Category: 2022

TASNIM News Agency, Iran

Sept 24 2022

Sept 24 2022

The Media Center of the People's Defense Forces (HPG) issued today, Saturday; Written statement regarding Armenia's handover of its fighters Henk and Ali Shir to Turkey.

It was stated in its text:

 “During the month of August 2021, while our comrades Hank and Ali Sher were at the head of their duties near the Armenian border, they encountered the forces of the Armenian state. Our comrades acted with caution and sensitivity to avoid any negative situation, but then our comrades were arrested, cases were opened against them, and they fought legally until on February 23, the Armenian Court of Cassation ruled for their release, and instead of releasing them according to international law and Armenian laws, they were kidnapped by Armenian intelligence.

As a result of the efforts made; The release of our comrades has been pledged; However, a month ago, the Armenian state handed over our comrades Henk and Ali Shir to Turkey.

With this incident; The Armenian state has violated both international laws and its official law as well. Armenia has handed over our two comrades who are two Kurdistan revolutionaries who struggle to defend the existence of their people and achieve freedom and who feel the pain of all oppressed peoples; This is a great shame for the Turkish state. Our two companions fell into the hands of the Turkish state in this way. However, the Turkish state's private war media showed this incident as a successful operation of the Turkish intelligence service.

In our statement issued on the 14th of this September, we revealed that the two individuals named Khatib and Arya had fallen into the hands of the Iraqi state after they betrayed our movement and were handed over to the Turkish state as a result of interests.

In order for the Turkish intelligence service to rehabilitate it, it presents the capabilities of the Turkish state to the various forces and seeks to achieve some results in front of our movement and presents this matter as a victory for them. It is very clear that these stories of victory are being prepared on the tables with fake and not true scenarios. The people of Kurdistan and Turkey should know these lies of the Turkish intelligence service."

T/ Satt.

https://hawarnews.com/en/haber/hpg-armenia-handed-over-our-comrades-hank-and-ali-shir-to-turkey-h33015.html

RTE.ie

Sept 24 2022

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022/0924/1325274-ukraine-hammer-armenia-ireland-can-now-not-top-group/

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Sept 23 2022

The recent escalation caught many by surprise, emboldening voices among the political opposition. 

Ahmad Mammadli had been a vocal critic of Azerbaijan’s authorities since his student years. It was a call for peace with neighbouring Armenia and condemnation of President lham Aliyev, however, which  put the 21-year-old chair of the pro-democracy group Democracy-1918 (D18) on the police’s radar.

“Ilham Aliyev will definitely answer before the international courts one day for the crimes he committed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but also against the Armenian people,” Mammadil wrote on September 15, adding “The first task of democratic Azerbaijan will be to punish those who make nations hostile to each other.”

Five days later, on September 20, he was taken into custody on charges of resisting police. 

While still rare, Mammadli’s outspoken stance is in line with an increasing number of public figures questioning Aliyev’s recent military decisions.

On September 12 fighting re-erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, claiming the lives of more than 200 servicemen over two days. It was the deadliest outbreak of violence since the 2020 six-week war the two countries fought over Nagorny Karabakh, the region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians since the mid-1990s. Back then, Azerbaijani society and nearly all political opposition supported the government’s decision to go to war to regain the control of the de facto statelet. 

Fears of new fighting are gaining traction on social media as the Russia-brokered ceasefire is holding by a fine thread. For decades, Russia has been the security guarantor in the region but its role has faded as its fortunes reverse in Ukraine. This time Azerbaijani forces shelled inside Armenia, with troops remaining inside its sovereign territory, including on heights around the resort town of Jermuk.

Following the most recent spike in violence, Mammadli tweeted, “Those who have seen the horrors of war and lost their loved ones are against the current military conflicts, while the bloodthirsty ones behind the keyboard push people to their deaths. Understanding this seems to have become quite a difficult task for those in euphoria.”

