Author: Kanayan Tamar

Defending Armenia through Art: Fifteen-Year-Old Shakeh Hagopian awarded Congressional art prize

Kanayan Tamar
 Ruby Topalian Community News, Art, Diaspora 0

Hagopian poses for a photo with her painting and Congresswoman Becca Balint (D-VT). As part of her day on Capitol Hill, Hagopian also had the opportunity to engage in a sit-down meeting with Balint where she not only discussed “Noor of Truth” but also advocated for Balint’s increased involvement in Armenian issues.

Most kids spend their childhoods running around playgrounds, playing dress-up and haphazardly scribbling in coloring books. But from the age of two, Shakeh Hagopian has spent hours a day with her head down, pencil in hand, sketching. When she reached elementary school, her parents became concerned by how much time Shakeh spent consumed by her art, as she devoted up to 16 hours a day to drawing, painting and creating beautiful images. 

While as a child Hagopian was motivated by her love for the artistic process, masterfully drawing animals, flowers and basic landscapes, her art has gradually evolved into a force of powerful activism geared towards the Armenian cause. This month, Hagopian’s artistic activism took her to Capitol Hill, as she was awarded the prestigious Congressional Art Prize for the state of Vermont.  

Hagopian’s award-winning piece “Noor of Truth,” which took three weeks to create, was the product of her frustration with the meager coverage of the blockade of Artsakh in media and government. “I’ve been protesting for years about Artsakh and trying to get it publicized. But this is the one chance that I had to actually speak to politicians through the use of imagery,” Hagopian said. “I decided this was going to be about Artsakh, about Armenia, because no matter how many times I protest outside of the Capitol, I won’t get their attention unless they see it face to face, and they have to talk to me and, you know, they have no other choice,” she stressed.

“Noor of Truth” by Shakeh Hagopian. The Congressional Art Competition-winning painting from Vermont will be displayed at the US Capitol Building for one year.

At just fifteen years old, Hagopian is still in high school, which means all of her time outside of school for those weeks was spent painting. “I’d be painting until 10 p.m., not doing any homework. Nothing. And my grades got so bad. But I was like, ‘Hey, this is worth it,’” she said. To make matters more difficult, Hagopian does not work out of an official art studio. “I don’t really have a studio, so it was very chaotic. It was my bedroom. There’s this giant easel and all my paints and I was inhaling toxic oil paint when I went to sleep. I was that determined […] from time to time I had to paint inside my dad’s workplace […] I had to paint outside in freezing weather,” she shared.

Despite these setbacks, Hagopian persevered. Inspired by both her sister, Kala Hagopian —who won the Congressional Art Prize for her painting “The Last Armenian” in 2002—and her father, Philip Hagopian, a well-known professional painter in Armenia, she poured herself into her work and produced something marvelous. The principal figure in the piece is a depiction of herself, but the primary importance of the work lies inside the pomegranate, or “noor.”

“I wanted a visually pleasing sort of face for the painting so that the viewer’s eyes would be drawn to the painting, but then there’s that hidden element in the corner inside the pomegranate that also just jumps out […] When you look inside the pomegranate, there is a chessboard in the colors of the earth propped up by three skulls that I sculpted myself. And the chessboard […] there’s a reason why it’s in the colors of the earth. It’s got pawns on it, tanks. And it’s supposed to represent a kind of global chessboard, that this is all just sort of a game, all of this politics, all of these wars; it’s all just a game motivated by money, which is why I put a dollar bill in the background,” Hagopian explained. “And there is a mirror inside of the pomegranate. And when you look inside the pomegranate, you’re also seeing yourself in front of the chessboard and the skulls representing Armenian skulls. And suddenly, it goes back to you.”

A closeup look at Shakeh Hagopian’s “Noor” in her “Noor of Truth” painting

All of these details packed inside of one small pomegranate are ultimately meant to serve as a call to action. “It’s supposed to spread this message [that it] all starts with you, like your tax money is funding Azerbaijan. And it’s up to you to stop that. And there are images in the corners that are very hidden of a soldier with a bunch of tombstones behind him, a little boy looking at a tank and a map of ancient historical Armenia and how huge it once was. And I put those in there just to really get the message straight,” Hagopian said.

