cease-fire violations by azeris

[Yervant1]

Wicked Local, MA

Dec 17 2020

Patriots Coach Belichick speaks in support of Armenians and conflict against Azerbaijan

Jackson Ripley | Wicked Local

Two of the things for which New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is known for is winning Super Bowls and keeping his nose out of politics. But last month he broke his usual silence to speak out in support of Armenians and their conflict against Azerbaijan.

“I hope that our country will take action against Turkey and Azerbaijan for their unprovoked and deadly attacks on Armenians,” Belichick told the Boston Globe in a Nov. 18 article. In the past, Belichick has joined the Patriots’ Director of Football Operations Berj Najarian, who is of Armenian descent, in bringing Americans’ attention to issues affecting Armenians.

Patriots quarterback Cam Newton has also been vocal about the conflict. On December 6, after the Patriots beat the Los Angeles Chargers, Newton was spotted sporting custom cleats designed by Najarian and bearing the colors of the Armenian flag to show support for Armenia.

But Lexington resident John Sahagian, who is Armenian, sees the gestures differently. “The reason Belichick [spoke out] is he’s familiar with someone who’s Armenian American,” Sahagian, 82, said. “If he didn’t know that person he might not have said anything.”

While Sahagian is happy to see prominent figures like Belichick show their support for the Armenian struggle, he doesn’t believe it will make more Americans care. “People who care about issues such as genocide will discuss this, and get involved with it,” said the retired electronics salesman, but it’s not necessary for other organizations like the Patriots to do so.

When Belichick made these comments last month, Armenia and Azerbaijan had recently agreed to a tenuous ceasefire brokered by Russia. The deal has held up, however tensions are high and there are concerns that peace won’t last much longer.

On Sept. 27, Azeri forces supported by their Turkish allies, invaded the Nagorno-Karabahk region between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Control of the ethnically-Armenian region has been viscously contested since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Sarah Ignatius, executive director of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont, said she believes Turkey’s involvement in the conflict is a continuation of “anti-Armenian sentiment” painfully marked by the Armenian genocide, which occurred in the early twentieth century and resulted in an estimated 1.5 million Armenian deaths. Ignatius also cited claims of human rights abuses in the area, such as the bombing of civilian areas and the use of the chemical weapon white phosphorous.

“This is a complicated, underreported area of the world,” Ignatius said. “What happened there shouldn’t be able to occur without people knowing about it and trying to do something to prevent that in the future.”

Jackson Ripley is a Boston University journalism student writing as part of a collaboration with BU News Service.

https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/belmont-citizen-herald/2020/12/17/patriots-coach-belichick-shows-his-support-armenians-under-attack/3943105001/

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 17 2020

Bodies of nine Armenian servicemen found in Hin Tagher-Khtsaberd section

On December 16, the bodies of nine Armenian servicemen found near the Armenian military positions in the direction of Hin Tagher-Khtsaberd were handed over to the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh by the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the area, Artsakh’s Ministry of Defense said.

Necessary actions are being taken at the moment to find out the circumstances of the soldiers’ death and their identity, the Ministry added.

The Defense Army said on the eve that the fate of 73 people in that section was unknown.

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/17/bodies-of-nine-armenian-servicemen-found-in-hin-tagher-khtsaberd-section/

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Dec 18 2020

Karabakh Ombudsman: 80-year-old woman killed by Azerbaijani soldiers in her house in Vardashat village

22:49, 18.12.2020

Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Artak Beglaryan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“As a result of the activities carried out within the scope of the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, we found out that it is very likely that the body of the woman found in the Vardashat village of Hadrut region during the search efforts is the body of Nina Davtyan. The identity will be ultimately confirmed based on the results of the DNA analysis.

Nina was 80 years old. She stayed in her house in Vardashat village with her husband Davit Davityan and was killed by Azerbaijani servicemen. Based on the preliminary data of the expert examination, there are firearm injuries in the chest area and on the right hand of the body, certain head bones are broken, and this can be the result of either being hit with a firearm or a rough object.

Let me mention that there is still no information about the fate of the husband.”

https://news.am/eng/news/619764.html

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Dec 18 2020

Yuri Kotenok: Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh can explode at any moment

14:22, 18.12.2020

Armenia is facing a difficult challenge, and the opportunity is the real deepening of allied ties with Russia. This is what Editor-in-Chief of Segodnya.ru, military correspondent Yuri Kotenok, who was severely wounded during the shelling of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, told reporters today.

According to him, perhaps it is necessary to sign a new treaty within the scope of the already Union state and perhaps Armenia can hold a referendum for deepening of cooperation with Russia. “The threats that Armenians and Russians faced a century ago are still current. Armenian society is split into two, but Armenia has the opportunity to overcome the consequences and move towards the establishment of allied and friendly ties with Russia. It was Russia that maintained the territories that were maintained and is providing humanitarian aid. The lack of organization caused by the events in Nagorno-Karabakh have a negative impact on people’s moods,” Kotenok said.

He clarified that now it is necessary to meet the conditions of the signed statement, receive the support of the peacekeeping contingent as the guarantor of security and negotiate with the adversary. “Nagorno-Karabakh is a state, even though it is unrecognized. In any case, it’s not over yet, the situation can explode at any moment since the truce is very fragile. Armenia doesn’t have much time to prepare. It needs to solve the military issues and modernize the economy. The people need to get over the “defeated army” complex,” he concluded.

https://news.am/eng/news/619664.html

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives condemns Azerbaijan's aggression against Artsakh

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12:14, 18 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The Chamber of Representatives of Belgium adopted 130/12 a resolution condemning the Azeri attack on Artsakh, the Committee of Armenians of Belgium reported.

The resolution “condemns the resumption of military actions by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020” and calls upon the government to take several actions to help the affected civilians, to reveal and bring to accountability those guilty for war crimes, maintain the ceasefire and lead the negotiations to a peace treaty that would respect the borders of Artsakh and its right to self determination.

The resolution also condemns Turkey’s destructive role in the war and demands Ankara to stop meddling militarily in the NK conflict and refrain from actions that destabilize the region.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1038230.html?fbclid=IwAR2akoOmfGSIcb7sQB0i926kpOPukhsCOxE-WWrsnT2Tyz4-5XjIsEvmN7U

[Yervant1]

Voice of America

Dec 19 2020

Armenia Mourns Karabakh War Victims

By AFP

December 19, 2020 04:58 AM

YEREVAN, ARMENIA - Armenia on Saturday began three days of mourning for the victims of clashes with Azerbaijan as the opposition kept up pressure on the country's leader to resign over the handling of the conflict.

