Category: 2023

A Taste of New Zealand

Liana Toganian
by Catherine Yesayan

 

 September 5, 2023

 

in Columns, Community Links, Latest, Top Stories
The author, Catherine Yesayan at Orewa beach, New Zealand


BY CATHERINE YESAYAN

2023 marks 12 years since I began writing a column in Asbarez newspaper. Within this time, I’ve traveled to numerous cities and countries, and I’ve reported about Armenian communities around the world. However, there are a handful of places that I had not yet visited, among them New Zealand and Australia.  

So, on March 29, my husband and I started our journey from Los Angeles to visit Oceania. 

A few months prior to our trip, I did some searching on Facebook and was able to connect with the Armenian Society in Auckland, New Zealand. My search led me to Liana Petrossian, who is a member of the Society.

Liana is originally from Armenia and has been living in Auckland, with her family, for the last six years. She was a great help in locating a lodging for us and arranging a get together with the local Armenian community,

On Saturday, April 1, Liana picked us up from our Airbnb and drove to downtown Auckland. The one-hour drive was a feast for the eyes of a nature lover like me. I couldn’t help myself, as I took several pictures. The green landscape and the blue skies, with a touch of clouds, for which New Zealand is famous for, was breathtaking.

Catherine Yesayan with Liana Petrossian in downtown Auckland, New Zealand The “Armenian Alphabet” monument in front of the Armenian community building in Auckland

We enjoyed a few hours in downtown Auckland and then she took us to the community center where we were going to meet members of the Armenian Society.

As we arrived at the community center, right in front of the building, Liana pointed to the “Armenian Alphabet” monument, which was carved in Armenia and shipped to New Zealand in 2018. Then we entered the center, where there were just a few members present, but soon more people trickled in. 

The Armenian Society was established in 1996. The Society serves the local needs of the Armenian community and helps keep the culture alive. The members of the board organize many events and celebrations, such as Armenian Independence Day, genocide commemorations, and religious holidays. 

The Armenian society has about 100 members and, on that day, there were around 30 to 40 members present. There are approximately 220 Armenians in New Zealand. The first arrival of Armenians in New Zealand has been recorded to be during the Otago gold rush in the 1860s. However, the majority immigrated to New Zealand in the 1990s from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia. Since 1999, the society has been gathering at Meadowood Community building, on every third Sunday of the month.

Lady’s group making crosses with olive branches A cross made from an olive branch

To accommodate our stay, they had to move the date of their monthly gathering to coordinate with our stay in Auckland. We met on April 1, a day before Palm Sunday. For this reason, the lady’s committee had brought olive branches to make crosses. Most women attendees participated in making the crosses, and I also tried my hand in making one or two.

The welcome party was warm and happy. I had the chance to mingle with several members and ask them questions. It was a potluck event, so each member had brought different kinds of tempting desserts. 

I also got a chance to speak to the crowd and tell them about my columns and thank them for arranging a wonderful get together, so that I could meet the Armenians and learn about the community.

Hermik Soukassian (left) and Hedy Ovanesoff holding the Easter Brioche cake

April 1st also happened to be the birthday of the president of the society, Hermik Soukassian. For this occasion, Hedy Ovanesoff, who, with her husband had pioneered the club, had made an Easter Brioche cake.

By all measures, it was a joyous reunion. There were many families with their kids and their babies in strollers. A big thank you to the board of the Armenian Society for organizing such a nice event.

At the meeting, I had the chance to have a good chat with Nishan Basmajian, who is the Chancellor of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia, same as New Zealand. I gathered most of my information from him.

He noted an interesting fact: In Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, where a small number of Armenians live, there’s a street named after Constantine Zohrab, who was an Armenian. He added that Douglas Zohrab, the son of Constantine, was the ambassador of Armenia in Germany. He also added that Dame Sian Elias, who was appointed as the New Zealand’s first woman Chief Justice in 1999, had Armenian ancestry as well.

Since there’s no Armenian Church in New Zealand, a local Anglican church in Auckland is rented for religious masses and ceremonies. The Archbishop and the priests of Sydney’s Apostolic church, travel from Sydney to Auckland, a few times a year, to conduct Holy Masses, as well as to bless the souls of those deceased. The community has a choir, named Zvartnots. 

When the evening was over, Hermik the president of the society, told us that she would give us a ride, because she lives in the same city that we were staying in. On the way, we stopped at Orewa, a beach town, to have a bite at a restaurant and then Hermik drove us to our Airbnb. 

Chancellor of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia, Nishan Basmajian, speaking to Catherine Yesayan, who is taking notes

The following day, on Sunday, we decided to spend the day at the same beach. We called an Uber, and it was about a 15-minute drive. 

The weather in Orewa was very pleasant—in the low 70s—and the coast, which stretched for miles and miles, was just stunning. The beachfront seemed to have very clean and shallow waters and no high waves.

That day, we had breakfast and lunch at different cafés. When it was time to go home, we tried to call an Uber, but it didn’t work. The restaurant attendants tried to help us but to no avail. 

After many tries, one of the servers of the restaurant suggested that he could take us with his own car. That was a great solution. It was in the afternoon and the restaurant was not too busy.

Catherine Yesayan

When we got home, we started to pack our luggage, because our flight was the following morning, on Monday. 

