368 marriages were registered in the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Republic in the first semester of 2017. It grew by 30 percent compared with the indicated period of the previous year (283 registered marriages).
As the Civil Acts Registration Agency of the Artsakh Ministry of Justice reports, most marriages were registered in capital city Stepanakert (142 against 86 of the previous year) and Martakert region (52 against 40 of the previous year).
Thursday, U.S. General Again Visits Armenia . Emil Danielyan U.S. - Armenian soldiers are trained at a Kansas National Guard facility in Salina in July 2017. A U.S. general overseeing the Kansas National Guard is visiting Armenia for a third time in less than a year shortly after his troops trained more Armenian soldiers as part of growing U.S.-Armenian defense cooperation. Major General Lee Tafanelli, the Kansas adjutant general, met with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian on Wednesday. He reportedly pledged to continue training programs for Armenian military personnel mostly serving in a special brigade that contributes troops to multinational peacekeeping missions around the world. The Armenian Peacekeeping Brigade has received considerable technical assistance from U.S. Army Europe and the Kansas National Guard. In particular, U.S. instructors have been training the brigade's medical personnel and demining experts. The Armenian military inaugurated a U.S.-sponsored paramedic school in October last year. U.S. - Kansas National Guard officers train Armenian soldiers in July 2017. Tafanelli's department reported earlier this week that more soldiers of the Peacekeeping Brigade have undergone training at a Kansas National Guard facility in Salina, a small city in the U.S. state. "The Guardsmen and Armenian soldiers conducted training exercises in the Humvee egress rollover trainer and in the virtual convoy simulator," it said in a statement. The Kansas Adjutant General's Department also released several photographs of the joint exercises held this month. The U.S. has also helped Armenia to recruit and train more non-commissioned contract officers. As part of that effort, 25 Armenian army sergeants underwent further training in Kansas in August 2016. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, Sargsian and Tafanelli discussed these training programs at their meeting. "The American side expressed readiness to continue cooperation in these directions through long-term programs," read a ministry statement. Despite its military alliance with Russia, Armenia has deepened defense cooperation with NATO and the United States in particular since the early 2000s. It currently contributes troops to NATO-led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and regularly participates in multinational exercises organized by U.S. forces in Europe. U.S. military assistance to Armenia has totaled about $50 million since 2002. Armenia - Major General Lee Tafanelli (C), the Kansas adjutant general, and U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills (R) at a meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian in Yerevan, 26Jul2017. Tafanelli said that U.S.-Armenian military ties are now "as strong as they have ever been" during his previous visit to Yerevan in January. "Each year continues to get better and better with the quality of the engagements and partnership between our two countries," he told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). Tafanelli as well as a deputy commander of U.S. Army Europe, Major General John Gronski, also attended last September official ceremonies in Armenia that marked the 25th anniversary of the country's independence. A military parade in Yerevan was the main highlight of those celebrations. In addition, the Kansas National Guard has been assisting Armenia's Ministry of Emergency Situations. Emergency Situations Minister Davit Tonoyan praised that assistance when he met Tafanelli on Thursday. In a statement, Tonoyan's office said the two men discussed ongoing training courses for Armenian firefighters and rescue workers organized by the Kansas Guard and the British military. The ten-day courses began on July 18 at two different locations in Armenia. The statement said Tonoyan and Tafanelli will visit both venues on Thursday and Friday. Still No Agreement On Next Armenian-Azeri Summit . Artak Hambardzumian Russia - President Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev start Russian-mediated talks in St. Petersburg, 20Jun2016. Armenia and Azerbaijan have not yet agreed on the date of a fresh meeting of their presidents sought by international mediators, a senior Armenian diplomat said on Thursday. "As you know, there has been a proposal from the mediators," Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian told journalists. "The [Armenian and Azerbaijani] foreign ministers are working in that direction. There is no final agreement and decision yet." Armenia - Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian, 27July, 2017. The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group continued to press for such a summit when they met with Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov in Brussels on July 11. In a joint statement issued after the talks, they said Nalbandian and Mammadyarov agreed to meet again in September for further discussions on the issue. In a televised interview aired on July 16, President Serzh Sarkisian said a "preliminary agreement" on his face-to-face talks with Azerbaijan's Ilham was reached during the co-chairs' tour of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone last month. "My expectations from the meeting are not big, but that meeting could take place this autumn," he told the Armenia TV station. The two presidents most recently met in May and June last year shortly after four-day deadly