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CC: Six graves vandalized in historic Armenian cemetery in Istanbul

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Antonian Lara

· JULY 13, 2026

Syriac Press

ISTANBUL — Six graves and a fountain were vandalized at the historic Surp Garabed Armenian Cemetery in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district after an unidentified individual entered the cemetery during the night of 7–8 July.

According to the Turkish Armenian newspaper Agos, the perpetrator climbed over the cemetery wall, entered the grounds, and damaged six gravestones as well as the cemetery fountain. The report said the fountain’s basin was broken, along with the cross motifs carved into the six gravestones.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey said the Board of Trustees of the Üsküdar Surp Garabed Church Foundation had reported the incident to the police. The Patriarchate added that the suspect had not yet been identified or apprehended.

(Image: Agos)

The Surp Garabed Armenian Cemetery is located in the Bağlarbaşı neighborhood of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district. The adjacent Surp Garabed Armenian Church, administered by the same foundation, dates back to the sixteenth century and is one of the city’s historic Armenian places of worship.

The motive for the vandalism remains unclear, and authorities have not announced any arrests or identified a suspect.

Istanbul is home to Turkey’s largest remaining Armenian community, with the city’s ethnic Armenian population estimated at approximately 50,000 people.

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The Next Battle is not for land; it is for Memory

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Emil Lazarian

· JULY 13, 2026

A few days ago, Julian Assange issued a warning that deserves our attention. He argued that in the digital age, history can disappear with the click of a button. A webpage vanishes. A document becomes “Page Not Found.” A video is removed. An archive is altered. Before long, future generations are left with little evidence that something ever existed.

For Armenians, this is not a new phenomenon. It is the latest chapter in a centuries-long struggle against erasure.

The world often thinks of genocide as the destruction of people. But history teaches us that those who seek to eliminate a people rarely stop there. They also seek to eliminate their memory.

They destroy churches, monasteries, cemeteries, manuscripts, monuments, schools, and cultural landmarks. They rename villages and cities. They rewrite textbooks. They falsify maps. They deny documented history. They replace truth with propaganda until fiction becomes accepted as fact.

Today, the battlefield has expanded.

The struggle is no longer confined to the physical world. It now extends into search engines, social media platforms, digital archives, artificial intelligence, online encyclopedias, and the algorithms that increasingly determine what billions of people read, believe, and remember.

History is no longer preserved only in libraries and museums. It is increasingly stored on servers controlled by a handful of corporations whose policies are often shaped by political pressure, lobbying, commercial interests, opaque moderation systems, and the influence of authoritarian regimes.

This is why the digital preservation of historical truth has become one of the defining human rights challenges of our time.

No nation understands this better than Armenia.

For decades, Azerbaijan has pursued not only military aggression but also a systematic campaign to erase Armenian history and replace it with fabricated narratives. Ancient Armenian churches and monasteries are destroyed, appropriated, or falsely rebranded. Cultural heritage is erased. State institutions promote historical revisionism. Organizations such as the so-called “Western Azerbaijan Community” attempt to normalize the outrageous fiction that the Republic of Armenia itself is “Western Azerbaijan,” while state-sponsored propaganda seeks to legitimize these narratives before international audiences.

These efforts are not simply about controlling territory. They are about controlling memory.

A people whose history can be rewritten becomes easier to dispossess. A people whose cultural heritage is erased becomes easier to deny. A people whose documented past disappears becomes easier to marginalize.

This is not merely an Armenian issue.

If authoritarian governments can shape what information is amplified, suppressed, or accepted as truth online, then no nation’s history is secure. The same mechanisms used to distort one people’s past can eventually be used against any community, any democracy, and any society.

Truth does not preserve itself.

Every historical document archived, every eyewitness testimony recorded, every photograph preserved, every scholarly work protected, and every attempt to confront disinformation becomes an act of resistance against those who seek to erase the past.

At the Truth and Accountability League, we believe that defending historical truth is inseparable from defending human rights. We will continue documenting disinformation, exposing historical revisionism, confronting propaganda, and preserving the historical record wherever it is threatened.

