The meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mamedyarov started in Moscow. This was reported by Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson of the RA Foreign Ministry.
To remind, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also participates in the meeting.
Before that, the Mnatsakanyan-Lavrov meeting took place.
Garen Yegparian
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
This piece is combination of five utterly non-interrelated paragraphs presenting five items that have “assaulted” my consciousness over the last few days.
I met Don and Eileen Garabedian while in a doctor’s waiting room. It turns out that Don’s grandfather settled in the Fresno area in the 1880s. Don is the second cousin of Monte Melkonian. Also, Eileen, an Irish-Catholic, told the story of meeting Don’s grandmother many-many years ago when they were first dating. It turns out that afterwards medz-mayr said “I like that odar”. We had a great conversation about things Armenian. This is the kind of Armenian moment I haven’t experienced in a long time. In the LA basin, especially in the Armenian ghettos, the “specialness” of such an Armenian encounter doesn’t maniifest in the same way as it does in parts of the world where our compatriots are fewer and harder to find. The “garod/karot” (longing) that develops when one lives surrounded by the ABSENCE of Armenians is a potent force that is often not appreciated by those who live in relatively dense Armenian communities. It was a heartwarming moment, and Don wants me to talk to his sister in San Francisco. It seems she is the most “Armenian” in their family. From a collective/national perspective, this couple is an example of those with whom we must reconnect and draw into the orbit our communities.
“Erdogan’s Worst Enemy Is His Only Ally” is a piece in Foreign Policy by Selim Sazak that makes the case that the biggest winner in Turkey’s recent municipal elections was the MHP (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, or Nationalist Movement Party). If this is true and the MHP is advancing politically, it’s not good news form an Armenian perspective. That party is the most right-wing, chauvinist, among Turkey’s major political parties. Sazak presents convincing arguments based on the current alignment of political forces in Turkey. He explains how Erdoğan has painted himself into a corner and is now reliant on Devlet Bahçeli, MHP’s leader, with nowhere else to turn because he has made enemies of former allies. Simply, according to Sazak, Bahçeli is now calling the shots for as long as Erdoğan is, and wants to stay in, power. Bahçeli may be a latter day Talaat, if not from a genocidal perspective, at least from a masterfully-working-the levers-of-power perspective.
Anna Hakopian/Hagopian, Nigol Pashinian’s spouse, spoke at the Alex Theatre last week. It was not about anything I could have predicted, since it was mostly about the “My Step Foundation” she has established to address a variety of needs in Armenia. Its description was given by Hovhannes Ghazarian, the executive director. I was left with a vague sense that it was intended to compete with the Hayastan All Armenian Fund, though upon further reflection, I realized this was not the case since its activities were more programmatic than infrastructural. Then I realized that it is unsurprising that a new political force in the country would want to make its presence felt by addressing social needs. Hopefully, it will not overlap too much with or undercut existing organizations. But going to back to the April 8 program, Anahid Aramouni Keshishian introduced Hagopian who spoke briefly then fielded a very wide variety of questions, including how difficult it was to be Pashinian’s wife, eliciting a lot of laughter. Unfortunately, the organizers resorted to the cowardly tactic seen increasingly frequently at events lately. They accepted only written questions. To her great credit, after the written questions “ended’ (excluding many that were submitted), Hagopian asked if there were any more people wanted to ask directly. She fielded over half a dozen questions in this format before the program was closed. Understandably, she side-stepped questions that were of a political nature. And, she deftly answered that this was not the time to enter the American political fray when a Trumpista asked a question intended to take a cheap shot at Congressman Adam Schiff.
I’ve noticed an encouraging trend. At least I hope it’s a trend. On various “TV” (in quotes because it also includes Netflix and such) shows, references to things of interest and import to Armenians have been popping up, and they are not only in the “Armenian mafia” category. I’ve decided to start noting them, and I will probably provide an occasional list of them. Perhaps someone could set up a web, Facebook, or other such page where anyone can report noticing these occurrences. The one I want to mention now is from the series “Taken” (Season 2 Episode 5). The incident in Washington DC when Erdogan’s bodyguards beat up peaceful demonstrators is referenced along with the video shot by Aram Hamparian. I hope this phenomenon is an indicator that our community has finally gotten over its “become a doctor, engineer, or lawyer” disease and our youth are entering the news/media/entertainment fields.
