Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

The Secular Advance on Marriage

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
 Stepan Piligian In Sight, Columns 0

Church weddings – remember those? They seem to decrease in our society every year. According to The Knot, a popular nationwide wedding planning website, only 22-percent of couples chose a religious institution for their wedding in 2017, which is dramatically lower than 41-percent in 2009. Where are the majority of people holding their wedding services? In 2017, 15-percent were held in barns, farms or ranches; 14-percent in historic homes; 17-percent at banquet halls; 12-percent in hotels and 12-percent in country clubs. In addition to a dramatic generational reduction in church weddings, the service itself has been subordinated to the reception venue and activities. The majority of couples are no longer deciding in which sanctuary to be joined together. The celebratory aspects have become the priority. As a result of this trend, the role of clergy in weddings has been significantly reduced. According to The Knot, 43-percent of couples chose a family member or friend to officiate at their wedding in 2016, as compared to 29-percent of couples in 2009. The secular rampage that is engulfing American society has penetrated the wedding sacrament, reducing a spiritual bond to a purely legal experience. Marriage as an institution is under duress, and religion is largely absent from weddings that do take place. 

The Armenian American community is not immune to this reality. In the western diaspora, our communities are heavily influenced by the societal values of the host nations, which has both positive and negative effects. For example, the values of education and personal freedom have been widely exercised by Armenian Americans, leading to their general success and prosperity as a group and benefiting their host communities. While the importance of family has diluted some of the negative influences, secularization, divorce, drugs and violence have impacted Armenian Americans. In a society where success is defined in financial terms,  Armenian institutions do their utmost to protect their constituencies from the harmful side effects of financial prosperity. 

Armenian wedding at Khor Virap, 2019 (Wikimedia Commons)

The most important institution in the diaspora is under the most pressure regarding values and norms. The Armenian church has a responsibility to embody the teachings of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, according to its traditions and canons. It is increasingly challenging for the church to attract new generations without compromising to maintain relevance – a word that should never be associated with a relationship with our savior. Sadly, the church competes with worldly ventures for the attention of their constituencies. The problem lies with how we choose to spend our time on this earth. In our society, the problem is not the acquisition of wealth, but our obsession with it as a distraction. In our faith, life on earth is but the beginning of the promise of eternity. It starts with the family unit created by God as the primary vehicle of teaching and living our values. My parents always made our relationship with God and the church a priority. I will always be grateful for that, although I am certain there were moments of rebellion in my youth. We did our best to carry those values forward with our children, but I have become particularly sensitive to making time as a grandparent to bring our grandchildren close to the church. A loving relationship with God and his church is the most important gift we can give our children to help them navigate life’s challenges. All baby boomer grandparents have an important role to play in this journey. Our children face much more complex societal distractions than we did as young parents. We need to transmit values that enable stability and happiness. They will not transfer simply by the passage of time, but through sacrifice, participation and commitment. Too often we choose the “window shopping” approach, bringing our children to church once in a while, but this is not nearly often enough for them to develop a love and dependency. 

The Armenian church is in a difficult position in this country regarding the marriage sacrament. I have spoken with several priests from both the Diocese and the Prelacy on the decline of church weddings. The general consensus was that the number of church weddings has significantly declined to as little as one third of what it was ten years ago. It obviously varies with the size of the parish, but these observations seem to be consistent with the American societal data. The data from The Knot includes Christian denominations in which the clergy are allowed to conduct weddings at venues outside of the sanctuary. Some of the 78-percent of weddings held outside of religious institutions in 2017 could have been officiated by members of the clergy. The official position of the global Armenian church is that their clergy can only officiate at weddings that are held in consecrated edifices. There are some forms of accommodations, but these exceptions are usually not public. An Armenian priest may also offer a blessing at an outside venue, which is not the sacrament of marriage. Regardless, the decline of church weddings seems like a plan for going out of business. I usually hear the resigned response, what are we going to do?

The diaspora in America differs from Armenia in this regard. Church weddings here are more likely within immigration generations, in line with assimilation trends. In Armenia, despite 70 years of Soviet atheism, it is almost unheard of for couples not to be married in the church. Some local churches in Armenia hold up to four weddings in one day. This might be attributed to the ratio of churches to the population, but also to the cultural connection to the church and limited intermarriage. The church and families must reverse this trend in the diaspora.

