Author: Hovik Karapetian

Providence raises nearly $40,000 at “Together for Artsakh”

Hovik Karapetian
 Pauline Getzoyan Community News, Diaspora 1

Providence Homenetmen Scouts opening the evening

The Providence, Rhode Island Armenian community came “Together for Artsakh” last Saturday, November 18, for an unforgettable evening of collective generosity highlighted by the exceptional musical stylings of vocalist Tro Krikorian and guitarist Ara Dabandjian. By the end of the night, almost $40,000 was raised, thanks to the continuous donations throughout the event and an anonymous donor who pledged to match funds up to $10,000.

A packed house “Together for Artsakh”

Organized and underwritten by the Providence Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Kristapor Gomideh and its family of organizations, including the Armenian Relief Society (ARS), Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), Hamazkayin and Homenetmen, the evening featured dinner by Sonia’s Near East Market & Deli and desserts made by the local ARS Ani and Arax chapter members.

Nareg (left) and Rosdom Mkrtschjan during the singing of the Artsakh national anthem

The Providence Homenetmen Scouts brought everyone to their feet as they marched into the hall at Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church with drums and cymbals, carrying the flags of the United States, the state of Rhode Island, Armenia, Artsakh and the ARF. Providence “Varantian” AYF Senior member Rosdom Mkrtschjan sang the American and Armenian national anthems to open the evening, followed by an emotional rendition of the Artsakh national anthem, in which he was joined by fellow AYF Junior and Senior members. Rev. Fr. Shnork Souin of Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church and Rev. Fr. Kapriel Nazarian of Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church offered the opening prayers.

Providence AYF and ARF member, Nareg Mkrtschjan, who also serves as chair of the AYF-YOARF Eastern Region Central Executive, served as emcee for the evening. “Your dedication goes beyond words…In times of crisis, our diasporan community of organizations serve as a reminder that we will never stop fighting for our cause,” Mkrtschjan said, noting the capacity crowd of more than 170 community members. He went on to stress that the goal of the evening was “to raise as much money as possibly for our Artsakhtsis.” Throughout the event, Artsakh flags were placed at the front of the stage, indicating the progress of fundraising efforts, with the intent to fill the stage – a goal that was reached well before the end of the night.

Providence ARF Kristapor Gomideh chair Hrag Arakelian

ARF Providence Kristapor Gomideh chair Hrag Arakelian took the opportunity to thank the sister organizations for coming together for Artsakh. “It’s an honor to be Armenian,” he said, “but it also comes with responsibilities.” Arakelian stressed that all the funds raised from the event will be delivered to the ARS of Eastern USA to assist ARS members on the ground who are already aiding the displaced families of Artsakh. This ensures that the funds will go directly to the “120,000 people who were ethnically cleansed from Artsakh – they escaped a massacre – and all they have is the clothes on their back,” he said, reinforcing the goal to help Artsakhtsis to stay in Armenia, and thereby strengthen Armenia.

“What’s magnificent about the Providence community is that when the church does an Artsakh event, everybody supports it. When the ARF does an Artsakh event, everybody supports it,” Arakelian said. “Whether it’s ARS, AYF, whoever does it, we show up, because Providence works together. We know that there’s strength in numbers and in community.” 

ARF Bureau member Khajag Mgrdichian and former ARS Central Executive Board member Taline Mkrtschjan served as keynote speakers for the event.

ARF Bureau member Khajag Mgrdichian

Mgrdichian acknowledged the grief felt by everyone in the room over the loss of Artsakh, underscoring that “Artsakh, liberated with the blood of our heroes, is in the hands of the enemy.” He said that Armenians cannot accept the defeat of today or allow grief to become eternal by losing the will to fight and reverse the losses. The so-called peace deals being forced upon the Armenian people can only be achieved under one condition, “if they are in preparation for the next war, because no Armenian who abides by a national ideology can be reconciled with the loss of Artsakh or with the solution that they are trying to impose on us today.”

Mgrdichian noted two phenomena in Armenian politics. First, Armenia has become a site for geopolitical competition between international actors, namely the West, Russia, Iran and China. Second, in Armenia there is a fight to eradicate national ideologies.

“These leaders have ruined our relations with our allies, without the possibility or capability to create new allies in the West,” Mgrdichian said in reference to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s administration. “Unfortunately, Armenia’s foreign policy, having lost its compass, does not have any clear direction. The evils and dangers of this have fallen on Artsakh, and probably tomorrow we will say on Armenia.” 

Mgrdichian concluded his remarks by outlining six principles that every Armenian must strive to fight for: all legal and international means must be used to free the Artsakh leadership imprisoned in Baku; the depopulation of Artsakh must clearly be called an act of genocide and presented to international actors as a genocide; every effort must be made to keep Armenians’ right of return to Artsakh alive; the humanitarian needs of the displaced people of Artsakh in Armenia must be met; the institutions of the Republic of Artsakh must be preserved, including its government structures, whose members are now in Armenia; and finally, Armenians can only return to Artsakh if international security guarantees are offered to create an environment where Armenians can live safely in their homes. 

Former ARS Central Executive Board member Taline Mkrtschjan

Mkrtschjan likewise addressed Armenians’ collective grief in her remarks, as well as the important work of the ARS. “Today, I stand before you with a heavy heart as we reflect on the recent attacks on Artsakh and the dire consequences faced by our fellow Artsakh families. In times of crisis, it is essential to recognize the resilience of our people and the indispensable role played by organizations such as the Armenian Relief Society,” she said.

