Armenian News... A Topalian... UN LIVE WEB TV - ARMENIA
UN Live United Nations Web TV - Armenia - Prime Minister Addresses General Debate, 73rd Session
[Azeri's deafness and odd attitudes shine through this article]
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
September 26, 2018 Wednesday
Official Baku called "adventure" Pashinian's speech at the UN General Assembly
Delusions and adventurous steps by the new leadership of Armenia only paralyze the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. This is how a Deputy
Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Azerbaijani
Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev, commented on today's
speech by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at the session of the UN General Assembly. "Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan seems to have confused the rostrum of the UN General Assembly with the streets of Yerevan. He again tried unsuccessfully to deceive the international community. Attempts to represent democracy by coming to power through coup d'état and establishing a dictatorship are only a mockery," Hikmet Hajiyev said.
He drew attention to the fact that Pashinyan made groundless
accusations against Azerbaijan, despite the fact that Armenia occupies the Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent seven regions of Azerbaijan.
"The Armenian Prime Minister, continuing the provocative and
adventurous steps of his predecessors, by contradictory and delusional statements contributes to the paralysis of the negotiation process."
"Moreover, the Armenian Prime Minister, completely disregarding
international law and the UN Charter, calls for the annexation of the
occupied territories and keeps silent about the resolutions of the UN Security Council, which constitute the political and legal basis for the settlement of the conflict."
To achieve a breakthrough in the settlement of the conflict, Armenia must withdraw troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, stop impeding the return of internally displaced persons to their places of origin and comply with international obligations, according to the comments.
At the UN General Assembly Pashinyan spoke aggressively about the Karabakh conflict. He accused Azerbaijan of attempting a military solution to the conflict, refusing direct talks with Nagorno-Karabakh,and threatening the genocide of Karabakh Armenians in case if Nagorno Karabakh remains in Azerbaijan.
In dissonance to what he said Pashinyan called for a settlement of the conflict on the basis of a compromise, taking into account the
interests of all parties, without explaining what he means.
Arminfo, Armenia
Sept 25 2018
Baku threatens to shoot down NKR planes and helicopters, that will carry out training flights
Marianna Mkrtchyan.
Baku threatens to shoot down planes and helicopters of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, which are carrying out training flights. "The military-political leadership of Armenia launches regular provocative actions aimed at aggravating the situation on the line of confrontation between the troops. The information disseminated by the enemy about the conduct of training flights in Nagorno-Karabakh involving military aviation is a vivid proof of this. The Ministry of Defense states that any air force of the adversary that attempts to approach the advanced positions of the units of the Azerbaijani Army will be immediately neutralized. The entire responsibility for possible losses will be assigned to the military-political leadership of Armenia, "the statement of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.
As ArmInfo reported earlier, on September 25-28, as part of the combat training plan for 2018, the combat aircraft and helicopters of the Army's aviation Defense will conduct training exercises. "The purpose of the flights is to improve the skills of Armenian pilots and upgrade their combat readiness to a new level, "the NKR Defense Army said in a statement.
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 29 2018
Situation around Henrikh Mkhitaryan remains complex, Azerbaijani commentator admits
Arsenal are due to travel to Baku on October 4 for a EUFA Europa League group stage tie against Azerbaijani champions Qarabag. It is still unclear whether Armenian national team captain and Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will travel Baku amid the ban to enter Azerbaijan and out of out of security concerns.
Commentator at Russian Match TV Channel Elvin Qerimov has spoken about the topic, sport 24.ru reports.
“The situation around Mkhitaryan is complex. No athlete should ever face similar situation. The Europa League final will also be played in Baku and it is important to solve the matter to the benefit of football not politics. Sport unites people, helps to interact, get friends which may lead to reconciliation and not to the opposite,” Qerimov said.
[this article does not touch on the wishes of the Karabakh population expressed as early as in the 1930s]
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
September 28, 2018 Friday
Azerbaijan and Armenia in the conditions of war
by Analytical Service Turan
For the first time Armenia, carrying out maneuvers, started them with the declaration of the conditional war by the country's parliament. In its turn, Azerbaijan for the first time declared that the aim of the September maneuvers is the defeat of the military units of Armenia occupying the Azerbaijani territory.
Both sides reported on the successful completion of all the goals and tasks set in the planning of maneuvers. Armenia declared defeat in the course of maneuvers of Azerbaijani armed formations, and Azerbaijan, accordingly, defeated the Armenian. During the maneuvers both sides stated that the firing was combat.
The President of Turkey R. Erdogan attended the military parade, held in honor of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku from the Bolshevik-Armenian occupiers by the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani forces held on September 15, 2018. The Turkish leader said that the brotherhood of Turkey and Azerbaijan is inviolable, and that "there can be no talk of opening the Turkish-Armenian border until the Karabakh conflict is resolved fairly ..."
