Month: December 2020

Hunter Estes: Time for Mississippi to recognize the Armenian Genocide

Alex Jidarian
The Dispatch, Mississippi
Dec 18 2020

 

 

10:51:31 AM

 

 

Mississippi is the last state in the nation to fail to recognize the Armenian Genocide. As an American of Armenian descent, this issue hits particularly close to home. For many, the historic event remains relatively obscure, buts its impact has dramatic political ramifications over one hundred years later, which continues to raise the importance of active recognition. It is time for Mississippi to join the ranks of every other state in the nation, and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

 

As World War I raged, the Ottoman Empire quietly coordinated and carried out a brutal and efficient slaughter of the Armenian people. Those who survived were driven into the desert or tortured. As the eyes of the world centered on Western Europe, Turkish leaders committed the first mass genocide and human rights catastrophe of the 20th Century. Ultimately, more than 1.5 million Armenian people died. They were targeted for no more than their race and their Christian faith. Today, Turkey continues to deny its involvement in these events, further necessitating the importance of active recognition by official organizations, states, and actors from around the globe.

 

It was not until the middle of World War II when the term "genocide" was first introduced by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born lawyer who had fled persecution and escaped to the United States in 1941. Lemkin had lost multiple family members in the Holocaust and knew that the world was struggling with a dearth of both law and language to address the atrocities appropriately. In that same year, he was moved by a radio address from Churchill who described the horrific mass executions being conducted by the Germans as the "crime without a name."

 

 

Lemkin was deeply inspired by the Armenian genocide and the vehement need to place such a catastrophic and systematic destruction of a people into a specific term, so that the world could both better understand such events, prevent such destruction of life, and hold perpetrators accountable. He first used the term "genocide" in a book describing the evils of life under the Axis powers, and the word was elevated through its use by the newly formed United Nations in 1948.

 

Following Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's proclamation last April, every state in the nation besides Mississippi has now recognized the Armenian Genocide. Other states have officially certified recognition through a variety of means including gubernatorial proclamation, legislative recognition, or in many cases, both gubernatorial and legislative action.

 

Some Mississippi leaders have attempted to achieve official recognition of the Genocide through the legislative process. In 2015, then Representative, and now Hattiesburg Mayor, Toby Barker sponsored a piece of legislation that would have actively recognized the Armenian genocide. The resolution acknowledged the call for recognition which came earlier from student leaders at the University of Southern Mississippi. Unfortunately, the resolution died on the legislative calendar.

 

At the national level, a bill was introduced in 2019 which would have officially recognized the Genocide on the federal level for the first time. It proved to be one of the most bipartisan pieces of legislation of the year, as it passed both the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate by historic margins. Unfortunately, the bill was not signed by President Trump. However, with massive bipartisan support, and the large presence of Americans of Armenian descent spread out across the country, legislation is very likely to reemerge on the calendar this year. Mississippi has the chance to participate in this process by joining every other state in the nation, recognizing the Genocide, and thus encouraging federal leaders to act on recognition efforts again.

 

Today, the persecution of Christian in the Middle East continues. The New York Times has noted that Christian populations in the Middle East have fallen from 14% to less than 4% and have been all but eliminated in certain states, including Turkey and Iran. Official recognition of historic events such as the Armenian Genocide calls us to be better, and in so doing hopefully prevent future massacres of people based on no more than their race or religious creed.

 

Ultimately, official genocide recognition is about the truth. As some attempt to use the long march of history as a chance to obscure, fog, and rewrite events, it becomes all the more important that we stand courageously for the truth. Only by clearly studying and recognizing history can we learn from the lessons of the path, and attempt in some way to construct a better society moving forward. Mississippi leaders have the chance to play an important role in the furthering of truth by recognizing the slaughter of Armenian Christians as what it truly was: a terrible genocide.

 

Hunter Estes is the Development Director for the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, the state's non-partisan, free market think tank.

 

Veiled Counter-Balancing: The Peacekeeping ‘Arrangement’ Between Turkey and Russia in Karabakh

Emil Lazarian
Jamestown Foundation
Dec 18 2020

03:49 PM Age: 56 mins

Baku military parade, December 10 (Source: Getty Images)

In the wake of Azerbaijan’s successful offensive against the dug-in Armenian forces in Karabakh and surrounding Azerbaijani districts, the defense ministers of Turkey and Russia, General (ret.) Hulusi Akar and General Sergei Shoigu, respectively, met on November 11 and penned a memorandum of understanding to broker the ceasefire process in the war-torn region. According to the deal, Ankara and Moscow have, in principle, agreed to establish a joint peace-monitoring headquarters. The Russian foreign policy community has been extremely uneasy to see the Turkish Armed Forces suddenly operating in the South Caucasus, once considered Moscow’s undisputed hinterland (Milliyet, December 3).

