Category: 2022

Camp Javakhk: The best decision I’ve ever made

Raffi Khondkarian
August 6, 2022 Pascale Baghdisar Reflections 0

Pascale Baghdisar at Camp Javakhk 2022

I decided to sign up with Birthright Armenia in December. A few emails and some paperwork later, I arrived in Armenia on April 30. I volunteered in Yerevan for one month and two months in Gyumri. While I was still volunteering in Gyumri, I heard about Camp Javakhk through other Birthright Armenia participants. I signed up as soon as I heard about it, not knowing much about Camp Javakhk other than the FAQ posted on their website. Was this an impulsive decision? Definitely. But, it was honestly the best decision I’ve ever made. 

I returned to Yerevan to meet the other camp counselors and embark on this crazy and unexpected journey with them. One night out and a long bus ride later, we finally reached Tbilisi. I still had no idea of the journey I was embarking on, but I knew I was in good company. Another bus ride later, we finally made it to Akhalkalak, our last destination. 

Pascale Baghdisar leading the youth of Camp Javakhk 2022

I have nothing but positive things to say about Akhalkalak. I think the people here are incredibly warm and inviting. People greet us in the streets and offer us their help all the time. I think Akhalkalak is a very welcoming city, unlike Montreal, where I am from. It is also common to see kids playing in the streets at all hours of the day and even at night. 

I have been a scouts leader for five years now, and I have volunteered in a day camp in Gyumri for a month; but honestly nothing could have prepared me for Camp Javakhk. There is just something special about the kids here. They are genuinely happy to be there and even happier that they get to meet us. I loved playing, singing and dancing with them. I have so many fond memories of them: a very intense dodgeball game, a second Vartavar and a soccer match where the kids told me I should not play with them because I was “worth at least two players.” 

Camp Javakhk staff 2022

I was in Akhalkalak for only a week, but it is a week I will always remember fondly. I think that Camp Javakhk is all about what energy you put into it, and the kids always reciprocate it. I hope I left as much of an impact on these kids as they had on me. This is not a goodbye; this is a see you again, Camp Javakhk! 

Camp Javakhk staff 2022

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Pascale Baghdisar is an LL.M student at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada. She completed an LL.B in the University of Montreal. She has a passion for journalism and photography.


PBS gives nod to more broadcasts of The Hidden Map

Emil Lazarian
August 8, 2022 Guest Contributor Film, Announcements 0

Following its popular nationwide premiere on PBS, the award-winning documentary The Hidden Map has been scheduled to air again in several cities from Los Angeles to Boston during the network’s August pledge drive.

Especially noteworthy is Boston WGBH’s novel approach to telling the Armenian story. Recognizing its vibrant Armenian community, WGBH made the important decision to spend an entire day recording studio breaks for the upcoming broadcasts of the documentary in the impressive Armenian Museum of America in Watertown. Collaborating with filmmaker Ani Hovannisian and museum director Jason Sohigian, the WGBH team created a program that celebrates Armenian heritage, history and resilience, featuring lively exchanges and museum treasures to accompany the film. They hope to engage their diverse viewership including Armenians with the rich 90-minute program which will premiere on the main channel GBH2 on August 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Boston GBH2 Special-Event Premiere of The Hidden Map:
Monday, August 15, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 5:00 pm 

If viewers miss the primary showings, they can also watch on GBH44:
Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 6:00 pm

Filmmaker Ani Hovannisian in a hidden chapel of Hokeats Vank near Van, Historic Armenia

August airdates and times in other PBS markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fresno, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Seattle, Cleveland, Phoenix, Tucson, Tampa, Miami, Philadelphia, Lexington, Charleston, Louisville, Grand Rapids, Providence, Austin, Fort Wayne and many more are available by checking local PBS schedules or thehiddenmap.com.

The Hidden Map takes viewers on a daring journey with Hovannisian, a granddaughter of Genocide survivors, as she ventures to the lost ancestral Armenian homeland to uncover the forbidden past. A chance meeting with a Scottish explorer leads to a joint odyssey beneath the surface of modern-day Turkey, where the duo discovers sacred relics, silenced voices and the hidden map. They also meet Turks, Kurds and ‘hidden’ Armenians who risk their safety by revealing long-buried truths. 

WGBH hosts Melissa Jones, Eric Luskin and filmmaker Ani Hovannisian (left) at Armenian Museum of America

This is among the only Armenian films ever to be nationally distributed by PBS, giving the filmmaker and diasporan community the rare opportunity to help keep the story on the air for millions more to discover.

