cease-fire violations by azeris

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Panorama, Armenia

Jan 16 2021

Anna Naghdalyan: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still far from being resolved,

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan on Friday reacted to the statement made by the representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia who stated that the Russian side has always supported the implementation of the humanitarian contacts between the Armenian and Azerbaijani societies. Asked whether there are prerequisites for such programs, Naghdalyan said: "We highly commend Russia's efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability in the region. The Armenian side has always supported the humanitarian contacts between the societies of the region, which should be based on mutual respect and tolerance and be aimed at creating mutual trust. Certainly, relevant prerequisites should be established for such programs."

The Armenian diplomat, however, noted that the statements of the leadership of Azerbaijan in recent days demonstrate that Azerbaijan is not yet ready for that. Furthermore, creating obstacles for the repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war, issuing a stamp glorifying the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, as well as the consistent threats being voiced by President Aliyev attest to the fact that Azerbaijan is challenging the trust-building efforts of international mediators.

"The provocative statements made by the President of Azerbaijan in Shushi, as well as the attempts to present the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Church, which had been targeted during the war, as a “war prize and symbol of victory” are particularly deplorable," Naghdalyan noted, adding: "These realities prove that the conflict is still far from being resolved, and the peace process is necessary to establish lasting peace in the region."

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/01/16/Anna-Naghdalyan-Nagorno-Karabakh/2436345

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Asia Times

How Russia is Building Its Leverage in the Caucasus
By M.K. Bhadrakumar
Jan. 17, 2021

A meeting of the leaderships of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the
Kremlin on January 11, exactly two months after the ceasefire in the
44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, can be seen as a robust push by
Moscow to consolidate its diplomatic achievement.

The ceasefire has gained traction and this is the opportune moment for
Russia to flesh out other aspects that were agreed by the three
countries on November 10 in Moscow.

A statement issued after Monday’s meeting underscored an agreement to
establish a tripartite Working Group of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
at the deputy-prime-minister level, assisted by sub-groups of experts,
on the following lines:

“The Working Group, by March 1, 2021, will submit for approval at the
highest level by the Parties a list and a schedule for the
implementation of measures involving the restoration and construction
of new transport infrastructure facilities necessary for the
organization, implementation and security of international traffic
carried out through the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of
Armenia, as well as transportations carried out by the Republic of
Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, which require crossing the
territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of
Armenia.”


From subsequent remarks by the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev,
his country would have a rail link with Nakhchivan, the Azerbaijani
exclave that borders Turkey and Iran, for the first time in more than
three decades, and landlocked Armenia would get rail links with Russia
and Iran.

From available details, the focus is on a road corridor from mainland
Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through the 42-kilometer strip that the
Armenian district of Zengezur forms between them. For years, Azeri
mainlanders have been forced to travel to Nakhchivan via Iran and to
Turkey via Georgia.

Armenia, on the other hand, would stand to gain from an all-weather
land route to Russia via Azerbaijan.

The revival of the old rail networks dating back to the late 19th
century – the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano – and the 1921 Treaty of Kars
between Russia and Turkey is also being mentioned.

In principle, a reopening of the 877km Kars-Baku rail link running
through Nakhchivan and Armenia and connecting Russia’s North Caucasus
is possible, which could also be extended southward to the Iranian
city of Tabriz. Turkey fancies all this as a “a strategic corridor”
that would give it direct access to the gas and oil-rich Caspian basin
and Central Asia – and further beyond to China.

Evidently, Russia calculates that “any economic and infrastructure
agreements take on a political nature. If it is about transport
corridors, it means security and some sort of cooperation between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani ethnic groups,” Andrei Kortunov,
director-general of the Russian Council on International Affairs, put
it.

Kortunov estimated that although Monday’s agreements did not address
the core issue, namely, Nagorno-Karabakh’s status as such, which is
“hanging in the air,” the sides are moving in the right direction.

To quote the influential Moscow-based think-tanker, “Even the limited
agreements that have been reached make it possible to say that the
meeting [on Monday] was successful. Transport was taken as a neutral,
technical aspect of relations. With the first step made, the second
and thirds steps are to follow. So the opening of transport
communications should be followed by issues of the exchange of
prisoners, return of refugees, and co-living of two ethnic groups.”