Military maneuvers and preparations for the conflicting parties were accompanied by a previously unpredictable verbal duel launched by the new leader of Armenia, Pashinyan, who, apparently, still continues to be dominated by revolutionary euphoria.
Immediately upon coming to power, Pashinyan said:
- that he refuses negotiations, which lead to nothing;
- that Karabakh should participate in the negotiation process;
- that Armenia will defeat Azerbaijan, because now it is completely different - a rallied country that the entire world Armenian Diaspora will actively support,
- that it is high time, without hesitation, to annex Karabakh to Armenia.
The response of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not take long:
"The war is not over yet"
"Very soon, the Azerbaijani flag will be over Karabakh" and,
"It would have been better if Pashinyan calms down and sit down, or he would get such an answer that he will not find himself a little."
Further, both leaders sent their sons to active service in the army - an event unprecedented for these countries, where the elite had previously tried to liberate their offspring from military conscription.
On the wave of growth in oil revenues in 2018, Azerbaijan launched a new program to rearm its army. On September 18 at a meeting with residents of the region of Bilasuvar, I.Aliyev said: "We will continue to strengthen our army, we will allocate more funds to the army, and in every possible way we will strengthen its defense capability."
It is interesting that unlike past small and large crises, international mediators did not indicate their attitude to the current aggravation played by Armenian and Azerbaijani staff officers. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hardly reacted to the provocative actions of the parties in order to stop the escalation of tension.
In this regard, it is worth noting the visit of the Israeli Defense Minister (September 13-18), which spent five days in Baku, negotiating with the President and the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan to expand military cooperation between the countries, including the sale of Israeli high-tech weapons to Azerbaijan. According to detaly.co.il "in 2017, the volume of Israeli arms exports reached 9.1 billion dollars. 13% of the Israeli arms exports come from Azerbaijan. "
On September 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Azerbaijan, who continued the line of the Sochi visit of President Aliyev to the expansion of the Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic cooperation for the next six years. Publicly nothing was said about the military aspect of cooperation. But it should be noted that Putin's visit came at the defense exhibition in Baku, where Russian developers and manufacturers lobbied for their weapons, and he could not but discuss the prospects for further deliveries of the Russian arms.
All these maneuvers, parades, verbal duels and visits of foreign leaders to the region may seem to observers a harbinger of some large-scale events in the conflict zone. Of the recent statements of Yerevan and Baku, it is also clear that the conflicting parties believe that they are both psychologically and financially ready for a big war to a victorious end. But how much is such a war possible? Armenia does not want a large-scale war, it is pleased with the current status quo quite. Russia does not want such a war, because its current status quo, in which both conflicting countries are dependent on Russian support, is quite satisfactory.
The West is also not a supporter of such a war, because it could harm multibillion-dollar investments invested in the extraction and transportation of Caspian energy resources and other existing and promising projects. The "war of liberation" is desired only for Azerbaijan, but even at the stage of preparation for a major war, Baku will most likely face an influential world "peacekeeping" alliance.
Such a war can be effective for Azerbaijan in the event of a weakening of the "peacekeeping" alliance, which can happen, while satisfying the interests of countries or alliances - moderators of the conflict. The latter are stepping up activity in the Azerbaijani field, where deals continue around oil and gas, militaristic and other billion projects, which, with the correct redistribution, can become an advantage of Baku and its security umbrella.
Armenian military games with the designation of real, not conditional, enemy will remain head quarters in such a situation, and the status of "neither war, nor peace" in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can begin to crumble.Azerbaijan is unlikely to give up creating a constant tension on the contact line with the enemy, in order not to let Armenia feel at ease. Armenian soldiers will perish from mines and snipers in foreign territory. Such a status quo, as the economic, demographic degradation of Armenia and its regional isolation show, will not be easy for the Armenian society to sustain.
ArmenPress, Armenia
Sept 28 2018
Yerevan to have Francophonie Village during upcoming summit
A Francophonie Village will be organized in Yerevan during the La Francophonie summit which will take place early October this year in the Armenian capital. The Francophonie Village will be located in the city’s Freedom Square.
Yerevan City Hall said that Francophone countries will participate in the event in individual pavilions. Members of the La Francophonie will present the cultural diversity, crafts and arts of their peoples. Dance and music performances will also take place.
All provinces of Armenia will be presented at the event individually, including Yerevan.
The Village will operate from October 7th through October 12.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted by the French language. The French language and its humanist values represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation of La Francophonie is based.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274 million French speakers.
IOF organises political activities and actions of multilateral cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the French language, peace and sustainable development.
IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones).
The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional offices (West Africa; Central Africa and Indian Ocean; Asia-Pacific) located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi (Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in Port-au-Prince (Haiti).
Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the programs decided at the Summits. The four direct operators are: the Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of Alexandria.
Members:
Albania, Principality of Andorra, Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, , Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco, Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 26 2018
Envoy: EU is Armenia's biggest export market
The European Union is Armenia’s biggest export market, Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Świtalski told reporters in a media briefing on Wednesday.
According to him, the EU seeks to expand trade ties with Armenia, stressing the need to support the Armenian government in this respect.
The top EU official highlighted the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between Armenia and the EU in November 2017 as a tool to attract new investments and further boost the bilateral cooperation.
“We should jointly discuss what needs to be done to make Armenia more attractive for investments,” the envoy said.
Touching upon Armenia-enjoyed GSP+ privileged trade regime with the EU countries, Świtalski said it is very beneficial for Armenia since the country saves some €40 million annually under the regime. Meantime, he says there are some issues, but the EU stands ready to support Armenia to deal with them.
RFE/RL Report
Parliament Panel Plans To Question Pashinian Over Leaked Phone Calls
September 26, 2018
Ruzanna Stepanian
The head of an Armenian parliamentary body said on Wednesday that it will try to question Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in its unfolding inquiry into recently leaked phone calls between two senior law-enforcement officials which caused a political scandal.
The chiefs of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) and Special
Investigative Service (SIS) apparently spoke in July shortly before former President Robert Kocharian was arrested over his role in the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan. The two conversations were wiretapped and posted on the Internet by unknown individuals earlier this month.
In that audio, the NSS’s Artur Vanetsian can be heard telling the SIS’s Sasun Khachatrian that he ordered a judge to sanction Kocharian’s controversial arrest. Vanetsian also urged the SIS not to arrest Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian secretary general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), warning of a negative reaction from Russia. He noted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wants investigators to “lock up” Khachaturov.
Pashinian condemned the wiretapping and denied putting pressure on investigators.
For his part, Kocharian, who was released from pre-trial custody in August, portrayed the audio as further proof that the criminal case against him is politically motivated and directed by Pashinian. Top representatives of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), the country’s largest parliamentary force, echoed these claims.
At the HHK’s initiative, the parliament decided on September 12 to set up an ad hoc commission tasked with investigating circumstances of the illegal wiretapping and possible obstruction of justice by senior officials. The multi-partisan commission is headed by Gevorg Kostanian, an HHK lawmaker who served as Armenia’s prosecutor-general from 2013-2016. Its deputy chairman,
Alen Simonian, is a close associate of Pashinian.
Kostanian said that the special panel will seek testimony from not only Vanetsian and Khachatrian but also the prime minister. “It is logical that at some point these individuals mentioned by you will definitely be invited to a session of the commission,” he told reporters.
Kostanian added that neither Pashinian nor any other state official can refuse to be questioned by the commission. “Under the National Assembly statutes, any official [summoned by the commission] is obliged to report for sessions of the commission. Failure to do so would be automatically deemed an abuse of power or a manifestation of inactivity,” he warned.
The law also gives such parliamentary bodies access to sensitive details of criminal investigations and even state secrets.
Armenian Apostolic Church Must Be Saved From In-House Charlatans Masquerading as Spiritual Leaders
Posted on September. 20. 2018
BY APPO JABARIAN
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER/MANAGING EDITOR
USA ARMENIAN LIFE MAGAZINE
Throughout centuries, even under Genghis Khan, Ottoman despotic rulers and Soviet dictatorship, Armenian Church has served as a bastion of preservation of Christian spirituality and Armenian identity.
Sadly, despite its rich history and invaluable heritage, Armenian Church is currently going through a major internal crisis. During the last couple decades the Church has undergone radical change … for the worst. And this seems to be only the beginning.
Although many church members and supporters in Armenia and throughout the Diaspora seem to be clueless about or are unwilling to speak out on the internal crisis that the Holy See of Echmiadzin is going through, there are countless reliable reports that the spiritual leadership has been fast-losing its orientation.
The church is not the only national institution facing such challenges. In recent decades, many of the faith-based and community-based national institutions of the Armenian people both in Armenia and Diaspora, have been experiencing deterioration as a result of rampant corruption, nepotism and mismanagement.
During the past several years, along with several Armenian media outlets around the world, the editorial boards of the twin weekly publications — English-language USA Armenian Life Magazine and Armenian-language Hye Kiank Armenian Weekly have published several articles bringing to the forefront of public awareness the current issues adversely affecting the state of the Armenian Apostolic Church. They shall continue to do so until healthy-thinking forces within our community bring these invaluable national treasure under Armenian people’s direct supervision and disallow oligarchs to hijack the future of the Armenian people.
