Author: Jalatian Sonya

Political analysts weigh in ahead of Armenia-Azerbaijan foreign ministerial in Washington D.C.

Jalatian Sonya

 15:48,

YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Although Armenia and Azerbaijan both want to swiftly sign a peace treaty, there are outstanding issues standing in the way, analysts concur.

“The United States has great desire and capabilities to contribute to the normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but nonetheless this doesn’t mean that the U.S. will solve all issues instead of us or that it ought to,” political scientist Areg Kochinyan told ARMENPRESS.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has departed for the U.S. to hold another round of talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

“What matters here is how effectively Armenia is working with the American side and to what extent could the desires and capabilities of the U.S. serve to the normalization of relations,” Kochinyan added, noting that the Washington platform is a very promising format.

“There are fundamental disagreements regarding the main four packages. These are the protection of rights and security of Armenians of Artsakh, the basis for the delimitation and demarcation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, unblocking of connections and the existence of a guarantor of the document itself. You certainly can’t solve all issues with one meeting, but if progress were to be recorded and positions were to be brought closer in one of the packages during the Washington talks, then the meeting could be deemed as a success. Now what matters is to differentiate the fundamental issues and engage in focused talks around separately viewed issues,” Kochinyan said, adding that a general or packaged logic for resolving issues is a deadlock.

The analyst said that authorities ought to approach the process pragmatically, because it is easier to reach agreements in case of a phased process rather than a packaged option.

Meanwhile, political scientist Hrant Mikayelyan says that Armenia, Azerbaijan and the U.S. all want a swift signing of a peace treaty.

“But on the other hand, there’s a desire in Azerbaijan to change the negotiations process in terms of content, with the purpose of coercing more concessions from Armenia. In such conditions, it is highly likely that a final peace treaty won’t be signed at this phase. In the beginning the talks were proceeding around the status of Artsakh, then the main objective was to ensure stability, but now Azerbaijan says that there is no Nagorno Karabakh conflict at all, whereas the Armenian government insists that the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh must be given firm guarantees of protection of their security and rights. International organizations and structures are also calling for this, but Azerbaijan is ignoring these calls, seeking to navigate the talks in a course that would be beneficial only for itself,” Mikayelyan warned.

The expert said that the calls by international organizations won’t bring Azerbaijan into the constructive arena given the fact that it has disregarded the International Court of Justice ruling on the Lachin Corridor.

“Azerbaijan is thinking that if it succeeds in carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing and no one is interfering then it should continue doing so and then deal with the consequences,” he added.

Russia, the U.S., European organizations have all called on Azerbaijan to open Lachin Corridor, but Baku is ignoring the demands.

Azerbaijan won’t change its conduct unless faced with sanctions, Mikayelyan said.

Lachin Corridor, the only road linking Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since December 2022.

The United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan on February 22 to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has so far ignored the order. Furthermore, Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor in violation of the terms of the 2020 ceasefire statement.

 

 

Manvel Margaryan




Iran Denies Radioactive Pollution Of Aras River By Armenia

Jalatian Sonya


Author: Maryam Sinaee


Media reports about possible radioactive contamination of Aras River in Iran’s northwestern borders by Armenia’s nuclear power plant has led to widespread concerns.

However, Iran’s Nuclear Safety Center has refuted the reports. In a statement on Tuesday, the center which is an affiliate of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said the river Aras is monitored at least once a year for radioactive pollution and that the last survey in March this year did not indicate any radioactive pollution as claimed by Payam-e Ma newspaper on Monday. 

Quoting a paper published earlier by the Border Studies Research Journal of the Iranian police, Payam-e Ma on Monday suggested that the extremely high occurrence of various types of cancers and liver diseases in Ardabil Province bordering the Republic of Azerbaijan, could be attributed to radioactive pollution of the Aras River emanating from Armenia’s nuclear power plant situated in Metsamor hundreds of kilometers to the west. 

