10:57,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Transavia will launch on April 13th roundtrip flights between the French city of Lyon and the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
The Lyon-Yerevan-Lyon flights will be operated once a week: every Saturday (starting July 3 every Wednesday as well).
The Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem is facing its biggest crisis in recent times. A Jewish businessman linked to the radical settler movement is ready to develop a quarter of the neighborhood’s territory with plans to build a luxury hotel. If it goes ahead, it will significantly change part of Jerusalem’s Old City and accelerate the demographic shift toward the Jewish population of the city that has been happening for several years.
The Armenian Quarter actually makes up one-sixth of the Old City (the other quarters are Muslim, Christian and Jewish), and the Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century. Together with the neighboring Christian quarter, it is the stronghold of the small Christian minority in the city. The threat of Jewish settlers taking over parts of the Quarter is widely understood as a change in the demographic status quo in favor of Israel’s interests.
In 2021, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Nourhan Manougian, agreed with the developers on a 98-year lease for part of the Armenian Quarter. The agreement covers a significant area that today includes a parking lot, buildings belonging to the office of the Armenian church leader – known as the Patriarchate – and the homes of five Armenian families.
News of the deal sparked strong protests among Armenians in the neighborhood last year. Feelings ran so deep that in October the patriarch and other church leaders felt compelled to renege on the agreement. This led to violent clashes between settlers and local Armenians.
After a few weeks of calm, fighting broke out again in late December, when more than 30 men armed with stones and sticks allegedly attacked Armenians who had been guarding the area for several weeks.
The dispute has now gone to court. The question is whether the lease is valid or whether unilateral termination renders the contract null and void. The Patriarchate has engaged lawyers – local and from Armenia and the US – who will present their case that the contract was not properly concluded due to irregularities in the contract.
This is not a single incident. Since the Six-Day War of 1967, when all of Jerusalem came under Israeli control, there has been a concerted effort to change the demographics of traditionally Arab East Jerusalem.
In many places, the authorities are evicting Arab families who have lived there for decades on the grounds that they do not have the documents to own the house. Then a Jewish family immigrates.
This change in the demography of East Jerusalem occurs through emigration, demolition and construction restrictions. This is also happening in the famous and touristic Old City of Jerusalem.
Almost 20 years ago, there was a minor scandal when it emerged that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the owner of a large property, had entered into a long-term lease for two historic hotels with an organization of Jewish settlers.
Disputed territory: In most plans for a two-state solution, East Jerusalem would be the capital of a Palestinian state.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)CC BY-ND
Now we have a similar incident regarding the Armenian Patriarchate. Palestinians, who have long fought against illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, view the sale or long-term lease of real estate to Jewish settlers extremely negatively.
East Jerusalem is vital to the Palestinians. Proposed plans for a two-state solution call for the capital of a future Palestinian state. A decisive change in the demography there is therefore a priority goal of some in Israel – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who does not want a two-state solution.
Read more: Explained: What is the solution to the two-state conflict between Israel and Palestine?
This conflict also highlights an old problem of the Jerusalem Christian churches – namely, the gulf between the leadership and the people. The old churches are hierarchical in nature and the leaders rule at the top. In Jerusalem, there is an additional problem in that church leaders are not always from the local population.
The largest Christian denomination in the Holy Land is the Greek Orthodox Church. Its members are mostly Arabs, while the patriarch and other leading prelates are Greeks.
Nourhan Manougian, the current and 97th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, was born in Syria to an Armenian family. The Armenian Patriarchate has been accused of corruption and illegitimate sale of assets in the past, long before the current crisis.
If the Armenians lose this battle and the settler movement is able to take control of such a key city, it will hurt a vulnerable small minority. The settler campaign to colonize East Jerusalem under Jewish control will achieve another victory.
https://irshadgul.com/the-jewish-settler-movement-competes-for-a-large-part-of-the-armenian-quarter-ig-news/
Stella Boyadjian, 53, pleaded guilty in March 2019 to running a transnational network of co-conspirators in an elaborate scheme to bring Armenians into the country posing as folk dance performers to qualify for P-3 “Culturally Unique Artist” visas.