This last item is personal, so please forgive its presence, but I must pay respect in public. It is very fitting to do so. Just days ago I got a call from my ex-wife’s brother telling me she died in her sleep. Scarlet was a vivacious and friendly person, with all kinds of quirks and an acerbic anger when provoked, all packaged in an impishly childlike demeanor. Her loss comes as a shock to everyone, as borne out by friends who have called to offer condolences. “Unsettling” is the best word to describe what is being felt by many, for she was still relatively young and nothing indicated the possibility of such a death. It was in her sleep, and not even a typical Los Angeles car accident that would render it comprehensible. I now understand what people mean when a loved one dies and they say “I can’t believe s/he’s gone” – I had always thought it was just a corny thing to say, but now recognize its truth.
Keep reading, agitating, thinking and pursuing comprehensive justice for the Armenian nation. All of the above suggest it is absolutely necessary to act in that manner.
BAKU
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers are set to meet in the Russian capital Moscow next week to discuss the longstanding Upper Karabakh conflict, an official statement said on Thursday.
In a statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenia’s Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will meet on April 15 in order to explore ways to resolve the issue.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also take part in the meeting, the statement said.
The meeting will follow last month’s meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Vienna.
Aliyev and Pashinyan discussed settlement of the longstanding Upper Karabakh conflict, in the meeting held by the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.
Two countries termed the meeting “constructive” and “positive” and agreed to strengthen the cease-fire regime in the conflict zone with continuing their dialogue, a joint statement of foreign ministers of two countries said.
The Minsk group — co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S. — was formed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Karabakh — a disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia — broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with military support from neighboring Armenia, and a peace process has yet to be implemented.
Three UN Security Council resolutions and two UN General Assembly resolutions refer to Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe refers to the region as being occupied by Armenian forces.
The Armenian occupation led to the closing of the frontier with Turkey, which sides with Baku in the dispute.
*Writing by Nilay Kar Onum
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan can not mediate the court system so that detention of Spayka’s CEO David Ghazaryan will be changed and he will be released.
Nairi Sargsyan, Deputy Prime Minister, conveyed to employees of Spayka company gathered near the executive body
Before heading to Tashkent in April 2002, Armenia’s then President Robert Kocharyan was responding to the A1+reporter’s questions at the airport.
Several hours later, the National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR)—which he had appointed—reached a decision to deprive A1+ of airtime.
But it was apparent from Kocharyan’s words that this decision was made long ago.
“It’s portrayed that the commission is shutting down the A1+ company; the commission has no such powers,” he was saying. “The A1+ company was managing the 37th frequency. It was managing [this frequency] for five years, and the term for that management has expired by law.”
In addition, he was advising A1+ to participate in the other contests for channels during the year.
“I sincerely wish that A1+ would be on air,” Kocharyan was saying, in particular.
Also on that day, Robert Kocharyan advised Armenia’s political opposition to spend money and purchase media outlets. In actual fact, the leader of the country considered it normal that a media outlet should have a “master.”
“And who says the former authorities shouldn’t participate in politics and shouldn’t have a place in the media arena?” Kocharyan stated, above all.
On April 2, 2002, and immediately after being taken off the air, A1+ informed the president of the country—and on the air—that he already has the opportunity to “fabricate” A1+.
Robert Kocharyan, however, was right in one matter: the NCTR could not shut A1+ down.
A1+ continues to work seventeen years after the being taken off the air, and it remains faithful to its principles.
Nikol Pashinyan tells about his meeting with Aliyev in Vienna
[see video]
On March 18, 36-year-old Hayk Sargsyan was taken into custody by the main department of criminal investigation of the police near the “Dalma Garden Mall” trade center in Yerevan.
