Author: Edgar Tavakalian

The meeting of the Commission on border delimitation and border security held near Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Edgar Tavakalian

 19:48,

YEREVAN, 12 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The 4th meeting of the Commission on delimitation and border security of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan was held on the border of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, in the section of the Tavush region of the Republic of Armenia and the Kazakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told ARMENPRESS.

On July 12, the fourth meeting of the Commission was held on the border of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafaev.

According to the agreements reached at the level of the leaders of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan in different formats, the parties continued the discussion of border delimitation issues, addressed a number of organizational and procedural issues.




PM Pashinyan attends the opening ceremony of the sports school named after Khoren Hovhannisyan in Yerevan

Edgar Tavakalian

 16:42,

YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan attended the opening ceremony of the football school named after the legendary football player Khoren Hovhannisyan in Yerevan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan, President of the Football Federation of Armenia Armen Melikbekyan, many representatives of the sports world were also present at the event.

The Prime Minister first toured the sports school, familiarized himself with the implemented works and the conditions created for the children.

The Prime Minister congratulated on the opening of the sports school named after Khoren Hovhannisyan and noted. "There are people who do not belong to themselves, to their family, but to a wider circle, to the country, to the people. Khoren Hovhannisyan is one of those.

On the other hand, of course, it creates many other complications for these people, because such people are almost sanctified, made perfect, especially by the young generation who have been inspired by them, but no person is perfect, and every ordinary human movement can cause a problem in that regard. I am glad that today we are gathered on such an occasion, where we also emphasize that we do not forget values, we do not forget people, their merits and contributions."

The Prime Minister noted that it is symbolic that there are people present at the opening of the sports school, with whom there will be another oportunity to meet when a sport school named after them will be opened. "The sports school after Arthur Aleksanyan is being built in Gyumri, the construction process of the sports school after Arthur Abraham has started in Yerevan, we are in working discussions with Vik Darchinyan. There is the political decision, it remains to ensure the continuation. The construction works of the school after Simon Martirosyan are in the final stage, and according to the preliminary plan, the opening should take place in August. We have made a very important decision to build the sports school after Roman and Malkhas Amoyans in the enlarged Alagyaz community. This must be done.

But I also want to say that this process is, first of all, an appreciation for the merits of our famous athletes and the fame they have brought to Armenia, on the other hand, this is an important tool for popularizing sports," said Nikol Pashinyan, expressing his belief that many parents, children, learning about the existence of the "Khoren Hovhannisyan" Academy, they will hurry, especially here, because that name, heritage, atmosphere will bring a lot with it.

"Mr. Hovhannisyan, I congratulate you once again. Of course, the Football Federation implemented this program with the support of the Government, and we will continue this process. I am very happy that I have the opportunity to say such a word of appreciation to you, because I know and remember that your football career was not easy, there were as much complications, difficulties and problems, as glory.

I am very happy that we have come to this milestone after passing that difficult path both during the Soviet period and post-Soviet period. Can you imagine what expectations will be formed from this school, what kind of football players will come out? Of course, stardom aspiration is not such a good thing, because, first of all, it is important that our children have the opportunity to do sports and physical education. First of all, the healthy lifestyle, sports lifestyle should spread as much as possible, but on the other hand, when it has real scale in the country, as it is said, the pleasant will be combined with the useful. The more popular is the sport, the more opportunities to have stars we will have.

And that we have stars, I think there is no need to explain and prove it in this audience, because there are people present here who have proven that they can achieve success with their own work. I am sure, and the people present here are talking about it, that talent, hard work is the biggest sponsor and the biggest promoter. On the contrary, the victory of talent and hard work leads to people standing in line to be useful," the Prime Minister noted.

Nikol Pashinyan quoted the words of Khoren Hovhannisyan, according to which he never had the opportunity to train in such conditions. "It is very important that this also brings a change in thinking, brings with it a new way of thinking. Fair play, fair competition is the most important thing in football today and it is becoming more and more important in sports. Every now and then there is an attempt to suggest that what we see on the field is not really what is happening. That's a lie.

