cease-fire violations by azeris

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Armenpress.am

Azeri military death toll reaches 6309

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15:09, 20 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS. 6309 Azeri troops were killed in action since the attacks on Artsakh began on September 27, the Armenian Unified Infocenter said.

According to updated reports of the military losses, the Azerbaijani military has lost 200 UAVs, 16 helicopters, 23 warplanes, 576 armored equipment and 4 TOS multiple rocket launchers.

In the last 24 hours alone the Azeri military lost 5 UAVs, 10 armored equipment, 1 warplane and 50 troops.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032195.html?fbclid=IwAR17jxleulBJLIKfwAbNn887lXVhXcl3IJQtVkAYwLKWCAnXORFwMMUM-gA

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Armenpress.am

Artsakh downs another Turkish Bayraktar TB2 UAV

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20:21, 20 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Army of Artsakh has destroyed another Turkish Bayraktar TB2 UAV, ARMENPRESS reports spokesperson of MoD Armenia Shushan Stepanyan published the photos, where MAM laser-guided missiles can be seen.

Yesterday Artsakh had downed another Bayraktar TB2, while PM Pashinyan said that during the war the air defense units of Artsakh’s Defense Army have downed nearly a dozen of Turkish Bayraktars.

 

 

 

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Armenpress.am

U.S. Rep. urges Government to recognize Artsakh’s independence

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23:25, 20 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Representative for California's 32nd congressional district Grace Napolitano urges the USA to officially recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Armenian National Committee of America.

Referring to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, she said that Artsakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan, adding that it has been the integral part of Armenia for thousands of years.

‘’Freedom is the only answer left for Artsakh’s survival – history-based, law-based, survival-based remedial secession’’, Napolitano said, adding that the path forward is one of liberty.

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032247.html?fbclid=IwAR2T5QWnP-KyG-n9kCQEtV6GRUYx9aB-g8UvmKMCLNm7rHZb5qf9qsVNPEo

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MEDIA RELEASE

City of Ryde Council Pass Motion Condemning Azerbaijan and Turkey, Calls on Australia to #RecognizeArtsakh

http://www.anc.org.au/images/cms/1/news/ryde-motion-artsakh2020.jpeg

SYDNEY: The City of Ryde Council has unanimously passed a motion condemning Azerbaijan and Turkey for their attacks against "the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh" and called on the Australian Government to do the same, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The motion, jointly moved by Mayor Jerome Laxale and Councillor Sarkis Yedelian in the council meeting held on Tuesday 20th October 2020, reaffirmed the City of Ryde's 2018 recognition of the Republic of Artsakh's independence, while touching on its 2019 Friendship City establishment with the capital of Artsakh, Stepanakert.

Through their motion, the City of Ryde donated $5,000 donation to the All-Armenia Fund (Himnadram) to help those in Armenia and Artsakh impacted by Azerbaijan's aggression.

"The City of Ryde stands united with our local Armenian-Australian community," said Mayor Laxale.

"As sister city of beautiful Stepanakert, the City of Ryde condemns what Turkey and Azerbaijan are doing and request that the Australian Government stand with us in condemnation of these actions," he added.

Councillor Yedelian, who is of Armenian origin, said this motion was important to stop the silence and fence-sitting dominating Australian commentary of the attacks on Armenians.

"Our Federal Government must join the City of Ryde in calling out Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression," Councillor Yedelian said. "Their silence, and that of the media, is emboldening expansonist dictators to bomb indigenous Armenian civilians, behead prisoners of war and spread terrorism."

Armenian National Committee of Australia Executive Director, Haig Kayserian thanked the City of Ryde councillors for this important show of solidarity.

"This is a city that recognises its large Armenian-Australian community has been suffering with news of what their brothers and sisters are being subjected to in the Armenian homeland," said Kayserian. "We thank Mayor Jerome Laxale, Councillor Sarkis Yedelian and all their colleagues for always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Armenian-Australians generally, and those who call the Ryde municipality home more specifically."

"The Armenian Republics of Armenia and Artsakh deserve our support as their democracies face an existential threat against two Neo-Ottoman dictatorships threatening another genocide."

The councillors were also thanked by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh in Australia, Mr. Kaylar Michaelian.

"It is most heartwarming for the people of Stepanakert and Artsakh to have the continued support of their sister city of Ryde during this most critical period," Michaelian said.

"On behalf of Stepanakert, I thank Mayor Jerome Laxale and Councillor Sarkis Yedelian and all their colleagues for this significant motion, their donation and dedication."

"We pledge to rebuild their sister city!" he added.

The full motion is below:

(a) That Ryde Council acknowledges its long connection with, representation of and advocacy for the local Armenian-Australian community on a variety of important issues.

( That Ryde Council notes that in 2018 it voted unanimously on a resolution recognising, among other things, the right to self-determination of all peoples including those of the Republic of Artsakh.

© That Ryde Council notes that in 2019 it voted unanimously on a resolution to form a Friendship City relationship with the capital of the Republic of Artsakh, Stepanakert.

(d) That Ryde Council:-

1 condemns the military aggression launched on 27 September 2020 by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the right of self-determination of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh, who have lived on those highlands for millennia;

2 condemns the indiscriminate shelling and missile attacks on the civilian population and infrastructure of Artsakh, including Ryde City’s sister city in Artsakh, being the capital city Stepanakert, as well as the Holy Saviour Armenian Cathedral in Shushi, in complete violation of international law;

3 calls on the Australian Government unequivocally to join the City of Ryde in the above condemnation and to call on Azerbaijan and Turkey to respect the OSCE Minsk Group peace process for the Karabakh / Artsakh conflict, in particular the non-use of force and the right to self-determination;

4 notes that the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh and its population’s right to self-determination is the only permanent solution to the conflict, to avoid further attempts of such military aggression, and calls on the Australian Government to recognise the Republic of Artsakh.

5 Calls on the Australian Government to request an immediate cease fire and end to the hostilities.

(e) That Council issues a press release on this Motion and publicise it on our Council Website.

(f) That Council hold a minute’s silence in honour of those who have lost their life during this unnecessary conflict.

(g) That $5000 funded from the Civic Services base budget be donated to Himnadram.org. for the purposes of humanitarian aid.

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Asbarez.com

 

Do More

October 20, 2020

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IMG_7868.jpeg

The author, Sosé Hovannisian, volunteered for Armenia Fund

BY SOSÉ HOVANNISIAN

On the last night of AYF Camp in the summer of 2016, all of Director Moushig Andonian’s campers locked arms with one another in an emotional singing of Arabo Ispiryan’s “Bid Bashdbanem” (I must defend). Armenian juniors as young as 8 shared tears and heartfelt emotions as they sang in one large and unbreakable circle.

Today more than ever, I understand the depth of the lyrics and how they aren’t just words in a songbook. Rather, they represent the true grit, spirit, and resolve of our beloved soldiers and other Gharabaghtsis. Those very lyrics are being played out on the battlefields of Hadrut, Martuni, and other regions of our ancestral lands. We sang “Bid Bashdbanem” then, and today those brave young men and women stand ready at every moment to give their lives to protect what is rightfully theirs and ours.

Thousands of miles removed, we in the diaspora keep informed of the latest news from the front lines; we donate; we sign petitions. But then what? At the end of the day, we sleep in our comfortable beds, enjoy our food, and busy ourselves with our daily routines. Yes, we hurt and pray for our brothers and sisters, and do occasional good deeds to help the cause, but that only goes so far.

So I write this to say that the time is now to break through and do even more to make a real and tangible change. We can’t let up. We must act now.

Without the Diaspora’s help, our country will not pull through. Like more than 150,000 Armenians chanted on the streets of LA last week, յաղթելու ենք։ But in order to make these chants our reality, we must do more.

For the past three weeks, my friends and I have volunteered at Armenia Fund, fielding hundreds of phone calls from donors. This has been a very rewarding experience, and we’ll continue to devote as much time as possible to this cause. Though we receive hundreds of calls a day, the best, in my opinion, are those from the East Coast. Picking up a phone call from Tenafly, New Jersey or Hartford, Connecticut reminds me that our Armenian footprint is wide and deep in this country. The other day, I answered a call for a donation from a Massachusetts Armenian, and the call turned into a conversation about all of the efforts the East Coast Armenian community is making, from rallying at Heritage Park in Boston to shutting down the I-95 in Philadelphia. It feels good to know that Armenians near and far are doing their part. But we can do more.

My school, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian, organized a supply drive with Code3Angels, successfully arranged a car-wash, sold hundreds of Artsakh T-shirts, and is now working on a “manti fundraiser” to add to the $50,000+ the school already has collected for Artsakh. But we all can do more.