According to Shamshyan.com, the latter is Hayko from Astrakhan, known in the criminal world, “thief in law”, and a gun was found in his possession.
Materials are being prepared in the investigative department of the Malatia police department. The found gun has been confiscated, an expert examination has been ordered in order to find out the legality of the gun.
According to the source: Hayk Sargsyan was arrested.
Rangers from Arpa Protected Landscape of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province spotted the rare Caucasian Leopard during their regular observation and recorded a video of him, the World Wildlife Fund Armenia said on Facebook.
“This is very exciting as it’s the first time in Armenia when a human could take a video of leopard. Until this we were able to see this extremely cautious animal only with camera traps. Let’s protect our nature. It gives us so many opportunities to admire it,” the fund said.
The Caucasian Leopard (also known as the Persian Leopard) is the only subspecies of leopard to be classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which estimates that less than 1,300 mature individuals still exist in the wild.
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi of Egypt
While speaking at the 2019 Munich Security Conference, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi of Egypt mentioned Egypt’s role in welcoming refugees of the Armenian Genocide more than a century ago, to illustrate his country’s storied history in helping people displaced by conflict or war.
“In Egypt, we have 5 million refugees [registered and unregistered], who do not live in camps. They have been treated as we dealt with Armenians [refugees] 100 years ago, when Egypt hosted them after the massacres,” Sisi said during a panel on Saturday.
The Armenian National Committee of Egypt labeled el-Sisi’s statement as a “first step” toward Egypt’s official recognition of the Armenian Genocide, while stressing that Egyptian leader did not mention the word “genocide” in his presentation.
“Although the Egyptian president did not use the term ‘genocide.’ he did however take the first step in this direction, by seeing the need to mention it in light of current realities,” the Armenian National Committee of Egypt said in an annoucement.
“Initially he spoke about Egypt having accepted Armenian refugees, however he did not speak about the reason. The Armenian National Committee of Egypt commends this step of the Egyptian president, assessing it not only as a pre-step towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide, but also as the Middle East’s and Northern Africa’s main actor’s positive response and vow to join the civilized initiative of the Republic of Armenia on preventing and banning future genocides,” added the ANC of Egypt’s statement.
“We join our voice to President el-Sisi, demanding to hold to account those who encourage terror organizations and those who shatter peoples’ fates,” said the statement.
Siran Hartunian, a member of the Armenian Community in Egypt, also commented on Sisi’s statement during the local “90 Minutes” television program on Sunday, saying that “Egypt’s recognition of the Armenian massacres – as other countries have- will return the rights of 1.5 million martyrs killed by the Turks,” reported the Egyptian Street online publication.
Egypt, which has an Armenian community that is rich in history, has not formally recognized the genocide of the Armenian Genocide, but was the first Arab country to recognize Armenia’s independence in 1991.
This post is available in: Russian
A homeless man sleeps on a bench in the centre of Yerevan. There are currently around 400 homeless people in Yerevan, with three-quarters of them living on the streets. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Yerevan’s homeless population comes from all over Armenia and beyond, but they all have ended up in the same place. There is one shelter in the city, with a capacity of 100, but it is not enough to house the hundreds living on Yerevan’s streets.
There are no official figures on the number of homeless people in Armenia. According to Shavarsh Khachatryan, the director of the Hans Christian Kofoed homeless shelter, there are approximately 400 homeless people in Yerevan alone. Around 100 live in the shelter, the only one of its kind operating in Armenia, which is run by the Armenian-Danish charitable foundation.
Davit can be seen every day at the Barekamutyun Metro Station in Yerevan; he sleeps in the tunnel leading to the metro. Though he is around 35-years-old, Davit almost never speaks — he likely has an intellectual disability. He will often stand in the same position for hours and silently stare in one direction.
Davit has been living at the metro station for years and is well-known to the owners of the adjacent kiosks — though they do not even remember when Davit first appeared at the station. Many of them try to help him; one will give him some coffee, another a cigarette, someone else will offer food. They also sometimes give him small amounts of money. The kiosk owners describe him as calm and say he is not aggressive. As long as no one attempts to interfere with his living conditions, he is not a disturbance.