Hagopian’s success has brought a great victory to Vermont, which thrilled the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Vermont. “The ANC of Vermont is extremely proud of Shakeh. Shakeh’s rare piece of artwork is complex, graceful and hypnotically tantalizing at first glance of the eye, then successfully entices the viewer to understand the passion, pain and resilience that burns in the heart of the artist and in the hearts of all Armenians,” ANC of VT chairperson Pearl A. Bargamian Teague said.

Hagopian’s awe-inspiring piece was so profound that it earned recognition from New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian. He retweeted an image of “Noor of Truth” and captioned the post saying, “Very proud today (all days) to be a Vermonter and an Armenian-American.”

Hagopian’s school art teacher Colleen Flanagan couldn’t be more proud. “Shakeh is a driven and talented artist whose work is not only stunningly executed but is also full of intention. Every aspect of ‘Noor of Truth’ holds meaning to Armenian culture. Shakeh used symbolism as a way to portray these connections that can be seen in the imagery, the colors chosen and in the way the figure, a self-portrait, is positioned […] It is Shakeh’s innate abilities to combine the two aspects of visual art that make visual art outstanding: powerful aesthetics and big ideas that evoke emotion,” Flanagan said.

The ANCA’s Leo Sarkisian, Maral Melkonian, and Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway interns join Shakeh Hagopian and her family for a photo with her award-winning piece. The interns, primarily college students, were able to support Hagopian throughout her big day on the Hill.

Though Hagopian’s art alone demonstrates her dedication to the Armenian cause, she feels that it is not enough and has turned to legislative action, specifically in the realm of education, to ensure that all of her peers understand the atrocities committed against the Armenian people. After discovering at the beginning of this year that her school had no curriculum about the Armenian Genocide and Artsakh, she took matters into her own hands and convinced her world history teacher to allow her to present to her peers.

His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian congratulates Vermont Congressional Art Competition winner Shakeh Hagopian, seen here with her mother, Naira, Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian and ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian.

“I taught the entire sophomore grade history class about the Armenian Genocide and about Artsakh, about 2020, 2022 […] I made this giant Google slideshow presentation about it all. […] I said, ‘Hey, when you get home, go on anca.org’ […] give it as much attention as you guys did with Ukraine,” Hagopian said.

Hagopian’s efforts generated a passionate response from her peers, and students from all over the school came to watch her speak. “Shakeh is really exceptional in her poise, courage and conviction as an advocate for her people. Shakeh’s peers look up to her and she gracefully commands the respect of young people and adults alike.[…] As word got out about how impactful her presentation was, other teachers and students came to my class to sit-in […],” her world history teacher Perry Bellow-Handelman said.

But Hagopian’s teaching efforts did not stop at her school. During the spring, she also delivered her presentation at the Vermont Principals Association, where all Vermont superintendents were present. Moving forward, Bellow-Handelman is hoping to support Hagopian’s mission to increase Armenian Genocide education in Vermont by searching for additional venues where she can speak and will continue to have Hagopian present to her students next year.

Looking to the future, Hagopian wants nothing more than to return to Armenia, where she hopes to attend the American University of Armenia. Though she is uncertain if she will pursue art professionally, she knows that her career will be dedicated to defending Armenia. “I see lots of Armenians idolizing Garegin Nzhdeh and Monte Melkonian, and I always think if we all took on that role ourselves, we could really get Armenia out of this situation, and we have to take that onto ourselves. Each one of us is responsible for the whole world’s condition,” Hagopian said.

In the artist’s words:

Noor of Truth
Oils, Mixed Media
By Shakeh Hagopian
Congressional Art Competition
Winner from Vermont – 2023
Montpelier High School

The purpose of my painting was to bring Armenia-Artsakh’s crisis to both the viewers and the US government’s attention.

I utilized my painting to serve as a reminder to those who pass by my painting in the US Capitol that they are complicit in funding the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenians by sending military aid to Azerbaijan.

I accomplished this by subtly implementing images that showcased the tragic fate of Armenia inside a small crevice in the canvas. The viewers would be drawn to the lush 3D pomegranate springing out to speak to the viewer. Inside the pomegranate, I put a chess board in the colors of pawns and military tanks to represent that the crisis Armenia and Artsakh are facing is somewhat of a proxy war. As a result of this proxy war, you can see a pile of skulls I sculpted myself to support the chess board, to show that this geopolitical oil monopoly is at the expense of Armenian lives.

