Holding parades and completing combat missions ain’t the same, says Armenian army chief on Baku military display

June 29, 2018 By administrator

Azerbaijan’s armament and attempts to pull the Armenian side into an arms race can’t not concern not only Armenia but also the entire international community because it jeopardizes the stability of the entire region, Major general Artak Davtyan – Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces told ARMENPRESS.

“It would be naïve to think that the defense ministry of Armenia is acquiring information about the armaments of the Azerbaijani military arsenal from the parade in Baku. Naturally we are aware of what weapons the adversary has, which types it emphasizes the most, what it is trying to acquire etc. Certainly, Azerbaijan’s armament and the attempt to pull us into this race can’t not concern, moreover not only us but the entire international community, because it jeopardizes the stability of the entire region, moreover in the case of the current Azerbaijani leadership, which is known for its bellicose rhetoric.

I assure our citizens that the Armed Forces of Armenia have sufficient means for the effective implementation of their missions. Moreover: we are taking practical steps to gain qualitative advantage in terms of armaments, also through boosting development of our own military industry. Our society will periodically have the chance to get convinced in this. The above-mentioned issue is under the attention of the state’s military-political leadership and daily supervision. Holding a parade and implementing a military mission are different actions and a bright example of this are the “luxurious” military parades which are held in Baku for more than two decades, and simultaneously tactical and strategic losses,” Artak Davtyan said.

US ambassador in Baku calls for ‘internationally agreed peace deal’ over Karabakh

March 28, 2018 By administrator

US ambassador in Baku

The United States ambassador to Azerbaijan has called for stepping up efforts towards reaching an internationally agreed peace over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Speaking at an annual dinner event held by the Chamber of Commerce, Robert Cekuta called attention especially to the key principles underlying the conflict settlement plan.

“We need to know the persistent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the need to help realize a peaceful settlement based upon internationally agreed-upon principles,” Trend.az quotes him as saying.

According to the Azerbaijani news agency, the diplomat is completing his mission to the country.

Heydar Aliyev was behind Armenian pogroms in Baku, says Azerbaijani historian

January 27, 2018 By administrator

Armenian pogroms in Baku

An Azerbaijani historian and human rights advocate, who emigrated to the Netherlands to escape persecutions in his country, has revealed new facts about the 1990 Armenian pogroms in Baku, blaming late President Heydar Aliyev for orchestrating the tragic events.Speaking to the internet TV channel Objective TV, Arif Yunusof also criticized Azerbaijan’s current leadership for misrepresenting facts in an effort to cover up the Soviet Azerbaijani government’s genocidal policies.

“The Communist Party of Azerbaijan was to convene a plenary session of its Central Committee in late January to dismiss Heydar Aliyev and his entire [political] team from the party and to later oust them all from the political arena. Aliyev was certainly aware of the fact, so he initiated counteractions through his allies across the republic. A central figure in the Azerbaijani National Front was Neymat Panahov, whom Aliyev had told at one of the meetings that they needed ‘a lot of blood’. So on December 31 1989, Panahov organized the border transgression plot in Nakicevan even though Moscow had already signed the agreement to allow the opening of the border. They promised there would be no fire attacks by border guards of the National Security Committee. So Panahov himself was the perpetrator of the Armenian pogroms in January 1990,” Rusarminfo.ru quotes him as saying.

Yunosov also expressed his concerns that the Azerbaijani government glorifies those dark pages in history “as a day of a heroic struggle for the state’s independence and part of their national liberation movement.”

Baku closes down cafe ‘for suspicion of protecting Armenians’

September 10, 2017 By administrator

A cafe in central Baku called 26, located near the Sahil park (formerly named after the 26 Baku commissars) was closed down due to “suspicion of providing protection to Armenians.”

Even head of Baku Executive Power Hajibala Abutalibov came to the territory to say that the opening of a cafe with such a name in the center of Baku is unacceptable, Sputnik Azerbaijan writes.

“Let the Armenian patrons who live here understand that dashnaks have no place in Azerbaijan,” Abutalibov said.

