Investing in health care to improve the demographic situation in Armenia

Karakhanian Suren
Aug 11 2023
  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Reproductive health program expands

Armenia will allocate another 500 million drams ($1.3 million) for the implementation of the reproductive health program. Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan explained “the need to raise additional funds by the extreme demand” for the program.

“The number of children born under the program was 31.6%, which is in line with the average for developed countries. In January-July 2023, 2,876 beneficiaries took advantage of the project,” she said.

The program to overcome infertility in Armenia started in 2019. Parents of military personnel who died during the 2020 Karabakh war can also use the expensive services of the latest reproductive technologies for free without age restrictions.

  • People, money and the economy: an analysis of the situation in Armenia
  • An increase in pensions and benefits in Armenia will affect about 580,000 people
  • Contracts will be signed with volunteers, including the state structures of Armenia

According to the Minister of Health, in the first 7 months of 2023, 57 babies were born, of which 9 are in the families of fallen servicemen, and more than 300 women have become pregnant. Anahit Avanesyan said that the program can be used

  • all childless women under 36 who have been diagnosed with infertility for two years,
  • women aged 36-42 living in the border areas who have difficulties with the birth of a second child.

She said that it is planned to increase the coverage of the program by creating regional centers in the regions of Armenia, in the cities of Gyumri, Vanadzor and Goris.

Births are down, divorces are up, and experts are worried about what it means for Armenia’s future.

This is how the Prime Minister reacted to the message of the Minister of Health. Nikol Pashinyan believes that the program should be available to everyone who wants to have children. In this case the amount of work will increase, but, according to the prime minister, it is important for the country that more children be born:

“We have discussed this issue before, I did not record that we have set an age limit. If an adult wants to use the program, why do we say no, you have to be 36 years old?”

The Minister of Health replied that a professional discussion should be held on this issue, as there are “medical nuances”. Pashinyan stressed that this would be a politically correct decision, unless, of course, there are objections or “irresistible medical contraindications.”

The Prime Minister of Armenia said that in January-July, 540 more babies were born in the country than in the same months of last year. And according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the first half of 2023 recorded the lowest death rate for the same period in the last 20 years.

“In addition, the highest level of natural population growth since 2015 was recorded, amounting to 4,467 people. That is, the ratio of deaths to births is positive,” Pashinyan said.

Previously this service was available only to soldiers, fallen soldiers’ families, and those living in border settlements; now even unmarried and divorced women may benefit.

As of July 11, 2023, about 1,500 couples have applied to participate in the infertility program.

The state budget for 2023 allocated 917.9 million drams ($2.3 million) for these services. The Ministry of Health reports that by June 30, the volume of work performed exceeded the budgeted figures by about 150 million drams ($390,000).

According to medical forecasts, by the end of the year, artificial insemination services will be provided to another 750 couples. It is reported that “the average cost of one in vitro fertilization is 1.42 million drams [almost $3,700].”

The Potential Starvation of Civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh This Winter is a Matter of Concern

Antranik Varosian
Aug 11 2023
 by Mat Hutchison

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is challenging the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to either accept Azerbaijan’s political control or leave the region. However, Armenian leaders argue that this amounts to genocide, and many residents are willing to starve rather than submit.

Aliyev made his stance clear in an interview with Euronews, stating that the people living in Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan and must choose to live as an ethnic minority or leave the region.

In an attempt to assert sovereignty, Azerbaijan has blockaded the road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh since June 15. This blockade has cut off the Armenian population from essential supplies like food, fuel, and medicine. While Azerbaijan claims they are willing to provide food, Armenians fear it could be a trap to force integration, and they have blocked Azerbaijani entry routes.

Arayik Harutyunyan, the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as “Artsakh,” has appealed for international support against what he calls a genocidal policy by Azerbaijan. He has requested a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. State Department, along with European partners and Russia, is working to reopen the Lachin Corridor and end the humanitarian crisis. The growing international concern for the welfare of Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents has prompted a report by former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, stating that there is a reasonable basis to believe a genocide is being committed.

U.S. officials are worried that the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh is only surviving through backyard gardens and home-produced food. With winter approaching, they fear that within two months, the population could face starvation. Armenians are haunted by the memory of the Ottoman genocide of 1915.

The blockade of fuel supplies has already had a devastating impact on Nagorno-Karabakh. Even ambulance vehicles are unable to operate due to the lack of fuel.