If God is a part of our home life, then the sacrament of marriage is a natural extension. Deprioritizing a spiritual family life and expecting children to marry in the church is unrealistic and self-fulfilling. We have no right to lament the absence of the sacrament when we raise our children with an aloof presence in the church and little familial spirituality.

A compromise can be reached that maintains the sanctity of the sacrament and enables the church to continue its important role. I have mixed feelings when I attend weddings outside of the church. I am happy for the couple, but I still feel a sense of emptiness as we keep God on the outside and failure as a part of the current gatekeeping generation. Intellectually, I understand that there are larger, overwhelming societal issues at play. Yet the absence of God in this union is tragic. One suggestion I have heard is the use of a consecrated mobile altar for weddings held outside the sanctuary. More resources must also be applied to strengthening families in their spiritual journeys. If God is a part of our home life, then the sacrament of marriage is a natural extension. Deprioritizing a spiritual family life and expecting children to marry in the church is unrealistic and self-fulfilling. We have no right to lament the absence of the sacrament when we raise our children with an aloof presence in the church and little familial spirituality.

The decline of church weddings in the western diaspora is a reflection of shifting values and priorities. I have long feared an Armenian community with a dominant secular base. Decoupling our historic bond between heritage and faith by diminishing the role of the church as an institution is not in the long-term interests of the Armenian nation. If this trend continues, then what’s next – unbaptized children or fewer who seek redemption through the body and blood of Christ? At that point, we are an empty people in decline. If we have the will, we can overcome these challenges, not simply for the sake of restoring traditions but for the glory of God and our salvation. It has been said that marriage offers a sense of commitment to each that will guide couples through life’s challenges. The holy sacrament of marriage provides us the lifelong seal of commitment with the love of our heavenly Father.

This is the business of the church and the responsibility of our families. We can begin to solve problems once we recognize them as such. Give our children this gift.

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Columnist
Stepan was raised in the Armenian community of Indian Orchard, MA at the St. Gregory Parish. A former member of the AYF Central Executive and the Eastern Prelacy Executive Council, he also served many years as a delegate to the Eastern Diocesan Assembly. Currently , he serves as a member of the board and executive committee of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). He also serves on the board of the Armenian Heritage Foundation. Stepan is a retired executive in the computer storage industry and resides in the Boston area with his wife Susan. He has spent many years as a volunteer teacher of Armenian history and contemporary issues to the young generation and adults at schools, camps and churches. His interests include the Armenian diaspora, Armenia, sports and reading.


Armenpress: Azerbaijan falsely accuses Armenia of border shooting

Chakhmakhchian Vatche

 10:11,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has once again falsely accused the Armenian Armed Forces of firing at its outposts across the border, the Armenian Ministry of Defense warned Thursday.

In a statement, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said the Azeri accusation ‘does not correspond to reality.’

“The statement disseminated by the MoD of Azerbaijan that allegedly on August 23, at around 11:30 p.m., units of the Armenian Armed Forces discharged fire against the Azerbaijani combat positions located in the eastern part of the border, does not correspond to reality,” the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on social media.

In Armenia, a Soviet era gem deserves preservation

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
Aug 24 2023

Devin Haas

Interest in the Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort remains high in comparison to many avant garde buildings that have not reached the status of landmarks, but its long-term future is nevertheless in doubt.

Balanced atop a single concrete leg anchored in a waterfront rock formation, the curving glass of the pod-shaped Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort lounge offers scenic views of one of Armenia’s most beautiful natural wonders from what could perhaps be a spacecraft from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Its interior design remains largely unchanged from the 1960s, leaving guests to assume that little besides Wi-Fi has been added since the likes of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre stayed there in 1972.  

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While its design is timeless, this oft-photographed Soviet avant-garde icon—which has graced the covers of books on 20th century architecture in the region—has sadly seen better days. Its concrete exterior is concerningly cracked, its paint is flaked, and it risks falling into disrepair unless it is restored soon. 

The building’s history is inseparably intertwined with many of the dramatic state campaigns that defined Armenia under Soviet rule.  

The location of the writers’ resort is intentional. When the four-storey futurist accommodation building was constructed in the mid-1930s, it was on a small island in Lake Sevan—the largest body of water in the Caucasus and one of the largest in all of Eurasia. The island was home to the ninth century Sevan Monastery, which had long been a destination for poets and writers seeking isolation. 

