Tuesday, 26 November 2024

W Weekly Update

9-16 April

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Weekly update

 

16 April
Professor Richard G. Hovannisian, editor of the newly published “Armenian Communities of Persia/Iran: History, Trade, Culture,” will present the new book in a discussion at the Armenian Society of Los Angeles. According to asbarez.com the book launch event will be held on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Armenian Society of Los Angeles. “Armenian Communities of Persia/Iran: History, Trade, Culture,” a 670-page volume, is the fifteenth and final volume in the “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces” series, edited by Professor Hovannisian of the University of California and Chapman University. The volume covers the Armenian presence in Iran from antiquity to contemporary times; includes Armenian-Iranian relations from the pre-Christian era to the Middle Ages; the Maku and Tabriz districts, with the monasteries of St. Thaddeus, St. Stepanos, and Tsortsor; the importance of Persian Azarbayjan/Atrpatakan in the Armenian and Iranian revolutionary movements; the displacements and massacres of the Christian inhabitants of the Urmia, Salmast, and Khoy districts during the Turkish offensives in World War I; as well as the leadership in relief efforts of Archbishop Nerses Melik-Tangian of Atrpatakan (Tabriz).
https://www.asbarez.com/richard-hovannisian-to-present-book-on-armenian-communities-of-persia-at-armenian-society-of-la/

 

15 April
In the morning of 27 September 2020, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, woke to the sounds of cluster munitions exploding. According to opendemocracy.net, it felt as if the fireworks were continuing from the night before, when the city had celebrated a public holiday. In the 44 days that followed, at least 3,700 Armenian and Karabakh soldiers – many of them young men – were killed in an offensive by Azerbaijani troops seeking to take key positions deep within the territory. The real death toll is likely higher. Hundreds of Armenian servicemen remain in Azerbaijani captivity today, and the fates of people who went missing are unclear. Tens of thousands of Armenians were displaced, and hundreds of villages were taken under Azerbaijani control. In effect, Nagorno-Karabakh lost 70% of the territory it had controlled since 1994 – and with it, a sense of control over its future. The territory, which is disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is today home to roughly 100,000 Armenians – and is governed by an unrecognised administration.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/nagorno-karabakh-what-does-the-future-hold/

 

14 April
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement issue in parliament, and commented on former President Serzh Sargsyan’s statements. According to armenpress.am “Yesterday I presented here the chain of developments that happened in 1998 - 2018. And it is no coincidence that Serzh Sargsyan commented only on one episode, saying that he’s never negotiated over a phased resolution of the Karabakh issue,” Pashinyan said. Pashinyan then quoted Sargsyan’s statement who said: “I’ve numerously publicly spoken about the difference between a phased and package resolution, and comprehensively explained that a package option cannot be realized in one day or one hour, and that it definitely must be resolved in phases.” PM Pashinyan then asked why Serzh Sargsyan commented only on this episode. “Because the explanation of this one episode solves a fundamental issue, that the regime change in 1998 wasn’t about saving Karabakh from something, but for seizing power. This is why he only commented on this episode because the explanation of this episode without details underscores that the history of 20 years had an entirely different context. It is no coincidence at all that after the 2020 war Serzh Sargsyan, reflecting on 2018, was saying that back then after having served as President for two terms he wanted to become Prime Minister for the Karabakh issue.” Pashinyan said.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1080612.html

 

13 April
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh was essentially left out from the dimension of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmanship format talks as of 2016. According to armenpress.am Pashinyan was making the comments in parliament when asked by MP Vahagn Alexanyan on what took place in the negotiations process in 2016. “What was the leitmotif of the 1998 events, Levon-Ter Petrosyan thought that the issue must be solved in a phased option, Serzh Sargsyan, Robert Kocharyan and the then-authorities of Artsakh were saying no, they weren’t accepting this, and that the issue must be accepted in a package option. And this became the leitmotif,” Pashinyan said. Speaking on the role of the Co-Chairs, the PM said: “They take the ideas of the sides, try to refine them and put it on paper. We can have all kinds of ideas. But as of 2018 the entirety of the Karabakh issue was so much split up, it wasn’t a phased option, it was rather a hyper-phased option. Meaning, from the 1998 phased option we reached the 2016 hyperphased option,” the PM said.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1080511.html

