Hrachik Vardanyan is not happy with the slow progress of a court case looking into how forty members of a sixty-man Armenian military unit were killed or captured during the 2020 Karabakh war.

Vardanyan’s son Aristakes is still listed as missing in action when the unit found itself surrounded by Azerbaijani forces in the town of Kovsakan (Zangilan) in the south of the Artsakh Republic. The area was part of the “liberated territories” outside Nagorno Karabakh proper captured by Azerbaijan during the war. 

Vardanyan and other relatives of those forty Armenian soldiers today gathered outside Yerevan’s Government Building early this morning, demanding a meeting with Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan. They waited in vain.

After the war, a criminal case was initiated regarding the incident. Former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces Andranik Makaryan, commander of the military unit Arsen Abgaryan, chief of staff of the military unit Sargis Kulakchyan and head of the military unit’s recruitment department Ellada Harutyunyan now face charges of incompetence and inaction in the face of danger.

Hrachik Vardanyan tells Hetq it’s not easy to reach Yerevan from the Shirak village of Hatsik to attend the court hearings.

“We come from the villages, drive 100 kilometers. After arriving, there are five minutes of talk and then we’re told today’s session has been postponed,” says a frustrated Vardanyan, adding that he feels like the court system, rather than providing answers, wants to erode the patience of the relatives.

 In 2021, Hrachik Vardanyan’s daughter, fraught with angst over the loss of her brother, died from a heart attack. Another son died in a car accident. His surviving son now lives abroad. 

Mr. Vardanyan says the family found it near impossible to accept the loss of Aristakes, a sadness not assuaged by the court system.  

(The unit in question is an anti-radiation, chemical, and biological protection unit. The unit’s informal name is Kimikneri zoramas).

Source: https://hetq.am/en/article/158303?utm_content=bufferc3772&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Dear compatriot, the “Hayakve” initiative has launched the following plan to fail the surrender of Artsakh.

According to a UN report, cocaine seized in Turkey in 2022 increased by 42 percent compared to the previous year. This supports Turkey’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate’s proposal of a new route from South America to Turkey for the trafficking of drugs to the Middle East and Europe.

Duvar English

In recent years, the Turkish authorities’ arrest of prominent figures involved in the drug trafficking and the substantial surge in drug seizures within the country have brought to light Turkey’s pivotal role as a significant hub in the global drug trade, according to reporting by Daily BirGün.

Following the capture of the leader of the internationally known drug cartel Isaac Bignan on June 23 and the apprehension of Antony Finix, who oversees the cartel’s armed faction, along with the subsequent detention of numerous Turkish citizens associated with the organization, attention has once again shifted to Turkey’s role in the cocaine trade originating from Latin America.

The United Nations (UN) International Narcotics Control Board’s (INCB) 2022 report reveals that Turkey has became a transit point for many drugs to reach markets in the Middle East and Europe.

The fact that the amount of cocaine seized in Turkey in 2022 reached a record high of 2.8 tons, an increase of 42 percent compared to the previous year, supports the statement of the Turkish Anti-Narcotic Crimes Directorate that a new route from South America to Turkey was established in 2021.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Global Report on Cocaine shows that the amount of cocaine seized in Turkey increased sevenfold between 2014 and 2021, but the seriousness of the situation becomes even more apparent when the drugs seized before they can be sent to Turkey are taken into account.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of cocaine seized in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Brazil while being sent to Turkey.

The report indicated a substantial price disparity for cocaine, where it can be acquired for under 2,000 dollars per kilo in South America, while its value surges to over 50,000 dollars in Europe and surpasses 200,000 dollars Middle Eastern countries. This significant price discrepancy has intensified the interest of international criminal organizations in these markets.

According to Colombia-based Insight Crime, which conducts research on global organized crime and drug trafficking, Turkey-based drug traffickers have turned to the cocaine trade as opium prices have fallen in recent years.