More than 5,000 people including civilians were killed in Armenia and Azerbaijan when clashes erupted between the ex-Soviet enemies in late September over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The war ended in November with a Moscow-brokered peace agreement that saw the Armenians cede swathes of territory to Azerbaijan, which has been backed by close ally Turkey.

The deal sparked fury in Armenia, with the opposition urging Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign.

On the first day of the national mourning on Saturday, Pashinyan was expected to lead a procession to a memorial complex in the capital Yerevan where victims of the conflict are buried.

The opposition planned to hold a separate march later in the day. Pashinyan's critics have called on supporters to stage a national strike, starting Tuesday.

"The entire nation has been through and is going through a nightmare," Pashinyan said in a video address ahead of the memorial march.

"Sometimes it seems that all of our dreams have been dashed and our optimism destroyed," he added.

The 45-year-old former newspaper editor was propelled to power in 2018 after he channeled widespread desire for change into a broad protest movement against corrupt post-Soviet elites.

But after six weeks of clashes with Azerbaijan, many have called Pashinyan a "traitor" for agreeing to what they say is a humiliating deal with Azerbaijan. He has so far refused to step down.

As part of the peace deal Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Karabakh.

Moscow said on Friday that a Russian mine clearer was killed by a blast in Karabakh when an explosive went off earlier this week.

https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/armenia-mourns-karabakh-war-victims

[Yervant1]

Church Times, UK

Dec 18 2020

Losers in the 21st-century Great Game

18 DECEMBER 2020

The PM’s pledge to protect vulnerable Christians does not extend to Armenian Christians, says John Eibner

PA

The Primate of the Artsakh diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, presides at a service in a bomb shelter in Nagorno-Karabakh, in October

BADLY wounded by Azerbaijani rockets and desecrated by invading soldiers, the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Shushi, Nagorno Karabakh, stands today forlorn and lifeless. Prospects of the incumbent, Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, celebrating Christmas there this year — and for the foreseeable future — are nil. The town has been effectively “cleansed” of its Armenian Christian population (News, 4 December, 11 December).

The fate of Sushi’s cathedral symbolises the deep trauma now afflicting the Armenian nation, the first to accept the Lordship of Christ in 301. The immediate cause of the trauma is Azerbaijan’s victorious six-week war (between 27 September and 9 November) for mastery of Nagorno Karabakh, a tiny, self-declared independent satellite of neighbouring Armenia.

More than 100,000 people — approximately two-thirds of its population — were forced to flee their homes. Much of Nagorno Karabakh is now occupied by Azerbaijan. Much more would have been lost had Russia, the traditional protector of Armenian Christians, not imposed a ceasefire backed by military peacekeepers.

Will the displaced ever be able to return to their homes in this ancient Armenian homeland? Will Shushi’s cathedral and other similarly emptied and desecrated churches ever host Christian worship again? Will they be transformed into mosques? Will Azerbaijan resume its war for Armenian territory? These are the kinds of questions which weigh heavily these days in the hearts and minds of Armenian Christians.

THE answers to such questions will not be determined locally. Nagorno Karabakh lies at the centre of a long-running geopolitical conflict, what Kipling dubbed “the Great Game”: i.e., the Great Power competition for the vast, strategically important, predominantly Turkic Muslim territory stretching from Anatolia to Xinjiang province in western China.

The Great Game started as a competition between Britain and Russia for imperial ascendancy in the mid-19th century. It continues today as a competition between the United States, Russia, and China, each of which is allied to a number of smaller states. Over the past 25 years, the oil-rich associate NATO member Azerbaijan has achieved military supremacy over Armenia by positioning itself as a crucial strategic asset within Washington’s network of alliances.

The Armenians have long been among the biggest losers in the Great Game. Archbishop Martirosyan rightly places the recent six-week war in the context of an ongoing process of “genocide”. It began in earnest with massacres of Armenians in Turkey in the late 19th century, and reached a peak during the First World War in Turkey, in the great Armenian genocide.

PAA man prays in Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, Shusha, partly destroyed by shelling, in October

The anti-Armenian religious/ethnic cleansing extended into Trans-Caucasia, and continued there after the war’s end. Armenians were massacred in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, in 1918, and in Shushi in 1920. The genocide process was only suspended by the imposition of Soviet power in the early 1920s.

As the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, in 1988, it erupted again with the massacre of the Armenian residents of the city of Sumgait, near the Caspian Sea. Among the dead were the close relatives of Archbishop Martirosyan. This set in motion a chain reaction of violence which produced the full blown Azeri-Armenian war of religious/ethnic cleansing from 1991 to 1994. With Turkey and Azerbaijan’s joint war on Nagorno-Karabakh this year, the process has begun again.

OFFICIAL responses in Britain to the war of Azerbaijan and its allies against the world’s oldest surviving Christian nation have tended to be low-key ritual appeals for peace. For the Karabakhi Christians, there have been no demands from officialdom for “humanitarian” military intervention of the kinds executed in response to violence against civilians by geopolitical adversaries such as Serbia’s Miloševic, Libya’s Gaddafi, and Syria’s Assad.

Some in Britain have appealed for non-violent responses, such as the suspension of military aid from Britain and other NATO countries to Azerbaijan and Turkey; the suspension of their participation in NATO fora; and the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh’s right to self-determination. But they have come mainly from the small Armenian diaspora in the UK and a handful of human-rights activists, and have not been widely reported.

Given the subordinate part that Britain plays in Washington’s network of alliances, and its strong economic interests in Azerbaijan’s oil and natural gas fields, it is no surprise that policymakers in Whitehall are reluctant to get into the crosshairs of alliance partners and energy-sector shareholders, on behalf of 150,000 mainly poor, displaced Armenian Christians who have little to offer other than the example of their strong Christian faith.

But it was not supposed to be this way. Last year, the Prime Minister accepted in its entirety the Bishop of Truro’s report on the plight of persecuted Christians (News, 30 August 2019). In doing so, he pledged to “provide protection for vulnerable Christian communities”, and to place this duty “at the heart of the priorities of UK foreign policy”.

This did not happen this autumn as Azerbaijan emptied much of Nagorno Karabakh of its Christian population. The options for combating persecution suggested in the Truro report (News, 17 July), such as sanctioning those responsible for atrocity crimes and tabling a UN Security Council Resolution for the protection of endangered Christian communities, were not used.

