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fighter jet deal with France Egypt confirms $4.75 bn

May 5, 2021 By administrator

Egypt’s Defense Ministry confirmed today that it signed an agreement to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets from France in what an investigative group says is a $4.75 billion arms deal.

France’s government confirmed on Tuesday it will begin delivering the jets in 2024. Defense Minister Florence Parly said in a statement that the deal is crucial for France’s “sovereignty” and will create 7,000 jobs.

The France-based investigative nongovernmental organization Disclose reported on Monday that it had obtained documents outlining three contracts signed on April 26 with French defense companies. The agreement was confidential at Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s request, the group reported.

The deals include $4.5 billion (3.75 billion euros) worth of Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets, and $240 million (200 million euros) worth of avionics and munitions from France’s missile manufacturing conglomerate MBDA and Safran Electronics & Defense.

France’s government is guaranteeing the funds for up to 85% ($4 billion) via loans from Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, BNP and CIC banks, Disclose reported.

Rights advocates slammed the sale as enabling the Egyptian military during the country’s worst repression in decades.

Sisi, a former defense minister who came to power after overthrowing the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi in 2013, oversaw the alteration of Egypt’s Constitution two years ago to allow him to remain in power until 2030.

He also saw a brutal crackdown on dissent and suspected dissent of all forms in Egypt. Rights groups estimate some 60,000 political prisoners languish in Egyptian jails. The Egyptian military has also been accused of serious abuses amid its fight against Islamist insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula.

Benedicte Jeannerod, Human Rights Watch’s director in France, told Reuters that “France is only encouraging this ruthless repression” by agreeing to sell Cairo more arms.

In December, French President Emmanuel Macron said his government would not condition arms sales to Cairo based on human rights concerns, citing the Sisi government’s fight against Islamist terrorism.

Egypt’s defense ties have grown since the former US administration of President Barack Obama withheld major defense sales to Cairo following Sisi’s coup.

In 2015, Egypt signed a deal to purchase 24 Rafale fighters from Paris. That agreement left open the possibility of Cairo purchasing another 12 of the fighters.

The Sisi government has also courted Russia, agreeing to buy potentially dozens of Su-35 fighter jets and alarming policymakers in Washington who see arms sales as a means of leverage in the region amid competition with Russia and China.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/05/egypt-confirms-475-bn-fighter-jet-deal-france#ixzz6u10WYn7L


Filed Under: Articles

Opinion | On the apologists of Baku’s Military Trophy Park a shameful display

May 5, 2021 By administrator

The recently opened Military Trophy Park in Baku is a shameful display that will bring no benefit to ordinary Azerbaijanis. Even the Park’s defenders are forced to rely on false and disingenuous comparisons to justify its existence.  

By Javid Agha

On 12 April, about five months after the end of the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Military Trophy Park in Baku was opened to official fanfare and a highly publicised visit by President Ilham Aliyev. 

While some Azerbaijanis denounced this Park as uncivilised, many seemingly applauded it as the demonstration of Azerbaijani victory over the enemy. But the arguments of such apologists are not only misinformed and disingenuous, but they utterly fail ordinary Azerbaijanis who have nothing to gain from this park or from continued enmity with Armenians.   

The exhibition of dozens of helmets that once belonged to Armenian soldiers alongside wax figures of Armenian military personnel deliberately designed to show them as uglyand cowardly are not only inhuman, but also unnecessary. Defenders of the park have tried to justify this by claiming that similar parks or museums exist throughout Europe, which also exhibit the helmets and uniforms of enemy soldiers. But the comparison doesn’t hold water at even the most basic level. 

First, there is a factual mistake — the war museums that defenders of the park cited exhibit the uniforms, helmets, guns and other objects in a neutral way for the purpose of showing objects as artifacts as well as to inform visitors of the conditions combatants faced on the front. Those war museums do not humiliate enemy soldiers with grotesque wax statuary. 

For instance, the British Imperial War Museum collects ‘objects and stories’ with the purpose of giving ‘an insight into people’s experiences of war’. Similarly, the Belgian Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History aims to contribute to our ‘knowledge about military history’ and ‘encourages scientific research concerning military history and heritage’. 

I could go on and cite other war museums from foreign, especially European, countries which were (ab)used by some Azerbaijani apologists of the Military Trophy Park. But I think I have made my point — these apologists had their facts wrong.