In fact, that’s what is happening, it’s another thing that the infrastructural issues, the atmosphere, from the diet, to the training programs and the qualification of the coaches determine the outcome. Because who said that the world dreamed of our champions becoming champions? They decided, they had a goal, they sacrificed a lot to achieve this goal, and they achieved that goal. The glory of these people is seen, glorified and praised and it seems to them that it is that 3 minutes or that 15 minutes. Behind those 15 minutes are tens of years of suffering, starting with limiting contact with friends, family, and so on. You have to be able to do it, but it is a sacrifice that, in my opinion, people make for the sake of the people, for the sake of the state, for the sake of statehood, for the sake of the flag, because we are all eagerly waiting for the moment when the flag of the Republic of Armenia will be raised and the anthem of the Republic of Armenia will be heard.

Mr. Hovhannisyan, thank you again for your work, thank you for your willingness to watch how the children play football here every day. I am sure that it will bring a new quality," Prime Minister Pashinyan said.

The construction works of the sports school started in spring 2022. This is the first sports school in the history of newly independent Armenia built from scratch in the Kentron community of Yerevan and bearing the name of a legendary football player.

The sports school is designed for 250-300 children, who will have the opportunity to train on a daily basis.

The sports school meets high international standards. It has a high quality artificial grass, the administrative building includes a heating and ventilation system, auditoriums, offices, locker rooms and a gym.

Azerbaijani state media warns of ‘inevitable’ military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh

Edgar Tavakalian
July 3 2023
 3 July 2023

ByAni Avetisyan

Azerbaijani state media has in recent days made increasingly frequent mentions of a possible new military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, as reports of severe food shortages in Nagorno-Karabakh mount. 

The message has been particularly frequently mentioned on Azerbaijani state TV channel AzTV, which has broadcast at least three reports since Sunday focusing on alleged ‘provocations’ by Armenia and potential ‘Revenge’ operations by Azerbaijan’s armed forces against Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Azerbaijani government and media have used ‘Revenge’ titles for military operations against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war. 

In one report published early on Monday, AzTV claimed that Azerbaijan’s army could launch a ‘Revenge-3’ operation before the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Brussels on 21 July. 

In another segment, the channel claimed that France and Russia had a ‘secret agreement’ regarding the conflict and suggested that Russian troops belonging to the Wagner paramilitary group had been deployed to Armenia. 

During the live broadcast of one video, AzTV ran a poll on YouTube, asking the audience if a military operation should be launched. While the poll is not available anymore, according to a screen grab published on social media, 83% of just under 300 respondents voted in favour of military action. 

Caliber, a media outlet affiliated with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence, on Saturday similarly warned of a ‘Revenge-3’ operation, in an article with the subheading ‘New provocations = fresh graves in Yerablur’, a reference to the Yerablur military cemetery in Armenia’s capital. 

The article claimed that Armenian troops remained in Nagorno-Karabakh, contradicting Armenia’s repeated denial of the above, and that two of the four soldiers killed in Nagorno-Karabakh last week were members of the Armenian armed forces. 

[Read more: Nagorno-Karabakh calls for negotiations to halt after four killed]

Caliber substantiated its accusation by citing that the bodies of two soldiers were transferred to Armenia a few days after the 28 June conflict. 

Nagorno-Karabakh countered the accusation, stating that both soldiers were members of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces. The authorities in Stepanakert stated that one soldier’s parents requested that their son be buried in the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan, while the other soldier’s family had left Lachin and settled in Armenia following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. 

Caliber also accused Nagorno-Karabakh of planning a military ‘provocation’, and stated that such action would make ‘Operation Revenge 3 […] inevitable’. 

‘It is time for everyone to understand that under no circumstances will Azerbaijan accept the presence of illegal armed groups on its territory’, stated the report. 

AzTV also accused armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh of violating the ceasefire regime and carrying out ‘fortification work’ on the borders with Aghdam region in southwestern Azerbaijan. 

