Armenian News... A Topalian... Azeri killing of Soldier = Provocation, yet again!

Panorama, Armenia

June 11 2018

Armenian MFA blasts Azeri killing of Artsakh soldier as ’provocation’

A spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has blasted Azerbaijan for the recent ceasefire violation on the contact line that left an Artsakh soldier dead, the ministry’s press service told Panorama.am.

In his commentary issued on Monday, Tigran Balayan slammed the incident as a ‘provocation’, stressing Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the possible consequences of the incident.

The full statement is provided below:

“Yesterday night, an Armenian soldier was shot dead as result of Azerbaijan's gross violation of the ceasefire regime on Artsakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. We extend our deepest condolences to the relatives and fellow servicemen of the deceased.

We consider this action, committed on the eve of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ visit to Armenia, as another provocation by Baku aimed at escalating the situation and failing the agreements on reducing tensions. This incident once again stresses the importance of implementing the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements with no time limitations, as well as the agreements on introducing a mechanism for investigating border incidents as agreed at the 2016-2017 Summits on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and on expanding the capacities of the Personal representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office.  

We have repeatedly stated that creating the environment conducive to peace is of key importance in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. Such actions of the Azerbaijani side are in fact pursuing the opposite goal.

The Azerbaijani side is fully responsible for all the possible consequences of this provocation.”

An Artsakh Defense Army soldier identified as Vahagn J. Eloyan (born in 1992) was fatally wounded as a result of Azerbaijani gunfire on Sunday evening at a military post in the southeastern direction.

A probe has been launched into the incident.

168.am

 June 11 2018

Pashinyan, Aliyev to have first face-to-face meeting at 2018 FIFA World Cup opening in Moscow

According to Azerbaijani news media, President Ilham Aliyev will also participate in the June 14 opening ceremony of 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow, Russia.

The grand opening will take place in the Russian capital’s Luzhniki stadium.

The Armenian foreign minister had earlier confirmed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s participation in the opening ceremony, which means the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening will be the first event where the new Armenian leader will meet Azerbaijan’s president.

TASS, Russia

June 11 2018

Supporters, adversaries of Armenian Church Primate brawl in Yerevan

Protests demanding Karekin II to step down began in Yerevan on June 6

  A demonstration demanding resignation of the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, grew over into a mass brawl near the downtown church of St Anne in Yerevan on Sunday, a TASS correspondent said in an eyewitness report on Sunday.

 

The protesters started chanting their slogans right at the moment Karekin II had come out of the church building after a mass. Their chanting provoked the supporters of the Catholicos and a scuffle broke out.

 

"You don’t have any right to demand defrocking from our Catholicos," said one of the bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church who escorted Karekin II. "We know who’s standing behind your backs and what goals you’re pursuing."

 

"These protesters are seeking to enfeeble the Armenian Church," he said.

 

His Holiness Karekin II refrained from comments on the incident and withdrew from the scene.

 

Police managed to break up the fight between the two camps, which consisted mostly of clergymen.

 

Protests waving the demand for Karekin II’s stepping down from the post began in Yerevan on June 6. Secular Armenians take part in them alongside the clerics. The protester claim that the Catholicos’s defrocking is the only way to facilitate reforms in the Church, the oldest denomination of Christianity in the world.

 

The Council of Bishops of the Armenian Church condemned the protests on June 6, while Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the state did not interfere in Church affairs. He refrained from any comments on the conflict.

 

Under the canonical law of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a Catholicos is elected for life. The Supreme Spiritual Council of the Church elected Karekin II to the post in 1999.

 

News.am, Armenia

June 10 2018

Aurora ceremony held in Yerevan              

The conclusive event of the 2018 Aurora Prize is underway at the National Opera and Ballet Theater named after Alexander Spendiaryan.

The winner of the 2018 Avrora Prize was announced earlier on Sunday. Lawyer and activist Kyaw Hla Aung was awarded for protection of the rights of Rohingya people in Myanmar, despite pressure, persecution and harassment.

