Author: Lilit Nahapetian

WATCH: Mel Gibson calls for international action to protect Armenians from genocide in grip of Azerbaijan, Turkey

Lilit Nahapetian

 12:35,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. American actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson has condemned the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh perpetrated by Azerbaijan and called out the media silence, demanding swift international action to protect and save Armenians.  

To the Armenian people who still suffer, I say: “Don’t lose heart, God is with you”

Gibson said “history tragically repeats itself as we witness a modern-day genocide unfolding…”

“In the grip of Azerbaijan and Turkey, countless Armenians are enduring unspeakable horrors, loss of life, forced displacement, starvation and isolation from essential supplies,” he further said.

[SEE VIDEO]

Chairman Menendez Delivers Floor Speech Urging Action to Prevent Genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh

Lilit Nahapetian
Sept 12 2023

WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor on the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, calling on the United States and the international community to respond and hold President Aliyev and his regime accountable for their actions in the region, which bear the hallmarks of genocide.

“Of course, to be an honest broker means we need to tell the truth about Azerbaijan’s atrocities,” Chairman Menendez said. “We need to call out those individuals perpetrating this campaign of ethnic cleansing. We need to target them—including President Aliyev—with sanctions. We need to be cutting off their access to the wealth and oil money they have stashed away at financial institutions around the world, to their yachts and mansions across Europe. The evidence is there and we must preserve it so that Aliyev can be held accountable for these atrocities.”

A copy of Chairman Menendez’s speech, as delivered, has been provided below.

“Mr. President, I rise to speak about a horrific set of events that are taking place in a part of the world that we could do something about.

In this photo, this dead man’s body is completely emaciated. The skin, tight over his bones, barely covers his skeleton. Bruises and scars stretch across his chest. This is not a victim at the side of the road during the Ottoman Turk’s Armenian Genocide. It is not a Holocaust survivor laying on the ground as allies liberated Buchenwald. It is not a human carcass left in the wake of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, or the Hutu in Rwanda or Serbian forces in Bosnia. Mr. President, it is from the Human Rights Defender’s Office in Nagorno-Karabakh. And it is from August. Only weeks ago.

Because Mr. President, right now—as you sit there in the dais, and I stand here in the chamber—the Aliyev government in Azerbaijan is carrying out a campaign of heinous atrocities that bear the hallmarks of genocide against the Armenians in Artsakh. They have purposefully and viciously trapped an estimated 100,000 to 120,000 Christian Armenians in the Karabakh Mountains. There is only one road out connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for people, food, medicine, and basic supplies, and the Azerbaijanis have blocked it since December of last year.

Despite some reports yesterday, no aid has moved. They have tried to deny their role but make no mistake, the Azerbaijani government is now wholeheartedly embracing this brutal blockade, denying the Armenian community food and fuel and medicine.

Aliyev and his regime are trying to starve these people into death or into political submission.

‘There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks,’ wrote the former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in a recent report. But he said, ‘starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.’ This group of Armenians – talking about over 100,000 – will be destroyed in a few weeks. Not my observations, the observations of the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

In Artsakh, the shelves of stores are empty. Children wait in lines for the chance of finding bread to feed their grandparents who are too weak to leave the house. There is no gas for ambulances. According to the head doctor at one maternity hospital, miscarriages have nearly tripled. And the BBC reports that one in three deaths in Nagorno-Karabakh is from malnutrition.

For months, Azerbaijan was just doing the bare minimum—allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross limited access. But in July, Aliyev blocked even the Red Cross. And in complete defiance of the Geneva Conventions, Azerbaijan detained medical patients the Red Cross was transporting through the corridor.

This is not only outrageous at face value but an insult to the international community and a threat to brave Red Cross workers around the world. In addition to arresting sick and elderly residents—a few weeks ago—Azerbaijan also detained university students who were trying to go to Armenia to start the school year.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry says there is nothing to worry about. These concerns are just the result of, ‘propaganda and political manipulations spread by Armenia.’

Really? You’re blaming Armenia for this? That is a flat out lie. It was Azerbaijan—with Turkish backing—that launched the war in 2020. A war that uprooted close to 100,000 Armenians from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh. A war that killed 6,500 people. Now Aliyev blocks the Lachin Corridor and says ‘I’m not organizing ethnic cleansing.’

The same Azerbaijani President has also threatened to ‘chase away’ Armenian separatists ‘like dogs.’ Whose government issued a commemorative postage stamp showing a worker in hazmat gear spraying disinfectant on the region. We have seen and heard this kind of propaganda throughout history. It is the work of a regime intent on destroying and erasing this ancient Armenian community’s history in Nagorno-Karabakh.

