Author: Garo Vardanian

Armenia Claims Azerbaijan’s Attack On Its Territory With Mortar Fire

Garo Vardanian
ALASKA COMMONS

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of launching mortar attacks on its territory while peace talks are taking place in Moscow. The aim of the meeting between the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, is to normalize relations between the two countries. The talks are being organized in the context of recent deadly clashes that have occurred along the border demarcation which has remained unresolved since the two countries gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

This meeting follows two major conflicts between the two South Caucasus nations, fought in the early 1990s and in 2016, over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenian separatists since the end of the 1988-1994 conflict. The violent separatist movement has affected both countries, claiming thousands of lives and displacing more than 1 million people.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has been mediating the preparatory talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are former Soviet republics and still have close relations with Moscow. Russia is also a key mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and has regularly taken part in talks alongside the United States and France.

The latest escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan highlights the need for a lasting solution to the ongoing conflict. Both countries need to find a way to live in peace with each other and establish mutual respect to ensure a peaceful future for future generations. Therefore, it is an encouraging sign that they are willing to participate in peace talks and work towards a peaceful resolution. It remains to be seen if the Moscow talks will lead to any substantial change in the status quo but both parties must persevere with peaceful dialogue for the sake of their people.

https://www.alaskacommons.com/armenia-claims-azerbaijans-attack-on-its-territory-with-mortar-fire/

Armenpress :Suspect in attempted kidnapping of Pashinyan’s son jailed in pre-trial detention

Garo Vardanian

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 15:40,

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. The woman suspected of attempting to kidnap Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s son Ashot Pashinyan has been jailed in pre-trial detention for one month.

Lawyer Vahan Hovhannisyan told reporters that her client, Gayane Hakobyan, was remanded by a Yerevan court for 1 month.

The court denied a motion filed by Hovhannisyan disputing the lawfulness of the remand.

The lawyer said he was perplexed by the decision.

Hakobyan, a mother of an Armenian soldier killed during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, was detained on suspicion of attempting to kidnap Ashot Pashinyan on May 17. The incident happened when Ashot Pashinyan ran into a group of parents of fallen soldiers on a street in Yerevan outside a courthouse.

Gayane Hakobyan offered the PM’s son to get into her car to chat as the parents recognized and approached him.

Then, according to Ashot Pashinyan, the woman took off and began displaying “inappropriate behavior” as she began to talk about the 2020 war, territorial and human losses and began speeding. Ashot Pashinyan said he told the woman to stop the car but she refused to do so and said that “her son was taken from her and killed, she has nothing to lose, she could kill him, and thus she is taking him to Yerablur [military cemetery], where she will decide to release him or not based on her emotions,” according to the testimony filed by the PM’s son to police.

PM Pashinyan's son managed to jump out of the car but was hit by another vehicle that carried several other parents of fallen troops, injuring his leg. 

Gayane Hakobyan has been on a hunger strike since her arrest.

Ucom announces new milestone in its network development

Garo Vardanian

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YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS. Ucom, one of the largest telecom operators in Armenia, and Ericsson Nikola Tesla, a Croatian provider of modern ICT products, solutions, software, and services, and an associated Ericsson company continue their long-standing cooperation. The partners join their forces for the development and enhancement of telecommunications in Armenia, the stakeholders of which will be not only end users but also enterprises.  

"This new era of strategic development and modernization marks an important milestone for Ucom. We are grateful to our partners at Ericsson Nikola Tesla for taking this journey of innovation with us and trusting us with the employment of their most advanced technologies in Armenia. The modernization of Ucom's mobile network is crucial to ensure that we can continue providing our customers with the most reliable and innovative telecom services, which are essential for any modern business or institution to function effectively. With this investment, Ucom is determined to meet future demands from our customers with greater efficiency, readiness, and agility, creating a new type of user experience for everyone. This will empower the economy of Armenia and support its continued growth," said Ralph Yirikian, Director General of Ucom. 

This partnership introduces a new model of green responsibility with less adverse carbon footprint in addition to the lowest energy consumption. With this investment, Ucom will ensure even greater efficiency, readiness, and agility to meet the future demands of the network.  

“I am pleased that we have continued our successful long-term partnership with innovative telecom operator Ucom in Armenia. Based on our mutual cooperation and the latest software solutions, Ucom's network will be even more efficient in the future and will bring greater benefits to their customers,” reads the statement of Gordana Kovačević, President of Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

Ucom is the Speedtest Award™ winning fastest fixed and mobile services provider in Armenia. The Company is the absolute leader in IPTV and fixed internet market in Armenia and occupies the key position in the local mobile internet market. 

