Category: 2023

GB – Nov 8 2023

Tens of thousands of refugees are sheltered in centres across Armenia and face economic and psychological hurdles.

STEPANAKERT-BASED JOURNALIST

When 86-year-old Julieta Shahbazyan looks around the room she now shares with 23 members of her family, she is overwhelmed by memories. Her new home is a former kindergarten in Artashat, western Armenia; she had previously never left her native village of Aygestan in the Nagorny Karabakh region.

On September 19, Baku launched a 24-hour military offensive in which it regained control of the region. Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but since the mid-1990s large areas had been controlled by ethnic Armenians. 

When Shahbazyan fled the fighting, she did not expect that her displacement would be permanent.

“I left the doors of the house open and went out, thinking of returning soon. What I regret the most is leaving  the graves of my relatives behind.” 

Shahbazyan arrived in Armenia on September 28, after a nearly 72 hour-long journey along the Lachin corridor, the serpentine mountain road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. It normally takes about two-and-a-half hours to cover its 90 kilometres, but the large-scale evacuation jammed the only route out with over 100,00 people leaving in just a few days. 

The operation came on the heels of a nine-month blockade that had left Karabakh’s some 120,000 Armenians exhausted, with no access to essential supplies, including food, medication, gas, and electricity.

Artashat’s kindergarten number 6 shelters Shahbazyan and 73 other Armenians from Karabakh. For many, it is the first time war does not loom over them.

“Children are particularly struck by the absence of gunfire,” Karine Harutyunyan, the director of the kindergarten, told IWPR. “Yet, despite our efforts to provide them with the best possible conditions, they still want to return to their homes. [There is] one child, who cries non-stop, saying, 'I want to go back to our home’.”

Collective centres have been set up across the country to accommodate the refugees. Addressing the European Parliament on October 17, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan highlighted that the government was providing asylum, shelter and support to Karabakh Armenians. Yerevan has funded Karabakh’s state budget since the end of the First Karabakh War in the mid-1990s.

However, refugees and aid workers warn that the state aid programme and the support of international organisations is not even close to addressing the needs of such a large number of people. Centres are in need of everything to support families, many of whom left in a rush, leaving behind their lives, memories and, in many cases, even documents. 

Single parent Hermine Hayrapetyan, 35, is also living in the kindergarten with her daughter, her three sisters and her brother’s families. She is worried about being able to find a permanent home as the 40,000 drams (about 100 US dollars) that the state pledged as a monthly allowance for households are not enough to cover rent costs. 

“Rents are high and landlords often demand several months' rent upfront,” she said.

Madlena Ghahiryan, who shares a room with 16 members of her family, echoed Hayrapetyan’s worries.

“After Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh [as Armenians call Karabakh] in 2020, we didn't live peacefully, but despite the challenges, we managed to repair our house, to have a livelihood, and, during the blockade we braced ourselves for the winter…I prepared pickles, dried beans and greens and ground wheat to create a winter reserve,” explained the 62-year-old nurse, from Khramort village. 

“During the military invasion, I lost contact with my two soldier sons, who were besieged. The important thing is they were eventually found,” she said.

Many refugees lost their homes for the second time after Azerbaijan regained control of large swathes of territory in the 2020 war. 

Hayrapetyan was among them: she and her family had to leave their village in Hadrut region after it fell under Baku’s control in November 2020. She and family first moved to Armenia for safety and returned to Karabakh after the November 9 ceasefire, settling in Stepanakert, the main city, which Azerbaijanis call Khankendi. 

The 35-year-old is frustrated over what she described as the international lack of interest towards the fate of Karabakh Armenians. 

“For nine months [during the blockade] we had nothing, children were starving… European organisations, human rights defenders, NGOs, no one cared to see what was happening, to see how we were surviving. Now they [come in] and fill some forms. I don’t care about their paperwork.”

Hayrapetyan yearns to return to her home, but cannot imagine living with Azerbaijanis. 

“We didn't want to leave. But it will be impossible to live under Turkish [Azerbaijani] rule.  No matter how often they say to the world ‘we are civilised’ they will massacre us, poison us…” she told IWPR. 

Fear and distrust are common among Armenians from Karabakh and are what drove nearly all of them away from their homes. 

‘’We were hungry and there was no food,” Shahbazyan told IWPR, recalling the journey to Armenia. “At one point, Azerbaijani and Russian soldiers approached us and offered sweets to the children. I took the first one and ate it to make sure it wasn't poisoned.”