Elsewhere, Armenians continue to raise funds, some by selling handmade jewelry, homemade harissa, and baked goods. I encourage all business owners to take part in this movement of sending their proceeds to the Armenia Fund, as done by Hawaiian Hot Chicken and Raffi’s Place. But we can do more.

The ANCA, which has always been a frontrunner in providing resources for the Armenian community in America, has released several petitions for us to sign. Though you may not find them effective at first, it’s imperative to sign not one, but all of these petitions, become a rapid responder, and always be active for our homeland. We can still do more.

As a young student, I always wondered if the genocide would have happened if social media existed in 1915. And now the answer is clear to me: Yes. Despite our efforts to undermine Azeri and Turkish lies and propaganda as well as one-sided media coverage, and notwithstanding our pleas for assistance and peace, the murders and other atrocities continue in Artsakh.

We’ve grown up singing Hayer Miatsek, believing one day we’ll have the power to take back our lands from the Turks. But how will we reach that point if we are currently witnessing history repeat itself and not taking action? We sing Mer Hayrenik, pledge Hay Em Yes, and pray the Hayr Mer. Is Artsakh exempt from these? Do they not belong to Artsakh as much as they do Armenia?

Artsakh has been Armenian land since the days of the Urartu Kingdom. Take a look at its flag, for one. The white zig-zag pattern symbolizes two things: the region’s mountains, hence Լեռնային Արցախ, and the separation from the rest of the motherland. That white section leaves the puzzle incomplete as the two lands seek to unite. It is in our hands to make their union a reality. But to do so, we must do more.

In the end, it’s your centuries of history on the line. It is up to you to stand up and say “Bid Bashdbanem.” It’s up to you to continuously be active at protests, spread awareness on social media to your non-Armenian peers, and donate. While our brothers and sisters are giving their blood and lives for Artsakh, the least we can do is Do More!

Sosé Hovannisian is a senior at Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School and an intern at Asbarez.

https://asbarez.com/197754/do-more/?fbclid=IwAR2CtGcvbUKy2SyGmTbwdyaD83b4Aaix6pQnnmxphpxOtUGKAA3S02WJ25E

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Asbarez.com

 

Sen. Markey Says ‘No Choice But to Recognize Artsakh’ Since Baku Continues ‘Illegal Use of Force’

October 20, 2020

http://asbarez.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/download-2.jpeg

Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts

WASHINGTON—Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) on Tuesday urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to seek an immediate ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and push for a negotiated resolution to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh that has been ongoing since late September.

On Friday, Secretary Pompeo is scheduled to meet separately with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. Along with France and Russia, the United States serves as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. Two earlier proposals for a humanitarian truce, brokered first by Russia and then France, were immediately violated. The fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives with reports that Turkey has transported members of Syrian militias to fight against the Armenian people.

“Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions, fully supported by Turkey in Nagorno Karabakh and against Armenia, must stop,” said Senator Markey.

“Secretary Pompeo should make it clear that the United States supports a peaceful resolution to this conflict and is ready to help facilitate negotiations. In order to achieve a successful cease-fire and conditions for peace, other parties such as Turkey must cease their aggressive actions and military intervention. The U.S. should immediately push for a cease-fire along the line of contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and a speedy return to negotiations supported by the Minsk Group. Since Azerbaijan continues its attempts to resolve this conflict through the illegal use of military force, the international community will be left with no choice but to move to recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, absent meaningful negotiations.”

“Secretary Pompeo must also make it clear that Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act will be fully enforced and thus terminate U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan. Moreover, Secretary Pompeo and President Trump, who have developed close ties to Turkish President Erdogan, should make it clear to their authoritarian friend that further engagement in this conflict will cost Turkey its military assistance and warm relationship with the Administration.”

https://asbarez.com/197775/sen-markey-says-no-choice-but-to-recognize-artsakh-since-baku-continues-illegal-use-of-force/?fbclid=IwAR3ScfWhcllFPw_sLZC3AauQ-FLP4pbL6gyk8-X8LpBcFFgVcfigZDMfXcE

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I would like to ask the fake sultan about his dead soldiers and ask him when are you going to take them home? That is when the shit will hit the fan.

“What questions are you afraid of, Mr. President?” – Bild on Aliyev’s cancellation of interview

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16:13, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has cancelled his planned interview to the German newspaper Bild.

“Azerbaijan's President agreed to do an interview with BILD about the war in Karabakh. Now suddenly he doesn't want to do it anymore. What questions are you afraid of, Mr. President? Ps. the Prime Minister and the President of Armenia have both spoken to BILD,” Bild reporter Paul Ronzheimer tweeted.

“When I was reporting from Armenia, gov. of Azerbaijan was complaining that we were not listening to „both sides“, they offered interview with the President. Of course, I said yes. Now they dont want anymore. Maybe there is a reason why they are on 168 of Press Freedom Index,” he added.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

 

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France24 publishes videos on presence of Syrian terrorist-militants fighting for Azeris in NK attack

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15:48, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. France24 television network has published a series of videos once again confirming that Syrian mercenaries from various terrorist organizations are fighting from the Azeri side in the attacks on Artsakh.

Parts of the videos are filmed in the terrorist training camps in Syria, and the others at the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone.

The videos filmed in Azerbaijan are filmed by the mercenaries themselves who later posted them online.

 

France24 noted in the article that these mercenaries are taken to Azerbaijan through Turkey.

 

Video Player

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032292.html

Edited October 21, 2020 by Yervant1

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Azerbaijan throws in last reserves in attacks on Artsakh, combat actions underway in entire south

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16:47, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani armed forces are deploying their last reserves in the attacks on Artsakh, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in a live video message.

“A rather difficult and serious situation is created at the frontline. Combat actions are taking place in the entire southern part of Artsakh. Our observations show that the adversary is throwing into battle already its last reserves. Their resources are very big, but our heroic soldiers are inflicting losses of indescribable volumes upon the adversary,” he said.

According to Pashinyan, the big losses of Azerbaijan are among the reasons why Baku is refusing to adhere to the humanitarian cessation of hostilities.

“One of the purposes and reasons of the humanitarian ceasefire is that the bodies of those killed are retrieved, taken care of and buried. Azerbaijan is afraid to reveal the nearly ten thousand of bodies on the background of the euphoria it has created. They have huge losses in military materiel, armored equipment, moreover when we started shooting down the Turkish Bayraktars. The humanitarian ceasefire will also reveal the bodies of foreign mercenaries and Turkish armed forces soldiers,” Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

[Yervant1]

How Azerbaijanis abused Armenians in 1920

From an American Colonel's report

The large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) on September 27 is an unprecedented aggression against Armenians, but the international press and foreign military officials sounded the alarm about the Azerbaijanis' determination to exterminate Armenians decades and centuries ago.

October 21, 2020

PanARMENIAN.Net - The anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan has reached our days too, with the European Commission describing Armenians and their community as "the most vulnerable group" in the Caspian Sea country "in the field of racism and racial discrimination”.

While cases of racist and inflammatory speech targeting Armenians by the media, members of the general public and politicians has reached a new high amid hostilities, archival news stories from 100 years ago and more reveal a stark difference between the image of a tolerant society Azerbaijan pretends to have built and the reality.

“An Armenian lives here” – the inscription on a building in Baku, January 1990. © K. Martens

Less than two years after the 1918 massacre in Baku, which claimed the lives of thousands of Armenians, an account by American military man and diplomat William N. Haskell from May 1920 reveals that the Armenians living in the city were again facing extermination.

Back in 1920, when Colonel Haskell was Allied High Commissioner to Armenia, news of persecution of Baku’s Armenian inhabitants at the hands of the Azerbaijanis reached the U.S. and was covered by The New York Times: the situation of the Armenian residents of Baku was critical.

“Crimes of every type are committed daily against the Armenians by local minor officials and natives of Baku. The rich Armenians are muleted of large sums under various pretexts. Armenian shopkeepers are robbed by Azerbaijani soldiers, Baku police, or any one so disposed, without redress,” the military man was cited in an article dated May 3, 1920.

“The Near East Relief guard on one train reports that Armenians were dragged from the train and butchered before his eyes. Travelers by train point out the Armenians to the Azerbaijani Moslems at a thousand rubles a denunciation. (At the rate of exchange of the time, 1000 rubles was a little less than $5.) The slightest incident is liable to cause a general uprising of the Azerbaijani populace, resulting in the massacre of the entire Armenian population of Baku.”

The St. Thaddeus-St. Bartholomew – designed by Hovhannes Katchaznouni, who would serve as the first prime minister of Armenia in 1918-1919 – under construction in Baku in 1910-1911; it was torn down in the 1930s.

