The opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) has announced its plans to join the campaign for possible parliamentary elections, expressing its commitment to oust the current government as a major evil to the country.

In a recently released statement, members of the party say they arrived at the decision at their 24th Supreme Assembly earlier today “after a consideration of the political and security-related situation in Armenia and an evaluation of the dominating sentiments and atmosphere in public life”. Also, the internal and external post-war challenges are cited as a major concern.

The ARF-D condemns the current authorities for attempts to ensure their self-reproduction through the process, highlighting the crucial role of pre-term elections for the preservation of the Armenian national identity and statehood.

It has reserved the decision-making authority to the ARF-D Supreme Body in Armenia, which will be responsible for determining the format of participation and a range of other technical issues.

The party also reiterates its call upon the Armenians to pursue the campaign towards unseating the current government (in case of any scenario), citing the safe future of the country as a pressing demand on their agenda.

We need the international community’s strong efforts to rapidly react to the recently inaugurated “Military Trophies Park” in Baku to have real guarantees that the enforcement of international law will be essentially protected, says Danièle Cazarian, a member of the French National Assembly representing the department of Rhône. 

In an interview with Tert.am, the French-Armenian politician addressed the global political players’ role in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace process, focusing especially on her country’s efforts and expressing regret about the OSCE Minsk Group mission’s not quite effective work.  

“I regret to say that the OSCE Minsk Group did not work effectively. I sincerely hope France will urge and engage all the interested sides to find common ground for the captives’ return and the elimination of all forms of violence in Artsakh. The destruction of Armenian cultural heritage is the proof of Azerbaijan’s policy of pursuing ethnic cleansing. That is why, I think, international recognition is the only way towards ensuring the protection of Artsakh. And that is what the French parliament has actually represented,” she said. 

Commenting on the French authorities’ collaboration with Armenia, the lawmaker stressed her good working relations with the Armenian ambassador in Paris (and close contact with him like many colleagues from different political parties in France).  

“It is not anyway my responsibility to evaluate a foreign government’s work in France, but you may have no doubt that the mobilization of French citizens of Armenian descent was very effective in terms of raising awareness of Artsakh,” Cazarian added. 

She said she was terrified by the Azerbaijani authorities’ move to open the trophy park featuring mannequins of Armenian soldiers. “That too, constitutes a blatant violation of international treaties. Now that the war is over, Baku must immediately halt all the forms of provocation to demonstrate the kind of conduct that would be in line with the agreement signed in Moscow. To protect the enforcement of international law, we urgently need an abrupt reaction by the international community, including France and the EU. I officially asked the French foreign minister about the Armenian POWs’ return. And I will remain extremely vigilant when it comes to this very important issue,” she said. 

In the large Hayrapetyan family, the house of Khtsaberd has been seen only in dreams only for half a year. Now their house is one of the hotels in Goris, and although they do not feel lack of care here, they still sleep and wake up with thoughts about Khtsaberd.

One of the children regularly shows the videos of the ongoing robbery in the villages of Hadrut, the grandfather, 72-year-old Misha Hayrapetyan, is silently waiting to speak in his turn.

The bride of the family, 45-year-old Narine, left the newly built house, fertile gardens, shop and most importantly, her beloved bees in Khtsaberd. He is sure they will meet again. The only “source” of this optimistic belief, to which Mrs. Narine regularly refers, are again her dreams and the Dizapayt who “marks” her through them.

Misha Hayrapetyan

I participated in the war of the 90s with my two sons. How do they irritate the bee hive, that’s how they irritated us. At that time, if a Turk stole a chicken, if you complain, the Turk is not guilty. Even if the judge was Armenian. This is how the time is. But if an Armenian goes with a needle, takes a chop from the Turkish yard … That’s it. The glass of patience was full. The law of that country has never applied to us. Then the situation was that the Turks started stealing cattle, then they started taking hostages and killing shepherds.

