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Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Armenian film not shortlisted for Oscars 2022

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 22 2021
, 13:30

 1 minute read

Armenian submission for Oscars has not been shortlisted for 2022 Academy Awards.

Armenia had chosen Should the Wind Drop as its official submission to the 94rd Academy Awards in the International feature film category.

The 2020 Armenian-Belgian-French drama film is directed by Nora Martirosyan and starrs Grégoire Colin and Hayk Bakhryan. The film was produced by Sister Productions in France, Kwassa Films in Belgium, and Aneva in Armenia.

The film was selected for the 73rd edition of the Cannes Festival. It was screened in the 2020 Angoulême Film Festival. 

It was also screened as part of Industry Selects at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and in the competition part of the 2020 Tokyo Filmex.

The film tracks Alain Delage , an international auditor, who has arrived to assess the airport of a the Republic of Artsakh in order to give the green light for its reopening. Edgar, a local boy, runs his own peculiar small business outside the airport. After interacting with the child and other residents, Alain is able to discover this isolated land and will risk everything to allow the country to open up.

Through the Western perspective of her main character, perfectly portrayed by the ever stoic Grégoire Colin, Nora Martirosyan allows to discover the Republic of Artsakh. As they follow Alain Delage through his audit, the viewers, who are initially intrigued about the reality of this province, comes to empathies with its inhabitants and decide to join their dream of achieving independence and international recognition.

Below are the films shortlisted for International Feature

  • “Great Freedom” (Austria) – dir. Sebastian Meise
  • “Playground” (Belgium) – dir. Laura Wandel
  • “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” (Bhutan) – dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
  • “Flee” (Denmark) – dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
  • “Compartment No. 6” (Finland) – dir. Juho Kuosmanen
  • “I’m Your Man” (Germany) – dir. Maria Schrader
  • “Lamb” (Iceland) – dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
  • “A Hero” (Iran) – dir. Asghar Farhadi
  • “The Hand of God” (Italy) – dir. Paolo Sorrentino
  • “Drive My Car” (Japan) – dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  • “Hive” (Kosovo) – dir. Blerta Basholli
  • “Prayers for the Stolen” (Mexico) – dir. Tatiana Huezo
  • “The Worst Person in the World” (Norway) – dir. Joachim Trier
  • “Plaza Catedral” (Panama) – dir. Abner Benaim
  • “The Good Boss” (Spain) – dir. Fernando León de Aranoa

Armenians have sought their fortunes and found sanctuary in Arab countries for centuries

Emil Lazarian
Arab News
Dec 23 2021

  • Armenians have a long history as one of the most ancient and sophisticated communities in the Middle East 
  • Those who escaped the 1915 genocide found a warm welcome in the cosmopolitan cities of the Levant 
JAMES DRUMMOND

LONDON: When Armen Sarkissian, the president of Armenia, stepped off his plane in Riyadh in October this year, he became the first president of the small, former Soviet republic to visit Saudi Arabia. 


For nearly 30 years, since Armenia declared its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, there have been virtually no diplomatic relations between it and some Islamic countries. 
One reason for the absence of ties is the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, which, on the face of it, pits Christian Armenia against Muslim Azerbaijan. This, along with the Armenian genocide of 1915 by Ottoman Turks, dominates Yerevan’s relations with many Middle Eastern countries. 
Geopolitically, the continued presence of several thousand Russian troops in Armenia has ensured the country remains firmly within Moscow’s sphere of influence, leaving successive governments with little room to maneuver. 




The first Armenian presidential visit to Saudi Arabia since it achieved independence. (AFP)

Beyond politics, however, relations between Armenians and Arabs, especially on a personal level, have been a good deal closer. Indeed, Armenians have been seeking their fortunes and finding sanctuary in Arab countries for centuries, for the most part harmoniously, albeit often as members of a low-profile community.  
Armenia, a country of 3 million, is a small land-locked state, plagued by earthquakes and hemmed in by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, and Azerbaijan to the east. Yerevan, the capital, is a Tsarist gem with an overlay of Soviet kitsch and striking modernism. 
The ruins of the medieval capital at Ani bear testament to the fact that, before the First World War, Armenians lived west of Mount Ararat across much of eastern Turkey. But the events of 1915 (and before) propelled tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Armenians into a diaspora to the south. 
There they found a warm welcome in the cosmopolitan cities of the Levant among existing communities of their compatriots.  