Our newfound friend Hermik, kindly offered to drive us to the airport. That’s how we spent three wonderful days in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Catherine Yesayan is a regular contributor to Asbarez, with her columns appearing under the “Community Links” heading. She can be reached at [email protected].




Asbarez: Kremlin Responds to Pashinyan as Rift Between Yerevan and Moscow Widens

Maral Chavushian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 September 5, 2023

 

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

The Italian La Repubblica daily interviews Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan


Tensions between Yerevan and Moscow continued to escalate as the Kremlin on Tuesday reacted to remarks by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who told an Italian publication that Armenia’s heavy reliance on Russia has proven to be a “strategic mistake.”

The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov hit back at Pashinyan’s assertions, saying Russia has no intention of leaving the South Caucasus as the Armenian leader claimed in his interview with the Italian publication La Repubblica daily that was publicized by his press office over the weekend.

“Russia is an absolutely integral part of this region, so it cannot go anywhere. Russia cannot leave Armenia,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, adding that Russia will continue to its role as the“security guarantor” in the South Caucasus region.

In the interview with the Italian daily, Pashinyan said that his government is trying to “diversify” Armenia’s security policy.

“Armenia’s security mechanism, including the process of weapons and ammunition acquisition, has been connected to Russia by 99.999 percent,” he said.

“But now that Russia itself needs weapons and munitions [as a result of the Ukraine war] it is obvious that in this situation the Russian Federation could not provide for Armenia’s security needs even if it wanted to,” Pashinyan insisted.

“The Russian Federation has been in our region, the South Caucasus, for quite a long time. But we have seen situations when the Russian Federation simply left the South Caucasus in one day, one month or one year,” Pashinyan claimed.

“There are processes that, of course, lead one to think that the same scenario could be repeated and that one day we will simply wake up and see that Russia is not here,” added Pashinyan.

Peskov went on to also emphasize Yerevan’s close economic ties with Moscow, which have resulted in economic growth for Armenia.

“There are more Armenians living in Russia than in Armenia itself, and most of them are exemplary, patriotic citizens of the Russian Federation who make a significant contribution to the development of our country,” Peskov added on Tuesday.

Moscow deployed a long-used tactic of an unnamed Russian official being quoted by the government-run Tass news agency calling Pashinyan’s comments “unacceptable.”

The Russian official highlighted the growing tensions between Yerevan and Moscow, warning Yerevan against helping the West “squeeze Russia out” of the region.

“In fact, they are trying to artificially squeeze Russia out of the South Caucasus, using Yerevan as a means of achieving this goal,” the unnamed Russian official told Tass.

“As Armenia’s closest neighbor and friend, Russia, does not intend to leave the region. However, this should be a two-way street: Armenia should also not become a weapon for the West to squeeze out Russia,” the Russian official further warned.

In his interview, Pashinyan also criticized the Russian peacekeeping forces for their failure to reopen the Lachin corridor, saying that now almost nine-month-long blockade signaled that the peacekeeping contingent is “not fulfilling their mission” defined by the November 9, 2020 agreement.

The Russian official cited by Tass rejected Pashinyan’s “baseless attacks” on the peacekeepers, saying that the Armenian leaders’ controversial recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Artsakh “made the work of the Russian peacekeeping contingent as difficult as possible.”

Official Moscow has used that line of thinking since Pashinyan declared his government’s willingness to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, which includes Artsakh. A similar recognition has not been offered by official Baku despite announcements that the leaders of both countries had agreed to recognize each other’s sovereignty.

The Russian foreign ministry on Thursday went a step further and blamed Pashinyan for the blockade, with its spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying that the Armenian leader’s remarks had led to the Artsakh blockade and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

Armenia’s foreign ministry hit back by citing several of Yerevan’s grievances against Moscow, including the fact that President Vladimir Putin of Russia himself had recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity when he signed an broad partnership agreement with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev ahead of the Ukraine war.

After the Kremlin’s rebuttal, which could be deemed as restrained, Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, offered a more scathing retort to Pashinyan’s remarks about Moscow.

“One should have the ability to answer for their own actions, rather than blame others and do so endlessly, at every turn,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow on Tuesday.

“You need to take responsibility for yourself and not shift that blame onto someone else,” Zakharova said. “This is what makes a politician, a statesman different from a random person who does not think about the interests of his country.”

In same news briefing, Zakharova also said that Moscow has asked for “clarification” from the Armenian government, which submitted the founding treaty for the International Criminal Court for parliament ratification two days after the Russian spokesperson blamed Pashinyan for the blockade.

Russia, which has not signed the treaty, on numerous occasions has warned Yerevan against ratifying the treaty, saying that such a move could adversely and seriously impact relations between Armenia and Russia.

Earlier this year the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin. This means any country that has ratified the document and has become a member of the court is obliged to arrest the Russian leader if he steps foot on their soil.

“We will decide on our next steps based on the content of Yerevan’s response,” the ministry spokeswoman, Zakharova, told reporters.