“It’s a huge exhale,” said Hovannisian, “to know that PBS has taken the Armenian story and championed the truth by sharing The Hidden Map with viewers over and over again. They also do it because viewers are responding. It’s a team effort, just as it is our collective story. So, it was especially exciting to film studio breaks with WGBH hosts in the awesome Armenian Museum of America where thousands of years of Armenian creation, destruction and rebirth go hand in hand with the film.”

Museum director Jason Sohigian and filmmaker Ani Hovannisian

Museum Director Jason Sohigian added, “It was an honor to host WGBH-TV again at the Armenian Museum of America for their annual pledge drive. We’ve watched Ani’s documentary every time it has aired on PBS and look forward to these special broadcasts, especially as the museum and film reflect many of the same themes, namely the survival and resilience of the Armenian people. We are here to share that history and culture with the world.”

Viewers who pledge a nominal amount in support of PBS’s broadcasts of The Hidden Map will help ensure additional airings on a national stage, and receive exclusive gifts, including exquisite hand-crocheted dolls made by women in Goris, Armenia, along with museum passes, DVD and Lavash cookbook.




What the recent escalation in Nagorno Karabakh tells us about the strategy of Armenia and Azerbaijan

Mike Maghakian
August 8, 2022 Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan Opinion 0

On August 1 and August 3, Azerbaijan launched a new limited military operation along the line of contact between Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. As a result of this new escalation, Azerbaijan claimed the capture of several strategic heights, which, according to Azerbaijani sources, allowed them to visually control several villages in Nagorno Karabakh and part of the Stepanakert–Martakert highway. The announced reason behind this escalation was Azerbaijan’s demand to stop using the current Goris–Stepanakert highway running through Berdzor, move the Armenian population out of Berdzor and surrounding villages and shift transport flow to the newly-built alternative highway. 

Entrance to Berdzor (Photo: Dickran Khodanian)

To better understand this recent escalation, we should look back to the Azerbaijani strategy employed since November 2020. At the strategic level, Azerbaijan has two primary goals – to reduce the numbers of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh as much as possible and to push out Russian peacekeepers from Nagorno Karabakh in November 2025. The latter goal will significantly contribute to the realization of the first one, as most Armenians will follow the Russian peacekeepers and leave their homeland. Theoretically, few Armenians, who have neither financial nor other resources to leave, may remain in Nagorno Karabakh and live under Azerbaijani control after the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers. Azerbaijan probably will use this handful of persons for PR purposes, organizing international media tours to Karabakh and chatting about tolerant Azerbaijani society. However, it will not change the reality that most Armenians will be forced to leave Karabakh, which will soon become the new Nakhichevan. 

According to Azerbaijani logic, Baku should not repeat the mistake made by Armenia in 1994, as after the decisive military victory, Armenia did not force Azerbaijan to sign a final deal fixing the status of Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan wants to fully utilize the benefits of its military victory in 2020 and finish with the Nagorno Karabakh issue as soon as possible. Azerbaijan is concerned that if current uncertainty around the future of Nagorno Karabakh continues for several years, the potential domestic changes in Armenia and shifting regional balance of power may create a more favorable situation for Armenia to resist Azerbaijani pressure. 

The construction of the new road, which bypasses Berdzor, and forcing Armenians to withdraw from the city and surrounding villages are a part of that strategy. The new highway will complicate the connection between Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. As all communications – a gas pipeline, high voltage electricity transmission lines and fiber optic cables – pass through the old road, Azerbaijan may find a plethora of reasons to cut them all and force the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh to either buy gas, electricity and internet from Azerbaijani providers or go back to the 19th century. 

Meanwhile, the change of the road and withdrawal from Berdzor and surrounding villages are not the only demands of Azerbaijan. Baku argues that the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is an illegal military organization and requires its dissolution. Otherwise, Azerbaijan threatened a new military operation under the guise of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation” to dismantle illegal military units. As Armenia finished withdrawing all conscripted soldiers from Nagorno Karabakh, the dissolution of the Defense Army will make the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh feel less secure and contribute to their immigration to Armenia or elsewhere. Several thousand Russian peacekeepers cannot protect the entire line of contact, especially given the absence of trenches or other fortifications. On a political level, as Azerbaijan rejected signing the mandate of peacekeepers, they do not have any confirmed rules of engagement, which put them in a complicated situation.