Payam-e Ma’s article followed a warning on June 12 by Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee who claimed that effluent from the power plant which was polluting the river could be the cause of the high occurrence of cancer in Iran’s Ardabil. 

However, the cause of the high rate of cancer in the area is hard to establish. It is not clear whether the phenomenon is related to the environment or has other underlying reasons. But concerns linger on as many do not trust the Iranian government on the issue of radioactive contamination.

A deputy health minister, Dr. Reza Malekzadeh, told the media in October 2020 that a longitudinal study carried out over a period of 20 years about the occurrence of stomach cancer in Ardabil Province has shown a rate of 50 per 100,000 of the province’s population. This is the highest rate in the country. 

However, the Nuclear Safety Center’s statement said the Armenian power plant is too far from the Aras for its effluent to reach the river and pollute it as claimed. 

The Aras River which rises in Turkey forms part of Iran’s border with its northwestern neighbors, Armenia and Azerbaijan, before flowing into the Kura River in Azerbaijan. 

“The Aras River is being continually monitored for radioactivity and other required substances,” the statement said and added that the center will establish an online water monitoring station in the said area very soon to carry out tests. 

In the past ten years, Iranian officials have repeatedly denied radioactive pollution of the Aras River by the Armenian nuclear plant. 

Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant which is the only nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus was built in the 1970s. The two units of the plant provide a total of 815 MW of electricity and supplied approximately 40 percent of Armenia’s electricity in 2015. 

The plant has been a source of environmental concern since the Spitak Earthquake in 1988 which led to its closure until 1995. The plant has been classified by the EU as the oldest and least reliable of all the 66 reactors built by the former Soviet Union. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, said in 2011 that the plant posed an “acceptable” level of risk to the environment and could “in principle” operate beyond its design life span. 

The media have also warned that heavy metals in the effluent of other industries in Armenia, Turkey and Iran have been polluting the river for many years. Most of the pollution, however, is apparently caused by Armenian copper mines and plants in the area. 

Firuz Ghasemzadeh, spokesman of the Iranian Water Industry, told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on May 10 that the Iranian ministry of energy and both Iran’s and Armenia’s departments of environment had been investigating the pollution caused by the Armenian mines. 

According to Ghasemzadeh, sources of pollution were eliminated by installation of water treatment facilities, but occasional pollution was still possible. He also stressed that Armenia has given assurances that it would control the sources of pollution. 

Azeri forces fire at Armenian border positions

Jalatian Sonya
Panorama
Armenia –

Azerbaijani troops opened fire on the Armenian army positions near the border villages of Sotk and Yeraskh early on Monday, the Armenia Defense Ministry reported.

“On June 19, between 12:45 a.m. and 2:20 a.m., the Azerbaijani military opened fire from different caliber small arms on the Armenian combat positions located in the eastern (Sotk) and southwestern (Yeraskh) sections of the frontier zone,” the ministry said in a statement.

No casualties were reported among the Armenian military personnel.

https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2023/06/19/Azeri-fire/2853867

Karabakh Armenians celebrate life occasions as uncertain future looms

Jalatian Sonya
June 12 2023

Lilit Shahverdyan Jun 12, 2023

A wedding at Stepanakert’s Holy Mother of God Cathedral on June 10 (photo by David Ghahramanyan)

“We changed our wedding plans the day before, after realizing that the blockade would not be lifted anytime soon,” says Aspram Abrahamyan, 19. 

“We were among the first to have the courage to celebrate a major occasion during the blockade, and we served as an example for others not to cancel their plans,” she adds.

Images from her wedding on December 22, 2022, circulated widely on social media.

It was just 10 days after Azerbaijani government-backed activists set up camp on the road in the Lachin corridor, blocking the sole land route connecting the region to Armenia and the outside world. 

The blockade changed everything in Karabakh. The import of supplies was limited and implemented mainly through Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region after the 2020 war. Gas and electricity supplies were cut by Azerbaijan, and the population of roughly 120,000 Armenians found themselves locked inside their small enclave.