According to the source, the crisis in Baku 100 years ago was the result of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, although Azerbaijanis’ decision to attack Armenians living in the same city was beyond him. Haskell went on to say that “the Armenian inhabitants of Baku are facing extermination although they are peaceful and law-abiding”.

Armenians once formed a sizable community in Azerbaijan but their numbers dwindled as a result of a series of massacres, most notably the Sumgait pogrom in February 1988 and the Baku pogrom in January 1990, which put an end to centuries-old Armenian presence in the territory. Armenian traces in Azerbaijan are now erased.

Srbuhi Martirosyan / PanARMENIAN.Net

[Yervant1]

Providence Magazine

Ovy 21 2020

Biden and Trump Must Confront Erdoğan in Their Final Presidential Debate

By Richard Ghazal & Steven Howard on October 21, 2020

Erdoğan is threatening America’s national security, and the US is letting it happen

For decades, America has tolerated genocide denial and dhimmitude toward the indigenous Christian population of Turkey. This was done, so the logic went, in accordance with the US Cold War strategy and preserving the alliance between the two NATO allies. It is high time for US foreign policy to reflect a saner strategy in dealing with Turkish aggression. The Trump-Biden contest, just two weeks away, is an opportunity for Americans to signal to their elected leaders that the détente approach to relations with Turkey will no longer work.

In 2020, the world has witnessed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan espouses a dangerous vision for Turkish politics and foreign policy.

Erdoğanism encompasses a Neo-Ottoman, pan-Turkic irredentist vision that leverages an insidious combination of soft power and military adventurism to expand Turkish hegemony throughout the Middle East, into the Caucasus, the Balkans, and North Africa. Erdoğan’s means to this desired end starts with the manufacture and injection of conflict into nations within Turkey’s desired sphere of influence. Conflict, Erdoğan reasons, necessitates Turkish regional intervention and influence. Once comfortably within the Turkish sphere of influence, the blueprint culminates with Turkey’s purge of non-Turkic ethnic and national groups. Erdoğanism also selectively plays to jihadism, commissioning Islamist militias to carry out its dirty work.

The US allowing Turkey and its proxies to expel entire populations based on ethnicity and religion is morally inexcusable. America permitting an “ally” to directly attack US-led coalition forces is disgraceful. Washington’s military cooperation with a country that employs jihadist forces poses a direct threat to US national security. This is simply illogical.

Turkey’s recent affronts to the West have rendered America’s relationship with Ankara outdated and perplexing, and its continuation in the status quo would be out of touch with reality. The US must rise to the occasion and stand up to Erdoğan before his forces do any more damage to regional stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and US interests globally.

Turkey’s long-time denial of the Armenian Genocide remains disgraceful and shameful. Its closure of the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary is a well-known injustice.

While Erdoğan’s conversion of the Hagia Sophia and Chora Church into mosques was rightfully condemned throughout the international community, his inflammatory and alarming rhetoric regarding those actions has gone largely unaddressed, and seemingly unnoticed.

According to Erdoğan, Turkey’s right to culturally appropriate the Hagia Sophia “dates back exactly 567 years ago to the conquest of Istanbul.” He nostalgically claimed that gruesome episode to be among “the most glorious chapters in Turkish history.” The Turkish strongman has also referred to Turkey’s Christian population, the few survivors of the Ottoman genocide and subsequent state-sponsored persecution, as “remnants of the sword.”

According to Erdoğan, places of worship are prizes of war, and religious minorities are conquered people who should be grateful for second-class citizenship.

As Garo Paylan, an Armenian Christian Member of the Turkish Parliament, recently wrote in a New York Times op-ed, “Turkey’s involvement in regional conflicts has whipped up nationalist fervor, obliterated space for advocates of peace and democracy and deepened a sense of fear and precarity among the minority populations.”

In other words, Turkey’s historic discrimination against its Christians at home is inextricably linked with its persecution against the same ethno-religious communities abroad. It should not be surprising that Turkish foreign policy has targeted—either directly or by proxy—Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Maronites, and Syriacs through discriminatory policies, at the least, and outright persecution and violence, at the worst.

While Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle provides Americans with a frightening perspective into an alternative history where the Nazis prevailed in World War II, Christians of the Caucuses, Eastern Mediterranean, and Middle East indeed live in a reality where the primary antagonist of the genocide committed against their not-so-distant forefathers continues to enforce a revisionist history, while actively continuing the same persecution it also claims “never happened.”

Imagine a Germany that not only denied the Holocaust, but continued to discriminate against its Jewish citizens, while supporting antisemitic militias globally.

This last year has witnessed an emboldened Erdoğan who, absent from accountability, has become an increasingly aggressive and destructive global actor.

While US presence in northern Syria is critical, the American response to Turkish provocation, invasion, and occupation in northern Syria has been faulty, even incoherent at times. Following the US-led coalition’s territorial defeat of the ISIS Caliphate, Turkey’s invasion has sparked a resurgence in jihadist activity. Christians have paid the price.

Amy Austin Holmes, writing for the Council on Foreign Relations, has found that there have been over 800 violations by Turkey of the US-brokered ceasefire in northeastern Syria over the last year. While President Donald J. Trump initially sanctioned Turkey after its October 9, 2019, invasion, those sanctions were lifted a mere nine days later by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin as a result of Turkey’s false assurances to cease combat operations. Holmes found that there were 138 violations alone in Tel Tamer, a historically Christian region of the northeast that also lies outside of the area where Turkey is “allowed” to occupy. Many of these communities, descendants of Ottoman genocide survivors, are displaced once more because of Turkey.

The latest conflict in historically Christian Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) reflects not only the immorality of Turkish foreign policy, but also its direct opposition to US national security interests. Not only must the US develop a response to Turkish and Azerbaijani bombing of Armenian schools and churches, but it must also respond to Turkey’s recruitment and movement of jihadists from Syria to Azerbaijan.

As Michael Rubin and Toufic Baaklini recently noted, this is not merely an issue of restriction from the free practice of one’s religion. This is a matter of persecution in the form of crimes against humanity, both state-sponsored and via terrorist proxies. Religious freedom violations are only the beginning of Turkey’s antagonistic behavior. An American ally is a state sponsor of terrorism, and the US must not hesitate to respond.

The reality that the US continues to permit decades of Turkish genocide denial, and the subjugation of its Christian citizens, is a mark on US foreign policy. Failure to confront a rogue actor employing jihadists who threaten US forces and interests abroad carries great consequences. The issue of US-Turkey relations, in light of its increasingly aggressive posture on the world stage, should be a topic squarely addressed on Thursday’s presidential debate, on the national stage.

Richard Ghazal and Steven Howard advocate for the rights of Christians in the Middle East with In Defense of Christians, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization.

https://providencemag.com/2020/10/joe-biden-donald-trump-must-confront-recep-tayyip-erdogan-turkey-final-presidential-debate/?fbclid=IwAR1Lj9WtegzAF9oinHoEMTBuUeNFs9dEbDSYXcXvfafJC2AsTSfIqtgSQ5I

[Yervant1]

Sentinel and Enterprise

Oct 21 2020

Fitchburg Mayor makes proclamation in support of Armenia

• Daniel Monahan


• 
  
  PUBLISHED: October 21, 2020 at 6:10 a.m. | UPDATED: October 21, 2020 at 7:40 a.m.
  
  
  

Mayor Stephen DiNatale and School Committee member Sally Cragin on Monday night, following a proclamation made by the mayor to call for an end to violence against Armenians.

FITCHBURG — After a deadly clash between Azerbaijani and Armenian groups in Artsakh claimed the lives of numerous Armenians, including a soldier with ties to the city, Mayor Stephen DiNatale issued a proclamation calling for peace.

“We salute the Armenians of Artsakh,” DiNatale said on Monday, during a School Committee meeting. “The city of Fitchburg stands with you and we see your sorrow. I know that we will continue to stand for peace.”

These Armenian troops were engaged in conflict with Azerbaijan before being killed in action earlier this month. Grigor Tagvoryan, who has ties to Fitchburg, stands in the back and to the right of the group.

School Committee member Sally Cragin, who’s Armenian herself, said a family friend recently lost their son in the conflict.

On Oct. 14, the Defense Ministry of Artsakh released the names of 23 servicemen who were killed in battle, which included 21-year-old Grigor Tagvoryan.

Tagvoryan, described as a gifted gymnast and wrestler, was born in 1999 and grew up in Gyumri, Armenia. His father, Vahe, helped Cragin’s family build a home in the past two years.