AW: Life-long ANC of Eastern Massachusetts Activist Barkev Kaligian to receive Cardashian Award at Gala

Karapet Navasardian
September 5, 2023 ANCA-Eastern Region ANCA News 0

BOSTON–Lifelong Hai Tahd and ANC of Eastern Massachusetts activist Unger Barkev Kaligian will be honored by the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) with the ANCA Eastern Region Vahan Cardashian Award at the 17th Annual ANCA Eastern Region Endowment Fund’s Gala on Saturday, October 7, 2023, at the Royal Sonesta Boston Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kaligian will be joined by hundreds of supporters and activists as he is presented with the Vahan Cardashian Award at the awards ceremony, which includes a cocktail reception, silent auction and seated dinner. Kaligian will be joined by another lifelong Hai Tahd activist Joseph Dagdgian from the ANC of Merrimack Valley, who will also be presented with the Vahan Cardashian Award. 

The ANCA Eastern Region Vahan Cardashian Award is given to ANCA-ER activist(s) who demonstrate long-standing commitment, leadership and success on behalf of the Armenian cause. The award is named in honor of the founder of the precursor to the ANCA, Vahan Cardashian, who founded the Armenian Committee for the Independence of Armenia in 1919.

“It brings me great pleasure to honor Unger Kaligian with this award. As a lifelong activist, he is an embodiment of the sacrifices that one must make to wholeheartedly serve the Armenian nation and an example to activists throughout the region. His contributions to the Armenian cause and its people inspire all of us. We are beyond grateful and excited to celebrate him and other deserving activists next month,” said Ani Zargarian, gala committee member.

A native of Boston, Kaligian was one of the founding members of the ARF Roupen Gomidehutune in Boston, where he also served on several AYF Central Executives in the 1950s. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1956, he worked as a civil engineer for 38 years with the federal government, in which he mostly served the National Park Service. It was at AYF Camp Haiastan where he would meet his future wife Seta in 1960. They married the same year in California and would raise four sons, Dikran, Zohrab, Aram and Garin.

Keeping the Armenian nation at heart, Kaligian would serve his community by participating in a broad range of local and regional community organizations. For nearly three decades, he served on the Board of Directors for AYF Camp Haiastan and contributed to its development as a mainstay of Armenian community life in the Eastern United States. During this period, he also sang in the choir at St. Stephen’s Armenian Church for over 50 years and was a member of the ARS Javo Chapter. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the Armenian Cultural & Educational Center in Watertown for 20 years.

However, Kaligian’s greatest passion was reserved for promoting Hai Tahd. He would be found in the front row of lectures conducted by denialists and by representatives of Turkey and Azerbaijan, prepared with a tape recorder to disprove false statements and to be a voice for honesty and transparency. Whether at Harvard, Tufts Fletcher School, the World Affairs Council or any other venue, Kaligian was determined to break the silence and confront the speakers and the moderators with the truth. He has also been a prolific letter writer, addressing U.S. policy in letters to executive branch officials and members of Congress, pointing out the pernicious influence of Turkey.

Activism was a cornerstone of the Kaligian family, as Seta Kaligian served for several years on the Central Executive of the Armenian Relief Society and with the Armenian National Education Council. Their sons would also become Camp Haiastan counselors, AYF Central Executive members, frequent AYF Junior Seminar lecturers and chairmen of local ANCs and Gomidehs. Barkev and Seta are blessed with 11 grandchildren who continue to hold the family mantle.

“Lifelong activists such as Unger Barkev are a rarity and a blessing to the region as a whole. The Vahan Cardashian Award is deserved by such individuals, who are always prepared to serve their nation – through the AYF, ARF and the ANCA Eastern Region,” said Zargarian.

Kaligian will be joined by hundreds of supporters, activists and community leaders celebrating other deserving individuals at the gala who will be awarded the ANCA Eastern Region Freedom Award, the ANCA Eastern Region Advocacy Award, and the inaugural Excellence in Education Award, to name a few. 

Tickets for the gala, which include a cocktail reception, silent auction, and seated dinner, can be purchased at www.givergy.us/ancaer.

For more information about this year’s gala, visit www.givergy.us/ancaer or contact [email protected]

  •  Bio
  •  Latest Posts
The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region is part of the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization, the ANCA. Working in coordination with the ANCA in Washington, DC, and a network of chapters and supporters throughout the Eastern United States, the ANCA-ER actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


RFE/RL Armenian Service – 09/05/2023

Greg Madatian 
                                        Tuesday, September 5, 2023


Russia Seeks Clarification From Armenia On International Court


Netehrlands -- The building of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The 
Hague, November 23, 2015


The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it has requested 
“clarifications” over the Armenian government’s decision to send the founding 
treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the country’s parliament for 
ratification.
“We will decide on our next steps based on the content of Yerevan's response,” 
the ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told reporters.

Moscow has repeatedly issued stern warnings to Yerevan since Armenia’s 
Constitutional Court gave the green light for the ratification in March one week 
after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over 
war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine. It has said that the 
recognition of The Hague tribunal’s jurisdiction would have “extremely negative” 
consequences for Russian-Armenian relations.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government has clearly ignored the warnings. It 
said on September 1 that it has formally asked the National Assembly to ratify 
the ICC treaty also known as the Rome Statute.

It is still not clear whether the draft decision submitted by the government to 
Armenian lawmakers calls for an unconditional ratification or contains 
exemptions for Russian officials. Independent legal experts believe that the 
ratification would require the Armenian authorities to arrest Putin and 
extradite him to the ICC if he visits the South Caucasus country.

