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[Yervant1]

Resolutions are meaningless if it's not backed by implementational process and use of force if necessary. 

News.am, Armenia

Jan 21 2021    

 

 

European Parliament adopts resolutions condemning Turkey for aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh

23:05, 21.01.2021

 

 

 

The European Parliament has adopted resolutions on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy – annual report 2020 and on the implementation of the Common Security and Defense Policy annual report 2020 in which the European Parliament pays special attention to Nagorno-Karabakh and condemns Turkey’s interference in the recent war.

Article 24 of the resolution says that the European Parliament ''Takes good note of the agreement on a complete ceasefire in and around Nagorno-Karabakh signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on 9 November 2020; hopes that this agreement will save the lives of both civilians and military personnel and open brighter perspectives for a peaceful settlement of this deadly conflict; regrets that changes to the status quo were made through military force, rather than peaceful negotiations; strongly condemns the killing of civilians and destruction of civilian facilities and places of worship, condemns the reported use of cluster munitions in the conflict; urges both Armenia and Azerbaijan to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which comprehensively bans their use, without further delay; stresses that a lasting settlement still remains to be found and that the process of achieving peace and determining the region’s future legal status should be led by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and founded on the group’s Basic Principles ; highlights the urgent need to ensure that humanitarian assistance can reach those in need, that the security of the Armenian population and its cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh is ensured, and that internally displaced persons and refugees are allowed to return to their former places of residence; calls for all allegations of war crimes to be duly investigated and those responsible to be brought to justice; calls on the EU to be more meaningfully involved in the settlement of the conflict and not to leave the fate of the region in the hands of other powers’'.

In Article 38, the European Parliament strongly condemns the destabilizing role of Turkey which further undermines the fragile stability in the whole of the South Caucasus region; calls on Turkey to refrain from any interference in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including offering military support to Azerbaijan, and to desist from its destabilizing actions and actively promote peace; condemns, furthermore, the transfer of foreign terrorist fighters by Turkey from Syria and elsewhere to Nagorno-Karabakh, as confirmed by international actors, including the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries; regrets its willingness to destabilize the OSCE Minsk Group as it pursues ambitions of playing a more decisive role in the conflict.

In the resolution on the implementation of the Common Security and Defense Policy, the European Parliament welcomes the cessation of hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh; underlines with concern the military involvement of third countries in the conflict and notably the destabilizing role and interference of Turkey; calls for an international investigation into the alleged presence of foreign fighters and use of cluster munitions and phosphorous bombs; calls on the European Union and international bodies to ensure that there is no impunity for war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh and for the use of prohibited weapons in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; insists on the need to allow humanitarian aid to get through, to proceed without delay with the exchange of prisoners and casualties, and on the need to preserve the cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh.

https://news.am/eng/news/624833.html

 

 

[Yervant1]

Greek City Times

Jan 22 2021

 

 

Why Azerbaijan is Unfit to Rule over the Armenians of Artsakh by GUEST BLOGGER

0

Corrupt, sadistic, and run by a hereditary dictatorship, Azerbaijan is unfit to rule over others, least of all the Armenian Christians of Artsakh.

Yet that iniquity could materialize due to the recent 44-day war by Azerbaijan, Turkey, and terrorist jihadis against the Artsakh Republic (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia.

Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.

The November 9, 2020 armistice could force democratic, Armenian-governed Artsakh (pop. 150,000) into Azerbaijan’s (pop. 10 million) despotic grip.

Since the war began, mainstream media have rarely pointed out Azerbaijan’s depravity and long-standing abuse of Armenians.

In the 1920s, Stalin transferred the ancient Armenian provinces of Artsakh — 96% Armenian — and Nakhichevan to Turkey’s friend, Azerbaijan.

The delusional tyrant mistakenly believed that this would lure Turkey into the USSR’s web.

That injustice has brought Artsakh nothing but agony.

Even before the transfer, Azerbaijan had been massacring Armenians in Artsakh and Baku.

Unlike 3000-year-old Armenia, no country named Azerbaijan existed before 1918.  Its inhabitants didn’t even call themselves Azeris until the 1930s.

Artsakh’s Long Nightmare

Artsakh was officially autonomous within Soviet Azerbaijan, but the latter held the real power.

Artsakh’s Armenians were persecuted due to raw Azeri fanaticism, not the Soviet system.

• Armenians sank from 96% to 76% of Artsakh’s population by 1988, the result of repression, deportations, economic warfare, and murder by Azerbaijan.
• Then-KGB Major General Heydar Aliyev (Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev’s father) acknowledged importing Azeris into Artsakh to replace Armenians that he had exiled.
• Azerbaijan maliciously closed many Armenian schools, orphanages, and libraries.
• Armenian language inscriptions on ancient monuments were depicted as Azeri.
• Museums were looted of artifacts that proved Artsakh to be an ancient Armenian province.
• Even the name Artsakh was banned.
• Large quantities of meat, dairy products, and wool were directed to Azerbaijan instead of to needy local Armenians.
• Baku frequently imprisoned local Armenian leaders who protested, but gave Azeri gangs free rein.

Breaking Free

Artsakh voted to exit Azerbaijan in accordance with Soviet law in 1988 and international law in 1991 as the USSR dissolved. In response, Azerbaijan massacred Armenian civilians in Artsakh, Baku, Ganja, and Sumgait.

Baku Pogrom against Armenians.

The ensuing war ended in 1994 in victory for Artsakh’s Armenians.  Armenians fled the rest of Azerbaijan, and Azeris fled Armenia.

Artsakh became self-governing, reformist, and widely respected. It maintained representative offices in Washington D.C., Europe, and elsewhere.

Azerbaijan proceeded to gorge on revenue from its gas and oil fields. Yet it still mirrored its Soviet self: repressive, corrupt, violent, and anti-Armenian.

Artsakh became doubly determined to never again submit to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s Post-Independence Horrors

• The U.S. State Department says Azerbaijan has “significant human rights” problems, including: unlawful/arbitrary killing; torture; arbitrary detention; political prisoners; heavy restrictions on the press; incarceration of/violence against journalists; severe restrictions on political participation; systemic government corruption; torture of [LGBTQ] individuals; and the worst forms of child labor. Azerbaijan “did not prosecute or punish most officials who committed human rights abuses.”
• The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cites Azerbaijan for “engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.”
• Europe’s Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) named President Ilham Aliyev its 2012 “Organized Crime and Corruption Person of the Year.”
• Azerbaijan is guilty of “arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition politicians, civil society activists, human rights defenders and critical journalists,” says the European Court of Human Rights.
• Freedom House ranks Azerbaijan as “Not Free” — worse than the Congo and Cuba.
• Reporters Without Borders rates Azerbaijan’s press freedom as 168th out of 180 countries, — worse than Pakistan and Somalia.
• International human rights organizations have rebuked Azerbaijan for repressing and forcibly assimilating its Lezgin and Talysh peoples.
• Azeri Lieutenant Ramil Safarov was prosecuted and imprisoned for beheading Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan at a 2004 NATO program in Hungary. Under questionable circumstances, Hungary later dispatched Safarov to Azerbaijan.  He was hailed as a national hero, awarded a medal, and promoted.
• Azerbaijan has perpetrated the utmost brutality since the earliest days of Artsakh’s struggle and during the recent war. Azeri troops have abused, mutilated, and beheaded Armenian civilians and soldiers.  Armenian POWs have been summarily executed. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have decried these war crimes. Azerbaijan has still not released all POWs despite pledging to do so and continues its attacks in violation of the armistice.
• In the 1990s, Azerbaijan imported Afghan Mujahedin, Chechens, Pakistanis, and terrorist Turkish Grey Wolves to fight Armenians. The recent war saw Azerbaijan and Turkey bring in thousands of jihadists and ISIS terrorists from Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. In so doing, Azerbaijan has violated the UN convention against using mercenaries. Draw the appropriate conclusion about a political culture that deploys terrorists and thugs.
• Like Turkey, Azerbaijan has long desecrated and destroyed multitudes of Armenian churches and monuments. YouTube’s “The New Tears of Araxes” shows Azeri soldiers obliterating a large 9th century Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan. UNESCO is being prevented from inspecting Armenian monuments Azerbaijan has just taken control of.
• The Azerbaijani Laundromat was — and may still be — a multi-billion dollar money laundering racket run by Azeri kleptocrats and the Aliyev clan. German, Italian, Slovenian, and other European officials were bribed to whitewash Azerbaijan’s human rights record.
• Azerbaijan covertly bankrolled a PR junket to Baku in 2013 for several Congresspersons and 32 staff from IL, NJ, NM, NY, OK, and TX. They were lavished with rugs and other gifts which the Office of Congressional Ethics ultimately made them surrender. Azerbaijan funded the junket through a Dallas-based organization affiliated with renegade Turkish imam Fethullah Gülen.
• Human Rights Watch says Azerbaijan intentionally struck Artsakh’s “homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, the local water supply“ and Holy Savior Cathedral in the recent war.
• ‘‘Within the next 25 years, there will be no state of Armenia in the South Caucasus. These people … have no right to live in this region,” declared Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry spokesperson in 2004. A year later, Baku’s mayor told a German delegation, “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You Nazis already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right?”

“We [Azerbaijanis] must kill all Armenians — children, women, the elderly.  [We] need to kill [them] without [making a] distinction.”  After Azeri soccer manager Nurlan Ibrahimov posted that in October, the Union of European Football Associations banned him.

These kinds of venom have resulted in the horrors we see above.

• Some Azeris have threatened to bomb Armenia’s nuclear power plant. Last year Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry formalized the threat.
• In sheets of newly released Azerbaijani postage stamps, an Azeri in a hazmat suit is spraying Artsakh with chemicals, suggesting Armenians are vermin to be exterminated.
• Azerbaijan’s territorial ambitions have included not just Artsakh but also Armenia. In December, Aliyev once again claimed parts of Armenia while beside him Turkish President Erdogan glorified Turkey’s 1914-23 genocide against millions of Armenians and Assyrian and Hellenic Christians. Azerbaijan and Turkey’s intentions are obvious.

Now You Know

Now you know why Artsakh’s Armenians have fought and died to live free from Azeri rule.  In their place, you’d do the same.

Artsakh is at least as deserving as other states that since the 1990s have achieved self-determination through international support, such as East Timor, Montenegro, and South Sudan.

