Pakistan Azerbaijan JF 17 Fighter Jet Deal: Pakistan signs largest ever JF 17C fighter jet sale with Azerbaijan amid India Armenia Pinaka deal

Janet Ekmekjian
Feb 22 2024

Baku: Pakistan has made the biggest defense deal in its history so far. Turkey’s friend Azerbaijan has signed a deal with Pakistan to buy JF-17 fighter jets worth $1.6 billion. Azerbaijan will receive JF-17C Block 3 class fighter jets jointly developed by Pakistan and China. Under this deal, apart from fighter jets, training and weapons will also be given to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is buying this fighter jet at a time when it is continuously threatening its neighboring country Armenia. Not only this, recently Armenia had said that after almost a year of peace, Azerbaijan had killed 4 of its soldiers. To deal with Azerbaijan, Armenia is purchasing many deadly weapons including Pinaka from India.

Pakistan will give JF 17 fighter jet to Azerbaijan

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Company manufactures this fighter aircraft. China has provided the technology of JF 17 fighter jet to Pakistan. Apart from China, this company also makes weapons with the technical help of Turkey. Pakistani company supplies arms to Myanmar, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. This aircraft is manufactured in Kamra, Pakistan. This aircraft of Pakistan and China has become junk in Myanmar and is not even fit to fly. For this reason, the Myanmar Army had issued a stern warning to Pakistan. Myanmar’s Army Chief had even threatened.

Now Pakistan is trying to show it to other countries of the world by selling this fighter jet to its friend Azerbaijan. Pakistan has offered this aircraft to many countries in Africa and Asia but it is not finding a buyer. Talks regarding this aircraft were going on between Pakistan and Azerbaijan for the last decade. The aircraft purchased by Azerbaijan flew for the first time in December 2019. Azerbaijan has purchased drones from Turkey and Israel on a large scale and is continuously strengthening its defense preparedness.

Azerbaijan currently has MiG 29 and Sukhoi 25 fighter jets which are becoming quite old. An agreement regarding this aircraft was signed between Azerbaijan and Pakistan for the first time in 2011 but the deal was not signed. This aircraft has a Russian engine installed due to which the Putin government will also keep an eye on this deal. While Azerbaijan is continuously purchasing killer weapons, Armenia has now reached the shelter of India. India has supplied Pinaka rocket system to Armenia. Apart from this, state-of-the-art artillery has also been given to Armenia. Many more deals are under negotiation in the coming times.

https://nationworldnews.com/pakistan-azerbaijan-jf-17-fighter-jet-deal-pakistan-signs-largest-ever-jf-17c-fighter-jet-sale-with-azerbaijan-amid-india-armenia-pinaka-deal/


MISSAK MANOUCHIAN ENTERS THE PANTHÉON!

Emil Lazarian
Taurillon
Feb 22 2024

22 February, by Antonios Tashejian

Mort Pour la France

On 21 February 1944, 22 members of the French Resistance were shot to death by Nazi Germany, through the collaboration of Vichy France, at Mont-Valérien, in the suburbs of Paris. Exactly 80 years later, France has decided to bestow the highest honor possible on a human being by the state: an interment in the Panthéon in Paris for Missak Manouchian and his partner Mélinée. Manouchian was head of the group known as Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d’œuvre immigrée  (FTP-MOI) from 1943 until his death. It was the “immigrant faction” of the Communist French Resistance.

Missak Manouchian was an Armenian. He becomes the first foreigner to enter the Panthéon. Born in 1906 in the Ottoman Empire, young Manouchian witnessed the death of both of his parents during the Armenian Genocide. In the 1920s, he ended up at an Armenian Orphanage in Lebanon and from there found his way to France where he eventually settled in September 1924. He first lived in Marseille before moving to Paris where he twice applied for naturalization as a French citizen but both applications were rejected. He was therefore killed stateless.