Dashnaks are the members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun.

He also said that the facility will be closed and the property will be confiscated. According to him, the lessor and operators of the facility will be brought to criminal responsibility.

Armenian MPs will travel to Baku

August 30, 2017 By administrator

YEREVAN. – Armenian MPs will travel to Baku to participate in the forum organized by education and culture committee of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

Armen Ashotyan, the chairman of standing committee on foreign relations and Mane Tandilyan, member of the opposition Yelk bloc will visit Baku on September 22.

The statement released by Ashotyan says the issues related to women’s health and gender equality will be discussed at the forum in Baku.

Baku called once again to respect its commitments in Karabagh

July 14, 2017 By administrator

Charles Tannock, a British member of the European Parliament, called on Azerbaijan to honor its commitments to establish front-line investigative mechanisms under the agreement reached between the parties to the conflict. Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2016 in Vienna. In this appeal, voiced on Wednesday (July 12th) by the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, the MEP expressed his concern about the renewed tensions

“An Ordinary Genocide” project manager: Many Armenians of Baku were thrown into the Caspian Sea: the death toll remains unknown

January 20, 2017 By administrator

The project “An Ordinary Genocide” is making videos entitled “I accuse Azerbaijan” where the eyewitnesses are telling the horrible incidents that occurred in Baku, Sumgait and Maragha. One of those videos was presented during today’s press conference. The video showed one of the eyewitnesses telling about the tragedy in Baku. “An Ordinary Genocide” project manager Marina Grigoryan told reporters, Panorama.am reports.

She noted that over 30 videos have been translated into English and they are to be released in the international platform in the coming days.

“All the testimonies collected within the project come as a real accusation against the criminal and genocidal policy of Azerbaijan,” she noted.

M. Grigoryan informed that the project “An Ordinary Genocide” is implemented by the Public Relations and Information Centre of the RA President’s Office and throughout the year a number of events will be held to mark different incidents. “Throughout the entire year we are going to hold events in different languages in various, including in international media platforms and to release materials aimed at revealing the lies and the falsification of the Azerbaijani propaganda and presenting the reality. To carry out these activities we cooperate with different state bodies, namely with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora,” she noted.

Speaking about the pogroms of Armenians in Baku on 13-20 1990 M. Grigoryan noted that the Azerbaijani people mark January 20 as a tragedy day when the Soviet troops entered Baku.

“The turmoil Azerbaijan is raising on every 20 January in the last 27 years aims at silencing and making forgotten all the events that took place in Baku during 13-19 January, 1990. In a week they killed, tortured, robbed, burnt alive, raped and forcibly deported the Armenians in Baku. However Baku has forgotten the fact that the eyewitnesses of those incidents are still alive: thousands of people who have faced that tragedy, lost their relatives and property,” project manager of “An Ordinary Genocide” said.

She noted that few documents are available on the Baku pogroms to compare with the Sumgait massacres. Within the program “An Ordinary Genocide” it was decided to fill this gap by the testimonies of the eyewitnesses of the massacres. They initiated a sub-project entitled “A Century-long Genocide” within the framework of which they have listened to and recorded all the stories and memories of the eyewitnesses as an evidence of the genocide against the Armenians of Baku.

“For that purpose we departed for the US twice, as over 60.000 Armenians moved to the country from Baku in 1990s. We have videotaped 150 Armenians of Baku. As a result we produced the movie entitled “A Century-long Genocide: Black January of Baku”. It was screened in 2015 making up a part of the events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” she said adding that on the basis of that interviews they have published a book featuring 50 testimonies of the Armenians of Baku. They are already working on the second book which will include some 60 memories of the eye witnesses.

In her words they have revealed a series of facts and details completing the atrocities committed by Azerbaijan. “For instance we did not know that started from the January of 1990 Armenians were held as hostages in Baku. A fugitive woman told us that she had been held as a hostage in horrible conditions in a year. Different families were held together with her. She managed to survive due to a miracle. Another new revelation referred to the fact that those Armenians who were trying to flee from the Baku massacres by ferryboats, were simply thrown into the Caspian Sea. I guess many Armenians of Baku ended up in the sea. We will never know the exact number of those victims.