To tell the truth, we were less armed, but we were united, we loved each other, that was the first guarantee of victory. As soon as we united, we drove them to Zhdan, also from Horadiz. It was our unity, our unity, loving each other that we won that victory.

Now, if there is no unity in the family, they should be separated, they should be dispersed, right? It happened to us as well. They did not listen to each other, they did not respect each other, and the Turk was waiting for that. For 30 years he tried to fight every day, every day, but he did not succeed. As soon as they found our omission, they won. Although I must say that I am 72 years old, I have lived with the Turks most of my life, I have no doubt that if the Azeris and the Armenians had remained face to face, they would not have won.

The fist of one, the sword of the other

As long as the world exists, we will be a neighbor of Azerbaijan, and they will be us. The leaders of the countries should strive to preach solidarity, not one to draw his fist, the other his sword. It is not the grace of the leader. Even if there is an opportunity to live together, I will not see it anymore. The leader of Azerbaijan is Aliyev, he shows his fist, he irritates people, doesn’t he? The elder of the house must be patient.

They also fled like us in time. What is the escape, they were running away, pushing each other. I remember, I remember very well. Is the fear small, is the panic small? The whole of Zangelan, Kubatlu, were given train carriages to the Turks so that each family could load their goods. Azerbaijan was evacuating. The Armenians cut Horadiz against those wagons and robbed him. Yes, we … I do not blame anyone for that today. The valley of Araks to be handed over is not my end, but now our young people are gone. Now they are angry, the youth is angry, and Hadrut is with them. What was good?

I do not believe that the Turks will give back Hadrut well. When they come, they say. “Dear Armenians, come, welcome.” I do not know the rest. Uncertain situation. Now there are demonstrations in Yerevan every day. One group closes this road, one group closes the other. 6 months have passed. Have we taken a piece during 6 months?

“We will win” …

My son and daughter-in-law were working in Gabriel’s regiment. On the first day of the war, my daughter-in-law called: “Let’s go to Khokhenq, the fight has started.” Then we saw that the fight was deepening, only men, women and children were left in the village and evacuated. I also brought my wife and grandchildren to Goris and returned. Well, my house, my place, there is a lake … I cultivated my garden under the sounds of the bombing, I said, it’s one, ours must win. We did not know that this Ottoman had interfered. Half of the melon is left … The potato is in the ground, hanging from the beans. After all, if they had said in advance, we would have brought the stones of the village as well. There was no one on foot in the village, everyone had a car, but no one took anything out. After all, say, take it out, it is not possible. But they said, “We will win” …

The Turkish army had reached under Kornidzor, everyone was afraid that the road would be closed, they left quickly, we did not bring any clothes. The neighboring population from the neighboring villages, many of them took refuge in our village, at the same time we got in the car and ran away. We passed Kornidzor, the Turks got there, blocked the road.

Ancient Odzaberd

During the Soviet era, we had 75 houses in the village, about 450 inhabitants. Before this last war, some 120-130. The adults have died, the young people have moved, in recent years the young people do not want to live in the village. Well, life was better in our village than before, but the girl living in the village has to milk a cow, she has to sleep in the garden, but the manicure is not going to do that job. That is why our young people did not get married, they said there is no girl, they do not come to the village. There has not been a wedding in the village for several years. That is the reason, nothing else. Livelihood is good, only I have 60 cows, 20 horses, the areas are endless. The employee would live.

The name of our village was Odzaberd, then it became Khtsaberd. They say

The owner of the oil had built a special house for his son on the mountain, because as many children as he had were dying, that’s left. He hid it so that he could stay alive. The servants took grapes in baskets for that child, do not say that the snake is in the middle. The snake bit the boy, and the child died. The name of our village has been Odzaberd since then, I have heard it that way. Our ancestors came from Karadagh, Karadagh region of Iran.