Second, the Military Trophy Park in Baku is not a war museum at all. It is literally a trophy park. The website of the park clearly states its purpose: ‘to demonstrate the military trophies seized by the victorious Azerbaijani army as a result of the defeat of the occupying Armenia on the battlefield’. 

Hence the Military Trophy Park does not even pretend to pursue the aims of war museums cited by the apologists. It exhibits the military equipment seized by the Azerbaijani army and it humiliates Armenian soldiers. 

Besides, according to the presidential decree of Ilham Aliyev, a new Victory Museum will also be opened in Baku with the purpose of ‘demonstrating the unparalleled heroism and great historical victory of the Azerbaijani people in the Great Patriotic War [the 44-day war], to perpetuate the memory of our martyrs.’ This clearly shows that the Azerbaijani authorities opened the former museum solely to humiliate Armenians and will open the latter to glorify Azerbaijani soldiers. 

The authorities are, in this way, much more sincere than the apologists of the indefensible park.  

Third, and most importantly, even if there were war museums in other countries that aim to humiliate and dehumanise their enemy, this does not mean that Azerbaijan should repeat the same mistake. Others’ mistakes do not and cannot justify ours. 

The Military Trophy Park in Baku is condemned because it dehumanises the enemy — namely, Armenian soldiers. If the park exhibited uniforms, helmets, guns, and other military equipment used by Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers in a neutral way, with the purpose of portraying  them as artifacts that reveal the conditions of war for visitors, I do not think that it would be condemned. 

The rationale behind the war was to retake the occupied territories and to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. For many years Azerbaijani officials, in particular Ilham Aliyev himself, have repeated that Azerbaijan does not see Armenians as the enemy, and that all it sought was to control its internationally recognised territories and ensure that internally displaced Azerbaijanis can return to their homes and live peacefully side-by-side with local Armenians, as it was in the Soviet times. 

If the Azerbaijani authorities were sincere in their avowed purpose, they would not contribute to the current enmity between the two peoples. Treating a war over a certain territory as a blood feud between two tribes will continue to feed a virulent nationalism, which, in turn, hinders any chance of real co-existence between Azerbaijanis and Armenians.  

What good does this park serve? What do ordinary Azerbaijanis gain from this? Many apologists of the park have claimed that since Azerbaijan lost territories and thousands of lives in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, this park is an appropriate act of revenge. 

One has to be utterly short-sighted to fail to see that such an approach will only stoke more conflict and more bloodletting. Ordinary Azerbaijanis who had to flee from their homes or lost their loved ones in the First Karabakh War will not gain anything from ‘revenge’ or from this park. 

I also doubt if the park will be of comfort or consolation to those who will lose loved ones if the conflict continues.  Revenge at any cost is childish and petty, and it may carry a heavy price. 

The opening of the park also revealed the moral failings of many Azerbaijani intellectuals and public figures, who refused to speak out not only against the park, but also against the many other acts of the Azerbaijani government that fueled the enmity between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. 

The war over Nagorno-Karabakh was a war between two countries, it was not a tribal blood feud. Treating it as such misrepresents it and, implicitly or explicitly, fuels a future cycle of vengeance and atrocity. 

The Military Trophy Park in Baku is something that all Azerbaijanis who love their country and want peace should be ashamed of.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of OC Media’s editorial board.

By Javid Agha

Javid is an Ankara-based writer and social media observer focusing on Armenia and Azerbaijan, whose writing has been featured across the web including on the BBC. He is the founder of Susma, a platform for survivors of domestic abuse to 

Filed Under: Articles

Emotional Farewell: Armenian Military Band Members Pay Respects to Fallen Comrades photos

May 5, 2021 By administrator

Marine Martirosyan

On October 10, 2020, an Azerbaijani military unit burnt the houses of Armenians in Hadrut, a town in southern Artsakh. Photos

19-year-old Arman Adamyan remembers the evening he left Hadrut as the flames lit up the town. He left his clarinet behind. He went to music school with it, played at concerts.

A clarinetist, Arman Adamyan was drafted into the army in the summer of 2020. He served in the Hadrut military unit. He was one of the musicians of the ten-member military band.