The Aurora Prize is awarded by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative on behalf of all survivors of the Armenian Genocide and as a token of gratitude to their saviors. This year, 750 applications from 115 countries have been received.

During the event, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian delivered a keynote speech.

“It is noteworthy that the regular awarding ceremony takes place in Armenia, at a time when the Armenians, and especially the youth, have increased their aspiration for freedom, light and dream.

It is very valuable that people invest in humanism. Let’s not forget that we were treated like this 100 years ago in different parts of the world, and people provided assistance and shelter to Armenians who survived the Genocide. Today we are striving to return what we received more than 100 years ago.

Armenia leads a consistent struggle for the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh. Of course, it is not a mere coincidence that Armenia is ready and has taken steps to normalize relations with Azerbaijan, which remained unanswered. Of course, it is not by chance that major changes in Armenia took place in an atmosphere of peace,” the president said.

RFE/RL Report

Ex-Aide Regrets Obama’s Failure To Recognize Armenian Genocide

June 08, 2018

Artak Hambardzumian

Samantha Power, a former special adviser to President Barack Obama, on Friday 

expressed regret at his failure to ensure an official U.S. recognition of the 

1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey during his tenure.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) in Yerevan, Power said 

Obama did not honor a key election campaign pledge because he did not want to jeopardize a rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey and feared that Ankara could obstruct U.S. efforts to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.

Power, who advised Obama on foreign policy and human rights before serving as U.S. ambassador to the United States from 2013-2017, also blamed the “very 

volatile personality” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Obama referred to the Armenian genocide as a “widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence” when he ran for president in 2008. He said that if elected he will officially recognize the World War One-era slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.

During that presidential race, Power famously recorded a five-minute video that 

urged Americans of Armenian descent to vote for Obama because of his stance on the genocide issue.

“I have great regret that we did not manage to go all the way to full 

recognition in the way that we had promised,” Power told RFE/RL during her 

first-ever visit to Armenia. “I really believed going into the White House that 

we would.”

“But in 2009, which was really the year that we would have done it right at the 

beginning, President Obama made clear that his view of the facts had not 

changed and everybody knew his view,” she said. “But he felt that the 

Armenian-Turkish normalization was at a very important and very fragile stage.

“Then, I think, at the hundred anniversary [of the genocide in 2015,] when it 

would have been another opportune time to recognize, we had just been granted access to Turkish bases to fight ISIS (Islamic State).”

“Turkey is a very powerful and large country that’s a NATO ally and has a lot 

of weight,” added the former U.S. official. “President Erdogan of course is a 

very volatile personality. So that also meant that some of the threats that he 

made were deemed more credible frankly.”

Armenia - Samantha Power speaks at a panel discussion in Yerevan, 8 June 2018.

Power made clear that she thinks none of these factors justified Obama’s 

decisions. “There is really no excuse because, as I wrote before I became a 

U.S. government official, there really is never a good time to do it,” she 

said. “There is always going to be some set of issues and equities on the other 

side of the argument.”

Obama reportedly came very close to recognizing the genocide in an April 2015. 

While avoiding the politically sensitive word, he implicitly praised Pope 

Francis for calling the 1915 mass killings “the first genocide of the 20th 

century.” He also paid tribute to Henry Morgenthau, America’s World War One-era ambassador in Constantinople who tried to stop what he saw as a “campaign of race extermination.”

Obama’s 2015 statement followed a reportedly heated debate within his 

administration. The Associated Press reported at the time that an explicit 

recognition of the Armenian genocide was advocated by administration officials 

who deal more directly with human rights issues. Power was said to be among 

them.

Power said on Friday that the current and future U.S. administrations should 

follow the example of two dozen other nations and “defy the bullying that 

genocide deniers have done.” Asked whether she thinks President Donald Trump 

may do so, she said: “Trump is so volatile. Maybe we wake up one morning and 

there’ll be the tweet that we’ve all been waiting for: recognizing the 

genocide.”

