Author: Mike Maghakian

Armenia awards crew of the Russian helicopter shot down by Azerbaijan with Medals for Military Service

Mike Maghakian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 18 2020

The crew of the Russian Mi-24 helicopter shot down by Azerbaijan has been awarded Medals for Military Service of the Republic of Armenia.

Based on a mediation submitted by the Prime Minister, President Armen Sarkissian signed decrees awarding medals to Major Yuri Ishchuk (posthumously), Senior Lieutenant Roman Fedin (posthumously) and Senior Lieutenant Vladislav Glazin.

Two crewmembers were killed one was injured as the Azerbaijani side shot down the helicopter over Armenia near the border with Nakhijevan on November 9.

Azerbaijan admitted to “accidentally” shooting down the helicopter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the error occurred due to the fact that the helicopter flew in close proximity to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, at the time active military clashes continued in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

TURKISH press: Nagorno-Karabakh to be revived under Azerbaijani rule, Aliyev says

Mike Maghakian
 ANKARA DIPLOMACY 
NOV 12, 2020 11:05 AM GMT+3
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gestures during a meeting with servicepeople undergoing treatment at the Clinical Medical Center No. 1 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo)

The president of Azerbaijan said Wednesday that the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been occupied for nearly three decades by Armenia and was recently liberated by Azerbaijan, will be revived.

"Our people's unity will enable us to bring back life to the liberated territories. Karabakh will be reborn. It will be revived and reinvigorated. It will become a real paradise," Ilham Aliyev said on Twitter.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive solution. Aliyev hailed the deal as a victory for his country and a defeat for Armenia, saying Baku's military success enabled it to gain the upper hand to end the three-decade occupation.

"These are the happiest moments in the life of every one of us. The second Karabakh war will go down in history as Azerbaijan's glorious victory. All of our people demonstrated unity and solidarity in ensuring this victory," he said, crediting the victory to the "professionalism and bravery" of Azerbaijan's servicepeople.

The victory on the battlefield was a result of winning on the political field, Aliyev said, noting, "We will further solidify our historic Victory in legal and political domains."

Emphasizing that security and infrastructure issues should be prioritized for the return of displaced persons, Aliyev said some areas require de-mining and Baku will involve international organizations in the process.

He stressed his government will rebuild homes destroyed during the war, noting that damaged houses will be restored and lost property compensated for.

Relations between the ex-Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted Sept. 27, and the Armenian army continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces for 44 days, violating three humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

On the front line, Baku liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from Armenian occupation.

Turkey welcomed the Nov. 10 truce as a "great victory" for Azerbaijan.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, meanwhile, said signing the deal that allowed Azerbaijan to claim control over regions it took back in the fighting was "unspeakably painful."

Prior to the second Karabakh war, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory was under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

Reports on Turkish drone breaching Yerevan airspace is fake news, says Armenian military

Mike Maghakian

Save

Share

 11:17,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The news reports purporting that a Turkish Bayraktar drone had breached into Yerevan airspace is fake news, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said.

“The Armenian Defense Ministry has requested the National Security Service to reveal the source and generators of this fake news,” Stepanyan said. “The Air Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Armenia, jointly with the Russian Aerospace Forces, have covered the airspaces of Armenia and Artsakh, it is a no-fly zone, with the exception of military and scheduled civilian aviation.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenian President hosts Baroness Caroline Cox

Mike Maghakian

Save

Share

 13:46,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received today Baroness Caroline Cox, member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

President Sarkissian thanked Mrs. Cox for standing by Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian people at these difficult days.

The meeting touched upon the recent Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Artsakh, the Karabakh conflict and the current situation in Artsakh.

Editing and Translating by by Aneta Harutyunyan

Israel Launches Iran Command; Talks With Biden Team Planned

Mike Maghakian 
Breaking Defense


By Arie Egozi


TEL AVIV: While Israel anxiously awaits a Biden Administration, it has
made operational a new command focused entirely on Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Naetanyahu is repeating — again and
again — his intention to stop Iran from achieving a nuclear
capability: “Israel will not allow Iran to have the bomb.”

The IDF says that the new Iran Command is needed to accumulate
intelligence and operational options in one place, to understand how
new weapon systems like the F-35 can be used efficiently should
hostilities with Iran break out, and how new relations with some Gulf
states might change those scenarios.

[Diagram: The map is old but the concepts haven’t changed much.]

The new command will be directly responsible for preparing strike
plans against Iran. In recent years Israel has invested roughly $3
billion in what is dubbed as “getting ready for a war with Iran.”
Details of this investment are highly classified.

The UAE and Bahrain met with Israelis recently and expressed their
concerns about the potential of Iranian aggression, especially is it
develops a military nuclear capability.

The Israeli defense establishment expects that within weeks they will
begin a series of talks with Biden’s inner circle to stop the guessing
and really understand the elected president’s policies relevant to
Jerusalem.