“We knew that Grigor was at the front and we were just hoping that he would be able to survive,” Cragin said. “Later getting the news that he, and everyone in his platoon, had died was a terrible familiar feeling.”

The familiar feeling was the Armenian Genocide, which took place between 1914 and 1923.

Cragin’s grandfather, Krikor Mirijanian, was a survivor of the genocide, and she said the stories of the tragedy are “knitted into the flesh” of all Armenians.

“Armenians have an amazing culture, and it’s a culture that has been met with repeated attempts to exterminate,” she said. “We’re seeing that again now.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a decade-long conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, located in south-eastern Europe. The issue revolves around the mostly Armenian population living in the province which is within the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.

The conflict primarily rests on the way the countries emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Nagorno-Karabakh subsequently declared its independence, which led to a war that is estimated to have killed 30,000 people and left the province within Azerbaijan, reports said. A ceasefire was declared at the time, but a peace treaty was never agreed upon.

The conflict, which was renewed at the end of September, has drawn in the likes of Turkey on the side of Azerbaijan and Russia on the side of Armenia. And, according to reports, casualties on the front line have been severe.

As of Oct. 18, according to Armenian officials, more than 700 Armenian soldiers have been killed, along with numerous civilians on both sides.

Azerbaijan has not been disclosing its military death toll.

The mayor said there has been a striking lack of coverage by U.S. news media on the “ongoing slaughter of innocent children, families, seniors.”

“We need to be getting this information out,” Cragin said.

In his remarks, he also condemned the bombings of churches and hospitals by Azerbaijan early this month in Stepanakert, the main city in Nagorno-Karabakh.

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2020/10/21/fitchburg-mayor-makes-proclamation-in-support-of-armenia/amp/?fbclid=IwAR0PNq-qJAzepM4oWs2CkpCA6uzfjQ6e-xTHXjBcTo0cyqKMH1j96ehSxqg

[Yervant1]

Just Security

Oct 21 2020

Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Shortage of Specifics

Complicates Search for Solutions

by Melanie O'Brien

October 21, 2020

In between reporting on COVID-19 and the U.S. presidential election, the fly on U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s head during his debate with Kamala Harris received more detailed press coverage than the newly hot war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. That despite the fact that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh also involves major political powers and weapons suppliers Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Israel. The resurgent fighting presents significant issues for anyone researching and working in the areas of international law and security, considering the limitations of news media reporting on the war.

One major problem is the difficulty in ascertaining the true scope and nature of the conflict. News media articles too often focus on the history and political context, with little information as to what is really happening on the ground. For example, my sources in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, note that there are drones flying over that city. These are likely Azerbaijani (Israeli-provided) drones, although further details are unconfirmed, with minimal specifics available in the press. It is unclear whether these are reconnaissance drones or weapons-capable drones, but regardless, this demonstrates that there is a risk of the conflict spreading into Armenia.

The lack of detail being reported means it is difficult for researchers and policymakers to know what is taking place on the ground. Reporting by humanitarian and non-governmental organizations fills some of the gaps, where they have on-the-ground access.

To the extent that information is available, international law scholars are debating many issues of international law, including territory, self-determination, and use of force. Certainly, none of these issues is straightforward, given that it involves an autonomous region within Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population (thus indicating a violation of the right to self-determination of the Armenian population) where the minority Azerbaijani population was forcibly displaced during the conflict in the early 1990s (thus indicating violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law).

One certainty is that international humanitarian law (IHL) applies, and that this is an international armed conflict between two states. Allegations of violations of international humanitarian law are being made against both sides in the current manifestation of the conflict. Both sides have alleged that the other has killed civilians, with the implication of deliberate and direct targeting of civilians.

One of the key principles of IHL is that of distinguishing between civilians and combatants, under which attacking civilians and civilian objects is prohibited. But Azerbaijan alleges that Armenia has fired missiles into cities such as Ganja, killing civilians. Armenia sees Ganja as a military target because of the presence of military personnel and defense-industry factories and has denied it is attacking civilians in cities. Armenia, in turn, alleges that Azerbaijan has shelled separatist civilian areas in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yet facts are hard to come by, making it difficult or impossible to know the reality of the situation. For example, BBC News reported, “About 70,000 people have been displaced in the latest escalation, officials say,” without indicating who had been displaced, where they had been displaced to or from, or which officials had made this comment. The Guardian provided more detail on this, citing Nagorno-Karabakh’s “rights ombudsman,” Artak Beglaryan, as saying “half of the population” had been displaced. Both sides accuse each other of breaching a recent ceasefire, and it remains to be seen whether the most recent one will hold.

Disproportionate Use of Weapons

Another IHL issue of concern is the potential for disproportionate use of weapons, which is connected to the geopolitical context and the prospect of escalation of this conflict. Azerbaijan is supported by Turkey and Israel (the latter supplying, at least, long-range missiles, drones that self-destruct on impact, and cluster munitions to Azerbaijan). Turkey, in addition to backing Azerbaijan politically, is providing it with drones and Syrian mercenaries. Israel is an ally of Azerbaijan because it is the largest purchaser of Azeri gas, a large supplier of military support to Azerbaijan, and because Azerbaijan is a geopolitically advantageous Muslim state ally providing a buffer between Israel and Iran. Due to this support, Armenia has now withdrawn its ambassador from Jerusalem.

Armenia is what could be termed “vaguely” allied with Russia. It does have a troop-defense agreement and an air-defense agreement (the latter expressly excluded Nagorno-Karabakh), which could be triggered if Azerbaijan attacks Armenian territory proper. Yet at the moment, Russia appears to be taking on the role of ceasefire negotiator, rather than supporter. The Armenian government elected in 2018 is out of favor with Moscow, which may be the reason behind the lack of immediate materiel support from Russia to Armenia. This does indicate an imbalance of military power and supporting allies between the two states, which opens the potential for military attacks by Azerbaijan that disproportionately kill civilians, an act prohibited under IHL.

Genocide Risk

There is also little reporting of animosity narratives. Amongst genocide scholars, there is discussion of a possible genocide risk, connected to the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Relations between Armenia and Turkey remain non-existent due to Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge that what took place in 1915 was genocide, and Turkey’s anti-Armenian conduct continues through the abandonment and even destruction of remaining Armenian cultural structures in Eastern Turkey.

There are reports of hate speech and destruction of Armenian culture, although these are unconfirmed by independent media sources, which of course doesn’t mean that such conduct doesn’t exist. Indeed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made some troubling public statements, including a declaration that Turkey will “continue to fulfill this mission, which our grandfathers have carried out for centuries, in the Caucasus again.” And Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev declared that his forces confronting Armenian counterparts are “chasing them like dogs” (dehumanisation of the target group is a key component of the genocide process).

However, more independent investigation into such actions and declarations is needed to provide a sufficient scholarly and policy analysis of the situation, and to support an appropriate response to any possible genocide risk. Too often, we find ourselves, post-genocide, decrying lack of preventive action. Here, the international community needs information of what is happening on the ground in order to stop any escalation of conduct that indicates a genocidal process might be underway or in the offing.

Media Framing of Human Rights Stories

Lack of detail in reporting human rights-related media stories is not unusual. The media often relies on government narrative rather than independent investigative reporting (Brandle, 2018). The media needs to construct “interpretations of events that challenge official framing” (Bennett et al, 2006), and, rather than minimize the events according to a government narrative, use the language of international law, as in the example of war crimes (Rowling et al, 2011).

Another reason it is challenging to understand the true nature of the conflict is the tendency of some news media that may be closest to the source to have either pro-Azeri or pro-Armenian bias. Human Rights Watch notes that both Armenia and Azerbaijan “have laws restricting reporting about the conflict that is not officially sourced.” That creates an immediate barrier to independent reporting. Importantly, media influences distribution of power by framing stories in a particular light, and thus influencing policymakers and scholars in their analysis and responses (Entman, 2007).

Allies of the countries involved, such as the United States, should call for a sustainable ceasefire that could create an opportunity to seek a longer-term solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and they should demand that all parties involved in the conflict abide by IHL and other international law.

