Author: Toneyan Mark

Opposition politician presents their answer to President Sarkissian’s proposal about meeting

Toneyan Mark

Opposition politician presents their answer to President Sarkissian's proposal about meeting

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 20:48, 11 March, 2021

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. Coordinator of Fatherland Salvation Movement Ishkahn Saghatelyan presented their answer to President Sarkissian's proposal of holding a meeting between political forces.

‘’The Movement reaffirms its roadmap for overcoming the crisis – resignation of the PM, establishment of an interim government and holding snap elections. We announce about our readiness to hold consultations in line with the mentioned format and the agenda presented by our force. The meetings must be held at the National Assembly endowed with a primary mandate, in a public format and live broadcasted’’, ARMENPRESS reports Saghatelyan saying at a press conference.

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian issued a statement on March 10 inviting PM Pashinyan, heads of parliamentary groups and Fatherland Salvation Movement (FSM) to hold a meeting at the Presidential Residence on March 13 to discuss the domestic political situation in the country and find mutually acceptable solutions for overcoming the crisis.

Ruling ''My step'' block and opposition ''Bright Armenia'' Party have already accepted the President's invitation. Opposition ''Prosperous Armenia'' Party has not expressed its decision on the proposal yet.




No secret that Turkey plays extremely destabilizing role in our region: Armenia FM

Toneyan Mark
Al Araboya, UAE

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian heavily criticized Turkey on Thursday, saying it was no secret that Ankara plays a destabilizing role in the region.

“Well, it's not a secret that Turkey played and continues to play extremely destabilizing role in our region. That role was vividly exposed during the recent 44 days of aggression unleased by Azerbaijan,” Aivazian told Al Arabiya in an interview.

“That country not only merely supported Azerbaijan but was directly involved in all military actions and phases of this aggression starting from planning to ground operations,” he added.

After six weeks of fighting late last year, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire for the enclave, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.

Turkey backs Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and has criticized the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)’s so-called Minsk Group for not resolving the long-running conflict in decades of mediation. The Minsk Group is led by the United States, France and Russia.

“Turkey, I would like to recall together with Azerbaijan on the threshold of the war, conducted a large-scale military drill with the involvement of Turkish Air Force. That country resorted to the now usual toolkit, if the expert of foreign terrorist fighters to our region for its power projection,” Aivazian said.

Aivazian warned that lessons must be learned from its experience of the Armenian genocide, which Turkey still refuses to acknowledge fully.

“160 years have passed since the Armenian genocide, yet Turkey continues to spearhead new atrocities against Armenia now in our region. And yet the South Caucasus is not the only target of Turkey,” he said.

(With background input from Reuters)

Watch the video interview at the link below

Asbarez: Hye Hopes Completes Phase 1 of Educational Programs for Displaced Youth from Artsakh

Toneyan Mark



Hye Hopes’ educational programs provides displaced students from Artsakh with the supplies and support needed to continue their education

YEREVAN—Hye Hopes, Inc., a nonprofit based in Burbank, California, was established in November of 2020 with the mission of providing equitable and sustainable learning resources along with teacher professional development and social emotional services for the forcibly displaced youth of Artsakh and Syunik Marz.  

Hye Hopes is pleased to announce the successful completion of its first phase in Kapan, the capital of the Syunik region on March 12 – with four classrooms serving students from 3rd through 10th grades in learning POD’s of 12 students with an eight week program.  The Hye Hopes initiative provided laptops, projectors, printers, and supplies to support the students with remote synchronized instruction by teachers from California and throughout the United States of America.  In addition to providing remote educational instruction and resources for the students, the Hye Hopes program provides training for our volunteer teachers as well as teachers in Armenia in areas of remote learning such as setting up Zoom, Google Classrooms and Mental Health.

Hye Hopes also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies with the aim of bringing Hye Hope’s educational content to satellite TUMO Box locations during school hours. “Our team is enthusiastic to ensure educational resources and innovative opportunities are delivered to students in the Syunik region and to collaborate with TUMO within the Syunik Marz,” said Greg Krikorian, Founder of Hye Hopes, Inc.