Earlier this month, Iran unveiled a new missile launch system capable
of consecutively launching multiple, long-range ballistic missiles.
Teheran claims the automated launcher was locally developed and
manufactured. With Iran continuing to heavily invest in new weapons,
Israel is getting ready to act.

Asbarez: An Urgent Call to Armenia’s Prime Minister

Mike Maghakian

November 10,  2020



ARF Bureau Chairman Hagop Der Khachadourian

The Armenian Nation is in horrifying shock.

The disastrous agreement—which the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia signed on his own after conducting secret negotiations—that leaves the enemy with territories it has stolen from Artsakh, has been publicized. At the same time he has also promised to surrender other regions and has accepted more humiliating conditions. This situation was foreshadowed days before, as a result of which opposition parties called on Mr. Pashinyan to leave his position on his own volition, so that in a moment of personal despair, a significant portion of the achievements of the past 30 years would not be conceded to the enemy.

Of course, it is impossible to not bow our heads to the sacred memory of the martyred soldiers and volunteers and not praise the dedication of the heroic soldiers, who continue to defend the border of the homeland with their lives.

What has happened, however, is simply an abominable self-destruction and a national tragedy.

Of course, it was anticipated that the prime minister would humbly ask for the Armenian people’s forgiveness for his actions, and would attempt, by accepting responsibility, to close the chapter of this great defeat of Artsakh’s fight for its survival, by having the people and history judge the fate of those paltry steps that have brought us to this tragedy.

But instead of expressing regret, Mr. Pashinyan chose to firmly hold on to his position and find fault everywhere except in himself. He preferred to fan the flames and, through hopeless justifications, he did not hesitate to sow further civil unrest. Instead of quietly leaving the government, he declared war on domestic “enemies.” By identifying these so-called “enemies” he sought to confuse people and divert their attention from the abhorrent reality.

Mr. prime minister, for the love of the people and the homeland, put an end to this unacceptable situation. Put the national interests above your personal one and, amicably leave the political arena.

Hagop Der Khachadourian
ARF Bureau Chairman

Deputy NSS chief of Armenia dismissed

Mike Maghakian

Save

Share

 16:22, 8 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Mikayel Hambardzumyan has been dismissed from the position of deputy director of the National Security Service of Armenia according to the presidential decree.

According to another presidential decree, Hambardzumyan has been relieved also from the position of acting NSS Director.

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian signed the respective decrees based on the proposal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Colonel Mikayel Hambardzumyan has been appointed deputy director of the NSS on August 11, 2020 according to the presidential decree, but according to another decree he was appointed acting director of the NSS on October 8, 2020.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Russia says Turkey’s intelligence involved in events in Nagorno Karabakh

Mike Maghakian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 6 2020
Russia says Turkey’s intelligence involved in events in Nagorno Karabakh
Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, has spokesn about the sources of information on the presence of militants from Syria in the hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, RIA Novosti reports.

“We receive this data from a number of countries, from various sources and from our various partners, partner services in the Middle East,” Naryshkin said in an interview with Dmitry Kiselev, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

He stressed that the Intelligence Service “has accurate information about the participation of militants from Syria in Karabakh.”

He further noted that Turkey’s intelligence is involved in the events in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Foreign Intelligence Service fells and sees separate elements of this work,” Naryshkin stated.


National Academy of Sciences calls on int’l partners to urge their countries to recognize Artsakh

Mike Maghakian

Save

Share

 14:05, 4 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The National Academy of Sciences of Armenia has addressed the international academic community, calling on to condemn the large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the people of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), urging to recognize the independence of Artsakh by their countries, the NAS told Armenpress.

“The terrorist war unleashed by Turkey and Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its peaceful civilians continues. Ignoring the calls for the ceasefire and openly stating that their final goal is to eliminate Armenians of Artsakh, the Turkish-Azerbaijani-terrorist mercenaries’ alliance continues the attack on Artsakh, using various banned munitions and armament, several thousand special divisions from Turkey and Pakistan, as well as mercenary-terrorists from Syria. Almost all villages in Artsakh have been hit with missiles. There are hundreds dead and wounded among the civilian population”, the NAS said in a message addressed to the international academic community.

The NAS stated that despite the signing of a document on ceasefire, Azerbaijan has never remained committed to its obligations.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azeri raid attempts thwarted in direction of Karvajar, Artsakh

Mike Maghakian

Save

Share

 16:32, 3 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. At 13:40 the Azerbaijani military launched a 30-man raid attempt in the direction of Karvajar, but the attack was thwarted by precision mortar strikes of the Artsakh army, Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said. The Azeri forces suffered losses.

Shortly afterwards, at 14:30, the Azeri forces amassed in the same direction. The movement was detected by Artsakh military units and precision strikes neutralized another 4 troops.

The Defense Army of Artsakh said it maintains control over the tactical situation in all directions of the frontline.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan