15:34,
YEREVAN, JANAURY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament is electing today a new Human Rights Defender.
The voting kicked off at 15:30 in a closed format. It will last an hour.
Kristine Grigoryan is the only candidate for the Ombudsman. She has been nominated by the ruling Civil Contract faction.
Chania lighthouse, Alexandroupolis City Hall lit up in Armenian flag colors
09:55, 21 January, 2022
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Greece, the famous lighthouse in the Greek city of Chania (Crete island) and the City Hall building of Alexandroupolis were lit up in the colors of the Armenian flag, the Armenian Embassy in Greece said on social media.
Armenia and Greece established diplomatic relations on January 20, 1992.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23
Trend:
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has resigned. A message about this was posted on the website of the Armenian leader, Trend reports.
“I thought for a very long time, and after almost four years of active work, I decided to resign from the post of President of Armenia. This is absolutely not an emotional decision, and proceeds from a certain logic,” the message says, in particular.
Sargsyan also stated that the president “does not have the necessary tools to influence the fundamental processes of domestic and foreign policy in the current difficult period for the country and the nation.”
Armen Sarkissian took over as President of Armenia on April 9, 2018.
The Italian accordion and bandoneon player Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi will perform with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra in the Dvin Music Hall, on December 26 at 20:00. The concert program will include Italian and Argentinian music.
The concert features works of Nino Rota (Omaggio a Federico Fellini) Giuseppe Sangeniti (Giulietta Spider Giulia) and Astor Piazzolla (Tres Tangos).
In his video message Pietrodarchi sends greeting s to the Armenian music-lovers and invites them to the evening entitled “La Nuova Dolce Vita”. During the evening mezzo-soprano Sofia Tumanyan will perform.
13:29,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. The Polish OSCE Chairmanship reiterates its full support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the OSCE Polish Chairmanship said in response to an inquiry from ARMENPRESS when asked to comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s threats to “pressure” the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ attempts to deal with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement – its mandate.
“The Polish Chairmanship is not in the position to comment on the public statements of the President of Azerbaijan. We reiterate our full support and appreciation for the work of the OSCE Minsk Group, its Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the Polish OSCE Chair-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk,” the Polish OSCE Chairmanship told ARMENPRESS.
In his latest infamous interview, the Azeri leader had again falsely claimed that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is already resolved and thus the OSCE Minsk Group is obsolete. He went on to claim that if one party of the conflict says the conflict is resolved then it leaves no room for mediation.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has numerously falsely claimed that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is resolved after the 2020 war.
However, the governments of Armenia, Russia, France, United States and others have repeatedly stressed that the conflict remains unresolved and called for a comprehensive and peaceful settlement within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.
Aram Sargsyan
Artists in Hamazkayin Children of Artsakh arts program hard at work creating while the masterpieces of other little artists dry
During the height of the Artsakh War in November 2020, the Hamazkayin Central Executive launched an art therapy program called Children of Artsakh with financial support from three Hamazkayin regional executives (Eastern USA, Western USA and Canada). Executive Director of Hamazkayin’s Artsakh office Hermine Avagyan, who was herself displaced with her three young children, organized the program for the children of Artsakh who had fled to various regions of Armenia during the war. Thanks to Avagyan’s tireless efforts, the project was created to meet the cultural, social and psychological needs of these displaced children.
Most of these children were living in very cramped and sometimes unhealthy quarters with their mothers, grandparents and extended families while most of their fathers (in fact, almost all of their male relatives) were on the front lines in Artsakh. The children were not attending school and there were no programs for the children to have social, educational or any type of interaction with other kids. These children were living day in and day out absorbing the fear and anguish of the adults in their lives with the additional constant worry about the well-being of their fathers and male relatives. There were no activities being offered to these kids so at the very least they could come out of these traumatizing conditions for a few hours a day. This is the backdrop as the Children of Artsakh program was initiated.
At first, it was challenging to find and gather these children scattered throughout various regions of Armenia. In the chaos and overwhelming pressures of the war, it was also a delicate process to convince the mothers of these children to participate in these programs. Hamazkayin’s Artsakh office team, with the assistance of displaced Artsakh teachers, began searching for children whose families had sought refuge in Yerevan hotels. They also announced the launch of the project on social media. As word spread, the number of participants grew by day. The Children of Artsakh program in Armenia began in Yerevan, Abovyan and Dilijan and continued until May 2021. As displaced families started to move back to Artsakh, the program followed and was relaunched in earnest in various regions of Artsakh itself.