In recent weeks, tensions have mounted between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, particularly as ongoing obstacles to transport in and out of the region have led to reports of intensifying food shortages in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

As the situation has worsened, Nagorno-Karabakh’s population and political leadership have raised concerns regarding ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

In a meeting in Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament on 30 June, President Arayik Harutyunyan stated that Nagorno-Karabakh should not accept Azerbaijan’s offers to negotiate in Baku, as Azerbaijan only wanted to discuss ‘integration’ of the region’s Armenian population, which he had attempted to disagree with. 

‘Those negotiations do not give results because at the end [the Azerbaijani side] come, say “this is our goal” ’, said Harutyunyan. 

Contradicting Harutyunyan’s statement, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former Defence Minister and current opposition figure Samvel Babayan called for direct talks between Baku and Stepanakert.

He stated that they were necessary to build mutual trust, to reach agreement on ‘various simple issues’, and to allow people to ‘live calmly and normally’. 

‘After that, let’s go to the second stage: status and other remaining issues’, Babayan told RFE/RL.

Babayan suggested that Baku and Stepanakert could start negotiating with a ‘package’ that would include all of each side’s key demands. 

The former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ruben Vardanyan, appeared to publicly blame Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and issues in the negotiations process. 

‘The negotiations process is going wrong because of one person who decided to hand over [Nagorno-Karabakh] without any legitimate basis.’, said Vardanyan.

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.


Armenpress: Georgia always ready to be a mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan – Garibashvili

Edgar Tavakalian

 20:52,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Georgia has shown that it is capable of being an effective mediator in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and is ready to re-engage in the process if necessary, ARMENPRESS reports, citing "Sputnik-Georgia", Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in the Parliament of Georgia.

"Two years ago, we showed the first concrete results of the mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in which I was personally involved. It was, so to speak, one of the exemplary mediations in the region," Garibashvili said.

The Prime Minister expressed Georgia's readiness to continue playing the role of a mediator.

"I want to once again publicly reaffirm our full readiness from this podium. If necessary, we are ready to be involved once again as a mediator in the ongoing negotiations between the two countries, our friends," Garibashvili stated.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 06/30/2023

Edgar Tavakalian 
                                        Friday, 


Karabakh Leader Rules Out ‘Integration’ Into Azerbaijan

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Nagorno Karabakh - President Arayik Harutiunian holds a meeting in Stepanakert, 
June 26, 2023.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s president said on Thursday that the Armenian-populated region 
will continue to assert its right to self-determination despite mounting 
pressure from Azerbaijan.

“As for Armenia or various international bodies, I want to make clear that 
nobody can strip us of our right to self-determination, an international norm,” 
Arayik Harutiunian told Karabakh lawmakers.

Harutiunian said that Azerbaijan is heightening tensions along the Karabakh 
“line of contact” and using its nearly eight-month blockade of the Lachin 
corridor to force the Karabakh Armenians to disband their government bodies and 
armed forces and accept Azerbaijani rule.

“The objective is [to ensure] an Artsakh delegation’s visit to Baku,” he said. 
“They are doing everything for that. Baku is discussing only one topic with us: 
the topic of integration. It’s not discussing any other topics.”

Azerbaijan’s leaders have openly threatened to launch a new military attack on 
Karabakh in recent weeks.

“That is why the [Karabakh] parliament must be dissolved, the element who calls 
himself the president [of Karabakh] must surrender and all ministers, deputies 
and other officials must resign. Only then can there be talk of amnesty,” 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in late May.

Two weeks later, Baku completely blocked relief supplies to Karabakh carried out 
by Russian peacekeepers. It thus aggravated shortages of food, medicine and 
other essential items there.

Aliyev’s threats and the tightening of the blockade followed Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over 
Karabakh. The authorities in Stepanakert strongly condemned Pashinian, saying 
that his statement is “null and void” for them.

Pashinian’s government wants Baku and Stepanakert to address “the rights and 
security” of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population through an internationally 
mediated dialogue. Its critics say the Karabakh Armenians cannot live safely 
under Azerbaijani rule and would inevitably leave their homeland in that case.




Armenian Government Raises Pensions


Armenia - The main government building in Yerevan, March 6, 2021.


The Armenian government has raised the country’s modest pensions by roughly 7 
percent amid continuing double-digit economic growth.