An article titled “The Temple is Crumbling: The Corruption of the Armenian Apostolic Church,” by Annie Demirjian, the Director of Glendon School of Public & International Affairs, York University on Policy Forum Armenia blog in late 2016, continues to be relevant.
Prof. Demirjian wrote: “Today, the foundations of this ancient temple appear to be crumbling, as testified by two Armenian clergymen at an event organized by the Armenian Renaissance Toronto Chapter at the Westin Prince Hotel on December 1, 2016. Some 100 community members turned up to listen to guest-speakers Reverend Armen Melkonian from Belgium and Reverend Mardiros Berberian (via Skype) from Moscow. Both priests have been alienated and effectively excommunicated by the Church hierarchy in Etchmiadzin but continue to preach in their communities unofficially. In both instances, the respective parishes have decided to forego the authoritarian ultimatums of the Mother See in Etchmiadzin, opting rather to support their local priests. At the discussion, both priests made it clear that this narrative is not about them personally, and that they are not critical of the Church as an institution. Rather, their expression of concern relates to its governance in light of ample evidence of an inability to accept feedback and implement reform. This represents the beginnings of a dangerous trajectory. While for centuries the primary clergy and head of the church were elected by the church’s Supreme Synod, the Catholicos today has instead chosen for the first time to appoint current ruling clerics, who are thus no longer accountable to the people they are designated to serve.”
In an August 2013 keghart.com editorial compilation, JirairTutunjian and Contributors: V. Mekhitarian, M. Kojayan, D. Abrahamian wrote: “In the past few months a scandal—immense, terrifying and excoriating—has crashed into our national public arena. It’s no less than the management style and reputation of the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. As catholicos, he is not just the spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but is almost as important to the Armenian Nation as the president of Armenia. A smear on the catholicos is a smear on our Nation—even on those who are members of the Cilicia See, are Catholic, Protestant… atheist. The critics of Catholicos Karekin II have circulated petitions, published open letters and articles, convened meetings, commented on the electronic media, and some have even demanded the resignation of the catholicos. The accusations leveled are in the many scores: Fraud, moral turpitude, corruption, autocracy, the decline of Echmiadzin clergy’s morals and morale, malaise among the clergy…the litany goes on…inclusive of the Seven Deadly Sins and some. A diatribe orgy? Hidden agendas by his enemies or enemies of the Church? Far-fetched allegations? Poison letters?” (See a compilation of the alleged failings of the catholicos at https://keghart.com/Editorial-Catholicos).
Holy Echmiadzin, Armenia has become a personal leasure center where instead of carrying out their spiritual mission, certain spiritual leaders and their underlings pursue personal fame and fortune at the expense of their flocks.
Reportedly, in 2011, it was revealed that Vicar of the Ararat Diocese Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan drove around in a Bentley (valued at $180,000-$280,000) at a time when the poverty rate in Armenia was at a whopping 34%. Many critics found Archbishop Kchoyan’s reckless disregard and attitude “even more unacceptable due to his position in the Armenian Church.”
Archbishop Kchoyan’s justification: The Bentley automobile has been gifted to him by a wealthy Armenian. Question: Couldn’t he settle for a modest brand car and use the remainder of the funds to help the needy among his flock?
Corruption, nepotism and absolute abuse of spiritual power and spiritual leadership position has not only engulfed Echmiadzin but has mushroomed to faraway dioceses such as Western United States and namely the Los Angeles basin.
Apparently we’re living in an era where individuals who turn out to be like military General Manvel Grigoryan of Echmiadzin, Armenia who had reportedly misappropriated aid packages provided by Armenia people for Armenian soldiers, never fulfilling the donors’ desire to help the soldiers.
It looks like Echmiadzin, Armenia has become the center of many different types of “General Manvels” especially on religious level. Many critics now accuse Armenian Church spiritual leaders for misusing donations received for the intention of helping needy Armenians squandering them on personal material fulfillment. These religious leaders are now accused to be eager more to drive around in Bentleys then fulfilling their spiritual mission.
The urge of driving Bentleys and living lavish lives by these so-called spiritual leaders has also infected lower-level clergy right here in Los Angeles.
Instead of carrying out their spiritual mission these anti-church parasites who are masquerading as spiritual leaders in their communities are in reality a bunch of charlatans who are abusing their positions of leadership for personal gain and are exploiting the goodwill of the members of the church.
A number of these charlatans (luckily they’re not known to be many) masquerade as spiritual missionaries who deserve to be exposed and expelled from the church. Speaking of anti-Christ, these elements are the real parasites that are destroying the Armenian Church from within.
Their personal urge to drive around in Bentleys and living a lavish life at the cost of neglecting their spiritual missions may be called Bentley-Driving and Caviar-Consumption Urge Syndrome or simply Bentley Syndrome (“BS”). A cure must be found to do away with this so-called “BS” illness.
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