In the geopolitical ballet of the Middle East, Armenia’s security is inextricably tied to the stability of Iran. This was the core message delivered by Gohar Iskandaryan, an expert on Iranian studies, during a recent press conference.

The assertion underscores the intricate interplay of regional politics, where the tremors of unrest in one country can ripple through its neighbors.

Iskandaryan highlighted the symbiotic relationship between Armenia and Iran, outlining how stability in Iran directly impacts Armenia’s security interests. As neighboring nations with close economic and geopolitical ties, the potential security threats Armenia could face if Iran’s stability is compromised are significant.

Recent demonstrations in Iran, contrary to their usual anti-government nature, have been pro-government, signaling a show of support for the regime. This shift in public sentiment is an element that Iskandaryan believes is crucial for the ongoing stability of the region.

Rosa Linn, an Armenian musician, has been a prominent supporter of the troubled province with the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh. Linn utilised her recent appearance at iHeart’s ALTer Ego event to raise awareness of the predicament facing the people of Artsakh and to advocate for international assistance. The crisis was purportedly started by Azerbaijani eco-activists who blocked the Lachin corridor, which was the region’s only route to Armenia and the outside world.

Since December 12, 2022, the blockade has triggered severe shortages of essential supplies. An estimated 400 tons of food and medicine, typically transported through the corridor each day, have been cut off. The blockade’s impact is felt by the region’s 120,000 residents who are not only grappling with the shortage but are also hindered from crossing the border into Armenia.

Adding to the crisis, infrastructure damage in areas controlled by Azerbaijan has disrupted electricity and internet services in Artsakh. Although Russian peacekeepers have managed to negotiate the restoration of internet service, the Lachin corridor remains closed, escalating the severity of the situation.

With a global platform at her disposal, Rosa Linn has taken to Instagram to mobilize international support for the people of Artsakh. She has urged the cessation of U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan and advocated for the provision of humanitarian aid to Artsakh. Her appeal resonates with the region’s dire need for relief and the urgency for global powers to intervene.

The United Nations is planning to send a mission to Nagorno Karabakh to assess the humanitarian needs amid the exodus of ethnic Armenians. The Azerbaijani government has agreed to the mission, and the UN World Food Program is setting up tents to provide meals for the refugees. Russian trucks carrying humanitarian aid have also arrived in the region, marking the first such crossing allowed in over three decades.

The shipments, which include blankets, toiletries, and food parcels, arrived via Azerbaijani-controlled territory. This development came after an agreement allowing aid deliveries through Azerbaijani territory in the hope of unblocking the Lachin Corridor in the near future.

The ‘100 Ideas for Armenia’ project has hatched an innovative ballistic vest designed by military veterans Davit Davtyan, Raman Mnatsakanyan, and Artur Aghoyan. Their personal experience with bulletproof vests during the 2020 war spurred them to conceive a more effective and comfortable alternative.

Their design employs ultrafine nanoparticles to construct composite bulletproof vests, offering enhanced endurance and lighter weight. This innovative approach to protective gear promises a lifespan of over 10 years, doubling the current market standard of approximately 5 years. A full-coverage vest weighs only 2kg, significantly less than the typical 5kg vest.

Additionally, these vests are waterproof and meet international Level 4 standards, ensuring maximum protection for military and law enforcement personnel. Despite their advanced technology and superior performance, the vests are priced cost-effectively at up to $400, a fraction of the cost of existing vests that can run into a few thousand dollars.

The project has garnered positive feedback from international partners, marking a significant milestone in Armenia’s technological advancement. Furthermore, this initiative is part of a broader effort to establish a science-industry-university cooperative chain. This model, championed by team member Artur Aghoyan, aligns with global practices and has the potential to strengthen Armenia’s technological and scientific sectors.

Armenian veterans’ innovative approach to ballistic vests could revolutionize protective gear for security forces not only in Armenia but also around the world, setting a new benchmark for durability, comfort, and cost-effectiveness.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently held a significant meeting with Kimmo Kiljunen and Boriana Berg, the Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia from the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Pashinyan extended a warm welcome to the delegates and underscored the enduring alliance between Armenia and the Council of Europe, a relationship pivotal in promoting democratic reforms and fostering various initiatives.

