Category: 2020

ANN/Armenian News On The Role of Humanities & Social Sciences in Armenian Life

Liana Toganian

Armenian News Network / Armenian News

Conversation on Armenian News: The Role of The Humanities and Social Studies in Armenian Life

ANN/Armenian News


Guest

  • Angela Harutyunyan

  • Asbed Kotchikian

  • Asbed Bedrossian

  • Hovik Manucharyan

Hello and welcome to Armenian News Network, Armenian News.

In this Conversation on Armenian News episode, we’ll be talking about the role of the humanities and social sciences in Armenian life. Our host for this discussion is:

Dr. Asbed Kotchikian, who is a senior lecturer of political science and international relations at Bentley University in Massachusetts.

This episode was recorded on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020.

Academia and academic work, especially in the fields of humanities and social sciences, has always been instrumentalized by various ideologies and/or political regimes. Moreover, various disciplines within each of those fields such as anthropology, art history, literature, etc., have a long tradition of being the middle children of academia and are rarely considered to have a role in shaping minds and trends in society. In Armenia the roles of humanities and social science have undergone changes since soviet and immediate post-soviet times. At a time where both these fields were viewed as instruments of legitimization of Communism and later nationalism, academics in these fields had to navigate the murky waters of ideology less they were willing to be labeled “pseudo-academics” or even worse as traitors.

The challenge of having robust disciplines in humanities and social sciences in Armenia is manifold. These include encouraging critical thinking void of ideology, the role of individuals with degrees in humanities and social sciences in the larger society, challenging pre-existing paradigms and many more. 

To talk about these issues, we are joined by:

Dr. Angela Harutyunyan, who is Associate Professor of Art History and the chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Art History at the American University of Beirut. She is founding member of BICAR (Beirut Institute for Critical Analysis and Research) and the Johannissyan Research Institute in the Humanities in Yerevan, Armenia. She is editor of ARTMargins peer-reviewed journal (MIT Press). Her monograph The Political Aesthetics of the Armenian Avant-garde: The Journey of the “Painterly Real'” was published by Manchester University Press in 2017 and 2019.

How would you justify the role of humanities in the world today?

The humanities deal with a different temporality than the expediency that the social and political world demands. To ask the humanities to respond in those terms means to subsume them under a different temporal regime and logic, which is one of immediate practical life. 

 It is already noteworthy that we are asked to “justify” the humanities. What are the conditions that require such justification? What are the modes of justification? Justification normally is made according to this regime of emergency or instrumentalization for expedient needs – ethics for engineers, art history for doctors, etc. (the late capitalist regime of catastrophes piling up upon each other).

The arts and humanities in moments of “historical danger” -1930s, 1960s-70s. The autonomous pursuit of humanistic scholarship through the means and tools provided by the internal laws of the humanities’ disciplines a posteriori rather than their politicization Avant le lettre. The Marxian debates of the disciplines’ relative autonomy but also the transformation of their spheres through the material world they are embedded in.  Today, we have vulgar instrumentalisation, without either the nuanced politics of humanist thinkers or the dialectical thought of the good Marxists. 

A brief overview of the place and role of humanities in Soviet Russia.

The fellow-travelers of the 1920s, critical philosophical discourses forming the armature of institutionalizing the humanities in the Soviet Union: how to deal with tradition, and especially with the bourgeois tradition of humanistic heritage (both European and Russian)?

Lenin vs. Bogdanov, the importance of discovering Marx’s EPM, the move of the Marx and Engels archives to Moscow (Marx-Engels Institute), discussions in aesthetic and literary theory while discovering “young Marx”; Deborinites vs. mechanists (Marxism as a positivist science to explain the mechanics of the world vs. philosophy as an autonomous discipline. Dialectics is not a law of philosophy but is in nature.). 

1930s-Stalinization of the humanities, Zhdanovschina (culminating in the 1947 publication of the textbook 

A History of Western Philosophy), the Thaw – relative liberalization and revisiting the legacy of the 1920s, partial de-Stalinization of philosophical thought as well as history, literature, aesthetics, but in its ESSENTIAL outlines the Soviet humanities is largely the heir of the Stalin-era scholarship (abolition of class for the sake of the nation understood in terms of ethnicity).