This abdication of responsibility suggests that implementation of the Truro policy recommendations will follow the imperial logic of the Great Game, at the expense of endangered, but inconveniently situated, ancient Christian communities.

Dr John Eibner is the international president of Christian Solidarity International.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/18-december/comment/opinion/losers-in-the-21st-century-great-game?fbclid=IwAR1BF2SBeRr3zr4RHZW4FlOyy5E7BCNjVq1Kz8zGb_GEvPTWb6TffjZpbEE#.X90ajyMOE5p.facebook

 

[Yervant1]

While we bicker and argue the enemy is planning more harm to us! Very smart, not really.

 

Armenpress.am

Tensions running high at Yerablur military cemetery's entrance

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15:05, 19 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The situation is tense at the entrance of the Yerablur military cemetery where many war veterans, families of fallen troops and others have gathered to prevent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters from entering the pantheon as a sign of protest. Meanwhile, the commemorative march led by the PM and other government officials is already approaching the cemetery.

Police officers are attempting to open the entrance.

The commemorative march is taking place on the first day of the three-day national mourning in honor of the Artsakh war victims.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1038349.html?fbclid=IwAR2bD5BQ7tFS09I4czKzw2Z4wxvVaR42q-204M-g1PaOorAOqgMQm4MFB3g

 

 

[Yervant1]

CIVILNET.AM

21 December, 2020 06:07

Artak Beglaryan and Arman Tatoyan, human rights ombudsmen for Artsakh and Armenia, respectively, have issued a report on foreign media coverage of the Karabakh fighting between September 27 and November 10, 2020.

According to the report 390 reporters from 90 different countries covered the fighting from the Armenian side. Some of these reporters came under attack from the Azerbaijani side, with seven seriously injured and one local fixer killed. Azerbaijani authorities also filed criminal charges against Russian war correspondent Semyon Pegov, who was embedded with Armenian forces through most of the war. Other journalists were blacklisted for visiting Artsakh without Azerbaijan’s permission, as has been Azerbaijan’s policy for years.

Some of the more serious incidents with media included:

On October 1, a group of international and Armenian media were shelled in the town of Martuni. As a result, two French journalists for Le Monde, a journalist for 24News.am and a cameraman for Armenia TV were injured, and a local fixer was killed. Journalists for Agence France Presse and Russia’s Dozhd TV also came under attacked, but avoided injuries. The injured journalists were evacuated to Yerevan, and the French government subsequently sent a plane to take the Le Monde journalists back to France.

On October 2, a media van was shelled near the town of Mardakert, in Karabakh’s northeast. While the van was seriously damaged, the attack did not cause injuries.

On October 4, as a result of repeat attacks on journalists, Artsakh authorities relocated the foreign media center to Goris, in the Republic of Armenia. Journalists who chose to stay in Artsakh were free to do so.

On October 8, Turkish and/or Azerbaijani air forces launched precision-guided missiles at the Armenian cathedral of Shushi causing significant damage to the building. During the second attack, two Russian journalists were injured. One of the journalists Yuri Kotenok remains hospitalized in Yerevan for over two months.

According to the report the attacks were conducted with the help of reconnaissance drones and were part of the deliberate effort to keep foreign media out of Artsakh. At the same time, Azerbaijani authorities largely forbid foreign media access to its side of the frontline, making exceptions for a few Turkish journalists. Foreign journalists allowed into Azerbaijan were restricted in their coverage by government minders accompanying them.

This piece originally appeared in Focus on Karabakh.

https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/12/21/Media-Coverage-of-the-Karabakh-War/413848

[Yervant1]

The monsters will do what they have done before, and the world will not stop it. They will turn a blind eye, as they always did!

 

Christian Today

Dec 20 2020

Armenians say goodbye to their churches in Nagorno-Karabakh

Open Doors UK 20 December 2020 | 8:20 AM

It was a dire day for Father Hovhannes when he learned that the medieval Armenian monastery complex Dadivank in Nagorno-Karabakh would now go under the control of Muslim-majority Azerbaijan. The region of Qarvachar where the monastery is located would need to be vacated from Armenians within days.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a small, mountainous, landlocked area in the South Caucasus lying between Armenia and Azerbaijan, bordering Iran to the south. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh with a majority-Armenian population remained a disputed territory between the two post-Soviet countries. The two-year war came to a halt in 1994 with an indefinite ceasefire and Nagorno-Karabakh went under ethnic Armenians' control.

The new phase of the war lasted 44 days, ending in November of this year. Large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh passed into Azerbaijan's control and Russian peacekeepers were placed in the region for five years.

The military conflict ended with the fall of Shushi, a town overlooked by the 19th century Cathedral of the Holy Saviour. When the Azerbaijani army entered the town following the ceasefire signed on the night of 9 November, the cathedral was one of their first targets: the inner and outer walls were immediately vandalised by graffiti. The cathedral had already been heavily shelled and extensively damaged by the Azerbaijani Army, which among its militants had thousands of Syrian Jihadist mercenaries.

The early 19th century Church of St John the Baptist in Shushi saw its domes destroyed during the war, while the Church of Saint Mary built and consecrated more recently in the town of Mekhakavan was shelled and almost completely demolished.

Armenians in the region fear that their ancestral Christian heritage is now threatened under Azerbaijan's control. Father Hovhannes, the Abbot of Dadivank, says these fears are well-founded: in 1993, when Armenia won control of the territory, they discovered Dadivank and other holy sites desecrated. The walls of their churches and chapels bearing frescoes, engraved crosses and Biblical writings in the Armenian script had become shelters for animals.

"On 3 April 1993, after the liberation of Qarvachar and Dadivank, I was one of the first people who entered the monastery with the soldiers," Father Hovhannes recalls.

"It had been turned into a barn for animals. The interior was badly damaged. We started cleaning and restoring it. I washed all the engraved crosses myself. Thanks to many donations, Dadivank started thriving again!"

The first chapel of the monastery was founded in the 1st century by St Dadi who was the pupil of Christ's disciple Thaddeus. As Christianity spread in Armenia and was adopted as a state religion in 301AD, Dadivank kept growing over time and was completed in the 13th century. The grave of St Dadi was discovered under the holy Altar of the main church in 2007.

Surrounded by picturesque natural scenery, Dadivank is one of the symbols of the Armenian Christian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh. Over the centuries it has withstood numerous attacks and remained one of the most-cherished holy sites for Armenians for pilgrimages, baptisms and marriages.

