Author: Markos Nalchajian

Russian peacekeepers have cleared 238 hectares of land in Nagorno Karabakh

Markos Nalchajian

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 16:33,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The specialists of the International Mine Action Centre of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation continue demining works in Nagorno Karabakh, the Russian defense ministry reports.

In total, during the peacekeeping operation in Nagorno Karabakh, engineering units cleared more than 238 hectares of terrain and about 93 kilometers of roads, 423 residential buildings. More than 8.3 thousand explosive objects were found and neutralized.

In the course of demining and clearing the territory of explosive objects in Nagorno Karabakh, Russian peacekeepers use modern robotic systems that allow them to maintain a high rate of demining in mountainous terrain and deteriorating weather.

Discovered explosive objects and unexploded ammunition are removed and destroyed at a specially equipped landfill. Ammunition that cannot be evacuated is destroyed on the spot with the necessary security measures in place.

Montpellier City Council adopts resolution calling on France to recognize Artsakh

Markos Nalchajian

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 17:32, 16 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The City Council of Montpellier, France, has adopted a resolution, calling on the government to recognize the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), the Artsakh foreign ministry reports.

“In the resolution the City Council is expressing the friendship and support of the city of Montpellier to the Armenian population of Artsakh who were forced to leave their homes, calling on the French government to make diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in accordance with the challenges so that the heavy consequences caused by the military aggression will not be joined by migration sufferings, appeals to the French government to recognize the Republic of Artsakh and authorize the Mayor to send a letter on that to the minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs”, the statement says.

Recently the French Senate and National Assembly adopted respective resolutions on the need to recognize the Republic of Artsakh.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Patriots Coach Belichick speaks in support of Armenians and conflict against Azerbaijan

Markos Nalchajian
Wicked Local, MA
Dec 17 2020
Jackson Ripley  |  Wicked Local

Two of the things for which New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is known for is winning Super Bowls and keeping his nose out of politics. But last month he broke his usual silence to speak out in support of Armenians and their conflict against Azerbaijan.  

“I hope that our country will take action against Turkey and Azerbaijan for their unprovoked and deadly attacks on Armenians,” Belichick told the Boston Globe in a Nov. 18 article. In the past, Belichick has joined the Patriots’ Director of Football Operations Berj Najarian, who is of Armenian descent, in bringing Americans’ attention to issues affecting Armenians.  

Patriots quarterback Cam Newton has also been vocal about the conflict. On December 6, after the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Chargers, Newton was spotted sporting custom cleats designed by Najarian and bearing the colors of the Armenian flag to show support for Armenia.  

            But Lexington resident John Sahagian, who is Armenian, sees the gestures differently. “The reason Belichick [spoke out] is he’s familiar with someone who’s Armenian American,” Sahagian, 82, said. “If he didn’t know that person he might not have said anything.”  

While Sahagian is happy to see prominent figures like Belichick show their support for the Armenian struggle, he doesn’t believe it will make more Americans care. “People who care about issues such as genocide will discuss this, and get involved with it,” said the retired electronics salesman, but it’s not necessary for other organizations like the Patriots to do so.  

When Belichick made these comments last month, Armenia and Azerbaijan had recently agreed to a tenuous ceasefire brokered by Russia. The deal has held up, however tensions are high and there are concerns that peace won’t last much longer.  

On Sept. 27, Azeri forces supported by their Turkish allies, invaded the Nagorno-Karabahk region between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Control of the ethnically-Armenian region has been viscously contested since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. 

Sarah Ignatius, executive director of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont, said she believes Turkey’s involvement in the conflict is a continuation of “anti-Armenian sentiment” painfully marked by the Armenian genocide, which occurred in the early twentieth century and resulted in an estimated 1.5 million Armenian deaths. Ignatius also cited claims of human rights abuses in the area, such as the bombing of civilian areas and the use of the chemical weapon white phosphorous.  

“This is a complicated, underreported area of the world,” Ignatius said. “What happened there shouldn’t be able to occur without people knowing about it and trying to do something to prevent that in the future.”  

Jackson Ripley is a Boston University journalism student writing as part of a collaboration with BU News Service.

Armenia’s NSS arrests Azerbaijani in Armenia’s Berdavan community

Markos Nalchajian
Aysor, Armenia
Dec 11 2020

Armenia’s National Security Service arrested an Azerbaijani in bordering Berdavan community of Tavush province.

“He illegally crossed the Armenian state border. We have received operative data about it. After search works the person was discovered,” NSS representative told Aysor.am, adding that a criminal case has been filed.

“The person has status of a suspect. No other information may be reported agreed with secrecy of preliminary investigation,” NSS official said.