A senior Armenian official said in July that Armenian and Russian diplomats are 
holding “active discussions” on the issue and should find a “legal solution” 
acceptable to both sides. The clarification sought by Moscow suggests that no 
such agreement has been reached.

Pashinian’s administration is planning to submit to the ICC’s jurisdiction amid 
mounting tensions with Moscow. It announced the dispatch of the ratification 
document to the parliament two days after Zakharova blamed Azerbaijan’s blockade 
of the Lachin corridor on Pashinian’s recent decision to recognize Karabakh as 
part of Azerbaijan. Yerevan rejected the claim, citing a long list of Armenian 
grievances against Moscow.




Armenia Sends First Humanitarian Aid To Ukraine

        • Artak Khulian

UKRAINE - An explosion is seen in the sky over Kyiv during a Russian missile 
strike, August 30, 2023.


Armenia is providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine for the first time since 
the Russian invasion of the country, sources told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on 
Tuesday.

The sources that did not want to be identified said Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s wife, Anna Hakobian, will personally hand over the aid to the 
Ukrainian side when she flies to Kyiv to attend the annual Summit of First 
Ladies and Gentlemen that will be held there on Wednesday.

The information was not immediately confirmed by Pashinian’s office or the 
Armenian Foreign Ministry. The volume and other details of the reported aid 
allocated by Yerevan were also not known.

The Kyiv summit has been held since 2021 at the initiative of Ukraine’s first 
lady, Olena Zelenska. A partial list of its participants released by the 
organizers on Tuesday morning did not include Pashinian’s wife.

Her reported trip to Ukraine will come amid Armenia’s deepening rift with 
Russia, its traditional ally increasingly criticized by Pashinian and other 
Armenian leaders for what they see as a lack of Russian support in the conflict 
with Azerbaijan.

Armenia has so far been careful not to openly condemn Russia’s military campaign 
in Ukraine launched in February 2022. Even so, Pashinian stated in May this year 
that his country is “not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine.” Moscow said it 
“took note” of the statement.

Ukraine’s current and former governments have repeatedly voiced support for 
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.




Russia Staying Put In Armenia, Insists Kremlin

        • Artak Khulian

Russia - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends the Russia-Armenia talks on the 
sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union Forum in Moscow, May 25, 2023.


Russia continued to round on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday, with 
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisting that Moscow will remain a key player 
in the South Caucasus and Armenia in particular.

“Russia is an absolutely integral part of this region, so it cannot go anywhere. 
Russia cannot leave Armenia,” Peskov said, adding that it will continue to play 
the role of a regional “security guarantor.”

“There are more Armenians living in Russia than in Armenia itself, and most of 
them are exemplary, patriotic citizens of the Russian Federation who make a 
significant contribution to the development of our country,” he told reporters.

Peskov went on to also emphasize Armenia’s close economic ties with Russia which 
were instrumental in double-digit economic growth recorded in the South Caucasus 
last year.

President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary responded to Pashinian’s claims that 
Russia is “unwilling or unable” to defend Armenia despite bilateral treaties and 
may “leave” the South Caucasus in the near future. In a newspaper interview 
publicized over the weekend, Pashinian also said that Armenia’s long-standing 
heavy reliance on Russia for security has proved a “strategic mistake.”

An unnamed Russian diplomatic source quoted by the official TASS news agency 
denounced his comments on Tuesday. He also warned Yerevan against helping the 
West “squeeze Russia out” of the region.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, was more scathing 
about the Armenian leader’s latest jibes at Moscow.

“One should have the ability to answer for their own actions, rather than blame 
others and do so endlessly, on every occasion,” Zakharova told a news briefing 
in Moscow on Tuesday.

“You need to take your own responsibility and not shift that responsibility onto 
someone else,” she said. “This is what makes a politician, a statesman different 
from a passing person who does not think about the interests of his country.”

Tensions between two allied countries have steadily increased over the past 
year, with Armenian leaders increasingly complaining about what they see as a 
lack of Russian support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Azerbaijan-Armenia reconciliation possible if apology offered for past atrocities, Azerbaijan presidential adviser tells Arab News

Emil Lazarian
ARAB NEWS
Sept 5 2023
EPHREM KOSSAIFY

  • Hikmet Hajiyev rejects allegations that Azerbaijan is deliberately starving ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Says a peace treaty would change the landscape of South Caucasus, but the ball is in Armenian government’s court

NEW YORK CITY: Tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have escalated sharply in recent months, as both sides accuse the other of cross-border attacks in their long-running dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The two ex-Soviet republics have fought two wars, in the early 1990s and again in 2020, for control of the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians.

Despite mediation efforts by the EU, US and Russia and a unanimous call by the UN Security Council in August to resolve their dispute, Baku and Yerevan have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement.

Now Yerevan has accused Baku of deliberately blocking food and aid supplies to Armenian-populated towns in Nagorno-Karabakh via the Lachin corridor, the sole road linking Armenia to the region.

Armenian authorities and international aid groups have warned that the humanitarian situation for the roughly 120,000 Armenians living there is deteriorating, with shortages of food and medicine.

In a wide-ranging interview with Arab News, Hikmet Hajiyev, adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and the head of the foreign policy affairs department of the presidential administration responded to the allegations.

Hajiyev also described what it would take to secure peace and move on from the atrocities of the past. A good way to start, he said, would be for Armenia to apologize.

