H. Hovnanian Family Foundation Awards $237,000 for Parks and Recreation Projec

Tambiyan Samvel Leave a comment

H. Hovnanian Family Foundation 

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone/WhatsApp: +37498 24 54 84
Website: https://hovnanianfoundation.org/en  

Vibrant public spaces, green zones, and accessible recreational areas are essential for healthy, thriving communities. To support this vital need, the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation has awarded $237,000 in grants to six impactful initiatives through its first-quarter 2026 Parks & Recreation grant cycle.


This quarter’s funding focused exclusively on Syunik and Vayots Dzor. By strengthening these communities in these provinces, the selected projects aim to improve the everyday quality of life for local residents, boost tourism potential, and foster environmental resilience. “Investing in public parks and recreation areas is an investment in community resilience and social cohesion,” said Anahit Hakobyan, Program Manager at the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation. “We were particularly encouraged by the strong participation of public sector entities, including the municipalities of Kapan, Goris, and Sisian. By pairing local government commitment with the specialized on-the-ground expertise of dedicated NGOs, we are ensuring these spaces become safe, sustainable, and universally accessible assets for thousands of families.”


Little Bridge NGO will establish the Vayk Inclusive Gardens, a 1,000 m² public playground and park in Vayk (Vayots Dzor region), to be implemented over a six-month period. Driven by a 15 per cent population increase from displaced families, the project addresses a critical lack of safe, accessible recreational options for the community’s 6,743 residents. Utilizing universal design principles, the park will feature four distinct zones: inclusive play for 1,983 children; health and mobility stations for 870 individuals in rehabilitation or living with disabilities; geriatric areas for 1,840 elderly residents; and fitness spaces serving over 2,050 people. The health and inclusion component includes a ‘living fence’ of 32 trees and 50 shrubs instead of traditional gates, recessed cattle grids to ensure seamless wheelchair and stroller access, and a 400 m² lawn attached to a municipally extended drip irrigation line.


The Armenian branch of the SOS Chrétiens d’Orient will create a 500 m² public square around the Aram Manukian bust in the village of Davit Bek, located within the Kapan enlarged community of the Syunik province. To be implemented over seven months, the project directly addresses the lack of developed public spaces in the village, benefiting approximately 1,000 local residents. The initiative includes comprehensive site development, paving, comfortable seating, water access, and the integration of green areas featuring lawns, trees, and flowers. Playground equipment will also be installed, provided as an in-kind contribution by the organization.


The Kapan Municipality will lead an eight-month revitalization of the 2,200 m² public area adjacent to the iconic Garegin Nzhdeh monument in Kapan, which has not been renovated since its construction in 2001. The project entails the demolition and clearing of worn infrastructure, followed by the installation of new paving, curbs, walkways, and stairs. It also includes the rehabilitation of the monument’s immediate surroundings, landscaping with an integrated irrigation system, outdoor lighting, modern urban furniture, and robust accessibility upgrades. The completed site will serve Kapan’s 45,815 residents and an estimated 10,000 annual visitors.


The Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS) will launch the 12-month Together in the Park project in Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor. targeting the broader community of 14,844 people. This initiative combines structural physical upgrades with targeted social programming to combat isolation and a lack of youth spaces following recent regional challenges. Physically, the project will rehabilitate the 600 m² municipality-owned central Momik Park by paving, lighting, greening, and improving safety. Socially, ARCS will leverage its extensive volunteer network to deliver more than 30 structured activities, including intergenerational sessions, youth microgrants, and local volunteer-led community initiatives.


Baleni Agricultural Charitable Foundation will establish a 25,000 m² (2.5 hectares) forest-park in Shaghat village within the Sisian community of Syunik. Developed over 12 months in close cooperation with active local youth and supportive village leadership, the project encompasses a 5,000 m² landscaped park zone and a 20,000 m² forest plantation. The intervention features extensive afforestation through the planting of roughly 6,000 trees, an irrigation system, solar lighting, walking paths, and protective fencing. Merging the environment with innovation, the park will feature an outdoor movie screening area and benches equipped with QR codes linking visitors to regional historical and geographical information, benefiting 1,000 direct residents and neighboring communities.


Jardar NGO will co-create a community park in Goris, Syunik, on municipal land adjacent to a local school. Serving as a permanent public asset, the site will also host the second LINE Armenian Architecture Biennial, themed ‘Urban Recreations by Line.’ Spanning a total area of 15,000 m², the project will begin with an intensive participatory design process—bringing together residents, youth, and local stakeholders through research and collaborative workshops—before moving into the physical construction of a public park that seamlessly blends ecological, architectural, and recreational elements. The grant serves for the first phase of the project, covering the research and design components.


Taken together, these six projects reflect a holistic vision for regional development. Whether transforming village squares, piloting inclusive infrastructure, or introducing digital components to brand-new parks, these initiatives ensure that the natural beauty and community spirit of Syunik and Vayots Dzor are preserved, celebrated, and made accessible to all.


Full details about the Foundation’s grant program and upcoming calls are available at https://hovnanianfoundation.org/en/armenia-grants/general-grants.