Turkish Press: Canadian Senate rejects motion to recognize Armenian sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh

Markos Nalchajian
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Dec 9 2020
Canadian Senate rejects motion to recognize Armenian sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh
The upper house of the Canadian Parliament rejected a motion submitted by a Conservative senator recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent “republic.”

Senator Leo Housakos’ motion urged the Canadian government to recognize the occupied territory and "immediately condemn the joint Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression."

Fifty-three senators rejected the Conservative senator’s motion, while 16 voted in favor and five abstained.

The senator is from the French-speaking province of Quebec in the North American country and is of Greek origin.

Last month, France adopted a resolution to recognize the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which drew heavy criticism from both Ankara and Baku for ignoring international law as well as U.N. decisions.

The symbolic resolution does not mean the French government will recognize a sovereign Nagorno-Karabakh, but it does a message of support to France’s large Armenian community. The French resolution calls on the government to “recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and use this recognition as an instrument of negotiations for the establishment of a sustainable peace.” It also calls on the government to pursue a tougher European response toward Turkey, which has supported Azerbaijan in the conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan. No country in the world, not even Armenia, recognizes its sovereignty.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

Around 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has remained under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

Multiple U.N. resolutions, as well as many international organizations, have demanded the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27 continuing for 44 days, throughout which Baku liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

Search operations for bodies of killed servicemen underway in Hadrut and Fizuli directions

Markos Nalchajian

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 11:33, 7 December, 2020

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Rescuers of the State Emergency Service of Artsakh continue search operations for the bodies of the servicemen killed in action.

Since November 13 the rescue squads and demining groups of Artsakh have been participating in the main search operations under the mediation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and the Russian peacekeeping troops.

“Director of the State Emergency Service of Artsakh Karen Sargsyan is meeting with the parents of killed, missing or captured servicemen every day. They are discussing the results of the search operations, exchange views and accept mutual proposals.

The search operations for the bodies of the killed servicemen and their exchange have almost been completed in Shushi and Martakert directions, the search operations in the communities near the town of Martuni, the upper region of Askeran, as well as in the directions of Hadrut and Fizuli are underway.

After the negotiation of the sides, the search operations will soon continue in the southern section of Hadrut, Mekhakavan and other settlements which have come under the Azerbaijani control”, the statement says.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Asbarez: Anti-Armenian Provision Stripped from FY 2021 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act

Markos Nalchajian

December 4,  2020



Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) were among the Congressional leaders who blocked the anti-Armenian Chabot-Cohen amendment from the final version of the FY2021 NDAA Bill.

ANCA Strongly Opposed One-Sided, Hostile Measure Advanced by Congressional Turkey Caucus Co-Chairs

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate and House conferees on Thursday struck down the anti-Armenian Chabot-Cohen amendment – a hostile measure advanced by Congressional Turkey Caucus Co-Chairs Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Stephen Cohen (D-TN) as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Bill.

The amendment – strongly opposed by the ANCA – would have called for a one-sided report on the status of selectively identified internally displaced persons in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan.

“We welcome today’s decision by NDAA conferees to strike down the Chabot-Cohen Amendment,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.  “This was, as we said from the start, a hostile, one-sided anti-Armenian measure – proposed by two of Ilham Aliyev’s most reliable Congressional apologists. Congress was right to reject it on a bipartisan basis.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), House Foreign Affairs Committee Senior Member Brad Sherman (D-CA), and House Armed Services Committee Senior Member Jackie Speier (D-CA) were among key Congressional leaders who worked with NDAA bill conferees, tasked to iron out differences between the Senate and House versions of the measure, to remove the one-sided Chabot-Cohen language.

ANCA Rapid Responders sent over 100,000 letters to Congressional leaders to oppose the Chabot-Cohen amendment, arguing that maintaining the provision “would further undermine the U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group as an honest broker, and set back the cause of peace by rewarding Azerbaijan’s brutal aggression against Artsakh.”

The FY 2021 NDAA Bill will now go back to the Senate and House for final Congressional approval and then head to the White House for the President’s signature.

Armenian PM faces more calls to resign

Markos Nalchajian
Taipei Times
Dec 7 2020
 
 
 
ANGER AT PEACE PACT: More than 20,000 protesters rallied in Yerevan on Saturday, demanding that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resign by noon tomorrow
 
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters on Saturday marched across the Armenian capital to push for the resignation of the ex-Soviet nation’s prime minister over his handling of the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
In six weeks of fierce fighting that ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal on Nov. 10, the Azerbaijani army reclaimed lands that Armenian forces have held for more than a quarter-century.
 
Opposition parties have warned Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan there would be civil disobedience across the country if he does not resign by noon tomorrow.
 
Pashinyan has refused to step down, defending the peace agreement as a painful, but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
 
More than 20,000 protesters rallied in Yerevan on Saturday, chanting “Nikol, you traitor!” and “Nikol, go away!” and then marched to the prime minister’s official residence.
 
