Category: 2023

For 3 Years Armenia has Refused to Ensure Access to Nakhichevan, Aliyev Complains to Iran’s President

Arpi Talalian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan meets with his Iranian counterpart, Ibrahim Raisi, in Tashkent, Uzebakistan on Nov. 10


President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan complained to Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi that for that past three years Armenia has refused to guarantee a road through its sovereign territory to Nakhichevan, referencing his scheme to carve a “corridor” through Armenia.

“During the last three years, after the second Karabakh war, Armenia has refused and continues to refuse to abide by its obligations and ensure passage to Nakhchivan through the major part of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said, the Trend news agency reported.

“It is their [Armenia’s] choice and I think they made a huge mistake,” Aliyev said during a meeting with Raisi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Azerbaijani leader emphasized that Iran has announced the construction of bridges over the Arax River, which he said “has great potential.”

Last month Azerbaijani officials said that a “corridor” through Armenia had “lost its appeal,” announcing that Baku has opted to create a link to Nakhichevan through Iran.

Despite this announcement, however, Azerbaijani officials, as well as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continue to press Armenia to move forward with the project, which Yerevan unequivocally has rejected.

Yerevan has called the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” scheme a territorial claim by Azerbaijan.

Iran has also voiced its opposition to any effort that would alter the existing borders in the region and, in the past, has rebuked Ankara and Baku for advancing the “corridor” scheme.

“We carried out an anti-terror operation in September, which put an end to separatism in Azerbaijan. It paved the way for more active development of Azerbaijan and creates a favorable environment for the entire region,” Aliyev told Raisi.

“I am happy that as a result of the joint work of the representatives of Iran and Azerbaijan, an agreement for the construction of a railway and a highway along the southern bank of the Arax River was achieved,” Aliyev said, expressing confidence that this project “will be implemented in a short time and will become another direction of the North-South transport corridor.” .

“In other words, as a result, we will have two routes, one through Astara, one through Aghbend, and both routes will serve to strengthen the fraternal relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, and will be accessible to our neighbors and partners from other countries,” the Azerbaijani leader added.

Aliyev and Raisi also discussed the regional alliance project know as the “3+3” format, which envisions an alliance between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey that would bolster economic relations and allow for settling of conflicts without Western interference.

A summit of foreign ministers of the “3+3” countries was held in Tehran last month. Georgia has announced that it would not take part in the scheme, because of its decades-long enmity with Russia. Armenia, on the other hand, has decided to engage in talks to advance this formula.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Friday accused Armenia of “endangering” the peace process between the two countries and criticized Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan of spreading “fake rhetoric and accusations” against Baku in international forums.

Speaking at UNESCO summit on Thursday, Mirzoyan accused Azerbaijan of blockading Artsakh for ten months as part of its state sponsored ethnic cleansing.

“It is unacceptable that Armenia, which committed mass murders and crimes against humanity during almost 30 years of military aggression against Azerbaijan, continues to hypocritically accuse Azerbaijan of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Armenians who voluntarily went to Armenia,” Aikhan Hajizade, the spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, said in a statement.

The Situation In and Around Nagorno-Karabakh

Garnik Tadevosian
US Mission to the OSCE
Nov 10 2023

As delivered by Deputy Chief of Mission Katherine Brucker
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
November 9, 2023

The United States supports the Armenian government’s efforts to help displaced persons who fled their homes following Azerbaijan’s September 19th military operation.  We are working closely with Prime Minister Pashinyan’s government and humanitarian organizations to identify and provide bilateral assistance.

We note the October 16 to 23 visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan, including to Nagorno-Karabakh, by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights.  We urge Azerbaijan to allow unhindered access for international observers, NGOs, and journalists to Nagorno-Karabakh and conflict-affected areas, in part to help establish a clear channel of communication through which the displaced can receive information and ask questions about potential returns, for those who may wish to do so, either permanently or temporarily.   Such observers should also be allowed to conduct independent and impartial assessments of allegations of human rights abuses and destruction and damage to religious and cultural sites.

The only acceptable path forward to a dignified and durable peace in the South Caucasus is through dialogue.

Acknowledgment of both Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s territory by size, commitment to border delimitation based on the 1991 Almaty Declaration and underlying maps, and guarantees that regional communication links will reciprocally respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction will further the path to peace.

