Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Pashinian Again Faulted For Lack Of Progress On Armenian POWs
January 20, 2021
• Naira Nalbandian
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian arrives for his government's
question-and-answer session in the parliament, January 20, 2021.
Opposition lawmakers continued to deplore on Wednesday Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s failure to secure the release of Armenian soldiers and civilians
held by Azerbaijan more than two months after the Russian-brokered ceasefire in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ceasefire agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war on November 10
calls for the unconditional exchange of all prisoners held by the conflicting
parties.
So far 54 Armenians have been freed and returned home in prisoner exchanges
facilitated by Russia. More than 100 others remain in Azerbaijani captivity.
Pashinian discussed their fate with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during
their January 11 talks in Moscow hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They failed to reach any agreements on the issue.
A joint statement issued by the three leaders reaffirmed instead Armenia’s and
Azerbaijan’s plans to open their border for cargo and other traffic in line with
the truce accord brokered by Putin. Armenian opposition leaders denounced
Pashinian for agreeing to that without getting Aliyev to promise to release the
remaining Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians.
Lawmakers representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) faulted
Pashinian for their continuing imprisonment during the Armenian government’s
question-and-answer session in the parliament.
“This proves that you are unable to protect Armenia’s interests on this
important subject in Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations. Why do you continue to
serve and why aren’t you resigning?” one of them, Gevorg Gorgisian, told the
prime minister.
“There have always been Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan,” countered Pashinian.
“More prisoners have been returned to Armenia since November 9 than ever before.
So I wonder why this issue had not been raised in this chamber for many years.”
Arsen Gharakhanian, a 43-year-old resident of Karabakh who fought in the
six-week war, was thought to be among the POWs held in Azerbaijan. His family
recognized him in an amateur video posted by Azerbaijani social media users on
January 7.
The Armenian government used the video to ask the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) to issue an “interim measure” requiring Baku to provide information about
Gharakhanian’s whereabouts and guarantee his safety.
A Karabakh search-and-rescue team found Gharakhanian shot dead on January 18 in
Karabakh’s Hadrut district occupied by Azerbaijani forces as it looked for the
bodies of Armenian soldiers killed there during the recent hostilities.
“According to our information he was killed several days ago,” said Yeghishe
Kirakosian, the Armenian government’s representative to the ECHR. “That is to
say that he was killed after the [Strasbourg-based] court issued the interim
measure.”
According to Gharakhanian’s wife Varduhi, the father of four went missing in
early October. He was buried in Stepanakert on Wednesday.
Armenian Official Concerned About Coronavirus Complacency
January 20, 2021
• Satenik Hayrapetian
ARMENIA -- A police officer checks a driver's documents during a coronavirus
lockdown as a preventive measure against coronavirus disease, in Yerevan, April
2, 2020
A senior public health official predicted on Wednesday a renewed rise in
coronavirus infections in Armenia, saying that many people have again become
complacent about the disease.
“We keep reporting low [coronavirus] numbers and people think that the virus is
gone and they shouldn’t bother to take extra precautions and follow safety
rules,” said Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the National Center for
Disease Control and Prevention.
“We already have an increase in the virus’s reproduction rate. It will naturally
lead to an increase in cases which we will observe over the next 14 days,”
Sahakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
According to the Armenian Ministry of Health, the daily numbers of new
coronavirus cases have fallen significantly in the last two months after surging
following the outbreak of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27.
The ministry has reported an average of some 350 cases a day over the past week,
sharply down from more than 2,000 cases routinely recorded in late October and
early November. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian seized upon this downward trend
on Tuesday to again defend his government’s response to the pandemic strongly
criticized by the Armenian opposition.
The country’s coronavirus numbers began falling in mid-November even though the
Armenian police had practically stopped fining people and businesses to enforce
anti-epidemic rules set by the government.
As the COVID-19 crisis worsened in June the government made it mandatory for
everyone to wear a mask not only in all enclosed spaces but also outdoors.
