Author: Zhanna Nahapetian

The government of Azerbaijan supports the "activists" who blocked Lachin corridor. Human Rights Watch

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 21:04, 22 February 2023

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch has published an article depicting the humanitarian crisis created in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blocking of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan.

ARMENPRESS reports, the publication reminds that from December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world, as a result of which the Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh found themselves in a difficult situation.

40-year-old Armine, who lives with her family in Nagorno-Karabakh, told Human Rights Watch that her husband lost his job as a taxi driver due to lack of fuel, and now she is the sole breadwinner of the family. And the 12- and 14-year-old children only recently returned to school when the school was heated with wood stoves. However, some schools remain closed due to lack of heating. Food is becoming scarcer, not affordable as prices have skyrocketed. Armine said that she waited two hours even in cold weather to buy eggs.

Armine plans her day around power outages. During the few hours when there is electricity, she has to cook and do housework, heat the children's room and help them with their homework.

Human Rights Watch emphasized that Armine's story is not an exception. The blockade of the Lachin Corridor has disrupted access to essential goods and services for thousands of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many remained in Armenia and cannot return to their homes.

It is noted that the authorities of Azerbaijan deny that they are responsible for the closure of the road, but support the rallies.

The disruption of the Lachin Corridor is creating a humanitarian crisis as many needs remain unmet. The publication of Human Rights Watch presents the difficult situation with a concrete example. Armine's father is sick with cancer and has to travel regularly from the village to Stepanakert, but due to lack of fuel and transport, he missed his last medical visits.

"Azerbaijani authorities and Russian peacekeeping forces must ensure that the protests do not deprive Armine and other residents of Nagorno-Karabakh of their rights, including access to healthcare, basic services and goods, as well as the right to free movement," the publication emphasizes.

International Court of Justice rules that Azerbaijan must open Lachin Corridor

Zhanna Nahapetian
February 22, 2023 Lillian Avedian News 0

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the UN, delivers its Order (by video link) in the case concerning Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) on 22 February 2023, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court. Session held under the presidency of Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court. (Photo: UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Wiebe Kiestra. Courtesy of the ICJ.)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Azerbaijan must guarantee free movement along the Lachin Corridor. 

The Lachin Corridor has been closed since December 12, placing Artsakh under blockade. The corridor, the sole route connecting Artsakh with Armenia, has been blocked by Azerbaijani activists supported by their government. Armenia sent a request to the ICJ on December 28 for provisional measures ordering Azerbaijan to reopen the corridor. 

In its final ruling on February 22, the United Nations court observed that “since 12 December 2022, the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia via the Lachin Corridor has been disrupted.” The ICJ ruled that Azerbaijan must “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” 

“The disruption on the Lachin Corridor has impeded the transfer of persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin hospitalized in Nagorno-Karabakh to medical facilities in Armenia for urgent medical care. The evidence also indicates that there have been hindrances to the importation into Nagorno-Karabakh of essential goods, causing shortages of food, medicine and other life-saving medical supplies,” the decision reads. 

Members of the Delegation of Armenia (Photo: UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Wiebe Kiestra. Courtesy of the ICJ.)

Armenia had also requested that Azerbaijan “cease its orchestration and support of the alleged ‘protests’ blocking uninterrupted free movement along the Lachin Corridor in both directions” and “immediately fully restore and refrain from disrupting or impeding the provision of natural gas and other public utilities to Nagorno-Karabakh.” The ICJ rejected those provisional measures. 

The ICJ also rejected a request for provisional measures ordering Armenia to halt any efforts to plant mines in territories that came under Azerbaijani control at the end of the 2020 Artsakh War, including “the use of the Lachin Corridor for this purpose.” Azerbaijan requested that Armenia provide information about the quantity and location of landmines and booby traps and allow Azerbaijan to demine these territories.  

Azerbaijan presented a similar request to the ICJ in December 2021. The ICJ rejected that request on the grounds that it did not have enough evidence that Armenia’s alleged conduct violated the rights of Azerbaijani people under international law. It rejected the new request made by Azerbaijan on January 4, 2023 on the same grounds. 

Armenia argued in the Hague court that it lay mines exclusively within its border for self-defense purposes. It said that booby traps had been found “within the old Lachin Corridor,” which came under Azerbaijani control after its route was changed in September 2022. 

In the weeks before closing the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijani authorities accused Armenia of using the route to conduct prohibited activities. On November 24, 2022, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that Armenia buried mines in Artsakh transported along the Lachin Corridor.

“The corridor is not being used for its intended purpose, and this must be stopped,” Bayramov told reporters, warning that Azerbaijan “will take all necessary steps.”  

The closure of the Lachin Corridor, which surpassed 70 days this week, has created a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh. The daily import of about 400 tons of basic goods from Armenia has stopped, leading to a critical shortage of food and medicine. Artsakh residents have been using government-issued coupons to purchase sugar, rice, buckwheat, pasta, oil, fruits, vegetables, eggs and laundry detergent, as part of the authorities’ effort to conserve remaining supplies. 

