10:21,
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan might need a second surgery on his right arm, his spokesperson said Friday.
Simonyan fractured his right arm on March 20 while training. He underwent surgery for the injury and was seen wearing an arm brace during his March 28 visit to Germany.
“The Speaker of Parliament might undergo a second surgery,” Simonyan’s spokesperson Tsovinar Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS, adding that the Speaker is feeling well.
12:10,
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Laurent Wauquiez has called for practical steps for not allowing Azerbaijan’s violations of international law in Armenia, Artsakh and the Lachin Corridor to be overlooked.
The head of the French region is now visiting Armenia.
On March 31 he met with Nagorno Karabakh’s Foreign Minister Sergey Ghazaryan in Yerevan.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Wauquiez described himself as a longtime friend of Armenia and Artsakh and said that he’s shocked by the current situation.
“In 2019, we met with representatives of Artsakh and signed a cooperation agreement between my region and Artsakh. We’d adopted a political position in my region to confirm Artsakh’s right to independence, which led to serious pressures by Pan-Turkist terrorist organizations against me and my family. Why am I here today? Because I am well aware that the entire international attention is on Ukraine and there is a serious danger for Armenia and Artsakh to be forgotten in all of this. I am here to say that we are not forgetting you, you are not alone, and we shouldn’t allow the violations of international law in Armenia, Artsakh and Lachin Corridor to go unnoticed in silence,” Wauquiez said.
The President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes visited the entrance of the blockaded Lachin Corridor in Syunik to show to his countrymen the violations of international law, that 120,000 people on the other side are deprived of basic human rights.
“I was with the Governor of Syunik the moment he was notified that an advance had taken place the day before where we were located at that time [Tegh village]. I have witnessed and can testify about the violation of international law. I have also seen the Azerbaijani flags hoisted on the heights located in Armenian lands. And I had the chance to speak with displaced persons of Artsakh, whose words were deeply touching. As a politician, it is my duty to take action and be able to help you,” he said.
Wauquiez said that they want to organize a humanitarian convoy jointly with the organizations representing the Armenian community of France and try to deliver humanitarian aid to Artsakh.
“The convoy will be organized with our region’s support and will bear our region’s flag. It will approach the Lachin Corridor and we will demand passage to Artsakh. Either the convoy will pass and we will have a ray of hope, or the convoy will be barred and it will give us the opportunity to present this issue before international and European organizations, that once again the international law is being violated, and that actions must be taken,” Wauquiez added.
[see video]
12:30,
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh’s (Nagorno Karabakh) fate is closely linked with Syunik’s fate, while Syunik is the key to Armenia’s integrity, the President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Laurent Wauquiez said on March 31 in Yerevan.
“That’s why we decided to have a cooperation agreement between our region and Syunik province. The agreement was signed in a very meaningful place, in the Tatev Monastery. Cooperation will relate to healthcare, agriculture and education. I’ve said that whoever attacks Syunik will be attacking my region,” Wauquiez said, repeating his statement made at the signing ceremony earlier.
He called on France and the international community to pay attention to Armenia and Artsakh amid the threats from Azerbaijan.
“This isn’t a dispute between two countries where borders aren’t clarified and it could last forever, this is a total disregard for human rights that are protected under all international conventions, this is a desire to destroy a nation, its culture and history, its memory. This is certainly Armenia’s struggle, Artsakh’s struggle, but this is also a bigger struggle, this is a struggle for all the values that we bear. This is a struggle for civilization and democracy. Protecting you means protecting all these values,” the French politician added.
He called for stronger reaction by the international community and international sanctions against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“It was decided not to buy Russian gas any more after the occupation of some parts of Ukraine, but is the Azerbaijani gas more acceptable? Why weren’t there any consequences for what happened, why are there no sanctions against the Aliyev regime? I share these questions with you and I am equally angered,” he said.
Wauquiez said that together with his 40-member delegation he visited Syunik province. “All members of my delegation can now say, I have been there, I have seen what’s happening, I know what’s happening. The Azerbaijani troops came and captured the parts from the sovereign territory of Armenia where we went just one day earlier.”
Since the 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh, it has become apparent that Azerbaijan is set on reconquering the region, also called Artsakh, even at the risk of displacing the 120,000 indigenous ethnic Armenians that live there.
Armenia and Azerbaijan sit at a strategic location at the junction of Iran and Russia, so it is in the United States' national security interest to ensure a satisfactory resolution to this conflict. It is also in keeping with our national commitment to promoting religious freedom that we ensure endangered religious minorities receive protection.
Thankfully, the U.S. has strong relationships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan and we have a tool in the Section 907 waiver to pressure Azerbaijan to stop its aggressive behavior. The waiver allows the president to waive a law that blocks U.S. aid to Azerbaijan. This also provides an opportunity to call on Armenia to reassess its relationships with Russia and Iran.
Azerbaijan bases their claim to Karabakh on borders drawn by dictator Josef Stalin in the early days of the Soviet Union. In general, the international community has not refuted that claim, though there are reasons to think Stalin placed this Armenian mountain enclave within Azerbaijan in order to weaken both states and keep them beholden to the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over the Karabakh and Armenia won a limited victory, in what eventually became a frozen conflict. Azerbaijan has made no secret that it wishes to reclaim control of the area, increasing its pressure on the inhabitants in recent years.
The current Azerbaijan blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only road for commerce in and out of Karabakh, has created unbearable hardship for the ethnic Armenians living there. Food and medicines are running out and disruptions in the flow of natural gas have been blamed on Azerbaijan. For hospitals and the elderly, the situation is critical.
A cleansing of ethnic Armenians from Azerbaijan is not without precedent. In the lead up to the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenians were driven out of the rest of Azerbaijan, with a similar eradication of Azerbaijanis from Armenia occurring at the same time.
When pressed on the current blockade, the response from Azerbaijani authorities is to dodge responsibility, blaming organically organized environmental protesters and Russian peacekeepers for the road closure. These excuses are not very convincing as the government has directed Azerbaijanis not to enter the disputed territories without being issued a permit to do so. Some violators have been arrested. The protests seem to be coming with government approval and with protesters arriving on charter buses.
Azerbaijan also signed a significant treaty with Russia on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Ilham Aliyev has called it a full alliance between the two countries. Shifting responsibility isn't going to cut it.
The U.S. State Department and the International Court of Justice have both recognized Azerbaijan's responsibility for the blockade, calling on them to resolve the crisis. Even so, Azerbaijan refuses to do so, displaying confidence the U.S. will not hold them accountable. We should call their bluff.
The U.S. has an important strategic relationship with Azerbaijan that blossomed during the War on Terror. In 2002, Congress provided the U.S. president with the right to waive a law passed in 1992 restricting most types of aid to Azerbaijan (then-Senator Sam Brownback sponsored the amendment to provide the president with this waiver authority). Since then, presidents have consistently applied this waiver and provided a wide range of military aid to Azerbaijan. The Aliyev has been a key partner in containing Iranian ambitions and that should not be disregarded, but the value of the relationship with Azerbaijan does not give them license to strangle an ethnoreligious minority group with impunity.
Instead, our close relationship gives the U.S. the right to call them to account for their actions.
The president should act immediately to revoke the Section 907 waiver he has extended and put any aid on hold until Azerbaijan demonstrates they will work through peaceful means to resolve the conflict.
Revoking the Section 907 waiver would also send a strong message to the State Department that the White House and Congress rely on them to effectively and accurately meet their statutory reporting requirements. A report by the Government Accountability Office found that the State Department was woefully out of compliance with a provision in the Section 907 amendment requiring them to provide insight on whether U.S. aid was impacting the balance of military power between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
We should not miss this opportunity to also call on Armenia to reconsider its regional friendships with Russia and Iran. While there are few good options available to a small landlocked nation like Armenia, looking to Russia and Iran for protection is inviting the fox to guard the hen house. If Armenia is to survive in this rough neighborhood, they must look to expand their network of alliances and partnerships.
The U.S. is well positioned to be an arbiter in this conflict, ending an urgent humanitarian crisis and upholding our commitment to the protection of religious minorities, but to do so we will have to show Baku we mean business. Revoking the Section 907 waiver is the best way to do that.