We have also collected documents the refugees managed to take with them. We have revealed a unique document issued by Baku’s military commandership. The document reads that the family had to be evacuated as their lives were in danger in that city.

We also revealed the fact that criminal cases have been launched in Baku upon the legal claims of many Armenians. However the cases were not completed which once again proves that the massacres of Baku were state-sponsored and the Azerbaijani leadership ordered the law enforcement bodies to drop all the cases and halt the investigations,” M. Grigoryan added.

She said that on the basis of their evidences they assume that a total of 500-600 Armenians were killed during the pogroms of Armenians in Baku.

“All the incidents that happen in the recent years, particularly the murder of an Armenian commander in Budapest, the murders of the Armenian servicemen on the Line of Contact, the April war, the Azerbaijani aggression unleashed near Armenian village Chinari, come as a continuation of Azerbaijan’s policy resumed still in Sumgait in 1988. Having no Armenians left in their territory to commit massacres against they continue running their policy in Artsakh and Armenian borders,” M. Grigoryan concluded.

Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan who participated in the press conference, noted that at least three pre-planned genocides were committee against the Armenians of Baku in 1905, 1918 and 1990 respectively.

In his words the policy of eliminating Armenians was a well-developed one which initiated in the last years of the Soviet Union and continued so long as Azerbaijan has had a potential to take steps.

“Now we have testimonies, fact-finding activities are carried out which will become a serious ground for the revelation of Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy. These activities will promote the further establishment of diplomatic relations and will enhance our position in the talks, as we base ourselves on the clear facts.

We can observe that such facts are missing from the negotiating table. The most important issues people are concerned about are not included in the talks and the regional political developments,” he said.

Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan informed that they are going to produce a film about the blockade of Stepanakert when 50.000 inhabitants were under the daily danger of extinction being deprived of food, water, medication as the city was under shelling from all directions.

Larisa Alaverdyan on massacres of Armenians in Baku, Azerbaijan

January 14, 2017 By administrator

“The massacres of the Armenians in Baku were committed in three stages which were among series of genocidal actions carried out step by step against the Armenians living in territory of the Soviet Azerbaijan,” Head of the Foundation against Violation of Law NGO Larisa Alaverdyan noted the aforesaid during the interview conducted by Panorama.am.

She reminded that the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait committed at the end of February 1988 took place after the announcement made by Mikhail Gorbachev during the meeting with prominent Armenian intellectuals Silva Kaputikyan and Zori Balayan making a promise to tackle the Karabakh issue. “On the very day when people were called on to return to their houses being promised quick settlement of the issue, the Sumgait massacres began. Well-known Russian publicist Andrei Nuykin has clearly stated that the massacres of Sumgait should have been an alert not only for the Armenians living in Sumgait but also for the entire Armenian community in the Soviet Azerbaijan. However the Armenians did not realise it. They thought that the issue was temporary and believed that the actions were committed by hooligans. Thus they did not abandon over 300 neighbourhoods they were living in,” she noted.

L. Alaverdyan states that first stage of Baku massacres took place in the fall of 1988 resulting to the largest wave of refugees.

The time chosen for the atrocities against the Armenians was again based on political incidents, as the trial of one of the murderers of Sumgait massacres was underway in Moscow at that time and the Azerbaijani citizens already glorified those murderers.

“At the end of October and in November 1988 a total of 200.000 Armenians fled from Baku to Armenia and to other Soviet countries. Later some groups of Armenians went back to Azerbaijan following the urges made by the Secretary of the Central Committee of Soviet Azerbaijan Vezirov. However as the Azerbaijani authorities aimed at carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Armenians in the summer of 1989 the second stage of Baku massacres took place taking extremely cruel forms in august. A new wave of refugees unleashed mainly into Armenia.