Thousands of citizens were fined 10,000 drams ($20) in the following months for
failing to comply with this requirement which remains in force.
Many Armenians no longer wear masks in public areas, including buses. In
Yerevan, anecdotal evidence suggests that they also have no trouble entering
shops and offices without masks.
“I won’t wear a mask unless I am required to because I can’t easily breathe
through it,” said one such Yerevan resident.
“The numbers have fallen and people have become complacent,” said another,
masked citizen. “This is also the result of a weaker enforcement.”
In a short statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the police confirmed that
people not wearing masks are rarely fined these days.
“In view of the existing situation, the police take a more lenient approach and
officers on duty mainly warn [citizens violating the safety rules,]” the
statement said.
Sahakian said that this leniency has also made Armenians more careless about the
pandemic, which has already killed at least 3,016 people in the country of about
3 million.
Tobacco Firm Remains Armenia’s Top Taxpayer
January 20, 2021
Armenia -- Workers at a tobacco fermentation factory in the town of Masis.
An Armenian tobacco company remained the country’s number one corporate taxpayer
last year, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) said on Wednesday.
The government agency comprising the national tax and customs services reported
that the company, Grand Tobacco, paid 50.7 billion drams ($97.5 million) in
various taxes. Excise tax on cigarettes generated two-thirds of the sum.
The national gas distribution company owned by Russia’s Gazprom giant was the
second most important contributor to the Armenian state budget, followed by the
country’s largest mining company, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC).
The SRC collected 45.5 billion drams and 41.7 billion drams respectively from
these companies in 2020.
Armenia’s 20 leading businesses also include other tobacco and mining firms,
fuel importers, telecommunication operators, a supermarket chain and the
Metsamor nuclear plant. The SRC detailed their fiscal payments in a quarterly
report listing the country’s 1,000 largest corporate taxpayers.
The latter paid a combined 987.6 billion drams ($1.9 billion) in taxes in 2020,
according to the report. The figure accounted for more than 72 percent of all
taxes and other duties collected by the SRC.
Armenia - A tobacco field.
Grand Tobacco and two other local tobacco firms are part of the Grand Holding
group founded by Hrant Vartanian, a prominent businessman who died in 2014.The
conglomerate, which also comprises the country’s largest chocolate and
confectionery manufacturer, is now owned and run by Vartanian’s two sons. Much
of the tobacco used by it is grown in Armenia.
The Armenian cigarette manufacturers have rapidly expanded since 2013 on the
back of their soaring exports to the Middle East and Iraq in particular.
According to government data, Armenian exports to Iraq stood at $149 million in
January-November 2020. Cigarettes accounted for most of those exports.
Grand Tobacco became Armenia’ second largest taxpayer in 2018 and topped the tax
rankings in 2019 with 57 billion drams in total payments.
Ruling Bloc Warns Armenian Opposition Over Snap Elections
January 20, 2021
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia -- A deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament, Alen Simonian, speaks
with journalists, January 30, 2020.
Armenia’s government could withdraw its proposal to hold fresh parliamentary
elections if opposition forces continue to demand its resignation, a close
associate of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian warned on Wednesday.
Pashinian again refused to step down and offered instead to hold such elections
late last month he faced street protests sparked by the Armenian side’s defeat
in the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Virtually all Armenian opposition groups hold Pashinian responsible for the
outcome of the war and want him to hand over power to an interim government.
They maintain that the snap polls must be held only after his resignation.
Echoing Pashinian’s statements, a senior member of the ruling My Step bloc, Alen
Simonian, said that the fate of the current government must be decided by “the
will of the people.”
“We must ask the people, rather than buy media outlets or breed some [social
media] users to create the impression that one or another guy is bad,” he told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia -- Riot police clash with opposition protesters outside the main
Armenian government building in Yerevan, December 24, 2020.
Simonian stressed that the conduct of the vote proposed by Pashinian hinges on a
broad-based political “consensus” in the country.