The specific nature of philosophy as sublated within the State and the Party to justify its historical-transhistorical necessity. We could call this an ideocracy – philosophy becoming the ultimate criterion of social reality itself, and in a way, replacing it.  Social reality reduced to the sphere of ideation. Our own “Armenian ideocracy” – intellectuals standing above the quotidian life and its discontent and issuing verdicts from the purity of their thought.

Where does the field operate today? What are the pulls and pushes that influence these two fields?

The legacy of Soviet scholarship: tradition as doxa (unquestionable); knowledge as a weapon (especially in history, philosophy, art history), etc. on the one hand, and on the other hand, uncritical and schematic application of post-Marxist “Western” theory (Susan Buck-Morss’s story about the meetings of the philosophers from the East and West in the early 1990s).

Respectively, on the one hand, we have official academic disciplines in YSU, Academy of Sciences where the main ideological trajectory geared towards nationalism is a straitjacket for any scholarly inquiry (for instance, in the Academy’s newly developed textbook of the History of Armenian People the authors state that they have radically revisited the flawed and politically dangerous thesis that for centuries Armenian people were deprived of statehood. They claim that, in reality, the Armenian statehood that has a history of 5000 years (!) and was barely ever interrupted. Or the department of Philosophy at YSU mainly studies Garegin Nzhdeh (as the most significant philosopher.)

And on the other hand, we have independent centers, critically minded scholars who subject the tradition that they take for granted to radical revisionism (for example, viewing through the glance of Western feminist theory “the sexuality of queen Satenik” – volume published last year by Socioscope where most of the research articles examining gender and sexuality from the pre-Christian age to the post-Soviet era, apply the Foucaultian theoretical language to varied historical examples) without historicizing the constitution of the tradition that they deconstruct. The tradition is assumed to be heteronormative, patriarchal and so on, but the actual historical work with that tradition that is subsumed under these labels is not done. Here, western theory as a critical “toolbox” for revisionism becomes a schemata that is applied (anachronistically and uncritically) to the local historical tradition. In addition, these revisionist attempts are caught up within the political regime of urgency.

As different as these two dominating trends are, what they share is that they operate with schemas and ready-made theories, they both accept “tradition” as an unquestioned phenomenon, and they subject scholarship to moral and political imperatives. 

Discuss the importance of the historical and critical work to understand the nature of this “tradition”, how it is constituted historically, how it informs our present, the courage to confront the nature of “tradition” as distorted, falsified, erased (Missak Khostikyan’s example).

Another important point is to understand ourselves not in isolation but as part and parcel of a diverse and complex region of nations, ethnicities and cultures, something we have not done because of the orientation of our humanities and historical intellectual thought towards the West, through Russian. The slow work of cultural transformation through developing a self-understanding in our complex historical present. And this is not about intercultural dialogue, reconciliation and so on – but about understanding those forces – cultural, political that were formative of our identity and yet have been disavowed as such.

The problem with critical thinking is that when you question existing entrenched myths and narratives, there is bound to be a backlash.  How have those backlashes manifested themselves in post-Soviet Armenia?

Proper critical thinking that engages with its object of critique imminently stops at dispelling myths and narratives but tries to understand the reality of these myths, what is the social basis of their historical constitution. How and why do they come to replace “reality”? Mythology, in a Marxian sense is a mediating link between social relations and ideology: Marx- “natural and social phenomena are assimilated in an unintentionally artistic manner by the imagination of the people.” – dichtung. Or a mythology produced by a special caste, in our case, the Church Fathers. What is the nature of these myths produced by the scholarly caste and the people? How do they clash and contradict each other? Ashot Hovhannissyan’s work in this context – how the wishes and desires of the people that produce myths, belief in miracles crystalize the very social contradictions, their unfulfilled dreams for liberation. And the idea of liberation as a political ideal serves as a cornerstone for Armenian modernity. Here the real world of struggle for liberation appears through reflection, which is ultimately a refraction – these myths show reality upside down. 

 The backlashes in post-Soviet Armenia normally take place at the moral and political level – you may be called a traitor or given other labels, but you can rarely expect an imminent critical engagement with your scholarship. 