The P-3 nonimmigrant visa classification allows foreign nationals to temporarily travel to the U.S. to perform, teach or coach as artists or entertainers, under a program that is culturally unique.
Boyadjian, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Armenia, ran a Rego Park-based nonprofit organization called Big Apple Music Awards (BAMA) Foundation which she used to charge citizens of Armenia between $3,000 and $15,000 for the P-3 visas, a category often sought by legitimate Armenian performers.
Boyadjian and her associates in Armenia acquired fraudulent performer certificates and organized staged photo sessions where Armenian citizens wore traditional folk costumes. After being trained by Boyadjian and her conspirators on how to answer questions from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) visa adjudicators, the individuals then presented these certificates and photos to U.S. Consular officers during their visa interviews.
Once the Armenians entered the U.S., some would pay Boyadjian and her associates additional money to be included in another fraudulent petition asking for P-3 visa extensions. Some of the fake folk performers overstayed their visas and remained unlawfully in the United States.
The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) Criminal Fraud Investigations and Overseas Criminal Investigations Divisions investigated the case and DSS announced that Boyadjian was sentenced to 25 months in federal prison by U.S. Chief District Judge Margo K. Brodie.
https://qns.com/2024/02/rego-park-woman-sentenced-visa-fraud-scheme-fake-cultural-program-smuggle-armenians-into-u-s/
Without international support for the safe return of Artsakh Armenians and justice for the crimes committed against them, a sustainable regional peace will be elusive, argued Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan and former State Minister Artak Beglaryan.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Gegham Stepanyan and former State Minister Artak Beglaryan represented the Artsakh people’s inalienable rights, national interests and democratic aspirations at a Capitol Hill briefing featuring powerful remarks by Representatives Brad Sherman (D-CA) and James Costa (D-CA), and organized by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) urged the Biden administration to provide U.S. defensive weapons to Armenia in response to Azerbaijan’s escalating war rhetoric at a Capitol Hill briefing with Artsakh representatives Gegham Stepanyan and Artak Beglaryan.
“We are here to demand the right of safe return of Artsakh’s refugees to their homes, homes that in many cases have been occupied by their families for hundreds and hundreds of years,” stated Rep. Sherman, who urged the enforcement of Section 907 restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, sanctioning the Aliyev regime for the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. Citing President Aliyev’s escalating rhetoric claiming Armenia’s capital Yerevan is Azerbaijani territory, Rep. Sherman urged the Biden administration to provide defensive military weapons to Armenia, “to avoid the next tragedy which is being planned in Baku.” Rep. Sherman concluded his remarks with a message to President Aliyev, who claims that his main enemies are the Armenians of the world. “Well, I have news for you, Mr. Aliyev. Your main enemies are every person in the world who believes in democracy, who believes in human rights and who believes in justice.”
“We must hold the Azerbaijan government responsible for not only the ethnic cleansing but the cultural genocide,” stated Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) at a Capitol Hill briefing with Artsakh representatives Gegham Stepanyan and Artak Beglaryan.
Condemning Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, Rep. Costa noted, “We must do more” to provide U.S. humanitarian assistance to Artsakh’s forcibly displaced population through the foreign aid supplemental currently under consideration. “We must hold the Azerbaijan government responsible for not only the ethnic cleansing but the cultural genocide that they continue to attempt to implement as part of a systematic effort that has long been the history of Azerbaijan and their attitude toward the Armenian people and the culture and the religion. The threats that Azerbaijan is now making toward Armenia, I believe, are serious and real, and therefore should be treated as such,” stated Rep. Costa. He also called for concrete U.S. action to secure the return of Artsakh leaders and Armenian POWs illegally held hostage by Azerbaijan.
“Artsakh’s rights were center stage this week in Washington, D.C., as two of the Republic’s most eloquent voices – Artak Beglaryan and Gegham Stepanyan – made the case to U.S. legislators and international religious freedom leaders for the safe return of indigenous Armenians to their ancient homeland,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Today’s congressional briefing was a great opportunity for legislators to hear first-hand about the Artsakh genocide and also for them to consult among themselves about the concrete U.S. steps needed to restore this integral part of the Armenian homeland.”
Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan and former State Minister Artak Beglaryan share an eyewitness account of Azerbaijan’s genocide against Artsakh Armenians and offer policy recommendations for justice and lasting peace.
During the briefing, Stepanyan and Beglaryan offered eyewitness accounts of the brutal realities of Azerbaijan’s ten-month blockade of Artsakh, which culminated in the September 2023 genocidal attack that forcibly emptied Artsakh of its indigenous Armenian population. The Artsakh leaders shared the history of Azerbaijan’s premeditated attacks against Artsakh’s Armenians, which laid the foundation for the 2023 genocide.
Beglaryan and Stepanyan called for bold U.S. and international leadership to hold Azerbaijan accountable for the Artsakh genocide, including via:
— Sanctions on Azerbaijan, building on Senate passage of S.3000, which enforce Section 907 restriction on U.S. military and security aid to Azerbaijan. They also encouraged the application of Magnitsky sanctions on Aliyev government officials for war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed during the 2020 Azerbaijan-Turkey war against Armenia and Artsakh and subsequent genocidal aggression.
— U.S. aid for Artsakh’s forcibly displaced Armenian community, including housing and job placement assistance, until a secure mechanism can be put in place through international oversight and mediation with Artsakh authorities to guarantee the safe return of forcibly displaced Armenians to their Artsakh homes.
— Expanded U.S. and international efforts to help secure the immediate release of Artsakh leaders captured in September 2023 and POWs illegally held by Azerbaijan since the 2020 Azerbaijan/Turkey attacks.
— Preservation of Artsakh’s Armenian cultural and religious heritage already under threat of destruction by Azerbaijan.
Stepanyan and Beglaryan stressed that without international efforts to address the Artsakh people’s right to safe return and justice for the crimes committed, it will be impossible to establish sustainable peace in the region. They also emphasized that the systemic anti-Armenian hatred fomented by the Azerbaijani government must be eradicated to ensure an enduring settlement of the conflict and regional stability.
The speakers underscored that enforcement of Section 907, via enactment of S. 3000, would represent a meaningful contribution to regional peace. They also touched on related initiatives, among them ANCA-backed resolutions pending in the U.S. House, H.R. 5686 and H.R.5683. These measures would hold Azerbaijan accountable for ethnic cleansing against Artsakh’s indigenous Armenians and help deter further military aggression against Armenia by providing foreign military financing (FMF) aid to Armenia. They also raised H.Res.735, requesting a report on Azerbaijan’s human rights practices under Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, and H.Res.861, a bipartisan resolution introduced by Rep. Schiff calling on the United States to ensure the immediate release of Armenian POWs and other detained persons illegally held by Azerbaijan.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan, former State Minister Artak Beglaryan and ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan discuss U.S. policy options to support Artsakh’s forcibly displaced Armenian population.
The ANCA is accompanying Beglaryan and Stepanyan as they represent Artsakh interests during two weeks of Washington, D.C. meetings with elected officials, policymakers and religious freedom advocates, as part of a 120,0000 Reasons coalition effort supported by the Tufenkian Foundation and the Philos Project.
Earlier this week, Stepanyan offered powerful remarks on Capitol Hill at an International Religious Freedom Summit-related forum calling for U.S. government and non-governmental organization leadership to provide for the secure return of Artsakh Armenians, protection of Artsakh’s Christian heritage and sanctions against the Azerbaijani government. Throughout the IRF Summit, they discussed the broad range of challenges and opportunities for international action to assist forcibly displaced Artsakh refugees.
Armenia on Thursday formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials said, a move which traditional ally Moscow has denounced as unfriendly.
The Hague-based court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and the illegal deportation of children to Russia.
Yerevan is now obligated to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on its territory.
"ICC Rome Statute officially entered into force for Armenia on February 1," the country's official representative for international legal matters, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, told AFP.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in October that Armenia had taken a "wrong decision" to ratify ICC's Rome Statute, and Russian Foreign Ministry has called the move an "unfriendly step."
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sought to assuage Kremlin fears, saying the decision was not directed against Russia.