If Azerbaijani strategy is clear – to get maximum benefits from its 2020 military victory and to push as many Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh as possible – Armenia’s vision lacks clarity. In recent months, the Armenian government has spoken about the necessity to protect the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, while the status of Karabakh should derive from these elaborations. In March 2022, Azerbaijan published its five points which should be the basis for the future Armenia–Azerbaijan peace treaty. In May 2022, Armenia presented its six points, including the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the final status of Nagorno Karabakh. According to Armenian officials, the negotiations over the peace treaty should be based on both Armenian and Azerbaijani suggestions, and the peace treaty should also cover the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. However, a few weeks ago, the secretary of the Armenian security council stated that Armenia would like to separate the peace treaty from the Nagorno Karabakh issue. 

In April 2022, the Armenian prime minister stated that the international community wanted Armenia to lower the bar on the status of Nagorno Karabakh. However, no further explanations were provided on what Armenia understands under this idea. Is Armenia ready to recognize Nagorno Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan with broad autonomy and under solid international guarantees, or is Armenia ready to accept “so-called cultural autonomy,” which will provide Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh Armenian language classes in schools? Meanwhile, the Armenian government continues blaming Russian peacekeepers for not properly executing their responsibilities after every escalation, increasing tensions in Armenia–Russia relations and stoking more anti-Russia sentiments in Armenia. This pattern also repeated after the escalation on August 1 and August 3. There is a perception that the Armenian government would like to shift the blame on Russian peacekeepers for surrendering Berdzor and surrounding villages to Azerbaijan, presenting this as a result of the Russia–Azerbaijan deal against Armenian interests.

Directing criticism against Russian peacekeepers and stoking anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia are in line with the US and EU interests in the region, which would like to see less Russia in the South Caucasus, including no Russian troops in Nagorno Karabakh. Simultaneously, the high-level Armenian officials continue to speak about the significance of the Armenia–Russia strategic alliance while asking Russia to put more Russian border troops along some parts of the Armenia–Azerbaijan borders. 

The contradicting statements and actions by the Armenian government and the lack of clarity about the government’s strategy toward the future of Nagorno Karabakh create confusion among Armenian partners and allies. This confusion only strengthens Azerbaijani positions in the region and makes Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh more vulnerable to Azerbaijani military blackmail.

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Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan is the founder and chairman of the Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies. He was the former vice president for research – head of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense Research University in Armenia. In March 2009, he joined the Institute for National Strategic Studies as a research Fellow and was appointed as INSS Deputy Director for research in November 2010. Dr. Poghosyan has prepared and managed the elaboration of more than 100 policy papers which were presented to the political-military leadership of Armenia, including the president, the prime minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Poghosyan has participated in more than 50 international conferences and workshops on regional and international security dynamics. His research focuses on the geopolitics of the South Caucasus and the Middle East, US – Russian relations and their implications for the region, as well as the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. He is the author of more than 200 academic papers and articles in different leading Armenian and international journals. In 2013, Dr. Poghosyan was a Distinguished Research Fellow at the US National Defense University College of International Security Affairs. He is a graduate from the US State Department Study of the US Institutes for Scholars 2012 Program on US National Security Policy Making. He holds a PhD in history and is a graduate from the 2006 Tavitian Program on International Relations at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.


AW: Hand In Hand repairs mobile dental vehicle to reach rural residents of Artsakh

Kanayan Tamar
August 8, 2022 Guest Contributor Non-Profit 0

STEPANAKERT—Hand In Hand is dedicated to delivering free dental services to the people of Artsakh. Our clinics are located in Stepanakert, Martuni, Martakert, Karmir Shuka and Yerevan and are run by a team of 23 full-time local staff totally dedicated to the service of the Artsakh population. In total, the clinics see more than 11,000 visits on average every year for free. 

A casualty of the 2020 Artsakh war was one of two mobile clinics lost in the occupied territory. This winter, Hand In Hand finished a $9,000 renovation of the remaining mobile vehicle making access to the rural villagers possible again this spring once the snow and ice melted off the alpine roads. It will run March/April through October/November, weather permitting.

Hand In Hand mobile clinic

The vehicle allows for village children and some displaced adults to get checked by a dentist for preventive care instead of letting dental problems continue. Hand In Hand offers comprehensive care, including complete exams, cleaning, x-rays, fillings, extractions, sealants and space maintainers.  