Old Khtsaberd was completely destroyed and burnt down due to the bombing. I built the first house in the new district of the village in 2004. Thus, the village was moved a little to the side so that the roads would be convenient and cars could pass easily. The sports hall, everything was beautifully made. Now who knows what they did.

Narine Hayrapetyan

I was born in Tumi, I came to Khtsaberd in 1994. My husband and I were engaged for 6 months, but he was injured and lost his leg. But I accepted him that way, it was my destiny, I did not give up on him. He prosthetized his leg, came, said, “We must get married,” I said, there is no question. There was no car during the fight, the roads were closed, they brought me to Khtsaberd on a mountain. There were many victims in both Tumi and Khtsaberd, we celebrated our joy in a quiet environment, very modestly. 5 years later I had a son, he died, then my new daughter was born. My children were born in free time, in free Hadrut.

I kept bees. I am still with them in my dreams. Beekeeping is a completely different life, every negative energy is carried by bees, the bee is a very good thing. When we had just gotten married, I thought a lot about how we were going to live and what we were going to do in this post-war situation. My husband said. “What are you most afraid of?” I said to the bees. He said, “Well, we will start from that.”

“The stick reminds me of my dream that we will return”

On the morning of September 27, we took the animals out and came home to go to work. At the first moment I heard, my eldest daughter called from Shushi. “Mama, I’m in the basement. If you can, take me.” We waited, it was getting dark, my husband brought my daughter to the village at midnight when the car lights were off. He suggested many other people move to our village as a safe

place. But people did not come, they said. “These two more days will pass.” Later, whoever came out of our Hadrut, all of them passed through our village to Goris.

At first we kept the refugees from Jabrail for a week, then after we saw the terrible situation, they were approaching Hadrut, a week later my husband evacuated the children with their guests to Goris. But I stayed. In the end, the village mayor and I were left alone. The village head already said. “This is not your place.” Before that, we filled the meat products of our shop, ice cream, everything in bags for the reservists, there is no light, there is nothing. On September 25, I received the goods for my shop, on September 27, the fight started. I still hope that we will return. I do not know, my inner voice tells me that we will return. I had land in 7 different sanctuaries of our village, Hadrut. I brought that alone and my father’s book “The Hadrut Dialect”. It is my great hope, it gives me strength. The stick in my dream reminds me, signals that we will return. But I do not care as much for us as for those children who died. One can adapt to everything except these human losses, the losses of innocent children.

I did not expect that Khtsaberd would be given. Our boys stayed until the end. They entered, took so many boys captive, it does not mean that they won, victory does not happen that way. To be honest, I was not as upset about the area as I was about the captive boys. Every morning and evening, every night my prayer is for them, for the captured Shirak boys in our village.

“Haram lands”

There have never been Turks in our village, but there were in Togh. I remember that we were taken to Togh vineyards for an excursion, we passed the Armenian district, then the Turkish one. There was not even a fight yet, the bus of our villagers was stoned by the Turks. My grandfather, grandmother, our elders always said that one day there would be a fight because they could not live with us. Our Tumi bus was stopped, the driver was beaten, a woman was killed inside, the Movement had just started, but there was no fight yet. They were buzzing to start a fight, we did not want a war.

I knew that there would be a war for lands, but I did not imagine that we would lose our ancestral homeland, our Hadrut. I do not want to say that we lost, no, we have still won. Because our boys have stood up to the end. We resisted. I was not against giving the occupied territories in peace, they were haram lands, let them give, we would live halal too.

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The locals associate the name Khtsaberd with the name of the historical fortress located in the village, Odzaberd, although according to another version, “Khtsaberd” may mean “a fortress hidden in the mountains and valleys.” Besides Odzaberd, there are also the ruins of Hazararprkich and Immate fortresses in the village, as well as the fortress-cave of Jalalvi. One of the important historical and cultural monuments of Khtsaberd is the half-ruined monastery of Yeghtsun Dzor, an abandoned village not far from the settlement

Source: https://mediamax.am/am/news/hadrut/42818/

Germany is not really interested in human rights and in the establishment of a real democracy in Turkey. Germany sees Turkey mainly as a trade partner and the citizens of Turkey as consumers of German products and as cheap labor in German factories. This is unfair.