Russia, France, and the United States are involved in negotiating a new ceasefire, through the OSCE Minsk Group, but it is unclear if there is a concerted effort to seek a long-term solution. The United Nations Security Council has called for a truce, but with meetings on the issue being conducted behind closed doors, it is difficult to know what is really happening. Given the multiple nations embroiled in this conflict and the absence of clear information, escalation could draw in further states and reverberate beyond the region.

https://www.justsecurity.org/72974/nagorno-karabakh-conflict-shortage-of-specifics-complicates-search-for-solutions/?fbclid=IwAR3WMaDDIxDeAVvZkClZa9IbtEO_bK3yBrmzMuvChulzb9pNQGQJgR1XE0M

[Yervant1]

Gatestone Institute

Oct 21 2020

One War and Six Losers

by Amir Taheri
October 18, 2020 at 4:00 am

• If Azerbaijan wins, a coalition of Turkey, Israel and the United States would end up in the winning camp while the Islamic Republic will be seen as indifferent to the aspirations of Azerbaijan, which is supposed to be the third largest Shiite nation after Iran and Iraq. If Armenia wins, the likely co-winners would include Russia and Israel, again leaving Iran isolated.... If Armenia loses, Tehran will get a bad mark from Moscow as a fickle friend.

• This war may produce only losers. Azerbaijan is unlikely to succeed in regaining full control of the disputed enclave. Armenia has already lost some territory and faces a wave of refugees flowing into the capital Yerevan. Turkey may win a propaganda round as protector of Azeris but would be dragged into a fifth war which, its economy already under stress, it may not be able to sustain. Israel may have to come off the fence and choose one side by losing the other. Russia would lose by seeing militants find a niche so close to itself while being forced to abandon its claim of peacemaker among former Soviet republics. Tehran, too, will be a loser on both geopolitical and ideological grounds. Khamenei claims to be the supreme leader of Muslims throughout the world. Yet, we now see that he cannot even influence events on his doorstep.

 

The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan may produce only losers. Pictured: Rescue teams work at a site hit by a missile in the city of Ganja, Azerbaijan on October 17, 2020. The missile strike levelled several homes in Ganja. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images)

 

A small landlocked enclave tucked in a remote corner of Transcaucasia may be emerging as a powder keg that could threaten the security of several nations, among them Russia, Turkey, Iran and the two immediate protagonists Armenia and Azerbaijan.

High Qarabagh, Nagorno Karabakh in Russian, Artsakh in Armenian, Qarabagh Olya in Persian and Azeri covers an area of 4,400 square kilometres, less than half of Lebanon, with a population of 150,000 -- more than 90 percent of them ethnic Armenians. And, yet, in 1924 when Josef Stalin, then in charge of nationalities in the newly created Soviet Union, was carving the extinct tsarist empire into republics, High Qarabagh was attached to the autonomous republic of Azerbaijan, itself invented by Bolshevik chief out of territories known as Aran Shirvan and Nakhichevan.

If Stalin had gone by population, the enclave should have been attached to Armenia, another republic that he put on the map. However, Stalin's gerrymandering game didn't stop there. He put a chunk of his new Azerbaijan, known as Nakhichevan, at some distance from the rest of the republic with Armenia sandwiched in between. He went even further by dividing the Kurdish majority enclave of Lachin between Armenia and Azerbaijan while attaching Talesh, a non-Azeri coastal land to Azerbaijan. Stalin's divide-and-rule strategy, aimed at making the "captive nations" of the Bolshevik Empire dependent on Mother Russia for peace and security. He imposed a similar scheme in Central Asia by turning Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan into patchworks of ethnicities.

When the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1991 it was inevitable that Stalin's geographical doodling would face questions. Seizing the opportunity, the Armenian population of High Qarabagh expelled the Azeri minority in what was to become a model for ethnic cleansing in other places, notably the Balkans. Backed by Armenia, the enclave's ethnic Armenians won a series of military victories and managed to set up their own autonomous republic. At the time, it was evident that the Artsakh rebels had received substantial aid from post-Soviet Russia. This was partly due to the fact that throughout Soviet history, ethnic Armenians, though fewer in number, played a much greater role than the Azeris.

The Soviet central leadership always included an Armenian at political and military levels; and some like Anastas Mikoyan reached the very top of the greasy pole. Even now, ethnic Armenians who decided to say in Russia proper have a high profile presence in the Moscow leadership, among them Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose real Armenian name is Serge Kalantarian.

In contrast, the ethnic Azeris who lived in Russia proper decided to return to their land en masse and were soon rewarded with new wealth generated by two decades of an oil boom. Throughout much of history, Armenians had regarded Russia, a fellow Christian nation, as their protector against Muslim neighbors, especially the Ottoman Empire. This was one reason why newly independent Armenia agreed to host a major Russian military base, which at its peak contained 20,000 Russian troops. In contrast, several Azeri leaders played the anti-Russian card by airing historical grievances against "the occupiers". The firebrand leader, Abulfazil Ilchibey, went even further by promoting a mass de-russification that included a change of alphabet and Russian-style family names. Independent Azerbaijan wanted to join the "Western World", casting itself as the United States' most reliable ally in the region. To emphasise that point, new Azerbaijan forged close relations with Israel to the point of promoting tight military cooperation, and talking of a Baku-Tel Aviv axis.

In the current round of fighting, Azerbaijan enjoys superiority in armament largely thanks to Israeli support. Nevertheless, Israel is anxious not to lose its other regional ally, Armenia. That ambiguity has enabled Turkey to cast itself as Azerbaijan's principal backer while depicting Russia and the Islamic Republic in Iran as Armenia's allies. The Khomeinist leadership in Tehran is especially confused about what line to take. The fighting looms as a security threat to Iran itself, even if only because of its overspill into Iranian territory.

In the past week of fighting, hundreds of shells fired by both sides have fallen into border areas in Iran. The fighting may also produce large numbers of refugees whose natural shelter would be Iranian territory. Tehran also faces pressure from powerful figures within the military and security services who regard Azerbaijanis as kith and kin. At the same time, "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei is anxious not to antagonise Russia, whom he now sees as his principal protector against the American "Great Satan." He has another worry: the introduction of hundreds of Syrian militants into the Azeri forces through Turkey. These fighters have little experience in warfare in the steep mountains of Transcaucasia, especially in the harsh climates of the winter. But, as committed militants of the Muslim Brotherhood, they could enable Turkey to create its own Hezbollah-like "foreign legion", challenging Iran elsewhere, including in Iraq and Lebanon.

Erdogan has tried to partly justify his backing for Azerbaijan by claiming that PKK fighters, supposedly coming from Soleymanieh in Iraq, via Iran, have joined Armenian forces in Qarabagh. He has also revived the theme of "Turkitude" (Turkishness) which he had only recently underplayed in favor of his claim to Islamic-ness as the foundation of Turkish identity. Erdogan's identity crisis was further highlighted by the national census held two years ago, when citizens were asked to cite their ethnic origins. The results had to be doctored because only a minority chose the label Turkish. The survey revealed most citizens remain attached to "mellat" identities they had during the Ottoman Empire, including Daghestani, Chechen, Alevite, Kurdish, Arab, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Udmurt, Circassian, Chechen and even Greek and Armenian. The surprise revelations forced Erdogan to try and fudge the identity issue by claiming Turks were descendants of ancient Hittites dating back to 3,000 years ago.

Tehran's reaction has been marked by confusion. It has refrained from taking a clear position while Khamenei was silent at the time of this writing. After a number of small demonstrations in Tabriz, capital of East Azerbaijan province, four Azeri mullahs identified as Khamenei's representatives issued a joint statement demanding that High Qarabagh be returned to Azerbaijan Republic.

Khamenei's foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati made a similar demand in carefully modulated tones not to anger Russia. The foreign ministry, however, tried to dodge the issue, not even calling in Armenia's ambassador for a routine dressing down.

Ignoring the crisis, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced he was heading for Beijing in the hope of persuading the Chinese to release some of Iran's frozen assets.

The Qarabagh conflict could provoke uncontrollable reactions in Iran where an estimated 20 million Azeri-speakers spread all over the country regard the Azerbaijan Republic as part of greater Iran.

The slogans chanted in Tabriz and Tehran demonstrations included overtly irredentist ones such as "Qarabagh is ours, Azerbaijan is ours."

What are now Armenian and Azerbaijani republics, plus Georgia, were ceded to Iran in the treaties of Amassia (1550) and Qasr Shirin (1639) signed with Ottoman Empire. In exchange the Ottomans received Mesopotamia, today's Iraq, plus Abkhazia and Ajaria and the Armenian part of Anatolia.

If Azerbaijan wins, a coalition of Turkey, Israel and the United States would end up in the winning camp while the Islamic Republic will be seen as indifferent to the aspirations of Azerbaijan, which is supposed to be the third largest Shiite nation after Iran and Iraq. If Armenia wins, the likely co-winners would include Russia and Israel, again leaving Iran isolated. For the past 30 years, the Islamic Republic has been a lifeline to landlocked Armenia, channelling its foreign trade and providing it with electricity. If Armenia loses, Tehran will get a bad mark from Moscow as a fickle friend.