But Mr. President—right now—the United States is failing. The United States is not meeting the humanitarian needs or publicly putting enough pressure on Aliyev to stop this campaign of ethnic cleansing. And I sincerely hope the State Department is not considering renewing the 907 waiver, which allows for security assistance to go to Azerbaijan. I don’t know how the United States can justify spending any kind of support—security or otherwise—to the regime in Baku.

We’ve seen a video of Azerbaijani forces killing unarmed Armenian soldiers in cold-blood.

We have reports of Azerbaijani soldiers sexually assaulting and mutilating an Armenian female soldier. So to send them assistance makes a mockery of the FREEDOM Support Act. Section 907 of this act is meant to ban security assistance to Azerbaijan until it is ‘Taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.’

But still, the Department of State has waived section 907 over and over and over again. Suffice it to say, I am strongly opposed to having any aid go to a fighting force known for war crimes and the violation of human rights. I understand the dynamics of the broader region are complicated, but our fundamental principles underlying security assistance should not be.

When the United States untethers our security assistance from human rights and American values to focus on short-term tactical military assistance, it not only damages long-term American national security interests, it flies in the face of our duty to honor the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide and our duty to ensure history does not repeat itself. We cannot look away from a systematic attempt to eradicate and erase an entire people from the face of the earth.

In 2021, as my colleagues witnessed here on the Senate Floor, I was overcome with emotion to see President Biden join us in recognizing—for the first time by an American president—the Armenian Genocide. More than a century ago, Ottoman Turks perpetrated a systematic campaign to exterminate the Armenian populations. Through killings, through forced deportation, and yes, through starvation.

What the Turks did is an irrefutable, historical fact. The recognition of this fact was a huge step forward and I am proud to have played a role in that effort. Proud that I spoke up even as many American leaders stayed silent. Proud that I pressured State Department nominees and officials to acknowledge this historical reality. Proud that I introduced or co-sponsored resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide since before I came to the Senate in 2006. But Mr. President, make no mistake—fighting the denial of Armenian Genocide is not only about the past. It is also about the present.

That is why I’m calling on Aliyev to immediately release the Armenian prisoners of war. It is why I have been working on legislation to address the current humanitarian crisis in Artsakh. And it is why—when USAID Administrator Power came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year—I pushed her to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

I believe that the United States can—and must—play an active role in addressing this conflict. Because the so-called Russian ‘peacekeepers’ who have supposedly been enforcing a ceasefire following Azerbaijan’s 2020 invasion have been—to no one’s surprise—wholly ineffective. As Azerbaijani forces began an incursion in September 2022, these Russian forces stood idly by. Moscow will no doubt seek to exploit any instability to its advantage, but they have also proved their lack of worth. Which is all the more reason that the United States must continue to play role.

We have been facilitating talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but we need to change our approach. We cannot continue to simply ‘facilitate’ talks. We have a responsibility to mediate, to pursue a meaningful—enforceable—agreement with the guaranteed rights, security, and dignity of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh as a central tenet. We must also encourage and—if necessary—broker direct discussions between political leaders in Stepanakert and Baku.

Of course, to be an honest broker means we need to tell the truth about Azerbaijan’s atrocities. We need to call out those individuals perpetrating this campaign of ethnic cleansing. We need to target them—including President Aliyev—with sanctions. We need to be cutting off their access to the wealth and oil money they have stashed away at financial institutions around the world, to their yachts and mansions across Europe.

The evidence is there and we must preserve it so that Aliyev can be held accountable for these atrocities. I have called on the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to introduce a resolution at the UN Security Council enforcing an end to Aliyev’s blockade. I am pleased to see that Secretary Blinken is personally engaging in the crisis now, but the message must be crystal clear. At the same time, the EU needs to step up too.

I was pleased to see High Representative Borell’s statement in July that the EU is ‘deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian [situation]’ in Nagorno-Karabakh… but I hope that actions accompany those words. Instead of just taking Azerbaijani gas and praising the country as a ‘crucial energy partner,’ they must also bring pressure to end the blockade.

How many leaders have somberly promised to learn history’s lessons and prevent future genocides? How many people have come to the floor of the Senate and said, ‘Never, never, again.’ How many people will have to die of starvation before we act? With Aliyev potentially moving troops along the border, we cannot say we didn’t see it coming.

