2023 November 1

Daily news wrap-up

Military expert discusses French and Indian weapons, optics, engines, reforms, and why Armenia is not importing weapons from Iran ///// Budget 2024 discussions ///// Rome Statute drama
by ar_david_hh

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5-minute read.

meet the last Armenian resident of Amasya, Turkey

• The story is brought to you by Artı Gerçek, an opposition outlet from Turkey.*

Shoemaker Farook Altinoğlu (born Rafael Altnyan) is believed to be the last Armenian of Amasya. Rafael says he has always felt it necessary to hide his Armenian ancestry. He also happens to be the brother of a famous left-wing revolutionary Turkish activist Garbis Altinoğlu (Karpis Altnyan).

RAFAEL: My schoolmates knew I was Armenian and did not allow me to hold the Turkish flag. I am a patriot, too. I love my country more than my life. I am a man of this land and the owner of this land. The history of my ancestors dates back to the 1,500s. //

Rafael and the late Armenian writer Hrant Dink were schoolmates.

RAFAEL: Hrant was a tall, curly-haired fellow. We were of similar age but I don't remember much about him. There were 3-4 Armenians in our school. //

[read the full story in Armenian](https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/272649)

parliament is still discussing the 2024 budget

Parliament's website will soon be optimized with a simplified layout because "right now you have to make hundreds of clicks to get somewhere".

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Human Rights Office's budget for 2024: ֏587 million. The Office did not find it necessary to request a budgetary increase. They found opportunities to reduce or maintain the same expenditures through internal optimizations.

Ruling MP: We have over 100,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. Some of them are expected to contact your Office. Don't you find it necessary to increase the budget? There have also been accusations that the Office lacks a sufficient number of work vehicles. Do you disagree with those claims?

Human Rights Defender: It's easy to demand more resources but we have found an opportunity to improve the quality of our operations and stay within the budget. We have learned that whenever you increase the financial resources, it ends up discouraging reforms; it creates a cycle in which underlying problems never get resolved and instead, the system gets bloated. We have separate groups, each assigned to a specific topic: refugees, children, protesters, fact-finding, etc. We could always use more vehicles and hire more employees, but that's something we will request after the optimizations. //

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Pashinyan's cabinet has reduced the number of work vehicles from 70 to 40, said PM's chief of staff on Wednesday. 10 of these vehicles will only be used when the PM travels with an envoy to provinces. Part of these 40 vehicles are buses and cars that transport from one work area to another work area only, added the chief of staff.

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A shouting match ensued during a discussion about the police's handling of recent protests and the amount of force used against those suspected of physically attacking vehicles and buildings.

Ruling MP: I hope the police will continue to act similarly against the obscene protesters who damage vehicles belonging to our citizens. Yes, they should be slammed against the ground and taken to a cell because no one has the right to attack...

Opposition MP: [interrupts] You are the one acting obscene! You have no right to insult the protesters.

Ruling MP: Look at you! The scabrous hooligans have a defender here. How dare you defend the scoundrels who physically assaulted pedestrians and damaged vehicles on the streets? [microphone is disabled]

Opposition MP: You need medical help! Get this man some medical help. [microphone is disabled]

Human Rights Defender: Please behave, both of you. Everyone is watching you.

Ruling MP to Opposition MP: Are you going to refer to those scoundrels as "political prisoners" now?

Opposition MP: Are there any doctors here?

[source,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCBYnwluWo) [source,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1KIWuTAs08?t=285) [source,](https://a1plus.am/hy/article/464058) [heated exchange,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoqgucawolI)

there was a diplomatic exchange between Armenia and Russia before the ratification of the Rome Statute

Russia was displeased to learn about Armenia's intention to ratify the Statute. They sent "recommendations" to Armenia. *[likely discouraging the ratification]*

Armenia responded by offering to sign a bilateral agreement with Russia to address their concerns. *[likely about not arresting Putin]*

Russia ignored Armenia's offer.

Armenia ratified the Statute.

