Author: Emil Lazarian

In the basement of the Hairenik Association in Watertown, Massachusetts, more than a century of history lies safely tucked away. Here, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau keeps the party’s archives, with material spanning from its founding in 1890 until 1992. George Aghjayan, who has been director of the archives since 2017, guided me through a tour of the ARF Archives, some new acquisitions and ongoing projects. 

History permeates every level of the Hairenik building. Prior to the descent to the basement, a part of the archives is stored on the first floor, which houses the Armenian Weekly office. In a small storage room, four-page spreads, entirely in Armenian, are bound into massive tomes by year, dating as early as 1899. Their digitized versions are available in the Hairenik Digital Archives collection. As the books grow older, the pages grow yellower and more delicate, the covers loose and faded, until they are too risky to flip through for fear of damage. Those nine decades of storytelling rest next to the computers housing the stories of today. The 90th anniversary of the Armenian Weekly is approaching next year, along with the 125th anniversary of the Hairenik newspaper, and decades from now, this week’s paper may sit on those big shelves in a tome, waiting to be rediscovered.

The Spirit of Armenia painting by Haroutiun (Harry) Shahbegian in the offices of the Hairenik and Armenian Weekly

The first floor also houses a painting revering Armenian history and culture: Spirit of Armenia, painted by Haroutiun (Harry) Shahbegian. Shahbegian was born in 1889 in Kharpert and fled to America at age 17 after the Turks issued papers to have him hanged. The family he left behind did not survive the Genocide. He volunteered as a Freedom Fighter during the Genocide and was well regarded by the generals for his skill. He married and had three children, to whom he passed down his Armenian values. 

Spirit of Armenia represents Shahbegian’s love of Armenian history and culture, as well as his belief in Armenian independence. The piece was completed on May 28, 1963, on the 45th anniversary of Armenian independence, and honors those who aided the Armenian cause. Depicted are Armenian Kings, President Woodrow Wilson and the founders of the ARF. Shahbegian also paints Soghomon Tehlirian, a personal friend of Shahbegian’s whose impacts on Armenian history have recently been expanded upon in the ARF Archives. Though self-taught, Shahbegian’s work reflects the memories of his homeland and his dreams of Armenia’s independence, and it watches over the staff of the Armenian Weekly as they write for and about the Armenian people. 

Down in the basement, every piece of paper from 1890 to 1926 has been cataloged, microfilmed and organized into 27 chronological volumes of catalogs. The documents from 1926 to 1940 are organized by theme or subject, and materials after 1940 are split into 225 cataloged boxes. “The archives also include the archives of the First Republic of Armenia, including the 1918 Declaration of Independence, and continuing past the fall of the Republic to the Diplomatic Mission in France and the Paris Peace Conference,” Aghjayan shared while he and his colleague Mary Choloyan were busy cataloging documents in the archive.

Margaret DerManouelian’s passport page 2

The archive’s current project reflects the time after the Republic fell, when Armenia’s government was acting in exile, and Armenians had no citizenship in any country, similar to other post-WWI refugees. The League of Nations, an international organization resolving post-war disputes, created the Nansen passport in 1922 to aid refugees, but Armenians were not added to the program until 1924 and could not travel. In response, they applied to the Diplomatic Mission in France. Aghjayan’s grandmother “came to the United States in 1928 on a passport issued by the Republic of Armenia in 1928. There had been no Republic of Armenia for eight years at that point, but the United States Government still recognized and honored that passport, and she was able to enter the U.S. on it.”

The archives hold 20,000 of these passport applications. Each one features “a photograph of the person, their name, where and when they were born, the father’s name and the mother’s maiden name,” Aghjayan said. Also collected are letters attached to the applications and some actual passports, stamped and signed in swooping cursive on large stationary sheets, edges perforated as they were torn out of a register book. These applications are a significant acquisition. They may be the only pages containing so much genealogical information about these Armenian communities. Aghjayan’s team hopes to have the passport applications entirely cataloged and available online by the end of the year. The first 2,000 are already accessible on the ARF Archives website, arfarchives.org.

Alongside the passports, Aghjayan’s team is completing high-resolution scans of thousands of historical photographs, housed in over 30 boxes. They span a wide range of themes and years, and they are being cataloged and uploaded to the ARF Archives website. 

