March: 12, 2026
Nikol Pashinyan said in a press conference with journalists after the Cabinet meeting today that when the clergy use the expression “Republic of Artsakh” during church liturgies, they are inciting war with Azerbaijan.
“Regarding the question of why I say that the Church, Kprich Nersisyan and his group, took over the leadership of the war party, it has a very simple explanation. I go to liturgy and I see that during the liturgy they refer to the Republic of Artsakh and so on, and there is no such thing in the text of the liturgy, they deviate from the text of the liturgy. What does that mean, it means conflict, that is, we refer to Artsakh Republic, etc., it first means conflict, and then, if we adopt that theory, on the way to that theory, we have to go to conflict, so how do we solve it?
Every such sentence means a call to war: today, tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, I don’t know, but it means a call to war. When they say: Republic of Artsakh from every pulpit, they have stepped on the road to war.
Every time we say this, Azerbaijan in turn develops its speech. They say: return, what kind of return, where to return, is there a topic of return of refugees, but Azerbaijan is putting forward the same thing in the same way. Those topics will develop, develop, clash with each other and become a war.” announced Pashinyan.
Former HRD of Artsakh Republic, former Minister of State Artak Beglaryan for example, it is interesting why Nikol Pashinyan never responds to the statements of the Azerbaijani authorities and state bodies.
“When, for example, Azerbaijan announces the return of “West Azerbaijan”, “Zangezur”, “West Azeris”, state bodies and media use Armenian place names as Azerbaijani names, doesn’t Nikol Pashinyan think that they are inciting war with this? Or is he just confident in his abilities that he will not start a war, but he is not sure that Aliyev will start or not?
In fact, their policy is a policy of war, because by constantly giving in, constantly being humiliated, humiliating us all, giving in to our intransigent borders, there will be physical and non-physical borders, thereby showing Azerbaijan that it is possible to have war results even without war. It is possible to get everything they want by waging cognitive or hybrid warfare.
Nikol Pashinyan is either conducting the Turkish-Azerbaijani policy deliberately, which literally means treason, or he lacks the minimum political maturity to do all this for years.” 168.am–Artak Beglaryan said in a conversation with
According to our interlocutor, there is also a third version, according to which Nikol Pashinyan is not interested in Armenia, the Armenian people, rights, etc., he is only interested in himself and his government. And in order to preserve that power, he feels that he can go in that direction in order to keep the Armenian society always divided and to be able to neutralize the possible threats to his power by intimidating the people with external threats and internal “enemies”.
Artak Beglaryan has been of the belief for a long time that Nikol Pashinyan understands many things very well and he does everything by understanding them. for example, it should not put the issues of those forcibly displaced from Artsakh and Azerbaijanis who left Armenia on the same level.
“At least that’s how he interprets it, that many things need to be done to maintain his power.
By the way, Aliyev has approximately the same motivation, that is, Aliyev is preaching Armenian hatred there, committing crimes against the Armenian people in order to perpetuate his power, Nikol Pashinyan is conducting such concessionary, humiliating and divisive policies here to maintain his power.
Of course, seasoning all that with propaganda manipulations, misleading the people, etc. But all this cannot lead to peace, it happens within the framework of approaches based on fair, dignified and mutual respect.
When one side constantly humiliates the other side, the rights of the weak side are constantly violated, the weak side cannot have peace. With this, he postpones a possible war, but does not neutralize the threat. And the threat is the Azeri ideology, the Armenian hatred, which cannot be eliminated. The threat is Aliyev, it is our weakness, our division,” stressed Artak Beglaryan.
Our interlocutor emphasizes that Nikol Pashinyan is not the one who decided the return of Artsakh Armenians.
“Each citizen of Artsakh, in this case a refugee, decides for himself whether he wants to return or not. Unfortunately, the state position depends on Nikol Pashinyan, and since the people of Artsakh are stateless and we do not have a state, the only state that undertook our protection was the Republic of Armenia, it actually turns out that the political agenda of our return depends on the political will or unwillingness of Nikol Pashinyan. However, this does not mean that it will always be like this.
Nikolpashinyans will come and go, but our rights will be permanent. The main thing is that we do not give up on this issue and continue our struggle for return,” emphasized Artak Beglaryan.
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Pashinyan’s government will receive Iran’s response. Iran will not forget it… Gagik Min
March: 12, 2026
The War Party is the party led by Nikol Pashinyan. About this 168TVof Revue announced on the air of the program Gagik Minasyan, member of the RPA Executive Bodytalking about Nikol Pashinyan’s speech in the European Parliament.
“Isn’t the war party the party under whose rule we had wars?” The party of war is the party in whose power you had wars, and by the number of those wars, the party led by this nation-destroying scourge is the party of war itself. But there are two types of wars: losing or winning. During this nation-destruction, all wars were losing.