Outstanding political, economic, humanitarian, and security issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia remain a focus for the United States and we continue to encourage both parties at the highest levels to remain engaged in dialogue.  


"Armenia was only reacting to challenges": on the situation after the 2020 war

Jirair Kafian
Nov 9 2023

  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Armenia’s and NK’s mistakes

On November 9, three years ago, the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a trilateral declaration that cemented the cessation of hostilities in Karabakh, the so-called second Karabakh war. However, in September 2023 Baku launched a military operation in the disputed territory that remained under Armenian control. Almost the entire Armenian population, more than 100 thousand people, left their homes.

What steps should the Armenian side have taken after signing the 2020 ceasefire statement in Karabakh to prevent this situation, what mistakes were made by the authorities of Armenia and the unrecognized NKR? Political scientist Tigran Grigoryan answered these questions.

  • “Apart from Armenia, no one needs the Crossroads of Peace.” Opinion from Yerevan
  • The unrecognised NKR will cease to exist on 1 January by its own decision
  • Arayik Harutyunyan and other leaders of unrecognized regime in Karabakh arrested

The political analyst believes that, as early as 2018, it was obvious that Azerbaijan was preparing for war. Aliyev had a great temptation to solve the issue militarily. The military balance was badly disturbed, and more could be achieved by war than through negotiations.

“The [Pashinyan] government had no experience in foreign policy, in the security sphere, and did not know the details of the Karabakh issue. All these circumstances contributed at least to the acceleration of the processes.”

Grigoryan says that instead of trying to postpone the war, to buy time, to strengthen Armenia’s military and diplomatic capabilities, everything was done to provoke Azerbaijan, and recalls Pashinyan’s statements about bringing about a revolution in Azerbaijan following the example of Armenia, starting negotiations from zero, saying that “Artsakh is Armenia, and that’s it.”

“This is how Aliyev’s arguments that the opponent is destructive and it is impossible to negotiate with him were legitimized. Of course, the international conjuncture also suited Azerbaijan very well: the pandemic, the US elections,” he says.

He considers the July aggravation in the Tavush direction of the border a big mistake. He says that on the eve of the war it gave the impression to the country’s security decision-makers that “the Armenian army has become a significant factor in the region”.

JAMnews talked to Armenian and Azerbaijani experts, interviewed people in Baku and Yerevan, Karabakh Armenians told their stories and how they plan to live their lives in the future

Tigran Grigoryan believes that the resignations of the leaders of Amenia and the unrecognized NKR after the signing of the November statement could have had a positive impact on the situation.

“If the change of power [in Nagorno-Karabakh] had taken place at that time and a more effective team had come to power, everything could have been organized more thoughtfully. Another question is whether there was such a team in Artsakh. And the prolonged change of power, which ended in September 2023, did not contribute to the success of the processes, but on the contrary, accelerated the collapse.”

The analyst also believes that former president of the unrecognized NKR Araik Harutyunyan pursued a “rather problematic personnel policy”, with problems related to decision-making.

“The country was on the verge of collapse, but all forces were busy with some internal political problems.”

Conflictologist Arif Yunusov does not exclude that in case of the beginning of military actions on the part of Azerbaijan on the territory of Armenia, Western partners may resort to sanctions against Baku

This applies especially to the period after the defeat in the 44-day war. Grigoryan says that, theoretically, after November 9, someone from the ruling “Civil Contract” party could have changed the prime minister, and this would have contributed to the improvement of Armenia’s “negotiating position”. At the same time, he notes that the party cannot exist without Pashinyan.

He says that there is a political situation in the country which makes it impossible to change power and “the arrival of any healthy forces”. He explains this as follows:

“On the one hand, you have a defeated government, incompetent in negotiations, foreign policy and security issues. On the other hand, you have representatives of the previous government who also contributed to the disaster. In the end, you get a snap election in 2021, when the defeated government is re-elected.”

And this created a feeling in the international community that Armenian society “has accepted the defeat, according to the government’s policy”. At the same time, he emphasizes that the ruling party ran in those elections with a different agenda and then changed it on key issues.

Main provisions of the statement adopted at the end of the Pashinyan-Macron-Scholz-Michel quadrilateral meeting, as well as a commentary by an Armenian political scientist

In Grigoryan’s opinion, the two Armenian sides did not show a strategic approach. He states that the Armenian government was constantly changing its position on the Karabakh issue and the country’s security.

