Armenian News... A Topalian... Wiretapping Scandal...

BNE IntelliNews

Sept 12 2018

Armenia shaken by wiretapping scandal over probe into 2008 “Marti mek” post-election violence

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has ordered an investigation of the wiretapping and the leak.

By bne IntelliNews September 12, 2018

Armenian National Security Service director Artur Vanetsian said on September 11 that the Prosecutor-General's Office has opened a criminal case into the wiretapping of telephone conversations between the chiefs of the National Security Service and the Special Investigation Service in which they discussed an ongoing investigation into the 2008 “Marti mek” (“March First”) post-election violence.

Secretly recorded audio of late July conversations between Vanetsian and Special Investigation Service head Sasun Khachatrian was leaked to the media and published by several news websites.

The two officials are heard discussing the case against ex-president Robert Kocharyan, who has been charged over his alleged involvement in the violence a decade ago in Yerevan in which 10 people, including two police officers, were killed.

Kocharyan has denied the charges. He has claimed the country's new government, elected after a spring “people’s revolution”, has launched a "vendetta" against him. Moscow, which has military bases in Armenia, has lately been making its dissatisfaction clear over the pursuit of figures among the dislodged former ruling establishment of its ally.

In comments on claims that his government had broken its promise not to interfere in the work of the judiciary, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian condemned the wiretapping and the leak. He denied giving instructions to the judiciary.

"The case of March 1, 2008 must be disclosed, the murderers must be brought to justice," Pashinian said in a live Facebook broadcast.

At a rally in Yerevan later in the day, he described the wiretapping as a "conspiracy and crime against Armenia's statehood", RFE/RL reported.

The prime minister also reportedly said that he had instructed law enforcement agencies to "find those who organised the conspiracy within the shortest possible period of time and hold them accountable in the strictest terms".

Khachatrian said that investigators had proof that special army units "fully participated" in the 2008 crackdown.

Armenian leaders had "turned soldiers into mercenaries and used them against the people," he added.

ARKA, Armenia

Sept 12 2018

Armenian troops respond promptly to firing of villages by Azerbaijani troops

Armenian troops reacted promptly to the firing  of the border villages of Baganis and Vazashen in Tavush region by Azerbaijani troops, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a Q&A parliamentary session today. A day earlier, the Azerbaijani side fired in the direction of  the Tavush region of Armenia in the vicinity of the village of Baganis.

"Armenia’s armed forces responded quickly to the firing of Baganis and Vazashen villages and suppressed the enemy's fire," Pashinyan said. He said he had traveled to Baganis and the border areas of the Tavush region and held a meeting with the village resident.

On Wednesday, Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan said that the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border near the village of Baganis was steady. According to him, breaches of  ceasefire regime occur there periodically and after the return fire of Armenian troops the situation stabilizes. 

[have a very good laugh!]

ArmenPress, Armenia

Sept 12 2018

Azerbaijan's dictator concerned over establishment of "dictatorship" in Armenia

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who gained president’s post from his father as a heritage and during whose years of rule various international institutions condemned the leadership of that country for gross violations of human rights and crackdown and persecution against their political opponents and journalists, has expressed concern over the emerging dictatorship in Armenia.

ARMENPRESS reports, citing Azerbaijani media, during a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger Aliyev urged him not to be indifferent towards the political process in Armenia, drawing his attention on “mass violations of human rights, arrests of political opponents and the establishment of a new dictatorial regime in Armenia”.

Ridiculously, Armenia is blamed for establishing dictatorship by someone during whose presidency human rights violations have become regular in Azerbaijan and political persecutions and censorship have become normal for that country, whereas all the international democratic institutions, including the OSCE, have welcomed the peaceful change of power in Armenia and have expressed readiness to assist in further democratic reforms.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

[have another good laugh!]

Trend.az

13 September

The Washington Times: Peace with Azerbaijan is precondition for democratization in Armenia

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Peace with Azerbaijan is a precondition for democratization in Armenia, Stephen Blank, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, said in his article published in The Washington Times.

The author points out that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has made numerous statements and gestures indicating an unwillingness to negotiate on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

“However, in so doing Pashinyan, possibly unwittingly, but nevertheless clearly, has placed his own democracy campaign at risk. As long as Armenia holds onto Azerbaijani territories it will not have peace. Simply, peace with Azerbaijan is a precondition for democratization in Armenia,” said the article.

“Peace, however, is the sole guarantee that Armenia can both democratize and move forward provided it receives strong Western backing. This affects the United States because Pashinyan allegedly wants a meeting with President Trump in New York. Before this meeting possibly occurs, Pashinyan should give the United States reasons to support him,” said Blank.

However, the author says that Armenia’s retention of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan are incompatible with US support or democracy.

News.am

Sept 12 2018

Armenian PM, US and UK ambassadors discuss Amulsar gold mine project 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received on Wednesday US and UK ambassadors to Armenia Richard Mills and Judith Farnworth, the press service of the government reported.

During the meeting of the party have discussed discussed cooperation in various fields and prospects for its development, implementation of joint programs, including the Amulsar gold mine project and the activities of Lydian International company.

ARKA, Armenia

Sept 12 2018

Armenia’s overall public debt grows by $3.5 million to $6.762.5 billion

Armenia’s aggregate public debt at the end of August 2018 stood at $6.762.5 billion, having increased by $3.5 million from the previous month, Armenia’s Ministry of Finance said.

It said as opposed to the beginning of the year the public debt was down by $12.1 million. According to the National Statistical Committee, $6.182.7 million of the total debt were owed by the government, including $4.856.8 billion worth foreign debt ($15.1 decrease from the previous month) and $1.325.8 billion was domestic debt (an increase of $15. 4 million).