Sam Brownback is the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom and co-chair of the IRF Summit.
Peter Burns (@peterburns_1861) is executive director of the International Religious Freedom Summit.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
https://www.newsweek.com/we-have-right-tool-pressure-azerbaijan-over-nagorno-karabakh-opinion-1790979
The Armenian government has threatened to arrest Russian president Vladimir Putin if he chooses to enter Armenia despite the countries' allyship, The Daily Beast reports.
Per Reuters, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant to the Russian leader, "accusing Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, a move condemned by the Kremlin as a meaningless and outrageously partisan decision."
The Daily Beast reports:
Armenia is not alone, and other countries are banding together with plans to arrest Putin. Ireland, Croatia, Austria, and Germany have each said they will enforce the warrant.
"If Putin comes to Armenia, he should be arrested… It is better for Putin to stay in his country," Gagik Melkonyan, deputy of the Armenian National Assembly, said. "If we enter into these agreements, then we must fulfill our obligations. Let Russia solve its problems with Ukraine."
Reuters reports, "state Russian news agency, RIA, cited a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying that Moscow regarded Armenia's ICC plans as 'unacceptable,' and The Daily Beast reports the institution confirmed "there would be 'extremely negative' consequences for Armenia moving forward.
"Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable the plans of official Yerevan to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court against the backdrop of the recent illegal and legally void 'warrants' of the ICC against the Russian leadership," a source said, according to The Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast reports:
Even though Armenia is technically a Russian ally—as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)—Armenia's decision is just the latest indication that the country is willing to take matters into its own hands and hold Putin accountable.
Press
Contact:
Shant
Sahakian, Executive Director
Armenian
American Museum and Cultural Center of California
(818)
644-2214
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY HOSTS ARMENIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM MEET
& GREET
Glendale, CA () – The San Francisco Bay Area
community welcomed the leadership of the Armenian American Museum and Cultural
Center of California for a Meet & Greet reception on Saturday, March 25,
2023. The event was generously organized and co-hosted by Vartan and Kim Demirjian
and Beth Rustigian Broussalian at the Demirjian’s residence in Oakland,
California.
“We are so honored to host the Armenian American Museum leadership
and bring together our Bay Area community to learn about such a historic
project that is going to be the pride of our entire community throughout the
United States and around the world,” stated Northern California Meet &
Greet Co-Host Kim Demirjian.
The Armenian American Museum was represented by Board of Trustees,
Board of Governors, Executive Team, Committee, and Staff members as well as the
Architect of the museum. Bay Area community members joined the event to learn
about the museum and learn how to get involved to support the cultural and
educational center.
“We support the Armenian American Museum because it is going to be
an important cultural and educational destination for all Armenian Americans as
well as children, families, and community members of diverse backgrounds,” stated
Northern California Meet & Greet Co-Host Beth Rustigian Broussalian.
Board of Trustees Co-Treasurer Talin Yacoubian representing the
AGBU Western Region delivered formal remarks on behalf of the museum. Formal
remarks were followed by a Q&A session with Executive Chairman Berdj
Karapetian, Executive Director Shant Sahakian, and Architect Aram Alajajian.
The Northern California Meet & Greet served as the kick-off
event of the museum’s new Global Outreach Committee. The goal of the committee
is to raise awareness for the landmark center throughout the country and around
the world. The committee is currently organizing similar gatherings in
additional communities to be held in the coming weeks and months.
The event in the Bay Area comes on the heels of the sold out Armenian
American Museum Elevate Gala held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles
on Sunday, March 19, 2023.
The Armenian American Museum is a world class educational and
cultural institution that is currently under construction in the museum campus
at Glendale Central Park. The museum will offer a wide range of public
programming through the Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Exhibitions,
Auditorium, Learning Center, Demonstration Kitchen, Archives Center, and more.
Contribute to the Elevate Campaign at https://ArmenianAmericanMuseum.org/Elevate.
###
Northern California Meet & Greet Co-Hosts with Armenian American Museum Leadership.jpg
JPEG image
Wednesday,
Moscow Seeks End To Armenia’s Spat With CSTO
RUSSIA - The Russian Foreign Ministry building is seen behind a social
advertisement billboard showing Z letters and reading "For the World without
Nazism," Moscow. October 13, 2022.
