Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Asbarez: ANCA Pasadena Endorses Rick Cole for City Council District 2

Emil Lazarian
by Contributor

 

 

 

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Rick Cole


PASADENA—The Armenian National Committee of America – Pasadena Chapter on February 19 officially announced its endorsement of Rick Cole for the Pasadena City Council District 2 seat in the upcoming March 2024 Primary Election.

“Rick has had a longstanding appreciation, friendship, and understanding of what it is to be an Armenian in Pasadena, the issues that concern the Armenian American community in his district and the City, and with a keen approach on how to improve on those issues,” said ANCA Pasadena Chapter Board member, Marisa Sarian.

“My life has long been enriched by my Armenian-American friends, neighbors and colleagues, starting with my first job as the dishwasher for Kabakian’s restaurant when I was a student at Blair High,” said Rick Cole. “Armenian-Americans have long made an incalculable cultural, economic and civic contribution to our community, built on the values I share: faith, family, country, opportunity and hard work. I also draw inspiration from the resilience of a 3,000-year-old history of thriving in the face of challenge and adversity. It is a privilege to have the support of the Armenian National Committee of America’s Pasadena Chapter–an honor I hope to vindicate over the next four years of working together.”

Deeply rooted in Pasadena as a native and lifelong resident, Rick Cole brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record from his extensive career in public service. His journey has seen him in pivotal roles across several California cities, serving as a Councilmember and Mayor of Pasadena and extending his expertise as Deputy Mayor for the City of Los Angeles and as City Manager for Azusa, Ventura, and Santa Monica. His current role as Chief Deputy Controller for the City of Los Angeles underscores his adeptness in municipal governance and financial oversight.

Rick continues to be actively involved in numerous volunteer activities, namely serving as Lector in Saint Monica’s Church, participating in the faith-based non-profit Making Housing and Community Happen, Civitas, Pasadenans Organizing For Progress, Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association, as well as Pasadena Heritage and NAACP.

Rick’s priorities for Council District 2 are to ensure affordable housing for young families and seniors, help end homelessness, support public schools and businesses, and preserve Pasadena’s unique character.

Cole has dedicated more than forty years to public service and community empowerment, including leadership in various cities, as well as the League of California Cities, the International City/County Management Association, and the National League of Cities while teaching Urban Policy at Occidental College and Pepperdine University. His dedication and unwavering commitment to community service have garnered numerous awards and accolades. Considering his diverse and distinguished professional background, ANCA-Pasadena proudly endorses Rick Cole for Pasadena City Council District 2 in the upcoming Primary Election on March 5th, 2024.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Pasadena Chapter is the oldest, largest, and most influential non-partisan Armenian American grassroots organization of its kind within the City of Pasadena. Founded in 1979, the Pasadena ANCA advocates for the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of the city’s thriving Armenian American community and promotes increased civic service and participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.

Ararat-Eskijian Museum Research Center and UCLA’s Armenian Genocide Research Program Launch Archive Project

Emil Lazarian
by Contributor

 

 

 

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Vahakn N. Dadrian


The Ararat-Eskijian Museum Research Center and the Armenian Genocide Research Program, within The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, announced the launch of the Vahakn N. Dadrian Archive Project. 

Professor Vahakn N. Dadrian (1926–2019) was a preeminent scholar of the Armenian Genocide and instrumental in establishing the larger field of genocide studies. He lectured and published widely in the field, leading to greater international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. His unique collection of archival materials and books is of extraordinary value to those researching the origins of the Armenian Genocide, the Genocide itself and its aftermath. 

Throughout his long career, Professor Dadrian accumulated a wealth of material on the Armenian Genocide throughout the different archives in the world, American, British, German, French Armenian and Ottoman among them. His archive has also numerous unpublished manuscripts and newspapers from various languages. Before his death, he transferred these materials to the AEMRC. The Vahakn Dadrian Armenian Genocide Book Collection is now housed in The Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library located at the University of Southern California. 

