Category: 2023

Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan delivers a Facebook address on Aug. 25

Asks ‘Third Parties’ to Mediate Talks with Baku

Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan said on Friday that yielding to Azerbaijan’s conditions would further complicate the situation and deepen the crisis. He proposed a meeting between Stepanakert and Baku officials to be mediated by the Russian peacekeepers.

In a video message posted on his Facebook page, Nersisyan said that it was important to hold a meeting with Azerbaijan’s representatives as long as a third party was present and participated in the talks.

“I think we should request Russia and all interested parties, to organize a meeting with Azerbaijan around the current situation, security issues and the disastrous humanitarian situation in Artsakh,” Nersisyan said.

“He warned that no one can guarantee the physical security of Artsakh citizens on Azerbaijan’s territory, thus that meeting could only take place Russian peacekeepers command base in Nagorno-Karabakh or any other safe location in the presence of a third party,” Nersisyan added.

The state minister, however, was clear that suggestions that Stepanakert cave to Azerbaijan’s demands, including the opening of the Aghdam road to Askeran were baseless, saying that Baku’s demands would complicate matters.

“Azerbaijan has presented new demands: the launch of the Aghdam-Askeran road and a meeting with representatives of ethnic Armenians in Karabakh on Azerbaijani territory. There will be endless demands until Baku’s plan to subject the people of Artsakh to genocide and to give a final solution to the Karabakh conflict by depopulating Artsakh is completed. Therefore, the claims that making concessions in response to Azerbaijan’s demands would allow us to recover are baseless illusions. Furthermore, it would only further deepen and complicate our situation,” Nersisyan said.

The Artsakh State Minister said that they must accept the reality that the international community, including the peacekeeping forces in Artsakh, are not ensuring sufficient security in Artsakh and are unable to create the conditions necessary for the most basic livelihood, “and are tacitly defending or encouraging the Azeri agenda which intends to eventually lead to genocide.

The arts festival, on August 25–27, 2023, will feature performers from around the world! 

TUMANYAN, Armenia – The Tumanyan International Storytelling Festival, which launched in September 2022, is back for a second year, it was announced by festival co-founders Anoush Rima Tatevossian, Nyree Abrahamian and Tina Yesayan.

The festival, which honors the legacy of noted 19th century poet, author, and public intellectual Hovhannes Tumanyan, will take place on Friday August 25th through Sunday August 27, and will bring visitors to the town of Tumanyan, to celebrate all forms of storytelling— including traditional Armenian folk tales, contemporary first person narratives, poetry, film, visual arts, theater, music, and audio storytelling. The theme of this year’s festival is “place,” in recognition of the breathtaking nature of Lori Province, and its significance in inspiring Tumanyan’s body of work. 

“When we launched the festival last year, it was our intention to create an immersive, inspiring weekend to reconnect contemporary audiences with the rich heritage and tradition of storytelling. With this edition, we have laid the groundwork to make this an annual event that will continue to grow, and celebrate Armenian storytelling in conversation with storytelling traditions from around the world.” said Co-Founder Anoush Rima Tatevossian.

The festival will feature three days of performances, workshops, hikes and activities for adults and children, held in the town’s unique venues, including old factory buildings and a Soviet-era house of culture. A hike on the Giqor Trail will be accompanied by a telling of Tumanyan’s story “Giqor,” an intimate evening story-salon will feature folk tales in the Hamshen Armenian dialect by Mahir Özkan of Istanbul, and an evening of musical performances by Shushiki Band from Yerevan and Alin Demirdjian of Buenos Aires will take place under the stars. 

Featured international artists include Kenyan-Scottish storyteller Mara Menzies, Lebanese performer & percussionist Raffi Feghali, and Raphael Rodan of the Mezrab Storytelling School of Amsterdam. 

“Last year, we were blown away by the sense of community that developed during the festival and this year, we want to build on that,” said Co-Founder Nyree Abrahamian. “I hope that the diverse range of stories shared at this year’s festival will awaken people’s imaginations and their compassion. I want them to leave with a heightened sense of curiosity about the world around them, and a deeper appreciation for the power of their own stories.” 

 Another highlight of the weekend is a tour of the Abastan Artist Community, a converted former textile factory that serves as a creative residency space for a community of international artists from Armenia, Russia, Iran, and other countries. 

The weekend’s performers and workshop leaders include: 
● Mara Menzies, award-winning Scottish-Kenyan storyteller & performer 
● Raphael Rodan, storytelling coach & co-artistic director of the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival 
● Torfeh Ekhlasi, Iranian visual artist 
● Sevana Tchakerian, French-Armenian multi-instrumentalist 
● Melisa Ferayan, Istanbul-based storyteller & educator
● Mahir Özkan, published author of Hamshen folktales 
● Scout Tufankjian, acclaimed Armenian-American photojournalist 
● Shushiki Band, high-energy traditional Armenian folk band 
● Kourken Papazian, Beirut & Berlin-based documentary filmmaker 
● Dr. Hrach Martirosyan, Armenian linguist & scholar 
● Aram Pachyan, contemporary Armenian writer 
● Alin Demirdjian, Argentinian-Armenian singer-songwriter 

Click for the complete weekend program.

The Tumanyan International Storytelling Festival is a project of the Tumanyan Development Foundation, a registered charitable foundation in Armenia founded in August 2020 with the purpose of creating opportunities to revitalize the town of Tumanyan through tourism and economic development projects. The concept was incubated by Artbox, a creative incubator developed by Creative Armenia and supported by the European Union and German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

2023 Festival headline sponsors include the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Partners and supporters include Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), the Hrant Dink Foundation, The British Council, Muziekgebouw Production House, Abastan Artist Community, and HikeArmenia.

the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk visits Lachin Corridor on Aug. 25

Azerbaijan on Friday refused to meet with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, who has led the group’s efforts in the region for the past several decades.