The dawn wake-up call on September 27 was later than usual, given it was Sunday. The soldiers were about to go to the canteen when they heard an explosion. Arman first thought it was a test alarm. The squad went down to the cellar. The explosions increased. When they learned that a war had broken out, everyone quickly went to work, taking up arms and moving to their positions. They initially thought the fighting would last a week at most. When the second week passed, they realized they were wrong.

To raise the moral of the soldiers, the Hadrut military unit’s band played marching anthems during the explosions. Arman does not talk about the war at any length. He only says that when they left Hadrut on October 10, they thought that Armenian special forces would clear the city, allowing them to return.

Arman now plays in the band of the General Staff of the Armenian Ministry of Defense. In the post’s cavernous rehearsal hall, Artyom Varosyan, from Gyumri, puts an oboe in his bag. The band returned from Abovyan an hour ago, where they attended two funerals, for a conscript soldier and a volunteer.

The band has played at military funerals ever since the war broke out last September.

During the war, and immediately after, the young band members played at Yerevan’s Yerablur Military Pantheon and other cemeteries daily. They play less these days.

Drummer Arman Begyan, from Nor Hatchn, says he was supposed to play at the funeral of one of his friends. He had to bow out at the last minute. He wanted to attend the funeral as a regular mourner. Arman asked the garrison’s drummer to replace him.

Playing at the last farewell of their peers doesn’t come easy for the band. They must swallow their emotions and pain, focusing on the music.

“By playing correctly, we pay our respects to the person being buried. Given their emotional state, those attending the funeral might not hear us, but it doesn’t matter. We need to play properly, it is a sign of respect,” says saxophonist Davit Petrosyan.

David was drafted in March of this year. He and clarinetist Emil Vardanyan, sitting next to him, are classmates at Yerevan’s Komitas State Conservatory. The new recruits have already played at four funerals.

“We stand at a distance, so the music isn’t overwhelming. We watch how the boys of the honor guard escort their peers. No matter how hard it is for us, no matter that we’ve only been serving for a month, we stick to the job,” says David.

Band members say it is vital to remain alert and attentive to the conductor. They must play in unison. The drummer sets the opening beats, followed by the other instruments.

“It hits me when I see how emotional the parents are. You learn to deal with it over time,” says Arman Adamyan, noting that it’s still a challenge, especially when he hears the cries of relatives.

Band conductor Sargis Papazyan echoes Arman’s sentiments.

“The first days were awfully hard. Some of our musicians couldn’t handle it. But we’re a military unit, it’s our duty. These aren’t ordinary funerals, they’re our comrades-in-arms,” Papazyan confesses, adding that the pain lingers within them.

During the 44-day war, after the funerals, the band members helped the volunteer soldiers arriving at the military unit. Sometimes, they played as the volunteers left for the front. They never thought they’d have to play at some of their funerals.

Silence reigns in the rehearsal room.

We talk about their plans.  Davit, the saxophonist, says that two years of military service is a good opportunity to hone his musicianship. They play at funerals, but also find time during the day to train individually. They say they see their future in music.

I ask them if they’ve watched the 1960 Armenian film Nvagaxmbi Txanery (Boys of the Band), directed by Henrik Malyan.

They say they have.

“Do you have nicknames like them?” I ask.

“Yes, but let’s not talk about it,” they say, glancing at one another and smiling.

Photos by Hakob Poghosyan

Filed Under: Articles

Armenia political scientist: Territories handed over from Syunik Province

May 5, 2021 By administrator

As can be seen from the maps of the [former] USSR General Staff and the Google company maps made mainly based on it, Sev Lake, located at the intersection of Syunik Province of Armenia and Kashatagh region of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], is mostly (almost entirely) located in the territory of Syunik. Political scientist Edgar Elbakyan wrote about this on Facebook.

“Consequently, as a result of the de facto illegal ‘demarcation’ carried out between Azerbaijan and Armenia at the end of last year on the ridiculous ‘GPS’ principle, it should not have been occupied by the enemy [Azerbaijan].

“From this video (dated April 30, 2021) published by the Azerbaijanis, it is seen that the Azerbaijanis have completely occupied the territory, penetrating the territory of Syunik Province as well,” Elbakyan added in particular.