Deniz ZENGİN

Today, our guest is Dr. Nikos Michailidis. We talked about European Union, the relationship between Greece and Turkey and the refugee crisis. Here is our interview.

Enjoy your reading.

What could you tell us about yourself, Mr. Michailidis?

My ancestors came to Greece as refugees from the Pontos (Black Sea) region after 1923. I grew up with the narratives of my great-grandparents about their lives in Pontos. So, naturally, I developed an interest in getting to know modern Turkey and its people better. So I started travelling to Istanbul, Trabzon, Gümüshane, Bafra, Sinop, Samsun and other parts of the Black Sea and Anatolia, making many friends.

After my undergraduate studies in Athens, I decided to do an MA degree in political science at Bogazici University. So I spent about three years in Istanbul.

My experiences in Turkey during those years led me to study cultural anthropology. I did my Phd in this field at Princeton University. In the context of that research, I spent about 2 years doing fieldwork in Turkey, mainly in Trabzon and Istanbul, but also in Ankara and Van. I studied the Pontic-Greek speaking Sunni communities of Trabzon and their musical and ethnic cultures. As a kemence performer myself, I was intrigued by the local performers and by the multiple meanings that kemence was carrying for these communities. It was a very rewarding experience and I got the opportunity to better understand the sociocultural and political dynamics of modern Turkey. I always say that Turkey is a nice ”laboratory” for social scientists.

Deniz Yücel, an employee of the German News Agency Die Welt, completed a 1-year prison sentence. Chancellor Merkel called on Erdogan for Yucel to be quickly returned to Germany. Is Germany working in the democratic interest their own country? If this is acceptable, why do we accept the double standard of the detention of Altan, Demirtaş, Kavala and thousands of other anonymous politicians?

It is tragic to see those people imprisoned by the current regime. Some of them have been released but it is not enough. Ankara is using them as a bargaining tool against western governments, as it does with refugees.
I am afraid that Germany is not really interested in human rights and in the establishment of a real democracy in Turkey. Germany sees Turkey mainly as a trade partner and the citizens of Turkey as consumers of German products and as cheap labor in German factories. This is unfair.

It is totally unacceptable that EU does not take any substantial initiative about democracy and freedoms in Turkey. I think that the only country in the EU that really and sincerely cares about the future of democracy and human rights in Turkey is Greece.

Tens of thousands of people have been expelled by legal decree. Their passports and diplomas have been revoked and some of them have served time in prison. How does the government expect the Turkish people to react to this policy?

I think that we shouldn’t talk about a ”government” in Turkey. We are talking about a violent, brutal regime that is based on persecution. Thus, it is not legitimate. It is based on illegality and pure force. I think that this situtation creates the right and legitimacy to the persecuted citizens of Turkey to resist and respond in every possible means. It is this brutality and state violence that obliged citizens of Kurdish descent to mobilize themselves politically and to create an resistance movement. Uncontrolled, mass state violence is responsible for the tragic condition in which Turkey finds itself and for the social violence that has risen in the last 30 years. Persecuted citizens should also do their best to organize themselves in Europe and create a huge international pressure group on foreign governments to modify their policies against the Turkish regime.

Will the EU will play a role in the democratization of Turkey? If so, how will the process work going forward?

For the time being, I don’t see EU being able to play a role in the democratization of Turkey and this is mainly due to Germany’s pro-Turkish regime policies. The democratic forces of Turkey must put pressure on Germany to change its unethical policy. The EU could contribute a lot, if it was allowed to by Germany. The EU can develop projects to support real opposition forces in Turkey, create media platforms to give voice to all the persecuted groups, impose serious sanctions on the Turkish regime, finance various sociocultural activities for the support of democracy, de-list PKK from its ”terrorism lists” and push for dialogue and a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem, freeze customs union with Turkey, restrict the movement of regime representatives in the EU, put a serious pan-European arms embargo, and more.

