Month: June 2022

Pashinyan’s address to the Armenian Parliament

“According to the negotiation logic we inherited, Nagorno-Karabakh could not get a status outside of Azerbaijan without the consent of Azerbaijan. It was this “legacy” that became the basis and reason for starting the war”, the Prime Minister of Armenia said, speaking in parliament.

Nikol Pashinyan believes that the only guarantee of the state’s security is “comprehensive peace”, that is, the “peace agenda” that his government is implementing.

“Any alternative will be disastrous – both for Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. And, of course, we cannot allow this to happen”, he said.

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Pashinyan stressed that the opposition has been declaring for the past year that:

• the government of Armenia ignored the issue of NK,
• the Armenian authorities should have pursued the “Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan” policy, and the refusal to accept this approach is a betrayal on the Karabakh issue.

According to the Armenian prime minister, the first thesis is refuted by the budget indicators. In 2021, Armenia’s assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh increased by 122% compared to 2019.

As for the second question, according to Pashinyan, the current opposition itself was not guided by the principle “Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan” when it was in power. The prime minister claims that both former presidents of Armenia, who are now leaders of the radical Armenian opposition, recognized NK as part of Azerbaijan.

In his speech, he responded at length to the accusations of the opposition and gave reasons for his claims.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, in 2021-22, the budget support for the unrecognized NKR from the Armenian government was unprecedented:

“Armenia’s support for Artsakh in 2021 increased by 122%, the budget of Artsakh as a whole increased by 48%”.

The prime minister said that last year Artsakh’s budget was the largest in its history. 73% of the budget was allocated by the Armenian government:

“In 2021, financial injections from the Armenian government into the budget of Artsakh were larger than the entire budget of Artsakh for 2019”.

Nikol Pashinyan also recalled the provision of salaries to NK civil servants, the payment of pensions and benefits to the population, reimbursement of utility bills, already implemented and ongoing programs, including housing construction.

The prime minister stressed that the government does not see the need to “scream” about it – his government just did their job:

“The Armenian government was, is and will be close to Artsakh, even if some circles do not notice it”.

According to Pashinyan, the oppositionists, who themselves were in power in 1998-2018, are now simply trying to sow discord between NK and Armenia. The former leaders insist that, unlike the current government, they were guided by the principle “Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan”:

“These statements are absolute lies, because throughout the entire negotiation process, both Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, and their political satellite in the form of the Dashnaktsutyun party, recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan gave the following justifications for his statements:

1. On November 25, 1998, the Armenian authorities, headed by Robert Kocharyan, agreed to accept the proposal on a “common state” presented by the co-chairs as the basis for negotiations. It stated in particular:

• “Nagorno-Karabakh is a state-territorial formation of a republican type and, together with Azerbaijan, forms a common state within its internationally recognized borders”.
• “Citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh will have an Azerbaijani passport with a special mark – Nagorno-Karabakh as an identity card”.

2. The proposal for a “common state” was followed by a package of proposals for the exchange of territories, which assumed: “Armenia transfers the Meghri region to Azerbaijan, and in return receives NK.”

According to the Prime Minister, having accepted the mentioned proposals as a basis for negotiations, the former Armenian authorities “recognized Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan” or at least “did not rule out that Artsakh could be a part of Azerbaijan”.

3. Pashinyan repeated his statement about another proposal for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the so-called Madrid principles. He claims that by accepting them, the current authorities “ruled out any practical possibility of Artsakh being outside the borders of Azerbaijan”.

“According to the negotiation logic inherited by us, Nagorno-Karabakh could not get a status outside of Azerbaijan without the consent of Azerbaijan, including an intermediate one”, the prime minister said.

He added that it was this “legacy” that became the basis and reason for the outbreak of the 2020 war.

Pashinyan said that all this information about how the negotiation process took place at one time is not a conversation about the past, but about the future. He assured that his government does not intend to lie just to stay in power, because his team must tell people the truth.

In this regard, the prime minister intends to level “the gap between the content of the negotiations and the content of the conversation with the public”.

Pashinyan believes that conclusions should be drawn from past, and the current government has already come to them.

