cease-fire violations by azeris

[Yervant1]

Karabakh War Hero: Vienna meetings showed that Baku has got away with
aggression against Stepanakert

by Marianna Mkrtchyan

Tuesday, May 17, 17:49

The Vienna meetings have confirmed that Azerbaijan has got away with
its April aggression against Nagorno Karabakh and the seizure of the
Armenian territories, Zhirayr Sefilyan, Commander of the Shushi
Separate Battalion, Karabakh War Hero, says in a Facebook post.

"This means that Azerbaijan will continue arming and implementing its
program of destroying Armenians through creeping war. The most
dangerous step the Armenian people can make at the given stage is to
let their guard down under influence of empty promises of the external
forces," Sefilyan says. In his words, he has already observed such
tendency.
"It is very dangerous for us to return the army to its usual regime,
as it may be followed by the next and even tougher attack by the
enemy. We have no additional territories and blood to sacrifice to the
next Vienna meetings. Instead, we need to prepare for a new
Sardarapat," Sefilyan said. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met in Vienna on May 16 to
advance a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The
meeting was initiated by the OSCE MG co-chair countries foreign
ministers.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey
Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States of America John Kerry,
and State Secretary for European Affairs of France Harlem Desir,
representing the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group,
reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict.
The Co-Chairs insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and
1995 ceasefire agreements.
T

he Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the
peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further
violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an
OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the
expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairperson in Office. Finally, they agreed to continue the
exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which the
Presidents committed during the Paris summit of October 2014.

The Presidents agreed on a next round of talks, to be held in June at
a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on
a comprehensive settlement.

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[Yervant1]

Armenia needs guarantees over Karabakh defense – lawmaker

16:05 • 17.05.16

No negotiations and agreements can ensure guarantees over Karabakh
without sufficient confidence-building mechanisms on the border, an
Armenian parliament member said today, commenting on the recent
presidential talks in Vienna.

“Unless we have enough confidence mechanisms on the border, and
opportunities and guarantees to maintain the ceasefire, the
arrangements reached cannot secure implementation mechanisms,” Artak
Zakaryan told reporters at the National Assembly.

A key outcome of the Monday meeting, he added, was Azerbaijan’s
agreement to the proposal for deploying the necessary monitoring and
investigation mechanisms along the frontline. “Admitting something and
implementing it later are, however, different; we need to make sure
that the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact is in the ceasefire
maintenance zone,” Zakaryan said.

He further reiterated the authorities’ calls for making
Nagorno-Karabakh a direct participant in the process. In his words,
the country is likely join the negotiations at a key phase, a moment
which he said will see the existing agreements fully implemented and
the final document in the process of elaboraition.

“Armenia has repeatedly stated that we can have very many agreements,
but unless the official Stepanakert gives its final consent, we cannot
say we are bringing a specific document to life,” he added.

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[MosJan]

 

[ասմունք] Արտավազդ Եղոյան – «Եռաբլուր» (հեղ․՝ Աշոտ Բեգոյան՝ Տոտիկ)

[Yervant1]

I doubt very much that sultan aliyev will abide by the agreement!

Package solution with stepwise implementation: Armenian FM on Karabakh

settlement

19:15, 17 May 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The settlement of the Karabakh conflict should be a “package solution
with stepwise implementation,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian said in an interview with Interfax.

“Over the past years we have been working on compromise formulations
and have been very close to a settlement on several occasions, but
every time Azerbaijan has made a step backward,” Minister Nalbandian
said.

“The implementation of the agreements reached between the Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna will create necessary conditions
for the settlement of conflict and the search for compromise
solutions,” the Foreign Minister said.

During the meeting the parties reiterated that there can be no
military solution to the conflict. The Co-Chairs insisted on the
importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire agreements.

The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the
peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further
violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an
OSCE investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the
expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairperson in Office. Finally, they agreed to continue the
exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which the
Presidents committed during the Paris summit of October 2014.

Minister Nalbandian noted that “the first-ever participation of the
Foreign Ministers of the co-chairing countries in the meeting of the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan is a testament to the extreme
importance the mediating countries attach to the implementation of the
agreements.”

Minister Nalabandian voiced hope that Azerbaijan would not disappoint
the hopes of the co-chairing countries and would come up to the
expectations of the international community.

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[Yervant1]

Spain city supports Karabakh

16:11, 18.05.2016

The following institutional statement was adopted at the April 26
regular session of the meeting of the heads of factions that are
represented in the city hall of Donostia (San Sebastián), the capital
city of Gipuzkoa Province of the Basque Country (Spain), and the city
mayor approved this statement on May 5.

“The Donostia (San Sebastián) City Hall,

“1) Conveys [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) capital city] Stepanakert its
support at this difficult time, reaffirming its population’s right to
live pacifically and in a normal way.

“2) Calls on all parties [to the Karabakh conflict] that they return
to the situation that prevailed before the ceasefire violation (…).

“3) Calls on all parties [to the conflict] that they settle their
disagreements within the framework of the [Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)] Minsk Group, (…) always respecting
the will of the people.

“4) In this regard, requests that Nagorno-Karabakh have its own voice
in the Minsk Group negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh.”

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[Yervant1]

BHK lawmaker to Serzh Sargsyan: We shall have nothing left if we lose
little by little

19:01 | May 18,2016 | Politics

In an interview with Armenian journalists on board his presidential
jet whiling returning to Yerevan from Vienna, Serzh Sargsyan said ‘we
lost only some 800 hectares of land in the April 2-5 hostilities in
Karabakh, while the total security zone held by Karabakh forces is
800,000 hectares.’

Vahram Baghdasaryan, Head of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK),
says there is no need to return the 800 hectares of land.

“Each human loss is important for us and I do not think that those 800
hectares are worth new losses,” Mr Baghdasaryan said on Wednesday.

The republican lawmaker is not particularly concerned about the lost
800 hectares of land though he is well aware that many Armenian
soldiers were killed in the April skirmishes for those territories.

“800 hectares of land is nothing compared with the 800,000 hectares of
land. This area does not have any strategic importance,” Mr
Baghdasaryan added.

Unlike the HHK lawmaker, Vahagn Makhsudyan from the Prosperous Armenia
Party (BHK) says Armenia lost from the very beginning: we failed to
foresee the attack and lost 800 hectares of land.

“We received reports that Azerbaijan was amassing weapons and troops
along sectors of the frontline. Why didn’t we take out our tanks
against the enemy’s tanks?” Mr Makhsudyan said.