This time must be different. In the past, plans to carry out genocide were clouded by distance or geography. But this time, we know. We know Aliyev is doing it right now, and we must not only hold him accountable for his actions, we must stop him from succeeding in erasing this Armenian community.We must stop him from starving these Armenians to death….or imposing political control by opening only the Agdam Corridor. This is not a substitution for opening the Lachin Corridor. It is not upholding the commitments of the 2020 agreement. Using basic humanitarian, food, and medical supplies as a political weapon is not acceptable.

And we have the power to do it—if we act now. Given the chance, who here among us would not go back and stop the Turks from rounding up the first Armenians victims of the genocide who were hung in the streets of Istanbul? Or the Serb forces who gave Bosnian Muslims a 24-hour ultimatum to surrender? Or the Rwandan radio broadcasts inciting violence?

Unlike those crimes of the past, we are living on the brink, right now. And so to the Biden administration, I would say, now is the time to step up and protect this vulnerable population. To the international community, now is the time to work together to bring pressure to stop this tragedy from unfolding in front of our eyes. And to the Armenian people, trapped in this blockade, with no food, know that you have friends and allies, here in the United States Senate and around the world, who will not rest until you are safe and secure. Hang on, hang on.

And to the men organizing and carrying out this brutal campaign, we will hold you accountable for your crimes, even if it takes a life time.

You will pay a price.

You will face justice.

And I certainly will not rest until you do so.”

https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/chairman-menendez-delivers-floor-speech-urging-action-to-prevent-genocide-in-nagorno-karabakh

Mer Hooys, the house of hope

Lilit Nahapetian
September 6, 2023 Vani Hanamirian Community News 0

Mer Hooys girls and staff

Mer Hooys is a non-profit orphanage in Yerevan bringing hope to at-risk girls. The program provides girls from Armenia an education, a safe place to live and psychological support. The girls in the program come from disadvantaged backgrounds, some having dealt with sex work, addictive behaviors and domestic violence. 

Mer Hooys, meaning “our hope,” takes in girls between ages 9-18 and teaches them how to develop tools for a future career outside of the program. Girls that enter the program come “from extremely impoverished families, and either have been, or are in imminent danger of being, placed in boarding schools, crisis facilities or foster care,” according to their website.

Adrienne Krikorian, who is from California, co-founded the program in 2012. “The program is designed to bring young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, meaning from families that are either a single parent, unemployed parent, no parents living where they’re living, [or] with a grandparent or a relative who can’t really take care of them,” Krikorian told the Weekly. “The idea is to get them out of that environment and into an environment where they’re living full time, going to school [and] getting educated. Education is our number one priority.”

Mer Hooys focuses on girls exclusively, because when boys turn 18 they either enter the army or go into the priesthood. Girls don’t have those options, and as Krikorian says, many “end up on the streets or in human trafficking.” 

Some men who leave Armenia for Russia to make money form new families there, forcing the wives or daughters they leave behind to support themselves financially, sometimes through sex work. According to the U.S. Department of States 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, “As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Armenia, as well as victims from Armenia abroad. Armenian women may be exploited in sex and labor trafficking and forced begging within the country.”

Mer Hooys allows these girls another option to continue their education and learn skills to build their careers. The current class at Mer Hooys is made up of 20 girls. They all reside at Mer Hooys full-time and take classes, including English. They each have different passions like carpet making, music, management and more. 

Several of the girls in the program attend universities in Yerevan, commuting from the center to classes every day. The Mer Hooys staff supports their education through donations. Many of the girls hold jobs outside of the center. 

Krikorian says a majority of the girls also enter the program with post traumatic stress disorder – “you don’t see it, but it’s there.” Mer Hooys employs psychiatrists to address these and other mental illnesses. 

During my visit to Mer Hooys, the girls put on a performance with singing, poetry, dancing and more. They often giggled with one another and silently peered at the guests. They were eager to get to the end of the performance so that they could invite the guests to do Armenian dances with them. 

Mer Hooys girls and staff

Mer Hooys has several sisters in the program, to avoid separating siblings. Yet it is near impossible to tell who is related, because all the girls share love and close bonds. They call each other sisters, and the older girls make sure the younger ones are taken care of. The girls even look out for the one boy in the center – Jeko, their pet dog.

Some graduates return to Mer Hooys as assistant teachers. One of the graduates returned to Mer Hooys after getting her degree to teach computer lessons. “She worked with us and taught the girls how to use Word, Excel and how to find their class lessons on the computer. We want our graduates to feel valued, but we also don’t want them feeling like they have nowhere to go,” Krikorian said.