“I don’t rule out that in case of an [opposition] decision that there need to be
elections our faction will find a legislative solution to that issue,” he said.
“But I also don’t rule out that there will be no elections at all. If the
opposition feels that it cannot participate why should we hold the elections?”
A senior lawmaker from Bright Armenia Party (LHK), one of the two opposition
parties represented in the parliament, dismissed Simonian’s warning as
“blackmail.”
“What they are now saying is, ‘We will stay on and ruin what remains of the
country and the opposition will be responsible for that because it refuses to go
for the elections with us,’” said Gevorg Gorgisian.
“The tensions and the crisis that we have now would not end as a result of
elections organized by Nikol Pashinian,” he claimed.
Armenia -- Gevorg Gorgisian of the opposition Bright Armenia Party speaks during
a parliament session in Yerevan.
The LHK is not part of a coalition more than a dozen opposition groups that held
the anti-government protests in November and December. They include businessman
Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party, the second largest in the parliament.
Two leading members of coalition, called the Homeland Salvation Front, promised
on Friday more efforts to oust Pashinian as they began touring Armenia’s regions
in a bid to drum up greater support for their campaign.
Under the Armenian constitution, fresh elections will have to be called and held
by the current government if Pashinian resigns and the National Assembly twice
fails to elect another prime minister. The LHK has made clear that it would
nominate its top leader, Edmon Marukian, for the post of prime minister in the
event of Pashinian’s tactical resignation.
Simonian indicated that the LHK must pledge not to do that. Gorgisian scoffed at
the demand, saying Pashinian’s political team fears that pro-government
lawmakers would break ranks and vote for Marukian.
Marukian’s party controls only 17 seats in the 132-member parliament, compared
with 83 seats held by Pashinian’s My Step.
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.
Author: Kajoyan Gevork
Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 22-01-21
17:36,
YEREVAN, 22 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 22 January, USD exchange rate down by 0.45 drams to 518.44 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.12 drams to 631.10 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.10 drams to 6.95 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 4.20 drams to 708.34 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price up by 64.81 drams to 31037.91 drams. Silver price up by 9.13 drams to 431.12 drams. Platinum price up by 367.36 drams to 18818.43 drams.
Government seeks to cut New Year holidays for economic benefit
14:30,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia wants to cut the New Year and Christmas public holidays and define only January 1st, 2nd and 6th as non-working days.
Now, the New Year and Christmas holidays in Armenia start from December 31st until January 7th.
The government has introduced the relevant bill for parliament’s approval.
According to the ministry of economy, cutting the non-working days will have a significant positive effect on the economy, with assessments estimating an 88,6 billion drams increase of the GDP volume and a 123 billion dram increase of GO.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Armenian, Russian Defense Ministers discuss the situation in Artsakh, return of POWs
Public Radio of Armenia
Jan 21 2021
– Public Radio of Armenia
PRESIDENT OF CSI: ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT IS GENOCIDE, NOT ANOTHER FIGHT
AGA – Armenian Genocide in Azerbaijan
Jan 19 2021
in Russian – https://aga-tribunal.info/eibner-14-1-2021/
Source: The Christian Post, January 14, 2021
Photo: A man prays in Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, Shusha, partly destroyed by shelling, in October 2020.
Note (Wikipedia): During the Armenia-Azerbaijan War of 1992-1993, John Eibner led CSI relief expeditions to CSI to Armenians in the blockaded territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and to Azerbaijanis displaced from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh.
There’s a genocide of Armenian Christians, according to the head of a human rights group, but it’s largely going unnoticed because of conflicts between world powers.
Although people often perceive the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan as another forgotten and meaningless conflict in a distant part of the world, it’s actually a genocide of Christians that springs from over a 100 years of history, Christian Solidarity International President John Eibner told The Christian Post. Disinformation campaigns by the government of Azerbaijan have covered up the truth.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are in conflict over a small area of land called Nagorno-Karabakh. The area is claimed by a small, independent Armenian republic.