This is best crystalized in the inability to implement educational reforms in the past 30 years. The recent backlash against the criteria for school curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Culture and Education, especially in History and Literature. Especially the former is viewed as the disciplinary branch of the National Security Services. The criteria for the subject of History are criticized because of their supposed anti-Armenian orientation with the essential argument that the chair of the task force Lilit Mkrtchyan had participated in a workshop organised by the NGO Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation during which the teaching of History in Turkey and Armenia was discussed. The former late chair of the History Department at YSU Artak Movsisyan criticizes that Urartu is not presented as a kingdom of Armenians, a view that he had been advancing for decades without any historical evidence that could withstand critical scrutiny. The National Academy of Sciences went as far as declaring that these criteria are a “threat to national security”. Their justification? The concept of “patriotism” is absent from the proposal; the omission of 3000-1000 B.C. from “Armenian” history; and of course, Lilit Mkrtchyan’s participation in the mentioned workshop and publication of the proceedings is brought up as the main argument. These reactions contain no scholarly or critical substantial engagement with the proposal and focus on discrediting it via a character assassination.

History, as formed through persons: heroic and sacrificial deeds of individuals vs. the traitors of the nation. The recent “capitulation” and attribution of all guilt to one individual, the national shock, reality appearing as disintegrated, but the historical materialist knows that the world is always already broken. We are nowadays confronted with our naked reality without the possibility to further fictionalize it. 

The importance of the autonomous pursuit for truth; not doing work politically and ideologically avant le lettre but how one’s critical historical work might have unforeseen political effects; the untimeliness of the scholarly pursuit for truth, not in the presentist regime of political expediency but within an unpredictable temporality of historical transformation.

That concludes this week’s Conversation On Armenian News on Armenia’s debate on Armenia’s IT Industry. We’ll continue following this discussion and keep you abreast on the topic as it progresses.

We hope this Conversation has helped your understanding of some of the issues involved. We look forward to your feedback, including your suggestions for Conversation topics in the future. Contact us on our website, at Armenian News.org, or on our Facebook Page “ANN – Armenian News”, or in our Facebook Group “Armenian News – Armenian News Network”.

Special thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. Thank you for listening and we’ll talk to you soon.

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Armenia, Armenian, Soviet, Humanities, Social Studies, Arts, Education, Stalinism, Marxism, Modernity, Yerevan State University

Additional: Democratization, liberalization, YSU


CivilNet: Nikol Pashinyan: An Elected Catastrophe

Chalian Meline
CIVILNET.AM

00:12

By Tatul Hakobyan

Nikol Pashinyan is a catastrophe that was elected by 70% of Armenia’s population.

It is painful and dangerous especially when those who elected the prime minister – the parliamentary Civil Contract Party and the My Step majority faction – do not recognize this. They continue to live in the “Velvet Armenia” of 2018. But that Armenia no longer exists. They continue to admire and be inspired by a version of Pashinyan that doesn’t exist.

Pashinyan is not Transcaucasia’s first disaster.

In the early 1990s, Georgia and Azerbaijan had their own philosophically driven leaders – Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Abulfaz Elchibey, respectively – and both brought forth disasters to their countries. Both were elected by the people, just like Pashinyan.

Georgia, and to some extent Azerbaijan, became involved in a catastrophic civil war, and suffered crushing defeats in Abkhazia, Ossetia and Artsakh / Karabakh.

But Armenia, while in a blockade, under the rubbles of the 1988 earthquake, with 300,000 refugees, somehow avoided internal political unrest, and won an incredible and unbelievable victory in a war that was forced upon it from 1991 to 1994. Armenia has not remained without internal political crises, but none have led to a civil war.

But Pashinyan, who came to power on the wave that saw the public rejection of former President Serzh Sargsyan, was not able to use the historic opportunity.

His first signs of failure were his approach to politics based on personal affiliation, and his incomprehensible abandonment of institutional reform.

The call to block the entrance to courts was a serious sign that Pashinyan is ignoring the principle of separation of the judicial, executive and legislative branches n, which is at the core  of the rule of law.

When he called on the people to blockade the National Assembly, it became clear that he was rejecting the opportunity to transform from a populist politician to a state leader.

In a squabble with Ilham Aliyev in Munich, which resembled a grade-school spat, Pashinyan demonstrated his provincial mentality.