The Turkish press reported that the final agreement between Moscow and Ankara secures multiple monitoring contingents on Azerbaijani territory. A week after the two sides signed the memorandum, the Turkish Parliament approved the motion to send troops to the peacekeeping mission (Anadolu Agency, November 17).

The peacekeeping mission in Karabakh, in every detail, highlights the thinly veiled power struggle between Turkey and Russia in their overlapping areas of strategic interest. Moscow did its best to keep the Turkish contingent in the headquarters and away from the zone of action. Yet during the talks, Turkey’s presidential spokesperson, İbrahim Kalın, gave a notable interview in which he emphasized that while the Turkish foreign office, intelligence services, and the military are negotiating with their Russian counterparts as to the details of the peacekeeping mission, at the end of the day, Turkey, thanks to its special ties to Azerbaijan, will be in Karabakh in any case (Anadolu Agency, November 22).

An important aspect of Turkey’s Karabakh mission boils down to de-mining and counter–improvised explosive device (IED) efforts. For decades, Armenian defensive planning meant extensive land mining of Karabakh and the adjacent occupied territories. And during the recent—and mostly undisciplined—retreats by Armenian combat formations, mining and trapping activities increased, posing a grave threat to Azerbaijani re-settlement plans for the recaptured areas. On November 28, for example, four Azerbaijani civilians were killed by a tank-mine near the liberated town of Fizuli (Daily Sabah, November 28).

To address the threat, the Turkish military dispatched counter-explosive and de-mining teams to the de-occupied portion of Karabakh (Twitter.com/tcsavunma, November 30). At the time of writing, Turkish news outlets reported that 136 personnel were dispatched as a part of the military-engineering mission to this area (Yeni Safak, December 17). Additionally, through the peacekeeping mission, Turkey has begun sending a robust and broad liaison team to the area of operations. Nevertheless, the Turkish peacekeeping contingent, in terms of force generation patterns, is nowhere close to that of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Russian military has forward-deployed some 1,960 troops, equipped in the form of a mechanized formation supported by heavy fires and commanded by a highly-decorated three-star general, Rustam Muradov of Dagestan (Sputnik News—Turkish service, November 14).

By all indications, the Russian “peacekeeping” contingent is not there to monitor de-confliction and resettlement of communities after the war but to lay the foundations for a new Russian protectorate in the South Caucasus—to be more precise, on Azerbaijani sovereign territory (see EDM, December 8, 10). Although Ankara’s more “humble” peacekeeping contribution cannot by itself counter-balance that Russian force (which is supplemented by additional “power ministry” troops and personnel), Turkey has other cards to play in Azerbaijan. Boosting the İki Devlet Bir Millet (“two states, one nation”) ties and fostering the military alliance remain key elements of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s roadmap in Baku.

During Azerbaijan’s victory parade on December 10, Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Erdoğan saluted the units together. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s defense minister, General Zakhir Hasanov, addressed the two heads of state when introducing the ceremony. These expressions came with crucial symbolism, showcasing the level of integration between both countries’ military policies and strategic cultures (YouTube, December 10). The Turkish detachment of choice for Azerbaijan’s Patriotic War Parade was also striking. A battalion from the Turkish Army’s 2nd Commando Brigade of Bolu paraded during the event, carrying the elite unit’s oriflamme and indigenous MPT-76 rifles, produced by Turkey’s burgeoning defense industries. Before the parade, the brigade’s detachment rehearsed marching in the streets of Baku, while commemorating Azerbaijan’s fallen troops (TRT Haber, December 9). For decades, this battle-hardened combat formation has spearheaded Turkish expeditionary campaigns. Starting from Turkey’s military intervention in Cyprus in 1974 to the cross-border operations into northern Iraq during the 1990s and the contemporary Syrian expeditions, the 2nd Commando Brigade has a long track record of operating in fierce wars (TRT Haber, December 9).

From a political-military standpoint, Ankara’s decision to specifically pick the 2nd Commandos for the parade signaled a firm symbolic counter-balancer to Moscow, which had dispatched elements of the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade and, more importantly, the 31st Guards Brigade of the elite Russian Airborne Forces (Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska—VDV for the peacekeeping mission in Karabakh (The Moscow Times, November 10).