In any case, the former Obama administration official went on, Armenians should keep fighting for greater international recognition of the genocide. They have already made major progress in that endeavor, she said, arguing that “there is almost nobody in any doubt around the world about the events of 1915.”

Power was visiting Armenia as a new member of an international committee that 

will select this weekend the latest winner of an annual humanitarian award 

created in memory of the Armenian genocide victims.

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity award was established in 2015 by three prominent Diaspora Armenians: philanthropists Ruben Vardanyan and Noubar Afeyan, and Vartan Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It is designed to honor individuals around the world who risk their lives to help others.

ARKA, Armenia

June 11 2018

Prominent economist Daron Acemoglu willing to support Armenia in development, democratization and reformation 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has talked to Daron Acemoglu, a prominent economist, via videoconference, the Armenian government’s press office reported on Monday. 

They discussed prospects for developing Armenia and grounds for cooperation. 

According to the government’s press release, Tigran Avinyan, vice premier, Varag Siseryan, head of the vice-premier’s office, Alexander Khachaturyan, head of the Strategic Initiatives Center, and Erik Gyulazyan, the sustainable development director of the innovative laboratory, took part in the video conference.   

The economist said that time has come to initiate and launch short-, mid- and long-term institutional political, judicial and financial reforms.

He also stressed the importance of improvement of investment environment. 

Acemoglu said reforms should imply particular actions for receiving results in particular time. 

He stressed the importance of introduction of flexible mechanisms of institutional balances in different segments of power, which will leave no room for the vicious phenomena that existed before and which will make the government’s work more transparent letting the public keep its eye on the government’s activity. 

Thanks to the current government’s steps, he said, citizens feel their involvement in politics. Many people in Armenia are now inspired and they are anxious to become a part of politics.   

The economist voiced willingness to support the Armenian government in development, democratization and reformation of the country. 

Pashinyan and Acemoglu decided to continue the discussion. 

RFE/RL Report

Karabakh Leader Vows To Quit In 2020

June 11, 2018

Bako Sahakian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, announced on Monday that he will not again seek reelection when his current term in office ends in 2020.

Sahakian controversially extended his decade-long rule after Karabakh enacted a 

new constitution in a referendum held in February 2017. The new constitution 

calls for the Armenian-populated region’s transition by 2020 to a fully 

presidential system of government.

The authorities in Stepanakert said that this change will put Karabakh in a 

better position to cope with the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan. Their 

opponents insisted, however, that Sahakian is simply keen to hold on to power.

In July, the Karabakh parliament voted to allow Sahakian to remain in power 

during the three-year “transition period.” The Karabakh leader did not say 

until now whether he will run in the next presidential election due in 2020.

“I want to officially declare that I will not participate in those elections as 

a presidential candidate,” Sahakian told Armenia’s and Karabakh’s public 

televisions. Instead, he said in remarks cited by the Armenpress news agency, 

he will take “all necessary measures” to ensure that the vote is free and fair.

The announcement followed the resignations of several top Karabakh officials 

resulting from a June 1 violent dispute in Stepanakert between several officers 

of Karabakh’s National Security Service (NSS) and other local residents.

The brawl triggered angry demonstrations against what their participants see as 

impunity enjoyed by law-enforcement officials and their relatives. About 200 

people blocked Stepanakert’s main avenue for four days, demanding the 

resignation of the NSS and police chiefs.

Several individuals, including three NSS officers, were arrested and the 

Karabakh government pledged to ensure an objective criminal investigation. 

These assurances failed to satisfy the protesters. The protests ended only 

after a June 4 appeal from Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Two days later, the chiefs of the local police and NSS as well as the Karabakh 

state minister, Arayik Harutiunian, tendered their resignations.

Sahakian insisted on Monday that the protests did not cause a political crisis 

in Karabakh. He admitted, though, that they exposed public discontent with his 

administration and especially some of its officials. He said the authorities in 

Stepanakert will draw necessary “conclusions” from the unrest. In particular, 

he said, they will now appoint more competent individuals enjoying “the 

people’s trust” to key positions.