Author: John Hovhannisian

Nagorno-Karabakh: Over 100,000 flee to Armenia [+Links]

John Hovhannisian
DW – Deutsche Welle
Germany – Sept 30 2023
Most of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh have fled to Armenia since Azerbaijan launched its offensive to retake control the enclave.

More than 100,000 refugees have arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan and the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR have said. 

Azerbaijan had earlier this month launched an offensive to gain control of the region, prompting thousands of ethnic Armenians to flee in fear of persecution. 

"Many are hungry, exhausted and need immediate assistance," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said on social media.

"UNHCR and other humanitarian partners are stepping up their support to the Armenian authorities, but international help is very urgently required," Grandi added.

The Armenian government on Saturday put the exact figure at 100,417, out of Nagorno-Karabakh's estimated population of 120,000.

Artak Beglaryan, a former official from Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist government, said that "the last groups" of residents from the enclave were heading to Armenia on Saturday.      

"At most a few hundred persons remain, most of whom are officials, emergency services employees, volunteers, some persons with special needs," he wrote on social media. 

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of carrying our a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the majority Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Baku, however, denies the claim, and has urged ethnic Armenians of the enclave to "reintegrate" into Azerbaijan. 

Yerevan has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest court, to protect Nagorno-Karabakh's inhabitants and ensure that Baku doesn't move to displace the remaining Armenians. 

A UN mission is expected to reach Nagorno-Karabakh this weekend to assess humanitarian needs there, marking the first time an international body gained access to the region in around three decades. 

https://www.dw.com/en/nagorno-karabakh-over-100000-flee-to-armenia/a-66969667

ALSO READ

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0930/1408216-nagorno-karabakh/

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-761088

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2383076/world

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/09/30/nagorno-karabakh-empties-as-armenia-says-100000-have-fled-a82619

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/eye-opener-nearly-100000-people-flee-azerbaijan-for-neighboring-armenia/

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20230930-un-mission-to-visit-nagorno-karabakh-for-first-time-in-nearly-30-years

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/30/more-than-80-percent-of-nagorno-karabakhs-people-have-fled-armenia-govt

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66969845

https://news.yahoo.com/more-100-000-refugees-arrive-171413205.html

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3236394/over-100000-nagorno-karabakh-refugees-arrive-armenia-says-un

What the Dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh Means for the South Caucasus

John Hovhannisian
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Sept 29 2023
Any broader peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan would signal the start of a new era in the South Caucasus. Russia’s influence would decline, and Turkey’s—grow.
Kirill
Krivosheev

There is little doubt among Armenians that Azerbaijan’s September military operation in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh led directly to ethnic cleansing. Tens of thousands of Karabakh Armenians have already fled, and the exodus shows no signs of slowing.

Nevertheless, Baku has seemed in no hurry since its 24-hour military assault delivered the long-standing goal of a clear pathway to taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Karabakh Armenians who remain have received some humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan, and their leaders—who announced the dissolution of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic after thirty years of existence—are negotiating with representatives of Baku. All three major participants in this process—Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia—would prefer to see some Karabakh Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The flight of Karabakh Armenians began when Azerbaijan opened the Lachin Corridor (the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia) following the capitulation of local defense forces. The rate at which refugees are flooding into Armenia suggests that there could soon be no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. But if some do stay, this will be politically significant. And it could create the conditions for a partial return of Karabakh Armenians once it becomes clear what sort of government Baku will impose.

The Azerbaijani military has been surprisingly restrained as refugees stream down the Lachin Corridor. It looks like Baku wants to avoid being accused of ethnic cleansing, so it avoids subjecting departees to interrogations or serious checks. Just a few weeks ago, it would have been impossible to imagine such a hands-off approach: in its ten-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan arrested a sixty-eight-year old man accused of crimes during the First Karabakh War who was attempting to travel to Armenia for medical treatment.

Even so, Azerbaijan has detained a couple of men attempting to flee Nagorno-Karabakh, including former Armenian field commander and local politician Vitaly Balasanyan and Russian-Armenian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, a former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh who called on Karabakh Armenians to fight to the last bullet. These detentions hint at Azerbaijan’s unofficial rule: only Nagorno-Karabakh’s political elite need fear prosecution.