Geopolitically speaking, Turkey remains the region’s sole capable counter-balancer against the Russian political-military presence and quasi-imperial foundation-building on Azerbaijan’s doorstep. Ankara and Baku apparently understand this challenge and are walking a firm but careful path with Turkey’s forward-deployments in Azerbaijan. Notably, during the autumn 2020 Karabakh war, President Aliyev referred to the Turkish Air Force stationing at least four F-16 aircraft in Azerbaijan to support Baku. And he tellingly declared that these jets would only take off for combat missions to prevent “outsider intervention” to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ offensive—a veiled by clear reference to Russia, as the only outside power that was likely to step in (Haber Global, October 26).

After Bayraktar TB-2 drones and Roketsan-manufactured smart munitions were paraded in Baku last week, higher-end Turkish systems can be expected to enter the Azerbaijani arsenal in the coming years. Likewise, Turkey’s 3rd Field Army is likely to boost its cooperation with the Azerbaijani Combined Arms Army in Nakhchivan (see EDM, August 14); and one should anticipate even larger-scale joint drills between the Turkish and Azerbaijani militaries. In the meantime, the Turkish military advisory mission in Baku will probably reach the highest level ever since it was established. So while Russia has been busy establishing another fait accompli in what is left of the Armenian-occupied areas of Karabakh, Turkey is further deepening its strategic ties with Azerbaijan.


The 2020 Karabakh War’s Impact on the Northwestern Border of Iran

David Nargizian
Jamestown Foundation

Dec 18 2020

03:50 PM Age: 56 mins

Iran security patrols at border with Azerbaijan, September 27 (Source: Asia Times)

The drastically upended situation along the southern edge of the South Caucasus has affected Iran in several complex ways. Among the three large powers surrounding the region—Iran, Russia and Turkey—only Iran borders on the formerly Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories of Zangilan, Jabrayil and Fuzuli, which adjoin Upper (“Nagorno) Karabakh. Iran’s northwestern border with the Republic of Azerbaijan is 750 kilometers long, of which about 138 km (Zangilan, Jabrayil and Fuzuli) had been controlled by Armenian forces since the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1991–1994). On the other hand, Iran’s border with Armenia is only 48 km, and yet it is considered a lifeline for the three million Armenians whose landlocked country has been regionally isolated by Azerbaijan and Turkey. These unique geographical realities have, thus, meant that Iran and its northwestern frontiers have been profoundly impacted by the outcome of the 2020 Karabakh war.

First, the war temporarily undermined the security of Iran’s northwestern border, particularly of the Iranian provinces of Ardabil and Eastern Azerbaijan. These borders were considered safe after 1994; Iran mainly felt threatened along its borders with Afghanistan and Iraq. However, after the Second Karabakh War broke out on September 27, 2020, several rockets and mortar shells inadvertently landed inside Iran, especially in the village of Khoda Afarin, in Eastern Azerbaijan Province, near the Armenia border (Iran Press, October 21). This put Tehran in a precarious position vis-à-vis the two belligerents to its north as it sought to remain neutral in a conflict that was directly affecting its own security (see EDM, October 21, November 5). Iran did, however, quickly move in to safeguard its exposed territories. For the first time since 1994, the regular Iranian Armed Forces, along with units from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), deployed to the country’s northwest in order to patrol the state borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia. In fact, this operation represented an effort on the part of Tehran to prevent any change in the geopolitics of the region or shift in internationally recognized boundaries (Tehran Times, November 14).

Second, Azerbaijan’s successful retaking of the provinces of Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Zangilan transformed the de facto status of this 138 km section of the frontier with Iran. This important geopolitical change has had three positive implications for the Islamic Republic. First of all, a border with a “de facto state” (the so-called “Republic of Artsakh,” as Armenians refer to separatist Karabakh) has been replaced with a “de jure state” (the Republic of Azerbaijan). Prior to the 2020 Karabakh war, Iran bordered on a gray zone region mainly populated by Armenians (due to conflict-induced population shifts) and run by a regime loyal to Yerevan but recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Second of all, as the war progressed, hostilities shifted further north and away from Iranian territory—in the final weeks centering on Qubadli and Shusha. Should clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Karabakh reignite in the future, the conflict will be far from Iranian villages and settlements. Third of all, the outcome of the autumn war means that Iran and the Republic Azerbaijan can now jointly start utilizing the Khoda Afarin Dam, in Jabrayil District, on the Aras River, which straddles their mutual border. This dam was built in 2008 with Tehran’s financial support But the area’s de facto control by Armenian-backed Karabakh (since 1993) prevented Iran from actually exploiting this facility. On December 14, 2020, however, Iranian and Azerbaijani representatives of the Joint Technical Commission on the Khoda-Afarin Dam held a meeting in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to discuss mutual operations of this hydropower plant (IRNA, December 14).

