Author: Jirair Kafian

FITCHBURG — Fitchburg and Lancaster recently hosted an international group from Armenia, as part of the Open World grant program which focuses on advancing women’s leadership at the local government level.

Five young women working in city and town government spent a week in Washington, DC, and then a week in the Cambridge and Boston area, where they were hosted by the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA).

“We wanted our delegates, most of whom work in small communities in Armenia, to experience town and small city government,” explains CYSCA President Roxanne Etmekjian. “We thought Lancaster and Fitchburg, where our organization has members, would be a great way for these extraordinary women officials a chance to see more of Massachusetts.”

The visit began at Lancaster Town Hall with Rep. Natalie Higgins, Rep. Meg Kilcoyne, and Town Select Board member Alix Turner, whose first question to the delegation was “what is your biggest challenge as an elected official?”

Meri Harutyunyan, Deputy Head of Development and Investment, Programs Department for Yerevan Municipality said, “If we met in September, and you asked what our challenges were, we would say climate change, gender roles, needs of youth.”

But everyone said their answer changed after September. That is when 100,000 Armenians living in Artsakh were forced to evacuate after a 10 month blockade, and then violence from the Azeri army. Armenians have been living in Artsakh (known as “Nagorno Karabagh” since 1918) for thousands of years.

“Now, we have lots of Armenians from Artsakh,” said Harutyunyan. “Armenia has had a painful page, of territorial loss, and loss of soldiers.” This is the second war that has devastated the country; two years earlier, Azerbaijan soldiers invaded the border, and took the town of Shushi.

“Many people were forcefully displaced. The government tried to help them to buy a house. But the prices on houses started going up. And students traveling to Yerevan to study – they could not afford a place.”

“Right now, everyone is working on a volunteer basis to provide shelter and food,” said Shushanik Danielyan, member of Yeghegis City Council. “The government started the process to give a one-time stipend to get settled, and then for six months.”

In Armenia, many women are in government, but out of 12 ministries in the country, only two are led by women. “But the majority of deputy ministers are women,” added Harutyunyan, Deputy Head of Development and Investment Programs Department for Yerevan Municipality.

In Armenia, there is passive voter registration. “Everyone automatically is registered when they turn 18.” But the turnout is still low – 28% for a recent city council election.

Political parties dominate the scene – and in 2016 the country passed a law requiring 30% of all candidates (in a political party on the ballot) would be women. However, there are “many pressures on women” not to serve when elected. “Women get elected but then party pressure, family pressure, so women drop out. And when a woman drops out, a man moves up,” said Shushanik Danielyan, a member of the Yeghegis City Council.

Arusyak Avetisyan, who was the youngest attendee and had recently been elected as a member of the Vardenis Local Council said, “There are a few times when my opinion was not heard at council meetings.” She started a Facebook page, and said “members are pretty active following me on Facebook.” After one meeting, “the leader said, “come talk at the meeting, don’t post on Facebook.”

Younger members of the delegation reported that older government candidates would ask them to post on Facebook “because people know us.”

“You have to educate the women to run,” one commented, “But you also have to educate the men.”

The Delegation visited seniors at the Senior Center, took a tour of downtown Fitchburg, and were impressed by the professional studios at FATV. Apart from Yerevan, there is no community television in smaller towns.

At City Hall, they met with Mayor DiNatale, City Councilor Amy Green, Fitchburg City Councilor Claire Freda, Fitchburg, and FATV’s George Mirijanian over a lunch from Espresso’s (the first time the Armenian delegation had tried U.S. pizza). Mirijanian presented the delegation with a copy of “Around the World In Fitchburg” which has a chapter on the Armenian emigrants to Fitchburg.

Councilor Amy Green asked whether women were oppressed in Armenia. Hartyunyan explained, “the main challenge we face is gender discrimination.” However, all agreed that in Armenia the biggest threat is security – Azerbaijani troops are stationed on the borders.

Mayor DiNatale asked about their visit with members of Congress in Washington, DC. Lilit Hajatyan, member of Artik Local Council said, “When we were having meetings in DC, they were talking about Israel and Ukraine, and I said, ‘Why do you only speak about those countries – in Artsakh it’s genocide too, they are killing children.

