Author: Meline Chalian

Azerbaijani press: Amid diminished expectations for border commission to meet, Armenia claims ready to go

Meline Chalian
  12:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Sabina Mammadli

Despite a mutual agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia to establish a working group by the end of April, the promised meeting of the delegations has not taken place yet, Azernews reports.

At a meeting with the Lithuanian president in Baku on May 18, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan set up its working group on time and was ready to send out a delegation for the first meeting with Armenia.

The president added that Azerbaijan called on Armenia to embark on the process of delimitation of the border. He further added that even though it was the Armenian Foreign Ministry that proposed to hold the first meeting on the border issue, and though Azerbaijan accepted it, it was canceled at the last minute.

Aliyev stressed that even more disappointing than that was Armenia's refusal to hold another meeting on the border issue on 7-11 May, based on Armenia's initial proposal.

“We are waiting for new dates from Armenia to start work. Because such an irresponsible position, of course, is worrying,” the president stated.

Today Azerbaijan is focused on turning the South Caucasus into a region of peace, cooperation, and interaction. As President Aliyev mentioned, there is a single opportunity to create this format of cooperation after the second Karabakh war.

Furthermore, the president shared that as soon as the second Karabakh war ended, Azerbaijan started to openly come out in favor of the signing of a peace agreement and the establishment of a joint commission on the delimitation of borders. However, this was not welcomed by Armenia.

On the other hand, the situation in the region has changed positively since Armenia officially accepted the 5-point fundamental principles put forward by Azerbaijan to sign a peace agreement. These fundamental principles are based on international law, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and good international practices.

Ilham Aliyev also emphasized Azerbaijan's permanent commitment to its obligations.

“If we promised, in the presence of the president of the European Council, that we were ready to meet by the end of April, we were committed to our word. However, we must see the same level of responsibility from Armenia. In other words, even though we have certain optimism, such maneuvers and fairly strange steps of the Armenian government actually undermine certain confidence,” he stated.

In the meantime, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan said on May 19 that Armenia had formed a commission for the delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan.

"The composition of the commission is ready. The working group will make a relevant statement at the appropriate time," he added.

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that it was possible to start negotiations on the demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan in the near future.

“The meeting on the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, scheduled for May, has not yet taken place. But I can assure you that we will continue our discussions on organizing this meeting. There are some technical details that the parties must agree on. And I hope that the meeting will finally take place in the coming days or maybe weeks,” Mirzoyan noted.

The trilateral ceasefire deal, signed by the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders with the mediation of the Russian president on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.

The deal also stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the peace deal, Azerbaijan liberated 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historical Shusha city that had been under Armenian occupation for about 30 years.

Defense Minister discusses Army reforms with commanders and soldiers

Meline Chalian

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 11:04,

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan visited on May 19 the 3rd Army Corps, the ministry said in a news release.

Minister Papikyan got acquainted with the technical capacity of the border observation points and then held a consultation with the commanding staff discussing the Army reforms.

Suren Papikyan honored the memory of the 44-day war victims at the memorial wall in the territory of the Corps.

The minister also visited the military units of the 3rd Army Corps, got acquainted with the service conditions and the ongoing renovation works.

The minister discussed issues relating to the upgrading of the Armed Forces with the commanders and servicemen of the units, assuring that the military-political leadership of Armenia will take all efforts to raise the attractiveness of the military service and strengthen the combat readiness of the Army.

Suren Papikyan also visited the Defense Ministry’s Military and Sports College named after Monte Melkonian and met with the students. He said that large-scale reforms aimed at raising the quality of the military education are expected soon, and also a housing package for servicemen is being prepared aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the officer service.

Lithuania welcomes Armenian government’s commitment to pursue democratic reforms

Meline Chalian

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 12:33,

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. Lithuania welcomes the Armenian government’s commitment to pursue democratic reforms, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda tweeted during his official visit to Armenia.

“Started my visit to Armenia – important EU partner in the Caucasus region. Welcome the commitment of Armenian government to pursue democratic reforms. Lithuania stands in favor of closer EU-Armenia  cooperation. Thank you Vahagn Khachaturyan for a warm welcome!”