The crisis surrounding the Lachin Corridor is the latest development in the long-standing struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh. While Armenia gained control in 1994, skirmishes continued for the following 25 years. Azerbaijan regained power in a 2020 war, brokered by Russia. However, Russia’s ability to maintain peace and stability has been weakened due to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Armenian government has expressed readiness for a broad peace agreement with Azerbaijan, but the diplomatic process has been disrupted by the Lachin crisis. Yerevan seeks international guarantees that a peace deal will be fully implemented and ensure the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Lachin crisis highlights the core issue at hand. While Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, the Armenian majority in the region desires political self-determination rather than being dictated by a hostile government in Baku. Trust needs to be built by Azerbaijan through ending the Lachin blockade that initiated this crisis.

When visiting Stepanakert, the de facto capital of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2016, a monument called “We Are Our Mountains” symbolized the spirit of resistance that Baku wants to break. The message is clear: the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh will not be moved. It is crucial for all parties involved to recognize the rights and protection of ethnic Armenians in the region.

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https://vigourtimes.com/the-potential-starvation-of-civilians-in-nagorno-karabakh-this-winter-is-a-matter-of-concern/

Iran and Armenia sign gas-electricity swap deal

Adrine Hakobian
Iran Front Page
Aug 11 2023
ByFatemeh Askarieh

Iran and Armenia have signed a new agreement to export Iranian gas to the former Soviet republic. The agreement was signed in a ceremony in the Armenian capital Yerevan with Majid Chegini, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister, and Mehdi Sobhani, Iran’s Ambassador To Armenia and Sanusian, Armenian Minister of Regional Management and Infrastructure being in attendance.

The Iranian embassy in Yerevan said the initial agreement was reached during Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Tehran in November of 2022 and the final document was signed on Thursday.

Iran’s gas exports to Armenia will be within the framework of an energy swap deal and the talks between the delegations of the two countries focused on the amount of gas exports and the exchange rate of electricity and gas. Iran’s pipeline to Armenia is capable of transferring more than one billion cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia per annum while only about one-third of this capacity has been used since it was launched.

Armenia exports electricity to Iran in return for importing gas. Following the completion of the third electricity transmission line from Armenia to Iran, the line’s capacity will also increase by three times to hit 1300 megawatts.

Armenian Christians trapped and facing genocide

Maral Chavushian
Aug 11 2023

Peter Pinedo and Kevin Jones, Catholic New Agency

More than 120,000 are currently trapped, without food or medicine, behind a blockade in the Muslim-majority nation of Azerbaijan. Former ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Sam Brownback, who recently returned from Armenia, calls it the Azerbaijani regime’s latest attempt at “religious cleansing.”
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/08/11/armenian-christians-trapped-and-facing-genocide/

Notes From Armenia and Romania: Book Markets Under Pressure

Jalatian Sonya
Aug 10 2023

In News by Eugene Gerden

Publishers in two of the smallest of Europe’s book markets talk about signs of progress and stubborn barriers to success.

By Eugene Gerden

In comments from publishing players this summer in Armenia and Romania, we hear two outlooks, one upbeat and the other less so.

Edit Print Publishing House

In Armenia, Mkrtich Karapetyan—the founding president in Yerevan’s Edit Print Publishing House—says that an elevated interest in reading has contributed to some growth in book sales.

“Taking into account the fact that the interest in reading has been growing over the last two or three years in Armenia,” Karapetyan says, “we expect that it will keep growing, and sales with it. In the case of our publishing house, we systematically undertake different projects, including reading competitions and excursions in the publishing and printing houses for schoolchildren,” to help boost the attraction of reading.

Mkrtich Karapetyan

This year Edit Print is publishing new fiction, he says, although much of what he’s calling new seems to be the two previous centuries’ translated Western work. He talks of releasing “titles by Agatha Christie, Erich Maria Remarque, Jules Verne, and others,” as well as what he says is “international bestselling international nonfiction.

The Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan’s (1869-1923) children’s poems and ballads, now have been published by his group in English and Russian, Karapetyan says. Tumanyan’s birthdate, February 19, is recognized in Armenia as a “book giving day,” he says, something gaining in popularity with consumers. In addition, the company has released 24 new textbooks and manuals for schools’ use, and in the trade is focusing on series dedicated to classical Armenian writings, contemporary work, an “identity series,” and more.

Serious structural problems are in place, though, for Armenian publishers, Karapetyan says, the fundamental issue being that it’s a small-language market with slim chance for growth. A lack of government support, he says, compounds the issue, as a lagging rate of library purchases of books and a VAT (value-added tax) rate of 20 percent on books.