Regardless of the recent war’s outcome, if the international community cannot see the justice of Artsakh’s case and effectuate a remedy consistent with self-determination, then there is no justice.

David Boyajian is an independent writer whose efforts focus on commentary and investigative reports regarding the Caucasus. His work can be found at http://www.armeniape.../David_Boyajian.

 

 

https://greekcitytim...e-over-artsakh/  

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia

Jan 22 2021

 

 

Baroness Caroline Cox: I have seen videos and photos of mutilations, torture and beheadings of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

Despite the ceasefire, reports continue of atrocities perpetrated by Azerbaijani forces on Armenian military and civilian prisoners, Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the British House of Lords said during hearing on the Nagorno-Karabakh - Question held on January 18 in the House of Lords.  

Baroness Cox, in particular, raised the question what assessment the UK Government has made of the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In response, Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State noted that the Minister for the European Neighbourhood has spoken four times to the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, most recently in November, when she welcomed the cessation of hostilities. "We recognize that both sides have had to make difficult decisions to ensure the safety and security of their citizens. We of course remain deeply concerned by allegations of war crimes, desecration of cultural heritage and the humanitarian situation, and continue to raise these with all concerned parties," said the minister. 

Baroness Cox, next informed that she had visited the region in the aftermath of the war. 'During and since my visit, I have seen videos and photos of mutilations, torture and killings—there have been beheadings of Armenians —and heard of Azeris taking phones from prisoners, filming their torture and killings and sending these back to their families. Will Her Majesty’s Government act with great urgency to ensure that Azerbaijan is called to account for the continuing, well-documented atrocities, or will they allow Azerbaijan to maintain impunity?" the asked.

Minister of State responded that the government continue to raise these issues at the highest level atrocities need to be fully looked at. 

 

https://www.panorama...arabakh/2440168  

 

[Yervant1]

JAM News

Jan 22 2021

 

 

 

'Border with Azerbaijan being defined under threat of second war' – Armenian Ombudsman

• JAMnews, Yerevan

 

 

 

Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan believes that “the process of defining the state borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan is taking place in the conditions of obvious threats of war from Azerbaijan, which are made against the entire population of Armenia.”

In addition, Arman Tatoyan declared the whole process illegitimate, as it is taking place with violations of human rights and international standards.

This is stated in letters with which he addressed the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Secretaries General of the Council of Europe and the UN, the Council of Europe and UN Commissioners for Human Rights, the PACE and OSCE PA Presidents, the ECHR President, PACE Co-Rapporteurs for Azerbaijan and Armenia.

• What Armenia lost to Azerbaijan after the war
• Karabakh: what awaits ‘new’ and ‘old’ refugees

“The President of Azerbaijan, like the President of Turkey, speaks of the entire Armenian people and the population of Armenia in the language of open threats of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The President of Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijani public figures, following his example, openly insult the dignity of the Armenian people, incite enmity on the basis of ethnicity (specific evidence is attached),” Tatoyan wrote on Facebook.

As a result, the Ombudsman writes, the process of defining the boundaries in specific settlements of the Syunik and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia has already led to gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and threatened people’s right to life, physical integrity, and property rights.

The issue of the security of Armenian border settlements became acute after the second Karabakh war.

Now a new border is being defined here – on the basis of the administrative division of the Soviet era.

“The security of the state borders of the Republic of Armenia is threatened. The process is accompanied by violations of the requirements of the rule of law and has no legitimacy. Therefore, it must be immediately suspended or subjected to fundamental revision.”

The letters of the human rights defender say that in the process of defining the boundaries, only mechanical approaches are used, which are completely unacceptable at the international level. It is about using the GPS and the map application of a private company Google:

“No internationally recognized standards are taken into account. There are no professional approaches at all, no commissions work, no preliminary inventory and assessment of people’s needs, there is no appropriate legal framework. “

The Ombudsman emphasizes that Azerbaijani soldiers, “that is, armed people”, are deployed in the immediate vicinity of the civilians of Armenia on interstate and intercommunal roads and even in the settlements themselves – by dividing sidewalks.

Each of the international organizations and partners, in accordance with their competence, the human rights defender sent separate letters with a detailed analysis and attached documents and other evidence.

Details of the situation in Syunik

As a result of the second Karabakh war, the Zangelan region of Karabakh, bordering on the Syunik region of Armenia, was transferred to Azerbaijan .

And the new border is drawn in such a way that the road between the cities of Goris and Kapan, Syunik region, crosses Azerbaijani territory in several places .

The protests in the region began from the moment when the mayor of Kapan, Gevorg Parsyan, announced the order of the Armenian Ministry of Defense until the evening of December 18 to vacate military posts near the city, located at “favorable heights”.

The opposition of Armenia proposed to create another Russian base on the territory of Armenia, which “will help ensure the security of the Syunik region and the region as a whole.”

In the north of Armenia in the city of Gyumri, 102 Russian military bases have already been deployed. In 2010, Russia and Armenia extended the agreement on the deployment of this base until 2044.

At the end of December, residents of Syunik blocked the roads and did not let Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan into the region. They believe that the Armenian authorities do not protect their safety.

In early January, Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan visited Syunik. As a result of his visit and research, he said that as a result of concessions to Azerbaijan after the second Karabakh war, Armenia lost more than 2,000 hectares of territories and about two dozen houses. And the Azerbaijani authorities, in his opinion, must compensate for the damage to the residents of the Syunik region of Armenia.

Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan in the Syunik region of Armenia

https://jam-news.net...n-armenia-news/

[Yervant1]

The Blunt Post

Jan 21 2021

 

 

The City of West Hollywood Unanimously Adopts a Resolution
Recognizing the Independent Republic of Artsakh

By Editorial Staff 

 

On January 19, 2021, the City of West Hollywood unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing the Independent Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). View the resolution here.

With the request and assistance of Armenian-American journalist, radio host, and activist, Vic Gerami, the resolution was sponsored by Councilmember Sepi Shyne and co-sponsored by Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath.  

Last year, on October 19, 2020, the West Hollywood City Council unanimously adopted a resolution (NO. 20-5338) condemning Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh and in support of a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“As a gay Armenian-American, this is one of the most important and meaningful moments of my life. I can take a minute and exhale after witnessing Azerbaijan and Turkey’s genocidal assault and ethnic cleansing against Armenians of Artsakh since September 27, 2020,” said Vic Gerami, the host of THE BLUNT POST with VIC on KPFK 90.7 FM.

He continued, “West Hollywood is a trailblazer, so I hope that other cities and towns across the country will follow and stand in solidarity with Artsakh Armenians and their right for self-determination. I am grateful for Councilmember Shyne and Mayor Horvath and the three other Councilmembers for passing this monumentally important resolution unanimously.”

Vic Gerami

A spirit of community activism and civic pride thrives in West Hollywood for many of its approximately 35,000 residents. For more than three decades, West Hollywood has been one of the most influential small cities in the nation; no other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national progressive public policy agenda.

West Hollywood has set new standards for other municipalities, not only as a leader in many critical social movements — including HIV and AIDS advocacy; affordable and inclusionary housing; LGBT rights, civil rights, and human rights; women’s rights; protection of our environment; and animal rights — but also in fiscal responsibility.

“I want to thank Mayor Horvath for co-sponsoring this very important Resolution with me and proud of my colleagues for voting in support! The City of West Hollywood has historically stood for justice and we did it once again this evening by recognizing the Independence of the Republic of Artsakh. As an Iranian American, I am proud to stand with and be an ally to the Armenian community,” said West Hollywood Councilmember Sepi Shyne.

Approximately 900,000 Armenians live in CA, 700,000 of whom in the greater Los Angeles area, including West Hollywood, Hollywood, East Hollywood (Little Armenia), Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, and throughout the San Fernando Valley.

West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath expressed her enthusiasm by saying, “This issue has been very important to me personally and to our City for quite some time. I have previously participated in marches to commemorate the Armenian genocide. In my first term as Mayor, I introduced an item directing our City to lower all flags in recognition of Armenian Genocide Day on its 100th anniversary – a tradition we now continue every year. Last year, the West Hollywood City Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s military operation in Artsakh and supporting a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”

Councilmember Sepi Shyne

She continued, “This year, we are building on the City’s legacy of respect and support for all people, with special acknowledgment of the unique atrocities that Armenian people have faced, by calling for formal recognition of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh. It is my deepest desire that our Council’s action gives further strength and support to bringing peace and stability to the region. We must demonstrate our commitment to standing with people of Armenian descent in our greater Los Angeles region who continue the fight for freedom. I remain an ally in this struggle and am glad to lead our City in this important act of solidarity.”

Ten (10) states across the US have recognized the Independent Republic of Artsakh so far. They are CA, CO, GA, HI, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, RI. Cities that have recognized Artsakh include Los Angeles, Glendale, Fresno County, Highland, Gardena, Fort Lee Borough, Fowler, Englewood Cliffs, Clark County, Ridgefield, Cliffside Park, and Orange County.

In addition to dozens of cities across the US, hundreds of cities and principalities in France and Italy have recognized Artsakh, as well as cities in the United Kingdom, Spain, Uruguay, and Guatemala.

On November 25, 20202, the French Senate voted 305-1 recognizing the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, calling upon the US administration and Congressional leaders to take similar action.

Following the Senate’s vote, on December 3, 2020, France’s National Assembly approved a resolution calling on the government to recognize Artsakh as a “republic.” The resolution was adopted in the Assembly with 188 “yes” votes against three “no” votes, while 16 deputies abstained from voting.

West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath

About West Hollywood

The City of West Hollywood is like no other city in the world. In 1984, the idea for the City of West Hollywood was proposed by an unlikely coalition of LGBT activists, seniors, and renters. These groups came together to advocate for cityhood.

Through tireless determination, the City of West Hollywood was officially incorporated as an independent City on November 29, 1984. Previously, West Hollywood had been an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County. The first West Hollywood City Council in 1984 established West Hollywood as the first city in the nation to have a majority openly gay governing body.

Located in the heart of metropolitan Los Angeles, at 1.9 square miles, West Hollywood is a robust economic and cultural center instilled with idealism and creativity. West Hollywood shares boundaries with the cities of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. West Hollywood has a Council-Manager form of government with five elected members of the City Council. Law enforcement is provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and fire protection is provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

A spirit of community activism and civic pride thrives in West Hollywood for many of its approximately 35,000 residents. For more than three decades, West Hollywood has been one of the most influential small cities in the nation; no other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national progressive public policy agenda.