 

12 April
Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan called on the opposition MPs to resign after they boycotted the parliament’s four-day session and announced they would be travelling to Artsakh. In line with hetq.am, Simonyan charged the opposition Hayastan and With Honor factions of “working together with Azerbaijani armed forces” by staging populist events that undermine the security of Armenia. Earlier, Hayastan faction head Seyran Ohanyan accused the government of handing Artsakh over to Azerbaijan and incapable of resolving Armenia’s many internal and external problems. Opposition MPs came to the parliament waving the flags of Artsakh. “Recent developments confirm concerns that everything is on the Azerbaijani-Turkish agenda. Within the framework of the so-called peace treaty, we are preparing our people for new concessions, new defeats, new humiliations,” Ohanyan announced before opposition MPs exited the parliament. Simonyan also charged the opposition of merely showing up at the parliament to receive their salaries and using the money to fund opposition news outlets.
https://hetq.am/en/article/143330

 

11 April
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan telephoned Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the weekend to brief him on their latest meeting in Brussels that prompted strong Russian criticism of the European Union’s role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process. According to azatutyun.am, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday accused the EU of trying to sideline Moscow and use the Nagorno-Karabakh for its “Russophobic line” amid the conflict in Ukraine. Lavrov said that the 27-nation bloc wants to claim credit for Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements on border demarcation and transport links that were brokered by Putin following the 2020 war in Karabakh. The Kremlin reported that Putin stressed the importance of implementing those agreements in his separate phone calls with Azerbaijani President Ilham and Armenian President Nikol Pashinian initiated by the latter on Saturday. It said they also discussed preparations for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty which topped the agenda of Aliyev’s and Pashinian’s trilateral meeting with European Council President Michel held last Wednesday.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31797145.html

 

10 April
10 April marks the 30th anniversary of the brutal massacre of the civilian population of Maragha settlement of the Martakert region of Artsakh committed by the Azerbaijani army on April 10, 1992. According to hetq.am as a result of the massacre, about 50 people were tortured and brutally killed, and dozens were taken hostage, and the fate of 19 remains unknown to this day.  The fact that the commander of the Azerbaijani armed forces’ units, which committed the war crimes in Maragha, Shahin Tagiyev, was awarded the title of national hero of Azerbaijan, leaves no doubt that the mass killings of civilians was among the main tasks of the Azerbaijani armed forces. With this step, the Azerbaijani authorities confirmed that they bear full responsibility for the internationally wrongful acts committed in Maragha. The massacre of civilians in Maragha is an integral part of the genocidal policy systematically pursued by the Azerbaijani authorities for over 30 years, starting from the brutal pogroms in Sumgait up to the war crimes committed during the 44-day armed aggression in 2020. Only a strong and prosperous Artsakh that develops its statehood, has a status of an international legal subject and unites all Armenians around itself, can become the best guarantee of non-repetition of the tragedy of Maragha․
https://hetq.am/en/article/143259

 

9 April
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenia has accepted the five-point peace proposal Baku recently submitted to Armenia, according to a statement released by Aliyev's office. In line with hetq.am, Aliyev, according to the statement, broached the peace proposal during a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that Armenian has accepted it. Aliyev and Putin are reported to have discussed setting up a working group to prepare a new peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the establishment of a commission on delimitation of borders, as well as the activities of a working group on transport issues with the involvement of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia and further contacts in this format. Baku released details of the five-point peace proposal on March 14. Two of the points were: Mutual recognition of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of internationally recognized borders and political independence of each other. Mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims against each other and acceptance of legally binding obligations not to raise such a claim in future.
https://hetq.am/en/article/143249

 

Sources: asbarez.com, opendemocracy.net, armenpress.am, hetq.am, azatutyun.am

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