A participant in the Children of Artsakh program shares his artwork of Saturn
Initially, the purpose of the program was art therapy. No other organization was focused on the psychological well-being of these children as they endured the hardships of war, including having their fathers on the frontlines. Most of these children were living in less than desirable conditions with the adults around them understandably consumed with worry, grief and anguish. Avagyan and Hamazkayin Central Executive felt this program was vital to safeguard what could be salvaged of these children’s psychological well-being.
“During the war, when we started the program in Armenia, the biggest challenge was to help the children cope with the trauma of the war. Most of these children were depressed and stressed which was reflected in the dark and ominous drawings they produced. With therapy and continued focus on their psychological well-being, and of course with the passage of time, the children began to choose brighter colors and produced more colorful drawings. Thanks to the great team of teachers and psychotherapists that Hamazkayin brought together, the children regained some of their cheerful and optimistic outlook,” recalled Avagyan.
In January of 2021, the program relaunched in Stepanakert as most families from the capital city were the first to return to their homes. From January to May of 2021, the program ran concurrently in Armenia and Artsakh. Today, Children of Artsakh operates exclusively throughout Artsakh proper, including villages in the regions of Martuni and Martakert most of which now sit on the line of contact with Azerbaijani soldiers looking down on these villages.
Children of Artsakh has expanded its programs beyond art to include Armenian traditional dance, chorus and crafts for children ages 8-14. The program has active groups in Stepanakert, as well as in the villages of Gaghartsi, Ashan and Majgalashen in the Martuni region and the village of Maghavouz in the Martakert region. In addition, the Hamazkayin Artsakh office also runs a tutoring program for high school seniors who are preparing to take their college entrance exams. Prior to the war, these students would have resources dedicated to them by their schools or even their own families’ abilities to hire tutors in order to prepare for these exams. As a consequence of the war, many of these services are no longer available and the families themselves do not have the resources to hire private tutors. As an extension of the Children of Artsakh program, exam preparation classes are provided in Stepanakert. One program is for the students in Stepanakert, and the second program is for students who come from villages across Artsakh to Stepanakert every week to take advantage of these classes. Without exception, all the students who participated in this tutoring program last year passed their exams and were accepted to university, and the teachers are confident that the bright students in the program this year will also succeed.
In addition to the various art classes, Hamazkayin’s Children of Artsakh program also takes the children on educational field trips to museums and to watch plays in theaters and other cultural adventures. Hamazkayin’s Artsakh office also organized two art shows featuring over 100 pieces of work created by the children of Artsakh. These art exhibits were well received by communities in Armenia and Artsakh. In addition, they provided yet another opportunity for these children to have some semblance of normalcy following the trauma they endured, and continue to endure, as a result of the attacks on our homeland. There are now preliminary plans underway to organize a dance and music festival to bring all Children of Artsakh participants together to perform in various parts of the region.
Early on, Hamazkayin’s Artsakh office decided that in addition to helping children cope with the trauma of war, they would also find ways to help displaced families. As a result, most of the teachers Hamazkayin hires for the Children of Artsakh program are from displaced families. The teachers are from Shushi, Hadrut, Berdzor and other regions that were surrendered to the enemy. In this way, displaced families who have lost their ancestral homes and more are able to earn a living to support their families.
“It was very important to Hamazkayin that the teachers involved in this program come from the most needy families who today are obviously the families from the surrendered territories who have lost their homes and livelihoods,” said Avagyan.
The Armenian Cultural Association of America (ACAA) Artsakh Fund supports the Hamazkayin Children of Artsakh program by providing financial resources so that the program can continue to serve the needs of the bright children of Artsakh. ACAA board member Ani Tchaghlasian visited Artsakh in early December to deliver art and school supplies to every participant in the Children of Artsakh program. Over 250 backpacks packed with various age-appropriate art and school supplies were delivered.
“It was crucial for the ACAA Artsakh Fund board members that the children of Artsakh and their families, as well as the teachers and program directors, feel that they are not alone in these trying times in our homeland,” said Tchaghlasian. “It is with great pride and humility that we acknowledge the courage and steadfastness of our compatriots in Artsakh who, with determination and will, remain in our ancestral homeland,” she continued.
Tchaghlasian, accompanied by AYF-Eastern Region Central Executive member Alex Manoukian, ANCA communications director Elizabeth Chouldjian and Hamazkayin Artsakh office program manager Tiruhi Gasparyan visited with every Children of Artsakh program. The visits began at the Boarding Institution No.1 for the Care and Protection of Children in Stepanakert. Children of Artsakh provides an arts program for these children with disabilities. In Stepanakert, they also met with the children in the arts program and the students who participate in both of the college prep classes. In addition, the team visited with the children who participate in programs in Gaghartsi, Ashan, Majgalashen and Maghavous. They also met with the principals of the schools in those villages and the dedicated teachers of the Children of Artsakh program.