The gas and electricity supply to Artsakh have also been periodically disrupted throughout the course of the blockade, which Artsakh authorities blame on Azerbaijan. Families have been unable to heat their homes amid freezing winter temperatures. The government has distributed wood burning stoves to 700 families as an alternative. 

It has also been difficult to heat hospitals properly due to the gas and electricity disruptions. At least 700 people have been unable to receive medical treatment due to the temporary suspension of all surgeries. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has transported over 100 patients to Armenia for medical procedures. 

Azerbaijani authorities continue to insist that the Lachin Corridor is unblocked, since the ICRC and Russian peacekeepers have been able to use the route. 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that checkpoints should be established along the Lachin Corridor as well as along a route connecting Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhichevan through Armenia. He proposed the idea during a trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference on February 18. 

“Checkpoints should be established at both ends of the Zangezur corridor and the border between the Lachin district and Armenia,” Aliyev told reporters. 

Under the trilateral ceasefire agreement ending the 2020 Artsakh War, Azerbaijan guaranteed “traffic safety along the Lachin Corridor of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions.” The ceasefire agreement also commits Armenia to providing a transport link between Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic. The route should allow for “unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions.”

Aliyev has drawn parallels between the Lachin Corridor and the route to Nakhichevan, which he calls the “Zangezur Corridor.” He has said that the route should operate free of passport and customs controls. Armenian authorities have called a corridor without Armenian presence a “red line,” insisting that the route must respect the sovereignty of Armenia’s borders. 

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan rejected Aliyev’s call for checkpoints along the Lachin Corridor. He said that the principles regulating the Lachin Corridor were fixed by the ceasefire agreement. 

“The renegotiation of the regulations of the Lachin Corridor, by the way again as a result of use of force, is not and can not be an acceptable solution for us,” Mirzoyan told reporters on February 22. 

Armenian authorities have said that one of the motivations behind Azerbaijan’s closure of the Lachin Corridor is to pressure Armenia to agree to the “Zangezur Corridor.”

Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, said that the blockade is within Azerbaijan’s “so-called corridor logic.” “Naturally, that’s what all this pressure in Lachin is about,” Grigoryan said.

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Lillian Avedian is a staff writer for the Armenian Weekly. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq and the Daily Californian. She is pursuing master’s degrees in journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University. A human rights journalist and feminist poet, Lillian's first poetry collection Journey to Tatev was released with Girls on Key Press in spring of 2021.


Speaker Simonyan, Ambassador Chang Hojin attach importance to opening South Korean embassy in Armenia

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 14:13,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan held a meeting with the new Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Armenia Chang Hojin.

Speaker Simonyan congratulated the South Korean Ambassador on assuming office and said that the development of cooperation with countries of East Asia, including with Korea, is highlighted in the Armenian foreign policy agenda, the parliament’s press service said in a read-out.

The role of the friendship groups was highlighted in the parliamentary format in the relations of the two countries.

A discussion took place around the development and strengthening of bilateral relations between Armenia and Korea, with both sides expressing desire to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in a number of sectors. In this context, the Speaker and the Ambassador attached importance to opening the Embassy of Korea in Armenia, which will allow to ensure big progress in the Armenian-Korean relations.

Speaking about the Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia’s territorial integrity and the blockade against the Armenians of Artsakh, the Speaker of Parliament appreciated Korea’s balanced position in the NK issue.

Asbarez: More Armenian Landmarks Damaged in Latest Earthquake

Zhanna Nahapetian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Latest, News, Top Stories

The St. Mary's Church in Kessab, Syria sustained more damage after Feb. 20 earthquake


Still reeling from the February 6 earthquake, the residents of southern Turkey and northern Syria were rattled on Monday by another earthquake measuring 6.4 on the richter scale. This latest tremor has caused more damage to Armenian landmarks in both Turkey and Syria, local officials reported.

The Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul reported that St. Mary’s Armenian Church in Vakifli, a predominantly Armenian-populated village, was damaged in Monday’s earthquake.

The St. Mary’s Church in Vakifly, an Armenian-populated village in Turkey

The patriarchate said the church suffered damages to its bell tower and walls. No fatalities were reported in the village, however, a number of buildings collapsed.

Turkey’s emergency services reported that the 6.4 tremor occurred at 8:04 local time and was followed by a 5.8 quake three minutes later.

The Aleppo-based Kantsasar newspaper reported that the St. Mary’s Church in the predominantly Armenian-populated city of Kessab sustained more damage. That church was affected by the February 6 earthquake.

Kantsasar reported that residents in nearby apartment buildings fled their homes and took shelter at the Armenian center.