Arevik Ashkharoyan

The ARI Foundation’s Arevik Ashkharoyan echoes much of what Karapetyan says, adding that the economic and political conditions in Armenia have remained unstable in the past year because of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. “The current educational reforms sound promising,” Ashkharoyan says. “New subject standards were developed, and a pilot implementation has been placed in a number of schools throughout the country. The government has also developed reading promotion programs and reading standards for schoolchildren, while some schools on their own initiative are doing a lot to promote reading.”

The intent of these programs, she says, are to instill a “habit of reading” in youngsters with reforms scheduled to begin in September. The hope, she says, is that the children’s book market may show signs of progress as a result.

Mihai Mitrică, who leads the Romanian Publishers’ Federation says he has high hopes for a “reading pact” that’s new to his market this year, an initiative that calls on authorities to observe publishing-supportive laws in place since the early years of this century.

Some of the laws he references require the government to:

  • Buy books for public libraries
  • Support postal deliveries of books
  • Create a nationwide campaign for promoting reading
  • Reinstate a grant to teachers of €100 annually to buy books

“We had a very successful edition of our ‘BookFest’ book fair in Bucharest in May,” Mitrică says, when several events focused on those expectations of government support were organized for discussion.

Mihai Mitrică

According to Mitrică, despite some modest growth, Romania’s book publishing market remains the smallest in the European Union, estimated at just €100 million overall (US109.8 million).

Counter to Mkrtich Karapetyan’s talk of a growing interest in reading in Armenia, Mitrică says Romania remains faced with a significant decline of interest in reading. He cites a survey from May, the results of which indicated that 51 percent of surveyed young people aged 18 to 24 in the biggest cities of Romania simply aren’t readers. This is gauged by their having reported reading no books at all in the past year.

The publishers’ federation counts some 300 bookstores in the country, with distribution almost exclusively in urban areas–which means that small cities have a shortage of bookstores, and sales.

At least 50 percent of the Romanian book market’s revenue comes from Bucharest, according to the federation’s observations. Mitrică says the current estimate is that some 6,000 presses may  be operating to some degree in Romania, about 200 of them relatively sizeable.

More from Publishing Perspectives on markets in Europe is , more relative to the Armenian market is , and more on the Romanian market is .

Film Review: Aurora’s Sunrise

Emil Lazarian
Aug 11 2023
Reviews
3.5 stars
My grandfather served valiantly in World War II, landing on the beaches of Normandy, coming home, and never speaking of it again for decades. Near the end of his life, he started to share some stories, often unexpectedly at family gatherings, things he had never told anyone, but one suspects he had thought about for decades. I often wished I could get him to sit down and talk about his life, but I knew it was too painful for him to do so. I thought of that feeling of what’s lost when we don’t record history while watching the excellent “Aurora’s Sunrise,” a film that both chronicles a horrendously dark chapter in the world but also speaks to the value of filmmaking in the first place. It’s a stunning hybrid that melds animation, interview footage with its subject, and a 1919 silent film once thought lost to history that’s about her life. Imagine being able to sit with a loved one and see their harrowing life story unfold both in new animated recreations and actual footage from the era that’s over a century old. Aurora Mardiganian’s story is a moving tale of heroism that Hollywood once thought harrowing enough to make into a truly disturbing feature film. Now it’s been resurrected, over a hundred years later, to be told again. It’s a reminder that film doesn’t just record history, it can transport us through it. 

Arshaluys Mardiganian was born in 1901 in a small village in the Ottoman Empire. In 1915, the Ottomans committed genocide against the Armenian people, and Aurora’s family was ripped apart. As thousands of Armenians were murdered, Aurora was part of a death march that nearly killed her multiple times and forced her to bear witness to countless atrocities. Like a lot of young women, she was sold into the slave market, but she escaped, finding her way eventually to St. Petersburg, which promised a route home. Eventually landing on a boat out of Oslo to New York City, she made it to America, and she wrote a book called Ravished Armenia that would be used to draft the film “Auction of Souls,” a project designed to bring attention to the plight of Armenians. Lost for generations, part of the film was found in the ‘90s and restored for release in 2009. Scenes from “Auction of Souls,” starring Mardiganian herself, are cut into “Aurora’s Sunrise,” including a lengthy interview with Aurora from the ‘90s and animated recreations of her story.