The lawmaker says neither Armenia nor Nagorno-Karabakh was prepared
for Azerbaijan’s aggression but we need not suffer from the loss of
800 hectares.

“We may lose or acquire new territories but we should think of
returning those 800 hectares,” the BHK lawmaker said.

The lawmaker knows that Serzh Sargsyan also spoke about respecting
truce and the need to avoid a war and losses. He said we need not try
to return the territories lost in the four-day war at the cost of new
victims. However, the lawmaker disagrees with Sargsyan and says, “We
shall have nothing left if we lose little by little.”

Mr Makhsudyan adds that we should fight for every inch of land.

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[Yervant1]

Analyst: There are factors making authorities act contrary to
Armenia's interests

by David Stepanyan

Thursday, May 19, 18:19

There are factors making the authorities act contrary to Armenia's
interests, Manvel Sargsyan, Director of the Armenian Center for
National and International Studies, said during the debates on May 19.

"This circumstance causes concerns, especially in the light of the
April events. On the very first day of the Azerbaijani aggression in
April, we lost 75 servicemen. All of them died when defending the
first line of defense of Artsakh. A question arises: if the 800
hectares lying behind that line are of almost no significance to
Armenia and Artsakh, why did our guys held out to the last, why
weren't the troops pulled back at once?" the analyst said.

After all this, the Karabakh detachments, which launched
counteroffensive and were retrieving the positions, unexpectedly
received an order to stop and to leave the notorious 800 hectares in
the adversary's hands, Sargsyan said.

The analyst wonders who and why gave that order, especially given that
due to the arrangements in Vienna Baku reinforced what it seized.
Sargsyan qualifies these events as a rather dangerous precedent, for
which the party that makes decisions on behalf of Armenia and Artsakh
should be held accountable.

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[Yervant1]

This is a Google translation from Spanish.

Historic resolution: Chile condemns the aggression of Azerbaijan to the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

05/19/16

The Chamber of Deputies of Chile issued a históricaresolución
It approved porunanimidad in which it condemned the "armed attack
Azerbaijan to Nagorno Karabakh Republic "on Wednesday 18
may. The resolution, introduced by deputies Gustavo Hasbún
Selume, Issa Kort Garriga, Denise Pascal Allende, Aldo Cornejo
Gonzalez and Jorge Sabag Villalobos, sets a crucial precedent, and
which it is the first in South America to condemn attacks Azerbaijan
and also in Nagorno Karabakh denominate in its capacity Republic.

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies "reaffirms its commitment to peace and
It urges the Republic of Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of all kinds of
acts of war against Nagorno Karabagh Republic and
strict observance of the truce by both countries in 1994 "
and "requests the Government of Chile to urge the parties to
circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the
negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus
avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences. "

"What you are doing Azerbaijan undoubtedly marks a break not only
of bilateral and international relations, but it is a
permanent world peace rape and there must be a conviction
by the world, citizenship and especially countries like the
our, who they feel some degree of brotherhood with Armenia "
declaróGustavo Hasbún Zelume, president Friendship Group
Armenian-Chilean and who he presented the project in an interview with
News Armenia agency. "This will allow Chile to take a role more
starring role in the defense of the sovereignty of individual countries,
force that international treaties and truces "are respected.

Gustavo Hasbún Zelume
The deputy admitted receiving pressure from Naciye
Gökçen Kaya, Turkey's ambassador in Chile, that is not approved
This resolution, like the one approved last year, in which the
Chamber of Deputies of Chile sympathized "with the Armenian nation
condemning the genocide of his people began in 1915. "

"The Chamber of Deputies is autonomous and will not allow pressure
of any country to come and say how we have to act the
parliamentarians in defense of justice, peace, human rights
and in defense of a people who are being oppressed, "he added Hasbún
Zelume.

"We welcome the courageous position of Chilean deputies who form
unanimously they broke with the prevailing hypocrisy of not naming the aggressor
in conflicts. We hope this statement, in line with the
Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, last April 3,
mark a way for the countries of the region, "said Alfonso
Tabakian, director of the Armenian National Council of South America.

The grounds for the decision, makes it clear that "the night of 1
April 2 last, land and air forces of the Republic of
Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale attack on the line
border with the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, with heavy artillery
and next-generation missiles "and that aggression represented" the most
flagrant violation of the Ceasefire Agreement signed by both
countries in May 1994 and a breach of UN rules
Peaceful Settlement of Disputes ".

"Faced with this new escalation of violence it has already claimed victims
numerous civilian and military casualties, Chile condemns the aggression,
calls for the cessation of military operations and the continuation of the
peace negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Group, whose
co-chairs are US, Russia and France, sponsored by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). "


The entire project:

Draft resolution by which the Chamber of Deputies of Chile
condemns the armed attack Azerbaijan to the Republic of Nagorno
Karabagh

Considering:
1. That the night of 1 to 2 April last, land and air forces
of the Republic of Azerbaijan they conducted a large-scale attack on
the border with the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, with
heavy artillery and missiles of last generation.
2. That this aggression represents the most flagrant violation of
Cease Fire Agreement signed by both countries in May 1994 and
a breach of UN rules on Peaceful Settlement
Dispute.
3. against this new escalation of violence has already claimed
numerous civilian and military casualties victims, Chile condemns
aggression, calls for the cessation of military operations and continued
of peace negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Group, whose
co-chairs are US, Russia and France, sponsored by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
4. That the international community and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
argue that the conflict, which has more than two decades, only
He solved by peaceful means and respecting the rules of law
international and the right of self determination of its inhabitants.

The Chamber of Deputies of Chile:
1. Reaffirms its commitment to peace and urges the Republic of
Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of all acts of war
the Nagorno Karabakh and the strict observance of the
truce reached by both countries in 1994.
2. Requests the Government of Chile to urge the parties to
circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the
negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus
avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences.

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Chile Condemns Azeri Aggression Against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

19/5/16

Chile’s Chamber of Deputies

SANTIAGO, Chile (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—The Chamber of Deputies
(parliament) of Chile issued a historic resolution passed unanimously
that condemns the “armed attack of Azerbaijan against the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic” on Wednesday.

The resolution, introduced by Deputies Gustavo Hasbun Zelume, Issa
Kort Garriga, Denise Pascal Allende, Aldo Cornejo Gonzalez and Jorge
Sabag Villalobos, sets a crucial precedent, since it is the first in
South America that condemns the attacks of Azerbaijan and also call
Nagorno-Karabakh a Republic.

