Author: Karapet Navasardian

Moscow, Baku to decide future of Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh

Karapet Navasardian
France 24 2023
Sept 29 2023

The Kremlin said Monday that the future of its peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh would be determined by Russia and Azerbaijan, which last week took control of the territory from Armenian separatists. 

"Since the mission is now on Azerbaijani territory, this will be a subject of our discussion with the Azerbaijani side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia deployed nearly 2,000 forces to the mountainous region in 2020 as part of a ceasefire deal it brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia that ended six weeks of brutal fighting for control of the territory.

Peskov's statement came a day after Moscow said Armenians fleeing after Azerbaijani forces retook control of Nagorno-Karabakh had nothing to fear.

"It's difficult to say who is to blame (for the exodus), there is no direct reason for such actions," Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"People are nevertheless expressing a desire to leave… those who made such a decision should be provided with normal living conditions," he  added.  

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned of "ethnic cleansing" in the region and called for the international community to act.  

Pashinyan had criticised the Russian peacekeeping force for failing to intervene when Azerbaijan launched its lightning offensive to regain control of the region. 

Russia denied the accusations.

The exodus of ethnic Armenians from the enclave marks a fundamental shift in ethnic control of lands disputed by mostly Christian Armenians and predominantly Muslim Azerbaijanis for the past century.

The UN refugee agency on Friday said more than 88,000 people have crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh and the total could reach 120,000, a figure matching estimates of the entire population of the breakaway region.

Kavita Belani, UNHCR representative in Armenia, told a UN press briefing by video link that huge crowds of tired and frightened people were gathering at registration centres.

"This is a situation where they've lived under nine months of blockade," she said. "And when they come in, they're full of anxiety, they're scared, they're frightened and they want answers."

"We are ready to cope with up to 120,000 people. It's very hard to predict how many will come at this juncture," she added in response to a question about refugee numbers. Initial planning figures were for between 70-90,000 refugees but that needs updating, she added.

Nearly a third of the refugees are children, another UN official told the briefing.

"The major concern for us is that many of them have been separated from their family," said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF regional director.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies representative Hicham Diab said there was a massive need for mental health support for refugees.

"The situation often involves families arriving with children so weak that they have fainted in their parents' arms," he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230929-moscow-baku-to-decide-future-of-russian-peacekeeping-mission-in-nagorno-karabakh

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Border situation ‘relatively stable’, says deputy defense minister of Armenia

Karapet Navasardian

 11:57,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The situation at the border is relatively stable, Armenia’s Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsyan told reporters Friday.

“At this moment the situation in border regions of Armenia is relatively stable. The Defense Ministry is closely monitoring the change of dynamics in the situation. We will immediately notify the public in case of any change,” Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan declined to specify the directions where the Azeri military has amassed troops, but said, “Don’t forget that we’ve now appeared in a border zone with Azerbaijan along the entire border line. And if accumulations happen, this relates to all parts, a bit more in one place, a bit less elsewhere…but what matters now is that the border situation is relatively stable, and at least at this moment no tendency of escalation is observed.”

Georgian president: Nagorno-Karabakh events will change Caucasus’ fate

Karapet Navasardian
err.ee
Sept 27 2023
NEWS

The events in Nagorno-Karabakh over the last week will change the future for the whole region, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili told ERR during a visit to Estonia this week.

Zourabichvili said while Russia's ability to influence events in the Caucasus has been reduced due to the war in Ukraine, it has not stopped trying.

Speaking about the outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh that started last week, she said: "Well, first of all, it is a humanitarian tragedy and we now hope some humanitarian aid is coming through, although many of the people are leaving. And I think this is going to change completely the fate of the region because what has happened in this conflict and this first phase, early on, means that Armenia is clearly not relying anymore on Russian support and hence now the only perspective is to turn West."

Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan but large areas of it have been controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades. It is at the heart of one of the world's longest-running conflicts, the BBC says.

The events in Nagorno-Karabakh over the last week will change the future for the whole region, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili told ERR during a visit to Estonia this week.

Zourabichvili said while Russia's ability to influence events in the Caucasus has been reduced due to the war in Ukraine, it has not stopped trying.

Speaking about the outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh that started last week, she said: "Well, first of all, it is a humanitarian tragedy and we now hope some humanitarian aid is coming through, although many of the people are leaving. And I think this is going to change completely the fate of the region because what has happened in this conflict and this first phase, early on, means that Armenia is clearly not relying anymore on Russian support and hence now the only perspective is to turn West."

Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan but large areas of it have been controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades. It is at the heart of one of the world's longest-running conflicts, the BBC says.

Opinion Call what is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh by its proper name

Karapet Navasardian
Washington Post
Sept 22 2023

By Luis Moreno Ocampo



Luis Moreno Ocampo was the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He was also a national prosecutor in Argentina in the 1985 case against the military junta.


In 2021, President Biden recognized the 1915 removal of Armenians from their lands in Anatolia, in today’s Turkey, as genocide. The United States had been silent on the issue for more than a century, and its silence had grievous consequences.

Today, Armenians need global leaders, including Biden, to stop a new genocide — one that started this past winter and is now evolving into a more brutal phase.

On Tuesday, after a months-long blockade and military buildup along the border of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s military launched an attack. Within a day, Azerbaijani forces quickly overwhelmed local defenses, killing more than 200 people, including civilians. In short order, a shaky cease-fire was announced.


In return for stopping the bombing, Azerbaijan demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh’s top leaders and the disarmament of all the armed forces of the Karabakh authorities.

As Azerbaijan’s victory became more apparent, scores of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian civilians gathered around the airport in Stepanakert (the enclave’s biggest city) looking to flee their ancestral lands.

They have every right to fear the next steps Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev might take. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On Feb. 22, the International Court of Justice, after hearing arguments from both sides, ruled that the blockade produced a “real and imminent risk” to the “health and life” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.


Rather than comply with the court’s binding order to end the blockade, Azerbaijan security forces doubled down in June, sealing off the enclave entirely, preventing even the transfer of food, medical supplies and other essentials. Since then, Aliyev has repeatedly ignored calls from the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. secretary of state to comply with the court’s ruling. He correctly understood that Azerbaijan would bear no serious costs from the international community for its actions.

Azerbaijan’s defiance is ominous. In international law, the Genocide Convention of 1948 makes it clear that one way to commit the crime is by “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II c). By blocking the Lachin Corridor, Aliyev turned Nagorno-Karabakh into a vast concentration camp for 120,000 Armenians. This week’s military intervention added killing (Article II a) and causing serious bodily and mental harm (Article II b) to the ledger.

What happens next? Because Nagorno-Karabakh authorities surrendered, the international community has urged Aliyev to guarantee the full rights of his Armenian citizens in the enclave. Aliyev’s government has said it is not committing ethnic cleansing and assured the world that “reintegration” will bring prosperity to the region.

But this rhetoric rings hollow given what has already been done. And Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 2010, Aliyev has regularly talked about Armenia itself as “Western Azerbaijan,” echoing long-standing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia as a whole is an illegitimate state. As recently as December, he said that “present-day Armenia is our land.”

The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance to using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international affairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the mass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in 30 years.

The last time the U.N. Security Council discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev’s blockade was repeatedly called a “humanitarian situation,” and continued negotiations were proposed. One is reminded of the heroic intervention by the Czech ambassador, Karel Kovanda, during the U.N. debates on Rwanda: When most leaders backed negotiating a truce, he likened the idea to “persuading Hitler to reach a ceasefire with the Jews.”


Today, as always, geopolitics explain the world’s reticence. Azerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe and it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies must not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

Biden did the right thing in 2021. Today, he needs to help prevent history from repeating itself.

Former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo calls on Biden to help prevent new Armenian genocide

Karapet Navasardian

 12:50,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, in an Op-Ed published by the Washington Post, has warned that Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh and the world has the responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

Below is the full Op-Ed published by the Washington Post.

"In 2021, President Biden recognized the 1915 removal of Armenians from their lands in Anatolia, in today’s Turkey, as genocide. The United States had been silent on the issue for more than a century, and its silence had grievous consequences.

"Today, Armenians need global leaders, including Biden, to stop a new genocide — one that started this past winter and is now evolving into a more brutal phase.

"On Tuesday, after a months-long blockade and military buildup along the border of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s military launched an attack. Within a day, Azerbaijani forces quickly overwhelmed local defenses, killing more than 200 people, including civilians. In short order, a shaky cease-fire was announced.

"In return for stopping the bombing, Azerbaijan demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh’s top leaders and the disarmament of all the armed forces of the Karabakh authorities.

"As Azerbaijan’s victory became more apparent, scores of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian civilians gathered around the airport in Stepanakert (the enclave’s biggest city) looking to flee their ancestral lands.

"They have every right to fear the next steps Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev might take. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On Feb. 22, the International Court of Justice, after hearing arguments from both sides, ruled that the blockade produced a “real and imminent risk” to the “health and life” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.