The resort’s residence has circular windows and curving balconies, and its lower levels are built into the lakeside’s rock, as its architects Gevorg Kochar and Mikael Mazmanyan sought to marry local topography and nature with a communal-utopian, rationalist vision of modernity.  

Kochar and Mazmanyan championed the “Standard” Armenian communist avant-garde group in opposition to Stalin’s preference for historicism—Classicism with national characteristics. In 1937, two years after the accommodation building was completed, the architects were arrested for alleged participation in a Trotskyist nationalist organisation and banished to a gulag in Norilsk.  

During Kochar and Mazmanyan’s 15 years in the Arctic Circle, massive irrigation projects to supply water to the Ararat plain and hydroelectric power production to support Stalin’s rapid industrialisation campaign depleted 40 per cent of Lake Sevan’s volume. As the water level fell, the island housing the writers’ resort became a peninsula.  

After Stalin’s death, the architects were released from exile and rehabilitated during the Khruschev Thaw. Kochar was commissioned to oversee the reconstruction of the accommodation building and the addition of a lounge in 1963. With access to new technology in construction, he designed a space-age masterpiece to provide a communal space and café with panoramic views of the turquoise lake waters for writers in need of creative inspiration both social and natural. 

While almost no maintenance work has been done since the fall of communism and it now shares the lakefront with informal settlements and many tourist developments, the resort has lost none of its charm. Even in neglect, its popularity has afforded it a fate better than so many other architectural gems across emerging Europe and Central Asia that have already been demolished. 

Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort

The architecture of the Soviet Union spanned time, cultures, and artistic movements. While it evolved from avant-garde to Stalinist to post-war modernism then post-modernism, there was still considerable diversity within and discord between these schools. Architects, like other artists, displayed their individual creativity in the face of censorship, ideological restrictions, and purges. 

After the Soviet collapse, many citizens of its successor states were eager to move past its authoritarianism and saw the structures it erected as physical vestiges of its political system. Avant-garde and columned Stalinist buildings alike were reduced to their Sovietness, deemed bleakly utilitarian and dreary.

Even as the works of Soviet-era writers and composers remained celebrated, the works of architects were dissociated from their individual artists and assigned solely to the state that commissioned and built them.  

As conflicts raged from Moldova to Tajikistan, many works of 20th century architecture were damaged then destroyed. In peacetime, palaces of culture and theatres were demolished to make way for the new communal spaces: malls. 

Buildings are razed every day, growing cities need more housing units, and the Soviet Union itself was far from above tearing down historical architecture. But while there is now widespread awareness of the cultural and historical value of, say, Art Nouveau buildings, fewer see Soviet constructivist and neoclassicist buildings as worthy of the same resources and preservation.  

Now filled with shiny new developments and coloured glass domes, many of the best Soviet-era buildings are already gone forever from Dushanbe, Ashgabat, and increasingly Tashkent. Although not all see the tragedy in the loss of the structures that had defined these cities for decades, others are fighting to expand recognition of Soviet-era architecture as part of countries’ artistic, cultural, and historical heritage.  

The Moldova-based Bureau for Art and Urban Research (BACU) documents unique socialist architectural works throughout Central and Eastern Europe in hopes that they can be added to lists of historical monuments, and the City Research Centre in Gyumri offers architecture walking tours to support its work researching and preserving the city’s architectural heritage. Locals have protested the demolitions of beloved buildings around the region. 

Still, as many buildings slide into ruin, there is little indication that the funds needed to restore them are on the way. Interest in the Sevan Writers’ Resort thankfully remains high in comparison to many buildings that have not reached the status of landmarks, but even its long-term health is in doubt. So visit and appreciate it and other Soviet-era gems while they still stand. 

https://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/in-armenia-a-soviet-era-gem-deserves-preservation/

Russia in favor of unblocking transport connections in South Caucasus – PM Mishustin

Chakhmakhchian Vatche

 16:39,

TSAGHKADZOR, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS. Russia is in favor of the unblocking of transport and other communication connections in South Caucasus in line with the agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan during their meeting in Tsaghkadzor ahead of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council session.