During the era of this nation destroyer, we had the most extreme wars, all of them were defeated, as a result of all of them, our young men went and died, they were killed during such a war, which was caused by this nation destroying plague. We have lost our territories, today more than 200 square kilometers of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia is under Azerbaijani control, all the high positions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which control the transport movement in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, are under the control of Azerbaijan, thousand-year-old churches and monasteries are under the control of Azerbaijan today, our churches, monuments, sanctuaries are being vandalized, demolished and destroyed, people who put their homes for generations, have been deprived of all that, and he has the audacity to call others a “war party”? He brought death and war to the Armenian people, and he is the party of war,” commented Gagik Minasyan.
The Republican figure is convinced that if Pashinyan remains in power, “he will continue his death and war”.
“I can say the place: it will start from Syunik. In 2021, he said the same words that they don’t shoot, there is peace on the border. Then what happened? Then what happened happened. when you retreat, the enemy advances.
In the pre-election program, it was written: de-occupation of Shushi, Hadrut, but not only Hadrut and Shushi remained under occupation, but the whole of Artsakh was depopulated, therefore, if this is the plan of its masters, it is implementing the plan of its masters, that means, its masters say: “Say whatever you want, as long as you are elected in the 2026 elections”, then what happened after 2021 will happen, therefore, if he declares today that they will not shoot in Kirantsi, it means that after the elections they will not only shoot in Kirantsi”, added the former member of the National Assembly.
Before the National Assembly elections, Gagik Minasyan warns the public that if Pashinyan’s party is re-elected, we will have losses after the elections. the so-called “enclaves” will be surrendered, there will be problems in Syunik.
“The best way to hide it is to say ‘they don’t shoot.’ They don’t shoot today, until the elections, after the elections we will have losses as a result. He deceives and deceives the Armenian people, leads him to new trials on the instructions of his masters. The name “Nation-Destroying Plague” was correctly given to him.
Gagik Minasyan is especially concerned about the war against Iran and its possible effects and consequences on Armenia and Armenian-Iranian relations. According to the interlocutor, Iran will not forget that Nikol Pashinyan did not go to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and did not make a note in the condolence book opened in connection with the victims.
He believes that Iran can respond to it in the same way as it did with Arab countries and neighboring countries where American military bases are located.
“Even Cyprus was bombed, NATO member Turkey was bombed, an incomprehensible incident happened in Nakhichevan. I think that we will get that answer in one way or another if this administration stays in power and takes leadership positions after June 7. Yes, definitely. You know, if a mistake is not punished, it is something unacceptable to the person who suffered as a result. Armenia has really done something that is wrong towards a friendly country in international relations. He should get that answer, not the country, but the government, and the only way to neutralize it is to change this government, which is in the interests of the Armenian people.
If its owners come and insist that their positions should be implemented by these RA authorities, then we should not be surprised that the answer will be the same as, say, in Nakhichevan. If they try to open a new front from Armenia against the Islamic Republic of Iran, I don’t even want to talk about that nightmare, but if such a thing happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will treat them the way it treated our neighbors who created bases against Iran,” Gagik Minasyan believes.
Let’s remind that on March 11, Nikol Pashinyan gave a speech in the European Parliament, talking about the violations of freedom of conscience in Armenia, the establishment of a dictatorship, the accusations related to the presence of political prisoners, and in response accused that some clerics who “violated all the rules of spiritual behavior” “took over the leadership of the war party” in Armenia.
Full interview in the video.
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Armenpress: Labor Minister Torosyan, UNFPA Executive Director discuss demograp
Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan met with Diene Keita, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in New York, the ministry said.
The sides discussed the results of joint work in the fields of demography and gender equality. They also referred to cooperation in developing and implementing pro-family policies and promoting the economic empowerment of women.
During the meeting, the role of the UN Population Fund’s professional and technical assistance in the effective implementation of sectoral reforms was emphasized.
The sides also highlighted the need to exchange experience, organize training courses and implement joint initiatives in the discussed areas.
The parties expressed readiness to make further efforts to deepen cooperation.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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Saving Armenia: A Personal Encounter
- Fr. Benedict Kiely
- —
Eating a meal of fresh fish, drinking local wine and apricot brandy, and looking across Lake Sevan after attempting and failing to climb a high staircase up a mountainside to reach an ancient church was one of the happiest moments of my first and only visit so far to Armenia in 2019.
Fascinated by the world’s first Christian nation (AD 301) since my teens, the music, culture, food, and, of course, the religion were what captivated me. It was also the peculiar and centuries-long suffering of the people, culminating in the world’s first declared genocide against the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Orthodox populations, perpetrated by Turkey between 1915 and 1917.
