Category: 2022

YEREVAN, Armenia — On June 27, the American University of Armenia (AUA) hosted the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Sona Hamalian conference room (413M), named in memory of the first director of the AUA Extension program. 

Since the day AUA opened its doors in 1991, Hamalian served as the administrator and right-hand assistant to Dr. Mihran Agbabian, AUA’s co-founder and first president. In 1992, she became the director of AUA Extension, now called Open Education. Following her untimely death, Hamalian’s twin sister Sossy and her husband Dr. Vicken Aharonian, both AUA Pillars, memorialized her legacy by naming conference room 413M in the AUA Main Building in her honor.

The ceremony was attended by the Aharonians’ and Hamalians’ immediate family members, close friends and relatives, as well as AUA community members who had known and worked with Sona Hamalian in the past.

Following the ribbon-cutting, the guests gathered for a reception in the Faculty Center. In her welcoming speech, AUA President Dr. Karin Markides addressed the guests highlighting the naming of 413M Sona Hamalian conference room in commemoration of her life and in honor of her memory.

“Sona Hamalian was a well-respected and devoted member of the AUA community, whose memory will live on through the widely used Sona Hamalian conference room, which serves as a meeting point for discussions, interviews, and team meetings to collaborate, recruit the best faculty and staff, and work towards the flourishing future of the University. She would have been very proud to see all the accomplishments AUA continues to have,” said Dr. Markides.

AUA’s co-founder and former president Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian reflected on the past, on the University’s inception and Hamalian’s crucial role in its development. 

“Dr. Mihran Agbabian hired Sona around July of 1991. He was familiar with her work ethic and skills. Sona did an impossible job in setting up offices, classrooms, library textbooks, the registrar’s office, housing for faculty members, and more. It was all possible due to her dedication and commitment to the University,” remarked Dr. Der Kiureghian.

Following his speech, Dr. Der Kiureghian shared a short passage from Sona Hamalian’s report on the Extension program. The very last paragraph of the report contained the following message:

When asked “What is your vision for the 90s,” I respond humorously. “I am not a visionary. I am a dreamer and I have fantasies”. We are excited for our next 1000 years (after all, for a nation 4000 years old, this kind of exaggeration is permissible). The technological advancements of recent years are revolutionizing education, and we are looking forward to providing the highest quality of instruction in the formats that best serve Armenia’s educational goals.

Dr. Vicken Aharonian, brother-in-law to Sona Hamalian, shared the thought that had inspired the naming of the conference room in her honor and expressed gratitude to the University staff, faculty, and guests for their support and efforts in developing Armenia.

“We wanted to honor her memory. Nobody will live forever, but it is good to create something that will, and I hope that this conference room will serve AUA, where her name will endure forever,” he said. “We are truly grateful to the University, which we have been supporting for many years. AUA is the future of this country. I wish you the best. Thank you very much.”

For more information on naming opportunities at AUA, visit: https://philanthropy.aua.am/naming-opportunities/

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values. For more information about AUA and its donor opportunities, please visit philanthropy.aua.am.

Margarit Hovhannisyan | Communications Manager

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The cooperation between the European Union and Azerbaijan is growing, the EU foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.

“Azerbaijan is an important partner for the European Union and our cooperation is intensifying,” Josep Borrell said at a joint news conference with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov following their meeting in Brussels.

Both Borrell and Bayramov welcomed the deal between the EU and Azerbaijan to double gas imports in five years.

Bayramov hailed the energy cooperation between the bloc and his country and asserted that Azerbaijan will increase the share of renewables from the current 17% to 30% by 2030 in line with the EU’s commitments toward climate neutrality.

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a deal on doubling Azeri gas imports as part of the bloc’s efforts to decrease dependency on Russian energy.

According to the plans, Azerbaijan will deliver 12 billion cubic meters of gas next year and 20 billion cubic meters by 2027 through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline to the EU.

Azerbaijan-Armenia reconciliation

Borrell appreciated the recent talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to normalize relations, and stressed the EU is “supporting all efforts to make the South Caucasus a secure, stable and prosperous space.”

For his part, Bayramov thanked Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, for his mediation efforts.

He highlighted that the “EU plays an important role in the post-conflict period” in the relations between the two countries.

Bayramov also ruled out any other alternatives to normalization than “mutual recognition and respect for each other’s sovereignty between internationally recognized borders.”