“I am sure that the opening of new infrastructure routes will ensure sustainable economic cooperation, regional development, and will strengthen contacts between the people living here,” Mishustin added.

Turkish Press: Türkiye expects Armenia to avoid ‘provocative steps’ on Lachin road

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
Turkey – Aug 14 2023
Diyar Guldogan  


ANKARA

Ankara “closely” follows the debates on the southern Caucasus’ Lachin road, understands Azerbaijan’s “legitimate concerns,” and expects Armenia to avoid “provocative steps,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

“Türkiye has been following the longstanding debates on the Lachin road closely and understands Azerbaijan’s legitimate concerns on the issue.

“Unfortunately, these concerns that Azerbaijan has voiced loudly for a long time were not taken into account, and as a result, Azerbaijan took the measures it deems appropriate within the framework of its sovereign rights,” the ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan has called on countries and international organizations that have made anti-Azerbaijani statements to respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, especially concerning developments in Karabakh and the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region.

Despite ongoing talks on a peace agreement following a war in 2020, tensions between Baku and Yerevan have risen in recent months concerning the Lachin road, as well as Azerbaijan’s establishment of a border checkpoint on the road.

There is no justification for the criticisms against Azerbaijan regarding the Lachin road, Türkiye said, as the ministry statement added that Baku is making “maximum efforts” in good faith with respect to humanitarian considerations, including medical transportation.

“Our expectation from Armenia is to avoid provocative steps, to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, to support the use of ‘Agdam-Khankendi’ and other alternative ways to meet the needs of the Armenian population in Karabakh, as well as to support efforts to reintegrate the Armenian population of Azerbaijan,” the ministry said.

Türkiye believes that to ensure peace and stability in the region, the territorial integrity, sovereignty and humanitarian efforts of Azerbaijan should be supported and actions that aggravate the situation should be avoided, it added.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/turkiye-expects-armenia-to-avoid-provocative-steps-on-lachin-road/2967527

BREAKING: Azeri blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes genocide, confirms ex-ICC prosecutor L. Ocampo

Chakhmakhchian Vatche

 12:12, 9 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS. Luis Moreno Ocampo, a leading specialist in international law, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and lecturer at Harvard and Yale has issued an expert opinion in response to the Nagorno-Karabakh president’s request and concluded that the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh in fact constitutes genocide.

“There is an ongoing Genocide against 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh. The blockade of the Lachin Corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials should be considered a Genocide under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” Ocampo said in the expert opinion.

“There are no crematories, and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks,” he warned.

“The International Court of Justice, at the request of Armenia, has already analyzed the Lachin corridor’s blockade. The Court focused on State liability for alleged violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination rather than individual criminal responsibility for the commission of Genocide. Though predicated on a different set of State obligations, the Court confirmed the occurrence of the material elements of Genocide that are set out in Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.” The Court’s preliminary findings considered “plausible” that the Lachin corridor blockade produced “a real and imminent risk” to the “health and life” of an ethnic group, “the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.” The intention, a subjective element required by the crime of Genocide, should be deduced from the facts and statements from President Aliyev, who has supreme authority in Azerbaijan. President Aliyev, in a fair trial, would have the opportunity to provide a different interpretation of the indicia. In the meantime, there is reasonable basis to believe that President Aliyev has Genocidal intentions: he has knowingly, willingly and voluntarily blockaded the Lachin Corridor even after having been placed on notice regarding the consequences of his actions by the ICJ’s provisional orders. The facts are:

  1. President Aliyev deliberately blocked the provision of life’s essentials to the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.
  2. He openly disobeyed the specific orders of the International Court of Justice, “to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.”
  3. The ICJ order put him on notice about the “real and imminent risk” created by the blockade to an Armenian group “health and life.” President Aliyev’s public statements affirming that the blockade was the consequence of people smuggling minerals and i-phones through the Lachin Corridor is a diversion. Smuggling activities should be properly investigated but they are not an excuse to disobey a binding order of the International Court of Justice or a justification to commit a Genocide,” the international law expert added.