Because history does not disappear on its own.

It is erased.

It is rewritten.

It is replaced.

And when memory is erased, injustice becomes easier to repeat.

Vic Gerami

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Monumental Bronze Age tomb reveals horse sacrifice and elite burial

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Jalatian Sonya

· JULY 13, 2026

Mark Milligan

Diario Armenia

Archaeologists have uncovered a monumental Late Bronze Age tomb containing weapons, obsidian arrowheads and the remains of a sacrificed horse during excavations at the ancient site of Shamiram in western Armenia.

The discovery was made by a joint Armenian-Italian archaeological expedition that investigated one of the country’s largest and most complex archaeological sites, which preserves evidence of continuous occupation spanning over three millennia.

The 2026 excavation campaign took place between May and June and focused on some areas of the fortified settlement and revealed new insights into the development of the site from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age to the Urartian, Hellenistic, Late Antique, Medieval and Post-Medieval periods.

The expedition is a partnership between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO), led by Varduhí Melikyan and Roberto Dan.

One of the campaign’s most notable discoveries was from Tomb 3, a monumental burial dating back to the Late Bronze Age, between 1600 and 1200 BC. The tomb is surrounded by concentric stone circles and has a central burial chamber that houses an impressive collection of grave goods.

Among the finds were bronze weapons, metal and obsidian arrowheads, and the remains of a horse believed to have been sacrificed as part of the funerary rites.

According to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, the discovery provides important new evidence for understanding the social status of local elites, burial customs and the symbolic role of horses in Late Bronze Age communities across the Armenian Highlands.

Excavations also uncovered evidence of occupation predating the rise of the Kingdom of Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van. Behind one of the fortress towers, archaeologists identified an Iron Age room that showed clear signs of destruction by fire. Beneath this level, they discovered an earlier burial that predates the construction of the Urartian defensive system.

Researchers hope the sequence of archaeological layers will help to reconstruct how an indigenous Iron Age settlement evolved before being integrated into the expanding Urartian kingdom, which dominated much of the Armenian Highlands between the 9th and 6th centuries BC.

The L-shaped entrance of Wall 2 at the site was rebuilt on top of an earlier Iron Age fortification during the Hellenistic period, and later inhabitants adapted and reused the old defensive structure.

Excavation of Tower 3 exposed a remarkably well-preserved Urartian megalithic structure measuring approximately 8.5 metres on each side, further confirming the monumental scale of the fortress built during the kingdom’s expansion.

In another area of excavation, column bases, architectural remains from Urartian towers and well-preserved medieval buildings were unearthed. The findings show that the settlement remained shaped by the earlier fortifications centuries after they had ceased to be used in their original defensive role.

Shamiram is established on a fortified rocky plateau and has a large defensive wall, residential homes and funerary monuments that document more than 3,000 years of human occupation. Archaeologists say those recent discoveries underline the importance of the site for the study of settlement, architecture and burial practices in central Armenia from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval period.

The recovered artefacts will be examined archaeologically, anthropologically and scientifically for their chronology and their long and complex history.

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The transaction is completed. VTB has sold the Teghut mine, but the new owner h

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Maral Chavushian

13.07.2026

Photo: azatutyun.am

The Russian VTB Bank has completed the sale of the second largest copper-molybdenum mine in Armenia, Teghut. The company’s multimillion-dollar debt was initially bought by a local company and then resold to an as-yet-unknown main investor.

As reported “Freedom” radio station, the Teghut mine with estimated reserves of about 450 million tons of ore was previously operated by the “Vallex Group” company owned by businessman Valery Mejlumyan. However, in 2018, due to non-fulfillment of loan obligations, the mine was transferred to the Russian state-owned VTB Bank for a debt of 380 million dollars.

During the transition period, the bank owned 49.95 percent of the shares of “Teghut” CJSC, and the remaining share belonged to other individuals. Since the mining industry was not included in the profile of the financial structure, in April the CEO of VTB Andrey Kostin announced the final stage of the sale of the asset.