With a diaspora in almost every country in the world, this little Christian nation has, somewhat like the Jews, been destined to experience the pain of exile, persecution, and being at the mercy of greater powers and global forces, almost since its conversion to Christianity.
Yet, like the plaintive sound of the Duduk, the uniquely Armenian wind instrument said to express the sadness of the Armenian soul, both the idea and the reality of the Armenian spirit and the nation have survived.
Christianity is the very lifeblood of the Armenian people, even if religious practice is often not what it should be. Attending the Divine Mysteries in the holy city of Etchmiadzin and receiving the blessing of the Catholicos gave a sense of the unbroken connection between the conversion of King Tiridates III in 301 and the life of the nation today. Strolling through the huge market in Yerevan, it is possible to buy beautifully painted reproductions of early Armenian miniatures, along with many other objects of folk art not made in China, as in so many markets in other countries.
Yet, almost from the beginning, this strong culture has been both surrounded by enemies and subject to continued attempts to wipe its existence from the earth. Last year, in what has been called by experts another attempt at genocide, more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians were driven from the enclave of Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, in present-day Azerbaijan, a Turkic state with a very limited history. This ethnic cleansing, condemned in words by the forces of globalism but with no actual ramifications, appears to have strengthened the claims of the Azerbaijani dictator, Ilham Aliyev, for control of all of Armenia. Aliyev, re-elected for the fifth time in February with more than 92% of the vote, a feat only rivalled by the remarkable ‘democracy’ of North Korea, ran a snap election after the brutal expulsion of the citizens of Artsakh.
Now, following years of propaganda and bellicose grandstanding, it appears that Azerbaijan is poised to invade the nation-state of Armenia itself. In 2012, Aliyev stated that “Armenia as a country is of no value.” Indeed, it is the contention of the Turkic statelet of Azerbaijan that Armenia does not exist; it is just part of a greater Azerbaijan, or rather, a greater Turkey. Aliyev has even said that Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is Azerbaijani territory.
It would be expected that such aggressive posturing, potential war, slaughter, and the massive refugee problem that would ensue should be at the centre of attention for the major powers, but there are several factors which mitigate against this being a priority.
Azerbaijan is rich in oil and gas, supplying much-needed European demand. Aliyev has bought the favour of many in the international community. Tragically, Azerbaijan supplies more than 40% of Israel’s oil, and Israel sells arms on a large scale to Azerbaijan, which is a scandal that must be halted.
It seems that, for all the pious talk about Russian aggression in Ukraine, the asset-poor but culturally rich Christian nation of Armenia must fend for itself. Where is the challenge to Turkey, a NATO member, for its encouragement of Azerbaijani goals, which are really Turkish goals?
Perhaps it is time to call the bluff of those who speak ponderously about international law, human rights, and religious freedom, but only when those mighty ideals meld conveniently with the strategic and economic interests of the global community.
Yet, if any government wishes to still, in some fashion, assume a vestige of moral integrity and justice, defending Armenia, and saving this nation from potential annihilation, it will not need the much derided ‘boots on the ground’ scenario. No U.S. or European troops need to die in Armenia; there is what might be called the ‘T & A’ solution. Trade and aid, not the colloquial use of the term, is the way to deter Aliyev and Turkey. Denmark recently decided to send all its artillery to Ukraine. That is admirable, some might say, highly dangerous and idealistic would be the view of others. Is it possible that one country that trades heavily with Azerbaijan, or Turkey, will decide to cut all economic cooperation until Armenia’s safety and territorial integrity are assured?
According to myth—remembering Tolkien’s view that myths express truth—the father of Armenian Christianity, St. Gregory the Illuminator, was thrown into a deep pit for nearly fifteen years by King Tiridates III for the crime of being the son of the murderer of Tiridates’ father. Tiridates appeared to go mad, being turned into a wild boar and being possessed by the devil. In a vision, the sisters of Tiridates were told by an angel that only the prayers of Gregory could save their brother. Long-thought dead, Gregory was miraculously drawn from the pit, healed Tiridates, baptised him, and Armenia began its beautiful journey as the world’s first officially Christian nation.
All those who care about national culture, Christian fellowship, and the preservation of the nation-state must raise their voices to save Armenia from the deep pit it faces and, with St. Gregory the Illuminator, confront the wild boar and tame him.
Fr. Benedict Kiely is the founder of Nasarean.org, a charity helping persecuted Christians.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/saving-armenia-a-personal-encounter/
RFE/RL Armenian Service – 02/22/2024
Thursday,
Major Differences Remain On Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal
Armenia- Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian speaks to jounalists, July 28,
2023.
Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to disagree on some key terms of a bilateral
peace treaty discussed by them, a senior Armenian official said on Thursday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian did not disclose them in comments to
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan spoke last month of a “significant regression”
in Azerbaijan’s position on the treaty. In particular, he indicated that Baku is
reluctant to explicitly recognize Armenia’s borders through such an accord.