Accordingly, the current concept of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is based on the guarantees and security rights of the Armenians living in this territory, from which the determination of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh follows.

That is, the status of NK is considered not as a goal, but as a means of ensuring the security, rights and freedoms of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This wording is understandable to the international community, it makes our goals and the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict more understandable. There is another important point that needs to be fixed: any status that really guarantees the security, rights and freedoms of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be considered an [acceptable] solution for us”, Pashinyan stressed.

According to the Prime Minister, in the current geopolitical situation, there are no guarantees for the preservation of either large or small states. The only guarantee of the existence of the state, its security, he considers “comprehensive peace”.

And this, according to Nikol Pashinyan, is a situation where issues with neighbors have been resolved, delimitation and demarcation of borders have been carried out, peace has been secured de jure.

“We are trying to follow this path now. Can we succeed? No one can guarantee that, because peace is not a one-way street, but the result of cooperation.

We have no illusions, we see that the number of those who want to destroy us is greater than could be expected. The peace agenda is an attempt to control and neutralize these desires to destroy us”, he said.

The Prime Minister assures that his government has the will and determination to follow this path. He argues that “the other way is unacceptable” because it will lead to the destruction of both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

When it comes to Armenian culture and its exquisite delicacies, CEO of Papillion Bakery Ella Madatyan, has quite literally discovered the secret sauce to her success. From the sweetest custard filled ponchiks and Nutella bread boats to cheesy potato khachapuri and freshly baked perashki stuffed to perfection with spicy pork, Papillion’s eclectic menu serves as a nod to the rich heritage and offers patrons a modern take on its traditional delights.

Born in Armenia and relocated to America at the young age of three years old, Madatyan was very close with her father and observed him closely as he opened one business after the other in search of achievement and profitability. With unwavering curiosity about how each business was operated, Madatyan began working alongside him and eventually, she attended school for marketing until her father requested that she take over one of his failing ventures—Papillion Bakery. Not only did she gain control of the business, but she used her education and knack for social media to create further awareness and transform one lacking bakery into five.

And they are all thriving.

“We have advantages now that we didn’t have before,” says Madatyan. “We can use social media platforms to engage with our customers, push new products, and get feedback.” With locations throughout Los Angeles and two additional bakeries planned to be opened next year, Papillion has been in business for nearly 15 years and has become a flourishing bakehouse for those seeking to satisfy their sweet and savory cravings while inspiring the community to acquaint themselves with Armenia’s vibrant culinary history.

“The dough is the one thing that differentiates our bakery from others,” she says. “Only two people know the recipe, and that includes myself.” Since its initial opening in 2008, Papillion has gained notable eminence from Hollywood clientele, including Kim Kardashian, and has been featured on Fox News as well as KTLA 5. In addition, the bakery has been awarded a Certificate of Recognition by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, representing the 46th California Assembly District.

Unlike many other unfortunate business owners, Madatyan’s bakeries thrived during the Covid-19 pandemic, but her former restaurant OG Wingz, suffered greatly. Despite its highly regarded mango habanero pepper sauce and unparalleled customer service, the two Hollywood-based eateries shut down due to the high overhead and diminishing clientele. While she considers this one of the biggest obstacles faced on her road to success, Madatyan never gave up.

While Madatyan genuinely enjoys working and puts her heart into everything she does, she is also a wife, a mother of three children, and is currently on the brink of launching a clothing line to help in launching a non-profit organization for domestic violence victims. Following a very difficult public divorce, Madatyan was able to utilize her platforms to speak out about her experience and quickly became as a support system to other women navigating their way out of harmful relationships.

“Women in my culture are shamed so much for leaving marriages,” she says. “We are supposed to be okay with so much and put up with a lot. It’s embedded in our brains that toxic relationships are normal. My next goal is very important to me. I eventually want a place where women can come and receive the help they need to leave toxic relationships. I want women to know they aren’t alone.”

These days, Madatyan finds herself incredibly motivated by the messages she receives on Instagram from a diversity of women searching for guidance. So, as she continues to franchise her bakeries and open the non-profit, she keeps one big goal in mind: to make the world a sweeter place—with dessert and bringing hope to the younger generation.