Armenians were major builders in the Ottoman Empire. (AFP)

Armenians were famous builders. Indeed, Sinan Pasha, the great architect of the Ottoman Empire, was reportedly of Armenian heritage. Many in the diaspora carved out niches as middle-men, translators, bankers and merchants. One such character, a Mr. Youkoumian, is an anti-hero of Evelyn Waugh’s comic novel “Black Mischief,” set in a fictionalized Ethiopia in the 1930s. 
The Armenians were able to maintain their identity through the Ottoman Empire’s millet system and later through the colonial mandates. Under these systems, payment of taxes and settlement of personal status disputes involving births, deaths, marriage and inheritance were devolved to religious leaders. 
As such, the Armenian bishops and archbishops were responsible for the behavior of their communities. From Aleppo to Cairo, from Basra to Beirut, the church was, and is, the center of Armenian life, providing welfare to the needy and education to the young. 
This has resulted in a strong sense of community and identity, which was nurtured and supported by philanthropy. Calouste Gulbenkian, for instance, an early Armenian pioneer of the oil industry, became fabulously wealthy and funded dozens of Armenian schools, orphanages and churches across the Middle East through his foundation. 



For the most part, these communities were apolitical. An exception to this was the career of Nubar Pasha, a famous prime minister of Egypt in the late 19th century. He served three terms of varying lengths, helped negotiate the terms of the construction of the Suez Canal, reformed the system of consular courts under which the colonial powers maintained a parallel justice system, and managed fickle rulers such as the energetic but spendthrift Ismail Pasha. 
Nubar Pasha’s patron, Boghos Bey, was an Armenian who became secretary to Muhammed Ali Pasha, the founder of modern Egypt. When Alaa Al-Aswany chose the title for his brilliant novel “The Yacoubian Building” he was paying homage to the Armenian contribution to Cairo. 
In the eastern Mediterranean, Beirut’s Burj Hammoud is often seen as the Armenian area of the Lebanese capital. It was formed first as an area of refugee settlement after the First World War and took in thousands who had fled the massacres in eastern Turkey and northern Syria. 

29,743 square km – Area of Armenia

3 million – total population according to 2011 consensus

Inland, Anjar on the Beirut-Damascus highway is also an Armenian town known for its beautiful archaeological remains and as the former headquarters of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon. 


Under Lebanon’s confessional system, Armenians are guaranteed six seats in the 128-seat parliament, but have maintained a low political profile. 
To the south, the Cathedral of St James is at the center of the Armenian area of the Old City of Jerusalem, the smallest of the four quarters. 
The Armenians are one of the three primary custodians of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, reputedly built on the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the Old City. The monks in their distinctive black cowls kept the traditions of the Armenian church alive during the long decades of Soviet atheism in Armenia itself.
In Syria, Aleppo was the center of the Armenian population. The famous Baron Hotel in the city was owned and managed by the Mazloumian family. There, as a relatively prosperous minority, the Armenians are believed to have largely supported the Assad regime. 
As a result, Jdaideh (New), an historic area outside the old walls of Aleppo and the quarter most associated with the Armenians, has been heavily damaged in the course of the civil war. Distressing images of old palaces and museums being blown up pervade the internet. 
And in Iran, from which modern-day Armenia receives much of its energy supplies, there is the famous Holy Savior Cathedral, also referred to as the Vank, in the district of New Julfa in Isfahan. 
In the early 17th century, as part of a scorched earth policy to try to head off the Turkish armies, Shah Abbas of Persia forcibly settled thousands of Armenians south of the river Zayande that runs through Isfahan. Armenians remain a sizable minority in Iran. 
Today the Kardashians, Cher, Andre Agassi and Charles Aznavour, to name just a few, are famous scions of Armenia internationally. But, closer to their homeland, the Armenians have a long history as one of the most ancient and successful communities in the Middle East. 