But things are not going to be velvet-smooth. According to Kortunov,
Turkey’s absence from (non-participation in) the Moscow dialogue is
quite demonstrative. He explains tactfully, “It means that Turkey is
an important neighbor that cannot be absolutely excluded from what is
currently going on in the South Caucasus, but the Russian leadership
has once again demonstrated that the key role in this settlement and
post-settlement steps will be played by Moscow.”

For the present, there is a plausible explanation for keeping Turkey
out and looking in, while Moscow assembles the peace blocks. Turkey is
not liking it but is being pragmatic. But if Ankara succeeds in
establishing diplomatic relations with Yerevan, the calculus changes
overnight.

Equally, there are two other critical variables – the political future
of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and, second, Aliyev’s
dalliance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Again, Iran cannot be liking its exclusion either. The fact of the
matter is that in the disjointed regional tapestry of the past three
decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have had no choice but to use Iranian
territory for transit, and Tehran is reluctant to give up that
geopolitical trump card.

Above all, while as of now, the Western powers remain passive, the
attitude of the incoming US administration of Joe Biden remains the X
factor.

Last month, the US Congress legislated that “not later than 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National
Intelligence shall submit to the congressional intelligence committees
a written assessment regarding tensions between the governments of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, including with respect to the status of the
Nagorno Karabakh region.”

Congress has specifically directed the DNI to provide assessment on
the following lines:

An identification of the strategic interests of the United States
and its partners in the Armenia-Azerbaijan region;
A description of all significant uses of force in and around the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan
during calendar year 2020, including a description of each significant
use of force and an assessment of who initiated the use of such force;
An assessment of the effect of US military assistance to
Azerbaijan and Armenia on the regional balance of power and the
likelihood of further use of military force; and,
An assessment of the likelihood of any further uses of force or
potentially destabilizing activities in the region in the near to
medium term.

Clearly, Washington is gearing up for a geopolitical struggle in the
Caucasus. Moscow probably senses this. And that would explain the
haste with which it is pushing infrastructure development in the South
Caucasus to create equities, while the Biden administration is still
in its infancy.

Russia is pursuing a trajectory to strengthen its position while
keeping the eventuality of having to engage with the Western powers at
some point within the framework of the Minsk Group.

President Vladimir Putin touches base with his French counterpart
Emmanuel Macron every now and then, the two countries being co-chairs
(along with the US) of the Minsk Group. Conceivably, Russia may be
open to working with the West on Nagorno-Karabakh but safeguarding its
legitimate interests. The big question is whether in the present
security environment, that is a realistic expectation.

Meanwhile, US analysts have lately been highlighting China’s growing
involvement in the South Caucasus. In the World Bank’s estimation,
since 2005, Chinese trade turnover with Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia increased by around 2,070%, 380% and 1,885% respectively.

Chinese investments are also increasing, given the Belt and Road
Initiative’s seamless potential to generate business. With the recent
completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad, China’s footprint will
rise further, and such economic presence will eventually translate as
political influence.

The geographical location of the South Caucasus countries makes them
viable transit routes for Chinese and European goods. One Chinese
scholar even described Azerbaijan recently as a “pivotal country” in
the BRI’s China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor. China is
developing a trade route via Kazakhstan that crosses the Caspian from
the Kazakh port of Aktau to Baku, which it visualizes as a BRI hub.

For the US, on the other hand, the Caucasus is vital turf for lighting
fires on Russia’s periphery, for navigating the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization’s expansion eastward, for establishing itself in the
oil-rich Caspian, for controlling one of China’s main trade arteries
to the European market, and for curbing Iran’s influence in the
region.

What should worry Washington most is that there is sufficient
convergence between Russia and China to keep the Caucasus out of the
US geopolitical orbit, especially as NATO is consolidating in the
Black Sea region.

*

M K Bhadrakumar is a former Indian diplomat.


https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://asiatimes.com/2021/01/how-russia-is-building-its-leverage-in-the-caucasus/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!_HBgIMT7wtUGzwgls7PLM2N-wqWyygwdOp-hC3PZ_YUyY48bSdavVK5OW5dbcQ$

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Public Radio of Armenia

Jan 17 2021

New report reveals organized hate speech and animosity towards Armenians in Azerbaijan

New report reveals organized hate speech and animosity towards Armenians in Azerbaijan – Public Radio of Armenia

The Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh have published a joint ad hoc public report on Organized Hate Speech and Animosity towards Ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan.

“President of Azerbaijan and other authorities speak of the entire Armenian people and population of Armenia with open threats of ethnic cleansing and genocide,” Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says.