During the course of the meeting, Pashinyan shed light on the Armenian government’s strategy, one primarily centered around the advancement of democracy and a steadfast reform agenda. He delved into the specifics of the actions being implemented as part of the government’s anti-corruption policy. Keen on establishing a level economic playing field, Pashinyan expressed his firm belief that these reforms have played an integral role in contributing to the nation’s economic growth.

(Read Also: Armenian Ambassador Unveils Nagorno-Karabakh Complexities in Dialogue with Former Greek Speaker)

Further, Pashinyan drew attention to the humanitarian crisis that has emerged from the forced displacement of over 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh due to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing policy. He underscored the indispensable role of international community assistance in tackling these issues and highlighted the importance of the resolutions passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concerning the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

(Read Also: Over 50,000 Displaced Persons from Nagorno-Karabakh Arrive in Armenia: Government Responds)

In addition to the meeting, Pashinyan also engaged in a telephonic conversation with Charles Michel, the President of the European Council. This conversation further signifies Armenia’s proactive engagement with the Council of Europe, indicating a commitment to upholding democratic values and principles despite the challenges faced by the nation.

https://bnnbreaking.com/politics/armenian-pm-discusses-democratic-reforms-and-nagorno-karabakh-issues-with-council-of-europe/

In a recent meeting between Alen Simonyan, the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, and Bertrand Bouyx, the head of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and a Member of the French National Assembly, a broad spectrum of topics were discussed. This discussion aimed to boost Armenia-EU relations and progress the dialogue on Armenia-EU visa liberalization, amongst other key issues.

Simonyan lauded the enduring positive relationship and collaboration between the Armenian and French delegations in PACE. He expressed his gratitude towards the France-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, which boasts 97 members and consistently supports Armenia.

(Read Also: France Condemns Violence Against Armenian Community in Jerusalem)

The meeting explored potential ways to strengthen bilateral economic ties and maintain the momentum of democratic reforms in Armenia. Bouyx noted Armenia’s commitment to democracy, even in the face of significant challenges. He highlighted Armenia’s ratification of the Rome Statute as a testament to the nation’s significant strides towards upholding democratic values.

(Read Also: Armenian Police Force Faces General Knowledge Crisis: Interior Ministry Report)

Regional issues, particularly negotiations for a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, the release of Armenian captives held by Azerbaijan, and the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkiye, were also discussed. Bouyx assured France’s continued friendship and support for Armenia during these challenging times. Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, also attended the meeting.

The discussions also noted the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace agreement, restore communications, and address issues related to passport and customs control modalities. The safety of Armenian passengers and cargo traveling through Azerbaijan was raised, along with the potential involvement of third countries or international organizations such as Russia, Iran, and the EU.

Armenia’s leading broadband and telecommunications provider, Team Telecom Armenia, has marked a year of significant accomplishments in network expansion and technological advancements. The company’s success is highlighted by a historic initial public offering (IPO) that raised 8.2 billion Armenian Dram (AMD). This event saw the sale of approximately 40 million shares, increasing the shareholder base by a thousandfold and making Team Telecom Armenia the first Armenian telecom company to list its shares on the stock exchange via primary placement.

The company has ambitious plans for the raised capital. Key among them is the expansion of its fiber optic Next Generation Network (NGN) throughout Armenia and the launch of 5G mobile networks. These initiatives are part of the company’s broader vision to enhance Armenia’s digital infrastructure and catapult the nation into a new era of technological development.

Team Telecom Armenia has already made significant strides in this direction. It has completed the construction of the NGN network in major cities of the Syunik region, extending coverage to over 21,000 premises. This expansion has resulted in a high-speed network that now reaches 223,000 households in Armenia, offering an impressive bandwidth of 25,000 Mbps. The company has also reequipped 34 mobile stations to support these technological advancements and improve service quality.

As part of its commitment to enhance the reliability and quality of internet services, Team Telecom Armenia has established new representative points in data centers located in Frankfurt and Amsterdam. These strategic locations serve as hubs for digital traffic, facilitating faster and more reliable connections for Armenian internet users.

Apart from its core telecom operations, Team Telecom Armenia has also launched several innovative projects. This includes the Team Energy fast charging stations for electric vehicles and the introduction of the GeoForce Games Cloud service. These initiatives, along with various corporate social responsibility projects, underscore the company’s commitment to driving innovation and sustainable development in Armenia.

https://bnnbreaking.com/finance-nav/business/team-telecom-armenia-a-year-of-milestones-in-network-expansion-and-technological-advancements/

In an interview, Lars Patrick Berg, a Member of the European Parliament, shed light on the enduring issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Berg expressed his hope for the reactivation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and increased European Union involvement in the peace process. He also underscored the importance of dialogue and negotiation among all concerned parties as the path to a lasting solution.

