Category: 2022

Despite the absence of diplomatic relations and their closed border, Armenia and Turkey have been engaged in trade for years via a roundabout route through Georgia, a state bordering both countries.

Now, as Ankara and Yerevan seek to normalize relations, Turkish-Armenian trade could flourish once more.

According to Richard Giragosian, a United States-born Armenian who heads the Regional Studies Center (RSC) think tank in the capital Yerevan, economics and trade are now recognized as real incentives for normalization.

This was not the case years ago, he underlined, saying that the economic potential between Armenia and Turkey and prospects of reopening the border are part of a broader regional restoration of trade and transport.

Armenia is a landlocked country with limited economic interactions with its region due to border closures with Azerbaijan and Turkey. This contrasts with other South Caucasus nations who have long enjoyed vital trade and transport connections with their neighbors.

Today, Armenia has two border openings to the world – with Georgia to the north and Iran to the south. Georgia has provided Armenia with a gateway for foreign trade.

“This isn’t only a positive foundation, but it’s also an important first step at lowering transport costs,” Giragosian said.

No longer must trade bypass border restrictions and pass through Georgia, he added, and noted that direct trade relations would automatically lower export and import costs.

Giragosian pointed out that the RSC has been conducting joint research with the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).

“Our studies’ findings indicate that it’s the east of Turkey that will benefit most from cross-border trade, stability and jobs,” he said.

Turkey’s eastern region stands to gain the most from the border’s reopening, rather than the national economy, he said, both in terms of tourism and trade. “It’s a win-win,” he added.

Engaging in protectionism, building walls, closing borders does not encourage economic growth or development, just the opposite, he stressed.

“I would think the Armenian economy would welcome the competition, which will develop between Armenia and Turkey,” he stressed, saying the lack of diplomatic relations has led to a reality where the lack of information promotes misinformation.

Giragosian also said recovering from COVID-19 is a shared challenge for both countries. “And I do think new supply chains, new trade routes are beneficial, and there is little negative cost,” he stressed.

In particular, Armenia’s growing IT sector would be in a good position to meet the needs of eastern Turkey, the seasoned economist said. “The connection in terms of road and rail tourism, whether medical tourism or normal tourism, will only encourage benefits for Armenia, as well.”

He added that Armenia’s IT industry “is also distinctly positioned” to “add something new for Turkish partners.”

According to Giragosian, the most obvious industry to benefit from a reopening of the border is, in fact, Armenia’s Russian-owned energy sector, with plans to export surplus electricity to eastern Turkey.

He also underlined that Russian ownership of Armenia’s railway network and plans to restore the rail link between the northwestern Armenian city of Gyumri and Turkey’s eastern Kars province ensures Moscow’s support for the process.

Giragosian also noted the attractiveness of the textile sector, in which Turkish subsidiaries of firms setting up factories in Armenia could take advantage of low wages and highly skilled Armenian labor. This would also facilitate expansion into new markets for Turkish and Armenian textile products.

“In general, I think the starting point is so low that progress is guaranteed,” he concluded.

Despite the Armenian economy’s much smaller size compared to Turkey’s, it offers Ankara the potential to enhance its position as a regional actor with an economic and political presence in the South Caucasus and as a market and recipient of investment, according to Güven Sak, the managing director of TEPAV.

According to Sak, normalization will be beneficial for both sides, noting fears on the Armenian side that opening the border would allow an influx of Turkish goods that could destroy the domestic industry.

He said similar arguments had been made and proven wrong in the run-up to Turkey’s customs union with the European Union.

“On the contrary … Turkish industry became stronger,” he added.

Sak said he had sought to ease such concerns in Yerevan in a presentation he made there a decade ago.

“During that presentation, I told them: ‘Your (industry) will be the same,'” he added.

He underlined that though Armenia “is not a place that can be a source of growth for the Turkish economy on a national scale,” it could be “extremely beneficial” as a regional development project for border cities.

Artur Ghazaryan, the program director of the Union of Manufacturers and Businesspersons of Armenia, also commented on the latest developments, saying that conflicts must be resolved through a process starting with dialogue and progressing with cooperation and confidence-building.

“I believe the economy and business is the most sustainable area of cooperation since, once parties generate profit together, they will find it hard to stop,” he added.

He also stressed that efforts to develop ties anew would not be starting from scratch, noting that businesses on either side were cooperating despite the closed borders.

“In the absence of any official relations between Armenia and Turkey, there was one thing that was regulating relations between two countries: Business ethics,” he said.

Ghazaryan said that despite this groundwork, Armenian companies would face some problems navigating Turkey’s customs system. Resolving these issues will be the first step toward the point at which the two sides could pursue joint investments, he said and added that ensuring Turkish and Armenian firms are on equal footing could be the first step in the normalization process.