“They openly insult the dignity of the Armenian people, incite hostility, they do it to humiliate the personal dignity of every Armenian in the world, every person living in Armenia,” teh Ombudman says.

The monitoring of the staff of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia confirms that this is a policy of deep state hatred and enmity towards Armenians. It is institutional in nature and is based on ethnicity and, in some cases, religious affiliation.

 

New report reveals organized hate speech and animosity towards Armenians in Azerbaijan – Public Radio of Armenia

The Ombudsman draws attention to the fact that the Presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan often compare the war of September-November 2020 with the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and the massacres of Armenians in Baku. In particulate, he reminds of the praise for the organizers and perpetrators of those atrocities, including members of the Caucasus Islamic Army, in the speeches of December 10 (during the military parade in Baku).

Another issue the Human Rights Defender points to is that during this war, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces use the same words and expressions as the President of Azerbaijan when torturing Armenian soldiers and civilians, beheading them alive, mutilating the bodies of the victims and committing other atrocities.

Moreover, he says, the expressions of the President of Azerbaijan and other public figures became slogans inspiring atrocities against Armenians in this war (for example, “Azerbaijani soldiers chase them like dogs”, “Armenia is a worthless country … it is an artificial state created on the ancient lands of Azerbaijan,” “Azerbaijan is coming to end Armenian weddings,” etc.).

“In other words, the real causes of these war crimes are obvious. Moreover, the Azerbaijani military are proud of the atrocities, well aware that they will only be encouraged and praised for it in their own country,” ARman Tatoyan says.

https://en.armradio.am/2021/01/17/new-report-reveals-organized-hate-speech-and-animosity-towards-armenians-in-azerbaijan/

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Reuters
Jan 18 2021



Russia says all Azeri captives returned under Karabakh deal

By Reuters Staff

MOSCOW/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia has returned all Azeri prisoners who were captured during last year’s conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but the process with Armenian prisoners has been held up, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

The six-week conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh was brought to a halt in November by a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement under which Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces were expected to exchange all captives.

Armenia has said that many of its prisoners of war remain in Azerbaijan, a problem it has raised with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group.

Lavrov said that Armenia did not immediately present a full list of captives it sought, which slowed down the process. Azerbaijan has received all the people it sought, he added.

He said Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region were in contact with Armenian and Azeri forces to establish the location of those named by Armenia.

Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Nvard Hovhannisyan; Editing by Steve Orlofsky

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-armenia-azerbaijan-prisoners-russia/russia-says-all-azeri-captives-returned-under-karabakh-deal-idUSKBN29N1SQ?fbclid=IwAR2TtgJ2e5WTD0IhAzioXTMaNVxDWIGmgqzSzipaJnAoOgMrh6neTX3yXP0

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Jerusalem Post

Jan 18 2021

click

Russia: Armenia freed all Azeri prisoners from Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

By REUTERS

JANUARY 18, 2021 20:03

click

Armenia has returned all Azeri prisoners who were captured during last year's conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but the process with Armenian prisoners has been held up, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

The six-week conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh was brought to a halt in November by a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement under which Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces were expected to exchange all captives.

Armenia has said that many of its prisoners of war remain in Azerbaijan, a problem it has raised with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group.

Lavrov said that Armenia did not immediately present a full list of captives it sought, which slowed down the process. Azerbaijan has received all the people it sought, he added.

He said Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region were in contact with Armenian and Azeri forces to establish the location of those named by Armenia.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/russia-armenia-freed-all-azeri-prisoners-from-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-655881

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Aysor, Armenia

Jan 18 2021

Armenia faces serious environmental dangers after Azerbaijan used internationally prohibited weapons against Armenia and Artsakh - minister

Armenia’s Environment Minister Romanos Petrosyan addressed another letter to a number of international organizations drawing their attention on the grave consequences as a result of 44-day war unleased by Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey and foreign mercenary-terrorists.

The minister stressed that during the war the Azerbaijani armed forces used internationally prohibited weapons against the people of Artsakh – cluster weapons, weapons containing white phosphorus or termite materials. Petrosyan stressed that it caused irreparable damage to the environment – starting from forest fires and ending with the poisoning of air, soil, water and flora and fauna.

The minister stressed that Azerbaijan used it not only in Artsakh but Armenia too. Petrosyan noted that currently Armenia is facing serious environmental dangers.