Father Hovhannes declared that despite security concerns, he was not going to leave the monastery, but would stay and ensure the holy site was not desecrated. He was soon joined by other clergymen from other churches.

Thanks to the efforts of the high-ranking Armenian religious leaders, Dadivank came under special protection of Russian peacekeepers. Armenians, however, were not consoled, knowing that this is only a temporary arrangement. They flocked into the monastery in hundreds to light a candle, pray and receive Father Hovhannes's blessings before the entire territory went under Azerbaijan's control.

Outside the monastery, Father Hovhannes was joined by Baroness Caroline Cox, a strong supporter of self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I have seen cathedrals badly damaged by bombs," Baroness Cox said. "It breaks our heart to be here today. We weep with you, but we want to say thank you to the people of Armenia and Artsakh (the Armenian name of Nagorno-Karabakh) because you have held in the frontline of faith and freedom, for the rest of the world."

The Christian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh consists of churches, monasteries, chapels, cross-stones, frescoes, engraved religious writings dating back to the earliest stages of Christianity. The Department of the Armenian religious and cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church estimates that more than 100 pieces of this heritage are now transferring under Azerbaijan's control.

Fears that the Armenian Christian heritage will be eradicated under Azerbaijan's rule are partly based on the events in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan.

Rene Levonian, an Open Doors spokesperson, said: "One hundred years ago the two-thirds of the population of Nakhichevan were Armenians. Today there are no Armenians there and the entire Armenian Christian and cultural heritage is almost non-existent. Thousands of ancient cross-stones – large rectangular stones with carved crosses – and hundreds of churches have been systematically subjected to vandalism and destroyed. It's why Armenian Christians have little hope for preservation of their heritage."

Following the recent war, evidence has started to surface of mass vandalism and desecration. Mobile phone footage and photos show churches and cathedrals badly damaged by shelling and vandalised with graffiti.

Other mobile phone footage shows troops – a mixture of Azerbaijanis and Syrian jihadist mercenaries – standing on church roofs shouting "Allahu Akbar". Armenian Christians reportedly exhumed coffins of their loved ones prior the expected arrival of Azerbaijani troops, fearing the worst.

Father Geghard Hovhannisyan is the Abbot of the ancient Amaras monastery, which was an education hub founded in the 4th century. The monastery was home to the first school where the newly invented Armenian script was taught in the 5th century. Father Geghard found it looted when he returned following the recent truce.

"It is very painful because the Azerbaijani militants have managed to enter the monastery," Father Geghard said. "The frescoes and many other valuable items are missing."

After negotiations, Amaras may remain under the Armenian control, but he fears that he will never see the artifacts again.

And as other Armenians load their belongings into trucks and vacate their villages and towns, it adds to the pain to say a final goodbye to their churches that are part of their identity, fearing what will become of them.

https://christiantoday.com/article/armenians.say.goodbye.to.their.churches.in.nagorno.karabakh/136091.htm

 

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 21 2020

Azerbaijan hinders visit of UNESCO mission to Nagorno Karabakh

UNESCO is awaiting Azerbaijan’s Response regarding Nagorno-Karabakh mission, says Ernesto Ottone, Assistant UNESCO Director-General for Culture.

In its press release of 20 November, UNESCO reiterated countries’ obligation to protect cultural heritage in terms of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict to which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are parties. The Organization proposed to carry out an independent mission of experts to draw a preliminary inventory of significant cultural properties as a first step towards the effective safeguarding of the region’s heritage.

The proposal received the full support of the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group and the agreement in principle of the representatives of both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Meeting at UNESCO on 10 and 11 December 2020, the members of the intergovernmental Committee of The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its Second Protocol (1999), welcomed this initiative and confirmed the need for a mission to take stock of the situation regarding cultural properties in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. The Committee requested each of the parties to render the mission possible.

Since 20 November, UNESCO made proposals and led in-depth consultations with a view to organizing the mission which, in the terms of the Convention, requires the agreement of both parties.

Ernesto Ottone, Assistant UNESCO Director-General for Culture, said: “Only the response of Azerbaijan is still awaited for UNESCO to proceed with the sending of a mission to the field. The authorities of Azerbaijan have been approached several times without success so far. Every passing week makes the assessment of the situation concerning cultural property more difficult, not least due to the weather which is expected to become harsher in the coming weeks. The window of opportunity that was opened by the cease fire must not be closed again. The safeguarding of heritage is an important condition for the establishment of lasting peace. We are therefore expecting Baku to respond without delay so that the constructive discussions held over recent weeks can be turned into action.”

 

 

 

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/21/azerbaijan-hinders-visit-of-unesco-mission-to-nagorno-karabakh/

[Yervant1]

CIVILNET.AM

21 December, 2020 20:20

We honored the dead yesterday, as hundreds of thousands of marched up the terrible hill to honor our heroes. The scenes of that day will be forever etched into my mind. It was hard not to be overcome by unsettling feelings of pride, shame, anger and solidarity all together combined in one package.

What we honored were the following:

• The crying mothers and stoic fathers at the head of each gravestone, both so strong yet so vulnerable.

• The 19-year-old fallen hero whose family had placed a second, slightly older, photo on his gravestone, and how he looked very much like my 14-year-old. This crushed me more than anything else yesterday.

• The single soldier who stood at attention in honor of his friend who he is now lost for eternity.

• The unbelievable grace and dignity of people paying their respects, few if any unmeasured words were uttered yesterday.

• Entire families and circles of friends and strangers surrounding each of our heroes’ grave sites. I was reminded of the fact that no Armenian lives alone and no Armenian dies alone despite all of our endless faults and perhaps because of death’s fascination with us. We know how life should be lived.

What we damned yesterday:

• The War industry and merchants of death who fill the cemeteries of the world to line their filthy coffers.

• Those in the Armenian diaspora resembling “summers soldiers and sunshine patriots” lining up street corners demanding war when it was not their kids going off to war.

• The social media and fake news warriors who lie, slander and cause division to score cheap political points when what we need is compassion, understanding and unity.

• The corrupt, lazy and incompetent generals who were not worthy of the men and women they lead into battle.

• Myself and my generation who, for the past 25 years, betrayed the young people of today by not building a proper economy, an appropriate military and competent state structures.

