Category: 2021

Air temperature to gradually rise in Armenia by 4-6 degrees

Emil Lazarian

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 15:00, 9 January, 2021

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. No precipitation is expected in Armenia in the daytime of January 9 and on January 10-13, the ministry of emergency situations told Armenpress.

Precipitation is forecast in most of the regions in the daytime of January 14.

The air temperature will gradually rise by 4-6 degrees in the Republic on January 10-13.

Snow is expected in Yerevan in the evening of January 14.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Chiefs of Armenian and Azerbaijani security services discuss exchange of POWs

Ani Kharatian

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 16:04, 9 January, 2021

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Director of the National Security Service of Armenia Armen Abazyan had a working meeting with Director of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan Ali Nagiyev in the neutral border zone adjacent to Yeraskh community of Armenia’s Ararat province, the Armenian National Security Service told Armenpress.

During the meeting issues relating to the exchange of prisoners of war and the search for the missing in action were discussed.

Communication on these topics continue.

 

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenian FM holds meeting with Homeland Salvation Movement representatives

Emil Lazarian

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 17:15, 9 January, 2021

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian is holding a meeting today with the representatives of the Homeland Salvation Movement, spokesperson of the minister Anna Naghdalyan earlier confirmed the possibility of the meeting in an interview to ARMENPRESS.

Other details will be revealed after the meeting.

The meeting is attended by the leadership of the Homeland Salvation Movement Vazgen Manukyan, Ishkhan Saghatelyan and Artur Vanetsyan.

Earlier the Homeland Salvation Movement has issued a statement where their joint candidate for the prime minister Vazgen Manukyan has applied to Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian, Director of the National Security Service Armen Abazyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan for a meeting.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 01/09/2021

Aram Torosian 
                                        Saturday, 

Armenian, Azeri Security Chiefs Meet Again


Russia -- Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service, 
hosts a meeting of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Moscow, December 
28, 2020.

The heads of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s main security services met again on 
Saturday to discuss the implementation of the Russian-brokered agreement to stop 
the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a short statement, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said the meeting 
took place in no-man’s-land at a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 
about 70 kilometers south of Yerevan.

The statement said NSS Director Armen Abazian and the chief of Azerbaijan’s 
State Security Service, Ali Nagiyev, discussed “the exchange of prisoners and 
the search for missing persons.” “Contacts on these topics are continuing,” it 
added without elaborating.

Abazian and Nagiyev already discussed these issues late last month at a meeting 
in Moscow hosted by Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s Federal Security 
Service. The NSS said afterwards that they reached unspecified “understandings.”

The ceasefire deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 9 
calls for the exchange of all prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians held by the 
conflicting sides. So far 54 Armenians have been freed and returned home. Dozens 
of others remain in Azerbaijani captivity.

They include 62 Armenian soldiers who were taken prisoner in early December when 
Azerbaijani forces seized the last two Armenian-controlled villages in 
Karabakh’s Hadrut district occupied by them during the six-week war.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres publicized 
earlier this week, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov branded the 
soldiers as “saboteurs” and indicated the Azerbaijani authorities’ intention to 
prosecute them on relevant charges.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned Baku’s plans as a gross 
violation of international law and the Karabakh truce agreement. It accused the 
Azerbaijani side of “using Armenian prisoners of war as hostages to advance its 
political agenda.”


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.

62 Armenian citizens in Azerbaijan: prisoners of war or saboteurs?

Nyrie Kalashian
JAM News
Jan 9 2021
JAMnews, Baku-Yerevan  
 
 
 
In Khojavend region, which came under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the second Karabakh war, 62 citizens of Armenia have been detained.
 
The Azerbaijani side considers the detainees to be saboteurs who must be held accountable before a court of law.
 
The Armenian side meanwhile says these prisoners of war should be returned to their homeland.
 
A letter from Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was circulated as a document of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
 
The letter speaks of “Armenia’s activities aimed at undermining stability and contrary to international law and the trilateral statement of November 10,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported.
 
Bayramov noted in his letter that “in the liberated territory of the Khojavend region of Azerbaijan, the Armenian armed forces carry out sabotage and provocations, as a result of the anti-terrorist operations carried out by the relevant structures of Azerbaijan, 62 members of the sabotage group, who are citizens of Armenia, were detained.”
 
