Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Statement by Stepanakert on 32nd anniversary of Proclamation of Republic of Artsakh

Kajoyan Gevork

 11:48, 2 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Foreign Ministry released a statement on September 2 on the occasion of the 32nd Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Artsakh.

Below is the full statement.

“32 years ago, on September 2, 1991, a joint session of the Councils of People's Deputies of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and the Shahumyan region proclaimed the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh.
 
Beginning from the day of illegal subjugation of Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan on 5 July, 2021 and throughout its stay within the Azerbaijan SSR, the policy of apartheid and discrimination intensified in Nagorno Karabakh, an atmosphere of hatred and intolerance was created towards the indigenous Armenian people, resulting in armed clashes, human losses and mass deportation of the civilian population of Armenian villages.
 
To prevent the disastrous course of events, the people of Nagorno Karabakh exercised its right enshrined in the USSR Constitution and laws in force, specifically, the provision of the Law of the USSR Supreme Soviet "On the secession of the Union Republics from the USSR" dated April 3, 1990, according to which "the peoples of the autonomous republics and autonomous formations retain the right to independently resolve the issue of staying in the USSR or in the seceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status".
 
The independence of Nagorno Karabakh was reaffirmed by the results of the nationwide referendum held on December 10, 1991 and the Declaration of Independence adopted on January 6, 1992 at the first session of the NKR Supreme Council.
 
Thirty years later, Azerbaijan occupied a significant part of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh as a result of a large-scale war it had unleashed. Aiming to achieve the final de-Armenization of Artsakh, ignoring the provisions of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, the legally binding decisions of the International Court of Justice and the ECHR, as well as numerous calls by the international community, Azerbaijan has been keeping the 120-thousand population of Artsakh under total siege for about 9 months since December 2022, depriving it of all fundamental rights and freedoms, creating unbearable living conditions and subjecting it to starvation.
 
Considering the above-mentioned facts, as well as the constant threats against the people of Artsakh and calls for their reprisals by the authorities of Azerbaijan, the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh can become one of the basic and important guarantees of preventing the genocidal policy against the people of Artsakh.
 
Expressing our gratitude to all the Armenian sons, who fought for the right to self-determination and freedom of the people of Artsakh, and bowing to the memory of our heroes martyred in the three Artsakh wars, we reiterate that Artsakh was and remains the core of the Pan-Armenian unity, continuing the path it has chosen and fighting for our dignity.
 
We call upon all the international actors involved in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement process to take immediate and efficient steps to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and deportation of its indigenous people from the homeland.”

Sports: Armenian Government approves hosting of 2023 World Sambo Championships

Kajoyan Gevork
Aug 30 2023

  • By Neil Shefferd

    •  

  •  Monday, 28 August 2023

The Armenian Government has approved the country’s hosting of the 2023 World Sambo Championships during a Cabinet meeting.

The Championships were awarded to Armenia by the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) after Egypt withdrew its interest due to "changed circumstances."

They are due to be held in Yerevan from November 10 to 12.

Following the approval of an agenda item at the Cabinet meeting on ensuring the organisation of the World Sambo Championships, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: "Yet another major international tournament will take place in Armenia in autumn."

He added: "Good luck to our athletes", as reported by Armen Press.

Explaining their decision to move the Championships to Yerevan, FIAS said they were impressed with Armenia’s hosting of the 2022 World Cadets, Youth and Junior Sambo Championships.

The 2022 World Sambo Championships was held in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan with neutral athletes finishing top of the medal table with 14 golds, five silvers and 10 bronzes.

FIAS allowed Russian and Belarusian sambists to compete under a neutral banner at last year’s Championships.

The move led to Ukraine boycotting the event and at the time was against International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations.

The IOC changed its recommendations to International Federations in March, to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to international competitions as neutrals, provided they did not support the war in Ukraine and were not affiliated to the military.

Melanie Joly accused of undermining peace, supporting Azerbaijan separatists with ‘unacceptable’ comments

Kajoyan Gevork
The National Post
Canada – Aug 24 2023

In a recent speech, Joly referred to the region as Artsakh, a term used by ethnic Armenians who want the area to secede from Azerbaijan

Author of the article:

Dylan Robertson,  The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry argues Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly is undermining peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by referring to the area with the name used by Armenian secessionists.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it is mostly populated by Armenians and neighbouring Armenia has fought for control of the region for decades.

Tensions rose in the area last fall when the region’s main access road was blocked, leading to shortages of food and medicine that groups such as Human Rights Watch blame on Azerbaijan.

Canada is planning to send two officials to support a European monitoring mission that is aiming to prevent another war in the region.