More than 40 percent of West Hollywood’s residents identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. West Hollywood is also home to a thriving community of nearly 4,000 people from regions of the former Soviet Union — this represents approximately 11 percent of the City’s population.

West Hollywood has set new standards for other municipalities, not only as a leader in many critical social movements — including HIV and AIDS advocacy; affordable and inclusionary housing; LGBT rights, civil rights, and human rights; women’s rights; protection of our environment; and animal rights — but also in fiscal responsibility; city planning; infrastructure; social services programs; wellness and recreation programs; senior services and aging-in-place programs; public and community arts; community engagement; and innovation.

The City’s advocacy and services priorities are reflected in the City’s core values, which include: respect and support for people; responsiveness to the public; idealism, creativity, and innovation; quality of residential life; promotion of economic development; public safety; and, responsibility for the environment.

The City of West Hollywood is filled with a rich history. People from all over the globe visit West Hollywood for its iconic destinations such as The Sunset Strip for its unparalleled historical connection to music, entertainment, architecture, fashion, and culture-making; for Santa Monica Boulevard historic LGBT destinations and entertainment establishments; and for the Design District shopping, galleries, and restaurants. weho.org

We Are Our Mountains Monument in Artsakh

About Vic Gerami

A noted journalist, a columnist, Vic Gerami is also a radio show host and media contributor who is also publisher and editor of The Blunt Post.

Gerami is the host and producer of his prime-time radio show, THE BLUNT POST with VIC on Independent Radio KPFK 90.7 FM (Pacifica Network).  The program covers national breaking and headline news, politics, and current events, and Gerami offers analysis and commentary. He also interviews a member of Congress and other high-profile public figures on every show. A few of his recent guests include Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Congressman Tony Cardenas, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congressman Jim Costa, Congresswoman Norma Torres, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, Congressman Raul Ruiz + Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, as well as Marianne Williamson. You can listen to all the interviews here.

Today reaching national international audiences, Gerami first built a foundation of knowledge and skills by learning the media industry during his years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by positions at LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. For the second time, Gerami was selected as a finalist in the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards “Columnist of the Year” category in 2019, having first made the final round of consideration in 2017. His celebrity Q&A column, ‘10 Questions with Vic‘ is internationally syndicated.

A few of many celebrities whom Gerami has interviewed include Melissa Etheridge, Paula Abdul, Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Sally Kirkland, Kathy Griffin, Matthew Modine, Laverne Cox, and Marianne Williamson.

In July 2020, the Los Angeles Press Club announced that Gerami is a Finalist in record seven (7) categories for the 62^nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards.

The seven categories in which Gerami is a finalist are a mix of investigative reporting, political coverage, social justice issues, and interviews. He is recognized for his print and online journalism, as well as interviews on his namesake radio show.

Gerami is also a contributor for some of the most prominent publications in the nation, including Windy City Times, California Courier, IN Magazine, OUT Traveler, The Fight, and The Advocate Magazine, among others.

The Wall Street Journal featured Gerami as a “leading gay activist” in its landmark 2008 coverage of opposition to Proposition 8, the ballot measure that for years denied same-sex couples in California the freedom to marry. In addition to his years of volunteer work as a leading advocate for marriage equality, later Gerami went on to serve as a Planning Committee member for the historic Resist March in 2017. Vic Gerami is also a founding board member of Equality Armenia.

In 2015, Gerami was referenced in the landmark Supreme Court civil rights case, Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Councilmember Sepi Shyne made history in November 2020 when she was elected to the West Hollywood City Council. She became the first out LGBTQ Iranian elected anywhere globally and locally became the first woman of color elected to West Hollywood’s City Council. Her election also ushered in West Hollywood’s first female-majority City Council. Councilmember Shyne’s priorities include advocating for affordable housing, protecting renters and social service programs, social justice, small business revival, and bringing the people’s voices to City Hall.About Councilmember Sepi Shyne

Councilmember Shyne received her Bachelor of Science from San Jose State University with a double concentration in Accounting and Management Information Systems and a Minor in Drama with an emphasis in Directing. She received her Juris Doctorate with a specialization certificate in litigation from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.

As an LGBTQ+ and civil rights leader for more than 20 years, her leadership has helped secure equal rights for all. Before her election to the West Hollywood City Council, Councilmember Shyne served on the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, on the City of West Hollywood’s Business License Commission, and on the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Advisory Council on which she continues to serve. Additionally, she has led many boards and organizations, including the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles and as a Board of Governor and Steering Committee leader with the Human Rights Campaign Los Angeles. Councilmember Shyne is a Co-Organizer of WeHo Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a community group created during the pandemic to help get resources to seniors, people with disabilities, and people in immunosuppressed households via social media and volunteer check-in calls. In every board and organization, she has led, she has recruited and elevated women and people of color to leadership positions to create more diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Councilmember Shyne lives in the Mid-City area of the City of West Hollywood with her wife and their fur-babies. SepiShyne.com

Dadivank Monastery in Artsakh, Built Between 9th & 13th Centuries

About Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath

Councilmember Lindsey P. Horvath was elected to the West Hollywood City Council on March 3, 2015. She previously served as a Councilmember (2009-2011), West Hollywood Transportation Commissioner (2011-2015), Los Angeles Unified School District Redistricting Commissioner (2011-2012), and on the Women’s Advisory Board (2007-2009).

Councilmember Horvath has a long history of civic and social justice advocacy. She has spearheaded policies to make West Hollywood an “Age-Friendly Community” to better serve residents of all ages. She also led the City to become the first in the nation to impose financial sanctions on Arizona for its discriminatory, anti-immigration SB-1070 law. Councilmember Horvath created the first-ever West Hollywood Community Response Team to Domestic Violence. She initiated City policies to support workers, including paid family leave, student loan debt relief, and transition guidelines for the workplace to provide a supportive working environment for transgender people.

Lindsey is a recognized leader on a broad range of transportation and mobility issues. She has introduced policies to reduce traffic and parking problems and to make West Hollywood more bike and pedestrian friendly. She led the way in advancing the Crenshaw Northern Extension of Metro rail service to West Hollywood ahead of schedule; initiated the West Hollywood Bicycle Task Force; and created safe drop off zones for shared ride services like Lyft and Uber. Through her leadership, West Hollywood was named the “Most Walkable” city in California.

Councilmember Horvath is widely known for her leadership on women’s issues and has served as a Global Coordinator for One Billion Rising, a global campaign of the V-Day movement to end violence against women and girls.  She is also an advocate for A Window Between Worlds, UN Foundation, and A Place Called Home, which presented her with their GirlPower Community Leadership Award in 2016. Women’s March Los Angeles has featured her as a speaker every year. On the Women’s Advisory Board, she focused on issues facing women and families in West Hollywood and collaborated with community leaders and organizations in successfully advocating for the full funding of the backlog of untested rape kit evidence in the City and County of Los Angeles.

She is a champion of LGBTQ+ rights. As Mayor, she created a Resource Guide to support LGBTQ youth, which was made available in the City Halls of all 88 cities in LA County. Councilmember Horvath’s transition guidelines policy was adopted by the California Attorney General’s office under Kamala Harris. She served as a Board member of the Victory Fund Campaign Board and was a founding Board member of the NOH8 Campaign. Lindsey focused on issues facing LGBTQ older adults while serving on the Board of Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE). She served as Communications VP for Stonewall Democratic Club, which presented her with the 2019 Morris Kight Presidential Award in recognition of her outstanding leadership and steadfast support of the LGBTQ community and the organization. In 2009, she represented the City of West Hollywood in the National Equality March in Washington DC.

Lindsey believes that government must earn public trust and work for everyone. That is why she created the City’s Ethics Task Force to review policies for elected & appointed officials, staff, and those who do business with the City. Additionally, she led the effort to eliminate the wasteful, corrupt council deputy system.

Councilmember Horvath also represents West Hollywood’s interests in a variety of roles, as voted on by her colleagues: Executive Board Member for the LA County Division of the League of California Cities; Chair of the Transportation, Communication, and Public Works Committee for California League of Cities; Human Development Committee Vice Chair for National League of Cities; First Vice President of Women in Municipal Government (WIMG) for National League of Cities; Executive Committee Member and Legislative & Regulatory Chair for Clean Power Alliance of Southern California; Board Alternate for the Contract Cities Liability Trust Fund Claims Board & Oversight Committee; Board Member of Los Angeles County Sanitation District. She also serves on the Council’s sub-committees for Metro and Plummer Park. She previously represented the City of West Hollywood on the Los Angeles County Library Commission and on the Executive Board of California Contract Cities Association.
In addition to her service as an elected official and community advocate, Councilmember Horvath has created award-winning campaigns for movies and television as a creative advertising executive. She graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Gender Studies from the University of Notre Dame. LindseyHorvath4WeHo.com

About The Blunt Post

Founded by Vic Gerami, The Blunt Post is independent and progressive news journalism, opinion, and commentary web magazine that covers the latest news, current events, politics, social justice, entertainment, travel, and lifestyle.

The Blunt Post is also a prime-time radio show called, THE BLUNT POST with VIC (TBPV), hosted by the editor and publisher Vic Gerami on Independent & Progressive Radio KPFK 90.7 FM. TBPV covers national breaking + headline news, offers commentary + analysis, and exclusive interviews. On each show, Vic interviews a member of Congress and other high-profile public figures.

TBPV airs on Mondays, 6:00 AM (PT) on KPFK 90.7 FM + Livestream at KPFK.org and reaches 18-million households in Southern CA. Immediately after the LIVE broadcast, it is available at KPFK.org and on iTunes, Stitcher, Tune-In, SoundCloud, and Spotify. TheBluntPost.com

 

https://thebluntpost...4BmUbsustBA1Unw

[Yervant1]

International Business Times

Jan 24 2021

 

 

 

Armenia And Azerbaijan: The Business Of Reconciliation

By Georgi Vanyan AND Emin Milli on 1/24/21 at 10:07 am est

KEY POINTS

• The recent conflict caused many Armenians to flee Karabakh, tragically mirroring events of the 1990s.
• Peace must be girded on mutual economic dependence, as France and Germany demonstrated with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in the wake of the Second World War.
• Reconciliation founded on economic exchange is the ultimate means for a durable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• See this article with the full mobile experience.
• Visit IBT.com to see the latest stories.