He urged the international community to get widely engaged and assist in thorough assessment of damage to Armenia’s environment and mitigate the created critical situation.

https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2021/01/18/romanos-petrosyan/1792267

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JAM News

Jan 18 2021

Why are Azerbaijan and Turkey holding joint military exercises on the Armenian border?

• JAMnews, Baku

A group of Azerbaijani servicemen arrived in the Turkish province of Kars to conduct joint military exercises with the Turkish army. It will be the largest military exercise of recent times not only for the Azerbaijani, but also for the Turkish armed forces.

Kars province borders on Armenia, with whom Azerbaijan recently concluded a ceasefire in the second Karabakh war.

From February 1 to 12, tank units, cannon batteries, snipers, special forces command, commandos and military helicopters will take part in the winter joint military exercises of the two countries.

According to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Tofig Zulfugarov, the winter military exercises in Kars are planned and are aimed at preparing the armies to conduct hostilities in severe weather conditions.

Azerbaijani servicemen are being met in Kars. Turkish Defense Ministry photo

“It is snowing in Kars province now, there are mountains, and weather conditions are not quite usual for the servicemen of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Perhaps this is the reason for the choice of the terrain for the next joint military exercises,” he said in an interview with JAMnews.

Commenting on panic amongst the Armenian public, Zulfugarov added:

“After the agreement on the results of the second Karabakh war [the trilateral agreement of November 10, 2020, signed by the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, as well as the Prime Minister of Armenia – JAMnews], any gestures of the Azerbaijani army near the Armenian border are panicking the public of the neighboring country.”

According to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, Azerbaijani servicemen have already arrived in Kars.

Why are Azerbaijan and Turkey holding joint military exercises on the Armenian border?

The main goal of the winter military exercises is the coordination of actions of the armies of the two countries in conditions close to combat. Also in Kars will be used the latest weapons that have recently entered the arsenal of the armies of Turkey and Azerbaijan, according to the official information of the Turkish defense ministry.

Joint military exercises of the armies of Turkey and Azerbaijan are held regularly. The last such exercises were held in July-August 2020 in Azerbaijan.

https://jam-news.net/military-exercises-turkey-azerbaijan-kars-commentary-tofig-zulfugarov-news/

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PanArmenian, Armenia

Jan 18 2021

Video emerges of Azeri troops beating another Armenian POW

January 18, 2021 - 13:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fresh footage has emerged showing Azerbaijani troops beating an older Armenian serviceman, during or after the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is unclear when the incident happened and the current whereabouts of the man, or whether he was among the several dozen prisoners of war who returned to Armenia in mid-December.

Hundreds of videos of Azeri troops cutting the throats and ears of Armenians have been spreading online since the final days of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijanis regularly subject the Armenian POWs and captives to physical abuse and humiliation. The videos depict Azerbaijani captors variously slapping, kicking, and prodding Armenian POWs, and compelling them, under obvious duress and with the apparent intent to humiliate, to kiss the Azerbaijani flag. In most of the videos, the captors’ faces are visible, suggesting that they do not fear being held accountable.

The first batch of 44 Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan in mid-December, although Armenian officials said many more people were being held in Baku. Dozens of others, both servicemen and civilians, have been captured after the completion of military hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in one of his speeches that the newly detained persons are not prisoners of war but “terrorists”. Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has said, meanwhile, that at least 120 Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijan. Sahakyan represents the rights of some of the Karabakh POWs before the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyer said there is enough evidence proving the capture of said persons, which the Armenian side will submit to international agencies and courts.

https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/289503/Video_emerges_of_Azeri_troops_beating_another_Armenian_POW

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Public Radio of Armenia

Jan 19 2021

A 1887 gift from the Armenian city of Baku to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

A 1887 gift from the Armenian city of Baku to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem – Public Radio of Armenia

According to the status quo adopted in the Holy Land, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrates Christmas in Bethlehem, according to the old (Julian) calendar, on January 18 – 19.

On that day, solemn liturgies are being served in the Nativity Cave.

A Christmas icon is being placed on the tabernacle on the occasion of the holiday, the inscription of which has probably attracted the attention of few because of being dim.

Chancellor at Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem Fr Koryoun Hovnan Baghdasaryan has shared the photos of the icon.

According to the inscription, the icon was sent from the Armenian city of Baku to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as a gift on November 5, 1887.

In the second half of the 19th century Baku was largely considered an Armenian city.