The mystery shopper and the role of the middleman

The process of expropriation of the asset received an official formulation in the summer. On July 7, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission approved the application of the “Kuprar RA” company, allowing it to acquire the shares of “Teghut”.

According to the register of legal entities, “Kuprar RA” was founded in February of this year by a former government official and banker. Sergey Virabyan who was the sole owner and director of the company until June. Currently, the position of the general director of the company is held by a lawyer Artyom Geghamyan, who previously held the position of Legal Director of “Vallex Group”.

As reported by “Azatutyun” radio station, Sergey Virabyan personally confirmed that he assumed the debt of “Teghut” to VTB purely for business purposes in order to resell it to another person.

In an official interview, he refused to reveal the identity of the final buyer, citing trade secrets. At the same time, according to the sources of the radio station, a telecommunications businessman, owner of “Viva Armenia” was very interested in the acquisition. Konstantin Sokolov։

Financial condition and prospects

The financial burden of Teghut was quite heavy. according to 2024 reports, the volume of outstanding credit obligations exceeded $440 million. Normal operation of the mine was disrupted in the spring of 2022 due to geopolitical developments and logistical complications, but production was later partially restored.

Already at the end of 2024, the company has ensured the production of 88 thousand tons of copper concentrate, which was exported to China, Russia and Switzerland. Under the conditions of the new owner, stabilization of the mine’s production volume and final settlement of financial obligations is expected.

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Davit Khazhakyan leaves the “Enlightened Armenia” party

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Garnik Tadevosian

13.07.2026

Photo from Davit Khazhakyan’s official Facebook page

Former member of the Yerevan Council of Elders and politician Davit Khazhakyan has officially announced his decision to leave the ranks of the “Bright Armenia” party, signaling the start of a new phase in his political career.

In his public statement, Khazhakyan stated that he considers his mission in the political structure to be over. He emphasized that entering politics at the age of 21 was a difficult, but very conscious choice, which he has never regretted.

The politician described the past years as an important period of professional and ideological maturation. He thanked all his colleagues, teammates and personally the chairman of the party, Edmon Marukyan, for the joint work, acquired experience and the opportunity to serve the state.

Khazhakyan also clarified that not participating in the last parliamentary elections was his personal decision. He concluded his speech as an artist Arthur Meschyan with well-known lines about leaving and opening new doors, suggesting the possibility of continuing political or public activity in a new format.

Let’s remind that he entered active politics in 2017, being elected a member of the Yerevan Council of Elders as part of the “Exit” bloc. After the collapse of the alliance, Khazhakyan continued his path with “Lusavore Armenia”. Although the party entered the parliament in the extraordinary elections of 2018, and was left out of the legislature in 2021, Khazhakyan has remained one of the key and recognizable figures of the structure to this day.

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Forgetting the “Azerbaijani laundry”, Aliyev accused Ocampo of corruption

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Emil Lazarian

13.07.2026

Photo: Azerbaijani mass media

During the so-called Global Media Forum in Shushi, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made sensational statements, accusing the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of financial fraud and criticizing the former high-ranking official of the European Union.

According to the Azerbaijani Report agency, during the opening ceremony of the event held on July 13, the leader of Azerbaijan announced that the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo was financed by an “Armenian oligarch”. According to Aliyev, this support was aimed at the promotion of issues related to Armenia, and a prominent anti-Azerbaijani group operated within the European Commission.

Referring to the relations with the European Union, the President of Azerbaijan severely criticized the former head of European diplomacy Joseph Borelli. He noted that during Borel’s tenure, relations between Brussels and Baku were on the verge of a complete collapse. Aliyev expressed hope that after the European official’s departure from politics, bilateral relations will finally enter the stage of improvement.

It should be noted that the corruption accusations against European and international officials are marked by serious contradictions, because it is the leadership of Azerbaijan that has repeatedly appeared at the center of major international financial scandals. The Center for Corruption and Organized Crime Research (OCCRP) and the world’s leading media revealed the scheme called “Azerbaijani Laundry” years ago.