President Vahagn Khachaturyan welcomed President Gitanas Nausėda at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan.

Normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and a settlement of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict are interconnected, but different processes – David Babayan

Meline Chalian
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo.Normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and a settlement of the  Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict are interconnected, but different  processes, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan  stated at a Facebook conference held by the Azatutyun Radio.

However, developing the bilateral relations does not at all imply  ignoring the Nagorno-Karabakh process and Artsakh's future or  simultaneous processes, or Nagorno-Karabakh remaining part of  Azerbaijan. 

"No doubt, this is one of the main objectives of official Baku  - and  they do not at all conceal it. They are openly stating that their top  priority is that Armenia itself recognize Artsakh as part of  Azerbaijan. That would be a historical, political, geopolitical and  even moral victory for them," Mr Babayan said. 

According to him, it gives rise to numerous questions concerning  Artsakh's future. In this context, Mr Babayan stressed that Artsakh  will never be part of Azerbaijan, and any attempts of annexation will  result in another genocide and war. 

"And Artsakh's fall will be followed by the fall of Armenian  statehood – and let no one have doubts," Mr Babayan said. 

As regards Armenia's six proposals concerning a peace agreement with  Azerbaijan, he pointed out that the Artsakh authorities and people  have equal votes, as one person cannot decide Nagorno-Karabakh's  fate.

"We have repeatedly addressed the issue at various levels, including  the President of Nagorno-Karabakh.  We emphasized the unacceptability  of becoming part of Azerbaijan, with both the Parliament and foreign  office issuing special statements. No doubt, guaranteeing security to  the people is well and good, but what is this security status? No  status in Azerbaijan can ensure our security. On the contrary, our  very existence will be questioned. Or rather, the outcome is well  known – bloodshed, war massacre. This is Artsakh's position," Mr  Babayan said. 

Speaking of the peace agenda, he stated that Artsakh prefers peace to  war and a peaceful settlement of all the problems, which, however,  does not at all mean Stepanakert will tacitly consent to all the  proposals and to becoming part of Azerbaijan. The so-called "cultural  autonomy" is out of the question. 

"We have experienced all that. What cultural autonomy are you talking  about? We had autonomy in the Soviet Union and it was only due to the  deterrent factor of the Soviet Union that we were not annihilated.   Azerbaijan is not at all concealing its intentions, and any status in  Azerbaijan will lead to Artsakh's fall," Mr Babayan said.  The world  has now entered an era of barefaced geopolitics, and nations must  defend their interests themselves by "holding on to their future like  grim death." 

The Artsakh president is informed of the peace process and  Stepanakert's redline is that Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be part of  Azerbaijan. 

Asked who it was that made Artsakh leave the negotiating table, Mr  Babayan called for the question to be left to historians. The last  trilateral meeting (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh) took  place back in 1996. Later the process was disrupted, he added. 

Asbarez: Artesia Presents Genocide Proclamation

Meline Chalian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

ANCA-WR and ANCA San Gabriel Valley members at Artesia City Hall


The City of Artesia presented a proclamation to the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region during “Armenian Heritage Month,” recognizing the Armenian Genocide and in remembrance of the 1,500,000 victims.

The City of Artesia took a firm stance last week with language in its proclamation. Artesia Mayor Melissa Ramoso gave a moving speech about her experience working as a Congressional staffer for Ted Lieu with our issue during the official presentation. 

Special mention must be made to Councilmember Ali Taj, who took the initiative and contacted the ANCA Western Region staff to work on this matter.

Taj is currently the Vice-President of California Contract Cities Association, an association of municipalities who work on policy that affects the entire Los Angeles County region.

Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian and former Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian joined the ANCA WR staff along with members of the local ANCA-San Gabriel Valley Chapter.

Russian MFA warns of “significant dangers” of Sweden’s accession to the NATO

Meline Chalian

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 21:24,

YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to Sweden's announcement about accession to the NATO membership, ARMENPRESS reports, Ria Novosti informs.