Plain clothes police officers subsequently abducted the activist, who was sentenced to 30 days in jail on charges commonly used in Azerbaijan to silence critics. Speaking from a police van in a video filmed by a fellow D18 member, Mammadli said he was arrested because of his pro-peace posts. 

“If I’m a criminal for speaking out about peace, I’m proud of it,” he said. He has since gone on hunger strike.

CALLS FOR PEACE

Support for the war against Armenia over Karabakh is strong and the loss of the region is an open wound in society, not least for about 869,000 Azerbaijani who were displaced as a result of the conflict. 

Voices calling for peace are few and far between, and Mammadli’s arrest was cheered on social media. 

“We are the only political organisation coming out and calling for peace. We knew these [reactions] would happen,” Afiaddin Mammadov, a board member of D18, told IWPR.  “We are trying to shape a new society and making efforts for peacebuilding…The other people’s lack of support for us doesn't concern us. We will stand for our position, keep talking about peace…Our goal is to play a main role in building peace between the two nations in a democratic environment.” 

The most recent escalation caught many by surprise, emboldening more voices among the political opposition. 

Political youth organisation NIDA Citizen Movement stated that “ending the ethnic conflict that has been going on for more than 30 years and establishing lasting peace between peoples cannot be ensured through war and force. War serves no other purpose than to intensify mutual aggression, hatred and suffering, and to fuel enmity between nations”. 

As casualties increased – Azerbaijan lost 80 servicemen over two days, with 281 injured – critical voices spoke out, questioning the government's legal and moral grounds for the fighting. Among them were the two main opposition parties, who supported Aliyev in the 2020 war.

“Now every Azerbaijani is thinking about this question, why did we lose so many?” Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party, wrote on Facebook. “Fifty people in just a few hours of battle with the ‘starving’ enemy? So many losses were made without gaining anything.”

Arif Hajili, chairman of the Musavat Party, posted, “What was the purpose of this? What is the result?”

Azerbaijanis living in exile added their voices to the criticism.

“Azerbaijan is stepping over Armenia’s internationally recognized border and is stepping into a new war,” said Tural Sadigli, the editor-in-chief of social media-based news outlet Azad Soz (Free Speech), who lives in Germany.

 In a Youtube discussion with other anti-war activists, US-based journalist Sevinj Osmangizi asked,”

“Why do we have to fight on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border while there are separatists [in Nagorno-Karabakh], and move forward on to Armenia’s territory? What does it accomplish? What kind of logic is it?”

The increasing war fatigue was not directed to Karabakh however, which largely remains under Armenian control with 2,000 Russian peacekeepers deployed as part of the November 2020 ceasefire agreement.

Writer Samad Shikhi pointed out that “the incident is happening in the territory of Armenia, not ours? The world will call us invaders”. He maintained that opposition figures began to criticise the entry of the Azerbaijani army into the territory of Armenia “out of necessity”.

“Taking into account the international pressures, they considered it right to oppose it,” he told IWPR, referring to wide condemnation of Azerbaijan’s incursion inside Armenian territory. In a bold diplomatic sign, US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia on September 17, becoming the highest-ranking American official to visit the South Caucasus nation since it gained independence 30 years ago.

On the same day, Gənclər Birliyi, the youth wing of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) posted a video of anti-war figures on Facebook, with the hashtag “#xainləritanı” - “know the traitors”.

“A part of the population believes in the state narrative of ‘we are in our own land, we have not crossed into the territory of Armenia,’” Shikhi explained. “Some know about the occupation, and a part of them are against it, and others support it. The latter are usually government officials and nationalists.

“But to answer which is the majority, I would say that the majority is in favour of capturing more land from Armenia,” he continued. “Aliyev also gains the upper hand from this and is able to shape public opinion.”

Sept 24 2022

According to HPG information, "comrades Leheng and Alişer" have been extradited from Armenia to Turkey. The HPG thus contradicts reports in the Turkish media, which reported a successful foreign operation by MIT.

According to the press centre of the People's Defence Forces (HPG), "Leheng and Alişer" have been extradited from Armenia to Turkey. The HPG thus contradicts reports in the Turkish media, which reported on a successful foreign operation of the intelligence service MIT.