Q: The UN Security Council recently discussed the situation in the Lachin corridor, where council members heard that Azerbaijan is blocking the only road that connects Armenia to the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting off food, medicine and other essentials, causing a deteriorating humanitarian situation.

A: These are unsubstantiated and ungrounded allegations against Azerbaijan. There is no strangulation or blockade of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

What Azerbaijan is suggesting is to have multiple roads. And one of the important roads is the Aghdam-Khankendi road. It is much more efficient and has more logistical capabilities to reach out to the Karabakh region because Azerbaijan has completely rebuilt it.

Currently, the Lachin-Khankendi road is operational and functional. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is conducting convoys along this road.

But what we are saying is, let’s open the Aghdam-Khankendi road. It will ensure integration, so Azerbaijan will have direct access to Khankendi and direct contact with Karabakh Armenians who in turn will also have a chance to use Azerbaijan’s major road system to reach other parts of Azerbaijan.

But, unfortunately, the warlords at the helm of the current subordinated Armenian puppet regime in those territories of Azerbaijan are using the humanitarian situation for their own benefit, to prolong their survival as a separatist entity that will not accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, and for the benefit of propaganda, disinformation and misinformation of the international community. This has always been their raison d’etre.

We invited them to have a dialogue. But they say no to dialogue. (This is a) destructive attitude. They also say no to food staples or whatever comes from Azerbaijan. This is racism. Because of the origin of the food product, they said they won’t accept it.

Q: The ICRC says it has not been able to bring assistance to the population for several weeks and has called on your administration to allow it to resume operations. It has said that under international humanitarian law, all sides must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for citizens in need. What is your response to ICRC’s call?

A: We have very close cooperation and engagement with the ICRC. They are operating in Azerbaijan.

(The) ICRC also knows this very well, because we are in regular contact, that on Aug. 5 there was a gentleman’s agreement whereby the ICRC would be welcome to use the Aghdam-Khankendi road for its humanitarian convoys.

And in the next 24 hours (from Aug. 31, the day of the interview) we will also ensure the full opening of the Lachin-Khankendi road, but Azerbaijan’s customs and border security and border control regime must be respected.

Unfortunately, since the signing of the Trilateral Statement (of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia) in 2021, the Armenian side was misusing the Lachin road for shipment of military ammunition, personnel and landmines into Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.

So Azerbaijan was forced to establish the Lachin checkpoint on its border with Armenia. Azerbaijan cannot afford to have yet another grey zone on its sovereign territory.

But my question is: Why is the illegal Armenian regime resisting the opening of this second road? By all means they are still manipulating the international community’s view.

The road is civilization. The road is culture. Saying no to a road has an element of racism to it. It’s a destructive policy. But the time of occupation is past.

Armenian lorries carrying humanitarian aid for the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region stranded not far away from an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at the entry of the Lachin corridor, Karabakh's only land link with Armenia, on July 30, 2023. Karabakh has been at the center of a decades-long dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have fought two wars over the mountainous territory. (AFP)

Q: In August, the former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, published a report describing the blockade of the Lachin corridor as genocide. 

“There are no crematories, there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon,” Ocampo said, warning that “without dramatic change, the group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.” What is your reaction to that report? 

A: First of all, the personality, the honesty of this individual who claims to speak on behalf of justice, is questionable. There are a lot of facts in the international media about him engaging in wrongdoings. But that is not my business.

Second, I do regret that a person who claims to be a lawyer could misuse and abuse the concept of genocide as if he didn’t know what it means. 

Third, he’s biased. Why does he not talk about the genocide and war crimes on a state level committed by the Republic of Armenia against Azerbaijan?

Eight cities of Azerbaijan have been completely destroyed, along with the civilian population. Where is that fact in the Ocampo report? 

Where was Ocampo when in 1992, before Srebrenica, the whole population of Khojaly, Azerbaijan, was massacred by Armenians? 

Who has conducted a genocide against whom? That’s the big question. It is a question that should be answered with regard to one million Azerbaijanis, who have been ethnically cleansed from their land, and who have been living as IDPs and refugees for 30 years.

Why is Ocampo silent with regard to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan’s mosques that have been completely destroyed by Armenia?

Margarita Khanaghyan, 81 walks past an APC of the Russian peacekeeping force in the town of Lachin on November 26, 2020, after six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. (AFP/File Photo)

Q: But it is not just Ocampo. There are also other specialized institutions that have already claimed that a genocide is underway in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Again, the ICJ has ordered Azerbaijan to “take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination, including by its officials and public institutions targeted at persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin.”

A: Under the International Convention on the Complete Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Azerbaijan has also put a very serious plan against the Republic of Armenia at the ICJ. In Armenia, the word Azerbaijani or Turk is used as an insult.

That says a lot about the mainstream thinking in Armenian society. I can provide you with many other examples of ethnic hatred and Azerbaijan-phobia. But the facts on the ground speak for themselves. Armenia has destroyed all elements of Azerbaijan’s cultural, religious and even human heritage in the territories under its occupation.  

Therefore, I do regret that some international media outlets are falling into the trap of Armenia’s political propaganda.

Why are Armenians resistant to taking wheat flour from Azerbaijan? You are asking me a question about ethnic hatred. What is that then? Wheat flour doesn’t have an ethnicity. It’s a food staple that everyone can use. But why are they refusing it?