hostilities around Karabakh. They agreed to allow the OSCE to deploy more field observers in the conflict zone and investigate truce violations occurring there. The Azerbaijani government has since been reluctant to implement these safeguards, however, saying that they would cement the status quo in the absence of progress in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. The Armenian leadership insists, meanwhile, on an unconditional implementation of the confidence-building measures that were agreed by Aliyev and Sarkisian. Sarkisian claimed on July 16 that Baku is now refusing to seek a Karabakh settlement based on the so-called Madrid Principles that have been advanced by the mediating powers for the past decade. The proposed framework peace accord calls for a gradual resolution of the Karabakh dispute that would start with a gradual liberation of virtually all seven districts around Karabakh that were fully or partly occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in 1992-1993. In return, Karabakh's predominantly ethnic Armenian population would determine the territory's internationally recognized status in a future referendum. Government OKs Major Borrowing By Armenian Electric Utility . Tatevik Lazarian Armenia - A newly refurbished energy distribution facility in Gyumri, 13Sep2014. Armenia's government on Thursday allowed the national power distribution network to borrow $160 million from foreign banks for further cutting its losses and modernizing its aging facilities. The private owner of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) utility needed government permission to offer 70 percent of its stock as a collateral for the two equal loans to be provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank (ABA). Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet authorized the transaction on the condition that should the ENA default on the loan repayments the banks will not be able to sell the ENA shares to other investors without the Armenian authorities' consent. The Manila-based ABA announced the impeding disbursement of its $80 million credit to the ENA early this month. It said the money will help the company cut electricity distribution losses from around 10 percent in 2016 to around 8 percent by 2021. This will be achieved by "rehabilitating, reinforcing, and augmenting the distribution network, connecting new customers and introducing international standards of management and automated control system," the ABA said in a statement. The ENA had incurred mounting losses since 2010, despite repeated increases in electricity prices approved by Armenian state regulators. The company had $220 million in outstanding debts to Armenian power plants and commercial banks when it was acquired by the Tashir Group of the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian from Inter RAO, a state-run Russian energy giant, in October 2015. Karapetian pledged to make the troubled utility "much better under our management." The most recent electricity price hike announced by Armenia's Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) in June 2015 sparked two-week demonstrations in Yerevan. While defending the tariff rise, the government officials acknowledged that the power grids have been mismanaged by the Russians. Artak Manukian, a Yerevan-based economist, was skeptical about the rationale for the new loans sought by the ENA. He said that the loans could be misused because the company has been notorious for a lack of transparency. "But formally we have no grounds to prove that and have to accept for now the explanations presented by the company," Manukian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). U.S. Lawmaker Seeks IT Education Grant For Armenia U.S. -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, speaks during a discussion at the Washington Post office building, in Washington, June 7, 2017 A leading pro-Armenian U.S. congressman has called for multimillion-dollar U.S. funding for public schools in Armenia which would ultimately benefit the country's burgeoning information technology (IT) industry. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, said the U.S. government should allocate such assistance under its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program designed to foster reforms in developing nations. Armenia qualified for the aid scheme shortly after Washington launched it in 2006, receiving over $170 million for the rehabilitation of rural irrigation networks. The Armenian government tried in vain to secure more MCA funding after the irrigation upgrades were completed in 2011. Last year, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) started lobbying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency running the program, to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in Armenia with a grant worth at least $100 million. The advocacy group's chairman, Raffi Hamparian, said the money would "add new energy" to the Armenian IT sector, reduce poverty and strengthen U.S.