Senior Azerbaijani officials have said in recent months that the two sides
should sign the treaty before agreeing on the delimitation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenian analysts and opposition figures suggested
that Baku wants to leave the door open for territorial claims to Armenia.
The Armenian government accused Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev of making
such claims after he renewed in early January his demands for Armenia to
withdraw from “eight Azerbaijani villages” and open an extraterritorial corridor
to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. Aliyev also rejected Yerevan’s insistence
on using the most recent Soviet military maps to delimit the long border between
the two South Caucasus countries.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, said on Wednesday
that the “regression” remained in the latest Azerbaijani proposals received by
Yerevan this month. It applies to key provisions of the would-be treaty, he said
without elaborating.
Grigorian insisted at the same time that the two sides could narrow their
differences during Mirzoyan’s upcoming talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Jeyhun Bayramov.
Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reached an agreement on the
talks when they met in Munich last Saturday. No date has been set for them yet.
Azeri Man Wanted By Armenia Allowed To Leave Russia
• Naira Bulghadarian
Azerbaijan - Azerbaijani fitness coach Kamil Zeinali wanted by Armenia is
greeted at Baku airport, .,
Russia allowed an Azerbaijani man accused by Armenia of beheading a
Nagorno-Karabakh civilian during the 2020 war to return to Azerbaijan on
Thursday one day after briefly detaining him at a Moscow airport.
The man, Kamil Zeynalli, was apprehended at the Domodedovo international airport
on an Armenian arrest warrant and freed a few hours later. A Russian court was
reportedly due to start on Thursday hearings on his possible extradition to
Armenia.
Russian authorities did not immediately explain why Zeynalli was allowed to fly
back to Baku. Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Russia, Polad Bulbuloglu, was reported
to say that his mission held “intensive negotiations” with the authorities and
managed to convince them that the accusations brought against him are baseless.
A spokesman for the Armenian Interior Ministry, Narek Sargsian, said that
shortly after Zeynalli’s detention it was contacted by Moscow and confirmed that
the Azerbaijani national known as a fitness coach is wanted for the war crime
allegedly committed by him. Sargsian again gave no details of the accusation
which stems from the beheading of an elderly resident of Karabakh’s southern
Hadrut district captured by Azerbaijani forces during the six-week war.
Sargsian also told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that his ministry has put together
a “package of documents” required for the suspect’s potential extradition and
will send them to Russian law-enforcement authorities. Ara Ghazarian, an
Armenian expert on international law, dismissed the move as overdue and useless.
“If that person is not in Russia, Russia can no longer initiate an extradition
process,” argued Ghazarian. “It is Azerbaijan that must initiate it, but
Azerbaijan, of course, will not do that.”
He said Moscow’s decision to let the suspect return home is politically
motivated and reflects mounting tensions in Russian-Armenian relations.
Lawmaker Contradicts Armenian Official’s Claim On Russian Troops
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenian - Russian border guards stationed in Syunik province are inspected by
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin, May 24, 2022.
Russian troops are not deployed in or around a border village where four
Armenian soldiers were killed last week, a pro-government lawmaker said on
Thursday, contradicting a senior Armenian official’s claim about Russia’s
responsibility for the Azerbaijani ceasefire violation.
The remote village, Nerkin Hand, is located in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik
province bordering Azerbaijan and Iran. It is half-surrounded by Azerbaijani
army posts.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, blamed the
Russians for the deadly incident there as he defended on Wednesday the European
Union’s monitoring mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijan regularly criticized by
Moscow.
“The EU monitoring mission has no access [to the border village] and only Russia
does,” he told journalists. “Russia is present there and it failed to prevent
the incident.”
Narek Ghahramanian, a Syunik-based parliamentarian representing Armenia’s ruling
Civil Contract party, insisted, however, that “there is no Russian presence in
the village or in the positions” around it held by Armenian forces. He said
Russian troops only have a checkpoint on a road leading to Nerkin Hand.
“Honestly, they are not present in our positions and could not have prevented or
failed to prevent [the cross-border Azerbaijani fire,]” Ghahramanian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia - A convoy of European Union monitors is seen in Syunik province,
October 20, 2022.
The head of the EU mission, Markus Ritter, said on Wednesday that the Russian
side has not allowed his monitors to visit Nerkin Hand and patrol that section
of the border. Grigorian echoed the claim, saying that the Armenian authorities
“will try to address the problem.”
Ghahramanian said in this regard that while he has heard complaints about the
Russian checkpoint he personally has never encountered any problems during his
visits to Nerkin Hand.
“I have gone there, guests from Yerevan have gone there, and villagers enter and
leave [the village.] They [the Russians] don’t check anyone,” he said.