It also approved on Thursday similar increases in disability benefits. They too 
will take effect on July 1.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Labor and Social Affairs Minister 
Narek Mkrtchian said the average monthly pension in Armenia will reach about 
50,000 drams ($128). Retired military personnel will now be paid 91,600 drams 
per month, he said. The government raised the minimum pension by almost 14 
percent, to 36,000 drams.

These figures will pale in comparison with the country’s average monthly wage, 
which currently stands at about 256,000 drams ($656), according to government 
data. The average pension will also remain well below the per-capita minimum 
cost of living.

The so-called “consumer basket” calculated by the Armenian Statistical Committee 
is now worth just over 80,000 drams. Mkrtchian said that the government remains 
committed to gradually bringing the average pension to this level in the coming 
years.

The pension rises were clearly made possible by Armenia’s robust economic growth 
that exceeded 12 percent in 2022 and seems to be continuing unabated now. They 
will not be enough to offset nearly 9 percent consumer price inflation recorded 
last year. According to the Statistical Committee, inflation fell to just 1.3 
percent in May this year.




Yerevan Details Lingering Differences With Baku

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan.


Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to disagree on practical modalities of 
delimiting their border and organizing a dialogue between Baku and 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The foreign ministers of the two countries concluded late on Thursday a new 
round of U.S.-mediated negotiations held in and outside Washington. The Foreign 
Ministry said they agreed on more articles of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace 
treaty but did not iron out their differences on “some key issues.”

The ministry spokeswoman, Ani Badalian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that 
those issues include the border delimitation, troop disengagement and how to 
“properly address the rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh people under 
an international mechanism.”

Yerevan says that such a mechanism is essential for protecting Karabakh’s ethnic 
Armenian population. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made clear 
late last week that Baku will not agree to any special security arrangements for 
the Karabakh Armenians.

Also, the Armenian side wants to use 1975 Soviet maps as a basis for delimiting 
the long border. Baku has opposed the idea so far. The Azerbaijani Foreign 
Ministry emphasized earlier this month that Azerbaijan has demarcated its 
borders with other neighboring states “on the basis of analyses and examination 
of legally binding documents, rather than any specially chosen map.”

Tigran Grigorian, a Yerevan-based political analyst, said the parties’ failure 
to eliminate any of these sticking points means that they did not achieve a 
breakthrough during the three-day talks. The signing of the peace treaty is 
therefore still not on the cards, he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Speaking during the concluding session of the talks, U.S. Secretary of State 
Antony Blinken said that despite “further progress” made by the two conflicting 
sides “there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement.”

“I think there is also a clear understanding on everyone’s part that the closer 
you get to reaching agreement, in some cases the harder it gets by definition,” 
added Blinken.

One day after the start of the talks, four Karabakh Armenian soldiers were 
killed in Azerbaijani artillery and drone attacks on their positions, one of the 
deadliest ceasefire violations in Karabakh reported since the 2020 war.

“I think that Azerbaijan definitely used that escalation to try clinch some 
concessions from the Armenian side at the negotiating table,” said Grigorian. He 
claimed that Baku is seeking an agreement that would amount to Armenia’s “de 
facto capitulation.”




More Progress Reported In Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Talks


U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Armenian Foreign Minister 
Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minoster Jeyhun Bayramov, Washington, 
June 27, 2023.


The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers made further progress towards a 
bilateral peace treaty but still disagree on some of its key terms, official 
Yerevan said on Thursday night after they concluded a new round of U.S.-mediated 
negotiations.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov 
met outside Washington for three consecutive days. They also held trilateral 
meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security 
Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“The Ministers and their teams continued progress on the draft bilateral 
‘Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations,’” read a 
statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

“They reached an agreement on additional articles and advanced mutual 
understanding of the draft agreement, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions 
on some key issues require further work,” it said, adding that Mirzoyan and 
Bayramov pledged to “continue their negotiations.”

The statement did not disclose those articles or the remaining sticking points. 
It reflected Blinken’s comments made during the final session of the three-day 
talks.

The top U.S. diplomat also said that “there remains hard work to be done to try 
to reach a final agreement.”