Predictions of a partisan war led by Karabakh Armenians unwilling to give up their weapons have been proved false. The process of disarming local defense forces with the assistance of Russian peacekeepers has, to the surprise of many, taken place without any major incidents.

There have also been no attempts to use force to keep the Karabakh Armenians in place. However, it’s not in anyone’s interest to see the region totally devoid of people. Armenia will struggle to house 100,000 refugees, and, if many end up in Yerevan, they could join anti-government protests and exacerbate Armenia’s domestic political crisis.

Azerbaijan appears preoccupied with not being seen as a monster. And Russia needs Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to justify the presence of its peacekeepers: handing out humanitarian aid, organizing evacuations, and generally looking useful. If there is nothing for them to do, Russia’s peacekeeping mission could come to an end earlier than planned.

Finally, if there are no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh, there is no point to negotiations between Baku and the Karabakh Armenians. These negotiations are ongoing, and have yielded some modest results.

In the meantime, it’s possible Aliyev could allow some sort of international monitoring mission into Nagorno-Karabakh to show himself in a positive light. While Yerevan has been hoping for Western sanctions against Baku, these look unlikely to materialize.    

However painful, Armenia’s defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh has not prompted it to drop out of discussions about a broader peace treaty with Baku. On the contrary, this process has been given fresh impetus. The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, met with Hikmat Hajiyev, an adviser to the Azerbaijani president, on September 26 in Brussels. Apart from the obvious humanitarian issues, they discussed a planned October 5 meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Spanish city of Granada.  

If a peace agreement were signed, it would signal the start of a new era in the South Caucasus. Russia’s influence would be on the decline, and Turkey’s would grow.

The text of a peace agreement was more or less ready even before Azerbaijan’s recent capture of Nagorno-Karabakh. If Baku feels the process is dragging on unnecessarily, it could raise the stakes by not only demanding a land corridor through Armenia to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Turkey, but by laying claim to internationally recognized Armenian territory. Aliyev hinted at the latter in a recent meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, when he mused about Armenia’s post-Soviet borders in a similar way to which Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks about Ukraine.

If it were implemented, a corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan could provide a welcome toehold for Moscow in the region. The agreement that ended the 2020 Second Karabakh War envisaged Russian security forces policing the corridor, protecting Azerbaijani traffic and securing its entry and exit points.

As soon as Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace agreement, Turkey is likely to open its border with Armenia (which has been closed since 1993). Once this happens, economic factors will begin to come into play. Considering Erdogan’s talent for manipulating his partners, an open border could be a powerful tool of influence for Ankara.

Nevertheless, any document proclaimed as a “peace agreement” between Armenia and Azerbaijan will likely be little more than a framework. There will be a general recognition of each other’s territorial integrity and a commitment to refrain from infringing on it. This should be enough to protect Armenia from losing its southern region of Syunik to Azerbaijan.

But, as ever, many other issues should also be addressed. The international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which passes over remote mountains, needs to be permanently fixed, and there should be discussions about transport links. And that’s before you get to the issue of whether displaced Karabakh Armenians will be allowed to enter Azerbaijan. The devil will be in the details. 

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.


No Armenian will be left in Nagorno-Karabakh in coming days amid exodus – Pashinyan on Azeri ethnic cleansing campaign

John Hovhannisian

 11:26,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Analysis shows that no Armenian will be left in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned Thursday.

“The exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh continues as a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan. Analysis shows that no Armenian will be left in NK in the coming days. This is a direct act of ethnic cleansing and [dispossession], and what we’ve been warning about the international community for a long time. The statements made by various international actors condemning ongoing ethnic cleansings in NK are important, but if no concrete actions follow these statements will be viewed only for creating a moral statistics for history,” PM Pashinyan said.

He warned that various countries, by simply making statements and not taking action, are trying to have an opportunity to separate themselves from this crime, in order to then be able to say ‘well, we had condemned it.’

“If no relevant political and legal decisions follow the statements on condemning it, the condemnations become acts of giving consent to what’s happening. Regarding the Government of Armenia, our primary duty today is to receive our brothers and sisters forcibly displaced from NK with the utmost care and ensure their urgent needs are met,” Pashinyan said.