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1991596/middle-east


Also at: 
The Arab Armenians Are Here to Stay!
View the videos of the interview:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1991456/world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m4mBuKOYvg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvET03uqjM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqxjALnD0U


Post six-day war footage of Egyptian Monastery made public by Israel’s national library

Emil Lazarian

Dec 23 2021


By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

 

Published: DECEMBER 23, 2021 02:51

Updated: DECEMBER 23, 2021 11:29

Greek Psalms and Cantica, ca 1504.
(photo credit: THE HOLY MONASTERY OF ST. CATHERINE AT MOUNT SINAI/VIA NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ISRAEL DIGITAL COLLECTION)


Some 1,600 Christian manuscripts and numerous photographs and film footage from after the Six Day War are now available for free public viewing, the National Library of Israel (NLI) has announced.
The documents were originally archived at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Founded by Justinian I over 1,500 years ago, the monastery is home to the oldest functional library in the world.
During the 1960s, the Jewish National and University Library, now the National Library of Israel, was permitted by the Greek Orthodox Archbishop to microfilm the manuscripts. Later, the aging microfilms were digitally archived in order to preserve them.

The collection includes texts from as early as the 1100s CE, written in Arabic, Syriac, Greek, Armenian and Georgian, relating to early Christian religion and Church Fathers.
Also now viewable online are photos of Saint Catherine’s Monastery which were taken by Israelis during the country’s occupation of the Sinai Peninsula following the Six Day War, in addition to color film footage taken by Jacques Soussana, a former employee of the library, that was donated to the NLI by his wife and digitally archived in cooperation with the Jerusalem Cinematheque and the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.

Soldier, monk at Sinai, 1967. (credit: BORIS CARMI/MEITAR COLLECTION, PRITZKER FAMILY NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION, NLI)

Dr. Stefan Litt, curator of the NLI’s Humanities Collection who led the project, emphasized the value of the collection for Christian scholars, saying that “the digital images of these manuscripts are truly priceless, particularly for scholars of Orthodox Greek Christianity. They show us how the collection’s manuscripts looked more than fifty years ago and are now safely preserved for the long-term.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-689562


Azerbaijani Press: Is Armenian president pushing his country to yet another war?

Emil Lazarian
Azer News, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2021
13:37 (UTC+04:00)

By political analyst Fuad Akhundov

The Armenian president has territorial claims for foreign lands once again.

There was this hit in the 80s, which went: “What does it cost to build a house? We will draw it and we’ll live!” Armenia decided that they can draw a map with the same ease, as well as announce foreign territories their own. In any case, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian’s interview with  Asia Times leads to such conclusions.

A reminder that the Armenian president stated: “I was recently on a state visit to Italy. As part of it, I visited the University of Bologna and was on a very interesting tour of the library where they presented us with some of the old Armenian manuscripts that they had. There was very interesting material – an old map of the 16th or early 17th century depicting Armenian cultural and religious centres. The composers of the map actually based it on two places: Jerusalem and Constantinople. The map encompasses modern Turkey, modern Armenia, partially covers places in Iran up to Isfahan and other places. It also shows Nagorno-Karabakh with hundreds of medieval Armenian churches and cultural centres”.  

Here is an explanation. First of all, among many forms of lies, there is this one: to tell something that seems to be the truth but so that the interlocutor misunderstands. Mr Sarkissian is trying to attempt a somewhat identical trick. He refers to the map of “Armenian cultural and religious centres”, not Armenia as a state.

Moreover, if Mr Sarkissian also visited libraries in his native Yerevan. And would read the second volume of A.D. Papazyan’s book “Persian Documents of Matenadaran”, published by the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR back in 1968. And there are papers where signed by the Armenian Catholicos, it is indicated that Echmiadzin and the surrounding lands are in Azerbaijan and there is no Armenia there.

So, one of the Catholicos points out that Vagharshapat is “one-third of a whole village called Uchkilsa from the villages of nakhne’Kyarbi, which is located in the country of Azerbaijan …”. The document is dated 1428, and, as you can see, it directly says that the village of Uchkilsa, the very one that is today called Echmiadzin, is located in Azerbaijan.

Or one more document: when buying two years later the next land in the deed of sale for the village of Uchkilsa, renamed by the Armenians to Vagharshapat, and the monastery of the same name – in Echmiadzin, from 1430 it is said that Saru (Sary) Melik, the attorney of Sheikh Said-bek al-Sa ‘Di, sold a third of the village of Uchkilsa, which was subordinate to the country of Azerbaijan in the Chukhur Sa’d vilayet to the patriarch of the noble Christian religion, the mutavalli of Uchkilsa, caliph Grigor. And there are many such examples. 