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California Courier Online, July 20, 2026

Emil Lazarian Leave a comment
California
Courier Online, July 20, 2026

1- What happened to Israel’s Recognition of

The Armenian Genocide? Fact vs. Rumor

By Harut
Sassounian

TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Princess Margaret’s Grandson Samuel Chatto Is Engaged to Eleanor Ekserdjian

3- ‘Trump Route’ Deal In Conflict With Armenian Law, Says Justice Ministry
4- MARK HOPLAMAZIAN: ARMENIAN-AMERICAN FINANCIER, AND CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION
5- James Tufenkian Sues Armenia in European Court
6- Armenian government approves $14 million in bonuses for state officials
7- Oldest sword in the world in St. Lazar Armenian Mekhitarist Monastery in Italy

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1- What happened to Israel’s Recognition of

The Armenian Genocide? Fact vs. Rumor
By Harut Sassounian
TheCaliforniaCourier.com
On a daily basis, we are all inundated with so much misinformation that it is becoming almost impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. For those of us in the news business, the challenge is even greater. Whereas regular people can pass on baseless rumors to their immediate circle, the mass media bears a much greater responsibility because it risks spreading false information to thousands or even millions of people, unless it first verifies the facts.
A recent example of a story that evolved from fact into rumor was the Israeli Foreign Minister’s announcement last month that his government would recognize the Armenian Genocide. The news spread like wildfire throughout the international media. There were endless commentaries and analyses about why Israel decided to recognize the Armenian Genocide after decades of refusing to do so.
Shortly after the Israeli Foreign Minister’s announcement, the government (Cabinet) unanimously approved the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and decided to forward the measure to the Knesset (Parliament) for final approval.
Not surprisingly, the Turkish government furiously denounced the decision of Israel’s Cabinet, accusing it of trying to divert the world’s attention from the atrocities being committed in Gaza. Ironically, this accusation came from the Turkish government, which has gone to extraordinary lengths for over a century to cover up the genocides of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks.
Siding with Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide was the government of Azerbaijan which has itself committed several mass murders against Armenians. As the saying goes, “birds of a feather flock together.” Azerbaijani officials expressed their objection by reminding Israel’s leaders of the billions of dollars’ worth of Israeli weapons they had purchased and that, in return, had sold to Israel a large share of its imported oil. Neither Azerbaijan nor its ally Turkey, which serves as the conduit for the Azeri oil exports to Israel, mentions its own role in supplying the fuel for Israel’s war machine.
The objections from Azerbaijan and Turkey triggered the false rumor that the Israeli government had abandoned the Knesset’s consideration of the Armenian Genocide, even though there was absolutely no official confirmation from Israel.
The fact is that the Knesset’s agenda was packed with several major issues during the last few days of its session, leaving no time to consider the Armenian Genocide. The Knesset went into recess last Friday until October, when new elections are scheduled to take place. It remains to be seen whether the next Knesset will take up this issue.
Even though Israel’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide was not intended to please the Armenian government, it must have been disappointing to hear the lackadaisical reaction of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Those who have followed Pashinyan’s previous shameful statements in recent years questioning the facts of the Armenian Genocide should not have been surprised to see him disregard Israel’s Cabinet decision. “We see no need to respond because we believe that refraining from entering into the issue of the weaponization of the Armenian Genocide is in the interests of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan stated.
However, when the US government recognized the Armenian Genocide, Pashinyan did not consider it to be “weaponization.” On the contrary, he was highly enthusiastic about the US Senate’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide in 2019. He wrote on X (then Twitter): “US Senate Resolution 150 is a victory of justice and truth. On behalf of the Armenian people worldwide, I express our profound appreciation to the Senate for this landmark legislation. This is a tribute to the memory of 1.5 million victims of the first Genocide of the 20th century and a bold step in promotion of the prevention agenda. #NeverAgain.”
Pashinyan then added: “On behalf of the Armenian people, I want to thank all members of the US Senate [and] … the House of Representatives…. We must address words of appreciation to the Armenians of the United States, to all those organizations and individuals who contributed to this important and historic decision.” It is noteworthy that Pashinyan expressed his gratitude to the Armenian-American community for this recognition, in stark contrast to his subsequent anti-Diaspora statements.
Later, on April 24, 2021, when U.S. Pres. Joe Biden acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, Pashinyan again reacted very enthusiastically: “It is an important day for all Armenians. Following the resolutions adopted by the US Congress in 2019, President Biden honored the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The US has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting human rights and universal values…. Today we pay tribute to the 1.5 million martyrs, victims of the Ottoman Empire’s criminal policies during WWI. The ideologies that led to the Armenian Genocide are still alive today, as demonstrated by the atrocities committed against the Armenians of Artsakh during the recent war.”
In addition to reversing his position on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Pashinyan has, in recent years, contradicted himself on dozens of other issues. Most notably, in 2019, speaking in Stepanakert before thousands of cheering Artsakh Armenians, he declared: “Artsakh is Armenia. Period.” After the 2020 war, however, he took the exact opposite position by acknowledging that Artsakh is part of Azerbaijan.