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies “reaffirms its commitment to peace and
urges the Republic of Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of all
acts of war against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the strict
observance of the truce signed by both countries in 1994″ and
“requests the Government of Chile to urge the parties to circumscribe
the conflict settlement within the framework of the negotiations held
in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional explosion with
unpredictable consequences.”

“What Azerbaijan is doing undoubtedly marks a break not only of
bilateral and international relations, but a permanent violation to
the world peace and has to be condemned by the world, the citizenship
and especially the countries like ours, that feel some degree of
brotherhood with Armenia,” said Deputy Gustavo Hasbun Zelume,
President of the Armenian-Chilean Group of Friendship and the one who
presented the project, in an interview with Prensa Armenia agency.
“This will allow Chile to take a more active role in defending the
sovereignty of individual countries.”

Gustavo Hasbún Zelume

The deputy admitted that they received pressures from Naciye Gökçen
Kaya, Ambassador of Turkey in Chile, so that this resolution could not
be approved, like the one approved last year, in which the Chamber of
Deputies of Chile sympathized “with the Armenian nation condemning the
genocide of its people that began in 1915.”

“The Chamber of Deputies is autonomous and will not allow pressures
from any country to come and say how we as parliamentarians have to
act in defense of justice, peace, human rights and in defense of
people being oppressed,” added Hasbun Zelume.

“We welcome the courageous position of Chilean Deputies, who
unanimously broke with the prevailing hypocrisy of not naming the
aggressor in the conflict. We hope that this statement, in line with
the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OEA),
Luis Almagro, on last 3 April, will mark a path for the countries of
the region,” said Alfonso Tabakian, Director of the Armenian National
Committe of South America.

The grounds for the decision say that “on the night of 1 to 2 of last
April, ground forces and air of the Republic of Azerbaijan conducted a
large-scale attack on the border with the Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh, with heavy artillery and last generation missiles”
and that aggression represented “the most flagrant violation of the
Ceasefire Agreement signed by both countries in May 1994 and a breach
of UN rules on Pacific Settlement of Disputes.”

“Faced with this new escalation of violence that has already claimed
numerous civilian and military casualties victims, Chile condemns the
aggression, calls for the cessation of military operations and the
continuation of the peace negotiations within the framework of the
Minsk Group, whose co-presidents are the United States, Russia and
France, sponsored by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE).”

The heading of the resolution passed by Chile’s Chamber of Deputies

Below is the complete text of the resolution.

Whereas:
1. That on the night of 1 to 2 of last April, ground forces and air of
the Republic of Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale attack on the
border with the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, with heavy artillery and
last generation missiles.
2. That this aggression represents the most flagrant violation of the
Ceasefire Agreement signed by both countries in May 1994 and a breach
of UN rules on Pacific Settlement of Disputes.
3. Faced with this new escalation of violence that has already claimed
numerous civilian and military casualties victims, Chile condemns the
aggression, calls for the cessation of military operations and the
continuation of the peace negotiations within the framework of the
Minsk Group, whose co-presidents are the United States, Russia and
France, sponsored by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE).
4. That the international community and the Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh argue that the conflict, which has more than two
decades, can only be solved by peaceful means and respecting the rules
of international law and the right of self-determination of its
people.

The Chamber of Deputies of Chile Resolves:
1. Reaffirms its commitment to peace and urges the Republic of
Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of all acts of war against the
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the strict observance of the truce
signed by both countries in 1994
2. Requests the Government of Chile to urge the parties to
circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the
negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional
explosion with unpredictable consequences.


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Edited May 19, 2016 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

Baku Reneged on Agreement: Half-Life of Vienna Opium

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments - 19 May 2016, 23:39

Novruz Mammedov, a high-ranking official of the Azerbaijani
president’s office, has announced that Baku has not made any
commitment to expanding the capacity of the office of the OSCE CiO
personal representative’s office. Mammedov has announced that this
statement is merely the opinion of the Minsk Group co-chairs.

It is no surprise that Baku reneges on the Vienna agreement. It would
be strange if after the meeting in Vienna someone believed seriously
that Baku will go for a real agreement guaranteeing the ceasefire.
Baku has no other tool but its weapons worth billions. So it will not
agree to something that will limit its ability to use that tool.

This is axiomatic truth which, however, is not understood in Armenia,
causing an aware or unaware self-deception. Armenia takes the desire
for reality, therefore more realistic opportunities for limiting the
use of this military tool are missed.

One of them is the initiative of recognition of Artsakh, which is a
means, not a purpose. Why a purpose? Because, in the long run, Baku
does not care whether Armenia will recognize or not. Baku has its
military line and its objective is to push this line forward at least
by one meter.

Aliyev does not measure the situation with the bars of victory and
defeat. Aliyev has set the goal and is walking towards its goal meter
by meter. This is the simple thing that Armenia needs to realize.
Azerbaijan does not view the issue of Artsakh as an issue subject to a
one-time solution. A long time ago Azerbaijan started viewing the
issue as a component of a deep regional and even geopolitical process
that requires daily work in the framework of the state policy.

Armenia lacks this awareness. In Armenia, the issue of Artsakh is not
seen as part of the national policy in the strategic perspective, not
the identification card of the Armenian statehood but an issue that
does not allow forming this identity in full. At least, Armenia’s
approach to the normalization of the conflict which has been based on
the status for territory principle is evidence to this, its
reflection.

This is what makes up self-deception that the contrary is war.
Deception cannot lead to peace and security. It is not important
whether you deceive someone else or yourself. Azerbaijan is busy with
the policy of deceiving the international community, Armenia is busy
deceiving itself. The consequence of these two policies based on
deception is that the first Artsakh victory became a tense and
unstable environment two decades later, escalating to the four-day
war.

Armenia must stop deceiving itself to force Azerbaijan to give up on
its policy of deceiving the international community. The point is not
that Baku may deceive the United States, Russia or France. However,
Serzh Sargsyan confesses that Aliyev looked in everyone’s eyes in
Vienna and said that Armenia attacks. Aliyev is not a fool or crazy to
do this. He knows that he will not deceive anyone but he also knows
that his lie will pass as long as Armenia, by deceiving itself, thinks
that it is possible to achieve a compromise with Azerbaijan and
thereby achieve peace.

The army imposes peace on Azerbaijan, and the armed forces are, in
fact, the only segment that is free from self-deception. If not a
complete and deep awareness of the issue and the international
situation, at least the situation and circumstances force the armed
forces to be outside the self-deception otherwise it will be
impossible to resolve the military issues facing us. Moreover, the
armed forces are facing these issues due to the total self-deception.