Furthermore, there really are ancient Christian churches and monasteries in Karabakh, but they aren’t Armenian, they are Albanian. And it is clearly written on the walls of Gandzasar monastery, which is even considered to be the main Christian centre of Karabakh, that this church was built under the patriarchate of the Albanian Catholicos. These are the very inscriptions that Academician Orbeli deciphered.

And if one wants more modern evidence, then the famous Russian film director Karen Shakhnazarov and his talks that his ancestors, in fact, were Christian Turks, and that Karabakh was never part of Armenia can be remembered.

On the other hand, the map of “religious and cultural centres” which the Armenian president refers to doesn’t prove anything at all. Armenians lived in many large cities of Persia, the Ottoman Empire, and even India. They had their own schools, churches and monasteries even back then. Today, Armenian cultural and religious centres can be easily found in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, and Marseille, not counting Tehran or Baghdad. So what – to consider Argentina a part of Armenia?

And, finally, if this map, in the idea of Armen Sarkissian, has to confirm Armenia’s claims to Karabakh, does it mean that tomorrow on its basis, Armenia will present claims to the territory of Iran, right up to Isfahan? And how does he think Iran has to react to such “historical” calculations? 

But in the case of the Bologna manuscripts, Mr Sarkissian at least tries to preserve the semblance of decency and “secures himself” so that he is not openly caught by his tongue. But caution does not last long, and then the Armenian president declares as if “Comrade Stalin, who was a ‘great master’ of reshaping borders, in fact, a great master of creating problems between nations, including between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has given Karabakh and Nakhchivan to Azerbaijan back then. Because the Soviets wanted to help create a common border between Azerbaijan and Turkey since Turkish leader Ataturk was considered a great friend of Bolshevik Russia “.

And this right here is an explicit lie. First of all, in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia of 1926, in the article “The Armenian question” it is clearly written that in 1918 Armenia declared war on Azerbaijan making territorial claims to Karabakh and Nakhchivan, as well as on Georgia about Ahalkalaki and Borchalo. That is, in 1918, Karabakh was a part of Azerbaijan, but how, then, in 1921, the Caucasus Bureau could transfer it to Azerbaijan? That is why the Caucasus Bureau considered this issue but decided to LEAVE it as part of Azerbaijan. Leave, not hand over. Since, as opposed to 1918, in 1921 Armenia decided to peacefully request to have Karabakh transferred to them, but it was refused and it was left as part of Azerbaijan. And it is unlikely that Sarkissian really does not understand the difference.

Most importantly, that there is not a word about the need to respect the borders recognized by the world community, abandon claims to foreign territories and learn to live in peace with neighbours in the entire voluminous text. And even talking about the 44-day war that Armenia lost Mr Sarkissian doesn’t dare to say that Armenia should give up on aggression.  

Or maybe Sarkissian does not understand that he is pushing his country to yet another war? And now, obviously, without a chance of winning. 

Azerbaijan asks Google to remove Karabakh’s Armenian toponyms from map

Emil Lazarian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Dec 23 2021
– 13:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijan has asked Google to remove the Armenian names of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) settlements from Google Maps, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva said on Thursday, December 23, Trend reports.

Abdullayeva claimed that Google Maps is currently using the “distorted toponyms in Armenian” alongside the “official names in the Azerbaijani language”, although Artsakh has always been populated by ethnic Armenians.

The spokesperson noted that Baku has now sent a letter to the company with a list of names Azerbaijan would like to see on the map.

Russian peacekeepers gave New Year’s gifts to about 1 thousand children of Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 23 2021

The servicemen of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, together with benefactors, held a humanitarian action and congratulated about 1 thousand schoolchildren of the Mardakert district of Artsakh living near the demarcation line on the upcoming New Year, the Russian defense ministry reported. 

On the territory of the school in the Mardakert district, peacekeepers together with benefactors handed over New Year’s gifts in the form of children’s toys and candy sets to elementary school students.