At the same time, the lawmaker questioned the effectiveness of Russian military
presence in Syunik, saying that Russian soldiers and border guards have not used
force to prevent or stop Azerbaijani truce violations.
“What’s the point of their staying there if [the Azerbaijanis] are going to
continue to shoot?” said the lawmaker.
Russia deployed troops to Syunik during and shortly after the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend the strategic region
against possible Azerbaijani attacks. Russian-Armenian relations have
significantly deteriorated since then, with Yerevan accusing Moscow of not
honoring its security commitments to Armenia.
France Reportedly Ships More Military Equipment To Armenia
• Astghik Bedevian
France - French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu (right) and his Armenian
counterpart Suren Papikian sign an agreement in Paris, October 23, 2023.
France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu flew to Yerevan on Thursday as
Armenia reportedly received French military hardware acquired by it last October.
A deal signed by the Armenian Defense Ministry and the French defense group
Thales at the time called for the sale of three sophisticated radar systems to
the South Caucasus nation. Lecornu and his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian
attended the signing ceremony in Paris.
The GM200 radars can simultaneously detect and track multiple warplanes, drones
and even rockets within a 250-kilometer radius, allowing air-defense units to
hit such targets. France supplied two such systems to Ukraine a year ago.
France’s Le Figaro daily and AFP news agency reported that the three radars as
well as French night-vision equipment will be shipped to Armenia on Thursday.
The Armenian Defense Ministry declined to comment on those reports.
Lecornu stressed on Wednesday the “purely defensive” character of these and
other French arms supplies. Armenia is facing “major security challenges,” he
told the French broadcaster RTL in a clear reference to the risk of an
Azerbaijani attack on the country.
Lecornu headed to Armenia the day after French President Emmanuel Macron and
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met in Paris ahead of an official
ceremony to inter Missak Manouchian, an ethnic Armenian hero of the French
Resistance to Nazi occupation, at the national Pantheon.
“We will continue our defense cooperation with Armenia,” Macron said at the
start of the meeting. He urged Azerbaijan to explicitly recognize Armenia’s
borders and enable Nagorno-Karabakh’s displaced population to return to its
homeland “freely and rapidly.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned Macron’s statement, saying that it
could only create “new tensions” in the region.
UAE - A French ACMAT Bastion armoured personnel carrier at a defense exhibition
in Abu Dhabi, February 25, 2015.
Lecornu and Papikian are scheduled to meet on Friday. Andranik Kocharian, the
chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, did not
rule out that more French-Armenian agreements could be signed as a result of
their talks.
“Armenia seeks to acquire weapons of very high quality from multiple sources,”
Kocharian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The two ministers signed in October a “letter of intent” on the future delivery
of French short-range surface-to-air missiles to Armenia. It emerged afterwards
that France will also supply a total of 50 armored personnel carriers. The first
batch of 24 Bastion vehicles apparently bound for Armenia was spotted in the
Georgian port of Poti in December.
Kocharian also stressed the importance of France’s pledge to train Armenian
military personnel. According to Le Figaro and AFP, the French military will
hold three “mountain combat training courses” for them this year.
Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of weapons and ammunition. But
with Russian-Armenian relations worsening and Russia embroiled in the
large-scale war with Ukraine, Yerevan is increasingly looking for other arms
suppliers. Since September 2022, it has also signed a number of defense
contracts with India reportedly worth at least $400 million.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Nikol Pashinyan invites Emmanuel Macron for state visit to Armenia
21:28,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has invited French President Emmanuel Macron to pay a state visit to Armenia in September 2024 to participate in a gala concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Charles Aznavour.
“I hope that in September in Yerevan, we will participate together in a gala concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Charles Aznavour. I would like, Mr. President, to once again extend my invitation for you to visit the Republic of Armenia on a state visit,” Pashinyan said during a joint statement with the French president for media representatives.
[Senator] Portantino’s Unique Healthcare Provider Bill Offers Armenia Educated Doctors Ability to be Physicians Assistants in California
For Immediate Release: February 9, 2024
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Portantino’s Unique Healthcare Provider Bill Offers Armenia Educated Doctors Ability to be Physicians Assistants in California
Sacramento, CA – Recognizing the severe shortage of healthcare providers in California, Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) introduced Senate Bill 1041. The bill creates a pathway for foreign educated doctors to practice as physician assistants in California through a pilot program. The program establishes a partnership with Yerevan State Medical University to allow clinically trained healthcare professionals to work in healthcare at a time when our system needs more providers.
“There are many highly skilled medical professionals who reside in California but cannot practice medicine,” stated Senator Portantino. “This program would help address our healthcare provider shortage while offering immigrant doctors the opportunity to take steps to become qualified to practice their chosen craft here. It’s a win-win for the patient and the healthcare system.”