Filed Under: Articles

Bright Armenia Party leader: Root causes of April 2016 war were clear from start

May 5, 2021 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The root causes of the April 2016 war were clear from the start, at least among those with access to confidentiality. Edmon Marukyan, chairman of the opposition Bright Armenia Party (BAP) and head of its faction in the National Assembly (NA), on Wednesday told this to reporters in the NA, referring to the report of the NA inquiry committee investigating the circumstances of the April 2016 war, and which was discussed Wednesday in a closed session of the parliament.

“The committee has done a lot of work. [But] I cannot say that I am [fully] satisfied with the report; the report has some shortcomings; I talked about it in a closed regimen. I can bring an example: If today’s chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces is one of those guilty—and according to the report, he is one of those guilty—, he should not be the chief of the General Staff now. This is an important signal, indicator for me that if that is the case, we do not have an impartial investigation in this sense,” he said.

Marukyan believes that the aforesaid report on the April 2016 war should be declassified. “We already have a 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [last fall], and to keep secret the shortcomings of the April [2016] war (…), in my opinion, is not so right. We hope it will be publicized. We are going the way that the report is declassified, the public learn happened and who is to blame; also, also see if those guilty have been punished or not,” said the BAP leader.

Filed Under: Articles

Blinken’s Cynicism Post-Genocide Recognition Emboldens Further Aggression

May 4, 2021 By administrator

State Department Secretary Antony Blinken @SecBlinken has signalled to Azerbaijan that it will face no consequence—and, indeed, reap a reward—for holding a couple hundred prisoners-of-war long after the date on which they were to be released.

by Michael Rubin

Armenians and the Armenian diaspora in the United States celebrated President Joe Biden’s formal recognition of the Ottoman-era genocide against Anatolia’s Armenian population. For Armenians, the move was important not only for historical justice but also because Turkish and Azerbaijani actions and rhetoric suggested a desire to continue the genocide. Their celebration was short-lived. Just two days later, Armenians and the U.S. Congress learned not from the State Department but rather from Azeri media that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had quietly waived Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to enable continued military aid to Azerbaijan despite in contravention of both the letter and spirit of the law. The move represents State Department cynicism at its worst and, rather than assuage both sides, will hemorrhage trust, further reduce American influence across the region, and could actually increase the likelihood for renewed conflict. 

Many opponents of Biden’s Armenian genocide recognition opposed the move for one of four reasons.

First, some scholars question whether the Young Turk leaders in the Ottoman Empire planned and coordinated the genocide. Recent archival work, however, suggests beyond any reasonable doubtthat they did.

Second, some suggest contemporary diplomats from World War I-era Allied Powers exaggerated atrocity reports to sully the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide museum in Yerevan, however, has chronicled numerous instances in which German diplomats and officials—allied with the Ottomans during the war—reported the Turks’ deliberate slaughter of Armenians. This is similar to what Armenia’s American and French counterparts did. 

Third, while it is true that some Armenians had risen up against Ottoman Empire, there were frequent national liberation movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; none justified genocide.

Finally, some scholars and foreign policy specialists put the debate aside and simply argue that the United States needs Turkey and Azerbaijan as a bulwark against Russia. Armenia, they allege, is under Russia’s influence. This is lazy, however. Under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has repeatedly compromised American interests to Russia (and Iran). Meanwhile, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev has in recent years increased trade with Russia by several orders of magnitude. 

Certainly, by any reasonable standard—historical accuracy, morality, or self-interested realism—Armenia genocide recognition was justified but what about the Section 907 waiver?  

Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act determined that U.S. aid “may not be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan until the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.” The origin of such language lies in the fighting and ethnic cleansing that occurred against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s collapse and fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia sparked by the petition and then plebiscite of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh seeking either unity with Armenia or independence. 

In the wake of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress amended the Freedom Support Act to enable a waiver to Section 907. The amendment called for a designated State Department official to waive the prohibitions on Azerbaijan if it “is necessary to support United States efforts to counter international terrorism; is necessary to support the operational readiness of United States Armed Forces or coalition partners to counter international terrorism; is important to Azerbaijan’s border security; and will not undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.”

Azerbaijan and Turkey’s surprise September invasion of Armenian-held portion of Nagorno-Karabakh certainly hampered “ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” Aliyev dismissed the idea of further negotiations after his territorial re-conquest and then belittled on Azeri television the American co-chair of the Minsk Group, the organization charged with negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the problem. There could be no more clear violation. Nor does the realist desire to embrace Azerbaijan as a counter-terror hub make sense given Aliyev’s acceptance and utilization of Syrian mercenaries, some of whom fought for Al Qaeda-affiliated groups or the Islamic State. 