Russia made a scene about the ratification and used it as an opportunity to intensify the anti-Armenia rhetoric.

[source,](https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/272674) [source,](https://www.azatutyun.am/a/32665181.html)

Russia refused to deliver the Indian weapons to Armenia: ex-PM Aram Sargsyan

ARAM: Most of the weapons we have purchased from India so far have already been delivered. The Russian company hired to organize the transportation has refused to deliver them, so Iran decided to handle the process. This happened within the past few months. After this, it would have been a mistake for Armenia to reject the 3+3 invitation by Iran.

There is an agreement to acquire another batch of weapons from India. These armament leaks are coming from India, not Armenia. //

[source,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1NIEqFVM-g)

interview with military expert Leonid Nersisyan

REPORTER (1in): Armenia has so far signed arms contracts with France and India. Lately, we've heard names of other potential partners as well.

LEONID: There are several countries we could work with. They might have discussed this topic during MOD Papikyan's recent trip to China. South Korea is another serious manufacturer but it's hard to tell whether politically it'll be possible to import from there.

The importance of reaching an agreement with France is that it simplifies future work with other Western states. It opens the doors to other European countries (weapons) and Canada (components for use in weapons made in Armenia).

REPORTER: What is the potential of Armenia's domestic manufacturing?

LEONID: If France delivers Western-made components, this would seriously improve the quality of weapons made in Armenia. If you take an Armenian drone and install a French communication system and optics on it, you would have a completely different product.

If we're talking about a new type of weapon made in Armenia, it could be a winged missile [cruise missile]. France produces miniature turbo-reactive engines. Turkey is building its cruise missile with the help of an engine from French company "Safran". Armenia could end up having similar weapons that reach 300-500 km.

The question is, what exactly is France willing to sell Armenia? Would these engines be considered "defensive weapons"? They can't sell a cruise missile to Armenia but individual components could fall under the "defensive" category.

French optics would allow us to produce zenithal artillery [anti-aircraft]. It would be an important defense against drones and small targets. For example, if you take the old ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon or the S-60 and modernize them with new French optics and an automated targeting/calculation system, it would become a very effective tool.

The most important part of the agreement with France, however, is that they will send experts to Armenia to audit every branch of the army: Spetsnaz, ground forces, air defense, etc. The results of these audits could lead to the signing of new weapons agreements. This is better than blindly buying a mixture of weapons.

Small quantities of weapons, including some artillery units, were delivered from Russia after the 2020 war but they have stopped. Russian weapons are hard to find on the market because of the war in Ukraine. The prices have also increased.

Armenia has made a strategic decision to switch its artillery to a NATO standard: 155mm caliber. If the quantity of artillery units mentioned in Indian reports is accurate, and these are big numbers we're talking about, that means Armenia has abandoned the Soviet ones. So far we know about 90 units of advanced towed [155mm] ATAGS and approximately a similar number of self-propelled 155mm MARG.

REPORTER: The West has lifted the sanctions on the export of Iranian missiles. Could Armenia import them now?

LEONID: The sanctions expired, they weren't lifted. They can't re-impose the same sanctions again because the UN is incapable of adopting any resolutions now. Someone is guaranteed to veto. It's difficult to answer whether Armenia could import them because I don't understand the official policies of Armenia and Iran. Is Armenia afraid of importing from Iran, or is it Iran demanding Armenia to sign a pro-Iran [viewed as anti-West] agreement as a precondition? I don't know.

REPORTER: Many in Tehran are surprised that Armenia and Iran have not held any joint military exercises yet, and that Armenia has not yet imported Iranian weapons. We are receiving signals from Iran. Can we assume it's a political decision by Armenia?

LEONID: We can make that assumption but let's not forget that Iran very often says something but thinks the opposite. Iranian diplomacy is notorious for that. I do not know the true reason why Armenia is not importing weapons from Iran.

[source,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNlHp8DAp0A)

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/17lkr90/military_expert_discusses_french_and_indian/