09:09, 8 November, 2020
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has announced that the defenders of the Homeland are standing until the end in the ongoing fight for life or death.
“Dear compatriots, I met one of the most difficult daybreaks of my life at the Revival Square in Stepanakert. We stand with the defenders of our Homeland until the end. The fight for life or death continues”, the President said on Facebook.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Diana Muir Appelbaum published the article “Turkey, Past and Future: Islamic Supremacy Alive and Well in Ankara” in 2013. I read this in August 2020 and said to a group of friends that the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was pursuing an expansion of the borders of his country.
In a wide narrative arc, Appelbaum explained everything from the treatment of the dhimmis to the invasion of Cyprus. In her piece, one could find prescient hints of what was going to happen to Hagia Sophia, which Erdoğan converted into a mosque last June. One is left with the feeling that the analysis serves as a predictor of Turkish policy, I warned. In the time-honored tradition of past and present dictators and autocrats, Erdoğan means what he says, I cautioned.
Three months ago, I ventured so far as to say, he is after a land grab, gambling on a massive redrawing of maps. That causes me a lot of concern; but history also teaches that those gambles often backfire.
This was the key passage in Appelbaum’s 2013 essay: “Since its foundation in 1923, Turkey has repeatedly enacted in policy, military conquest, and law the supersessionist conviction that as Muslims and Turks, the citizens of the republic were endowed with special rights to expand their territory by any means available, forcibly assimilate conquered peoples, eliminate non-Muslim populations, and erase pre-Muslim history.”
Based on these premises, we may draw the following observations:
This piece is part of the Voices on Karabakh collection where a select group of scholars, intellectuals, and artists contribute observations on the war in and for Karabakh. It's an attempt to make sense of this time and this region.
11:08, 6 November, 2020
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Two explosions were heard in Stepanakert City at 11:10, ARMENPRESS correspondent reported from the capital of Artsakh.
The air raid sirens are activated.
Stepanakert and Shushi were under intense Azeri bombardment overnight November 5-6 also.
11:20 – More explosions heard
12:06 – Azerbaijan uses cluster munitions to bombard Stepanakert. The Azeri forces are striking residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
12:42 – Air raid sirens again activated, three explosions heard
12:54 – Multiple explosions heard
13:00- Air raid sirens off
13:40- Several explosions again heard
15:30- Air raid sirens again ativated, a distant sound of explosion heard.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
New York, Nov. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — “Professor Samuel Train Dutton, Secretary of the Committee on Armenian Atrocities, made public yesterday a preliminary statement of the committee outlining the result of its investigation of the terrible conditions existing among the Armenians.”
This is the first sentence in a New York Times article published on September 27, 1915, reflecting a time when journalism and integrity went hand in hand; a time when the Armenians living as a minority in the Ottoman Empire desperately needed allies to amplify their voice and expose to the world the unimaginable horrors of beheadings, killings and ethnic cleansings at the hand of the Ottoman Turks. The New York Times, a revered and trusted source of information, objective analysis and dissemination of truth, was unafraid to tell the world of these heinous acts perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks during the Armenian Genocide.
Where is that same commitment to accurate reporting now, when 105 years from the exact date of this article’s publication, Azerbaijan launched a calculated, strategically engineered attack on Armenians living in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh? With ample proof and peer journalists reporting evidence of coordination and collaboration between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the purchase of weapons from multiple other parties in advance and the hiring of jihadist mercenaries from Syria, the New York Times instead decided to paint a picture almost exclusively from the unsubstantiated lens of the perpetrators, lacking any investigative support or objective analysis.
In multiple reports from New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall, who has been head of your bureau in Istanbul, Turkey for years, the pattern of victim blaming and glazing over important parts of the accurate narrative has not gone unnoticed by your loyal readership. Curiously, not a single letter in response to any of Gall’s articles has been made public.
By stating that the Armenian government “accused” Azerbaijan of mounting a planned offensive, Gall omits a critical fact: it has been categorically verified that Azerbaijan started this war. The coverage states that “both sides were poised and ready for more by September,” failing to mention that Azerbaijan and Turkey stocked up on arms and brought in mercenaries from Syria weeks and months before its attack. This does not square with the assertion that both sides were prepared. Furthermore, stating that this war “threatens to draw in Turkey,” blatantly ignores, again, factual evidence that Turkey is not “drawn in,” but rather is driving this war.
The list of other unsubstantiated claims is long and cumulatively crafts a narrative in which an independent republic of 150,000 Armenians backed by a nation of three million would actively choose to ignite a war with a country of 10 million backed by a country of 85 million that also happens to be a NATO member. The logic is simply lacking with this chronicle.
