Author: Ani Tigranian

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant graphic

The applications for International Armenian Literary Alliance’s three literary grants are now open. The grants for creative writing and translation—each worth $2,500—will be offered to one writer and two translators whose work-in-progress show exceptional literary and creative ability. Applications will be open until September 30, and the winners will be announced in December 2023.

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant will award $2,500 annually to one Armenian writer whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a collection of poetry, and in the coming years, to works of creative nonfiction and fiction, as well as other mixed genre forms. The grant will be judged by Gregory Djanikian and Raffi Wartanian.

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant, made possible by a generous donation from the Armenian Allied Arts Association, is meant to foster the development of contemporary Armenian literature in English through an annual monetary award, and support Armenian writers who have historically lacked resources in the publishing world. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

The Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $2,500 to one translator working from an English source text into Eastern Armenian, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) that stimulates the imagination of young adults at a formative time in their development. In the coming years, the grant will also be awarded to translators working from English source texts into Western Armenian. The 2023 grant will be judged by Anna Davtyan, Armen Ohanyan and Zaven Boyajyan.

Despite the growing number of translated works from English to Eastern Armenian in recent years, translated literature remains an area that needs further attention and development. IALA’s Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with literature written in the English language through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

The Israelyan English Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $2,500 to one translator working from Eastern Armenian source texts into English, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1900, and in the coming years, to works written in Western Armenian. This grant will be judged by Dr. Myrna Douzjian, Nairi Hakhverdi and Tatevik Ayvazyan.

Given the traumatic history of the Armenian diaspora, many readers are unable to read works in the original Armenian, and therefore, have centuries of literature inaccessible to them. Translators working with Armenian texts have traditionally lacked resources in the publishing world, as well as access to other funding, due to the overwhelming influence of so-called “majority languages.” IALA’s Israelyan English Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with contemporary Armenian literature through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

For more details, full eligibility criteria, and more information on past grant recipients, please visit IALA’s website, or contact Hovsep Markarian, IALA’s program manager, at [email protected].

The International Armenian Literary Alliance is a nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that supports and celebrates writers by fostering the development and distribution of Armenian literature in the English language. A network of Armenian writers and their champions, IALA gives Armenian writers a voice in the literary world through creative, professional, and scholarly advocacy.

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has become the latest target of Baku’s diplomatic attacks when he was called “pro-Armenian” by Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Monday.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry handed a note of protest to Argentina’s Ambassador to Baku Mariangeles Bellusci, when it summoned her to explain remarks made by Fernández, who, during the G20 Summit in India, called attention to the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh as a result of the Lachin Corridor blockade.

Baku accused President Fernández of bias, noting that “statements distorting the prevailing realities in the region using terminology directed against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan are regrettable.”

In his address to the G20 summit Fernández called out Azerbaijan for their “painful blockade” of the Lachin corridor.

“At a time when there’s war in Eastern Europe, violent conflicts are emerging, which get less public attention but are equally painful, such as the blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, which has caused a humanitarian crisis, aimed at punishing the Armenian people on its own territory,” Fernández said.

“Argentina reiterates its commitment to multilateralism as a supreme method for international mutual-understanding,” Fernández added.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan thanked President Fernández for raising the issue of Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor at the G20 Summit.

“We value messages from international partners, whose purpose is to restore unrestricted movement in the Lachin Corridor,” Mirzoyan said in a post on X.

Former UN genocide expert Juan Mendez warns of “serious” risks in Artsakh

A former United Nations expert on genocide Juan Mendez on Friday warned of serious risks facing the population of Artsakh that correspond to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Mendez, who is currently a professor human rights law at the American University in Washington, was briefing United Nations Security Council member-state representatives as well as other stakeholders at hearing devoted to addressing the risks and taking preventive measures regarding the humanitarian situation in Artsakh.

In his presentation, Mendez briefed the delegations on the origins of the mandate of the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the entrusted tasks, such as bringing the matters to the attention of the UN Security Council through the UN Secretary-General.

Focusing on the prevention duty of the international community, Juan Mendez highlighted that the facts constitute sufficient reason to proffer an early warning to the international community that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is at risk of suffering “serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” as defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

“The lack of compliance with a binding interim measure issued by the ICJ to protect a population at risk is at least as severe an early warning than refusal to cooperate with judicial investigations”, Professor Mendez concluded, pointing out to Azerbaijan’s defiance of the legally binding order of the International Court of Justice as an indication that necessitates the exercise of the UN’s early warning and prevention capacities.

Also speaking at the event was Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Mher Margaryan, who highlighted that the deliberate infliction of dire humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes an atrocious crime, which is already happening, including through the starvation of an entire population, who are being deprived of their basic human rights.

Margaryan recalled that, at the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which was convened at Armenia’s request on August 16, the majority of the Council’s member states reiterated the imperative of complying with the ICJ orders and ensuring free and unimpeded humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Below is an excerpt from Professor Mendez’s report. st1yle=”font-size:16px;margin:0px 0px 1.25em;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:inherit;,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline”>In the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh I wish to point out the lack of compliance with the International Court of Justice binding order as an indicator that require early warning and offer opportunities to prevent a genocide. I focus my analysis in the prevention duty of the international community.

The deliberate blockade of the Lachin Corridor, against the binding order of the International Court of Justice signal the high probability that the members of the group of Armenian living in Nagorno-Karabakh may in the near future suffer “serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” (Article 2, paragraph b of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide). The excuses offered, the denial of the blockade and the offer of alternative roads to eventually provide food confirm Azerbaijan’s defiance of the ICJ order.

As I understand them, the facts are: On November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia signed the Trilateral Statement ending the war between the first two countries and establishing special agreements regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. “The Lachin corridor (5 km wide), which will ensure the communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia…shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation” for five years. “The Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee the safe movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions along the Lachin corridor.”

On February 22, 2023, the International Court of Justice ordered: “The Republic of Azerbaijan shall, pending the final decision in the case and accordance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” The order was reaffirmed on July 6, 2023.

Instead of complying with the ICJ order Azerbaijan security forces have blocked the Lachin Corridor since March and since June have sealed off any channel connecting a group of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The ICJ order put Azerbaijan on notice about the “real and imminent risk” created by the blockade to an Armenian group’s “health and life.” Azerbaijan has ignored calls from the UN Secretary General, the US Secretary of State and the President of France to comply with the ICJ binding order and open the Lachin Corridor.

In addition, Azerbaijan officers and experts are denying the facts and offering alternative roads to provide humanitarian assistance, thus confirming their refusal to comply with the ICJ orders. Under the circumstances, it is my considered opinion that the facts outlined above constitute sufficient reason to proffer an early warning to the international community that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is at risk of suffering“ serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” (Article 2, paragraph b of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide).

The state parties of the Genocide Convention are committed to prevent the crime, and the international community should exercise its responsibilities to protect that population. I am guided in this conclusion by the jurisprudential precedent adopted by the International Court of Justice in Bosnia v. Serbia regarding the obligation to prevent genocide under the 1948 Convention.

In that case, the ICJ established that all States have responsibilities to prevent genocide. Those responsibilities are highest in cases where a State is in a position to influence the situation decisively, because of geographic proximity, cultural or political links to the actors on the ground, control of territory and means of communication and transportation, and so on.

In the case of Srebrenica, the ICJ found that Serbia had violated its obligation to prevent genocide, among other factors, because it had refused to cooperate with judicial inquiries.

By way of analogy, lack of compliance with a binding interim measure issued by the ICJ precisely to protect a population at risk is at least as severe an early warning than refusal to cooperate with judicial investigations.”