With the archive’s current work explained, it was time to venture into the vault for a peek at the passports and alternate acquisitions. Beyond the basement’s working room lies a large vault. Stepping up into the sealed, temperature-controlled gray room, rows of ceiling-high shelves boast small charcoal boxes. Walking across the room is like a chronological walk through history, each row of shelves preserving a different block of years. Here lie some of the ARF’s great treasures. 

The vault stores letters to the editors of Hairenik’s monthly magazine, which ran from 1922 to 1970, including content that was never published; private papers from influential Armenian figures; and copies of a book celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ARF, filled with photographs and history. 

Aghjayan stopped near the entrance to the vault to point out an unassuming box. Inside lies a collection donated by the grandson of Manoug Hampartsumian, the editor of the Hairenik newspaper from 1914-1916, with documents detailing his life and work. Several of the correspondences are on Hairenik letterhead from the time. The collection also contains letters from his time at Anatolia College in Merzifon, including correspondences to the woman he would later marry while she was at Euphrates College. An active member of the party, Hampartsumian wrote several political letters in the 1920s and 1930s. He was later appointed as a delegate to the World Congress in the 1950s, from which the archive retains his postcards detailing his journey through France, Switzerland, and Cairo, Egypt. The collection is a portrait of his life as conveyed through postage. 

The scrapbook about Soghomon Tehlirian acquired by director George Aghjayan for the ARF Archives

Additionally, Aghjayan recently purchased a scrapbook compiled by someone in Germany during the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian. Tehlirian was found not guilty and freed after assassinating Talaat Pasha, the former Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, in Berlin in 1921. The scrapbook contains news clippings detailing the assassination and trial. It is believed that Shahbegian, the artist behind Spirit of Armenia, gave Tehlirian the Luger pistol used to assassinate Talaat. Tehlirian’s story and his friend Shahbegian’s painting are now housed under the same roof. 

Last, Aghjayan presented a metal box donated by the Mike Mugerditch Paloulian family of Worcester. The tarnished box is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, with a keyhole in the center. The rest of the center plate is engraved with the ARF name and logo. This box was used for collecting money to buy bullets. There is a hole to insert bills on the left side and a coin slot on the right. Among boxes of paper records, this box is a unique artifact addition to an archive dedicated to preserving Armenian history.

Metal box used to collection donations for bullets (Donated by the Mike Mugerditch Paloulian family of Worcester)

The ARF Archives are ever-expanding. The next addition is a recent acquisition of Hunchak material, expected to arrive soon. After that, the Archives will continue to collect and preserve Armenian culture. 

Consider supporting the archives and its projects preserving history through a donation. Please reach out if you have any ARF documents or photographs that you would like to share.

Adriana

Adriana dreamt of leaving Armenia to work as a model in a country where pursuing a public-facing career would not expose her to danger. In this dream, she would take her dog Froggie and flee to a place where she could start a family of her own. She did not believe she was strong enough to endure the discrimination and bigotry she would face in Armenia, where there are no laws protecting the rights of the transgender community.

She shared these aspirations with her friend Monica. Adriana never had a large circle of friends. She sought “quality, not quantity in friendship,” in Monica’s words. She also shared her fears with her friend. Adriana always felt that she was in danger, but the police dismissed her reports as products of her “imagination, not real proof.”

One day Adriana met a boy online who wanted to meet her in her home. It seemed suspicious, but she invited him over. He arrived at her door brandishing a knife. Adriana kicked the door shut and called the police. They told her to calm down and sleep it off, that she would feel better in the morning. Abandoned by law enforcement to protect herself, Adriana would regularly invite Monica over so that she would not be alone in her apartment. 

On August 20, the police received calls about a fire in an apartment on Yeznik Koghbatsi St. in central Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. After the flames were extinguished, officers found a corpse marred by lacerations. They later confirmed that Adriana, at age 28, had been stabbed to death and her apartment set on fire. 

“Adriana could never hurt or cause anyone pain. She was an extremely good and kind person,” Monica said to the Weekly, restraining her voice to hold back tears. “She was not for this world. This world is very evil.”

