Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, during an interview with Russian media celebrity Vladimir Pozner on Russian TV yesterday, said that Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan is personally responsible for Armenia’s defeat in last year’s Karabakh war.https://www.facebook.com/v3.2/plugins/quote.php?app_id=468673766529308&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df21c63b58fd2566%26domain%3Dhetq.am%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fhetq.am%252Ff7c9c5b47cecd2%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=930&href=https%3A%2F%2Fhetq.am%2Fen%2Farticle%2F129359&locale=en_US&sdk=joey

Kocharyan said that Pashinyan’s demand that the Artsakh government participate in negotiations was ill-advised and lead to a settlement deadlock.

Kocharyan said there was an opportunity to end the war in a completely different manner, but Pashinyan did not take responsibility for making such a decision. As a result, Armenia has lost much more than it would have lost if it had accepted Putin’s offer, made on October 19, 2020, to end the fighting on condition that Azerbaijani refugees return to Shushi.

When asked to list Armenia’s most serious problems today, Kocharyan said all sectors in the country face serious issues.

The ex-Armenian president said he plans to run Kocharyan will in this June’s   special parliamentary elections with an alliance of parties.

“Most likely, there will be two parties in the bloc,” he said, without specifying which parties.

Asked if Russia has betrayed Armenia, Kocharyan, who has called for stronger ties with Moscow, said there are forces trying to foment anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia.

“This topic was raised in the past, even before the war. These are mainly the forces that are dissatisfied with the Russian orientation in Armenia. Now, a new situation has been created. The same forces are doing their best to create anti-Russian sentiment. But Russia did not provoke the war. Russia did everything possible to stop the war,” Kocharyan said.

Speaking about the threats now faced by Armenia, Kocharyan said Turkey poses the main external threat.

“Of course, Turkey. The threat is historical for us. We perceive Turkey as a threat, and the Turks see us as one. This explains the closed border, the lack of diplomatic relations. The threat is that if Turkey opens the border, it will do everything to turn Armenia into a place like Adjara, in terms of its business, in terms of its economy. I see a certain danger here,” said Kocharyan.

Speaking of the possibility of possible retaliation when he comes to power, Kocharyan noted the Armenian army is in a condition at present that no one can speak of a revenge. 

“An unduly unfair peace cannot be lasting and sustainable. I want to end this conflict, and we must find a solution which which will be fair,” said Kocharyan. 

These 44 days were not a war; they were a slaughterhouse. All the media outlets were shut down and they [the Armenian authorities] were putting the youth under fire by the thousands. Vazgen Manukyan, the candidate for the post of Prime Minister of the Homeland Salvation Movement—which demands the resignation of PM Nikol Pashinyan—, stated this Tuesday during the movement’s rally in Sevan, Armenia

“Will we forgive that? This is not a bad government that should be changed through elections; your heart should be filled with hatred toward them. They destroyed our homeland. The only way is to drive them away through the people. I do not accept elections; the more forcibly we drive these authorities away, the more respect we will have for ourselves.

And now they [the authorities] say that roads are being opened; that is, did you deliberately lose [the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war] to open roads? That’s how it turns out. You live badly, you will live worse; this ‘road’ leads there,” he said.

Also, Manukyan expressed confidence that the snap parliamentary elections slated for June 20 will bring nothing to Armenia except for damage. “If we do not change the situation drastically, Armenia will slowly die,” he added.

After Vazgen Manukyan’s remarks, the Homeland Salvation Movement’s rally in Sevan concluded.

By Harut Sassounian,

The Arab News published on March 28 an article titled, “Book by Saudi author unravels Ottoman atrocities in Madinah.” The book was written by Saudi historian Muhammad Al-Saeed who exposed Ottoman atrocities against the Muslim population of the holy city of Madinah in Saudi Arabia in 1918 when it was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Al-Saeed, in his book, “Seferberlik: A Century on from the Ottoman crime in Madinah,” tells the seldom-known story of the deportation and killings of the population of Madinah by Ottoman General Fakhri Pasha. The city was pillaged and its holy relics looted by the Ottoman army.

The journalist of the Arab News article, Mohammed Al-Sulami, explained that even though some historians use the Turkish/Arabic word ‘Seferberlik — meaning mobilization or collective deportation — when referring to the Armenian Genocide, this term is also used to refer to the mass displacement of the population from Madinah.

