dialogue with one of the directors yesterday.

“There is no humiliation here. And anyone who knows me can say that I cannot humiliate anyone.”

To remind, yesterday, the principal of School N 130 voiced an issue of teaching a foreign language, in response to which the minister expressed doubts that the principal, who finished an English language training school, could not formulate her thoughts in English, and the principal replied to this by saying the text in English.

“You are used to that ministers looked up others from above. Here, we are partners,” the minister said.

Arayik Harutyunyan stressed that this government is very different from previous governments.

Azerbaijani Press: German Ombudsman for Human Rights on Violation of Human Rights in Azerbaijan

George Mamian
TURAN, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
Aug 25 2018
German Ombudsman for Human Rights on Violation of Human Rights in Azerbaijan


Berlin/25.08.18/Turan: On the eve of the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Baku, the federal human rights commissioner, Berbel Kofler, noted the unsatisfactory situation with observance of human rights in Azerbaijan. Civil rights in this country "are still in many cases limited, like freedom of the media, assembly and words," the politician said on Friday, August 24.

The situation with human rights in Azerbaijan is "generally problematic," Kofler said. Representatives of the opposition, human rights activists and critical journalists are "intimidated by threats, detentions, and in some cases – by harassment by the judiciary," Kofler of Deutsche Welle radio quotes.

Those who openly criticize the government, are imprisoned or fired from the civil service, the family members of political activists who have left the country are under pressure.

"But precisely because of the above, it is extremely important for me that Germany continues regular and direct communication with the Azerbaijani authorities," Berbel Kofler stressed. The federal government and the European Union, according to her, should use their communication channels in Azerbaijan to remind them of the need to respect human rights in this country.

The visit to Azerbaijan on August 25 is the final stage of Angela Merkel's trip to the countries of the South Caucasus. Previously, the Chancellor visited Georgia and Armenia.

In Baku, the head of the German government will meet with President Ilham Aliyev.

According to the AFP agency, Azerbaijan is primarily interested in Germany as an energy supplier. Its significance in this context is likely to increase even more thanks to the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, which will extend through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Greek border. It is assumed that with the help of this pipeline it will be possible to somewhat reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

Merkel's trip to Azerbaijan before the arrival in the country was overshadowed by the fact that Baku banned the entry into the country as part of the German delegation to the deputy of the Bundestag, Albert Weiler, who holds the post of deputy chairman of the parliamentary group for Transcaucasia. The reason for the decision was that in the past, Weiler repeatedly visited Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite this, Merkel decided not to cancel the visit to the Azerbaijani capital. -0-

Asbarez: Response to Diaspora Minister’s Request for Feedback and Criticism

George Mamian
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Town Hall moderator Gev Iskajyan (left) with Diaspora Minister Mkhitary Hayrapetyan

BY VICKEN SOSIKIAN

On Monday July 30 the Los Angeles community had the opportunity to hear from the recently appointed Diaspora Minister during a town hall event in Glendale.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan is young, charismatic, educated, open minded and was frank in his discourse with the people. Through his remarks and responses to audience questions, he affirmed that the new government is interested in developing a two way relationship with the Diaspora, which it views as a partner. He also made it clear that the ministry has a desire to work with any individual or organization who aims to serve the homeland.

Additionally welcoming and respectable was Hayrapetyan’s repeated calls for feedback and especially criticism.

I would like to take advantage of this invitation by sharing my concern about the minister’s position and response to one particular audience member’s question and comments. As a part of his remarks, the individual explained that he believes that a truly prosperous and powerful Armenian nation can only be achieved if Armenians of the Diaspora can return to their historic lands.

Hayrapetyan, actually began answering the question before the individual completed posing it. He explained that he believes in realistic, measurable and pragmatic approaches and continued by stating that we should first resolve the issues of present day Armenia and make the republic powerful and prosperous before looking to liberate historic lands. Hayrapetyan also explained that there are an estimated 20 million Kurds living in the Western Armenia.

At this point, the audience member clarified that he is referring to “Wilsonian Armenia” and that, according to Turkey’s own scholars and historians, 5-7 million of the local population is not Kurdish but in fact [Islamized] Armenians.