“Aurora’s Sunrise” is a historical documentary about the horror of the Armenian genocide, but its power comes from being filtered through the eyes and voice of one of its survivors. It forces one to consider how many stories, horrors, and triumphs have been lost to history because they didn’t have a film like “Auction of Souls” or a confident storyteller like Aurora to tell them. The events in this film unfolded over a century ago, yet it all feels so present in director Inna Sahakyan’s hands because of how much she gives them to Aurora. A narrator tells parts of her story, but we also hear Aurora herself often, intercut with footage of her as a young woman recreating her trauma. The layers of filmmaking—truth on recreation on truth—give the whole thing a fascinating power because it emphasizes the need to not only have people willing to tell these stories but also to listen.

I wished some of the animation was a little sharper, although I suspect the lack of style is intentional. Characters have a habit of floating instead of walking and minimal facial expressions, but a stronger animated look might have really amplified the sense of memory in the overall piece. Christine Aufderhaar’s lovely score helps greatly with the animated segments, giving them an even greater sense of loss without being manipulative.

The interview with Aurora herself is captivating, but I found myself most entranced every time “Sunrise” cut to “Auction of Souls.” Here’s a silent film with hundreds of extras shot in the California desert, depicting abject horrors that took place relatively recently on the other side of the world. It was clearly an act of activism, but it’s also just a breathtakingly daring production that looks like it was truly dangerous to film. And all of it was almost lost forever. In an era when it seems like everything is being recorded all the time, leading to unbelievable access to events happening around the world, “Aurora’s Sunrise” is a reminder that we can’t let it all turn into just white noise, that we need to truly see and hear, or we risk losing the history that has shaped us all.

In limited release now, expanding across the country over the coming weeks.


https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/auroras-sunrise-movie-review-2023

Prominent genocide scholars have submitted an open letter to the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights…

Emil Lazarian
“The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute” Foundation
Aug 11 2023


H.E. António Guterres
UN Secretary-General,

Mr. Volker Türk
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,

Ms. Alice Wairimu Nderitu
Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide,

UN Security Council Member States

9 August 2023

We, the undersigned scholars and experts on genocide, are writing to you with an overwhelming sense of urgency and concern about the potential for genocide in the Republic of Artsakh (also known as the Nagorno Karabakh Republic). As scholars deeply engaged in the study of genocide, we bear witness to the horrors of history, rigorously analyze past and present atrocities, working to prevent new genocides from occurring. Presently, we find ourselves profoundly concerned by the emergence of unmistakable warning signs of genocide in Artsakh. The most significant risk factor is the unlawful blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which serves as the vital link connecting Artsakh to Armenia.

Since December 2022, the Lachin Corridor, the sole lifeline connecting the Artsakh population to the outside world, has been unlawfully blockaded by Azerbaijani authorities. This distressing situation reached a critical juncture on June 15, 2023, when Azerbaijan sealed off this vital road, subjecting the Republic of Artsakh and its 120,000 residents to a dire state of siege. For the past two months, Artsakh has been forcibly deprived of its ability to access essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other critical goods. Even humanitarian relief efforts conducted by Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been obstructed, exacerbating an already grave humanitarian crisis.

The escalating humanitarian crisis has prompted the ICRC, the sole international organization with a presence on the ground, to issue a grave alert. In a public statement released on July 25 (https://www.icrc.org/en/document/azerbaijan-armenia-sides-must-reach-humanitarian-consensus-to-ease-suffering), the ICRC unequivocally documented that“The civilian population is now facing a lack of life-saving medication and essentials like hygiene products and baby formula. Fruits, vegetables, and bread are increasingly scarce and costly, while some other food items such as dairy products, sunflower oil, cereal, fish, and chicken are not available.”

Furthermore, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect has issued an alarming atrocity alert for Nagorno Karabakh(https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocity-alert-no-358/), highlighting the persistent risk of enduring mass atrocity crimes.

Considering the aforementioned circumstances and drawing upon additional pertinent information provided by various impartial organizations, human rights organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, we, as experts in the field of genocide studies, hold the view that compelling indicators exist that in the absence of prompt and resolute action, a genocide targeting the ethnic Armenian population of Artsakh is a looming possibility. The prevention of genocide and safeguarding vulnerable populations stand as fundamental obligations of the global community, as underscored by the United Nations Charter and the Genocide Convention of 1948, along with subsequent pledges undertaken by international actors. Guided by these principles, we strongly urge member states and UN bodies to promptly and resolutely step forward, exercising their responsibility to forestall any additional loss of innocent lives and preclude the occurrence of large-scale atrocities.

