Author: Arpi Talalian

“Azerbaijan has undertaken major projects in Shushi as they have focused on it as an important topic in their propaganda efforts,” expert in Azerbaijan Anzhela Elibekova told a press conference on Thursday. 

The expert reminded of number of events held in the town, suggesting Azerbaijan thus tries to ingrate the town into its own reality. 

“In terms of propaganda, they are spending huge efforts which are not done on our side. They gather representatives of different international delegations, diplomats, journalists, members of various communities and tour around Shushi, show some sights, and  nurturing them with Armeniaphobia, presenting us as barbarians,” said Elibekova. 

In the words of the expert, the Armenian side is obliged to respond to this and continuously voice about war crimes committed by Azerbaijan, by making use of all available resources and inform the world.  

“We do nothing in the propaganda war, while Azerbaijan works quite actively, depicting a negative image of Armenians, at the same time forging an image of themselves who struggle for justice,” said Elibekova. 

Speaking of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations, Elibekova stressed Azerbaijan has occurred in a bizarre situation. 

“There have been numerous occasions in the past several years when relations between the two countries deteriorated. In fact, those relations have never been ideal. Iran has many leverages on Azerbaijan and around it to pressure on the country. Aliyev has always tried to run a policy of trade to somehow balance those relations against the cooperation with Israel and Turkey. Aliyev is the last one who needs this escalation as he lacks resources for confrontation with Iran but if it is pressed by third parties, such as Turkey and Israel, it shows the Azerbaijani president has lost own decision-making, capacity to determine on priorities for the foreign policy, which is an alarm sign to his public about the loss of independence and sovereignty,” added Elibekova. 

The Russian-based writer of Armenian origin Narine Abgaryan has published the official trailer of the movie “Zulali” which has been filmed based on the motives of Hayk Ordyan’s novel. As Abgaryan told TASS news agency, the film will be premiered in Yerevan on October 22. “At this difficult time, it is quite difficult to produce films, write books and music, stage performances. In order to stay creative, one should believe in the future. I am thankful to all, who despite all hardships believe in the future and do everything to make it happen,” Abgaryan said. 

“Zulali” is a collection of  short stories. “The actions take place in conditional  Armenia as all characters and the live are Armenian, yet the story itself is universal,” Abgaryan once described the novel. 

To note, Narine Abgaryan was born in 1971 in Berd, Armenia, to the family of a doctor and a school teacher. She graduated from Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences with a teacher’s diploma in Russian Language and Literature. Abgaryan is the author of eight books, including her bestselling and prize-winning (Manuscript of the Year 2010 and Russian Literature Prize) trilogy about Manyunya, a busy and troublesome 11-year-old in the small Armenian town of Berd. Abgaryan’s other book for children, “Semyon Andreich”, received the BABY-NOSE from New Literature Prize in 2013, as the best children’s book of the decade. Narine Abgaryan is also the editor of several anthologies of modern Russian prose. Since 1993, Narine has lived in Moscow with her husband and son.

Watch the trailer at