To be sure, war is an ugly affair, with casualties on both sides. The truth, which only has one side, shouldn’t be one of them.
On behalf of the world’s largest Armenian non-profit organization with over a century of experience working to uplift the lives of Armenian people everywhere, we demand better from the New York Times. Equally important, your readers deserve better and many – Armenian or not – have been poorly served by this consistent lack of investigative journalism that is necessary to distinguish fact from strategically designed disinformation.
If the New York Times is committed to reporting the unvarnished reality as it did 105 years ago, we invite you to travel to Armenia for an extended period and embed a journalist in Nagorno Karabakh as you have in Azerbaijan. Report the truth from the front line, not only from the perspective of someone who, despite her impressive career as a war journalist, is only reporting what she sees from a distance.
As Americans, as Armenians, and as readers who value principled reporting, we expect a more thorough and accurate approach to covering this crisis in a very important region of the world. Restore the integrity of the New York Times before your credibility and reputation are tarnished beyond repair.
Armenians of Artsakh want peace, Armenia international Henrikh Mkhitaryan said in a Twitter post and called for recognition of Artsakh.
“In light of the increased escalation of the conflict, as well as the continued targeting of innocent Armenian civilians and threat to their physical annihilation, we call on the international community to recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh and its right for self-determination,” Mkhitaryan wrote.
YEREVAN, October 31. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s armed forces used white phosphorus munitions prohibited by the Geneva Conventions in Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday morning, the Armenian government’s United Information Center reported.
"In the morning, hostilities resumed in the northeastern, southern and southeastern directions. The enemy continues to attack peaceful settlements and civilian infrastructure. The enemy used weapons containing chemical elements (white phosphorus) prohibited by the Geneva Conventions," it said citing a statement by the Defense Army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, announced on Tuesday that she has begun military training and will soon join the Armenian forces fighting against Azerbaijan in the highly-contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
In a post shared on Facebook, 42-year-old Hakobyan said that a 13-member women’s squad, including herself, will soon begin military training exercises, AFP reported.
“In a few days we will depart to assist with the protection of our borders,” the post read. “Neither our homeland nor our dignity will be surrendered to the enemy.”
This will be her second military training course since the resurgence of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Just last month, Hakobyan and a group of women from Karabakh underwent a seven-day combat training course at a military base, where they learnt how to use arms and ammunition, AFP reported.
The most recent outburst of fighting between the two warring nations broke out in September, and has killed more than a thousand people so far. Three ceasefire agreements, attempted separately by Russia and the United States, have failed to take affect as tensions continue to escalate in the region.
Earlier this month, Hakobyan, the chief editor of the Armenian Times newspaper, sent a letter to the First Ladies of the US, Canda, France, Brazil, Lebanon, Singapore, Lithuania, Argentina and Vietnam, urging them to “recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, the civilian population of which is being attacked by Azerbaijan”.
Her 20-year-old son Ashot Pashinyan has also volunteered to fight against Azeri forces in Karabakh, AFP reported.
21:44,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia reaffirms that the introduction of the international verification mechanisms has no alternative, ARMENPRESS reports, reads the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.
''Today the Ministry of Defense of Armenia emphasized that the statement issued by Azerbaijan on the missile attack from the territory of Armenia in the direction of the Barda region of Azerbaijan is a blatant lie. Neither the armed forces of Armenia nor the defense army of Artsakh launched any missile in the mentioned direction.
It has been a month since Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale war against the people of Artsakh. Throughout this period Azerbaijan falsely accused the Armenian sides of violating ceasefire to avoid responsibility for failing to comply with the ceasefire agreements reached through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
Today was no exception: the Azerbaijani side shelled with cluster munitions Nngi village of Martuni region in Artsakh, where many civilians, temporarily displaced from a number of other communities, took refuge. The attack resulted in destruction and casualties among the civilian population.
At the same time, the Azerbaijani side has disseminated fake news about the missile attack in the direction of Barda region.
This is yet another cheap provocation by the Azerbaijani side which attests to the fact that there is no alternative to the introduction of the international verification mechanisms. Notably, Azerbaijan persistently rejects the introduction of such mechanisms''.
By Lika Zakaryan, Stepanakert
The third humanitarian ceasefire was as useless as the previous two. The only difference is that this time no one was surprised. Since there is no truce and the war continues, I asked my dad to bring me backgammon. Now, in my bomb shelter, you can hear not only the sounds of bombs, but also the sounds of the backgammon pieces, which sometimes drown out everything else. I remember spending a whole winter in Roots cafe playing this game, just like grandparents.