“It was inspiring to meet with these children and teachers who continue to learn, teach and live willfully while staring down the barrels of Azeri guns,” said Manoukian.
AYF Eastern Region USA Central Executive member Alex Manoukian with the talented little artists of the Hamazkayin Children of Artsakh Art Program in Stepanakert
These gifts were made possible by funding provided by the ACAA Artsakh Fund. In addition, a generous donation was made by the Salt and Light Youth Group of St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church in Douglaston, New York, led by the indefatigable Fr. Nareg Terterian. The Salt and Light participants raised funds and made cross bracelets for the children of Artsakh which were well received. The kindhearted students of Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School, guided by their dedicated principal Seda Tavitian Megherian, also raised funds for this project. In a most touching gesture, the students also made handwritten cards with lovely messages to the children of Artsakh. Several individuals and families also generously supported this program for which the ACAA Artsakh Fund and Hamazkayin are truly thankful.
Hamazkayin Central Executive intends to continue the Children of Artsakh program, as it has provided hope and healing for the beautiful children in our homeland. There are requests from mayors and city councils from many border villages in Artsakh requesting that Hamazkayin also provide this programming in their villages. “The Hamazkayin Artsakh office fields calls several times a week from different village leaders requesting that we provide similar programming for their village as well. It’s a matter of resources. We could expand the program very quickly, providing an outlet for the children and employment for displaced teachers and bringing a great and needed service to our villages,” reported Avagyan.
If you would like to help ensure the continued success of the Children of Artsakh program, you can make your tax deductible donations to the ACAA Artsakh Fund with a designation to Children of Artsakh in the notes.
Instead of dealing with serious problems, the current Armenian authorities seek to “throw dust in people’s eyes and shut them up”, MP Tigran Abrahamyan from the opposition With Honor faction claims.
“Various kinds of border incidents, including aggression, local battles, subversive attacks, kidnapping, captures and invasions, will continue as long as there are people in power whose priorities and actions contradict the vital interests of the Armenian people,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
“Even in this difficult situation, when it seems that sweeping changes in some spheres are inevitable to ensure security, the authorities are sticking to populism, which aims not to resolve serious problems, but to “throw dust in the eyes of the people and shut their mouths”.
“All issues of primary importance are tried to be closed by bringing everyday life to the fore, proposing populist solutions to them, while the key security issues not only remain unresolved at their will, but are becoming increasingly exacerbated,” Abrahamyan said.
UEFA presented the 40 most promising young football players (under 21), to watch for in 2022, according to the organization’s website.
The list was compiled by experts and journalists on the official UEFA website.
Among the 40 players are also Dinamo Moscow and Russia national team midfielder Arsen Zakharyan, Barcelona midfielders Gavi and Nico Gonzalez, Salzburg striker Karim Adeyemi, Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott and Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe.
PanARMENIAN.Net – Lawmakers from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party Sedrak Tevonyan and Sergey Movsisyan have resigned.
According to a statement released by President of National Assembly Alen Simonyan, said MPs have one week to withdraw their resignations. If they fail to do so, the resignation will be considered accepted.
Neither lawmaker has offered reasons behind their decision to give up seats in the parliament.
in
Iran and Azerbaijan were quick to escalate their rhetoric when a heated war of words broke out between the two countries on the first anniversary of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Tehran accused Baku of offering its territory to Israel to spy on Iran and of deploying Syrian mercenaries in the 44-day war against Armenia. Baku accused Tehran of “briefly invading” parts of southern Azerbaijan during the war and allying with Armenia for organised drug trafficking to Europe.
As the rhetorical war continued between these two countries, which together share the highest percentage population of Shia people globally, their military show of power was also in full swing at the Iran-Azerbaijan border and the Caucasus.
Read More »
In mid-September, Azerbaijan launched a joint drill with Turkey and Pakistan. Two weeks later, the Iranian official army’s ground forces deployed a large number of troops at the border with Azerbaijan and held a war game. Azerbaijan took its turn a few days later and participated in another joint drill with Iran’s regional rival Turkey, this time in Georgia.
However, when the dust of the war games settled, a different image of the two neighbouring countries’ relationships emerged in the media.
On 28 November, the Azeri and Iranian presidents met in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, and spoke of friendship and brotherhood, shaking hands and taking photos before the cameras.
Something had changed between the two countries.
Iran, which was previously closer to Armenia, has more recently leaned towards Azerbaijan, no longer stressing its reservations about Israel-Azerbaijan ties.
Moreover, President Ebrahim Raisi’s conservative government had approached Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to sign a three-way gas-swap deal.
The deal was widely hailed by Farsi media as an outstanding economic achievement, a successful move to restore relations with Azerbaijan and a hard blow to the United States’ maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which started in 2018 after then-president Donald Trump violated the 2015 nuclear agreement.