Russia hopes to end Armenia’s growing estrangement from the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), according to a senior Russian diplomat.
The Armenian government has cancelled a CSTO military exercise planned in
Armenia and refused to appoint a deputy secretary-general of the Russian-led
military alliance over what it sees as a lack of support in the conflict with
Azerbaijan. Citing the same reason, it has also rejected other CSTO member
states’ offer to deploy a monitoring mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The unprecedented tensions have called into question Armenia’s continued
membership in the organization. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed on March
16 that it is the CSTO that could “leave Armenia.” A Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman laughed off that remark, saying that she has trouble understanding
its meaning.
“We expect that harmful discussions on the topic of ‘who leaves what’ will end
and that all issues of interaction with Yerevan within the CSTO framework,
including the deployment of the organization’s monitoring mission in Armenia,
will be solved in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner,” Russia’s
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told RTVI, a Russian-language
broadcaster.
“For our part, we reaffirm our readiness to implement plans to deploy a CSTO
mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the interests of ensuring
Armenia’s security as well as other assistance measures,” said Galuzin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also reaffirmed that offer when he met
with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Moscow on March 20. Lavrov
decried “undisguised attempts by Western countries to estrange Armenia from
Russia.”
Tensions between Moscow and Yerevan have deepened further since then. Last
Friday, Armenia’s Constitutional Court gave the green light for parliamentary
ratification of the International Criminal Court’s founding treaty. The ruling
came one week after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President
Vladimir Putin over war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Moscow warned on Monday that Yerevan’s recognition of The Hague tribunal’s
jurisdiction would have “extremely negative” consequences for Russian-Armenian
relations. The Armenian government has still not publicly reacted to the stern
warning.
Baku Slams Head Of EU Monitoring Mission In Armenia
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - European Union monitors patrol Armenia's border with Azerbaijan,
February 20, 2023.
Baku on Wednesday lambasted the head of European Union monitors deployed to
Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan for essentially not ruling out the possibility
of a fresh Azerbaijani military offensive there.
“Many Armenians believe there will be a spring offensive by Azerbaijan. If this
doesn't happen, our mission is already a success,” Markus Ritter, the German
head of the monitoring mission, told Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcaster this
week.
“We cannot interfere, we only have binoculars and cameras at our disposal,” he
said.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Ritter’s remarks, saying
that they are based on “false and slanderous statements made by the Armenian
side.”
The Armenian government did not immediately comment. It has repeatedly claimed
in recent weeks that Baku is planning a “new military aggression” against
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflicting sides have reported this month more frequent ceasefire
violations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Karabakh “line of
contact.” An Armenian soldier was shot and killed by Azerbaijani troops on March
22.
The deployment in February of the 100 or so EU monitors was meant to reduce the
risk of a serious escalation in the conflict zone. Foreign Minister Ararat
Mirzoyan said last week that the Armenian government has no access to their
confidential reports sent to Brussels.
Azerbaijan as well as Russia have criticized the two-year EU mission requested
by Yerevan. Moscow said on February 21 that it is part of the West’s efforts to
squeeze it out of the South Caucasus.
Pashinian Again Invited To U.S. ‘Summit For Democracy’
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian participates in the second Summit for
Democracy, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is among 120 global leaders participating in the
second Summit for Democracy organized by U.S. President Joe Biden and denounced
by Russia.
The two-day virtual summit which began on Wednesday is designed to promote
democratic governance around the world in the face of rising authoritarianism.
Biden was due to pledge $690 million in U.S. government funding for democracy
programs around the world.
“Worldwide, we see autocrats violating human rights and suppressing fundamental
freedoms; corrupting -- and with corruption eating away at young people's faith
in their future; citizens questioning whether democracy can still deliver on the
issues that matter most to their lives,” The Associated Press quoted U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying at a pre-summit virtual event on
Tuesday.
Russia scoffed at the summit on Wednesday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
saying it "can hardly be classified as some kind of serious event." Washington
is still “aspiring to the role of global teacher of so-called democracy,” he
told reporters.