Fakhri Pasha laid siege to Madinah when the city was under attack by the British-backed Arab fighters of Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Makkah. Fakhri Pasha deported 40,000 people from Madinah by trains to present-day Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, abandoning them to their fate. Only 140 residents remained in Madinah who suffered from famine.

Furthermore, the Ottoman army removed the valuable personal effects of Prophet Muhammad from his sacred chamber and smuggled them to Constantinople (Istanbul). Fakhri Pasha converted the Prophet’s mosque into a weapons depot, thus endangering the tomb of the Prophet. Fakhri Pasha also demolished many buildings, starved the remaining population of Madinah and confiscated their possessions, such as farms and crops, reserving the food for his soldiers.

“The stolen treasures arrived in Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire’s capital, and have been on display for many years at the Topkapi Museum,” author Al-Saeed said. The Arab News article explained that the stolen holy relics included “old copies of the Quran, jewelry, golden candlesticks and swords. Besides the 390 artifacts, visitors to the [Topkapi] museum can see the following possessions of Prophet Muhammad: the Blessed Mantle, the Holy Banner, his sword and bow, a jar, a piece of his tooth and a hair from his beard.”

Al-Saeed also revealed that “Fakhri Pasha even attempted to have the body of Prophet Muhammad exhumed and shipped to Constantinople. An Egyptian engineer, who was summoned to Madinah to modify the minarets of the Prophet’s Mosque to support the weight of Ottoman artillery, claimed he was ordered to open the tomb, but he refused. Fakhri Pasha asked for his help to exhume the body of the prophet and move it to Constantinople, according to the historical documents written by the French representative in Cairo and sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The French representative vouched for the account of the Egyptian engineer, who fled the city and did not carry out the crime, thus confirming that the grave in question did indeed house the prophet’s body and the goal was to move the body to Constantinople.”

Al-Saeed told the Arab News that “Madinah reached the point of famine, forcing its citizens and orphaned children to eat cats, dogs and what remained on the farms and in the streets.”

Importantly, Al-Saeed said he wrote about the Ottoman Empire’s atrocities in Madinah “because he believes modern Turkey is trying to whitewash its imperial past. He plans to translate his book into several languages to raise awareness of this little-known chapter of Ottoman history.”

Al-Saeed further said: “I wrote an article in 2015 about the passage of 100 years since this crime and provided details that few people knew about. Reactions to the article varied between people shocked at the information and those who could not believe it, given the Turkish publicity ahead of its publication which attempted to whitewash the Ottoman Empire’s ugliness and its heinous crimes against Arabs. The public was oblivious to the Ottoman crimes. Following the article, the idea of documenting the event was established, so that history would not forget it like other events in Arab history, particularly since the few historical sources that documented Seferberlik are in the Ottoman, English and French archives. Moreover, the sources of information are very limited and the grandchildren of those who were in Madinah at the time do not have many documents. A lot of the city’s inhabitants were displaced. Many of them did not return.”

In a second publication, Saudi Arabia’s ‘Okaz’ newspaper, Saudi journalist Khaled Abbas Tashkandy, wrote in a 2017 article that “his own grandfather was one of the victims of the mass and forced displacement crimes of the people and sons of Madinah by the orders of the military governor Fakhri Pasha during the Seferberlik and how the Turkish soldiers broke into his family’s house and kidnapped him from his mother’s arms and deported him to Astana.” The Saudi journalist confirmed the details of the persecution of the people of Madinah by Fakhri Pasha and the looting of Prophet Muhammad’s personal effects.

In a third publication, The NewArab published an article by Kemal Afzali on March 11, titled: “Saudis claim last Ottoman governor planned to ‘steal Prophet Muhammad’s body.’” This article “provoked uproar among Saudi social media users, many of whom believe it to be characteristic evidence of alleged Turkish animosity towards the Kingdom’s holy cities.” The Arabic hashtag #desecration_ of_the_prophets_grave has appeared in over 7,500 posts on Twitter and Facebook as of early March. Many Saudis have decried “the historic act of ‘Turkish blasphemy.’” Some have drawn parallels between Fakhri Pasha’s barbaric actions and Pres. Erdogan’s “contemporary support for ‘insurgent activity against Arab states.’” One social media post read: “Turks are a nation of thieves. They are bandits and criminals.”

