Author: Arsine Chaltikian

EU4Dialogue: grants for non-governmental organisations in Armenia to support conflict-affected border villages

Arsine Chaltikian
 

The EU4Dialogue project invites non-governmental and civil society organisations in Armenia to submit their grant proposals with a focus on the border villages of Gegharkunik, Syunik, Tavush, and Vayots Dzor regions in Armenia. 

Grants will support grassroots initiatives aimed at promoting conflict transformation by improving the living conditions of conflict-affected populations.

The maximum amount allocated for each grant is up to US$25,000.

The deadline for applications is 31 July.

The ‘EU4Dialogue: Support to Conflict Transformation in the South Caucasus and the Republic of Moldova (Component 2)’ project is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Find out more

Press release

July 31, 2023
Calls for proposals
https://euneighbourseast.eu/opportunities/eu4dialogue-grants-for-non-governmental-organisations-in-armenia-to-support-conflict-affected-border-villages/

Armenia awaiting Russia’s response over incident near Lachin Corridor

Arsine Chaltikian
Panorama
Armenia –

Armenia is waiting for a response from Russia to the latest incident at the entry of the Lachin Corridor, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan said on Monday.

Armenian border guards deployed nearby opened fire to stop a group of Azerbaijani servicemen from advancing into Armenian territory and installing an Azerbaijani flag there on Thursday.

A video of the incident shows that the Azerbaijani troops were escorted by Russian soldiers as they crossed a bridge over the Hakari River in the Lachin Corridor to place the flag.

Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin was summoned to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry over the incident.

“A probe into the incident near the Hakari bridge is underway,” Kostanyan told reporters in the parliament. “The Armenian Foreign Ministry has voiced its position and concerns over the issue, and we are awaiting an official reaction.”

Armenian Parent Uses Armenian Genocide to Defend Homophobia: A Shocking Case of Gaslighting

Arsine Chaltikian
ALASKA COMMONS
June 12 2023




An Armenian parent attending a Glendale Unified School District Board meeting called out a teacher for evoking the Armenian genocide while defending LGBTQ+ and minority issues during the meeting. The June 6th school board meeting marked a debate about designating June as LGBTQ+ pride month and included protests from parents asking for permission to opt their children out of aspects of the LGBTQ+ curriculum.

During the meeting, a teacher identified herself as being in support of critical race theory and diversity, inclusion, and equity training. She criticized the “hetero-normative, Judeo-Christian, patriarchal, imperialist, capitalist system” and compared the Armenian genocide to the risk of suicide for LGBTQ+ youth. The teacher’s comments went viral, leading to heated debates among community members.

Tensions rose as physical fights broke out between counter-protesters and those opposing the LGBTQ+ curriculum. School officials expressed sadness at the violence and reported that those involved were not affiliated with the Glendale Unified community. Parents and community members expressed their support for removing the curriculum from schools, calling it “disgusting” and inappropriate for children as young as five years old.

Parents have been actively pushing back against school administrators regarding gender ideology and trans policies. One parent, claiming to be the “leader” of the parental pushback, said that “none of this would happen without the Armenian parents and community members.” He accused the teacher of using the Armenian genocide to legitimize radicalizing students with gender identity and disturbing their identities.

The debate over LGBTQ+ issues in schools continues to be a controversial topic in many communities, often leading to heated tensions and violence. Parents and community members must work together to find solutions that support all children while respecting individual beliefs and values.

Two Indians wounded in Azerbaijani shooting: Armenia

Arsine Chaltikian
MEHR News Agency, Iran
June 14 2023

TEHRAN, Jun. 14 (MNA) – Armenian media reported Wednesday that two Indian nationals were wounded in Azeri cross-border shooting in Yeraskh.

 Doctors have successfully completed the surgeries on the two victims of the Azerbaijani cross-border shooting in the Armenian village of Yeraskh, the Armenian “Armen Press” reported.

According to the Armenian website, the Ministry of Healthcare said the surgeries passed successfully and the victims are in a moderate condition.

The two victims, nationals of India, were wounded when Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire at a construction site in Yeraskh.

The Indian nationals were construction workers employed at the construction site of a steel plant in Yeraskh.

MNA

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/202002/Two-Indians-wounded-in-Azerbaijani-shooting-Armenia

The Silent Siege of Nagorno-Karabakh echoes in the European Parliament

Arsine Chaltikian

 

On Tuesday June 6, the European Parliament hosted an event on the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh, sponsored by MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, with young journalist Lika Zakaryan, author of 44 Days: Diary from an Invisible War, as guest of honor.

