Weekly update
1 April
Anti-Armenian flyers were found taped on light poles around the complex that houses the St. Mary’s Armenian Church and the Krikor and Mariam Karamanoukian Glendale Youth Center in Glendale on Friday. According to asbarez.com the flyer denied the Armenian Genocide and expressed that Israel “fully supports” it completion. The posting of the racist flyer drew condemnation from city and state officials, as well as the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region. The flyer said: “Never Again Does Not Apply to Goyim” — a Hebrew reference to non-Jews. The racist messaging on the flyer also claims that “Israel our Azeri-Turk brothers to complete the Genocide.” The message is simply signed “Rabbi.” The Glendale Police Department said it was investigating the incident. Kassakhian, the Glendale mayor, called a press conference in front of the Glendale Police Department and condemned the act as “unconscionable and intolerable.” “On the foreign policy front, the Biden administration must confront Aliyev’s genocidal campaign against the Armenians of Artsakh and on the domestic front, our local governments must do better to protect the Armenian communities across California and the country at large. The only path forward for our community is by standing together against hate in all its forms,” said ANCA-Western Region Coalition and Community Development Director Edward Barsoumian.
https://asbarez.com/anti-armenian-flyers-again-surface-this-time-in-glendale/
31 March
Journalists and other media professionals disputed on Friday Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s claims that he has consistently strengthened press freedom in Armenia during his five-year rule. In line with azatutyun.am “As a former editor-in chief and journalist, I know full well, from my own experience, the importance of being able to function without interference from the state,” Pashinian told on Thursday a media-related event held as part of the U.S.-led Summit for Democracy. In a video address, he said that his government has put in place “all the mechanisms for developing free press as an essential part of true democracy.” “Armenia is continuously implementing reforms aimed at improving its legislation for ensuring better environment for media and journalists to perform their professional duties safely and freely,” added Pashinian. Ashot Melikian of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect the Freedom of Speech countered that in 2021 Pashinian’s administration tripled maximum legal fines for “slander,” made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and imposed unprecedented restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement inside the Armenian parliament building. More than 50 Armenians were prosecuted for defamation and hundreds of others investigated on the same grounds before the authorities decriminalized such offenses under domestic and foreign pressure last year. Many of those criminal cases stemmed from offensive comments on Pashinian made on social media or in public speeches.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/32344141.html
30 March
The U.S. State Department issued on March 20, 2023 its annual Country Reports on Human Rights for the year 2022. The report covered 198 countries and territories, including Armenia. According to 168.am the Executive Summary of the report described the Parliamentary elections of 2021: “the elections were generally well managed, and contestants were able to campaign freely. The elections, however, were also characterized by intense polarization and marred by increasingly inflammatory rhetoric. The observation mission noted that ‘high levels of harsh, intolerant, inflammatory and discriminatory rhetoric in the period leading up to election day tainted the debate.’ Other shortcomings included incidents of pressure to attend campaign events, allegations of vote buying, blurring of the line between the ruling party and state, alleged misuse of administrative resources, inadequate campaign finance provisions, and the narrow standing allowed for submitting electoral complaints.” Regarding various human rights abuses in Armenia, the State Dept. wrote that there were “credible reports of torture by members of the security forces; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with judicial independence; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on freedom of expression; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting civil society figures and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons; and the worst forms of child labor. The government took only limited steps to investigate and punish alleged abuses by former and current government officials and law enforcement authorities. There was no reported progress on government investigations of alleged abuses committed by Armenian armed forces or individuals during the 2020 hostilities.”