“From an Armenian perspective, this area is their historic homeland. There are many different ways to describe it. Armenians will say this is part of Armenia, but it is not formally a part of the state of Armenia,” said Eibner.
Internationally, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as Azerbaijani land, but it’s mostly populated by Armenians and self-governed. After six weeks of war, Russia brokered a peace deal last year that left Armenia in control of most of the land and Azerbaijan in control of the rest. The conflict killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Caroline Cox and John Eibner. “Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh”, November 16, 2015 https://karabakhrecords.info/english_documents_reports_war_karabakh.html
“It’s not just a local pushing and shoving. This problem has erupted as a part of a longer historical process and it’s erupted now because local geopolitical conditions have enabled it to erupt,” said Eibner.
In 1915, the Muslim Ottoman Empire killed over 1.5 million Armenians. Turkey still refuses to admit today that the event was a genocide. Most Armenians are Christians, and Armenia was the first nation to establish Christianity as a state religion. Azerbaijan was once a province of the Ottoman Empire, and human rights groups have called out ongoing discrimination against Armenians and “state-supported policy of Armenophobia.”
“People don’t understand Azerbaijanis are Turks. They speak a dialect of Turkish,” said Eibner. “Whenever there is a weakening in the protection that Armenians have and confusion in the international system, there’s another attempt to drive Armenians out of their lands.”
The last major attack on the Armenians happened in the 1990s, he said. Because Russia is the major Christian power in the region, Armenia usually works with Russia for protection from its Islamic neighbors. Eibner believes American leaders often don’t pay attention to threats to Armenia because Russia and the United States rival each other.
The United States works with Azerbaijan to oppose Iran. Because Azerbaijan borders Iran, American leaders give it money in exchange for a presence in the country, said Eibner.
Support from America, Israel and NATO to oppose Iran makes local leaders feel they have free rein. Often, American leaders do a better job of advocating for persecuted Christians in countries where they are strategically useful, he contended.
“Why does Azerbaijan feel empowered to make another move? It has done so because it has become oil rich. It has done so because it’s a member of NATO. It has done so because it has received sophisticated drones from Israel. It feels it has the cover to do so,” he said.
To cover up its genocidal attacks on Armenians, Azerbaijan has publicized stories of Armenian war crimes while minimizing its own, said Eibner. Atrocities happen in every war, but evidence suggests that Azerbaijan’s atrocities are far worse than the atrocities on the Armenian side. Azerbaijani communities have not suffered the way Armenian ones have.
“Information warfare is a part of any war. One has to understand not to take anything one hears from either side at face value,” he said. “Who lost? Where are the Armenians now who lived in areas now controlled by Azerbaijan? Why aren’t they living in their own homes today?”
In Turkey and in Islamic warfare, victors in war have a long tradition of treating the losers as less than human, said Eibner.
Christians who want to help Armenians should write their leaders in Congress, connect with local Armenian organizations and ask their pastors to speak about these issues in church, Eibner said.
“This is a tragedy at many different levels. People are homeless, people are killed, but it’s very much connected with the disappearance of Christians,” he said. “Washington has cared much more about Chinese Christians that Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh. If the trend continues, there simply won’t be viable Christian communities in the Middle East.”
This information in other resources
- in “Armenian community in Russia” group in Facebook
- in “Ararat Armenian Forum” group in Facebook
- in “Armenian News – Armenian News Network” in Facebook
- in Telegram
- in Twitter
Turkish press: Turkey: Hrant Dink remembered 14 years after murder
Murat Paksoy |19.01.2021
ISTANBUL
Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, was remembered Monday 14 years after he was assassinated.
Born in Turkey’s eastern Malatya province in 1954, in 1996 Dink established the Agos newspaper in Istanbul, a publication that since has been published in both Armenian and Turkish. He also acted as the paper’s editor-in-chief.
On Jan. 19, 2007, Dink was assassinated by Ogun Samas on Halaskargazi Street, a busy thoroughfare in the Istanbul’s Sisli district.