“As regards those who chose to take part in this lesson, it’s their sovereign
business,” Peskov said when asked about Armenia’s participation in the event.
Addressing the summit, Pashinian insisted that his government “continues to
implement a democratic reform agenda.”
“As a result of that, our country has improved its positions in various global
rankings,” he said.
Pashinian went on to mention the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and, in particular,
Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations launched along the Armenian border
last September.
ARMENIA - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accepts a bouquet of flowers from
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan, September 18, 2022,
“It was back in September that we felt the union of democracies and the clear
condemnation of aggression against Armenia,” he said, referring to Western
powers. “I want to take this opportunity and extend our gratitude to the United
States and other partners that helped us stop the further incursion through
diplomatic engagement.”
Pashinian and other senior Armenian officials have repeatedly complained about
what they see as a lack of such support from Russia, Armenia’s main ally.
Relations between Moscow and Yerevan have significantly deteriorated in recent
months.
Pashinian also took part in the first Summit for Democracy held in December
2021. The U.S. invitations extended to him highlight Washington’s largely
positive assessments of his government’s human rights and democracy records.
Armenian opposition leaders have accused the U.S. as well as the European Union
of turning a blind eye to the Pashinian administration’s pressure on the
judiciary, the existence of “political prisoners” and other human rights abuses
in the South Caucasus country. In May last year, they lambasted the then U.S.
ambassador in Yerevan, Lynne Tracy, for seemingly touting the outcome of
Armenia’s 2021 general elections won by Pashinian’s party.
In an annual report released on Monday, Amnesty International accused the
Armenian authorities of using “excessive force” against opposition protesters
and “unduly” restricting the freedom of expression.
“Criminal prosecutions over the legitimate expression of criticism of the
authorities had a chilling effect on free speech,” said the global watchdog.
Azerbaijan Thanks Israel For Support During Karabakh War
Israel -- Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Jeyhun Bayramov a joint press conference, .
Visiting Israel on Wednesday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
thanked the Jewish state for supporting Azerbaijan during the 2020 war with
Armenia.
“We are grateful to Israel for supporting the position of Azerbaijan,”
Azerbaijani news agencies quoted Bayramov as saying after talks with his Israeli
counterpart Eli Cohen. He said that Jews were among Azerbaijani soldiers killed
during the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Bayramov was due to inaugurate the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tel Aviv during his
visit.
Israel has long been one of Azerbaijan’s main suppliers of weapons and other
military hardware. Those supplies continued even after Azerbaijan launched a
full-scale offensive in and around Karabakh on September 27, 2020.
Armenia recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest on October 1, 2020.
According to the Armenian military, Azerbaijani forces heavily used Israeli-made
attack drones and multiple-launch rocket systems throughout the hostilities
stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November 2020.
Azerbaijani-Israeli military cooperation appears to have continued unabated
since then. Nevertheless, Armenia sent a new ambassador to Israel in April 2022.
Last month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with then Israeli Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Israel’s Minister of Intelligence Gila Gamliel also underscored close security
ties between the two countries when she visited Baku earlier this month.
Gamliel’s visit came amid heightened tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran.
Iranian leaders have repeatedly warned Baku against advancing Israel’s
geopolitical interests in the region and trying to strip the Islamic Republic of
its border with Armenia.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
The name of the restaurant, Baklava House, is written in pink neon on a wall of faux greenery in what used to be a Subway sandwich shop.
Order a house tea, and a glass teapot of what looks like molten rubies studded with fresh strawberries and warmed by a candle arrives at the table.
And of course there’s the case of baked goods.
Several kinds of baklava are on display, with walnuts or almonds, oranges or chocolate and drizzled in a honey sauce that makes them shine.
Judy Statler of Fresno and her friends clustered around the counter to ooh and aah at the sweets on a recent afternoon.
“I have to see these beautiful pastries — and they’re gorgeous!” she said.
House tea, with a blend of fruit and herbs, is poured at Baklava House. now open on Bullard Avenue near West Avenue in Fresno. CRAIG KOHLRUSS [email protected]
It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Owner Arut Mkhitaryan described it as European-American food, though it’s got a heavy Armenian influence.