What exactly is intended to be done in the Eastern Mediterranean? What Greece wants? What is Turkey’s goal for the future? Which country’s formula be accepted in the end?

This is not a matter of a ”country’s formula”, it is wrong to present it as such. There are international rules. Turkey has invaded and occupies lands in at least 3 neighboring countries. This is unacceptable.

The tension in the eastern mediterranean is not simply an issue between Greece and Turkey. Greece is collaborating with all its Mediterranean neighbors based on international law and the law of the seas, which Turkey does’t recognize, and this is where the problems begin. The war regime of Turkey behaves as the bully of the neighborhood, direspecting international law, and its neighbors’ sovereignity and rights. The Turkish regime is always trying to present its expansionist agenda to the international public as ”bilateral problems”, pretending to be the side that wants dialogue. This is pure propaganda.

Turkey maintains occupation forces on Cyprus, and it is trying to impose it’s arbitrary views on everyone. The Turkish regime is applying expansionist policies against Greece. And of course Greece is resisting and calling for a dialogue on the basis of international law and UNCLOS.

US-Turkish relations, regarding the Brunson crisis which was resolved with the priest’s deportation, has caused much tension in the religious community. Is it Erdogan’s point of view that he wishes to instigate an Islamic & Christian showdown, like opening Hagia Sophia to worship?

It is really hard to say what T.Erdogan has in his mind. I think he is trying to survive politically. But his moves undermine his position and legitimacy. It is as if he is trying to commit political suicide. I also think he has very bad advisors and even worse collaborators (MHP etc). If he was a visionary leader, with democratic aspirations and sincere willingness to coexist peacefully with neighbors, he would have turned Hagia Sophia into a Christian Church and would give it back to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, as all the other Orthox Christian monuments in Anatolia. That would be a great gesture to the Orthodox Christian world that would seriously improve the international image of his country. Instead of all these, he chose to support jihadist terrorists, and to behave like a mafia leader. His reputation is seriously damaged. I am sure that his ”supporters” in the old kemalist establishment are quite happy. The Turkish political elites suffer from a complex of inferiority vis-a-vis the West. They like to think of themselves and their country as a ”world power”, but nobody takes them seriously. But this maddness is going to cost a lot to the people of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

When Leyen and Michel arrived last week, there was a Sofagate. They faced pressure from Erdogan. European Union authorities on their way to deal with Erdogan, why did the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias show off? Could you please evaluate this issue in terms of the refugee crisis?

Many Europeans have fallen victims to Erdogan’s threats about sending millions of migrants and refugees to Europe. This is a mafia style blackmail. Turkey played a central role in the creation of these refugees by engaging in war in Syria and elsewhere. But among these refugees we also see people from Somalia and Central Asia, countries with which Turkey maintains close ties. These are countries that are not in war. Simply put, Ankara is engaged in human traficking and this is a very serious crime. It is not the first one that the Turkish state has committed though.

I think that the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nikos Dendias, did a great job in Ankara, and he did not allow the Turkish regime to spread its usual propaganda to internal and international audiences. We should all thank him about his stance, and above all the democratic forces of Turkey. Mr.Dendias spoke the language of truth. Turkey is using the migrant/refugee crisis as a tool to threaten EU in order to gain concessions, and it keeps threatening Greece and Cyprus and of course other neighbors. Turkey has zero relations with most of its neighbors.

I think that Europe should follow Mr.Dendias’ example and take a sincere stance against the Turkish regime. Appeasing the Ankara regime will only lead to more instability and chaos in the region. It is time for the West to seriously deal with what everyone now describes as the new “Turkish problem”.