Last Saturday, during a speech at the Armenian Community Centre of Montreal, Joly referred to the region as Artsakh, a term used by ethnic Armenians who want the area to secede from Azerbaijan.

In part of the speech posted on social media, Joly is seen saying that she plans to raise the Nagorno-Karabakh situation in upcoming summits held by the G20, G7 and United Nations.

“The region, and particularly Armenians, are facing a real threat in Artsakh,” Joly said. “We need to bring this issue of Artsakh at every single diplomatic table we have access to.”

In a Wednesday statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry argues Joly is making “one-sided statements” that support “separatism and revanchist forces” in the country.

“Such statements (by) Canada do nothing to serve the peace and stability in the region, and are unacceptable,” ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada wrote in a press release.

“We once again demand from Canada to refrain from such provocative steps and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”

Earlier this month, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos referred to the Republic of Artsakh in an open letter congratulating a politician for his election as speaker to the breakaway region’s national assembly.

A search of United Nations agencies and debates at its General Assembly suggests “Artsakh” is not used by countries other than Armenia to refer to the region. A search of federal websites suggests Canada has never used the term in official documents, other than when quoting the names or titles used by external groups.

Online critics of Joly compared using the term Artsakh to referring to parts of Ukraine that have been annexed by Russia by Moscow’s nomenclature, such as the Donetsk People’s Republic, a term only Syria and North Korea have joined in using.

But the head of the Armenian National Committee of Canada said Joly was using a word that Armenians have used to describe their home for generations.

“I think the minister did send a strong message by using that term,” Sevag Belian said.

“It was a tactical move by the minister to send that message, to say that this is a region (with) Armenians living in it, and they cannot just simply be ignored, they cannot be left to starvation.”

Meanwhile, a worsening humanitarian situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is drawing increased international attention.

Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, wrote on Twitter this week that a humanitarian corridor must be enacted to stop an “unconscionable” blockade.

Housakos compared Azerbaijan’s blockade to the Holodomor, the starvation of Ukrainians starting in 1932 which Canada has formally recognized as an act of genocide by the Soviet Union.

Earlier this month, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, warned that Azerbaijan is preparing for genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, citing a UN definition that includes “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”

https://nationalpost.com/news/melanie-joly-undermining-peace-nagorno-karabakh-region







On Anniversary of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, Pashinyan Criticizes the Document; Says it Sows Conflict

Kajoyan Gevork
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Armenia's Declaration of Independence was adopted on August 23, 1990


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chose the 33rd anniversary of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence to criticize the document, which laid the foundations for the modern-day independent Republic of Armenia, saying that the document sowed conflict in the region.

On August 23, 1990, Armenia’s first post-Communist legislative body adopted the Declaration of Independence, which served as the basis for Armenia’s declaring independence on September 21, 1991.

The document makes reference to a 1989 unification act adopted jointly by Armenia’s Supreme Soviet and the legislative equivalent of the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, calling for the unification of Artsakh with Armenia—the spark that started the Karabakh Liberation Movement in February, 1988.

Armenia’s Declaration of Independence also calls for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in “the Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”

It is unusual and frowned upon for a head of state to so openly criticize the founding document of the state. In his head-scratching statement marking the declaration’s anniversary, Pashinyan said that the document essentially was a vestige of the USSR and had made Armenia dependent on the Soviet system.

He made reference to his government’s “peace agenda” in the region saying that was “as long as we do not have peace, the ghost of the USSR will haunt our skies.”

In May Pashinyan pledged to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, which meant Baku would have sovereignty over Artsakh. He later declared that a peace deal with Azerbaijan would grant Armenia a “deed” to its territory. His statement on Wednesday signals that Pashinyan would prefer to have no reference of Artsakh or the Armenian Genocide as they complicate his “peace agenda,” which he called the only true path to independence.

“The Declaration of Independence is a crucial document, which laid the foundation for our current statehood. It was adopted during the culmination of the 1988 Karabakh movement, in conditions of economic, political and ideological crisis in the Soviet Union,” Pashinyan said.

“Before and especially after the 2020 war I have read and re-read the text of the declaration on numerous occasions. And I have to confess, my post-war interpretation, to some extent, has differed from the pre-war readings,” added the prime minister.

“An analysis of the text of the declaration shows that we had eventually chosen the kind of narrative and discourse which is based on the formula that made us part of the Soviet Union—a confrontational narrative with a regional outlook that would keep us [embroiled] in constant conflicts with our neighbors,” Pashinyan offered an explanation.

“With the Declaration of Independence, we set in motion the trajectory of leaving the Soviet Union, but also closed all roads to leaving the Soviet Union. In other words with the Declaration of Independence adopted in the end of the 20th century we adopted a formula which had already led us to lose our independence in the beginning of the 20th century,” said Pashinyan saying that it was unclear what other options Armenia had after the fall of the first Armenian Republic. He said, however, that “analyzing and understanding the road we have traversed is our historical duty.”