"Sweden's accession to the NATO will significantly damage the security of Northern Europe, the continent of Europe as a whole," the Ministry said.

On May 15, Sweden's ruling Social Democrats announced their intention to apply for NATO membership. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that joining NATO will have a positive impact on the security of Sweden and the Swedish people.

Arman Tatoyan: The mistakes of the past must not be repeated

Meline Chalian
Panorama
Armenia –

Armenia's former Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyanon on Saturday addressed the territorial disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the past. His full statement is provided below.

"The mistakes of the past must not be repeated.

During the Soviet era, in border disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was common for Azerbaijani authorities to take part in official discussions, but, in parallel, to carry out attacks on residents of Armenian villages, seize their land plots and then turn them into the subject of “discussions” (Barana, now Noyemberyan, Kokhb, Koti, Doveg and other villages).

For example, despite the resolution of the Land Disputes Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the Transcaucasian Federation of April 28, 1923, which envisaged the transfer of only 5,000 dessiatines [an archaic land measurement] of land in the Shinikh-Ayrum region to the Gazakh district, the Gazakh land construction group drew up a completely different plan, ignoring the decision.

They illegally seized more lands from the territory of the Armenian SSR than envisaged by the decision. In particular, by intimidating a local forester, they seized an area of about 7,000 dessiatinas, increasing their "achievement" to 11,800 dessiatinas and making it the subject of discussion.

Let me bring another example: the disputes over the Tavush, Karvansaray (Ijevan) and Ghazakh border areas, which began in May 1922, and the final work of the commissions dealing with them were constantly dragged out because the Azerbaijanis had seized most of the lands owned by the Armenians, but fallen into their territory and refused to return them. This, in turn, made it difficult for the villagers to use their pastures, forests and water resources.

In general, disputes often arose because of big Azerbaijani landowners who sold their lands to the Armenians and then unreasonably demanded them back. Whereas, Azerbaijan’s violations were not properly recorded by the authorities of Soviet Armenia, who relied on discussions and Azerbaijani "lulling” and tried to avoid "unnecessary trouble”.

Thus, they were only making a gift to the Azerbaijani authorities to show the world that they were peaceful and humane at the expense of our homeland and compatriots.”


Asbarez: Baku Signals it Has No Intention to Release POWs

Meline Chalian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

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

One of the five Armenian prisoners of war is being escorted off a plane that landed at Erebuni Airport on Jan. 28, 2021

While the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were meeting in Dushanbe on Thursday and extolling their commitment to the agreements that call for the release of Armenian prisoners of war, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry made it clear that Baku has no intention of releasing the captives.

The spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry Leyla Abdullayeva launched a full-throttle attack on Yerevan saying that it had no desire to establish peace in the region.

At the heart of Abdullayeva’s rant were comments made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who during a speech in the Netherlands this week accused Azerbaijan of using the Armenian POWs as a bargaining chip to advance its own interests.

Abdullayeva called Pashinyan’s remarks “unfounded,” saying they “show that the Armenian leadership is far from being sincere on the issue of normalizing relations between the two countries.”

Pashinyan said during his presentation that Azerbaijan had asked for minefield maps in Artsakh in return for the POWs, adding that Armenia provided all the maps, but Azerbaijan has yet to release all captives.

“The unfounded allegations made by the Armenian Prime Minister against Azerbaijan during his speech at the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in the Netherlands, including untrue accusations on humanitarian issues, show that the Armenian leadership is far from being sincere in the issue of normalizing relations between the two countries,” Abdullayeva said. 

“In general, it would be incorrect to describe Armenia’s submission of mine maps to Azerbaijan as a humanitarian gesture, as it was Armenia’s obligation under international humanitarian law after the signing of the trilateral statement. Since the signing of the trilateral statement, 219 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by landmines,” the Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson added.  

“(…) the accusation of the Prime Minister of Armenia against Azerbaijan for not taking humanitarian steps and not returning the Armenian detainees is inappropriate and unfounded. It would be good for the Armenian leader to first understand the reasons for the detention in Azerbaijan of saboteurs of Armenian origin who entered the territory of Azerbaijan illegally,” Abdullayeva noted. 