Source: https://gazetedavul.com/news/dr-nikos-michailidis-i-dont-see-eu-being-able-to-play-a-role-in-the-democratization-of-turkey-18299.html

April 19, 2021: Turkey has opened another front against Russia. This time it’s Ukraine and since the April 10 meeting in Turkey between the Turkish and Ukrainian leaders Russia has been seeking ways to strike back at Turkey. President Recep was once again once showing Russia he has a Ukraine card in his hand. The meeting was held to mark a decade of strategic partnership between Turkey and Ukraine. Officially this was the ninth meeting of the Turkish-Ukrainian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council. Both men emphasized the importance of protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the need to de-escalate tension in the Black Sea region. The discussions focused on eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatist forces have been fighting since 2014.

At a joint press conference Zelensky referred to Crimea and the Donbass region as “temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.” He added that Turkey’s support for the “restoration” of Ukraine’s territories is vitally important. Erdogan told Zelensky that Turkey does not recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and that Turkey is ready to provide “necessary support” to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine using the Minsk accords as a basis for resolution. Initially this consisted of offering more Turkish armed UAVs to Ukraine. Turkey hedged when it came to a direct confrontation with Russia. Erdogan said Turkey’s cooperation with Ukraine did not mean it was taking a stand directly in opposition to other countries, even though Ukraine considers Turkey the only other nation (the United States) to offer direct aid versus the month-old Russian invasion threat.

Indirectly Turkey and Ukraine are increasingly valuable to each other. Since the 2014 Russian attack on Ukraine, the world has learned just how important Ukraine is to Russia, and many other countries, as a source for key military items. After 2014 Russia had to revise its warships and helicopter production plans because Ukraine was the only source for key components, China, then Turkey, turned to Ukraine for some of these items because sanctions had made it impossible to obtain the items from the West. Most recently Ukraine has provided Turkey with key tech for tanks and helicopters. Turkey has already exported UAVs to Ukraine. These previous exchanges between Turkey and Ukraine were done quietly, but now these links are getting more publicity and Russia is annoyed, because they are already confronting Turks in the Caucasus (Armenia) and Africa (Libya). Turkey and Russia are technically allies in Syria but that alliance is fraying. (Austin Bay)

April 18, 2021: It’s old news that’s new news, again. Greece announced it cannot ignore its territorial disputes in the Mediterranean involving Turkey. Solutions are difficult, the Greek statement said, but not impossible. The statement followed a recent meeting in Turkey between the Turkish and Greek foreign ministers. It was the first visit to Turkey’s capital by the Greek foreign minister since 2015. The meeting ended with mutual accusations but the fact the meeting took place is a good sign. It’s also a good sign that the Turkish foreign minister has been invited to visit Greece – with the possibility of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis eventually meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. There are many Greek-Turk disputes. Air space and air space control have been issues since the 1950s. Cyprus’ split into Turkish and Greek halves is a continuing problem. Now competing maritime territorial claims, including extent and boundaries of their continental shelves, is a huge issue since the area may have extensive natural gas reserves.

April 17, 2021: Turkey confirmed that it supports Iraq’s “Sinjar Deal” to rebuild Iraq’s second largest city Mosul and insure Iraq’s territorial unity. Turkey intends to help rebuild and improve Mosul’s infrastructure, which was badly damaged during the war against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). The Sinjar Deal was reached in October 2020 between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The deal may eventually lead to the removal of PKK (Kurdish Turkish separatists) rebels from the Sinjar and perhaps the KRG. The PKK established a base in Sinjar in 2014. It also facilitates the return of displaced Yazidis to their homes. Turkey believes the deal will also help “eradicate” ISIL fighters in the region.