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2– Princess Margaret’s Grandson Samuel Chatto Is Engaged to Eleanor Ekserdjian

Samuel Chatto, a grandson of the late Princess Margaret, is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Eleanor Ekserdjian. The couple announced the news publicly on Monday after informing King Charles, who is said to be very happy for them. Chatto’s parents, Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto, are also reported to be delighted, as are Ekserdjian’s parents, Professor David Ekserdjian and Susan Moore.

“I’m really delighted to say that Ellie and I are engaged,” Chatto wrote on Instagram, sharing a trio of photos, including two portraits of the couple and one of Eleanor’s porcelain engagement ring, which was made by Chatto himself. “And we couldn’t be happier.” The couple are planning to marry in spring 2027, but no specific date has been announced yet.

Chatto and Ekserdjian have reportedly been together since 2021, having met while both studying at the University of Edinburgh. Ekserdjian joined Chatto and the wider royal family for the Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in December 2024, and more recently attended the Cotswolds wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriete Sperling in June.

At 30th in the line of succession, Chatto is not a working royal, but he appears at major family events. He attended Eton College before graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a master’s degree in history of art. He went on to attend the Royal Drawing School. He has since built a career as an artist, working primarily in ceramics and printmaking.

Ekserdjian is also an artist, with a focus on painting and film. She recently shot her first film, Imagined Landscapes (2024). According to her bio from a recent exhibition at the David Messums Fine Art Gallery in London, the movie “portrays her first sight of Armenia, a landscape that she had always imagined but had never seen, as someone who grew up in the UK with a curiosity about her Armenian family.” In May and June of 2026, her first solo presentation, We Are Our Mountains, ran at Messums London, featuring simultaneous landscape paintings from Armenia and the United Kingdom alongside a film and sound installation.

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3- ‘Trump Route’ Deal In Conflict With Armenian Law, Says Justice Ministry

  • Astghik Bedevian, Azatutyun.am
Some provisions of a U.S.-Armenian agreement to open a U.S.-run transit corridor for Azerbaijan through Armenia run counter to Armenian law, according to the Justice Ministry in Yerevan.
The ministry drew this conclusion in a written opinion submitted to the Armenian government. But citing political reasons, it recommended the agreement’s approval by the government, which was formalized on Thursday.
The deal was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in early June. It lays out the key terms of the planned the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) that would run along Armenia’s border with Iran and connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and Turkey.
It calls for the creation of a joint venture that will manage for at least 49 years a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure to be built along the corridor. The U.S. government will own 74 percent of the TRIPP Development Company (TDC) that will receive “exclusive land use rights, development rights, related permissions, and all other rights” necessary for the transit arrangement.
While upholding Armenia’s “full sovereignty and jurisdiction over its borders and customs operations,” the agreement commits the Armenian government to the so-called “front office/back office” model whereby private operators hired by the TDC will provide “customer-facing services” at the border crossings with Azerbaijan. Armenian officials are to be given be a “back office” role there.
“It should be noted that according to [Armenia’s] Law on the State Border, the processing of persons, vehicles, cargo and other property across the border of Armenia is carried out by its border guards and customs authorities,” the Justice Ministry said in this regard. “Therefore, the authority to check relevant documents and allow passage through the state border is reserved exclusively for state bodies.”
The ministry also found that tax exemptions that will be granted to the TDC and its subsidiaries contradict Armenian tax legislation. Contacted by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, it declined to say whether it will draft or recommend legal amendments that will bring the U.S.-Armenian agreement into conformity with Armenian law.
The deal says that it shall take precedence “in case of any conflict with Armenian law.” It has to be validated by the country’s Constitutional Court before being ratified by the Armenian parliament.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijanis travelling to and from Nakhichevan “should not see the faces of Armenian border guards.” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has signaled readiness to meet that demand, saying that modern technology will be used to exclude physical contact between Armenian officers and Azerbaijani travelers.
Pashinian has thus given more ammunition to his domestic critics who say that the TRIPP amounts to the kind of an extraterritorial “Zangezur corridor” that is sought by Baku. Aliyev again made the same point last week.
Iran remains opposed to the TRIPP, fearing that it could lead to U.S. security presence along the Armenian-Iranian border and undermine Armenian control of it. The Iranian ambassador to Armenia indicated on July 8 that Yerevan has still not addressed Tehran’s “very legitimate and logical” concerns. Pashinian made clear the following day that he remains committed to implementing the TRIPP project “as soon as possible.”

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5- James Tufenkian Sues Armenia in European Court

By Kristine Aghalaryan
Hetq.am
American-Armenian businessman James Tufenkian has filed a complaint against Armenia with the European Court of Human Rights  over a long-standing real estate dispute that has prevented a company he owns from breaking ground to build a new hotel in Yerevan.

Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC acquired the property at 32 Pavstots Buzand St. in 2000. The government, two years later, decided to designate the site as “public domain” land that was included in the Hin Yerevan (Old Yerevan) project.

Construction of the controversial project, approved in 2005, only began in 2017. It remains unfinished. The long-stalled project seeks to “reconstruct” the architectural appearance of the Armenian capital of the late 19th – early 20th centuries given that little if anything remains on the site.  