It’s not high-end. It’s not the type of place you have to dress up for (though it does have a certain charm you won’t find in most restaurants the size of a sandwich shop).
It’s unrecognizable as a former Subway, redone in shades of white. Baklava House also took over the former Oka Japanese spot next door, with Mkhitaryan buying the business and turning it into the dining room.
Breakfast is served all day and includes pancakes and waffles, steak and eggs, and shakshuka — eggs nestled in a pan of tomatoes and bell peppers.
The cabbage rolls are vegan.
But what does the owner, Mkhitaryan, recommend? The Georgian cheese bread (or cheesy bread, as he calls it). It’s also known as ajarakan, khachapuri, perhaps an egg boat.
It’s football-shaped bread, filled with a gooey mixture of three cheeses and an egg that’s still runny.
General manager and Mkhitaryan’s sister, Karine Sahakyan, provided this Bee reporter and photographer with a little tutorial about how to eat it in the kitchen.
Using a “rip and dip” method, she tears off a corner of the bread, busts it into the yellow egg yolk and twirls it around in the cheese.
“You have to do like tornado inside,” she said. “Make it all mixed. Now you try.”
When we got a little wild wrapping 8-inch long stretches of gooey cheese around hunks of bread, she exclaimed, “That’s what I’m talking about!”
You can get all kinds of toppings baked into the cheese, including eggplant, chicken, pepperoni and basturma, a sort of cured bacon made from beef that’s popular in the Middle East. Fresh stalks of green tarragon are a popular topping that’s not on the menu, but if you ask for it, they’ll likely have it.
What toppings does Mkhitaryan prefer? “I like all the toppings,” he said with a big grin.
The traditional baklava is a made with walnuts, honey and layers of phyllo dough.
“All the baklavas, they are one taste only, with the nuts,” he said. “Our baklava is different because they have a different taste — raspberry, blueberry tastes, lemon, chocolate.”
The flavors rotate and are baked fresh daily.
You can make large orders ahead of time. Baklava House also sells gift boxes of a dozen or so baklavas with stickers that say “Best mother ever” or “thank you” for $22.
There are a few other kinds of pastries at Baklava House, though not many. Mkhitaryan said he could do more, but chooses not to.
“I don’t want to do another pastry,” he said. “I want to do only baklava.”
For Mkhitaryan, baklava goes back to when he was a child in Armenia, when his grandmother made it and other treats for the family, served with tea.
He got into the food business as a teen in Armenia — including running a baklava bakery at one point — and never looked back. He came to the U.S. 30 years ago and kept opening businesses.
He opened Noah’s Ark Restaurant & Bakery in Fresno years ago before selling it, along with so many other businesses sometimes he can’t remember their names.
More and different restaurants are in the works, too. He’s behind the Front Yard Burger that’s gearing up to open on Blackstone Avenue. And he’s planning a place called Cheesy Bread House serving that Georgian cheese bread in the Flippin’ Daves Burgers and Fries spot on West Shaw Avenue.
That’s the way he does things.
“My goal is to do something new all the time,” he said.
Details: Baklava House is at 2040 W. Bullard Ave. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. 559-840-1238.
This story was originally published , 11:17 AM.
29.03.2023 19:43
Armenia is close to losing its statehood in the fight against Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, it is possible to preserve the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Union State of the Russian Federation and Belarus.
On March 24, the Constitutional Court of Armenia recognised the country's obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as consistent with the country's Constitution.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Yerevan that Moscow found its plans to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC against the backdrop of the recent illegal and legally void ICC "warrants" in relation to the Russian leadership to be absolutely unacceptable.
Moscow warned the Armenian side that Yerevan's steps in this direction could lead to "extremely negative" consequences for Armenia's relations with Russia.
Indeed, Moscow's reaction deems justifiable as Yerevan has not ratified the statute for 19 years and suddenly decided to do it now.
Armenian officials said that the ICC would help to uncover "crimes committed by Azerbaijan." However, most of them had taken place outside Armenia — in Hadrut and Shushi, which (in the perception of Yerevan) are already the territory of Azerbaijan. This excludes the application of the Rome Statute there.