In spite of the closed borders, Armenia has imported goods from Turkey via third countries such as Iran and Georgia. But, this remains a one-sided relationship with no significant trade flows from Armenia to Turkey.

GYUMRI, Armenia

With its narrow streets and historic buildings from the Soviet era, Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city, located near the Turkish border, has been an artistic hub for many years.

Among the many art galleries and museums in the landlocked nation’s cultural capital, Artush Mkrtchyan’s gallery stands out with its unique graphics, posters, paintings, and Soviet household glasses.

The story of Mkrtchyan, 63, owner of the Style Art Gallery, though, is as interesting as the artworks exhibited in the two-story building.

Telling how he decided to launch an art gallery, Mkrtchyan says he used to own a textile cooperative business, operating both in Armenia and abroad, decades ago, before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“We made a lot of money and we had to spend it,” he said, explaining that the currency was quickly depreciating due to the Soviet collapse.

Mkrtchyan studied at the Fine Arts Faculty in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, and was interested in painting, which is why he decided to invest the money in the arts, he said.

“We had the opportunity to put together this collection,” he continued.

“And with the artworks in our collection, we launched the first Armenian exhibition in the Russian Art Museum on March 8, 1991,” he recalled.

Boasting around 11,000 graphics, posters, glassworks, and paintings, Mkrtchyan decided to launch a gallery to preserve them.

The gallery currently attracts many visitors from both Armenia and abroad, including from neighboring Turkiye, especially during the summer.

Graphic works, mostly coming from Armenian artists as well as Russian and European ones, are on display.

“This is the most unique graphic museum from Moscow to the Near East,” Mkrtchyan stressed.

“Our collection has around 1,200 paintings. Artworks from 14 countries, including Armenia, are currently on display,” he added.

Turkiye-Armenia normalization push

When asked where he is from, Mkrtchyan says he was born and raised in Gyumri, but his grandfathers, who were millers, came from Mus, in eastern Turkiye.

“I have been to Mus and Sason (now in the Batman province) many times,” he said, remembering the times past when the Turkish-Armenian border was open.

Adding that he used to live very close to the train station, he said he remembers trains bringing people coming and going from Istanbul two or three times a week.

“Some Turks were coming here on Fridays and going back to work on Mondays,” he recalled.

Although he himself never had the opportunity to travel to Turkiye by train, he said he took flights from the capital Yerevan to Istanbul around 20-30 times before they were halted for two years, and now just recently restarted this month.

“But my relatives would travel to Turkey by getting a visa from Moscow for three weeks,” he said. “It was pretty easy.”

“Of course, there were some bureaucratic problems as well. But the border, in general, was free,” he said.

Amid the recently started talks between Turkiye and Armenia towards normalization, with the prospect of reopening the borders on the table, he said: “The closed border has never benefited any country.”

“There may be conflicts, tensions. May God not let us go through the same things again,” he said.

“Diplomatic relations, open borders, these are necessary for all countries.”

He said that many times he saw how Armenians brought goods from Istanbul by train and sold them in Gyumri.

“During the Soviet era, all Armenian products, except food, were very popular in Turkey. Boxes of socks, et cetera, were taken to Turkey from here,” he added.

“When Armenians and Turks share bread, it can give a different energy to their relationship. Things like cursing or hitting each other won’t happen anymore,” he said.

“When the borders are opened, there is a woman who is 40-50 years old, the owner of a restaurant in Kars. Its goose meat is very famous in Turkey and Europe. I will take the train and go there to eat that goose,” he added.

Western Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan, on Tuesday welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Aris and Angela Stambolian to the Western Prelacy. The couple expressed their unwavering support for the Western Prelacy in general and the parish of Forty Martyrs Church in Orange County in particular, and donated $2 million for the purpose of establishing a middle school at the Ari Guiragos Minassian Elementary School in Orange County, in memory of their parents Voskan and Elize Stambolian.

Prelate Bishop Torkom Donoyan welcomes Mr. and Mrs. Aris and Angela Stambolian

On this occasion, the Prelate praised the couple’s noble act, which is an immense gesture that contributes to the preservation of the Armenian nation. Also, through the broadening implementation of services and educational programs through our schools, the mission of the Western Prelacy will be even more expanded and meaningful in the lives of our faithful.

Mr. and Mrs. Aris and Angela Stambolian announced their $2 million donation during a meeting with the Prelate

“Joy to us all! On the occasion of the ‘Year of the Diaspora,’ the Prelacy is marking a new milestone in Orange County. We believe that, next to the church, the Armenian school has a unique role in our lives as one of the important pillars of the existence of the Armenian people,” stated the Prelate.