Specifically, we call upon the United Nations to activate its early warning mechanism, as stipulated within its mandates, to expeditiously address the tangible and imminent threat of genocide in Artsakh. We urge a concerted international effort to bring this grave situation to the attention of the UN Security Council. The Security Council should take decisive action to avert the progression of genocide by urgently removing the blockade on the Lachin Corridor, thereby reinstating unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along this life-supporting corridor in both directions. Security Council action should also support of the Provisional Measures order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 22 February 2023 (reaffirmed 6 July 2023), which ordered Azerbaijan to ‘take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions’. A Provisional Measures order is binding, and Azerbaijan remains in breach of its international law obligations by not complying with the ICJ’s order. Furthermore, we urge that the UN establish and send a fact-finding mission to Artsakh for a thorough analysis of data, on-site reporting, and engagement with local communities and organizations to identify and eliminate the consequences of the ongoing crime.

The prevention of genocide requires a collective effort, a unified resolve, and unwavering commitment from the international community. We urge the United Nations and its bodies to prioritize the prevention of genocide in Artsakh and take decisive action to protect the lives and dignity of thousands of innocent people.

Time is of the essence. We urge you to act swiftly and decisively, guided by the principles of the United Nations and the mandate to protect humanity from the scourge of genocide.

Respectfully signed,

Melanie O’Brien, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Western Australia; and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars

Henry C. Theriault, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University, Past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2017-2021)

Andrew Woolford, Professor, Head of Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Manitoba, Past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2015-2017)

Israel Charny, Director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, Past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2005-2007)

Armen Marsoobian, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University, Past First Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2019-23)

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Chair of Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College, Past First Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2015-17)

Hervé Georgelin, Assistant Professor, Department of Turkish Studies and Modern Asian Studies, National and Capodistrian University of Athens

Dr. Vasileios Meichanetsidis, Greek Genocide scholar


Asbarez: Rep. Sherman Congratulates New Artsakh Parliament Speaker

Alex Jidarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

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

Rep. Brad Sherman calls for lifting the Artsakh blockade during an event in Washington in January


Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) congratulated Davit Ishkhanyan, who was elected as Speaker of the Artsakh National Assembly.

Sherman, who represents California’s 32nd Congressional district and is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he looked forward to working with Ishkhanyan, the leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation bloc in the parliament as well as a member of the party’s Bureau, who was elected Monday.

“I welcome the election of Davit Ishkhanyan as the new Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh,” Sherman, a member of the Congressional Armenian Caucus said in a statement. 

“I look forward to this transformative phase of leadership and to continuing the work to further strengthen the U.S. bond with Artsakh and the Armenian people.”

