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.

April 17, 2021 

On Saturday, Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, announced that his country will hold a Ramadan Iftar banquet for the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Government of National Unity, Najla Al-Mangoush, in the attendance of many Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU).

This came during the Greek Minister’s meeting with the President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Mnifi, held at the Libyan Embassy in Athens.

Dendias affirmed his country’s full support for Libya, and its readiness to enhance cooperation in areas of common interest.

He also thanked Mnifi, for receiving him at the Libyan embassy in the Greek capital, Athens.

On his part, Mnifi appreciated Greece’s support for the political process in Libya, stressing the importance of enhancing joint cooperation between the two countries in various fields. He also praised the success of the talks he held during the last few days with many senior Greek officials.

The Libyan interim president’s visit to Athens this week is his first in the new post.

On Wednesday, Mnifi met with Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. The talks resulted in the agreement to immediately resume negotiations between Greece and Libya on the maritime issue.

The whole nation of Pakistan is engaged in a massive undeclared civil war. The nation is burning for the last 1 week 100’s of people who staged a protest against the Pakistan Army and the government have been killed. The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has taken 12 policemen hostage and are refusing to release them.

The freedom fighters of the recently proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) “brutally tortured” a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and took him, as well as four other officials, hostage on Sunday, spokesperson for Lahore CCPO Rana Arif told

Sources said, kidnapped police personals in Lahore are being treated well and each one of them was offered CUP of TEA. A Pakistani Journalist who went inside the kidnapping room revealed that police personals said “Tea is fantastic.”

An operation that was launched against the TLP activists earlier in the day has been temporarily halted at the moment.

Police said the violence occurred after “miscreants” — an apparent reference to TLP freedom fighters — attacked a police station and abducted the DSP, adding that it acted only in “self-defence”.

The Pakistani Punjab police are rattled. The statement said “Today in the early morning, miscreants attacked Nawankot Police Station where Rangers and Police officers were trapped inside the police station and DSP Nawankot kidnapped and taken to the Markaz,” the Punjab police said in a statement, referring to the TLP headquarters.

They added that “at least one oil tanker with 50,000 litres of petrol has been taken by the miscreants to the Markaz.”

According to the statement, the miscreants (TLP Rebels) were armed and attacked Rangers/police with petrol bombs.

Police and Rangers pushed them back and took back the possession of the police station,” it said, adding that police did not plan or conduct any operation against the mosque or the madrassah.

“The action, if any, was in self-defence and to protect public property.”

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan in a tweet said the attackers had kidnapped 12 police officials, including the DSP, and taken them to their Markaz.

An official report showed 15 injured police personnel were under treatment at different hospitals in the city. Arif said the security personnel were subjected to “brutal torture” by TLP workers.

Meanwhile, at least three protesters were killed and several others injured during the clash, according to the party’s workers.

A TLP spokesperson said the clash started when police launched an operation to clear the area around Lahore’s Yateem Khana Chowk, where workers of the banned party have been staging a protest since earlier this week.

In a video message, TLP spokesperson Shafiq Ameeni said that “[We] will bury [those killed] when the French ambassador exits the country and our agreement (with the government) is implemented.”

Videos on social media showed people carrying away the injured and tending to them.

TLP workers wielding sticks and stones also climbed atop the Orange Line Metro Train, while speeches were being made through the area mosque to call people for support, according to the city police spokesperson.

An AFP reporter at the scene said police used tear gas against stone-throwing protesters.

Roads leading to the TLP headquarters near Yateem Khana Chowk have been blocked.

Still, supporters of banned TLP have been sharing videos on social media of what they said were clashes on Sunday with police, and hashtags supporting the group were trending in Pakistan on Sunday.

The TLP also shared a video of a senior official of Punjab police, who was allegedly abducted by its workers on Sunday. The injured police official, assumedly under duress, said that an operation was being carried out to clear the area outside a police station when he was “captured” by the “enraged” crowd.

He said that three people were killed and several others sustained bullet wounds, appealing for a way forward through dialogue.

Commenting on today’s violence, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government “believes in negotiations but will not be blackmailed”.