The third major effect of the Second Karabakh War on Iran has been the emergence of novel perceived threats along the 138 km of border with Azerbaijan that is now again under Baku’s control. In particular, Iran has become concerned about the potential appearance of an Israeli intelligence and security presence on its borders. When this area of southwestern Azerbaijan was under Armenian control, Tehran had no reason to be anxious about Israeli surveillance assets operating near Iran’s sensitive northwest. However, during the 2020 Karabakh war, a number of drones, notably including at least one Israeli-made IAI Harop loitering munition, came down inside northwestern Iran. The Iranian authorities have grown concerned that those Israeli-produced unmanned aerial systems could allow Israel to spy on targets in Iran, even following the ceasefire that began on November 10. Another persistent worry in Tehran relates to the various (and sometimes contradictory) widespread rumors of members of the Syria Free Army and Syrian Turkmens ostensibly having been imported to the Karabakh conflict (see EDM, October 23). As recently as November 3, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that “terrorists should never think of approaching Iranian borders because if they do so they will be strongly dealt with” (France 24, November 3).

Finally, the newly inaugurated transit route between Azerbaijan proper and Nakhchivan, across Armenia’s Syunik Province (Zangezur), opened as one of the conditions of the November 10 ceasefire, is another important development affecting northwestern Iran. After the ceasefire went into effect, Iranian social media erupted with wild speculations about whether the land corridor might threaten Iran’s physical connection with Armenia. These worries were even echoed by a few Iranian experts who posited that Zengezur might end up (de jure or de facto) appended to the Republic of Azerbaijan. The heated controversy quickly prompted Iranian officials to provide clarifications on the Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement and to emphasize that “the geographical borders of the Islamic Republic in this region did not change at all and will not change in the future” (Tehran Times, November 16).

This autumn’s 44-day war in Karabakh had both positive and negative implications for Iran’s sensitive northwestern border. Under these circumstances, to safeguard its interests, Tehran will need to develop a more proactive South Caucasus policy that can protect the security of its more than 1,100 kilometers of frontier abutting the region.

https://jamestown.org/program/the-2020-karabakh-wars-impact-on-the-northwestern-border-of-iran/?fbclid=IwAR09vqNfu9eJ8Sh_RXnEesVsG1JD2OkYeghJaNEXXxxdjqaBWtQf0bL2lsg


Russian officer killed in explosion in Nagorno-Karabakh as troops help de-mine post-war landscape

Jirair Kafian
RT – Russia Today
Dec 18 2020

18 Dec, 2020 19:26 

A Russian sapper has been killed in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after an explosive device went off during the de-mining efforts that have been ongoing since the Moscow-brokered truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The incident happened on Thursday on the road outside of the village of Shusha, with the blast delivering heavy wounds to the officer, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The serviceman received emergency treatment on site, but succumbed to his injures while being transported to hospital, the ministry stated.

Russian sappers have been working in Nagorno-Karabakh for more than a month, after Moscow brokered an armistice between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The decades-long feud over the disputed region escalated into a war in early September.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the area to separate the sides and prevent any provocations.

Russian sappers working in Nagorno-Karabakh have already defused some 7,800 explosive devices, clearing 218 hectares of land, 92 kilometers of roads and 423 buildings, according to Friday’s briefing by the military.

Over 40,000 people have safely made it back to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, guarded by the Russian peacekeepers, it said.

Sports: Eduardo Baez Upsets Undefeated Armenian Olympian Narek Abgaryan

Lara Antonian
Boxing Scene
Dec 18 2020
By Manouk Akopyan

Published On Thu Dec 17, 2020, 10:47 PM EST

The Freddie Roach-trained Narek Abgaryan had a home-field advantage fighting at the Wild Card Boxing Club against Eduardo Baez on Thursday, but it proved to be all for naught as the 2016 Armenian Olympian suffered the first professional defeat of his career in an eight-round, junior featherweight clash.