Foreign educated doctors often face challenges in leveraging their higher education qualifications in California. In particular, a significant number of Yerevan State Medical University graduates who practiced medicine in Armenia are not able to practice here. These doctors, however, have received more clinical education than the typical physician’s assistant has. Rather than being welcomed into our healthcare system, many must accept other forms of jobs outside of healthcare because the process of undergoing licensing or certification to practice medicine is complex, time consuming, and challenging.
SB 1041 would establish a two-year Armenian Doctor Pilot Program. The program requires participants to enroll in a medical refresher course developed by Yerevan State Medical University and an accredited academic institution in California with an approved physician assistant program. It also requires classes to be provided by Yerevan State Medical University and the approved California educational institution via a distance learning program, clinical training undertaken in a federally qualified health center that serves the Armenian community in southern California. The unique program will be eligible only for permanent residents and the citizens of the United States.
“We welcome Senator Portantino's efforts to establish the Armenian Doctors Pilot Program, which would create a pathway for Armenian educated physicians to practice as physician assistants for two years in qualified health centers in California,” stated Sarkis Balkhian, Executive Director of ANCA-Western Region. “This program is paramount not only because it provides a professional pathway for Armenian doctors to resume their medical careers but also addresses the shortage of primary care physicians with the cultural and linguistic diversity and skills required to service Armenian-Americans across California, especially those who lack the socioeconomic resources and are often left behind by the system. SB 1041 will also foster further collaboration between the medical institutions of Armenia and California.”
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https://sd25.senate.ca.gov/news/2024-02-09/portantino%E2%80%99s-unique-healthcare-provider-bill-offers-armenia-educated-doctors-ability
Why Armenia and Azerbaijan Still Can’t Reach a Peace Deal
In December, three months after the devastating September 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh displaced more than 100,000 Armenians, Yerevan and Baku engaged in bilateral talks that “reconfirmed their intention to normalize relations and to reach a peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
While it is important that both sides remain engaged in negotiations, a sustainable peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains elusive. The question in Washington remains: Can the United States do anything to help the situation?
Throughout the high-tension episodes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, each side has further entrenched its own nationalist rhetoric. Yerevan has primarily been concerned with the security and status of Karabakh Armenians who, since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, were increasingly faced with the threat of ethnic cleansing (a development that has, in fact, occurred, according to the European Parliament). Meanwhile, Baku has focused on restoring its territorial integrity as the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh statelet was always internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s latest offensive resulted in the forceful integration of Nagorno-Karabakh, resembling Russia’s 1999-2000 reabsorption of Chechnya after the Soviet Union’s collapse gave way to a separatist war. However, myriad problems remain unresolved and may once again provoke conflict in the South Caucasus.
The more than 100,000 Armenians who fled the region face uncertainty in the Republic of Armenia. After enduring a nine-month Azerbaijani blockade of vital supplies from Armenia and the outside world, Karabakh Armenians are facing harsh conditions in Armenia proper — the state is unable to allocate sufficient resources for many families, and many working-age people are unable to find jobs. According to official Armenian figures, 38% of the refugees now live in Yerevan, but the cost of living in and around the capital is far more expensive than anywhere else in the country.
Despite support from Europe and the United States, which have been minimal thus far, absorbing more than 30,000 Karabakh Armenian refugees after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and 100,000 after September 2023 is no easy task for a country of three million people, especially since they have cultural and linguistic differences from their ethnic kin raised in the Republic of Armenia. The difficulties imposed by the inflow of migrants have led more than 10,000 Karabakh refugees to settle elsewhere, with a majority choosing Russia, motivated primarily by family bonds and other connections there.
Given that economically challenged Armenia is finding it difficult to reintegrate Karabakh Armenians into society, it remains an open question whether there is an opportunity for these migrants to return to their homes in Karabakh.
After Baku established control over Nagorno-Karabakh, hundreds of Armenian monasteries, churches, cemeteries, and shrines are now at risk of erasure, as evidenced by Azerbaijan’s previous cultural erasure that occurred after the war in 2020. One of the authors of a 2019 report documenting previous instances of cultural cleansing referred to Azerbaijan’s actions in the region as “the greatest cultural genocide of the 21st century.”
Despite Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s announcement that the “Armenian population living in Karabakh will soon see a change for the better,” Armenians are skeptical of returning to their original homes without international oversight. At present, it is estimated that only a few dozen Karabakh Armenians remain in the region and most who have fled express little interest in returning without international guarantees following decades of ethnic hostility.
The possibility of renewed escalation still hangs over the region. President Aliyev’s insistence on establishing what Azerbaijanis call the “Zangezur corridor,” which would connect its mainland territory with its exclave Nakhchivan, negatively impacts the progress of peace talks, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan calling such demands “totally unacceptable.”