According ti the source, earlier, another batch of humanitarian cargo for the children of Nagorno Karabakh was delivered from Moscow to Yerevan by military transport aircraft of the Russian Defence Ministry. Humanitarian aid weighing about 20 tons was collected by charitable organizations and loaded onto a military board at the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region. Then the cargo from Yerevan was delivered by peacekeepers to Nagorno Karabakh.

It is noted that during the holidays, Russian peacekeepers, together with philanthropists, will hold about 70 humanitarian actions and give gifts to about 8 thousand children from remote areas of Nagorno-Karabakh near the demarcation line of the parties.

Azerbaijan which destroys monuments is attempting to conceal its vandalism

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 23 2021
11:12, 23.12.2021

Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has always been proud of the religious and cultural monuments in its territory, considering them part of its historical and cultural heritage. The people of Artsakh are also concerned about the preservation of Russian religious and cultural heritage monuments. This is noted in the statement disseminated by the Embassy of Armenia in Greece. The statement continues as follows, in particular:

It is noteworthy that the state budget of the Artsakh Republic envisages expenditures for the preservation and restoration of historical and cultural monuments every year, as the domain of preservation, study, and use of historical and cultural monuments is one of the most important and special domains of the history and culture of the Artsakh Republic.

The Russian Holy Mother of God Church is located in Gevorgavan precinct of the Martuni region of the Artsakh Republic. The church was built more than 100 years ago by immigrants from Russia. It is made of limestone, yellowish in appearance. It has two entrances, which open from the west and north sides. There are more than two dozen windows. The parishioners of the church were Russian settlers. In 1989, the restoration work of the church began, which was interrupted due to the [military] aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, during which the church again suffered great damage. Before the start of the war in 2020, the government of the Artsakh Republic was working on a project to restore the church and was looking for a sponsor to start the restoration work.

Thus, the propaganda material disseminated by an Anastasia Lavrina and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Greece in Greek translation about the Armenian side’s alleged “encroachments” on the Russian Orthodox religious heritage in the territory of the Artsakh Republic is another provocative, groundless, and false disinformation. It aims to spread hatred towards Armenians and try to drive a wedge in the relations between Armenia and its relatives. The country [i.e., Azerbaijan] that deliberately destroys cultural monuments is trying to cover up, with baseless accusations, the numerous cases of vandalism committed by it.

Despite the rulings of the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijani officials continue to spread targeted racial hatred [against Armenians] and do not take any steps to stop the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.

High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: Armenia won’t build relations with Turkey at expense of interests of nation

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 23 2021
High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs: Armenia won’t build relations with Turkey at expense of interests of nation
00:22, 24.12.2021

I am certain that Armenia won’t build its relations with Turkey at the expense of the interests of the nation. This is what High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs under the Prime Minister of Armenia Zareh Sinanyan said today.

According to him, even though normal relations with neighbors arises from Armenia’s security, those relations must not be built at the expense of the honor, future and identity of the nation. “Until this moment, I haven’t seen any sign that Armenia has been in a process with Turkey that has been at the expense of our national issues and the history of our nation.

I won’t be able to convince Armenians abroad to support the process of normalization of relations with Turkey, if the latter overlooks certain facts and truths that it is obliged to acknowledge, if we want to have normal relations,” he stated.

RTE’s Fair City star Nyree Yergainharsian celebrates Armenian heritage onscreen in hit Irish soap

Emil Lazarian
Mirror – Ireland
Dec 24 2021

Exclusive: Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’

By Katie Gallagher

Fair City star Nyree Yergainharsian is the pride and joy of Ireland’s Armenian community as she celebrates her heritage onscreen in the hit Irish soap.

The actress, best known as Carrigstown’s Melanie, was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and an Armenian father.

Dubbing herself a ‘full throttle hybrid’, Nyree said she is proud to be able to represent both cultures through her character on the national broadcaster.

But not as proud as her father, who is the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Armenia in Ireland and her right hand man for information on her heritage for the show.

She told the Irish Daily Mirror: “It is really great, my dad is heavily involved with the Armenian community in Ireland and he is the Armenian consul here so I know that the whole Armenian community were really excited.

“Because they’ve really integrated into Ireland and some are like me where they are a parent from each or maybe they are Armenians who just moved and emigrated to Ireland.

“And they are just so proud and delighted to see that Ireland’s favourite soap is representing them so well.”