All I have written are mere words. Let us dedicate ourselves to the only thing that can honor these lost brave souls; namely, build a functioning, just and prosperous country. All else is empty talk.

Eric Hacopian is a political analyst and consultant. He and his family have lived in Armenia since 2017.

https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/12/21/What-I-saw-at-Yerablour-Yesterday-Honor-and-Damnation/413984

[Yervant1]

Armenians Haven’t Had a Competent Leader

Since Catholicos Khrimian Hyrig

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Khrimian Hyrig is a highly revered clergyman. But, he is also a great
leader who has given wonderful political advice to the Armenian
nation.

His Holiness was born in Van, Western Armenia, in 1820 and became the
Patriarch of Constantinople in 1869. Due to his nationalistic views,
he was forced to resign by the Ottoman government in 1873. He was then
installed as Catholicos of All Armenians in Etchmiadzin in 1893 and
died in 1907.

Khrimian Hyrig is well-known for his participation in the Berlin
Congress in 1878, hoping to receive from the great powers a decision
to force the Ottoman Empire to establish substantial reforms in the
Armenian provinces. He did not accomplish his objective because
Armenians were powerless. He likened the failed Armenian efforts in
the Berlin Congress to his attempt to eat from a bowl with a “paper
ladle,” while other nations had an “iron ladle.”

The highly nationalistic Khrimian Hyrig exhorted his fellow Armenians
to arm themselves: “People of Armenia, of course you understand well
what the gun could have done and can do. And so, dear and blessed
Armenians, when you return to the Fatherland, to your relatives and
friends, take weapons, take weapons and again weapons. People, above
all, place the hope of your liberation on yourself. Use your brain and
your fist! Man must work for himself in order to be saved.”

Khrimian Hyrig’s wise words are just as valid today, particularly
after the latest disastrous defeat Armenians suffered at the hands of
better armed Azerbaijan and Turkey.

A recently surfaced letter by Khrimian Hyrig, written over a century
ago, is as applicable today as it was back then. It is headlined: “If
You Have an Independent State in the Future, Do Everything You Can to
Never, Ever Lose Your Independence.”

Here is Khrimian Hyrig’s meaningful counsel which I have translated
into English:

In the future, I hope you already have an independent state and you
have realized our centuries-old dream. If so, you are now living in
someone’s dream come true; in the dream of millions. I hope you
realize the power of luck that has befallen you.

I would like to know what that dream is like in reality, but since I
cannot see it with my own eyes, let me express my remarks with this
letter. If you read these lines, I will become a part of your present
and my future.

When I went to the Berlin Congress to raise the rights of our people
around the world, only then did I realize that we must first have the
right to have a right. That right is acquired with weapons.

You’ve probably heard of the “iron ladle”. The civilized nations of
Europe, which seemed to us to be law-abiding and fair, gave us nothing
but pity. Russia, which seemed to be a great friend of our people,
other than sympathy, sees and hears nothing but its own interests.

The Armenian people seemed to be like a hungry child outdoors in the
frosty winter, before whom everyone closed the doors of their homes.
The Armenian people were without a care-taker, but the most important
thing I understood was that we should not look for care-takers from
abroad. There, in the future, I am sure, you will not look for foreign
care-takers and you will not pin your hopes on Europeans, Russians or
other states.

If you have an independent state, your only care-taker must be your
own government. I hope the government will not leave you abandoned,
but if it abandons you, what is the point of your independence?

The greatest misfortune of the people is that its own leaders treat
them in the same way as the foreigners. We lived under the yoke of
foreigners for centuries. They treated us cruelly and unfairly. We
sought justice and did not find it. If you have an independent state,
I hope there is justice there.

The Turks treated Armenians very unfairly. Can an Armenian treat
another Armenian the same way? Here, in the past, one of the greatest
tragedies of our people is its ignorance. How can an uneducated people
find their place in this cunning world? The Turkish authorities will
not allow this, as they see their danger in the education of our
people. The greater the education of the people, the more restrained
the government will be.

I devoted my whole life to spreading enlightenment in the Armenian
provinces, but alone I could not do much. If you have a state, educate
our people, spread enlightenment in the provinces. The uneducated
people choose uneducated masters who oppress them and one day the
uneducated people are obliged to choose foreign masters.

At a time when ordinary people are living in the provinces under the
heavy burden of the situation, wealthy Armenians in Istanbul are
living in sheer luxury. They are indifferent to the situation of the
people, as if they were foreigners. The Turkish authorities even ally
with them to keep the people obedient. I hope that the rich in your
country are not so arrogant and are not allied with the bad government
against the people.

In 1876, when the Ottoman Constitution was adopted, the hope for
salvation awoke in us. We thought that the five-hundred-year-old,
infertile and old mother Turkey brought forth to the old world a new,
young constitution, but our hopes were dashed and time showed that
they were beautiful letters written on paper, while the people
continued to suffer. There, in the future, perhaps you also have a
beautiful constitution and laws. I want your laws not to remain on
paper like the Ottoman constitution.

And finally, I want to give you a message. Have ambassadors who
properly voice the demands of the people to the world, and the clergy
will not engage in diplomacy, leaving aside their flock. Have leaders
who love the people, because the Armenian people have suffered a lot
from the hatred of foreign leaders. And never seek foreign
care-takers. And if you have in the future an independent state, do
everything you can to never, ever lose your independence again.

These wise words are an excellent advice to every leader of Armenia
and to the Armenian people worldwide. They are as appropriate today as
they were back then when Armenia was not an independent country. Not a
single person should aspire to lead Armenia without heeding Khrimian
Hyrig’s prudent counsel. Armenia has numerous problems. But the two
most important problems are:

1) Armenia needs to develop a powerful military to fend for itself
without relying on other countries. A weak nation is always subject to
the dictates of more powerful ones, as we witnessed in the recent
Artsakh War. If you are weak, you have no rights and no one cares to
come to your rescue. Unless Armenia becomes more powerful militarily
and economically, it will always be subjugated, particularly since we
are surrounded by vicious enemies who constantly plot our destruction.

2) The next important requirement for our nation is to have a
competent leader, something we rarely had throughout our long history,
and we do not have it today!

[Yervant1]

Public Radio of Armenia

Dec 23 2020

Parliament of Wallonia (Belgium) condemns Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh

The Parliament of Wallonia has strongly and unanimously condemned the Azerbaijani military aggression backed by Turkey against the Armenians of Artsakh, reports the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD).