"Rather than comply with the court’s binding order to end the blockade, Azerbaijan security forces doubled down in June, sealing off the enclave entirely, preventing even the transfer of food, medical supplies and other essentials. Since then, Aliyev has repeatedly ignored calls from the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. secretary of state to comply with the court’s ruling. He correctly understood that Azerbaijan would bear no serious costs from the international community for its actions.

"Azerbaijan’s defiance is ominous. In international law, the Genocide Convention of 1948 makes it clear that one way to commit the crime is by “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II c). By blocking the Lachin Corridor, Aliyev turned Nagorno-Karabakh into a vast concentration camp for 120,000 Armenians. This week’s military intervention added killing (Article II a) and causing serious bodily and mental harm (Article II b) to the ledger.

"What happens next? Because Nagorno-Karabakh authorities surrendered, the international community has urged Aliyev to guarantee the full rights of his Armenian citizens in the enclave. Aliyev’s government has said it is not committing ethnic cleansing and assured the world that “reintegration” will bring prosperity to the region.

"But this rhetoric rings hollow given what has already been done. And Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 2010, Aliyev has regularly talked about Armenia itself as “Western Azerbaijan,” echoing long-standing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia as a whole is an illegitimate state. As recently as December, he said that “present-day Armenia is our land.”

"The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance to using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international affairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the mass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in 30 years.

"The last time the U.N. Security Council discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev’s blockade was repeatedly called a “humanitarian situation,” and continued negotiations were proposed. One is reminded of the heroic intervention by the Czech ambassador, Karel Kovanda, during the U.N. debates on Rwanda: When most leaders backed negotiating a truce, he likened the idea to “persuading Hitler to reach a ceasefire with the Jews.”

"Today, as always, geopolitics explain the world’s reticence. Azerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe and it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies must not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

"Biden did the right thing in 2021. Today, he needs to help prevent history from repeating itself."

AW: Congressional Hearing: President Biden complicit in Azerbaijan’s genocide against Artsakh

Karapet Navasardian
September 7, 2023 ANCA ANCA News 0

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo called out U.S. President Joe Biden’s complicity in Azerbaijan’s ongoing genocide against Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, in powerful remarks delivered before a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC), reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“President Biden or Secretary Blinken can officially tell Mr. Aliyev to remove tomorrow, unconditionally, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, or we consider you responsible for genocide. […] And, of course, that will trigger a lot of consequences,” stated Ocampo, speaking in a packed Rayburn House Office Building hearing room.

Ocampo pushed back against arguments that Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations may be hampered by the proper characterization of genocide to describe Azerbaijan’s over 260-day blockade of Artsakh. “The negotiation is between a genocider and his victims. You cannot ask for a negotiation between Hitler and the people in Auschwitz. It’s not a negotiation. You have to stop Auschwitz and then discuss negotiation. And that, I think, is the secret here,” stated Ocampo. The former ICC prosecutor went on to note that “knowing that President Aliyev is using genocide and trying to deny the genocide, the U.S. assistance to deny the genocide could be considered complicity.”

Former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo described Azerbaijan’s 260+ day Artsakh blockade as a “an ongoing genocide. It’s happening now,” in powerful remarks delivered at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing, titled “Nagorno Karabakh: Update”

ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian echoed Ocampo, underscoring, “Today’s hearing put President Biden on public notice that he is – according to the spirit and the letter of the Genocide Convention – complicit in Azerbaijan’s genocide against the 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians of Artsakh – citizens of an at-risk democracy blockaded by an oil-rich dictatorship.”

Rep. Chris Smith: “This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was planned, tested and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan.”

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) – a longtime champion of human rights around the world and leading voice in the decades-long effort to secure U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – was outspoken in his characterization of Azerbaijan’s genocide in Artsakh.

“There are 120,000 ethnic Armenians who have been sealed off from food and medicine and are being starved to death by the government of Azerbaijan. […] This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was planned, tested and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan; that is to say, by President Aliyev who rules Azerbaijan with an iron fist as a dictator,” stated Chairman Smith in his opening remarks of the hearing.

He went to slam Biden administration officials for not responding to repeated invitations to participate in today’s hearing. “This hearing has two empty chairs. Two. Those of the U.S. Department of State and USAID. I requested that they both provide a witness for this hearing. Despite repeated requests by phone and email, neither responded. Not even a response. Since 1995, I have chaired hundreds of hearings with State Department or USAID witnesses. This is a unique case of absolute nonresponse,” stated Chairman Smith.