The fact is that the armed forces are the exceptional segment which is
honest with itself and with the international community, the
international security system. Thereby Armenia can avoid the miserable
prospect of being recognized as an unimportant territory at a global
scale.

- See more at:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lragir.am_index_eng_0_comments_view_35802-23sthash.SPEzRlUl.dpuf&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=gMzlK9XtnN74FQWJVGUKiW5CxTYTC7KpAU__FMK6fi0&s=VchpJBl0QvDpAO3xTwM_qZHdH2crCDsYwte6IlUXCWA&e=

[Yervant1]

We do not have useless territories, we have useless authorities (video)

13:08 | May 20,2016 | Politics


Members of the “Defense of Liberated Territories” public initiative call on political forces to unite and leave for Artsakh, Davit Sanasaryan, a member of the initiative, told reporters on Friday.

While returning from a meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh in Vienna, Austria, Serzh Sargsyan gave a press conference on board a plane saying the lost territories are not important strategically.

“We do not have useless territories; we have useless authorities who do not value our lands. Our soldiers sacrificed their lives for those territories and it is immoral to announce today that these territories were not important for us,” Mr Sanasaryan said.

Shahen Harutyunyan, another member of the initiative said should people trust Serzh Sargsyan they would not be angered by his words. “People would think that if he [sagsyan] made such a statement he must known something,” Harutyunyan said.

The initiative is going to apply to retired Major-General Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (Komandos) as well as other Karabakh war participants asking them to unite around the move.

https://youtu.be/9nYyLyqJrok

http://en.a1plus.am/1236887.html

[Yervant1]

Diplomat: After Formula-1 race in Baku, situation in Karabakh conflict
zone will grow tense again

by Marianna Mkrtchyan

Thursday, May 19, 17:51

Head of Modus Vivendi Center of Sociological Studies, Armenia's
ambassador to Canada in 2000-2006, Ara Papyan is sure that after the
Formula-1 race in Azerbaijan on June 17-18, the situation in the
Karabakh conflict zone will grow tense again.

The diplomat believes that Baku does not want to aggravate the
situation ahead of the event, but it is very probable that Baku will
make a provocation in the conflict zone on occasion of the forthcoming
visit of Pope Francis to Armenia (June 24 - editor's note).

Papyan recalled that on July 8-9, NATO Summit will be held in Warsaw,
and Baku will make a provocation before that event to put the Karabakh
issue on agenda of the NATO Summit.

He believes that Azerbaijan will not unleash large-scale military
actions - it will be new blitzkriegs. At the same time, Papyan said,
war is favorable to Russia, as it will get an opportunity to yield
Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan in exchange of its membership of the
Eurasian Economic Union and to "keep a tight rein" on Armenia.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.arminfo.am_index.cfm-3Fobjectid-3D615B0460-2D1DC0-2D11E6-2D9FCA0EB7C0D21663&d=DQIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=kukThaeOSRiJgo-kb4ssH9ixkti0173hwIGvV-IfTyQ&s=LwyHdWg5LzdEVc-Z01aZHAaRR2xeDylQOzLriHTZhaw&e=

[Yervant1]

Taking Up the Challenge: Sefilian says ready to regain ground lost in Karabakh

May 20, 2016

A radical opposition leader, who participated in the 1992-1994
Armenian-Azerbaijani war, says he is ready to “restore the territorial
integrity of Nagorno Karabakh” after a rather rhetorical challenge
made by President Serzh Sargsyan.

In an interview with media upon returning from the May 16 meeting with
his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Vienna, Austria, that had
been arranged by international mediators to address the latest
Karabakh escalation, Sargsyan also spoke about “800 hectares of
security zone” that were lost by Armenian forces during the brief
hostilities with Azerbaijan in early April.

Earlier, the issue of territories was raised by Sefilian and other
opposition hardliners who accused the authorities of trying to hide
the real scale of losses.

In a clear reference to Sefilian and his radical opposition New
Armenia movement, Sargsyan said: “They sit in Yerevan cafes and draw
maps, show routes. I suggest that such people personally go and regain
[that land] instead of giving advice to others. One should understand
the situation and appreciate the value of meters and human lives. For
me our soldiers and officers are much more important.”

Sefilian, a Lebanese-born politician who led a company called Shushi
during the first Karabakh war, issued a statement today, saying that
he and his loyalists who have enlisted for voluntary service are ready
to assume military responsibility for “restoring the territorial
integrity” of Karabakh, since, as he explained, “the person occupying
the post of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief refuses to do that and is
not against that others voluntarily take up the military
responsibility for that.”

In this view, Sefilian called on Armenian citizens, Armenians in
Diaspora communities as well as officers and soldiers of the Armenian
army to volunteer to accomplish the mission under his command.

During their meeting in Vienna the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan agreed to respect the terms of the 1994 ceasefire. No issue
of boundaries altered as a result of the April 2-5 hostilities was
discussed at the meeting.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.armenianow.com_en_karabakh_2016_05_20_armenia-2Dkarabakh-2Dpresident-2Dsargsyan-2Dsefilian_3558_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=s4AGsEncSR8ZFeBWc0gpvduqDEhum9BICrVfTVWZ5dQ&s=2imyr6ZssBgwKUX7rBuLdKR5f-_uPad5DX40bEWrjLQ&e=

[Yervant1]

We Have to Liberate Those 800 Hectares

Lragir.am
Country - 20 May 2016, 17:22


The justification of the Armenian government that 800 hectares of land
in Artsakh lost during the April war does not have a strategic
importance is disappointing, stated Member of Parliament Zaruhi
Postanjyan during the parliamentary briefings.

“At the moment we have the village of Talish emptied, without a
possibility to live there, the village is shelled. We have vulnerable
and shelled Martakert, hence we have serious problems with security,”
she said. According to the member of parliament, in this situation it
is not ruled out that Armenia will retreat again, while the
authorities say it has no strategic importance.

The endangered and vulnerable security system is the consequence of
treason by statesmen.

“These statements indicate that they are traitors, and traitors should
undergo relevant processes, they must be discharged and prosecuted.
This should be our priority,” she said.

She reminded that negotiations on handing territories went on during
the office of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan too. Serzh
Sargsyan carried this on, three of them served that interest.
“However, while they were saying that they are just negotiating and
will not sign any documents, today we already understand that the
liberation of our occupied territories, our advancement has been
stopped without the presence of the government of Artsakh. Not having
restored our former positions, we have stopped our triumphant
advancement. Afterwards, it is announced that 800 hectares do not have
an essential importance. Without the will of our soldiers the disaster
would reach Stepanakert. In fact, our army has broken the silent
agreement that we are ready to hand the territories,” he announced.