“However, the fact that the Armenian Prime Minister is still making baseless allegations against Azerbaijan seriously calls into question the country’s desire to act for peace,” concluded Abdullayeva.

FILM: We and Our Mountains review – absurdist Armenian satire thumbs its nose at Soviet Russia

Meline Chalian
The Guardian, UK
May 9 2022

««««¶


On a remote hillside, far from the swinging 60s, garrulous shepherds exasperate the police in this elegant parable about power and the state

Shepherd’s delight … Frunzik Mkrtchyan in We and Our Mountains. Photograph: Kinoklassika Foundation

If there was ever an Armenian new wave or maybe an Armenian absurdist wave, then this sprightly and bittersweet 1969 movie – now revived by the Klassiki streaming service as part of a season of Armenian cinema – would be at the vanguard. It was adapted by the Armenian writer Hrant Matevosyan from his own novel and directed by Henrik Malyan. It’s an elegant, elusive parable of a movie about power and the state.

The deadpan coup de cinéma that opens the film is rather brilliant: a frenzied montage of all the exciting things that are happening in the 1960s – pop music, dancing, sports. But all of it is suddenly snuffed out with a hard cut to the silent rural world of the Armenian highlands where four shepherds are living the same tough, unsexy existence as their forefathers: droll, dyspeptic Ishkhan (Frunzik Mkrtchyan), truculent Pavle (Khoren Abrahamyan), melancholy widower Avag (Azat Sherents) and university graduate Zaven (Armen Ayvazyan), whose habit it is to slaughter sheep while invoking the words of Shakespeare’s Othello: “… in Aleppo once, / Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk / Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, / I took by th’throat the circumcised dog / And smote him, thus … ” These are lines that resonate among Armenians who presumed to traduce the Soviet state.

Bitterly cold and hungry one night, Ishkhan finds some stray and apparently ownerless sheep and slaughters them to provide a welcome barbecue for him and all his fellow shepherds shivering on the hillside. But then another shepherd, Revaz (Artavazd Peleshian), comes along, asking if anyone has seen his stray sheep. With a mixture of mockery, defiance and embarrassment, Ishkhan and the others tell the furious Revaz they have eaten his sheep and give him an inadequate amount in payment and Revaz furiously storms off.

A shrewd political pastoral … We and Our Mountains. Photograph: Kinoklassika Foundation

The next day, an officious police inspector (Sos Sargsyan) is round at Ravez’s house and is bemused and infuriated at Ravez’s refusal to press charges. This policeman makes it his business to solve the crime and bring the wrongdoers to book: he will not tolerate this primitive world of chaotic hearsay among shepherds and will impose the rational technocratic might of the Soviet state – often grumpily breaking out in Russian as he does so. But he needs clear statements from all four, clear descriptions of the crime, clear confessions or clear witness statements.

However, it is quite impossible. The shepherds are evasive, garrulous and sarcastic and the inspector, like a colonial governor gradually going native, is less and less inclined to press the point. Finally, at a mock trial involving the five men up on the mountains they air their grievances at a Soviet state that takes their labour and their produce – in this case, sheep – and which regards any deviance as a kind of ideological theft.

There is a sly wit and philosophical humour in this film, a kind of Zen satire at the expense of the forces of law and order. The officer is also obsessed with a case in which a man who was accused of stealing his wife’s wedding ring to pay for his boozing was sent to a labour camp: there is no such thing as private marital business where the Soviet state is concerned, and even to insist on such a thing is a serious offence. And finally, those sheep themselves are an ambiguous symbol: do they stand for the conformism that the authorities require? Or are they wild, untameable and unmanageable? This is a shrewd political pastoral.

 We and Our Mountains screens on 10 May at the Cine Lumiere, London, and is on Klassiki from 10 May.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/09/we-and-our-mountains-review-absurdist-armenian-satire-thumbs-its-nose-at-soviet-russia