Organized in partnership with AGBU Europe and L’œuvre d’Orient, the event brought together some 100 guests, including parliamentary assistants, members of the European Commission, researchers and journalists. In his welcome address, Mr. F-X Bellamy underlined his desire, through this event, to focus on the life stories of the Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, starting with that of Lika Zakaryan, who gave a poignant account in her war diary in 2020, adapted for the screen by the documentary film Invisible Republic, directed by Garin Hovanissian and produced by Creative Armenia.

The screening of excerpts from the film was followed by a discussion with the young journalist. As Lika explained, the aim of the film, produced in 2022, was to raise awareness among a wider audience of the 44-day war, which received little coverage in the international media. “If we continue to want to show it today, it’s above all because this misnamed 44-day war isn’t over. It continues in various forms”, she explains in her exchange with F-X Bellamy. Lika also spoke of her disappointment at the lack of response from the European Union during the war in 2020. She considered herself to be pro-Western before the war, and was a firm believer in European values, democracy and the rule of law. Her distrust of these “men in suits”, as she calls them, who make fine declarations without any action, grew steadily: “Men in suits make declarations, but when you’re in the basement of a building, under the bombs, these declarations don’t really warm your heart if no action follows”, she concludes. Doubtless, Lika still retained a trace of this mistrust when she arrived in Brussels at the invitation of the MEP. However, she was deeply moved by the sincere and consistent show of support she received during the event. She ended her speech with a heartfelt thank-you: “Thank you to everyone who has come here today to share this moment with us. Today, the people of Artsakh really feel abandoned. Knowing that somewhere people are getting together and talking about them, thinking about them, caring about them, means a lot. That’s where hope can come.

The second part of the event was devoted to a round-table discussion on the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, from a geopolitical, legal and humanitarian perspective, and on what sort of actions can be pursued by the European Union.

Gaïdz Minassian, a journalist with Le Monde newspaper, researcher and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, shed geopolitical light on the conflict, pointing out that in 2020 it was not a question of a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan but of a war between Nagorno-Karabakh and a coalition led by Azerbaijan, including Turkey and Pakistan. He pointed out that Europe is directly concerned by what is happening in this region of its eastern neighborhood, which can be called “Caucasian Europe”, adding that the three countries of the South Caucasus are part of the new European Political Community. According to G. Minassian, the EU “seeks to establish peace in this region to make it a true crossroads, a buffer zone that can even participate in Europe’s ecological transition, while on the other hand, Russia would like to keep the region in a closed circle, following the 3+3 format (Russia, Turkey, Iran and Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). Unfortunately, according to Gaidz, Europe has not understood the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, nor who it is dealing with in the person of President Aliyev, whose “racist, fascist and terrorist policies” are well documented. Faced with the two opposing approaches to resolving the conflict, Russia’s and the West’s, Gaidz also noted that “the blind spot in these negotiations is Karabakh. Nobody is talking about Karabakh.”

Pierre d’Argent, Professor of International Law at the Université Catholique de Louvain, member of the Institute of International Law and Counsel for Armenia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), then took the floor to present the current case between Armenia and Azerbaijan before the ICJ, highlighting the practice of whataboutism, so dear to Azerbaijan. Indeed, every time Armenia submits a request to the ICJ, Azerbaijan immediately counter-attacks submitting a comparable request of its own. This mirror-effect strategy was also at work at the very moment of the event at the European Parliament, which was hosting the opening of a photo exhibition on “Karabagh after the war”, sponsored by the Azerbaijani Embassy. Maître d’Argent explained the orders issued since 2021 in the current case, which notably concerns the unblocking of the Latchine corridor, emphasizing that these are legally binding orders. While Azerbaijan continues to be in breach of international law by not complying with these orders, the case before the ICJ represents, in his view, a United Nations monitoring body to ensure that what happens there does not take place completely behind a curtain that Azerbaijan would like to be as thick as possible.

Bulgarian MEP Andrey Kovachev, permanent rapporteur on Armenia at the European Parliament, presented the actions taken by the Parliament since the 44-day war in 2020, highlighting among others the urgent resolution on the situation of prisoners of war in May 2021 and the resolution on the blockade of the Latchine corridor in January 2023. He also referred to the two annual reports on the EU’s relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted in March of this year, which very clearly called on Azerbaijan to limit its rhetoric of hatred and called for confidence-building measures in order to be able to engage further in a genuine peace process.