The California Courier Online, February 23, 2023

Zhanna Nahapetian

The California
Courier Online, February 23, 2023

 

1-         Earthquake
Damage and Corruption

            Are
Intertwined in Erdogan’s Turkey

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

           
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2-         Armenia sent about $400,000 worth of aid to Turkey and Syria

3-         Azerbaijan, Turkey
citizens buy apartments, houses in Armenia

4-         Armenian
Community, Beverly Hills
City Officials

            Discuss
Anti-Armenian Hate Incident

5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against
COVID-19

************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

1-         Earthquake
Damage and Corruption

            Are
Intertwined in Erdogan’s Turkey

            By Harut
Sassounian

            Publisher,
The California
Courier

           
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

With each passing day, the number of victims of the
earthquake in Turkey
is increasing. Our heart goes out to the nearly 50,000 dead and close to
200,000 injured as of now. The ancient city of Antioch
(Antakya) with a population of 250,000 has
been mostly reduced to rubble.

As I wrote last week, Armenians should distinguish between
the Turkish government that committed the Genocide and the Turkish people who
played no role in this mass crime. Not one of today’s Turks was alive in 1915.

In recent days, hundreds of articles have been written by
journalists from around the world pointing out that Pres. Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s corrupt practices increased the toll of the disaster manifold.
Erdogan who came to power in 2003 as a devout Muslim has turned into a corrupt
dictator. As it is said, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Many Turks blame Erdogan personally for the large number of deaths and the
collapse or damage of over 100,000 buildings which were poorly-constructed by
the President’s cronies. At least one million people have been left homeless in
Turkey.

Let’s start with the earthquake tax that the Turkish
government established after the earthquake in 1999 which had caused the deaths
of 17,000 people in Turkey.
In 2021, by a presidential decree, the tax was increased from 7.5% to 10% on
all private communication. The billions of dollars raised through this tax were
used to fund construction, transport and agricultural projects, instead of the
intended purposes of reinforcing buildings and disaster prevention.

Reuters reported the anguished plea from a mother whose two
sons were trapped alive for two days under the rubble in Antakya,
begging for a crane to rescue her children. “Many in Turkey
say more people could have survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck
the south of the country and neighboring Syria if the emergency response had
been faster and better organized.” In the absence of an organized rescue
effort, people were forced to dig through the rubble with their bare hands to
save their family members.

Turkish soldiers either did not show up to help in the
rescue or were too slow to arrive, awaiting orders from Erdogan’s civilian
officials. Interestingly, Erdogan had “risen to prominence more than two
decades ago partly due to his critique of the response to a major 1999
earthquake,” Reuters reported. Instead, “he hollowed out state institutions,
placed loyalists in key positions, wiped out most civil society organizations,
and enriched his cronies to create a small circle of loyalists around him,”
according to Foreignpolicy.com. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main
opposition party, said that even more damaging than the magnitude of last
week’s quake was the “lack of coordination, lack of planning and incompetence.”

Making the disaster worse, “in 2019, Pres. Erdogan of Turkey
praised legislation that his political party had pushed through allowing
property owners to have construction violations forgiven without bringing their
buildings up to code,” according to The New York Times. Up to 75,000 buildings
were given such amnesties in the earthquake zone alone. Ironically, just a few
days before the earthquake, the government was about to issue another amnesty
for construction violators. Now the Turkish government is arresting building
contractors with ties to collapsed buildings. But the true culprits are the
government officials who approved these shoddy buildings. Many of the owners of
these buildings have close ties to Pres. Erdogan or his ruling political party.

Rather than taking urgent measures to rescue the trapped
citizens, Erdogan lashed back at his critics. One such critic, “a French
journalist with long experience in Turkey, Guillaume Perrier, was detained at
the Istanbul airport and deported back to France, with a five-year ban on his
reentry into the country,” the Middle East Institute reported. Furthermore, the
government temporarily closed down the social media in the midst of the
earthquake to block criticism of the Turkish government’s incompetence.

The Jerusalem Post published an article on Feb. 20, titled:
“After the earthquake, Turkey’s
Erdogan hunts for scapegoats.” The article stated that: “Erdogan’s house of
cards has collapsed with the earthquake. There is already a rush to find
scapegoats and as well as the arrests of looters…. Faced with the coming
elections, what Erdogan will find equally hard to explain is a video
circulating on social media, where he boasted he had approved a construction amnesty
for buildings in the earthquake epicenter of Kahramanmarash, in 2019. This
meant they were absolved from adhering to building and earthquake regulations.
In the 10 earthquake provinces, almost 295,000 buildings were included.”

One of the unexpected side effects of the disastrous
earthquake is that Turkey
will be preoccupied for several years with the reconstruction of over 100,000
collapsed buildings. Turkey’s
attention will be sidetracked from attacking Syria,
Iraq, Cyprus, Greece,
Armenia and Libya. These
countries will breathe a sigh of relief for a while!

 

************************************************************************************************************************************************
2-         Armenia
sent about $400,000 worth of aid to Turkey
and Syria

 

YEREVAN (Arka)—The Armenian
government has allocated 157.8 million drams ($400,000) to the Ministry of
Emergency Situations to cover the cost of humanitarian aid sent to the
earthquake-stricken regions of Turkey
and Syria.

Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchyan said
humanitarian aid was sent to Syria
twice by air, to Turkey
also twice by land. The first cargo of humanitarian aid sent to Turkey weighed 100 tons; a second cargo crossed
into Turkey,
but reports did not state the amount of aid that was sent. Syria received
a total of 55 tons of humanitarian aid.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenian rescuers
already returned from Syria
and Turkey.
Armenia sent 27 rescuers to Turkey, and 29 to Syria.

************************************************************************************************************************************************
3-         Azerbaijan,
Turkey citizens buy
apartments, houses in Armenia

 

(News.am)—To date, eight transactions of state registration
of real estate rights have been carried out by Azerbaijani citizens in Armenia, and 82—by Turkish nationals, reports
Sputnik Armenia.

In 2022, Azerbaijani nationals acquired two real estates in Armenia. This
was reported to Sputnik Armenia
by the Cadastre Committee of Armenia—and in response to a written request.

According to the information received, last year,
Azerbaijani citizens acquired one apartment in Armenia’s
capital Yerevan apartment and one house in Lori Province.
The Cadastre Committee added that Turkish nationals bought 11 real estates in Armenia in 2022: 11 apartments in Yerevan. Turkish citizens
did not buy real estate in the provinces.

Also, Azerbaijani and Turkish citizens did not sell any real
estate in Armenia
during the past year. The nationality of the citizens of those countries,
however, is not specified in the response received from the Cadastre Committee.

According to the data published earlier by the Cadastre
Committee, until 2022, six transactions of state registration of real estate
rights were carried out by Azerbaijani citizens in Armenia, and 71—by Turkish
nationals. Accordingly, Turkish citizens had bought 54 apartments in Armenia,
received two apartments as gifts, and exchanged one apartment. In addition,
they had bought five houses, one garage, eight public properties, and 12 plots
of land.

Six real estate acquisition transactions were carried out by
Azerbaijani nationals.

Thus, up to now, Azerbaijani citizens have acquired eight,
and Turkish nationals—82 immovable properties in Armenia.

Turkish citizens had first bought real estate in Armenia in
2005, whereas Azerbaijani nationals—in 2012.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************
4-         Armenian Community, Beverly Hills City Officials

            Discuss
Anti-Armenian Hate Incident

 

GLENDALE, CA  – The
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) local and national leadership and
a group of leaders from Armenian organizations met with City of Beverly Hills
Mayor Lili Bosse, Police Chief Mark Stainbrook, and City Manager Nancy
Hunt-Coffey, who came to Glendale on February 10th to discuss the anti-Armenian
flyers seen on the route of a protest organized by the Armenian Youth
Federation in response to Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh.

The flyers, which lined utility poles from the Federal
Building to the Azerbaijani Consulate in Los Angeles, threatened that a group
of countries, including Azerbaijan and Turkey, would “wipe Armenia off the map”
– a brazen incitement of genocidal sentiments against the Armenian people.

After the flyers were discovered, the leadership of ANCA
local chapters immediately alerted area elected officials and law enforcement
to the incident. In response to the incident, Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse
condemned the incitement of anti-Armenian hate, stating that “hate has no place
in Beverly Hills
or anywhere. I will always stand up, I will always speak out.” Los Angeles
Mayor Karen Bass also issued a comment, remarking, “there is no place for
anti-Armenian hatred in Los Angeles
or anywhere else.”

“Armenian-Americans are outraged by this latest act of hate
directed against our community,” remarked Armenian National Committee of
America National Board Member Zanku Armenian. “The meeting with City of Beverly Hills
representatives is an important first step in starting a dialogue to confront
the hate and persecution against the Armenian community. No community should
have to endure such treatment.”

A number of organizations, including the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL) of Southern California, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) of Los Angeles, and Jewish
World Watch (JWW), swiftly condemned the hateful flyers.

Initially, the Beverly Hills Police Department announced it
was investigating the anti-Armenian flyers posted in the city but concluded,
based on previous similar incidents, that they are protected free speech.

During the meeting representatives Steve Dadaian and Armen
Hovannisian of the Armenian Bar Association detailed how the events are part of
a bigger picture: about anti-Armenian incidents in California which have led to attacks and
violence against the community in recent years. They outlined how in 2020, the
Armenian-American community of San
Francisco was subject to a string of hate-fueled
attacks on community property.

Three separate incidents involving hateful vandalism on the
property of the Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan (KZV) Armenian School in San
Francisco, a subsequent drive-by shooting at school property, and an arson attack
on the St. Gregory Apostolic Church in San Francisco followed the ruthless
incitement of anti-Armenian hatred by Azerbaijan’s government in the immediate
lead up to the 2020 Artsakh War.