Zaruhi Postanjyan called not to look for the solution of our problems
in the capital of any country, in any great power. She reminded that
these threats to our security favor one of the great powers, Russia,
because this country wants to drag Azerbaijan into the EEU. “However,
the great threat to our country is Serzh Sargsyan because he is
conducting a policy of handing territories. Those 800 hectares might
not be important to him but they have a great importance to our state
and security. We do not have an alternative, the imposed war continues
today. And we will not be able to put up with this situation, the
primary issue of our armed forces should be the liberation of those
800 hectares without listening to Khachaturov and others, as well as
to be able to move forward rendering the enemy harmless,” she
announced.

- See more at:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lragir.am_index_eng_0_country_view_35807-23sthash.HTgYI7V2.dpuf&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=8DNoSsbvtbfkJNv2vHX7e03R0YqxV8HRQe_NyxZiZXg&s=0rAgCWoVw1FG41CeQxCJQywjngSKbQIrjUUDsCDWsE8&e=

[Yervant1]

Popov: Karabakh people should return to negotiation table

18:06, 20.05.2016

Nagorno-Karabakh should return to the negotiation table, Russian
Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov, told Armenian News –
NEWS.am.

“The Karabakh people indeed do not formally take part in the talks at
the current stage. But lots of attention is attached to this topic
during the meeting of the Co-Chairs both in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as
well as in Nagorno-Karabakh itself. I suppose that at a certain stage,
for instance after reaching framework agreement, the Karabakh people
must return to the negotiation table, since the issue concerns people
who live and will live there,” Popov noted.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__news.am_eng_news_328230.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=YJXkk9gf7MzdckJUYyFwAUVcK_rogRcoxUqJqCH9kRw&s=r6ijHNRnZD-ZmqvYFLoxA8DwR6jIHf70AuqDBVt82P4&e=

[Yervant1]

The Hill: Severed head grasped like trophy kill evinces an Azerbaijani
soldier’s degeneration into utter depravity

POLITICS 17:38 20/05/2016

The scenes in Nagorno-Karabakh are stomach churning. A teenager’s
severed head grasped like trophy kill, evincing an Azerbaijani
soldier’s degeneration into utter depravity. An elderly couple
savagely executed in their home, their ears sliced off their heads,
the Hill writes, reflecting on the images of civilians executed by
Azerbaijani forces in Karabakh and which were broadcast across social
media.

Author Karnig Kerkonian reacts to Denis Jaffe’s May 6, 2016 article
criticizing Senator Mark Kirk for demanding that the U.S. hold
Azerbaijan accountable for its aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic and attacking the Senator for his call to implement pro-peace
measures to secure the cease-fire along the line of contact.

Earlier, Senator Kirk has called for removing snipers along the line
of contact, installing gunfire locator systems, and deploying
additional OSCE observers to monitor cease-fire violations.

“Senator Kirk’s pro-peace proposals evidence American conviction and
foresight. They respect U.N. Security Council calls for the “immediate
cessation of all hostilities and hostile acts with a view to
establishing a durable cease-fire.” They are a concrete step toward
securing peace and saving lives now,” the author stresses and adds: “I
am an Illinois voter, Mr. Jaffe. I attended Senator Kirk’s hearings in
Chicago on ISIS’ human rights violations against Christians and
others. He is committed to holding perpetrators to account. U.S.
leaders must act to prevent another war in Nagorno-Karabakh. In
holding Azerbaijan accountable and demanding specific pro-peace
measures, Senator Kirk is doing just that.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__thehill.com_blogs_congress-2Dblog_foreign-2Dpolicy_280472-2Dillinois-2Dvoters-2Dsupport-2Dsenator-2Dkirks-2Dcall-2Dfor-2Dpro-2Dpeace&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=R7es_Yn7B-t9QBWoKQ2cfdfYnPkne8l5-ewfXz9H4Vo&s=WrJS42nPyKFYCljHS1KM7fJ3CdeJlege3FoXhrNtX9I&e=


https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.panorama.am_en_news_2016_05_20_The-2DHill-2DSevered-2DAzerbaijani-2Dsoldier-25E2-2580-2599s-2Ddegeneration_1583111&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=R7es_Yn7B-t9QBWoKQ2cfdfYnPkne8l5-ewfXz9H4Vo&s=7he0si2cRliFuW-eXN_8EsvpIpqhbeU8UZNyZrU5FCo&e=

[Yervant1]

Loss of 800 hectares by Armenian side causes stormy debates at
Armenian Parliament

by Nana Martirosyan

Friday, May 20, 20:54

Serzh Sargsyan is the key threat to the security of Armenia and
Artsakh and acts contrary to the two Armenian states' interests, Head
of the Heritage Party Faction Zaruhi Postanjyan said at a briefing in
Parliament on May 20.

She said that the Republican Party of Armenia continues the policy of
cession of territories, which was launched by the Armenian
Pan-National Movement. She recalled the remarks of the President, who
said that during the Azerbaijani aggression in April, the Armenian
side lost 800 hectares of land. "The loss of these territories
endangered both Talish and Martakert, which undergo shelling, while
Serzh Sargsyan says that the specified 800 hectares are of no tactical
or strategic importance. Sargsyan and his regime are the biggest
threat to the two Armenian states. We should liberate the occupied
territories and go forward," she said, urging the servicemen not to
obey the orders of the authorities.
For his part, Head of the ARF Dashnaktusyun Faction Armen Rustamyan
called Postanjyan's statement nonsense. He said that the war in
Artsakh is not over and the line of contact may move. "Why is everyone
sure that the Armenian side has not seized any lands? I think one
should not do arithmetic, because the results may surprise many
people," he said. Rustamyan added that the Armenian side's positions
are stronger, given that it was Baku that asked Moscow to broker
peace.