Police arrested the 26-year-old suspect at a border checkpoint in Bavra along Armenia’s northern border, as he was attempting to flee to Georgia. He has admitted to committing murder, and law enforcement has launched criminal proceedings.

Just as Adriana’s requests for help were disregarded by the police, the transgender activist community in Armenia has been advocating for legal guarantees for its rights and security for years, to little avail. In her eight years as president of Right Side NGO, transgender activist Lilit Martirosyan has raised this issue in front of government officials. She has demanded laws criminalizing hate speech and discrimination and upholding equal rights for people of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. She warned that if these legal measures were not taken, a member of her community could be targeted with murder. Now her premonitions have been realized, and she feels exhausted. 

Documented cases of violence against transgender people are not unprecedented in Armenia. Several years ago, another trans woman managed to escape from her apartment when it was targeted by arson, according to Right Side NGO. In August 2022, a member of a far-right organization filmed himself attacking a trans woman and published the video online. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any support from the government, from the police or from society. We are alone,” Martirosyan said, her voice anxious and desperate. She repeated herself for emphasis. “The LGBTQ community is alone. The trans community is alone in this country.” 

Candlelight vigil for Adriana

The trans community did not even have the chance to grieve Adriana’s passing in peace. On August 21, Right Side NGO organized a candlelight vigil in Komitas Park, a serene, circular courtyard bordered by trees in Yerevan. More than 100 LGBTQ activists, Adriana’s family, the Dutch ambassador to Armenia and a representative from the British embassy were present. The vigil was disrupted by a group of agitators who threw eggs, bottles and stones at the mourners. Police officers, who had gathered in the park in preparation for the vigil, did not intervene. 

Before the vigil was attacked, Monica and Adriana’s mother had a brief moment to grieve together. Adriana’s mother was accepting of her daughter’s gender identity. 

“Her mother said, Monica jan, she loved you. She was very connected to you. She only said your name,” Monica said. “She was crying and wouldn’t let go of my hand. She said that she felt her daughter’s presence while holding my hand.”

News reports of Adriana’s death have been inundated with hateful comments from people living in Armenia, praising the murderer, calling for the death of all trans people and threatening specific trans activists. Martirosyan has been named, as have people who work for Right Side NGO. As a prominent activist, Martirosyan is accustomed to being targeted with hate speech. She doesn’t leave the house without a mask. She can’t go grocery shopping without being harassed. “It’s a dream for me to go to a café,” Martirosyan said. 

Yet since Adriana’s murder, hate speech against the trans community has climbed to a new, unbearable pitch. As a model, makeup artist and blogger with a notable social media presence, Monica has been inured to discrimination and bigotry. Yet now, Monica’s Instagram and Tik Tok have been overwhelmed with warnings that her death will be next. She has been receiving death threats in her voicemail. She is living in hiding at an anonymous address. For the first time since coming out to the public, she is afraid for her life. 

“I love Adriana. I miss her. I don’t believe this. The thought that I could be next is killing me from within. Physically and psychologically, I am suffering,” Monica said. 

Martirosyan has called on the EU, Council of Europe, Western governments and international organizations to appeal to the Armenian government to protect trans rights. She believes the Armenian diaspora and all Armenian organizations must stand with the LGBTQ+ community.

“I do not want to survive. I want to live happily. I have that right. Adriana also had that right,” Monica said.

Artsakh residents at Azerbaijan’s border checkpoint (Azerbaijan Public TV)

Several dozen Armenians from Artsakh were among those permitted to cross the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor this week, for the first time since Azerbaijan tightened its blockade of the route in mid-June. 

The first group, which traveled on August 21, consisted of 41 Russian citizens born in Artsakh and students enrolled in Armenian universities who are starting classes this fall. They were escorted to Azerbaijan’s checkpoint along the Berdzor Corridor, the sole route connecting Artsakh with Armenia, where they were subjected to inspections of their passports and luggage by Azerbaijani border guards. They then walked across the bridge to board cars on the other side of the checkpoint that drove them into Armenia. A second group traveled on August 22. 

Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh started over eight months ago on December 12, 2022, when government-sponsored protesters posing as eco-activists closed the Berdzor Corridor. They ended their protest on April 23, 2023, when Azerbaijan set up an illegal military checkpoint along the corridor, placing all movement between Armenia and Artsakh under the control of Azerbaijani border guards. 