On his most recent trip to the Syunik Marz, Krikorian, visited over 20 schools in the cities of Kapan, Meghri, Goris, and Sisian in order to provide a needs assessment and help develop strategic areas for Hye Hopes to best continue supporting the Armenian youth. “Our teachers, staff, parents and students are grateful for Hye Hopes during challenging times for Armenia. Our students were eager and excited to work on the new laptops, which for many of them it is their first time working on Lenovo & HP Laptops,” stated Lusine Zarkaryan, Principal of N1 School in Kapan.

The Hye Hopes team is excited to begin the second phase of the project in Kapan. The eight week learning session will officially begin on March 23rd in the Kapan region. More funds are needed to continue and expand the Hye Hopes initiative. To donate or for more information please visit the website.

Vazgen Manukyan dubs charges brought against him as ‘ordinary political persecution’

Toneyan Mark
Panorama, Armenia
March 4 2021

The candidate for PM's post from opposition Homeland Salvation Movement Vazgen Manukyan believes the charges pressed against him constitute a political persecution. "This is an ordinary example of political persecution, nothing serious," Manukyan told reporters, leaving the Investigative Committee where he was interrogated. Manukyan informed he had refused to answer any questions asked by Committee officials.

Asked what remarks made during the February 20 rally might be amounted for public calls for seizing power and overthrowing constitutional order of the country, Manukyan, said it might refer to his statements about Plan A and Plan B of the opposition future actions. 

"I was instantly called to the Investigative Committee," said Manukyan. 

To remind, Vazgen Manukyan has been charged with alleged public calls for seizing the state power, overthrowing of constitutional order by force, and  violent breach of territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia punishable by  Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. 

Signature not to leave was chosen as a pretrial measure against him. Preliminary investigation is ongoing.

Robert Kocharyan says there are reasonable grounds to assume the Karabakh defeat was pre-planned

Toneyan Mark
Panorama, Armenia
March 4 2021

Armenia's former President Robert Kocharyan insists there are serious grounds to assume the defeat in the recent 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh was pre-planned by Armenian authorities. Kocharyan's remarks came during an interview with Russian media outlets held on Thursday in Yerevan.  

"Both during the war and especially after the military actions, seasonable suspicions arose concerning the actions of the authorities and the prime minister, personally," Kocharyan said, adding numerous questions about the war and its outcome remained unanswered. 

“Why on the third day of the war the mobilization, which implies the replenishment of the active armed forces, was stopped? Why didn’t the prime minister accept the Russian president’s proposal on October 19? Meanwhile, on the fourth day of the war, he already knew that the war would be lost. He had a written conclusion from the General Staff that the war that was being waged would definitely be lost. These are not just empty statements – this is a report on a crime that the prosecutor’s office and investigative bodies should deal with”, – Kocharyan named some of the unanswered questions. 

The former president also questioned the decision by Armenia's current leaders to remove number of experienced military commanders before the war. 

Aronian says he has to leave Armenia amid ‘broken promises’ by current authorities

Toneyan Mark
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 26 2021

GM Levon Aronian has announced his decision to leave Armenia and switch to the U.S. due to “broken promises” by the current authorities.

“Last year was very difficult for all of us – a pandemic, a war and in my case a personal misfortune and the state's absolute indifference to Armenian chess. I was faced with the choice between quitting the job I love and moving to a place where I would be appreciated,” the chess star wrote on Facebook.

“After waiting for the fulfillment of the promises of the incumbent authorities for more than a year, I realized that I had to make a breakthrough decision to leave my native country,” he said, stating every year of expecting change is a waste of time in his career.

“I am sincerely proud to have had the honor of significantly contributing to the greatest achievements of Armenian chess by winning three Olympic gold medals, gold at the World Chess Championships, two World Cups, as well as achieving a number of individual and team victories. I think it is clear that in chess it is not possible to achieve heights without a great deal of hard work and state support,” Aronian said, highlighting third President Serzh Sargsyan’s support to Armenian chess.

However, Aronian says Armenia’s new government turned away from chess in general and him personally.