“There was not a single case when the government had any idea what at least its next step would be. It has always been in the role of responding to challenges, processes initiated by Azerbaijan.”

And the leadership of the unrecognized republic, according to the political scientist, had the impression that they “by and large have no functions, they have nothing to do.”

“The perception was that the Russians guarantee local security, and everything must be done to please them.”

Among such actions, Grigoryan named the decision on the official status of the Russian language. In the same context he considers President Araik Harutyunyan’s welcoming of Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, which he considers “a serious mistake”.

The British expert expressed his opinion on the Karabakh conflict, recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the future of Armenians who left their homeland

According to the analyst, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine a “power vacuum” was created in the South Caucasus which Azerbaijan took advantage of. He believes that in addition to the fact that Russia has fully concentrated its resources on Ukraine, its interests in the region have also changed:

“At some stage Russia, having simply failed to convince or impose its approaches on Azerbaijan, adopted Baku’s approach, placing all responsibility for the situation on the Armenian authorities”.

He believes that if not for the Ukrainian war, Azerbaijan would have been much more restrained and cautious in its decisions. He believes that before the September 2023 military operation Baku periodically “probed Moscow’s red lines”. In the end, it became convinced that it would face no opposition if force were used.

“We can say that to some extent they even reached an agreement with the Russian Federation on this issue.”

https://jam-news.net/armenias-and-nks-mistakes-after-the-karabakh-war-2020/

Georgian PM at Paris Peace Forum: Georgia one of world’s fastest-growing economies along with Armenia

Ani Basmajian
AGENDA, Georgia
Nov 10 2023

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday told a panel discussion at the Paris Peace Forum Georgia was “one of the fastest-growing economies in the world” along with Armenia.

In comments at the discussion around security challenges and stability in the South Caucasus region, Garibashvili said the country’s economic performance had “tripled” while the gross domestic product in United States dollars had “doubled”. 

We are one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, along with Armenia. This is not accidental. We create good policies, good governance, provide rapid economic growth for our people, which brings employment opportunities, stability, predictability for business [and] foreign direct investment was a record last year”, Garibashvili said.

He also highlighted “impressive” reforms implemented over the past 10 years, along with signings of the Association Agreement with the European Union and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the bloc in 2014. 

The PM told the panel 2022 had been a “historic” year for Georgia as the country received a European perspective from the European Council, while also noting “another historic decision” made by the European Commission this week with its recommendation to the Council to grant the country the EU membership candidate status.

This is a historic achievement. The population of Georgia [and] the ruling party, made a concrete decision that we should get closer to Europe and become full members of the European Union, and we are moving in this direction consistently, step by step”, he said.

Garibashvili was involved in the discussion with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan.

Economy, the Best Ally for Peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia?

Garo Vardanian
Nov 10 2023

The Author: A specialist in geopolitics and parallel diplomacy, Eric GOZLAN is a government advisor and directs the International Council for Diplomacy and Dialogue (www.icdd.info) Eric Gozlan is called as an expert at the French National Assembly and the Senate on subjects dealing with parallel diplomacy and secularism. In June 2019, he contributed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur’s report on anti-Semitism. In September 2018, he received the Peace Prize from Prince Laurent of Belgium for his fight for secularism in Europe. He took part in two numerous conferences on peace in Korea, Russia, the United States, Bahrain, Belgium, England, Italy, Romania… His latest book: Extremism and radicalism: lines of thought to get out of it.

Creating economic ties to ensure peace is a fundamental principle of geopolitical relations. The best example is Western Europe, which has been at peace since 1945 thanks to political agreements but mainly economic ones among the states that make up the European Union.

The establishment of common economic interests is a credible path to ensure the stability of the South Caucasus, in addition to compelling each party to recognize the territorial integrity of their neighbor.

When reading certain statements from the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, it becomes clear that they share a common goal: to end the long-standing war in the South Caucasus.

After Armenia recognized Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan and lost control over Karabakh during September military operations. This territorial loss removes the only permanent obstacle to any normalization of its relations with Azerbaijan. Both countries share a common goal: to bring the South Caucasus, one of the world’s least infrastructure-endowed regions, out of isolation and increase its connectivity to Asia and Europe.

Until now, the border between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey has been closed, and for Azerbaijan, the export of hydrocarbons to Europe depends on the transit possibilities through Georgia.