Kirakosyan said, "Joining the ICC gives Armenia serious tools to prevent war crimes and crimes against humanity on its territory."
"First of all, this concerns Azerbaijan," Yerevan's arch-foe neighbour with which it had fought two wars over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
But Armenia's move illustrated a growing chasm between Moscow and Yerevan, which has grown angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction over Armenia's long-standing confrontation with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani forces in September swept through Karabakh — where Russian peacekeepers are deployed — and secured the surrender of Armenian separatist forces that had controlled the mountainous region for decades.
Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1999, but did not ratify it, citing contradictions with the country's constitution.
The constitutional court said in March those obstacles had been removed after Armenia's adoption of a new constitution in 2015.
Last November, Yerevan formally deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute.
mkh-im/giv
So far, the campaign for the February 7 presidential election is probably the most boring in Azerbaijan's history.
Not because of its predictability. All elections in Azerbaijan, which has been classified as a "hegemonic electoral authoritarian regime" where elections serve only to strengthen the incumbent, are notoriously predictable.
Nor because of the praise being lavished on the regime by all the candidates. That's not new either.
Instead, it's because the public is disengaged from politics to an unprecedented degree.
That in turn is caused by the genuine popularity of incumbent Ilham Aliyev, who continues to bask in the glory of Azerbaijan's restoration of sovereignty over the previously contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the fact that his government is ramping up repressions ahead of the vote.
Apathy has grown sharply since the last presidential election in 2018, which was accompanied by at least some actual politics.
Back then, the genuine opposition National Council not only boycotted the poll, it organized several massive rallies in Baku in the run-up to the election.
But no major protests have been staged in the capital since January 2019. Only a few dozen people took part in a rally against the continuing Covid-related closure of the country's land borders in July 2022 that was organized by now-imprisoned opposition activist Tofig Yagublu.
Since then, opposition parties have largely stopped trying to mobilize the public around any cause.
This is connected to the fact that, since the summer of 2020 the country's political agenda has been dominated by relations with Armenia and the Karabakh issue. After Baku's military victories in 2020 and 2023, which resulted in the Armenian exodus from Karabakh, the government discourse has grown more and more anti-Western. The collective West is accused of double standards, pro-Armenian stances, and jealousy.
Ahead of the Azerbaijani delegation's preemptive withdrawal from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), pro-government media waged a campaign against the "Islamophobic and Turkophobic" Council of Europe – an institution that defended Azerbaijani civil society with its Court of Human Rights, which often rendered verdicts in favor of former political prisoners, including compensation.
While the upcoming election will be observed by the OSCE, other European institutions are not invited to monitor the poll, including the European Parliament and PACE.
What do the candidates say?
Azerbaijan's largest opposition parties are boycotting this poll, as they have done for the past two presidential elections and the past six elections overall.
And as in years before, Aliyev's "challengers" are in fact largely sycophants who echo the regime's talking points.
In the first debate on the public channel ITV, all candidates praised Ilham Aliyev's role in the victory in the Karabakh conflict.
One nonpartisan candidate, Zahid Oruj, directly called on his supporters to vote for the government.
In the following debate, the nonpartisan candidate Fuad Aliyev called for closer cooperation with Russia- and China-dominated entities such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, and the Eurasian Economic Union. He also called to drift away from the "hostile" collective West.
Ultra-nationalist Elshad Musayev of the "Greater Azerbaijan Party" advocated officially laying claim to the Zangezur (Armenia's Syunik Region), which he calls Azerbaijani "historical land."
Surprisingly there was a modicum of criticism from MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev, the head of the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, who lamented the lack of democracy in the country and backed a transition to a parliamentary system.
He also called for renaming the country the "North Azerbaijan Republic," a move popular among pan-Turkic nationalists as it implies territorial claims on ethnic Azeri-populated northwestern Iran.
Other candidates issued vague appeals regarding social rights and offered ideas for improving housing and education.
None mentioned the president's name in a negative context. There was no serious criticism of the government. It was not serious political discourse.
Few people bother to watch the debates on TV, and their online views numbers are paucal. Amid the voter apathy, jailed critics and lack of serious challengers, the current government will easily be re-elected. More easily than ever.