“After the 2018 revolution, the new government promised to continue this line, but the promise was limited to a year of partial support, after which it stopped. During that time, new statesmen who were completely unaware of sports entered the chess arena and, attributing our success to them, began to establish themselves, even resorting to blackmail. They managed to divide the united chess family and turn the sector into chaos,” he said, adding all his efforts to stop the destructive decisions concerning chess failed.

The GM says he has received many attractive offers from various countries over years, including from the great U.S. philanthropist, chess lover Rex Sinquefield, who repeated his offer to move to the United States every year.

“I always justified my refusal by saying that what my country was doing was priceless for the development of chess and no material value could be compared to the respect that chess players enjoyed in Armenia.

“I would like to express my gratitude to respected Rex Sinquefield for still believing in me. Thanks also to Fabiano Caruana, America's strongest player, for supporting me and sharing my decision to be teammates. I am very grateful to my family, friends and all the people who know my principles and understand me,” he wrote.

Levon Aronian also assured that he remains strongly connected to his homeland and will continue to do everything possible for the country even from afar.

Thousands in Armenia demand PM quit over mishandling war with Azerbaijan

Toneyan Mark
Al Arabiya, UAE
Feb 20 2021
AFP

Thousands of protesters rallied in the capital of Armenia on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who they accuse of mishandling last year’s war with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan has resisted pressure to step down since November, when he signed a peace deal brokered by Russia that ended the six-week conflict with neighbor Azerbaijan.

In the deal, received with hostility in Armenia, Pashinyan ceded swathes of territory in and around the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region to end fighting that had claimed some 6,000 lives.

Demonstrators gathered Saturday on Freedom Square in the centre Yerevan under a heavy police presence shouting “Armenia without Nikol!” and “Nikol traitor,” an AFP journalist reported.

“Our dream is a mighty, powerful homeland and the sole obstacle that hampers the achievement of this goal is Nikol Pashinyan,” Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a leader of opposition Dashnaktsutyun party, told the crowd.

“We will not step back, we will get rid of Pashinyan,” he said.

In the 1990s, Armenian-backed separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan in a war for the mountainous province that left tens of thousands dead.

But in the latest conflict, which erupted in late September, Turkey backed Azerbaijan, although denying accusations from several sources that it had sent mercenaries to the frontlines.

Armenia’s ally Russia, although it refused to intervene militarily, brokered the ceasefire and has since deployed thousands of peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 02/18/2021

Toneyan Mark 
                                        Thursday, 

Former Yerevan Mayor Indicted


Armenia - Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian speaks at an election campaign rally in 
the city's Erebuni district, 21Apr2017.

A law-enforcement agency has brought criminal charges against Yerevan’s former 
Mayor Taron Markarian and three other former government officials.

The Investigative Committee claimed on Thursday that Markarian abused his had 
powers to sell three plots of municipal land to his cronies from in 2011-2014. 
The land belonging to public schools was privatized at knockdown prices, it said 
without specifying financial details of those deals.

In a statement, the committee said that two other former senior officials of 
Yerevan’s municipal administration as well as Arman Sahakian, a former head of 
the Armenian government’s Department of State Property Management, have been 
indicted as part of the same criminal case. It did not elaborate.

Markarian’s lawyer, Benik Galstian, was quick to laugh off the accusations, 
saying that his client regards them as a “farce.” He claimed investigators are 
illegally refusing to share with him all materials of the case and that he does 
not know “what exactly Mr. Markarian is accused of.”

In a Facebook post, Galstian also said that Markarian travelled to Moscow on 
February 7 for medical treatment and returned to Armenia on February 13 two days 
after being notified of his impending indictment.

Markarian, 42, served as Yerevan mayor from 2011-2018. Both he and Sahakian are 
senior members of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia 
(HHK).

Markarian’s late father Andranik was Armenia’s prime minister from 2000-2007. 
The latter headed the HHK until his sudden death in 2007.



Lawmaker Explains Decision To Leave Tsarukian’s Party

        • Gayane Saribekian

Armenia - Gevorg Petrosian attends a session of the Armenian parliament, May 25, 
2020.

Gevorg Petrosian, an outspoken opposition parliamentarian, said on Thursday that 
he decided to leave Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) because it 
has been too soft on the country’s government.