The ARS acted swiftly to meet the immediate needs of the forcibly displaced Armenians of Artsakh. Working together with ARF, Homenetmen and AYF members, the organization compiled 1,000 boxes of supplies to distribute to those in need. Thus far, the ARS has distributed more than five tons of essential goods to the Artsakhtsis, Mkrtschjan noted.

While its members were springing into action and gathering goods for the displaced people of Artsakh, the organization was holding its 73rd international convention. With Artsakh as its focus and true to the ARS mission, since its inception in 1910, of being “with the people, for the people,” within a span of 30 minutes, the regions and observers who were present at the convention pledged over $440,000 to jumpstart the fundraising initiatives for Artsakh. 

Mkrtschjan said that in the short-term, securing housing and employment are the priorities. In the long-term, “the ARS, in collaboration with the sister organizations, is planning for the integration of the families into daily life in Armenia, focusing on education, healthcare, social services and mental health support,” she said. She encouraged everyone to be generous with their financial support so these programs can be fulfilled.

“With every donation, we offer a future for a young orphan whose father sacrificed his life for our homeland. With every donation, we can save a family from hunger and despair,” Mkrtschjan said. “Through our collective efforts, we can provide some dignity to these families who have lost their loved ones, their homes, their jobs, their memories, but most importantly, they have lost their homeland, our beloved Artsakh.”

Musical duo Tro Krikorian (left) and Ara Dabandjian captivating the crowd

As the line of Artsakh flags continued to grow, the musical duo of Krikorian and Dabandjian took the stage. Krikorian began singing folk and patriotic music at a young age, collaborating with many seasoned artists and musicians, including the exceptionally skilled Dabandjian, who is a well-known member of the Element Band. Krikorian explained that the duo’s idea was to arrange acoustic versions of the songs, deftly done by Dabandjian, with the aim of appealing to the younger generation.

Based on the overwhelming response of the audience, they have succeeded in spanning the generations with the arrangements. They captivated the crowd from the very beginning with the first song, “Lerner Hayreni,” which holds a special place in Krikorian’s heart as he has sung it as a lullaby for his children, right up until the end with their renditions of the revolutionary songs as the flags waved – a fitting end to a successful and memorable evening.

Revolutionary songs at the end of the night with Tro Krikorian and Ara Dabandjian

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Editor
Pauline Getzoyan is editor of the Armenian Weekly and an active member of the Rhode Island Armenian community. A longtime member of the Providence ARF and ARS, she also is a former member of the ARS Central Executive Board. A longtime advocate for genocide education through her work with the ANC of RI, Pauline is co-chair of the RI branch of The Genocide Education Project. In addition, she has been an adjunct instructor of developmental reading and writing in the English department at the Community College of Rhode Island since 2005.


RFE/RL Armenian Service – 11/21/2023

Hovik Karapetian 
                                        Tuesday, 


Baku Offers Direct Peace Talks To Yerevan


The national flags of Armenia and Azerbaijan


Azerbaijan has offered to conduct direction negotiations with Armenia on a peace 
treaty at a mutually acceptable venue, including along the state border between 
the two countries.

“Azerbaijan is ready for direct bilateral negotiations with Armenia for the 
early conclusion of a peace agreement,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on 
Tuesday.

“We believe that the two countries should decide the future of their relations 
together. This stagnation in negotiations does not contribute to the stability 
of the region,” it added.

The Azerbaijani ministry said that “the responsibility for the continuation of 
the peace process, including the choice of a mutually acceptable venue or the 
decision to meet at the state border, belongs to the two countries.” It urged 
the Armenian side to “avoid new unnecessary delays.”

The statement from Baku follows the announcement by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry 
that Yerevan has submitted its sixth proposal on a peace agreement to Azerbaijan 
following Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s November 18 call for 
“intensifying diplomatic efforts to achieve the signing of a peace treaty with 
Azerbaijan.”

“Armenia remains committed to concluding and signing a document on normalization 
of relations based on previously announced principles,” the Armenian ministry 
said.

Official Yerevan did not immediately respond to Azerbaijan’s call for direct 
negotiations that Baku has made after what appears to be its rejection of 
Western mediation in the process.

During the past several days Azerbaijan indicated that it rejected France and 
the United States as mediators because of their “pro-Armenian” bias.

During the weekend the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that while Baku 
remained open to European Union-mediated negotiations with Armenia, above all, 
it preferred “direct talks” with Yerevan.

In his recent public statements Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian urged 
the Azerbaijani leadership to publicly commit to the three key principles for 
achieving peace that he said were agreed upon by the parties during several 
rounds of Western-mediated negotiations in 2022 and 2023.

Pashinian outlined those principles as follows: Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize 
each other’s territorial integrity, the delimitation of the countries’ borders 
is based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration by which former Soviet republics 
recognized each other’s borders after the collapse of the USSR, and that 
regional trade and transport links are opened while respecting sovereign 
jurisdictions.

Pashinian made those statements as Aliyev appeared to be avoiding 
Western-mediated meetings with the Armenian leader since Baku carried out in 
September a one-day military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh that caused more 
than100,000 people, virtually the entire Armenian population of the region, to 
flee to Armenia.

Western leaders have urged Azerbaijan to respect the right of Armenians to 
return to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure the safety of those who 
decide to go back to the region that is now fully controlled by Baku.

In a November 20 interview with RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service Toivo Klaar, the 
EU’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, 
said that Brussels is looking for “rapid steps” towards the normalization of 
relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“Some people in Brussels, in member states are concerned that this is taking, in 
our view, too long. We don’t see any reason why the process of normalization 
cannot be quicker. The fact that there is no fighting, the fact that there are 
no daily reports of shooting or selling on the border does not mean that the 
things are normal. What is important is to move from this present situation of 
absence of fighting to actual normalization, which means signing of the peace 
treaty, which means opening of communications, which means delimitation of the 
border and distancing of forces so that there is really a sense of security,” he 
said.