In the recent conflict between our two nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the diplomatic hand of the West has been conspicuously absent. Tellingly, the first talks between our respective leaders since the November ceasefire took place with one other person in the room – President Vladimir Putin.

President Joe Biden has stated a resolve to change this, chiding the Trump administration’s passivity during the conflict. Yet others may question why it’s necessary, given America’s geographical remoteness from the South Caucasus. Is it perhaps not preferable for Russia to lead peace efforts?

Given the entanglement of NATO in the region, and the risk – were these efforts to fail – of regional conflagration at the junction of Europe and the Middle East, the U.S. cannot let events unfurl. Given limited progress in recent talks, the ceasefire shall remain fragile because it doesn’t provide for reconciliation between our communities, the fundament for lasting peace. Rather, economic engagement – between the nations, its peoples and from the West – holds that promise.

This is not to say acrimony simply dissolves in prosperity. History has shown us that arguments for a peace dividend are no match for the emotion of nationalist rhetoric. Yet in affording a mechanism for exchange where contact can be established, reconciliation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis can find some purchase. Because it is a lack of connection we must first resolve.

 

Where once we used to live as neighbors, our communities now know nothing of the other. During the 1990s conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh – the region at the heart of the dispute – approximately one million of our peoples became refugees. Azerbaijanis fled Armenia and vice versa. Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Karabakh. Then an impassable border fell. Segregated, fear and mistrust of the other grew. Seeping into our national psyches, it bound our identities against the enemy across the border.

National identity may not be negotiable, but the price of tomatoes is. It therefore makes an easy starting point: a human-level contact to begin demystifying the fog between us; stripping existential anxiety of the other for trust. Where nationalists may blather about incompatibility, Azerbaijanis and Armenians trading would be its living refutation.

But for this, we must live together once again. The recent conflict caused many Armenians to flee Karabakh, tragically mirroring events of the 1990s. Now they must be encouraged to return, as should Azerbaijanis, through economic incentives – whatever form (tax benefits, business grants or subsidies) this may take. For many, at first, this will not be enough: The wounds of the conflict remain raw. However, for others, it will: all that is needed for drip-drip-drip of reconciliation to begin, and the path to be lit for others to feel safe in following.

 

 

Further illumination can flow from initiatives that actively encourage partnership. Seed money, for instance, could be provided for joint enterprises between Azerbaijanis and Armenians to start businesses together. Schemes like this that bake in collaboration can reveal what a future together holds.

We need not wait for the final details of a negotiated peace deal to begin. Indeed, the longer it takes the benefits of peace to flow, the more precarious it shall become. Conversely, tangible economic development can give people a vested interest in supporting political compromise, making it easier for the governments to sell to their respective domestic audiences. Though economics is never sufficient for peace, in this way it can strengthen processes towards settlement.

It also paves the way for an incremental renormalization of relations between our two nations. Peace must be girded on mutual economic dependence, as France and Germany demonstrated with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in the wake of the Second World War. The force of logic is even stronger today: It makes no sense to deepen integration in the global marketplace whilst ignoring our closest neighbor.

 

Though the West may feel side-lined, it can deploy its tools of soft power to encourage these kinds of initiatives. In addition, its governments could open the door to private industry to bring investment to bear on the much-needed reconstruction of infrastructure that – in providing immediate jobs and a platform for opportunity – will help cement the peace.

Many of these things will no doubt need to happen in concert with the two leading major peace brokers– Turkey and Russia. Whilst some in the West may not relish this prospect, it is what the situation demands if stability is our ambition. Biden appears reconciled to these compromises, as his commitment to re-join the Iranian Nuclear deal alongside Moscow and renew the Russian-U.S. nuclear treaty later in January suggest.

The opportunity, therefore, must now be grasped. Reconciliation founded on economic exchange is the ultimate means for a durable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. At the same time, it offers the West an opportunity to re-establish its influence and shape events in the region. As the economic lingo goes, that’s a ‘win-win’.

Georgi Vanyan is Chairman of the Caucasus Center of Peace-Making Initiatives. Emin Milli is Founder and former director of Meydan TV, Azerbaijan’s largest independent media outlet.

 

https://www.ibtimes....3L49tl9EoB1A-QI

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia
Jan 25 2021  



Armenian trucks attacked in Georgia 


Armenian trucks were attacked in Georgia after midnight today, the Armenian Embassy in Georgia informs.

According to the Embassy, unknown people threw stones at Armenian trucks, broke the front and side windows of some trucks, and fled the scene. The incident took place near the Georgian settlement of Kvemo Ponichala.

The trucks were later escorted to the Georgian-Armenian border and crossed it.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident.

The Embassy is in constant contact with the relevant authorities of Georgia, at the same time actively working to bring the perpetrators to justice, to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

According to some media reports, the attack was carried out by Azerbaijanis.

https://en.armradio....ked-in-georgia/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia
Jan 25 2021  


Armenian Sahak-Mesrop cultural center in Marseilles targeted by gunfire 



The Armenian Sahak-Mesrop cultural center in Marseilles was targeted by gunfire on Sunday, at 6:40 pm.

The gunshot shattered the window on the second floor, while a piano lesson was being held at the center.

No one was hurt in the attack, but the musician who was present on the scene at the time of the shooting as well as the president of the cultural center lodged a complaint with the police. Several police teams raided the premises.

“This is one of the most symbolic Armenian centers. More than 250 children study in the hall every week. My anxiety is boundless. I am confident that the government will guarantee the center’s further safe operation. We are unbreakable,” Karen Khurshudyan, President of Abovyan school, told Hayern Aysor.

The Cultural Center also serves as coordinating headquarters for Armenian organizations. During the Artsakh war, it coordinated the humanitarian aid sent from Marseilles and the south of the country to Armenia.

 

https://en.armradio....ted-by-gunfire/

[MosJan]

https://onnet.am/599...-fW_fEn8Z8OarLQ

 

Ադրբեջանում քանդում են զոհվածների գերեզմանները․ դրանք դատարկ են (տեսանյութ)

 

Ադրբեջանական իշխանությունները հայտնել են զոհված զինծառայողների ծնողներին, որ իրենց որդիները թաղված են փառքի պանթենում։ Սակայն հետո լուրեր տարածվեցին, որ գերեզմաններն իրականում դատարկ են։ Գազազած ծնողները քանդել են իրենց որդիների գերեզմաններն ու համոզվել դրանում։ Ալիևը խաբել էր նրանց, գերեզմաններն իսկապես դատարկ էին։

[Yervant1]

Now we know why certain countries acted the way they did, which will remain nameless!

EurasiaNet.org

Jan 27 2021

 

 

 

Following war with Armenia, Azerbaijan gains control of lucrative gold mines The losses to tax revenues will hit the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh government even harder than Yerevan. Ani Mejlumyan, Ulkar Natiqqizi Jan 27, 2021

The end of a golden age? (photo: GeoProMining)

Thirty days into the brutal war between Armenia and Azerbaijan last autumn, a small, London-listed company staked its claim to what lay beneath the killing fields. 

Anglo-Asian Mining had been waiting for decades. Since 1997, the company has held the rights, granted by Azerbaijan, to three gold deposits beyond its reach, in territories controlled by Armenians. In an October 27 press release it announced that it was looking forward to tapping its 300-square-kilometer Vejnali contract area, which had just been retaken by Azerbaijani troops: “Once secure, the company plans to immediately start work.” After the fighting ended, some two weeks later, Armenian troops handed back more gold-mining areas, including the Kelbajar region, home to one of the most productive gold mines in the Caucasus. 

Nagorno-Karabakh and the areas around it are rich in deposits of gold, copper, and other valuable metals. For decades, mining revenues helped prop up the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 2019, for example, 13 percent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s GDP came from the extractive industry, according to the territory’s statistics service, making it the top source of tax revenues. During the war Nagorno-Karabakh – which Armenians call Artsakh – lost control not only of profitable mines but, according to the de facto economy minister, “most of the hydroelectric plants.” 

"Taking into account the obstacles caused by land losses as a result of hostilities, the Artsakh government will not be able to provide the revenue to fund its budget not only this year, but also in the coming years. According to my calculations, tax collection in Artsakh will be reduced by 40 billion drams [$80 million], or 65 percent,” Yerevan-based economist Suren Parsyan, who is connected to Armenia’s opposition, told Eurasianet. 

The 44-day war that ended on November 9 radically changed the map of the South Caucasus – and with it, the economic foundations of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Now, after pushing for years to attract international attention to what it describes as the looting of its territories, Baku’s timing is auspicious: Around the world, investors are piling into precious metals as a hedge against inflation, which is expected to rise globally with coronavirus stimulus policies. The price of gold has jumped about 19 percent in the last 12 months. Copper futures hit multi-year highs this month. 

The precise economic stakes for both Armenia and Azerbaijan are obscured by opaque governments. Mining enterprises in Armenia are obliged to disclose little information; activists’ repeated efforts to introduce transparency requirements have failed. We are only able to deduce the scale of miners’ contributions to Yerevan’s and Stepanakert’s coffers because both do release figures on large tax payments. Azerbaijan’s gold industry, for its part, has been tarnished by investigative reports showing how, in other mining ventures, President Ilham Aliyev’s daughters Arzu and Leyla Aliyeva extracted millions of dollars in profits, stashed them offshore, and then left rural mining communities, in the words of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, “high and dry.” 

Worth its weight­

During Armenia and Azerbaijan’s first war over Nagorno-Karabakh as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Armenian troops took control of the territory and seven adjoining districts – all internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan. The war ended, after tens of thousands of deaths, in a 1994 ceasefire that largely held until late 2020. Nagorno-Karabakh had declared itself independent and become an unrecognized satellite of impoverished Armenia. 

Only three years after the ceasefire, a Delaware-registered company, R.V. Investment Group Services, signed an agreement with Baku for exclusive rights to six mines, three of them on territories under Armenia’s de facto control. 

The man who signed that agreement is Reza Vaziri, a former official in Iran’s pre-revolutionary government and today the president, CEO, and largest known shareholder in Anglo-Asian Mining, which operates exclusively in Azerbaijan. 