As part of the EU’s diplomatic efforts, Michel hosted in April a meeting between Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels where the two sides expressed willingness to secure a peace agreement.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

After new clashes erupted in September 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

The fighting ended in November 2020 with a Russian-brokered deal.

Following similar steps by Lithuania and Poland, the people of Norway and Canada have started crowdfunding campaigns to buy Turkey-made Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) for Ukraine.

Norwegians plan to collect 55 million kroner (about $5.5 million) and transfer it to the aid fund at the Ukrainian Embassy, media reports said.

The related campaign was published on the Spleis fundraising website.

“Give a Bayraktar from a Norwegian to the Ukrainian people – show solidarity with Ukraine’s fight against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. Lithuania collected one Bayraktar in three days, Poland collected three Bayraktars and Ukraine collected three Bayraktars in a few days. Of course, Norway must do at least the same,” the statement on the website read.

Canadians meanwhile aim to raise C$7 million (around $5.5 million) to buy the drone for Ukraine before the country’s Independence Day.

Poland and Lithuania both raised the target amount but drone maker Baykar said it would give the drones to these countries free of charge, asking for the money raised to be used to aid the Ukrainian people.

Pictures shared by the Lithuanian government a week ago showed the drone, featuring the logo of a hawk in Lithuania and Ukraine's colors, has already been delivered.

Ukraine has bought more than 20 Bayraktar TB2 armed drones from Baykar in recent years and ordered a further 16 on Jan. 27. That batch was delivered in early March.

Baykar late last month said it would be donating three drones to Ukraine after a crowdfunding campaign there raised enough funds to buy “several” of the Bayraktar TB2 model.

The company said the crowdfunding campaign in Ukraine had reached the milestone in a few days and that business leaders as well ordinary people contributed to the fund.

Meanwhile, the Canadian government previously imposed an embargo against Baykar for the Bayraktar TB2’s subsystems following its use by Azerbaijan in Karabakh, previously referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh.

In April 2021, Canada canceled export permits for drone technology to Turkey after concluding that the country sold the equipment to the Azerbaijani military forces during fighting in Armenian-occupied Karabakh. Export licenses were initially suspended in 2019 during Turkish military activities in Syria. Restrictions were then eased but reimposed during the conflict in the Caucasus.

Among its claims, the Canadian government asserted that the drones used by Azerbaijan in the conflict had been equipped with imaging and targeting systems made by L3Harris Wescam, the Canada-based unit of L3Harris Technologies Inc.

Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2s played a vital role during the conflict that erupted between Azerbaijan and the fellow ex-Soviet republic of Armenia, Turkey’s counterterrorism operations in Syria and retaliatory moves against the country's Russia-backed regime, and most recently in Ukraine where they have been used against Russian heavy military gear, from air defense systems to even naval platforms.

Following Canada's export decision, the Turkish company said that the UCAVs have been equipped with the Common Aperture Targeting System (CATS) developed by leading defense contractor Aselsan, replacing those acquired from abroad, namely from Canadian companies.

Azerbaijan on Tuesday began the gradual return of its people to territories retaken from Armenian forces during a 2020 war over the long-occupied Karabakh region, in what Baku calls "The Great Return."

Almost 60 people moved back to areas they fled in 1993, when Armenian separatists broke away from Baku, triggering a conflict that claimed around 30,000 lives.

Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis fled at the time.

"Fifty-eight people returned to the district of Zangilan," recaptured by Baku in October 2020, a special presidential representative in the region Vahid Hajiyev, told reporters.

Zangilan's entire ethnic Azerbaijani population of more than 30,000 people fled the area in 1993.

"At this stage, a total of 41 families will return to a newly built village (in Zangilan) over the next five days," Hajiyev said.

The returnees marked the first step in what authorities billed the "Great Return," an ambitious plan to repopulate Karabakh with its former Azerbaijani population.

The oil-rich country has vowed to spend billions of petrodollars on the region's reconstruction.

It allocated $1.3 billion in last year's budget for infrastructure projects such as new roads, bridges and airports in the region.

But a large-scale return of refugees remains a distant prospect, given the scale of devastation and danger of landmines.

In the autumn of 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia, arch-foe Caucasus neighbors, went to war for a second time for control of Karabakh.

Six weeks of fighting, in which more than 6,500 were killed, ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

The European Union is mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process, which involves peace talks, border delimitation and the reopening of transport links.

Being the main backer of Azerbaijan during the conflict, Turkey now supports reconciliation between regional actors, encouraging regional cooperation in the South Caucasus region.