 
“The seat of the prime minister of Armenia is currently being occupied by a political corpse,” Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition party Homeland and the former head of the Armenian National Security Service, said at the protest.
 
Several Armenian Apostolic Church priests joined the protest, denouncing Pashinyan for allowing Azerbaijan to take over some holy sites.
 
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.
 
That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.
 
In 44 days of fighting that began on Sept. 27, Azerbaijani troops routed the Armenian forces and wedged deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept the Nov. 10 peace deal that saw the return to Azerbaijan of a significant part of the separatist region.
 
It also obliged Armenia to hand over all of the areas it held outside Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
Azerbaijan completed reclaiming those territories on Tuesday last week when it took over the Lachin region between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
 
Azerbaijan celebrated the end of fighting as a national triumph.
 
Armenian opposition leaders hold Pashinyan responsible for failing to negotiate an earlier end to the hostilities at terms that could have been more beneficial for Armenia.
 
However, they have said that the opposition was not pushing for the annulment of the peace deal.
 
Veteran politician Vazgen Manukyan, whom 17 opposition parties have nominated as their candidate for prime minister, said at Saturday’s rally that his transition government would seek to renegotiate some vague aspects of the Nov. 10 peace deal.
 
Manukyan, 71, served as prime minister in 1990-1991, when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union and later served as defense minister during the separatist war.
 
Russia has deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to monitor the peace deal and to facilitate the return of refugees.
 
The Russian troops are also supposed to ensure safe transit between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia across the Lachin region.
 
 
 
 

Armenians rally for soldiers missing in Karabakh fighting

Markos Nalchajian
The Jordan Times, Jordan
Nov 29 2020

By AFP – Nov 29,2020 – Last updated at Nov 29,2020

Military vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping force move on the road outside Lachin on Sunday, after six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region (AFP photo)

YEREVAN — A thousand people took to the streets of the Armenian capital Yerevan on Sunday demanding the authorities take action to find soldiers missing in recent fighting with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The protesters, including several local celebrities, marched through Yerevan holding up photos of the missing soldiers and posters that read "Help return our captives".

At the start of the march, the demonstrators read out a letter addressed to the Russian ambassador in Yerevan asking him to "personally intervene in the process" and pass on their request to Moscow.

The six weeks of fighting over the restive region were halted by a Russia-brokered peace deal that was signed by the ex-Soviet rivals on November 9.

Under the document, Azerbaijan reclaimed swathes of territories that for three decades were held by Armenian separatists.

The accord also provided for the exchange of prisoners and bodies.

AFP journalists reported that a smaller gathering of 30 people took place on Saturday in Karabakh's main city Stepanakert.

Demonstrators briefly blocked a main street in the city until their representatives were received by Arayik Harutyunyan, the president of the self-proclaimed republic.

"We are calling for immediate action to resolve the problem. But the authorities say that it is not up to them, that it depends on the Azerbaijanis," 47-year-old Arsen Ghukasyan said after the meeting.

Ghukasyan says he is searching for his son and brother who was last in touch in early October, less than a week after fresh clashes broke out over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave that declared independence from Baku during a war in the 1990s.

Another man, who is looking for his son, said the missing soldiers are "waiting for the Armenians to come and rescue them".

"But we, parents, are without hope. We do not know how to save our children," the 47-year-old father added.

Karabakh rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan said on Friday that around 50-60 Armenian soldiers were being held as prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Armenian authorities have reported more than 2,300 military casualties while Baku has not disclosed army losses.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has overseen the exchange of casualties under the protection of Russian peacekeepers who have been deployed to the region.

“The enemy could have identified martyr Fakhrizadeh either through intelligence work or direct interviews,” he added.

Firebrand MP Javad Karimi Ghodousi, had on Friday accused Rouhani of setting up a meeting between Fakhrizadeh and IAEA officials in the past — a claim strongly denied by the Rouhani administration.

Armenian economy minister tenders resignation amid protests

Markos Nalchajian
Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Nov 24 2020

Tigran Khachatryan’s move comes as the government is under pressure to quit, after agreeing to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenian economy minister Tigran Khachatryan has tendered his resignation, his spokeswoman said on Tuesday, following criticism of the government over a peace agreement that secured advances for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh after six weeks of fighting.

The announcement, made on Facebook by Khachatryan’s spokeswoman Anna Ohanyan, follows the appointment of a new defence minister and minister of foreign affairs last week.

The government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been under pressure from protesters demanding he quit over the deal that ended the heaviest fighting in decades in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inside Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.

Under the Russia-brokered deal, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leaders are handing over swaths of territory they had controlled for decades but had been internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan, who has rejected calls to resign, last week unveiled a six-month action plan that he said was designed to ensure Armenia’s stability.