Author: Edgar Tavakalian

ABC News

Sept 29 2023

LONDON — Over 93,000 ethnic Armenian refugees have fled Nagorno-Karabakh as of Friday, local authorities said, meaning 75% of the disputed enclave’s entire population has now left in less than a week.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have been streaming out of Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s successful military operation last week that restored its control over the breakaway region. It’s feared the whole population will likely leave in the coming days, in what Armenia has condemned as “ethnic cleansing.”

Families packed into cars and trucks, with whatever belongings they can carry, have been arriving in Armenia after Azerbaijan opened the only road out of the enclave on Sunday. Those fleeing have said they are unwilling to live under Azerbaijan’s rule, fearing they will face persecution.

“There will be no more Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days,” Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a televised government meeting on Thursday. “This is a direct act of ethnic cleansing,” he said, adding that international statements condemning it were important but without concrete actions they were just “creating moral statistics for history.”

The United States and other western countries have expressed concern about the displacement of the Armenian population from the enclave, urging Azerbaijan to allow international access.

Amenians have lived in Nagorno-Karabakh for centuries but the enclave is recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan. It has been at the center of a bloody conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the late 1980s when the two former Soviet countries fought a war amid the collapse of the USSR.

That war left ethnic Armenian separatists in control of most of Nagorno-Karabakh and also saw hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani civilians driven out. For three decades, an unrecognised Armenian state, called the Republic of Artsakh, existed in the enclave, while international diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict went nowhere.

But in 2020, Azerbaijan reopened the conflict, decisively defeating Armenia and forcing it to abandon its claims to Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia brokered a truce and deployed peacekeeping forces, which remain there.

Last week, after blockading the enclave for 9 months, Azerbaijan launched a new military offensive to complete the defeat of the ethnic Armenian authorities, forcing them to capitulate in just two days.

The leader of the ethnic Armenian’s unrecognised state, the Republic of Artsakh, on Thursday announced its dissolution, saying it would “cease to exist” by the end of the year.

Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev has claimed the Karabakh Armenians’ rights will be protected but he has previously promoted a nationalist narrative denying Armenians have a long history in the region. In areas recaptured by his forces in 2020, some Armenian cultural sites have been destroyed and defaced.

Some Azerbaijanis driven from their homes during the war in the 1990s have returned to areas recaptured by Azerbaijan since 2020. Aliyev on Thursday said by the end of 2023, 5,500 displaced Azerbaijanis would return to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

Azerbaijan on Friday detained another former senior Karabakh Armenian official on Thursday as he tried to leave the enclave with other refugees. Azerbaijan’s security services detained Levon Mnatsakanyan, who was commander of the Armenian separatists’ armed forces between 2015-2018. Earlier this week, Azerbaijan arrested a former leader of the unrecognised state, Ruben Vardanyan, taking him to Baku and charging him with terrorism offenses.

Watch the video at 

OFF PLAN PROPERTY EXCHANGE

Sept 5 2023

The development of Armenian Properties, located in Genoa, Ohio, is a unique project that pays homage to Armenian heritage and architecture. Created by Ohio entrepreneur Ty Safaryan and his family, this project aims to showcase Armenian history and traditions.

Construction of Armenian Properties began over two years ago and has recently gained attention with the completion of two impressive houses and a pool house on the 20-acre property. The entrance is marked by a large sign and a gate adorned with statues of Armenian historical figures such as King Tigran and Vardan Mamikonian, among others. These statues are replicas of those found in Armenia and serve as a reminder of the rich history of the Armenian people.

The two houses in the development are inspired by Western and Middle Eastern architectural traditions. With their white masonry exteriors, flat roofs, and formal entrances with a portico crowned by a terrace, these houses convey a formal and symmetrical appearance. The design also incorporates rows of rounded windows, further contributing to the Armenian aesthetic.

Ty Safaryan, who immigrated from Armenia in the mid-1990s, emphasized that the main goal in designing the property was to give it an authentic Armenian look. Working closely with interior and exterior designers, architects, and contractors from Granville’s Terra Nova Builders, Safaryan achieved a distinctive design for each house while maintaining a cohesive overall theme.

Each of the two houses has over 12,000 square feet of living space with additional spaces on the lower level and finished garage areas. The interiors feature formal and majestic entrances with curved double staircases, enhancing the grandeur of the houses.

In addition to being a physical representation of Armenian heritage, Armenian Properties also aim to be a gathering place for the Armenian community. Safaryan plans to build two more houses in the development that will be used for Armenian events, reaffirming the importance of preserving and celebrating Armenian culture.

As Safaryan stated, “Armenian Properties were built as a gathering place for the Armenian community, with the hope of strengthening and growing in the future.” Through this remarkable development, Armenian heritage and architecture are preserved and honored in the heart of Ohio.

Sources:
– Jim Weiker, The Columbus Dispatch

UK – Aug 29 2023

Education institutions are due to reopen on September 1, but parents worry for children’s well-being.

STEPANAKERT-BASED JOURNALIST

Mother-of six Elina Hambardzumyan spent two weeks searching the shops of Stepanakert, Nagorny Karabakh’s main city, to find a notebook and two red-ink pens ahead of the start of the school year. The 32-year-old was desperate for stationery and other school supplies: as an Azerbaijani blockade of the Armenian-populated region drags into its ninth month, shelves remain empty.

“That’s all I have found, now I have to choose who I will give them to. My eldest son has to start the seventh grade, my two daughters the third and the second, while my twins the first grade,” she told IWPR, holding her two-month-old baby in her arms. “I am worried I will not be able to send my children to school.”