Peace through Economics

Economic peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan could bring numerous benefits:

Economic Growth: Stability fosters an environment conducive to economic growth. Both countries could benefit from increased foreign investments and expansion of their economic sectors.

Trade: The end of hostilities would facilitate cross-border trade, creating opportunities for export and import, stimulating both economies by expanding their respective markets.

Economic Cooperation: The South Caucasus is strategically important for energy. Economic peace could foster cooperation in the energy sector, facilitating the construction and use of pipelines and energy infrastructure.

Tourism: Peace eliminates security-related obstacles, fostering tourism growth. Both countries could benefit from the rise in tourism, attracting international visitors and boosting local economies.

Job Creation: A stable and growing economy creates job opportunities. Peace would promote job creation in various sectors, contributing to reducing unemployment and improving living conditions.

Economic Infrastructure: Economic cooperation could lead to the development of cross-border infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and railway connections, facilitating cross-border trade and strengthening ties between the two countries.

Financial Stability: Economic peace would contribute to financial stability, enhancing investor confidence and promoting the development of the financial sector.

Zangezur Corridor, Development Opportunity

If both parties agree to open the Zangezur Corridor, it will serve as a means to connect these two countries to Turkey, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe. It is important to note that both NATO and Russia support the opening of this corridor.

The Zangezur Corridor would facilitate commercial exchanges between the countries in the region in a short period through an expansion of transport networks. This opening would also increase international transportation in the “north-south” international corridor, also known as the “middle” corridor.

Following the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, the region’s appeal to investors would only grow stronger.

Countries Hindering Peace

Russia can be an obstacle to peace. It is well-established that Moscow deliberately maintained the “frozen conflict” in Nagorno-Karabakh and perpetuated instability in the region to preserve its influence and undermine Western interests in Eurasia.

Iran has been trying for years to strengthen its religious influence over Azerbaijan’s citizens. The government in Baku remains firm against this Islamist propagation. For the Mullahs, the rapprochement between Baku and Jerusalem is a crime, and they will do everything to ensure that the opening of the Zangezur corridor will not succeed.

Economic peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the opening of the Zangezur Corridor could create an environment conducive to mutual prosperity, fostering economic growth, trade, and cooperation in various sectors.

Could Azerbaijan End up Invading Armenia? – VisualPolitik EN

Emil Lazarian
Nov 10 2023

 by Politics Desk


he Nagorno-Karabakh conflict seems to have come to an end. Faced with Armenia’s weakness and isolation, Azerbaijan has seized Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning mission that has led to the mass exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the territory to Armenia, in what many already claim is another ethnic cleansing in the post-Soviet space.

However, tensions are far from leaving the South #Caucasus. Russia, Turkey and Iran have strong interests in the region. Moreover, the attacks suffered by Israel at the hands of Hamas may lead the Jewish state to try to harm Iran in the region.

What interests are at stake in the South Caucasus? How has Azerbaijan finally gained power over Nagorno-Karabakh? Will this be the definitive end of the conflict between #Armenia and #Azerbaijan?

Watch the video at 

Azerbaijan demands Armenia hand over 8 villages it says are ‘under occupation’

Tatoyan Vazgen
Nov 10 2023

By Peter Pinedo

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 9, 2023 / 17:39 pm

Peace talks between the Christian nation Armenia and its Muslim neighbor Azerbaijan hit a snag this week when the Azerbaijani government issued a demand that eight villages along the border be turned over.

The demand follows a military campaign by Azerbaijan in which it seized control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in September, resulting in the emptying of nearly all Christians from the region. 

Armenia is one of the few Christian countries in the region and is landlocked by the larger, Muslim nations Azerbaijan and major regional power Turkey on either side.  

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that the eight villages are historically part of Azerbaijan and that they are being occupied by the Armenian military.

The issue was raised by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel this past week, according to Armenian-American news source Asbarez. Asbarez reported that after the conversation with Michel, Aliyev opted not to attend a peace talk scheduled for Sunday.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a Tuesday statement that Armenia was “once again hindering peace agreement negotiations” by refusing to “hand over eight Azerbaijani villages, which are still under occupation.”

Though the foreign ministry statement does not specify which villages it is referring to, Thursday report by Asbarez said that “an entry in the Azerbaijan’s president’s website mentions seven villages in Armenia’s Tavush Province [northern Armenia] and one village in the Ararat Province [central west Armenia] bordering Nakhichevan, which in the 1990s fell under Armenia’s control.”