I glued dollar bills to really get my message through that most of this is motivated by greed and the oil business. I also added a small printed map of ancient Armenia and powerful yet tragic images of the Artsakh war’s aftermath.

I tied these elements all together with a mirror inside to interact with the viewer, spreading the important message that this can all be prevented if YOU subverted the government’s rapacity in gaining oil wealth out of what is an existential threat to Armenia.

Many may find my painting visually pleasing, but I did not paint this to win or to have a beautiful piece of art to decorate a wall. I painted this to get an important message across – and it’s up to the average citizen to help accomplish this. Your tax money funds Azerbaijan and Turkey’s military, and it’s contributing to the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenians.

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Ruby Topalian was born in a rural town in Wales but has lived in Maryland for the last ten years. She is entering her second year at Trinity College Dublin as part of Columbia University’s Dual Degree program. Her primary professional interest is journalism, and she works as the features editor of Trinity News and the opinion editor of Trinity International Affairs magazine, The Colloquium. She looks forward to a fulfilling journalistic career covering the Middle East with a specific focus on Armenia and the Caucasus. In 2023, she participated in the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Summer Program.


Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 26-06-23

Kanayan Tamar

 17:13,

YEREVAN, 26 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 26 June, USD exchange rate down by 0.55 drams to 386.55 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.79 drams to 421.49 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 4.59 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.00 drams to 491.31 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 98.41 drams to 23994.49 drams. Silver price down by 3.88 drams to 277.64 drams.

Descendants of Bosnian and Armenian Migrants Keep Ancient Ways Alive in Albania

Kanayan Tamar


Bosnians and Armenians came to the Durres area of central Albania more than a century ago and, while integrating well into the community, have preserved their distinct cultures.

Abdulla Kapidani worked his whole life in agriculture in Albania, becoming a well-known expert in the field. However, since retiring, he has found another passion.

He now spends his days collecting tales and documents about the Bosniaks who came to Durres in central Albania at the end of the 19th century and settled in an area around the town of Shijak.

Kapidani is cataloguing any documents that he can find about his ancestors. “We’ve collected documents and testimonies from the elders, aiming to reconstruct their trip by land and sea,” Kapidani told BIRN.

Back in the 1870s, Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the most culturally diverse parts of the Balkans, was mired in a multisided conflict.

As the Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate, both the Russian and Austrian Empires competed to replace it in the Balkans, along with Serbia, Greece and other local actors.

After the Ottomans were defeated by the Russian Empire in the 1877-78 war, the Great Powers intervened to decide what would be done with several parts of the Balkans.

Legend has it that a group of Bosnian Muslims from the Mostar area in Bosnia decided to emigrate to other parts of the Ottoman Empire, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire took over control of Bosnia.

Kapidani says many took ship for what today is European Turkey, an area where millions of Muslims of various ethnicities settled after emigrating from various former Ottoman lands in the Balkans.

But their ship suffered an engine failure and was obliged to land in Durres instead.

Kapidani says an army officer from Bosnia stationed in Durres urged the immigrants to settle there, instead of going further south in a hazardous journey on the Ionian and Aegean seas.

They settled in a hilly area around the town of Shijak and saw it as very similar to their previous home. For them, the nearby Erzen river substituted for the river Neretva flowing through Mostar in Bosnia.

Locals referred to the arrivals as “muhaxhire”, a Turkish word for “emigrants”. However, relations were good and no conflicts arose. The Albanian state granted them the status of minority in 2017.

Kapidani says the community paid for the lands they settled while learning to communicate in Albanian. “But at home we continued to speak our mother tongue, nashke language,” Kapidani said.

About 80 per cent of the Bosniak community in Albania lives in just two villages, Boraka and Koxhasi. A welcoming placard in Boraka hails visitors in Albanian, English and their own ancestral language: Dobro Dosli! it reads, or, “Welcome!”

Kapidani says the community built a watermill while the tomatoes they planted were later known as “Koxhasi”. They also danced in the old way, in order to preserve their heritage. “They opened the first restaurant in Shijak,” Kapidani notes.

Their entrepreneurial spirit, however, was stifled during Albania’s harsh 45-year-long Communist dictatorship, when private economic activity was more or less banned.

They restarted these activities after the Communist regime fell in 1992. One restaurant along the highway connecting Tirana with Durres is named “Sarajevo”, after the Bosnian capital. Another one is simply called “Bosna”.

