Author: Ara Felekian

On December 7 evening, Armenia and Azerbaijan issued an unexpected joint statement, the first of its kind that did not bear the signature of any mediator working on the peace process between the two. 

According to the statement, Armenia and Azerbaijan "share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace in the region." 

"The two countries reconfirm their intention to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity," it read. 

"Following the talks between the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, an agreement has been reached on taking tangible steps towards building confidence between the two countries."

The statement announced an agreement on the exchange of 32 detained Armenian military servicemen for 2 Azerbaijani servicemen, "driven by the values of humanism and as a gesture of goodwill." 

All known prisoner exchanges in the past have taken place through the efforts of mediators.

The statement also announced Armenia's support for Azerbaijan's bid to host the 29th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, by withdrawing its own candidacy. In return, Azerbaijan supports Armenia's candidacy for Eastern European Group COP Bureau membership. This also marks the first time the two countries have publicly backed each other's leadership in international bodies. 

Since the Second Karabakh War in 2020, Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks have proceeded on two separate tracks, one mediated by Russia and the other by the EU and U.S.

The peace process had been at a near-standstill, particularly since Baku's full takeover in September of Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory that had been at the heart of the dispute between the two countries for more than 30 years. 

After that, it looked like there were no more barriers to reaching a peace treaty between the two countries, with the de facto Armenian government in Nagorno-Karabakh initiating its own dissolution and Armenia accepting the territory as part of Azerbaijan. However, the sides still retained their disagreements, with Azerbaijan continuously snubbing peace talks over its newfound discontent with mediation by Western countries. 

In November, the Armenian foreign ministry reported that it had sent its latest proposal for a peace agreement to the Azerbaijani side. 

On December 6, speaking at a forum in Baku, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev confirmed its receipt and said his government would reply soon, but also complained of an alleged Armenian delay in communication. 

"[I]t's a document of maybe six-seven pages maximum with less than 20 articles. So for such a small document, Armenia needed 70 days to respond to us. And they responded only after the Azerbaijani foreign minister publicly disclosed that," he asserted. 

"Look, we're waiting for two months. Why don't you respond? So, this shows that the side which delays the process is not Azerbaijan, it is Armenia. Why did they delay? I don't know whether it was their own decision or they were advised by their new friends in some European capitals. I don't know, I can only suspect."

The deal was welcomed by the EU, the U.S. and Russia. 

It was regarded by observers as historic and promising. 

"Most importantly, it shows that Baku and Yerevan can deal, offering hope for further talks and, perhaps even eventually, a peace deal and normalization of relations between the two countries," Zaur Shiriyev, analyst with the International Crisis Group, wrote on X. 

Some analysts, both in Armenia and Azerbaijan, suspected that there was some behind-the-scenes mediation, particularly since the statement was released the day after U.S. Assistant State Secretary James O'Brien met Aliyev in Baku. 

Former Armenian diplomat Sossi Tatikyan speculated on X that there might have been "robust 3rd party mediation/shuttle diplomacy, but it preferred to stay backstage to save Aliyev's face." 

Baku-based political analyst Shahin Jafarli wrote on Facebook there is "no doubt that both this agreement and the decision to hold an early presidential election [in Azerbaijan] are related to the U.S. delegation's visit."

However, he still noted that the joint statement and agreed confidence-building measures are "historically significant and aimed at preparing real grounds for peace". 

(RNS) — Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, another battle is playing out in Jerusalem among its small but storied Armenian Christian community, their own patriarch and an Australian-Israeli businessman who is said to be set on taking over the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. 

Last month, things escalated as Jewish settlers aided by dogs and bulldozers disrupted a long-running sit-in in a site known as the Cow’s Garden, currently a parking lot, where businessman Danny Rothman plans to build his latest hotel.

Rothman’s company, Xana Capital Group, made a secret deal in 2021 with the Armenian Christian patriarchate to lease a swath of the Armenian Quarter, including part of the Armenian Theological Seminary and several family homes. When the deal became public, the local community rebelled, a priest who oversees the church’s real estate was defrocked and Patriarch Nourhan Manougian’s leadership came under question.

“This is land that belongs to the Armenian community for centuries,” Levon Kalaydjian, a Jerusalem-born Armenian, told Religion News Service. “This does not belong to the patriarchate, nor is it for him, the patriarch, to do whatever he wants to do with it.”