The Azerbaijani foreign ministry demanded Armenia hand over the villages to “demonstrate a constructive and just position in the peace process” and to show they “understand the realities in the region properly.”

Azerbaijan said that though there are “ample opportunities for peace and stability in the region,” there is “no alternative” to Armenia ceding the villages to Azerbaijani control.

According to Asbarez, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to Azerbaijan’s demands in an Armenian Public Television interview on Tuesday.

Asbarez reported that “Pashinyan said the future of these contested lands should be decided through a delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border” and that “he hinted that Yerevan is open to considering territorial swaps as part of that process.” 

Both former Soviet territories, the two nations have been engaged in on-again, off-again conflict for decades. Tensions reached a breaking point once again on Sept. 19 when the Azerbaijani military launched what it called “anti-terrorism measures” to assert its control of the majority ethnically Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The campaign resulted in over 200 dead Armenians and a mass evacuation of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite ongoing peace talks, the two nations have continued to exchange periodic fire and to engage in minor clashes at their border.

During the Sept. 19 conflict, Pashinyan publicly conceded Azerbaijan’s right to Nagorno-Karabakh and staunchly denied that Armenian troops were helping ethnic Armenians in the enclave. 

Since Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan has been a vocal advocate for peace between the two countries and has proposed that any peace agreement be based on each nation respecting each other’s territorial sovereignty.

During a presentation at the annual Silk Road International Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 26, Pashinyan said that both Armenia and Azerbaijan must “mutually recognize each other’s territorial integrity.”

Pashinyan said that both nations’ borders must remain at their current sizes, with Armenia at 29,800 square kilometers and Azerbaijan at 86,600 square kilometers. 

“This encyclopedic reference,” Pashinyan said, “was meant to ensure that statements made by Armenia and Azerbaijan about recognition of each other’s territorial integrity leave no room for claiming that by recognizing the other country’s territorial integrity, one of the countries has in mind only a part of its internationally recognized territory.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a Wednesday press conference that peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a “priority” for the United States and that “it’s something that the department will continue to engage towards.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255968/azerbaijan-demands-armenia-hand-over-8-villages-it-says-are-under-occupation

Rep. Schiff introduces resolution urging Azerbaijan to release all prisoners of war & captured civilians

Alex Jidarian
Nov 9 2023

Washington, D.C.— Today, Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)  introduced a resolution calling on Azerbaijan to immediately release all prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians currently detained in the years-long attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh.

In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched a military assault on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), resulting in thousands killed, tens of thousands displaced, and the detention of an estimated 200 ethnic Armenian POWs, hostages, and others by Azerbaijan. In a ceasefire statement dated November 9, 2020, all parties agreed to the “exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons.” Three years later, Azerbaijan still has not released all POWs and instead continues to imprison ever more POWs, hostages, and other detained persons. This includes taking additional POWs and hostages during Azerbaijan’s unprovoked, large-scale military attack on Artsakh in September 2023, after systemically starving the people of Artsakh with a 10-month-long blockade.

“Azerbaijan is already guilty of grave atrocities committed during the recent war, and the continued illegal detention of Armenians compounds the problem. Azerbaijan’s treatment of these prisoners, including torture and killings, are heartbreaking and a direct threat to international law and order,” said Rep. Schiff. “My resolution urges the American government and international community to stand up to these gross human rights violations being perpetuated against the Armenian community by the Aliyev regime and return these prisoners back to their families.”

“Azerbaijan must immediately release all illegally held Artsakh officials, prisoners of war, and other detainees, not in barter – as part of Baku's cruel commodification of human suffering – but rather in compliance with its own obligations under international law,” said ANCA in Washington, Executive Director, Aram Hamparian. “We thank Congressman Schiff and his colleagues for introducing this measure and look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to see this measure adopted on an urgent basis by the full House of Representatives.”

“In the face of Azerbaijan's ongoing disregard for human rights and international laws, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region stands firmly behind Representative Adam Schiff's resolution. We call upon the international community to unite in support of justice and the immediate release of all prisoners of war and captured civilians. It is time for Azerbaijan to honor its commitments and end the suffering inflicted upon innocent individuals,” said the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region Chair, Nora Hovsepian. 