“I think there is also a clear understanding on everyone’s part that the closer 
you get to reaching agreement, in some cases the harder it gets by definition. 
The most difficult issues are left for the end,” added Blinken.

The two sides were understood to disagree before the latest talks on practical 
modalities of delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and a dialogue between 
Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership as well as international safeguards 
against non-compliance with the treaty.

Yerevan has been pressing for an “international mechanism” for such a dialogue, 
saying that it is essential for protecting “the rights and security” of 
Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population. Bayramov made clear late last week that 
Baku will not agree to any special security arrangements for the Karabakh 
Armenians.


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.

Armenia PM wishes Turkey’s Erdogan happy Eid as Azerbaijan targets Nagorno-Karabakh

Edgar Tavakalian
Diplomatic sources say the call comes amid an ongoing effort aimed at getting Turkey to rein in an increasingly aggressive Azerbaijan.

Amberin Zaman

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday amid spiraling tensions between his nation and Ankara’s close regional ally Azerbaijan, part of what regional diplomatic sources say is an ongoing effort aimed at getting Ankara to rein in an increasingly aggressive Baku. The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Pashinyan had congratulated the Turkish people on the occasion of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha, an unusual move for the leader of a majority Christian nation.

According to the readout of the conversation, the two leaders also touched upon ongoing normalization talks aimed at restoring full diplomatic relations and reopening the land border between the two countries. Regional officials speaking not for attribution to Al-Monitor said that Pashinyan continues to believe that detente with Ankara is the best guarantee of fending off another full-scale attack by Azerbaijan and is courting Erdogan to that end. Armenian officials hope that former Turkish spy chief Hakan Fidan’s appointment as foreign minister will bring new impetus to the talks.

Pashinyan was among the first leaders to congratulate Erdogan over his May victory in twin polls that saw his right-wing alliance win a majority in parliament as well.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday amid spiraling tensions between his nation and Ankara’s close regional ally Azerbaijan, part of what regional diplomatic sources say is an ongoing effort aimed at getting Ankara to rein in an increasingly aggressive Baku. The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Pashinyan had congratulated the Turkish people on the occasion of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha, an unusual move for the leader of a majority Christian nation.

According to the readout of the conversation, the two leaders also touched upon ongoing normalization talks aimed at restoring full diplomatic relations and reopening the land border between the two countries. Regional officials speaking not for attribution to Al-Monitor said that Pashinyan continues to believe that detente with Ankara is the best guarantee of fending off another full-scale attack by Azerbaijan and is courting Erdogan to that end. Armenian officials hope that former Turkish spy chief Hakan Fidan’s appointment as foreign minister will bring new impetus to the talks.

Pashinyan was among the first leaders to congratulate Erdogan over his May victory in twin polls that saw his right-wing alliance win a majority in parliament as well.

According to protocol, Armenia’s president, Vahagn Khatchaturyan, should have attended Erdogan’s extravagant inauguration bash. However, Pashinyan elbowed him aside and showed up instead.

Wednesday’s phone call, initiated by Pashinyan, came amid reports that four Armenian servicemen had been killed after Azerbaijan carried out strikes early Wednesday along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh. The day prior, Azerbaijan claimed one of its own men had been killed in the zone by Armenian forces. The spike coincided with US-mediated talks in Washington aimed at securing a lasting peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries last went to war in 2020 over the disputed enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has an ethnic Armenian majority.

Azerbaijan emerged victorious with Turkey's and Israel’s help, wresting back all of its territories occupied by Armenia in a previous war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.

Olessya Vartanyan, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst in the South Caucasus who recently traveled to Yerevan, noted that Armenia has a pretty low bar. “I didn’t get the sense that there are hopes that Ankara can pressure Baku,” Vartanyan said. “Rather, they are maintaining the strategy of engaging Ankara in order to avoid its full-scale participation (on the side of Azerbaijan) in case of a new war.”

Fears of conflict have been brewing since last year when Azerbaijan imposed a blockade on the sole route connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia proper, starving civilians of vital supplies and escalating attacks on Armenian forces inside Armenian territory.

Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region in keeping with a truce brokered by the Kremlin in November 2020 have failed to halt the violence. “Moscow is absolutely useless, no matter whether it attempts to resolve the crisis or not,” Vartanyan observed.  

The International Crisis Group reckons that at least 1,200 military personnel have either died or been wounded since then. The bulk of those killed along the front lines are Armenians. Azerbaijanis constitute the majority injured or killed by landmines.

Turkey-Armenia normalization talks that kicked off in Moscow in January 2022 have yielded little so far, even after Pashinyan formally conceded that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan.

A first, minuscule reward came a full year later when Turkey lifted its ban on direct cargo flights with Armenia. The sides are still working on the details of allowing third-country nationals and bearers of diplomatic passports to use the land border that was sealed by Ankara in solidarity with Baku in 1993 at the height of the first conflict, which was won by Armenia.

“Erdogan’s position is very clear: ‘Satisfy (Azerbaijani President Ilham) Aliyev’s desires and you will have something tangible on Turkish-Armenian relations,’” noted Benyamin Poghosyan, a Yerevan-based political analyst. As for Pashinyan, “I believe he simply wants to create a positive image of himself in the United States and the EU that, despite Erdogan’s position, he is a constructive guy.”

The United States and the EU have urged Azerbaijan to lift the blockade, but Azerbaijan’s strongman Aliyev has grown ever more intransigent due to growing European dependence on his country’s vast natural gas supplies that are piped to the continent via Turkey. The invasion of Ukraine has further eroded the Kremlin’s influence over former Soviet states, allowing Aliyev to grow ever more aggressive and for Turkey to expand its footprint in Russia’s backyard.

“Baku continues escalating despite (the US-brokered) talks,” Vartanyan said. “The region is left hoping that only US and EU involvement can prevent another war.”



Reflections as another Armenian school year passes

Edgar Tavakalian
 Nayiri Shahnazarian Reflections, Diaspora 0

Nayiri Shahnazarian and assistant teacher Anie Shahnazarian (right) with their students

On June 10, 2023, the 21 students of the Armenian school of Greater Baltimore took the stage to showcase what they learned throughout the school year. They sang songs, performed dances, recited poems and even presented a play. It was truly remarkable for me to see our students and all of their incredible accomplishments. 

This was my third year as an Armenian school teacher and I absolutely loved it. It’s difficult to put into words how exciting it was week after week to watch the children get to know each other, learn vocabulary words and build bonds within our local Armenian community. Every Saturday, my students surpassed expectations and impressed me with their willingness and yearning to learn. Whether it was catching themselves using a word in English and then switching to Armenian, or sounding out words in Armenian completely on their own, this year I was filled with pride and gratitude to have these children in my life. My students pushed themselves to learn longer, more difficult poems and practiced writing the alphabet. I would hear stories from parents about how seriously the children took their homework, and it showed when they would come back to class the following week ready to show off what they had completed. 

Each year that I am a teacher, I find myself growing and learning more as well. I started taking online private Armenian lessons from a teacher in Armenia in order to improve my own skills and teach my class more effectively. I find myself more confident when I speak, my reading level has improved, and my vocabulary is so much larger than it was before. 

I also was able to connect with a teacher at the Hamasdegh Armenian School located at Soorp Khatch Armenian Church about an hour away from the Baltimore school. We talked about our students, and she offered some tips on how to teach dance to the younger children that I look forward to utilizing. I also realized how much I genuinely love teaching and decided that over the summer I would offer private lessons. I conducted my first two last week. Even in just one hour working with my students one-on-one, I witnessed significant improvement, and there is nothing more joyful than seeing the light bulbs go off in their heads. 

I look forward to the fall when school begins again and am excited to see what new things my students and I will learn together. Armenian school is a gift, and I wouldn’t want to spend my Saturday mornings anywhere else.

If you’re in the Baltimore area and would like more information on our school, please email [email protected], or reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook.

  •  Bio
  •  Latest Posts
Nayiri Shahnazarian is from Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated with a double major in economics and business management from Goucher College in 2020. Nayiri volunteered at Camp Javakhk in 2019 and remained in Armenia to complete her fall semester of her senior year at the American University of Armenia. She is a member of the AYF Washington, DC "Ani" Chapter. She also teaches at the local Baltimore Armenian Saturday school.