Ignoring the coronavirus, Pashinyan initiated the “YES” campaign to hold a referendum on dissolving the country’s constitutional court.

Then, when the infection was raging in Armenia, the Armenian authorities gave the green light to elections in Artsakh, and the election of Arayik Harutyunyan.

Pashinyan and his team can be forgiven for these and many other misdeeds since he in fact did receive the people’s vote, and he was able to bring hope to Armenia with the wave that rejected Serzh Sargsyan.

But the catastrophic 44-day war, which resulted in enormous human and territorial losses, as well as a decline in Armenia’s sovereignty, showed that Pashinyan and his team were incapable of governing the state.

Unaware or unwilling to accept that the situation in the country has changed since the 2018 “velvet revolution”, Pashinyan indirectly gives legitimacy to those who have taken to the streets, who by and large are not trusted by the people. They are the rejected opposition, the former government.

On the first day of the war on September 27, Pashinyan announced that he was ready to die for Armenia. It turns out, however, that he is not even ready to sacrifice his seat for the sake of the homeland.

It should not be ruled out that Pashinyan and his team will be able to hold on to power. But at what cost? It doesn’t matter what price Pashinyan and his team pay. What matters is Armenia.

Each day that Pashinyan remains in his position as prime minister is at the expense of the nation. At the expense of the sovereignty, the dignity and the future of this country.

Tatul Hakobyan is a reporter for CivilNet.am.

CivilNet: In renewed fighting, Azerbaijan grabs more territory in Karabakh’s south

Chatinian Lara
CIVILNET.AM

00:25

On Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that Azerbaijani forces managed to take control of the last two Armenian-held villages in Karabakh’s southern Hadrut district.

Azerbaijan says four of its soldiers have died in the fighting, while the Armenian side reports six injured.

Saturday’s fighting is the most serious ceasefire violation reported in the area since the signing of the November 9 “end of war” agreement.

At an emergency Security Council meeting chaired by the prime minister Sunday, Pashinyan said that the Russian peacekeepers had not yet arrived to the area when the attack occurred but that Armenian and Artsakh military units fought and resisted.

“Some time after the start of hostilities yesterday, a small Russian peacekeeping unit approached the combat zone, as a result of which the fighting stopped. Russian peacekeepers have entered the area with greater force since this morning,” reports the prime minister.

Per the trilateral agreement, each side would hold on to whatever positions they had at the time of the signing of the agreement. On November 9, the Khtsaberd-Hin Tagher areas were under Armenian control. The area is inside the borders of the USSR Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

Ceasefire breached in Karabakh, says Russian army

Baghdasarian Karlen
WION News, India
Dec 12 2020
WION Web Team

Russian army on Saturday reported ceasefire violation in Karabakh region. The ceasefire is being maintained between Azerbaijan and Armenia after both countries went to fight each other over Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Russian Defence Ministry, which has deployed peacekeepers to the region.

The Armenian army reported attacks from Azerbaijan on two villages that are under the control of Karabakh forces.

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said “adequate countermeasures” had been taken against “provocations” from the other side but added that the truce was “currently being respected”. 

A spokesman for Russian peacekeeping forces told RIA Novosti press agency that requests to respect ceasefire had been sent to both parties after “exchanges of fire with automatic weapons”.  

Earlier in the day, Karabakh forces announced that three of their fighters had been wounded in an attack by Azerbaijani forces. 

Azerbaijani troops attacked Armenian fighters on Friday evening and “three were wounded in the ensuing firefight”, the territorial defence ministry said.

Six weeks of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, which left thousands dead on both sides, ended in a rout for the Armenian military.

The Moscow-sponsored deal in November handed territorial gains to Azerbaijan and allowed for some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to be deployed to the region.

(With AFP inputs)

Why India is special to Armenians: Their land of prosperity

Jhanna Virabian
The Indian Express, India
Oct 23 2020
  • Written By Adrija Roychowdhury | New Delhi |
  • Updated: October 23, 2020 8:28:16 am

A group of Armenians at a picnic at Ghazipur in 1885. (Source: Armenian institute website)

For the last few weeks, Vachagan Tadevosyan has been frantically making calls to relatives and friends across the world and closely following every bit of news streaming in from his home town in Armenia. At 55, Tadevosyan is a music teacher by profession and lives with his wife in the Armenian school located bang in the centre of Kolkata at Mirza Ghalib Street, which adjoins Park street. As he speaks to me over the phone, he says he has picked up much of Hindi and Bengali in the last 20 years spent in Kolkata and is proud of the large number of Indian friends he has here.