Mer Hooys allows graduates over the age of 18 to stay in the house for as long as they need. Residents live independently in their own section of the Mer Hooys building, where they cook their own food while also taking care of the younger girls.

The graduates spoke with excitement as they showed me around their living quarters. They made jokes about their cooking and how some of them have more culinary skills than others. They were very proficient in English and asked many questions, especially about what college life is like in the United States. 

Out of the 12 girls in the very first graduating class, 90-percent are living in safe environments, many are married, more than half of them went to university, seven of them graduated from university and two of them have master’s degrees.

Mer Hooys takes the girls on excursions during the summer, such as a recent trip to Dilijan sponsored by the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief. The girls brought a speaker to listen to music on the journey, despite some adult objections, and sang along with joy to Armenian pop music during most of the trip.

They also go on shopping trips. On a recent shopping trip, Krikorian gave each of the girls $20, which they used to buy T-shirts, shoes and bags. Krikorian was especially surprised to see the joy on a younger girl’s face when she ran out of a store with a pair of shoes designed like Crocs and her excitement to use the leftover money to buy charms for the shoes.

The girls spend their spare time having cooking competitions, playing board games like UNO and playing in the outdoor playground. 

The girls at Mer Hooys are filled with spirit and love. The Mer Hooys building provides a safe space for them to live, but the girls bring out the best part of the program: hope.

  •  Bio
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Vani Hanamirian is a student from the Philadelphia area. She is currently enrolled at Emerson College with a major in journalism and a minor in marketing. She works primarily in freelance journalism, having been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Moorestown Sun. Vani also works at her school newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon. She is a member of the ACYOA at Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cheltanham, PA.


Azerbaijan-Armenia reconciliation possible if apology offered for past atrocities, Azerbaijan presidential adviser tells Arab News

Lilit Nahapetian
ARAB NEWS
Sept 5 2023
EPHREM KOSSAIFY

  • Hikmet Hajiyev rejects allegations that Azerbaijan is deliberately starving ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Says a peace treaty would change the landscape of South Caucasus, but the ball is in Armenian government’s court

NEW YORK CITY: Tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have escalated sharply in recent months, as both sides accuse the other of cross-border attacks in their long-running dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The two ex-Soviet republics have fought two wars, in the early 1990s and again in 2020, for control of the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians.

Despite mediation efforts by the EU, US and Russia and a unanimous call by the UN Security Council in August to resolve their dispute, Baku and Yerevan have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement.

Now Yerevan has accused Baku of deliberately blocking food and aid supplies to Armenian-populated towns in Nagorno-Karabakh via the Lachin corridor, the sole road linking Armenia to the region.

Armenian authorities and international aid groups have warned that the humanitarian situation for the roughly 120,000 Armenians living there is deteriorating, with shortages of food and medicine.

In a wide-ranging interview with Arab News, Hikmet Hajiyev, adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and the head of the foreign policy affairs department of the presidential administration responded to the allegations.

Hajiyev also described what it would take to secure peace and move on from the atrocities of the past. A good way to start, he said, would be for Armenia to apologize.

Q: The UN Security Council recently discussed the situation in the Lachin corridor, where council members heard that Azerbaijan is blocking the only road that connects Armenia to the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting off food, medicine and other essentials, causing a deteriorating humanitarian situation.

A: These are unsubstantiated and ungrounded allegations against Azerbaijan. There is no strangulation or blockade of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

What Azerbaijan is suggesting is to have multiple roads. And one of the important roads is the Aghdam-Khankendi road. It is much more efficient and has more logistical capabilities to reach out to the Karabakh region because Azerbaijan has completely rebuilt it.

Currently, the Lachin-Khankendi road is operational and functional. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is conducting convoys along this road.

But what we are saying is, let’s open the Aghdam-Khankendi road. It will ensure integration, so Azerbaijan will have direct access to Khankendi and direct contact with Karabakh Armenians who in turn will also have a chance to use Azerbaijan’s major road system to reach other parts of Azerbaijan.

But, unfortunately, the warlords at the helm of the current subordinated Armenian puppet regime in those territories of Azerbaijan are using the humanitarian situation for their own benefit, to prolong their survival as a separatist entity that will not accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, and for the benefit of propaganda, disinformation and misinformation of the international community. This has always been their raison d’etre.

We invited them to have a dialogue. But they say no to dialogue. (This is a) destructive attitude. They also say no to food staples or whatever comes from Azerbaijan. This is racism. Because of the origin of the food product, they said they won’t accept it.

