Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Armenia Ombudsman sends to international organizations footage of Azerbaijanis’ abuse of Artsakh resident

By

The Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan sent to international organizations footage of Azerbaijanis’ abuse of an Artsakh resident.

“In this video, Azerbaijani soldiers torture and humiliate a peaceful resident of Artsakh, a simple peasant, just because he is an Armenian,” he noted. “The Azerbaijani military is inspired by hatred and uses the same vocabulary that the Azerbaijani and Turkish authorities and public figures advocate.”

“This video is one of the many objective evidence of war crimes and atrocities, both ethnic and religious.”

The Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia studied this video, filmed during the September-November 2020 war, sent it to international bodies, and published it.

Armenia Faces Another Genocidal Threat

By

By Dr. Garo Armen

n 2019, the U.S. government passed legislation that formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks from 1915-1923. Now just a year later, world leaders, including the executive branch of the U.S. government, are allowing the escalation of Azerbaijan’s attacks in the Caucasus region and the consequent threat of a second Armenian genocide to occur with little involvement. Have we not learned from what history has shown us?

Since September 27th, the tensions and fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have quickly escalated with no end in sight. Turkey has been pushing Azerbaijan into a war with Armenia to strengthen its own position and power.  With the world currently concentrating on other events, Turkey has taken this opportunity to seize what does not belong to them.  Since June, Turkey has provided training to the Azeri military with combined drill exercises and sold arms including ammunition, missiles, electronic warfare systems, and vehicles to Azerbaijan.  Turkey also publicly stated that it would provide support to Azerbaijan in its fight against Armenia. [1]

The Turkish government is encouraging militia fighters from the region to join the ranks of the Azeri military by offering incentives to these fighters and by labeling this war as a jihad. Armenian Christians are fearful that they will be exterminated for their Christian beliefs. This is a war over territory, yes, but the conflict arises fundamentally from a desire to exterminate the Christian religion from the region. Turkey has already shown its true colors in the region with its attempt to exterminate the Kurdish population in Iraq. My biggest fear is that my homeland of Armenia will cease to exist for future generations as the world watches its destruction with no intervention.

The Azeri government is being controlled and manipulated by the Turkish government to allow Turkey to achieve its end goal:  The Second Ottoman Empire. As Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, has stated, “The Armenians in the South Caucasus are the last impediment on Turkey’s way to expanding its imperial policy. We must look at it in the context of the general policy pursued by Turkey in the Mediterranean region. This policy implies use of terrorists and mercenaries. The international community, especially Europe, must take this fact very seriously. If Europe fails to do so, you will have to meet Turkey in Vienna.[2]”  

Since September 27th, I have personally been affected by the atrocities of the ongoing violence in the region.  An organization I founded in 2003, the Children of Armenia Fund, has seen young people we have educated through our SMART Centers drafted into the military to fight. Ten young men from COAF-sponsored villages, whom I’ve known since they were young children, have perished protecting their homeland in the past two weeks.

This 60 second video exemplifies the unfolding human rights crisis in Armenia and Artsakh, which is rapidly amounting to a genocide with the use of modern warfare weaponry. The Turkish and Azeri governments are on a campaign to remove and exterminate the peaceful people of Artsakh, who have been living on these ancestral lands for 2,700 years. This is a clear attempt by the Turkish government to initiate a second Armenian genocide.

Although I am not on the ground to witness first-hand the horrific damage this war is causing, I hear daily the concern in the voices of my friends over the increasing insecurity in the region. It is always those that are less fortunate that are most impacted by war. The military death toll since September 27th has reached over 700 and that number does not include the civilian casualties.[3] The unprovoked attacks from Azerbaijan and Turkey have become increasingly more violent, already causing nearly 100,000 women and children to be displaced from their homes.

My plea is that we do not merely watch an entire ethnic group be destroyed but act to bring lasting peace to the region. World leaders need to intervene to stop Turkey from instigating and interfering in geopolitics in the region and if they neglect to do so they should understand that the continued bloodshed will be on their hands.

Whether Turkey is an enemy state for Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, answer Armenia should correct its approach to this issue

By

Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan in an interview with Petros Ghazaryan on Public TV today referred to the question whether Turkey is an enemy state for Armenia, noting that Armenia should correct its approach to this issue. In this part of the interview, Armen Grigoryan’s answers have become a subject of criticism by Facebook users.

Public-political figure Mihran Hakobyan, referring to the topic, wrote ․ “NSC Armen Grigoryan says that we must correct our approaches to considering Turkey an enemy. We know that Turkish Nikol with his treacherous gang “corrected” his attitudes towards Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Turkish shoes licked and corrected the attitudes towards their kirvans. Do the parents and relatives of the 5,000 victims, the thousands of disabled and paralyzed boys, know that the Turks are no longer enemies? Do the parents of the son-in-law know that Turkish Nikol’s gang ate their sons’ heads to “correct” their attitudes towards Turkey? Capitulation swindlers, can you say so much in Yerablur in the presence of the parents of our martyrs? ”

Human rights activist Ruben Melikyan also touched upon the topic, writing ․ “The start of a new stage of the genocidal policy of the nationalists is being given smoothly.