19:27, 15 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia referred to the pogroms against Armenians in Baku 34 years ago and noted that the pogroms became the culmination of policy of forcible displacement and ethnic cleansing of Armenian population from Azerbaijani SSR.
The Ministry said in a post on X and noted that hundreds were murdered, mutilated and disappeared, half a million became refugees.
“We pay tribute to memory of innocent victims and stress imperative to prevent such policies and need of all the rights to be addressed,” reads the post.
2020 Oratorical contest participants
In adherence to its long-standing tradition of supporting educational programs for local Armenian students, the Armenian Educational Foundation is hosting its 5th Annual Oratorical Contest following four successful years. This year’s competition is in collaboration with UCLA’s Center for World Languages and will feature the inaugural competition for middle schools. The public speaking competition will take place at the UCLA’s Royce Hall Room 314, located at 10745 Dickson Ct., Los Angeles, on Saturday, January 27. The middle school round will take place at 10 a.m. and the high school round will take place at 2 p.m.
Students representing Southern California Armenian high schools and middle schools will participate in the Armenian and English language speaking contests. The schools participating in the competition this year include A.G.B.U Manoogian-Demirdjian School, Armenian Mesrobian School, Armenian Sisters’ Academy, C & E Merdinian Evangelical School, Chamlian Armenian School, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School, Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School, and Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School.
AEF has a distinguished panel of judges, including Armine Amiryan, Head of News at US Armenia TV; Alex Bastian, Esq., President and CEO, Hotel Council of San Francisco; Hagop Gulludjian, senior lecturer of Armenian Studies at the UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department; Tereza Hovhannisyan, lecturer of Eastern Armenian Language at the UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department; Araksya Karapetyan, news anchor for FOX 11 and Good Day LA; Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, PhD, project director, USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, lecturer, the USC Writing Program; Zaven Keuroghlian, co-founder and CEO of Zartonk Media; Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian, documentary filmmaker; Gegham Mughnetsyan, Chitjian Researcher Archivist, USC Institute of Armenian Studies; Sev Ohanian, screenwriter and film producer; Dr. Shant Shekherdemian, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery, Interim Chief of Pediatric Surgery at UCLA, Associate Director for Healthcare Outreach / UCLA Promise Armenian Institute; and Vruir Tadevosian, TV host, journalist at Horizon Armenian TV.
“AEF has such a significant global impact, providing the opportunity for educational advancement for so many students both here and abroad. We are proud to be part of a program that promotes critical thinking and public speaking, and allows our students to refine a skillset that will be invaluable to their future success,” said Lara Petrossian and Kristina Kheshvadjian, AEF Oratorical Committee Co-Chairs.
AEF was established in 1950 to provide financial support to Armenian students and Armenian educational institutions and programs in Armenia, Artsakh and the diaspora. All AEF programs are planned and executed by volunteers with minimal overhead – assuring donors that their contribution is used directly towards the program they support.
For more information on the Armenian Educational Foundation or to donate online, please visit the website.
13:22, 4 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Iranian Embassy in Armenia will open a condolence book on January 5, from 10:00 to 16:00, on the occasion of the January 3 bombings that killed over 100 people in the southeastern city of Kerman.
On January 3, two bomb explosions hit a commemorative ceremony marking the 4th anniversary of death of military commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a US airstrike ordered by then-President Donald Trump at Baghdad International Airport in 2020.
According to latest reports, the death toll has reached 103, and 211 are wounded. The Iranian government declared the bombings a terrorist attack.
BAKU: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov announced that the stay of Russian peacekeepers in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region is expected until November 2025.
“The duration of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is regulated by the document. The fact is that there is a trilateral statement, and this document is signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia,” Bayramov said during a press conference on Thursday.
The deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent was part of the trilateral statement on November 10, 2020, following the conflict in the region. As of September 19, 2023, 12 observation and 16 temporary observation posts of Russian peacekeepers have been phased out.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned on October 10 that several stationary and temporary observation posts of Russian peacekeepers had already been closed. Ongoing discussions with Baku address key issues related to the peacekeeping mission.