Investigative journalists found that Baku had funneled around $2.9 billion through Western banks and shell companies to bribe politicians in Europe and lobby for the country’s interests.

Moreover, well-known leaks of financial documents, such as the “Pandora Papers”, have revealed hundreds of millions of dollars in secret offshore assets and luxury real estate belonging to the Aliyev family and their associates in the UK and other countries, which continue to be the target of strong criticism from international human rights and anti-corruption organizations.

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Aliyev announced the full settlement of relations between Baku and Moscow

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Nahapetian Zhanna

13.07.2026

Photo: AFP

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has announced the overcoming of previous difficulties in bilateral relations with Moscow and the start of a new, more active phase of regional cooperation.

Within the framework of the Fourth Global Media Forum in Shushi, the head of state emphasized that Baku attaches special importance to cooperation with the Russian Federation. Referring to the positive assessments of Russian official circles, including President Vladimir Putin, Aliyev noted the dynamic development of relations between the two states.

Admitting that there were certain complications in the past, he assured that that stage is now in the past, and interstate relations have been completely settled.

Now, according to the president of Azerbaijan, active and uninterrupted contacts are taking place at all levels. governments, intergovernmental commissions, foreign policy departments and presidential staffs work closely together. Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation is considered as a key factor not only in the bilateral format, but also in the wider regional context.

It is emphasized that the partnership includes both traditional and new directions to be formed in the future, paying special attention to the development of transport infrastructure, expansion of trade and economic ties and humanitarian interaction.

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Verelq: The next batch of Russian wheat will reach Armenia to the territory of Azerbaijan

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Chmshkian Vicken

13.07.2026

Photo: sputnik

A consignment of 490 tons of wheat is sent from the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia, the transit route of which will pass through the territory of Azerbaijan.

According to the information of the Azerbaijani APA news agency, the delivery of the cargo rolling stock consisting of seven railway cars is planned to be carried out on July 13.

The process is significant from the point of view of the logistics solution, because the Azerbaijani railway infrastructure will be officially used as a transit zone to bring the Russian agricultural cargo to its destination.

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Asbarez: Armenia Will Oversee Border, Customs on TRIPP, State Department Says

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Kajoyan Gevork

by Asbarez Staff

July 13, 2026

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

The State Department said that all functions of customs and border security along the proposed Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity—TRIPP—will be overseen by Armenia and governed by Armenian laws.

The U.S. statement was in response by an inquiry by Azatutyun.am regarding the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union regulations governing customs and trade. Armenia is a member of the EEU and bound by its rules.

Armenia’s recent westward turn has angered Russia, with Moscow pressuring Yerevan to make up its mind on whether it will remain in the EEU or move toward the European Union and the West in general.

Armenia’s deputy foreign minister recently announced that the TRIPP project, which will connect Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan through Armenia’s Syunik Province, will operate in accordance with the EEU transit regulations.

This prompted Azatutyun.am’s query for the State Department to clarify whether the US, as a TRIPP participant, has agreed that the transit route will operate under the EEU regulatory framework and whether customs transit procedures within the framework of TRIPP will be regulated by the EEU regulations, and if so, whether there already was an understanding or agreement between Armenia and the US on this matter.

The State Department responded very briefly, only stating that TRIPP preserves Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction. All border security and customs functions shall remain under Armenia’s overseeing, the Armenian authorities shall oversee and make key decisions.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan hinted that interaction with those passing and returning through this route could also be delegated to a third-country operator. They will collect documents for verification, as well as transit fees.

In response to the question of whether Washington has discussed this with the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the State Department spokesperson only stated that Washington continues to work with the Azerbaijani government on the priority domains enshrined in the strategic partnership document, including regional connectivity, economic investment, energy, security cooperation, and artificial intelligence.

Also, the State Department declined to say how much money the American side has allocated for the TRIPP project so far, as the State Department spokesperson said that they could not provide additional details at this time.