The number of Armenians in Baku gradually decreased after the establishment of the Azerbaijani state. The city was finally evicted of Armenians in 1990 after state-level pogroms against Armenians.

https://en.armradio.am/2021/01/19/a-1887-gift-from-the-armenian-city-of-baku-to-to-the-church-of-the-nativity-in-bethlehem/

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Panorama, Armenia

Jan 19 2021

Protesters block Azerbaijani convoy on Martakert roadway in Artsakh

The residents of Artsakh's Martakert town have blocked in a protest an Azerbaijani convoy heading towards Qarvachar region escorted by Russian peacekeepers. Facebook user Armen Ishkhanyan has posted a video from the scene. One of the locals presented the demands of the protesters to the representative of the peacekeepers. He first thanked the peacekeepers for their mission and presented their demands, informing about the peaceful nature of the initiative.

He recalled the provision of the November 9 trilateral statement, calling for unblocking all communications in the region. He informed the provision is not being implemented since the roadway from Martakert to Vardenis is closed for the Armenian population, while the Azerbaijani vehicles can freely pass through the road to Qarvachar region. The protesters handed over a petition signed by the locals, asking for a solution to the matter. They noted that if Armenians are not permitted to use the roadway to go to Vardenis, they would prevent Azeris from using the road to travel to Qarvachar and will periodically stage protests and close the road.

The representative of the Russian peacekeepers informed that their mission is to ensure the peace in Artsakh and the unimpeded operation of communications routes. The representative of the Russian contingent promised to pass the petition to relevant bodies and raise the voice of Martakert residents. They also informed that the Azerbaijani convoy was transferring construction workers and civilians.

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/01/19/Azerbaijani-convoy-Martakert-roadway/2437703

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News.am, Armenia

Jan 19 2021

Armenian Oriental studies expert: There is still a big threat of war in the region

There is still a big threat of war in the region, and Armenia needs to get ready for that war. This is what Head of the Department of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University Vardan Voskanyan told reporters today.

According to him, this is linked to the fact that the participants of the Nagorno-Karabakh war aren’t satisfied with the outcomes, and this first and foremost concerns Turkey, which failed to have its presence as a peacekeeper, and now it is trying to ensure its military presence in Ganja.

“Besides that, from the military perspective, Russia strengthened its positions in Azerbaijan (if we take into consideration the fact that Baku considers Nagorno-Karabakh its own). Amid this, Ankara and Baku are planning to hold military exercises in Kars, which is not far from the Russian 102nd Military Base in Armenia. Israel, which de facto participated in the war as well, didn’t get what it wanted,” the analyst stated.

https://news.am/eng/news/624284.html

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News.am, Armenia

Jan 19 2021

Azerbaijanis murder 44-year-old Armenian captive and bury him in Karabakh's Hadrut

The 44-year-old man from Hadrut Province of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) who was found dead yesterday in the territories of Artsakh that are now under the control of Azerbaijan was the son of Sasha Karakhanyan, who is from Hadrut and had returned about a month ago after being in captivity.

Vrezh Karakhanyan, Sasha Karakhanyan’s grandson, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the body of his uncle Arsen Karakhanyan was found by people who were conducting a search in Hadrut. Azerbaijanis had murdered Arsen and buried him in one of the villages of Hadrut.

Arsen’s family definitely found out that he was a captive on January 6 when the Azerbaijanis disseminated a video of him on social networks.

Resident of Hadrut Sasha Karakhanyan was captured from his home in October and returned to the homeland along with 44 persons about a month ago. The family didn’t have any news from Arsen and assumed that he was a captive, after which they saw the video on the Internet and became convinced that he had been captured.

https://news.am/eng/news/624334.html

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Panorama, Armenia

Jan 20 2021

Polish politician offered 50,000$ to cancel publication of a brochure on Azerbaijani war crimes in Karabakh

 

 

Polish politician Tomasz Lech Buczek says that Azerbaijan has offered 50,000$ for canceling the publication of brochure on Azerbaijani war crimes against Armenians in the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Buczek has shared the screenshot of a message received from an Azerbaijani social media user, reading: ""The Azerbaijani government will give you $50,000, if you don't publish the publication about Azerbaijani crimes. If interested, please post a photo of Baku on January 25th on Facebook."

"President Aliyev probably heard about my publication?" My response to Baku is: "Release the Armenian prisoners of war," Buczek wrote in an accompanying message to the screenshot.