The Central Bank's debt at the end of August was $579.8 million (an increase of $1.4 million).

Arminfo, Armenia

Sept 11 2018

Armenian higher educational institutions face demographic crisis

Alexander Avanesov. 

Higher educational institutions are facing demographic crisis due to the shortage of students. This was announced on September 11 by RA Minister of Education and Science Arayik Harutyunyan in the National Assembly of Armenia. According to him, the leadership of the ministry tries to fill the shortage of domestic students with foreign students in order to avoid a crisis in the country's higher education system. The Minister also agreed that some countries have refused to recognize the diplomas of the graduates of the medical university, because private universities offering poor quality of education cast a "shadow" on the entire educational system. " During my personal meeting with the Iranian ambassador in Armenia he pointed at the decline in the quality of education in the country's universities," the minister said, adding that he will soon visit Tehran, where he intends to discuss the problem. Heads of higher educational institutions of the country will also make part of the Armenian delegation to the Iranian capital.

To recall, in the middle of last year, the Ministry of Healthcare of Israel appealed to the police with a complaint against local "dentists" with fake Armenian diplomas. The complaint is based on testimony received by the Association of Dentists in the Arab sector. For more than a year the Ministry of Health of Israel has not approved the diplomas of hundreds of doctors or dentists issued by Armenian universities. Moreover, a few months ago, the department issued a warning to students intending to study in Armenia, that a situation may arise in which their diplomas will not be recognized in Israel at all.

Asbarez.com

Forum of Francophonie Organizations Kicks Off in Yerevan

The 11th Forum of Francophone Organizations kicked off on Wednesday presided over by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie Michaëlle Jean.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Pashinyan congratulated Michaëlle Jean on the opening of the forum and noted that her presence in Yerevan is both emblematic and important, since Armenia is going to host the 17th Summit of La Francophonie in a month.

Welcoming the representatives of those non-governmental organizations attending the forum, Pashinyan said the recent events in Armenia characterized the real power of the civil rights movement.

“I can state proudly that our country is assuming an important responsibility by hosting the Francophone Summit. I want to assure you that our government and the entire country have mobilized all forces to host the summit participants with the best traditions of Armenian hospitality,” Pashinyan said in his remarks, which he delivered in French.

“I hope the Summit will promote the development of Francophonie all over the world, and Armenia will become one of the centers of Francophonie’s diplomatic activity: the participation of delegations and observers from 84 member countries and organizations will give a new force to the Summit. The participants will be able to discover Armenia and its cultural values that make up part of the Francophone space. I am convinced that we are in for an unforgettable summit which will be a great success,” added Pashinyan.

“It is a great honor for us to hold the Summit in a country where a velvet revolution, a peaceful change of power has taken place,” Michaëlle Jean said, adding that she had the opportunity to meet young people who took on civic responsibility to advance the achievements of the velvet revolution.

About 200 representatives of non-governmental organizations from Francophone countries and almost all continents are participating in the Forum of Francophone Organizations.

Complaint concerning an ITV program on the Silk Road

Dear Ms Lumley and production team for your programme on the Silk Road,

I watched today’s episode and was saddened and appalled to find some very misleading inaccuracies on your programme, which I believe should not have been included in the script.

First of all, when showing the defaced frescoes on the Greek church in Cappadocia, you mentioned ‘perhaps it was the work of Non- Christians…’ but immediately you gave your Turkish guide the opportunity to refute that and explain that the Greeks themselves were doing that, out of superstition…Let me tell you, dear Joanna and whoever wrote the script to this programme - Turkey is full of ancient Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, etc churches with defaced frescoes. These churches and monasteries are abandoned because their people were massacred, deported or evicted from their lands.  It is only those churches that show signs of damage and vandalism.  If that ‘guide’ were right, you would see instances of defaced frescoes in Greek or Armenian churches in rural Greece or Armenia… or even in their functioning churches in Istanbul.  The frescoes depicted in your programme have indeed been damaged by Muslims who believe it is ‘haram’ to depict faces, and especially hate seeing images of Jesus or scenes from the Gospels.  This was a very big missed opportunity for the programme to address a huge problem of racism and chauvinism in Turkey.  

Secondly, Joanna moved towards the Black Sea province of Hamshen in Turkey.  She met and befriended a clan of Hamshen Armenians.  Again, lack of proper research, but always erring on the side of Turkish propaganda… she mentions that Hamshen Armenians came from neighbouring Armenia… Has no-one bothered to check this? Armenians don’t all come from the Republic of Armenia.  In fact the vast majority of Armenians descend from their historic homeland in what used to be known only 100 years ago as the ‘Armenian provinces’ of the Ottoman Empire.  Many of those territories were handed to Turkey by the Soviet Union after WW1.  It is true that Hamshen Armenians are Muslim converts, but their origins are from that same land, for millennia, much earlier than the time of the current Turkish population's arrival from Central Asia.

Finally, at the end of the programme, Joanna Lumley gives us an advance on the next episode.  She crosses over to Georgia and then goes down the Caucasus to… Azerbaijan, very skilfully avoiding Armenia.  Why?  Does she or her producers not know that Armenian merchants were crucial in the trade of goods along the Silk Road?  

I feel that the programme, particularly these two episodes, are tendentious towards promoting Turkey and skilfully trying to echo the inaccurate version that Turkey is lately selling to the world of a lovely, welcoming nation.  All this, while still keeping their minorities in terror of victimisation.  

It is sad that an intelligent lady like yourself would buy into that, or even be sold into that fake propaganda.  

I wish you to set the record straight.  

Mariana Hasminian