Other leaders shared that a year prior, Armenian schools in Los Angeles were vandalized with Turkish flags – a cruel
act designed to sow fear amongst the student body while hateful rhetoric and
acts continued unchecked by Azerbaijan
against Armenia
and Artsakh. The Beverly Hills Police Chief expressed understanding and said
they will continue to keep the investigation open to gather additional
intelligence that could lead to potential perpetrators and to ensure the safety
of the community.

During the meeting, ANCA representatives also briefed local
officials on the persistent incitement of anti-Armenian hatred by Azerbaijani
government officials both in Azerbaijan and abroad, noting how Azerbaijan’s
state-sponsored policy of Armenophobia fueled attacks on Armenian communities
not just in the United States but across the world.

Earlier in the day, the Beverly Hills
representatives met with their counterparts in the City of Glendale, including Mayor Ardy Kassakhian,
Police Chief Manny Cid, and City Manager Roubik Golanian, to exchange thoughts
about this situation and commit to working together to stand up against this
kind of anti-Armenian hatred. “We must take active steps in fighting this kind
of persecution of our communities because this has global roots to it starting
with the rhetoric coming from Azerbaijan’s
and Turkey’s
leadership,” said Mayor Kassakhian after the meeting. “We have seen how this
hateful culture gives way to acts of violence affecting any community, which
cannot be tolerated.”

 

***********************************************************************************************************************************************

5-         Armenia Continues Fight Against
COVID-19

 

YEREVAN (Armenpress)—The
cumulative total number of confirmed of COVID-19 cases in Armenia reached
446,008, the Ministry of Health reported on .

The total number of recoveries is 435,162. The death toll is
8,717.

COVID-19 has deeply affected Armenia's economy throughout the
last three years. Primary health care is people’s first point of entry into the
health system and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the crucial role it plays.

While responding to the surge in demand due to the health
crisis, primary care centers and staff were able to maintain essential health
services.

 

************************************************************************************************************************************************

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the editor are encouraged through our e-mail address, .
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Andrey Piontkovsky: Putin could include South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Belarus and even Nagorno-Karabakh in the Russian Federation

Zhanna Nahapetian
Feb 18 2023

Russian oppositionist, political scientist, and publicist Andrey Piontkovsky suggested that Putin, on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, could include South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Belarus, and even Nagorno-Karabakh in the Russian Federation. The expert stated this in an interview with Daria Kudimova.

According to the oppositionist, the events, or rather, the announcements of recent days, they have led him to such a conclusion. “Dance songs were planned for the evening of February 22, and on the morning of February 22, he, Putin, gathers both houses of the Federal Assembly. This means that some laws will be adopted,” Piontkovsky explained. In addition, Lukashenka was summoned to Moscow on February 20, and the presidents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on February 21 and 22 (although Dmitry Peskov claims that there are no such meetings in the schedule of the President of the Russian Federation).

“I do not rule out that Putin will go for such a fake – expand the Russian Federation, take South Ossetia, Abkhazia into the Russian Federation, maybe kick his feet, strangle or shoot Lukashenka and also accept Belarus,” the expert expressed his opinion.

In addition, in Nagorno-Karabakh, the pro-Russian billionaire is pursuing the line “Let Nagorno-Karabakh become part of the Russian Federation.” “It will be presented as a great victory, as an expansion of the ‘Russian peace’. I understand this is madness, but in their logic, selling something to the population is a completely working option,” Piontkovsky said.

https://odessa-journal.com/andrey-piontkovsky-putin-could-include-south-ossetia-abkhazia-belarus-and-even-nagorno-karabakh-in-the-russian-federation/

US Sees ‘Historic’ Chance For Peace In Nagorno-Karabakh

Zhanna Nahapetian
International Business Times
Feb 18 2023
By AFP News
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize a "historic opportunity" to end their decades-long dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The two countries have fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Internationally mediated peace talks between the ex-Soviet republics have since produced little, if any, result.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday said he had presented to arch-foe Baku a project for a full peace treaty to end the Caucasus neighbours' dispute.

"We believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan have a genuinely historic opportunity to secure an enduring peace after more than 30 years of conflict," Blinken said ahead of a meeting with Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

"The parties themselves have renewed their focus on a peace process, including through direct conversation as well as with the EU and ourselves," Blinken said.

The United States remains "committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts", he added.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

Another flare-up in violence in 2020 left more than 6,500 dead and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Armenia cede territories it had controlled for decades.

Pashinyan's announcement about the peace treaty came after Yerevan accused Baku of conducting a "policy of ethnic cleansing" and forcing ethnic Armenians to leave the breakaway region.

Since mid-December, a group of self-styled Azerbaijani environmental activists has barred the only road linking Karabakh to Armenia to protest what they say is illegal mining.

In a statement after the meeting in Munich, Pashinyan's office confirmed that the draft peace treaty had been discussed.

"Pashinyan reaffirmed the determination of the Armenian side to achieve a treaty that will truly guarantee long-term peace and stability in the region," his office said.