“The Dancing Killer” couldn’t use his fleet feet to fend off “El Fantastico” Baez (18-1-2, 6 KO’s), who used a bull-like approach to beat the matador-like Abgaryan (14-1, 6 KO’s) in the Ring City USA co-feature on NBC Sports Network.

Baez won the bout in a unanimous decision with two scores of 80-72, and a third of 79-73.

Abgaryan showed signs of superior class and control in the beginning of the fight, but he was forced to backpedal from Baez’s hard-charging, Mexican Style of fighting and couldn’t muster off much of a meaningful attack countering.

Both fighters clashed heads in the second, but Baez got the worst of it, suffering a cut on the top of his forehead, right beneath his hairline.

The blood flowed down the face of Baez profusely, but that didn't deter him from a deft and sturdy offensive onslaught that rarely faded.

Baez was the aggressor, but Abgaryan fought smarter and not harder, strategically picking and choosing his shots, and popping in and out of the pocket. It was not enough to get the attention of the judges.

Abgaryan never really dug deep in his pocket in search of a Plan B, as the bout was fought at a similar pace all night.

By the end of the fifth, Baez appeared battered and bruised and was dealing with a cut over his left eyebrow, but not before dealing a left jab and straight right hand.

Abgaryan’s face visibly appeared to don the wear and tear of the fight heading into the seventh, as Baez began cruising to the decision he ultimately earned.

Baez grabbed the bull by the horns in the eighth and final round and brought out a more powerful attack, proving that the energy poured till that point had not zapped him, his spirit was still there, and that he would close the show in style.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com

Watch: Azerbaijan Humiliates Armenia By Displaying ‘Spoils Of War’ During Its Victory Parade

Raffi Khondkarian
Eurasian Times
Dec 18 2020

Armenia Azerbaijan War: Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia has also been seen as a geopolitical coup orchestrated by Turkish President Erdogan. Turkey has signed a memorandum with Russia to create a joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan.

 

  •  

The bloody war between Armenia and Azerbaijan may be far from over but Turkey-backed Azerbaijan has been celebrating its victory over Armenia. Recently, Azerbaijan displayed the spoils of war during a military parade to mark the country’s victory against Armenia after a six-week battle over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.


Military hardware, including tanks and missiles, captured from the Armenian forces were the highlight of the parade, held on December 10. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the event.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia had signed a peace deal on November 10 to put an end to the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, which had claimed thousands of lives on both sides.

After 30 years of control over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it by Armenian forces, the areas were placed under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan as part of the peace deal.

Among some 150 pieces of military hardware, including Armenia’s T-72 tank, armored vehicles, short-range and medium-range air defense missiles, self-propelled artillery rocket launchers were put on display.

The military parade held at Baku’s central Azadliq (Liberty) Square was devoted to, as officially described, Azerbaijan’s victory in the ‘Patriotic War’.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during his address after the signing of the peace deal had said that Armenia signed the agreement due to Baku’s “iron-fist”. He said the Armenian army in the region had weakened after the liberation of around 300 settlements since September 27.

The enthusiasm to see the captured Armenian military equipment was quite visible when leaders gave a standing ovation as the vehicle leading the spoils of the war came on the field. A military vehicle leading the parade carried a huge board with “Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan” written on it.

The display board also contained countless Armenian license plates. The move was symbolic as 30 years ago Armenia after capturing the region had used the Azerbaijan license plates to build toilets as a mark of victory.

Azerbaijan’s win has also been seen as a geopolitical coup orchestrated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has signed a memorandum with Russia to create a joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan.

As Turkey and Azerbaijan claim to be brothers, the same was visible during the military parade where 2,783 Turkish soldiers participated. The number of Turkish soldiers was the same as that of the Azerbaijani troops who lost their lives in the conflict.

Photos and videos at 

Feds probe hate crime at San Francisco Armenian church

Karlen Baghdasarian
San Francisco Chronicle
Dec 18 2020
Nora Mishanec                                            

The FBI has joined the San Francisco police investigation into an arson fire that engulfed an Armenian cultural center in September, one of a spate of apparent hate crimes targeting San Francisco’s Armenian community, officials announced Thursday.

Federal investigators offered a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the fire that ripped through the building adjacent to the St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in Presidio Heights on Sept. 17. The arson leveled Sunday school classrooms, a library, meeting rooms and church offices as flames tore through the building before dawn.

“This act of violence was not just an attack on a building, but on a congregation,” FBI investigator Craig Fair said in a statement announcing federal involvement in the probe.