Blinken knew he was wrong. If he thought he could easily defend his actions, then he would not have surprised Congress but made his case openly. Perhaps within the State Department, diplomats argued that waiving Section 907 and continuing foreign aid and military assistance was necessary to keep Azerbaijan at the bargaining table. Put aside the violation of U.S. law and the insult to Congress. In reality, what Blinken’s waiver does is undercut future diplomacy for it sets a new standard that Azerbaijan can expect to act without consequence so long as they kill fewer than seven thousand men and only displace a few hundred thousand.

Further, Blinken signals to Azerbaijan that it will face no consequence—and, indeed, reap a reward—for holding a couple hundred prisoners-of-war long after the date on which they were to be released. In effect, what Blinken and his Caucasus team have done is undercut the possibility of meaningful diplomacy and rewarded terror and hostage-taking. Nor will the ramifications be limited to the South Caucasus. Blinken, with one fell swoop, has not only undercut the moral clarity and emphasis on human rights tied to the Armenian genocide resolution, but he has also signaled not only to Azerbaijan but also to Turkey, Russia, Iran, and other aggressors that the State Department stands for nothing and U.S. law without meaning.

Moral equivalency is not sophisticated. For the United States’ position in the world, it can be disastrous. 

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). You can follow him on Twitter: @mrubin1971.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide

“OTTOMANS WERE THE FIRST TO REACH THE MOON,” SAYS TURKISH PRESIDENT

May 4, 2021 By administrator

Imagen the Turks had no alphabet invaded Arab stoll Arabic Alphabet and Islam, 100 years ago converted to Christian latin alphabet and it was created by Armenian lenguest, now Erdogan claim Ottomans were the first to walk on the surface of the moon,

World news daily report

Istanbul| Ottomans were the first to walk on the surface of the moon, not Neil Armstrong, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, yesterday, during an iftar (fast-breaking) dinner hosted by the Turkish Green Crescent. 

Mr. Erdoğan claimed that Muslim explorers reached the Moon more than 300 years before the beginning of the Appolo program, vowing to build a mosque “in the crater” where they landed.

“It is alleged that the first man to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong in 1969,” Erdoğan said. “In fact, Muslim space explorers reached our satellite 334 years before that, in 1635. Everyone knows the story of the famous aviator, Lagâri Hasan Çelebi, the “Ottoman Rocket Man”, who made the first successful manned rocket flight in 1633. What you might not know, is that he attempted to reach the moon, two years later, and could very well have succeeded!”

The story of Lagari Hasan Çelebi was purported by a famous 17th century Arab merchant and traveller, Mehmed Zilli, also known as Evliya Çelebi. In his famous travelog, he explains that Lagari Hasan Çelebi launched in a 7-winged rocket using 50 okka (63.5 kg or 140 lbs) of gunpowder. It took off from Sarayburnu, a site below the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.

As Evliya Celebi wrote, Lagari proclaimed before launch “O my sultan! Be blessed, I am going to talk to Jesus!”, before lighting the rocket’s gunpowder.  He then ascended more than 200 meters in the air and landed in the sea, hundreds of meters from his takeoff point. Swimming ashore, he allegedly reported: “O my sultan! Jesus sends his regards to you!”.

President Erdoğan’s surprising claim generated some whispers and laughter from the audience, a reaction that clearly angered the Turkish politician. He slammed the skeptics for mocking his claims, adding that he would soon have the proofs to back his claims.

“Why do you not believe it? Because you’ve never believed that a Muslim can do such a thing, just like you’ve never believed that our ancestors could manage to launch ships in the Golden Horn after transporting them across land,” Erdoğan said, referring to Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II’s conquest of Istanbul in 1453. “This claim is not new. A number of academics in Turkey and in the rest of the world have made this claim, and I believe they are right. NASA may have destroyed most of the physical evidence of the Ottoman’s success during the Apollo 11 mission, but we’ll try to find any evidence that might have escaped the cover up.”

ottoman2

Turkish President did not, however, give any precision about the proofs he was expecting to find nor how he was hoping to gather them.

The story of Lagâri Hasan Çelebi is considered a legend by most historians, and most experts believe that it is impossible that the “aviator” could have survived a flight into outer space.