 

Ericsson Nikola Tesla is a Croatian company that, as an associated member of Ericsson Corporation, operates in the global ICT market. The company’s activities include the design of total communication solutions, and services in multi-service and mobile networks areas, including mobile Internet, and complex system integration in all business areas.

IALA to host Queering Form

Garo Vardanian
 International Armenian Literary Alliance Literary Corner, Announcements 0

On June 11, the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) will present author Nancy Agabian, Dr. Rosie Vartyter Aroush and Hye-Phen Collective members Kamee, Sara Abrams and Ali Cat for a reading of recent narrative projects on queer Armenian community and solidarity.

Gabe Mugalian, a queer Armenian-American writer, activist and student of socio-cultural anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and JP Der Boghossian, founder of the Queer Armenian Library and host of the This Queer Book Saved My Life! podcast, will moderate the discussion and audience Q&A during the virtual event. Registration is required.

The works of these writers and editors will highlight queer diaspora narratives as they relate not just to experiences of living within heteronormative communities, but also through the “queering” of dominant notions of identity, solidarity and agency within and across communities. In discussing the queering of the form – in the sense of literary conventions and language – the writers and editors will discuss the way their works engage memory, represent conversations and spoken language, and ultimately bridge distances to enact agency as writers and community members. 

In Agabian’s recently published novel The Fear of Large and Small Nations, bisexual feminist writer and teacher Natalee — aka Na—seeks to reclaim her cultural roots in Armenia only to be confronted with the many contradictions of being a diasporan. Alongside a mosaic of artists, activists, intellectuals and students facing restrictive gender politics, she sifts through her own traumatic history of genocide and survival, bears witness to post-Soviet echoes, all the while navigating the vulnerable borders that exist between nations and individuals. Written in short stories interspersed with intimate journal entries and blog posts, the fragmented narrative reveals what is lost in the tightrope passage between cultures ravaged by violence and colonialism—and what is gained when Na seizes control of her story, pulsating in its many shades and realities, daring to be witnessed. 

Dr. Aroush’s upcoming book will investigate the impact of the Armenian family and diasporic community on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Armenians living in the United States. She depicts the struggles endured and strategies employed in the negotiation of LGBTQ Armenian identities and in coming out with family and community members. She examines family of origin relations in the multi-layers of coming out and the challenges to traditional notions of parenthood by queer Armenian families. Her project is based on over 50 interviews with LGBTQ Armenians from the United States and a decade of research and fieldwork.

Kamee, Sara Abrams and Ali Cat participated in the Gatherings zine, a series of conversations about solidarity among SWANA communities. Gatherings emerged from the 2020 Artsakh War and the relentless solidarity expressed between SWANA communities during and since that time. Organizers hope to follow in a long line of activists, healers, writers, artists and movement-organizers who have embraced the tension, braved the in-between and reached across fault lines with the intention of showing up and taking care of each other. The project includes five conversations around the theme of SWANA solidarity – what it has looked like in the past and present, what it could look like in the future and why it is so important.

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The International Armenian Literary Alliance is a nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that supports and celebrates writers by fostering the development and distribution of Armenian literature in the English language. A network of Armenian writers and their champions, IALA gives Armenian writers a voice in the literary world through creative, professional, and scholarly advocacy.


The Lachin Corridor standoff between Armenia and Azerbaijan ends, for now

Garo Vardanian
May 3 2023
”Eco activists” are out, but an Azerbaijan-run border checkpoint is in
Written byOC Media
Written byArzu Geybullayeva

This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement. 

On April 28, the Azerbaijani so-called “eco-activists” blocking the Lachin Corridor — the only route connecting Armenia to Karabakh across the territory of Azerbaijan — suspended their blockade following the installation of an Azerbaijani border checkpoint on the corridor on April 23.

The protest had been ongoing since December 2022, blocking all traffic in and out of Nagorno-Karabakh except for vehicles from the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeeping mission. According to the ceasefire agreement that brought an end to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the Russian peacekeepers were to control the Lachin Corridor.

Despite claiming to be protesting environmental damage from mining in Nagorno-Karabakh, the protesters had seemingly no connection to any environmental movements and were widely seen as an instrument of the Azerbaijani government, who rarely allow protests to go ahead unhindered and control all access to Shusha, the city that was regained following the 44-day war Armenia and Azerbaijan fought in 2020.