The third stage of Baku massacres was held on 13-20 January 1990_ the time when the Armenians were celebrating the Old New Year and the Feast of Naming Jesus Christ.
This was the third stage of Baku massacres but when we are talking about the massacres of the Armenians living across the territory of the Soviet Azerbaijani it must be stated that a fourth and fifth stages were registered as well, when the war had already broken out.

We all must realise that the atrocities against the Armenians committed by Azerbaijan were planned crime of genocide implemented in a step-by-step manner. Until now we keep calling them massacres, murders, however they were based on the same policy run by Turkey in 1915. Azerbaijani initiated a program aimed at practising ethnic cleansing of the Armenians and culminating the genocide started in Turkey.

This is the whole point which is missed for some reason. We consider those atrocities as separate actions, whereas I repeat myself that it was a carefully planned and organized crime which was not different from the genocide committed by the Turkish authorities,” she noted.

Asked whether Armenia has managed to completely present those activities to the international community she noted the following: “Not at all. From the very beginning the Armenian authorities have adopted a policy not to politicise the issues of the refugees. However they were not only refuges, but also people who have been forced to leave their homes and hardly survived the massacres. Recently one of our high ranking officials made a statement claiming that Armenia does not politicise the issue of the refugees.

Why is it so? As an advocate I support the humanitarian policy run towards the refugees or the displaced people. However this is only one element for their support. The other thing refers to the rights of the refugees regardless of the fact whether they have been granted citizenship of a country or not.

Many people, including many experts spread misconception that if the refugees are granted citizenship of Armenia they abandon their demands. It is untrue information. The international law on refugees prescribes that the refugee-hosting country undertakes certain responsibilities committing to provide them with priorities like house, job and integration with the assistance of the international organizations. However it does not deprive the refugees of their claims to return to their former places of residence and to get back all the property (material and non-material) confiscated or forcibly seized from them.

For years the Minsk group and the Co-Chairs have repeatedly spoken about the return of the Azerbaijani people to the liberated areas, however the Armenian authorities have never voiced such an issue regarding the rights of the Armenians who abandoned their houses in Azerbaijan. Who is going to defend their rights or how their lost property can be replaced?”

In the advocate’s words it is right time to voice all those issues. “Today it is especially the right time to voice them as Azerbaijan overtly competes with Islamic State terror organisation. We can compare Azerbaijan’s activities only with those of ISIS and sometimes giving the lead to the former in terms of its forms of murders and statements. There is no other country that runs a racist policy and propaganda in a consistent manner for many years. This issues have never been voiced within any political discussions. We have not adopted any serious decision condemning Azerbaijan for such a policy. European Union, certain commission within the Council of Europe and NGOs have issued some statements but the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan has never received a serious condemnation.

The Azerbaijani people are the first victims of this policy, as they suffer the way the Germans suffered as a result of the Nazi policy. We are well aware where Hitler’s policy led to the German people. Our adversary has adopted the same policy and we, for some reason, boast that we do not politicize the issue of refugees. They are not refugees but Armenians who were subjected to genocide. It is high time that we opened our cards,” she concluded.

Notably, a mass pogrom of Armenian population was committed in Baku from 13 to 19 January 1990 as a culmination of the genocide of the Armenians in Azerbaijan unfolded between 1988 and 1990. After the Sumgait pogroms (26-29 February 1988), persecutions, beatings, particularly cruel killings, public mockeries, pogroms of separate flats, seizure of property, forcible expulsions and illegal dismissals of Armenians started in Baku. Only some 35 or 40 thousand Armenians of the community of 250 thousand remained in Baku by January 1990; they were mainly disabled people, old and sick people and the relatives looking after them. The pogroms took an organised, targeted and mass nature since 13 January 1990. A large amount of evidence exists about the atrocities and killings committed with exceptional cruelty, including gang rapes, burnings of people alive, throwing people out of balconies of higher floors, dismemberments and beheadings.

The exact number of the victims of the genocide of the Armenians in Baku still remains unknown. According to different sources, between 150 and 400 people were murdered, and hundreds were left disabled. The pogroms went on for a week amid a total inaction of the authorities of Azerbaijan and the USSR, as well as the internal troops and the large Baku garrison of the Soviet Army. Those who managed to avoid death were forced into deportation. The Soviet troops were deployed to set order in Baku only on 20 January 1990.