This war may produce only losers. Azerbaijan is unlikely to succeed in regaining full control of the disputed enclave. Armenia has already lost some territory and faces a wave of refugees flowing into the capital Yerevan. Turkey may win a propaganda round as protector of Azeris but would be dragged into a fifth war which, its economy already under stress, it may not be able to sustain. Israel may have to come off the fence and choose one side by losing the other. Russia would lose by seeing militants find a niche so close to itself while being forced to abandon its claim of peacemaker among former Soviet republics. Tehran, too, will be a loser on both geopolitical and ideological grounds. Khamenei claims to be the supreme leader of Muslims throughout the world. Yet, we now see that he cannot even influence events on his doorstep.

Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily

Kayhan

in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for

Asharq Al-Awsat

since 1987.

This article was originally published by

Asharq al-Awsat

and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.

 

 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16653/one-war-six-losers?fbclid=IwAR07c8V6tyq9drPx2Q4ivls_nBYZxZZCk8trFZ7Z8bNiu7N01xIZCxj8sps

[Yervant1]

For turkey to offer soldiers, that means the azeris are losing the battle. Why would they need help if they are winning!

TASS, Russia

Oct 21 2020

Turkey poised to deploy troops to Azerbaijan if requested

Ankara reiterated earlier its support to Baku and voiced readiness for assistance both at the negotiation table and on the battlefield

ANKARA, October 21. /TASS/. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay confirmed on Wednesday that Ankara was ready to deploy its troops to Azerbaijan to back Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Our president [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] announced it on the very first day [of a renewed escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh]. Turkey does not hesitate and our president does not hesitate," Oktay said in a televised interview with CNN Turk answering a question from the TV host.

Ankara reiterated earlier its support to Baku and voiced readiness for assistance both at the negotiation table and on the battlefield.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.

https://tass.com/world/1214887

 

[Yervant1]

FOX 11 Los Angeles

Oct 21 2020

When in war: Converting trucks into mobile hospitals for frontline workers in Armenia

By Araksya Karapetyan

LOS ANGELES - If you’ve ever eaten street food from a lunch truck, you can thank a local Southern California engineer. Vahe Karapetyan’s invention is now making the difference between life and death as the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan rages in Artsakh.

Karapetyan initially came up with the idea to allow his factory to mass-produce modern chuckwagons. His career has revolutionized our access to safe, hot meals anywhere.

or 50 years now, Karapetyan has been manufacturing food trucks out of South Los Angeles.

He is a businessman, but he is also no stranger to philanthropy. He’s been sharing the bounty of his blessings with charities in the U.S. and around the world, including Armenia.

"I try to support my nation as much as I can and do my national duty," said Karapetyan.

To help create jobs in Armenia, Karapetyan set up a food truck factory, recruited dozens of engineers and experienced factory workers and then put them to work.

"I try to be helpful and put some kind of manufacturing with those utility trucks in Armenia to create some kind of business," Karapetyan explained.

His plan was to sell catering trucks to serve foodies in Europe and the Middle East.

But on September 27, everything changed.

Karapetyan said he woke up to read the headlines that Azerbaijan had attacked Armenia.
But he says what was even more upsetting, was that Azerbaijan was denying this and was accusing Armenia of launching the attacks.

"I feel very, very hurt and bad because they were attacking. Azerbaijan was attacking that small country, 150,000 population and it's not enough that Turkey is supporting them. Not only is Turkey helping Azerbaijan, Israel is helping. That’s a painful corner," said Karapetyan.

Recognizing how serious the situation was, engineers in Armenia shifted gears and began working around the clock.

"We quickly decided that all the trucks we have, around 40 vehicles, should serve one purpose -- the Armenian nation and its army. We quickly adapted to the new circumstances."

They’ve been busy converting these food trucks into mobile emergency rooms. Instead of serving meals, they’re saving lives in the war zone, providing emergency medical care when hospitals are too far away and the injuries are too critical.

Karapetyan has also helped finance the Armenia Fund’s construction of a lifeline highway connecting Artsakh to Armenia 25 years ago.

Since then, he has footed the bill for the annual maintenance costs of the highway. That land bridge is now the only functioning path between the front lines and Armenia. Now, this road is being used by locals to escape and for the injured to be rushed to safety.

Now like everyone else in the Armenian- American community, Karapetyan is monitoring the internet and the news, hoping for an update that the U.S. or European leaders are going to intervene and stop this war.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to meet separately with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, Oct. 23.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is pushing for the United States to halt military assistance to Azerbaijan and sanction Turkey for supporting Azerbaijan.

https://www.foxla.com/news/when-in-war-converting-trucks-into-mobile-hospitals-for-frontline-workers-in-armenia?fbclid=IwAR2UL9EKKn4nuWZ-LyHkNJpcUknrH8ghj7WeUuMddcsa0BSxy7iTVxzxN1w

[Yervant1]

Greek City Times

Oct 21 2020

Saudi Arabia And Armenia: Historical Chance

Recent developments in the Middle East and South Caucasus, Turkey’s direct involvement and war against Armenia now and their backing of terrorists already make one posit a question: whither are we heading to?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has transformed into a belligerent leader destabilizing the whole region by his myopic political decisions. Needless to say how he is harming the Arab world, and Saudi Arabia in particular, by his bellicose statements and actions.

It is of utmost importance to note that there is a historical chance now for Saudi Arabia and Armenia to establish political ties and work together to pacify Erdoğan’s government and bring peace and stability back into the larger Middle East, North Africa and South Caucasus regions. It is clear that Erdoğan’s Turkey is reminiscent of the late Ottoman empire and wants to regenerate that late empire of evil, which of course is beyond Turkey’s reach.

Historically, the Ottoman empire was an oppressor to all nations in the Middle East, North Africa and Caucasus regions and had been killing, looting and annihilating Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and other nations, which eventually resulted in a genocide of the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians between 1914-1923.

Unfortunately, Erdoğan’s government has been constantly acting on the basis of neo-Ottomanism for the sake of regional hegemony, thus becoming a scheming bad guy of the region.

Looking back to the ancient times, we must underscore that there has never been any antagonism between the Arabs and Armenians.

Furthermore, we have had bright examples of Arab-Armenian cooperation such as the Arab-Armenian treaty in the year of 652, or the peaceful coexistence and good trade relations during the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1080-1375), and most importantly, the unforgettable support the Arab people showed the Armenians during and after the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) by giving survivors shelter and refuge in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and beyond, which the Armenian nation remembers with immense gratitude.

Historical Armenian Cilicia via Wikipedia.

Last but not least, as old nations with rich culture and impact on human civilization, Armenians and Arabs in general, and Armenia and Saudi Arabia in particular, do not have any hindrance to good relations and joint political and economic efforts in the Middle East.

Armenia has had excellent political, economic and diplomatic relations with many Arab states and Saudi Arabia’s political elite should not exclude this historical chance of establishing and developing good relations with the Armenian people.

Apart from working together to put a halt to Erdoğan’s destabilizing actions and wars in Armenia, Artsakh (more commonly known as Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Middle East-North Africa region, there should also be serious discussions about investment opportunities, especially in the fast developing hi-tech sector in Armenia.

Saudi Arabia and Armenia can become a good example of peaceful and prosperous cooperation.

Vahram Ayvazyan is an International Relations and Genocide scholar, startup founder and a Climate Reality Leader, personally trained by former US vice president Al Gore. You can follow him on Twitter:

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/22/saudi-arabia-armenia-chance/

[Yervant1]

They were quick to bomb Serbia. Since this time around it's Christian Armenians no one cares!

America Magazine

Oct 21 2020

Turkey’s involvement in Armenia is dangerous. Could Christians face another genocide?

Kevin ClarkeOctober 21, 2020

Advocates for the protection of Christian minority populations raised an alarm about Turkey’s role in the renewed fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenian forces over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds have perished since this latest clash began on Sept. 27 in a significant escalation of the decades-old conflict. More than 30,000 were killed before the last large-scale confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in a sullen truce in 1994. The territory continues to be internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but that position is rejected by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh who represent more than 90 percent of its population.

Turkey, which as recently as July conducted military exercises with Azerbaijan forces, has taken a large role in supporting Azerbaijan’s military. Arms sales from Turkey to Azerbaijan surged sixfold in the months before the fighting began. As the fighting continues, some analysts worry other regional actors—Russia, which maintains a security pact with Armenia, and Iran, where errant artillery shells have already landed—might be drawn into the conflict.

But last week representatives from the international advocacy group In Defense of Christians and Armenian advocates warned of even darker outcomes should the international community not intervene immediately. They suggested that the Azerbaijani offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh—most of which is included in the Republic of Artsakh, a self-proclaimed ethnic Armenian statelet within Azerbaijan—could represent only the beginning of a renewed, genocidal aggression against the Armenian people.