Insight Crime stated that the experience of Turkish drug traffickers in heroin trafficking and smuggling from Asia to Europe and their connections to organized crime syndicates in Asia and Europe offer significant opportunities for cocaine trafficking.

Turkish court blocks access to websites for reporting on preliminary probe into Erdoğan’s son.

Duvar English

An Istanbul court on June 27 imposed a publication ban on news reports about a preliminary probe into President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan. 

On June 26, Reuters published a special report named “US, Swedish prosecutors study graft complaint naming son of Turkey’s Erdogan.”

The report said “Anti-corruption authorities in the United States and Sweden are reviewing a complaint alleging that the Swedish affiliate of a U.S. company pledged to pay tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks if a son of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan helped it secure a dominant market position in the country.”

The same report added “Ultimately, no kickbacks were paid, according to the complaint submitted to authorities by an individual and reviewed by Reuters.”

Istanbul Anatolian 5th Criminal Court of Peace has blocked access to 93 websites and Twitter accounts on the grounds of “violation of personal rights” for publishing the report of Reuters.

In its decision, the court said “Malicious distortions of truth may exceed the limits of acceptable criticism. Therefore, the duty of reporting necessarily includes responsibilities, and the limits that the press organizations must comply with. It was necessary to decide on the acceptance of the applicant’s request regarding the content that is far from reality, unconfirmed and far from goodwill and violating the applicant’s personality rights.”

Similarly, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun on June 26 deemed the reporting “a black mark” in the history of journalism.

Ruben Vardanyan, @RubenVardanyan_

In #Artsakh/ #NagornoKarabakh, the severity of the humanitarian crisis is evident as people are forced to resort to using limited portions of salt.

To address this situation, several actions should be taken:

1) Establishing an open humanitarian air corridor is of utmost importance, allowing UN or other humanitarian missions to have direct access to Stepanakert.

2) An urgent UN or other fact-finding mission needs to be deployed to the region. Witnessing the situation firsthand on the ground will provide a clearer understanding of the crisis.

3) Mediators from various countries, including Washington and Moscow, must exert pressure on Azerbaijan to bring about change. If they fail to do so, their mediation efforts will be futile.

4) Recognizing that the crisis is not only humanitarian but also rooted in political and historical factors is crucial. The perpetuation of state-sponsored anti-Armenian propaganda by Aliyev’s authoritarian regime cannot be ignored.

5) It is vital for renowned Armenians to speak out and raise awareness about the crisis. By coming together and supporting each other, Artsakh’s position as an integral part of the Armenian world can be reinforced, and together, we can overcome these challenges.

OPINION:

As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan begins his third decade in power, he has solidified his place as Turkey’s second-most consequential leader after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the republic a century ago.

With the opposition disempowered if not in disarray, Mr. Erdogan now seeks to fulfill his lifelong ambition: the complete and permanent reversal of Ataturk’s legacy of modern reforms.

American and European officials who believe, with the election in the rearview mirror, that they can return to business as usual with Turkey are dangerously mistaken. The issues that concern Mr. Erdogan most are neither interest rates at home nor Swedish NATO accession abroad, but rather laying the groundwork for the renewal of an Islamic state if not a formal caliphate.

Just as Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the downfall of the Soviet Union the 20th century’s greatest “geopolitical catastrophe,” Mr. Erdogan believes it was the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

None of this is idle speculation. Mr. Erdogan has said exactly what he wants.

He has described himself as the “imam of Istanbul” and as “servant of Sharia.” He declared that his goal is “to raise a religious generation.” He has described Turkish forces invading Syria as the “Army of Muhammad.” The reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque did not occur in isolation.

The latest foul play by Mr. Erdogan involves Armenia, the world’s oldest Christian nation. As Mr. Erdogan seeks to extend the reach of the Turkic and Islamic world from Turkey’s border with Greece and Bulgaria to China, Armenia, a country just slightly larger than Maryland, stands in his way.