Head of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Faction Vahram
Baghdasaryan said that the 800 hectares are a "material loss". "We
could have retrieved these territories within 2-3 days, however, we
did not do it to avoid new casualties, because we campaign for peace
and stability and because we appreciate each Armenian soldier's life",
Baghdasaryan said.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.arminfo.am_index.cfm-3Fobjectid-3D146FE9C0-2D1EA3-2D11E6-2DBFA00EB7C0D21663&d=DQIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=diMDKwNaXnURHIszg_szVwraLI-r4qgB3Xh5sN8YKoY&s=tN5yuG_9iQYM93Evl0-yIPF-T919ij16aKcpoX7GaYU&e=

[Yervant1]

Chilean legislature’s anti-Azerbaijani move should be contagious –
Armenian parliament official

13:21 • 21.05.16

The vice speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly on Saturday expressed
his high appreciation of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies’ move to
condemn the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

“That’s a step overfilled by bold and democratic values. It is
noteworthy that the Artsakh people’s liberation struggle is perceived
also from beyond the ocean. Such a position should be contagious and
develop intolerance against Azerbaijan. Chile proved that it is really
possible to call things by their names. That’s the only acceptable
way,” Eduard Sharmazanov told our correspondent.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.tert.am_en_news_2016_05_21_eduard-2Dsharmazanov_2027008&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=TMr22dTicyq5ajyrA7juoqPsUyp2rL8kQFBxwqXuGMU&s=Ff2gVzhrFKg90-Zyx5e-qKbOE1cgqBTX4aLoI-VE7GU&e=

[Yervant1]

Tahkik - 20/05/2016 - أرتساغ - كارباغ هوية وكيان
 

 Լիբանանյան MTV արբանյակային հեռուստաընկերության «Թահքիք» («Հետաքննություն») ծրագրի ստեղծագործական կազմն ապրիլի 29-ից մայիսի 6-ն այցելել էր Արցախ և ֆիլմ պատրաստել Արցախի մասին: Հեղինակավոր հաղորդաշարի ստեղծագործական խմբի արցախյան այցը կազմակերպել էր  ՀՅԴ Լիբանանի Կենտրոնական կոմիտեի քարոզչական-տեղեկատու գրասենյակը: Հաղորդման հեղինակ Քլոդ Աբի Նադեր-Հընդիի  պատրաստած ֆիլմը նվիրված է Արցախի հանրապետության 25-ամյակին: 

 

 

Tahkik - 20/05/2016 -

أرتساغ - كارباغ هوية وكيان

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIw-ynr1OSU

 

Published on May 20, 2016

http://mtv.com.lb/Programs/Tahkik
 

TAHKIK

Fri 22:15

The long standing Documentary show presented by Claude Abou Nader Hindi, covering hottest political, economic and social topics of the week. This first of its kind program sheds light on society‘s problems, crisis, unanswered needs and on-going difficulties faced by the Lebanese people. Claude Hindi drives the investigations into its deepest levels, searching for the truth.

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

The above video is a must see one, well done and don't need to know Arabic to understand it.

[Yervant1]

Will Lele Tepe help Azerbaijan in its advancement?

12:29 | May 23,2016 | Politics

Political analyst Levon Shirinyan says Azerbaijan started war either
by the order of Russia or on its own initiative.

“Russia wants to keep Azerbaijan very close to it. However, Artsakh’s
Defense Army thwarted Putin’s plans. This time, Armenia saved Russia
from fraud. Russia does not want peace in the Caucasus region. Russia
did not even participate in the “Ring” operation,” the political
analyst said on Monday.

Mr Shirinyan says we have lost Lele Tepe (hill) which was of strategic
importance for us. “I have asked specialists to find the Armenian
equivalent of Lele Tepe. Now I want to address a question to our
Defense Ministry. If Azerbaijan starts new military operations, won’t
it advance easily after capturing Lele Tepe?”

The political analyst has another question for the Minister of Foreign
Affairs [Edward Nalbandian]. “Why don’t you raise the issue of
decolonization in the UN?”

Mr Shirinyan stresses that the Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved in
a peaceful way. “We have returned to 1994. We cannot have peace unless
we get to Kura-Araks. Turkey will always provoke the occupant tribe of
Azerbaijan to wage war against us. That is why it is necessary to
destroy Azerbaijan as a Turkic state.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__en.a1plus.am_1237027.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=pDrpJsLSM6ZlXj0ed0okIUPcFaOKkvPBSMdpLXxAMJg&s=Jrr9gjUBj1NjFGs08Ysg4zrNQdDs6N5zxDV79Y4g3Bg&e=

[Yervant1]

BNE IntelliNews

May 23 2016

Nagorno-Karabakh: the slow-motion conflict

By Monica Ellena in Stepanakert May 23, 2016

The reverberations of the solemn chants bounce off the barren rock-walled chamber, the smell of candle wax fills the air. A dim light filters from the tiny window in the apse. Soldiers in shabby uniforms and combat boots barely outnumber the priests in crimson and golden vestments, their singing timidly following that of the priests. Outside the Church of Mother Mary an eerie silence lingers – all of Talish’s 400-odd inhabitants fled on April 2 when heavy artillery from Azerbaijan rained down, leading to an exchange of fire that killed over 100 and sent shockwaves through the South Caucasus region.

For over two decades the Armenian-controlled self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Azerbaijan have been trapped in a war of slow motion. In 1988, as the Soviet Union was in its dying days, the Armenian majority of the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast that existed within the borders of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic appealed to join neighbouring Armenia. By 1991 the demand had morphed into a call for independence, endorsed by a referendum which sparked open warfare. A truce was signed three years later as Azerbaijani forces were defeated. The ebb and flow of the war redrew the region’s ethnic map as an estimated 30,000 people died and about a million were displaced – Azerbaijanis were pushed out of the region and of Armenia, as were the Armenians living in Azerbaijan.

Since 1994 the NKR, recognised by seven American states but no sovereign nation including Armenia, has lived in a state of no war, no peace, running its own affairs with Yerevan providing a vital economic, political and military lifeline. Pro-Stepanakert forces also control seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh proper to provide a buffer zone. Baku considers the area occupied territory by Armenia. Perched on a mountainous, painfully beautiful plateau marooned in Azerbaijani territory, the NKR depends on the Lachin corridor for its connection to the outside world – an endless bendy road connecting it to Armenia as an umbilical cord. A state-of-the-art airport built outside Stepanakert lies empty, as Azerbaijan has threatened to down the first plane taking off from the runway.

The NKR is one of several frozen conflicts that are hangovers from the messy end to the Soviet Union. Yet life in Artsakh, as the NKR is called in Armenian, has been more about fire than ice, and international efforts led by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US, have done little to cut through the Gordian knot.

http://d2l2idrff2c2gb.cloudfront.net/styles/16_9_900/s3/media/Talish_ChurchofMotherMaryCropped.jpg

Facing faceless enemies

Talish lies a stone’s throw from the Line of Contact that marks the front between opposing beliefs – on one side stand the Azerbaijanis pursuing the principle of territorial integrity, on the other Karabakhi Armenians defending the principle of self-determination. It also marks the border between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis, but Bishop Vitanes Abrahamyan hastens to stress that “this was never a conflict along religious lines”.