The company did not respond to requests for comment. 

Anglo-Asian Mining has enjoyed a sharp uptick in the price of gold since the 2008 financial crisis. In a preliminary 2020 report released on January 14, Vaziri said the company enjoyed “record revenues … in excess of $100 million” last year from its operations in two mines to the north of Nagorno-Karabakh – Gosha and Gedabek. 

With licenses “restored” by the most recent war, Anglo-Asian Mining expects “to deliver substantial shareholder value over the coming years,” Vaziri said, adding, “we will start evaluating additional development of our licenses in the restored Vejnali, Soutely and Gyzilbulakh contract areas as soon as practically possible.” 

The mines to which Anglo-Asian Mining holds rights: 

Soyudlu/Sotk

Until work was suspended in November, the open-pit Soyudlu gold mine (also known as Soutely, Zod, or, in Armenian, Sotk) on the border between Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district and Armenia was exceptionally productive. It was being operated by GPM Gold, the fourth-largest taxpayer in Armenia in 2020 according to the State Revenue Committee, when it paid over 30 billion drams ($58 million) into government coffers. As of October, the mine, which also produces silver, employed 1,654 people. 

GPM Gold is wholly owned by Cyprus-registered GeoProMining Investment, which is managed through a web of offshore outfits. Last summer Russian real estate and airport tycoon Roman Trotsenko became the controlling shareholder of GeoProMining. Trotsenko is a former advisor to Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft, and a close ally to Vladimir Putin.

Sotk grossed $126 million in 2019, by far GeoProMining’s largest operation. The company’s website says the mine yielded 130,000 ounces of gold in 2018 and has an operating life of another 18 years. Yet its bondholders cannot be pleased: In its audited 2019 financial report, the company did not list Azerbaijan as a political risk; in fact, the document did not mention Azerbaijan at all. (Neither, for that matter, did the big ratings agencies.)

Inside Armenia, GeoProMining also operates the Ararat Gold Recovery Plant, which it upgraded in 2014, and a copper-molybdenum plant in the south. In Russia, it operates several fields in Siberia.

If any of these mines offers Armenia and Azerbaijan an opportunity for mutual benefit, it is Soyudlu/Sotk. But that would require cooperation. Armenian officials have said that half the mine is on Armenian territory, while an Azerbaijani official has said that 74 percent lies on Azerbaijani territory. When Azerbaijani troops took back control of Kelbajar as part of the November peace deal, the local village head said they forced Armenian workers to leave – a claim Yerevan denied. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry released this video of the site after it had been deserted. 

 

Vejnali/Tondirget 

Discovered in the late 1950s and confirmed to hold up to 6.5 tons of gold, in recent years Vejnali has been mined by a company called Gold Star, which was the fourth-largest taxpayer in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2019 according to the State Revenue Committee. Little is known about the company, though a 2020 financial report seen by Eurasianet shows a 1 billion dram ($2 million) loss. Gold Star is run by a Swiss-Armenian citizen, Vartan Sirmakes, who is Armenia’s consul in Marseille, France, and co-founder of luxury watch brand Franck Muller. Baku has sought Swiss help prosecuting Sirmakes for his role in operating the mine.

Armenian environmentalists have complained of a lack of oversight at the mine. 

Gyzilbulakh/Drmbon and Demirli/Kashen

Until the 2020 war, these two mines were operated by Karabakh’s largest taxpayer, Base Metals, which paid 18.7 billion drams ($38.5 million) to the treasury in 2019; by the company’s calculations, it alone was responsible for 32 percent of Karabakh’s revenues. Parsyan, the economist, estimates that the firm accounted for 60 percent of exports.

Base Metals is owned by Vallex Group, which has holdings in metals, IT, and tourism in both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh – it even helped sponsor a key highway between Armenia and Armenian-held territories that opened in 2017. Armenia lost control of the highway during the recent war.

Vallex confirmed to Eurasianet that operations at both mines – which are 15 kilometers apart as the crow flies – have been on hold since the war. The company was unable to answer questions by the time of publication, but a source close to the Karabakh authorities told Eurasianet that both mines remain under Armenian control, though Azerbaijani troops had taken a crucial pumping station, without which neither mine cannot operate. Karabakh’s de facto minister of territorial administration and development, Zhirayr Mirzoyan, has told Armenian investigative news site Hetq that building a new pumping station would be time-consuming and expensive.

Gyzilbulakh (Drmbon in Armenian) is an underground copper and gold mine founded in the early 2000s. Almost a decade ago, it was reportedly nearing the end of its working life.

Azerbaijani prosecutors have accused Vallex and Base Metals of "almost complete depletion" of Gyzilbulakh, earning some 302 million manats ($178 million today) in "illegal profits" between 2009 and 2017. A 2019 report from Azerbaijan’s MFA and based on high-resolution satellite imagery included concerns about the tailings pond where chemical waste is stored at Gyzilbulakh.

In a January 21 statement, Anglo-Asian Mining claimed the site had been restored to Azerbaijani control and that, because it sits within Nagorno-Karabakh, it is protected by Russian peacekeepers. Access, the company said, “will depend on the final resolution of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Yet more of a prize today is the nearby Demirli (Kashen in Armenian) open-pit copper and molybdenum mine near Aghdara (Martakert), said to hold 100 million tons of copper. Vallex claimed in July 2020 that it had invested $250 million in the site, which employed almost 1,500 people.   

Azerbaijan’s prosecutor has charged Vallex’s president, Russian-Armenian Valeri Mejlumyan (no relation to one of the authors), with illegal extraction and belonging to an organized criminal group.   

This is not Vallex’s first setback. In 2018, the company had its Teghut copper and molybdenum mine in northern Armenia seized by its Russian creditor, VTB Bank, after being unable to service a $380 million loan during a shutdown linked to concerns about the environmental impact of tailings dumps. 

All that glitters

Anglo-Asian Mining’s strong balance sheet suggests it will have fewer troubles than Vallex. It also shows how the Aliyev family casts a long shadow over any lucrative industry in Azerbaijan.

The same year the first daughters were purportedly leaving hundreds of Azerbaijani miners high and dry, Anglo-Asian Mining received a $3 million credit line from Baku-based Pasha Bank. The bank lists the Aliyeva sisters and their maternal grandfather as its ultimate beneficial owners. 

Anglo-Asian Mining – which is now debt-free – is also well-connected in the United States. 

After Vaziri, the company’s second-largest shareholder is former Governor John Sununu of New Hampshire, who served as President George H. W. Bush's chief of staff and owns 9.4 percent of the company, a stake worth about $25 million. Sununu’s son Michael is also on the board. Another son, Chris, is currently a first-term governor of New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, the government in Baku is taking its message abroad. If the Armenian companies "do not pay compensation," Aliyev said on January 6, Baku will pursue international arbitration. "There is no place in the modern world for companies and people who illegally exploit natural resources in another country and make a profit from that. Therefore, they must calculate the value of the gold and other natural resources they illegally exploited, calculate the damage they have caused, the income gained, and compensate us." 

With record high prices for commodities, plus hopes for an economic rebound in 2021 fueled by a COVID vaccine and loose monetary policy, and excitement about new green technologies built with the kinds of metals under the soil in Karabakh, Baku must be eager for Anglo-Asian Mining to start digging. Across the frontier, the losses threaten to leave Armenians out of the next economic recovery. 

 

David Trilling contributed research. 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

Ulkar Natiqqizi is a reporter based in Baku.

 

https://eurasianet.o...tive-gold-mines

 

[Yervant1]

Forbes

Jan 28 2021

 

 

Child Of War Chronicles Horrors From A Bunker In Artsakh

Jackie AbramianContributor

ForbesWomen

I cover women social entrepreneurs, peace builders and change agents.

• 

 

Journalist Lika Zakaryan considers herself “a child of war” born in 1994 in the capital city of Stepanakert, in the war-torn, predominantly Armenian populated, autonomous region of Artsakh within Azerbaijan, neighboring Armenia. Last September 27, the Turkish-backed Azerbaijan army unleashed a major bombardment on Artsakh violating the global ceasefire due to the pandemic. As heavy bombardment using banned weapons continued, the world stood silent, while in early October NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for a ceasefire. 

“These brutalities, underscored by Erdogan’s promise to ‘fulfill the mission of our grandfathers in the Caucasus’, and his reference to Armenians as “leftovers of the sword,” demonstrate that we are on the verge of another Armenian Genocide,” wrote David L. Phillips last October. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peacebuilding and Rights (PBHR) at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) that is documenting “Human Rights and Foreign Terrorist Activities in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)” and has served as a Senior Advisor and Foreign Affairs Expert to the State Department during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. 

Like thousands of residents who couldn’t be evacuated, Zakaryan took refuge in a makeshift bunker, living through the horrors of a 44-day war, watching her birthplace transform into rubble. Her father, who had lost one eye in the 1994 war, and brother, were at the frontline. She saw her mother, a nurse at a local hospital, a few times during the war and rarely communicated with her younger sister who was evacuated to neighboring Armenia. Having just joined the news team at CivilNet, Zakaryan’s regularly published war journals earned her the title of the ‘Armenian Anne Frank’.

An Alumnus of Peace Work Institute, a volunteer in YMCA-Artsakh NGO where she trained in conflict resolution, peace work and critical thinking, Zakaryan is a graduate of Artsakh State University with a major in conflict resolution/transformation and peace. I held a virtual interview with Zakaryan following the trilateral peace agreement which Russia facilitated between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Jackie Abramian: Tell us about your childhood in Artsakh–you lived with your grandmother while your parents and brother, Albert, moved to Russia to earn an income.

Lika Zakaryan: I felt the effects of war all the time. I understood my parents are gone, not from a good life. I was always feeling lonely. Those were difficult times for simple people of Artsakh: no jobs, no money, no opportunities. My grandparents worked hard to make me feel fine–to have bread to eat. Everything was limited–food, clothes, etc. but there was a lot of love. I think that made me appreciate everything in this life.

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Abramian: Did you anticipate a major war in your lifetime?

Zakaryan: No. I knew it was possible, but I didn’t even want to think about it. Especially after the four-day war in April 2016, I thought 21st century wars stopped on the 4th day.

