Weekly update
20 February
The California Armenian Legislative Caucus urged their fellow lawmakers “not to spread misinformation” emanating from Azerbaijani propaganda material circulated to legislative offices about a fabricated “Khojaly Massacre,” reported armradio.am. The letter, signed by Assembly members Laura Friedman and Adrin Nazarian, as well as Senators Anthony Portantino, and Senator Scott Wilk on behalf of the California Armenian Legislative Caucus, said “the request [by the propaganda authors] is a falsification of history and truth.” The Armenian Caucus urged the fellow lawmakers “to stand with the California Armenian Americans… and not spread misinformation.” The request that the office received has turned the incident into an anti-Armenian campaign. The letter says that the anti-Armenian stance is a fresh wound for Armenians as they have very recently been attacked by the Azeri’s, just as they were in 1992. Furthermore, for more than a century, Turkey and Azerbaijan have maintained a violent history toward the Armenian people. Descendants of the Armenian Genocide continue to mourn the loss of 1.5 million ancestors murdered by the Turks and over 5,000 civilians and military personnel were killed in this conflict.
19 February
The recently published results of a Gallup International poll claim 38.8 percent of respondents in Armenia believe Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should remain in the post of head of government, while 43.6% believe that he should resign. According to jam-news.net the survey was conducted by MPG (Marketing Professional Group) – the only organization in Armenia that officially represents GALLUP International in the country. The last such survey was conducted in November 2020. Then, according to the director of MPG Aram Navasardyan, 35% demanded the prime minister’s resignation. At the same time, the prime minister retains the highest rating among other Armenian politicians. The respondents who participated in the poll were asked to rate politicians on a scale of 1 to 5. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had the highest rating with 2.8 points. After him, incumbent President Armen Sargsyan has the highest rating at 2.3 points. Former presidents of Armenia received lower scores.
18 February
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. According to en.kremlin.ru the presidents discuss the situation around Nagorno Karabakh in the context of implementing agreements, formalised in the statements of Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021. This implies coordinated Russian -Turkish actions in the interests of the region’s socio-economic development. They expressed satisfaction in connection with launching the work of the Joint Russian -Turkish Centre for Monitoring the Ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh.
17 February
Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh] is investigating a report of high treason during the Artsakh war, said news.am. On December 10, 2020, public organizations of Artsakh submitted a report on the crime to the Artsakh Prosecutor's Office. It provided information on the alleged cases of a group of citizens rendering assistance to the enemy's armed forces in carrying out hostile activities during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh from September 27, 2020. To ensure a full, objective, and comprehensive investigation in connection with the cases presented in the report, on February 15 of this year, a criminal case has been initiated.
16 February
The Armenian public is discussing a recent interview with ex-President Serzh Sargsyan. In line with jam-news.net. For an hour and a half, the former leader of the country harshly criticized the current authorities. In particular, for the fact that Armenia did not recognize the independence of Karabakh in the fall of 2020 during the 44-day war. He presented the history of the negotiation process on Karabakh, in which he himself participated, refuting the statements of the current prime minister about the mistakes made at that time. Sargsyan confirmed that he had received an offer of billions of dollars for Karabakh, which was mediated by the President of Belarus. The ex-president does not exclude that the same proposal was made to the current Prime Minister of Armenia. In December 2020, a recording of a personal conversation between former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, which took place in Yerevan on October 14, 2016, appeared on the Internet. On the tape, Lukashenka says the Azerbaijani president is ready to pay $5 billion for seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh. Serzh Sargsyan replies that he is ready to give Aliyev six billion to give up these territories.
15 February
On Sept. 27, 2020, Azerbaijani forces began bombarding and invading the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, a mountainous, Armenian territory situated in the Lesser Caucasus. According to bctorch.com Armenia and Azerbaijan, both located between the Eurasian nations of Turkey, Russia, and Iran, have a long history of conflict and have seen heightened tensions that led to a full-scale war last fall. The Nagorno-Karabakh territory is a historically Armenian-inhabited area that was turned over to Bolshevik-Azerbaijani governance during the early Soviet period, despite over 90 percent of the region’s population being Armenian. Armenian citizens are 97.9 percent Christian, with adherents of the Armenian Apostolic or Orthodox Church consisting of the vast majority of that group, while 96 percent of Azerbaijani citizens are Muslim. Religion, as well as ethnicity, are often cited as large sources of rivalry and distrust between the two countries.
14 February
The military phase of the 2020 Artsakh War seems to have ended but the legal fight for restoring and upholding human rights is just beginning, reports evnreport.com. On February 1, the Armenian Government submitted an Inter-State Application against Azerbaijan to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) claiming violations of the rights of the people of Artsakh and Armenia guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the right to liberty, the right to property, the right to personal and family life and the right to education are among the articles of the Convention that the Armenian Government claims Azerbaijan violated both during and in the aftermath of the 2020 Artsakh War. The Government also raised issues pertaining to the protection of the rights of prisoners of war (POWs), civilian captives, displaced people, and local and international reporters.
13 February
“Important facts about the gross violations of the rights of peaceful civilians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) during the war that Azerbaijan unleashed in September-November 2020. In line with artsakhpress.am during the war, more than 100,000 peaceful civilians were displaced from their permanent places of residence. In consequence of the war, nearly 40,000 people were left homeless, deprived of their homes, personal items, the opportunity to live with basic living conditions and other rights. As a result of the attacks of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, during the war, nearly 30,000 schoolchildren and kindergarten age children were deprived of education, 12 kindergartens and 71 schools were either damaged or destroyed.
Sources: www.armradio.am, www.jam-news.net, www.en.kremlin.ru, www.news.am, www.bctorch.com, www.evnreport.com, www.artsakhpress.am