Q: The ICRC says it has not been able to bring assistance to the population for several weeks and has called on your administration to allow it to resume operations. It has said that under international humanitarian law, all sides must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for citizens in need. What is your response to ICRC’s call?

A: We have very close cooperation and engagement with the ICRC. They are operating in Azerbaijan.

(The) ICRC also knows this very well, because we are in regular contact, that on Aug. 5 there was a gentleman’s agreement whereby the ICRC would be welcome to use the Aghdam-Khankendi road for its humanitarian convoys.

And in the next 24 hours (from Aug. 31, the day of the interview) we will also ensure the full opening of the Lachin-Khankendi road, but Azerbaijan’s customs and border security and border control regime must be respected.

Unfortunately, since the signing of the Trilateral Statement (of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia) in 2021, the Armenian side was misusing the Lachin road for shipment of military ammunition, personnel and landmines into Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.

So Azerbaijan was forced to establish the Lachin checkpoint on its border with Armenia. Azerbaijan cannot afford to have yet another grey zone on its sovereign territory.

But my question is: Why is the illegal Armenian regime resisting the opening of this second road? By all means they are still manipulating the international community’s view.

The road is civilization. The road is culture. Saying no to a road has an element of racism to it. It’s a destructive policy. But the time of occupation is past.

Armenian lorries carrying humanitarian aid for the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region stranded not far away from an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at the entry of the Lachin corridor, Karabakh’s only land link with Armenia, on July 30, 2023. Karabakh has been at the center of a decades-long dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have fought two wars over the mountainous territory. (AFP)

Q: In August, the former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, published a report describing the blockade of the Lachin corridor as genocide. 

“There are no crematories, there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon,” Ocampo said, warning that “without dramatic change, the group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.” What is your reaction to that report? 

A: First of all, the personality, the honesty of this individual who claims to speak on behalf of justice, is questionable. There are a lot of facts in the international media about him engaging in wrongdoings. But that is not my business.

Second, I do regret that a person who claims to be a lawyer could misuse and abuse the concept of genocide as if he didn’t know what it means. 

Third, he’s biased. Why does he not talk about the genocide and war crimes on a state level committed by the Republic of Armenia against Azerbaijan?

Eight cities of Azerbaijan have been completely destroyed, along with the civilian population. Where is that fact in the Ocampo report? 

Where was Ocampo when in 1992, before Srebrenica, the whole population of Khojaly, Azerbaijan, was massacred by Armenians? 

Who has conducted a genocide against whom? That’s the big question. It is a question that should be answered with regard to one million Azerbaijanis, who have been ethnically cleansed from their land, and who have been living as IDPs and refugees for 30 years.

Why is Ocampo silent with regard to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan’s mosques that have been completely destroyed by Armenia?

Margarita Khanaghyan, 81 walks past an APC of the Russian peacekeeping force in the town of Lachin on November 26, 2020, after six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. (AFP/File Photo)

Q: But it is not just Ocampo. There are also other specialized institutions that have already claimed that a genocide is underway in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Again, the ICJ has ordered Azerbaijan to “take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination, including by its officials and public institutions targeted at persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin.”

A: Under the International Convention on the Complete Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Azerbaijan has also put a very serious plan against the Republic of Armenia at the ICJ. In Armenia, the word Azerbaijani or Turk is used as an insult.

That says a lot about the mainstream thinking in Armenian society. I can provide you with many other examples of ethnic hatred and Azerbaijan-phobia. But the facts on the ground speak for themselves. Armenia has destroyed all elements of Azerbaijan’s cultural, religious and even human heritage in the territories under its occupation.  

Therefore, I do regret that some international media outlets are falling into the trap of Armenia’s political propaganda.

Why are Armenians resistant to taking wheat flour from Azerbaijan? You are asking me a question about ethnic hatred. What is that then? Wheat flour doesn’t have an ethnicity. It’s a food staple that everyone can use. But why are they refusing it?

Q: Moving to peace talks. UN Security Council members remain united in their support for a negotiated solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The war has ended. A statement was signed. Armenians have said Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan. What remains to be done to achieve peace?

A: Azerbaijan really wants to sign a peace treaty and turn the page on the chapter of confrontation and atrocities in this region. We would like to live in peace. But the ball is in the court of the Republic of Armenia. The sooner they understand this reality, the better it will be for everyone.

Armenia’s dirty propaganda against Azerbaijan has derailed us from the path of peace treaty negotiations, on a platform provided by Washington DC, which we very much appreciate. We had achieved very important progress. Almost 70 percent of the document had been cleared. In a sense, we agreed.