Peter. “Do you consider Turkey an enemy?” Secretary of the Security Council Armen. “We must correct the approach.”

This man is an obvious traitor !!! An open servant of Turkish interests. Obviously !!! “.

American expert Suren Sargsyan also referred to Armen Grigorya’s statements. “Petros says do you consider Turkey an enemy?” He says we need to correct the approach. Can you imagine !!

And this is ahead of April 24. It can be investigated that there is a secret Armenian-Turkish process ahead of April 24 and the positive signals coming from Biden.

“What will you call it?” He wrote.

Ex-Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan hit back at Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Lena Nazaryan

By

Arpine Hovhannisyan write on her facebook: Days ago, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Lena Nazaryan said that ′′ A. Hovhannisyan and Armen Ashotyan use verbal aggression every day, they radiate radiation, you can look at their pages and get cancer “:Of course I could leave this self unnoticed lady’s thoughts, but I decided to respond to the team lenas, which will forever make this question clear not only for her, but for all other faculties, from intermediate structures to regular self-step….

And so tiki!If you are not radiated, seeing the grief and powerlessness of the mothers of thousands of victims, seeing their salty tears, listening to their silent and loud heck.If you don’t get radiation when you go to your victims homes with Mrs. Prime Minister…

If you are not subject to radiation, seeing the suffering of captives and missing parents.If you are not radiated, seeing thousands of Armenian people’s bitter smile when finding their child’s part.If you are not subject to radiation when you see thousands of homeless people, when you see an Azerbaijani flag in Shushi, when you see destroyed churches.If you didn’t get radiation (radiation) when your idea friends went to people’s yards three years ago and wounded them and their families with the whole list of buildings around you.If you don’t radiate from the stink you breeding fakes, illegally arresting people, pressuring instructions, reporters and your teammates.And finally….

if you’re not radiated by destroying the state,enjoying and justifying the process,THEN THENIt’s probably because the minimum threshold of your morality and conscience is not radiation, but mutation. Irreparable mutation.So that’s it!calm down if you are so much blood and tears after all this destruction your mistress and her husband still breathe after accepting their victims and making them part of their crime I assure you my page is absolutely safe for you nothing not threatening, absolutely nothing from the human field…..P.S. Lena, you say you will feel responsible for caring, love and peace for generations until the end of your life.Start with a sense of responsibility to take a whole generation to death and justify!

Pashinyan: New amendments threaten to stifle media freedom and freedom of expression

By

In response to the Armenian parliament’s approval of amendments that threaten to curtail media freedom and freedom of expression by significantly increasing fines for defamation and insult, Freedom House issued the following statement:

“It is the responsibility of the Armenian authorities to protect media freedom and free expression in the country,” said Marc Behrendt, director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House. “It is unfortunate that the Armenian government is supporting fines that will stifle free expression and threaten the financial viability of media outlets in the country. Civil society has rightly criticized the bill on grounds that it could be abused to levy excessive fines and apply political pressure against independent media organizations for criticizing politicians and other powerful public figures. We urge the Armenian authorities to take the concerns of civil society and media organizations seriously, and strike down this legislation.” 

Background:  On March 24, 2021, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted the legislative draft “On Making Amendments to the RA Civil Legislation,” tripling the maximum penalties for insult and defamation to 3 and 6 million Armenian drams (approximately $5,700 and $11,400), respectively. The bill was adopted without taking into account the views of the Ministry of Justice or the Human Rights Defender’s Office, nor of the civil society and media organizations that expressed serious concerns about it. The Union of Journalists of Armenia has appealed to Armenia’s president not to sign the law, and to send it to the Constitutional Court for review. Armenia decriminalized defamation and insult in 2010, following an appeal of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly to member states.The new amendments contradict the requirement to strike a fair balance between the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the right to reputation guaranteed by the convention’s Article 8. It also undermines the 2011 Decision No. 997 of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, urging the consideration of the financial situation of media outlets while setting fines in defamation and insult cases. Armenia is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2021, Free in Freedom on the Net 2020, and is categorized as a Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime in Nations in Transit 2020. 

Read more at: https://www.aravot-en.am/2021/03/27/279484/ 

Newspaper: How did PM Pashinyan succeed in convincing Armenia army generals?

By

YEREVAN. – Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The legal case related to the chief of General Staff of the RA Armed Forces is not only not being resolved, but is further deepening.