“Frankly, I believe that it is really in Baku’s hands to demonstrate that this 
process can be fast and can be substantial. And that is what we are looking for, 
and that is what is creating some uncertainty in different quarters as to why it 
is taking so long. We don’t see a reason why this process should be taking so 
long. We believe that it could be faster,” Klaar underscored.




Yerevan Submits Another ‘Peace Agreement Proposal’ To Baku


The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan (file photo)


Armenia has submitted its sixth proposal on a peace agreement to Azerbaijan, the 
country’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

In an X post it said that the step followed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s public statement on November 18, calling for “intensified diplomatic 
efforts to achieve the signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.”

“Armenia remains committed to concluding and signing a document on normalization 
of relations based on previously announced principles,” the ministry said.

Earlier this month Azerbaijan accused Armenia of stalling the peace process by 
not responding to its latest proposal on a peace agreement for more than two 
months.

Armenia’s announcement came amid a continuing diplomatic row between Azerbaijan 
and two key Western stakeholders in the negotiation process – the United States 
and France.

Azerbaijan claims that the two countries that, along with Russia, have 
spearheaded international efforts to broker a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict for decades, can no longer play their role as mediators due to their 
“pro-Armenian” bias.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly criticized France for its public statements as well as 
a recent agreement with Armenia on the supply of weapons that it claims “only 
bolsters Armenia’s military potential and its ability to carry out destructive 
operations in the region.” Both Paris and Yerevan have rejected Baku’s criticism 
as groundless.

The Azerbaijani parliament on Tuesday also condemned a bill adopted by the 
United States Senate last week that would suspend all military aid to Azerbaijan 
by repealing the Freedom Support Act Section 907 waiver authority for the 
president with respect to assistance to Baku for fiscal years 2024 or 2025.

Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act passed along with the adoption of the 
legislation in 1992 bans any kind of direct U.S. aid to the Azerbaijani 
government. A decade later, however, U.S. lawmakers amended Section 907 to allow 
presidents to repeal it annually to provide military assistance to Azerbaijan 
such as for countering international terrorism and border security.

The bill whose short title is the “Armenian Protection Act of 2023” is due to be 
introduced in the House of Representatives, then, if passed, presented to the 
U.S. president for signing to become a law.

While rejecting France and the United States as mediators, official Baku 
indicated over the weekend that it remained open to EU-mediated negotiations 
with Armenia. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, however, stressed that, above 
all, Baku preferred “direct talks” with Yerevan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday that his country was ready for 
peace with Armenia that “will be based on mutual recognition of territorial 
integrity and sovereignty, as well as on wisdom and historical justice.”

“Armenia should plan its future based on its own national interests and not on 
the ambitions of states that are far from the region and have a bloody colonial 
past,” he said in an apparent reference to France.

The same day Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also criticized the West for 
“failing to understand” that “a new era has begun in the region after the 
Karabakh war.”

“It would be more correct that the people and leaders of Armenia seek security 
not thousands of kilometers away, but in peace and cooperation with their 
neighbors,” he said.

In his recent public remarks Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian urged the 
Azerbaijani leadership to publicly commit to the three key principles for 
achieving peace that he said were agreed upon by the parties during several 
rounds of Western-mediated negotiations in 2022 and 2023.

Pashinian outlined those principles as follows: Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize 
each other’s territorial integrity, the delimitation of the countries’ borders 
is based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration by which former Soviet republics 
recognized each other’s borders after the collapse of the USSR, and that 
regional trade and transport links are opened while respecting sovereign 
jurisdictions.

Pashinian made those statements as Aliyev appeared to be avoiding 
Western-mediated meetings with the Armenian leader since Baku carried out in 
September a one-day military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh that caused more than 
100,000 people, virtually the entire Armenian population of the region, to flee 
to Armenia.

Western leaders have urged Azerbaijan to respect the right of Armenians to 
return to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure the safety of those who 
decide to go back to the region that is now fully controlled by Baku.




U.S. ‘Would Welcome A Role’ In Facilitating Armenia-Azerbaijan Talks


US/Armenia/Azerbaijan - Trilateral talks of U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken 
(C), Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov (L) and Armenian Foreign 
Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Arlington, VA, May 4, 2023.


The United States “continues to engage the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan 
and offer to facilitate a dignified and durable peace where the rights of all 
are respected,” a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said in Washington 
on Monday.

“It is important that Armenia and Azerbaijan discuss and resolve issues directly 
to benefit the region. We would welcome a role in facilitating those talks. 
We’ve seen other countries offer to facilitate those talks. We think it’s 
important that the two countries talk face to face to reach a durable 
agreement,” Matthew Miller said.

Miller declined to speak about Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations at the level of 
foreign ministers that had reportedly been scheduled to take place in Washington 
on November 20, but were not held due to Azerbaijan’s refusal.

Over the weekend Azerbaijan said it no longer saw a mediating role for the 
United States, citing allegedly “one-sided and biased” remarks by U.S. Assistant 
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien made during a 
congressional hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh on November 15.

At the same time, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry indicated that Baku remained 
open to the possibility of European Union-mediated talks as well as direct talks 
with Armenia.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller (file photo)

Asked whether the U.S. still continues “offering Washington as a potential,” 
Miller said: “As I just said, we would be willing to facilitate those talks, as 
we have in the past, and we welcome other countries doing so as well.”