The Abramayans’ wedding was planned long before the blockade and with the exuberance of typical Armenian nuptials: numerous guests, richly laid tables, and decorations. But a sense of responsibility amid the emergency, as well as the unexpected shortages, led them to scale back their sumptuous plans. 

“The restaurants could not provide all the necessary dishes we ordered, and many guests from Armenia and abroad couldn’t arrive… so we decided to cut the number of guests and gather only with our closest family members. Restaurant staff brought food from their homes so the ceremony could keep up its flow,” says Abrahamyan.

Another young couple, Snezhana and Sergey Safaryan, got married recently in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno Karabakh. Their celebration was also modest, though they did try to honor tradition and maintain the “taste and smell” of an Armenian wedding, says Sergey, the groom. 

“I couldn’t see a valid reason to cancel or postpone the event. If the opponent [Azerbaijan] is trying to terrorize us psychologically, we must respond by creating new families,” he tells Eurasianet. 

“No matter how much they blockade our freedom of movement, limit our supplies or deprive us of electricity and gas. It only strengthens our determination to live here,” Safaryan adds.

Weddings and engagements are among the social occasions that provide an escape from the dire reality they found themselves in after the blockade. 

The Azerbaijani self-styled activists concluded their protest in late April, but only after the installation of a border checkpoint introduced a different kind of restriction on movement between Armenia and Karabakh. Those traveling back and forth now have to present their passports to Azerbaijani border guards to travel between Armenia and Karabakh. Few have done so thus far, and most of those that have have been accompanied by Russian peacekeepers or the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).  

Dancing in the rain

In May, a video of two teenagers dancing in the rain in Stepanakert on the day of their high school graduation became an emblem of Armenians continuing to live in the region amid fears of imminent ethnic cleansing and talks over their future status.

“I realized that these few moments were enough to describe the unbending will and love of us, the young generation of Artsakh, for our restless Artsakh land,” Karen Galstyan, one of the dancers, said in an interview with RFE/RL, using an alternate Armenian name for Karabakh.

The cinematic images of the high schoolers’ dance were interpreted differently by the thousands of Armenians viewing and sharing it on social media. For some, it was an indicator of dedication to the land where Armenians have lived for centuries, while others heard the ominous ring of the “final last bell” in Karabakh (Armenians call high school graduation the “last bell”).  

At another school, students held banners with photos of fallen soldiers and teachers from their school and wore sashes with the inscription “survivors.” 

The fate of the Karabakh Armenians hangs in the balance as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently explicitly stated his readiness to recognize the region within the sovereign borders of Azerbaijan. His announcement was criticized and denounced by Karabakh’s high-ranking officials, as well as the Armenian Church,  and Armenian organizations around the world. 

Yerevan conditions its recognition offer on Baku offering security guarantees to the Armenian population of Karabakh but the Azerbaijani leadership has vehemently refused to do so. 

Locals fear that Armenia’s recognition of Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan would give Baku the green light to subject them to “ethnic cleansing.” 

However, as politicians continue to discuss their fate in the US, Brussels, and Moscow, Armenians in Karabakh reject “defeatist” attitudes and seek to maintain an ordinary rhythm of life.

“We created all the living conditions for our new family. We are very connected to our families and land, and we never even considered leaving,” says Abrahamyan. She is currently expecting her first child and believes that major or minor celebrations should still be part of their routine.

“I welcome all the events people celebrate. We shouldn’t let feelings of defeat take root in our society. We do not feel the pressure to accept being part of Azerbaijan. We created our family with the thought that it’s our home, and we will continue creating and prospering here,” she adds.

If the Yerevan-Baku talks maintain their current pace, a peace deal could be signed by the end of 2023, Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan told RFE/RL on June 5.

The signing of a peace agreement would seem to present Karabakh Armenians with a choice: either accept Azerbaijani rule or leave.