It was brought to the attention of the UN Secretary General that “the implementation of such sabotage and provocation by the Armenian armed forces on the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan a month after the signing of the joint statement is evidence of a gross violation by Armenia of the principles of international law, as well as the obligations assumed according to the statement.”
 
 
Reaction from Armenia
 
The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the criminal prosecution against Armenian prisoners of war:
 
“These actions of the Azerbaijani authorities are a gross violation of international humanitarian law. […] The release and repatriation of the prisoners of war is clearly enshrined in the November 9 statement, and the prosecution of the prisoners of war after the adaptation of the trilateral statement constitutes its gross violation”.
 
The statement says that the Armenian soldiers were captured as a result of a violation of another provision of the trilateral statement: Azerbaijan launched military operations in the direction of the 2 villages Hadrut region [on the administrative division of the Armenian side] a month after the establishment of the ceasefire:
 
“Notably the Azerbaijani side announced the prosecution of POWs about a month after the capturing of Armenian servicemen, which demonstrates that Azerbaijan is using Armenian prisoners of war as hostages to advance its political agenda”.
 
All Armenian servicemen captured by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces must be released and returned to Armenia. The Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan wrote about this on his Facebook page:
 
“This should be done immediately and without any preconditions.“
 
The Ombudsman considers it unacceptable that the 8th paragraph of the trilateral armistice agreement of November 10, signed by the heads of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, does not indicate specific dates for the exchange or return of prisoners:
 
“But this does not mean at all that it is permissible for the Azerbaijani authorities to constantly violate international requirements for human rights and humanitarian agreements. The return of prisoners is artificially delayed, their true number is not reported, moreover, attempts are being made to underestimate these data. All this time they are subjected to torture and inhuman treatment, interference is created for the exchange of bodies of the dead. “
 
The statements of the Azerbaijani authorities that the captured Armenians are not prisoners of war, but saboteurs, according to Arman Tatoyan, grossly trample on the post-war humanitarian process and international requirements for the protection of human rights:
 
“These statements directly contradict the requirements of Clause 8 of the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020. They are prisoners by status, period. “
 
The Ombudsman of Armenia considers “completely unacceptable” the politicization of this essentially humanitarian issue and “obvious attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to link it with any territorial issues.”
 
 
Comments from Baku
 
“The picture is interesting,” writes Ahmed Alili, director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Center. “The trilateral statement says that ‘the troops must remain in the positions where they were at the moment of signing the document.’”
 
“The Armenian side deciphers it as follows: if Armenian servicemen are located on the ‘islands’ in the territories that were once part of the NKAO and are now controlled by Azerbaijan, they should remain there. At the moment, this circumstance is one of the topics for heated discussions between the parties.
 
But now it is becoming known to the public that the mentioned Armenian servicemen hid on the roofs and in the basements of the houses that survived and were not set on fire in Hadrut and nearby villages. In this context, the _expression_ “must remain in their positions” begins to acquire a new meaning,” Alili said.
 
Military observer Asaf Quliyev supports a different opinion. In his comment to JAMnews, he said:
 
“It is necessary to pay attention to two points. First, the citizenship of these 62 detainees. Unfortunately, I do not have such data.
 
If they are citizens of Armenia, it means that Armenia is not fulfilling its obligations emanating from the trilateral statement of November 10. But here it is also possible a version according to which Armenia can declare that the detainees do not obey the Armenian authorities. If so, these people are not prisoners of war, but members of a terrorist group that does not obey the laws of either their country or Azerbaijan. Based on this, they are criminals.
 
But if the detainees are residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, they can be classified as living on the territory of Azerbaijan, but not obeying the laws of this country. And in this case, they cannot be considered prisoners of war.
 
As for the terminology, saboteurs and terrorists are different concepts. Saboteurs are part of the armed forces of a country that performs the tasks assigned to it. Terrorists are outside the law, the Geneva Conventions on the Status of Prisoners of War are not applied to them. “
 
 
Information about Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan
 
The parties agreed on the exchange of prisoners on the principle of “all for all”. In total, after the end of the 44-day war, 54 prisoners returned to Armenia. But, according to the Armenian side, the number of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan is much higher.
 
Lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, who represents the interests of Armenian prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights, claims that Armenia has irrefutable evidence that at least 120 Armenian prisoners were held in Azerbaijan.
 
However, the State Commission on the Affairs of Prisoners of Azerbaijan reports only about 5 Armenian prisoners: 2 military personnel and 3 civilians.
 
According to Sahakyan, speaking of only five prisoners, Azerbaijan “is abusing the helpless position of the Armenian authorities.”
 

During and after the war: where and how did Karabakh schoolchildren study

Zhanna Nahapetian
JAM News
Dec 29 2021
Sona Martirosyan, Yerevan   
 
 
The second Karabakh war suspended studies for 30,000 Karabakh schoolchildren.
 
According to official data, about 90,000 Karabakh residents were forced to leave their homes during the hostilities; since the truce, about 45,000 people have returned home. More than 30,000 will not be able to return, since their homes are located on territories that are now under the control of Azerbaijan.
 
Overall, 58% of students and 72% of teachers returned to Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
Below: how the problems of schoolchildren were solved during the days of hostilities, what is being done now so that children can continue their studies.
 
Volunteers
 
Shushanik Papazyan came to one of the temporary shelters for Karabakh residents in Yerevan in early October, when the war had just begun. The 20-year-old journalist had no idea what she could do for the people who settled here.
 
“At first I thought I would be useful as a psychologist, because I took special courses. It was obvious that everyone here needed psychological support. People did not speak at all, not even to each other. One of the volunteers came to the shelter on a motorcycle. And every time he turned the ignition, the children just jumped up in horror.
 
More volunteers came here, and together we began to figure out what and how to organize for children: songs, dances, drawing, reading books. We tried our best to dispel their thoughts of war.”
 
The volunteers soon realized that entertainment alone was not enough. The war seemed endless, and they set about teaching the children. Five of them started helping them do their homework after school.
 
Classes at the shelter
 
At first, classes for all students were held in one room.
 
“Of course it was very inconvenient. But one volunteer worked with each child, and we knew that they were leaving this room ready for the next day’s lessons. And we constantly contacted their school teachers, because we ourselves often had questions – after all, none of us are really teachers,” Shushanik says.
 
 
Հայաստան, ԼՂ, Արցախ, կրթություն, ղարաբաղյան պատերազմ, կրթության նախարարություն,
Then they managed to divide the students into age groups – four in each, so that the lessons were more effective for all 23. For this, the orphanage had equipped classrooms.
 
Shushanik says that the hardest thing for her was going to her charges on November 10, after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire agreement in Karabakh.
 
“In the morning I was worried, how will I enter the classroom, what will I say to these children? Some of them no longer even have a home and have nowhere else to return. I thought about how to talk to them about the lessons now.
 
But when I entered the classroom, everything had changed. My students sat in silence, with swollen and red eyes, but with open books and notebooks. And I realized that I have no right to be weak, because these children who have lost their homes, whose fathers and brothers are wounded or missing, whose families have lost so much, came to study.”
 
State aid
 
Children who moved to Armenia from Karabakh were offered to continue the educational process from the very first days of the war, says Zhanna Andreasyan, Deputy Minister of Education:
 
“They were given the opportunity to go to the school closest to their place of residence, register and attend classes. This did not require any documents. Moreover, the ministry did not take into account the availability of places in schools.
 
All children assigned to schools received the necessary textbooks and, if necessary, other school supplies. In general, more than half of the children who arrived from Artsakh during the war had the opportunity to study in schools in Armenia.
 
And now the process of their schooling continues. Moreover, all primary school students in Armenia now go to school, all the rest are taught remotely.
 
However, according to rough estimates, more than 2,000 of the children who moved to Armenia need technical support for online learning. The state, in cooperation with charitable and international organizations, is trying to provide them with the necessary equipment.
 
The deputy minister says there were two main reasons for the refusal of Karabakh children to go to local schools. Unlike Armenia, where 12-year education is compulsory, 9-year education is compulsory in NK. That is, students may not go to school after grade 9 if they do not want to continue their studies. The second reason is that people did not expect the war to be so long.
 
“Now more than half of the schoolchildren have returned to Artsakh. This trend continues. We are in constant contact with our colleagues in Artsakh – both in terms of technical assistance and information support, since the personal files of children attending schools in settlements that are already under the control of Azerbaijan can no longer be restored.
 