In particular, the Parliament asks the Walloon government to speak up with the federal government in order to:

– to condemn the military attack on the Republic of Artsakh and any aggression and violation of international humanitarian law and to call on all parties to respect the strictest international humanitarian law in view of foreign interference inciting the parties to armed confrontation, coming from in particular of the Republic of Turkey;

– ensure that no military offensive takes place and that substantive negotiations take place under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group and note that the task of this group is to decide on the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh;

– to encourage the parties to enter into discussions without delay and without any preconditions under the auspices of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group with the participation of representatives of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the main population affected by this conflict.

The Parliament also strongly condemns the execution of Prisoners of War and calls on the Belgian government to ensure that such crimes are prosecuted and punished.

It requires Turkey not to promote in any way the potential transfer and settling of Syrian mercenaries to Nagorno-Karabakh and to play an active role in ensuring the return of at least 2,500 Syrian mercenaries who moved to the region during the hostilities to their country of origin.

Finally, it calls on the federal government to support UNESCO so that it intervenes with the authorities of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh in order to guarantee the safeguarding and conservation of the exceptional heritage.

https://en.armradio.am/2020/12/23/parliament-of-wallonia-condemns-azerbaijani-aggression-against-artsakh/

[Yervant1]

New Statesman

Dec 24 2020

Azerbaijan’s difficult road to reconciliation after victory in the Nagorno-Karabakh war

How nationalist euphoria in the country could rapidly tip into disillusionment.

By Ido Vock

Arriving in Azerbaijan, the oil-rich nation wedged between Russia and Iran on the Caspian Sea, my plane touched down at Heydar Aliyev Airport, renamed in 2004 after the country’s former president. On the way to my hotel in the capital Baku, my driver zipped along Heydar Aliyev Avenue, the main road leading to the city, past the Heydar Aliyev Museum, an undulating white shell designed by the British-Iraqi starchitect Zaha Hadid. The driver pointed out the Heydar Aliyev Palace, a Soviet-era music venue, next to Heydar Aliyev Park.

That’s the kind of state Azerbaijan is. Heydar Aliyev ran the South Caucasian country for a decade soon after independence from the Soviet Union. After his death in 2003, his son Ilham Aliyev took over and has been the country’s president since, winning elections always with around 80 per cent of the vote. In the process, he amassed vast wealth and created a cult of personality around his family. In 2017, he even named his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, vice president. Freedom House, a watchdog, ranks Azerbaijan the joint 11th least free country in the world, below Yemen and Russia.

I’m here on the invitation of the government which, in September, directed a spectacularly successful campaign to regain the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian enclave that had been controlled by separatists since the early 1990s. In 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan ended almost three decades of perceived national humiliation, capturing swathes of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as surrounding districts historically populated by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion by Armenian forces during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Only a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal put an end to the brutal conflict, which killed more than 5,000 soldiers on both sides.

Territorial changes in Nagorno-Karabakh (approximate)

The self-declared Republic of Artsakh has lost significant territory under November’s ceasefire deal

Aliyev’s regime now enjoys an unprecedented level of public support in a country gripped by national euphoria. Banners reading “Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” or “Victory is ours!” outnumber actual commercial advertisements on the streets of Baku. Azerbaijani flags fly from balconies and hang on Stalin-era buildings, always accompanied by Turkish banners, in recognition of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political and diplomatic support. At my hotel, the water bottle in my room declares its contents to contain a “taste of victory”. It doesn’t taste of much.

Yet for all the jubilation, limited access for foreign journalists combined with credible reports of war crimes committed against Armenian soldiers and civilians have dented the country’s cause abroad, though the military campaign was waged to recapture territory recognised as Azerbaijani under international law. So the government decided to run press tours to showcase their efforts to preserve Armenia’s cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh and resettle Azerbaijanis forced to leave the territory nearly 30 years ago.

Along with a few French and British journalists, I was invited to tour what are officially termed “liberated territories” and hear Azerbaijan make the case for its rule. It quickly became apparent, however, that the regime is still not fully comfortable with openness and transparency – boding ill for the future of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population, which is now in serious doubt.

***

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict originates in the 1920s, when the South Caucasus – today, the independent states of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – had just been joined to Soviet Russia. Majority-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh was included within the borders of Azerbaijan by Stalin, then responsible for the USSR’s nationalities policy.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a brutal war over the territory which ended in Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, gaining de facto independence. Crucially, Armenian separatists also occupied majority-Azerbaijani areas surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and expelled their inhabitants.

Over the past 30 years, support for the Nagorno-Karabakh cause has permeated all levels of society and has threatened to fell more than one leader in both countries, Anar Mammadli, a dissident lawyer previously jailed by the government, told me. After front line skirmishes in July this year led to protests in Baku calling for war with Armenia, “the regime was under pressure to go to war”, he adds.

The displacement in the 1990s of around 600,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis, ethnically cleansed from Armenia proper as well as separatist territory, remains a raw wound. (A smaller number of Armenians were also expelled from Azerbaijan.) Internally displaced persons (IDPs) still represent close to 10 per cent of the population. They moved into tent cities, student dormitories, or just about anywhere they could find. Some have been resettled into dignified accommodation, but some have not – and all are angry.

Our minder takes us to a Soviet-era school in central Baku inhabited by IDPs. The entrance is grimy; the sky-blue corridors are crammed with drying laundry and cupboards. I manage to slip away from the ever-present government minder and am invited to speak with Hafiza Bayramova, 66, who has lived in the school since 1993. Her flat is pristine, decorated with photos of relatives and Turkish and Azerbaijani flags, a new addition, still in their plastic wrapping.

“We lived in Zangilan [near the border with Iran]. We fled our homes with nothing. We crossed the Aras river into Iran and came to Baku,” Bayramova says. “It was difficult to live here – at first, we had no water or electricity. But I always believed that the occupied lands would be returned to us from the Armenian bandits. I dream of returning.”

Could she live alongside Armenians, even civilians who had no part in the ethnic cleansing? “If they can live without anger, they can live with us and we can live with them. But they must accept that this is our country.” About the president, she is effusive. “Our leader is very prepared in all fields: political, military and cultural.”

And does Bayramova feel any sympathy for Armenians who fled the recent Azerbaijani advance, who will now live in exile from their homes, mirroring her own experience? “No,” she replies in a soft voice, shaking her head. She is silent. Then our minder arrives with the other journalists and she repeats what she told me in almost exactly the same words.