However, he had also denounced "Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian, environmental and energy crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh", the statement said.

Aliyev told journalists after the meeting that it had taken place "in a constructive manner", and he was "studying" the Armenian proposals, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

"At first sight, there is progress regarding Armenia's position, but it is not enough," he said.

AW: ANCA national and Rhode Island teams urge Secretary Raimondo to block US rifle sale to Azerbaijan

Zhanna Nahapetian
 ANCA ANCA News 0

The ANCA and ANCA Rhode Island are pressing US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to block the sale of US assault rifles to Azerbaijan.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) national and Rhode Island affiliate have called on Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to oppose any consideration of granting a license to permit the export of rifles to Azerbaijan.

In a February 13th letter, ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian and the local ANC chair from Secretary Raimondo’s home state of Rhode Island Steve Elmasian explained, “As you know, from your long friendship with Americans of Armenian heritage in Rhode Island and across the United States, our community is deeply troubled by the US military aid program to Baku, and even more shocked by the possibility that American offensive weaponry may be deployed against Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia. The victims of Azerbaijan’s attacks are, very often, the relatives and friends of Armenian American citizens.”

News of a possible sale of US rifles – including assault-style and semi-automatic sniper models – to Azerbaijan broke on February 1st when Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced his “deep concern and strong opposition” to the effort.

In a letter to Secretary Raimondo, Sen. Menendez explained that Azerbaijani atrocities against Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia are well documented, citing the September 2022 attack on sovereign Armenian territory and the now two-month blockade of Artsakh, which has left the 120,000 indigenous Armenian population without sufficient food, medicine and rolling gas stoppages in freezing conditions.  Sen. Menendez also highlighted Azerbaijan’s ongoing extrajudicial killings, torture and unlawful treatment of Armenians following the 2020 Artsakh war, as documented in the State Department’s 2021 Country Report on Human Rights.

“The export of weapons to an authoritarian country that wages war against a neighbor, blockades a vulnerable population, and commits rampant human rights violations at home is not consistent with the Administration’s commitment to democracy and human rights,” Sen. Menendez stated.  “Further, the consideration of this export license further compounds my dismay that the Administration continues to allow the export of assault-style and sniper rifles abroad – even while supporting an assault-style rifle ban domestically – and deepens my reservations about the Department of Commerce having jurisdiction over such exports,” concluded Senator Menendez.

As Rhode Island general treasurer and later governor, Secretary Raimondo worked closely with the ANC of Rhode Island and the state’s Armenian American community, attending community events and taking a principled position condemning the Armenian Genocide.

During the 2017 Armenian Genocide commemoration, then-Governor Raimondo remarked, “We come together today as a community to remind ourselves of the Genocide and of the atrocities; and also to provide comfort to members of the community who are still struggling with loss and painful memories; but, probably most important, to commit ourselves to the cause of peace and tolerance and diversity – so that it never happens again. And I think now if you look around at what’s happening in the world, and even in this country, it’s very troubling – it is deeply troubling – when I see, sometimes in this state, expressions of religious intolerance and racism.  And as your Governor, I want you to know there is no place for that in Rhode Island.  And I reaffirm to you our core value of diversity, of religious freedom, and of tolerance here in Rhode Island. […] Today, we stand shoulder to shoulder to remind ourselves of the Genocide and to recommit ourselves – and remember, every time you hear an _expression_ of hatred, of intolerance, of racism or religious discrimination – don’t be silent, speak out.”

In her 2018 gubernatorial proclamation on the “Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” Governor Raimondo wrote, “we must do our best to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide, not only because it is an undeniable chapter of world history, but also because learning more about this unconscionable tragedy will help us better understand the necessity of eliminating hatred from our own.”

The ANCA and ANC RI look forward to meeting with Secretary Raimondo to block the sale of assault rifles to Azerbaijan as part of a broader campaign to end US military assistance to Azerbaijan, aimed at preventing a second genocide against Artsakh’s Armenian population.

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/27/2022

Zhanna Nahapetian 
                                        Tuesday, 


Greece Voices Solidarity With Armenia

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (right) and his Greek 
counterpart Nikos Dendias hold a joint news briefing in Yerevan, September 27, 
2022.


Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias condemned Azerbaijan’s recent military 
operations at the border with Armenia and also blamed Turkey for the dramatic 
escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as he visited Yerevan on Tuesday.

“We Greece have repeatedly underlined that we support the sovereignty and 
territorial integrity of all states,” Dendias said after talks with his Armenian 
counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. “That goes also for our dear friends, the 
Armenians, Armenia.”

“We believe in the inviolability of borders, and I am referring to the incidents 
that happened just a few days ago following the shelling of Armenian territory, 
including inhabited areas, by the Azeri military forces,” he told a joint news 
briefing. “And I would like to quote [French] President Macron who said 
yesterday: ‘I strongly condemn what happened in recent days and call for peace 
and resumption of negotiations.’ So I am here to express our solidarity with the 
Armenian government and the Armenian people.”