For months, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Russian peacekeeping mission were the only entities allowed to travel between Armenia and Artsakh. They delivered essential supplies in response to dwindling resources of food and medicine. The ICRC also transported medical patients from Artsakh to Armenia for emergency operations and necessary treatment. In mid-June, however, Azerbaijan barred the ICRC and Russian peacekeepers from crossing the border checkpoint to deliver humanitarian aid, precipitating a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh. 

Azerbaijan has also periodically obstructed the ICRC from transporting medical patients. On August 22, the ICRC evacuated seven patients from Artsakh, and escorted seven more patients back home from Armenia. 

Artsakh authorities welcomed the movement of 41 people across the Berdzor Corridor this week, calling it a “positive development,” yet noted that there are many individuals stuck on either side of the border who are still waiting to cross. They include Artsakh residents who have been stranded in Armenia since the start of the blockade and 333 medical patients requiring urgent treatment awaiting transportation by the ICRC to Armenian medical facilities. 

“These figures don’t even include the numerous others seeking to move for various humanitarian, employment and personal reasons,” said the NKR InfoCenter, Artsakh’s official news outlet. Artsakh authorities also criticized the “humiliating conditions” at the checkpoint and “illegal surveillance of and obstacles for the citizens of Artsakh.” 

Helen Dadayan’s relatives are among those waiting to cross the Berdzor Corridor. Dadayan, an Artsakh resident from the town of Chartar, was stuck in Armenia since the start of the blockade, separated from her family. She died in a car accident on the Yerevan-Gyumri highway on August 13. 

Her relatives gathered in front of the ICRC office in Stepanakert on August 19 to demand that her remains be repatriated to her home in Artsakh.

“Helen’s remains have been in the Goris morgue for about a week now. The ICRC has been delaying its response for a long time. We have come here to ask them to do their job and, at the very least, provide us with a reason for the delay,” Helen’s brother Nver Stepanyan told a local reporter. “If that doesn’t work out, then they should negotiate so that the parents can go and participate in the funeral.” 

Artsakh authorities further accused Azerbaijani journalists of filming Armenians crossing the checkpoint for “propaganda purposes.” Armenians are met at the checkpoint with large numbers of Azerbaijani journalists from state-controlled media. The journalists closely follow them with cameras as they walk through the checkpoint, approach the border guards for passport checks and luggage inspection, and board their vehicles. Azerbaijani public media disseminates these videos as evidence that there is no blockade and the corridor is open. 

Azerbaijani public television reported that “up to 60 Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh with Russian passports” traveled to Armenia.

“These people supported separatism in Azerbaijan,” an Azerbaijani reporter said from the checkpoint. “Yet, the Azerbaijani side provides them an opportunity to go to any destination of their choice without barriers, totally safely.”

Journalist Lindsey Snell called this a “repugnant practice.” 

“Azerbaijani state-run media films each time Armenians are allowed to pass the Lachin corridor. They don’t give consent, and they’re too terrified to object,” Snell wrote on social media, sharing a video of an Armenian woman at the border checkpoint breaking down in tears.

“As a security sector reform specialist with experience in several countries in three continents, I can say that this is psychological abuse of Nagorno-Karabakh underage children by Azerbaijani security services, supported by female journalists,” foreign policy consultant Sossi Tatikyan wrote on social media. 

Meanwhile, tensions along the borders of Artsakh and between Armenia and Azerbaijan have also been escalating. Artsakh authorities have regularly reported shootings of Armenian farmers working in their fields as well as agricultural equipment by Azerbaijani soldiers, forcing farmers to halt their work. Artsakh leadership calls this a tactic to aggravate the food shortage caused by the blockade. Meanwhile, Armenian soldier Vanik Ghazaryan was killed on August 21 after Azerbaijani soldiers opened fire on Armenian military positions near the border village Akhpradzor. Armenia and Azerbaijan regularly accuse each other of ceasefire violations along their shared border.

Last week, the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation in Artsakh arising from the blockade, at Armenia’s request. Nearly all of the 15 member countries of the Security Council called for the reopening of the Berdzor Corridor and immediate resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, denied that Artsakh is under blockade. The Security Council did not release any resolutions or statements following the meeting.