Fleeing the city after the murder, Samas was caught the next day by police in the Black Sea province of Samsun.
After the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) tried to overthrow the Turkish state on Dec. 17-25, 2013 – a precursor to its defeated 2016 coup – the legal process regarding Dink's assassination took on a new dimension.
Through deeper investigation, Turkish judicial and security authorities discovered a FETO connection behind the assassination.
Turkish authorities thus started a new investigation of the role in the assassination plot of senior FETO terror group figures, including cult leader Fetullah Gulen, fugitive former prosecutor Zekeriya Oz, and former senior police officers Ali Fuat Yilmazer and Ramazan Akyurek.
According to an indictment by Istanbul prosecutors, Dink’s assassination constituted an important milestone which sparked a series of events leading to the defeated coup of July 15, 2016.
The assassination, planned by the FETO terror group, intended to undermine Turkey's standing in the international community, the indictment said.
In his book Red Friday – named for the day Dink was assassinated – Nedim Sener, a Turkish journalist who is often targeted by FETO members, claimed that the assassination plot was known by certain law enforcement and security organs which had been infiltrated by FETO terrorists.
*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk
Protest rally against Armenian PM’s policy held near country’s embassy in Moscow
TASS, Russia
Jan 11 2021
Protest rally against Armenian PM’s policy held near country's embassy in Moscow
Nikol Pashinyan arrived in the Russian capital earlier in the day for trilateral talks with Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. A protest rally against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s policy was held on Monday in front of the Armenian embassy in Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported from the site.
The two-hour rally brought together several dozen people. No violations of public order were reported. No one was detained.
Pashinyan arrived in Moscow earlier in the day to take part in trilateral talks with Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia’s COVID-19 cases pass 3,500,000
Russia's COVID-19 cases pass 3,500,000
13:22,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 24,715 to 3,520,531 in the past 24 hours, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.
According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate does not exceed 0.7%.
There are currently 546,356 active coronavirus cases in Russia.
Pashinyan: I am very glad that we achieved at least some result after these talks
News.am, Armenia
Jan 11 2021
21:06, 11.01.2021
Region:Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia
I am very glad that we achieved at least some result after these talks, and it’s very important. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during the bilateral meeting with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, referring to the results of the trilateral meeting with the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan.
“I am certain that the agreements formulated in our joint statement can seriously help change the economy in the region and seriously increase the potential for investments…However, in my opinion, the economic issues will become difficult to solve, if the humanitarian issues aren’t solved and, of course, as I already said, the humanitarian issue related to the exchange of prisoners of war, missing persons and bodies of deceased is the most sensitive and most painful issue for us Armenians.
I would like to thank you for supporting this position. Of course, your personal contribution to the peace process is very, very tangible, especially now after the well-known events. I am certain that the relations between Armenia and Russia will grow deeper. Russia has been and remains Armenia’s key strategic ally…also in the security sector. Of course, we need to discuss not only the future of the region, but also the agenda for bilateral relations, and I am glad for this meeting and this opportunity," Pashinyan said.
Rubinyan: Those who left Armenia parliament majority faction should explain how they continue to be MPs
News.am, Armenia
Jan 9 2021
09:22, 09.01.2021
After the well-known events, the following people have left the majority My Step faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia: Vardan Atabekyan, Gor Gevorgyan, Taguhi Tovmasyan, Anna Grigoryan, and Sofya Hovsepyan. Ruben Rubinyan, an MP of the aforesaid faction and Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, writes about this on Facebook.
"Emphasizing the need for an MP to be accountable to the voters, I believe these people who received a parliamentary mandate based on the votes of the citizens who voted for the My Step bloc should at least explain with whose and what mandate they continue to be MPs—not in a documentary, but in a political context.
P.S.: As the overwhelming political majority, the My Step faction will continue to implement the single mandate given to it—as a tool and order for the implementation of the people's power. Power in Armenia belongs to the people, and this is an indisputable and irreversible reality," Rubinyan added in particular.