People in Artsakh love backgammon. When the weather is good, you can see elderly war veterans playing board games in the yard. I even have photos of them, I wanted to make a series about this. Usually, two sit in front of each other – the main characters, and three or four men stand side by side and watch the game. Everyone comments, “Oh, why did you make this move? Eh! You will lose!"
Today, I had to walk from point A to point B. The road was 15 to 20 minutes, but it seemed like a whole day. I think I have a phobia of walking around the city. It felt like something would fall on my head any minute. Every three meters I had a plan B in my head. If the bombing starts right now – where would I hide? I looked for basements, all sorts of open doors, anything, just not to hide from cluster bombs or a drone. I think I got 15-20 more gray hairs on my head in those minutes. To be honest, I was no longer afraid of death, but of my boyfriend, who, in case I stay alive, would settle scores with me because I didn’t heed his warnings and went out into the city, without a car, without a bulletproof vest, without a helmet.
Today I found little kittens in our yard. They were born recently, I couldn’t find their mother. I took them to our yard, introduced them to our dog Bima. Bima is very kind, he will not offend them. We fed them, and came up with a small place for them. In the evening I called my dad so that he would not forget to feed them. Now I am calm, because dad and Bima are looking after them.
And today, I also found an open store… I just can't believe it! And in the store I found sour cream. In peacetime, I did not eat very much, and did not want to gain weight. Now, it's like a New Year's tangerine. I bought two. Although a few days ago a friend had sent me some from Yerevan. Today’s brand is "Mu-Mu"; this is produced in Artsakh.
Then I came to the shelter. I am sitting, thinking about writing something. Received a message. Again. One of the workers I worked with in Martuni was killed. He was killed while working. He was not a military man, just a civilian. And there was a family, children… Any loss is hard, but the loss of friends makes you feel everything on your skin. How many people do we lose every day…
Summing up today's results, I want to say, to be honest, all this is very scary. But we cannot afford such luxuries as crying, being afraid… We ourselves decide what to do with this fear. Once in the film "Divergent" I heard the phrase that the main character says to the heroine: "Fear does not paralyze you, it wakes you up!" Now I dream to be the same.
By Michael Krikorian
“What ‘cease’? says Gevorg Haroyan, a CIVILNET photojournalist, with a very rudimentary knowledge of English, allowed to go to one of the fronts of the war here. “Only fire.”
As he stood Monday afternoon on a ridge overlooking a valley a few kilometers from the embattled town of Martuni, Haroyan and a team of journalists from seven countries, accompanied by several soldiers, watched and sensed / experienced as explosions of varying significance detonated, some outgoing, some incoming.
Another ceasefire had ceased.
At 8:00 am, local time, Monday, October 26, a ceasefire between Armenians and the attacking Azerbaijani forces was to go into effect throughout Karabakh, which has been a war zone for a month. The ceasefire had been announced the day before with much fanfare. Even the heretofore-silent American President Donald Trump publicly referred to it in a campaign rally.
But, this ceasefire hadn’t even officially begun when, inexplicably, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan accused the Armenian forces of “grossly” violating the agreement. How does one violate an agreement before it starts, social media asked. The Azeris quickly deleted this statement, but it did not help their credibility and supported skepticism about their commitment to a ceasefire.
Shortly after the 8:00 am start time, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh announced that the Army was strictly adhering to the agreement.
By early afternoon, this was all a moot point as the artillery shells were heard throughout the region.
The van carrying the journalists was forced to continue traveling by soldiers and came to a stop near an abandoned store. From near a 20-foot wide crater in the adjoining field. A single German shepherd appeared and curled up against a twisted metal fence. Whenever an explosion was heard, the solders went quiet, the journalists worried and the dog yelped loudly, then put his head back down.
A crusty, silver-haired man about 65 years old with a Kalashnikov slung across his back walked by the group. He smiled at one journalist and said something unrepeatable about the other side in this war, and walked down the road.
Another Kalashnikov carrying man, this one 34, overhears the older guy’s comments and laughs. He is a history teacher in peacetime, but since September 27, he has been in battle. He looks forward to the day he can return to the classroom and teach his students about this particular bit of history. He says he will teach this chapter “with a lot of pride.”
Michael Krikorian is a writer from Los Angeles. He was previously a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and for the Fresno Bee. He writes under the pseudonym "Jimmy Dolan" for the Mozza Tribune. His website is www.KrikorianWrites.com and his first novel is called "Southside".