Also present at the meeting were Prelacy Executive Council members, Vahe Hovaguimian, Chair, Meher Der Ohanessian, Vice-Chair, George Chorbajian, Secretary and liaison to the Board of Regents, Dr. Kaloust Agopian, Treasurer, as well as Sarkis Ourfalian, Esq, Chairman of the Board of Regents, along with Rev. Fr. Karekin Bedourian, Pastor of the Forty Martyrs Church and member of the Board of Regents, Mano Dishoyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Ani Shahinian Sarkisian, Principal of Ari Guiragos Minassian Elementary School, and Ara Malakian, member of the School’s Education Committee were present during the meeting.

Tsovategh’s renovated community center opened its doors on Feb. 8. (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation)

Project Funded by the Armenian Medical Fund, AGBU of Switzerland, and the Tufenkian Foundation; Tufenkian-AAMA Artsakh Healthcare Partnership Announced.

TSOVATEGH, Artsakh—The residents of Tsovategh, a village in Artsakh’s Martuni region, celebrated the opening of their new community center on February 8. The building, which includes a town hall and medical clinic (“buzhket”), was renovated thanks to a partnership between the Armenian Medical Fund (United States), the Armenian General Benevolent Union of Switzerland, and the Tufenkian Foundation.

The opening of the center was attended by the village mayor Samvel Abrahamyan, chief physician of the Martuni Regional Hospital Dr. Robert Baghdasaryan, Armenian American Medical Association representative Dr. Anush Sahakian, mayors and representatives from neighboring villages, as well as representatives of the Tufenkian Foundation’s Stepanakert and Yerevan offices.

From left: Tufenkian Foundation director of programming (Artsakh office) Edvin Grigoryan; Tufenkian Foundation director Greg Bedian; AAMA representative Dr. Anush Sahakian; Martuni Regional Hospital chief physician Dr. Robert Baghdasaryan; Herher Mayor Arman Aleksanyan; and Tsovategh nurse Gayane Baghryan at the opening of the center. (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation) Tufenkian Foundation director Greg Bedian addresses guests and dignitaries at the opening of the center (Photo: ArtsakhPress)

“The center is home to the Tsovategh town hall, the village’s community center, as well as the buzhket (clinic) since the early nineties,” explained Mayor Abrahamyan. Buzhkets, or community medical clinics, are often the only places that villagers across Artsakh have access to immediate medical care. “The building needed substantial repairs and renovations to meet the needs of our citizens. We are thankful for the support of our diasporan compatriots for their generosity and willingness to help the people here,” he added. The renovated clinic was also outfitted with new equipment and other necessities thanks to the partnership.

The residents of Tsovategh and its surrounding villages came under heavy bombardment during the 44-day war against Azerbaijan in 2020. Early in 2021, thousands of families who had fled the region during the intense battles returned to their homes, many of which had sustained substantial damage. Many of these villages are now only a few kilometers from the Azerbaijani border.

Tsovategh Mayor Samvel Abrahamyan is interviewed by the local press (Photo: Tufenkian Foundation) A part of the new buzhket (Photo: Amaras newspaper)

Last year, following comprehensive consultations with the Artsakh authorities, the Tufenkian Foundation assembled an integrated plan composed of complementary initiatives that contribute to meet the educational, health, economic and other needs of several villages in the Martuni region, including Tsovategh and the adjacent villages of Kherkhan and Herher.  Various aspects of the plan also include the nearby villages of Sos and Machkalashen. The Foundation partnered with the Los Angeles-based JHM Foundation (John and Hasmik Mgrdichian Foundation) last year, to construct a similar center in nearby Herher village.

“About a year ago, we visited Tsovategh—this storied village—to pass out desperately needed food assistance packages. Today, we are happy to see that the village and its people are able to support themselves and live and work on their land,” said Tufenkian Foundation director Greg Bedian. In early 2021, the Foundation distributed packages, which included flour, rice, buckwheat, pasta, oil, and other staples, to more than 400 families across Martuni’s various villages.

“We will continue to invest in these often-overlooked villages, and in other parts of Artsakh, by rebuilding and renovating homes, clinics, and schools; by implementing educational programs; and by carrying out targeted health and economic development programs. This is how we can ensure a vibrant future for generations of Armenians in Artsakh,” Bedian commented.

As part of its 2022 development program, the Tufenkian Foundation will work in partnership with the Boston-based AAMA on a program to strengthen primary health care in Artsakh. Addressing guests and dignitaries at the Feb. 8 opening, Dr. Sahakian explained that the program will start its work in the villages of Martuni. “Our program will bring highly qualified physicians from the diaspora to provide practical training and continuing medical education to the local medical staff, while also providing care to patients in the region on a continuous basis,” Dr. Sahakian said.

Established in 1999, the Tufenkian Foundation addresses the most pressing social, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh). Since its inception, the Tufenkian Foundation has supported various community initiatives as well as civic activism and public advocacy campaigns to help improve life in Armenia, while providing housing, education, social, health, and livelihood support for the Armenians of Artsakh.