 

Advocates demanded that Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be “heavily sanctioned” by the Trump administration because of Turkey’s material support of Azerbaijani forces.

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The patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, shared those concerns in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica on Oct. 19. “What else is it if not genocide to indiscriminately bomb civilians, churches, the historical monuments of a people in spite of all international laws?” he said.

At a press briefing on Oct. 16, all fingers pointed to Turkey as the agitating force in the revived conflict. This latest Azerbaijani incursion in Nagorno-Karabakh fits both a contemporary and historic pattern, Christian advocates say, a drive to cleanse the region of Armenians and all Christians with an aim of establishing Turkish hegemony from the Middle East through Turkic-speaking states of the former Soviet Union.

Toufic Baaklini, the president of In Defense of Christians, joined other advocates in demanding that Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, be “heavily sanctioned” by the Trump administration because of Turkey’s material support of Azerbaijani forces during this latest incursion into Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Without real sanctions,” Mr. Baaklini said, “this guy won’t listen.”

[Want to discuss politics with other America readers? Join our Facebook discussion group, moderated by America’s writers and editors.]

He dismissed as insufficient recent protests against the violence and calls for a cease-fire from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “We have to continue to pressure, not in words but in action,” Mr. Baaklini said. “We expect the Trump administration to take some action to stop this holy war for [Mr. Erdogan].”

 

The Azerbaijani offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh could represent only the beginning of a renewed, genocidal aggression against the Armenian people.

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He added, “U.S. policy toward Turkey is not working. The Trump administration and Congress need to heavily sanction Turkey and reassess their entire relationship in light of this hostility.”

Michael Rubin, a political analyst for the American Enterprise Institute, offered a harsh assessment of Turkey’s role in the new fighting and in creating instability throughout the region. He called Turkey’s motivations for jumping into the dispute as “malign as they can be.”

Noting that Turkey has always found supporters in Washington who make excuses for its actions in Syria, Iraq and other regional hotspots, he said, “When we look at what’s going on in Artsakh now, there absolutely is no excuse. Turkey has no claim, no history [in the dispute].

“It seems clearly now that Turkey’s sole motivation in helping Azerbaijan create these war plans, execute them and bring in mercenaries has been purely animus, not just to Armenians as a people but also to Christianity.”

These advocates said President Erdogan is driving to restore Ottoman-era borders at the same time he hopes to distract the Turkish people from repression at home and Turkey’s flagging economy. “Turkey is promoting jihadists and persecuting Christians all over the region,” warned Mr. Baaklini.

Speaking on a Zoom link from inside the disputed territory, Robert Avetisyan, the permanent representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the United States, described the Azerbaijani incursion as unprecedented in scope and violence. According to Mr. Avetisyan, the Azerbaijani military has put Caspian Sea oil sales to good use in a defense buildup in recent years with new technology and equipment from Turkey, Russia and Israel that it has now unleashed on both fighters and noncombatants in the Armenian enclave. He charged also that the Turkish military has moved from a hidden role in directing the incursion to open command and control of the entire offensive.

 

“The issue needs to be resolved, one that excludes the military solution permanently. After so many genocidal threats and so much aggression…no matter how many missiles [Azerbaijan possesses], you have to recognize the Republic of Artsakh.”

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After weeks of fighting, the Azerbaijani “blitzkrieg” has failed, according to Mr. Avetisyan, even as indiscriminate shelling of military and civilian targets continues. He adds that the hardening of positions along the frontline suggests a long period of indecisive but bloody fighting ahead unless the United Nations and other multilateral players are able to pressure the two sides away from the battle lines and back to a negotiating table.

Two separate cease-fire agreements broke down in recent days. Each side has alleged that the other has targeted civilians indiscriminately, and evidence accumulates that accusers on both sides are right—Armenian artillery fire claimed civilian lives in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second largest city, and in Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijani forces pummeled homes in Stepanakert, the capital of the separatist republic.

Mr. Avetisyan charged that “Turkey is completely hands-on in command and control; its special forces are penetrating into sleeping cities.” He alleges that Turkey has been responsible for moving “thousands of mercenaries from Syria and Lebanon” into the fight, an accusation which Turkish officials continue to deny despite mounting evidence of the presence of such fighters.

According to Mr. Avetisyan, the involvement of these mercenaries—battle-hardened by years of fighting in Syria and other Middle East conflict zones—means Nagorno-Karabakh has become the latest theater in the global war against terrorism.

“The U.S. has proclaimed itself to be the leader in fight against international terrorism,” he said, “so we expect the U.S. as well as the rest of the civilized world to defeat this international terrorism.”

The U.S. bishops and Pope Francis have urged a cease-fire and called for a return to the negotiating table. But views on both sides appear to have hardened since the 1994 truce. During the fighting in that earlier conflict, more than 600,000 Azerbaijanis were driven from Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining Azerbaijani territory seized by Armenian military. They have been seeking a safe return ever since.

After years of fruitless negotiation through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, headed by representatives from Russia, France and the United States, many Azerbaijanis have come to believe that the military option is the only viable path to their return. For their part, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh believe they face an existential threat should the Azerbaijani military succeed in reclaiming the disputed territory and its surrounding districts. Neither side seems able to contemplate restoring a pre-conflict status quo that would allow displaced Azerbaijanis to return and ethnic Armenians to live in security and peace.

Mr. Avetisyan argued that talking, not fighting, is the only way to finally resolve the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. “Who can believe this is happening in the 21st century?” he asked.

 

 

 

For now, Turkey and Azerbaijan cannot be restrained by expressions of concern, Mr. Avetisyan said, calling for immediate sanctions to cut off Azerbaijani oil sales, as well as renewed efforts toward a stable cease-fire and a negotiated settlement to the territorial dispute.

Azerbaijan needs to get the message that it cannot have the disputed territory back, he said.

“The issue needs to be resolved, one that excludes the military solution permanently,” he said. “After so many genocidal threats and so much aggression…no matter how many missiles [you possess], you have to recognize the Republic of Artsakh.”

“Recognizing the self-proclaimed republic of [Artsakh] would be enough to solve the problem because it would guarantee the security of its citizens,” said Patriarch Karekin II. “That is what we are waiting for from our friends and from all those who want to prevent a possible new holocaust.”

Expressing mounting frustration with the lack of urgency in the State Department, these advocates called on the U.S. Congress to step in. Describing Armenia as a Christian island surrounded by hostile secular and Islamic forces, they warned that the Armenian Christian genocide is not an event that has passed into history, but a process that continues to this day.

“This is where Christianity began and can remain with our help and support,” Mr. Baaklini said. “We are the voice of the voiceless. If we fail to act right now, we would be implicated by our silence.”

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/10/20/turkey-armenia-christians-genocide-united-states-nagorno-karabakh

 

 

[Yervant1]

Eurasian Times

Oct 21 2020

Russia Shot-Down A Total Of Nine Turkish Bayraktar Drones Near Its Armenia Military Base – Russian Media Reports

The Russian military has reportedly shot down nine Turkish Bayraktar TB-2 drones that were flying near its Gyumri military base in Armenia.

Deployed by Azerbaijan against Armenian military targets in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Turkish drones were near the airspace of the Russian military airbase.

According to a Russian news agency Avia.pro, the Russians used their latest electronic warfare weapon, the Krasukha-4 system, to deactivate the control system of the Turkish drones, bringing them down. EurAsian Times has not been able to independently verify these claim.

The Russians reportedly used the highly advanced Krasukha-4 for the first time in Syria early this year against hostile drones launched by terrorists at its Hmeymim airbase in Syria.

The electronic warfare systems stopped a cluster of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) launched from the militant-controlled territory of the Idlib de-escalation zone, taking over the control of the UAVs and deactivating their control systems.

Krasukha-4 is believed to be designed to counter the radars of attack, reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft, with its truck-mounted radio emitter capable of jamming radar signals, but also control channels for drones, making planes and UAVs “blind and deaf.”

The system has a range of up to 300 km.

The battle-field success of this EW system has even worried the US, which believes the system in Syria became “the most aggressive E.W. environment on the planet, knocking the US communications down, disabling their EC-130s, etc.

Russia shot down 9 Bayraktar drones near its Gyumri military base, Armenia

Iran had also warned the fighting sides in Nagorno-Karabakh against violating the Islamic countries airspace, which the country said will be retaliated appropriately.

According to reports, since the commencement of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian electronic warfare systems have been brought into full combat readiness.