Finally, Monseigneur Pascal Gollnisch, director of Œuvre d’Orient, paid tribute to the Armenian people: we thought that having suffered such massacres and genocide deserved the right to live in respect and peace. What would we say if other genocidal peoples, of which we are aware, were to be attacked again in the same spirit?
Mgr Gollnisch also spoke of the threat to the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, and of the support projects carried out in the region by L’Oeuvre d’Orient.

In his concluding remarks, François-Xavier Bellamy spoke of the “false peace negotiations” underway, and reiterated the need for the European Union to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan: “Our role as Europeans is to ensure that the crime stops so that negotiations can begin. How can we consider that Armenia is negotiating freely and sovereignly with Azerbaijan when it is today experiencing directly the blackmail of blocking the Lachine corridor? He recalled that Parliament had taken very clear positions since the beginning of the war. Unfortunately, these positions have not been translated either by the Commission, which considers Mr. Aliyev to be a reliable partner, or by the Council, which, despite our appeal, has still not initiated any sanctions procedure”.

Indeed, it’s hard to look at the giant poster in Ukrainian colors emblazoned with the slogan “No More Gas from Putin”, in the agora of the European Parliament in Brussels, without feeling the painful absence of a neighboring poster in Armenian colors proclaiming “No More Gas from Aliev”.

This email was sent to Armenian [email protected]

AGBU, 55 East 59th Street, NY, New York 10022, United States

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Armenpress: Even humanitarian issues are used by Azerbaijan to make demands from people of Artsakh. HRD of Artsakh

Arsine Chaltikian

 20:28,

YEREVAN, JUNE 16, ARMENPRESS.  For the second day now, Azerbaijan has blocked all types of humanitarian transportation to Artsakh, which were carried out during the blockade accompanied by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeeping force, ARMENPRESS reports, Artsakh’s human rights defender Gegham Stepanyan wrote on his Facebook page.

“Blocking the transportation of humanitarian goods to Artsakh deepens the humanitarian crisis created in Artsakh as a result of the blockade. The already poor food situation caused by the six-month long blockade creates existential threats for the 120,000 people of Artsakh, including 30,000 children, 20,000 elderly and 9,000 people with disabilities, due to the blocking of humanitarian transportations.

As a result of the complete blocking of the corridor, the pre-planned transfer of 102 medical patients and their accompanying persons from Artsakh to Armenia and vice versa was not carried out. The supply of necessary medicines has also been completely stopped, causing serious problems for the citizens and the medical facilities of Artsakh,” Stepanyan wrote.

According to him, the complete blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, the blocking of humanitarian transportation, the deliberate and long-term disruption of the normal functioning of vital infrastructures is an indicator of the fact that even humanitarian issues are used by Azerbaijan to put pressure on the people of Artsakh, terrorize them, and push forward various demands.

“Issues of a humanitarian nature are used by Azerbaijan as a tool to advance the policy of ethnic hatred and ethnic cleansing against the people of Artsakh,” concluded Stepanyan.

“Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders” connects with an appreciative audience at opening reception

Arsine Chaltikian
 Vani Hanamirian Community News, Art, Diaspora, Culture 0

Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders, June 7, 2023, Armenian Museum of America (Photo: Vani Hanamirian)

WATERTOWN, Mass.—The Armenian Museum of America held an opening reception last Wednesday, June 7, for its newest exhibit, “Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders.”

Oshagan expressed deep appreciation for the turnout. “It was wonderful to have such a large number of people, which also was a very diverse group and… artists coming from different places is really special,” he told the Weekly in an interview the following day.

As people filled the museum throughout the evening, it was clear that they shared a common understanding of displacement as they gazed at the pieces.

“Disrupted, Borders entangles the past, present and future and considers the afterlives of visible and invisible borders across space and time,” Oshagan said in describing the exhibit. He uses photography, film and collage to represent his diasporic process and “the visible and invisible crossing of physical, cultural and linguistic borders.”

Artist Ara Oshagan speaking at the opening of Disrupted, Borders, Armenian Museum of America, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Daniel Ayriyan)

The gallery is divided into six sections: Traces of Identity the Armenian Diaspora in Los Angeles (2000-2010), Displaced (2013-2018), The Beirut Memory Project (2018-2021), Gather (2021), Shushi Portraits (2021) and That You May Return (2023). 