The Nagorno-Karabakh area has been under the control of its ethnic Armenian population as a self-declared state since a war fought in the early 1990s, which ended with a ceasefire and Armenian military victory in 1994. In the aftermath of the first war, a new, internationally unrecognized, de facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was established. Seven adjacent regions were occupied by the Armenian forces. As a result of that war, “more than a million people had been forced from their homes: Azerbaijanis fled Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the adjacent territories, while Armenians left homes in Azerbaijan,” according to the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that works to prevent wars and shape policies. Following the second Karabakh war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained control over much of the previously occupied seven regions. Azerbaijan also captured one-third of Karabakh itself during the war. On November 10, 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia.

The activists reportedly said they reserved the right to restart the blockade if their demands were not met for the Russian peacekeepers to “stop the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits” and to “ensure the monitoring of environmental and other consequences remain in force.”

The move follows the installation of an Azerbaijani border checkpoint at the entrance of the Lachin corridor near the Armenian border on April 23. According to the reporting by the Economist Intelligence Unit, “the move has increased the blockade of Nagorno Karabakh. A checkpoint on the border would give Azerbaijan the ability to stop any cars traveling between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.” Reports that residents were being screened by the Azerbaijani border troops emerged on May 1. According to reports, footage appeared to show Armenian vehicles passing through the checkpoint, with Azerbaijani border control officers inspecting their vehicles and documents.

“The people are from villages near the checkpoint under double blockade and were traveling with the support of peacekeepers, with guarantees of not being bothered,” wrote Artak Beglaryan, an adviser to the State Minister, on Twitter.

The villages were cut off from the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh after the blockade began near Shusha. They are now separated from Armenia by the new customs checkpoint. Samvel Tavadyan, a teacher in one of the villages affected, told OC Media the residents of the village were now surrounded on four sides, “it feels like a cage,” adding, “People hoped that Russians would ensure free movement” but now they are “confined to a small area between the blockade and the new checkpoint.”

Meanwhile, the checkpoint, which was erected on the Hakari Bridge, next to a base of the Russian peacekeepers, triggered criticism in Armenia that the peacekeepers are “unreliable.” With the new checkpoint, resentments have only gotten stronger. Armenia's foreign ministry calling on the “Russian Federation to finally fulfill its obligation under Provision 6 of the trilateral statement by eliminating the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor and ensuring the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the entire security zone of the corridor.” Yerevan criticized Baku’s actions, stating that “no one but Russia” should exercise control over the Lachin Corridor.

Baku, in the meantime, denied blocking the corridor. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated on April 27 that Azerbaijan installed the checkpoint after warning Armenia of the “illegal use” of the road to transport weapons to the region.

“The Lachin road is open and will remain open,” Bayramov stated during a meeting with his French counterpart in Baku.

The Foreign Ministry had previously promised to create the “necessary conditions” for the “transparent and orderly passage of Armenian residents living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.”

Western officials also expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s actions. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Secretary of State Antony J.Blinken, who spoke with President Ilham Aliyev on the phone on April 30, expressed “the United States’ deep concern that Baku has established a checkpoint on the corridor.”

The US mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe echoed Blinken's concern in a statement. “[The] United States is concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor on April 23 undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process,” read the statement by the mission.

The EU High Representative Josep Borrell said in a Tweet the checkpoint ran “counter to EU calls for reducing tensions and solving issues by dialogue.”

The checkpoint has led to renewed fears in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia over the future of the region’s ethnic Armenian population.

AW: ARF of Boston to celebrate Armenian Independence Day with Bureau chairman Hagop Der Khatchadurian

Garo Vardanian
May 2, 2023 Guest Contributor Announcements 0

WATERTOWN, Mass. – The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) of Boston will be celebrating the 105th anniversary of Armenia’s independence on Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC).

This event, hosted by Nanor Nerkizian, will feature Hagop Der Khatchadurian, the chairman of the ARF Bureau and the president of the Armenian National Committee International. There will also be performances by the Armenian Youth Chorus of Boston under the directorship of Artur Veranian.

Der Khatchadurian has been a member of the ARF Bureau since 2004, having been elected as the Bureau chairperson in 2019. He has served at local, regional and national levels in New York, Montreal, Laval, Eastern United States and Canada, respectively. He was awarded the Cilician Prince title and medal by Catholicos Aram I for his long standing service to the Armenian nation.

Touching upon the momentous occasion of the establishment of the First Republic against all odds in those years, Der Khatchadurian will discuss the need for heightened vigilance and renewed esprit de corps on the part of the Armenians worldwide to rise yet again. Today, the Armenian nation, facing enemies from many sides, is at a critical juncture. Setbacks from military, demographic and diplomatic losses in Artsakh and Armenia have given way to despair and detachment, further compounded by a lack of Armeno-centric policies and leadership by the Armenian authorities. However, the Armenian nation has weathered stronger storms. It must regroup and act now with vigilance and dedication toward restoring the nation’s security and dignity and ensuring its long-term survival.