Berg, who has traveled to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and is a vocal advocate for its people’s self-determination, acknowledged the complexity of the situation in the South Caucasus. He also recognized Germany’s role as a member of the Minsk Group in navigating this intricate geopolitical landscape. His current visit to the region, he noted, might be viewed as provocative.

Berg touched on the pressing matter of Armenian prisoners of war still held captive by Azerbaijan, despite international agreements calling for their release. Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been fraught since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. In the wake of a Russian-brokered peace agreement in 2020, most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan, yet tensions persist.

In his efforts to ensure peace and justice, Berg has reached out to UNESCO, urging the organization to safeguard Armenian cultural heritage in the occupied territories. He emphasized the crucial role politicians play in advocating for justice and peace, but also acknowledged the limitations of the European Parliament’s influence.

In conclusion, Berg underscored the importance of a solution that satisfies all parties, recognizing that this will not be achieved overnight. His call for dialogue, negotiation, and increased involvement from the European Union and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, serves as a beacon of hope in these trying times.

https://bnnbreaking.com/world/armenia/berg-advocates-for-dialogue-and-eu-involvement-in-nagorno-karabakh-conflict/

The Nagorno-Karabakh region, also known as Artsakh, has been the epicenter of a destabilizing conflict that has left its civilian population stranded amidst a worsening humanitarian crisis. As reported by the Human Rights Defender of Nagorno-Karabakh, Gegham Stepanyan, Azerbaijan continues to relentlessly attack the civilian infrastructure and the populace, pushing the region into a state of despair and desperation.

The relentless attacks by Azerbaijan have been unyielding. The tools of conflict, as detailed by Stepanyan, include military aviation, artillery, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These assaults have led to the appalling situation where the entire population of the region has been forced to take shelter in basements, enduring harsh conditions devoid of basic amenities such as electricity, communication, food, or heating.

The onslaught has triggered a mass exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. As the conflict escalates and the threats to civilian lives increase, the Armenian community is being driven from their homes, forced to seek refuge wherever they can find safety. The history of the conflict has left deep scars on the Armenian community, with the current crisis only serving to reopen these historical wounds.

The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh extends beyond the borders of the region, impacting the Armenian community globally. In the United States, this crisis has sparked protests against the visit of the Turkish ambassador and prompted a response from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The gravity of the situation has underscored the trauma experienced by the Armenian community and highlighted the urgent need for support in the face of this grave humanitarian crisis.

In conclusion, the persistent attacks on the civilian infrastructure and population in Nagorno-Karabakh have precipitated a dire humanitarian crisis. As the world watches, the residents of Artsakh continue to endure the harsh winter without basic utilities or supplies, their lives hanging in the balance amidst the turmoil of conflict.

https://bnnbreaking.com/bnn-newsroom/civilian-infrastructure-and-population-under-attack-in-nagorno-karabakh-amidst-humanitarian-crisis/

In a matter of days, homes were vacated, shops closed down, and churches heard their last prayers. The ethnic cleansing of Armenians from their ancestral homelands planned by the Azeri government came to fruition. On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched full scale military attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh (“Artsakh”), an ethnic enclave previously home to 120,000 Armenians. Overnight, they were able to seize the region by force, ending centuries of Armenian existence on the land and a 30-year contention over the region. While many international organizations were shocked by the swiftness of this ethnic cleansing to be carried out in such a methodical manner, members of the Armenian diaspora, like myself, who had been calling for attention in the region, were not. We lamented the fact that our year-long urging for humanitarian aid for the Armenian population in Artsakh fell on deaf ears to which the international community  never responded. More disturbing was the aggression from the Azeri government that transpired unchecked due to the failure of international institutions to properly address ethnic cleansing.

International law is intended to be above the status of states’ interests and be abided by all participating actors on the international stage. More specifically, international humanitarian law has been developed by the international community to protect the lives of noncombatants and set clear definitions of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Surprisingly, under international law, ethnic cleansing has not been recognized as an independent crime and lacks a formal definition. The absence of clear and concise definitions provides far too much wiggle room for interpretation and abuse when it comes to acts of ethnic cleansing. The UN Commission of Experts that was tasked to look into violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia stated that ethnic cleansing could be contextualized with specific war crimes or could fall under the Geneva Conventions, without using strong conclusive wording. In so doing, when acts of ethnic cleansing are carried out, obstruction of the law is unable to be enforced for a crime that is not officially recognized.