“At this point, all we can say about the gas-swap deal is that it’s a not-smartly-crafted performance by a new government that needs to prove itself,” an energy expert at the Tehran Stock Market told Middle East Eye, on condition of anonymity.
The only official detail about the swap contract was disclosed by Iran’s oil minister, Javad Oji. He said that Iran would receive between 1.5 and two billion cubic metres of gas from Turkmenistan at the Sarakhs border crossing and deliver the same amount to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan at Iran’s Astara border.
‘Instead of having a well-founded foreign policy in the South Caucasus, we now run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’
– Iranian diplomat
“For how long will this contract be valid? No one knows. It is only said to be a long-term contract. But not any long-term contract is necessarily a good contract,” the energy expert said
“And what is the quality of the gas we receive from Turkmenistan, compared to what we deliver to Azerbaijan?
“More importantly, what is the percentage of Iran’s take from this amount of gas for delivering it to Azerbaijan?”
So far, Iran’s official media have provided conflicting numbers for the percentage of the share that Iran would take from the transferred gas.
The state-run Young Journalist Club wrote that between 20 and 25 percent of the delivered gas would be allocated to Iran. Conversely, the ISNA news agency put the number as low as five percent.
“I won’t be surprised if the actual number is even less than five percent. Firstly, because it was Iran that approached Turkmenistan for the deal, and secondly, due to the sanctions, we can only deal in the global market with prices much lower than actual prices,” the expert stressed.
Iran has previously applied the same tactic by offering significant discounts to its oil customers to get around the US sanctions.
“I think this contract only has political importance for the establishment. This is the price that Iran must pay to keep Azerbaijan happy,” the expert concluded.
However, other sources MEE spoke to believed that influencing neighbouring countries was not Tehran’s only goal for signing the gas-swap contract with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
The contract was signed only a few days before the resumption of negotiations in Vienna for a potential revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement following a five-month pause.
It was the first time since Raisi’s victory in the June presidential election that Iran’s new hardliner delegation was sitting at the negotiations table with the signatories of the nuclear deal, which was originally signed under former reformist president Hassan Rouhani.
“The hardliners, who now lead the nuclear talks, did not want to arrive empty-handed at the negotiating table,” an Iranian diplomat, who worked at Iran’s foreign ministry between 2005 and 2013, told MEE.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that, while the new negotiating team drafted the two proposals Iran presented in November during the talks, other offices at the foreign ministry attempted to improve Tehran’s political relations with neighbouring countries and regional powers.
“I’m not saying that’s been a successful strategy. But that’s how Iran’s new foreign policy will work for, at least, the next four years,” he said.
The diplomat explained that Iran had lost the opportunity to maintain its influence in the Caucasus during Rouhani’s administration, as Tehran was focused on negotiating with the US and improving ties with European powers.
“Through the channels we had with the foreign ministry, we warned [former foreign minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif and Rouhani over Iran’s political passivity in the Caucasus, but they were overwhelmed by the talks with the West,” he said.
“And, as a result, instead of having a well-founded foreign policy in the South Caucasus, we now run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.”
Nevertheless, the diplomat stressed that, since the early 1990s, the only matter that has remained intact in Iran’s diplomacy in the Caucasus is its strong objection to the opening of the Zangezur transport corridor that connects Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan.
The opening of the 21km corridor, which Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has persistently demanded following the 2020 war, would effectively cut off Iran’s access to the Caucasus through Armenia.
Despite solid opposition by Iran and Armenia to the Zangezur passageway, experts believe that if Turkey and Russia decide to permit Azerbaijan to use the corridor, neither Iran nor Armenia has the power to go against it.
‘Nowadays, we can’t fool Azerbaijan by offering them a gas-swap deal. Indeed, they are using our weaknesses for their benefit, and the gas deal was clear evidence for that’
– Retired Iranian diplomat
A retired Iranian diplomat, who served in Iran’s foreign ministry during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war (1988-94), told MEE that Tehran is aware of its limited influence over the Azerbaijan-Armenian conflict.
“Azerbaijan counts on Turkish and Israeli military and political support,” the diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“On the other side, Armenia follows what Russia decides upon, so there is not much space left for Iran to play a role. If tomorrow Russia orders Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Zangezur corridor and hand it over to the Russian peacekeepers, Armenia will do that. As they did in Karabakh to end last year’s war.”
According to the veteran diplomat, even during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, Iran was not the most influential country in the region, and its efforts to broker a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia were unsuccessful. However, at that time Tehran could at least host the fighting neighbours for peace talks.
“Iran’s power in the Caucasus has declined gradually, since our politicians and the commanders of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps were busy exerting influence in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen,” he said.