Regarding President Aliyev’s intentions, Ocampo concluded, “The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, is de jure and de facto Supreme Commander of the security forces in Azerbaijan. Under his command the security border personnel have been placed in control of the checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor and blocked transit of all goods and people. President Alliyev’s intention to destroy the “Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh” should be deduced from his informed, voluntary and antagonistic decisions with full disregard of the International Court of Justice orders. In 2020, when President Aliyev accepted the Russian peacekeepers and agreed to guarantee a free corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, he implicitly recognized the Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto autonomy. Then, a few months later, when Russia became engaged with Ukraine, President Aliyev reversed direction and decided that the region has no autonomy. Instead of negotiating the autonomy of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, he systematically took steps through a series of decisions to eliminate the Armenians living in NagornoKarabakh.”

“President Aliyev should be investigated for Genocide because he is at the top of the state apparatus and controls decisions politically, militarily and diplomatically. He’s the mastermind behind the operations of the Genocide,” he added.

Article IV of the Genocide Convention establishes that “persons committing genocide shall be punished,” even if “they are constitutionally responsible rulers.”

But there is no independent criminal justice system ready to investigate the crime of Genocide allegedly committed by President Aliyev. President Aliyev cannot be investigated by any foreign national authorities because he enjoys immunity as a head of state. The International Criminal Court provides a jurisdiction where such immunity does not apply. There are three ways to start an ICC investigation for the commission of the crimes in Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh:

1) Azerbaijan becomes a state party (Article 12(1) of the Rome Statute);

2) Azerbaijan accepts the jurisdiction of the Court on its territory (Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute); or

3) The UN Security Council refers the situation of the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh after December 2022 to the ICC (Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute).

But Azerbaijan is not a state party of the Rome Statute (Article 12(1)), the treaty creating the ICC and has not accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction (Article 12(3)). As a result, immediate state action is required to adopt a UN Security Council Resolution referring the situation in the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh to the ICC, Ocampo said, citing precedents.

“In March 2005, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1395, referring the Darfur, Sudan situation to the ICC. Five years later, President Omar Al Bashir was indicted for Genocide. In February 2011, the UN Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the Court. In June 2011 the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Obtaining a UN Security Council Resolution to provide ICC jurisdiction should be feasible. Under the Genocide Convention, state parties have an obligation to prevent and punish Genocide, and 14 of the current 15 members of the UN Security Council are also parties of that Convention, providing an overwhelming majority. France proposed, as early as in 2013, that the five permanent members of the Council voluntarily and collectively suspend the use of the veto in case of Genocide and other mass atrocities.”

The expert noted that the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is an opportunity for the international community to develop an innovative and harmonious solution to prevent Genocide.

“How to Prevent the Final Destruction of the Armenian Group? President Aliyev as well as the international community has the rare opportunity to prevent further casualties and the “physical destruction” of a group in this Genocide. Timely prevention requires the adoption of urgent political decisions, a) to stop the blockade and reestablish the provision of essentials to Nagorno Karabakh in one or two weeks, and b) institutional solutions to the disputed territorial claims. It should be adopted before May 2025 because, at that moment, Azerbaijan can request the end of the Russian peacekeeper protection. By design, there are no central authorities at the international level to adopt such urgent measures. A specific International Court of Justice ruling on Genocide, smart sanctions, and other classic diplomatic tools would not be quick and strong enough. In the short term, which is crucial to stop the ongoing Genocide by starvation, the duty of prevention would be exclusively defined by the interest of the states involved in the conflict. In April 1994, most of the UN Security Council members refused to call “Genocide” what was happening in Rwanda. During the debate the Czech Ambassador challenged the intense focus on a negotiation to achieve a new ceasefire, which he likened to asking the Jews to reach a truce with Hitler. In “A Problem from Hell,” Samantha Power explains the crucial role of the citizen in transforming the national leaders’ interests in a Genocide abroad. The voice of the Armenians in the diaspora could reduce the failure by design created by the international legal architecture. They should be mobilized worldwide to reach national leaders and promote a pragmatic solutions. Russia, responsible for peacekeeping in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the US, promoting current negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, are state parties of the Genocide Convention, as are all the European Union members. They have a privileged position to prevent this Genocide. Their intense confrontation due to the Ukrainian conflict should not transform the Armenians into collateral victims. Is it possible to assist European, Russian, and USA leaders to reach a joint position to stop the ongoing Armenian Genocide? If they could agree, the food will reach the Armenians within one day. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is an opportunity for the international community to develop an innovative and harmonious solution to prevent Genocide. Under Article 16 of the Rome Statute, a criminal investigation could eventually be suspended by the UN Security Council to find a final and fair solution. President Aliyev asked: “Why Spain does not allow Catalunya to have a referendum? Why should we tolerate separatism?” The simple answer to complex issues of sovereignty involved in the question is that Spain is not committing genocide to control separatist efforts,” he said.