But many Karabakh Armenians regard both of these options as unimaginable: Co-existence because of the continuous violations of Armenian civilians’ rights by Azerbaijan during and after the 2020 war and fleeing because Karabakh is the only home they ever knew.

“If I leave my home now, it will be the same as if a mother left her newborn child to cry. Our homeland survives because people are living here. We have to stay here so those [Azerbaijanis] who think that our population will easily give up realize they are wrong,” says Sergey Safaryan.

Lilit Shahverdyan is a journalist based in Stepanakert. 

New Karabakh peace deal is condemned to fail

Jalatian Sonya
POLITICO
June 13 2023
OPINION

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan keep announcing a deal is imminent. But whether or not they reach an agreement, there will never be peace here.

BY RAFFI K. HOVANNISIAN
JUNE 13, 2023

Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs, is the founding chairman of the Heritage Party.

YEREVAN — Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this month, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan keep announcing that a peace deal over the ancient but embattled territory of Mountainous Karabakh is imminent.

Whether or not a peace deal is ever reached, however, peace itself is condemned to fail.

I should know

In March 1992, as the newly independent Armenia’s first minister of foreign affairs, I negotiated the original international mediation for peace, security and status in Karabakh.

As the Soviet Union began to crumble, Karabakh — or Artsakh in Armenian — had declared its independence from Soviet Azerbaijan, and then the USSR in toto. And the deadly war that ensued, whereby Baku endeavored to reverse the rights to self-determination and sovereignty by force — rights that Armenians had exercised under controlling Soviet legislation as well as the Montevideo Convention on the rights of states — created a complex situation.

But we got to work.

At the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (CSCE, later OSCE) 1992 meeting of foreign ministers in Helsinki, the summit decided — by consensus — to accept the charge of hosting the Karabakh peace process in order to determine, pursuant to the precepts of the Helsinki Final Act, the region’s ultimate status at a future conference in Minsk. 

Hammered out by required consensus and inspired by the specific mandate of achieving sustainable peace, the final document contained three key points:

The first was to take the conflict outside of the East-West axis — or, rather, place it neatly into a new cooperation zone — and, ultimately, bring in the United States, Russia and also France to co-chair what later came to be known as the Minsk Group.

The next was to respect human rights and dignity, bringing a halt to Azerbaijan’s ongoing land blockade between Armenia and Karabakh by opening a humanitarian corridor.

Finally, to guarantee the success of the peace process, was ensuring the participation of not only Armenia and Azerbaijan but also the elected officials of Mountainous Karabakh.

So, when a tripartite ceasefire among Azerbaijan, Karabakh and Armenia was eventually agreed in May 1994, there was real hope in its longevity, hope that a final diplomatic solution would be had — and that the Minsk Conference might, indeed, at last be convened.

But alas, there were other plans.

After growing tensions and skirmishes along the border, under the cover of COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, in September of that year, Azerbaijan unleashed a multipronged war not only upon what it considered its “breakaway” Republic of Mountainous Karabakh, but against the Republic of Armenia as well — something that, 105 years after the Armenian Genocide, many in the country feel would have been impossible without the military, intelligence, logistical and special-ops support of ethnic cousin and NATO ally Turkey.

Russia then brokered a ceasefire in November, introducing a peacekeeping operation and leaving Azerbaijan occupying nearly half of Karabakh and swathes of the sovereign Republic of Armenia.

This was a reversal of the first negotiation point — taking the conflict outside of the East-West axis.

Then, the Lachin corridor was shut down. And as a result, the Artsakh Republic and its 120,000 surviving residents — a quarter of them children — have been left in a choke hold, with Russian peacekeepers looking ambivalently on for nearly six months now.

This was a reversal of the second point — respecting human rights and dignity.

And this isn’t just a flagrant violation of the original CSCE/OSCE mandate either, it also flies in the face of a binding judgment by the International Court of Justice, which demanded Azerbaijan open the corridor and return it to its status quo ante, pending a final settlement of the matter.