In October, Azerbaijan also refused to attend meetings with Armenia that were to 
be mediated by EU and European leaders.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s October 5 summit in Granada, 
Spain, for talks mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor 
Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel.

Pashinian had hoped that they would sign there a document laying out the main 
parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. However, Aliyev withdrew 
from the talks at the last minute.

Baku cited France’s allegedly “biased position” against Azerbaijan as the reason 
for skipping those talks in Spain.

The Azerbaijani leader also appears to have canceled another meeting which the 
EU’s Michel planned to host in Brussels in late October.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a military parade in Stepanakert, 
Nagorno-Karabakh. November 8, 2023.

In his remarks during a joint press conference with the visiting president of 
Iraq in Baku on Monday Aliyev said that “no international pressure can affect 
the will of the government and the people of Azerbaijan.”

“Now Armenia is using its diaspora for attacks against Azerbaijan. All that, 
however, will not give any result. We are ready for peace, which will be based 
on mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as on 
wisdom and historical justice,” Aliyev said, without elaborating.

The Azerbaijani leader further stressed that “Armenia should plan its future 
based on its own national interests and not on the ambitions of states that are 
far from the region and have a bloody colonial past.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday also criticized the West for 
“failing to understand” that “a new era has begun in the region after the 
Karabakh war.”

“Those who have been provoking Armenia for years, seeking benefit for themselves 
from the sufferings of all people living in this geographic region, have 
actually caused the greatest harm to Armenia. Using the Armenians, they 
condemned them to distrust and gave them empty dreams that were impossible to 
fulfill. Armenia should see and accept these realities,” the Turkish president 
said, as quote by Azerbaijan’s AzerTac news agency.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends the Organization of Islamic 
Cooperation summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November, 11, 2023.

“It would be more correct that the people and leaders of Armenia seek security 
not thousands of kilometers away, but in peace and cooperation with their 
neighbors. No amount of munitions sent by Western countries can replace the 
stability that will bring lasting peace,” he added, calling on Armenia “to shake 
the hand of peace extended by the Azerbaijanis.”

“I repeat that we, Turkey, are also ready to take necessary steps for the 
success of the process in cooperation with Azerbaijan,” Erdogan said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian did not conceal his frustration with 
what he said was Baku’s reluctance to publicly commit to the three key 
principles for achieving peace when he addressed the opening meeting of a 
three-day fall session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe in Yerevan on Saturday.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses delegates to the fall session 
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Yerevan. November 18, 2023.

Pashinian referred to the principles that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each 
other’s territorial integrity, that the delimitation of the countries’ borders 
should be based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, and that regional trade and 
transport links should be opened while respecting sovereign jurisdictions. He 
said those principles had been agreed upon in talks mediated by the West that 
took place before Azerbaijan carried out in September a one-day military 
operation in Nagorno-Karabakh that caused virtually the entire Armenian 
population of the region to flee to Armenia.

Pashinian said the lack of commitment to the principles on the part of 
Azerbaijan deepened the atmosphere of mistrust and that rhetoric from 
Azerbaijani officials left open the prospect for renewed “military aggression” 
against Armenia.

“Yerevan and Baku still speak different diplomatic languages, and we often do 
not understand each other,” the Armenian leader said.

Despite this, Pashinian and other officials in Yerevan have voiced hopes that a 
peace treaty with Azerbaijan can be signed “in the coming months.” 




Brussels ‘Looking For Steps’ From Baku, EU Diplomat Says

        • Shoghik Galstian

EU/Armenia/Azerbaijan - President of the European Council Charles Michel, Prime 
Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinian and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev 
meet in Brussels, May 22, 2022.


Brussels is looking for steps rather than just statements from Baku to show that 
Azerbaijan is ready for continuing negotiations with Armenia, a senior European 
Union diplomat has said.

Toivo Klaar, the EU’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the 
crisis in Georgia, talking to RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service on Monday, said that 
after the meeting in Granada, Spain, that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
decided not to attend “we have lost momentum.”

Toivo Klaar

“We also hear statements from Baku. But to be frank, I think what we sense is 
that there are these statements, but what we are really looking for is steps, is 
the willingness to actually make the next steps,” Klaar said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s October 5 summit in Granada, 
Spain, for talks mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor 
Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel.

Pashinian had hoped that they would sign there a document laying out the main 
parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. However, Aliyev withdrew 
from the talks at the last minute.

Baku cited France’s allegedly “biased position” against Azerbaijan as the reason 
for skipping those talks in Spain.

The Azerbaijani leader also appears to have canceled another meeting which the 
EU’s Michel planned to host in Brussels in late October.

Most recently Azerbaijan refused to attend a meeting with Armenia at the level 
of foreign ministers in Washington after allegedly “one-sided and biased” 
remarks by a senior U.S. official made during a congressional hearing on 
Nagorno-Karabakh. That meeting had reportedly been scheduled to take place on 
November 20.

Over the weekend Azerbaijan said that it did not accept the mediation of the 
United States, but was ready to continue negotiations in the Brussels format. 
Brussels has said it is ready to organize a meeting as soon as possible, but 
there is still no progress in this matter.

Arman Yeghoyan, a member of the pro-government Civil Contract faction in the 
Armenian parliament, said he believed that in order to bring Azerbaijan to a 
constructive field, the mediators should “make coherent assessments of the 
parties’ steps and speak directly.”

Arman Yeghoyan

“It is about giving up a little bit of that political correctness to speak 
directly and clearly. In my opinion, that’s what negotiations are all about, if 
we mean real negotiations and not just protocol meetings. In real negotiations 
there should be rhetoric expressing real intentions, including by mediators. If 
the mediators try to always be in the field of some kind of political 
correctness, it will make the negotiations more difficult and not easier,” 
Yeghoyan, who heads the Armenian parliament’s standing commission on European 
integration issues, said.