Signing the peace treaty will completely change the landscape of the region of the South Caucasus. But you have the prime minister of Armenia on one hand recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity while on the other hand he still keeps Armenian armed forces in our territory. He still finances the illegal subordinate regime on our territory.

Q: Do you think the current confrontation between Russia and some Western countries over Ukraine is impacting the peace prospects between Azerbaijan and Armenia?

A: Unfortunately, we do see elements of the geopolitical rivalry play out in the region of the South Caucasus, and our message also to big powers is: Don’t export your internal political agenda to our region.

What we are also seeing is Armenia becoming, unfortunately, another Syria in our region, as it’s divided among big powers according to their own geopolitical interests.

One mission over there is the EU mission. We have been told it is a civilian, short-term mission. But it has become a long-term one. It has military personnel.

Everybody who wants to contribute to peace and security in the region instead of diplomatic adventurism and propaganda, should engage seriously in supporting Armenian-Azerbaijan peace treaty talks.

Q: Is there a reliable international partner, or a mechanism that would be more efficient than others?

A: There are various platforms. We have no preference for one over the other. Our approach is that anybody who is willing to contribute to real peace on the ground, they are most welcome.

On one side, we have a Brussels process facilitated by (European Council) President Charles Michel. This is very much appreciated. Important elements of the peace treaty talks on a normalization council between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been generated from that platform.

And then we appreciate the US government, and particularly Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s personal engagement on peace treaty discussions. They have done a lot.

We also cannot deny the role of Russia. They are also contributing because they are part of the region and have historical relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Q: Do you honestly believe there is still room for a reconciliation process to take place? People in Baku have told Arab News that in the past, Armenians and Azerbaijanis used to be brothers and sisters, living side by side. Will this happen again?

A: It could happen again, but really, it’s always difficult to make a prediction about this in the future. Reconciliation really is one of the most difficult parts of every post-conflict situation. In Azerbaijan, hundreds of thousands of families have lost their loved ones and are refugees and IDPs.

Imagine people are returning to their homes to see them in complete ruins. That’s not easy. And they are searching for answers. There is no answer because no one from the Armenian side has had enough courage to dare say: “(Please) excuse us. Our apologies for all our wrongdoings.”

There was not a single case in Armenia brought against the individuals who have conducted notorious actions against Azerbaijan. Bringing justice to people could also send a positive signal.

Yes, I do think that reconciliation is possible, but of course it will take time. A lot depends on the Armenian side.

I have also carefully studied all schoolbooks and textbooks in the Republic of Armenia. Everything is a hate, hate and hate against their neighbors, and the exclusive superiority of Armenians.

This racist sort of thinking is still dominant in the mindset of Armenian literature, Armenian media and so on.

Q: The Armenian prime minister has said the same thing. That peace is a call that has to come from Azerbaijani people who should demand it from their government.

A: I will ask the prime minister of Armenia, is he ready to say, on behalf of the Armenian people and Armenian government, “(Please) excuse me?” I think that this could change a lot.

Why is Armenia refusing to provide information about the mass graves of 4,000 Azerbaijanis? Who will compensate for the 30 years that have been taken from the lives of a million Azerbaijanis who grew up in refugee tents?

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2367981/world







Armenia and Azerbaijan report casualties in new border clashes

Lilit Nahapetian
The Print, India
Sept 1 2023
REUTERS
04:30 pm IST

TBILISI (Reuters) -Armenia and Azerbaijan said on Friday that they had sustained casualties in fighting around their common border, northwest of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia’s Defence Ministry said two of its servicemen had been killed and another wounded in shelling near the border villages of Sotk and Norabak. Azerbaijan said Armenia had struck its positions across the border in the Kalbajar region using drones, wounding three servicemen.

Armenia said Azerbaijan was massing forces close to the border, and striking its positions using drones, mortars and small arms fire. Azerbaijan denied gathering forces, but said it was taking “retaliatory measures”.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports.

Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, has been a source of conflict between the two Caucasus neighbours since the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and between ethnic Armenians and Turkic Azeris for well over a century.

Despite sporadic discussions on a peace deal to agree on borders, settle differences over the enclave and unfreeze relations, tensions remain high and skirmishes along the shared border are a regular occurrence.

(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

AW: Thursday at the AYF Olympics

Lilit Nahapetian
September 1, 2023 Mark Gavoor AYF Olympics, Diaspora 0

The AYF block at Nationals Park

Our flight from Chicago landed in D.C. at 4:30 p.m. We collected our luggage and took a cab to the Renaissance Hotel.