Each section represents a different aspect of Oshagan’s life and his journey to where he is today. “It’s about Los Angeles, Beirut and Armenia itself. It’s also about family, afterlives of dislocation, colonization memory and then the community collective history,” he explained to the crowd at the exhibit opening. “My relationships to various histories in places is complex, having inherited negative legacies of removal, of violence from genocide displaced from the route personally, and perhaps many of you have also been displaced from other places,” he continued.

His words clearly resonated with guests. A woman who became emotional as Oshagan spoke was the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and his work moved her as she thought of her family’s experiences. 

One of Oshagan’s missions through his work is to connect with others on their own terms through the artwork. “If somebody spends time and then really looks closely, they can see there’s this web of connectivity between different places, different works or different geographies, different times,” he told the Weekly. “It speaks to you, but it also speaks to everyone that comes in in a different way.” 

Guests, who spanned ages and generations, lingered around different images, staring at the complexity and relating through their own lives.

One man pointed out that he recognized a storefront in an image in The Beirut Memory Project. It was one he had remembered from his time in Beirut, and seeing it at the gallery brought him joy. 

In his remarks, museum executive director Jason Sohigian pointed out the thorough and thoughtful detail that went into the exhibit and gallery space. Oshagan worked on every aspect of designing this exhibit, including the layout of the art and the colors on the wall. For example, he chose to paint one wall in the museum a deep red, the red of the Armenian cochineal, (Porphyrophora hamelii), an insect indigenous to Armenia that was used to produce a dye used in Armenian rug-making. He decided to display the color on a wall of his exhibit because it “comes from that insect that’s indigenous to Armenia and very much part of the history of the space. What’s sad is that it is now endangered in Armenia.”

Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Vani Hanamirian)

Oshagan spoke to the crowd about two specific sections of the gallery: The Shushi Portraits and The Beirut Memory Project. 

Oshagan undertook The Shushi Portraits in 2021 after being invited with several other artists to work on projects in Shushi, currently occupied by Azerbaijan following the 2020 Artsakh War. People had been displaced and there was a concern about repopulation. As he walked in the city, Oshagan noticed an empty building that had been abandoned for more than 20 years. He then decided what his project in Shushi would be.

Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Daniel Ayriyan)

“I installed these images into the windows and doors of that building. I repopulated it with these portraits, but without the background, so they’re important without the manuscript,” he explained. “I took pictures of residents, and I populated that building with the residents of Shushi speaking about why this building was still abandoned.”

His goal with these pieces was to “imagine a future where the deracinated person, indigenous Armenian displaced from their indigenous lands, can come back together with that history to imagine a future like that.”

For the exhibit, Oshagan placed the images of the residents over ancient Armenian manuscripts from across Armenia. They hang in the gallery as large prints that cover the windows. Oshagan specifically designed these pieces for the gallery after he saw the windows and decided to optimize the space in the museum. 

Many people lingered by these large portraits, and questions arose about the manuscripts and the people in the images. Oshagan told the Weekly that he has kept in contact with some of his subjects. Some had fled Shushi, and others had lost family in the war. 

Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Vani Hanamirian)

Oshagan then spoke about The Beirut Memory Project. He was born in Beirut and fled the country in 1975 with his family as they sped away from gunfire. The Lebanese Civil War displaced Oshagan and his family. He returned 40 years later to photograph his childhood city. The Beirut Memory Project is a collection of photographs he took on his recent trip to Beirut, collaged and overlaid with pre-war family photos. 

“I made a trip to Beirut because I decided I would go back to that space where I was born, where I fled injustice, issues of displacement and multi-generational trauma, and issues there, including recent wars and economic collapse and loss,” Oshagan recounted. “Then, I also bring my own history of displacement back to that space.” 

Members of the audience nodded as he spoke about this, including non-Armenians who could relate to the message of loss and displacement. 

Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Vani Hanamirian)

Oshagan intentionally placed a three-minute, three-channel film that can be viewed at the entryway of the gallery. As guests enter the gallery, they first see this video that shows Armenians in Beirut speaking Western Armenian. Almost all of the guests stopped by this video before entering the gallery. 

Oshagan created the video because “the sound of Western Armenian, which I grew up with, really resonated with me when I was there, because they speak a very specific type of really beautiful Western Armenian.” 

The theme continued into the gallery as there was an overlapping sound of Armenian being spoken amongst the guests. The connections between gallery attendees could be heard from outside the room, as familiar and unfamiliar faces gathered to celebrate the exhibit opening. 