Along with skipping negotiations on Western platforms Baku declares that peace 
and security must be ensured by regional actors. Azerbaijan, in particular, 
suggests meeting in Tbilisi, Moscow, or negotiating directly, without mediators.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday also criticized the West for 
“failing to understand” that “a new era has begun in the region after the 
Karabakh war.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev attend a ceremony for the opening of a new international airport in 
Zangilan, one of the districts that Azerbaijan regained control of during the 
2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. October 20, 2022.

“Those who have been provoking Armenia for years, seeking benefit for themselves 
from the sufferings of all people living in this geographic region, have 
actually caused the greatest harm to Armenia. Using the Armenians, they 
condemned them to distrust and gave them empty dreams that were impossible to 
fulfill. Armenia should see and accept these realities,” said the Turkish 
president, as quote by Azerbaijan’s AzerTac news agency.

“It would be more correct that the people and leaders of Armenia seek security 
not thousands of kilometers away, but in peace and cooperation with their 
neighbors. No amount of munitions sent by Western countries can replace the 
stability that will bring lasting peace,” he added, calling on Armenia “to shake 
the hand of peace extended by the Azerbaijanis.”

“I repeat that we, Turkey, are also ready to take necessary steps for the 
success of the process in cooperation with Azerbaijan,” Erdogan said.

Political analyst Tigran Grigorian believes that this means that Azerbaijan has 
a clear plan to move the negotiation process to the region, by which it tries to 
bypass the principles already formed in the West.

Tigran Grigorian

“After Azerbaijan’s September military operation [in Nagorno-Karabakh], there is 
also some pressure against Baku. It cannot be said that this pressure is very 
big, but still there is some pressure, and Baku does not like all this, and that 
is also the reason why it is trying to bring the processes out of the Western 
influence. In that matter, of course, the interests of Baku and Moscow 
coincide,” Grigorian said.

Moscow regularly announces that it is ready to organize a new trilateral 
meeting. Last week, Armenia’s ambassador to Russia told the Russian Interfax 
news agency that Yerevan is considering the proposal to hold a meeting of 
foreign ministers in Russia. So far, however, official Yerevan has not announced 
whether there is a specific agreement on that. It also remains unclear whether 
the Armenian side is ready to accept the offer to negotiate in Moscow against 
the background of increasingly sour relations between Armenia and Russia.

At this moment, it is clear that Armenia has not yet replied to the latest 
version of a draft peace treaty that Baku says it handed over to Yerevan in 
September. Recently, Azerbaijan has criticized Armenia for “dragging out” the 
process.

The pro-government lawmaker in Yerevan said “we are working” on it.

“It’s not a kind of work that can be done quickly. There were times that they 
[Baku] also delayed their reply. It’s negotiations. It’s not a train that has to 
be on time and that we can say is late. Discussions are going on, discussions 
are going on also within the state, which may last a week longer or shorter,” 
Yeghoyan said.

Despite what appears to be a stalled negotiation process, the Armenian official 
said he still saw the possibility of signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by 
the end of the year.

“Processes are underway. Yes, they did refuse to participate in negotiations, 
but that does not mean that the processes have stopped. Besides, they have 
separate relations with different centers in the world, too, and these relations 
also impact our relations. And their relations with these centers have not 
ceased,” Yeghoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.




CSTO ‘Continues To Work’ On Sending Observation Mission to Armenia

        • Nane Sahakian
        • Shoghik Galstian

Flags of member states are being raised at the CSTO joint military exercises in 
Tajikistan in 2021.


Despite the fact that Armenia will not participating in the November 23 summit 
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk, the Russian-led 
defense bloc “continues to work on sending an observation mission to Armenia.”

The CSTO Secretariat’s statement to this effect made on Tuesday follows a 
statement by the organization’s Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov made 
the previous day during a meeting with Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, 
the formal host of the upcoming summit, that Yerevan had asked the CSTO to 
remove the issue of providing military assistance to Armenia from the 
organization’s agenda.

“Out of the 34 decisions made at the Collective Security Council meeting [in 
Yerevan] in November last year, only two have not been implemented. One of them 
was the re-editing of the Council’s decision on assistance to Armenia. Despite 
the fact that all other allies supported this decision, the Armenian side did 
not show any interest in that document. Moreover, at the final stage of the work 
on the document the Armenian side asked for it to be removed from the agenda 
altogether,” the Kazakh head of the CSTO said.

Armenia had appealed to the CSTO for military assistance in September 2022 
following two-day deadly border clashes with Azerbaijan that Yerevan said 
stemmed from Baku’s aggression against sovereign Armenian territory.

The Russia-led bloc that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and 
Tajikistan never called out the aggressor, while agreeing to consider sending an 
observation mission to Armenia.

At the CSTO summit held in Yerevan in November 2022 Armenia declined such a 
mission unless it gave a clear political assessment of what Yerevan said was 
Azerbaijan’s aggression and occupation of sovereign Armenian territory.

Explaining his decision to skip the Minsk summit, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian told the parliament in Yerevan earlier this month that the 
“fundamental problem” with the CSTO was that this organization has refused “to 
de-jure fixate its area of responsibility in Armenia.”

“In these conditions this could mean that by silently participating [in the 
summit] we could join the logic that would question Armenia’s territorial 
integrity and sovereignty. We can’t allow ourselves to do such a thing, and by 
making such decisions [not to attend CSTO gatherings] we give the CSTO and 
ourselves time to think over further actions,” Pashinian said.