It is incomprehensible to me that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after more than a Century, has not demanded that the Turkish government return the looted sacred relics of Prophet Muhammad. While Turkey brazenly demands that museums in other countries return antiques that were taken out of Turkey, even though many of these items are of Greek or Armenian origin, the Turkish government has not returned the stolen Saudi artifacts. Should Turkey refuse to do so, Saudi Arabia should file a lawsuit against Turkey in the World Court and publicize the Turkish theft worldwide.

In the past, Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoyed normal or friendly relations, but that is not the case now. Due to Pres. Erdogan’s dictatorial and military actions in some parts of the world, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are on the opposite sides of various disputes. As a result, Saudi Arabia has blocked the transmission of Turkish programs from its TV stations and has banned the import of Turkish products. This is the right time for Saudi Arabia to act more decisively against Turkey and demand the return of the sacred religious items belonging to the Kingdom. The display of Prophet Muhammad’s personal effects in a Turkish museum is an insult to all Arabs and all Muslims worldwide. These sacred items belong to Saudi Arabia.

By REUTERS,

The “Israeli agent” is allegedly one of several spies Iran has recently arrested.

Iran has arrested an “Israeli spy” and a number of other people who were in contact with foreign intelligence services, Iranian state media reported on Monday, without giving the nationality of those arrested.”An Israeli spy has been arrested in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province … also other spies who were in contact with several countries’ intelligence services have been arrested as well,” it quoted an Intelligence Ministry official as saying.

Israeli officials did not immediately comment on the report.The Islamic Republic does not recognize Israel and has accused it of being behind acts of sabotage and assassinations of nuclear scientists.An Iranian convicted of spying for US and Israeli intelligence was executed in 2020.Iran has blamed Israel for last year’s killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was seen by Western intelligence services as the mastermind of a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.Tehran has denied seeking to build a nuclear arsenal. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the killing.

Accusations of a plot against the monarchy could have implications for allies like the U.S. that consider Jordan a reliable partner in the region.

By Yasmine Salam

Jordan’s monarchy is in turmoil after 15 people, including a senior royal, were arrested over the weekend in connection with what the country’s government called a “malicious plot” against the throne.

Prince Hamzah Bin Hussein, King Abdullah II’s half-brother, is among the former ministers and tribal leaders who were arrested for allegedly taking part in meetings where the king was criticized.

The palace intrigue has shook the Arab nation of 10 million but also could have far-reaching implications for global allies such as the U.S. that consider Jordan a reliable partner in an often tumultuous region.

Experts say the country’s location, surrounded by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, has meant Jordan has been seen as a “huge asset” in acting as a “geographical buffer” within conflict zones throughout history.

“Jordan has played a conduit role. It’s this anchor in the middle of arguably the most fragile and unstable part of the Middle East,” Tobias Borck, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London, told NBC News.

The quick response from President Joe Biden’s administration underpins the importance of Jordan to U.S. interests.

“We are closely following the reports and in touch with Jordanian officials. King Abdullah is a key partner of the United States, and he has our full support,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said.

“There will be a lot of people in Washington and London over the last 48 to 72 hours who have had to do a lot of work, and are deeply concerned about continued Jordanian stability,” Borck added. “That will have been a big driver of such an incredibly quick and fairly high-level response that shows absolutely unequivocal support for King Abdullah.”

MP Ani Samsoyan from Armenia’s opposition Bright Armenia Party on Monday said there had been no condition under which they would nominate a candidate for prime minister during the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.

“Our only arrangement was that the prime minister should resign to pave the way for early elections,” the lawmaker told reporters, stating it does not make sense to take other steps when there if a clear agreement on the elections.

According to Samsoyan, there has been no arrangements with Bright Armenian on amendments to the Electoral Code, but only on snap elections.

“We will not give the authorities any excuse to take a step back from this agenda,” the MP said.

Samsonyan also noted that they will prepare the party’s electoral list only after the premier resigns to make sure that the snap elections will actually be held.

“Nothing is ruled out,” she said, at the same time stating the claims that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would breach the arrangement on the snap polls are inappropriate.

Samsonyan noted that every healthy political force should strive for the maximum, adding they will not take part in the elections just to gain several parliamentary seats, but to come to power.

In response to a reporter’s observation that in the previous elections the Bright Armenia Party managed to overcome only the threshold, but now seeks election victory, the deputy noted that the current and 2018 political situations are completely different from each other, adding during the 2018 elections it was obvious that the revolutionary force would come to power.