Glendale Community Encouraged to Participate in Council District Formation Process

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
by Contributor

 

 July 10, 2023

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

GLENDALE—The City of Glendale has passed a resolution of intent to change from citywide elections to district elections to elect its City Councilmembers, and the City is encouraging the community’s participation to consider this potential change.

City of Glendale community workshops ahead of city council elections flyer

Currently, all registered voters in Glendale have the ability to vote for all City Councilmembers in citywide elections. The City is considering a plan for six separate council districts and a directly elected Mayor. The proposed change to district-based elections will be put before voters on the March 2024 ballot. If this plan is approved by the voters, this would take effect beginning with Council elections starting in 2026. Voters would have the opportunity to elect one City Councilmember who lives in and is elected by voters in their district and all Glendale voters would also vote to select their next Mayor.

As part of the process of pursuing district-based elections, Glendale residents have the opportunity to share their input on where the district lines should be drawn. The City is offering paper and digital mapping tools that include demographic breakdowns based on census data. This allows residents to gain insights about Glendale and draw their own district maps for consideration. The following tools are now available on the City’s districting website:

  • Paper maps with population counts that can be printed, drawn on, and submitted to the City via email at [email protected]. Maps can also be dropped off at or mailed to 613 E. Broadway, Glendale, CA 91206.
  • An online application called Dave’s Redistricting App (DRA), which enables residents to create, view, analyze, and share district maps with other community members.
  • An interactive review map, similar to Google Maps, where residents can explore population numbers and other statistics, as well as view and analyze draft maps once they are available.

Members of the public can access and provide detailed feedback at their convenience. Community members can submit as many maps as they would like throughout the district formation process. All maps compliant with districting criteria will be processed by the City’s professional demographer, posted to the Draft Maps page, and presented to City Council at a public hearing. 

Community members can also get involved in the process by submitting their communities of interest through the City’s districting website. The list of neighborhoods and communities of interest submitted by the public will be heavily considered in creating proposed voting districts.

Residents are encouraged to attend workshops and pop-up events to learn more about the process and share their input. Upcoming workshop dates are as follows:

  • July 11 at 6 p.m. – City Council will hold its second public hearing during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
  • July 15 at 5:30 p.m. – Cruise Night Pop-Up on Brand Blvd.
  • July 22 at 10 a.m. – Community workshop at Griffith Manor Park, 1551 Flower St.
  • July 22 at 2 p.m. – Community workshop at Maple Park, 802 E Maple St.

For additional event details and meeting materials, please visit the website.

To view the social media toolkit, please visit this link. 

Glendale, known as the “Jewel City,” is one of the largest cities in Los Angeles County. With a population of about 200,000, Glendale is a thriving cosmopolitan city that is rich in history, culturally diverse, and offers limitless opportunities. It is the home to a vibrant business community, with major companies in healthcare, entertainment, manufacturing, retail, and banking.

Sign up for their monthly newsletter Glendale City Connection to stay informed on news and events in Glendale. Follow MyGlendale on social media for all Glendale updates.


Charles Michel, Ilham Aliyev meet in Brussels

Chakhmakhchian Vatche

 19:45,

YEREVAN, 14 JULY, ARMENPRESS․ President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived in Brussels on a working visit on July 14, ARMENPRESS was informed from Azerbaijani media.

Ilham Aliyev’s meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, is underway in Brussels.

Would International Community Force Jews to Live Under Hitler’s Regime?

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijan’s illegal checkpoint at Lachin Corridor


A group of prominent civic organizations in Artsakh equated the international community’s insistence that Artsakh be part of Azerbaijan and be under Baku’s rule to suggesting that Jews live under Adolf Hitler’s regime.

In an open letter to the international community, publicized Monday by Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan, the civic organizations asked the international actors interested in a peace whether they would make the same proposal, equating Azerbaijan to a Nazi state.