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Chris Smith (R-NJ) called Artsakh’s integration into Azerbaijan a “death sentence” during the September 6 emergency hearing

“It speaks volumes about the bankruptcy of the Biden-Harris administration’s genocide-aligned policies on Artsakh that they refused Chairman Smith’s repeated requests to send even a single U.S. State Department or USAID witness to today’s hearing,” noted the ANCA’s Hamparian.

Chairman Smith highlighted the Biden administration’s failure to adequately respond to Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression and blockade against Artsakh.  “Requests in bland bureaucratic language do not count, not when people are being subjected to genocide,” stated Rep. Smith. “Today, the State Department issued a readout of Secretary Blinken’s September 1 call with President Aliyev, where [they expressed] ‘concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, reiterated our call to reopen, underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise.’ This is completely inadequate, and I believe it is insulting. One side is committing genocide against the other, and the State Department expresses concern urging the victim to dialogue and to compromise.”

David Phillips: “By being silent, by not acting, the Biden administration is making a statement that it values Azeri oil and gas more than it does the lives of Armenians in Artsakh”

David L. Phillips, the director of Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities Project and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, offered powerful testimony citing atrocities committed by Azerbaijani government officials against Armenians in the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia and calling for concrete U.S. sanctions against both Azerbaijan and its top leadership.

“Azerbaijan does not have a diversified economy. It relies on oil and gas resources. The levels of corruption by the Aliyev family are well documented. Freezing accounts and financial resources of officials and corrupt leadership responsible would be more effective in Azerbaijan than it would be elsewhere,” argued Phillips. “If the situation is not dramatically reversed soon, the U.S. and its allies should give the Armenians the means to defend themselves and exercise of the duty to prevent genocide, lest history repeat itself.”

Phillips went on to criticize the international community for not imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan sooner. “The international community failed to sanction individuals who committed crimes after the wars in 2016 and 2020. Its message of failure sent a communication to the government of Azerbaijan that it can act with impunity and escape repercussions for its crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide,” stated Phillips. “This signals Azerbaijan, as well as other regimes around the world, that they can escape consequences for violating international humanitarian law and committing crimes against humanity.”

Columbia University director of the Artsakh Atrocities Project David L. Phillips argued that the international community’s failure to sanction Azerbaijan sent the clear message that they can act with impunity

The September 6 emergency hearing on Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) followed the June 22 hearing hosted by TLHRC co-chairs Chris Smith (R-NJ) and James McGovern (D-MA), which included remarks by Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also submitted a written statement for the record. Titled “Safeguarding the people of Nagorno Karabakh,” the hearing included testimony by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michael Rubin and Columbia University’s Phillips.

The ANCA streamed the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing live on its social media channels. The complete video is available on the Commission’s website.

The ANCA has launched a national call-in campaign asking Senators to place a hold on all of President Biden’s State Department nominees until he takes decisive action to stop Azerbaijan’s genocide against Artsakh. To learn more and take action, visit www.anca.org/hold.

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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.


Artsakh parliament nominates new president

Karapet Navasardian
September 6, 2023 Hoory Minoyan News 1

A session of the Artsakh parliament (Artsakh Republic National Assembly, August 7)

The latest bloodshed in Armenia comes amidst a major political and military shake-up in Artsakh.

Following weeks of swirling speculation about his political future, Arayik Harutyunyan handed in his resignation on September 1, stating that the ongoing blockade suggests there must be a change in Artsakh’s political approach. “In order to achieve that, we must change the main actors in Artsakh, starting with me,” said Harutyunyan.

Prior to his resignation, Harutyunyan endorsed the resignations of State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan and Advisor to the State Minister Artak Beglaryan. Following Nersisyan’s resignation, Samvel Shahramanyan, the Secretary of the Security Council, was appointed as the new State Minister of Artsakh.

Opposition factions ARF, “Ardarutyun” and NDP of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh nominated newly appointed State Minister Samvel Shahramanyan for the position of president. The National Assembly will carry out the election of the president on September 9.

These political changes in Artsakh come amid military escalations along Armenia’s border.

On the morning of September 1, the Azerbaijan armed forces opened fire from different caliber small arms against Armenian combat positions in the vicinity of the Armenian village of Sotk in the Gegharkunik province. The Ministry of Defense of Armenia said that the Azerbaijani armed forces also used mortars in the same direction. Armenian authorities say that Azerbaijan disseminates misinformation that Armenia has launched provocations to lay the foundation for an escalation. 