HPG stated that, “Comrades Leheng and Alişer encountered forces of the Armenian state in the border area with Armenia in August 2021 and acted prudently to prevent a negative situation. However, they were arrested, detained and charged. Our friends fought legally and were brought before the Armenian Court of Appeal on 23 February 2022, which decided to release them. According to international and Armenian law, they should have been released. Instead, they were abducted and detained by the Armenian secret service. Although they were promised release after initiatives were taken, they were extradited from Armenia to Turkey about a month ago," the HPG said.

"A disgrace for Armenia"

In doing so, Armenia has violated international legal norms and its own laws, HPG stated: "To hand over Kurdish revolutionaries, who fight for the existence and freedom of their people and empathise with the pain of all oppressed peoples, in this way to the state of Turkey, which is aiming at genocide, is a disgrace for Armenia. Our two comrades have fallen into the hands of the Turkish state in this way. However, in the special war media of the Turkish state, the operation is presented as a very successful MIT operation."

The HPG also reported that two more persons have been extradited from Iraq to Turkey. In a statement on 14 September, the HPG press centre denied Turkish reporting on an alleged MIT operation in Maxmur Camp in which two PKK members were captured. According to the statement, this report by the Turkish special war media lacked any basis and was designed to portray Turkish intelligence as successful and to distract attention from the heavy losses suffered by the army in the war in Kurdistan. The two people allegedly captured, Hatip and Aria, had already separated from the Kurdish liberation movement in July. This was also confirmed by the People's Council of Maxmur. As the HPG said, these persons ended up in the hands of the Iraqi state and were extradited by it to Turkey "due to profit interests". "It is obvious that the success stories about MIT designed with false scenarios at the table do not correspond to reality. The peoples of Kurdistan and Turkey must not believe the lies of the MIT," HPG said.

Sept 23 2022

A group of medical professionals is scheduled to depart Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Saturday morning, traveling halfway around the world to help those in need.

They originally planned to leave Friday only to have their flight canceled.

It is the seventh Fresno Medical Mission-Armenia, arranged by Armenian Honorary Consul Berj Apkarian. Every year since 2015 (absent the 2020 pandemic year), a volunteer group has traveled to Armenia to provide aid.

“With the recent aggression by Azeris and attacking sovereign nation, it fueled our energy to do even more and to give more. And I tell you, I am so proud of our community,” Apkarian said at the airport Friday before the canceled flight.

The focus of this year’s trip is to help injured soldiers and others affected by recent military skirmishes with Azerbaijan, said Apkarian.

Apkarian’s employer, Community Health Systems, is helping fund the trip.

The Fresno group, 16 strong, will join up with 17 other medical professionals round the country for two weeks. They are also bringing medicine and supplies. The combined delegation will include surgeons, dentists, pediatricians, and physiotherapists.

Several in the delegation say the nearly 20-hour journey from Fresno to Dallas to Doha, Qatar to Yerevan, Armenia is well worth it.

Kristina Koroyan is a therapist with Sanger Physical Therapy. This is her third trip.

“The need there is lots of hands-on work. I think with the injuries that we’ve seen, individuals have then been given the right exercises or the right protocols to follow after a certain injury. So I think our role is to educate them as much as possible,” Koroyan said.

She hopes to train therapists in Armenia as well.

“I think that’s why we all went into this profession, physical therapy. We wanted to help or assist people in some way. We have that altruistic characteristic, I suppose,” Koroyan said.

For Clovis dentist Dr. Vatche Wassilian, it is about giving back. He is originally from Lebanon and attended medical school in Armenia.

“This is the spirit of the United States. That’s what we learned here from this great country. … to help when there are people that need to be helped,” Wassilian said. “This is the time to go. When you have the chance because the people, they need us. (Armenia) needs us.”

Sept 23 2022

Sept 23 2022

Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said on Thursday his country was "determined to defend" its democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity "by all means".