“When there are calls from various international platforms for a peaceful resolution to the conflict by including Artsakh in Azerbaijan, we suggest that they recall the history of the Second World War and trying to imagine: would it be possible to ask Jews to live under Hitler’s Nazi government?” the open letter emphasized.

“Modern-day Azerbaijan is also a Nazi state in relation to the Armenians, and it is not difficult to prove. One only has to objectively look at the one-sided Azerbaijan propaganda being consumed [by its population],” added the statement.

The groups delineate the history of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh beginning on December 12, 2022 and the further tightening of that blockade beginning with the installation of an illegal checkpoint and later by completely closing the Lachin Corridor to all traffic last month.

“These actions by Azerbaijan should not be considered as separate acts of aggression, but as a part of its consistent and systematic policy of ethnic cleansing against Artsakh and its indigenous Armenian population,” said the civic organization, pointing out that on June 28, Azerbaijani forces against attacked Artsakh positions, killing four Artsakh soldiers.

The statement also highlights the various rulings and resolutions adopted during the past six months, specifically those by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and especially the International Court of Justice, which ordered Azerbaijan to ensure the “unimpeded movement” along the Lachin Corridor. The ICJ reaffirmed this ruling last week.

“As if mocking the authority of thee organizations, Azerbaijan stubbornly continues to conduct the policy of genocide against the people of Artsakh, demonstrating its criminal will and thereby opposing the civilized world. Furthermore, the President of Azerbaijan overtly allows himself to threaten representatives of the international community who do not share his approach to resolving the Artsakh issue, while believing that international law is entirely on the side of Azerbaijan,” the statement emphasized.

“Official Baku has been rejecting the demand to provide guarantees for the security of the people of Artsakh and is constantly insisting that this is a domestic concern of Azerbaijan, which it intends to solve at its discretion, against the backdrop of blatant Armenophobia, which has become part of the state policy of the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan and completely permeates the Azerbaijani society. As there is plenty of evidence, it is not difficult to imagine what this ‘solution’ might be if the people of Artsakh suddenly find themselves under the rule of Baku,” explained the statement.

“We would like to emphasize that the only reliable guarantee of our rights and security is the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, which is based on the rights of the people to self-determination, enshrined in international law, and the free will of the people of Artsakh,” the civic organizations said.

“Artsakh is not a ‘territory’ inherited through force, but rather it is our Homeland, where we have a complete and inalienable right to live safely,” the civic groups emphasized.

Luxury Hotel Lease Sparks Controversy in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
July 9 2023
NICOLE JANSEZIAN
07/09/2023

Concerns grow over the proposed lease for a luxury hotel in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter, which could displace residents, businesses, and religious institutions, irrevocably changing the landscape of the historic quarter

The developer who leased a large portion of the Armenian Quarter has presented to the Jerusalem Municipality a concept for a luxury hotel complex that would encompass 10 to 20% of Armenian land with the potential to tack on “adjacent” properties during the duration of the lease.

Details of the contract between the Armenian patriarch and Xana Gardens Ltd. were made public for the first time during the presentation on Friday of a fact-finding report by a team of international lawyers from the United States and Armenia.

Audible groans rippled through the main square of the Armenian Convent as Setrag Balian, one of the activists opposing the deal, read the report’s conclusions during a press conference. Residents lingered after the presentation to pore through the information, which included a copy of the contract that shows what appears to be an altered date.

If this lease goes through, many fear it will forever alter the Armenian and Christian presence in Jerusalem.

We are at a very dangerous crossroads. I hope we can survive this. Our community activities are in real danger. We cannot have any community activities if we don’t have a parking lot—the school and our clubs will be under real pressure.

“I feel betrayed,” Serop Sahagian told The Media Line. “It’s against us and our interests, but this has all been done by those idiots, one of whom is called the patriarch.”

He fears the company, Xana, is a front for a Jewish organization that seeks Old City land.

“We are at a very dangerous crossroads,” Sahagian said. “I hope we can survive this. Our community activities are in real danger. We cannot have any community activities if we don’t have a parking lot—the school and our clubs will be under real pressure.”

The plan presented to City Hall calls for a sprawling luxury hotel complex, managed by the exclusive One&Only chain, between 14,000 and 16,000 square meters (3.5 to 4 acres), well beyond the 11,500 square meters mentioned in the contract. The parking lot alone is 7,000 square meters.