Crucially, the recent turn of events has seen Karabakh’s Armenian administration lose its seat at the table too. Far from the right to self-determination and its guarantee, and respect for a nation’s legitimate path to sovereignty, today Mountainous Karabakh is under attack today from all sides.

And this final reversal was of the most vital negotiation point — the right of the Armenians of Karabakh to take part in decisions about their own destiny.

Yet, somehow, a deal over their fate is soon to be closed. And this deal is currently being negotiated on the one side by Ilham Aliyev — Azerbaijan’s dictator-president, who is using oil-and-gas leverage abroad to dictate terms — and on the other by Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s own democrat-turned-petty dictator who refused to abdicate after being defeated in the disastrous war, and is now preparing to cling to to power by capitulating to Azerbaijan.

If Aliyev and Pashinyan do not get prison, they will win a peace prize. Yet still, there will never be peace in Karabakh.

 

Armenpress: Women in Armenia will enroll for military service on a voluntary basis. The National Assembly adopted the bill

Jalatian Sonya

 21:02,

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS. The National Assembly of Armenia adopted in the first reading the legislative initiative submitted by the Government, which introduces a system of mandatory military service for females on a voluntary basis.

ARMENPRESS reports, the package of bills on making additions and amendments to the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen” and on making additions to the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Defense” received 62 votes in favor and 26 abstentions at the National Assembly session.

“A system of mandatory military service for female citizens on a voluntary basis is introduced. Armenian female citizens aged 18-27, whose mandatory military service period is 6 months, can submit an application,” said Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

Pashinyan attends Erdoğan’s swearing-in ceremony

Jalatian Sonya
June 7, 2023 Lillian Avedian News 0

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan (RA Prime Minister)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who extended his two-decade rule by another five years.

Pashinyan was quick to congratulate Erdoğan on his electoral victory. “Looking forward to continuing working together towards full normalization of relations between our countries,” Pashinyan tweeted on May 28, the day of the runoff elections in Turkey.

Erdoğan won with 52-percent of the vote, defeating Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of an opposition coalition, who earned 48-percent of the vote. The newly reelected president did not secure a majority vote in the first round of election on May 14, triggering a runoff. Erdoğan’s faction, which includes the Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party, won a majority of seats in parliament, securing 322 of 600 seats. 

Erdoğan’s swearing-in ceremony was held in Ankara on June 3. It was also attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Pashinyan was joined by Ruben Rubinyan, special envoy for the ongoing negotiations on normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey. 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (front row) and Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan (second row) at Turkish President Erdogan’s inauguration (Twitter)

Pashinyan’s attendance was met with mixed appraisal. Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian criticized Pashinyan’s presence and said Armenia had “nothing to lose” by not attending the swearing-in ceremony. 

“Pashinyan does not understand that he cannot woo Turkey on the matter of the settlement of Armenia-Turkey relations by providing aid after the earthquake in Turkey and attending Erdogan’s swearing-in ceremony,” Oskanian wrote. 

“Pashinyan did not represent the Armenian people in Ankara, but rather himself,” he continued. 

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Turkish journalist and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute, called Pashinyan’s attendance a “very bold and smart move by the Armenian leader, who is trying to preserve the fragile peace with Azerbaijan and keep the momentum on normalization with Turkey.” 

Armenia and Turkey have been engaged in talks to establish bilateral relations since December 2021. On July 1, 2022, special envoys appointed for the normalization process announced the first major breakthrough in negotiations. The envoys agreed to “enable the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Turkey by third-country citizens.” They also agreed to commence direct air cargo trade between the two countries. 

Pashinyan and Erdoğan had their first ever phone call that month and three months later held their first meeting in Prague on October 6 on the sidelines of a pan-European summit.

Negotiations seemed to gain new momentum after the Armenia-Turkey border reopened briefly in February this year for the first time in three decades. Armenia sent several trucks of humanitarian aid and rescue workers to Turkey following the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6. 