Hayrapetyan's 14-year-old niece, Marianna, is still grappling with the loss. 

“After the 2020 war, we kept hoping  that we would go back to Tumi, my native village [in Hadrut region]. We did not; then we lost all of Artsakh,” she told IWPR.

“When the shelling started, my mother was making sweets with mulberry jam,” she continued. “The next day was my brother's birthday. I made cards because I couldn't find any other gift for him during the blockade. All that was interrupted by my mother's panicked voice, ‘Let's go down to the basement quickly.’”

Her father had served in Karabakh’s  army, Marianna explained, adding, “We couldn’t  sleep for two nights until we received the news that my father was alive. He was surrounded in the forest, but he couldn't get out. When they said that they should evacuate us, I told my mother that I wouldn’t  leave until my father’s return.”

Alvard Dadayan’s husband also served in the army; he was killed during the first Karabakh war, in the 1990s. The 54-year-old from Stepanakert cannot hold back tears when she recalled that she no longer possessed a photo of husband in military uniform. 

“I had it with me but on the way we were told that they [Azerbaijanis] would check all cars,” she said. “I did not want to put my sons in danger, so I hid his photo under a stone along the way.”

All photos by Siranush Sargsyan; see at the link below

https://iwpr.net/global-voices/nagorny-karabakhs-armenians-struggle-cope-displacement

Nov 8 2023

November 8, 2023 - Cristian Bolotnicov Laurențiu Pleșca 

A little-known autonomous republic within Azerbaijan is another consequence of the Stalinist regime’s policy of “divide and conquer”. Having regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku has not hesitated to express its desire for a direct link with its exclave Nakhchivan, an intention that complicates relations with the EU and western partners.

This exclave, bordered by Armenia, Turkey and Iran, is located in a predominantly mountainous area, with the exception of plains to its west and south-west. It has a population of 461,500, who are mostly Azerbaijanis, and an area of over 5000 square kilometres. As an integral part of Azerbaijan, a country courted by the EU and other European countries for its energy resources, developments in the area cannot go unnoticed. In this article, we will discuss the region’s past and what the future may hold for the autonomous republic.

One of the oldest cities

The name of the region comes from its capital, Nakhchivan, which was founded around 1,500 BC as one of the oldest cities in the area. In the time of Alexander the Great, it was called Naxuana, and in Armenian it is called Naxcawan. In fact, for Armenians the name of the region and the city is linked to the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, as in Armenian it translates as “the place of the first descendants”, i.e. where the survivors of the Great Flood landed after reaching Mount Ararat.

Like other regions in the Caucasus area, it passed through the rule of Persia, Rome, Armenia, Mongolia and Turkey before becoming part of Russia in 1828. The area has been predominantly Azerbaijani in recent centuries. Thus, some sources mention that by 1914, the Armenian population had decreased by 40 per cent, while the number of Azeris in the region had increased by 60 per cent.

The Nakhchivan region was no exception to the chaos and revolution of 1917, as it was the scene of bloody fighting and purges between Armenians and Azeris who disputed its ownership. In 1918, the region was occupied by Ottoman troops, who engaged in massacres, with around 10,000 Armenians falling victim. The Ottomans later withdrew, with British troops moving into the area.

Sovietisation

When the Soviets arrived in the region, the “Democratic Republics” of Armenia and Azerbaijan continued to struggle for dominance in the region. In July 1920, the Red Army invaded and occupied the area. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was declared, which in turn established close ties with the Azerbaijani SSR. In an attempt to gain political support, Armenia’s Bolshevik leaders promised to integrate Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Zangezur region into the Armenian SSR. At one point this was supported by Lenin and the Bolshevik leaders in Baku.

However, the Soviets held a referendum in 1921, in which 90 per cent of the Nakhchivan population voted to remain part of the Azerbaijani SSR. The result was confirmed by the treaty of March 16th 1921 between Turkey and Soviet Russia. From 1924, it became an autonomous republic within the Azerbaijani SSR. During the Soviet period, the region’s Azerbaijani population continued to grow steadily, while the Armenian minority decreased from 15 per cent in 1926 to 1.4 per cent in 1979.