Manouchian was a poet and translator who translated the works of Hugo, Rimbaud and Verlaine, among others, to Armenian. He was an ardent communist since 1934. His political beliefs of anti-fascism were the primary reason he joined the French Resistance.

La Patrie reconnaissante

“[…] I am certain that the French people and all those who have fought for freedom will know how to honour our memory with dignity,” he said in his last letter to his wife, Mélinée.

President Emmanuel Macron announced that Manouchian would be interred in the Panthéon exactly 80 years after he was killed. The ceremony took place on the 21st of February 2024.

For around two weeks prior, museums, cultural centers and media outlets across France honored his memory and that of his companions. For example, the Holocaust Memorial (Mémorial de la Shoah) in Paris is currently holding a temporary exhibit on Manouchian and other “foreigners in the Resistance.”

The ceremony commenced on Rue Soufflot which leads to the entrance of the Panthéon. Named after the prime architect of this grand imposing structure, Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the street was filled with people of all walks of life defying the rain, the wind and the cold to honor a man who fought for our rights to live in a France of freedoms, in dignity and respect.

To the sounds of the duduk, an Armenian musical instrument, and music for Charles Aznavour (Ils sont tombés), Léo Ferré (L’affiche rouge), Gomidas (Grunk) and other French revolutionary songs, the two coffins wrapped in French flags made their way up the Rue Soufflot on the shoulders of members of the French Foreign Legion, marking three symbolic stops: (1) Manouchian’s survival of the Armenian Genocide, (2) his choice to move to France and start a better life for himself, and (3) his activities as head of the “immigrant faction” of the Communist French Resistance and death. Excerpts of poems and letters for Manouchian were also read aloud.

Once in the majestic structure, the Panthéon, President Emmanuel Macron gave a poignant speech in the presence of MPs, Ministers, Ambassadors and even the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife. He spoke on the lives of the 23 resistance fighters and at the end exclaimed, “Missak Manouchian […], a grateful France welcomes you.”

An excerpt from Missak Manouchian’s last letter to Mélinée:

“[…] Bonheur à ceux qui vont nous survivre et goûter la douceur de la liberté et de la paix de demain. […] Au moment de mourir, je proclame que je n’ai aucune haine contre le peuple allemand et contre qui que ce soit, chacun aura ce qu’il méritera comme châtiment et comme récompense. Le peuple allemand et tous les autres peuples vivront en paix et en fraternité après la guerre qui ne durera plus longtemps. Bonheur à tous ! […]”

The translation:

“[…] Happiness to those who will survive us and taste the sweetness of the freedom and peace of tomorrow. […] At the time of my death, I proclaim that I have no hate towards the German people nor against anyone else; each will merit the consequences that they deserve. The German people and all other peoples will live in a spirit of peace and fraternity after the war which will not last long. Happiness to all! […]”

This commemoration must not only be celebrated in France but also across Europe. Manouchian was a stateless immigrant, an orphan of the Armenian Genocide, a working class worker, a poet, a translator, an ardent anti-fascist and communist believing in freedom and dignity for all. He died for France, but it is all of Europe that must now honor his memory.

About the author

Editor-in-Chief (Junior) of The New Federalist. Antonios is a Writer, Researcher and Graduate Student in Geopolitics. He focuses on questions of nationalism, identity and belonging, ethno-political conflicts and mass atrocities, power and memory, and intertwines Jewish and Armenian histories.

https://www.taurillon.org/missak-manouchian-enters-the-pantheon?lang=fr

Between Russia and the West, or The Servant of Two Masters: The Role of Armenia in the Russian-Ukrainian War

Jhanna Virabian
Feb 22 2024
written by Gary Cartwright

This sketch came to mind today as I pondered what words to use to label the Armenian government’s strategy in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Is it “eating your cake and having it too”?

Or the slightly old-fashioned “running with the hare and hunting with the hounds”? Being blatantly duplicitous? Dancing at two weddings at the same time? Or perhaps serving two masters — since Armenia prides itself on its Christian heritage, this idiom might hit right home.