Former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at the time that the humanitarian assistance would bolster negotiations on restoring diplomatic ties and opening the shared border. Çavuşoğlu and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan announced an agreement to jointly repair the Ani bridge and restore other infrastructure along the Armenia-Turkey border. 

Yet progress stalled when Turkey closed its airspace to Armenian flights after a monument was unveiled in Yerevan commemorating Operation Nemesis.

Operation Nemesis was a mission organized in the 1910s and 1920s by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to assassinate the Ottoman leaders who orchestrated the Armenian Genocide. Deputy mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan called the monument “a clear record of the fact that the crimes of history do not go unpunished, regardless of how the international community reacts,” during its unveiling ceremony on April 24, the annual day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. 

The Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning the monument and warning that it would “negatively affect the normalization process.” 

“Such provocative steps, which are incompatible with the spirit of the normalization process between Türkiye and Armenia, will in no way contribute to the efforts for establishment of lasting and sustainable peace and stability in the region,” the statement reads.

Çavuşoğlu later announced that Turkey had closed its airspace to Armenia in response to the monument. Chair of FlyOne Armenia Aram Ananyan said that Turkish aviation authorities had prohibited the airline from operating flights to Europe through Turkish airspace. A FlyOne Armenia plane operating a flight from Paris to Yerevan was forced to land in Moldova. 

Pashinyan called the erection of the monument a “wrong decision.” 

“The government did not make that decision, and one of the biggest flaws of democracy is that the government or head of government doesn’t control everything and everyone, including our team,” Pashinyan said during an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. 

The Armenia-Turkey border has been closed since 1993, when Turkey closed its border with Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the first Artsakh War. In 2009, the countries signed two bilateral protocols brokered by France, Russia and the United States. The Zurich Protocols would have opened the border, established diplomatic relations and created a joint historical commission to study the Armenian Genocide. However, the protocols were never ratified or implemented under pressure from Azerbaijan, which opposed normalization of relations without a resolution of the Artsakh conflict.

Armenian authorities have insisted that the current normalization process must remain separate from ongoing talks with Azerbaijan on the Artsakh conflict. However, Turkish authorities have said that Turkey is coordinating its decisions with its close ally Azerbaijan.

According to Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan, Erdoğan will likely strengthen Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan and “seek to resolve the Karabakh conflict in accordance with the interests of Azerbaijan” during his new presidential term. He will also set further preconditions on normalizing relations, including “demand that Armenia renounce seeking international recognition of the Armenian Genocide” and “open communication through the Syunik region of Armenia, which is called the ‘Zangezur corridor’ in Azerbaijan and Turkey,” Safrastyan told Eurasianet.

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Lillian Avedian is a staff writer for the Armenian Weekly. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq and the Daily Californian. She is pursuing master’s degrees in journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University. A human rights journalist and feminist poet, Lillian’s first poetry collection Journey to Tatev was released with Girls on Key Press in spring of 2021.


AW: Memorial Day in Fresno

Jalatian Sonya
May 29, 2023 John Dekhane History, Diaspora 0

Every year, on Memorial Day, many Armenian Americans travel to Ararat Armenian Cemetery in Fresno, California, to visit their deceased loved ones and honor the heroes who gave their lives for our freedom. By walking around this very special place, you might find the graves of John M. Haroian and Luther Avakian, two handsome men who were born and raised in Fresno County, California.

Pvt John M. Haroian

Haroian and Avakian didn’t know each other, but they had a common cultural identity and a common tragic destiny. They could spend hours talking to people about their childhood, and that’s what they did. Their respective parents were Armenian refugees who were forced to leave their beloved land. Haroian grew up on a farm in Sanger with his parents Kachadoor and Elizabeth and his little brother Nish. Whenever Haroian spoke about his childhood, he would always talk about his mother’s cooking. According to him, her gata was a taste of heaven. Avakian also loved talking about his parents Mugger and Queenie and his beloved sister Victoria. Thinking about them would always put a smile on Avakian’s face.