“Today Armenia is in trouble. Nobody wants war. But I can’t describe how happy it makes me feel when my Indian friends call everyday to find out the situation back in my home, and many have even donated money to help those affected by the war,” he says in a heavy East European accent, that he has been unable to shake off in the last two decades. Tadevosyan has been reading about the popular support that Indians are giving to Armenia in the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagaro-Karabakh, and says it is only expected given the strong historical relations the two countries share. “Our ancestors came here centuries ago and became prosperous businessmen here. Since then, India has continued to remain a most important country for Armenians,” he says.

For centuries, India and Armenians have shared a unique relationship. Historians agree that the Armernians always existed in India in small numbers. Yet it is here that the south Caucasian community-acquired significant economic and cultural prosperity. “India has been more important to Armenians than Armenia was,” says Sebouh Aslanian, professor of modern Armenian history at University of California, Los Angeles. “India in the 17th and 18th centuries is where Armenians made a ton of money, and they funneled that money into cultural productions like Armenian newspapers, books etc. The most important, intelligent and forward-thinking Armenians lived in India,” he adds.

In 1699, the Court of Directors of the English East India Company (EIC), made an observation about the Armenian community in their letter to Bengal, stating that “most certainly, they are the most ancient merchants of the world.” “Those people (the Armenians) are thrifty, close, prudent sort of men that travel all over India and know almost every village in the Mughal’s dominions and every sort of goods with such a perfect skill and judgement as exceeds the ancientest of our linen drapers,” says the letter as reproduced by historian Sushil Chaudhury in his book, ‘Armenians in international and inter-continental trade’.

The Armenians indeed had the most extraordinary presence in the world of trade and commerce of medieval times. In the 15th century, as Ottomans and Safavids made conquests into the Armenian highlands, the community there branched out in search of better economic prospects. They established small networks in Baghdad, Persia, Russia, and parts of the Mughal empire in India like Delhi and Agra. “They came to this country by the overland route through Persia, Bactria (Afghanistan) and Tibet and were well established in all the commercial centres long before the advent of any European traders into the country,” writes historian Mesrovb Jacob Seth, in his book, ‘Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day’. Seth explains that unlike the Europeans, the traders from Armenia formed no permanent settlements and built no colonies. “They were merely birds of passage who came all the way from the land of Arahat of Biblical fame, to purchase the spices and the fine muslin for which ancient India was famous.”

The earliest Armenian in India is known to have been a merchant by the name of Thomas Cana who came to the Malabar coast in 780 CE and was given trading privileges by the ruler of Kodungallur. However, it is only from the 16th century that we find references to Armenians acquiring positions of power and privilege under the Mughals. Seth writes that it was Akbar who, taken by the commercial spirit of the community, induced the Armenians to settle in his dominions instead of being mere sojourners.
Consequently, he asked the Armenians to settle at Agra, his imperial capital. Eventually, in the next few centuries, Armenians formed settlements at Delhi, Surat, Madras (Chennai), Murshidabad and Calcutta (Kolkata), where the remnant of their vivacious past exist in the form of churches, cemeteries, as well as hotels, bridges and other infrastructural contributions.

Armenian Church in Chennai. (Express archive photo)

Several important members at Akbar’s court happened to be Armenians, including one of his wives, Mariam Zamani Begum. “Abdul Hai, the chief justice was, according to the Ain-i-Akbari, an Armenian. The lady-doctor in the royal seraglio was an Armenian, Juliana by the names,” quotes Seth.

It is interesting that at the peak of their presence in India, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Armenians shared space with some of the most ambitious colonisers from European countries. The Armenian diaspora was operating in the Indian ocean much before the European companies arrived on the scene, and they were also well integrated into the local society. “In some ways, the Armenian presence in India seemed like a threat, commercially speaking to some of the companies,” says Aslanian. He explains that “the British in fact signed a treaty with the Armenians in 1688 to live up to the old saying of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.” “The Armenians cooperated with the British, but they also had vested interests in the local societies,” he says.