Since 1995, they have also formed an association, named “Zambak” – or “Nymphaea”, after a much-loved aquatic plant that grows on the Neretva river mouth back in Bosnia.

Kapidani says the community integrated well with the local population, and marriages with locals were common. However, his parents had another story.

“My father, Ali, went back to Počitelj [a village] near Mostar to seek his future wife from a well-known family in the area. The new couple came back here and raised us with all the difficulties of that era.”

As the Second World War closed, Albania and Yugoslavia, of which Bosnia was now part, became friends for a short period, but then, bitter enemies. The border was closed.

“I still curse the dictatorship each time I remember how my mother passed away without having the chance to met any of her brothers or relatives that remained back in Bosnia,” Kapidani said.



The stairs of the Armenian in Durres. Photo: Gezim Kabashi

Bosnian families weren’t the only group of foreigners to settle in Durres during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Today, near the Municipality of Durres’ central offices, a series of steps on the hillside, built more than a hundred years ago, are still known to locals as “The stairs of the Armenian”.

“The reason for this is simple,” explains Agop Bodikian, a descendant of one of the several families of Armenian origin who settled in Durres.

“My grandfather and his children started a business nearby, so the locals referred to the steps in that way,” he told BIRN.

Millions of Armenians were scattered all over the vast Ottoman Empire, with the largest communities in eastern Anatolia. Some came to Albania while serving in the Ottoman Army. Others came after the notorious genocide perpetrated against them by the Ottoman authorities during World War One [which Turkey denies].

“My forefathers went to Bulgaria hoping to rescue their family members but didn’t manage to find them,” Agop told BIRN, recounting a story passed on by his parents.

Armenian families settled in Durres, Tirana, Elbasan, Korca, Shkodra and Berat.

“Our ancestors, families such as Bodikian, Ballxhian and Zacharian, felt good in Durres,” says Agop, who bears his grandfather’s name and manages the properties built up by his family in 1930s, which included one of the cinemas of that time, which is now closed.

“Our grandfathers started with small stalls at the port entrance but managed to grow the business and later opened shops on the main street,” he added.

The Armenians fared well in Albanian society as tradesmen. However, they are perhaps best known for their contribution to the country’s arts and literature.

In the 1980s, Anisa Markarian, captured the nation’s imagination as a teen actress in a state-produced movie. Her success in the arts was preceded by that of Haig Zacharian, a composer who wrote the music for dozens of movies, songs and symphonic orchestras.

Haig told BIRN that his parents, Lusi and Agop, tried to preserve their traditions and Christian religion and passed them on to their children even under Communism, when a ban on all religion effectively undermined their culture.

“They read a lot and knew several languages and that is how I remember them,” says Haig, who named his son Kyd, which means “wise one” in the Armenian language.

Meanwhile, Anisa Markarian became a doctor after her stint as an actor and now lives in France.

Last year, she became a bestselling author in Albania through her book in which memories of the Armenian Genocide and the life of their community in Albania come alive.

She recounts how her family feared they would lose their heritage when Albania’s Communist authorities started a campaign against “religious names”, which included a list of banned names for children as well as pressure on adults to change names deemed to be the result of “foreign influence”.

Agop Bodikian says that they continue to maintain their Armenian traditions by passing them on to their children the names of their forefathers.

It doesn’t matter to them how good or strange they sound.  “We are proud of our heritage,” he declared.

The Russian Armed Forces ordered to neutralize the mutiny organizers. Putin

Kanayan Tamar

 11:23,

YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Armed Forces received an order to neutralize the organizers of the armed munity, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his address to the nation.

“All those who consciously took the path of treason, blackmail and prepared an armed rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment. All those guilty of attempted riots will suffer the inevitable punishment, they will answer before the law and the people,” said the Russian President.

‘Blocking Lachin Corridor is Illegal and Must be Stopped,’ EU Lawmaker Says

Kanayan Tamar
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

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

Nathalie Loiseau, chair of the EU Parliament’s defense sub-commission, visited the entrance of Lachin Corridor on June 21


“We saw with our own eyes the complete and illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan,” Member of European Parliament says.

“Blocking the Lachin Corridor is illegal and must be stopped,” said Nathalie Loiseau, the chair of the European Parliament’s security and defense subcommittee, who is in Armenia and joined the EU’s monitoring mission in Armenia on Wednesday visited the Lachin Corridor entrance.