He claimed that although the BHK is part of an opposition alliance trying to 
oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian many of its senior members have not 
adequately participated in anti-government rallies held after the autumn war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“When I went [to opposition rallies] people shamed me, saying ‘Where is your 
party? Why is it not participating in this rally?’” Petrosian told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service.

“We are accused of being false opposition. I don’t want to be labeled false 
opposition,” he said.

The BHK is the sole member of the opposition alliance, called the Homeland 
Salvation Movement, represented in the parliament. The movement is scheduled to 
hold its next rally on Saturday. Tsarukian is expected to attend it. Like other 
opposition leaders, he has repeatedly demanded Pashinian’s resignation.

Petrosian complained that other senior BHK figures did not like his harsh 
anti-government rhetoric. He said they did not stand by him when a leading 
member of Pashinian’s My Step bloc demanded recently an end to his derogatory 
attacks on Pashinian and other senior officials.

Petrosian announced his decision to leave the BHK and remain in the parliament 
as an independent deputy on Tuesday.

The BHK spokeswoman, Iveta Tonoyan, said afterwards that the decision took her 
and her colleagues by surprise. She said that Petrosian did not discuss his 
grievances with them.

Petrosian’s exit reduced to 23 the number of seats controlled by Tsarukian’s 
party in the 132-member National Assembly.

The 48-year-old lawmaker has already had a turbulent relationship with the BHK 
leadership in the past. He left the party in 2010 but rejoined it five years 
later. He was expelled from the party ranks in 2016 only to be elected to the 
parliament on BHK ticket the following year.



Another Sarkisian Trial Defendant Dies

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian (R) and Agriculture Minister Sergo 
Karapetian (L) visit Armavir province, April 7, 2011.

An Armenian court on Thursday again adjourned a trial of former President Serzh 
Sarkisian following the death of another defendant.
Sergo Karapetian died early in the morning as a result of what the director of a 
Yerevan hospital described as “complications” caused by the coronavirus. The 
72-year-old had served as Armenia’s agriculture minister from 2010-2016 during 
Sarkisian’s rule.

Karapetian’s former deputy and another trial defendant, Samvel Galstian, died 
from COVID-19 one month ago.

Sarkisian, Karapetian, Galstian and two other men went on trial on corruption 
charges one year ago.

Sarkisian stands accused of giving privileged treatment in 2013 to his longtime 
friend and businessman Barsegh Barseghian which allegedly cost the state over $1 
million in losses. According to prosecutors, he made sure that a government 
tender for supplies of subsidized diesel fuel to farmers is won by Barseghian’s 
Flash company, rather than another fuel importer that offered a lower price.

The ex-president rejects the accusations as politically motivated. They are 
reportedly based on Karapetian’s incriminating pre-trial testimony against him.

The former minister was jeered by Sarkisian supporters who gathered outside the 
court building at the start of the trial in February 2020. He repeatedly refused 
to talk to reporters about the high-profile case.

The judge presiding over the trial has held few hearings on the case over the 
past year due to the frequent absence of defendants and their lawyers.

Sarkisian, who ruled the country from 2008-2018, remains the chairman of the 
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). HHK representatives have said he was indicted 
in December 2019 in retaliation for his public criticism of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian. Law-enforcement officials and Pashinian’s political allies have 
denied that.

Pashinian has repeatedly implicated Sarkisian, his family and political 
entourage in corruption both before and after coming to power in 2018.



Prosecutors Seek To Criminalize Defamation Of Armenian Officials

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- Riot police guard the entrance to the Office of the 
Prosecutor-General during an anti-government protest in Yerevan, January 28, 
2021.

In a move condemned by press freedom groups, Armenian prosecutors have drafted 
legislation that would make defamation of government, law-enforcement and other 
state officials a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

All forms of defamation were decriminalized in Armenia in 2010 during the rule 
of former President Serzh Sarkisian. The move was recommended by the Council of 
Europe.

A bill circulated by the Office of the Prosecutor-General and posted on a 
government website on Wednesday says that slander and insults directed at state 
officials performing their duties have become commonplace and must be 
criminalized. It says that individuals making slanderous claims through mass 
media or other public channels must face up to two years’ imprisonment and heavy 
fines.