Though friendly with the owners, Davit is not always allowed to approach the kiosks due to complaints from customers. When this happens, Davit just smiles and waits patiently until the customers leave. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Sveta, a former healthcare worker, resides in the same area as Davit. After losing her job, she became a prostitute in order to make a living, eventually, losing her home. Today, she collects her daily bread from various restaurants and shops. In addition to taking any surplus food, Sveta also asks if she can have bones and meat scraps to feed her dog and its puppies. They all sleep together under the bridge near the Barekamutyun Metro Station
Sveta and her dogs are inseparable — they sleep next to each other on their own mattresses. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Sveta uses the spaces between concrete slabs under the bridge as shelves. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
While Sveta will allow herself to go hungry for days, she always manages to find some scraps for the dogs to eat. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Natalia Marayeva, 60, moved to Armenia with her husband eight years ago but has been living on the streets for the past two years due to family issues. She previously worked as a doctor and a nanny. She learned about the Hans Christian Kofoed shelter, where she currently resides, from one of her previous charges. Marayeva still visits her former patients, who often give her books because they know she loves to read.
Though she originally comes from the Russian city of Perm, Natalia Marayeva has been living on the streets of Armenia for two years. On the advice of one of her former patients, she moved into the Hans Christian Kofoed shelter. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
There is currently only one homeless shelter in Armenia — the temporary shelter run by the Armenian-Danish charitable foundation Hans Christian Kofoed, which receives financial assistance from Armenia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
A person is allowed to stay in the shelter for a maximum of three months. However, there are exceptions made for individuals who have nowhere else to go — some residents have been living in the ‘temporary’ shelter for several years.
The shelter provides residents with both breakfast and dinner. Some meals that have previously been offered include bread and jam, macaroni patties, and potato purée and sausages. During the holidays, various sweets are also available.
The majority of the shelter’s residents are over 50, though there are exceptions, such as 19-year-old Aleksan Tadevosyan. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Though there are TVs available, many of the residents prefer to play backgammon. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
The shelter’s rooms are organised by gender. Each room has a heating system, and each bed has a set of wall hooks for residents’ clothing. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Nineteen-year-old Aleksan Tadevosyan is one of the youngest and quietest residents of the shelter — the majority of residents are over 50. The shelter staff told OC Media that Tadevosyan came from Russia with his parents two years ago, but after his father passed away, he and his mother were left on the streets. They have only been at the shelter for a few days.
Another young resident is Sila Abdullah, 25, a citizen of the west-African state of Guinea. Six months ago, he illegally crossed the Turkish-Armenian border in an attempt to reach Iran. He is currently staying at the shelter while trying to get the necessary documents to leave. Though he has a wife and children back in Guinea who he misses, he does not want to return. The few clothes he has with him are his only belongings in Armenia.
Smoking is forbidden in the shelter, which is why many homeless people prefer to live on the streets. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Residents of the shelter come from all over the world. Sila Abdullah, 25, originally comes from Guinea and ended up in Armenia while trying to get to Iran. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
The shelter has one strict rule — smoking is forbidden. Many of Yerevan’s homeless population refuse to move into the shelter due to the ban, preferring instead to continue living on the streets.
At the moment, there are around 103 people living in the shelter, which is designed to hold 100 people. Though the shelter only has limited space, the director of Hans Christian Kofoed, Shavarsh Khachatryan, told OC Media that they are trying to help everyone.
Hasmik Daveyan, 56 is always either chatting or laughing. She says she tries to alleviate her pain this way. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Saribek Aghbamyanis, 69, spent 35 years of his life in jail. He says he has nothing in the world: neither relatives nor a home. After leaving prison, he spent many days hungry, sleeping in the streets but has lived in the shelter for the past few months. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
Mother and son Garegin and Aghavni have been homeless on and off for 22 years, sleeping in the streets between periods of renting and staying with relatives. For the past four years, the shelter for homeless people has been their home. (Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)