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 08/11/2023

Emil Lazarian 
Friday, 
Armenian Government Allocates Money For Snoop Dogg Concert In Yerevan
        • Marine Khachatrian
U.S. singer Snoop Dogg
The Armenian government has allocated more than $5 million for the organization 
of a concert of American rapper Snoop Dogg in Yerevan. The concert is scheduled to be held at the Hrazdan Stadium in the Armenian 
capital on September 23. Up to 25,000 people are expected to attend the event that is also hoped to bring 
more tourists to the South Caucasus country. The first announcement of a possible Snoop Dogg concert in Yerevan was made by 
chief of the prime minister’s office Arayik Harutiunian in late July. A document 
appeared on the Internet shortly according to which more than $23 million would 
be allocated from the state budget for concert programs. The kind of state funding sparked a public debate in Armenia, with many 
challenging the wisdom of such government spending. The government stopped short of denying that some money would be allocated to a 
private company for a rapper’s concert in Yerevan, but insisted that it would 
not be anywhere near the claimed amount. Observers note that concerts and visits to Armenia in recent years by such world 
stars and celebrities as American rapper 50 Cent, Armenian American musician 
Serj Tankian, Armenian American reality TV star Kim Kardashian and her former 
rapper souse Kanye West have helped raise the country’s international visibility 
and attract a greater number of tourists immediately as well as in the longer 
run. Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., a 51-year-old rapper and actor professionally known 
as Snoop Dogg, has sold 35 million albums worldwide since 1992, remaining one of 
the world’s most popular performers during the past three decades. Moscow Paper Reveals Russian Offer On Access To Karabakh
        • Hrach Melkumian
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
An Azerbaijani checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin corridor leading from 
Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh (file photo). Citing an unnamed state official, Russia’s leading daily, Kommersant, wrote on 
Friday that Moscow had proposed ending the current situation with the blocked 
access to Nagorno-Karabakh by opening both the Agdam and Lachin roads. The paper said the arrangement that both the Azerbaijani and Karabakh sides had 
almost agreed to eventually did not go through, however. According to the official “familiar with the regional situation”, Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed opening the Agdam road first, through 
which Red Cross vehicles would deliver what was necessary to Nagorno-Karabakh, 
and a day later, according to Moscow’s proposal, the Lachin road would be opened. “Such an option was brought to a high level of preparation,” said the unnamed 
official who spoke to Kommersant. But, according to him, the Karabakh Armenians first set a condition that Lachin 
should be opened not one day later, but simultaneously and then demanded that 
Azerbaijani goods should not be delivered through Agdam. The paper writes that 
then a scandal related to Azerbaijan’s detention of a Karabakh resident at a 
checkpoint in the Lachin corridor on charges of war crimes allegedly committed 
during the early 1990s emerged and “the compromise did not happen.”
According to the official cited by Kommersant, Moscow assesses the situation as 
serious and believes that Baku is not inclined to make concessions. “All attempts to somehow calm the situation that are being made by us, Western 
and international organizations lead to nowhere. Baku is not backing down,” the 
official said, adding that the Karabakh authorities are also persistent, in 
particular, in rejecting the option of using the Agdam road. According to the Russian official, though, the Agdam road will be opened in any 
case. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said at a meeting with the head of 
the Red Cross office in Baku on July 14 that Azerbaijan does not rule out the 
possibility of “providing assistance” to meet the needs of Karabakh Armenians by 
using the Agdam-Stepanakert road. One day later, on July 15, after a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels, President of the 
European Council Charles Michel said that as well as urging Aliyev to reopen the 
Lachin corridor he “noted Azerbaijan’s willingness to equally provide 
humanitarian supplies via Agdam.”
“I see both options as important and encouraged the humanitarian deliveries from 
both sides to ensure the needs of the population are met,” he said. Authorities in Stepanakert strongly rejected that option, insisting that the 
Agdam road cannot be an alternative to the Lachin corridor, which, they stressed 
should remain solely under the control of Russian peacekeepers in accordance 
with the terms of the 2020 Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement. Commenting on the publication in the Russian newspaper, Artur Harutiunian, a 
member of Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament, stressed that alternative options could 
become a subject of discussion only after the Lachin road gets to be operated 
without interruption. “We clearly say that we have a corridor under a signed document, the Lachin 
corridor, which should work without interruption. After it works without 
interruption, those alternative options are already issues to be discussed,” the 
region’s lawmaker told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Pashinian Warns Azerbaijan Against ‘Nullifying Historic Opportunity For Peace’
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks at a weekly cabinet meeting (file 
photo). Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday called for the lifting of 
Azerbaijan’s current blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, warning Baku against 
“nullifying a historic opportunity for establishing peace.”
Speaking about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh brought on 
by what Yerevan views as an illegal closure by Azerbaijan of the Lachin 
corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, Pashinian 
stressed that the Armenian-populated region haս been deprived of any commercial 
shipments since last December as well as any humanitarian supplies since the 
middle of June when Baku tightened its blockade at a checkpoint installed on the 
road in April. Pashinian said that a convoy of about two dozen trucks with about 400 tons of 
humanitarian supplies, including flour, pasta, cooking oil, sugar, salt, 
medicines and some other basic products, that the Armenian government sent to 
Nagorno-Karabakh late last month still remains stranded in Armenia’s Syunik 
province not far from the Lachin corridor as Azerbaijan refuses to allow its 
passage. He said there was no explanation to Azerbaijan’s banning humanitarian supplies 
to Nagorno-Karabakh “if we do not consider it within the context of Azerbaijan’s 
open policy of subjecting Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to a genocide.”
“To be more precise, the ban on the entry of humanitarian cargoes to 
Nagorno-Karabakh makes more trustworthy statements about the policy being 
carried out by Azerbaijan on subjecting Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to a 
genocide,” the Armenian prime minister charged. Pashinian said that there is a growing opinion among international experts that 
“Azerbaijan’s policy on causing a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh by its 
illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor can be regarded from the point of view 
of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime 
of Genocide of December 9, 1948.”
Pashinian said that the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by 
Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor has deepened to the extent that 