Dendias went on to denounce attempts to “redraw maps,” pointing the finger at 
not only Azerbaijan but also its key ally, Turkey.

“Turkey is trying to take advantage of the recent turmoil in order to undermine 
peace and stability, be it in the Caucasus or the Aegean,” he charged, pointing 
to Ankara’s “threat of war against Greece” voiced in an intensifying dispute 
over Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

Mirzoyan thanked Athens for its position on the border clashes of September 
13-14 which Yerevan regards as Azerbaijani military aggression.

Predictably, Ankara has voiced full support for Baku after what was the worst 
fighting in the conflict zone since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dendias flew to Yerevan just over a week after he, Mirzoyan and Foreign Minister 
Ioannis Kasoulides of Cyprus held a trilateral meeting in New York on the 
sidelines of an annual session of the UN General Assembly. The three nations 
share historically strained relations with Turkey.

“We are looking forward to enhancing our trilateral partnership with Cyprus to a 
new level,” said Dendias, who held separate meetings with Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Defense Minister Suren Papikian later on Tuesday.

The Greek minister’s trip coincided with the second anniversary of the outbreak 
of the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. He had previously visited Armenia during 
the six-week hostilities.



Armenian Leaders Cancel Key Ceremony On Karabakh War Anniversary

        • Robert Zargarian

Armenia - Women visit one of the graves of Armenian soldiers killed in the 2020 
war in Nagorno-Karabakh and buried in the Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan, 
January 28, 2022.


Avoiding another confrontation with angry parents of fallen soldiers, Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian and other senior officials did not visit Armenia’s main 
military cemetery on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the devastating 
war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The war broke out early on September 27, 2020 when Azerbaijan launched a 
large-scale military offensive along the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” 
around Karabakh. The Azerbaijani army captured four districts south of the 
Armenian-populated disputed territory as well as Karabakh’s southern Hadrut 
district and the town of Shushi (Shusha) before a Russian-brokered ceasefire 
stopped the hostilities on November 10.

Baku also regained control in the following weeks over the three other districts 
occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in the early 1990s. The truce accord 
negotiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin also led to the deployment of 
2,000 Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh.

According to the Armenian authorities, 3,825 Armenian soldiers and 80 civilians 
were killed during the six-week war. At least 203 other servicemen remain 
unaccounted for.

Nagorno-Karabakh - An Armenian soldier fires an artillery piece on the 
frontline, October 5, 2020.

Early in the morning, the parents of several dozen soldiers killed in action 
gathered at the Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan to try to prevent 
Pashinian from laying flowers there as part of planned official ceremonies to 
mark the war anniversary. They hold him responsible for the deaths of their sons.

The same protesters tried unsuccessfully to disrupt a wreath-laying ceremony led 
by Pashinian there on Armenia’s Independence Day marked on September 21. Riot 
police broke up the protest and detained dozens of its participants, causing 
uproar from opposition and civic groups.

Pashinian, members of his government and political team as well as President 
Vahagn Khachaturian decided not to visit Yerablur this time around. According to 
pro-government media, they did not want to cause further tension at the cemetery 
where hundreds of Armenian victims of the 2020 war were laid to rest.

Armenia - Police detain the mother of an Armenian soldier killed in the 2020 war 
in Nagorno-Karabakh at the Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan, September 21, 
2022.

“Today, we once again bow our heads and commemorate the fallen warriors of the 
44-day war, who fought to stop the existential threat facing our compatriots,” 
the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on the occasion.

The ministry said the six-week war demonstrated “Azerbaijan's state policy of 
ethnic cleansing of Armenians of Artsakh.”

“Even today, through the use of force and the threat of use of force, Azerbaijan 
attempts to realize its maximalist aspirations, rejecting the very fact of 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s existence as a territorial unit and the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict,” it said.

The war anniversary was also marked in Azerbaijan whose government has 
acknowledged over 2,900 combat and civilian deaths. The country observed a 
minute of silence in memory of its war dead.



Ter-Petrosian Wants Dialogue Between Armenian Government, Opposition

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian at a press conference in Yerevan, 
June 10, 2021.


Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian has called on Armenia’s government and 
leading opposition groups to reach a consensus on how to make peace with 
Azerbaijan and Turkey.

In a televised interview aired late on Monday, Ter-Petrosian said the Armenian 
opposition should help Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accept “painful solutions” 
backed by the international community.

“All solutions will be bad for us,” he told Armenian Public Television. “I 
believe the challenge is to choose the least painful of those solutions.”

“Pashinian is also afraid of signing such a document,” he went on. “Whatever 
document he signs they will brand him a traitor, a Turk or I don’t know what. In 
my view, we will give Pashinian a helping hand if we choose the least painful 
variant. We will thereby shoulder responsibility for that variant.”