My university studies helped me distinguish fake news–what to believe, what to do in which situation. I was also teaching myself Turkish, so that helped me understand a lot in Azeri websites and so on. Critical thinking helped me to have my eyes open and realize that we are losing the war.

Lika Zakaryan considers herself “a child of war” born in 1994 in the capital city of Stepanakert.

 LIKA ZAKARYAN

Abramian: Does the cloud of the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan play a role in your psyche–and for all the Artsakh youth?

Zakaryan: This war changed my life in all possible senses. Like anyone else, my family started to live, create, renovate the house. Our life level and conditions became better, only due to our hard work, of course. But the war made everything worthless. We are not sure that our home will belong to us. I wanted to give my mother a microwave as a Christmas gift–but now I can’t buy it, because we see it as paying for a dead horse. Because one bomb can destroy everything, and the bombings are not gone for us yet.  Also, I started to feel fear all the time. I’m even afraid to go to the toilet at night because it seems to me that the enemy is under my balcony.

Abramian: Where were you and your family members when the first bombs fell on September 27?

Zakaryan: I was home–sleeping with my family. We woke up from the sound of bombings. We were very scared. The whole day, I didn’t believe that it was a war. The first week we thought it would stop soon, but it didn’t.

Abramian: How did you start reporting for CivilNet–what were your intentions of keeping a war journal, published by CivilNet?

Zakaryan: I started to work at CivilNet in August 2020. Since December 2019, I had attended journalism classes and loved it a lot. I always thought about journalism, but never tried it. And here I was given a chance to try it, and I decided to do it. I felt I will find myself in journalism. I had worked only for two months as a journalist when the war started. I could say that the war was my teacher.

Keeping a journal wasn’t a planned action. On October 11, my cameraman, who is also my boyfriend, was called to the frontline. Before that I didn’t have a lot of time to be alone with my thoughts, but when he left, I felt very lonely and needed to write and share–it helped me a lot. People started calling it “a war diary” I didn’t name it. I felt my journal was helping people–they liked reading the chronicles. I felt useful and continued writing. And I continue it even now, sometimes.

Lika Zakaryan started working for CivilNet in August 2020, nearly two months before the start of the ... [+]

 LIKA ZAKARYAN

Abramian: How many days did you take shelter in a bunker? And what was life like in a bunker–where did you sleep, shower, how did you find food?

Zakaryan: I can’t say for sure. Probably over 35 days I was in a bunker which was a storage space of a school. There were 3 or 4 people with me. My cameraman, his parents, and CiviliNet staff when some of them were here in Artsakh.

Showering was a problem, actually. I can’t even tell you what it exactly looked like. (she laughs). Going out depended on the bombings. If they were quiet for some hours, I would go out, take pictures, or go home to see my family. My father and I would go to the municipality to get some food since shops were closed. We did it even under the bombs. We took food to other people who don’t have a car.

Abramian: Were there days that you didn’t think you would survive the war?

Zakaryan: Every day.

Abramian: How often did you write in your diary?

Zakaryan: Every day after the 11th day, except for one day, I guess.

Abramian: How does it feel to be known as the Armenian ‘Anne Frank’ which someone called you. In your diary on Day 15 you wrote:

It already looks like Groundhog Day. I woke up at midnight because I couldn't sleep all night from yesterday's heavy bombings. We can already distinguish the sounds–when it’s a Smertch, when it’s a drone, when it’s cluster bombs, and when ours hit the drone. It is very sad that we can all distinguish this. But what can we do? This is our reality today.

I keep track of days only when I am going to write the day's post. We rarely look at the clock. It seems that for half a century I have not gone to the office, have not cooked vegetarian pizza, have not eaten Nutella on a crepe and have not seen children in the city. Today a friend suggested saving all this as an archive, like Anne Frank's diary. We decided to do so and call it a diary. It helps to dispel the fear, thanks to a friend for the idea. In a few years, we'll watch and read, tell the children and grandchildren.

This war changed my life in all possible senses, says Lika Zakaryan. 

LIKA ZAKARYAN

Zakaryan: I hoped the world would care about it as they care about Anne Frank. But I think they don’t. I hoped to bring attention to the Karabakh conflict from the Armenian side.

Abramian: On Day 25 your diary speaks of the endearment for your family–missing your brother Albert fighting at the frontline…you recall your childhood, how you saved your lunch money to get him a toy limousine while he lived in Russia.

If he was reading this now, I would like to tell him one thing - If the war made you sad, come back soon, I will give you a million limousines, I will heal all the wounds in your soul. You just come back as soon as possible.

Zakaryan: Albert is fine, thank God–he’s alive. He is in Stepanakert, working in a window-making company. I was missing him a lot–we are very close to each other.

Abramian: Your diary on Day 30 chronicles the hours and the human losses very systematically. What was it like to count the hours, the casualties who were more than just numbers? You wrote:

For 744 hours we have been living and going through war. We have lost 1006 of our best men. We've lost almost a whole generation of men born between 2000 and 2002. Thirty-nine civilians who were living their lives have died, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Ninety thousand people (60% of Artsakh's population) were forced to leave their homes and find refuge. More than 20,000 children are deprived of their right to education. Mothers lost their sons, who they carried for nine months, and then protected them through all their lives. Children are left orphans.

Zakaryan: I felt we are the only humans in the world, and we are getting less and less. It was awful to read the lists of the dead soldiers–born in 2000-2002. They’re children. I felt guilty for breathing and existing in this world.

Abramian: You wrote about losing a close friend and not being able to cry. Have you cried yet? Were there any outlets for the immense trauma you experienced?

Lika Zakaryan says "Artsakh is not an area, it’s a home for people. It’s not even home, it’s PEOPLE ... [+]

 LIKA ZAKARYAN

Zakaryan: I didn’t cry, I was like a stone. I wish I cried. That still remains in me and will remain if I don’t let it go, I know. But I’m still like a stone.

Abramian: You write resentfully about how others took pity at the displaced Artsakh children. How do you want the world to look at Artsakh children–what’s unique about them that the world should know?

Zakaryan: That they are no less clever or less talented, they are not victims; they are children who need love and care, like everyone else. That they deserve the same opportunities as others do.

Abramian: You make no secret of your resentment against the international community. What would you tell the international community and the human rights organizations that ignored Artsakh’s calls for help? You wrote:

We learned the true face of the international community and all organizations that constantly deliver big words, speak about values, human rights, peace... We learned that people in this conflict zone are not human beings, because their lives have no value, unlike those who live in a powerful state. We realized once again that our only defenders are the 18-year-old boys standing in front of the fire. How can we live to be worthy of them?

Zakaryan:  I think that was a vivid failure of international law, organizations, order, and ideals. If an aggressor wants to kill many civilians, he will kill many civilians, and nobody can do anything. 

I would say that the world is small, and one day life can build for them these kinds of challenges, and they will get what they did themselves–the ignorance. Maybe then they will understand how it feels to be alone in the whole civilized world.

Abramian: Amidst the “chaos and grief” you said you listened to Joan Baez’s song ‘Donna Donna’ as your “friend in war.” Do you know that this Yiddish folksong is about a calf being led to slaughter which some consider a metaphor for the Jewish Holocaust–symbolic of genocidal war of Artsakh?

Zakaryan: Yes, I still listen to Baez’s song, that is still my favorite, my friend in war. I think it has a connection with all these issues about genocides, even if I didn’t realize it fully then.

Abramian: After living through the tumults of war, on Day 35 you left Artsakh to join your sister in Armenia, and described your refugee status most descriptively–reflective of what over 80 million refugees in our world must’ve lived through. You wrote:

It's an indescribably awful feeling. It seems that a dangerous moment has passed, security is ahead. But you don't want to go ahead. How can this be? Doesn't man act instinctively? On the one hand, this thrust back into the fire, and on the other, the vagueness of where you are going. Where to go? Who should I go to? I don’t even want to bother other people with my war... But the car is going, and no one asks you. Build your whole life and lose it in a moment. Today has been my worst day since the war began. I will continue to write about refugee life and tell a story from the last war, but now I will only say one thing: no security can replace my cozy basement if the enemy shells my house…

Zakaryan: Actually, I was forced to leave Artsakh, but wasn’t allowed to write about it. I was afraid that I would make trouble for the authorities with my statement of evacuation. But I didn’t want to leave… I think many refugees in the world felt these exact emotions.

Abramian: On Day 1 Peace you write about the “revised map of Artsakh.” What would you like to tell those “men in suits” who remapped your homeland? You wrote:

 I lived 44 days in ignorance of who is where, who controls what. Who am I? The citizen of which country? Where will I live? I ponder that there is a corridor between Armenian and Artsakh with a view to Karvachar. Men in suits decided that they’ll give it away on November 15.  

Zakaryan: I still can’t believe my eyes. I can’t accept it. I think I live in Stepanakert now and try not to see what happens. I travelled to the new borders to make myself believe, but even that didn’t help. I can’t accept it, not now…

I wouldn’t like even spending a word for the men in suits. I realized that pink sunglasses have to be broken, people's lives are not interesting for decision-makers, only fuel, gas, Dollars. I don’t know what to say about my identity. I still don’t know a citizen of which country I am now. But one thing I know for sure–I am a Karabakhian Armenian. I am happy for that, even though I had to go through all this.

Abramian: Have you shed tears and mourned your territorial loss which you compare to losing your grandmother who was your “mom, dad, grandmother, and friend. She was everything to” you, yet you couldn’t cry until you saw her in a coffin. 

Zakaryan: I still don’t accept it. For me, it didn’t get to the ‘’coffin time’’ yet.

Abramian: What do you want the world to know about Artsakh and its significance?

Zakaryan: Artsakh is not an area, it’s a home for people. It’s not even home, it’s PEOPLE ITSELF.

Abramian: What are your future plans? Will you publish your diary?

Zakaryan: Yes. I am new in all of this, so I will need help and support to see how it has to be done. I’m planning to do a fundraising for it. I am still in Artsakh and planning to stay here yet. It depends on the situation. We cannot plan out ‘tomorrow’ nowadays.

 

 

 

https://www.forbes.c...-from-a-bunker/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Jan 30 2021

 

 

Azerbaijani military regularly fire in the immediate vicinity of Armenian villages – Ombudsman

 

 

The Azerbaijani military fire from small and large-caliber weapons in the immediate vicinity of the villages of Chakaten, Nerkin Hand, Shikahogh, Yeghvard, Agarak, Uzhanis in the Syunik province of Armenia, Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says.

