Weekly update
30 October
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan took part in the regular sitting of the Consultative Assembly on Cooperation with Extra-Parliamentary Political Forces. As Armenpress was informed from the Office e of the Prime Minister, the meeting was attended by Republic Party chairman Aram Sargsyan, Liberal Party chairman Samvel Babayan, representative of Alliance Progressive Centrist Party chairman Tigran Arzakantsyan, Fair Armenia Party chairman Norair Norikyan, Sovereign Armenia Party chairman David Sanasaryan, Armenia’s European Party chairman Tigran Khzmalyan, Christian-Democratic Party chairman Levon Shirinyan, United Motherland Party chairman Mher Terteryan, Conservative Party leader Mikayel Hayrapetyan, Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Armenia Office Head Sedrak Achemian. Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the participants of the meeting and said, “At the moment we have a very concrete decision, according to which three representatives of this format should be involved in the Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances of the 44-day war’’, PM Pashinyan said, emphasizing that at present solutions are being sought to organize it de jure. Nikol Pashinyan added that the work of the Commission of Inquiry will start only after the preparatory works are completed. Afterwards, the participants of the sitting proceeded to the discussion of the agenda issues.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1066913.html
29 October
“Don’t worry if you hear an explosion,” our Armenian guide tells us as we creep along the bombed-out streets of Martuni. “By the time you hear it, it has already missed you. You should only really worry if you hear the hum of a drone. Which you will,” he adds with a dry grin. The conflict dates back to 1988, flaring up with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But now, in little more than a month, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) sent up by the Azeris—the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and the Israeli-made Harop—have wiped out the Armenian defensive advantage and laid waste to billions of dollars of military hardware. The Bayraktar, often armed with laser-guided MAM warheads, strikes its targets in the same way a U.S. Predator would hit a terrorist camp in Afghanistan or Somalia. The Harop, by contrast, dives at its target like a kamikaze, exploding on impact.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a36827610/how-combat-drones-ended-a-war-in-44-days/
28 October
Armenia is discussing with Russia how to move forward in the process of normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told reporters. In line with Armenpress, “We’ve numerously said that we are ready to start discussing the normalization of relations with Turkey,” Grigoryan said after the Cabinet meeting. “Also, like I’ve said, we are discussing with our Russian partners how we can move forward in this process. I think it would be more effective to start this work, because both we and the Turkish side have noted that there are positive signals and we can start the normalization of relations.”
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1066720.html?fbclid=IwAR1hV3hpakbjm-sFjmkn9cJVnr7svz-Vsbh7EeZJTLWR5OyLgrN6_8TUki4
27 October
A Canadian defense company has gone bankrupt due to an arms embargo Ottawa imposed on Turkey in response to Ankara’s military operations in Syria and Azerbaijan, the Middle East Eye reports. In line with armradio.am Telemus Systems Inc filed for bankruptcy last August because it lost its primary customer, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), following an arms embargo imposed by the Canadian government in 2020, according to a report prepared by the trustee KPMG Inc. The company was selling a wide array of electronic intelligence and electronic support systems to the Turkish customer for a military drone known as TAI Anka. “Despite the company’s repeated attempts to reach a resolution with Global Affairs Canada, including explaining the material adverse impact on the company’s financial situation and solvency, the company’s Turkish export permits remained suspended,” the report said. “As a result of the government sanctions, the company was no longer able to generate any revenue.” The Canadian government decided in April 2021 to cancel Telemus Systems’ existing Turkish export permits as part of the arms embargo against Ankara, dealing the final blow to the company.