Ter-Petrosian claimed that Armenia will have to make even greater concessions if 
it rejects such a settlement now. He said at the same time that he does not know 
the exact terms of peace accords currently offered by Azerbaijan or major 
foreign powers. Only Pashinian and some members of his inner circle possess such 
information, he said.

The remarks came almost a week after Ter-Petrosian and two other former 
presidents, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, met to discuss grave security 
challenges facing Armenia. The meeting was hosted by Catholicos Garegin II, the 
supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, at his headquarters in 
Echmiadzin. No concrete agreements were apparently reached by them.

Armenia - Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan, June 14, 2022.
Kocharian and Sarkisian lead the two opposition groups represented in the 
Armenian parliament. They staged virtually daily street protests in Yerevan in 
May and June after Pashinian signaled readiness to make major concessions to 
Azerbaijan.

“No [national] unity can be formed with the participation of Nikol Pashinian,” 
Armen Ashotian, a senior member of Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), said on 
Monday night, commenting on Ter-Petrosian’s remarks.

Ashotian warned that because of his “tough personal position or unbridled 
ambition” Ter-Petrosian risks dashing hopes raised by the rare dialogue of the 
three ex-presidents. The latter have long had uneasy relations with each other.

There was no immediate official reaction from Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance. 
Still, some of its parliamentarians rejected what they see as a defeatist agenda 
promoted by Ter-Petrosian.

“What Levon Ter-Petrosian is saying is ‘forget about Karabakh’ and ‘we 
capitulated, so let’s accept everything that the enemy wants,’” one of those 
lawmakers, Gegham Manukian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday. 
“Ter-Petrosian voiced no calls for public consolidation, self-organization and 
resistance.”

Manukian claimed that Ter-Petrosian’s chief preoccupation now is to “save Nikol” 
through the proposed dialogue.

Meanwhile, a senior lawmaker representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, 
Artur Hovannisian, hit out at the parliamentary opposition forces, saying that 
they have “served the interests of other countries.” He did not name those 
countries.

Hovannisian at the same time said: “I hope that the meetings of the former 
presidents and the Catholicos will be beneficial for our country.”

Hayastan and the HHK demanded a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Pashinian 
after he sparked on September 14 a spontaneous antigovernment demonstration in 
Yerevan on the second day of deadly border clashes between Armenian and 
Azerbaijani forces.

Speaking in the parliament, the prime minister expressed readiness to sign an 
unpopular peace treaty with Azerbaijan “as a result of which many people will 
criticize, curse and declare us traitors.” He said he is ready to recognize 
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity through such a treaty if Baku withdraws its 
troops from Armenian border regions occupied by it.

Pashinian’s statement fueled rumors that Yerevan will unconditionally accept 
Baku’s terms of the treaty, including recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty 
over Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of angry people rallied outside the parliament 
building in Yerevan to demand Pashinian’s removal from power.



U.S. Insists On Azerbaijani Troop Withdrawal


U.S. -- U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price speaks during a press briefing 
at the State Department in Washington, February 8, 2021


The United States has publicly urged Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from the 
territory seized by them during border clashes with Armenian forces earlier this 
month.

“Our message has been consistent for some time,” Ned Price, the U.S. State 
Department spokesman, said on Monday. “We call on Azerbaijan to return troops to 
their initial positions. We urge disengagement of military forces and work to 
resolve all outstanding issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan through peaceful 
negotiations.”

“The use of force is not an acceptable path,” Price told a daily news briefing 
in Washington. “We’ve made that clear privately. We’ve also made that clear 
publicly, and we’re glad that our continued engagement, including at high 
levels, including last week in New York, with both countries has helped to halt 
the hostilities.”

Price referred to the meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign 
ministers hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on 
September 19. No concrete agreements were announced after the talks held on the 
sidelines of an annual session of the UN General Assembly.

Blinken reportedly urged the two ministers to meet again before the end of 
September. Price would not say whether such a meeting will take place in the 
coming days.

He also declined to shed light on other Armenian and Azerbaijani officials’ 
ongoing visits to Washington. A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried earlier on 
Monday.

“We are in regular contact with both Armenian and Azeri officials,” said Price. 
“That will continue.”

The conflicting sides blame each other for the September 13-14 fighting that 
left at least 280 soldiers dead. Azerbaijani troops reportedly attacked and 
seized some of the Armenian army positions along the long border between the two 
states. Blinken urged Aliyev to “cease hostilities” when they spoke by phone 
during what was the worst escalation of the conflict since the 2020 war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday likewise called for the Azerbaijani 
troop withdrawal. Meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Paris, Macron 
said Baku should also stop using or threatening to use force to resolve the 
conflict with Armenia.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 02-09-22

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 18:05, 2 September 2022

YEREVAN, 2 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 2 September, USD exchange rate down by 0.15 drams to 404.59 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.88 drams to 404.47 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 6.70 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.19 drams to 468.03 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 289.25 drams to 22039.23 drams. Silver price down by 2.36 drams to 231.15 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.