On January 20th 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Nakhchivan ASSR voted to separate from the USSR and integrate into the Azerbaijani constituent state. The same Supreme Soviet would then elect Heydar Aliyev, the future president of independent Azerbaijan, as the leader of the region. Thus, the break-up of the Soviet colossus left the region part of independent Azerbaijan, which was subject to several blockades by Armenia starting in the 1980s and ending in the mid-1990s.

Current importance

Returning to the present, the revival of the Nakhchivan exclave issue has again emerged in the public arena. Of course, this occurred after Azerbaijan defeated fighters from the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region. However, this is especially true following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the region. At the invitation of Azerbaijan’s president, he made a statement stressing the importance of a corridor linking Turkey and Azerbaijan. He also suggested that, without Armenian support, it could cross Iran. Of course, this move has sparked discussion about its geopolitical implications and wider tensions in the South Caucasus region.

Recently, Politico wrote that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned a small group of lawmakers that his department is tracking the possibility that Azerbaijan could soon invade Armenia. Recently, the likelihood of escalated tensions has diminished as Armenia and Azerbaijan have both signaled their intention to sign a peace treaty in the coming months. However, concerns persist. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev’s reference to Armenia as ‘West Azerbaijan’ has raised eyebrows, suggesting underlying contentious issues. Meanwhile, Armenia’s efforts to strengthen its ties with Western nations, despite hosting Russian military bases, add a complex layer to the regional dynamics

However, this small territory does indeed have a small border with Turkey. Therefore, if Azerbaijan succeeds in bridging the divide between the mainland and this disconnected territory, it would establish a direct link for Turkey to access the Caspian Sea in the east. At the same time, Azerbaijan would gain a direct link to Turkey, which would give it access to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and Europe. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also expressed interest in creating a land corridor through Armenia to link his country to Turkey. This ambition is rooted in the region’s historical geopolitical landscape, as the Nakhchivan region is currently separated from the mainland of Azerbaijan.

Of course, Armenia has expressed concern about these developments, fearing that such a corridor could lead to further territorial losses. Armenia has also accused Azerbaijan of undermining the peace process and not fully implementing agreements related to the region. Over the last month, the Guardian has noted that more than 100,000 Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, which was recently conquered by Azerbaijan.

Creating the Zangezur corridor

The Zangezur corridor is a proposed land and rail route that would establish direct links between Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and other Azerbaijani regions. This corridor is considered a key infrastructure project that could strengthen links between Turkey and Azerbaijan. In fact, Turkish President Erdogan, as always, wants Turkey to dominate the Black Sea and Caspian region and is keen to turn the Zangezur and Lachin (linking Karabakh and Armenia) transport routes into “corridors of peace”. This peace would naturally benefit Ankara geopolitically and economically.

The possibility of the Zangezur corridor passing through Iran has raised questions. Moreover, Turkey has threatened Armenia that if it does not cooperate with the project, it could lead to the possibility of the corridor route passing through Iran. Erdogan has expressed optimism about Iran’s willingness to participate in the initiative. This is because it could provide a passage from Turkey to Nakhchivan and wider Azerbaijan. This would represent a new and extraordinary territorial configuration, according to the Anadolu news agency.

The Turkish journalist who wrote this article stated that “The Zangezur region was originally part of Azerbaijan, though the Soviets gave it to Armenia in the 1920s, leaving Azerbaijan deprived of a direct overland route to its exclave of Nakhchivan.” The source also notes that the corridor would be near or adjacent to Armenia’s border with Iran, which would concern Tehran regarding the project cutting across its border with Yerevan. Earlier, Erdogan said the opening of the corridor is a “strategic issue” for Turkey and is “very important” for ties between Ankara and Baku.

“In other words, Azerbaijan has become a serious player in a very large transport market. Of course, the realisation of the Zangezur corridor is a historical necessity. That’s why I said it will be done whether Armenia wants it or not. Although in Armenia they perceive it as another threat, we had no such idea. It is simply inevitable. It will happen sooner or later. Of course, we want it to materialise soon,” the Azerbaijani leader said in 2021.

Also, the signing of the construction of the Igdir-Nakhchivan pipeline will create conditions for the supply of natural gas to the Azerbaijani exclave through another route from Turkey. This will supplement (or replace) gas deliveries from Iran.

Instead of conclusions

The European Union has been working to diversify its energy sources and reduce its dependence on Russia for natural gas. Azerbaijan, notably through the Southern Gas Corridor, has become a strategic partner in this effort. As for the US, it has the first opportunity since the fall of the Soviet Union to gain a significant foothold in the South Caucasus by reimagining the region’s security architecture. However, Russia’s involvement in this complex puzzle of regional dynamics adds another layer of complexity to the situation.