2nd Lt Luther Avakian

During World War II, Haroian and Avakian both decided to join the US Army. At that time, they were both living in Fresno, and both had a bright future ahead of them. Sadly, the future of the world was uncertain, and so many men and women had to put their plans and goals on hold. After saying goodbye to their respective parents, they headed toward Europe, where all hope seemed lost and where millions of people were barely clinging to life. 2nd Lt Luther Avakian became a fighter pilot of the 352nd Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, while Pvt John M. Haroian became a proud member of 7th Armored Division. They both knew that the odds of surviving this never-ending war were slim, but they also knew that the fate of the free world was at stake.

Thousands of miles away from home, Haroian demonstrated outstanding courage and was a source of inspiration for all his comrades. He was way too young to see what he saw, and way too young to feel what he felt, but he fought heroically and kept moving forward, until January 24, 1945. On that fateful day, Haroian was confronting German forces near St. Vith in Belgium when he was struck by enemy fire. His comrades rushed to his aid and desperately tried to treat his wounds, but nothing could be done to save him. Haroian was only 19 years old when his life ended.

Pvt John M. Haroian’s gravestone

Six months before Haroian died, Avakian was fighting for freedom over France. Mission after mission, Avakian flew into hell and did everything he could to defeat the forces of tyranny. Ignoring their own safety, Avakian and his comrades destroyed 28 locomotives, sank eight barges, damaged 13 trucks and struck many German bases. Every time they took off, these pilots knew they might be killed, badly wounded or lost at sea, but day after day, they showed the entire world that not all heroes wear capes; some fly P-47 Thunderbolts. On June 6, 1944, Avakian wrote a letter to his beloved father which ended with the words: “Dad, you keep the home fires burning, and I will see what I can do here.” The next day, Avakian took off from England and headed toward the north of Paris for another perilous mission. Sadly, he never came back. Struck by German anti-aircraft fire, Avakian’s Thunderbolt crashed, killing him instantly. He was only 21 years old.

2nd Lt Luther Avakian’s gravestone

If these two Armenian American heroes had survived the war and returned to Fresno, Haroian could have witnessed his little brother Nish become a remarkable physical education teacher at Sanger High School. Avakian could have visited Armenia and discovered the beautiful homeland of his parents. Haroian could have found the love of his life and started a family. Avakian could have become a devoted husband and a proud father. But their destiny was to die in Europe and return to their country in coffins. It was to die as heroes and sacrifice their lives for people they didn’t know. It was to lose everything, so that freedom would win.

Following the war, their respective families decided to repatriate their lifeless bodies and bury them at the Ararat Armenian Cemetery, which is also the final resting place of Soghomon Tehlirian, the Armenian hero who assassinated Talaat Pasha, the principal architect of the Armenian Genocide. Also buried in this cemetery are Pvt Berge Poochigian and PFC Leroy Emerzian, two more kids who had so much to live for and never got the chance to fulfill their dreams. Poochigian was killed on May 12, 1945 during the deadly Battle of Okinawa (Japan), and Emerzian was killed on June 18, 1945 during the ferocious Battle of Luzon (Philippines).

Ararat Armenian Cemetery

So if you plan to visit the Ararat Armenian Cemetery in Fresno, please take a moment to honor and remember the heroes who sacrificed everything they had, for everything we have. It is our duty to keep their stories alive and make sure that future generations know what Haroian, Avakian, Poochigian, Emerzian and all the others did for us.

To honor all the Armenian American heroes who died during World War II, here is an excerpt of a poem named “Memorial Day,” which was written in 1914 by Joyce Kilmer. This young American poet was killed in action in 1918 during the Second Battle of the Marne (France). He was only 31 years old.

Memorial Day

The rose blossoms white and red
On tombs where weary soldiers lie;
Flags wave above the honored dead
And martial music cleaves the sky.

Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,
They kept the faith and fought the fight.
Through flying lead and crimson steel
They plunged for Freedom and the Right.

May we, their grateful children, learn
Their strength, who lie beneath this sod,
Who went through fire and death to earn
At last the accolade of God.

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John Dekhane grew up in Paris before moving to the South of France. He works for a sport organization in Monaco. Since he was a child, he has always been interested in World War II with particular emphasis on American soldiers. In order to honor them, over the past years, he has located and purchased WWII U.S. artifacts in Europe and donated these items to more than a hundred museums in the United States.


Asbarez: Pashinyan, Aliyev Agree to Continue Talks in July in Brussels

Jalatian Sonya
by Asbarez Staff

 

 June 1, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

European Council President Charles Michel (center) hosts the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moldova on June 1


A meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, held on Thursday at the invitation of the European Council President Charles Michel, ended in Moldova’s capital Chisinau with the sides agreeing to resume talks in Brussels on July 21.

After the one and half-hour long meeting, no joint announcements were released or agreements signed, with Michel saying that the Thursday meeting was “a good preparation” for upcoming talks.

“We had the opportunity to address all the topics that we discussed in Brussels in May – connectivity, security and rights, the border delimitation, the peace treaty,” Michel said in a statement following the meeting.

President Emmanuel Macron of France and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took part in talks before, Pashinyan, Aliyev and Michel held a separate meeting.

“This meeting was a good preparation for the next meeting that will take place in Brussels on 21 July. It means that we are working hard, and we intend to support all the positive efforts in the direction of normalization of the relations,” Michel added.

“I also announced that I intend to invite again President Aliyev, Prime Minister Pashinyan, Chancellor Scholz, and President Macron in the margins of the next meeting of the European Political Community that will take place in Spain. It means that we will do everything on the EU side in order to help, to provide assistance, to make more progress in the direction of normalization of the relations,” Michel said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz joined the talks in Moldova on June 1

“During the meeting, issues related to the unblocking of regional transport and economic infrastructures, border delimitation and border security between the two countries, the agreement on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the need to address the rights and security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as POWs, missing persons and other humanitarian issues were discussed,” Pashinyan’s office said in a press statement following the meeting.

The last time Pashinyan and Aliyev met with Michel in Brussels on May 14, they agreed that Armenia and Azerbaijan would recognize each other’s territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma Ata document that delineated the borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In a statement following the May 14 meeting, Michel said that he called on Aliyev to ensure security guarantees for the “Armenians living in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast,” a term used to describe Artsakh before it declared independence and held a referendum affirming that vote in 1991. Michel used the same terminology ahead of the Chisinau (pronounced Kishniyev) meeting on Thursday.

Pashinyan clarified later that his pledge to recognize Azerbaijan 86,600 square kilometers of territory meant that Artsakh would fall under Azerbaijan’s control, a declaration that created uproar among opposition forces in Armenia, the government and people of Artsakh and various forces in the Diaspora.

Pashinyan and Aliyev also met with President Valdimir Putin of Russia in Moscow where they pledged to accelerate efforts to unblock transport routes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Despite these agreements and the West optimistic and positive outlook for an eventual peace deal between Yerevan and Baku, Aliyev continued his belligerent threats against Armenia’s sovereignty and the Armenians of Artsakh.

In an address delivered on May 28 in Lachin, which has been blockaded by Azerbaijan since December 12, Aliyev essentially threatened ethnic cleansing of Armenians living in Artsakh if they did no subject themselves to Baku’s rule. He demanded that government structures in Artsakh be dismantled, after which he would consider “amnesty” for the Artsakh leadership.

The United States welcomed Aliyev’s offer of “amnesty” as an encouraging sign of progress in peace talks. The American reaction was met with denouncements by Armenia and Artsakh, whose foreign ministries pointed to Aliyev’s aggressive threats against Armenia and Artsakh.