France Wants To Kick Off Talks Between Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan – French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna

Garo Vardanian

 Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir)  Published | 07:08 PM

France wants to initiate talks between representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan with the support of the international community, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 28th April, 2023) France wants to initiate talks between representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan with the support of the international community, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Friday.

"We want negotiations to begin – with support of the international community – between the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijani authorities around the content of the population's rights and guarantees. This implies that favorable conditions must be created for the negotiations, namely around the issue of restoring free movement along Lachin Corridor," she said in an interview with the Armenpress news agency.

Colonna noted that France will support any decision that will allow the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh to continue living there "safely, by preserving its history, heritage and culture," adding that "it is their inalienable right."

The French foreign minister also condemned the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, as unacceptable. She believes it can potentially cause an economic and humanitarian crises in the region.

"It is also obstructing the continuation of the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, to which (Armenian) Prime Minister (Nikol) Pashinyan is decisively committed to, and it poses a serious threat to regional stability, which is already deeply impacted by the current geopolitical context," she said.

Besides, the minister recalled that the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) a few weeks ago ruled that Baku should take available measures to ensure unimpeded movement through the corridor, adding that this decision is "binding for everyone" and "must be respected."

"In this regard, the decision by Azerbaijan to install a checkpoint at the entrance of the new road in Lachin Corridor is deeply concerning, as noted by the European Union and the United States," Colonna said.

Additionally, the official said that, in the context of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the goal of France and the EU is to restore peace, and only a peace agreement will really solve all the issues.

On Sunday, the Azerbaijani State Border Service said its units had set up a border checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, the only land route linking Armenia and the Armenian-dominated Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku explained the decision by the alleged illegal use of the road by Armenia and security threats, noting that the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the Russian-Turkish monitoring center were informed about this. Yerevan protested Baku's move, stressing that it was against both the 2020 trilateral declaration and the ICJ's ruling.

The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up again in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral declaration of ceasefire signed in November 2020. The two former Soviet countries agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Occasional clashes have since occurred on the border.

Last year, Yerevan and Baku, with the mediation of Russia, the United States and the European Union, began discussing a future peace treaty.

Azerbaijani ‘Environmental Activists’ Suspend Protest after Illegal Lachin Checkpoint Installation

Garo Vardanian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijanis posing as "environmental activists" suspend protests, which have blockaded Artsakh for 138 days


Azerbaijanis claiming to be “environmental activists,” who have been blockading the Lachin Corridor for the past 138 days announced on Friday that they would “temporarily” suspend their protests, Azerbaijani media reported.

The demonstrators’ so-called protest actions resulted in the complete blockade of Artsakh, creating a humanitarian crisis, which Artsakh authorities are calling an attempt by Baku to ethnically cleanse the Armenian population of Artsakh.

Azerbaijan’s president’s special envoy met with the protesters in Shushi on Friday and announced that beginning on April 23 a “new reality” has been created, the APA news agency reported.

On April 23, Azerbaijan set up an illegal checkpoint at the Lachin Corridor and closed the Hakari River bridge. Officials in Baku have said all traffic through the Lachin Corridor will be inspected by officers stationed at the checkpoint.

This has resulted in an international rebuke of Baku, with the United States, the European Union and Russia, whose peacekeeping forces are officially in charge of the road, all calling for Azerbaijan to end the blockade and respect the provisions of the November 9, 2020 agreement.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who earlier had urged Baku to end the Artsakh blockade, on Friday said that the checkpoint installed by Azerbaijan on the Lachin Corridor contradicts the November 9, 2020 agreement.

That agreement specifically calls for the unimpeded access to the road—the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia—and adds that Russian peacekeepers will be responsible for handling all matters on the Lachin Corridor.

“Since April 23, a new situation has been created in connection with the establishment of a checkpoint in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan by the units of the State Border Service,” the Azerbaijani presidential envoy told the protesters and asked them to halt their actions.

AW: Armenian Genocide Education Act introduced

Garo Vardanian
 ANCA ANCA News 0

Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) are leading efforts to ensure U.S. schools have the resources to teach about the history and consequences of the Armenian Genocide

WASHINGTON, DC – Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Ted Lieu (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA) have re-introduced the Armenian Genocide Education Act – a bipartisan measure backed by the ANCA, which would allocate $10 million over five years to help educate American students about Ottoman Turkey’s 1915-1923 Genocide of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriac, Arameans and Maronite Christians.