-Armenian relations. Schiff, whose California constituency is home to the largest population of ethnic Armenians in the United States, voiced support for the ANCA efforts on Thursday. "I believe the time is right for a new [MCC] compact, focusing on STEM education to help Armenia take the next step towards sustainable economic growth and a growing middle class," an ANCA statement quoted him as saying. Schiff said that in recent weeks he spoken with ANCA leaders as well as Armenian Embassy officials in Washington about "how to move forward on this important project." "I look forward to continuing to work closely with all of the stakeholders to ensure Armenia receives every consideration," he added. Armenia - Students at the newly opened Gyumri branch of the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, 25May2015. (Photo courtesy of Tumo.org) IT is already the fastest-growing sector of the Armenian economy, having expanded by over 20 percent annually in the past decade. The sector employing about 15,000 people is dominated by local subsidiaries of several U.S. tech giants. Industry executives say a lack of skilled personnel has hampered an even more rapid growth. They have long complained about the inadequate professional level of many graduates of IT departments of Armenia universities. An Armenian IT association has been trying to address this problem with extracurricular robotics classes organized by it in more than 100 public schools across the country since 2008. The effort has attracted only limited financial assistance from local and foreign donors so far. Thousands of other Armenian schoolchildren are enrolled in Yerevan's Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, mainly studying computer programming, robotics and animation. The state-of-the-art center was founded by U.S.-Armenian philanthropist Sam Simonian in 2011 and has since opened several branches in other parts of the country. Press Review "Aravot" reacts to a scandalous revelation that the press secretaries of several Armenian government agencies discussed in a closed Facebook group the possibility of blacklisting some journalists disliked by them. The paper says that although relations between government spokespersons and reporters have never been perfect it is totally wrong to penalize the latter for critical reports about relevant government agencies. "A civil servant must stay away from such emotions and provide their services to all beneficiaries, regardless of their political views and their attitudes towards a particular agency and its head," it says in an editorial. "The spokespersons' talk of blacklists is disgraceful," Ashot Melikian, chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech, tells "Hraparak." "I think that if they have really done such a thing they must be held accountable. All of them. If they didn't like a particular report they should have exercised their right to respond [to a corresponding media outlet,] rather than have a grudge and draw up a so-called blacklist. I consider that unprofessional." Melikian also reminds those officials that under an Armenian freedom of information law they must answer journalists' questions within five days. "So these discriminatory attitudes towards media outlets are simply unacceptable and run counter to spokespersons' duties," he adds. "Hayots Ashkhar" criticizes the Armenian government's plans to cut the share of its spending on education in the country's Gross Domestic Product in the coming years. "We believe that such cost saving is extremely worrying," comments the paper. "International experience clearly proves that education spending cuts could be disastrous for any country # and that only rising human capital can guarantee future development. There can be nothing worse for Armenia's future than a reduction in education spending." (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Oscar Isaac in “The Promise”
By Dr. Eric Esrailian
The world has been fighting for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide for years. At a time when some global politicians are once again stoking the flames of populist nationalism, as a direct descendent of survivors, my fight to Keep the Promise and never stay silent has made me a canary in this coal mine.
For the last seven years, thanks to the support and encouragement of my late friend and mentor Kirk Kerkorian, I have been inspired to tell our story of the Armenian Genocide. Our greatest challenge was how to make this film relevant to my fellow Americans. Now, with the effects of the rising nationalism — not just in this country but around the world as well — our story couldn’t be more timely as it awaits its release. “The Promise” is not just a tale of tragedy. It also demonstrates love, hope, the plight of refugees, and the kindness of brave individuals helping those in danger. It is inspired by the testimonies of those who survived the horrific Genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
In fact, the term “genocide” was created by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in referencing the Armenian experience and the Holocaust. However, denialists and human rights abusers have created revisionist arguments to throw up a smokescreen and deny the application of the word to the very events that defined it. Let that sink in for a moment…or 102 years worth of moments. However, the narrative of the Armenian Genocide is not only about its 1.5 million victims or the hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Assyrians who were murdered. Just as important are the Genocide’s nearly half a million survivors, whose cautionary tales of targeted raids, suppressed rights, mass deportations, starvation, concentration and slave labor camps, and mass killings reverberated in places such as Germany, Bosnia, and Rwanda, and continue to echo today within the refugee camps of those now fleeing South Sudan, Myanmar, and Syria.
There are currently more than 65 million displaced people worldwide. Eleven million of these refugees are Syrian, making the Syrian Civil War the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. The world is now descending into fear of diversity. In many ways, today’s anti-immigrant, anti-refugee rhetoric of extreme nationalist politicians around the globe recalls the rhetoric utilized by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians. In both cases, systematic discrimination is rationalized within the context of war and the fear for national security. Silence, indifference, and denial of past atrocities only encourages and rewards this behavior. History has taught us that security and compassion are not diametrically opposed. In fact, one cannot exist without the other.