Armenian chapel christian compound at kishanganj delhi. (Express photo by amit mehra)

The agreement of 1688 between the EIC and Khwaja Phanoos Kalantar entailed that the Armenians were to provide goods from Bengal with their own capital and risk, at a 30 per cent profit. A few years later, the Company made a similar agreement with Kalantar for providing goods from Patna.

Among the Armenians in Bengal, it was Khwaja Wajid who played a very powerful role in the commercial and political life of the region in the mid-18th century. As an astute businessman, he was actively engaged in the inland trade of Bengal and acted as a supplier for European companies. Chaudhury notes the extensive business transactions that he had with the Dutch, the French and the English.

One of the most telling examples of the unique ways in which the Armenians were operating the landscape of colonial India is the case of Khojah Peterus Arathoon, a merchant in Murshidabad, and his brother Khojah Gregory. “Khojah Petrus was afterwards employed by (Robert) Clive as a confidential agent in negotiating with Mir Jafar for the overthrow of Siraj us-Dualah, the author of the ‘black hole’ tragedy,” writes Seth.

“And in 1760 when it was found expedient to remove the imbecile Mir Jafar and place his son-in-law Mir Qasim on the Masnad of Murshidabad, Khojah Petrus’ services were requisitioned as he was known to be very friendly with Mir Qasim,” he notes.

Interestingly, in 1764, when the British were fighting against Mir Qasim at Buxar, the latter’s army happened to be under the command of Gorghin Khan (originally Khojah Gregory), who was the youngest brother of Khojah Petrus. “This shows that the Armenians were stepping stones for the expansion of colonialism in some cases. At the same time, in the 1760s for example, the Bengali army had Armenian contingents fighting for Bengal,” says Aslanian.

Also read: Amid Nagorno-Karabakh clashes, an Indian restaurant is helping displaced Armenians

A majority of the Armenians in India began leaving the country after its Independence in 1947, and more so after Armenia acquired independent statehood following the disintegration of USSR in 1991. Yet, among the Armenians, the diaspora continues to play a most significant role.

As per a 2008 report in the New York Times written by Leonard M. Apcar, “of the nine million Armenians in the world, only about a third are in Armenia. The bulk are in Russia, the United States and France, with a smattering along the trading routes of Asia.”

Among this widely spread out Armenian population, India is held up with an extraordinary degree of reverence. Apart from the fact that the community-acquired enormous amounts of wealth and power in the country, they also made the first most significant cultural productions on Indian soil. The first-ever Armenian language newspaper in the world, for instance, was published in Madras (now Chennai) in 1794. The Azdarar (Intelligencer), as the paper was called, was established by Father Harutyun Shmavonyan, and contained important commercial details for the mercantile community in Madras, news about various Armenian communities in India, as well as world news. It was soon followed by Armenian language publications in other cities including those in Bombay and Calcutta.

Aslanian explains that not more than 200 Armenians lived in Madras in the 18th century, and yet apart from the newspaper, “they also wrote the very first constitution for the Republic of Armenia that did not exist on a map anywhere in the world, at Madras. They also opened a printing press in Madras. The city became one of the most important beacons of Armenian culture in the 17th and 18th centuries.”

Similarly, in Calcutta, the Armenians are believed to have written one of the very first novels in the Armenian language. “In Calcutta too, the Armenians were in small numbers, but made huge accomplishments. In the hotel industry of the 20th century, for instance, they had a major role to play, including the Grand Oberoi, which was initially operated by an Armenian,” explains Aslanian.

At present about 100 Armenians continue to live in India, a majority of whom are in Kolkata. Apart from the churches, the most important living residue of early modern Armenian history in India is the ‘Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy (ACPA)’ where Tadevosyan currently lives. It was established in the 18th century by the community, primarily to educate their own children, and continues to play a vital role in the preservation of Armenian culture. “In the 19th century, it was one among the three greatest places for learning among Armenians across the world, the other two being in Venice and St. Petersburg,” says Aslanian.