Kasprzyk traveled to the Armenian side of the Lachin corridor to inspect the situation on the ground, after which he was scheduled to meet with Azerbaijan.

The APA news agency reported that “official Baku did not see the need for his visit, considered it a waste of time and did not agree.”

Kasprzyk visited the entrance of the Lachin Corridor in the village of Kornidzor in Armenia’s Syunik Province and became acquainted with the situation on the ground, including observing that the convoy trucks carrying humanitarian assistance to Artsakh has been stranded in the village at the foot of the Hakari Bridge.

Kasprzyk told reporters that he’s visiting the entrance of the Lachin Corridor at the instruction of Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE Bujar Osmani.

“I’ve instructed to visit the adjacent regions of the Lachin Corridor, get acquainted with the situation and report to him. I’ve had many meetings yesterday, and today as you can see I am here, I will return to report on the situation,” Kasprzyk said.

Kasprzyk met with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on August 22.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Thursday refused to meet the foreign minister Hadja Lahbib after she urged Azerbaijan to lift its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and recognize Armenia’s borders.

The Azerbaijani government-linked news agency APA cited an unnamed government source as saying that the meeting will not take place because Lahbib made “pro-Armenian statements that are far from reality” in Yerevan.

Former UN genocide expert Juan Mendez warns of "serious" risks in Artsakh

A former United Nations expert on genocide Juan Mendez on Friday warned of serious risks facing the population of Artsakh that correspond to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Mendez, who is currently a professor human rights law at the American University in Washington, was briefing United Nations Security Council member-state representatives as well as other stakeholders at hearing devoted to addressing the risks and taking preventive measures regarding the humanitarian situation in Artsakh.

In his presentation, Mendez briefed the delegations on the origins of the mandate of the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the entrusted tasks, such as bringing the matters to the attention of the UN Security Council through the UN Secretary-General.

Focusing on the prevention duty of the international community, Juan Mendez highlighted that the facts constitute sufficient reason to proffer an early warning to the international community that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is at risk of suffering “serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” as defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

“The lack of compliance with a binding interim measure issued by the ICJ to protect a population at risk is at least as severe an early warning than refusal to cooperate with judicial investigations”, Professor Mendez concluded, pointing out to Azerbaijan’s defiance of the legally binding order of the International Court of Justice as an indication that necessitates the exercise of the UN’s early warning and prevention capacities.

Also speaking at the event was Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Mher Margaryan, who highlighted that the deliberate infliction of dire humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes an atrocious crime, which is already happening, including through the starvation of an entire population, who are being deprived of their basic human rights.

Margaryan recalled that, at the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which was convened at Armenia’s request on August 16, the majority of the Council’s member states reiterated the imperative of complying with the ICJ orders and ensuring free and unimpeded humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Below is an excerpt from Professor Mendez’s report. https://un.mfa.am/file_manager/un_mission/Preliminary%20Opinion%20-%2023.08.2023.pdf

In the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh I wish to point out the lack of compliance with the International Court of Justice binding order as an indicator that require early warning and offer opportunities to prevent a genocide. I focus my analysis in the prevention duty of the international community.

The deliberate blockade of the Lachin Corridor, against the binding order of the International Court of Justice signal the high probability that the members of the group of Armenian living in Nagorno-Karabakh may in the near future suffer “serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” (Article 2, paragraph b of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide). The excuses offered, the denial of the blockade and the offer of alternative roads to eventually provide food confirm Azerbaijan’s defiance of the ICJ order.

As I understand them, the facts are: On November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia signed the Trilateral Statement ending the war between the first two countries and establishing special agreements regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. “The Lachin corridor (5 km wide), which will ensure the communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia…shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation” for five years. “The Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee the safe movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions along the Lachin corridor.”

On February 22, 2023, the International Court of Justice ordered: “The Republic of Azerbaijan shall, pending the final decision in the case and accordance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.” The order was reaffirmed on July 6, 2023.

Instead of complying with the ICJ order Azerbaijan security forces have blocked the Lachin Corridor since March and since June have sealed off any channel connecting a group of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The ICJ order put Azerbaijan on notice about the “real and imminent risk” created by the blockade to an Armenian group’s “health and life.” Azerbaijan has ignored calls from the UN Secretary General, the US Secretary of State and the President of France to comply with the ICJ binding order and open the Lachin Corridor.

In addition, Azerbaijan officers and experts are denying the facts and offering alternative roads to provide humanitarian assistance, thus confirming their refusal to comply with the ICJ orders. Under the circumstances, it is my considered opinion that the facts outlined above constitute sufficient reason to proffer an early warning to the international community that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh is at risk of suffering“ serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” (Article 2, paragraph b of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide).

The state parties of the Genocide Convention are committed to prevent the crime, and the international community should exercise its responsibilities to protect that population. I am guided in this conclusion by the jurisprudential precedent adopted by the International Court of Justice in Bosnia v. Serbia regarding the obligation to prevent genocide under the 1948 Convention.

In that case, the ICJ established that all States have responsibilities to prevent genocide. Those responsibilities are highest in cases where a State is in a position to influence the situation decisively, because of geographic proximity, cultural or political links to the actors on the ground, control of territory and means of communication and transportation, and so on.

In the case of Srebrenica, the ICJ found that Serbia had violated its obligation to prevent genocide, among other factors, because it had refused to cooperate with judicial inquiries.

By way of analogy, lack of compliance with a binding interim measure issued by the ICJ precisely to protect a population at risk is at least as severe an early warning than refusal to cooperate with judicial investigations.”