As Nyree was born and raised in Ireland, she isn’t fluent in Armenian, and often enlists the help of the community and her dad when it comes to speaking the language on the show.

She explained: “I ask a lot of them when it comes to information or bits and pieces and every now and again.

“I get bits from him [dad], I never spoke it fluently. It was just very hard in the 80s and 90s there weren’t many Armenian families so even to practice that would have been very hard. “But now it is great I’m able to share that with my dad. And he helps me a lot with including the language in the program.

“So it is really nice to be represented in that way and to represent the community, I know they are really proud,” she added.

Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’ with Mondo and the kids, to ensure they are celebrating both Irish and Armenian traditions at the dinner table.

And it seems the episode will see art mimicking reality for the star, who said she has always grown up with a mix of both cultures in her home.

“Our dinners are always a bit of a hybrid so Christmas for us never stood out when there was a mix of dishes. It never seemed strange to us because it was the same all year.

“We would always have the same thing that every family would have had growing up in the 80s and 90s but you would have had a middle eastern twang to everything.

“Christmas dinner we always had homemade hummus on the table and always a little bit hybrid so it wouldn’t be too far from home for me anyway.”

Like many around the country, the star will sit down with her family tomorrow[Sat/Christmas Day] to watch the Christmas special.

“We always look forward to the Christmas episodes because we are all together for them.”

But with a week of ‘trysts, lies, and shootings’ billed for the festive specials she’ll have a job on her hands trying not to spoil the shocks and surprises from her eager family and fans.

“When my scripts come in they are always dying to know what is happening and looking for a bit of gossip before it comes out they think they are ahead of the game.”

Teasing what is to come in Carrigstown in the New Year, she added:

“People think we have much more insight knowledge but actually we love making the predictions as well and I am really excited now because I know next year some of the predictions I have made recently are actually coming true.

“And they are really exciting. I think the fans are going to absolutely adore it.”

Fair City airs on RTE One Christmas Day at 8.50pm, and again on St Stephen’s Day, December 26


https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/rtes-fair-city-star-nyree-25774920?fbclid=IwAR0LRa6lIYGd1wI5Fd7qH64Um-EFwMn1GqRzeEm4jS-qFWATq2oMdztAFAc

Turkish-Armenian normalisation gathers pace as Ankara expects gradual success

Emil Lazarian
Dec 24 2021
Encouraged by Prime Minister Pashinyan’s reelection, Turkish officials aim to normalise with Yerevan in a step-by-step programme that would open borders and establish complete full relations
Supporters of Armenia’s opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan wave Armenian national flags as they take part in a rally in Yerevan on 30 April 30 2018 (AFP)
By 

Ragip Soylu

 in 

Ankara
Published date:  09:03 UTC | Last update: 10 hours 26 mins ago

Though it may seem strange today, relations between Turkey and Armenia were not at first hostile. When Armenia declared its independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, Turkey was the first nation to recognise the new state.

Ankara tried to help its new neighbour by providing humanitarian help and much-needed wheat. But diplomatic relations were never properly established, with the process shuddering to a halt after Armenia’s move to annex Nagorno-Karabakh, a nominal Azerbaijani territory, in 1993.

Meanwhile, Armenian anger remained over the 1915 genocide and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the term or extent of the killings.

Turkey and Armenia to mutually appoint envoys to normalise ties

Read More »

Yet after three decades, there is now a real chance that the parties will finally come to a resolution, open borders and trade diplomatic missions. Unexpectedly, Ankara and Yerevan decided to move forward following Azerbaijan’s seizure of large swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh last year, which it did with the substantial help of Turkey. 

“We were quite surprised that the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won the elections in June with over 50 percent support after a war he lost to Azerbaijan,” a Turkish official told Middle East Eye, speaking on condition of anonymity. “His election encouraged us to talk to the Armenian government about a normalisation because he now has a strong mandate and his popularity indicates the Armenian people also want a change.” 

Pashinyan has repeatedly acknowledged his interest in opening the border with Turkey and beginning a normalisation process. In the summer, Ankara attempted to make some gestures to the Armenians but was unable to succeed due to “some unexpected” developments, Turkish officials said. 

After consultations with the Azerbaijani government in the autumn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began publicly calling for a three-plus-three platform that consists of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Iran and Armenia for a complete regional reconciliation. Meanwhile, Ankara started direct outreach to Yerevan. 