Azerbaijan continues to detain at least 55 POWs today, though the true number is unknown and likely much higher, as many are still missing and Azerbaijan provides limited reliable information on the condition and treatment of POWs and captured civilians in its custody. There is widespread credible reporting on the cruel and degrading treatment, torture, extrajudicial killing, and other violations committed against Armenian POWs and detainees in Azerbaijani custody, including from the State Department, Human Rights Watch, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and others. 

Specifically, the resolution will:

  • Call upon Azerbaijan to immediately return all Armenian POWs, hostages, and other detained persons, and provide information on the status of those still be detained and those missing;
  • Call for the implementation of Global Magnitsky sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for abuses against POWs and credible investigations and prosecutions of the perpetrators in these cases;
  • Call for the suspension of U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan and full implementation of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act in light of Azerbaijan’s ongoing violations of human rights;
  • Urge the Secretary of State to engage with Azerbaijani authorities to make clear the importance of adhering to their obligations to immediately release and treat humanely all POWs, hostages, and other detained persons; and
  • Urge the Secretary of State to regularly provide substantive updates to Congress on engagement with Azerbaijan on the status of POWs, hostages, and other detained persons.

This resolution is cosponsored by Representatives Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), and David Valadao (R-Calif.).

Read the full resolution HERE.

https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/rep-schiff-introduces-resolution-urging-azerbaijan-to-release-all-prisoners-of-war-and-captured-civilians

New French and Armenian-inspired bakery hosts grand opening

Lilit Nahapetian
Your Central Valley, CA
Nov 9 2023

Spirit Made Cakes is hosting its grand opening on Saturday at 10 a.m. and the first 100 customers will receive a free cupcake with purchase.

The French and Armenian-inspired bakery is the passion project of Vartine Garabet. A mother, a pastor’s wife and self-taught, certified cake decorator.

At her bakery Garabet makes specialty pastries, custom cakes, smoothies, Armenian coffee, gourmet sandwiches and more.

Spirit Made Cakes is located at 1345 N Willow Ave. in Clovis.

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh flock to churches for hope

Emil Lazarian
Mission Network News
Nov 10 2023

Armenia (MNN) — The ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, rooted in decades of historical and territorial disputes, has once again captured international attention as violence flares in the South Caucasus region.

Roughly 150,000 Armenians fled the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in late September after Azerbaijan attacked. Azerbaijan now demands that Armenia hand over eight more villages in the region. Armenia has, so far, refused.

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association explains, “The area of Nagorno Karabakh — or as Armenian people would call it, Artsakh — is really a sacred area. In fact, the people that live there go back many, many, many generations. It is been at a flashpoint for especially the last year because there has been this blockade that has meant no food [and] no resources coming to…that region of about 150,000 people.”

This conflict, which has its origins in the early 20th century and was reignited in the late 1980s, centers on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan, have engaged in multiple military clashes and full-scale wars, resulting in significant loss of life and instability in the region.

Mock says SGA has had a relationship with Armenian churches since the 1990s. “We have been supporting their missionary pastors. We’ve been helping them with their Orphans Reborn program and children’s Christmas program. Of course, Immanuel’s Child is coming up, and training now as well. So all aspects of SGA’s ministry have actually been engaged in the country of Armenia since the fall of the Soviet Union.”

SGA has supported three Armenian churches in Nagorno-Karabakh specifically with food aid and spiritual encouragement. Now, Mock says, “Those churches fled. They lost everything — their building, everything, their livelihood — but they re-gathered outside of Yerevan, Armenia, so I was able to spend time with them.

“The three churches that fled have already reformed and have grown by 40% [from] other refugees coming and trying to ask for those messages of hope. So what God has done, much like we saw in the crisis in Ukraine, is He has provided a circumstance by which these churches are now flourishing even though they’ve lost everything.”

A refugee family in Armenia. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

Churches already established in Yerevan are also housing refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Story after story, we hear refugees that have come and have heard the Gospel,” says Mock. “Several of them would have been antagonistic to the Christian appeal, the Gospel.

“The thought of even walking through a church, their context was the Armenian Apostolic Church. So they had been taught the Protestant Church was against the faith, against the good of the country, against all the people. But they found that those were the churches that were actually trying to take care of them. Those are the churches from which they heard the message of grace and people are coming to faith!”

Please pray for Armenians to know they are not forgotten by the Church! Ask the Lord to add fuel to the Church in Armenia and for the Gospel to change hearts across the region.