He said the operation in Lahore was launched after police and Rangers personnel were abducted. “The state was not blackmailed by [the] banned armed group,” Chaudhry was quoted as saying on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Islamabad DIG Operations Afzaal Ahmad Kausar said security had been “beefed up in the whole city” and that heavy police contingents had been deployed at entry/exit points and other important installations.

“All possible steps would be taken for the maintenance of law and order situation in the city,” he tweeted from his official account.

‘Tense’ situation
The TLP was formally banned by the federal government earlier this week after its supporters staged three days of violent protests across the country, resulting in deaths and injuries to several policemen.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said the situation in the area around Yateem Khana Chowk was “tense”, adding that the government would take a decision on disbanding the TLP and the matter would be taken to the cabinet by April 20.

“If [TLP] has to be disbanded, the law ministry and Attorney General [of Pakistan] will be working on this and a reference will be filed.”

When asked whether any negotiations were taking place between the TLP and the government, Rashid replied in the negative.

He said blasphemy was not acceptable to the government in any condition “but for the peace of this country and to remain alive in the world, [we] had to take some inevitable steps for which we were mentally not prepared”, referring to the ban imposed on the TLP.

Answering a question, Rashid said the government will make full efforts to ensure that all roads and highways remain open on April 20.

Violent protests

During the three days of countrywide protests, hundreds of protesters and police personnel were injured and thousands of TLP activists and supporters were arrested and booked for attacking law enforcement personnel and blocking main roads and highways in protest against the arrest of their leader Allama Saad Hussain Rizvi.

On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan also lauded the services of police for dealing with the “organised violence” perpetrated by the protesters.

In a tweet, the premier also announced that the government would look after the families of the four police personnel martyred during the violence.

“I want to pay special tribute to our police force for their heroic stand against organised violence intended to create chaos to blackmail [the] government,” he wrote, noting that four policemen were martyred and more than 600 injured during the unrest.

Govt ban

On Thursday, the government had slapped a ban on the TLP. A notification declaring TLP as a proscribed organisation was issued by the Ministry of Interior shortly after the federal cabinet approved a summary to ban the party.

The notification said: “The federal government has reasonable grounds to believe that the TLP is engaged in terrorism, [has] acted in a manner prejudicial to the peace and security of the country, [was] involved in creating anarchy in the country by intimidating the public, caused grievous bodily harm, hurt and death to the personnel of law enforcement agencies and innocent by-standers, attacked civilians and officials, created wide-scale hurdles, threatened, abused and promoted hatred, vandalised and ransacked public and government properties including vehicles and caused arson, blocked essential health supplies to hospitals, and has threatened, coerced, intimidated, and overawed the government [and] the public and created a sense of fear and insecurity in the society and the public at large.”

Copies of the notification were sent to authorities concerned, including the secretaries of different ministries and divisions, State Bank governor, Election Commission of Pakistan secretary and director general passports.

The National Counter Terrorism Authority had also swiftly added the TLP to the list of banned terrorist organisations taking the total number of such outfits to 79.

– 50 protestors killed by Pakistan forces today alone

– Thousands injured in atrocities by forces.

– 25,000 + protestors arrested by Pak forces.

– Women and kids of TLP workers being tortured by Pak forces.

– Allama Farooq Ul Hassan said.

With inputs from DAWN, Reuters, Social Media, TLP Freedom Fighters

Source: https://ifenewsnetwork.com/pakistan-civil-war-escalates12-policemen-50000-litres-oil-tanker-captured-by-the-tlp-freedom-fighters/

The growing reputation of Armenia’s ex-President Robert Kocharyan is the best indicator showing the healing of the society and bringing back its soberness, Viktor Soghomonyan, the Head of the Ex-president’s Office told an interview with the Fifth Channel. 

“People understood the falsehood surrounding them. They realised there is a state figure, who has preserved his political public, and regional influence, that were downgraded by certain accusations. Those accusations disappeared into thin air. Over the past three years the authorities had all chances to investigate, examine, dig and couldn’t find anything to remove the state and political figure of such a calibre. They just failed,” Soghmonyan said, speaking of the criminal prosecutions launched against Kocharyan. 

Soghomonyan also spoke about the upcoming snap elections, informing there is a programme in place, and discussions are underway on its implementation. The full interview will be aired at 22.20 on Friday on the Fifth Channel. 