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168: Investors see what is happening in Armenia for investors and investors

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Badalian Vardan

July 12, 2026

Recently, Nikol Pashinyan sent the President of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance to participate in an international conference with the aim of presenting Armenia’s investment attractiveness and promoting investment attraction.

In order to attract investors, the Minister of Finance spoke at length about how stable the macroeconomic environment of Armenia is and what policies and reforms the government is implementing to ensure long-term economic growth.

It will be seen later whether the participants of the conference believed what the minister said or not. But it is a fact that what the authorities have done is in no way compatible with common sense. On the one hand, they are trying to present Armenia as an attractive country for investments on international platforms, on the other hand, they are doing things within the country that do not fit into its framework in any way.

Investors do not invest following the beautiful words and presentations of officials. They also see what is happening with investors and business in general in Armenia. Before making investments, investors are not primarily interested in the macroeconomic stability of the country, but how well their investments will be protected.

The authorities do not even hide that they are carrying out political reprisals against businesses.

At conferences, they talk about a favorable environment for investments, but inside they attack investors. Everyone can see how law enforcement officers and tax officials have been raiding companies owned by Gagik Tsarukyan, conducting searches, closing down productions, stopping their activities, and creating security problems.

The issue here is not Gagik Tsarukyan’s personality at all. One can love or dislike him, accept or not accept him, agree or disagree with his political activities and views. The problem is not that, the problem is completely different. Any investor looks at all this with a different eye. He sees that the government can use the entire state machine for political views on citizens’ businesses, he sees that state bodies can initiate criminal cases out of nowhere.

There is no guarantee that the same will not happen to others at any time.

This has become a systemic problem in Armenia and is neither the first nor the last case. We witnessed a similar phenomenon in the case of Samvel Karapetyan. Even before Samvel Karapetyan, many businesses had already faced the arbitrariness of the government within the framework of political reprisals. Now the same is happening with Gagik Tsarukyan’s businesses. Nikol Pashinyan promised and now he is taking revenge.

No matter how much the authorities try to present that they are dealing with legal processes, there is no law and legitimacy here. This is anarchy that destroys the foundations of the economy. In such conditions, what hopes can they have that there will be investments in Armenia? It is not surprising that very few investments are made in Armenia.

In the first quarter of this year, the net flows of foreign investments in the real economy amounted to only 25 billion drams or less than 70 million dollars. Compared to the previous year, they have increased by only a few hundred million drams. And it is legal when we see what kind of political reprisal is being carried out against investors and big businesses.

No serious investor will want to invest in such an environment where the future of his business will depend not on the law, but on the will of the political authorities. If the political authorities want it, the investor will work, if they don’t want it, they will close and take away the business.

When more than a dozen companies of a businessman are attacked on the same day, their activities are destroyed and disrupted, Gagik Tsarukyan is not the only victim. As a result, the economy suffers, the state budget suffers, people who work in these companies, receive salaries, and solve the social problems of their families suffer.

People who are happy that Gagik Tsarukyan’s or someone else’s businesses are closed, maybe they don’t even imagine how much damage the state and citizens suffer from it. Those companies pay billions of drams in taxes. And when they are closed, those funds do not enter the state budget, they do not become pensions and allowances, the economic programs that were supposed to be implemented with those funds are not implemented. When these companies do not work, thousands of workers become unemployed, do not receive wages, and taxes are not collected from these wages. The unpaid salary is also an unfulfilled trade, from which no more taxes are generated.

The investment reputation of the country suffers, if they still left something behind.

Investments, which should become the basis of future economic growth and development, are not received.

No investor is inclined to invest in such an intervention. And the reason for this is that law and justice have been pushed into the background in Armenia for a long time. The will of the government has become the highest law and right that can fall on the head of any investor, businessman, business and citizen.

As long as the political will of the government in Armenia can be above property rights, law and economic freedom, give up your hopes on investments, investments will remain at the level of a dream.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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Po

Archaeologists have uncovered a monumental Late Bronze Age tomb containing weapons, obsidian arrowheads and the remains of a sacrificed horse during excavations at the ancient site of Shamiram in western Armenia.

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