The San Francisco Police Department’s arson task force deemed the fire a hate crime, one of several attacks on the city’s Armenian community over two months. The other hate crimes were tied to the KZV Armenian School in the Parkmerced neighborhood, where police investigated hateful graffiti and bullet damage.

Police have not arrested any suspects, and FBI officials said they do not yet know whether the incidents are connected.

In addition to the FBI reward, the Armenian Cultural Foundation is offering $25,000 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest and conviction. The foundation represents thousands of Armenian people in the Bay Area, many of whom said the San Francisco fire was emblematic of a larger intimidation effort.

“It is a tragic situation that we still find ourselves faced with such a threatening and violent level of hate,” said Edith Khachatourian, a parishoner at St. Gregory, where the fire destroyed the interiors of the first floor and basement of the adjacent building. No one was inside.

The attacks appeared to be part of a larger pattern of hate crimes around the world against members of the Armenian diaspora in the lead-up to the six-week war in the Caucasus region known as Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh.

St. Gregory’s has long served as a refuge for the descendants of those who fled persecution after the Armenian genocide more than 100 years ago, Khachatourian said.


Sports: Armenia’s Vazgen Tevanyan scores gold medal at Freestyle Wrestling World Championship

Jane Topchian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020

Vazgen Tevanyan has scored a gold medal at the play-offs for the Freestyle Wrestling World Championship drawing to an end in Belgrade.

During the final for wrestlers in the 61 kg weight category, the European youth champion competed with bronze medalist of the 2019 Freestyle Wrestling World Championship, Hungary’s representative Ismayil Musukayev and beat him 9-1.


Former army generals and officers join call of Armenia National Security Service high-ranking officials

Hagop Kamalian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 18 2020

16:12, 18.12.2020

First TUMO Box opens in Armenia’s Gavar

Maral Takmazian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 18 2020

Today, on December 18th, thanks to the cooperation between the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and dot818, the first TUMO Box has opened in Gavar, a program aimed at the educational development of small towns and villages.

The event was attended by TUMO and dot818, the sponsor of Gavar TUMO Box, the Minister of Education and Science, Vahram Dumanyan, Deputy Minister Zhanna Andreasyan, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication, Victoria Poghosyan, the Governor of Gegharkunik region, Gnel Sanosyan, the Mayor of Gavar, Gurgen Martirosyan, as well as representatives of local self-government bodies, TUMO alumni and prospective Gavar TUMOians.

Welcoming those present, TUMO CEO Marie Lou Papazian stated, “TUMO’s regional expansion is gaining momentum with the opening of the Gavar TUMO Box. In a few days, a TUMO box will be opened in the border town of Berd, located in Tavush province. This process is ongoing, and we reaffirm our mission to make the TUMO curriculum accessible to young people in even the smallest communities in Armenia and Artsakh.”

Gnel Sanosyan, the governor of Gegharkunik Province, stressed the importance of the initiative. “I’m thankful to our partners for making the project happen during such difficult times. The regional government and our communities are willing to support TUMO in opening new Boxes in the region. Another one is slated to open in Sevan soon. It is very important to decentralize our educational and development efforts, and to fully realize the potential of even our smallest communities. With an initiative like this, students are free to get the most innovative education right in their hometown.”

David Tonoyan, the founder of dot818, sent his thoughts about the cooperation and potential of the project from the US, noting, “dot818 is very excited and proud of the implementation of the Gavar TUMO Box project. Cultivating Armenian youth is a guarantee to our success in the fields of handicrafts, art, construction, culture and science. I wish the best to the children of Gavar and the TUMO team. Until our next project in Armenia!”

At the event, the first registered students of the Gavar Box learned more about the program and met with experienced TUMO alumni. Gavar TUMOians Yegor, Hayk and Larisa were the first ones to try out robotics, drawing and programming.

The goal of the TUMO Box project is to make the TUMO curriculum accessible to young people in small communities. It is a small but technically equipped mini TUMO. Students will begin in the self-study phase of the TUMO curriculum in the Box, and will then move onto TUMO Dilijan for workshops and labs. Each TUMO box will provide the opportunity to educate over 300 young people a year in the fields of technology and design. In addition to TUMO’s main program, the Box can be used in the morning for other educational programs.

Dot818 is an American marketing solutions company based in Glendale, California, founded in 2011. It specializes in publisher solutions, advertising solutions and lead distribution. In addition to its headquarters in California, dot818 also operates an office in Charlotte, North Carolina and the United Kingdom. TUMO Box’s next location will be in Berd, located in Tavush province, slated to open this December.