Source Panorama.am

By Van Der Megerdichian

n 451 CE under the command of Vartan Mamikonian, Armenians fought the Sasanian Persians in one of the first battles to defend Christianity: the Battle of Avarayr. It came as a result of the Armenian people’s steadfast commitment to their religious beliefs amidst increasing intolerance and oppression. While a minor event in the annals of Iran, the battle continues to be one of the most defining episodes in Armenian history.

In 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Despite Christianity playing a pivotal role in the emergence and maintenance of the Armenian people’s national identity going forward, it created many challenges for the fledgling nation. In 387, Byzantium and Persia partitioned Armenia, which historically found itself caught between conflicting interests of both the East and West, and most of Armenia proper fell under Sasanian dominion. At the time, political loyalty was inseparable from religious conformity, so the Christians in Iran were perceived as a subversive element threatening the safety of the Sasanian state. Since Armenians’ religious traditions were similar to Christian Rome, Persian authorities attempted to disrupt the close relationship between the Armenian and Greek churches. The situation intensified following the collapse of the Armenian Arsacid dynasty in 428 and the rise of the Sasanian monarch Yazdegerd II. A fervent Zoroastrian, he ordered his subjects to abandon their Christian confession and convert to Zoroastrianism. The Armenians bravely refused, and for the next half-century they mobilized in self-defense to restore their right to practice Christianity.

Before the battle, in 447, the Armenian nakharars—or nobles—and ecclesia gathered in the Armenian city of Artashat to proclaim to the Persian king that, although they were faithful to Persia, they were also faithful to their church. The pro-Persian faction led by Vasak Siwni, the frontier deputy or marzpan, preferred to remain loyal to their Persian overlords and facilitated dialogue to reach a compromise. Vartan Mamikonian led other Armenians who remained committed to their church and religion, and under his leadership, this group carried out minor acts of resistance.

Although the Georgians aided them, the Armenians sought a stronger ally to guarantee victory. With no Byzantine reinforcements coming, Vasak Siwni and his retinue saw another reason to remain faithful to their Persian suzerain. But the rebellion gained momentum and soon culminated in the Battle of Avarayr in 451, where the army of Vartan Mamikonian suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Persians. Yet this result was a Pyrrhic victory for the Sasanians and a moral triumph for the Armenians.

Numerous accounts exist describing the undying faith of the Christian Armenian warriors as they prepared for battle, including the recitation of the Psalms as St. Ghevont Yeretz, a notable church figure, held communion. On the battlefield, Vartan Mamikonian addressed his soldiers:

He who supposes that we put on Christianity like a garment, now realizes that as he cannot change the color of his skin, so he will perhaps never be able to accomplish his designs. For the foundations of our faith are set on the unshakeable rock, not on Earth, but above in Heaven, yet by faith we are established in Heaven where no one can reach the building of Christ not made by human hands.

During the battle, Vartan fell along with many other warriors who all became martyrs, but Armenia rose. In the years that followed, his nephew, Vahan Mamikonian, impelled the Armenians to remain staunch adherents to Christianity. As a result, Yazdegerd II and the Persians administered a much more lenient policy toward Christians and the Armenian Church, leading to the implementation of the Nvarsak Treaty in 484 that gave Armenians religious freedom. This history canonized Vartan, not only as a saint but also as a symbol of Armenian purity and resolve, helping to establish an Armenian identity that persists to this day. Even now, Armenians commemorate the Feast of Vartanantz on the Thursday preceding Great Lent. It is a symbol of the conscience, the faith, and the general rebellion of Armenians against tyranny to preserve their national and religious identity.

The Battle of Avarayr serves as the crux of what it means to be Armenian. Renowned Armenian writer Yeghishe recounts this event in his work the History of Vartan and the War, which is one of the quintessential works of the Armenian literary canon. This text outlines a root paradigm that has become the prism through which Armenians cast their struggles to survive and preserve their identity. This episode preserved and cemented Armenia’s place as a Christian nation, venerated and beyond reproach. The event also imparts a polysemic lesson describing an embattled community attempting to defend its autonomy, culture, fatherland, language, religion, history, and existence. Vartanank—the event named after the sparapet Vartan’s actions and the lore associated with his heroics, as a struggle and a cause—has been engrained in the Armenian psyche in the name of preserving and protecting the ancestral traditions and liberties of Christian Armenia. This is precisely why the battle is considered a moral victory despite a military defeat. According to Peter Cowe, the Narekatsi Chair of Armenian Studies at UCLA, the Battle of Avarayr has become the root paradigm for interpreting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the widespread representation of its victims as martyrs.