You see, Armenia’s problem is that, on the one hand, it very much wants to be friends with the West, and on the other hand, it very much does not want to be at odds with Russia and, most importantly, to lose the immense money brought by the illegal export of sanctioned goods to Putin’s empire of evil.

Last week in Munich, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia is not an ally of Moscow in its war against Ukraine, but that it sides with Ukrainian “friends,” although it cannot to exert much influence on the conflict. Or can it?

Over the past two years, Armenia, a nation of three million people in the South Caucasus, has become the fourth largest exporter of semiconductors and dual-use (read: military) goods to Russia.

In just 12 months, the country’s economic growth amounted to an unprecedented 14%, placing it third in the world in terms of growth rate.

“Armenia’s exports to Russia are up 430% from before the invasion, which is about re-export of EU and Chinese goods to Russia. That’s not the end of it. Armenia’s exports to Kazakhstan are up 1200%, to Kyrgyzstan 1600%, to Uzbekistan 250% and to the UAE 900%.

“All going to Russia” tweeted the former director of the Institute of International Finance and former strategist at Goldman Sachs Robin Brooks on February 17th.

In the first nine months of 2023, Armenia’s exports to Russia grew by 85%, with 80% of this huge volume accounted for by re-exports.

These are the numbers acknowledged by Vaan Sirunyan, Armenia’s deputy minister of finance. Overall, according to the Jamestown Foundation think tank, Armenia’s foreign trade turnover has increased by 69% since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Analysts believe that this economic miracle was due to re-exports from Armenia to Russia.

A joint statement by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, and Treasury classifies Armenia as a hub for intermediaries or trans-shipment points used to circumvent sanctions and export controls related to Russia and Belarus. Because that’s what friends of Ukraine would do, right?

The year is 2024, Armenia’s role in supplying Putin’s Russia with everything it needs to continue with the war is an open secret, and no one seems to be doing anything about it.

Is the declared intention to become part of Western civilization enough for that civilization to turn a blind eye to the fact that right now Armenia is literally supplying Russia with sanctioned goods, including those for military purposes?

It seems so.

The media widely cover this issue, major European, American, Canadian and Ukrainian publications have repeatedly reported that Armenia has become the key hub for transshipment of sanctioned goods from the United States, Europe, China, Taiwan and other countries to Russia.

Moreover, there are reasons to believe that the volume of re-exports through this South Caucasus country will only grow in the near future: while the U.S. and its allies are exercising all their influence to persuade Turkey, Gulf States and Central Asian countries not to participate in shady schemes to supply sanctioned goods to Russia, Armenia remains virtually the only route to bypass sanctions.

In addition, Armenia’s favorable geographic location makes it an ideal transshipment point for arms and weapons shipments from Iran, another anti-Western rogue state.

Just think how much money this generates on a daily basis for those involved in illegal supply chains. While calculating profits, there is no time to think about how many lives this costs Ukraine every day.

“No one can serve two masters,” reads the Gospel. “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Or, as the Russians put it, “you cannot sit on two chairs with one butt” (I have to give them credit, Russians know how to put thoughts into words).

I would wish that Armenia, as well as the West, would heed this.

France is one of first countries to respond to Armenia’s decision to diversify its security sector: Pashinyan to Lecornu

Tambiyan Samvel

 14:31,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by French Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, who arrived on an official visit to the Republic of Armenia.

According to the readout issued by the PM's office, welcoming the delegation led by the Minister of the Armed Forces, the Prime Minister noted. "Dear Minister, I welcome you and your delegation to the Republic of Armenia. This is the first visit of you and, in general, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France to the Republic of Armenia, and it is already historic by this fact.

I want to thank you for your support in forming our bilateral agenda and implementing that agenda. I must emphasize that, of course, the changes taking place in our security situation and cooperation are logical and justified. Of course, by thanking you, I should also consider it logical that France is one of the first countries to respond to our decision to diversify our relations in the field of security, because as we had the opportunity to discuss in Paris two days ago, our relations are very deep and multi-layered, and it is logical that these relations must be expressed also in the field of defense and security. I also want to emphasize that the security component has always been present in our discussions with President Macron, and now I am glad that these discussions are getting a concrete _expression_, including with your support."