After a gradual process of herculean efforts and numerous trips across the nation transporting Professor Dadrian’s archives, the AEMRC initiated a project in 2009 to digitize his personal notes and archives of historical documents and make them available for future generations of researchers interested in furthering their knowledge of Armenian Genocide Studies and general genocide studies.

Pages archived by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum Research Center and UCLA’s Armenian Genocide Research Program

A total of 28,000 pages out of a total of 110,000 pages were digitized and indexed by 2018. It took two years of efforts to appropriately preserve the entire archive collection into special folders and boxes. This full archive has been available to scholars and researchers by in-person appointment only at the AEMRC. Due to a large grant recipient in 2023, participants of the project will be resuming the continuation of digitization and indexing of the remaining 80,000 pages.

They are also in the important process of facilitating the accessibility of the digitized collection, particularly to make it searchable through keywords for researchers. Dr. Anna Aleksanyan, a post-graduate student from Clark University, has been involved in these efforts. Dr. Aleksanyan is also currently on fellowship with the AGRP.

The Vahakn N. Dadrian Archive Project is led under the direction of Professor Taner Akçam, the inaugural Director of the AGRP. This project is anticipated to be completed by December 2025. Upon completion, the entire collection will be available online.

The AGRP will host a webinar this spring to offer additional insight into the project. For more information, visit the AGRP website.   

The Ararat-Eskijian Museum was founded in June 1985 by Genocide survivor, Mr. Luther Eskijian, and includes a unique collection of Armenian artifacts as well as books and materials about the Armenian Genocide. The museum is also a cultural and educational center where scholars, artists, writers, and community leaders can present current and historical subjects related to the Armenian people, as well as Genocide education. 

The Armenian Genocide Research Program was established within The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA in early 2022. Led by Taner Akçam, Ph.D., the AGRP engages in research and scholarly activities pertaining to the study of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire during the early 20th century.

Podcast | Are Armenia and Azerbaijan heading towards war?

Emil Lazarian
Feb 23 2024

Last week, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Azerbaijan might be preparing to launch a full-scale war. His warning came amidst peace negotiations between the two countries that have been ongoing since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020.

This week, we speak to Crisis Group’s Olesya Vartanyan, to independent researcher Shujaat Ahmadzada, and to writer and Carnegie Senior Fellow Thomas de Waal about the likelihood of a war breaking out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the current status of the peace talks.

Listen to the Podcast at 

Armenia signs arms contract with France amid boost in military ties

Emil Lazarian
 rfi 
France – Feb 23 2024

France signed commitments to sell precision rifles to Armenia and train Armenian military officers, their defence ministers said Friday. The move comes as Yerevan seeks to reduce its dependence on Moscow.

Armenia signed a contract with French arms manufacturer PGM to buy the guns, its defence minister Suren Papikian told a news conference in Yerevan alongside his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu.

Armenia has been looking to bolster its defences in recent years as fighting has broken out with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

"Armenia has adopted the idea of modernising the army, we are going to use our own means and the help of partner states," Papikian said.

"It's about being able to use all the tools of peace to defend our borders."

They did not disclose the value of the deal.

The countries also signed an agreement for France to train five Armenian soldiers at its Saint Cyr Coetquidan military academy and offered also to help train non-commissioned officers.

Lecornu confirmed that France would deploy a military adviser specialising in ground-based air defence systems to help Armenia defend itself against "possible strikes by potential aggressors" against civilians.

Armenia "is turning to partners who really provide security," Lecornu said, in response to a question about frayed relations between Yerevan and Moscow - its historic ally.

Lecornu travelled to Yerevan on Thursday evening with members of parliament and defence industry representatives.

  • France ups military ties with Armenia with first ever visit by a defence minister

The visit comes amid a growing rift between the Soviet-era master Moscow and Yerevan, which has grown angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction on Armenia's long-running confrontation with Azerbaijan.

In October 2023, France announced the sale of defence equipment to Armenia, provoking anger from Azerbaijan.

The deal was announced weeks after Baku seized the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists.