Q: Moving to peace talks. UN Security Council members remain united in their support for a negotiated solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The war has ended. A statement was signed. Armenians have said Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan. What remains to be done to achieve peace?

A: Azerbaijan really wants to sign a peace treaty and turn the page on the chapter of confrontation and atrocities in this region. We would like to live in peace. But the ball is in the court of the Republic of Armenia. The sooner they understand this reality, the better it will be for everyone.

Armenia’s dirty propaganda against Azerbaijan has derailed us from the path of peace treaty negotiations, on a platform provided by Washington DC, which we very much appreciate. We had achieved very important progress. Almost 70 percent of the document had been cleared. In a sense, we agreed.

Signing the peace treaty will completely change the landscape of the region of the South Caucasus. But you have the prime minister of Armenia on one hand recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity while on the other hand he still keeps Armenian armed forces in our territory. He still finances the illegal subordinate regime on our territory.

Q: Do you think the current confrontation between Russia and some Western countries over Ukraine is impacting the peace prospects between Azerbaijan and Armenia?

A: Unfortunately, we do see elements of the geopolitical rivalry play out in the region of the South Caucasus, and our message also to big powers is: Don’t export your internal political agenda to our region.

What we are also seeing is Armenia becoming, unfortunately, another Syria in our region, as it’s divided among big powers according to their own geopolitical interests.

One mission over there is the EU mission. We have been told it is a civilian, short-term mission. But it has become a long-term one. It has military personnel.

Everybody who wants to contribute to peace and security in the region instead of diplomatic adventurism and propaganda, should engage seriously in supporting Armenian-Azerbaijan peace treaty talks.

Q: Is there a reliable international partner, or a mechanism that would be more efficient than others?

A: There are various platforms. We have no preference for one over the other. Our approach is that anybody who is willing to contribute to real peace on the ground, they are most welcome.

On one side, we have a Brussels process facilitated by (European Council) President Charles Michel. This is very much appreciated. Important elements of the peace treaty talks on a normalization council between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been generated from that platform.

And then we appreciate the US government, and particularly Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s personal engagement on peace treaty discussions. They have done a lot.

We also cannot deny the role of Russia. They are also contributing because they are part of the region and have historical relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Q: Do you honestly believe there is still room for a reconciliation process to take place? People in Baku have told Arab News that in the past, Armenians and Azerbaijanis used to be brothers and sisters, living side by side. Will this happen again?

A: It could happen again, but really, it’s always difficult to make a prediction about this in the future. Reconciliation really is one of the most difficult parts of every post-conflict situation. In Azerbaijan, hundreds of thousands of families have lost their loved ones and are refugees and IDPs.

Imagine people are returning to their homes to see them in complete ruins. That’s not easy. And they are searching for answers. There is no answer because no one from the Armenian side has had enough courage to dare say: “(Please) excuse us. Our apologies for all our wrongdoings.”

There was not a single case in Armenia brought against the individuals who have conducted notorious actions against Azerbaijan. Bringing justice to people could also send a positive signal.

Yes, I do think that reconciliation is possible, but of course it will take time. A lot depends on the Armenian side.

I have also carefully studied all schoolbooks and textbooks in the Republic of Armenia. Everything is a hate, hate and hate against their neighbors, and the exclusive superiority of Armenians.

This racist sort of thinking is still dominant in the mindset of Armenian literature, Armenian media and so on.

Q: The Armenian prime minister has said the same thing. That peace is a call that has to come from Azerbaijani people who should demand it from their government.

A: I will ask the prime minister of Armenia, is he ready to say, on behalf of the Armenian people and Armenian government, “(Please) excuse me?” I think that this could change a lot.

Why is Armenia refusing to provide information about the mass graves of 4,000 Azerbaijanis? Who will compensate for the 30 years that have been taken from the lives of a million Azerbaijanis who grew up in refugee tents?

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2367981/world







The West has a moral obligation to Nagorno Karabakh

Greg Madatian
European Interest
Sept 5 2023
By George Meneshian

–

Since the end of the Second Karabakh War in autumn 2020, the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh – also known as the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh – has been struggling on a daily basis, suffering under an increasingly tighter siege by Azerbaijan’s Aliyev regime. The territory has seen the abduction of civilians, skirmishes at the border in violation of the ceasefire agreement, the arbitrary disruption of natural gas, electricity, and water supply, and ultimately the closing of the sole road to Armenia. The last issue is not merely about the right to visit religiously significant sites, but literally a question of life and death as the territory faces challenges in the supply of food and medicine.

This strategy amounts to a modern form of siege, aimed at exhausting the population of Nagorno-Karabakh physically, economically, and psychologically. The cumulative effect of harassment, violence, and isolation has dire humanitarian consequences for the remaining 120,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. Some analysts speculate that Baku is about to launch a new large-scale offensive, following the departure of the Russian peacekeeping mission in 2025. However, the Azerbaijani government is aware that the international community is not ready to accept such a development, mainly because a new war could lead to thousands of civilian deaths in Stepanakert (Az: Khankendi), the capital and largest city of Nagorno-Karabakh. That is why Baku’s regime sealed off the Lachin corridor, the only road linking the Armenian enclave with the Republic of Armenia.