And recently, [PM] Nikol Pashinyan introduced the newly appointed chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Artak Davtyan, to the highest officers of the armed forces.

Interesting details about this meeting became known to Past newspaper. According to our government sources, Pashinyan told the generals that as long as he is in power, no commission of inquiry will be set up, no investigation will be conducted in connection with the 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [last fall].

The military was told to be calm, accept Artak Davtyan as chief of the General Staff, discuss among themselves, figure out the shortcomings and mistakes in connection with the [recent] war, and simply work to correct them.

According to rumors circulating behind the scenes, this has also become the reason for the high-ranking officers’ more loyal behavior, especially in recent days, although, according to our information, a large part of the generals still hold the same opinion.

It should be reminded that back on February 25, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia had issued a statement demanding the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan and the government.

Military expert urges Armenia’s authorities to get out of ‘geopolitical games’

By

Military expert Karen Hovhannisyan calls on Armenia’s authorities to get out of “geopolitical games”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia purchased Russian Su-30SM fighters without missiles back in May 2020. Earlier in March, the premier said that Russian-made Iskander missiles seriously malfunctioned during the recent Artsakh war.

“I want to understand why there is so much talk about Su-30SM fighters and Iskander? Many probably did not notice that in terms of the Su fighters as well, Russia was indirectly considered an unreliable strategic partner who could sell the fighter jets to its strategic partner without missiles (called accessories for some reason),” the expert wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“Who wants to prove to everyone that Russian military equipment and weapons are seriously faulty? Who wants to prove to everyone that Russia is an unscrupulous and unreliable military partner in the market?

“I would like to give you a piece of advice: get out of the geopolitical games, let them find another prover, do not take on this role, which will not lead our state to anything good. Regardless of who is the orderer, even if Russia itself (theoretically this is impossible, but even if it is so), do not assume a dangerous role in these geopolitical games,” Hovhannisyan said.

Over 13 business trips and 10.5 million AMD from the state funds for Anna Hakobyan’s hairdresser: remarkable discoveries

By

By Astghik Matevosyan

One of the most scandalous events during Nikol Pashinyan’s tenure was the appointment of Anna Hakobyan’s hairdresser Sofya Navasardyan as Nikol Pashinyan’s assistant in 2018, by the decision on September 6. The purpose of the appointment was to make it more convenient to take her to official trips where she had to take care of the Prime Minister’s wife’s hair.

The then spokesman of the Prime Minister Arman Yeghoyan commented on this issue confirming that Sofya Navasardyan had been Anna Hakobyan’s stylist and noted that Navasardyan had been and would continue doing the same job as before, now being an assistant to the Prime Minister. “Nothing has changed, she will just do the same job as an assistant,” the spokesman added.

Shortly after the uproar, the decision to appoint Sofya Navasardyan as the Prime Minister’s assistant was removed from the government’s official website, and her name disappeared from the employee team webpage. The problem is that the responsibilities of the Prime Minister’s assistant do not include working as a stylist (hairdresser); therefore, Sofya Navasardyan’s appointment for such a role was not legal.

The hype around Anna Hakobyan and Sofya Navasardyan was not limited to this. Afterwards, information was disclosed that Sofya Navasardyan had been travelling with Anna Hakobyan abroad to take care of her hair, for which, of course, a large amount of money was spent from the state budget.

On this and other issues, AntiFake.am sent a request to the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Eduard Aghajanyan asking for information on Sofya Navasardyan.

The request response and the accompanying documents revealed a number of surprises that we are presenting below.

The decision to appoint Sofya Navasardyan as the Prime Minister’s assistant has vanished.

As we have already mentioned, the public learned about Sofya Navasardyan when she was appointed Prime Minister’s assistant. However, there is nothing written in our request response about the appointment of Sofya Navasardyan as such.

Moreover, it turns out that Sofya Navasardyan has been holding a position as a protocol officer at the protocol division at the Office of Prime Minister’s since July 4, 2018.

And, according to the request response, after the tumultuous events in September 20, 2018, Sofya Navasardyan was dismissed from her previous post by the decree of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister and appointed to another position as an advisor to the protocol division of the Office of the Prime Minister, coordinating separate functions in the structural units of the Office.

So, it remains unclear how the decision made on September 6, 2018, to appoint Navasardyan as Prime Minister’s assistant disappeared, how Navasardyan can be appointed to another position on September 20, 2018, without quitting her previous post and where the explanations of the then spokesman of the Prime Minister Arman Yeghoyan about all of thesewere. This, at least, speaks about the illegal actions taking place within the Staff to the Prime Minister, and more clearly, about an official fraud, the “traces” of which the Staff tries to clear up to this day.

From the request response, we also found out that Sofya Navasardyan was dismissed from her post from July 10, 2019, having worked for one year at the Office of the Prime Minister.