I always wonder who will be the first AYFers I see at the Olympics.  We walked into the hotel, and seated in the lobby were Andrew and Madonna Kizirian and Gloria Keleshian.  We got in line to check in behind Phil and Alidz Nigon and their adorable sons Zaven and Raffi. Cousins Vahan and Garo Hovannisian from Los Angeles stood in front of them.  Steve Hagopian greeted us with his two precious granddaughters.  

We had arrived at the Olympics.

Phil, Alidz, Zaven and Raffi Nigon

Yet there was no time to sit and chat. We had an hour to unpack and board a bus full of Armenians to a baseball game. The Washington Nationals were playing the Florida Marlins. Ara Sarajian, who used to work for the Nationals, had arranged for a block of tickets for the second year in a row. Last year was a blast, so I bought four tickets for my wife Judy and me along with our son, Aram, and our khnami Yervant.

While walking around the seating area at the Nationals Park, I saw four young men who looked like they might be Armenian. Two of them wore San Francisco Giants shirts. I stopped to chat, and unsurprisingly, they were Armenians from San Francisco. It was a pleasure to meet Sahag Derounian, Shaunt Avetian, Johnny Khatchadourian and Garin Derounian.  

It was the perfect night for a ball game, and we had even more fun this year. We were seated on the Gallery Level, where people can mingle and eat at stand-up tables. We were all so happy to see each other and catch up. I don’t think we went to our seats until the fourth inning! Even at our seats, we all socialized more than watching the game. We did see a couple of home runs, some good defensive plays and a few errors as the Marlins beat the Nationals 6-1.  

On the bus to the Nationals game

Back at the hotel, the lobby was full of people we know from Jersey, Philly, Boston, Providence and more, catching up and enjoying the laid back atmosphere that is Thursday night at the Olympics. We ran into Rich and Nora Sarajian, Ara’s parents. Rich was excited to introduce me to two young fellows from Australia…and I believe they are competing! My mom, sisters and nephews came from Detroit to see my nephew Jacob play tennis tomorrow. 

The Olympics begin in earnest on Friday. I am leaving the hotel at 6:15 a.m. to watch several hours of golf. Then, after watching tennis followed by swimming matches, we will cap off the night with the Alumni Ball where the Kings, Queens and Varadian Spirit Awards will be presented. On Friday, AYF members will also join “SOS Artsakh!” to protest Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh. The march will begin at the Renaissance Hotel at 1:30 p.m. and conclude at the White House. We embrace our Armenian American heritage and culture exemplified in the AYF Olympic spirit while supporting the plight of our people in Artsakh.

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Mark Gavoor is Associate Professor of Operations Management in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University in Chicago. He is an avid blogger and oud player.


Even in face of video evidence, Azeri authorities demonstrated inaction regarding fate of Armenian servicemen – MFA

Lilit Nahapetian

 17:44,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Below is the full statement.

“13 years ago, in 2010, the UN General Assembly, with Resolution No.65/209, proclaimed August 30th as the Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, expressing concern at the “increasing incidence of violent or enforced disappearances, including arrests, detentions and abductions, in various parts of the world”.

“Emphasizing the importance of the fight against enforced disappearances, including the prevention of this crime and the fight against impunity, Armenia has signed and ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

“The Convention, as well as other fundamental international documents on human rights, reaffirm the right of every person to be free from enforced disappearance and to receive immediate, just and adequate compensation.

“The issue of enforced disappearances is one of the most severe and lasting problems both during and after conflict. All the while, the families of the missing person wait, search and remain hopeful about the return of their loved ones.

“As a result of the Azerbaijani aggression in 2020, new cases have been added to the hundreds of cases of missing persons and forced disappearances of the 90s of the previous century, when even in the face of documented and video evidence, the authorities of Azerbaijan demonstrated inaction regarding the fate of Armenian servicemen.

“Concerned about the fate of hundreds of missing people of the 44-day war, Armenia also draws attention to the cases where numerous videos and testimonies proving the forced disappearances were presented. However, no information about their fate and whereabouts has been provided by Azerbaijan.

“In this context, Armenia is taking all possible steps to bring this issue to international courts, taking into account the fact that enforced disappearances in certain circumstances are also crimes against humanity defined by international law.

“One of the objectives of the International Day of Enforced Disappearances is to remind all states to respect the rights of the families to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones.

“August 30 is the day when we not only address cases of enforced disappearances but also reaffirm our commitment to overcome all obstacles to clarify the fate of the missing.”