Armenians have had a presence in Jerusalem since the fourth century, when Armenia became the first sovereign state to convert to Christianity. Some of Jerusalem’s Armenians trace their heritage to pilgrims who came to the holy city nearly that long ago, while others arrived from the former Ottoman Empire, fleeing the Armenian genocide in 1915 and 1916.

Today the smallest of the four divisions of Jerusalem’s Old City, the Armenian Quarter is considered separate from the larger Christian Quarter, where Palestinian Christians speak Arabic and worship in Greek Orthodox or Catholic churches.

The 2,000 or so Armenians, who speak a unique Jerusalem dialect of Armenian and belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, are represented by the Armenian Patriarchate and the monastic order of the Brotherhood of St. James, which acts as a mini-welfare state: Most Armenians live in church-owned property and work in a church or monastery. 

In Jerusalem’s tense cultural politics, the Armenians are widely considered the most peaceful demographic in the Old City, maintaining good relations with both Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians. That unique status has been complicated by the fact that they are sitting on one of the Holy Land’s most valuable pieces of real estate. 

“The piece of land we’re talking about is one of the most important in the city, if not in the country and the world,” said Setrag Balian, one of the founders of the current protest movement. “Striking as it might sound, it is a fact.”

The Armenian Quarter occupies the highest point in the Old City and lies along the main path from the Jaffa Gate to the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter. It is also situated on one of the few vehicle-accessible roads in the Old City. The Cow’s Garden is one of the few undeveloped spaces inside the walls.

“The Armenian community used to feed off of that land, and Armenian pilgrims used to come camp there and put up their tents and caravans,” Balian said. “Other than the cultural and historic fact that this is the Armenian Quarter, it had economic importance; our life depended on that land.

“And today, even as parking, it depends on it. In modern times, in municipalities all over the world, one of the biggest problems is the matter of parking, so this should also not be underestimated,” he added. 

It’s not the first time someone has tried to wrest control of land from the Armenian community. Enver Pasha, the Ottoman minister of war who was an architect of the Armenian Genocide, once eyed the Cow’s Garden for a summer home, while Jerusalem’s five-time mayor, Teddy Kollek, also pressed for previous patriarchs to allow construction on the land, along with numerous other potential investors. 

None was successful until the deal with Xana, signed in 2021.

The 49-year lease deal will allow Xana to build a luxury hotel complex over not only the Cow’s Garden but the patriarch’s private garden and the seminary’s main hall, where nearly all of the community’s celebrations are held, some four acres in all. The deal also gives Xana the unilateral power to renew the lease for another half century after the initial term is up, for a total of 98 years.

The return for the patriarchate is a lump-sum payment of $2 million and a yearly rent of just $300,000 — less than previous offers and a paltry sum for one of the world’s most valuable properties, leading to accusations of bribery and corruption in the agreement. 

Exacerbating the community’s concerns is the developer’s profile. Though Rothman, who also goes by Rubinstein, has been involved in tourism in Israel for decades, little is known about his company, which is based in Dubai, making inquiries about its history and holdings difficult. 

The deal also came at a time when both Christians and Muslims in the Old City and east Jerusalem are under pressure by Jewish settler groups, attempting to take control of properties for the explicit aim of ‘Judaizing’ the city.

Patriarch Manougian has claimed that the patriarchate’s real-estate manager, Baret Yeretsian, misinformed him about the deal, and he has defrocked and exiled him. Yeretsian had to be removed from the Old City under police protection in May, due to the community protests outside of the patriarchate.

In October, the patriarch canceled the deal, saying it was illegal because it had not been approved by the Synod of the Brotherhood of St. James, but only after more than two years of internal pressure from the Armenian community.

Since the cancellation, the patriarchate has put out a statement stressing the danger to the Armenian character of the quarter, and the patriarch has at times joined the protesters in the Cow’s Garden. 

“Better late than never,” Kalaydjian said.

The controversy has been compared to a 2005 scandal in the Old City, when the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem was dismissed after signing a deal to give over Christian properties in the city to the far-right Jewish settler group, Ateret Cohanim, which some saw as a concession to Israeli designs on non-Jewish sectors of Jerusalem. Yeretsian pointed out that Rothman is a secular Jew, whose investment partner is a Palestinian Greek Orthodox Christian.