France, home to a large Armenian diaspora, has played a mediating role in the decades-long conflict over control of Karabakh, whose recapture by Azerbaijan led to the exodus of some 100,000 Armenians.

(with AFP)


Putin loses member of military alliance who warns Russia: ‘There’ll be consequences’

Emil Lazarian
UK – Feb 23 2024
By CHARLIE BRADLEY

Vladimir Putin has lost a key ally in Europe as Armenia rages at Moscow over its stance on the country's conflict with neighbour Azerbaijan.

Armenia has effectively suspended its membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a group of former Soviet states.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that the group "hasn’t fulfilled its security obligations towards Armenia."

Speaking to France 24, he added: "This couldn’t have gone without consequences. And the consequence is that in practice we have basically frozen our participation in the CSTO."

Pashinyan accused Russia of failing to step in amid the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the latter not a member of CSTO.

In September, Azerbaijan launched a military operation to take the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, at the centre of conflict between the two countries for years.

As a result, 100,000 Armenians were forced to leave the area.

Russian troops had been in the region as peacekeepers but left prior to Azerbaijan's attack.

Many Russian soldiers remain stationed in Armenia but this could be threatened by Pashinyan's growing anger at Moscow.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Armenia has not officially notified Moscow of its intention to suspend its membership of the CSTO.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies in the mountainous South Caucasus region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought over the region in the 1980s and 1990s.

Tensions ramped up once again in 2020 when Azerbaijani forces recaptured all the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh after an attack.

Russia brokered a peace deal after six weeks of fighting.

UK criticised over apparent call to firms to rebuild disputed areas of Azerbaijan

Emil Lazarian
The Guardian, UK
Feb 22 2024

Officials held online meeting with business leaders despite flight of ethnic Armenians after military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh

The UK government faces criticism after officials appeared to urge British businesses to help rebuild disputed areas of Azerbaijan just weeks after the state’s military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh led more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region.

Officials from the UK Foreign Office and the business department held an online meeting with British business leaders in November to encourage companies to take advantage of the “great opportunity” to support Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev’s rebuilding agenda.

The event, hosted by a business development network, was held six weeks after the Azerbaijan state seized the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, resulting in an estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing the region and crossing into neighbouring Armenia.

The latest territorial dispute, which follows decades of conflict in the region, led Armenians to accuse Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing”, a claim Azerbaijan has denied.

In the days after Baku’s military operations the UK government publicly condemned the Aliyev regime’s “unacceptable use of force” in Nagorno-Karabakh and warned that it had “put at risk efforts to find a lasting peaceful settlement” in the region.

But a recording of the online meeting, shared with the Guardian by campaigners at Global Witness, includes one senior UK government official encouraging business leaders to take advantage of the financial opportunities in the “huge western chunk of the country that needs to be rebuilt from the ground up”.

“The Azerbaijan government is supporting what it calls ‘the great return’, which is essentially providing the opportunity for the 700,000 [internally displaced people], these refugees, to basically return to Karabakh. So you have this great opportunity here actually,” the official said.

It is not clear whether the official was referring to Nagorno-Karabakh specifically, part of the far larger Karabakh region. Aliyev set out plans in 2020 to rebuild the “liberated districts” of the Karabakh region in western Azerbaijan, which includes Nagorno-Karabakh. The president said it was important that all displaced Azerbaijan citizens return to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent districts where they used to live.

A second government official told business leaders: “[There’s] a great opportunity here actually. [It was] just an empty land that was ready to be built over from scratch.”

Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said: “Behind closed doors, the UK government is calling Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh a ‘great opportunity’. What century are these officials living in? It’s not a great opportunity for the UK, nor for the people who were displaced.”

In the recording the first official said UK companies were “well-placed” to collaborate with the Azerbaijan government to provide infrastructure advice to “a government which has financial means given that it has very large energy resources”. Azerbaijan owns one of the world’s largest gasfields, Shah Deniz in the Caspian Sea, and is a growing exporter of gas to Europe.

