My personal blog, my thoughts.
STEPANAKERT, Artsakh (A.W.)—Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) Ombudsman (human rights defender) Ruben Melikyan said Azerbaijan has failed in its plan of limiting international coverage and activity in Artsakh since the arrest of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (A.W.)—Investigations led by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have revealed that that several bank transfers—in excess of $7 million—were made to a Budapest bank account around the time the Hungarian government extradited Azerbaijani ax-murderer Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan.
Read more “Azerbaijani Laundromat May Have Helped Secure Ax-Murderer Ramil Safarov’s Extradition”
A new documentary will be screened in many theaters across the United States and will be available on demand on Oct. 7. Unlike other documentaries on the topic, this one is different and more relevant to today’s non-Armenian viewer. The documentary, titled “Architects of Denial” and subtitled “Genocide Denied Is Genocide Continued,” links the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 to contemporary massacres of Armenians by Azerbaijanis in various cities of Azerbaijan, and threats to kill Armenians living in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh).
Read more “New Documentary Links Armenian Genocide to Recent Azerbaijani Massacres of Armenians”
Two French journalists accused by Azerbaijan’s government of defamation for calling the country a “dictatorship” appeared for a hearing at a French court Tuesday, in an unusual case that activists call an effort to export censorship, AP reported.
Read more “French journalists in court accused of defaming Azerbaijan”
TO CELEBRATE “National Press Day” in Azerbaijan on July 22, President Ilham Aliyev announced the award of 255 apartments to journalists. Four years ago, he inaugurated an apartment building for journalists and gave away 155 flats. Both times, Mr. Aliyev used the same words. “Freedom of speech” is “ensured” in Azerbaijan, he declared.
Read more “In Azerbaijan, some journalists get free apartments. Others get jail cells.”
Azerbaijan’s ruling elite operated a secret $2.9bn (£2.2bn) scheme to pay prominent Europeans, buy luxury goods and launder money through a network of opaque British companies, an investigation by the Guardian reveals.
Read more “UK at centre of secret $3bn Azerbaijani money laundering and lobbying scheme”
Armenian-Americans knew they had scored a major victory for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide when Texas became the 46th state to recognize it. What Armenian-Americans did not realize is that the recognition by Texas had a devastating impact on the Turkish community’s lobbying efforts in the state.
Read more “Turkish Activist Admits Major Blow When Texas Recognized Armenian Genocide”
Last month, I wrote about Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva’s revelations that Azerbaijan’s state-run Silk Way Airlines had shipped 350 planeloads of heavy weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups in Syria and many other countries in the last three years, under diplomatic cover.
On Aug. 24, Dilyana tweeted: “I just got fired for telling the truth about weapons supplies for terrorists in Syria on diplomatic flights.”
Read more “Azerbaijan Forces Bulgaria to Fire Reporter Who Exposed Arms Shipments to Terrorists”
TEL AVIV (A.W.)—The Israeli Ministry of Defense has frozen some Aeronautics Defense Systems licenses, preventing the firm from exporting its military drones to Azerbaijan.
Read more “Israel Freezes Drone-Maker’s License Amid Complaints That It Attacked Armenian Positions”
WASHINGTON—A grand jury in the U.S. capital issued indictments against 19 people, including 15 members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail, for their brutal attack against peaceful protesters gathered in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., on May 16, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Read more “Nineteen People Indicted for Turkish Attack on Peaceful Protesters in Washington”