The mobile clinic provides therapeutic, minor surgical and oral cavity disease prevention services to the population villages of Artsakh. The vehicle has full facilities for comprehensive dental treatment, including a chair, light, handpiece delivery unit, compressor, suction and digital x-rays, computer and dental software and sterilization equipment and supplies.

In addition to providing care, our staff also shares knowledge about nutrition as well as oral hygiene instruction in each village, which will serve people for their entire lives. 

Presently, the mobile clinic is being stationed in Stepanakert, outside of our office, to care for the displaced children. 

Hand In Hand’s vision is for all the children and people of Artsakh to have strong oral health that will save them pain, money, poor health and set them up for confidence and well-being throughout their lives.

All services provided by Hand In Hand are made possible by the generous support of donors, making them absolutely free to the people of Artsakh.




RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/09/2022

Zhanna Nahapetian 
                                        Tuesday, August 9, 2022


Water Operator Seeks Another Tariff Hike In Armenia

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

A sign outside the Yerevan headquarters of the Veolia Djur company (file photo).


Citing a high inflation in Armenia, the French water operator has submitted 
another bid to public utility regulators to raise the tariff, which was already 
increased last year.

Veolia Djur requests that the tariff for drinking water be set at 209 drams 
(over 50 cents) per cubic meter instead of the current tariff of 200 drams. In 
substantiating the bid, the company said that during the first six months of 
this year prices of goods and services in Armenia have increased by 8.3 percent.

Ashot Ulikhanian, head of the Public Services Regulatory Commission’s (PSRC) 
tariff policies department, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday that the 
commission has 80 working days to make a decision on the company’s request and 
it will take another 30 days for the decision to be implemented. The official 
did not rule out that in order to prevent the second rise in water tariffs 
within a year the government will decide to subsidize it.

“Discussions are also needed with the government to find ways of offsetting [the 
company’s losses] in conditions of the high inflation to prevent another rise in 
water tariffs,” Ulikhanian said.

The French company managed the water and sewerage network of Yerevan for 10 
years since 2006 before taking over the national network in 2017 for a period of 
15 years. The company committed to reduce water losses, which, according to the 
PSRC, amounted to about 80 percent five years ago and now amount to about 70 
percent. Veolia Djur also undertook to invest at least 37.5 billion drams (over 
$90 million according to the current exchange rate) in the overhaul of the 
system.

Despite managing to phase out Soviet-era water rationing in most of Yerevan, the 
company has heard criticism in Armenia over the lack of 24-hour water supply in 
many areas as well as frequent emergency cutoffs, especially during hot summer 
months.

The issue of irregular water supplies in some areas like Goris and nearby 
villages have recently been raised even by the country’s ombudsperson.

Veolia Djur has not yet responded to a request by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service to 
answer this criticism and elaborate on its latest request to raise the water 
tariff.

Armenian officials have not commented on the company’s request either. Before 
the 2018 parliamentary elections Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian pledged that 
there would be no rise in water tariffs in Armenia until 2024.

After last year’s water tariff rise by 11 percent Pashinian said it was a 
necessary step to avoid a potentially much bigger increase in three years’ time.



U.S. Calls For ‘Immediate Steps’ To Reduce Tensions In Nagorno-Karabakh

        • Heghine Buniatian

Courtney E. Austrian, Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. mission to the OSCE (file 
photo).


Washington is closely following the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and urges 
immediate steps to reduce tensions and avoid further escalation, the United 
States mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
said on Tuesday.

In a statement delivered to the OSCE Special Permanent Council in Vienna, the 
U.S. mission’s Chargé d’Affaires Courtney E. Austrian also said that “the United 
States expresses its deep concern over the reports of intensive fighting around 
Nagorno-Karabakh, including casualties and the loss of life.”

“We are closely following the situation [in Nagorno-Karabakh] and urge immediate 
steps to reduce tensions and avoid further escalation,” Austrian said.

“As we have said many times at the Permanent Council, the United States 
emphasizes the importance of a negotiated, comprehensive, and sustainable 
settlement of all remaining issues related to or resulting from the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” she added.

The diplomat reminded that last week U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken 
personally engaged Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev “to urge de-escalation and direct contacts to reduce 
tensions.”

“The United States is ready to engage bilaterally, with like-minded partners, 
and through our role as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair to facilitate dialogue 
between Armenia and Azerbaijan and help achieve a long-term political settlement 
to the conflict,” Austrian said.

At least one Azerbaijani and two ethnic Armenian soldiers were killed during the 
August 1-3 escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that both parties 
blamed on each other.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for 
years.