“greater efforts need to be taken in the direction of providing an international 
legal assessment of the created situation.” He stressed that Azerbaijan 
continues to fail to comply with the order by the Criminal Court of Justice to 
restore “unimpeded” traffic through the Lachin corridor that was first issued in 
February and then reaffirmed in July. “The best solution to the current situation is the removal of Azerbaijan’s 
illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor and the start of a dialogue between 
Stepanakert and Baku within the framework of an international mechanism,” 
Pashinian said. “The Republic of Armenia, for its part, continues to reaffirm its commitment to 
the peace agenda and calls on official Baku to refrain from steps nullifying a 
historic opportunity for establishing peace,” the Armenian premier underscored. Armenia and ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh view the Azerbaijani 
checkpoint in the Lachin corridor as illegal as they accuse Baku of violating a 
Moscow-brokered 2020 ceasefire agreement that places the vital route under the 
control of Russian peacekeepers. Azerbaijan’s de facto blockade has resulted in severe shortages of food, 
medicine, and energy supply in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is home to about 120,000 
ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan denies blockading Nagorno-Karabakh and offers an alternative route 
for supplies via the town of Agdam, which is situated east of the region and is 
controlled by Baku. Ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh reject that offer, fearing that 
it could be a prelude to the region’s absorption into Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for 
decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left 
ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and 
seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper. Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic 
solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly 
7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides. The 44-day war in which Azerbaijan regained all of the Armenian-controlled areas 
outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era 
autonomous oblast proper ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire under which 
Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers. Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around 
Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted 
despite the ceasefire and publicly stated willingness of the leaders of both 
countries to work towards a negotiated peace. Armenia To Raise Lachin Corridor Closure Issue At UN Security Council
        • Nane Sahakian
An Armenian truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh stranded 
near the Lachin corridor as Azerbaijan does not allow it to pass through its 
checkpoint. Armenia, Syunik Province, July 27, 2023. Armenia will raise the issue of the closed Lachin corridor at the United Nations 
Security Council, the country’s Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukian said on 
August 10, adding that related work is “in progress.”
“No one can say when, on what day, but the Republic of Armenia will raise this 
issue at the UN Security Council. Why do I say that work is in progress? Because 
without preparatory work, at least to the extent that we can hope that we can 
expect a result for us, I think it is obvious that we cannot just fire this one 
shot with a blank cartridge,” Marukian said in an interview with CivilNet, a 
leading local news website. In an August 8 urgent appeal to the international community on the situation in 
Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan’s effective blockade the region’s ethnic 
Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian also asked Yerevan to immediately make the 
situation a subject of discussion at the UN Security Council. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has not yet officially responded to the appeal. Marukian said that Armenia is working to ensure that none of the members of the 
UN Security Council, especially its five permanent members -- the United States, 
Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom -- do not interfere with the 
process. Edmon Marukian
“In this sense, I would not compare it with the previous times, because this 
time we are determined to go for a resolution. We have never been after a 
resolution. That is, in this sense, it is very important that thorough work be 
done, and we count on a UN Security Council resolution on the Lachin corridor. We need at least 9 “for” votes, and in this regard, I believe that serious work 
has been done, is being done and still needs to be done,” Armenia’s 
ambassador-at-large said. Marukian said that Azerbaijan is taking countermeasures against Armenia’s move 
at the UN Security Council. When asked which country unambiguously supports Armenia in this matter, Marukian 
said that it would be wrong to give the name of any country now. “There is a 
very important circumstance here that the process of adopting a resolution at 
the UN Security Council is open and public. Previous negotiations, for example, 
on an application, on the application of the chairman, were a different 
procedure, and they contained discussions that are not public, not visible. In 
this case, you will see which country will take which position,” he said. Government critics in Armenia point out that Azerbaijan has further toughened 
its policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians after the statements of Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian following last year’s meeting in Prague where he 
recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh. However, according to Marukian, a signed document, which is the November 9, 2020 
ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh signed by the leaders of Armenian, 
Azerbaijan and Russia, has a higher legal force than a political statement. “There is a tripartite document dated November 9 [2020], the presence of which 
is recognized by us, Azerbaijan and Russia, that is, this document has not been 
canceled, it exists, it is in force, its architecture in relation to 
Nagorno-Karabakh has not been completely canceled, on its basis the 
International Court of Justice adopted its interim decision. If we read this 
decision, we’ll see that it is also built on the November 9 document, and thus 
the international community gives force to the November 9 document. While in 
previous discussions at the UN our international partners wanted to avoid 
references to the November 9 document, how are they going to avoid it now, when 
the court is building its interim decision on it? This document from November 9 
[2020] is a valid document, and statements are statements of a political nature. I repeat that a document has a higher legal force,” Marukian underscored. Armenia and ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accuse Azerbaijan of 
violating the Moscow-brokered 2020 ceasefire agreement that places the Lachin 
corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, under the 
control of Russian peacekeepers. They insist, therefore, that the Azerbaijani 
checkpoint installed there earlier this year is illegal. The de facto blockade imposed by Azerbaijan has resulted in severe shortages of 
food, medicine, and energy supply in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is home to about 
120,000 ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan denies blockading Nagorno-Karabakh and offers an alternative route 
for supplies via the town of Agdam, which is situated east of the region and 
away from Armenia and is controlled by Baku. Ethnic Armenian authorities in 
Nagorno-Karabakh reject that offer, fearing that it could be a prelude to the 
absorption of what remains of the former autonomous oblast into 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.