This unofficial blockade started in December 12, 2022. In the beginning, so-called eco-activists blocked the Goris – Stepanakert Road. These ‘environmentalists’ called for the ceasing of illegal mining activities in the unrecognised Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Several members of the Azerbaijani Armed and Special Forces were identified among the protesters, while many of them were showing the sign of the ultranationalist Turkish organisation known as the Grey Wolves, a group designated by the European Parliament as a terrorist organisation. Evidently, this was not a spontaneous protest and these crowds were proxies of the Aliyev regime. The Caucasus expert Thomas De Waal refers to these “activists” as “Azerbaijan’s version of ‘Little Green Men.”

This state-sponsored activism resulted in the blockade of Goris-Stepanakert highway and the disruption of natural gas infrastructure transiting through territory captured from Azerbaijan after the Second Karabakh War.  Four months later, the Azerbaijani forces installed a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor in violation of the Trilateral Statement signed back on November 9, 2020. The Trilateral Statement, signed by Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, ended the Second Karabakh War. According to article 6 of that agreement, the Lachin corridor would remain under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces. Month by month, the blockade tightens further. In July, Azerbaijan decided to block entry to aid transported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). At present, there are severe food shortages and the local populations faces starvation. It appears that the Aliyev regime is orchestrating an ethnic cleansing campaign with the intention of permanently resolving the Karabakh Question by ensuring there are no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The post-war reality in the region indicates that, without an agreement on the status and the rights of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenians will evacuate the region en masse, because they legitimately believe that if the whole of Nagorno Karabakh comes under Azerbaijani control they are likely to face discrimination by a severely Armenophobic regime, violence by nationalist paramilitary groups, economic stagnation, demographic decline, restrictions of movement from an to Armenia, mass arrests, the destruction of their cultural heritage (Albanisation, Russification), and the overall deterioration of their rights and freedoms.

In fact, analysts doubt that the Aliyev regime is ready to explore any agreement with Armenia, the United Nations, or the de-facto authorities in Stepanakert over the region’s status and the Armenian minority. The Baku regime seems to be employing a strategy aimed at compelling the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave “voluntarily” by triggering a famine and preventing the arrival of humanitarian aid convoys. After the defeat in the 44-day war back in 2020, the Armenian government’s ability to ensure the security of Nagorno-Karabakh has diminished significantly. Russia’s can no longer guarantee Artsakh’s security, as envisaged by the 2020 Trilateral Statement. Worse yet, Russia, the European Union, and the United States have offered parallel mediation frameworks but have not consolidated their diplomatic resolve towards a common stance vis-à-vis Azerbaijan. At a UN level, there is a request to open the Lachin Corridor, but little else.

The West has the moral obligation to intervene.

The US is not ready to impose sanctions on the Azerbaijani regime, for several reasons: Baku’s bittersweet relationship with Russia, its position on the Ukraine war, its role in confronting Iran, as well as its strategic location prevents Washington’s resolute stance.

The European Union is desperately seeking new energy partners following the invasion of Ukraine, and Azerbaijan is one of the most readily available partners. Azerbaijan is also important for Europe’s increasing presence in Central Asia. In addition, the European Union lacks a unified foreign policy, and certain member states, notably Orban’s Hungary, maintain close ties with the Aliyev regime.

Nevertheless, the Western nations have the capability and a moral obligation to deliver humanitarian airlifts to Nagorno-Karabakh. Firstly, there is an airport in close proximity to Stepanakert that can facilitate this effort. Secondly, the Azerbaijani regime is unlikely to risk harassing American or European aircrafts carrying essential humanitarian aid for the starving population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Preventing a Holodomor-style genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh should be a priority for the European Union, the United States, and notably the United Nations Security Council, which should promptly pass a resolution for airlifting humanitarian aid to Artsakh. At the moment, this is the only solution for the food crisis in Karabakh. If the international community fails to implement direct measures, the approaching winter will be the last one for the Armenians of Mountainous Karabakh; thousands of people, including many children, will probably die from starvation, and those who will survive may be forced to evacuate Nagorno-Karabakh permanently.

George Meneshian is an Area Studies analyst specialising on the Caucasus and MENA regions. He is the head of the Middle East Research Group at the Institute of International Relations (IDIS, Athens).

https://www.europeaninterest.eu/article/the-west-has-a-moral-obligation-to-nagorno-karabakh/

Blocking the “Road of Life”: Nagorno-Karabakh asks for help to lift blockade

Shushan Frangulian
Sept 5 2023


The sole road connecting the Nargorno-Karabakh enclave between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been blocked since December 2022.

The blockade is causing a humanitarian disaster due to the shortage of essential goods for tens of thousands of Armenians.

Redmond Shannon explains what the dispute surrounding the “Road of Life,” how the conflict could be resolved and why Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan now regrets leaning on Russia for help.

Watch the video at https://theglobalherald.com/news/blocking-the-road-of-life-nagorno-karabakh-asks-for-help-to-lift-blockade/

Armenia’s ruling party accused of hiring young women for campaign marches in Yerevan

Emil Lazarian
Sept 5 2023
 5 September 2023

ByArshaluys Barseghyan

Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party has been accused of hiring young women to take part in campaign marches ahead of municipal elections in Yerevan. The ruling party has denied the allegations. 

On Monday, Akanates (‘eyewitness’), a local election monitoring group, accused Civil Contract and other parties of employing marketing agencies to hire people for marches and to distribute leaflets during the campaign period.