Tufenkian, known as a purveyor of high-quality artisan rugs, has built several hotels in Armenia as part of his Tufenkian Heritage Hotels chain. He also founded the Tufenkian Foundation that provides aid to poor families in Armenia,

Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC (the company’s successor is now JFT LLC, whose shareholders are James Tufenkian (10%) and Tufenkian Holdings LLC (90%), in February 2023 applied to the Yerevan City Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction against the Republic of Armenia (represented by the Ministry of Finance). 

Courts in Armenia Reject Tufenkian’s Claims

It requested confirmation of violations of the fundamental right of Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC,  as a result of the government’s decisions, actions and inaction, as well as to recover from the Republic of Armenia in favor of Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC an amount of AMD 2 million  as compensation for non-pecuniary damage caused by the violation of the company’s fundamental right to property and the mental suffering associated with it.

The court, on March 25, 2025, rejected the claim of Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC, and the company then appealed to Armenia’s Court of Appeal. The court approved the claim and sent the application to the lower court for a new review.

The company simultaneously appealed to the Administrative Court, contesting the government’s November 24, 2022 decision to extend the Old Yerevan project’s implementation period to 2023. Company attorney Mikael Danielyan argued that the extension was unsubstantiated, and its legality was therefore challenged.

After three  rounds of court proceedings were unsuccessful, Tufenkian Trans Caucasus LLC appealed to Armenia’s Constitutional Court in April 2025. The company challenged the Armenia’s Law On Alienation of Property for the Purpose of Ensuring the Overriding Interest of the Society, as well as the government’s decisions of 2018 and 2022 that extended the project’s deadlines.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court in December 2025 terminated the proceedings in this case, arguing that the company’s claims were groundless.

After exhausting its claims in Armenia’s courts, Tufenkian’s representatives applied to the ECHR on February 26, 2026. They requested recognition of violations of convention rights, in this case, the rights to property, fair trial, effective remedy and non-discrimination.

Attorney Danielyan notes that the company was ready and today doesn’t oppose handing over the property to the developer for reasonable compensation. 

Project developer Old City CJSC is owned by Vartan Sirmakes. Sirmakes, born in Istanbul, is Armenia’s former Honorary Consul in Marseille, the co-founder of the Swiss watch brand Frank Muller, and a major shareholder of ArmSwissBank and ArtsakhBank.

Since the developer did not initiate any negotiation process to alienate the property until 2022, Tufenkian decided to start legal proceedings.

In April 2023, the company finally received a written offer from the developer to sell the property for AMD 642 million (including the 15% surcharge and taxes prescribed by law).

The address at 32 Buzand St. in downtown Yerevan occupies an area of ​​693 square meters. Danielyan says that it is unlikely that it will be valued at less than $4,000 per square meter. In 2019, the company commissioned an appraisal from the licensed Expert Otsenka LLC, which valued the property at AMD 834 million. Adding to this the 15% surcharge and taxes prescribed by the Law “On Alienation of Property for the Purpose of Ensuring the Overriding Interests of the Society,” the compensation value becomes AMD 1.350 billion.

Differing Real Estate Appraisals

In February of this year, Tufenkian ordered a new appraisal of the site. The new conclusion of the Criminal Center for Judicial and Independent Expertise LLC established that the market value of the real estate at 32 Buzand Street as of February 20 is AMD 1. 775 billion. The 15% surcharge of the law on preferential interest is added to this, and the amount becomes AMD 1.239 billion. The value-added tax is AMD 247.825 million, and another AMD 233 million is profit tax. Thus, according to the new appraisal, the value of the property significantly differs from the developer’s proposal.

Old City CJSC representative Hayk Davtyan told Hetq that Tufenkian valued his property as a functioning complex, which is why the valuations are different. However, according to the appraisal provided to us, it was assessed as existing property with a plot of land and a fourth-class emergency building.

Davtyan also raised concerns about the legality of Tufenkian’s property acquisition. He argues that no compensation should be provided, since the previous owner, Nina Avagyan, had already received proper compensation when she transferred her property to the state. Later, Avagyan re-registered part of that area and sold it to Tufenkian’s company at a questionable price.

Attorney Danielyan considers this argument ridiculous, since Tufenkian’s company conducted the entire process legally: it acquired the property in question back in 2000 from the owner, is considered a bona fide acquirer, the ownership right was registered in the Cadastre, and by subsequent decisions of the Government, that area was recognized and included as a zone for sale.

6– Armenian government approves $14 million in bonuses for state officials
By Arshaluys Barseghyan
OC  media

The Armenian government has approved the allocation of almost $14 million in bonuses for state officials for the first half of 2026 under its performance-based evaluation system. The decision, made on Thursday, marks the latest round of performance-based bonuses, which comes amid continued criticism over the government’s lack of transparency in disclosing evaluation results and individual payouts.

According to the government’s rationale, the programme aims to improve the efficiency of the public administration system while supporting the academic and professional development of employees receiving the incentives. Officials are reportedly required to spend 10% of the bonus on professional development.