What distinguishes ethnic cleansing from other war crimes is the intention of removing a specific ethnic group from a given territory through force. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the reincarnation of pre-Stalinist state ideals amongst many of the former republics. In the case of Azerbaijan, it found itself in contest with the awakened autonomous region Artsakh – a 95% Christian Armenian enclave – within its borders, which had quickly sought to reclaim its independence and rejoin with Armenia. Azerbaijan’s preference was to gain control over the land and  to eliminate the Armenian presence from within its borders. Armenian history is deeply rooted in the region, with its presence there dating back to 1st century BC – 20 centuries before the founding of Azerbaijan – establishing Armenians indigenous to the land that they continued to live in right to the present. On the surface the battles may have seemed an issue over territorial conquest, but had underlying intentions of ridding Azerbaijan of its Armenian presence entirely and wiping away centuries of an entrenched identity. These actions are linked to the pan-Turkism movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, which had goals to unify the Turkic speaking nations. In the South Caucasus region, Armenia stands as the sole Christian entity between Azerbaijan and Turkey, providing a barrier between the unification of the two Turkic nations. Armenia is consequently a very vulnerable country in the South Caucasus, with very little allyship and defense from its direct neighbors.

The situation in Artsakh can be distinguished as ethnic cleansing due to the actions Azerbaijan took leading up to the September 2023 attacks. Starting on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijani protesters began blockading the Lachin corridor, a long narrow passage as well as the sole connection between Artsakh and mainland Armenia, leaving residents without essentials such as food and medication. Russian peacekeepers, who had been assigned to monitor the region, did not fulfill their obligation of protecting the integrity of the road, leading to massive food and fuel shortages, closures of institutions and critical services, and even depravity of medical care that caused upticks in miscarriages for pregnant women. Azeri authorities in the region did not heed pleas from the limited number of international humanitarian organizations to open the routes. Without their necessary support from mainland Armenia, citizens in Artsakh were unable to sustain livelihood. Human rights watch groups such as Amnesty International and the Council on Foreign Relations called for attention to end the blockade, as “severe deprivation of liberty” is a crime against humanity as outlined by the Rome Statute; but democratic states, who in spirit promote recognition of international law, did not step in. Though ethnic cleansing falls into the umbrella of a crime against humanity, it has no legal definition in international criminal law. Azerbaijan openly performed the violent acts  of September 2023, as well as the preceding blockade, leaving the region devoid of 120,000 Armenians in the span of less than a week.

Since agreeing to the dissolution of Artsakh, Armenia has taken steps to protect its sovereignty and prevent further encroachment. In October 2023, Armenia ratified the Rome Statute and agreed to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). The implications are varied, as Armenia should now have further protection from an international institution that is committed to multilateral peace and security; however, this solidifies the strain in the relationship between Armenia and Russia. Members of the ICC are committed to the arrest warrant of President Vladimir Putin for his abduction of Ukrainian children, meaning that Putin will no longer be allowed to visit Armenia. Ultimately, joining the ICC strengthens Armenia’s chances of having a law case against Azerbaijan, who is not a member of the ICC. Perhaps this will also shift the procedural norms in the region, to believing that decisions should be made through international institutions such as the ICC instead of direct dealings with Russia or Turkey – two third-party countries with influence and other motives. For us as diasporan Armenians, we can only hope that this will also lead to a shift in regulative norms for Armenia and Azerbaijan that leads to peace and stability in the region.

International law does matter and is a necessary tool to protect weaker states from abuses deployed by more powerful states. In a world dictated by anarchy, the institution of international law maintains order and prevents discourse. It is imperative for stronger states to comply with international law and uphold it in order to encourage smaller states to do the same.  The problems arise when crimes are not clearly defined and not formally ratified into law. With vagueness comes the ability for crimes to be committed and swept under the rug. Believing in the power of international law is important, but it can only be sustained when we see international law truly working to protect those that need additional protection. Language that spells out the harmful effects of targeting specific people groups may further their ability to maintain autonomy and sovereignty from stronger threats.