In addition, there is currently no way in NK to organize the final exams scheduled for December. And for those who intend to pass them, we organize exams in Armenia, since the loss of this opportunity for high school students can be fateful,” says Zhanna Andreasyan.
 
She ays that the opportunity to receive an education in Armenia will be provided as long as at least one child from Karabakh needs it.
 
 
Information from Nagorno-Karabakh
 
The war violated the right to education of more than 30,000 Karabakh residents, says NK Minister of Education, Science and Culture Lusine Karakhanyan:
 
“We are talking about 23,967 schoolchildren, more than 4,000 preschoolers and about 5,000 students. The buildings of more than 80 schools and kindergartens were completely or partially destroyed. There are also educational institutions that remained in the settlements that came under the control of Azerbaijan.”
 
According to Karakhanyan, the NK government is doing everything possible so that children can return to school. And some have already started working in Stepanakert. The minister assures that no child will be left without an education – difficult times have come, but solutions will be found.
 
In some cases, students will be referred to other schools in the neighborhood where they can provide acceptable learning environments.
 
Despite the coronavirus epidemic, there is currently no distance learning opportunity in NK. After the war, the infrastructure was damaged, there is no Internet, and electricity is often cut off.
 
“All this makes it very difficult to organize online education. We will try to maintain social distance and other rules, but the lessons will be held in person. Three schools in Stepanakert are already accepting students. With some reservations, the educational process began in rural schools, which were not affected. We have no right to be defeated in the field of education,” says Lusine Karakhanyan.
The class where Shushanik taught is gradually emptying. 16 out of 23 schoolchildren have already returned to Karabakh. Families from Hadrut and Shushi will remain in the shelter for now, who have nowhere to return.
 
For each of the children leaving home, Shushanik prepares portfolios with books and notebooks, pencil cases and notebooks, in which he asks to write about his dreams.
 

Chiefs of Armenian, Azerbaijani security services discuss exchange of POWs

Hambik Zargarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Jan 9 2021
The Director of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia Armen Abazyan had a working meeting with the Director of the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Nagy in the neutral border zone adjacent to the Yeraskh community of Armenia’s Ararat region.
 
Issues related to the exchange of prisoners and the search for the missing were discussed during the meeting.
 
Communication on these topics continues.
 

Armenian historian: We must not allow our destiny to be determined in a completely different place, by various papers

Vatche Chakhmakhchian
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 9 2021
 
 
"I do not accept the concept of defeat of an army, state or people, I accept the concept of the defeat of taking the wrong path and adopting the wrong system of values, poor policies and wrong vision of the future,” former Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Doctor of History Hayk Demoyan said on Saturday, referring to the recent 44-day war in Artsakh.
 
Speaking at an urgent meeting of intellectuals, the historian said Armenia is going through a national catastrophe, which has deeper roots than people could imagine.
 
“But today, on a global scale, we need to talk about where we are heading to, whether we are going to choose the already existing path to move forward, or we really need to seriously reconsider it. I feel pity for our children who want to believe in a completely different system of values and want to live a completely different life. We cannot impose the old and defeatist psychology on them. We have at least known what it means to be a winner, we know how sweet it is,” he said, adding all efforts should be exerted to this direction.
 
Hayk Demoyan said Armenia has found itself in a deep crisis, stressing the need to find ways out of it.
 
“We must not allow this to happen again, we must not allow our future and destiny to be determined in a completely different place and by various papers. We must show our potential, which is not measured by money, but by our actions,” Hayk Demoyan said.
 

Ombudsman: Security of Armenia’s state borders endangered

Nyrie Kalashian
Panorama, Armenia
Jan 9 2021
Ombudsman: Security of Armenia's state borders endangered
 
 
Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan is in Syunik Province of Armenia with his staff on a three-day working visit. Visits to Goris, Shurnukh, Vorotan, Kapan, Meghri and other communities are planned.
 
In a statement on Facebook on Friday, the ombudsman said that yesterday's visits to Goris, Vorotan and Shurnukh confirm that the mechanical use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or Google Maps poses a serious threat to the right to life and security of Armenia's border residents, their physical and mental integrity and other vital rights which are guaranteed internationally and by the Constitution of the country.
 