The mostly Armenian-populated region that had the status of an autonomous oblast 
within Soviet Azerbaijan declared its independence from Baku amid a Soviet Union 
disintegration, triggering a 1992-94 war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives 
and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

The war ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic 
Armenians in control of most of the region as well as several adjacent districts 
of Azerbaijan proper.

Internationally mediated negotiations with the involvement of the OSCE Minsk 
Group -- co-chaired by the United States, Russia, and France -- failed to result 
in a resolution before another large-scale war broke out in September 2020.

The 44-day conflict that killed more than 6,500 people ended in a 
Moscow-brokered ceasefire, with Azerbaijan regaining control of all districts 
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh as well as large swaths of territory inside the 
former autonomous oblast itself. Some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers were deployed 
in the region to oversee the truce.



Russian Border Guards Set Up Road Checkpoints In Southern Armenia

        • Artak Khulian

A view of Meghri, an Armenian town at the border with Iran (file photo).


Citing increased drug trafficking and other illegal cross-border activities, 
Russian border guards controlling Armenia’s frontier with Iran have set up 
checkpoints along several roads in the country’s southern Syunik province.

Images of such checkpoints along the road linking Meghri to other towns appeared 
on the internet earlier this week, raising speculations about possible 
preparations for the opening of transit routes for Azerbaijan via the strategic 
mountainous region.

Syunik is the Armenian province through which Azerbaijan expects to get a 
highway and railroad connection with its western exclave of Nakhichevan under 
the terms of the Russia-brokered 2020 ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the 
document, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is to ensure the security of 
traffic along the transport routes in Armenia for Azerbaijan.

Yerevan insists that it should maintain sovereignty over the roads, while Baku 
is seeking an extraterritorial status for them amounting to a corridor similar 
to the Russia-controlled Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

At a government session on August 4, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
again implicitly rejected the corridor logic for the unblocking of regional 
transport routes, saying that Azerbaijan even today can use all parts of 
Armenia, and not only Syunik, for transit purposes in accordance with Armenian 
legislation.

“We have been saying all the while that we are ready to provide this connection 
between the western districts of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. We are ready to 
ensure this connection even today, but it is Azerbaijan that does not use these 
opportunities offered by us. Even today we say: come, cross the border of 
Armenia, go to Nakhichevan in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the 
Republic of Armenia,” Pashinian said.

Pashinian spoke after the latest escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh in which at 
least two Armenian and one Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in fresh fighting 
near the Lachin corridor where Russian peacekeepers are deployed under the terms 
of the 2020 ceasefire.

Amid the escalation ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh announced 
that several Armenian villages along the current corridor would be evacuated 
until September when Armenians are to start using an alternative road connecting 
Armenia and the Armenian-populated region.

Bagrat Zakarian, mayor of Meghri, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday that 
the Russian checkpoints recently spotted in Syunik were actually set up several 
months ago. In total, he said, five such checkpoints were placed at roads 
leading from Meghri to several towns and villages in Syunik.

The map of Russian checkpoints along the roads in the south of Armenia.
After media reports about the installation of new Russian checkpoints near 
Meghri, the FSB Border Guards Department in Armenia explained that it was done 
in coordination with Armenian authorities to prevent illegal cross-border 
activities.

“In order to expose, prevent and thwart cases of smuggling, illegal migration 
and other offenses, in accordance with the law of the Republic of Armenia ‘On 
the State Border’ and in coordination with the Government, the National Security 
Service and other competent bodies of the Republic of Armenia, a number of 
equipped positions were formed early this year for the implementation of the 
border control service,” it said.

According to the FSB, a tense situation has been observed recently at the Meghri 
section of the Armenian-Iranian state border due to increased attempts of 
illegally smuggling drugs and psychoactive substances from Iran to Armenia. 
Moreover, according to the Russian side, violations of the border by 
representatives of extremist and terrorist groups were also recorded.

“Last year, in the area of the border guard detachment of Meghri, Russian border 
guards arrested two armed persons who had a large amount of weapons and 
ammunition with them,” the FSB said.

Armenian government officials have not yet commented on the presence of Russian 
checkpoints along the roads in Syunik.

Meanwhile, Meghri’s mayor acknowledged that the checkpoints create certain 
problems for local tourism.