This would mean the eviction of residents, businesses, and the Armenians’ seminary hall.

The lease in question is a 49-year contract for the Cow’s Garden, the name for the land currently used as a parking lot for Armenian residents of the quarter. The contract allows the lessee to extend the contract another 49 years. The Armenian Patriarchate, according to details of the contract signed by Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, an archbishop and the patriarchate’s then-real estate director, would receive an annual rent of $300,000 for the land during the duration of the lease.

The Media Line was able to view, but not copy or photograph, the documents.

Balian believes the report also offers hope in an expected legal battle to try to reverse the deal. The date on the contract appears to be altered from July 7 to July 8, 2021, to reflect the day that Xana Gardens Ltd. was incorporated in Israel. Also, the contract has three confirmed signatures on the Armenian side but only a stamp from the company without a signature or a position associated with it.

One of the signatories, now deposed priest and then-real estate director Khachik (formerly Baret) Yeretzian, told The Media Line in an interview in May that the land had been shopped around to hotel investors for decades. He said this one was the most financially beneficial for the Patriarchate.

Yeretzian brushed off comparisons to the sale of the Greek Patriarchate land including two hotels at Jaffa Gate to a Jewish land redemption group, saying that the developer, Danny Rothman (also known as Rubinstein), is not religious.

“The Greeks made the contract with Ateret Cohanim,” he said. “We did it with a secular Jew.”

Ateret Cohanim is a religious Jewish nongovernmental organization that aims to “redeem” land in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and other predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem by reestablishing a Jewish presence in it. The organization utilizes various legal means, including buying properties directly or indirectly from Palestinian owners and seeking court orders for properties that were Jewish-owned prior to 1948. Its activities have been controversial, with critics arguing they exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and contribute to demographic change in historically Palestinian neighborhoods.

After the controversial Armenian Quarter deal reverberated all the way to Los Angeles and Yerevan, Yeretzian was defrocked by the Armenian patriarch for “for his disloyalty and especially the series of frauds and deceptions he committed.” He said, however, that he was made a “scapegoat” by the patriarch whose signature matters more than his.

The Kingdom of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority froze their recognition of Manougian and called upon him to revoke his signature.

“Jordan and Palestine considered the land deal a threat to the status quo of occupied Jerusalem and a further attempt by Israel and Israeli settler groups to Judaize Jerusalem and change the facts on the ground,” the lawyers said in their 184-page report.

The Armenian Quarter—just one-seventh of the area of the Old City—has long been at the center of a tug-of-war between Israelis and Palestinians in final status negotiations of Jerusalem.

“A walled city of one square kilometer is a bone of contention,” said Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, a veteran Palestinian diplomat, now the PA’s envoy to Denmark, who was in charge of the Jerusalem file in the 2000 Camp David negotiations. “[Palestinian] President [Yasser] Arafat did not concede [the Armenian Quarter].”

Hassassian said the Armenian Quarter was “hardest to crack” in the negotiations in 2000 because it is the bridge between the Jewish and Christian quarters. Conceding it to the Israeli side, he said, disrupts the contiguous access of the Armenians to the Christian Quarter.

All the property opposite the Armenian compound will go to the Israelis and that means the end of the Armenian Quarter and an end to the final status negotiations. This is more than a calamity to Armenians and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Should the deal go through now, “Jerusalem is a lost cause” for Christians and Palestinians. he said.

“All the property opposite the Armenian compound will go to the Israelis and that means the end of the Armenian Quarter and an end to the final status negotiations,” he said. “This is more than a calamity to Armenians and Palestinians in Jerusalem.”

“The diverse mosaic will be gone. The population of Christian Jerusalem is jeopardized,” he added.

Manougian has not publicly commented and has refused requests to publicize the contract. Some 2,000 residents live in the quarter where Armenians have maintained a presence for 1,600 years.

Hassassian accused Israel of “trying to take over” New Gate, which provides access to the Christian Quarter, as well, with municipal investments and events in the heart of the Christian Quarter.

“Bit by bit, they want to swallow the Old City,” he said. “Since nothing was achieved at Camp David, and since we barely had negotiations since Camp David, now they use this incremental strategy until they change the nature of the Old City, which is hard to reverse.”