“In 2018, before and after assuming the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia, I treated the Declaration of Independence of Armenia as a ‘biblical message.’ Nevertheless, as fundamental as it [the document] is, the declaration needed and needs a deep analysis, because it is a political document, with all its inherent consequences,” Pashinyan said.

“And now, on the 33rd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I would like to underscore that the peace agenda adopted by our government is an agenda of independence, because we shall have independence when we have peace,” he said.

“As long as we do not have peace, the ghosts of the USSR will haunt our skies and the skies of our region. I choose independence, sovereignty and democracy. The citizen of the Republic of Armenia choses independence, sovereignty and democracy,” Pashinyan declared.

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly to visit Armenia for opening of embassy

Kajoyan Gevork

 11:23,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has said that she will visit Armenia in September to attend the opening of the Canadian embassy in Yerevan, the Armenian National Committee (ANC) International reported. 

Joly made the announcement during a meeting with members of the Armenian National Committee of Canada in Montreal.

The humanitarian situation in blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) was discussed during the meeting. 

In turn, ANC Canada said in a statement, "the situation in Artsakh is dire and therefore, decisive action must be taken to ensure the safety, security and self-determination of the population. These were the topics we discussed with Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Mélanie Joly yesterday in Montreal, where we presented several policy recommendations that Canada can put into action and help break the disastrous Artsakh Blockade."

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.  Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. Moreover, Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.

On July 26, Armenia sent a humanitarian convoy carrying emergency food and medication for Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan blocked the trucks at the entrance of Lachin Corridor.




Armenpress: PM Pashinyan visits NSS Border Guard servicemembers in Kapan outpost

Kajoyan Gevork

 09:56,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has visited servicemembers of the National Security Service Border Guard in an outpost in Kapan, Syunik Province.

[see video]
PM Pashinyan inspected the conditions at the outpost, his office said in a statement.

The Prime Minister arrived in Syunik on Thursday on board the Let L-410 Turbolet twin-engine aircraft which will be used for the regular Yerevan-Kapan passenger flights starting next week.

Did Azerbaijan Fire on the EU Observer Mission in Armenia?

Kajoyan Gevork
The European Conservative
Aug 17 2023
Armenia and Azerbaijan contest the sequence of events that led to EU observers ducking for cover ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the persecution of ethnic Armenians in the Lachin corridor.
  • Thomas O'Reilly
  • — 

After some initial confusion, EU officials confirmed that on August 14th, Tuesday evening, a European observer mission in the disputed region around the Azerbaijan-Armenia border had come under fire in what Armenian officials immediately pinned on the Azeri army.

According to reports and subsequent footage that emerged from the incident, European observers were temporarily pinned down by what was believed to be small arms fire from Azeri forces while on the Armenian side of the border, where they had been conducting their duties. 

There is growing international pressure on Baku to refrain from what many experts believe is a developing genocide against trapped ethnic Armenians in the Lachin corridor, where the Azeri army is conducting a blockade. 

The EU deployed 100 unarmed observers last December following Azerbaijan’s successful border war against Armenia in the hotly contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, where the Azeri government is accused of ethnic cleansing against Armenians living on newly acquired lands.

Tuesday’s incident occurred near Verin Shorzha in Armenia, six kilometres from the Azeri frontier, with the mission’s social media account initially denying that any altercation had occurred. The EU’s foreign policy department, EEAS, has so far refused to give a full statement on the matter, but there is growing understanding that Brussels’ soft stance on Azeri aggression may be about to end.

The Azeri defence ministry has already flatly denied that its troops fired at the EU mission, blaming Armenian disinformation and saying that such an attack was impossible due to the fact that the details of observer missions are well known in order to prevent incidents like this from occurring. 

Clashes between Azeri and Armenian forces are common after last year’s two-day war, where Azerbaijan seized strategic heights near the town of Jermuk and occupied 140 square kilometres of Armenian territory. The Azeri ambassador to Brussels was summoned by the EU to account for social media threats to shoot EU officials last month, as many predict EU-Azeri relations are set to take a diplomatic nosedive.

The UN Security Council is set to meet Wednesday, August 16th, to discuss the worsening plight of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, with the Armenian government accusing Azerbaijan of preventing the flow of vital supplies to the enclave. 

Armenian officials have called for the EU to mount an airlift to assist Armenians trapped in Lachin by the Azeri blockade, with Brussels previously accused of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses by Azerbaijan due to the strategic importance of Azeri gas.

Thomas O’Reilly is an Irish journalist working for The European Conservative in Brussels. He has an educational background in chemical sciences and journalism.