“Tourists have to go through passport control procedures before they can visit 
several rural areas here,” Zakarian said.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Mayor of Berdzor: People are packing, but so far no family has left Berdzor

Karlen Baghdasarian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 8 2022
21:43, 08.08.2022

The residents of Aghavno and Berdzor settlements of Artsakh, who were given time by the Artsakh authorities to leave their homes by August 25, are packing their belongings these days, but so far no family has left the settlements.

Many have not yet decided where they will move, whether they will move to Artsakh or settle in Armenia. A total of 204 residents will be evacuated from Aghavno; 174 remain in Berdzor, where 2,000 residents lived before the war. Sus village will also come under Azerbaijani control, but there are no residents there now. The residents of Berdzor and Aghavno cannot reconcile themselves to the idea of leaving their homes built by their own hands to the enemy.

"The intention to move to Armenia or to move to Artsakh is mixed, at the moment people do not know what to do, any decision can be changed. The situation is unresolved like everyone else, I haven't thought about it yet, I don't have time, I will make a decision in a calmer state," Berdzor Mayor Narek Aleksanyan told NEWS.am.

A few days ago, Artsakh's Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Hayk Khanumyan informed residents that they must liberate Aghavno and Berdzor by August 25. According to the minister, residents will be resettled in housing before they can buy an apartment in Artsakh and Armenia.

"If they are resettled, they will receive a certificate to buy a house, and before receiving the certificate, they will receive rent reimbursement," the minister said.

According to the Berdzor mayor, the Armenian government allocates up to 8 million drams to buy an apartment in Yerevan, 10 million drams in the marzes and 12 million drams in Artsakh.

Chess: 44th Chess Olympiad: Armenia’s men become silver medalists

Arbi Tashjian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 8 2022

The Armenian men's national team placed second, with 19 points, at the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Chennai, India.

Uzbekistan, which defeated the Netherlands in the last round and also garnered 19 points, won the title for the first time.

The second team of India came in third, with 18 points.

Armenia defeated Spain in the last round. In previous rounds they beat Madagascar, Andorra, Egypt, Austria, England, India's second team and the main team, as well as Azerbaijan, played draw with USA, and lost to Uzbekistan.

The Armenian men's team is a three-time Chess Olympiad champion (2006, 2008, 2012), and a three-time bronze medalist (1992, 2002, 2004).

The women's team of Armenia defeated Croatia in the last round and are currently in tenth place, with 16 points.

Armenia ex-FM: Now it’s already visible what ‘lowering the benchmark’ means

Boris Nahapetian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 9 2022
Armenia ex-FM: Now it's already visible what 'lowering the benchmark' means
14:31, 09.08.2022

If Berdzor town and Aghavno village are handed over to Azerbaijan on August 25, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) will be surrounded. Raffi Hovhannisian, former foreign minister of Armenia and Heritage Party leader, told reporters about this Tuesday at Republic Square in downtown Yerevan.

"A few days ago, we saw how the Secretary of the Security Council and the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that they did not accept such a plan related to the handover of Berdzor; this was the opinion of Yerevan. And now, a few days after that announcement, a man decided that he should hand over native territories; the territories that were not even mentioned in the trilateral statement [of November 10, 2020]. Now it's already visible what 'lowering the benchmark' means," Hovhannisian said.

According to him, territories are being handed over unlawfully without considering the point of view of the Armenian people.

"[PM] Nikol Pashinyan is against the motherland. He has broken his constitutional oath to ensure territorial integrity, sovereignty, and life and safety of citizens. He needs to have that trait to remove himself [from power]. As we opened the 'road of life' before, now that 'road of life' will be closed by our own hands. We will have casualties, and citizen Pashinyan will be the culprit of those casualties,"  Raffi Hovhannisian said.

Armenia former FM says he met Azerbaijani taxi driver in Yerevan

Manouk Vasilian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 9 2022
15:32, 09.08.2022

Talking with reporters Tuesday, former foreign minister of Armenia and Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannisian spoke about a noteworthy incident involving him in the capital Yerevan.

According to him, a few days ago he got into a taxi whose driver was an Azerbaijani.

"The taxi driver had an Armenian name. He said that there are many Azerbaijanis in Armenia. Then he started, like a politician, to say who Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] belongs to. He was saying that Armenians lived in Artsakh, as they lived in Nakhichevan. (…) and he draws parallels that Armenians behaved like fascists. He says that [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev is like [Soviet political leader Joseph ] Stalin, who punished the German fascists. When I was getting out of the car, he says ‘salam’ to me. I realize that he is an Azerbaijani living in Armenia," Hovhannisian said.