“We approached the entrance to Lachin Corridor and saw with our own eyes the complete and illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan,” Loiseau exclaimed when speaking to reporters.

“We heard about the increasing number of armed incidents and the invasion of the sovereign territory of Armenia. We learned about the incident in Yeraskh, where civilians were targeted. We also learned about the incident at the entrance to Lachin Corridor, where Azerbaijanis tried to raise a flag,” Loiseau added after her tour of the region with the EU monitors. She was referring to an incident on June 15 when Azerbaijani forces attempted to breach Armenia’s border and plant a flag there.

Nathalie Loiseau during a press conference in Yerevan on June 21

“I would like to send a strong message,” she emphasized. “As much as Armenia is devoted to peace, Azerbaijan is obliged to present evidence that it is also devoted to peace. The European Union is making efforts to facilitate the contacts between the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

“We wanted to make sure and assess the situation ourselves and also see how the European Union’s civilian mission, which has been operating along the border for four months, is working,” the EU parliament member said. “Today we were in Goris, where we met with the governor of Syunik, the head of the community of Goris, residents of Nagorno-Karabakh located in Armenia and talked with them about the 44-day war and the blocking of the Lachin corridor.”

Loiseau said that the European Union is making efforts to reduce tension and the presence of the EU mission in Armenia should contribute to reducing those tension.

“The time has come for a lasting peace to be established. I want to reaffirm the position of the European Parliament: the blocking of the Lachin corridor is illegal and must be stopped,” she said.

“The rights and well-being of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh must be protected and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia must be respected. I will take this message with me to Brussels, I will testify about what we saw and heard while in Armenia,” Loiseau added.

She also called on European ambassadors accredited in Baku to refrain from accepting any invitation from the Azerbaijani government to an illegally located checkpoint, and remain “faithful to the terms of the ruling of the International Court of Justice,”
Loiseau also said that the European Parliament fully supports sending a fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor, adding that the matter was discussed during a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“First, there is a decision of the International Court of Justice regarding the unblocking of the Lachin Corridor, which must be properly implemented. Second, the European Parliament fully supports the idea of sending a fact-finding mission,” said Loiseau.

“The European Parliament also welcomes the idea of an international presence in general to fully protect the rights and interests of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” she added.

“We are also completely in favor of a UN Security Council resolution being adopted. And the sooner, the better it will be if the members of the UN Security Council prepare a draft of such a resolution,” Loiseau said.

Earlier on Wednesday Loiseau, along with the EU’s representative to Armenia, Andrea Wikorin, joined the EU mission leader in Armenia, Markus Ritter and toured the border region, including the entrance of the Lachin Corridor.

Russia names new ambassador to Azerbaijan

Kanayan Tamar

 14:07, 14 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has appointed Mikhail Yevdokimov as the new Ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan.

Yevdokimov is replacing Mikhail Bocharnikov.

The new ambassador has been serving at the Russian foreign ministry since 1981. He was the Director of the First Department of CIS at the Russian Foreign Ministry since 2011.

 

Schedule for Armenia-Azerbaijan agreement slipping into the future

Kanayan Tamar
Joshua Kucera Jun 15, 2023

The schedule for the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan appears to have again slipped, as Azerbaijan – not long ago regularly complaining about Armenian “delays” in the process – is now expressing a newfound patience for the process to take all the time it needs.

At a May 28 speech in Lachin, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku was not in a hurry to sign an agreement. “We are the stronger side, we are the ones who have a strong position at the negotiating table, we are the ones who have a strong position on the border,” he said. “Even if the peace treaty is not signed, we will live comfortably and safely.”

This was a notable change of tone from Aliyev’s usual rhetoric, which regularly featured accusations that Armenia was dragging its feet and veiled threats in case the Armenians did not step it up. Just over three weeks earlier, Aliyev had repeated that warning, arguing that delaying a final resolution of the conflict has been Armenians’ longtime practice.

“They can delay; they can use a negotiation format, which already has been established not to come to an agreement, but to make the process endless, waiting for something, waiting for a miracle, waiting for changes. And they will miss the opportunity because almost thirty years of occupation did not give them any advantage,” Aliyev said on May 3. 

Two key, interrelated changes took place in between those two speeches that changed the Azerbaijani government’s approach, said Zaur Shiriyev, a Baku-based analyst for the think tank Crisis Group.

One, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection, ensuring that Azerbaijan’s key international patron would remain in office for another five-year term. Second, Azerbaijan managed to erect a border post on the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. The post is Azerbaijan’s most concrete step yet towards reasserting its control over the territory, which it lost to Armenians in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s.

“Simply put, Baku controls the Lachin road, meaning everything is in their hands, and while it remains a priority, it seems that there is no immediate urgency to reaching a peace agreement,” Shiriyev told Eurasianet. Azerbaijan hastened the establishment of the border checkpoint in part because of uncertainty over the election’s outcome, he said. 

“Had Erdogan not been elected and, hypothetically, if [main opposition candidate Kemal] Kilicdaroglu were in his place, Baku would likely have pressed for a more forceful signing of the peace agreement, considering it a non-negotiable priority,” Shiriyev said.

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan had been scheduled to meet in Washington starting on June 12, but Azerbaijan postponed the meeting because Erdogan scheduled a trip to Baku for the same time. (Turkish diplomatic tradition has it that a newly elected leader’s first foreign trip is to Northern Cyprus and the second is to Azerbaijan.)

That meeting has not been rescheduled, but a State Department spokesperson said on June 13 that “we look forward to rescheduling it as soon as we can.”

The postponement of the Washington talks notwithstanding, the pace of diplomacy between the two sides has been brisk. The two foreign ministers met for several days in Washington at the beginning of May; U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at their conclusion that “an agreement is within reach.”

Aliyev met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Moscow on May 25 and in Chisinau on June 1, and ahead of the Moldova meeting there were some expectations that an agreement could be signed there. Asked in parliament a month ahead of the Moldova event about media reports that an agreement could be signed, Pashinyan said he would be happy for it to happen. Less than a week before that meeting, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to France said she hoped an agreement would be signed there. 

In the end that meeting was short and produced no breakthrough. But the fact that negotiations are being conducted steadily and that progress is being made on an agreement has reinforced Azerbaijan’s patience, Shiriyev said.

Baku remains interested in signing a peace agreement as soon as possible, a senior Azerbaijani diplomat told Eurasianet on condition of anonymity. “Azerbaijan is interested in speedy progress” in the various tracks of negotiations including the delimitation of the mutual border, establishment of new transport routes, and the relationship between Baku and Karabakh’s Armenian population. 

But, the diplomat added, Baku feels that time is on its side: “At the end of the day, in the worst-case scenario Azerbaijan could afford the luxury of keeping everything untouched as it is: lack of land connectivity from the outside to Armenia, impediments for dialogue with the Armenian community in Azerbaijan, undelimited borders, and finally a missed opportunity to sign an overwhelming peace treaty with Azerbaijan.”

The history of Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations is littered with expectations for breakthroughs that always broke down before an agreement could be signed. 

Low-level fighting has ticked up in recent weeks, and Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned in a June 13 statement that Azerbaijan might be preparing the ground for “another aggressive actions and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

But even as the fighting continues, and the diplomatic process has downshifted, both sides are continuing to express optimism that a deal could be signed within months.

In Baku, the expectation is now that an agreement could be signed by August or September, Shiriyev said.

In Armenia, the expected date is somewhat later. Armen Grigoryan, the chair of Armenia’s National Security Council, said on June 4 that “the negotiations are being conducted very intensively. If we are able to maintain this intensity, and there is also strong assistance from the international community, then there is a possibility to reach a peace agreement at the end of the year.”

By the end of the year is a “likely” target, said Richard Giragosian, head of the Yerevan think tank Regional Studies Center.

“The outlook for the two sides to conclude a comprehensive peace treaty seems increasingly positive,” Giragosian said. “Such optimism does not include any realistic expectation for a sudden mature breakthrough and is based on a more gradual timetable, with a peace treaty likely by the end of 2023, but not sooner, despite the rhetoric.”

Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet’s former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.

EU Leader Calls Azerbaijani Checkpoint at Lachin Corridor Counterproductive

Kanayan Tamar
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

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

The EU’s foreign affairs chief speaks at the European Parliament on June 13


The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said Azerbaijan’s checkpoint installed at the Lachin Corridor runs counter to efforts to build trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan’s unilateral decision to install this checkpoint completely contradicts efforts to build trust between the parties,” said Borrell, who was asked on Tuesday by a European Parliament Member Francois Xavier Bellamy about the EU inability to condemn Baku for its action, Armenpress reported.