President Aliyev had previously made remarks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that such a corridor could be established by force, irrespective of Yerevan’s wishes. Such rhetoric has alarmed Yerevan and gravely concerned Iran, one of Armenia’s largest trade partners. In October, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his country is “strongly opposed” to such a corridor that would disrupt the land border between the two countries. Tehran has proposed an alternative route through Iranian territory.
Prospects for the United States to make an impact in peace negotiations are dim.
Yet, Azerbaijan has remained adamant about establishing a corridor through Armenia, as President Aliyev said in the January 2024 interview. Aliyev mentioned that if the Zangezur corridor is not opened, Azerbaijan will not “open [its] border with Armenia anywhere else.”
Lastly, the status of the remaining Armenian prisoners of war hangs in the air. A swap of 32 Armenian prisoners and two Azerbaijani captives that took place between the countries in December 2023 was widely welcomed by the international community. Armenian human rights activists said there were still at least 23 Armenians in Azerbaijani captivity, including former de facto politicians from Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian prisoners should have been released in accordance with the November 2020 ceasefire agreement. To achieve long-lasting peace, respecting previous agreements is necessary.
Considering these factors, what could Washington’s impact on the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations look like? Currently, it is difficult for the United States to act as a direct broker of peace. Azerbaijan no longer supports Western-backed platforms for negotiations and instead champions bilateral talks or Moscow’s brokerage, as Russia has pivoted from providing meaningful support to Armenia. In effect, Baku, which previously welcomed Western mediation, ended its support for Western-mediated platforms after achieving its aims of dissolving the breakaway statelet.
American-Azerbaijani relations rapidly soured in the final months of 2023, especially following US Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien’s Congressional statement that the US had canceled high-level bilateral meetings and engagements with Azerbaijan while expressing sympathy for Armenia. Although diplomatic meetings resumed after O’Brien’s announcement, prospects for the United States to make an impact in peace negotiations are dim.
Europe’s opportunities to play a role are also almost nonexistent as France, which hosts a sizable Armenian community, sent weapons to Armenia following the September 2023 Azerbaijani offensive. This has resulted in an escalation in tensions between Baku and Paris, as Azerbaijan arrested a Frenchman in December 2023 on espionage charges, to which France responded by expelling two Azerbaijani diplomats. At the same time, Baku has cracked down on independent journalists in Azerbaijan in a hunt for “US spies.”
Rather than attempting to steer peace negotiations directly, several principles should guide Washington’s policy toward the two countries as they seek to stabilize their relations.
These include continued encouragement for prioritizing diplomatic solutions to mitigate future conflict, supporting future conversations regarding the return of Karabakh Armenians to their homes in Azerbaijan and political prisoners and POWs to Armenia, and following through on current humanitarian assistance to Karabakh Armenians in Armenia. While Azerbaijan has invited Karabakh Armenians back to the region (granted that they apply for Azerbaijani citizenship and would have no special rights or guarantees), it is clear that they will need international oversight to feel safe returning to Azerbaijan.
Still, as things stand now, the likelihood of the integrating Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan, even with international involvement, appears slim. This process will likely only come in the event of genuine reconciliation between Armenians and Azeris. Washington should continue encouraging the two countries to advance toward such an agreement.
The United States is currently unwilling to do much more diplomatic work in the South Caucasus. But it can pursue a limited set of initiatives to make peace in the region more likely and long-lasting.
https://inkstickmedia.com/why-armenia-and-azerbaijan-still-cant-reach-a-peace-deal/?fbclid=IwAR399_AGG8VHoIHqVBonmc8XYD6_daxxvrmvlVm-T-TnW-EtHwBFjJFl6DM
Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 07-02-24
17:08, 7 February 2024
YEREVAN, 7 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 7 February, USD exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 404.26 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.40 drams to 435.11 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 4.43 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.66 drams to 510.46 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price up by 167.66 drams to 26394.83 drams. Silver price down by 2.59 drams to 289.90 drams.
New York Times Spins Lemkin’s Work on Genocide
By Mischa Geracoulis and Heidi Boghosian
Common Dreams
On Jan. 11, The New York Times published an article by Isabel Kershner and John Eligon titled “At World Court, Israel to Confront Accusations of Genocide.”
From the standpoint of critical media literacy and ethical journalistic practices, the article exhibits framing biases, historical and contextual omissions and overly simplistic reasoning that attempts to explain why “Israel has categorically rejected the allegations being brought this week in the International Court of Justice by South Africa.”
We assert that this editorial spin does a disservice to journalism and adds to a faulty record that enables human rights violators.
The overall tone is in lockstep with corporate media’s bias toward Israel — a bias credibly substantiated by the likes of the Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide, The Intercept, The Guardian, Mint Press News and Common Dreams. While multiple aspects of the article are troublesome, the third sentence provoked our immediate response letter to The New York Times. That sentence is as follows.
“Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis’ systematic murder of about six million Jews and others based on their ethnicity, is among the most serious crimes of which a country can be accused.”
Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word “genocide” on Sept. 12, 1948. (UN Photo)
Days later, echoing a similar mischaracterization of Raphael Lemkin’s work, USA Today published a piece by Noa Tisby titled, “Is Israel guilty of genocide in Gaza? Why the accusation at the UN is unfounded” (Jan. 16).
Tisby’s article, like that of Kershner and Eligon, amended the breadth and depth of Lemkin’s work to accommodate a particular narrative.
Considering The New York Times’ reputation as a leading U.S. paper of record, the need for public correction therein took precedence over the op-ed in USA Today. Hence, our letter:
“As two Armenian Americans who grew up in the shadow of the 20th century’s first genocide, an attorney and a media expert respectively, we found critical context lacking in ‘At World Court, Israel to Confront Accusations of Genocide,’ by Isabel Kershner and John Eligon (January 11). Any discussion of genocide and Raphael Lemkin is grossly incomplete without citing how the Armenian genocide informed the Polish-Jewish lawyer’s noble work.
Lemkin (b. 1900), while a university student in the 1920s, learned of the Ottoman Turk’s coordinated mass slaughter of Armenians that culminated in 1915. The extermination of Armenians informed Lemkin’s life mission to establish international laws and treaties making genocide a punishable offense. In 1944, Lemkin finally named that crime genocide.
This article implies that Lemkin advocated solely for the Jewish cause. A humanitarian first, Lemkin sought to establish protections for all people. For example, he worked with Algerians who sought to hold accountable their colonizers for crimes against humanity.
The Armenian Genocide impelled Lemkin to action. Absent this historical context, the article reinforces the Israeli government’s illogical claim that Jewish people are the sole victims of genocide. South Africa’s charge that the Israeli government is engaging in genocide reflects Lemkin’s commitment to the denunciation of the crime irrespective of ethnicity.”
The New York Times ignored our letter.
Oversimplifying Lemkin’s endeavors does a shameful disservice to his legacy. Such a decontextualized presentation edits out the foundation of his body of work and contracts the character of his mission.
It ignores the events that prompted and preoccupied his thinking on international discourse toward establishing laws against the crime that he came to term “genocide.”
Lemkin was horrified that the Ottoman Turkish government could kill its own citizens — albeit “dhimmi,” or second-class citizens — with impunity.
His application of the term genocide to the Ottoman Turk’s systematic mass slaughter of the Armenians predated the Holocaust. Years later, as a formidable advisor to prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials, Lemkin drew conclusive parallels to the Nazis’ genocidal massacre of Europe’s Jewish citizens.
Editing the Armenian Genocide from Lemkin’s life work has contemporary and historical implications. In light of increasing attacks by a radicalized right-wing contingency in Israel on Jerusalem’s Armenians, deleting the Armenians from current reporting sets a dangerous tone for Armenians living under current threat.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has featured articles on Armenphobia and on the Armenians’ right to exist, and has issued statements of concern over recent attacks on the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s Armenians, or “East Jerusalemites” as they are designated by the Israeli government, like other Palestinians, live in a system that privileges Israel’s Jewish population.
Hostilities from Jewish fundamentalists toward Armenians in Jerusalem are nothing new. However, the level and frequency of aggressions have intensified thanks to Netanyahu’s far-right government which has energized and normalized them.
With attention concentrated on Gaza, Israeli extremists are free to act without fear of consequences. The Lemkin Institute explained that this can be “viewed as another attempt by Israeli extremists to create a homogenized Jewish ethnostate in the Palestinian territories.”
The New York Times article’s abridged version of Lemkin’s work emboldens those who continue to deny that the 1915 Armenian Genocide occurred. To selectively invoke Lemkin’s work on genocide as a defense against the charges brought against Israel banks on the idea that public memory is short.
A well-worn quote reported by A.P.’s Berlin bureau chief, Louis Lochner, from a speech given by Hitler to his military generals before the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland rhetorically asked, “Who today, after all, remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?”
With hot wars blazing and existential alarms blasting, we not only remember the Armenians but uphold this New York Times article as a cautionary tale that words matter.
Mischa Geracoulis is a media literacy expert, writer and educator, serving as Project Censored’s curriculum development coordinator, and on the editorial boards of the Censored Press and The Markaz Review.
Heidi Boghosian is an attorney and is the executive director of the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute. Previously she was the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive bar association established in 1937, where she oversaw the legal defense of people targeted by government. She also co-hosts the weekly civil liberties radio show “Law and Disorder,” which is based out of Pacifica Radio’s WBAI, New York, and is broadcast to more than 25 states on over 60 nationally affiliated stations.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/23/new-york-times-spins-lemkins-work-on-genocide/