They said, “we are not talking loudly about that, but we are working on it. They are asking Azerbaijan not to do that, but they are also sending money to buy arms.”

Shushanik Danielyan explained, “we have churches that have been there [in Artsakh] for thousands of years, and they are destroying them. They are eliminating national treasures – songs, and carpets and the arts.”

Lilit added, “They are trying to persuade the world that Lake Sevan is in Azerbaijan, and they are lying and the world is listening.”

As many delegates come from rural areas (70% of Armenians live outside of Yerevan), everyone enjoyed their visit to Hollis Hills Farm at the end of the day. Owner Jim Lattanzi spoke to the group about how the Farm is a tourist destination, with weekend music events, a partnership with Fitchburg Library for a  warm-weather reading program, restaurant and food items for sale, as well as apple and fruit picking.

“Everything is farm to table in Armenia,” said Lilit Antonyan, political assistant in the US Embassy in Armenia. “These are all great ideas!”

The day concluded with the group enjoying a visit with the goats and cows and Lattanzi observed, “What a pleasure to host this Armenian women’s delegation at our family farm. To share our experiences as farmers, share our business model and discuss opportunities we have pursued as we provide good food for our community was exciting. No matter the language barrier, food brings people together and we enjoyed our time with them.”

Sally Cragin serves as a City Councilor-At-Large in Fitchburg. 

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2023/10/22/armenian-women-politicians-visit-for-cultural-exchange/

Just days before Azerbaijan wiped the indigenous Armenian enclave in Nagorno-Karabakh off the map, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The genocidal intent was clear. Azerbaijani soldiers wore armbands with the image of Enver Pasha, mastermind of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and the slogan “Don’t run Armenian you’ll just die of exhaustion!” Upon capturing Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh and a city historically almost entirely Armenian, the Azerbaijani government named a street for Enver Pasha. To Armenians, Azerbaijan’s arrest of the region’s Armenian political leaders has obvious parallels to the 1915 arrests—and subsequent executions—of prominent Armenian leaders, an event that scholars say marked the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

While growing numbers of Congressmen complain or sign letters demanding action, the Biden administration does little to help displaced Armenians or punish Azerbaijan for systematically violating every diplomatic agreement and ceasefire they signed. While realists in the White House view Armenia-Azerbaijan in isolation and may even see opportunity in the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh to enable an elusive peace, they are wrong on both counts. Unilateral action justifies unilateral reaction, even if delayed by decades, while ethnic cleansing unpunished signals its utility to aggressors.

So it is now with Turkey. On October 1, 2023, two suicide bombers affiliated with a militant offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked the front gate of Turkey’s interior ministry, injuring two Turkish soldiers. While there is no excuse for terrorism, the attack came after a year of near daily Turkish cross-border attacks on Kurds. The Turkish Interior Ministry responded by declaring all sites it associates with the PKK and YPG (People’s Defense Units) as well as energy infrastructure as potential targets. Turkish drones and/or aircraft have preceded to bomb a number of sites across northern Iraq and Syria. The threat to bomb civilian and economic infrastructure represents collective punishment illegal under international law.

Given the US partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the YPG is a member, that raises the stakes that Turkey might target American troops. This is not a theoretical problem. On April 7, 2023, Turkish drones targeted a convoy conveying Iraqi Kurds, SDF, and American Special Forces. The strike was not simply a warning, but lethal in intent. Local officials told me the only reason Americans did not die was that the ground was muddier than usual, allowing the warhead to penetrate into the ground before detonating.  On October 5, American forces in Syria downed a Turkish drone that they deemed a threat. Such NATO on NATO action is a rarity.

The Turkish government might seek to compel the United States to abandon their Syrian Kurdish allies, much as the White House abandoned Armenians. That the United States has been silent regarding the Turkish ethnic cleansing of Afrin might encourage Ankara further. That President Donald Trump had after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed willingness to throw the Kurds under the bus might lead Erdogan to believe American resolve is weak.