“The Court of Justice has condemned the blockade by Azerbaijan, but this state terrorism has not led to any sanctions by the Council, and the Commission seems unable to properly condemn this very serious violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Bellamy said during a discussion in the European Parliament entitled “Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor.”

“There are territories, border areas with Armenia, from where it can be seen what is happening in the Lachin Corridor, but the corridor itself is outside the jurisdiction of the mission and their area of responsibility. Now we are trying to find a solution for this specific problem,” Borrell said.

According to Borrell, the current situation in the Lachin Corridor certainly raises the concern of the international community, but the EU does not have access to the checkpoint located in the corridor, therefore it is deprived of the opportunity to carry out a full observation.

“The EU is interested in the establishment of peace in the South Caucasus, and for this purpose it implements initiatives of a humanitarian nature, as well as contributes directly to the negotiations aimed at peace. We are also involved in finding missing persons during the conflict and keeping the conflicting parties away from new clashes,” Borrell said.

In response to Bellamy’s question, Borrell said that efforts are underway to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the parties have also expressed readiness to continue negotiations.

Borrell emphasized that a very important meeting between the French President, the German Chancellor, the President of the European Council and leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in Moldova recently.

The meeting mentioned by Borrell did not result in a condemnation by EU leaders of Azerbaijan for its illegal breach of agreements and threats to the lives of Armenians in Artsakh.

Yet the EU’s foreign policy chief invoked statements made following recent meetings between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan as signs of progress.

Borrell referred to announcement by Pashinyan and Aliyev to recognize each other’s territorial integrity, as well as Pashinyan’s later remarks where he said that Armenia has accepted Artsakh as a constituent part of Azerbaijan as a signal to Azerbaijan to pay more attention to the rights and security issues of the people of Karabakh.

“We hope that the message of the Armenian side will be an incentive, pushing the negotiation process to a positive direction,” Borrell said.

The EU’s top diplomat also said that the EU mission in Armenia is part of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but it cannot completely replace the process. The only solution, he said, is within the diplomatic sphere.

“The conflicting parties have expressed their desire to continue the negotiations, and the next meeting will be held in Brussels, from which the EU has high expectations,” Borrell said.

He noted that the socio-economic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is quite serious, which is why the EU has implemented various initiatives in the last two years to provide humanitarian support to the local residents, explaining that 70 million euros have already been allocated for this purpose.

Borrell said that the humanitarian support was aimed at solving health problems, including providing medical equipment and providing social support to people affected by the conflict. Borrell emphasized that there is still a lot to be done in that area.

States invest in nuclear arsenals as geopolitical relations deteriorate—SIPRI

Kanayan Tamar

 11:35,

YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security. A key finding of SIPRI Yearbook 2023 is that the number of operational nuclear weapons started to rise as countries’ long-term force modernization and expansion plans progressed.

The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2022.

Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,512 warheads in January 2023, about 9,576 were in military stockpiles for potential use—86 more than in January 2022.

Of those, an estimated 3,844 warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and around 2,000—nearly all of which belonged to Russia or the USA—were kept in a state of high operational alert, meaning that they were fitted to missiles or held at airbases hosting nuclear bombers.

Russia and the USA together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. The sizes of their respective nuclear arsenals (i.e. useable warheads) seem to have remained relatively stable in 2022,

In addition to their useable nuclear weapons, Russia and the USA each hold more than 1,000 warheads previously retired from military service, which they are gradually dismantling.

SIPRI’s estimate of the size of China’s nuclear arsenal increased from 350 warheads in January 2022 to 410 in January 2023, and it is expected to keep growing.

‘We are drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history,’ says Dan Smith, SIPRI Director. ‘It is imperative that the world’s governments find ways to cooperate in order to calm geopolitical tensions, slow arms races and deal with the worsening consequences of environmental breakdown and rising world hunger.’

People have faith and optimism in Armenia’s future, says PM citing home construction data

Kanayan Tamar

 11:24,

YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. 55,000 apartments are currently under construction in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on May 29.

“Today, fifty five thousand apartments are in the most various stages of construction in the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan told lawmakers at a joint committee session for preliminary debates of the 2022 government budget report.

“I believe this to be a highly important social, economic and even political indicator. This means that people have faith and optimism in Armenia’s future, otherwise the investments of this many billions in apartment construction doesn’t have any other interpretation,” he added.