The system was introduced in 2025 and has since resulted in ministers and other senior officials receiving bonuses worth several thousand dollars each.

The exact amounts paid to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, cabinet members, governors, MPs, and other senior officials typically become known only through annual asset declarations or occasional comments during press briefings, where officials often decline to provide specific figures.

The issue first drew widespread public attention in December 2025, when opposition MPs revealed they had received more than $7,800 each, covering their December and January salaries, as well as double holiday bonuses.

The payouts sparked public criticism, with opponents arguing that the government was awarding generous bonuses to officials while pensions remained low and poverty persists.

Kristine Vardanyan, an opposition MP from the Armenia Alliance faction, described the payment as unprecedented during her time in parliament.

In total, the government allocated $9.5 million for bonuses covering the first half of 2025.

According to media reports at the time, the package included bonuses of over $32,000 for Pashinyan and between $16,000–$19,000 for some of his cabinet ministers.

Despite the widespread criticism, the second round of bonuses was approved in March, ahead of Armenia’s June parliamentary elections, when the government approved $12 million in additional performance bonuses for the second half of 2025.

The payments, which were made from the state reserve fund shortly before the elections, drew sharp criticism from opposition figures and watchdog organizations, some of which described them as a form of ‘political corruption’.

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7- Oldest sword in the world in St. Lazar Armenian Mekhitarist Monastery in Italy


A sword was mislabeled in a museum on Lazarus Island in Venice. It was labeled as belonging to the medieval collection. It is approximately 5,000 years old. According to a new study, it is one of the oldest swords in the world. The extremely rare sword does not resemble most ancient weapons. It was made around 3000 BC and originates from eastern Turkey. It is speculated that this sword was used as a ceremonial object, but possibly also in combat. Another theory suggests that it was made for a burial and then unearthed by townspeople.

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Haaretz: Netanyahu personally blocked the Knesset vote on recognizing the Arme

Khondkarian Raffi Leave a comment
News.am, Armenia
July 20, 2026

Under pressure from Azerbaijan, Israel removed the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide from the Knesset agenda. As Haaretz has learned, Israeli officials assured their Azerbaijani counterparts that this issue would be removed from the Knesset agenda.

An Israeli source said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally blocked the vote after a senior political adviser to the President of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s adviser Hikmet Hajiyev) contacted his office.

The source said that the Israeli government’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide, approved last month, was not brought to a vote in the Knesset because of pressure from Azerbaijan on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s cabinet unanimously recognized the Armenian Genocide on June 28, 2026, but the subsequent Knesset vote required for it to become official state policy was removed from the agenda under pressure from Azerbaijan. With the Knesset in recess and elections set for October 27, the issue is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, remaining more a reversible government resolution than established policy.

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Netanyahu blocks Armenian Genocide recognition bill after pressure from Azerba

Tatoyan Vazgen Leave a comment
OC Media
July 20, 2026
by Nate Ostiller

20 July 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pressured by Azerbaijan into blocking a bill already approved by the government to officially recognise the Armenian Genocide, the Israeli media outlet Haaretz has reported, citing an unnamed source.

The reporting follows a month of uncertainty about the progress towards recognition after the Israeli government unanimously approved the proposal, put forth by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, in June.

At the time, Sa’ar called the move to recognise the genocide ‘a moral duty’.

The initial steps were met with widespread scepticism, including in Armenia, with many viewing the possible recognition as a geopolitical game that said more about Israeli tensions with Turkey than a genuine desire to recognise the genocide.

Opinion | Israel’s disingenuous, cynical steps towards recognising the Armenian Genocide

The Israeli government’s approval of the resolution drew intense criticism from Azerbaijan and Turkey, with the latter accusing Israel of seeking to ‘cover up its own crimes’ in Gaza.

Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide, which was orchestrated by its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire. The genocide resulted in the mass killings of nearly 1.5 million Armenians living in what is modern-day eastern Turkey.

Azerbaijan, which is allied to both Turkey and Israel, called the move ‘a matter of serious concern’ and urged the Israeli government to ‘reconsider’ what it called the ‘distortion of the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915’.

According to Haaretz, Baku’s disapproval did not stop at statements, but went as far as to dispatch influential presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev to pressure Netanyahu to drop the bill.

However, Sa’ar’s office denied to Haaretz that Netanyahu had forced the vote to be cancelled, ‘but did not provide an alternative explanation’ why the bill was not brought to a vote.

‘There is a government decision [to recognise the genocide], and it was approved unanimously’, Sa’ar told Haaretz.

‘It will not be changed, and that is the important and historic fact’.

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Netanyahu just backtracked on recognising the Armenian genocide. Here’s why

Nahapetian Zhanna Leave a comment
The New Arab
July 20, 2026
Israel has appeared to backtrack on recognising the Armenian genocide, following scorn from Azerbaijan, which Tel Aviv considers an important partner.
MENA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backtracked on recognising the Armenian genocide, blocking the vote from the Knesset, only a month after the government was hailed by some for approving a proposal in parliament on the matter.