He would be foolish to believe so. The United States allied with Syrian Kurds against the Islamic State that Turkey at the time backed. Turkey might be a NATO member, but Kurds have proven themselves on the ground at a time Turkey would not. The Islamic State remains a threat, one that would grow if Turkey overruns the Kurdish administration. Erdogan’s racist hatred of the Kurds also ignores the obvious to those who have visited the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria: while far from perfect, it is nonetheless impressive and has achieved a great deal with few resources. Residents—both Kurdish, Arab, and other—enjoy greater freedoms than their counterparts do in Syria, Turkey, or in areas of Iraqi Kurdistan under the control of the Barzani family.

This will not keep Turkey from trying, however. As Turkey seeks to ethnically cleanse northern Syria, Kurds tell me that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps demands the same right of access and operation along its border. Serbia, meanwhile, uses the Azerbaijan and Turkey precedent to intimidate and target Kosovo. Turkey may hope American forces simply get out of the way, but they should not. Today’s downing of a Turkish drone should be both a shot across the bow and an inspiration for the future. To stop ethnic cleansing, it behooves the United States to help all of its allies defend themselves from the predation of dictatorships wielding drones.

Conversely, American troops across the globe will be in danger unless the White House forcefully conveys to those who would seek to target and intimidate them that to do so will lead to an exponentially higher price visited upon them. Washington should put Ankara on notice: If a Turkish drone, jet, or sniper targets an American, every Turk in Syria and Iraq will have a target on their back.

Now a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Dr. Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).

Today, Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič is in Armenia to coordinate the EU’s assistance to the country in light of the mass exodus of people from Nagorno-Karabakh. This follows President von der Leyen’s meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday in Granada where a series of EU support measures were outlined.

The visit comes as a plane carrying EU emergency supplies is due to arrive in Yerevan. The aid flight is part of the European Humanitarian Response Capacity which has been activated to provide support to humanitarian organisations on the ground.

Mobilising its humanitarian stockpiles, the EU is delivering hygiene kits, kitchen sets, blankets, solar LED-s, and solar flashlights to EU humanitarian partners who will then rapidly distribute them to the people in need. This aid flight will therefore help support people in need with shelter and accommodation essentials.

Furthermore, the Commissioner will discuss the latest support mobilised via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism which was activated on 29 September upon a request from Armenia. So far, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Sweden have offered urgently needed shelter equipment and food and medical supplies.

Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden have offered medical support to assist the mass burn victims of the fuel depot explosion in Stepanakert. The first medical evacuation flight transporting patients for treatment in France landed yesterday in Paris.

A team of EU humanitarian experts have been deployed to Armenia where they are now coordinating with humanitarian partners to assess the developing needs and to ensure a rapid response to the crisis.

The EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre is operating 24/7 to coordinate donations via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to Armenia.

During his mission, the Commissioner will meet the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan; the Deputy Prime Minister, Tigran Khachatryan; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan, as well as EU humanitarian partners in Armenia. Commissioner Lenarčič will also visit shelters for the displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “Almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh has now fled to Armenia. We are mobilising our humanitarian stockpiles to deliver urgently needed shelter equipment to the displaced people. A flight with EU humanitarian cargo is landing in Yerevan. I also want to thank the EU countries that offered in-kind assistance to Armenia via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. We stand in solidarity with those who have had to leave their homes and lives behind.”

In the past weeks, the EU has already allocated over €10 million in humanitarian aid in response to the crisis. The priority is to provide cash assistance, shelter, food security, and livelihoods, as well as mental health and psychological support to the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since the outbreak of the Nagorno Karabakh war in 2020, the European Commission has allocated €31.2 million overall in humanitarian aid to provide emergency support to the affected people.

EU humanitarian assistance includes food, hygiene, and household items, multi-purpose cash assistance, shelter, education in emergencies, health and psychosocial support, medical equipment, and other urgent assistance.

EU humanitarian funding is provided in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-delivers-further-emergency-assistance-armenia-commissioner-lenarcic-visits-country-2023-10-06_en