Tadevosyan explains that children from Armenia and Armenian students from across the world continue to come to the school each year for their education. At present, the school hosts some 70-90 students and has classes till the 12th grade. “Since this is a philanthropic school, it is open and free for Armenians from anywhere in the world. The school looks after the children from their education, lodging, food, medicines and everything else,” he says.

Apart from education, Armenians also come down to India for their annual cultural events like Christmas on January 6 and Easter. “It is a way of connecting with their roots,” explains Rangan Dutta, a freelance writer who has been documenting the Armenian community in Calcutta for the last several years. “The Armenian college will celebrate 200 years next year. Many old students will come down to attend the celebration,” he adds.

Also read: In midst of Nagorno-Karabakh clashes, Indians are backing Armenia, on the ground, and online

As the war continues to rage on between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Tadevozyan is filled with hope from his country of residence for the last two decades, and one where his ancestors made huge accomplishments. Meanwhile, on the internet, hashtags like #IndiasupportArmenia and #IndiastandswithArmenia has been trending, even though the Indian government is exercising caution in its stance on the conflict.
After we hung up following a 40 minutes long conversation over the phone, Tadevozyan called me back hurriedly to make an addition to his comments. “I will be very happy if these powerful countries like India, Russia, America, where Armenians have made a mark, come together and recognise Karabakh as a separate, sovereign country. Then peace will come automatically.”

Further reading:

Armenians in international and inter-continental trade by Sushil Chaudhury

‘Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day by Mesrovb Jacob Seth

From the Indian ocean to the Mediterranean: The global trade networks of Armenian merchants from New Julfa by Sebouh Aslanian


Armenians, Azerbaijan trade blame over breach of peace deal

Emil Lazarian
Associated Press
Dec 12 2020


By AVET DEMOURIAN

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenian officials and Azerbaijan on Saturday accused each other of breaching a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s leader threatened to crush Armenian forces with an “iron fist.”

The new clashes mark the first significant breach of the peace deal brokered by Russia on Nov. 10 that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over broad swathes of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding lands which were held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century.

Separatist officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said the Azerbaijani military launched an attack late Friday that left three local ethnic Armenian servicemen wounded.

Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region to monitor the peace deal reported a violation of the cease-fire in the Gadrut region on Friday. The report issued Saturday by the Russian Defense Ministry didn’t assign blame.

Later in the day, the Armenian Defense Ministry also charged that the Azerbaijani army mounted an attack in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reacted on Saturday by blaming Armenia for the new clashes and threatened to “break its head with an iron fist.”

“Armenia shouldn’t try to start it all over again,” Aliyev said during a meeting with top diplomats from the United States and France who have tried to mediate the decades-old conflict. ”It must be very cautious and not plan any military action. This time, we will fully destroy them. It mustn’t be a secret to anyone.”

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement late Saturday that its forces thwarted Armenian “provocations” and restored the cease-fire.

Armenian officials said the fighting raged near the villages of Hin Tager and Khtsaberd, the only settlements in the Gadrut region that are still controlled by Armenian forces. They noted that the two villages have been fully encircled by the Azerbaijani army, which controls the only road leading to them.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.

In 44 days of fighting that began in late September and left more than 5,600 people killed on both sides, the Azerbaijani army pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept last month’s peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim much of the separatist region along with surrounding areas. Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to monitor the peace deal and to facilitate the return of refugees.

Azerbaijan marked its victory with a military parade on Thursday that was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and involved more than 3,000 troops, dozens of military vehicles, and a flyby of combat aircraft.

The peace deal was a major shock for Armenians, triggering protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan, who has refused to step down. He described the peace agreement as a bitter but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from taking over all of Nagorno-Karabakh.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, and Aida Sultanova in London, contributed to this report.


Russia to deliver humanitarian aid to Karabakh in 54 railroad cars – Emergencies Ministry

Karagyozian Lena
TASS, Russia
Dec 12 2020
The Russian Emergencies Ministry will send 54 railroad cars with humanitarian aid

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry will deliver 1,200 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh by railway, the ministry’s press service told TASS on Saturday.

“The Russian Emergencies Ministry will send 54 railroad cars with humanitarian aid for the civilian population. The [aid] will be dispatched from eight Russian cities. The cargo contains construction products, generators, fire tank trucks and household supplies. The total weight is 1,200 tonnes,” the press service said.