Israeli sources said Netanyahu’s decision to block the vote from the Knesset was due to pressure from Azerbaijan, Haaretz reported.

The decision from the government comes after Hikmat Hajiyev, an advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, contacted Netanyahu’s office.

The Israeli government then informed officials in Azerbaijan that the issue had been swiftly removed from the Knesset’s agenda and would not be voted on.

Last month, a proposal on recognising the Armenian genocide was submitted by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and while it still needed ratification by the Knesset, officials in Tel Aviv praised it.

However, at the time, commentators and analysts told The New Arab that the move from Israel was “opportunistic” and ironic, as it was seen as a rebuke to Turkey and came while Tel Aviv continues to bomb Gaza indiscriminately.

The Azerbaijani government last month issued a formal condemnation of Israel’s decision to recognise the Armenian genocide, demanding it be reconsidered.

The foreign ministry said the recognition represented “the distortion of the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915″ and reduced “a complex historical issue to a political decision without a sound legal or scholarly basis.”

Last week, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev also hosted Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa at his palace in Baku, a move Israel sees as a snub.

After the meeting, a statement from Azerbaijan’s presidency said that it supports the establishment of a Palestinian state with occupied East Jerusalem as the capital, referring to it as the Arabic name of “Al-Quds al-Sharif” or “The Noble Jerusalem”. The statement further detailed that Azerbaijan continues to assist Palestinians through the UN agency UNRWA and plans to build a school in the occupied West Bank.

While Israel views Baku as an important partner, particularly as it relies on Azerbaijan for oil, some commentators believe this marks a cooling of relations between the two.

Azerbaijan takes the same position as Turkey regarding the Armenian genocide.

Turkey states that Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War One, denying accusations and putting the death toll at hundreds of thousands, rather than the often cited 1.5 million. It also continues to reject calls to formally recognise it as a genocide.

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Armenia: Court Finds Rights Violation In Bishop Hovnan Case

Emil Lazarian Leave a comment
Eurasia Review
July 20, 2026
 July 20, 2026  

By PanARMENIAN

A court has ruled that the procedural rights of Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan were violated during the criminal case against him, according to a statement published by his lawyer, Armine Fanyan, on Facebook.

Fanyan said the ruling means the criminal prosecution of the bishop should be discontinued.

“Today I received Judge Ani Danielyan’s decision confirming that Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan’s rights had been violated.

The court, after granting our complaint, concluded that the suspension of the time limit for public criminal prosecution lacked a properly justified exceptional legal basis. Consequently, the bishop’s rights to a lawful and reasoned procedural decision, effective judicial protection, and resolution of the accusation within a reasonable period were infringed,” she wrote.

In January 2026, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and ten bishops seeking the removal of the Catholicos announced the launch of a reform process within the Armenian Apostolic Church and unveiled a corresponding roadmap.

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Israel’s “New Iran”: What’s Really Behind the Armenian Genocide Recognition V

Vorskanian Yeghisabet Leave a comment
July 20, 2026

Israel’s “New Iran”: What’s Really Behind the Armenian Genocide Recognition Vote Against Turkey

Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide on 28 June 2026 was framed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar as an act of moral and historic justice, decades overdue. Yet this framing conceals what the timing reveals. The recognition comes amid a recent increase in the number of Israeli politicians and members of the national security community framing Turkey as the “new Iran”, although others contest this characterization. Formal recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide also serves as a strategic countermeasure to Ankara’s intensified legal and diplomatic campaign, launched in 2024, to portray Israel as a violator of international law. This campaign contributed to the deterioration of Israel’s international standing following the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, and the ensuing Gaza war.

Netanyahu’s 2025 Trial Balloon: Testing Armenian Genocide Recognition

On 26 August 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on the PBD Podcast. Asked why Israel had not recognized the Armenian Genocide, he first claimed the Knesset had already passed a bill to that effect. This was false; Netanyahu and his allies even repeatedly blocked such recognition bills.

When the host pressed him for his personal view, Netanyahu replied: “I just did. Here you go.” The remark made international headlines. But nothing followed it. No institutional statement, no policy change. Armenia dismissed it as insincere and opportunistic.

Recognition by podcast quip is not recognition. It was, at most, a trial balloon for what came next.

On Sunday, 28 June 2026, the Israeli Cabinet voted unanimously to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The decision to name both perpetrator and victim, formally and officially, drew celebratory headlines. Unlike Netanyahu’s podcast comment, this was a genuine policy change.

But the move also served other important functions.

While the recognition was framed by Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Sa’ar, as a moral act, asserting that “it is never too late to do the right thing,” it also served a strategic purpose. A more complete reading of the decision is that it reflects the instrumentalization of the memory of the Armenian Genocide as a countermeasure against Turkey amid the accelerating deterioration of relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.

However, recognition of the Armenian Genocide was a diplomatic card that could be played only once. Although the decision still awaits formal approval by the Knesset—and the vote has now been postponed until after the October 2026 elections— the Cabinet’s unanimous decision has already led to a further political and diplomatic rupture with Turkey.