***

The drive to the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh is a dreary four-hour trip along perfectly flat, monotonous landscapes, our jovial driver speeding at 175kmph on roads with a 60kmph limit. We pass Caspian oil rigs and refineries marked with stirring quotes by Heydar Aliyev.

Azerbaijan, at times, produced two-thirds of the USSR’s oil during the Second World War. Capturing the Caucasian oil fields was a key military objective of the Nazis, who were beaten back with difficulty by Stalin’s forces. Today, the Caspian's oil fields are the source of Azerbaijan’s fabulously unequally distributed wealth, and have allowed the country to fund a massive military expansion that ended with its crushing victory over Armenia a month ago.

Value of Turkish arms sales to Azerbaijan by month ($)

Arms sales jumped 120-fold between July and August

Source: Turkish Exporters’ Assembly

Azerbaijan’s spending on military equipment from Turkey surged 120-fold from July to August, figures from a Turkish industry group show, doubling again the following month. Fighting with Armenia broke out on 27 September.

But, in many ways, gaining territory was the easy part. Azerbaijan must also deal with the people, both in the territories it controls and in those it claims, still under separatist control (though now with Russian peacekeepers on the ground under the terms of the November ceasefire).

Azerbaijan “acknowledges [Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians] as our citizens. We are ready to provide all constitutional rights to people who want to live together with Azerbaijan and accept an Azerbaijani passport,” Hikmet Hajiyev, an adviser on foreign policy to President Aliyev, told me during an interview in an imposing Soviet-era government building.

But few Armenians, scarred by pogroms in the 1990s and hearing reports of war crimes during the latest conflict, believe the official line. “No one can be sure that we can live together [with Azerbaijanis] in security,” Armine Januts, an Armenian who fled the Azerbaijani advance, told me.

Our press trip was organised on the premise that the media would show what the Azerbaijani government is doing to protect the cultural heritage of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. For Azerbaijan, this issue matters hugely for its international legitimacy.

We therefore expected to visit Armenian monasteries, such as Dadivank, which was handed over to Azerbaijani control in late November as part of the ceasefire agreement. Yet our requests for visits are repeatedly rebuffed by the government. As a result of clashes, we are alternately told the military situation is too unstable, or that there could be mines, or that there is too much snow on the road for our large 4x4s to navigate. Requests to visit the “liberated city” of Shusha (called Shushi by Armenians) are similarly rejected.

The view of the ruins of Agdam from the mosque (photo: Ido Vock)

Instead, we are brought to more comfortable territory for the Azerbaijani government.

The city of Agdam, located in a historically majority-Azerbaijani area surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, was ruined in the 1990s after its capture by Armenian troops forced its population to flee. The only building still standing is the town’s handsome mosque, built in 1868. A climb up to the minaret offers a bleak panorama of the devastation. Hundreds of ruined homes stretch for miles, with barely a single wall intact among the rubble.

The government has arranged for those expelled in the 1990s to join us. Two arrive, the mother and brother of Hidayet Rustamov, killed in 1991, carrying his portrait. They say this is the first time in 27 years that they have been back to their village. “Everything around has been destroyed. Even so, we are overjoyed to be here. We have seen this day thanks to our government, our military and God,” says the soldier’s mother, 78-year-old Shafiqa Rustamova.

When it becomes apparent that the government will not allow us to see any towns or villages with any more recent history, we head back to the capital.

Shafiqa Rustamova, 78, and Arzu Rustamov, 55 (Photo: Ido Vock)

***

The paradox of Azerbaijan’s war is that the wounds from the 1990s run so deep there are virtually no anti-war voices in the country, even among dissidents who have suffered extensive harassment from the government. The most prominent volte-face has been from Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning investigative journalist who has been the subject of years of intimidation from the government, which at one point installed a spy camera in her home and leaked a video of her having sex in an attempt to humiliate her. It didn’t work.

Yet, since the start of the war, Ismayilova has at times seemed to act as a de facto spokesperson for the government. Her social media feeds echo the official line on a conflict which, if anything, has made the government she used to loathe more popular than it’s ever been and likely entrenched its power for years to come. Some of the journalists on the press trip make plans to meet her in her home.

Somehow, our minder hears of our plans. Two other journalists are told that I am not around, so they leave without me. They are driven around in circles, before being told they must urgently return to the hotel. Our minder, by now chain-smoking cigarettes, informs us we are not allowed to take taxis anywhere if he hasn’t been informed about it, and that such journeys would be “against protocol”.

Rasul Jafarov, a human rights lawyer jailed by the government in 2015, manages to sneak in past our minder to meet us. Though he opposed the methods, he agreed with the aim of the war. “Peace in the region is not possible without reclaiming the [formerly majority-Azerbaijani] surrounding regions of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he told me. He is level-headed about the possibility of Armenians living as citizens of Azerbaijan: “It may take ten or 20 years… and will not happen without leadership from the government.”

***

Azerbaijan won the war. Winning the peace may be tougher. Nationalistic euphoria could rapidly tip into disillusionment once the arduous process of resettling hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani IDPs into Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the most heavily mined regions in the world, begins. “It will take time. Let’s be realistic,” Hajiyev says.

The challenges Azerbaijan faces in reintegrating the Armenians it claims as its citizens are even more daunting. It will have to overcome three decades of ethnic hatred its government is largely responsible for stoking. Baku will need to come up with mechanisms to guarantee the physical security and cultural autonomy of Armenians, a point on which officials are light on details.

Such proposals will have to be more than whitewashing for international consumption, as they will be judged on whether the roughly 40,000 Armenians who fled the recent fighting view them as trustworthy. Any hope of eventually peaceably integrating the rump of separatist-controlled territory into Azerbaijan will likewise hinge on how the newly gained areas are governed.

The regime has begun arresting alleged perpetrators of war crimes against Armenians, a stark contrast with the hero’s welcome given in 2012 to Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani officer who murdered an Armenian soldier with an axe in Budapest. But the extent to which such moves are merely symbolic gestures meant to placate international outrage remains to be seen.

The question of whether Armenians can ever live under Azerbaijani control illuminates a wider point. Without democratisation in Azerbaijan, few Armenians are likely to be convinced to move to a country where citizens of any ethnicity enjoy few constitutional protections, civil society organisations are suppressed and opposition leaders are barred from running for office.

Mehman Huseynov, a journalist who has exposed government corruption, says it is impossible to conceive of peaceful coexistence in Nagorno-Karabakh if the Aliyev regime does not respect human rights and freedom of speech. “They say I am Armenian because I criticise the regime. How, then, can Armenians expect to live in Azerbaijan?”