In his turn, Sébastien Lecornu noted. "Thank you for these words and reception. You thrilled the French people with your presence at the Pantheon. It can be said that this was a very unique week for our two republics. As I told the media representatives with whom I just met, there was indeed a certain gap: on the one hand, the warm friendly relations that we had, and the defense sector, which was not yet fully realized.

I think that your personal relationship with the French president also plays a big role in this progress. I think it's based on trust, and let me say, our mutual trust as well. I think that our teams have mapped out a very specific path for us together with your Defense Ministry. And taking into account the threats that hang over Armenia's head, we are forced to move forward faster. That is, it is very important for us to react quickly and arrange the steps.

A lot was already underway, but thanks to the bilateral relations and the meeting you had with President Macron, it allowed us to move forward this morning in the same directions you had indicated together in Paris."

According to the source, the interlocutors discussed the works carried out in the direction of defense cooperation and upcoming plans.

The parties emphasized Armenia-France cooperation within the framework of the reforms of the Armenian Armed Forces, including military education, combat training and other directions.

The sides exchanged thoughts on issues related to regional security and stability.

French Defense Minister pays tribute to memory of innocent victims of Armenian Genocide

Parkev Tvankchian

 16:26,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. On February 23, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan and the French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial and paid tribute to the memory of the victims, the defense ministry said.

The Ministers laid a wreath at the memorial and flowers at the Eternal Flame in memory of the innocent martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.




Kremlin seeks clarity from Armenia after it freezes participation in CSTO

Ophelia Vardapetian

 13:56,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia is planning to contact Armenia after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Yerevan had frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) because the pact had failed the country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Zvezda television channel on Friday that Moscow needed more details from Armenia, Reuters reported.

"The Armenian side has not taken any official action in this regard," he said, referring to the purported freezing of its CSTO participation.

"We intend to get in touch with our colleagues and clarify the meaning of these statements," Reuters quoted Peskov as saying.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with France 24 television, stated that the CSTO did not fulfill its security obligations towards Armenia, particularly in 2021 and 2022. He emphasized that could not go without consequences. Consequently, Yerevan has essentially frozen its participation in the CSTO in practice.




Russian Foreign Ministry seeks clarifications from Armenia regarding the freezing of participation in the CSTO

Hovik Karapetian

 18:48,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Russia expects comprehensive clarification from Armenia through bilateral channels regarding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements about freezing Yerevan's participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

"We expect comprehensive clarification through bilateral channels regarding Nikol Pashinyan's statements concerning the freezing of Armenia's participation in the Collective Security Treaty and the organization itself," the Russian Foreign Ministry  has said.

Azerbaijan raises uproar over Armenian Army reforms, yet buys billions of dollars worth of weapons- Pashinyan

Emma Jilavian

 15:14,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with France 24, stated that the reforms in the Armenian army should concern nobody.

"Azerbaijan raises uproar every time in case of our new cooperation in the military-technical field, but does not say about its billions of dollars worth of arms purchases; this is an important fact.

Why is Azerbaijan concerned about the reforms of the Armenian army when it continues to occupy sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, and when we propose, based on the Alma Ata Declaration, to delimit our borders and conduct a mirror-like withdrawal of troops? This would be a significant step toward mutual trust. The reforms in our army should not concern anyone," said the Prime Minister.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spreads disinformation

Arsine Chaltikian

 16:18,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS.  The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has disseminated disinformation accusing Armenia of opening fire, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said.

“The statement issued by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan that,  allegedly, on February 23 the units of the Armenian Armed Forces opened fire in the direction of the Azerbaijani positions located in the eastern part of the border zone does not correspond to reality,’’ the ministry said.