Former ICC prosecutor warns of Azerbaijan’s continued ‘genocide’ against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

Tatoyan Vazgen
Aug 10 2023
by ATHENS BUREAU

A leading expert in international law and former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) warned that Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes genocide.

Luis Moreno Ocampo accused Azerbaijan of genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh as the humanitarian situation in the besieged region continues to worsen.

‘Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks, Ocampo wrote in a 28-page report on the Lachin corridor blockade published on 7 August.

‘Starvation as a method to destroy people was neglected by the entire international community when it was used against Armenians in 1915, Jews and Poles in 1939, Russians in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1941, and Cambodians in 1975/1976’, wrote Ocampo. ‘Starvation was also neglected when used in Srebrenica in the winter of 1993/1994’.

Ocampo suggested that Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev should be investigated by the ICC, explaining that that could only take place were the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution regarding the blockade of the Lachin corridor and refer it to the court.

In the report, he stated that there was ‘reasonable basis’ to believe that President Aliyev had genocidal intentions, having blocked the delivery of essential goods to Nagorno-Karabakh, disobeyed the orders of the International Court of Justice to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor, and having ignored calls regarding the ‘real and imminent risk’ to the region’s Armenian population created by the blockade.

‘President Aliyev’s public statements affirming that the blockade was the consequence of people smuggling minerals and iPhones through the Lachin Corridor is a diversion. Smuggling activities should be properly investigated but they are not an excuse to disobey a binding order of the International Court of Justice or a justification to commit a Genocide’, wrote Ocampo.

He added that obtaining a UN Security Council resolution to provide ICC jurisdiction was ‘feasible’.

‘Under the Genocide Convention, state parties have an obligation to prevent and punish Genocide, and 14 of the current 15 members of the UN Security Council are also parties of that Convention, providing an overwhelming majority’, he added.

The statement also calls for cooperation between Russia, which oversees peacekeeping in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the United States and EU Member States. All are parties to the Genocide Convention, with Ocampo stating that they are in the ‘privileged position’ to prevent the genocide.

‘Their intense confrontation due to the Ukrainian conflict should not transform the Armenians into collateral victims’, wrote Ocampo.

Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, called the report ‘biased’ and ‘anti-Azerbaijani’.

Azerbaijan denies blockade

Despite the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh continuing to deepen, with neither peacekeepers nor Red Cross able to transport basic goods and humanitarian aid into the region, Azerbaijan’s government in Baku has maintained its denial that any blockade is taking place.

In response to a call on Monday by UN Human Rights Experts to lift the blockade and open the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry gaslit by dismissing the accusations as ‘political manipulations’ by UN experts.

The statement added that ‘the usage […] of expressions such as ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ in clear disrespect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, the interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, as well as the double standards against it […] are unacceptable’.

In recent days, authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have released reports describing the worsening humanitarian situation in the region, noting that mortality rates were significantly higher than average.

The region’s Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that mortality due to cardiovascular disease had more than doubled, with rates in July 2.6 times higher than the same month of the previous year.

‘This includes a 66% increase in mortality from acute and chronic heart failure, a 20.8% increase in mortality from acute myocardial infarction, and an 8.8% increase in mortality from brain paralysis’, it wrote.

Provision of medical supplies to the region has been suspended since mid-June, when Azerbaijan blocked the transport of humanitarian aid into the region. Transport of patients to Armenian hospitals is also taking place at minimal rates, with Red Cross transport of severely ill patients resuming after Azerbaijan blocked the organisation’s access to the region.

On 29 July, Azerbaijani border guards arrested a 68-year-old resident of the region as he was being evacuated to Armenia by the Red Cross for heart surgery, accusing him of genocide.

Shortages of food and other essential supplies have worsened in the months since the Azerbaijan blocked deliveries of humanitarian aid.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2023/08/11/former-icc-prosecutor-azerbaijan/#google_vignette