Ido Vock was a guest of a press trip organised and paid for by the government of Azerbaijan. The New Statesman retained complete editorial independence throughout.

[see also: Watching the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, I think of my Armenian ancestors fleeing their home]

 

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2020/12/azerbaijan-s-difficult-road-reconciliation-after-victory-nagorno-karabakh-war

[Yervant1]

Even a little kid speaks better than this fake baboon!

News.am, Armenia

Dec 24 2020

Aliyev says resolutions supporting Artsakh mean nothing to Azerbaijan

21:45, 24.12.2020

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has declared that he views the allegations against Baku in the resolutions that several Western countries adopted after the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh as groundless, RIA Novosti reported.

“Let the countries having adopted those resolutions against us open their eyes and see. Open your eyes, hypocritical politicians. Your deputies have adopted a resolution. Those resolutions mean nothing to us, they are pieces of paper. However, the fact of the matter is that they are making groundless allegations against us,” he said.

https://news.am/eng/news/620803.html

 

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Dec 24 2020

Azerbaijanis destroy panel reading name of Vorotan village of Armenia's Syunik Province

23:51, 24.12.2020

A video posted on the Internet shows how Azerbaijanis destroy the panel placed in the Vorotan village of Syunik Province of Armenia with military equipment.

Today it was reported that 12 homes in the Vorotan village of Syunik Province are being transferred to Azerbaijan. During today’s government session, Nikol Pashinyan said the issues regarding the Shurnukh and Vorotan villages may lead to certain painful situations.

On December 23, Azerbaijanis entered one of the homes in the administrative district of the Vorotan village of Syunik Province and demanded that the landlords leave the premises in an hour.

https://news.am/eng/news/620816.html

[Yervant1]

CIVILNET.AM

24 December, 2020 19:15

Simone Zoppellaro is an Italian independent journalist. He knows the Caucasus very well and specializes on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. His recent criticism of Azerbaijan’s human rights policies and the conflict with Armenia has put him in hot waters. The Azerbaijani government has threatened him with retribution. Mr. Zoppellaro, who now lives in Germany, talks with CivilNet’s Ani Paitjan about the economic relations between Italy, Azerbaijan and Turkey that led Italy to choose profit instead of addressing human rights issues.

https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/12/24/Azerbaijan-Threatens-Italian-Journalist-for-Criticizing-Its-Human-Rights-Policies/414452

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg adopts petition condemning operations against Artsakh

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20:20, 24 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has adopted a petition condemning the actions of Azerbaijan, Turkey and jihadists against Artsakh, ARMENPRESS reports Ambassador of Armenia to Luxembourg Tigran Balayan informed.

The petition has been adopted unanimously.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1038870.html?fbclid=IwAR1zoMTulbV90C3G5Cnb8uUIHDx3WiGRP8Bqe1HGK3_bK-UMzpLV3q2F0eU

[MosJan]

«Հենոյին կասեի կներես ու շնորհակալ եմ»․ Հայաստանի ջրագնդակի ազգային հավաքականի ավագ Հենրիկ Հակոբյանը

 

 

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijan bans international commission to conduct monitoring in monuments under its control

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09:55, 29 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. A number of Armenian cultural and spiritual monuments have come under the Azerbaijani control as a result of the recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artrsakh: these monuments are of special importance for Armenians.

Armenia’s ministry of education, science, culture and sport is cooperating with both the local and international organizations for their preservation, however, no tangible results have been achieved yet in this regard.

UNESCO has tried to send a commission of international observers to these sites, however, Azerbaijan refused to grant an access.

Armenian deputy minister of education, science, culture and sport Narine Khachaturyan told Armenpress that they are cooperating with the foreign ministry over the preservation of the monuments of Artsakh which have come under the Azerbaijani control. “We have formed a group with the Armenian specialists who live both in Armenia and abroad. Armenians, who are engaged in lobbying activities at international platforms, are involved in the group, but the main organization we are applying to is UNESCO. It was expected in December that UNESCO should have sent a commission of international observers to the territories of Artsakh which currently are under the control of Azerbaijan. The commission must have carried out a monitoring of several Armenian monuments. The delegates were from Russia, France, the United States and Italy, however, Azerbaijan banned their entry to these territories”, the deputy minister said.

She stated that Azerbaijan in general doesn’t explain its action. According to Khachaturyan, Azerbaijan absolutely doesn’t show any good will in general.

“The members of the commission are specialists. They are visiting a particular monument, then return back and again visit some times later to see whether that monument has been distorted or not. They are not a political commission, they are professional groups and can visit Artsakh to see what monuments they need to observe”, she said.

Reporting Angela Hambardzumyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1039233.html?fbclid=IwAR3myqYrBTHFSVtYcbj9vn1Z07Vu0LMz382F62DUqjRhToAnpm7mWoduJiE

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Ombudsman slams Azerbaijan for “terrorizing” Armenian villagers with outrageous road sign

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10:39, 29 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan condemned the Azerbaijani military for “terrorizing” the peaceful residents of Armenia by installing a “Welcome to Azerbaijan” sign in between border settlements in Syunik, where delimitation and demarcation works are still ongoing.

The sign, featuring a distorted map showing large parts of Syunik as part of Azerbaijan, was installed by the Azeri troops on the road leading from the town of Goris to the village of Vorotan. Azeri flags were also installed near the village of Vorotan.

“The sign was installed on a road linking an Armenian civilian settlement with another one,” Tatoyan said in a statement, adding that the Azeri troops installed the sign to explicitly terrorize and transgress the rights of the peaceful Armenian residents of the border towns.

“This is a totally condemnable step which was done with the explicit intent to terrorize peaceful residents, first of all taking into consideration the tortures, inhumane treatment and other war crimes and ethnic cleansings that the Azerbaijani military committed against our people especially during and after the September-November 2020 war. Such steps are especially condemnable on the background of continuing state-sanctioned and organized propaganda of anti-Armenian sentiment and murder of Armenians in Azerbaijan, as well as the fact that publically known persons who’ve declared themselves human rights defenders in Azerbaijan are explicitly calling for a new war against Armenia,” Tatoyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1039237.html?fbclid=IwAR0sRhqEnmW6baOQ989j4Y9pOiOQhZQxGY1YA3iiE8stJz2QW1dhLCHEXU0