Russia, as an important regional actor, has been closely monitoring the situation. Moscow has criticised Armenia’s handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and even accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of pursuing a pro-western agenda. The Zangezur corridor proposal and the potential involvement of Iran highlight the evolving dynamics in the South Caucasus region. It also shows that Russia is still not paying attention to the region, as Armenia, once one of the countries most aligned with Russian policy, has been left to fend for itself because of the war in Ukraine.

President Erdogan’s statements signal Turkey’s commitment to strengthening ties with Azerbaijan and finding alternative routes if Armenia does not cooperate. However, they do not rule out the possibility of new territorial seizures, as claimed in some Armenian circles. As tensions persist, regional actors such as Russia could play a key role in influencing the outcome of these geopolitical manoeuvres, making the situation in the South Caucasus one to watch closely in the coming months.

This article was originally published in Romanian on the website agora.md.

Cristian Bolotnicov is a Moldova-based journalist for Agora.md. He specialises in topics related to politics and history writing in-depth analyses and uncovering underreported issues from politics, justice, economy and technology.

Laurențiu Pleșca is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Political Sciences of the University of Bucharest, researcher for the Romanian Centre for Russian Studies and analyst at German Marshall Fund of the United States. His main research interest is on topics such as Russia’s geopolitics in the Black Sea region, domestic and foreign policy of the former Soviet states (in particular the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan).

https://neweasterneurope.eu/2023/11/08/nakhchivan-an-azerbaijani-exclave-that-could-cause-new-problems-for-armenia/

Nov 8 2023

Nov 8 2023

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Participating in the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum in Georgia, Pashinyan outlined his government’s plans to cooperate with neighboring countries and open up to the world through road, rail, and energy links. 

Pashinyan said his landlocked country should be connected to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea, and the Persian Gulf as soon as possible by joining projects with its neighbors to open up transit routes. As well as connecting Armenia to the sea, these would provide links between Georgian Black Sea ports and the Gulf, he told the forum in late October.  

He announced that steps will be taken to open the borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan “in the near future,” bringing “positive stimulus” to the whole region. 

The continued closure of the borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan reflects Armenia’s regional isolation since the early 1990s, which resulted from its victory against Azerbaijan in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war and its ultimate defeat this year.  

During that period, it lost the opportunity to host important infrastructure projects, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. These projects have instead been routed through Georgia, albeit at a slightly higher cost. 

Since 2020, after the regional fallout from the Second Karabakh War, the Armenian government has signaled its willingness to adapt to the new geopolitical realities and Pashinyan has expressed a hope that a final peace agreement with Azerbaijan will be signed soon. A peace treaty is the only way out of isolation and Pashinyan’s approaches, which can be considered radical in terms of Armenia’s political tradition, should be seen in this light. 

At the same time, Azerbaijan’s proposal to open a Zangezur Corridor was not well received in Armenia. The corridor, which aims to connect Armenia’s Syunik region with Turkey and Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan, was purportedly aimed at Armenia’s direct participation in regional projects. Some in Armenia argued it would mean the loss of sovereignty in the region, while others saw it as a means for Azerbaijan to gain the upper hand. 

Iran’s reaction also played a crucial role in opposition to the corridor. It said the proposal would amount to a NATO presence in the region (because of Turkey’s membership.) Azerbaijan, which had argued the corridor was the easiest way for Armenia to achieve regional integration and develop transport lines, has since announced it was no longer important.  

Pashinyan, who unabashedly expressed his discomfort with the Russian military presence in his country and the need to “diversify” security links, reflected the national anger at the Kremlin’s refusal to offer military support during its recent conflicts.  

Talks with France in the field of military cooperation have made some progress — including the purchase of ground radars, air defense systems, and missiles. The deployment of French security experts as consultants has also been discussed. As a result, military expenditure is expected to increase to $1.4bn in 2024 from $800m in 2022. But this is unlikely to change the military balance, where Azerbaijan enjoys a very considerable edge. 

Armenia is currently at a crossroads. The abandonment of traditional policies in favor of regional integration is in its earliest stages.  

The government’s aspirations will be clear in any final peace agreement with Azerbaijan, but bypassing an already hostile Russia could create consequences. The Pashinyan government will need the support of Western countries more than ever. 