For the Armenian nation, St. Vartan Mamikonian is among the most sacred and beloved figures, embodying and typifying the national spirit. Vartanank has become an event that applies to each Armenian generation that endures and struggles for its sacred cause of preserving their identity. Root paradigms are part and parcel of every people’s history and existence, and the Battle of Avarayr serves as the script for a distinct Armenian identity rooted in collective ideals that determine a unique Armenian culture. Highlighting the ideals of vasn Hayrenyats, vasn gronki (for fatherland, for religion—as in, for Armenia, for Christianity), this thread can be applied to later historical events, including the national liberation movements of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the Armenian Genocide, the battles that led to the First Republic of Armenia in 1918, and the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Wars. Concurrently, while a historically significant event for the Armenian people, the Battle of Avarayr represents a symbolic epitome of the spirit of Christian resolve when facing adversity, no matter how dire. Irrespective of the odds, the Christian faith has persevered, as it did and will continue to do for the Armenian people. In its own fundamental way, Vartanank laid the foundation for other subsequent battles in defense of Christianity on a global scale.

Source: https://providencemag.com/2021/04/avarayr-short-history-armenia-great-battle/

The United States is in a very challenging relationship with ally Turkey that will require much work as the country backslides on democracy, said Victoria Nuland, nominee to be Under Secretary of State for political affairs.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in our bilateral relationship to make clear our concerns about not only what Turkey is doing outside its country but also inside its country, including the democracy, human rights and freedom of press,” Nuland said at a hearing of the U.S. State Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday.

Bilateral relations have strained after NATO ally Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defence system in 2019, its deteriorating human rights record, which resulted in the detention of a U.S. pastor on terrorism charges three years ago and differences over Syria and Libya. 

“It’s very important that we re-commit at the table to the things that make us the strongest, particularly in the context of the rise of autocracy across the world,” Nuland said. “A NATO ally needs to stand after democracy. I look forward to rolling up the sleeves, getting back to Ankara and having these conversations.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is yet to receive a phone call from U.S. President Joe Biden since he took the office in January. As vice president in the Obama administration, Biden accused Erdoğan of being an autocrat. Last week, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi referred to Erdoğan as a dictator, prompting a stinging response.

The United States needs to continue to press Turkey on the S-400 weapons systems and to get on the same page with regard to Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, Nuland said.

“And more broadly, we need to start a conversation in NATO about backsliding on our values among our allies,” she said.

The United States has expelled Turkish manufacturers from the F-35 fighter jet programme and imposed sanctions through the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in December over the purchase of the Russian missile systems.

In Vayots Dzor’s Getap village, the brother of a martyred soldier did not allow Pashinyan to approach his brother’s grave. “I have the right to that. I do not allow you. Nobody from this government helped me to find my brother,” said the man.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the Israeli government on Friday, saying that he knew well how Israel is “an enemy of Islam,” over the country’s most recent air strike on targets in Gaza, Ahval reported.

Early on Friday, Israeli aircraft hit three facilities in Gaza, in response to a previous rocket attack, according to an Associated Press report.

The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired two rockets from Gaza into the country’s south on Friday, within 24 hours.

We know Israel is an enemy of Islam. Unfortunately, Israel does not change these habits,” Erdogan said, speaking to reporters following Friday prayers. “We want all of humanity to follow closely Israel’s hostility against Islam evaluate (the situation). Surely, as long as Israel maintains this attitude, it is impossible for bilateral relations to reach a level we would like.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on “Israel’s attacks on Gaza,” and expressed concern about “Israel’s policies of oppression and violence against the Palestinian people” increasingly continuing during Ramadan.

Answering the questions why that system did not work the way the people wanted during the Artsakh war, the Prime Minister answered that there was a simple reason for that. He stressed that, in fact, this security system extends to the borders of Armenia, which Armenia itself has defined by the 2010 Law on Administrative Territorial Division.