Israel’s Recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Context

Since 2023, Turkey has built an increasingly assertive legal and diplomatic strategy aimed at establishing, in international forums, a narrative of Israeli guilt. Turkey submitted a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice in August 2024, entering the case initiated by South Africa against Israel under the Genocide Convention.

Seen in that light, Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not simply a belated act of justice. It is a strategic move, timed to meet an escalating confrontation with Ankara.

Recognition also sits at the end of a much longer domestic process inside Israeli politics and civil society, one that predates the current confrontation with Turkey by two decades. Israeli advocacy for recognition goes back at least to the early 2000s, when religious and political figures across the spectrum began raising the issue on their own initiative, well before it had any connection to the deterioration of Israeli-Turkish relations. Knesset members from across the political map, including Yossi Sarid and Haim Oron on the left and Reuven Rivlin and Aria Eldad on the right, pushed the issue through parliamentary channels for years. Municipal recognitions followed, first in Petah Tikva and then in Haifa in 2023. This bottom-up trajectory, driven by backbench Members of the Knesset (MK) and local councils rather than the executive branch, constitutes a separate process from the one examined here—a process that deserves to be analyzed in its own right.

This following presents a narrower but equally important perspective. an explanation of why the government chose to act in June 2026 and why the timing aligns more closely with Turkey’s legal and diplomatic campaign against Israel than with the longer domestic trajectory of Armenian Genocide recognition.

In the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists aboard a ship attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. | Photo: Free Gaza Movement via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0.

From Diplomatic Breakdown to Legal Confrontation

The most widely known explanation for why Israel has long avoided recognizing the Armenian Genocide points to Turkey. It is a persuasive historical argument: from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, especially after the 1979 Islamic Revolution isolated Israel in the Middle East and made it more dependent on Turkey, Israel’s strategic partnership with Ankara made recognition diplomatically very costly.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry suppressed the issue in order to protect that relationship.

Following this reading, it was Erdoğan himself who removed the obstacle, as his growing hostility toward Israel, his alignment with Hamas, and the collapse of Israeli-Turkish relations after 7 October 2023 made recognition possible for the first time.

This explanation is correct. But it is incomplete.

It cannot account for what the shape of the decision itself reveals about the legal and strategic climate in which it occurred. Previous Israeli-Turkish crises include the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, in which Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists aboard a ship attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Yet while serious, such events were ultimately resolved through diplomatic bargaining and, eventually, a formal apology. The post-2023 rupture is different in kind. It has been accompanied by a sustained Turkish effort to institutionalize, rather than simply assert, a narrative of Israeli culpability.

Recognition within the “New Iran” Framing

The vote to recognize the Armenian genocide also came during a broader shift in how senior Israeli figures talk about Turkey; not as a difficult but manageable neighbor, but as the country’s next major regional threat, replacing the role long played by Iran. The government-appointed Nagel Committee warned that Israel should prepare for the possibility of future military confrontation with Turkey, arguing that Ankara’s expanding regional ambitions have fundamentally altered the strategic relationship between the two states.

Following that line, On 17 February 2026, former PM Naftali Bennett (2021-2022) told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem that „Turkey is the new Iran.“ He argued that Erdoğan is sophisticated and dangerous and seeks to encircle Israel, accused Ankara and Qatar of expanding influence in Syria and elsewhere, warning of a Turkish effort to turn Saudi Arabia against Israel and build a hostile Sunni bloc allied with nuclear-armed Pakistan. He also criticized what he called Israeli diplomatic passivity, a framing that implicitly calls for exactly the kind of assertive move that genocide recognition represents.

Together, these interventions show that well before 28 June Israel’s foreign policy establishment was already building a case that Turkey represents the structural heir to Iran’s old role as regional antagonist. Israel’s commitment to the case supplies the missing link between the genocide vote and Israel’s broader security posture. If Turkey is being reframed as an existential threat, then tools once considered too costly to use against a The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally (including the 1915 genocide recognition) become newly available. If the old relationship’s diplomatic value has already been written off, then recognition is not a break from Israel’s Turkey policy. Rather, it is just one part of it, alongside trilateral alignments with Greece and Cyprus and talk of a “hexagon” of counter-Turkish partnerships.

This explanation remains contested within Israel’s own national security and foreign policy debate. Critics point out that the „new Iran“ comparison serves a clear domestic political purpose: Naftali Bennett, Israel’s former prime minister (2021–2022), made the remarks while positioning himself for a political comeback ahead of the country’s upcoming October 2026 elections.

Critics of this framing also argue it misses an important distinction.

Meeting of the Iranian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and Hakan Fidan on November 30, 2025. | Photo: Avash Media via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Unlike Iran, Turkey has never denied Israel’s right to exist nor explicitly threatened it with military destruction, even while describing Israel as “a burden on the world.” Such rhetoric has also drawn criticism from a number of governments. Among them, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul condemned recent remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan about Israel following a conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

That skepticism does not undo the pattern described above. Bennett’s intervention and the warnings of the government-appointed Nagel Committee still show that the „new Iran“ concept was being actively constructed in Israeli political and national security community in the months before the recognition vote. But it remains a contested framing, not a settled fact about Turkey’s intentions. That distinction matters, for example: this piece analyzes the politics behind a recognition decision, it does not come to any conclusions about whether Turkey is or is not Israel’s next existential threat.