Film: Variance Films Acquires Post-WWII Drama ‘Amerikatsi’ From Actor-Filmmaker Michael A. Goorjian

Kajoyan Gevork
DEADLINE
Aug 8 2023

EXCLUSIVE: Indie distributor Variance Films has snapped up North American rights to the period drama Amerikatsi, written and directed by and starring Michael A. Goorjian, slating it for an exclusive theatrical release in New York and L.A. on Friday, September 8, with a national rollout to follow.

Shot in Armenia by People of Ar Productions, Amerikatsi centers on Charlie (Goorjian), who returns to the country in 1948 — decades after fleeing to the U.S. as a child, due to persecution by the Ottoman Empire. What he finds in doing so is a country crushed under Soviet rule. And after being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into despair, until he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment from his cell window — the home of a prison guard. As his life unexpectedly becomes entwined with the man’s, he begins to see that the true spirit of his homeland is alive in its passionate people. 

The tale is a personal one for Goorjian, the Emmy-winning actor known for Party of Five, SLC Punk! and his directorial vehicle Illusion, whose own grandparents fled the Ottoman Empire. He produced the film alongside R. Patrick Malkassian, Arman Nshanian and Sol Tryon, with Hovik Keuchkerian, Nelli Uvarova, Mikhail Trukhin, Narine Girgoryan and Jean-Pierre Nshanian rounding out the cast. Vartan Barsoumian and Serj Tankian served as exec producers, with Amadeus Entertainment now on board to handle international sales.

“Back in the 90s, I was fortunate enough to work on a lot of great indie films which inspired me to start writing and directing my own projects,” shared Goorjian in a statement to Deadline. “It takes time to find your own voice, but with AMERIKATSI, I have done my best to make something true to myself and my Armenian heritage in the spirit of independent cinema.”

Added Variance Films President Dylan Marchetti, “What Michael has crafted here is a powerful, life-affirming, and crowd-pleasing experience, and we can’t wait to share it with audiences across the country through its initial release and into awards season.”

Variance Films most recently handled the re-release of S.S. Rajamouli’s critically acclaimed Telugu epic RRR, leading up to the film’s Oscar and Golden Globe wins for Best Original Song “Naatu Naatu.” Other past and upcoming releases for the company, founded in 2008, include Ira Sachs’ Sundance-premiering romantic drama Passages for Mubi; Sideshow/Janus Films’ Silver Bear winner Afire, Cannes Jury Prize winner The Eight Mountains, and Oscar-nominated Jerzy Skolimowski pic EO; and Park Chan-Wook’s Decision to Leave for Mubi, which earned the filmmaker Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival last year. 

Watch the trailer for Amerikatsi at the below link

Ataturk, the Turkish series that Disney+ canceled due to pressure from Armenians

Kajoyan Gevork
Aug 5 2023

To commemorate the centenary of the Republic of Turkey, Disney+ planned to launch the series Atatürkwhich originally announced Emma Watson as part of its lineup.

According to an IMDB review, the series “tells the life story of the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk”. However, it was recently revealed that the six-part production will be released on October 29, 2023. will be a film that will be released on November 3 only in Turkey.

This change was due to the American Armenian National Council (ANCA) campaign against the production, which they believe “glorifies Mustafa Kemal, Turkish dictator and genocidal assassin”.

“We are asking Disney Plus to cancel a series that glorifies Mustafa Kemal. AtatirkTurkish genocidal dictator and murderer, on whose hands is the blood of millions of Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syrian, Aramaic, Maronite and other Christian martyrs,” the ANCA said in a statement.

“It’s a shame that the American television and film platform succumbed to pressure from the Armenian lobby and canceled the series about Ataturk without airing it. This attitude of the platform in question is a disrespect for the values of the Republic of Turkey and our people.”Ömer Celik, Vice President of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, tweeted.

During World War I, Atatürk served as a major in the Ottoman army and worked closely with Talaat and Enver Pasha, the main organizers of the Armenian Genocide.

An estimated 1.5 to 2 million Armenian civilians were persecuted and killed by the Young Turkish government in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. The Turkish government still does not admit that it was a genocide, so relations between the two countries remain tense.

Atatürk continued his anti-Armenian policy by publishing a book in 1927 entitled Nutuk (“speech”), which he himself acknowledged in publication for the purpose of writing (or rewriting) the official modern history of Turkey.

In it, he wrote that the British invented the idea of the Armenian Genocide to provide a pretext for their invasion of Istanbul in 1920. He further added that the Armenians are pursuing a policy of “extermination” against the Muslims of the Republic of Turkey.

Disney Plus launched in Turkey in June 2022 as part of an expansion plan that included new markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.