His first flight was, indeed, addressed in an experiment by the television show MythBusters, on November 11, 2009, in the episode “Crash and Burn”.  The rocket constructed for the TV show did not adhere closely, however, to Evliya Çelebi’s descriptions and the final design did not attempt to utilize materials of the period;

The team noted that Evliya Çelebi had not sufficiently specified the alleged design used by Lagâri Hasan, but concluded that it would have been “extremely difficult” for a 17th-century figure, without access to modern steel alloys and welding techniques, to land safely or even achieve thrust at all. This conclusion was backed by the fact that, although the re-imagined rocket rose, it exploded in midflight

Filed Under: Articles

ARF Western America central committee: Diaspora commissioner did not condemn acting PM Pashinyan for devastation

May 4, 2021 By administrator

Zareh Sinanyan, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia, will visit Los Angeles, from May 2 to 10.

The opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation-ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party Central Committee of Western America has issued a statement saying that Sinanyan has not condemned acting PM Nikol Pashinyan for the pre-war, wartime and post-war devastation, which means that Sinanyan is an accomplice in the betrayal of the homeland and the Armenian people.

“Nikol Pashinyan is a deserter. He abandoned those who voted for him. He abandoned our tens of thousands of soldiers and volunteers—with their families. He abandoned our prisoners of war. He abandoned Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)]. He plunged our country into corruption and dictatorship and misled everyone.

And now, when he speaks about the normalization of relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, countries whose recent actions are simply a continuation of their age-old anti-Armenian goals, Pashinyan not only denies the memory of the 1.5 million martyrs of the Armenian Genocide, but also puts our demand for justice at risk,” the aforesaid statement also reads, stressing that as long as Zareh Sinanyan defends Nikol Pashinyan’s destructive path by serving him, the Armenian community will not welcome him.

Filed Under: Articles

Armenia opposition party leader: Nikol Pashinyan executed the order to dissolve Karabakh’s statehood

May 4, 2021 By administrator

It’s clear that there was an offer to use the reserves during the second war in Nagorno-Karabakh, but at the time, then Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan personally decided to stop mobilization, evidence of which is the fact that Movses Hakobyan is charged with disclosing state secrets. This is what leader of the opposition Yerkir Tsirani Party Zaruhi Postanjyan told reporters today, adding that, in essence, the charge confirms the truthfulness of Hakobyan’s remarks.

Postanjyan asked why the reserve wasn’t engaged in the war, if Pashinyan says it was a desperate battle and why the full potential wasn’t used if there were problems with weaponry.

The member of the opposition expressed certainty that everything was planned in advance and presented in the name of war, adding that the Armenian side was compelled to be defeated. “In reality, it was Nikol Pashinyan who wanted war and wanted to transfer his homeland. He had an order to dissolve the statehood of Nagorno-Karabakh and destroy the armed forces. Now he has another order, and that is the order to dissolve Armenian statehood. He initially knew that he had come to power to sign a document on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and he came to deprive people of their homeland and by killing them,” the politician said. She recalled that Pashinyan had once said he would share his thoughts with the people in case of proposals regarding the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but didn’t.

According to Postanjyan, Pashinyan’s thoughts, including the thoughts he expressed yesterday will serve as a basis for the institution of more than a dozen criminal cases which will be launched against him, his wife Anna Hakobyan and the other adult members of his family.

Postanjyan added that, in her opinion, the authorities aren’t concerned about the fate of missing servicemen, prisoners of war and the families of deceased servicemen and could care less about the cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh that is now in the hands of the Azerbaijanis. “If necessary, they can even change their identity and become Turks. What is noteworthy is the fact that the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities have the same views on the Armenian people,” the leader of the political party concluded.

Former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Movses Hakobyan is charged with disclosure of state secret.

Filed Under: Articles

How Can the Armenian Patriarch Be as Pro-Turkish as Erdogan?

May 4, 2021 By administrator

By Harut Sassounian

The Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, Sahak Mashalian, once again issued a pro-Turkish statement, this time on the eve of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, trying to please his Turkish masters and undermine Pres. Joe Biden’s April 24 acknowledgment.