The Genocide is not a matter of historical debate. We all know it happened. The denialists know it as well as anyone else, and they have carefully wiped the crime scene down for 102 years. Offering descendants of victims an “opportunity” to relive their family’s pain through kangaroo courts is insulting and naive. Government recognition will help healing, but it will not bring back the dead or erase horrors etched on the hearts of every Armenian. False promises by politicians of both political parties have the eroded confidence of not just Armenian Americans, but that of educated observers from all backgrounds, with respect to the motivations behind people seeking elected office. We can start to change that perception by standing up for decency and the truth.
The horrific treatment of Native Americans and African Americans still has painful effects and repercussions today in our country. As Americans, we have a golden opportunity to own up to that history, instead of glossing over it, to avoid repeating the same mistakes. As “The Promise” demonstrates, it is through the lens of history’s darker periods that we can bear witness to the actions of our everyday heroes and the greatest values we espouse. Desmond Tutu once said: “We learn from history that we don’t learn from history!” The same patterns of genocide have occurred again and again: dehumanize a group of people, rationalize mistreatment towards them citing war and matters of security, and eventually, cleanse an entire population.
In 2017, the perpetrators of human rights violations, and the complicit denialists who fuel and support them, are not using lasers, robots, and instruments out of a science fiction film. They are using the same narratives, rationalizations, and sadly, barbaric tactics. Nazi Germany. Cambodia. Bosnia. Darfur. Rwanda. And now Syria. We will remain silent no longer. We must keep the promise to live on, tell their stories, lead by example and to stand up not just for ourselves — but for anyone whose rights are suppressed — until this vicious cycle of fear and inhumanity is broken.
For all of these reasons, I urge the President, his followers, and his opponents to see The Promise. No political party is blameless here, and everyone needs to look in the mirror. I have seen Republicans shout down refugees and journalists, and I have seen Democrats support a show called “The Young Turks” — named after the murderous masterminds of the Armenian Genocide. I urge them all to direct any emotions “The Promise” stirs towards healing divisions and protecting the marginalized. In this current political climate, our film is a warning for how a civilized nation can be driven by fear and rhetoric to commit unfathomable acts such as those committed against my ancestors by the Ottoman Empire. However, our film is much more than a glimpse into the dark period of the Genocide. It is a window into the humanity of our once marginalized culture and the spirit that remains in spite of persecution: survival, resilience, love, family, and charity. While we suffered greatly at the hands of some, we also benefitted from the kindness of others. In this way, what “The Promise” ultimately shows, is that despite all odds…the best parts of humanity still find a way to shine through.
(Dr. Eric Esrailian is a producer, known for the films “The Promise” and “Intent to Destroy.” He currently serves as the co-manager for production company Survival Pictures, and is a member of the faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. This commentary originally appeared on The Huffington Post.)