“The ANCA thanks Reps. Eshoo, Bilirakis, Lieu and Valadao and welcomes their introduction of this timely bill brought forward in the wake of official US recognition of the 1915 Genocide and amid renewed efforts by Azerbaijan and Turkey to complete this crime against the Armenian nation,” remarked ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian. “This federal legislation represents a necessary next step, building upon U.S. remembrance, alerting Americans to the ongoing threat of genocide, and ensuring that future generations benefit from the terrible lessons of this still unpunished crime. We will do all we can to support this bill and look forward to it being passed by Congress and signed into law by the President,” he added.

“By ensuring students have access to the resources necessary to understand why and how the Armenian Genocide occurred, the Armenian Genocide Education Act preserves the legacies of the victims, combats genocide denial, and ensures that future generations learn the lessons of this dark chapter of history,” said Rep. Eshoo, the lead author of the measure. “This legislation honors the memories of my ancestors and all those who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.”

Representatives Eshoo, Valadao, Lieu and Bilirakis were joined by 38 of their House colleagues as original cosponsors of the Armenian Genocide Education Act, including Representatives: Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-CA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), William Keating (D-MA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Susie Lee (D-NV), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Joseph Morelle (D-NY), Kevin Mullin (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Katie Porter (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Lori Trahan (D-MA).

The lead Congressional advocates of the measure cited the key role that education plays in genocide prevention.

“Our darkest moments as a human race have come during times when those who knew better stood silently, making excuses for passivity and allowing injustice and persecution to reign. We must acknowledge the atrocities of the past so that we might hopefully prevent them in the future,” said Rep. Bilirakis. “One of the best ways to achieve this goal is through education and awareness, which is why I am proud to co-lead the Armenian Genocide Education Act again in the 118th Congress.”

Rep. Lieu concurred, noting: “The Armenian Genocide was one of the most horrific losses of human life in modern history. It resulted in the deaths of roughly 1.5 million Armenians, and even more were displaced and forced to start new lives from scratch. Remembering atrocities like the Armenian Genocide is crucial to ensuring they never happen again. A key part of that is education, which is why I’m proud to co-lead the Armenian Genocide Education Act with Representatives Anna Eshoo, Gus Bilirakis, and David Valadao. This bill honors the legacies of those who perished by helping to ensure future generations learn about, and never forget, the Armenian Genocide.”

Rep. Valadao stressed that, “people who fail to understand history are bound to repeat it, and education is one of the best tools we have to prevent repeating some of our darkest days. The Armenian Genocide Education Act preserves the memories of the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and ensures Americans have accurate information on why and how this horrific event happened.”

Congressional Armenian Caucus founding co-Chair Frank Pallone welcomed the introduction of the measure, stating, “education is one of the best ways we can honor the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and ensure it never happens again. This bill will help keep the memory of this horrific genocide alive by ensuring future generations have access to historically accurate resources. Expanding access to educational tools moves us one step closer to fulfilling our obligation to speak candidly about the past that is directly tied to our moral responsibilities of the present.”

Congressional Armenian Caucus Vice-Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained, “when we remain silent in the face of injustice, we dishonor the victims and make further tragedy inevitable. Through education, we can combat genocide denial and ensure that future generations learn the lessons of history. The Armenian Genocide claimed 1.5 million lives. It must never be forgotten. And it must never happen again. Not to the Armenians. Not to anyone.”

The Armenian Genocide Education Act was introduced on April 24th, the international day of Armenian Genocide commemoration. Building upon the 2019 passage of H.Res.296 and S.Res.150 – which specifically rejected any official U.S. association with Armenian Genocide denial – the Armenian Genocide Education Act seeks to counter discourse and propaganda that claims that Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Christians between 1915 and 1923 did not take place. A similar measure was introduced in the last session of Congress.

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


Armenian Economy Minister, SDC Director General Patricia Danzi discuss investment possibilities

Garo Vardanian

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YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan held a meeting on April 21 with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Director General Patricia Danzi to discuss a number of issues relating to the expansion of economic cooperation.

“The minister briefly presented the high economic indicators recorded in Armenia in 2022 and the projects aimed at increasing the production capacity of businesses, especially highlighting the Economy Modernization program,” the ministry said in a readout.

The possibilities of applying financial instruments and involving investments in various branches of Armenia’s economy and accessibility to affordable financial resources were also discussed.

The possibility of opening a branch of Lausanne’s EHL Hospitality Business School in Armenia was also discussed.