Author: Jagharian Tania

                                        Friday, 
Deal On Karabakh’s Status ‘Key To Lasting Peace’
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair James Warlick gave a press conference at 
the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, 26 October, 2015
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh will remain unresolved as long as there is no 
agreement on the disputed territory’s status, according to James Warlick, a 
former U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.
In an interview with Infoco.am, Warlick also said that Armenia can benefit from 
the opening of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey “once there is that kind 
of settlement in place.” “This can be a big change but it does require a lasting 
settlement,” he stressed.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly stated that transport links with 
Azerbaijan and Turkey will significantly benefit the Armenian economy and help 
to usher in an “era of peaceful development” in the region.
Pashinian’s critics point to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s regular claims 
that Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war resolved the conflict and demands for 
Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over the territory through a 
bilateral “peace treaty.”
“I think that Baku does need to understand that there needs to be a way to 
address the issue of status for Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Warlick. “There will be 
no permanent, lasting settlement without the issue of status being addressed.”
“I think that the way to do that is to have a negotiating process that the sides 
can trust, that has international guarantees from the OSCE, perhaps 
international peacekeepers of some sort, that provides a status for 
Nagorno-Karabakh, that clarifies the borders, that deals with issues such as 
refugees,” added the former diplomat, who led the Minsk Group, together with 
fellow envoys from Russia and France, from 2013 to 2016.
In his words, the United States, Russia and France should conduct such a process 
“at the foreign ministers’ level and higher.”
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, has likewise repeatedly stated that 
Washington believes the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved. “We do not see the 
status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved,” she said last September in 
remarks condemned by Baku.
Aliyev mocked the Minsk Group co-chairs and questioned the wisdom of their 
continued activities last month. “They must not deal with the Karabakh conflict 
because that conflict has been resolved,” he said.
Warlick suggested that Russia, which helped to stop the six-week war, can play a 
key role in reviving the Karabakh peace process.
“Frankly, Russia should welcome the kind of lasting settlement that really and 
truly brings a lasting peace to the South Caucasus,” he said. “Does Russia 
really want to have continued instability in the region? I don’t believe so.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in June that the mediators should 
not rush to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani deal on Karabakh’s status. He 
insisted that confidence-building measures in the conflict zone must be their 
top short-term priority.
Rising Energy Prices Hit Greenhouse Farming In Armenia
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia - A greenhouse in Ararat province, 
Greenhouse owners in Armenia have warned that rising prices of electricity and 
natural gas will further push up the cost of their agricultural produce and 
could also drive many of them out of business.
Greenhouse owners in Armenia have warned that rising prices of electricity and 
natural gas will further push up the cost of their agricultural produce and 
could also drive many of them out of business.
Armenian utility regulators raised the electricity prices by an average of about 
10 percent in December. The steepest price hike (12 percent) was set for 
businesses.
The retail prices of gas are widely expect to go up on April 1, less than two 
years after the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) raised the gas 
tariff for corporate consumers by roughly 4.5 percent.
Greenhouses, which now account for a sizable share of fruits and vegetables 
grown in Armenia, are especially reliant on gas and electricity in winter 
months. Their owners say that they will struggle to remain afloat after the 
upcoming price hike.
“If gas becomes more expensive, we won’t burn it anymore [for heating purposes.] 
Let people buy stuff grown abroad,” said Samvel Harutiunian, a farmer from 
Hovtashat, a village in Armenia’s southern Ararat province.
Armenia - Samvel Harutiunian, a greenhouse owner in Hovtashat village, February 
18, 2022.
Harutiunian, who built his greenhouse more than a decade ago, said that he 
already had trouble operating at a profit last year.
“We’ll have to think about leaving this country or doing something else here,” 
he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We can’t do agricultural work anymore.”
According to Poghos Gevorgian, the head of the Armenian Greenhouse Association, 
natural gas accounts for at least half of the production costs incurred by 
farmers like Harutiunian.
“People already don’t have money to buy [greenhouse output,] and so greenhouses 
are now collapsing little by little,” said Poghosian.
Greenhouse farming in Armenia has expanded rapidly since the early 2000s, making 
it the most dynamic segment of domestic agriculture still dominated by 
subsistence farming. Greenhouses were built across the country not only by 
village but also large export-orient companies.
The Armenian government is now facing growing calls to shore up the greenhouse 
industry in the face of the rising energy costs. Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian 
said last month that the government is helping farmers offset the price hikes 
with higher productivity. But he did not elaborate.
Armenia - Workers at a commercial greenhouse in Ararat province, 19Apr2017.
The Ministry of Economy said on Friday that it will not to comment on the impact 
of a higher gas price until the utility regulators make a “final decision” next 
month.
Razmik Hambarchian, a farmer who owns a 2-hectare greenhouse in another Ararat 
village, Ghukasavan, said he will raise the prices of his vegetables by around 
15 percent if gas does become more expensive. He said he has already laid off 
some of his workers and switched to new crops in response to the increased 
living costs.
“Electricity, water and food have become more expensive,” complained 
Hambarchian. “What can we do? Rise up? If we rise up, where should we go? To 
Paris or Berlin? Things have become more expensive all over the world.”
According to official statistics, food prices in Armenia soared by an average of 
almost 13 percent last year, reflecting a global trend. They pushed up overall 
inflation to 7.7 percent, the highest rate in many years.
Opposition Activist May Face Trial For ‘Insulting’ Pashinian
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Political activist Shahen Harutiunian speaks with RFE/RL's Armenian 
Service, Yerevan, .
Law-enforcement authorities have launched criminal proceedings against a young 
political activist who has branded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian a 
“nation-destroying scourge” and accused him of treason.
Shahen Harutiunian, the 22-year-old leader of a small party called Shant 
Alliance, is one of several hundred individuals investigated by the authorities 
under legal amendments condemned by Armenian and Western human rights groups.
The amendments to the Criminal Code passed by Armenia’s government-controlled 
parliament last summer made “grave insults” directed at individuals because of 
their “public activities” crimes punishable by heavy fines and a prison sentence 
of up to three months. Those individuals may include government and 
law-enforcement officials, politicians and other public figures.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor-General, 31 Armenians faced such 
criminal charges by January 1. Many of them are thought to have been accused of 
offending Pashinian.
Harutiunian may also be indicted. He was summoned to a police station in Yerevan 
on January 20 just days after denouncing on his Facebook page “yet another act 
of high treason and manifestation of indignity” by Pashinian. He also echoed 
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s famous characterization of the prime 
minister as a “nation-destroying scourge.”
Harutiunian publicly repeated his comments before being questioned by police 
officers for a second time.
“I refused to give any explanations and left the police station and then made 
the written comment for a third time,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on 
Friday. “Maybe they will summon me again in the coming days.”
The activist argued that he did not swear at Pashinian and simply expressed his 
political views. He accused the authorities of trying to muzzle him and other 
vocal critics of their policies.
Armenia - Opposition activist Shahen Harutiunian invades the pitch during an 
Armenia-Portugal football game at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan, 13Jun2015.
A spokesperson for Armenia’s Investigative Committee said, meanwhile, that he 
has not been formally charged yet.
Harutiunian had risen to prominence during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s 
rule when he campaigned for the release of his father Shant, a fringe 
nationalist politician jailed for organizing a violent anti-government protest 
in 2013.
Shant Harutiunian was set free six months after Sarkisian was toppled in 2018 
mass protests led by Pashinian. His son actively participated in the “velvet 
revolution” and worked in 2019 as an aide to a pro-Pashinian parliamentarian.
Shahen Harutiunian began openly challenging the current government after 
Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. His party helped to defeat 
Pashinian’s Civil Contract in at least two local elections held last fall.
All forms of slander and defamation had been decriminalized in Armenia in 2010. 
The Pashinian administration’s decision to restore criminal liability for such 
offenses drew criticism from local and international human rights groups as well 
as the Armenian opposition.
ARMENIA -- Police detain an opposition demonstrator during an anti-government 
protest in Yerevan, February 23, 2021
Opposition leaders say that Pashinian himself has relied heavily on slander and 
“hate speech” before and after coming to power in 2018.
The U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House has repeatedly called a repeal of the 
controversial amendments, saying that they highlight a “clear degradation of 
democratic norms” in Armenia.
Vladimir Vartanian, a senior pro-government lawmaker, again defended the 
amendments last week. “We have to understand that freedom of speech has limits,” 
he said.
Ruben Melikian, a pro-opposition lawyer representing over a dozen persons 
prosecuted for insulting Pashinian and other officials, suggested that the 
criminal cases run counter to the Armenian constitution.
“The stories I hear are so ridiculous that they are enough to declare these 
articles [of the Criminal Code] unconstitutional,” he said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
 