During the November 15 question-and-answer session in parliament the Armenian 
leader refused to be drawn into the discussion of whether Armenia planned to 
formally quit the CSTO, nor would he speak about any security alternatives to 
membership in this organization.

“We are not planning to announce a change in our policy in strategic terms as 
long as we haven’t made a decision to quit the CSTO,” Pashinian said.

While official Yerevan has not yet confirmed that it had asked for the document 
on assistance to Armenia to be removed from the CSTO agenda, Hakob Arshakian, a 
deputy parliament speaker representing Pashinian’s ruling Civil Contract party, 
implied that such a move would only be natural given that the CSTO has not 
changed its attitude.

“That’s the problem that was openly discussed in the works related to the CSTO, 
that is, these issues arose from there, and the reason is the same,” Arshakian 
told reporters.

Last year, the then Secretary-General of the CSTO Stanislav Zas said that the 
heads of member states had ordered him to finalize the document on sending an 
observation mission to Armenia and submit it for signing. Official Yerevan has 
not reported any efforts by the CSTO to amend that document over the past year.

It also became known on Tuesday that Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan 
and Defense Minister Suren Papikian will not attend the meetings of their 
counterparts from CSTO member states that are scheduled to be held in Minsk on 
November 22.



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.

Prosecutor General presents the evolution of powers of the Armenian Prosecutor’s Office to the UN Special Rapporteur

Hovik Karapetian

 19:20,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Anna Vardapetyan, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia on Monday held a  meeting with the delegation led by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Fabian Salvioli, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia said in a statement.

''Anna Vardapetyan highly appreciated the importance of the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate and emphasizes her agreement with his statement made during the 4th Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide. According to which, the glorification of war criminals cannot be combined with democratic values. In this context, Anna Vardapetyan underscores the necessity to address war crimes properly, provide an adequate assessment, and implement effective measures aimed at their prevention,'' reads the statement.

According to the source, the Prosecutor General presented to the EU's special rapporteur the evolution of the powers of the Armenian Prosecutor's Office, along with the toolkit aimed at combating corruption, protecting state (community) interests, confiscating property of illegal origins, preventing torture, and the criminal struggle against them.

Conceptual changes in the criminal and criminal procedure codes were also discussed during the meeting.

Deputy Foreign Minister stresses the imperative of UN involvement in addressing primary needs of refugees from Karabakh

Hovik Karapetian

 20:46,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. On November 17, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vahe Gevorgyan had a meeting with Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas of the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Miroslav Jenča.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the situation resulting from Azerbaijan's policy of ethnic cleansing and continuous use of force in Nagorno-Karabakh, emphasizing the importance of addressing the security, humanitarian and social-economic issues of more than 100,000 forcibly displaced Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, the foreign ministry said.

In this context, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed the imperative of the involvement of the international community, especially the relevant UN agencies, in order to address the primary and long-term needs of the forcibly displaced refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, to restore their fundamental rights and ensure their right to  dignified and safe return to their homeland.

During the meeting, the interlocutors also touched upon the prospects of lasting stability and peace in the region.




Armenian Prime Minister addresses the missed opportunity of the Granada meeting

Hovik Karapetian

 21:36,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. "At the 6th Peace Forum in Paris, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the issue regarding the missed opportunity for a meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Granada. Pashinyan clarified that the Granada meeting and its format were agreed upon on July 15, 2023, in Brussels. Therefore, it was not planned a week, ten days, or even a month ago.

"We reached an agreement on this matter, and we had a preliminary understanding of the meeting's format in Granada, which, I believe, took place in June. The first five-party meeting took place there, and we reached an initial agreement that the subsequent five-party meeting would be held. An essential detail is that the list of participants was confirmed. Subsequently, on July 15, we reaffirmed this meeting in Brussels," Pashinyan stated.

"We were not aware, and I personally was not informed, of another agenda. When preparing for the Granada meeting, it seemed that everything had been agreed upon. I believe the Azerbaijani President's refusal to participate in the Granada meeting was not due to other circumstances; it was simply a matter of addressing an issue that had already been agreed upon," Pashinyan clarified.

Armenian Deputy FM outlines principled issue in talks with Azerbaijan

Hovik Karapetian

 13:04, 9 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The issue of determining the border with Azerbaijan continues to be a principled matter for Armenia in the negotiations, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan has said.

“The issue of clarifying the border line continues to be principled for us. Specifying the border line between the two countries must be the cornerstone of the possible agreement on normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. Recording the four principles of the unblocking process, which are recorded in the Granada statement, are also among the important issues. The creation of a clear mechanism for dispute settlement will also be important,” Kostanyan told reporters on November 9, adding that the two sides must bring their positions closer over these issues.

Kostanyan said that Armenia continues to be interested in signing a treaty with Azerbaijan on normalizing relations.

We welcome journalists who cover truth related to Armenia and the South Caucasus: Armenia’s Foreign Ministry

Hovik Karapetian

 20:32, 2 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. On the International Day  “End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists” Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the specialists covering the truth about Armenia and the South Caucasus.

“On International Day End Impunity for Crimes against journalists, we salute to professionals who stand on side of justice and cover truth related to  Armenia and South Caucasus. We remember those who gave voice to people of Nagorno Karabakh trapped in war, blockade and forced displacement,” Armenia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ani Badalyan posted in Twitter.