Dr Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu is a professor of international relations at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea. He studied and worked in Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Seoul as an academic and journalist. He is the author of numerous articles and books on the South Caucasus and Central Asia. @fatihoztarsu 

Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.

https://cepa.org/article/armenia-needs-help-to-escape-regional-isolation/

The Guardian, UK

Nov 8 2023

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

BP’s fossil fuel projects in Azerbaijan have helped fund the military aggression against Karabakh Armenians though the transfer to billions of dollars to the Azerbaijan government since 2020, a campaign group has claimed.

Global Witness said Azerbaijan’s share of two large oil and gas projects operated by the British oil company had earned its government more than four times its military spending since 2020, the year that war broke out in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Analysis by the NGO suggested that Azerbaijan’s economic reliance on BP, its largest foreign investor, had indirectly helped to fund Azerbaijan’s military aggression against ethnic Armenians in the contested region, which has forced more than 100,000 people to flee the territory since early September.

In the same month senior figures representing BP, including its chair, Helge Lund, and former chief executive John Browne, visited Baku to attend the 100th birthday celebrations of Azerbaijan’s late former president Heydar Aliyev and reiterate its commitment “to long-term partnership with Azerbaijan”, according to a company statement.

BP has supplied Baku with oil and gas worth almost $35bn (£28.6bn) since 2020 under a “production-sharing agreement”.

Aliyev’s son, Ilham Aliyev, became president after his father’s death in 2003 after an election that observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe claim fell short of international standards.

Dominic Eagleton, senior campaigner at Global Witness, said: “BP’s longstanding partnership with the Aliyev ‘dictatorship’ has funded Azerbaijan’s militarisation and aggression against Armenia. BP has been happy to keep drilling, having learned nothing from the historic mistake it made in Russia.”

BP abandoned a stake of almost 20% in the Russian oil company Rosneft, at a cost of $24bn to the company, following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine after the UK government expressed concerns over BP’s links to the company given its role in providing fuel for Russia’s military effort.

“Funding violent dictators is always a bad strategy,” Eagleton said.

BP last week posted weaker than expected profits of $3.3bn for the third quarter, compared with $8.2bn in the same months last year, prompting speculation that its sluggish share price and boardroom upheaval could make it a takeover target.

A spokesperson for BP said the company has “been present in Azerbaijan for three decades and we remain committed to operating a safe, reliable, and resilient energy business in the region”.

Under an agreement struck between BP and the Azerbaijan government in the 1990s, the oil company is required to hand a share of the fossil fuels it produces from these projects to the state.

This type of arrangement is commonplace in the oil and gas industry as a way to share the risk and reward of developing fossil fuel projects between foreign companies and the host state.

BP holds the largest share of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas projects alongside other foreign oil companies, including the US firm Exxon Mobil, Norway’s Equinor and the Russian company Lukoil, which hold small minority stakes in the projects.

BP’s financial disclosures show it has supplied Baku with oil and gas worth almost $35bn on the global market since 2020. This sum is more than four times the government’s military spending over the same period, which reached $7.9bn, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“We support a peaceful settlement to the conflict and hope that a final resolution will soon be found,” the BP spokesperson added. Browne did not respond to requests for comment.

Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has alleged the ethnic Armenian exodus amounted to “a direct act of an ethnic cleansing and depriving people of their motherland”. The claim was strongly rejected by Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, which said that the mass migration by the region’s residents was a “personal and individual decision and has nothing to do with forced relocation”.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/08/bp-projects-have-helped-fund-azerbaijan-military-aggession-say-campaigners

Nov 8 2023

WEBCAST

Nov 8 2023

Citibank illegally discriminated against Armenian Americans for years by singling them out on credit card applications based on their surnames, a federal regulator alleged on Wednesday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that from at least 2015 through 2021, Citi “targeted” retail services credit card applicants whom employees associated with Armenian national origin.

“Citi treated Armenian Americans as criminals who were likely to commit fraud,” the CFPB alleged.

Citi applied more stringent criteria to suspected Armenian Americans’ applications, including “denying them outright,” placing blocks on the accounts and requiring additional information, according to the regulator.

The CFPB said Citi targeted applicants with last names ending in “-ian” and “-yan” as well as applicants in and around Glendale, California, which is home to a large Armenian American population.