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Tuesday Aliev's journey from Warsaw to Istanbul by Analytical Service Turan Aliyev's tour began with a visit to Poland on June 26-28, and ended with a dinner with President Erdogan and a conversation with US Secretary of State, Tillerson, during an oil conference in Istanbul on July 9-10. In Poland, Aliyev actually announced a return to active pro-European politics, somewhat even in a defiant tone, which until quite recently could seriously disappoint Moscow. But today the information coming from various capitals: from super-power to the countries barely noticeable on world maps, show that the time of compromises between East and West begins to replace the era of the last years of confrontation in the space from Ukraine to Syria. Important geopolitical players in the South Caucasus, the United States and Russia, at the G-20 summit in Hamburg demonstrated to the whole world the convergence of positions in Ukraine and Syria, which are clear destabilizing factors of relations between the West and Russia. Perhaps the meeting between Trump and Putin was the most notable informal agenda for the summit, which, at the time of the settlement of an important geopolitical confrontation, unleashed a knot of issues - combating climate warming and a free trade zone. This key meeting, which satisfied both sides, creates prerequisites for reaching agreement on the South Caucasus, where the closer regional cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia with the European Union and the achievement of a compromise peace between the two belligerent states finding in the transaction between the Soviet past and the European future are important regional themes. Reports from Yerevan that Armenia is preparing to sign an agreement on a comprehensive and expanded partnership with the consent of the Kremlin suggest that the South Caucasus figured the US-Russian dialogue. This agreement may be called a compromise, since it excludes the wording on the goal of EU membership, but at the same time, it lays the platform for association with this interstate organization. The same agreement is being prepared with Azerbaijan, which, as always, is more restrained in the issue of reaching a deal with the EU. It is expected that both countries will sign agreements with the EU in November in Brussels at the summit of the "Eastern Partnership". The last established cooperation between the US and Russia creates real chances for this. It should also be taken into account that unlike Georgia, which always outstripped its Caucasian neighbors in the European integration, Armenia and Azerbaijan became members of various European unions and projects virtually simultaneously. This was the case with membership in the Council of Europe, Partnership for Peace, etc. Facts give grounds to say that both sides will conclude long-awaited agreements with the EU in November, which will raise the bar of relations to a new level of European integration. These issues, as shown by the brief official report on the meeting between Aliyev and Tillerson, were touched upon in Istanbul. The Secretary of State, who took part in the G20 summit on the eve of the meeting, and has information on Trump and Putin's agreements on a range of issues, could more confidently talk with Aliyev about the near future of his country's destiny, opening the corridor for maneuvers in the framework of the latest agreements between the presidents of the United States and Russia. The meager and veiled information of the Aliyev administration on his meeting with the Secretary of State, shows that the issue of Azerbaijan's development based on a stable transaction from authoritarianism to democracy was the key one. The silent reaction of the United States to the last year's referendum in Azerbaijan, which opened the way to intra-family continuity of power, is now being continued in the Azerbaijani-American dialogue and increasingly points to the fact that the issue of the 2018 elections with the planned castling of Ilham and Mehriban Aliyevs becomes more realistic . But this castling is closely tied to the commitment to reforms, of which 12 road economic maps and national human rights action plans, etc., of which Washington has been mildly reminiscent recently, are an integral part. We talked about Aliyev's visit to Poland and Turkey, but we do not know anything about his meetings between June 28 and July 8. However, However, his one-to-one dinner with Erdogan, which plays an important role in Azerbaijani affairs, shows that Aliyev was already ready by this time for a talk with Tillerson in the atmosphere of the warming the Turkish-American, American-Russian and Turkish-Russian relations. This mutual agreement between the important participants of the Caucasian process creates favorable conditions for the reform of Azerbaijan, stuck in the midst of the ups and downs of its 25-year post-Soviet autonomous existence. But, of course, the conversation between Aliyev and the Uzbek delegation was not about it.
PanARMENIAN.Net – Stepan Khalatyan, a musician who resides in the U.S. and has performed at the most prestigious concert halls all over the world, has been working as a concertmaster of one of the orchestras of the five companies of the Shen Yun Performing Arts, as well as the principal second violin of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra.
''In 2013 my friend Karen Khachatryan (trombone) told me about the Shen Yun Performing Arts in New York. It is an organization comprised of 5 companies which present Chinese art via dances and 3D animations, as well as with live performance of the orchestra throughout the world. In 2014 I took part in auditions and became the concertmaster of one of Shen Yun Performing Arts orchestras, as well as the principal second violin of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra. This is how I found myself in the United States," violinist says.
During the last 4 years, Khalatyan has performed at the best concert halls of 37 out of 51 U.S. states: Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Boston Symphony Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, etc. He gave concerts at prestigious halls in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina. The orchestra has performed 77 concerts in 4,5 months.
''There are many Armenian musicians working in other orchestras of the Shen Yun Performing Arts: Karen Khachatryan (trombone), Mher Mnatsakanyan (clarinet), Ashot Dumanyan and Arsen Ketikyan (violin), Tigran Voskanyan (double bass). Last year Vardan Hakobyan (conductor, double bass) joined us. I am very proud of such Armenian present in the Chinese orchestra. I hope that together we will be able to perform for the Armenian audience," he says.