Dozens of Karabakh children reach safety in Armenia in back of a truck

John Hovhannisian
Channel News Asia
Sept 27 2023

KORNIDZOR, Armenia: Nearly 50 people, mostly children, scrambled from the back of a large truck in this Armenian border village on Tuesday (Sep 26) after two days on the road, part of a mass exodus of Armenians fleeing Azerbaijani forces in their native region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"It rained all night, there was no shelter. The nice driver took some of the children into his cabin to give at least some of them shelter," said Maktar Talakyan, 54, who was travelling with her daughter Anna and her three grandchildren.

Anna's husband, a demobilised soldier who had fought for the now defeated separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, remains in Karabakh, Talakyan said.

The 48 people and their driver were from the village of Aterk, some 170km away in Karabakh, the region of Azerbaijan populated mainly by ethnic Armenians which Baku's forces retook last week in a lightning offensive that has prompted thousands to flee, provoking a major humanitarian crisis for Armenia.

At least one of the children had Down's syndrome and others seemed to be have disabilities.

Like several other Armenians Reuters has spoken to in the past few days, Talakyan's family members have become refugees for the second time in just three years, having had to flee an earlier Azerbaijani offensive in 2020 when Baku also retook some territory in Karabakh.

Talakyan said her group, which also included some women and about half a dozen elderly men, had begun their journey last week, travelling to the capital of Karabakh, known to Armenians as Stepanakert and to Azerbaijanis as Khankendi.

"There was no bombing, we just decided to get out," she said, as the villagers waited by the roadside near a reception centre run by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

They lived in a hotel basement for a week, as fighting raged between Azerbaijani and separatist Karabakh forces, but were able to leave Stepanakert two days ago, when the Lachin corridor linking their region to Armenia reopened.

Theirs was one of many such large trucks rolling into Kornidzor all through Tuesday.

Talakyan said Azerbaijanis had taunted them as they fled, saying "you couldn't save Artsakh, you're alone, helpless". Reuters could not independently verify her account.

Source: Reuters/ec

Applications for International Armenian Literary Alliance’s Three Literary Grants Now Open

John Hovhannisian
by Contributor

 

 

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant graphic

The applications for International Armenian Literary Alliance’s three literary grants are now open. The grants for creative writing and translation—each worth $2,500—will be offered to one writer and two translators whose work-in-progress show exceptional literary and creative ability. Applications will be open until September 30, and the winners will be announced in December 2023.

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant will award $2,500 annually to one Armenian writer whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a collection of poetry, and in the coming years, to works of creative nonfiction and fiction, as well as other mixed genre forms. The grant will be judged by Gregory Djanikian and Raffi Wartanian.

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant, made possible by a generous donation from the Armenian Allied Arts Association, is meant to foster the development of contemporary Armenian literature in English through an annual monetary award, and support Armenian writers who have historically lacked resources in the publishing world. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

The Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant graphic

The Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $2,500 to one translator working from an English source text into Eastern Armenian, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) that stimulates the imagination of young adults at a formative time in their development. In the coming years, the grant will also be awarded to translators working from English source texts into Western Armenian. The 2023 grant will be judged by Anna Davtyan, Armen Ohanyan and Zaven Boyajyan.

Despite the growing number of translated works from English to Eastern Armenian in recent years, translated literature remains an area that needs further attention and development. IALA’s Israelyan Armenian Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with literature written in the English language through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

The Israelyan English Translation Grant graphic

The Israelyan English Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $2,500 to one translator working from Eastern Armenian source texts into English, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2023, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any form) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1900, and in the coming years, to works written in Western Armenian. This grant will be judged by Dr. Myrna Douzjian, Nairi Hakhverdi and Tatevik Ayvazyan.

Given the traumatic history of the Armenian diaspora, many readers are unable to read works in the original Armenian, and therefore, have centuries of literature inaccessible to them. Translators working with Armenian texts have traditionally lacked resources in the publishing world, as well as access to other funding, due to the overwhelming influence of so-called “majority languages.” IALA’s Israelyan English Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with contemporary Armenian literature through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

For more details, full eligibility criteria, and more information on past grant recipients, please visit IALA’s website, or contact Hovsep Markarian, IALA’s program manager, at [email protected].