Hayrapetyan continued by posing a hypothetical question back to the audience member – Assuming the region in fact becomes a greater Armenia with 10 million Armenians and 10 million Kurds, he asked who would win elections in such a country.

The minister’s position on the issue and his remarks are concerning for several reasons.

Given that Hayrapetyan is not the Foreign Minister nor the Prime Minister, he could have punted the question to those individuals – like he punted another audience member’s question about education for school age children of repatriates to the Minister of Education. He could have also given a general response such that the issue is not on the government’s agenda at the moment but he welcomes input from others – such as from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which believes that the borders of United Armenia must include all territories designated as Armenia in the “Wilsonian Armenia” map.

Hayrapetyan, the new government and we all want to secure a prosperous Armenia. However, the approach to first achieve that and then pursue the liberation of Western Armenian lands is flawed for more than one reason.

Armenia cannot be truly prosperous without the crucial access to the Black Sea. President Woodrow Wilson expressed just this in his letter [at the time] justifying the boundaries of “Wilsonian Armenia” to the president of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers. Furthermore, the exclusion of these lands from a greater Armenia is an exclusion human capital tantamount to the estimated 5-7 million Armenians living on that land [for centuries].

Additionally, the liberation of Western Armenian lands is undeniably a monumental task. Therefore, it is all that more imperative that the issue be addressed internally and long term strategic planning be done accordingly. A step-by-step approach does not work in such situations. Not to mention that such an approach results in delaying action rather than dealing with it head on.

Finally, to simplify the situation with the hypothetical question about who would win elections is also unreasonable. Simple electoral rules can prevent the insinuated concern that non-Armenians could potentially be elected to govern a greater Armenia.

While understanding the sensitivities of the topic, not talking about it does not advance us, but with every passing day relegates the cause to old history as unattainable.

Now is the right time for the Armenian government and we, as a nation, to begin the discussion.

Azerbaijani Press: Yerevan’s controversial statements complicate settlement of Karabakh conflict: expert

George Mamian
Trend, Azerbaijan
Aug 2 2018
2 August 2018 18:11 (UTC+04:00)                                     

    •             

    Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 2

    By Matanat Nasibova – Trend:

    Yerevan's contradictory statements on the Karabakh conflict's settlement do not give grounds to say that the meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be easy and will solve many issues, Azerbaijani political scientist, Professor of the West Caspian University Fikret Sadikhov told Trend, commenting on the upcoming meeting of the FMs on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

    The government of Armenia aims at bringing Karabakh separatists to the negotiation process, and at the same time Yerevan is talking about peace and making unclear statements about resolution of the conflict, the political scientist said.

    "In addition, we should not forget that this is not a special meeting organized within the Minsk Group – it is held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where many meetings, unfortunately, are of formal nature very often. But I think that the meeting with the Armenian foreign minister gives us another opportunity to deliver to the Armenian side our principled and clear position based on the norms and principles of international law to resolve the long-term conflict. The Armenian side should understand that the Armenian soldier has nothing to do in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. And there can be no agreement while Armenian servicemen are in the territory of Azerbaijan. I think our minister will deliver this position of the Azerbaijani side at the professional level so that Yerevan has a full and final understanding of what the Azerbaijani side demands," he said.

    The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

    The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

    Lydian and PM at the Crossroads of Old and New Armenias

    George Mamian
    MediaMax, Armenia
    Ara Tadevosyan
    Director of Mediamax

    At a meeting at Carnegie Europe Research Center in Brussels on July 11, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan came up with a statement saying the creation of favorable environment for economic development is the key component of national security. 

     

    According to him, implementation of Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with European Union will help improve the investment climate and increase business stability.  

     

    During his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the same day, the Prime Minister said La Francophonie Summit to be held in Yerevan this October will have an increased focus on business component. 

     

    It is very encouraging that Prime Minister personally promotes foreign investment issue, being well-aware that it is the main precondition to reforming monopolized and clan-based economy.       