The Emergencies Ministry pointed out that aid would be shipped from Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Ivanov, Ufa and other Russian cities. The humanitarian aid deliveries are carried out in accordance with instructions of the Russian president and government.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.

Armenian defense minister to visit Russia

Ani Kharatian
TASS, Russia
Dec 12 2020
Vagharshak Harutyunyan plans to meet with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu

YEREVAN, December 12. /TASS/. Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan has left on a working visit to Russia, where he is scheduled to hold a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, the Armenian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

“On December 12, a delegation headed by Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan left on a working visit to Russia. Meetings with Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu and other high-ranking officials are scheduled during the visit,” the statement says.

The visit to Russia is first for Vagharshak Harutyunyan as defense minister.


Karabakh settlement was not reached with disregard for Iran’s interests – Lavrov

Emil Lazarian
TASS, Russia
Dec 12 2020
The parties to the conflict themselves expressed their interest in Russia’s mediation, Russian Foreign Minister stressed

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The settlement of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijan-Armenia-Russia format was not reached with disregard for Iran’s interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Iranian state television and radio broadcaster on Saturday.

The parties to the conflict themselves expressed their interest in Russia’s mediation. “There is no ‘back’ thought in that,” the foreign minister stressed.

“Now it is necessary to think not about who and when has had or has not had the time to help the settlement. Let me stress again, it was the choice of Azerbaijan and Armenia to decide on the format. The structure of the participants in the [trilateral] statement [on the complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh] was prompted precisely by that and not by anything else. There were no and could have been no attempts to do this at the expense of Iran or Turkey,” Lavrov said.

Russia’s top diplomat also said that when the Astana format (Russia, Iran and Turkey) was mentioned in the context of the Karabakh conflict as an example of success, the talk was not about the countries involved in it.

“Our position is as follows: when the countries that have the possibility to influence the situation in a particular crisis region (even if they advocate different approaches that do not always coincide) decide to help the conflicting parties stop the bloodshed and unite their efforts, this serves as a good example. This is the value of the Astana format,” Lavrov pointed out.

Iran’s interests were not ignored in this case in any way and Moscow understands Tehran’s concerns over how the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia will have their effect on the Islamic Republic’s transit interests that have special significance amid the US sanctions, Russia’s top diplomat said.

“It is impossible to give up the basic principle that has been approved by all for many years: a conflict must result in normalizing the relations in the entire region,” Lavrov said.

Moreover, the trilateral statement by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh is consonant with the Iranian initiative announced amidst the conflict and offering a regional approach, Russia’s foreign minister said.

In Lavrov’s opinion, a similar vision geared towards regional cooperation was outlined by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who mentioned the possibility of developing cooperation between the three Trans-Caucasian states (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and their three neighbors: Iran, Turkey and Russia.

“This is an observation that lies on the surface. We all live nearby and now that the problems between the Trans-Caucasian countries are being overcome, we, as neighbors, need to help this process,” Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.

Police apprehend head of Armenian Revolutionary Freedom party during protests in Yerevan

Alex Jidarian
TASS, Russia

Dec 12 2020
Currently, several processions follow towards the Liberty Square in the center of Yerevan from several different points, the he protesters plan to begin a “dignity March,” demanding PM Pashinyan’s resignation

YEREVAN, December 11. /TASS/. The Armenian police apprehended Ishkhan Sagatelyan – the leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) political party – and other opposition activists during protests at the Yerevan’s Liberty Square, says Artur Vanetsyan, head of the Homeland political party and former National Security Service chief.

“What has Sagatelyan done to be forcefully apprehended?” Vanetsyan said.

Currently, several processions follow towards the Liberty Square in the center of Yerevan from several different points. The protesters plan to begin a “dignity March,” demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. Due to streets blocked by protesters, traffic got jammed in various parts of Yerevan. Local news websites conduct livestreams from the streets. The police apprehend some activist from time to time.

The opposition blames Pashinyan for economic and social problems the republic suffers. The also claim that the November 9 trilateral joint statement on cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh effectively was a capitulation. Amid the protests, the President of Armenia proposed to hold snap parliamentary election, and until then to hand over the power to the government of national accord.