The Turkish Republic’s criminal legacy

Hovik Karapetian
November 1, 2023 Stepan Piligian In Sight, Columns 0

This past Sunday, October 29, was a day of grand celebration for the Turkish nation. It was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after the “war of independence.” Kemal had served in the Ottoman army in both eastern and western campaigns. He skillfully took advantage of the victorious allies’ confusion and duplicity to drive the “foreigners” out, eventually establishing the new Turkish Republic. Kemal was revered for his introduction of “democracy” to Turkey and the transition to secular institutions, in sharp contrast to his Ottoman predecessors. Pictures of Kemal adorned nearly every building and home in Turkey in reverence to the man they called “father of the Turks.” The West eventually warmed to the western-leaning Turkish nation, particularly during the post-World War II period, and Turkey joined NATO in 1952. Turkey also joined the U.N. coalition in the Korean War and enjoyed the support of the western alliance, which transformed Turkey’s military into a modern fighting unit. Turkey has earned deep friendships in the Pentagon and State Department, as it has received investments from the military industrial complex for serving as a buffer to the Soviet Union for decades. Despite its questionable loyalty to NATO under current President Recep Erdogan and its obstructionist role in Syria against United States interests, Turkey has been forgiven countless times, as it charts its own regional hegemony. Turkey has played both sides in the Ukraine war by circumventing western sanctions against Russia and attempting to serve as a self-serving broker between both sides.

The truth of the founding of the Turkish Republic is quite different from the romantic notion of a people fighting for their independence that Turkey has projected. The reality is that Ottoman Turkey was a defeated nation as a result of World War I and committed at least three genocides (Armenian, Assyrian and Greek) to further its warped vision.

Turkey has succeeded in winning powerful friends, but not everyone has been allured by its veneer. The truth of the founding of the Turkish Republic is quite different from the romantic notion of a people fighting for their independence that Turkey has projected. The reality is that Ottoman Turkey was a defeated nation as a result of World War I and committed at least three genocides (Armenian, Assyrian and Greek) to further its warped vision. Once the allies (primarily French and British) secured their mandate in the Middle East, they had no appetite to fight the Turks, who were allowed to brutally expel the western Greeks. The allies were apparently satisfied with their bounty and withdrew from Turkish territory. The Armenians are all too familiar with the treacherous French abandonment of Cilicia after using the Armenian Legion to secure the region and encouraging Genocide survivors to return. The Ataturk that the Armenians know committed atrocities in the villages of Cilicia, purging the region of its last Armenian inhabitants. A similar cleansing took place in the postwar period in the northern Pontus region, home to an indigenous Greek nation. Ataturk went about the business of completing what the Committee of Union and Progress, or Young Turks, had not finished. Troops under his command attacked the western borders of the young Armenian republic in 1920, forcing the capitulation of independence and the loss of Kars, Ardahan and Ararat. His murderous campaigns killed thousands of Greeks and Armenians as Smyrna (Izmir) burned.

The truth is that the Turkish Republic of 1923 was founded on the blood and wealth of millions of Christians native to Asia Minor and Anatolia. Turkish independence was far less about a people seeking freedom and more about purging the nation of non-Turks. In those decades, non-Turks were defined as Christians who were of the Armenian, Greek, Assyrian and Chaldean faiths. By the end of the first decade of the Turkish Republic, these centuries-old native communities were depopulated. What remained of the Armenian community slowly centered around the neighborhoods of Istanbul. The Armenian highlands were eerily silenced by the absence of an ancient indigenous culture. The completion of the Christian purge occurred on the watch of the “revered” Ataturk. Ataturk’s brutal methods against the innocent should never be confused with freedom fighting and civilized leadership. The Kurds, who were a prominent ethnic grouping in the east, particularly in the southeast, were subjected to overt attempts at cultural assimilation as they were officially referred to as “mountain Turks.” When these attempts failed, the Kurds were subjected to atrocities such as the Dersim massacres in the 1930s, which was covered up for decades by the Republic officials. 

Perhaps the most destructive legacy of the Turkish Republic, aside from the atrocities that led to its formation, is the institutional deception created by Ataturk and continued to this day. The Ittihads were the authors of genocide, and Kemal Ataturk continued their work by designing the coverup. In the post-genocide period, billions of dollars of the property and other forms of wealth of Armenians who had been murdered or deported were confiscated under the “abandonment” laws created by Kemal and redistributed for the resettlement of Turks, providing a financial foundation for the republic. Ataturk and his Republican colleagues were not only allowed to murder hundreds of thousands of Christians, but he also completed the robbery of their earthly possessions. 

Greek refugees mourning victims of the Smyrna massacres

The western world, having little interest in this unpunished act of barbarism and exhausted by war, moved on to a postwar environment. The United States, still in the infancy of becoming a world power, entered a period of isolationism by rejecting a U.S. mandate over Armenia, the Wilsonian mandate, and limiting its activity in these former war zones. Ataturk, under the cover of his westernization of Turkey into a secular “democracy,” commanded a virtual dictatorship that used pseudo-democratic institutions to legitimize his activities. The Armenian Genocide was a taboo topic in the Turkish Republic, and Armenians were portrayed as disloyal traitors to the Turkish nation. Turks would openly comment that the Genocide was justified based on Armenian behavior. These attitudes were embedded overtly and subtly by the educational system, creating an atmosphere of institutional discrimination manifested to this day. For example, although the Treaty of Lausanne guarantees the minorities in Turkey the freedom of religion, Turkey has closed for 50 years the only Armenian seminary and openly meddles in the affairs and the election of the Patriarch. In street vernacular, the word Armenian (Ermenie) is considered an insult. During a political campaign several years ago, former President Abdullah Gul was accused of having an Armenian mother. It was a “scandalous” tactic to put him on the defensive and discredit his career. This is the legacy of the Turkish Republic. We are all familiar with how Erdogan has been working to destroy not only any semblance of democracy but to push Turkey closer to an Islamic state. This would be a reversal of one of Ataturk’s legacies and has created significant division within Turkish society. His pan-Turkic fanaticism is displayed through his “one nation two states” platform with rogue Azerbaijan while promoting racism against Armenians. 