The municipal elections on 17 September are expected to be highly competitive, and a litmus test of the public’s attitude towards the ruling party and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government.

Akanates, formed in 2018 by Transparency International’s Armenian branch and several other local NGOs, also posted screenshots appearing to show that people were hired by marketing agencies to participate in Civil Contract’s campaign marches. 

They showed ‘Promo Host’, a local advertising agency, allegedly recruiting young women via its Instagram chat. Another screenshot from a WhatsApp conversation showed the dress code — ‘white T-shirts, blue jeans, and sneakers’ — and the location of the meeting — 40 Sayat-Nova Street. The address is the location of the Civil Contract party’s headquarters, where the party’s marches begin. 

Akanates noted that the dress code matched the outfits frequently worn at Civil Contract’s campaign events. 

Participants were allegedly offered ֏1,000 ($2.60) compensation for 1 hour, to be transferred to participants’ bank accounts. Those who agreed to participate were asked to send a photograph of themselves to the organisers in advance for approval. 

According to Akanates, several marketing companies were engaged in similar activities. Advertisements encouraging people to participate in political marches in exchange for pay remain active in private groups and chats on a number of social media platforms. 

Akanates said they had a number of recordings and other materials supporting their claims. 

The group also stated that they had contacted City Promotion, one of the agencies allegedly recruiting participants to distribute leaflets and wave flags at campaign events.

‘In the conversation with a representative of the organisation, it became clear that they provide a similar service for several parties (the organisation avoided mentioning names). In this case, the participants are paid ֏1,000–֏2,000 ($2.60–$5.20) per hour’, the group stated.

Akanates added they had submitted a report to the General Prosecutor’s Office to find out whether the above-mentioned actions could be deemed paying individuals to take part in public assemblies, a crime punishable with up to three years in prison. 

The report is under investigation. 

Civil Contract was quick to refute the accusations as ‘absolute slander’. 

‘We can state that neither the party’s central headquarters nor sub-headquarters have anything to do with the processes described in the article’, said Armen Pambukhchyan, the head of the party’s pre-election headquarters.

Pambukhchyan stated that the party had asked law enforcement bodies to immediately investigate the authenticity of the information, and determine the identities of anyone who had falsified the story.

He also invited journalists, election observers, and members of the public to attend their campaign events ‘to see with their own eyes both our campaign and the motivation of our teammates, who, unlike many, are not [motivated by] money’.

Yerevan’s municipal elections will be held on 17  September. There are thirteen political parties and one political bloc running in the capital.

They will also be the largest elections in Armenia since the snap parliamentary elections of June 2021, which saw the ruling Civil Contract party facing off with the Armenia Alliance — a block formed around former president Robert Khocharyan.

In the Yerevan City Council elections, the ruling party’s candidate for mayor, former deputy PM Tigran Avinyan, is expected to face a strong challenge from ex-mayor Hayk Marutyan. An erstwhile ally of Pashinyan, Marutyan was ousted in December 2021, allegedly for not being loyal enough to the ruling party.

https://oc-media.org/armenias-ruling-party-accused-of-hiring-young-women-for-campaign-marches-in-yerevan/

Russia says humanitarian aid should flow into Nagorno-Karabakh unhindered

Karlen Baghdasarian
The Jerusalem Post
Sept 5 2023
By REUTERS

 

Published: SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 15:22

Russia wants humanitarian aid for Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to be let in without obstacles, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

Tensions over the predominantly ethnic Armenian-populated enclave escalated in December when Azerbaijan began what Yerevan said was a blockade of the Lachin corridor, the one road linking Karabakh to Armenia, on which the breakaway region is dependent.


Baku later installed a checkpoint there.

Azerbaijan says the checkpoint is necessary to prevent the smuggling of military supplies into the enclave and denies it has imposed a blockade.

But Karabakh residents say Baku's actions have caused acute shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies, and Armenian politicians have accused Azerbaijan of trying to ethnically cleanse the enclave, something Baku denies.


How the Nagorno-Karabakh blockade is driving food scarcity

Mike Maghakian
FRANCE 24
Sept 5 2023
The Observers
By:Sorana Horsia

The only road connecting Armenia to the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh – a breakaway region disputed for decades between Armenia and Azerbaijan – has been blocked by Azerbaijan since July. A resident talked to the FRANCE 24 Observers team about the food and water shortage affecting the region.

Mary Asatryan works as an assistant to the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Nagorno-Karabakh in Stepanakert. For months, she has been documenting her daily life on Instagram, where she posts photos and videos of the queues in front of bakeries, the 20-kilometre journey she makes to fetch water bottles, and the locals helping each other.

At the moment, you cannot buy anything at the stores anymore. The shops are completely empty. What we have left is a limited amount of bread, which is baked and sold at the bakeries. Why? Because there is no fuel left in the country to deliver the bread to the stores. So people have to walk by foot to the bakeries directly and queue there.

The bread queues can reach five or six hours, and most of the time people queue at night because during the day it's so hot that people can't stand. But there are, of course, people who queue during the day, but as I work at the office, I cannot afford that.

But I, for example, I'm getting exhausted physically standing in the queue sometimes. So some days I just even give up on bread. Last time I was standing in the queue, there were 500 people registered. So it's really endless.