Khalatyan has been playing violin since he was 6. His father Hakob Khalatyan is playing the kamancha and is also a painter, while his mother, Anna Khalatyan, is a cellist. He studied at Alexander Spendiaryan Music School (the class of Eduard Margaryan, then the class of Armen Jenterejyan). In 2004 he entered the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory – professor Shahen Shahinyan's class current rector of the Conservatory. He has got his master's degree here. Despite the age his professional biography is very rich. He performed at Martiros Saryan and Avetik Isahakyan House Museums as a part of a quartet. In 2006 Stepan performed (as part of the trio, quartet, quintet) with his father during a concert dedicated to the latter's 50th anniversary.
“In a deliberate provocation, Azerbaijani armed gang killed 3 soldiers of Karabakh Defense Army. Baku bears responsibility for further developments,” Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tigran Balayan tweeted on Saturday. Balayan’s comment came following the Azerbaijani ceasefire violations, resulting in killing of four Armenian soldiers since Friday evening.
To remind, on June 16, at around 18:05, the Azerbaijani forces broke the ceasefire regime across Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact applying rocket-propelled antitank grenade launchers, as a result of which 3 Karabakh Defense Army servicemen – Arayik Matinyan (b. 1997), Vigen Petrosyan (b. 1997) and Vardan Sargsyan (b. 1997) were fatally wounded.
In the morning of June 17, at around 09:40, the Azerbaijani forces undertook a fresh provocation at the northern direction of the contact line, killing another Artsakh Army soldier identified as Narek Tigran Gasparyan (b. 1997).
YEREVAN, June 12. /ARKA/. The press office of Artsakh (Karabakh) defense ministry says the reports periodically issued by Azerbaijan’s media that the Armenian army set territories near Bash, Karvend, Bayramlar and Kengerli settlements in Agdam region have nothing in common with the reality.
In its news release, the ministry calls this a primitive propagandistic trick aimed at deluding the local and international communities.
“More than that – crop-harvesting season have already completed in Azerbaijan and they burn their own areas under crops, and very often the flame goes to the neutral zone between Artsakh and Azerbaijani armed forces,” the defense ministry says. –0—-
By Fuad Muxtar-Aqbabali
Hardly a day goes by without shelling of Azerbaijani civilian targets and front line villages by Armenian occupying forces. The enemy resorts to similar provocations, especially when Azerbaijan plays host to international events.
The latest deterioration along the front line also overlapped with the start of the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games. Yerevan made an attempt to deteriorate the situation by advancing “Osa surface-to-air missile system of the Armenian air defense forces to a new position… to take control of the airspace,” the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a press release on 15 May 2017.
Funny enough, three days later, finally a statement by the OSCE Minsk Group came. “According to information collected from multiple reliable sources, on 15 May, Azerbaijani armed forces fired a missile across the Line of Contact, striking military equipment. On the evening of 16 May and continuing into 17 May, Armenian armed forces retaliated with mortar fire of various calibers. These actions by both sides represent significant violations of the ceasefire and are cause for alarm,” the statement read.
As usual, without denunciation of the aggressor and explaining the reasons why Azerbaijan destroyed the enemy’s military equipment, the group remained loyal to years-old style and expressed concern about the “violations of the ceasefire”.
The same group, however, failed to react to a statement by Maj-Gen Andranik Makaryan, commander of the Russian-Armenian combined group of forces, who threatened Azerbaijan with military actions if Baku goes to war to liberate the occupied Karabakh and surrounding seven adjacent districts.
Armenia as a red herring
For nearly two decades into the XXI century, the aggressor state of Armenia in the South Caucasus has been retaining about 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territories under occupation. Armenia was, is, and will undoubtedly be a powder keg in the whole Caucasus, distracting nations from cementing their deeply-cherished independence and sovereignty.
Unless official Yerevan is taught a bitter lesson, the aggression against Azerbaijani ancestral lands, for sure to go on endlessly, and no hopes that the junta regimes driven by ultra-nationalistic motives will give up preposterous claims on the neighbor’s internationally-recognized lands.
Yerevan’s belligerent policies remain an imminent threat not only to Azerbaijan but also to Georgia, another nation in the South Caucasus. Carrying similar threats for centuries and serving alien plans’ realization in the region, Armenia has also deteriorated own plight plagued by corruption, debts, economic and political dependency, the exodus of residents and internal tension.