Civilians and community bodies of all these villages have informed the Human Rights Defender that shootings take place regularly, both during the day and at night.

According to the alarms, the shootings are clearly heard in the villages, aimed at intimidating civilians and, first of all, children and women.

At the same time, the villagers observed that the Azerbaijani servicemen fire when they are drunk. The shooting is usually from large-caliber weapons and more intensive in these cases.

The delegation led by the Human Rights Defender was informed about these shootings on January 9, 2021 during their visits to Tshakaten and other villages of Kapan. At that time, it was directly reported that the shootings were causing tension in villages.

“These criminal, absolutely condemnable acts must be completely excluded. They have become a real threat to the rights to life and health, physical and psychological integrity and other rights of civilians of Armenia, recognized internationally and guaranteed by the Constitution of Armenia. These shooting grossly violate best interests of the children as well,” the Ombudsman says.

“The mentioned fact further reinforces the Human Rights Defender’s assessment that the presence of Azerbaijani armed forces in the immediate vicinity of Armenia’s civilian border communities, on inter-community and interstate roads is a real threat to the lives and other vital rights of civilians,” Tatoyan adds.

Reports on these facts will be sent to international organizations, including the OSCE, the UN and the Council of Europe. Separate reports will also be sent to special mechanisms of intergovernmental organizations.

https://en.armradio....ages-ombudsman/

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Jan 30 2021

 

 

Pashinyan: We can’t say Shushi with 96% Azeri population is under our control without clarifying Karabakh status

12:18, 30.01.2021

 

 

One of the recent scandalous headlines is that I allegedly stated that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this Saturday during a live broadcast on Facebook, entitled "About Shushi," also directly quoting his statement during the recent parliament-government question and answer session that, "There has never been such an option of discussion, not only now, but during the whole negotiation process, that the refugees from Azerbaijan do not return to Shushi, and Shushi had 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population before the [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] conflict and the liberation; that is, do you mean to say that the city of Shushi, with a population of 90 and more Azerbaijanis, is Armenian in its status?”

According to the PM, using this _expression_, some say that he claimed that Shushi is not an Armenian city. Pashinyan noted that he had referred to that topic while answering the question of one of the MPs that the Russian president had proposed to stop the recent Artsakh war in much more favorable conditions for the Armenian side, and Shushi would remain under Armenian control.

"During the war, there was talk of options for stopping the war, and the Azerbaijani side posited a condition for the return of Azerbaijani refugees to the city of Shushi. In fact, it was about the possibility of restoring the demographic status quo in [19]92. When we had already agreed that we should stop the war, a new condition arose that the Azerbaijani refugees shall return to the city of Shushi in accordance with the status quo that existed in 1992," Pashinyan said.

He added that when the above-mentioned fact became clear, many people publicly accused him that there was an option for Shushi to remain Armenian in status, but he did not make use of that opportunity.

"I have responded to the reality of who and how they think that when there will be a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi, the city with that status will be considered under Armenian control, as the MP says," Pashinyan emphasized.

According to the Armenian PM, the condition for stopping the war in the context of Shushi is to have 90 and more percent of Azerbaijani population.

"It is about its current status, not about the origin; that is, we have not discussed a historical issue. We discussed a specific situation when the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Shushi in accordance with the demographic status quo existing in 1992 was proposed as a condition for stopping the war. In no way could it be considered that there is a 96 percent Azerbaijani population in Shushi without clarifying the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and we can say that it is under Armenian control," said Nikol Pashinyan.

According to him, this matter only shows an example of media manipulation.

https://news.am/eng/news/626217.html

[Yervant1]

NOVOSTINK

Feb 1 2021

 

 

Polish politician sends first copy of publication on Azerbaijani war crimes against Armenians to Aliyev

 

1 February 2021, 10:53 - NovostiNK

Polish politician Tomasz Lech Buczek has sent the first copy of the publication about the crimes of Azerbaijan against the Armenians in Artsakh to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

He has enclosed a letter addressed to Ilham Alijev and urged him to free free the Armenian prisoners.

The letter reads:

 

 

Your Excellency!

As announced, I am sending to Your Excellency the number 1 (0001) publication about Azerbaijan’s war crimes against the Armenians – Karabakh 2020.

First of all, I appeal to Your Excellency for the RELEASE of the Armenian prisoners of war imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Desperate families of their mother, wife and children await them at home. Their release would become a fact of great historical importance, showing the pursuit of peace in the world.

I also request the exact number of detained Armenian prisoners of war and, through international organizations, to provide information on their health condition.

It also I calls for legal steps to be taken against the criminals of Azerbaijani citizens who committed war crimes during the Karabakh conflict in violation of international conventions and law, as well as the laws of Azerbaijan.

Yours faithfully
Tomasz Lech Buczek

Tomasz Lech Buczek said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia last week that he had received thousands of threats from Azerbaijan for his intention to publish a brochure on Azerbaijani war crimes against Armenians. Numerous attempts had been made to hack his social media accounts.

 

https://en.novostink...7wye48UQSpWkDbw

 

[Yervant1]

Panorama, Armenia

Feb 1 2021

 

 

 

Armenian historian Hamlet Petrosyan reacts to another Azerbaijani slander

Armenian Doctor of History, Professor Hamlet Petrosyan, who leads the archeological excavations in Artsakh’s Tigranakert, reacted to another slander by Azerbaijan in a statement on Sunday. The full text of the statement is below.

"In the Azerbaijani media domain, they post pictures from my Facebook page, which show, among others, the packaging of the materials of the Tigranakert Archaeological Museum. The Azerbaijanis present the materials of the excavations in Tigranakert as "the result of illegal excavations", describing the evacuation of these items from the war zone as "theft of Azerbaijani cultural heritage".

I would like to remind the semi-literate propagandists of the aggressive state that the archeological excavations in Tigranakert were carried out at the official invitation and with the permission of the Artsakh authorities, that they were financed from the Artsakh state budget. The Tigranakert Archaeological Museum was established, operated by the decision of the legitimate authorities of Artsakh, with funding of the government of Artsakh. The archeological research of Tigranakert was carried out on a full legal basis, with high professionalism, the results of the research were regularly presented to the international scientific community. It's just ridiculous to talk about a secret process.

Let me mention that Azerbaijani archaeologists, who worked in the area in the 60s and 80s of the last century, did not see the archeological traces of the old city. I urge them not to be so jealous of what they have not been able to find.

During the 44-day war, Tigranakert became an area of enemy shelling, about which we have warned more than once. As a result, the Tigranakert archeological site were completely destroyed. The Artsakh authorities and I, our research team, could not allow the Tigranakert Archaeological Museum to suffer such a fate. The archeological findings of Tigranakert are the property of the people of Artsakh, the issues of its protection are not within the competence of Baku, but Stepanakert. In case of peace, they will be returned to Stepanakert and will be exhibited in the museum to be created for it.

The fact that Artsakh is not politically recognized does not deprive its indigenous people of their right to culture. Including the right to research and promote cultural heritage. So, the archeological research of Tigranakert was carried out on an absolutely legal basis.

The Azerbaijani ideology of depriving the people of Artsakh of their cultural heritage is a continuation of the genocide of the Armenian cultural heritage. Genocide, which we have witnessed for decades, genocide, which culminated in 2005-2006 by destruction of thousands of khachkars in Jugha, the genocide that gained momentum during Azerbaijan's and Turkey’s recent aggression, continues every day. And it can not be justified by false political statements and false accusations.

My colleagues and I will continue the research of Artsakh's cultural heritage, its popularization and the revelations of Azerbaijani vandalism. Aggression, military domination, defamation of international bodies are not competent and cannot deprive the people of Artsakh of the right to preserve their identity with their cultural heritage."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.panorama...trosyan/2444339

[Yervant1]

Greek City Times

Feb 3 2021

 

 

Azerbaijan won the war in Nagorno-Karabakh but reduced its sovereignty

by Paul Antonopoulos

Azerbaijan Won The War In Nagorno-Karabakh But Reduced Its Sovereignty - Greek City Times

Although Azerbaijan won the war against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh, both countries have in fact lost part of their sovereignty.

Azerbaijan won the war and expanded territorially after it captured or received the districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh proper that Armenian forces captured in the first war (1988-1994). The status of Nagorno-Karabakh proper remains undetermined but is protected by Russian peacekeepers and is still governed by Armenians.

Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite this territorial expansion, Azerbaijan has in fact partly lost its sovereignty. During the war, reports began emerging that Azerbaijani military leaders were becoming increasingly frustrated with the level of control that Turkey had over their fighting forces. These reports were quickly dismissed and denied by Azerbaijan as Armenian attempts to create division through misinformation. But if this was just misinformation, then there would be no risk of division to begin with, meaning it would not be worth giving attention to, suggesting there was certainly an element of truth to it.

Azerbaijan’s military success lays with two key factors: the Armenian political and military incompetency and lack of will, and Turkey’s contribution with drones, special forces, intelligence and transfer of Syrian jihadists.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan never truly committed to the war effort as Armenian forces were never fully mobilized, powerful Iskander missiles infrequently used, the Armenian Air Force mostly grounded, Armenian diaspora and foreign volunteers rejected from fighting, and local Armenian militias not equipped with enough ammunition, maps and communication devices, nor were the militias assigned commanders – yet this was supposedly a “war for survival,” as Pashinyan termed it.

None-the-less, despite the incompetency of the Armenian leadership, Azerbaijan’s rapid success in Nagorno-Karabakh would not have been possible without significant Turkish support. Even Azerbaijan’s success is limited as it did not achieve its main war aim – the capture of Nagorno-Karabakh.

More importantly, Ankara’s footprint in the country massively expanded through the deployment of more Turkish troops to Azerbaijan, control of more military bases, and the establishment of a joint observation center with Russia in the Agdam region.

As said, reports circulated during the war that divisions in the Azerbaijani military and political circles were emerging between a pro-Turkish faction and another faction in opposition to Turkey’s dominant role in the war effort. These reports have only intensified in recent days as Turkish troops are now deployed in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani politicians and military leaders are beginning to worry about Ankara’s strong influence in the country, with critics commenting that Azerbaijan has become the 82nd province of Turkey. Although Azerbaijan now controls most of the formerly Armenian-held territory, it cannot exercise control over it without Turkish and Russian oversight.