Regulators painted the picture of an orchestrated effort by Citi to conceal the alleged discrimination, including by allegedly falsifying documents.

Citi is a major issuer of store credit cards, including retail cards for Home Depot, Best Buy and other chains.

To punish Citi for the alleged discrimination, the CFPB ordered the bank to pay $25.9 million in fines and consumer redress. Those penalties include a $24.5 million fine to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

“Regrettably, in trying to thwart a well-documented Armenian fraud ring operating in certain parts of California, a few employees took impermissible actions,” Citi spokesperson Karen Kearns said in a statement to CNN. “While we prioritize protecting our bank and our customers from fraud, it is unacceptable to base credit decisions on national origin.”

The Citi spokesperson added that after an internal investigation, the bank took “appropriate actions” against those involved and imposed steps to prevent this from happening again.”We sincerely apologize to any applicant who was evaluated unfairly by the small number of employees who circumvented our fraud detection protocols,” the Citi spokesperson said.

According to the CFPB, Citi supervisors “conspired to hide the discrimination” by telling employees not to discuss these practices in writing or on recorded phone lines.

The bank then “hid” the discrimination by lying to consumers, giving them “false reasons” for credit denials, the CFPB said.

“Citi stereotyped Armenians as prone to crime and fraud,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Citi illegally fabricated documents to cover up its discrimination.”

Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, it is illegal to intentionally deny credit to groups of people based on national origin.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a frequent critic of big banks, condemned Citibank on Wednesday.

“Citibank’s intentional discrimination against Armenian Americans is illegal, outrageous and just plain wrong,” Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told CNN in a statement. “The CFPB is right to hold the bank accountable.”

Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform advocacy group Better Markets, called the allegations against Citi “stunning” and questioned whether the punishment fits the crime.

“That fine amount is meaningless to Citi,” Kelleher told CNN, noting it amounts to slightly more than 0.1% of the bank’s $20 billion in third-quarter revenue. “Individual bankers, including executives and supervisors, must be personally punished with meaningful fines and barred from working in the industry.”

During a call with reporters on Wednesday, Chopra said the people hurt thought they would be treated fairly by banks.

The CFPB noted that Citi has a history of recently violating consumer financial protection laws. It paid $335 million in 2018 to 1.75 million consumer credit card holders for allegedly violating the Truth in Lending Act. In 2015, Citi paid almost $750 million for “deceptive and unfair practices” linked to overcharging credit card customers.

“Many Armenians have arrived in the US both because of opportunity but also because of physical dangers back home,” Chopra said, noting Armenia was a satellite of the Soviet Union before its collapse. “Those who immigrated to the United States should not be subjected to illegal discrimination on the basis of their national origin.”

“I am concerned about Citi’s longstanding problems when it comes to managing its sprawling lines of businesses. The public has provided Citi with very large bailouts because of its past management failures,” Chopra said. “It is unfair for consumers to continue paying the price.”

Citi CEO Jane Fraser is scheduled to testify before Congress on December 6 as part of the Senate Banking Committee’s big bank oversight hearing.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/08/economy/citibank-armenian-americans-discrimination-accusation/index.html

https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/citi-to-pay-25-9m-for-discriminating-against-armenian-american-credit-card-applicants-c5618771

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/citigroup-pay-259-mln-settle-us-discrimination-claims-2023-11-08/

https://www.albanyherald.com/news/business/citi-targeted-armenian-americans-and-treated-them-like-criminals-us-regulator-alleges/article_044ab507-341d-5168-945d-1061f9350824.html

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https://themercury.com/ap/business/citigroup-discriminated-against-armenian-americans-federal-regulator-says-bank-fined-25-9-million/article_3eee3548-a843-5779-a94e-6f5676a86190.html

https://www.ibtimes.com/citibank-pay-259-million-discrimination-against-armenian-americans-3717982

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/citibank-fined-259-million-over-armenian-surname-discrimination-93CH-3227387

https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/national/citigroup-discriminated-against-armenian-americans-federal-regulator-says-bank-fined-25-9-million/article_20b2c5d3-2260-5774-bd56-44f228c1bde3.html

https://www.newspressnow.com/news/regional_news/kansas/citigroup-discriminated-against-armenian-americans-federal-regulator-says-bank-fined-25-9-million/article_8f18449e-e949-5646-965a-16861096517b.html

News.am, Armenia

Nov 8 2023

Nov 8 2023