The start of school for the about 20,000 school children in the region is shrouded in uncertainty. 

Since December 2022 the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked: first by Baku-backed eco-activists protesting over Karabakh authorities’ allegedly illegal mining activities, then by Azerbaijani police at the official checkpoint set up on the Hagari bridge in late April. 

Even this restricted movement came to a halt in June, including for humanitarian cargo, exacerbating the region’s isolation and shortages of food, medicines, fuel and other essential goods for its 120,000 residents, including about 30,000 children. 

“We are going to start the new school year in these conditions…we believe that the children and students of Artsakh [as Armenians call the region] should not be deprived of the opportunity to be educated and develop. Even under these conditions, their right to education must be fulfilled,” Norayr Mkrtchyan, the region’s minister of education, science, culture, youth and sports told IWPR. 

The lack of supplies is just one of numerous challenges. Mkrtchyan said that food shortages had caused child malnutrition, while the lack of electricity and heating and poor sanitary and hygienic conditions also impact on schools. The lack of fuel means that children will have to walk to school as private cars sit idle and public transport has been suspended; even the use of emergency vehicles has been reduced to the bare minimum . 

“The ministry and the government are trying to find solutions,” Mkrtchyan said, adding that schools and universities were nonetheless still scheduled to resume on September 1.

The Armenian-populated breakaway region fought two wars, in the mid-1990s and at the end of 2020. The latter saw Azerbaijan regaining control over large swathes of territory it had lost, but a ceasefire brokered by Russia established that free movement through the Lachin corridor would be guaranteed.

On August 17, the UN security council convened an emergency meeting called by Armenia, but failed to issue any statement or resolution on the situation. Baku has long denied that Karabakh is under blockade and has proposed to provide humanitarian aid to the region via the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam. This alternative received the backing of Brussels and Moscow but has been rejected by Karabakh authorities who see it as  a legitimisation of Azerbaijani rule over the region. 

On August 18, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged “to resume urgently needed humanitarian deliveries” to the region. The only humanitarian organisation operating across the Lachin corridor, including the transportation of critically ill individuals, stated that the latest deliveries of medical supplies occurred on July 7 and of food on June 14. 

DISRUPTED EDUCATION

The 118 educational institutions in the region continued to operate in the six months of 2023 despite the blockade, but regular classes were disrupted by power outages and the interruption of gas supply.

Nune Lalayan, a social studies teacher, maintained that remaining united was key.

“It is difficult, but I know that we will overcome this challenge with strong will and honour, just like we did in the 1990s,” the 37-year-old, a widow with a schoolchild, told IWPR. “I myself went to school in similar conditions: without a bag, without notebooks or stationery. However, all these obstacles did not hinder my desire to study. Knowledge is the key to our success.”

Hambardzumyan is also optimistic “because my children study well and deserve education. It would be terrible if school was interrupted again, like during the war or the pandemic [in 2020]”.

She is also worried about food; like many parents her day is spent in a quest to feed her family. 

“Today we ate buckwheat and nothing else – I could not find any other food, including  bread,” she said.

On August 15, Karabakh’s human rights defender’s office reported that a 40-year-old man died of “chronic malnutrition… [and] protein and energy deficiency”, as a result of the blockade.

Ombudsman Gegham Stapanyan told IWPR that ensuring the right to education was not only about merely reopening schools. 

“The conditions for the child’s proper participation in the educational process include proper school feeding, availability of stationery items, appropriate sanitary conditions at the school,” he said. “I believe that the government is not able to fully provide all these components under the blockade.

“At the same time, I believe that the state has an obligation to ensure the realisation of the right to education, even in conditions of its objective impossibility. In my opinion, the option of combining on-site and distance learning should be considered.”

Authorities are also trying to solve the issue of students in the region who were admitted to Armenian universities as well as further education institutions abroad. 

“We reached out to interested third parties to help [us] relocate those students. We hope that we will be able to settle the transfer of all students by September 1,” Mkrtchyan said. 

Gulnara Harutyunyan, from Chartar, a town about 45 kilometres east of Stepanakert, said she was worried that her 18-year-old daughter Srbuhi could not start her studies after securing a place at Yerevan Linguistics University.

“I am very worried about how she would manage to go through the Azerbaijani [checkpoint],” the 41-year-old, who lost her husband during the 2020 war, told IWPR in a phone conversation . She has two other children of school age. “Sometimes I fear that maybe I won’t see my child again, but maybe this is her salvation.”

On August 21 and 22, Russian peacekeepers brokered a deal to allow some residents, students and Russian passport holders, to travel via the Lachin corridor to Armenia, triggering speculation that Azerbaijani and Karabakh authorities may be within reach of an agreement.

The agreement allowed Srbuhi to travel to Yerevan to begin her studies.

“There were many people with cameras at the checkpoint. We felt like we were in a circus, they were filming us from all sides, it was very unpleasant, intimidating, and humiliating. I trembled because my father also took part in the war and died. I thought I might be mistreated because of that,” the 18-year-old told IWPR in a phone conversation from the Armenian capital. 

“I came to pursue my dream to study and return to Artsakh. But under these conditions, I am not sure. Even if I am far from my family, I cannot go through those conditions of humiliation and fear again.”

Al Arabiya. UAE

Sept 1 2023

AFP – Four Armenian servicemen were killed and three Azerbaijani soldiers wounded on Friday, the two countries said, as they accused each other of engaging in a new round of clashes.