This article was written in cooperation with Kimberly Haddad

Following weeks of street protests, Armenia’s political opposition is retrenching, removing a tent camp they had set up in central Yerevan while announcing that they intend to try to impeach Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Members of parliament from the ruling party, meanwhile, have said they are looking into stripping opposition MPs of their mandates because they have missed so many sessions as they have been boycotting since the protests began.  

Large scale protests began in early April after the Armenian government began to signal that it was preparing to make significant concessions to Azerbaijan, such as ceding control over Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory that has been at the heart of the decades-long conflict between the two sides. 

As Pashinyan made those signals more explicit – notably saying on April 13 that Armenia had to “lower the bar” of its expectations with respect to Karabakh – the protests gathered steam, leading to increasing conflicts with police and hundreds of arrests. On May 1 they took on a more sustained character, with organizers setting up a tent camp in central France Square. 

But the self-proclaimed “Resistance Movement,” which was led by the two opposition blocs in parliament, both associated with the deeply disliked former ruling regime, failed to gain much traction and participation in the protests began to peter out. 

In recent days, the protests also had become more violent. On June 3, protesters blocked all entrances to the main government building, demanding a meeting with Pashinyan. When that didn’t happen, they marched toward his official residence. Near the residence they clashed with police and more than 60, most of them police officers, were hospitalized with injuries. 

On June 14, organizers announced they would dismantle the tent camp and regroup. In a speech at France Square one of the opposition leaders, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, acknowledged that would-be supporters may have been turned off by the association with the country’s former leadership. 

“There are still people who think this is a fight for power, for the return of former rulers to power,” said Saghatelyan, deputy speaker of parliament from the Armenia Alliance and a leader of the diaspora-based party Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsyutyun. “We haven’t yet managed to get all those people to the streets and bring them to this square.” 

Opposition MPs, who have been skipping parliament sessions since mid-April, would be ending the boycott, Saghatelyan said. “We will return to parliament only with our agenda” of impeachment, he said.

By the morning of June 15 the tents and barricades around France Square were gone and it was again open for traffic.

Street protests would continue, organizers promised. One rally was planned for June 16, and another two days later.

Opposition leaders also said they were working towards initiating impeachment proceedings against Pashinyan. According to Armenian law they can’t formally impeach until August 2, which will be the one-year anniversary of when Pashinyan started his second term in office. 

The opposition currently has 35 of 107 seats in parliament, leaving them 25 short of what they would need to impeach the prime minister. But opposition figures have said they think there is a group of lawmakers from the ruling Civil Contract party who could vote for impeachment. Prospects for this seem slim, however, given the high degree of loyalty in the ruling party ranks.

And many have argued that the opposition and protesters have failed to offer another vision for the country, even as popular dissatisfaction with Pashinyan is deep. According to a recently released poll from the Caucasus Research Resource Center, while in 2019 70 percent of those surveyed trusted the prime minister and other ministers, in 2021 71 percent distrusted them. 

“This desire [to oust the government]  is quite understandable,” wrote veteran journalist Armen Dulyan in a June 15 column for Sputnik Armenia. “Certain people, who for incomprehensible reasons have appeared at the top of the power pyramid, are absolutely disliked by at least a part of the society. But to expect that at least something will change for the better after the departure of these people is also incomprehensible.” 

Meanwhile, Civil Contract MPs are looking into the possibility of stripping 14 opposition lawmakers of their mandates because they have missed so many sessions of parliament. 

“There is a discussion on this going on in our faction, which is the result of public demand,” one Civil Contract MP, Artur Hovhannisyan, said during a June 16 parliament briefing. “Many citizens have seen how the opposition behaves, how they use their parliamentary mandate,” adding that there wasn’t a consensus in the ruling party on the issue. “Different deputies in our faction have different opinions and no decision has been made,” he said.

Stripping MPs of their mandates because of missing sessions for organizing protests would be an unprecedented step in Armenia, and it would have to be approved by the Constitutional Court.