A blogger arrested in Minsk at the request of Baku for visiting Karabagh

December 20, 2016 By administrator

The Belarusian blogger Alexander Lapshin was arrested on 15 December in Minsk, at the request of the authorities of Azerbaijan, who accuse him of having visited Nagorno-Karabakh in 2011 and 2012, without the authorization of Baku of course. The Azerbaijani prosecutor’s office has indicated that it is taking the necessary measures to extradite Lapshin from Belarus. This arrest is very badly publicized in the Belarusian capital, which is to host a hypothetical conference dedicated to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has been undergoing for two decades the Minsk Group, baptized for this reason.

But the very authoritarian Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled for twenty-six years with an iron fist Belarus, does not care. He is much more concerned about sparing another despot, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, with whom he has always had excellent relations, even though Belarus, unfailingly allied to Russia, is a partner of Armenia within the The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and other political and military alliances. For example, Belarus, together with Kazakhstan, raised the issue of the status of Karabakh at the request of Baku during the debates on the admission of Armenia to the EUE in 2014. According to the Azerbaijan prosecutor’s office, a criminal investigation was opened against A.Lapshin for “illegal” crossing of the border of Azerbaijan and for public statements hostile to the state.

A. Lapshin, who holds dual Russian and Israeli nationality, said he would not withdraw any of his remarks from his blog and described the black list drawn up by Baku as “nonsense and a joke” Foreign personalities who visited Karabagh, including senior officials, such as the current French interior minister, JB Le Roux.

David Babayan, spokesman for the presidency of Artsakh, reacting to the arrest of the blogger in a third country, said that Azerbaijan was crossing a “new level” in its measures and sanctions aimed at the personalities who visited the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “This is now a matter of interference in the internal affairs of a third country,” said Babayan, adding that “in fact, Azerbaijan seeks the extradition of a citizen of a foreign state, Attempting to accuse him of a fictitious ‘crime’; This constitutes a gross violation of international law and international humanitarian law “. The Facebook page of A. Lapshin said he would still be detained in Minsk. As for the Belarusian authorities, they have remained at least discreet about this case. .

Canada urged to call Baku to account for destroying Armenian heritage

December 9, 2016 By administrator

The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) is marking the 11th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s destruction of the historic Armenian cemetery of Djulfa by calling on the Canadian government to hold Azerbaijan accountable for the systematic destruction of Armenian historical, cultural and religious sites and monuments, the ANCC said in a statement.

On December 10, 2005, the government of Azerbaijan began the final demolition of the historic Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, an ancient Armenian city now located in Azerbaijan. This marked the final blow to the 10,000 intricately hand carved khachkars (stone crosses) which were erected between the 6th through the 17th centuries. Khachkars are a uniquely Armenian form of stone carving which UNESCO has recognized as being both culturally and religiously significant to the Armenian people and constituting part of humanity’s shared intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

By December 15, 2005, the final destruction was complete. Approximately 200 Azerbaijani soldiers gathered at the Nakhichevan-Iran border to desecrate the remaining grave markers at the Djulfa Armenian cemetery. The cemetery has since been replaced with an Azerbaijani military training base.

Despite clear evidence and condemnation by international bodies such as the European Parliament and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Azerbaijani authorities continue to deny this crime, while still promoting the destruction of all Armenian religious and cultural sites in the country.

Shahen Mirakian, President of the ANCC stated “The Armenian monuments represent unique architectural value and the international community should be aware of the policy of their destruction that can only be defined as cultural genocide.”

Mirakian called upon the Canadian government to exert the necessary pressure on the Azerbaijani government to end this campaign. “The annihilation of the civilization of a people is incompatible with any country aspiring to become an honest broker for peace, justice and equality around the world. Azerbaijan cannot be regarded as such, until it faces its own history, and respects the rights and freedoms of other nations” said Mirakian.