Forget high-tech warfare: just a few hundred metres apart, soldiers are cornered in a stagnant gut-wrenching, nerve-fraying waiting game, buried in WWI-like trenches – sandbags, barbed wire, lines of rusty tin cans to warn of intruders. A sign warning of mines is a stark reminder that the region has one of the world’s highest prevalence of landmines and unexploded devices, which have claimed hundreds of lives since the mid-1990s, according to the Halo Trust, a British not-for-profit organisation that specialises in removing war debris such as landmines.

Through a slit in the trench concrete, Major Rudika Akopyan briefly looks at an enemy he cannot see. At 28 he is one of the elders in the group; most conscripts are in their late teens, early 20s – younger than the conflict itself – and few, if any, have ever met an Azerbaijani. With only about 150,000 people (of which roughly 5,000 are working in Armenia or Russia), every citizen counts. No one knows how many serve in the army – numbers on soldiers and weapons are classified. “As many as needed” is the routine answer from officials. “Our army counts on 150,000 soldiers, as each of us is a fighter ready to defend our land”, is the other.

Volunteers abound, from inside the NKR, Armenia and beyond. Take Harutyun Agasarkisian. An Armenian-American who more recently called Atlanta, Georgia home, the 60-year-old jeweler lobbied for over a decade for the NKR and in March managed to get the US Georgia State House to recognize the region’s independence. When the violence escalated in April Agasarkisian took the first flight out to Stepanakert to help defend the region.

“We want peace and have learned to defend it with the gun,” remarks Karen Mirzoyan, the de-facto foreign minister of NKR.

http://d2l2idrff2c2gb.cloudfront.net/styles/16_9_900/s3/media/DSC03457Cropped.jpg

Ceasing fire is not a ceasefire

Experts feared a violent escalation for months as the number of skirmishes had grown since late 2014. The truce brokered by Moscow on April 5 remains as shaky as ever. “Ceasing fire is not a ceasefire,” notes Richard Giragosian, founding director of the Yerevan-based Regional Centre. “The fragile but largely observed [one] that was in effect for some 21 years was the first notable casualty” he wrote, adding that “a series of sporadic exchanges of fire reaffirmed the volatility and the vulnerability of the situation”.

On May 17 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan, who hails from Stepanakert, resumed face-to-face talks, where they agreed that there can be no military solution to the conflict and to strengthen the OSCE-led international monitoring mechanism along the frontline. The small step is potentially a big leap, not least because Baku has been reluctant to endorse it.

Neil Melvin, director of the armed conflict and conflict management programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), remain cautious. He notes that for decades Baku has opposed the institutionalization of the status quo of the 1994 ceasefire, while Yerevan tried to maintain it so that the gains of the war in the 1990s could become a de facto reality. “Monitoring is of course a way of reducing some of the causalities, but it also reinforces the status quo – on its own it is about conflict management not a peace process,” he explains to bne IntelliNews. Moreover, “while Azerbaijan suffered heavy losses for relatively minor territorial gains, this is nonetheless seen as a victory, after 25 years of a sense of having been defeated,” he adds.

Baku and Yerevan do share one belief: discontent with Moscow. As it sells arms to both sides and has one single military base in Armenia, the Kremlin is interested in maintaining the status quo.

The Vienna summit also highlighted one other crucial factor: the Stepanakert authorities were not there. The 1994 ceasefire was a tripartite agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, but since then the latter has been sidelined and not invited to the negotiating table. “[baku] has tried to move to bilateral talks to convince the world this is a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the land of Nagorno-Karabakh, that is a territorial war,” explains Ahot Gulyan, speaker of the 33-seat national assembly. “The main target is Nagorno-Karabakh, then it should be up [to it] to protect its own interests in the negotiation process.”

The déjà vu of war

Inevitably, it is the civilians who pay the highest price as they struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy. In Stepanakert, hotels host up to 4,000 displaced people from the evacuated villages. Outside the Nairi Hotel, founded by an Armenian-Australian entrepreneur, the small playground is empty, but the corridors and rooms resound to the noise of children playing.

Amida Kaghamanyan keeps her room anonymously tidy – a photo by the television, a few toys, a bowl of pumpkin seeds that David, aged 5, happily devours. “I want to go back home soon,” sighs the 29-year-old from Madaghis. On the night of April 2 she hid in the cellar with her three children and then joined hundreds of people fleeing from the mortars and rockets. This prompted a sense of déjà vu – as a child she still remembers her mother holding her hand as they ran from shooting during the first Karabakh war.

Amida’s husband stayed behind to repair one of the hydropower plants that provide the energy lifeline to the de-facto republic and count as one of its main economic resources. A “strong army” is one of the NKR’s slogan; “developing economy” is the other. “The lack of international recognition poses challenges to run an economy,” admits Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan. “Still, since 1994 we’ve recorded an average 10% annual growth and currently the GDP per capita stands at $3,000.”

The signs of Yerevan’s cash injections are everywhere, as are those from the Armenian diaspora. Armenian-Lebanese entrepreneur Pierre Fattouch, who founded Karabakh Telekom in 2002, and Switzerland-based businessman Vartan Sirmakes top the list of investors who look mainly at agriculture, mining and tourism as key sectors to support.

Back in Talish, the clerics wrap the chalice and the sacramentary to take them to Martakert; the parish does not operate in the deserted village. In the small garden outside the church a table offers kebabs, minced meat wrapped in lavash, the traditional wafer-thin Armenian bread, juicy tomatoes, and reinvigorating greens. The apricot vodka generously served in paper cups may as well be holy water. To life, they toast.

Editor’s note: bne IntelliNews travelled to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a press trip sponsored by the European Friends of Armenia, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization. The content of this report is independent of the sponsor.

http://www.intellinews.com/nagorno-karabakh-the-slow-motion-conflict-98051/

[Yervant1]

Bundestag Vice-President: Installation of monitoring in Nagorno
Karabakh conflict zone will prevent further tension

May 24, 2016 14:51

Vice-President of the German Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn says Germany
is convinced that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict does not and will not
have a military solution.

STEPANAKERT, MAY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: “So we urge the sides to
maintain the ceasefire agreement. We think that the installation of
the monitoring mechanisms is very important precondition to prevent
the further escalation of the conflict. The increase of the OSCE staff
will be a part of this monitoring process towards the establishment of
peace in the region,” she said this during the briefing in the
National Assembly of Armenia.