As the photographs of the downed Turkish drones show, the drones were indeed removed from an electronic warfare system, and no trace of a missile strike can be seen on the fuselage. The drone warfare could be severely limited if Russia continues its e-war games in the region, as Turkey has already lost a large number of its drones in Syria.

 

 

https://eurasiantimes.com/russia-shot-down-a-total-of-nine-turkish-bayraktar-drones-near-its-armenia-military-base-russian-media-reports/?fbclid=IwAR3mZuFNZb1MltpxMV-cd4IfqPlbRu_yVFCunUN1kvg57bkQAf9yHrdN0RM

Edited October 22, 2020 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

Foreign Lobby

Oct 20 2020

Hungary launches PR blitz against Biden; Armenian diaspora targets Azerbaijan lobbyists; DLA Piper drops Azerbaijan Railways: Tuesday’s Daily Digest
[Groong note: Parts not related to Armenia or Armenian issues are not included. Please visit the page for the full article.]

Armenian diaspora targets firms working for Azerbaijan

The Armenian Assembly of America today announced a campaign to pressure lobbying and public relations firms to “reject blood money” from Azerbaijan, which is fighting Armenia over control of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The group’s co-chairs, Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian, said they would be reaching to the firms as well as their other clients to urge them to take their business elsewhere.

“Instead of flacking for the Aliyev regime whose leader [President Ilham Aliyev] has promised to wipe out the Christian Armenians ‘like dogs,’ these firms need to stop taking blood money from Azerbaijan and Turkey if they have any conscience or sense of American patriotism,” they said. The Armenian-American diaspora is estimated at between 500,000 and 1.5 million and is politically powerful on Capitol Hill.

Representing the government of Azerbaijan are BGR Public Affairs, public relations firm Stellar Jay and BGR subcontractor Baker Donelson. Former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.) terminated his Livingston Group‘s registration as a foreign agent of Azerbaijan last week, just three months after telling the US Justice Department that he was in the process of negotiating a contract with Baku, Foreign Lobby Report first reported Oct. 15. DLA Piper has also recently ended its work for Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (see new filings section below).

Already over the weekend, the Armenian diaspora bombarded the S-3 Group with more than a thousand emails with an identical message pressuring the Washington public affairs firm to stop representing a new client from Azerbaijan (Foreign Lobby Report was copied on the emails). The firm recently picked up a Baku-based company called Investment Corporation, LLC for $25,000 per month to “create and place earned and digital media to further diplomacy,” we first reported on Oct. 15. The diaspora letter, which you can read in its entirety here, describes S-3’s client as a “thinly veiled front for the Government of Azerbaijan through a proxy shell corporation.”

Other S-3 clients including accounting organization KPMG, French luxury brand LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and General Motors are copied on the emails. The firm did not respond to a request for comment about whether it has any plans to abandon its Baku client. For more on the battle for influence in Washington between Azerbaijan and the Armenian-American diaspora, read our July 30 deep dive here.

https://www.foreignlobby.com/2020/10/20/hungary-launches-pr-blitz-against-biden-armenian-diaspora-targets-azerbaijan-lobbyists-dla-piper-drops-azerbaijan-railways-tuesdays-daily-digest/?fbclid=IwAR204Govr_yh5k5-UbTWtI6WowZJhBw961gbruaDTPK8c2ZDrWowdfT2ziM

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Artsakh Air Defense units shoot down attacking Azerbaijani warplane

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10:02, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Air Defense troops of the Defense Army of Artsakh have shot down an attacking Azerbaijani military aircraft in the southern direction around 08:30, October 21, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said.

“The situation is relatively stable but tense,” she said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032259.html?fbclid=IwAR2FhSuXz0HVmoDiy89c6cequkw0_OP-raXLuggdqSV-ytgBu4AB7PE8fr4

[Yervant1]

It's wrong to bomb civilian targets, but the savages are forcing us to the same!

 

Armenpress.am

Azerbaijani military again bombards town of Martakert

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10:22, 21 October, 2020

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani armed forces continue bombarding towns and cities of Artsakh.

The State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh said overnight October 20-21 the situation was relatively stable in all civilian settlements, but immediately before sunrise the Azerbaijani military began bombing the town of Martakert and all nearby villages.

Martakert came under an Azeri attack most recently as yesterday, when the Azeri forces deployed air force to deliver air strikes on civilian infrastructures.

“Not only is the Azerbaijani side grossly violating the humanitarian truce, but it is also deploying banned munitions, even against the peaceful population,” the State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh said.

The heavy Azeri bombings of towns and cities have left 36 civilians dead in Artsakh since the attacks began on September 27.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032261.html?fbclid=IwAR1fzrVXXKpcDw3vecXdng1paKz-xFcwgAX5SbEiFXNtUJgEbdt8_u4olxo

 

 

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

‘International community is left with no choice but to move to recognize Artsakh’ – US Senator

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11:25, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to seek an immediate ceasefire in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, and push for a negotiated resolution to the conflict that has been ongoing since late September.

In a statement the Senator reminded that on Friday, Secretary Pompeo is scheduled to meet separately with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. “Along with France and Russia, the United States serves as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. Two earlier proposals for a humanitarian truce, brokered first by Russia and then France, were immediately violated. The fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives with reports that Turkey has transported members of Syrian militias to fight against the Armenian people”, the Senator said.

“Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions, fully supported by Turkey in Nagorno Karabakh and against Armenia, must stop,” said Senator Markey. “Secretary Pompeo should make it clear that the United States supports a peaceful resolution to this conflict and is ready to help facilitate negotiations. In order to achieve a successful ceasefire and conditions for peace, other parties such as Turkey must cease their aggressive actions and military intervention. The U.S. should immediately push for a ceasefire along the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and a speedy return to negotiations supported by the Minsk Group. Since Azerbaijan continues its attempts to resolve this conflict through the illegal use of military force, the international community will be left with no choice but to move to recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, absent meaningful negotiations”.

The Senator also stated that “Secretary Pompeo must also make it clear that Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act will be fully enforced and thus terminate U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan. Moreover, Secretary Pompeo and President Trump, who have developed close ties to Turkish President Erdogan, should make it clear to their authoritarian friend that further engagement in this conflict will cost Turkey its military assistance and warm relationship with the Administration.”

Editing by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032269.html?fbclid=IwAR1DFuipdXtIq5oXJwl1kzvFjMxdSxp0ygSjd_B_o1BGQ0sGQfSVmx0r5N0

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

“Stop Erdogan, stop the second Hitler” – demonstration outside German embassy in Yerevan

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11:44, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Demonstrators in Yerevan held a rally outside the German embassy on October 21 demanding a reaction to the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh.

The demonstrators were holding signs saying “Stop Erdogan, Stop the second Hitler”, “Recognize Artsakh”, “Don’t Be Silent”, “Germany, Your Silence is Killing People”, and others.

The demonstrators were also calling for Germany’s recognition of Artsakh as an independent country. They were chanting “Erdogan Terrorist”, “Stop the Azeri aggression”, “Stop the Genocide”, “Open Your Eyes.”

“We wanna meet with the ambassador to speak face to face and understand their stance and understand to what extent they are informed on what’s happening. We must also understand to what extent they are ready to take action to stop this all,” one of the demonstrators said.

A foreigner passerby joined the Armenian demonstration. “I am Estonian, I stand with the Armenian people. Today I was also planning to go to the border, but due to my age I’ve delayed the visit for 10 days. On behalf of my nation I say to you, Estonia stands with Armenia. Be strong, Armenians,” the Estonian man said.

Motorists driving nearby where sounding the horn in support of the demonstration, and then some of the participants blocked a part of the street.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

[sEE VIDEO]

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032270.html?fbclid=IwAR1uo43XD7SJJILz_25moUJb84nWXKTPqO0vFyil-R_cy5Aqr6re5pPL9Sc

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Spanish lawmakers express support to Armenians’ protest in Madrid for Artsakh

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14:17, 21 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Spanish lawmakers and famous Spanish-Armenians have expressed their support to the Armenian community during a powerful protest in Madrid for Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).

MPs from the Together We Can political party of Spain, cellist Ara Malikian, Spanish-Armenian actor playing in La Casa De Papel Hovik Keuchkerian and a number of other Spanish people participated in the peaceful protest against the Turkey-backed Azerbaijani aggression and in support of Artsakh.

“Artsakh is Armenia”, “Erdogan and Aliyev are terrorists”, “We will win”, the protest participants said. They were holding the flags of Armenia, Artsakh and Spain.

Editing and translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1032281.html?fbclid=IwAR1wSC08oIMrr9pkEjlH9pkxw5JG3R9qi-i9xePEijcMM6Q3ubxNvguaqdY