In fact, even Iran has greater opportunities to influence Azerbaijan that it was not able to do before the war. Azerbaijan’s capture of the districts to the south of Nagorno-Karabakh proper means that it shares external borders with only Armenia and Iran. Effectively Iran has great opportunities to be one of the leading foreign investors in the region as Armenia and Azerbaijan have not normalized their relations. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited the Nakhichevan exclave of Azerbaijan, the region wedged between Armenia, Turkey and Iran, to boost regional cooperation through new railroad and transportation routes.

In turn, it will be inevitable that Iran will attempt to gain influence through pan-Shi’ism, but this may prove difficult to gain a foothold as pan-Turkism has become the dominant ideology of Azerbaijan because of Turkey’s own soft power manoeuvers. Russia will utilize its influence through its peacekeepers in the region, and also soft power through economic exchanges.

Although Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will relish his country’s long-awaited victory after his father Heydar Aliyev signed a humiliating ceasefire in May 1994 to conclude the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the long-term repercussion means that Turkey dominates the Azerbaijani military and wields great political influence over Baku. Also, there is limited Azerbaijani governance in the territories it controls because of Russia’s watchful eye through the deployment of peacekeepers. And finally, we can see much stronger Iranian influence as it aims to penetrate the region through economic and religious means.

Azerbaijani flags may be flying over the captured territories, but it certainly has come at the price of reduced sovereignty – militarily, economically, politically, and perhaps even religiously and culturally.

Source: InfoBrics

 

https://greekcitytim...gorno-karabakh/

[Yervant1]

The Organization for World Peace

Feb 3 2021

 

All Azerbaijani Captives Returned Under Karabakh Deal, While Some Armenian Captives Still Await Return

February 3, 2021  in Current Events by Chloe Jackson (updated on February 3, 2021)

As of January 18^th, 2021, Armenia has returned all Azerbaijani prisoners from the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The six-week struggle last year ended with a ceasefire agreement initiated by Russia, says Reuters. An end to the violence required both Azerbaijani and Armenian forces to exchange all prisoners. However, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov reports that progress has stalled on the return of Armenian prisoners. Armenia claims many of its prisoners remain in Azerbaijan well after the 2020 conflict ended. Lavrov clarified that the reason Armenian prisoners have yet to be returned is due to lack of communication between the two sides and Armenia’s failure to produce a list of prisoner’s names in a timely manner. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan announced the return of four Armenian captives on December 28^th, 2020 through mediation by the International Committee of the Red Cross of the Russian Federation, but many still await their release. Russian peacekeepers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region are working to uncover the location of remaining Armenian prisoners and ensure their safe return. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, an effort established in 1994 to resolve the land dispute, is aware of the Armenian prisoners that remain in unlawful captivity.

The sluggish exchange of prisoners reflects the inefficacy of previous ceasefires. The peace agreement in November 2020 “leaves many key aspects of the simmering conflict unresolved,” says the Washington Post. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan labels the agreement as “incredibly painful both for me and for our people.” The November truce was a triumph for Azerbaijan but caused outrage and protests against Prime Minister Pashinyan in Armenia. According to the Washington Post’s recount of a January 11^th meeting with Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, the Russian-brokered deal also worked out the reopening of transport routes in the region. Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey shut their borders to Armenia at the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and land-locked Armenia will now supposedly be able to improve their economy with reopened borders. The new border policies will likely contribute to resolving the issue of Armenian prisoners that remain in Azerbaijani captivity. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues “the implementation of those agreements will benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani people and the entire region” and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agrees, stating “it opens completely new perspectives that we couldn’t even imagine in the past.” Prime Minister Pashinyan disputed these claims by maintaining that the region’s status is unclear, but also recognized the reinstated transit routes.

Productive dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan must continue to reach peace in the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Both sides struggle with communication, a crucial element in negotiating disagreements in the region. To arrive at a permanent solution to the violent outbreaks, both sides must agree upon a resolution that ends the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for good.

Conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has persisted for several decades. During the 20^th century, fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan was kept in check under Bolshevik rule. However, as the Soviet Union began to dissolve, the autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh region declared independence and war between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted soon after. As stated by the Council on Foreign Relations, fighting over the region spanned from 1988 to 1994, resulting in 30,000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees. In 1994, Russia brokered a ceasefire that remains in place. Though Nagorno-Karabakh has been classified a frozen conflict since 1994, breaches of the peace agreement have occurred in recent years. The most intense fighting since the ceasefire broke out in early April 2016, effecting dozens of deaths and over 300 casualties. Following four days of violence, the two sides consented to a revised ceasefire agreement.

Tensions heightened again in July 2020, and fighting then escalated in late September 2020, resulting in deaths of over 1,000 soldiers and civilians. The United Nations, United States and Russia encouraged new peace agreements in light of the violence, but both parties rejected such advice and continued to fight. The struggle intensified when Azerbaijani and Armenian forces transitioned from cross-border shelling to heavy weaponry, including long-range artillery. As of October 2020, several new ceasefires have been negotiated via communication with France, Russia and the United States. Infringements of the truce continue as fighting persists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. While both opposing sides accuse each other of breaking the ceasefire, Russian peacekeepers argue the arrangement is working thus far.

The exchange of Azerbaijani and Armenian captives is a step toward peace in the region. However, future relations between the two sides remain uncertain. Putin deems the November 2020 peace deal as a “necessary basis for a long-term and full-format settlement of the old conflict,” says the Washington Post. While mediators like Putin are optimistic about relations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, current resolutions may not bring an end to struggles between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

• Author
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Chloe Jackson

 

Chloe has been involved with the OWP since 2020 and is currently working as a Correspondent reporting on world peace issues. Chloe is interested in global human rights debates and inequalities among marginalized groups. She believes that progressive solutions to conflicts regarding world peace are possible through dedication and collaboration.

 

https://theowp.org/a...l-await-return/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Feb 5 2021

 

 

Polish politician Tomasz Lech Buczek sends brochure on Azerbaijani war crimes against Armenians to Biden

 

 

Polish lawyer and politician Tomasz Lech Buczek has penned a letter to US President Joe Biden, urging him to take steps to free Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

Buczek also attached a publication on Azerbaijani war crimes against Armenians. He had earlier sent a copy to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to you, first of all, as an ordinary person, a Polish citizen by chance born on July 4, on a day so special for the history of the United States.

I am fighting for the truth to prevail. Artsakh, who fought for Independence, this small piece of Armenian sacred land.

On February 3, I received a very personal letter from Mrs Armine of Stepanakert, an Armenian mother.

During the Nagorno-Karabakh war, she lost her son and husband, and the youngest son, 19, was taken prisoner by Azerbaijan. In this letter, she stated that this letter was a Great Hope for Her, because as a simple woman she did not know who to turn to for help.

Then I remembered the letter. The Bixby letter a brief, consoling message sent by President Abraham Lincoln in November 1864 to Lydia Parker Bixby, a widow living in Boston, Massachusetts, who was thought to have lost five sons in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln

I replied to Ms Armine quoting this letter and added one sentence – only one that I would do everything to free the Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan.

In the twenty-first century, the world cannot accept the violation of fundamental human rights. The world must take steps to free the Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan.

To this letter, I attach my evidence-based publication on the Azerbaijani War Crimes against the Armenians in Karabakh 2020.

 

https://en.armradio....nians-to-biden/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Feb 5 2021

 

 

Armenian MP appeals to women leaders in Europe to force Azerbaijan to release Maral Najarian from captivity

 

 

Member of the Armenian National Assembly Naira Zohrabyan has appealed to women leaders in Europe, requesting to call on Azerbaijan to release Lebanese Armenian Maral Najarian from captivity.

Maral Najaryan moved to Berdzor, Artsakh, after the explosion in the port of Beirut. She was taken captive on the Goris-Stepanakert road on her way to Berdzor to transport her personal belongings to Yerevan before the region would be handed over to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has officially confirmed the fact of Maral’s captivity, and she is supposedly kept in the Gubistan prison, about 70 km from Baku.

Naira Zohrabyan from the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction has appealed to European women leaders, human rights activists and all organizations dealing with women’s issues to force Azerbaijan to return Maral and all prisoners of war.

“I have appealed to all women at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to call on Azerbaijan and Aliyev’s wife, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, to return Maral Najaryan, a civilian, to Armenia immediately,” Zohrabyan said in a Facebook post.

“I have appealed to UNESCO, which gives the title of a goodwill ambassador to the wife of the president of a war criminal country, so that UNESCO demands within its mandate that its Azerbaijani goodwill ambassador not spit on international humanitarian law and keep Armenian prisoners of war and Maral Najaryan as a “political currency,” to  immediately return all prisoners of war to Armenia under the 3rd Geneva Convention,” Zohrabyan said.

 

https://en.armradio....from-captivity/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Feb 8 2021

 

 

Polish politician pens letter to Macron, asks to help hold Aliyev liable for war crimes against Armenians

Polish politician pens letter to Macron, asks to help hold Aliyev liable for war crimes against Armenians – Public Radio of Armenia

Polish politician and lawyer Tomasz Lech Buczek has sent a letter to French president Emmanuel Macron, asking to intervene to hold Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev liable for the war crimes against Armenians committed during the Artsakh War.

In addition, he has attached 150 copies of the brochure on Azerbaijan’s war crimes.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. President,

I am asking you to intervene in the case of bringing to criminal liability the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who, as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, committed documented crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Armenians during the Karabakh conflict in 2020 on the basis of: Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims (1949) with Additional Protocols (1977), The Hague Declarations on the Prohibition of Gaseous Missiles and Expanding or Flattening in the Human Body (1899), Fourth Hague Convention on the Principles of War on Land (1907), Protocol on ban on the use of chemical and gas weapons (1925).

I am asking Your Excellency, the President, to designate a place for trial of Azerbaijani criminals on French territory.

I am also asking for a ban on İlham Aliyev, his entire family and Azerbaijani dignitaries to enter France and the European Union.

To the letter I adds a few copies of my publication about Azerbaijan’s War crimes against the Armenians – Karabakh 2020.

Tomasz Lech Buczek earlier sent letter and brochures to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

https://en.armradio....inst-armenians/