We all understand that the Armenian community and the Patriarch in Turkey are hostages in the hands of the Turkish government. As such, they are under pressure to make pro-Turkish statements. However, there are red lines that no Armenian should cross, regardless of the circumstances or reasons. Our ancestors sacrificed their lives during the genocide, not succumbing to Turkish pressures and physical threats. The Patriarch, who is supposed to be a man of God, is obligated to tell the truth even if his life is in danger.

As I have suggested before, if the Patriarch does not want to get in trouble with the Turkish authorities, he should simply keep his mouth shut. He should not volunteer to issue statements on non-religious issues and not desecrate the memories of 1.5 million perished Armenians. We should not jump to the conclusion that every time the Patriarch issues a pro-Turkish statement he is necessarily doing it under duress. Furthermore, the Patriarch should ask himself if the Armenian community has received any benefits in return for his multiple pro-Turkish statements.

Certainly, the Turkish government has repeatedly exploited the Patriarch’s words to disseminate pro-Turkish propaganda worldwide. For example, on April 23, 2021, when it became known that Pres. Biden would issue his much anticipated acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide, the Anadolu Agency (AA), the official Turkish government’s news service, reported Patriarch Mashalian’s condemnation of Pres. Biden’s upcoming statement. The AA headlined its ‘news’ with the Patriarch’s words: “Using 1915 incidents for politics saddens Armenians.”

How could Pres. Biden’s acknowledgment of the genocide, welcomed by Armenians worldwide, “sadden Armenians?” On the contrary it saddened the denialist Turks and thrilled Armenians. Patriarch Mashalian should just stick to religious subjects and not pronounce judgements on other matters. Regardless of whether he is pressured by the Turkish government to make political statements or does it voluntarily, the Patriarch should refrain from taking such positions, saying that as a clergyman he only deals with religious subjects.

Here are excerpts from the pro-Turkish statement made by Patriarch Mashalian on April 23, 2021, to the Anadolu Agency which was publicized widely in the Turkish media:

“It saddens us to see that the suffering of our people and the suffering of our ancestors are instrumentalized by some countries for everyday political purposes. The tension caused by the usage of the issue in parliamentary agendas for decades has not served the rapprochement of the two nations. On the contrary, it provokes hostile feelings and delays peace. We, just like our predecessors and late Patriarchs, will continue to wish for peace, friendship and well-being between Turks and Armenians. We will encourage the rebuilding of relations based on neighborhood and common grounds speedily. We prefer to be one of those who hopefully expect the revival of neighborly relations, which are unique to these lands and exist in the traditions of the two communities, between Turkey and Armenia’s authorities. Dear Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his time as both Prime Minister and President, has been the only top state official in the history of the Turkish Republic to give messages on this occasion. These messages show a spirit, sharing our pain and a certain respect for the children of our nation that lost their lives in exile. In our opinion, it would be appropriate to take these as positive steps towards rapprochement in the future. If only the joint history commission they [Turkey] proposed could have been established, then at least 15 years of progress would have been made. If only the [Armenia-Turkey] protocols could have been implemented, borders could have been opened. Then the resolution of the Karabakh [issue] could have resulted differently. We still do not think it is late. The project to build a six-country basin, proposed by our Dear President for Caucasia, can bring the peace of the century to the communities in the region.”

Leaving no doubt as to the pro-Turkish position of the Patriarch, Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun endorsed his statement: “Sahak Mashalian, the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, aptly noted that past sufferings must not be exploited for short-term political gains. [The Patriarch said]: ‘We will continue to live together, peacefully and as brothers and sisters, in this land.’”

Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also expressed support for Mashalian’s remarks: “Abusing history for a narrow political agenda helps neither the past nor the present.”Interestingly, Pres. Erdogan sent a letter to the Armenian Patriarch on April 24, denying the Armenian Genocide and agreeing with the Patriarch’s words. It is not surprising that the Turkish government supported Archbishop Mashalian’s candidacy for the Patriarchal elections over other less subservient candidates.

The Patriarch must realize that by making propaganda statements on behalf of Turkey, he is losing the respect of Armenians both inside and outside Turkey. His anti-Armenian words are viewed as those of a sold out Turkish agent. The Armenian Church and Armenians in Turkey should pressure the Patriarch to resign since he has lost the support of the Armenian community and can no longer function as their religious leader.

The only countries around the world that criticized Pres. Biden’s April 24 statement were: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This places the Armenian Patriarch in the shameful company of the enemies of the Armenian nation!

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