Armenia’s leading media organizations expressed serious concern over the bill on 
Thursday, saying that it could be used by the authorities as a “tool” against 
legitimate criticism. In a joint statement, they described it as a “logical 
continuation” of recent legislative measures aimed at restricting press freedom 
in the country.

The statement pointed to the Armenian parliament’s decision last week to approve 
a fivefold increase in maximum legal fines set for defamation as well as 
pro-government lawmakers’ separate proposal to make it harder for journalists to 
use anonymous sources.

“We are expressing our disappointment with the fact that the authorities formed 
as a result of the 2018 revolution are planning unacceptable restrictions on the 
freedom of expression,” stated the 11 organizations.

“We do not want at all to defend slanderers and offenders,” they said. “But we 
find it necessary to remind that representatives of the authorities, officials 
and public figures must show utmost tolerance towards any criticism.”

The prosecutors’ initiative has been effectively endorsed by the Armenian 
Ministry of Justice. But it is not yet clear whether Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s government will back the proposed criminalization of defamation.

Some parliamentarians affiliated with Pashinian’s My Step bloc said last week 
that they would hail such a measure.

Daniel Ioannisian of the Union of Informed Citizens also criticized the 
prosecutors’ bill on Thursday, saying that it could result in media censorship.

“You will definitely find no European or democratic country that makes it a 
crime to insult or slander authorities but not [ordinary] citizens,” Ioannisian 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

“True, there are countries, including democratic ones, where defamation is a 
criminal offense … But there is no [democratic] country where insulting 
authorities is deemed a crime but insulting citizens is not,” he said.

Ioannisian said the authorities should tackle instead the spread of false 
information by anonymous or fake social media accounts.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia reports 206 new COVID-19 cases in one day

Toneyan Mark

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 11:00,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. 206 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 169,597, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

128 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 161,476.

5 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 3155.

3431 tests were conducted in the past one day.

The number of active cases is 4173.

The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 793 (1 new such case).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Opposition MP to file complaint over hate speech targeting Armenians in street interview

Toneyan Mark
Jan 12 2021
By SCF


– Stockholm Center for Freedom

An opposition lawmaker has announced that he will file a complaint against a woman who said in a street interview conducted in Turkey that she would kill 20 Armenians if she knew she wouldn’t be punished for it, Turkish Minute reported on Friday.

In the interview, conducted by the “Denizli Mikrofon” YouTube channel, random people on the street were asked what would they do if they knew they wouldn’t be punished for it.

A woman answered: “I would cut off the heads of 20 Armenians. Yes, and I wouldn’t feel bad about it.”

The interviewer then asked where she was from, to which the woman said she was from Azerbaijan.

Sharing the video of the interview on Twitter, Garo Paylan, a member of parliament of Armenian descent from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said on Thursday he was filing a criminal complaint against the woman for using hate speech targeting Armenians.

The video began circulating on social media after the six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region that killed thousands before it ended on Nov. 10, 2020, with a ceasefire brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The deal allowed Azerbaijan to keep significant territory it had captured and required Armenia to hand over other areas, but left the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, under Armenian control, protected by Russian peacekeepers.

Paylan has warned multiple times against hate speech and war propaganda targeting the Armenian minority in Turkey, which he thought were intentionally being escalated the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been vocal in his diplomatic support for Azerbaijan.

Although there are some news reports suggesting that Turkish officers played a key part in guiding drone attacks, which played a decisive role in the conflict, that has been denied by Ankara, the BBC said in a report.

In the early days of the Azerbaijan-Armenian clashes in September, the lawmaker had also called on the AKP to “put an end to the politics of hate” after an “AKP provocation to allow for a demonstration on the street where the Armenian Patriarchate is located.”

“I call on the government to take the necessary measures for our patriarchate and [Armenian] institutions. The result of hate speech is hate crime,” the deputy warned at the time.

Armenians were the most targeted minority group in terms of hate speech in the Turkish media in 2019, a report by the Hrant Dink Foundation revealed. Armenians were targeted 803 times, out of 5,515 incidents of hate speech in local and national media, in 2019, according to the report, titled “Media Watch on Hate Speech.”