The nation – home to Russian military bases – has so far failed to realize the dreadful and aggressive nature of its policies. It stubbornly refuses to end treacherous policies, and tries with the help of patrons and anti-Azerbaijani circles to deny the aggression. It both retains the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and serves malign forces’ far-reaching plans to keep the region in explosive and desperate situation.
Azerbaijan rightly refuses to reconcile itself with the status quo and is set to change it at any cost to end the unjust occupation. Armenia also serves interests of states who vehemently oppose Azerbaijan’s determination to safeguard hard-won independence, restore the territorial integrity to navigate through unseen and unpredictable obstacles in the region.
Armenia as well distracts Azerbaijan’s attention from strengthening own state institutions, investment in the national economy and building prosperous future for citizens. With the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and ignoring international laws, official Yerevan plays into hands of states driven by own plans and plots to keep the region in turmoil for years to come.
With the help of foreign pro-Armenian politicians and organizations, official Yerevan and the diaspora also hopelessly tried to block Azerbaijan’s oil and gas pipelines, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum railways project, designed both to be conducive to the regional and global economic development and to help Europe to diversify gas supplies away from Russia.
Carte blanche or challenge to Putin?
Deeply-polarized by almost two-decade rule of the rogue regimes and economic hardships, official Yerevan shows no signs of relinquishing aggressive policies against the neighbor and ceding Azerbaijani lands to bring about peace and harmony to the Caucasus. On the contrary, the corrupt and criminal regime paves the way for the possible fresh turmoils, becoming instrumental in further aggravation of the situation across the region.
Azerbaijan is in complete control of the situation along the entire perimeter of the front and has to step up pressure on the aggressor country through inflicting heavy casualties on it. Official Baku has to constantly apply political, economic, diplomatic, military leverage over Armenia to stifle any move for justification.
It is to no avail and useless to pin hopes on the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the long-drawn-out conflict. Azerbaijan has long endured the status quo and hoped that the international mediators will finally live up to the obligations and commitments though almost 30 years have been lost in the hope of triumph of justice.
Over this period, Armenia has been misappropriating neighboring Azerbaijan's our national resources, destroying historical monuments, mosques, erasing their identities through changing names of districts and villages.
Azerbaijan couldn’t and did not reconcile itself with the endless occupation. The April 2006 flare-up proved the might of the Azerbaijani army to act, and as the Azerbaijani Supreme Commander-in-Chief said “the Armenian armed forces need to draw a conclusion from the April fighting, or there will be more successful military operations, like Lala Tapa”.
Describing the April fighting as yet another historic victory, President Aliyev said that “the world witnessed that Azerbaijan will never tolerate Armenia’s occupying policy. We must restore our territorial integrity and we will. It’s our ancestral land. The Lala Tapa military operation is our symbol of heroism and it made a history…”
The aggressor itself has been hardly hit by the junta regime’s aggression against Azerbaijani lands. The unfounded military spending, political apathy, poverty, emigration and others have reduced this resource-poor country, built on our lands and funded for 70 years from Soviet budget, to the verge of collapse.
Judging by Armenia’s moves, official Yerevan has charted several scenarios out of the current situation.
Firstly, to let Russia cement its dominance over the country despite domestic discontent; secondly, to mobilize pro-Armenian forces across Europe and the USA to bring pressure on Azerbaijan. Fortunately, Donald Trump’s victory disillusioned the Armenian Diaspora and deprived it of the leverage.
Thirdly, Armenia seeks to get support of as many countries as possible to disappoint Azerbaijan, and encourage investment in the poverty-stricken country.
Hit hard by the on-going economic recession, the exodus of citizens, the loss of even symbolic independence, Armenia is making futile attempts to make a comeback after the devastating 2016 April defeat in the hands of the Azerbaijani army. Azerbaijan has been on full alert for threats coming from Armenia and works day and night to confront them, using all available resources.
Despite Azerbaijan’s persistent calls and UN resolutions, urging the aggressor state to unconditionally liberate the occupied lands, Yerevan beats about the bush. On the contrary, it plots fresh and appalling plans to cause blatant provocation against Azerbaijan. Another latest provocation of Armenia came to light when Azerbaijan arrested a number of military servicemen and civilians, who, it said, provided military secrets to the aggressor Armenia.