Bundestag Vice-President expressed hope that the upcoming meetings
between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be as productive
as was the Vienna meeting. “We hope that the ceasefire agreement will
create a base for restarting the negotiations, and these negotiations
will be based on the principles proposed by the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs,” Edelgard Bulmahn said.

She ensured that Germany, which assumed the OSCE presidency, and the
Minister of Foreign Affairs will make efforts to prevent the
escalation of conflicts in the region.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__artsakhpress.am_eng_news_45148_bundestag-2Dvice-2Dpresident-2Dinstallation-2Dof-2Dmonitoring-2Din-2Dnagorno-2Dkarabakh-2Dconflict-2Dzone-2Dwill-2Dprevent-2Dfurther-2Dtension.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=z4CGPUtQ7Y-JTtpa6KxruWpidI5EDigfAGhjYxQVBYY&s=07a8uR3vlhjEEI773MSebQ0T7yTCBlY9hHzpz1ENQpk&e=

[Yervant1]

Azeri barbarities incompatible with norms of civilized world, Armenian
Deputy FM declares in Turkey – Video

21:19, 24 May 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On May 23-24, the delegation of Armenia headed by the Deputy Foreign
Minister Ashot Hovakimian participated in the World Humanitarian
Summit (WHS) in Istanbul. The UN organized summit, aimed to set a
forward-looking agenda for humanitarian action to address current
humanitarian challenges, was the first of its kind.

The Deputy Foreign Minister delivered a speech at the plenary session
of the summit in which he particularly said:

“The abhorrent barbarity committed recently by the armed forces of
Azerbaijan, including intentional and indiscriminate targeting of the
peaceful population, especially children, women, and the elderly, as
well as civilian objects, including schools and kindergartens,
killings, beheadings, torture and mutilation of bodies is incompatible
with the elementary norms of a civilized world. It is a product of a
long standing policy of racism, intolerance and incitement to hatred
against Armenians, condoned and directly executed by the authorities
of Azerbaijan. The grave and systematic violations of international
humanitarian law committed by Azerbaijan and the glorification at the
highest political level of persons directly involved in the atrocities
constitute a crime against humanity and a war crime.”

Touching upon the remarks of the president of Azerbaijan, made during
the summit the day before, Ashot Hovakimyan emphasized that
“Azerbaijani president, who bears personal responsibility in
initiating the aggression and glorifying the terrorists and ISIL-style
brutalities’ perpetrators, yesterday used this august body to
disseminate fabricated allegations against Armenians. None of those
lies have any connection with reality. Armenia certainly has no plans
of creating a nuclear bomb, and Armenian forces have never used
chemical weapons. Since the President of Azerbaijan enjoys quoting
former Armenian officials, he could have surely referred to one of his
predecessors, who claimed the responsibility of the then Azerbaijani
political leadership for killing of their own people in Khojalu.”

Deputy Foreign Minister also touched upon the issue of Syrian
refugees, who arrived to Armenia and the government’s efforts in
providing them shelter. He also attached importance to the assistance,
provided to refugees and displaced people by the international
community, emphasizing that the values of dignity, human rights and
fundamental freedoms, must be guaranteed and must not be dependent on
the status of the territory where peoples live.

The Armenian delegation participated in the parallel round-table
discussions, dedicated to the issues of conflict prevention,
assistance to refugees and displaced persons. Deputy Foreign Minister
also took part in the event organized by the MFA of Lichtenstein and
dedicated to the genocides prevention.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.armradio.am_en_2016_05_24_azeri-2Dbarbarities-2Dincompatible-2Dwith-2Dnorms-2Dof-2Dcivilized-2Dworld-2Darmenian-2Ddeputy-2Dfm-2Ddeclares-2Din-2Dturkey-2Dvideo_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=-KowahjFlS7W2gLRCNrxJ7Kcb35EZnWj8RUC0eD0W3E&s=4FPGFBnEjg9ChCz1qGdYDZMtmTRpZYVRLoevg5vMS6A&e=

[Yervant1]

Newspaper: Armenian specialists achieve progress in creating
drone-neutralizing systems

09:49, 25.05.2016

YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper has learned that Armenian specialists,
who—as a result of the four-day war which Azerbaijan had unleashed in
early April—are engaged in creating systems that neutralize drones,
have achieved significant progress.

It is assumed that such devices will soon be manufactured, and their
practical tests will start.

This fact is important because, as a result of the four-day war, it
was proved that the only problem for the Armenian armed forces is the
fact that the adversary—i.e. Azerbaijan—used drones.

Zhoghovurd tried to get a comment from Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the press
secretary of the Minister of Defense of Armenia, regarding the
creating of systems that destroy drones.

“This segment, these matters have always been at the focus of the
Ministry of Defense,” he said in response. “[but] this is a domain
where successes can never be considered final; you need to work
towards new achievements.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__news.am_eng_news_328862.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=Zs9GYWY_w-Yu5IhEDfkzTQ7rmyTztpyNc2kDBosx4e4&s=VDhLwE5WMuW2DAgn8vmD7LG448ikwtAxj4rctIZN-t0&e=

[Yervant1]

Armenia has great potential of military industry and export, tests underway

13:15, 25 May, 2016

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. President of the State Science Committee
of Armenia Samvel Harutyunyan says Armenia has always had military
industry and the perception as if there is no armament manufacturing
in Armenia is false. According to him, those comments are absurd.

Harutyunyan’s statement comes after Radik Martirosyan, President of
the National Academy of Sciences, said a country with a weak economy
cannot have a developed military industry.

Harutyunyan said a military industry committee has been formed by the
Government’s decision in December of 2015, and soon the Head of the
Committee will be announced.

He also reminded about the creation of the military industry council,
the military-technical scientific council, which will make scientific
research in different areas.

According to him, the development of military industry in the USSR
contributed to Armenian scientists, some of whom are still actively
involved in this sphere.

He says the new generation of scientists have already reached numerous
successes, some are even exporting products.

“We have highly professional specialists, the majority are Armenians
by nationality, who have great experience in military industry
abroad”, he said. Harutyunyan also confirmed that UAVs are being
tested in Armenia.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__armenpress.am_eng_news_848454_armenia-2Dhas-2Dgreat-2Dpotential-2Dof-2Dmilitary-2Dindustry-2Dand-2Dexport-2Dtests-2Dunderway.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=vbKa-kg30-YP2dvBGSrVNr06ATGM21SGgYGWihR7S7c&s=M_ANQ8aLpBWcGzL_Ax4vcHw35hN8DRpO_y_RxGZF5Y4&e=