https://en.armradio.am/2021/10/27/canadian-company-files-bankruptcy-due-to-arms-embargo-on-turkey/
26 October
According to asbarez.com Azerbaijan promised that it would breach Armenia’s border through the new Horadiz-Jabrayil-Zangilan-Aghband highway, the foundations of which were laid on Tuesday at a ceremony attended by the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev. “You are going to the Armenian border, aren’t you? Will you go further?” Erdogan asked the Azerbaijan’s state highway agency Saleh Mammadov, who responded by saying: “Yes, we will move to the other side. With God’s help, we will go all the way to Istanbul, to Europe,” reported the Turan news agency. Erdogan traveled to the occupied Artsakh territories—his fifth visit since the end of the 44-Day War—to attend not only the ceremony for the highway that will realize Aliyev so-called “Zangezur Corridor” plan, but also another highway go through Artsakh’ Varanda (Fizuli) and Berdzor (Lachin) to Shushi. Erdogan and Aliyev also attended the opening ceremony of an airport in Varanda (Fizuli).
https://asbarez.com/azerbaijan-promises-to-breach-armenias-border-through-new-highway/?fbclid=IwAR0vpHXnteHVjTv8hC4cswyCQYFHJ3qgrLA-MklqY2r-6o8zoCTKV_9tk8s
25 October
The Washington-based "Armenian Legal Centre for Justice and Human Rights" has filed 16 lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about the forced disappearance of 20 Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in Azerbaijan, urging to oblige Azerbaijan to investigate the disappearances of these people. According to kavkaz-uzel.eu in cooperation with the Yerevan-based "Centre for International and Comparative Law", proofs have been collected and presented that these 20 military servicemen were captured during the 44-day war in 2020, but then there was no information about them. The above Washington Centre asserts that Azerbaijan has information about these people, but still has not recognized the fact of their captivity and failed to transfer any information about them to their relatives.Besides, according to the message, both above Centres have filed two new claims concerning the murder of 10 Armenian militaries. "These 10 Armenian servicemen were taken POWs, severely tortured and killed. Nine of them were executed already after signing the trilateral agreement on Karabakh," the Centres have stated.
https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/57112/
24 October
Gulbenkian Foundation Launches Western Armenian Language New Grant Program. According to hetq.am արդ եւս | in view is a new grant program dedicated to culture and creativity in the Western Armenian language. It is launched by the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Through this new flagship initiative, the Department will support cultural production in Armenian, seeking to reinforce the intrinsic relationship between language and culture. Western Armenian will be the main vehicle of creation. Culture and identity, especially in diasporan contexts, constantly evolve. Each generation creates its own culture, building on the achievements and aesthetics of the previous generations. The Foundation wishes to support this process of innovation, creation and identity (re)formulation by providing Armenian creatives the opportunity and the means to express themselves through any medium and in ways relevant to their current realities. There is a pressing need for a strong and vibrant contemporary culture in Western Armenian. The most effective way to ensure the vitality of any endangered language is to generate new culture in it — a culture that is relevant to and created by younger generations. Armenian language and culture cannot remain in seclusion while we constantly witness paradigm shifts in global dynamics, technological innovation at breakneck speeds, fluid identities and environmental catastrophes. It is imperative that the language and culture constantly engage with the world in order to thrive, remain vibrant and relevant.
https://hetq.am/en/article/137026
23 October
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin commented on the situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict region in response to the questions of the participants of session of the Valdai discussion club. In line with mediamax.am here are the important extracts from Putin’s speech on this topic. “I must give credit to the political wisdom of the president of Azerbaijan and prime minister of Armenia. Despite all the tragedy of the current developments they managed to rise above the spur-of-the-moment political situation and make very responsible decisions. There are always political forces that are dissatisfied with something or think that they could have done better. But the answer always rises: “Try to do better.” Still, President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan managed to stop the bloodshed. It is necessary to create conditions for a long-term settlement in the region as a whole. These conditions can be created only if both sides accept the reached agreements as long-term and both sides appreciate the benefits of peaceful coexistence.Azerbaijan is interested in normal communication with Nakhichevan, and is also interested in unfreezing communications. One of the first tasks Armenia is facing is to establish an effective economic life, effective interaction in the region, including even with Azerbaijan for the future. Basically, Armenia is interested in this. To unfreeze the relations with Turkey, to give them a modern nature.”
https://mediamax.am/en/news/region/45077
Sources: armenpress.am, popularmechanics.com, armradio.am, asbarez.com, kavkaz-uzel.eu, hetq.am, mediamax.am