Middle East Eye
[Rights group rejects criticism from US Congress against its report
labelling Israel an apartheid state]
MEE Staff
Feb. 3, 2022
Amnesty International has called on the United States to pressure
Israel "to repeal discriminatory laws and policies" and to "review"
its military aid to the country, days after the rights group released
a landmark report calling Israel an apartheid state.
In a statement, Amnesty's USA chapter appeared to push back against
criticism from members of Congress against the findings of its report
and said Washington was in a "uniquely placed" position to pressure
Israel into repealing certain discriminatory policies that have been
levied against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territories.
"We encourage all members of Congress to use the full power of their
office to advance human rights for all by calling for a thorough
review of US security aid to Israeli forces to determine whether such
aid has been used in the commission of violations," the rights group
said.
"By conditioning security aid appropriated to Israel on an end to
violations of international humanitarian law and improvements in
respect for human rights.”
The statement comes just a few days after Amnesty labelled Israel an
apartheid state, saying its policies "benefit Jewish Israelis while
restricting the rights of Palestinians".
Amnesty became the latest rights group to join a cadre of
organisations that have used the term to describe Israel's
discriminatory treatment of Palestinians.
The organisation highlighted crimes Israel has committed that fall
under the definition of apartheid, such as the forcible transfer of
Palestinians; Israel's destruction of homes and land owned by
Palestinians; and the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians
"without charge or trial".
In its report, Amnesty called on the UN Security Council to "impose
targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials
most implicated in the crime of apartheid, and a comprehensive arms
embargo on Israel.'
Accusations of slander and misinformation
The report, however, was met with immediate and fierce opposition from
Israeli officials and leaders, as well as the Biden administration
which rejected the apartheid label on Israel, a close and
long-standing US ally.
A number of members of US Congress across both parties also attacked
the report, including Republican Senators Jim Risch; Marco Rubio; and
James Lankford; and Democratic Senators Bob Menendez; Chuck Schumer;
and Congressman Ritchie Torres.
Menendez, who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
accused Amnesty of "slander" and  "misinformation".
Schumer, the Senate majority leader, told Jewish Insider:
"Delegitimizing the existence of the State of Israel – a fellow
democracy and the world’s only Jewish state – as Amnesty does in its
report, brings the parties no closer to peace, but simply hardens the
extremes who do not wish to ever see a two-state solution where
Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace, freedom, security and
prosperity."
Amnesty dismissed the criticism of the report and accusations of
antisemitism levelled at the group.
"Amnesty's research, campaigns, advocacy and statements pertaining to
Israel are focused on the actions of the Israeli government - they are
not, and never will be, a condemnation of Judaism or the Jewish
people," the group said.
"Furthermore, we condemn anyone who would cynically cite our research
as justification for committing anti-Semitic acts of hatred and
violence. Amnesty International condemns anti-Semitism in the
strongest possible terms," the statement said.
 