To note, Buczek earlier organized a fund-raising campaign for publishing the brochure. He said that the brochure would be the world's first printed publication on Azerbaijan's war crimes against the Armenian population in Karabakh in 2020.

The publication specifically details the tortures and inhuman treatment of Armenian war prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

President Alijev probably? heard? about my publication. I received a proposal for not publishing Azerbaijani war crimes...

Posted by Tomasz Lech Buczek on Tuesday, January 19, 2021

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2021/01/20/Buczek-Azerbaijani-war-crimes/2438643

[Yervant1]

Stop the dreaming, the international community will not help us, never did and never will. We should stop putting our hopes on others!

Aysor, Armenia

Jan 20 2021

Armenia’s FM – Shushi is Armenian cultural center

Shushi is Armenia’s cultural center, Armenia’s foreign minister Ara Aivazian stated today at the NA.

“Irrespective of who says what we do not agree with the allegations that Shushi may become Turkic cultural center. We are sure the international community will assist us in this issue,” Aivazian stated.

It has been reported earlier that during the phone conversation with Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev secretary general of the Turkic Council Bagdad Amreyev stated that in 2022 Shushi will be declared cultural capital of Turkic world.

https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2021/01/20/aivazian-shushi/1793404

 

 

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Public Radio of Armenia

Jan 21 2021

Armenian FM’s letter to UN chief on Azerbaijani war crimes circulated as official UN document

The letter of Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian regarding Azerbaijan’s violations of international humanitarian law in the aftermath of the large-scale military offensive against Artsakh is circulated as document of UN General Assembly and Security Council, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anna Naghdalyan informs.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Gutterres, the Foreign Minister comprehensively presented the situation over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following the large-scale military aggression launched by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020.

The Minister noted that amid the unprecedented global health crisis, the violation of the decades-long ceasefire in the region has led to numerous casualties, large-scale ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Artsakh, deliberate destruction, desecration and vandalism of the Armenian religious and cultural monuments.

In the letter, the Foreign Minister of Armenia touched upon the cases of violations of the November 9 trilateral statement’s provisions by Azerbaijan, noting that more than a month after the ceasefire was established, Azerbaijan carried out military operations in Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages in Hadrut region of Artsakh. It was noted that during the military attack, the Azerbaijani armed forces captured 64 Armenian servicemen, violating Azerbaijan’s commitments to maintain the ceasefire established by the trilateral statement.

The Foreign Minister emphasized the incomplete implementation of the Article 8 of the trilateral statement, which mandates the “exchange of prisoners of war, hostages, and other detained persons and bodies of the dead.” He stressed that Azerbaijan, in fact, refuses to implement its commitment which is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.

Minister Aivazian drew the attention of the UN Secretary General to the reluctance of Azerbaijan regarding the cooperation with international organizations in cultural heritage protection. “Lasting and sustainable peace in the region could be achieved only through the comprehensive resolution of the conflict that will include the status of Nagorno-Karabakh based on the realization of the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh”,- concluded the Foreign Minister of Armenia.

 

https://en.armradio.am/2021/01/21/armenian-fms-letter-to-un-chief-on-azerbaijani-war-crimes-circulated-as-official-un-document/

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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

 

 

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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.armeniapedia.org/wiki/David_Boyajian.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/01/22/azerbaijan-unfit-rule-over-artsakh/

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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.am/en/news/2021/01/22/Caroline-Cox-mutilations-beheadings-Karabakh/2440168

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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/armenian-ombudsman-letters-determination-of-armenias-borders-to-international-organizations-in-grams-oz-war-by-azerbaijan-armenia-news/

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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.com/17167-2/?fbclid=IwAR0WzELaWxI6-ncN5upA_5H92r6BYzLTv4vO8BrKhJ4_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.com/armenia-azerbaijan-business-reconciliation-3129419?amp=1&fbclid=IwAR2YtpXUkWWFwsAawKkoegOjyohh3tUT90LQ0Zhhi0no3L49tl9EoB1A-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.am/2021/01/25/armenian-trucks-attacked-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.am/2021/01/25/armenian-sahak-mesrop-cultural-center-in-marseilles-targeted-by-gunfire/

[MosJan]

https://onnet.am/59950.html?fbclid=IwAR1sUmOOPAXmleCi8lcj4X1pkDfE4WU8X0BgmoViXG9n-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 ***** 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.org/following-war-with-armenia-azerbaijan-gains-control-of-lucrative-gold-mines