Armenia offers support to Slovenia to overcome aftermath of floods

Lilit Nahapetian

 10:28,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. On August 28, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Tanja Fajon, Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

During the meeting, the interlocutors touched upon the issues of bilateral cooperation between Armenia and Slovenia, ongoing programs, expressing willingness to take steps to activate bilateral political dialogue.

Referring to the damages in Slovenia resulting from the floods – the worst natural disaster since the country gained independence, Minister Mirzoyan expressed Armenia’s solidarity with the people of Slovenia and expressed readiness to provide support in overcoming the consequences of the natural disaster. He emphasized the importance of adequate response and steps to address natural and man-made disasters.

Views were also exchanged on the Armenia-EU partnership and cooperation within international organizations.

Regional security issues were also on the agenda of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Slovenia.

Ararat Mirzoyan briefed his counterpart on the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor and stressed that  Azerbaijan’s policy of keeping 120,000 people under actual siege, aimed at ethnically cleansing the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, should not be tolerated in the 21st century.

Minister Mirzoyan emphasized the imperative to implement legally binding Orders of the UN International Court of Justice of February 22 and July 6, 2023, immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor, and prevent the imminent humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh. The importance of targeted calls and steps from international partners, including the EU and its member states, was emphasized.

Moor Hall and The Armenian Kebab House are leading the way for Lancashire in the British Restaurant Awards 2023

Lilit Nahapetian
Lancashire Post, UK
Aug 24 2023
Two Lancashire eateries have been shortlisted in this year’s British Restaurant Awards.
By Catherine Musgrove

Moor Hall in Aughton – which already has two Michelin as well as being named the Best Restaurant in England 2023 and 2022 and ‘World Class’ by the Good Food Guide – has been shortlisted in two categories – Restaurant of the Year and Best Culinary Experience.

It goes up against the best in the business from across the UK, including Adam Reid at The French, Manchester and The Fat Duck in Berkshire.

In Blackpool, The Armenian Kebab House in Harrowside has been shortlisted in the Best Takeaway Restaurant category – up against 10 others.

According to the British Restaurant Awards, this category serves up “the perfect blend of convenience and gastronomic delight”.

Following the news, owners took to their social media page to say: “We would like to thank all of our customers and friends who continue to support Armenian Kebab House which is a small family business. #supportlocal”.

The family-run takeaway, which has been in existence since 1978, is rated as 4.6 out of 5 on Google Reviews, by 438 customers.

The takeaway has been open since 1978.

Reviewers commented on the freshness of the food and the choice of meats.

The British Restaurant Awards (BRA) are now in their sixth year, and with categories ranging from Best Fine Dining Restaurant to Best Street Food Vendor, the awards celebrated the entire spectrum of dining experiences, from high-end establishments to casual eateries.

The awards ceremony will take place on September 5, and voting closes on September 1.

“SOS Artsakh!”

Lilit Nahapetian
 ARF Eastern US Central Committee Diaspora 2

A march and protest will be held Friday, Sept. 1 during the 89th AYF-YOARF Olympics weekend in Washington, D.C. The protest will kick off demonstrations around the world led by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) to demand justice for Artsakh on the occasion of its Sept. 2 independence anniversary.

Protesters will assemble at the Olympics Renaissance Hotel Headquarters at 1 p.m. and march at 1:30 p.m. to Lafayette Park, just north of the White House. The protest starts at 2 p.m. 

Signs and flags will be provided for the march and protest, where demands will be directed to U.S. government officials, urging them to act now to end Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade of Artsakh’s 120,000 men, women and children; airlift humanitarian aid immediately; stop military aid to Azerbaijan; sanction the reckless Aliyev regime for its unpunished war crimes; and champion Artsakh’s self-determination rights.

“Olympics weekend always brings our community together to celebrate the AYF and its accomplishments, which include the AYF’s tireless Hai Tahd work,” said ARF Eastern Region Central Committee chair Ani Tchaghlasian and AYF-YOARF Eastern Region Central Executive chair Nareg Mkrtschjan. “We know that every effort will be made by those attending Olympics weekend to be at the ‘SOS Artsakh!’ protest to support our brothers and sisters in Artsakh.”

Additional details and updates can be found on the AYF-YOARF Eastern Region’s Facebook and Instagram pages and will be available in next week’s Armenian Weekly.

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The ARF Eastern Region Central Committee’s headquarters is the Hairenik Building in Watertown, Mass. The ARF Eastern Region’s media and bookstore are also housed in this building, as are various other important Armenian community organizations. The ARF Eastern Region holds a convention annually and calls various consultative meetings and conferences throughout the year.