“The security of the state borders of Armenia is endangered,” he said. “In particular, the mechanical application of this principle brought under control of Azerbaijan, for example, various sections of the road connecting Goris, Vorotan, Shurnukh and other communities, which directly endangered the movement of civilians.”
 
The meetings of the ombudsman with the residents of the border communities, and the discussions and studies with the community confirm that the Azerbaijani military is carrying out missions of provocations. Armed men regularly appear on the roads in the immediate vicinity of peaceful neighborhoods and do so by displaying weapons to intimidate civilians, primarily women and children, Tatoyan noted.
 
“In addition, as a result of the mechanical use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or Google maps, for example, in Vorotan and Shurnukh, people have simply been deprived of their own homes and the opportunity to make a living. Residents of those communities were deprived of the opportunity to use their privately owned and community-owned vital agricultural land (for example, as a garden, arable land or pasture).
 
Observations of the Human Rights Defender's Office confirm that due to this principle, houses and lands belonging to Armenian citizens have come under the control of Azerbaijan, for which certificates of state registration, including property rights, have been issued to either Soviet Armenia or independent Armenia by competent bodies of different periods of the republic (Cadastre Committee, etc.).
 
Consequently, as a result of all this, people's rights have been grossly violated, they have been deprived of their property and, an uncertain situation has arisen, which in turn has created an atmosphere of alarm and anxiety among civilians.
 
The life and health of the residents of the border areas of Armenia, their physical security and mental immunity are directly threatened because, for example, in the case of Shurnukh, the village was divided into "Azerbaijani" and "Armenian" parts and was used as a basis for division by that community, crossing the interstate road. To be clear, the point is that on one side of the road, in the "Armenian" part [including the places where children are used to playing], there are civilians, and directly on the other side, there are Azerbaijani armed forces.
 
Therefore, resolving the issue of Armenia's borders with the applications of a private organization, Google or GPS [Global Positioning System], which also endangers the inviolability of Armenia's state borders and the country's security, is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of ensuring the rights of people living in our country.
 
Moreover, during the visit of the Human Rights Defender's Office, several versions of Google maps on the spot showed different results, including in some cases representing the village of Shurnukh as part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
 
During today's visit, important meetings were held with the mayor of Goris, the heads of Vorotan-Shurnukh rural settlements, other community bodies, the residents of the communities, as well as the staff of the Armenian National Security Service (NSS) frontier troops. At the same time, the personnel of the RA Armed Forces and the frontier troops of the National Security Service carry out selfless heroic service, although in addition to their duties, they often face an unfair, and a customarily unrelated additional workload.
 
In the coming days, visits to other settlements of Syunik Province are planned, during which the necessary professional studies and observations will be carried out,” the statement read.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Today marks renowned Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov’s 97th birthday

Anna Tamamian
Panorama, Armenia

Jan 9 2021
Today marks renowned Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov's 97th birthday
 
 
Today, 9 January marks the 97th birthday anniversary of prominent Soviet Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov.
 
Sergei Parajanov or Paradjanov (born Sarkis Paradjanian) was one of the 20th century's greatest film directors, who made significant contribution to Ukrainian, Armenian and Georgian cinema. Born in 1924 in Tbilisi, Georgia, to an Armenian family, his work reflected the ethnic diversity of the Caucusus where he was raised.
 
His first major work was Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), which earned him an international reputation for its rich use of costume and color, and its whimsical portrayal of rural life. Possibly his greatest work, The Color of Pomegranates (1969), described the life of the Armenian poet Sayat Nova. The film angered the Soviet authorities, who claimed that it evoked nationalist sentiment.
 
Claiming that Parajanov promoted homosexuality, the government arrested him in 1973 and sentenced him to five years in a labor camp. A large number of prominent artists, writers and filmmakers protested his sentence, but Parajanov was only released four years later, in large part due to the efforts of French surrealist Louis Aragon. He was banned for making films for many years afterwards, when he was living in Tbilisi, but he was allowed to make The Legend of Suram Fortress (1984), which captured much of the color of his earlier work.
 
He managed to direct three more films before he died of cancer in Yerevan on 20 July 1990, aged 66. A house was built for him in Yerevan which was completed shortly after his death, but which now houses all his belongings and has been turned into the Parajanov Museum.