As a matter of fact, there are different reasons that explain Armenia's behaviour.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan believes that the November 2020 trilateral agreement (with the mediation of Russia) do not work. In particular, he claims that the Russian Federation does not prevent the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, although this is part of Russia's responsibility.
Armenia suggests leaving this format to conduct direct negotiations with Azerbaijan either through Georgia or a European platform.
However, those platforms set one condition — Armenia will have to break ties with the Russian Federation. This explains inadequate statements from Armenia's National Assembly deputy Gagik Melkonyan, who said that Putin would be arrested in Armenia due to the recognition of the Rome Statute.
The West is using its leverage. The EU said it was not considering sanctions against Azerbaijan and suggested focusing on dialogue between the parties instead.
In fact, there are no sanctions coming, and the European Union has no intention to aggravate relations with Baku, because it gets Azerbaijani oil and gas as a replacement for the Russian fuel. Therefore, no one is going to bite the feeding hand of Azerbaijan.
In Azerbaijan, they believe that there is no such thing as the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. Instead, Azerbaijan tries to prevent arms supplies to Karabakh. President Ilham Aliyev warned that one should not negotiate with Azerbaijan from the position of force.
If Aliyev had been bolder, Yerevan would have lost any prospect of returning to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian lobby is strong in the West, but it will not fight for the Armenians directly. Moreover, Armenia does not want to recognize the independence of the region. There is only meanness instead of courage, and it will pay off handsomely.
Armenia has already decided how it is going to continue to fight with Azerbaijan — it has taken Iran as an ally. Iran will not allow the formation of the Zangezur corridor along the border with Armenia to Nakhichevan. It will enter the war on the side of Armenia too.
It looks doubtful that Tehran will do that as it has a much bigger conflict brewing with Israel.
Instead of negotiating with Azerbaijan and Russia on Karabakh and preparing to win back morally and militarily, Armenia assumed that the West would come for help here and now.
As experience shows, such hopes do not lead to anything positive. The West may only care less about the people of Karabakh, and Armenia's ambitions do not matter here either. The goal of the West is to defeat Russia. The Armenians are doomed to slaughter at this point — it goes about common residents of Karabakh and Armenia rather than the diaspora, including in Russia.
It appears that Yerevan intends to drain the cup of the death of its nation to the dregs. Armenia will pull out from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which is already happening de facto. Afterwards, Armenia will exit the Eurasian Economic Union and then leave the friendship agreement with the Russian Federation (Russian peacemakers will be withdrawn from Karabakh and the Gyumri base).
The economy of Armenia will suffer in the first place, as it is largely dependent on cheap Russian fuel and Russian tourists. Prices for gas, oil, gasoline, diesel, etc will soar, and the inflation rate will surge to 20-30 percent.
Western "peacekeepers" will be deployed as well. As long as Europe needs Azerbaijan, the bargaining will continue and Yerevan will be eventually forced to accept the position of Baku to decide the fate of the people of Karabakh.
If Armenia were part of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, no Azerbaijani "environmentalists" would dare to block the Lachin corridor. The people of Karabakh would be granted autonomy as part of the Union State.
https://english.pravda.ru/world/156202-armenia_azerbaijan/
City of Burbank Elections flyer
Burbank’s City Council in January unanimously adopted a Resolution to initiate a transition from an at-large election system to a by-district system for electing future Council members. The district formation process is important because it determines which neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing members of the City Council.
The City will be hosting public hearings, community forums, and provide two interactive mapping tools to gather your suggestions for how the district boundaries are drawn. The “Draw Your Neighborhood” tool invites community members to identify communities of interest that share cultures, languages, histories, and interests. The District-Drawing Tool invites community members to suggest proposed City Council district boundaries.
The districting process will kick-off with three community forums to provide an overview on the districting process, learn mapping tools and how to submit your maps. The three forums will present the same material and will have Spanish and Armenian simultaneous interpretation available. Please email [email protected] to request language assistance in any other languages.
Please visit the Burbank Council Districting website for additional details. The website has other valuable information such as an overview of the districting process, instructions on the mapping tools, and the entire schedule of community forums and public hearings.