The official also said there was a “real opportunity here, both politically to make peace [and] to create a situation where those people who have left from both sides of the line can return, but also economic opportunities within the country itself”.

A UK government spokesperson said: “These comments from UK officials have been misrepresented. Discussions of reconstruction referred to the UK government’s public work to assist with possible future development in the new towns being built for those displaced by decades of conflict.

“The UK is not involved in commercial activity or reconstruction efforts in the area of Nagorno-Karabakh region recovered by Azerbaijan through its September 2023 military operation.

“The UK continues to work to support stability and lasting peace after the long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

The Guardian revealed last year that Azerbaijan’s share of two large oil and gas projects operated by British oil company BP had earned its government almost $35bn (£28.6bn), or more than four times its military spending since 2020 when war broke out in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This type of arrangement is commonplace in the oil and gas industry as a way to share the risk and reward of developing fossil fuel projects between foreign companies and the host state.

BP also plans to build a 240MW solar farm in Azerbaijan’s “liberated lands”, according to Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister. The Azerbaijani prime minister, Ali Asadov, met with the BP head of production, Gordon Birrell, recently to discuss the Sunrise solar project, which is planned for an area near the ghost city of Jabrayil, which was left in ruin after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

“This is a great opportunity for BP to cosy up closer still to the Azeri ‘dictatorship’, nothing more,” Noronha-Gant said.

Global Witness has warned BP that its investment has indirectly helped to fund Azerbaijan’s military aggression against ethnic Armenians in the contested region. BP has previously said that it supports “a peaceful settlement to the conflict and hope[s] that a final resolution will soon be found”. A spokesperson declined to comment on the UK officials’ video meeting, or on its plans to build the Sunrise solar project.

Armenia freezes participation in CSTO

Emil Lazarian

 10:21,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is practically frozen, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“The CSTO hasn’t fulfilled its security obligations towards Armenia, particularly in 2021, in 2022, and this couldn’t have gone without consequences. And the consequence is that in practice we have basically frozen our participation in the CSTO,” Pashinyan told France24.

Asked on the Russian military base in Armenia, the Prime Minister clarified that the base is located in Armenia not as part of the CSTO. “That’s an entirely different legal-contractual framework, and we haven’t had the occasion to address that framework.”

France ready to supply short to long-range missiles to Armenia

Emil Lazarian

 12:13,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. France is ready to supply various range missiles to Armenia in case of necessity, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said at a press conference in Yerevan after talks with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan.

He said that no one can criticize Armenia for developing its military capabilities.

The minister recalled that arms acquisition agreements were signed when Papikyan visited Paris.

The French arms supplies to Armenia have defensive significance and it is important to ensure the protection of the population of Armenia and its borders.

He said that the signed agreements envisage supply of air defense systems to Armenia.

“No one can criticize Armenia for developing the capabilities of its army. Short, medium and long-range missiles will also be part of the development of defense capabilities if Armenia needs it,” he said.

The French minister added that training is an important component for the development of the Armenian Armed Forces. Under another agreement, Armenian military officers will train in France.

Macron Warns of Escalation Risks Between Armenia, Azerbaijan

Emil Lazarian
Egypt – Feb 22 2024


Israa Farhan

Hosting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Macron expressed concern over recent events in Armenia's Syunik region, highlighting the persistent threat of escalation on the ground.

The warning comes in the wake of accusations from Armenia against Azerbaijan for opening fire at their border on February 13, leading to the death of four Armenian soldiers and injuring another, according to Yerevan.

This incident occurred a day after an Azerbaijani individual was wounded by Armenian gunfire.

Macron expressed regret over the Armenian gunfire that resulted in an Azerbaijani casualty on February 12, commending the Armenian authorities for their transparency in addressing the incident. However, he criticized Azerbaijan's "disproportionate response" to the event.

Despite these incidents, both neighboring countries committed to continuing dialogue to resolve their disputes, which have led to numerous armed conflicts since the early 1990s, during a meeting in Germany on Saturday.