But on Nov. 5 armed settler activists appeared with dogs and bulldozers demanding that construction begin on Rothman’s hotel. Balian accused Rothman and his partner of  “cheap intimidation tactics” using “settler groups that don’t even come from Jerusalem, or the Old City.”

The strategy didn’t work. “We’re a 1,700-year-old presence at least in the Old City. We are not ready to give up just at the presence of armed people or bulldozers,” Balian said.

As important are the internal politics of the Armenian community. He questioned the dismissal of Yeretsian, saying defrocking him only forfeited the patriarchate’s ability to punish him. Before the deal had been formally canceled, Balian said he rejected calls pushing for the resignation of the patriarch, as it would only set a precedent in which the patriarch can walk away from his responsibilities to the community.

Instead he believes the patriarchate, with its power and influence over the lives of Jerusalem Armenians, needs to bring in lay managers and integrate the community into its decision-making process, at least on mundane matters.

“We’re not saying that the community should decide on everything,” said Balian, “because you need that structure, you need that institution. It’s a religious institution, and we all belong to it. But let’s work together as a united front.”

In a divided Jerusalem, Balian said, what’s most important for his community is to stick together, no matter who is trying to encroach on their land. “For us, it doesn’t even matter if it’s settlers or not, or if it’s Jews or Muslims or others. Our goal is to keep that land Armenian,” Balian said. 

https://religionnews.com/2023/12/04/jerusalems-armenians-battle-patriarch-and-jewish-settlers-to-maintain-their-quarter/

Azerbaijan continues to refuse to attend peace talks with Armenia, citing what it calls the biased approach of Western mediating countries. This time it was the U.S. that displeased Azerbaijan. 

On November 16, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry put out a statement announcing the country's decision not to attend a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington scheduled for four days later.

The snub was in large part a response to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien's testimony the previous day at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing titled "The Future of Nagorno-Karabakh." He told the committee that the U.S. was working on establishing a "comprehensive, thorough and transparent" record of what happened in the formerly Armenian-populated enclave before and during Azerbaijan's September military takeover. 

"We have commissioned independent investigators, we have our own investigators working in the field. There is information available from international non-governmental organizations and other investigators. And as we develop the record of what happened, we will be completely open about what we are finding. I can't put a timeline on this investigation, but we will inform you as we go forward," he said. 

O'Brien went on to express support for Armenia, which has been attempting a pivot away from Russia and is scrambling to accommodate the 100,000-some people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh in September. 

"I am very impressed by the Armenian government's commitment to reforms and diversifying the relationships that it has – economic, political, energy and security – particularly in the Trans-Atlantic community," he said. "And I think we owe it to the people of Armenia to help them through this difficult situation so that those choices they have made very bravely are able to help them to make them have a more secure, stable and prosperous future." 

O'Brien also said that the U.S. had canceled high-level bilateral meetings and engagements with Azerbaijan (without specifying exactly when) and would keep urging Baku to "facilitate the return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who may wish to go back to their homes or visit cultural sites in the region, as well as restore unimpeded commercial, humanitarian, and pedestrian traffic to the region."

In its statement the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called the hearing "a blow to the Azerbaijan-U.S. relations in bilateral and multilateral formats."

"The groundless accusations voiced against Azerbaijan are irrelevant and undermine peace and security in the region," the statement read. 

On the day of the hearing, the U.S. Senate also adopted a bill titled "Armenian Protection Act of 2023". If it becomes law, the bill will suspend all military aid to Azerbaijan by repealing the Freedom Support Act Section 907 waiver authority for the Administration with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan for the years 2024 and 2025.

On that front, Azerbaijan's diplomatic body argued that the U.S. was repeating "the same mistake" it made in 1992, when Azerbaijan was sanctioned with this amendment, "despite being a state who faced aggression and occupation" at the hands of Armenian forces.

Also on November 16, the U.S. reaffirmed its support for Armenia-Azerbaijan rapprochement irrespective of who mediates. "We would encourage the two parties to engage in those talks, whether they are here, whether they are somewhere else, and that'll continue to be our policy," spokesperson of the U.S. State Department Matthew Miller told a briefing.

Baku for its part does not seem interested in the U.S. having an active role in those talks. For some months now, it has been expressing distaste with Western-brokered negotiations and instead shown a preference for regional mediators like Russia, Turkey, and Iran. 