His comments came during a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, where he stressed diplomatic solutions to the conflict with Azerbaijan were an "absolute priority".

"We are determined to build peace in our region, but we need the full support of international community," he said.

The two Caucasus countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region located within Azerbaijan but that had been long under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan since a separatist war ended in 1994.

During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people died in that fighting.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have each blamed for fighting which flared-up again earlier this month.

Both sides negotiated a cease-fire to end the conflict that killed 155 soldiers from both sides.

 

Sept 21 2022

The Milwaukee Rep is bringing back its production of Titanic The Musical this fall after the final two weeks of its original production had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Managing director Melissa Vartanian’s family was supposed to come from all over the country to see it, and not just because she works at The Rep. She has a uniquely personal connection to the Titanic — her great-grandfather was a survivor.

Her great-grandfather, David Vartanian, fled the Ottoman Empire when young Armenian men were being drafted by the Turkish army and military.

When Melissa was growing up, she used to beg her grandparents to tell her the fantasy-like stories of their lives. At the time, she didn't understand the weight that accompanied those stories.

Some of the questions she would ask her grandmother were: “‘Tell us about the time that your dad was on the boat and … how he jumped off, or tell us a story about the genocide and your mom and, you know, that time she had to hide in the pile of dead bodies."

"As a kid, it was a story. The gravity of the horrors that they went through did not hit us at the time,” Melissa shares.

Later, those horrors sank in. On the night the Titanic sunk, David had been playing card games and gone to bed. He was woken up in the middle of the night by a thud and was directed to the ship's back end. He watched women and children board lifeboats, but as the number of boats left dwindled, it became apparent it was every person for themselves.

David and a few others spotted a boat on one of the upper decks. They cut it down, and despite not speaking the same language, they released it into the water and, after, jumped into the water. However, after getting the boat into the water, David didn't immediately board the boat — he sank two times, and the third time he came up from underwater, he swam with all his might towards the boat. Other passengers pulled him up, paddling to get as far away. The ship sank when they got about 20 yards away from the Titanic.

"And he said that it made a horrible noise that he heard shrieking and moaning and horrible, horrible noises that were coming from the people and just everything around them,” Melissa shares.

Because the boat David had boarded was so close to the Titanic when it sank, the water from that washed him out of the boat he was in and he made his way to another boat. He recalled everyone being in a state of shock.

It was hours before the Carpathia found him and the others. David suffered from nerve damage in his legs for the rest of his life, walking with a limp, a cane and a blue hue along his calves. After his three-day stay at the hospital, David was given new clothes, $10 and a ticket to Branford.

“April 15th, which is when Titanic sank, is also my great-grandfather’s 22nd birthday. So he spent his birthday sort of fighting for his life, but thankfully survived it,” Melissa explains.

While David did not like to talk much about his harrowing experiences on the Titanic, Melissa says her grandmother says it is important. She says that everyone on that ship has a story and people who love and care about them. “And if we don't talk about those stories, and we don't honor the memory, we're doing a real disservice to those that came before us that went through so much," Melissa says.

With that sentiment in mind, Melissa looks forward to The Milwaukee Rep’s production of Titanic The Musical this fall. Melissa believes with the company’s stage direction and score, people will be taken to a new place.

“So it's not just about telling the story of the sinking, but it's about giving you a true glimpse as to who the humans were on the boat, and where they were coming from, and what their hopes and dreams were, and what everybody was trying to attain when they came here," she says.

The Milwaukee Rep's production of 'Titanic The Musical' is on stage September 20 through October 23, 2022.

https://www.wuwm.com/2022-09-21/as-titanic-the-musical-returns-milwaukee-reps-managing-director-shares-her-personal-connection 

Sept 23 2022

A five-minute walk from the imposing 204-year-old St Andrew’s Church in central Kolkata, is a narrow bylane, so short that it would not take longer than a minute to reach the other end of it. Amid the overwhelming chaos of the heart of the city, it is easy to overlook Sukeas Lane.