Ani Samsonyan refused to answer a question whether Bright Armenia is in favor of establishing relations with Turkey, but admitted that she considers Turkey an enemy, because it poses a threat to Armenia’s security.  

An Armenian van transporting bodies of the dead came under Azerbaijani stone attack on March 28, deputy head of Goris community Irina Yolyan informs.

“The driver says that he left Stepanakert for Goris at night amid thick fog, he felt that the car was being hit by stones. The incident took place at 01:30 am. The driver did not stop, continued driving, and took the bodies to Goris.

Last week the Azerbaijani military threw stones at cars with Armenian license plates on the way to Karmir Shuka village of Karmir village in Artsakh’s Askeran region.

By Tsvetelia Tsolova

SOFIA (Reuters) -Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will have difficulty holding onto power, after a surge of votes in an election on Sunday for anti-establishment and anti-corruption parties that want him out.

Exit polls forecast his centre-right GERB party to remain the largest party in parliament, but with only around 25% of the vote, compared with the 33.5% it won four years ago.

Behind it, the opposition Socialists and a new anti-establishment party founded by a singer vied with each other for second place, and two other protest parties that reject Borissov were also forecast to enter the parliament.

After a decade of dominating Bulgarian politics, Borissov has few natural coalition partners.

Weeks of talks, or even another election, cannot be ruled out, meaning Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest member, may have difficulty tapping the EU’s 750 billion euro ($884 billion) coronavirus Recovery Fund.

A former fireman and bodyguard, Borissov, 61, sought to showcase his successes in modernising Bulgaria’s creaking infrastructure in a low-key campaign after his popularity was eroded last year by massive rallies against corruption and the power of oligarchs.

“We are seeing the outlines of one new Bulgaria, where Borissov can continue to win elections with his huge administrative and financial resources, but cannot hold on to power,” said Hristo Ivanov, a leader of the anti-graft Democratic Bulgaria party.

Complicating Borissov’s coalition-building options is the emergence of the anti-establishment There is Such a People party of popular TV host and singer Slavi Trifonov. A Gallup International exit poll put it second, ahead of the Socialists, while a poll by Alpha Research had them in reverse order.

Trifonov, 54, whose concerts peppered with patriotic songs have attracted thousands, has ruled out governing with either GERB or the Socialists.

Democratic Bulgaria, one of biggest forces in the massive protests last summer, won some 10-11%, the polls showed. Another protest party, Stand Up! Mafia Out! will also enter the next parliament.

CORRUPTION

Borissov’s government has presided over a 36% increase in the average monthly salary to 1,468 levs ($882), has kept public debt low, and secured entry to the “waiting room” for joining the euro currency.

But its failure to tackle endemic corruption and reform the judiciary brought thousands of protesters onto the streets for months during 2020.

The protesters accused Borissov of cosying up to local oligarchs and funnelling EU aid to businesses close to GERB, allegations he denies.

Bulgaria ranks as the EU’s most corrupt member state according to Transparency International. A recent U.S. State Department report on human rights highlights serious problems with judicial independence and media freedom in the country.

President Rumen Radev, a critic of Borissov and an ally of the Socialists, says Bulgaria needs new faces and ideas.

“These election will be the first step to the return to normality, to laws and rules,” he said after voting on Sunday.

The ethnic Turkish MRF party won 10-11%, polls showed, while the nationalist VMRO party is at 4.0-4.4%. The threshold to win seats is 4%. Both have been GERB’s governing coalition allies following the last election.

($1 = 1.6628 leva)

Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Writing by Justyna Pawlak;Editing by Gareth Jones, Timothy Heritage, Alison Williams, Peter Graff

A child was killed in Donbass amid the escalation of the conflict these days.

According to Korrespondent.net, Ukrainian fighters were fired upon from large-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, and small arms. A military man was blown up by an explosive device.

As of 7:00 am on Sunday, there were no ceasefire violations.

The Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe (PACE) and OSCE (PA OSCE) should demand an explanation from the Ukrainian leadership in connection with the death of a child in Donbass and assess what happened, State Duma Speaker Viacheslav Volodin said on Saturday in his Telegram channel, proposing to discuss the exclusion of Ukraine from the CE.

Germany and France, in turn, called on the conflicting parties in the Donbass for an immediate ceasefire, and also expressed concern over reports of increased shelling.