     

    Whereas, it is discouraging that both PM and the Government fail to address the situation the country’s current largest investor Lydian Armenia Company is facing these days. 

     

    Some 50 people have been blocking roads leading to Amulsar gold mine for over a month, which has paralyzed the company’s activities. Those people, most of whom are not even environmentalists and lack elementary knowledge of mining, have decided that mining at Amulsar must be stopped. The PM addressed them twice urging to open roads and not to obstruct audits and inspections to be launched by the government. This did not help. Lydian Armenia has repeatedly applied to Police suggesting them to take appropriate legal measures.  This did not help either. Afterwards, the PM travelled to Amulsar and Jermuk and met with activists, however, it did not help resolve the situation.    

     

    All this is happening despite the fact that Hayk Aloyan, Managing Director of the company that has already invested over USD 300 million in Armenia, said yet on June 5 that Lydian Armenia is ready for any inspections on environmental, social management, financial flows, shareholders, tax transparency and any other standards.       

     

    Since we have covered the Amulsar Project for many years, I insist that if mining is possible in Armenia, Lydian Armenia is the best company in that sector.  

     

    Yet, that’s not the question today. If government-initiated inspections reveal any violations by Lydian Armenia, either environmental, financial or taxation, relevant measures must be taken, up to revoking the company’s license. But as long as no violations have been revealed, Government should ensure that roads are opened and the country’s investor No.1 is able to resume its activities instead of being guided by assumptions of activists about possible violations. Furthermore, the government must act promptly, since current events result in financial losses not only for Lydian and Armenia’s budget (company suffers about USD 500,000 daily loss), but also negatively impacts Armenia’s investment attractiveness.  

     

    Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in a televised interview that events around Lydian are more complicated than they are presented. Actually, he hinted that the issue can be politically motivated as well. 

     

    I am not a government official and I can afford more open statements: “major fault” of Lydian and Hayk Aloyan is that he avoided corrupt deals with previous government and oligarchs backing it during the last 10 years and did not give them “a piece of pie.” 

     

    It was Hayk Aloyan’s “fault” to “dare” to launch activity in an area “belonging” to MP Ashot Arsenyan and not to bow to that almighty oligarch. 

     

    One of Hayk Aloyan’s “faults” was to persuade the company to spend USD 500,000 on relocation and preservation of red-listed “Potentilla porphyrantha” species found at Amulsar, instead of bribing government officials.  

     

    Another “fault” of his was to face out the campaign against Lydian consistently waged by mass media sponsored by Zangezour Copper and Molybdenum Combine and tied to former governor of Syunik marz. Incidentally, unlike Lydian’s story, the story of that company’s shareholder base is very murky. 

     

    It is nonsense that Lydian is actually suffering for 10 years of its absolutely transparent activities. To make sure of this, one just needs to visit websites of other mining companies operating in Armenia and learn how much and what quality information they publish.    

     

    It is nonsense that Lydian went through long years of trials in “old Armenia” and has appeared on the verge of collapse in New Armenia. Here is an excerpt from my interview with Hayk Aloyan dating back to December 2017:

     

     “Once, I was going to meet an official – we requested documents and I was to find out if they were ready. Tim Coughlin (the former CEO) was in Armenia and decided to join me to meet that official. I warned him that the official was not an easy-going person and that he could not enjoy the communication. Tim insisted, and we entered the official’s office together. He was playing solitaire on his computer and when we entered, he did not even look at us. Tim approached him, smiled widely, extended his hand and introduced himself. The official stopped playing for a moment, examined Tim, then extended his hand unwillingly. Tim extended his business card as well, but the official did not take it and resumed his game. Tim had to put his business card on the table. Afterwards, the official looked at me and briefed: ‘Your papers are ready.’ And he continued to play the solitaire. We went out, took our documents from secretary. Tim was astonished and could not come to senses until evening.”

     

    Government and the Prime Minister need to comprehend that this issue is a litmus paper for them in their relations with business and big institutional investors and not only. After all, who makes decisions in Armenia? Is it the PM and the government or several dozens of people with dubious agenda?  

     

    Ara Tadevosyan is Director of Mediamax.