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.


Rabbis’ Refusal to Consider Renewed Armenian Genocide Shameful

John Hovhannisian
Sept 11 2023

By Michael Rubin

AEIdeas

“Expressions such as ‘ghetto’, ‘genocide’, ‘holocaust’ and others are . . . inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement,” the Rabbinical Center of Europe declared on September 6. The statement by 50 rabbis condemning Armenia for raising alarm about the ongoing atrocity in Artsakh left many scratching their heads for three reasons.

First, many Jews had never heard of the “Rabbinical Center of Europe.” The group is real but represents mostly a Hasidic subsection of Europe’s Jewish community. Second, the group’s posturing is devoid of research. The rabbis did not visit Armenia let alone Artsakh, the self-governing republic that Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents established as the Soviet Union collapsed. Finally, the rabbis seem aloof to how Azerbaijan use their statement to deflect from ongoing slaughter.

Indeed, the rabbis’ statement appears a vestige of the past: For decades, various Jewish organizations opposed recognition of the Armenian Genocide because they believed acknowledgement of genocide pre-Holocaust would diminish the uniqueness of the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews. Prominent Jewish or Israel-interest groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee, and Anti-Defamation League quietly interceded with congressmen to derail Armenian Genocide resolutions long before any vote in Congress, until, in 2007, seven Jewish Democrats broke with precedent to vote in favor of the resolution.

That same year, the Anti-Defamation League fired New England Regional director Andrew Tarsy after the New England branch recognized the Armenian Genocide, but National chairman Abe Foxman rehired him the next day after a national uproar. Many within the Jewish community came to recognize that the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust could be both unique and share common traits. Past persecution need not pit Jews and Armenians against each other, or force either into denial. Organizations like the Rabbinical Center of Europe are right to educate about and preserve remembrance of the Holocaust, but they are ignorant in their knowledge about the Armenian Genocide.

They also appear cowardly. While the Jewish community in Armenia grows, both Azerbaijan and Turkey hemorrhage Jews. Dictatorships in both countries like to trot out Jewish representatives in a museumification of the Jewish community, but numbers do not lie. Azerbaijan’s Jewish community, around 40,000 strong at independence, has declined more than 75 percent since.

The frequent Azerbaijani narrative of Armenian collaboration with Nazi Germany is also cynical. True, some Armenians cast their lot with Nazis not out of antagonism toward Jews but more to undermine the Soviet Union. Today, Diary of Anne Frank populates children’s libraries and Armenians shelter Jews fleeing oppression in Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Heightening such cynicism is Azerbaijan’s unwillingness to address its own World War II-era history of Nazi collaboration and the slaughter of Polish Jews by the Azerbaijani Legion. Cynicism is especially rife when Azerbaijan host foreign rabbis. President Ilham Aliyev ignores his own father’s history suppressing Jews both as KGB chief for Azerbaijan and as a politburo member under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Rabbis should prize knowledge rather than base their statement in ignorance. They may assume comparison to ghettoes is facile, but how do they know it is not? Azerbaijan has locked its Armenians in Artsakh by blockading the region, often arresting those who seek to depart. People starve. If Artsakh is like a World War II-era ghetto, then what would that make the rabbis’ denialism? At best, they become like Franklin Roosevelt who turned his back on the reality of the Holocaust; at worst, they become useful idiots for the perpetrators.

As for genocide, what other term might the rabbis suggest for the eradication not only of a people but also any physical evidence of their existence? There was a reason why Adolf Hitler cited the Armenian Genocide as inspiration. Can current events be decontextualized from the eradication of more than one million Armenians, an event Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mock and deny?

The Rabbinical Center of Europe has embarrassed itself. Rather than make empty statements, perhaps the rabbis should try to visit Artsakh. Let us hope the Armenian Genocide Museum and the Artsakh government invite them. If Azerbaijan prevents them from visiting Stepanakert, perhaps the rabbis might ask why.