Artist Ara Oshagan (center) pictured with Museum president Michele Kolligian, vice president Bob Khederian, executive director Jason Sohigian and finance director Berj Chekijian, June 7, 2023 (Photo: Daniel Ayriyan)

As the evening concluded, guests slowly made their way out of the gallery, but not before taking photos with Oshagan and the artwork. People were seen asking others to take their photo in front of various works, including the ‘That You May Return’ series.

“It was wonderful, and it was nice to see many people from the general public walking in, to see the work and talk to me. It was really, really special,” Oshagan told the Weekly about the exhibit opening. 

“Ara Oshagan: Disrupted, Borders” will be on display at the Armenian Museum of America until October 29, 2023.




Practical business problem skills in focus of CaseKey 2023–Byblos Bank Armenia partnership

Arsine Chaltikian

 16:15,

YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. More than 200 smart and promising young people selected out of 500 applicantswill get to participate in the CaseKey Business Case Competition 2023, whose title sponsor this year is Byblos Bank Armenia.

This is a unique format that enables participants to get to know a company’s business, its culture, and solve an actual business problem.

Now in its third edition, CaseKey serves as a platform for students and young professionals to learn from outstanding specialists and coaches, solve real business problems posed by Armenian companies and come up with solutions for them.

Byblos Bank Armenia, which is marking its 15th anniversary this year, has decided to celebrate such an important milestone with meaningful projects and finance academic and practical educational initiatives.

On the first trainings day on June 10, Byblos Bank ArmeniaCEO Hayk Stepanyan met with the participants and spoke from his own experience in business management and administration.

“The competition is an excellent opportunity for young talents to obtain practical knowledge in today’s fast-paced world. Working on actual business cases will help them gain a competitive advantage in their careers and the knowledge and skills to craft winning strategies. I am positive that every participant will emerge with a deeper understanding of the business world, and we are here for you every step of the way,” noted Hayk Stepanyan.

Founding President of CaseKey Business Case Competition Arshak Karapetyan believes that the partnership with Byblos Bank Armenia symbolizes the sides’ shared commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and driving innovation in the business landscape

“Together, we aim to unlock the potential of young minds, empowering them to become the next generation of change makers. We look forward to a successful collaboration with Byblos Bank Armenia and are excited about the positive impact we can create together. With their invaluable support, we are confident that the CaseKey Business case Competition will continue to be a platform for aspiring youth to thrive and transform their solutions into tangible realities,” said Arshak Karapetyan.

Throughout CaseKey 2023, the Bank will provide full support to the participants, help them develop their practical capabilities.

———————–

Byblos Bank Armenia CJSC is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and will introduce a number of proposals and initiatives throughout the year.
The Bank was founded and opened the doors of its first branch in 2007. Today, the Bank has four branches in Yerevan where customers access various banking services and receive financial advice. The Bank provides its customers corporate-retail banking services that meet the highest international standards.

PM Pashinyan to testify at parliament select committee probing 2020 war

Arsine Chaltikian

 11:16,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is expected to testify at the parliamentary select committee probing the causes and course of the 2020 Second Karabakh War.

The commission said it sent a formal invitation to Pashinyan to attend a session on June 20 at 10:00.

PM Pashinyan has agreed to participate, the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security Affairs said in a statement on Monday.

Azerbaijan, Armenia on threshold of peace: Bayramov

Arsine Chaltikian
MEHR News Agency
iran – June 7 2023

TEHRAN, Jun 07 (MNA) – After the end of the conflict, which lasted for about thirty years, for the first time Azerbaijan and Armenia stand on the threshold of peace, with the obligation of mutual respect, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said Tuesday.

Speaking at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on Tuesday, Jeyhun Bayramov said after the two countries gained independence, for the first time they stand on the threshold of peace with the obligation of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.

He added that within the framework of the Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization process, negotiations are underway on the text of a bilateral peace agreement, Trend reported. 

He noted that the talks held over the past few weeks in Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Chisinau made it possible to better understand the positions of the parties. 

Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan expects mutual political will from the Armenian side to overcome differences in three specific areas that form the agenda of bilateral discussions.

Azerbaijan is actively working to ensure lasting peace with Armenia, he said, adding that there are opportunities and real prospects for establishing peace, strengthening stability, ensuring peaceful coexistence, advancing the peace agenda, and investing in economic development and cooperation. 

The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s.

Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral ceasefire declaration signed in November 2020. The two former Soviet states agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since then, there have been occasional clashes along the border.

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