This is not the first time that Turkey and Armenia have tried to resolve their issues, which go back to the 1915 massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians and much of the international community refer to the killings, which left an estimated 1.5 million people dead, as a genocide. Turkey rejects the term and the death toll, arguing there were deaths on both sides.

Both countries were very close to reaching a reconciliation deal in 2009 that even included a section to establish a history commission to discuss whether the massacres amounted to a genocide. But Baku’s strong protest over the continued Armenian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh and its threat to stop crucial energy deals with Ankara prevented further progress. 

Now that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has largely been resolved for Azerbaijan through its military conquest, the Turkish officials are confident that a resolution is more than likely. 

‘Diplomatic engagement between Turkey and Armenia offers a rare success in Turkish foreign policy and a positive development after months of instability and economic crisis’

– Richard Giragosian, analyst

Turkish officials say the biggest difference is that both sides aren’t trying to have a complete reconciliation deal as they did in 2009.

“This time we are only focussing on normalisation steps. And we plan to take it gradually, a step-by-step approach based on mutual trust and progress,” the Turkish official said. “The dispute on how to name the killing of the Armenian citizens in 1915 or other issues aren’t on our agenda.” 

One of the points of contention between Turkey and Armenia has always been the latter’s claims on Turkish territory. Turkish officials believe the provisions on the Armenian declaration of independence and the constitution on a “Western Armenia” on Turkish lands are up to interpretation and pose no genuine threat. 

“The return to a ‘normalisation’ process between Turkey and Armenia will begin with a more modest and practical set of objectives: establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the closed border,” says Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre, an independent think tank in Yerevan, Armenia.

“Moreover, normalisation represents a first step, and does not offer or seek reconciliation or rapprochement.”

Giragosian says both sides have already taken the first step by naming envoys and starting charter flights between the two countries, which they did earlier this month. 

Turkish officials believe normalisation between Turkey and Armenia will serve the broader security and stability in the region.

“And for sure, once the borders are open and the trade flows, it will be good for both people of the two countries, especially the border towns,” a second Turkish official said. “We believe Iran and Georgia will also benefit from this.”

Officials say there are more reasons to normalise relations with Armenia than not, and believe Russia – which has substantial commercial and political interests in Yerevan – won’t hinder the process.

“A return to diplomatic engagement between Turkey and Armenia offers a rare success in Turkish foreign policy and a positive development after months of political instability and economic crisis in Turkey,” Giragosian told MEE.

“Moreover, this return to normalisation with Armenia is also a component of a more ambitious Turkish effort of rapprochement with Israel, the UAE and others.” 

However, Turkish officials are concerned that the Armenian diaspora in the United States and France could undermine normalisation by conducting a public campaign in Armenia and using its political capital. It could do this, they fear, through ultra-nationalist parties like the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which is historically known as Dashnaktsutyun.

“We told our western friends, including the Americans, to help us to prevent possible provocations by the diaspora,” the second official said.

Giragosian says the Armenian government is much more secure and self-confident, especially after its re-election in June.

“The diaspora is more marginal and much less of a factor or consideration for the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,” he said. “Thus, although the diaspora is widely expected to oppose this process, its role as an effective spoiler or capacity to sabotage the process is much less than before.” 

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Turkish officials also mention that the reconciliation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be important to maintain the Turkish-Armenian talks. 

“We cannot say that any possible armed clashes between both sides wouldn’t have an impact on our diplomatic talks,” the first Turkish official said. “However, our track is separate and has its own course.” 

Azerbaijan wants Armenia to abide by a deal both parties signed last year under Russian mediation, which requires a land corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave, through Armenian territory. Ankara also believes the corridor is commercially important for Turkey to open up the Central Asian and Turkic republics to the east. 

“Although normalisation is a bilateral process between Turkey and Armenia, the most significant impediment comes from Azerbaijan,” said Giragosian.

“And there is little genuine confidence that Azerbaijan’s currently permissive position will last. And given the record over the past many months, the outlook for security and stability in this ‘region at risk’ remains uncertain and unpredictable at best.”

But one advantage the parties have this time is the experience from the 2009 talks. And Turkish officials are hopeful that, albeit slowly, this time they will succeed.