Steel manufacturer determined to continue construction of plant in Yeraskh despite Azeri shootings

Edgar Tavakalian

 14:04,

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS. The construction of the smelter plant in Yeraskh is temporarily halted but will resume after clarifying several technical issues with authorized bodies, GTB Steel CEO Tiran Hakobyan told reporters.

GTB Steel is building the steelworks in Yeraskh which came under Azerbaijani gunfire on June 14. Two construction workers were wounded in the shooting.

“Of course we are worried about the incident, but there’s no panic. We are in the sovereign territory of Armenia, we are resolute in our activities, we will not stop and we will continue to work,” Hakobyan said.

The fact that equipment and workers are targeted means that Azerbaijan seeks to disrupt the construction of the plant, he added.

“The reason is clear, they don’t want Armenia to become economically stronger. While our factory will have a rather large investment in the Armenian economy. After completing construction the plant will produce approximately 200-250 thousand tons of rebar annually from black steel, and Armenia will be the main consumer. We view Middle Eastern countries as a market as well,” Hakobyan said.

GTB Steel is co-owned by American companies, with only one of the beneficiaries being Armenian – Grigor Ter Ghazaryan. Building the plant in Yeraskh was Ghazaryan’s idea.

“We had offers to build the plant in various parts of Armenia. We came to Yeraskh at the desire of Grigor Ter Ghazaryan, one of our co-owners, because it’s very important for the border zone to develop. Everyone knows that we have tax privileges, we are exempt from VAT, but we’ve refused this privilege and we are paying VAT,” he said.

200 workers are employed at the construction site. 70 of them are citizens of India.

Indian embassy staffers have visited the two Indian workers at a hospital who were wounded in the June 14 Azeri shooting.

“Since the plant is a technological one, we use the skills of our Indian partners in some issues. We were working normally before these shootings began,” he said, adding that none of the workers want to quit.

Photos by Hayk Manukyan




International community’s silence could lead to new Azeri aggression against democratic Armenia, warns senior diplomat

Edgar Tavakalian

 11:28,

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The international community’s silence or absence of unequivocally targeted measures on Azerbaijan may cause new aggressions against democratic Armenia, Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan warned after the latest Azerbaijani shooting which targeted civilian infrastructure in Yeraskh.

“Azerbaijan opened fire at the vehicles and infrastructures of a plant being built in the sovereign territory of Armenia by a US-Armenian investment. Intensive fire continued for three hours. This is an outrageous behavior going against all efforts carried out towards the peace process and a gross violation of all commitments on non-use of force or even threat of use of force. We strongly condemn this provocative behavior and call for our international partners to take measures against Azerbaijan, including sanctions and direct calls for refraining from such destructive approach. The silence of international community or absence of unequivocally targeted measures on Azerbaijan may cause new aggressions against democratic Armenia,” Marukyan tweeted.

“This is an indiscriminate use of force by Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of Republic of Armenia, which must be condemned by all international actors interested in peace as stability of the entire region,” Marukyan added in a separate post.

BREAKING: Two foreigners in Armenia wounded in Azerbaijani shooting attack at civilian facility in Yeraskh

Edgar Tavakalian

 12:18,

YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. Two foreign nationals were wounded on Wednesday when Azerbaijani military forces opened fire at a steelworks which is under development with foreign investments in the Armenian village of Yeraskh. The shooting occurred around 11:45, June 14, the defense ministry said.

Furthermore, the Azerbaijani defense ministry spread disinformation falsely accusing Armenia of opening fire in an attempt to create information grounds for its shooting. 

“The Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan disseminated disinformation at around 11:30 a.m. as if the RA Armed Forces opened fire against the Azerbaijani combat positions near the Yeraskh settlement, thus making an information base: 10-15 minutes later, at around 11:45 a.m., Azerbaijani side opened fire in the same direction at the metallurgical plant being built with the measures of foreign investments in Yeraskh, in the wake of which 2 foreign citizens were wounded,” the Defense Ministry of Armenia said in a statement posted on Facebook.