The criminal legacy of the Turkish Republic goes beyond genocide, confiscation and coverup. Children in Turkey learn a revisionist, distorted view of history that supports their denial. I came across a small but significant example this week. My wife and I are in Washington, D.C. attending a family wedding. Our plan was to stay a few extra days and enjoy the sights with my cousin and his wife from California. On Sunday, which happened to be Turkish Independence Day, we decided to have dinner at an Italian restaurant. Our waitress was a very pleasant young woman. She had a heavy accent that seemed Middle Eastern, so we asked where she was born. She replied that she was Turkish. After our meal, I wanted to engage in further dialogue with her. I asked where she was from, and she replied, “Izmir.” I asked her if she was familiar with its past as Smyrna. She politely replied that it was a long time ago when there were “rebels” in the area. I mentioned that many innocent people died, and she was puzzled and said the campaign was part of their independence war that they were celebrating on that day. I showed her a map on my phone and said my grandfather was from Sivas, and grandmother, from Adana. She seemed pleased, probably thinking we had something in common. At that point I asked her a question. “Why do you think we know so much about Turkey and its history? I can tell you we are not Turks or Greeks.” She didn’t respond, and I told her we are “Ermenie.” Her tone changed as her “education” kicked in. She told me that during that time there was a major problem with “disloyalty” and people left. She added that if we are interested in that era there is an “Ottoman restaurant” nearby. My wife, who was seething at this point, said we would not go there. Thus, we ended our Turkish Independence Day encounter. This young woman, a native of Izmir, is a 21st-century product of the corrupt Turkish education system as it relates to World War I and Armenians that continues teaching children lies and creates discriminatory attitudes. It started in Ataturk’s time and has continued in order to prevent the truth from enabling justice. The Azerbaijanis, who have stolen everything in their creation, have learned this propaganda technique from their cousins to the west. They openly teach hatred of Armenians to their young, copying the institutional discrimination policies that have existed in Turkey for a century.

If Turkey is truly ready – and I highly doubt it – to open a new beginning with Armenia, then it should start by peeling back the layers of lies. It will be challenging, because the layers have been professionally designed for decades. There can be little hope for a “normalization” as long as the educational system characterizes Armenians as “disloyal” or “rebellious” people not worthy of respect, or as long as Erdogan describes Armenians as “remnants of the sword,” or states that Turkey will finish what our “grandfathers started.” Signing a treaty with Turkey must be accompanied by systemic change to dismantle discriminatory policies and behavior. There is nothing “normal” about establishing relations with a country that has worked to diminish your presence on this earth and has designed an educational system to perpetuate the crime. In the meantime, their 100th anniversary will be celebrated with congratulatory rhetoric, but we know the truth. We will not be silenced.

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Stepan was raised in the Armenian community of Indian Orchard, MA at the St. Gregory Parish. A former member of the AYF Central Executive and the Eastern Prelacy Executive Council, he also served many years as a delegate to the Eastern Diocesan Assembly. Currently , he serves as a member of the board and executive committee of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). He also serves on the board of the Armenian Heritage Foundation. Stepan is a retired executive in the computer storage industry and resides in the Boston area with his wife Susan. He has spent many years as a volunteer teacher of Armenian history and contemporary issues to the young generation and adults at schools, camps and churches. His interests include the Armenian diaspora, Armenia, sports and reading.


Sports: Juventus Took a Close Look at Touted Armenian Forward

Hovik Karapetian
Oct 13 2023
 Enrico Passarella


Juventus are attentively keeping tabs on a few young talents, and their emissaries were spotted in Rigas to watch the game between Latvia and Armenia to monitor Eduard Spertsyan. He’s high on their list should they make an addition in his role, Tuttomercatoweb informs.

He can play as a no.10 and on either flank. He has starred 13 times with Krasnodar so far this season, scoring 5 times and providing 3 assists. The 23-year-old has spent his entire career at the Russian club, becoming a regular in 2021/2022.

Juventus wish to add some young guns to their squad, and Spertsyan would fit the mold. He’d be a gamble à la Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for former Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli. His team rejected a €10M offer from Ajax in June. His valuation might be around €15M. Instead, there’d be no issue with his wages.

Milan, Inter, and Fiorentina have watched him lately as well. He’s open to transferring to Italy. There have been some contacts already, but he’s an extra-EU player, which forces teams to carefully weigh whether to sign him considering the restriction.

They are being suspiciously active on wingers and no.10s for a side using a 3-5-2 formation. Rolling the dice on a foreign starlet would be a nice change of pace for them. Giuntoli will pull the trigger once he finds somebody who combines potential with an affordable price tag.

Russia ready to support Armenia, Azerbaijan in signing peace treaty, says Putin

Hovik Karapetian

 14:22,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Russia is ready to support Armenia and Azerbaijan in signing a peace treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Speaking at the CIS summit, Putin said that Russia is ready to host the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks.

“The preparation of the peace treaty [between Armenia and Azerbaijan] is on the agenda to finally put an end to the many years of conflict. The Russian side is certainly ready to provide all possible assistance to its colleagues in this issue. We are particularly ready to organize negotiations in Moscow, in any format necessary,” Putin said.

“We will certainly help in order for the talks to be completed with a signed peace treaty by the leaders of that countries,” he added.

President Putin said that Russia made significant efforts during the past three years to prevent escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and end the hostilities.