And its latest statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warned that, "[S]uch a unilateral approach by the United States could lead to the loss of the mediation role of the United States."

By Heydar Isayev via Eurasianet.org

https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Tensions-Rise-as-Azerbaijan-Snubs-US-Mediated-Peace-Talks.html

(l-r) Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Chairman of Europe Subcommittee on House Foreign Affairs, Ranking Member of Europe Subcommittee on House Foreign Affairs, Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA), Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) 

Washington, D.C. – During today’s hearing on “The Future of Nagorno-Karabakh,” House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe Chairman Tom Kean (R-NJ) made clear that the use of force by Azerbaijan against Armenia is unacceptable,” reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).

In his opening remarks, Chairman Kean stated that “we cannot afford to look away from the region” and made clear that the “use of force against sovereign Armenian territory, including in the Syunik province, will be completely and totally unacceptable.”

Ranking Member Bill Keating (D-MA) echoed the Chairman’s message, stating that “military action is unacceptable”, and also indicated his support for a “safe and dignified return” of the Armenians of Artsakh.

Testifying before the Subcommittee, Department of State Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Europe and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien repeatedly highlighted that the Biden Administration has no intention of waiving Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act for the foreseeable future and that such a decision does not negatively impact U.S. national security.

O’Brien highlighted that the Armenians of Artsakh should have complete access and that the Administration is insisting on the protection of their property and cultural assets as well as a “viable opportunity to return.” With respect to transport links (road and rail) in southern Armenia, O’Brien stated that it should not be created through force. When asked by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) about the use of sanctions against Azerbaijan if “other methods don’t work,” O’Brien committed to the use of sanctions.

The Assembly has repeatedly called for sanctions to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its genocidal policies, and its testimony today stated that “Azerbaijan should not be rewarded for their continued assault against the Armenian people, but rather sanctioned” and highlighted that the “U.S. has many tools at its disposal to do so from the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and economic sanctions to trade restrictions and the enforcement of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act,” along with the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act.

Representative Dina Titus (D-NV) raised concerns about Turkey’s role in the region, including the use of Turkish F-16s in the 2020 war, while Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) highlighted the fallacy of the U.S. providing military assistance to Azerbaijan to counter Russian and Iranian influence while Azerbaijan has significant energy ties to Russia and Iran. Assistant Secretary O’Brien acknowledged that the Administration is aware of the situation which it found not in the U.S. interest.

In his remarks, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) highlighted his position that “dictators with the rule of gun [should] not prevail over democracies with rule of law.”

Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) expressed concern about Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh and the humanitarian needs arising from it. “It was ethnic cleansing that happened with the removal of these Armenians from their historic homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh… These folks did not want to leave,” stated Rep Costa who also asked about the Administration’s supplemental request and hoped that part of the humanitarian request would include Armenia. Rep. Costa also encouraged congressional visits to Armenia and the assistance of the Administration, to which O’Brien agreed.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

###

Armenian authorities said on Thursday that they had opened an investigation after the country's only synagogue was vandalized in an arson attack, AFP reported.

Video from social media on Wednesday showed a person pouring burning fuel on the door of the Mordechai Navi Jewish Center, which serves the small Jewish population in the capital Yerevan.

"On November 15, the police received a call that unknown persons wanted to set fire to the doors of the building at 23 Nar-Dos Street in Yerevan. An investigation has been launched," local police told AFP.

Rima Varzhapetyan, the president of Armenia's Jewish community, said that the synagogue had not been seriously damaged and that no one was in the building at the time.

"We are horrified because Jews have never had any problems in Armenia," she told AFP.

Israel's non-resident ambassador to Armenia, Joel Lion, denounced the attack in a statement on social media.

"I call on the government of Armenia to condemn all forms of anti-Semitism, to fully investigate this crime, and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said.

The incident comes amid a spike in antisemitic incidents around the world since the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, and Israel's subsequent war against the group in the Gaza Strip.

These include vandalism at a Jewish cemetery on Cleveland’s west side, where a number of headstones were found spray painted with red swastikas.

Last week, a Los Angeles woman was charged with hate crimes after ramming her vehicle through the gate of a local synagogue and cultural center.

The incident came days after Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man, died from blunt-force head trauma after he was hit in the head with a megaphone during a confrontation with a counterprotester at a Los Angeles protest.

In Montreal, gunshots were fired at a Jewish school in the city twice within one week.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/380468