https://en.168.am/2023/03/30/44676.html
29 March
Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the plenary session of the official opening of the second “For Democracy” summit, the Prime Minister’s Office of Armenia informs. In line with observatorial.com the summit is held at the initiative of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, in an online format. The Prime Minister made a statement. Most of the 3.5-minute speech was related to the blockade of Lachin, the security of Artsakh and Armenia. The plenary session opened with welcome addresses from the leaders of the host countries, the United States, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Korea and Zambia. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also made an opening speech. Pashinyan’s office notes that thematic panel discussions are planned as part of the summit’s agenda, in 2021. Implementation of the commitments of the first “For Democracy” summit, challenges to democracy, as well as democratic values: ensuring governance accountability, rule of law, protection of human rights, freedom of the press, inclusive economic growth and other topics. Leaders of 120 countries were invited to participate in the summit. Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia are not on the list of invitees this year either.
https://observatorial.com/news/world/317869/pashinyan-participated-in-the-opening-of-the-second-for-democracy-summit/
28 March
Canada has called on Azerbaijan to reopen the Lachin Corridor and return Armenian prisoners of war. According to armenpress.am Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly made the statement in parliament. “I share the concerns of Armenian Canadians and Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. We continue to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to reopen the Lachin Corridor. We need to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis. Canada supports the 2020 ceasefire agreement, including the return of Armenian prisoners of war. It is important that the ceasefire – which is supported by the EU monitoring group – be respected,” Mélanie Joly said in response to MP Jean Yip, who noted that it’s already been over 100 days that the Lachin Corridor is blocked and that many Armenians in Canada are worried over the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and that the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh could soon escalate. She asked on the Canadian government’s position and efforts in this matter.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1107367.html
27 March
In line with ecolur.org Botany Institute of NAS RA after Takhtanjyan did not present a professional opinion regarding the large-scale tree cutting and replacement works in Yerevan, as it was announced by Institute Director Arsen Gasparyan."Scientists of the Institute expressed an opinion on the general idea of replacing diseased trees," Arsen Gasparyan said. He mentioned that there should be a clearly developed plan to carry out such large-scale works. "Our institute did not receive such a program, did not discuss it and did not respond," said Arsen Gasparyan. According to Director of Botany Institute of NAS RA, this process also has a public component. "My call is to present and publicize the complete program, the professional foundations for each street and tree. The Institute of Botany has recently carried out research, presented species for Yerevan that are beneficial to climate change in the long term. I will advise you to use the results of science."
https://www.ecolur.org/en/news/forest/14779/
26 March
Relatives of those still listed as missing because of the 2020 Karabakh war gathered outside the Prosecutor General’s Office in Yerevan, demanding that authorities increase efforts to find out what happened to their loved ones. According to hetq.am they also demand that those officials who aren’t working towards this end be held accountable. The Armenian government lists 175 soldiers and twenty civilians as still missing. Arsen Ghukasyan, whose brother Arman died in the war, is still looking for his nephew Sargis, who was a conscript soldier during the war. Ghukasyan told Hetq that the government’s investigative body has no information about Sargis. "The Investigative Committee does not investigate the cases, and when you want to get information, it says that they are pre-investigation secrets. No parent of a missing person wants information that is a state or military secret, they are only interested in the fate of their own sons,” says Arsen Ghukasyan.
https://hetq.am/en/article/154497
25 March
Filmmaker and Producer Peter Bahlawanian is doing everything in his power to alert the world to the dangers confronting the people of Artsakh. In line with counterpunch.org to most of the world, this region is known (and was so-named by Stalin in 1921 when the Soviets took over the region) as Nagorno-Karabagh, even though it has long been populated by a majority of Armenians. Bordering Artsakh to the west is the larger nation of Armenia. Both Artsakh and Armenia have been embroiled in conflicts with Azerbaijan ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet the world appears largely ignorant about this part of the world, a fact that will be explored in this article as to why. Beginning in 2021, military forces from Azerbaijan have been occupying the hills that surround and enclose the rural Armenian villages of Artsakh, trapping them in what some residents –all unarmed — liken to concentration camps. For them, memories have been rekindled of the horrific genocide of Armenians by the Turks that killed over 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 — especially since Turkey, which has always denied responsibility for the earlier genocide, has allied itself with the Azerbaijanis.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/03/24/can-another-armenian-genocide-be-stopped/