PRESS RELEASE:
Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Avenida de: 
Berna 45-A, 1067-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Contact: Vera Cunha
Telephone: (351) 21 782 3658
Web: gulbenkian.pt:
ARMENIAN LITERATURE IN A MODERN DIMENSION 
 
VLUME.COM Armenian literature is more than accessible 
 
The Armenian Department of Galust Kulpenkean Foundation is happy to announce 
that its partnership with Vlume continues, expanding this large number 
the library.
 
Vlume digital library has a rich collection of ebooks and audiobooks 
both in Western Armenian and in Eastern Armenian. Vlume is also Armenian 
it gives the opportunity to study literature in a modern format 
to the reader. Thanks to this cooperation, many textbooks have already been published 
audio books, as well as a complete series of films for children and teenagers. With an existing program 
it is planned to enrich the library with additional 180 e-books and 125 audio books 
over the next three years. 
Vlume gives subscribers the opportunity to read and listen to books in Armenian 
with any modern tool. To familiarize yourself with the platform, visit: 
 . To read and learn about the organization's present as well as other programs 
visit for: 
  website and report to the reporter. --
KEEPING UP WITH THE DIGITAL WORLD 
 
Armenian-Language Literature, Now More Accessible Than Ever 
Vlume, a vast Armenian digital library, is becoming a go-to address for readers 
around the world
 
The Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is 
happy to announce the continuation of its partnership with Vlume. The 
Foundation’s support will enhance Vlume’s electronic library to include more 
works of Armenian literature — both in the Eastern and Western branches of the 
language. The Department continues to collaborate with Vlume to breathe new life into 
Armenian literature by sponsoring digitization efforts as well as the creation 
of new content. Under the banner of this partnership various e-books and 
audiobooks, as well as one animated series have already been published. Through 
the current collaboration, 180 more e-books and 125 audiobooks will be added to 
the library by 2023. Vlume enables users to read and listen to Armenian books on their smartphones, 
tablets and computers; to learn more about the platform please visit: 
For further information on the programmes of the Armenian Communities Department 
of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation please visit: 
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