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University Network for Human Rights sends submission to UN, presents risks of Armenian ethnic cleansing in Karabakh

John Hovhannisian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 7 2023
16:01, 06.09.2023

The University Network for Human Rights has sent a submission to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, analyzing the Armenian ethnic cleansing and the threat of genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, and called for a strong response.

In the introduction of this submission, it is noted as follows, in particular:

“The ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is under the very real threat of ethnic cleansing and potential genocide. The risk may extend to the southern portion of Armenia as well.

“The University Network for Human Rights, in collaboration with lawyers, academics, and students from Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human Rights, Wesleyan University, Oxford University and Yale's Lowenstein Project, has been investigating atrocities perpetrated by Azerbaijani forces against ethnic Armenians during the 44-Day Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, after the ceasefire, during the 2022 attacks in sovereign Armenia, as well as in periods of relative peace

“Our findings are based primarily on multiple fact-finding trips – two in Nagorno-Karabakh and four in Armenia – between March 2022 and July 2023. The University Network has conducted almost 100 firsthand interviews with forcibly displaced persons, families of missing or forcibly disappeared soldiers, families of victims of extrajudicial killings, returned prisoners of war (POWs), and current residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and border communities in Armenia. We have also carried out independent verification of claims presented by Armenian human rights organizations using open source intelligence.

“We conclude that the Azerbaijani government, at the highest levels, has condoned, encouraged, facilitated the commission of or directly perpetrated the most egregious forms of violence against Armenians. Together, the abuses we documented suggest a well-organized, comprehensive campaign to empty Nagorno-Karabakh and parts of Armenia of Armenians.

“Herein we present evidence of the substantial presence of risk factors of atrocity crimes.”

And the conclusion of this submission reads as follows:

“Significant work remains to deepen this risk assessment, incorporate indicators for other risk factors, and continue to monitor trends. However, our concern that a trigger could escalate the crisis at any moment has compelled us to present this submission to you sooner rather than later. It is our hope that your expertise can enrich and inform our risk analysis, identify opportunities to mitigate key risk factors, and help alert the international community to the gravity of the threat facing Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.”

https://news.am/eng/news/779155.html

Armenpress: Azeri disinformation campaign continues, Baku falsely accuses Nagorno-Karabakh of fortification works

John Hovhannisian

 21:22, 9 September 2023

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has again falsely accused the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army of carrying out fortification works, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Saturday.

The disinformation generated by the Azeri authorities falsely claimed that the Azeri military thwarted fortification works by the Nagorno-Karabakh military in the Martuni region on September 9.

In a statement, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said that they haven’t conducted any fortification activities and that the Azeri accusations are disinformation.

“The statement released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claiming that around 19:15, September 9, the Defense Army units attempted to conduct fortification works in Martuni region, which were thwarted by the actions of the Azerbaijani units, is yet another disinformation,” the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said.

Armenia lifts visa requirements for citizens of Panama

John Hovhannisian

 11:28, 7 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government on Thursday lifted the visa requirements for citizens of Panama.

The decision was adopted during the Cabinet meeting.

The move is expected to develop and strengthen relations between the two countries. It will promote tourism and business ties.

Panama already has a visa-free regime for Armenian citizens.

Armenia has visa-free travel agreements with a number of countries in South America, such as Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Ecuador. Agreements on visa-free travel for diplomatic passport holders are signed with Mexico and Chile.

Meanwhile, the government is working to lift visa requirements with Peru and other regional countries.

In ongoing fake news campaign, Azerbaijan falsely accuses Armenia of amassing troops near border

John Hovhannisian

 12:14, 1 September 2023

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Ministry of Defense has denied accusations by Azerbaijan of amassing military equipment near the border.

In a statement, the Armenian Ministry of Defense warned that Azerbaijan, by spreading such disinformation, seeks to commit new provocations in continuation of its shelling of Sotk on Friday morning, which left two Armenian soldiers dead and one wounded.

“The Azerbaijani propaganda is disseminating disinformation that the Armenian Armed Forces are concentrating a large number of weapons, military equipment, and personnel in the Sotk [section]. By disseminating such false information, the Azerbaijani side creates an informational basis to continue yet another provocation that began this morning in the direction of Sotk,” the defense ministry said in a statement on social media.