Today, Mr. Erdogan believes he has found his moment to reverse this geopolitical inconvenience. The Turks tried more than a century ago, wiping away more than a million Armenians in a genocide Adolf

Paul Rusesabagina came to fame two decades ago as the hero in the movie Hotel Rwanda.

While reality was not as Hollywood depicted, fame sparked first ambition and then, failing to gain support in Rwanda, bitterness. He spoke about the necessity to overthrow the Rwandan government by any means necessary and then acted on it, wiring money to a terrorist group. Under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, one of the State Department’s top goals in Africa was to convince Burundi, the continent’s poorest country, to cease allowing cross-border insurgents to use its territory. He succeeded. Rusesabagina fumed.

In June 2020, Évariste Ndayishimiye became president of Burundi. Rusesabagina sought to convince him to cease stopping the terrorists Rusesabagina funded. After his capture, Rusesabagina’s story that he was taking a private jet to Burundi to talk to a church never made sense given Burundi’s poverty and the expense of international private charters.

After the plane diverted to Rwanda, a deception international law allows, Rwandan forces arrested Rusesabagina and tried him for crimes relating to terrorist attacks in southern Rwanda. The evidence was overwhelming. Behind the scenes, the State Department believed it. Rusesabagina’s supporters lobbied, Hollywood donors rallied, image trumped truth, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan intervened.

Negotiations were tough. Rusesabagina was a Belgian citizen. Belgian police certified the validity of evidence against him. Despite claims to the contrary, his trial was transparent and the Rwandans treated him well in prison. Privately, State Department officials acknowledged no evidence supported his adopted daughters’ claims of mistreatment.

Negotiators had to address not only Rusesabagina, but also his co-conspirators as it would be an affront to pardon one among many involved in the crime. Under Rwandan law, criminals can seek amnesty if they show contrition. Sullivan, Rusesabagina’s lawyers, and the former hotelier himself agreed he would. Rusesabagina penned a letter, seeking clemency, and acknowledging his calls to and support for violence and terrorism. He promised, “If I am granted a pardon and released, I understand fully that I will spend the remainder of my days in the United States in quiet reflection. I can assure you through this letter that I hold no personal or political ambitions otherwise. I will leave questions regarding Rwandan politics behind me.”

That lasted two months. Rusesabagina’s downfall has always been addiction to limelight. In late June, the New York Times published a lengthy interview in which Rusesabagina said, “‘They expected me to be silent. To be a good guy and behave . . . . No one can silence me that easily.”

The issue was never Rusesabagina’s silence but rather his terrorism sponsorship. While Rusesabagina’s supporters parry by criticizing Rwandan President Paul Kagame, these complaints are immaterial to his case: They do not justify the terror attack on Nyabimata that killed nine civilians.

Sullivan and Blinken have a problem. They gave their word to Rwanda to achieve a short-term goal and relieve donor pressure. Should they not respond to the deal’s violation, for example by deporting Rusesabagina to Belgium, then they signal that the agreements they broker are meaningless.

Sullivan and Blinken now turn their efforts to peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The chief sticking point is Armenian insistence that Azerbaijan guarantees the rights and safety of the ancient Christian community in Nagorno-Karabakh and their cultural heritage.

Rwanda may be a long way from Armenia, but the trauma of genocide links the two countries. Their ministers pay homage at each other’s memorials. The rhetoric in which Azerbaijan now engages parallels the genocide minimization if not denial that Hutu génocidaires and Rusesabagina himself engage. As Armenians seek American guarantees, they should recognize the cynicism with which Sullivan and Blinken conduct diplomacy. They should not gamble on the sanctity of any agreement Blinken negotiates or Sullivan guarantees, for neither keeps promises. For the government of Armenia or residents of Nagorno-Karabakh to trust either man now would be suicide.

Learn more: Punishing Blockades, Not Endless Talk, Is the Path to Peace | Britain’s Incredible Hypocrisy on Cluster Bombs | The Turkey-Iran Terror Nexus in Occupied Cyprus Shakes the Status Quo | Why Do Russia and Turkey Constantly Get the United States Wrong?