Now that the card of recognition has been played, the path towards normalization between Israel and Turkey appears more remote than ever. The relationship has entered a period of open rivalry, increasingly shaped by competing legal and normative frameworks of genocide denial and recognition, with historical memory serving as an instrument of both geopolitical competition and domestic politics.

For Germany, the EU, and other outside powers, the lesson extends beyond this one case. As Israel and Turkey’s rivalry hardens, historical memory is becoming a live instrument of statecraft rather than a settled matter of record; deployed less to establish truth than to discipline an adversary. Recognition and denial can each serve that function. Governments watching this rivalry and hoping to preserve cooperation with both states on issues of security, migration, and energy, will need to reckon with that dual use, not only with the question of who’s account of history is more accurate.

Eldad Ben Aharon

Dr. Eldad Ben Aharon is a Senior Researcher at PRIF. His first book, Israeli–Turkish Relations at the End of the Cold War: The Geopolitics of Denying the Armenian Genocide, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2025. His research explores the nexus of international security, memory politics, public and digital diplomacy, and norms, drawing on insights from securitisation theory, foreign policy analysis, and oral history. // Dr. Eldad Ben Aharon ist Senior Researcher am PRIF. Sein erstes Buch „Israeli–Turkish Relations at the End of the Cold War: The Geopolitics of Denying the Armenian Genocide“ erschien 2025 bei Edinburgh University Press. Er forscht zu den Zusammenhängen zwischen internationaler Sicherheit, Erinnerungspolitik, öffentlicher und digitaler Diplomatie sowie Normen und stützt sich dabei auf Erkenntnisse aus der Sekuritisierungstheorie, der Außenpolitikanalyse und der Oral History.

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Armenpress: Spain win second World Cup title after 16-year wait

Emma Jilavian Leave a comment
Sports03:33, 20 July 2026
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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey

New York New Jersey Stadium

Final

Spain 1-0 Argentina (after extra time)

Spain defeated defending champions Argentina 1-0 after extra time to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup, lifting the trophy for the second time in the nation’s history and the first since 2010.

Luis de la Fuente’s side controlled possession from the opening whistle and spent long spells pressing Argentina’s defence in search of the opening goal. Spain created several promising attacks during the first half but lacked the finishing touch.

Argentina relied mainly on counterattacks and failed to produce any real danger in front of Unai Simon’s goal. The defending champions did not register a single shot during the opening half.

The pattern of the match remained largely unchanged after the break, with Spain continuing to dominate possession while Argentina focused on defending deep and looking for opportunities on the counter.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez produced a series of outstanding saves to keep Argentina in the match. Spain thought they had taken the lead midway through the second half, but the goal was ruled out after a foul by Mikel Merino on Nicolas Otamendi.

In stoppage time, Enzo Fernandez was sent off after receiving a second yellow card, leaving Argentina to play the remainder of the match with ten men.

The match remained goalless after 90 minutes and went into extra time.

Ferran Torres finally broke the deadlock in the 106th minute, scoring the only goal of the match to secure Spain’s second FIFA World Cup title.

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Teenager dies after fountain collapses during Spain’s World Cup victory celebr

Hambardsumian Paul Leave a comment
Football13:36, 20 July 2026
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A 13-year-old boy died after a fountain partially collapsed during celebrations of Spain’s FIFA World Cup victory in the western Spanish town of Ciudad Rodrigo, Reuters reported, citing Spanish emergency services.

Two other people were injured in the incident.

The accident occurred shortly after midnight in Ciudad Rodrigo, a walled medieval town of about 12,000 people in Salamanca province, as celebrations of Spain’s historic World Cup triumph were taking place across the country.

Ciudad Rodrigo’s town hall expressed its condolences to the victim’s family.

“The entire city mourns this loss and shares the grief of the minor’s family and friends… What should have been a celebration of Spain’s World Cup victory has turned into a tragedy,” the statement said.

On July 19, Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the FIFA World Cup final to lift the trophy for the second time in the country’s history.

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Mbappe becomes World Cup’s all-time leading scorer, wins Golden Boot

Garo Vardanian Leave a comment
Sports12:34, 20 July 2026
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France captain Kylian Mbappe finished as the top scorer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, winning the Golden Boot after scoring 10 goals during the tournament. He finished two goals ahead of Argentina captain Lionel Messi, who ended the competition with eight.

Mbappe also led the tournament in overall goal contributions, recording 10 goals and four assists.

The French forward made more history in the third-place match against England, scoring twice to overtake Messi as the all-time leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history. Mbappe now has 22 World Cup goals, one more than Messi’s 21.

France reached the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup before losing 2-0 to eventual champions Spain. Les Bleus then lost 6-4 to England in the third-place playoff.

Another France player also made history in the match against England. Midfielder Michael Olise provided two assists to finish the tournament with seven, breaking Pele’s long-standing record of six assists in a single World Cup, set at the 1970 tournament.

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