April 16, 2021: President Erdogan criticized the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for a court decision he claims will restrict teaching Koran courses. Erdogan threatened to retaliate against the statelet if the court ruling isn’t overturned. The court ruled the Republic of Northern Cyprus’ Ministry of Education should regulate Koran courses, not a Muslim religious commission. Turkey has long had problems with Cyprus because of its mixed Greek-Turk population. This led to a crisis in 1974 when Greek Cypriot guerrillas with links to the Greek “Colonels” junta in Athens attempted a coup aimed at “enosis” — the unification of Cyprus with Greece. The coup collapsed when the Turkish military garrison in Cyprus was reinforced by Turkey. The Turkish response was generally portrayed in the western media as an aggressive invasion akin to Saddam attacking Kuwait. That was not the case. A 1960 agreement when Cyprus became independent, gave Greece, Turkey and the former colonial power Great Britain the right to guarantee Cyprus’ status as an independent state. The Turk intervention left Turk Cypriots (20 percent of the population) controlling 40 percent of Cyprus, with a “Green Line” snaking through the capital, Nicosia.” Efforts by Greek and Turkish Cypriots to end the division resulted in the establishment of two entities that seek to become completely foreign (Greek and Turkish) control and relying more on allies like America, Britain and Israel to help protect any independence they have. The current dispute over Islam is another example of that unpopular foreign interference.

Source: https://www.strategypage.com/qnd/turkey/articles/20210419.aspx

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss the issue of Armenian prisoners of war whom Azerbaijan illegally refuses to repatriate at the upcoming plenary session.

The head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Ruben Rubinyan said the “Armenian POWs, other captives and displaced persons” item was included in the plenary session agenda by voting. “The discussion will take place on April 20,” he said.

Lawmaker Edmon Marukyan, a member of the Armenian delegation, said the item was included by a 93-21-18 vote.

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Ambassador to Israel Armen Smbatyan has been charged with aiding and abetting the misuse committed by the former minister of culture and youth affairs, as well as money laundering in connection with a criminal case. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned about this from the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

As per the statement, Smbatyan has been charged under the Criminal Code articles on aiding and abetting abuse of office and on money laundering, and an AMD 20,000,000 bail has been as his pretrial measure.

The former minister of culture and youth affairs had been included as a defendant in the aforementioned criminal case and was declared wanted.

Today, in an official letter to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the Council of Europe and the UN Commissioners for Human Rights and other international bodies, I provided additional information on the urgency of the return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan, the real situation, the protection of their rights and missing persons. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, on Monday morning wrote this on Facebook.

“The letter primarily indicates that there is an ongoing, open armed conflict. From the point of view of international [humanitarian] law, this means that regardless of whether or not they were taken prisoner after the November 9, 2020 tripartite declaration, they are prisoners of war, captives; they should be released immediately. This issue is artificially delayed by openly abusing legal processes, presenting them as terrorists and in violation of international rules, using detention as punishment.

All the while, this is a universal demand requirement for the implementation of international rulings to be applied automatically. The opposite grossly violates international human rights requirements and the international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Convention. The release and return of prisoners should be considered solely in the context of the human rights and humanitarian processes.

The Human Rights Defender’s monitoring, as well as the results of the investigation of the complaints received continuously confirm that the Azerbaijani authorities, in gross violation of international requirements, artificially delay the release of the Armenian captives, and deliberately do not disclose the actual number of prisoners. With this policy, they are violating the rights of prisoners and causing mental sufferings to the families of the captives and the missing persons, as well as are causing tension in the Armenian society.

Evidence gathered by the Human Rights Defender’s Office confirms that the number of captives held in Azerbaijan is higher than the Azerbaijani authorities have confirmed. This is in reference to the return of 44 captives in 2020.

The absolute urgency with respect to the issue of the release and return of captives must be considered in the context of the policy of hatred towards Armenians and animosity in Azerbaijan, which has been continually propagated at the state level.

Therefore, taking into account the humanitarian mandates of these international bodies and their role in human rights (the priority of right to life) protection, they were provided with additional information on the real situation, raising the urgent need to take decisive measures for the release and return of all captives,” also reads the statement by the ombudsman of Armenia.