One year of the hairdresser’s dissipated life at the Office of the Prime Minister

We had requested information on Sofya Navasardyan’s salary, monetary awards, trips and her travel expenses, overnight stays and meals.

Thus, Sofya Navasardyan’s official rate of pay per month was 314,165 AMD, i.e. Navasardyan’s annual salary was 3,769,980 AMD.

In addition to her salary, Sofya Navasardyan received a monetary award in the amount of 1,285,986 AMD before quitting her job.

During her one year in office, Navasardyan went on business trips 13 times, and 5,499,209 AMD was allocated from the state budget for this reason.

Thus, within a year, Anna Hakobyan’s hairdresser cost the state budget 10,555,175 AMD (more than $22,000).

Sofya Navasardyan has been Anna Hakobyan’s IRREPLACEABLE hairdresser even in foreign countries, and in some cases the Staff to the Prime Minister has ensured her presence at the expense of breaking the law.

 As we have already mentioned, Sofya Navasardyan has been on a business trip 13 times during her one year in office. For six of those trips, she went on business trips a part of the government delegation by the Prime Minister’s decree, and for the other seven – by the decrees of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister for various purposes or without purpose.

A study of the history of Sofya Navasardyan’s business trips revealed that she had been on business trips abroad when Anna Hakobyan had also been abroad, surprisingly even when Anna Hakobyan was neither included in the government delegation nor accompanied the Prime Minister, but, for example, when she travelled abroad for My Step or City of Smile foundations.

So, by the RA Prime Minister’s decrees, Sofya Navasardyan has been on business trips as part of the RA governmental delegation in the following cases:

In all the above-mentioned cases, Anna Hakobyan has also been a part of the government delegation to these countries.

However, as already mentioned, besides being on business trips abroad as a part of the government delegation, Sofya Navasardyan had seven more business trips by the decrees of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, and surprisingly, all of these trips coincided with Anna Hakobyan being abroad. Thus, by the decrees of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Sofya Navasardyan has gone on business trips to:

  • July 23-25, 2018, Russian Federation (Moscow) (allocated amount: 267,224 AMD). The purpose of the trip: experience exchange.

In the same period, Anna Hakobyan was also in Moscow, Russian Federation, visited the State Tretyakov Gallery, met a number of Russian women from different career fields, launched the Women for Peace campaign, visited the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow to listen to the Gayane Ballet, gave an interview to Express Gazeta.

  • September 19-22, 2018, Russian Federation (Saint Petersburg) (allocated amount: 398,982 AMD). The purpose of this business trip is not stated in the decree.

In the same period, Anna Hakobyan was in St. Petersburg to participate in the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum and made a speech.

  • From September 29 to October 3, 2018, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) (allocated amount: 523,184 AMD). The purpose of the trip is not mentioned again.

In the same period, Anna Hakobyan was in Kuala Lumpur as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the City of Smile Charitable Foundation to participate in the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit, where she gave a keynote address.

  • December 12-17, 2018, Swiss Confederation (Geneva) (allocated amount: 1,064,591 AMD). The purpose of the business trip was defined as “business necessity”.

At the same time, Anna Hakobyan was in Geneva, Switzerland. In particular, her visit began on December 12 with a stop at St. Jacob’s Church in Geneva, followed by a meeting in Geneva with more than a hundred representatives of the Armenian community.

  • Sofya Navasardyan’s business trip to the Russian Federation (Moscow) on November 11-13 deserves particular attention as the decree of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister about the trip was made 40 days after it. That is, the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Eduard Aghajanyan ordered on December 20, 2018, by the decree N1147-A to send Sofya Navasardyan to Russia (Moscow) on November 11-13, which is an official fraud and questions the legitimacy of Sofya Navasardyan’s other business trip decrees. For this business trip, 312,196 AMD were allocated for her.

Source: https://antifake.am/en/news/839

Armenia Constitutional Court declares Article 300.1 of Criminal Code unconstitutional and invalid

By

The Constitutional Court of Armenia announced the decision on the constitutionality of Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, declaring it unconstitutional and invalid.

President of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan announced the decision, said the decision is final and enters into force from the moment of promulgation and added that Judge Khundkaryan of the Constitutional Court has a special opinion on the reasoning part under the case.

On July 18, 2019, the Constitutional Court rendered a decision to suspend the proceedings of the cases to determine constitutionality of Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code based on the applications filed by the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction and second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and addressed the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission for opinions.

The ECHR and the Venice Commission gave their opinions in the summer of 2020. According to the Venice Commission, in international practice, there is no common approach to the formulation of crimes against the constitutional order (in some states, references concern the Constitution in its entirety, while other states directly make a reference to the need to maintain the constitutional order without establishing it).