Another trick Armenia resorted to is to closely involve Moscow’s 102nd military base, stationed in Armenia’s northern city of Gyumri and part of the Southern Military District of the Russian armed forces, in its aggression against Azerbaijan. At the same time, under the 2016 interstate treaty, the military base has been subordinated to the Russian-Armenian combined group of forces.
Maj-Gen Andranik Makaryan, commander of the combined group of forces, bragged about the group’s readiness to neutralize a potential threat from Turkey. “If there is a threat from Turkey, we will throw ourselves in the enemy’s way. This is enshrined in the documents,” the general out of nowhere told a news conference.
Makaryan also claimed that the military group would be used against Azerbaijan if the latter goes to war to liberate occupied Karabakh and surrounding seven adjacent districts. Asked if Putin can ban their attack or not, the arrogant general was quoted as saying: “No, he can’t.”
This claim remains to be seen and tested.
Asbarez – Comedian Kev Orkian is so proud of his Armenian heritage, he’s on a mission to tell the world about his homeland and its talented people in an exciting new film‒Armenia Uncovered‒to be released in early 2018.
“The film, ‘The Promise’ tells the world about the Genocide and our history a century ago and it’s something we’ll never forget, but there’s another story waiting to be told and it’s about Armenia today!” said Kev. “I want to take viewers on a tour of our incredible country which was part of an ancient Armenian kingdom for thousands of years. We have such a dynamic culture, stunning scenery, a vibrant city nightlife, and the most generous and hospitable people on the planet and that needs to be told,” he added.
With an estimated 10 million Armenians in the diaspora and only a small percentage having visited Armenia, Kev wants to introduce his people to their homeland, by taking viewers on an hilarious ride across the country, to find out what makes Armenians so Armenian.
“We are one of the most fragmented populations on earth and we suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. I want to get to the bottom of some of the funny customs we engage in and show the world what a beautiful country we have and who knows, tourism could soon take off and that’s got to be great news for the people and the economy,” Kev said.
Kev will be joined on his travels by an extensive film crew as he meets taxi drivers, farmers, chefs, wine makers, pop stars, sport stars, super models, and an opera singer – you name it – if it’s good, Kev will uncover it.
“I want the world to know there’s a lot more to us than apricots and eyebrows,” he laughs.
“I’ve been told Armenia has more doctors per capita than any other country. We’re a highly skilled and educated nation with a booming IT industry and home to some of the smartest brains in the world. The MRI machine, the ATM machine and Colour TV are just some of the incredible inventions from Armenian minds and these stories need to be told,” he explained.
Kev has already interviewed several leading Amercian-Armenian artists like Sebu Simonian from the band Capital Cities, the hugely popular Tamar Kaprelian, and the legendary Armenchik.
“To hear these guys speak passionately about their homeland brought tears to my eyes,” Kev said.
But to appreciate everything great about Armenia today, according to Kev, viewers need to know about the country’s past.
“My great grandparents were killed in the Genocide and I don’t think any tourist should go to Armenia without visiting the Memorial and museum. I see this film as an awesome opportunity to continue to raise awareness for Genocide recognition around the world,” said Kev.
Another key story Kev wants to share, is that of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic.
“Besides Yerevan, we want to get out of the city and visit as many rural villages and towns as we can and if we’re lucky, we’d love to go all the way to Stepanakert – the most beautiful city in Artsakh,” he said.
A lot of work has already gone in to making the film and for the past year Kev has been busy producing a series of promo videos to raise awareness.
“One of the first promos we released online has reached over 1.3 million people, so I guess you could say there is definitely a huge interest out there,” Kev said.
Plans are now underway for Kev to return to Armenia in August to complete work on the film, with many Armenian celebrities and stories now confirmed.
To produce a world class documentary like this requires a lot of funding and Kev and his production team have made it to this point without any sponsorship.
“We wanted to make this film as independent and unbiased as possible and not fill it with unnecessary commercial content for the sake of it and for this reason we’ve decided to Crowd Fund it. Whatever we raise will go 100 per cent towards helping us cover the costs associated with flights, accommodation, film crews in America, England and Armenia and all of the expenses associated with editing, post production and promotion,” Kev said.