“The Azerbaijani propaganda is disseminating disinformation that the Armenian Armed Forces are concentrating a large number of weapons, military equipment and personnel in Sotk.

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 Armenian MoD said. 

Armenia’s biggest gold mine is located in Sotk, where all operations have been suspended indefinitely due to shelling by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Seven hundred people who work at the mine have been placed on unpaid leave. 

Around noon the same day, the Azerbaijani armed forces also fired towards the Armenian outposts near Norabak, also in Gegharkunik.

As a result of the Azerbaijani provocation, the Armenian side had three deaths – soldiers Andranik Arshak Antonyan, Arsen Aleksandr Mkrtichyan and Vachagan Saro Vardanyan – and two injuries.

On the night of September 2, the Azerbaijani side opened fire on the Kapan airport in the Syunik province. Three shots were fired, two of which hit the outer walls of the airport’s arrivals hall and control room and damaged furniture. There were no casualties as a result of the shooting. The Syunik Regional Investigation Department has opened a criminal case on the grounds of attempted murder.

Firing on the Syunik airport began on August 18, a day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took the first flight from Yerevan to Kapan and announced the commencement of regular flights to and from Kapan. In the early hours of the day of the PM’s arrival, an unidentified Azerbaijani vehicle approached the airport and fired three shots, causing damage to an airport window and the roof structure.

On September 3, at around 1:40 a.m., Azerbaijani armed forces units fired from firearms towards the Armenian combat outposts near Kutakan in Gegharkunik. 

On the eve of September 5, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire on Armenian positions located in Kut, Gegharkunik.

As provocations continue on the border and on social media with the spread of misinformation, Armenians in over 20 countries commemorated the 32nd anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, reaffirming their commitment to a free and independent Artsakh. 

32 years ago, the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh exercised their right to national autonomy, enshrined in the “Regulation Governing Questions Concerning the Secession of a Union Republic from the USSR,” to decide their legal status independently in the case of a Soviet Republic’s secession from the USSR. 

On December 10, 1991, a few days prior to the official collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held where an overwhelming majority of the population (99.98-percent) of Artsakh voted in favor of full independence from Soviet Azerbaijan. 

32 years later, the anniversary of Artsakh’s independence became the foundation for pan-Armenian mobilization. In more than two dozen countries – Armenia, Artsakh and across the Diaspora – Armenians gathered in large numbers, protested and presented their demands: to end Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh and closure of the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor. 

On the brink of possible continued escalations, Armenians across the globe turned the celebration of Artsakh’s Independence Day into an occasion for protest, rejected the dissolution procedure of the Artsakh issue and conveyed the assurance of their solidarity to the people of Artsakh.




AW: Life-long ANC of Eastern Massachusetts Activist Barkev Kaligian to receive Cardashian Award at Gala

Karapet Navasardian
September 5, 2023 ANCA-Eastern Region ANCA News 0

BOSTON–Lifelong Hai Tahd and ANC of Eastern Massachusetts activist Unger Barkev Kaligian will be honored by the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) with the ANCA Eastern Region Vahan Cardashian Award at the 17th Annual ANCA Eastern Region Endowment Fund’s Gala on Saturday, October 7, 2023, at the Royal Sonesta Boston Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kaligian will be joined by hundreds of supporters and activists as he is presented with the Vahan Cardashian Award at the awards ceremony, which includes a cocktail reception, silent auction and seated dinner. Kaligian will be joined by another lifelong Hai Tahd activist Joseph Dagdgian from the ANC of Merrimack Valley, who will also be presented with the Vahan Cardashian Award. 

The ANCA Eastern Region Vahan Cardashian Award is given to ANCA-ER activist(s) who demonstrate long-standing commitment, leadership and success on behalf of the Armenian cause. The award is named in honor of the founder of the precursor to the ANCA, Vahan Cardashian, who founded the Armenian Committee for the Independence of Armenia in 1919.

“It brings me great pleasure to honor Unger Kaligian with this award. As a lifelong activist, he is an embodiment of the sacrifices that one must make to wholeheartedly serve the Armenian nation and an example to activists throughout the region. His contributions to the Armenian cause and its people inspire all of us. We are beyond grateful and excited to celebrate him and other deserving activists next month,” said Ani Zargarian, gala committee member.

A native of Boston, Kaligian was one of the founding members of the ARF Roupen Gomidehutune in Boston, where he also served on several AYF Central Executives in the 1950s. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1956, he worked as a civil engineer for 38 years with the federal government, in which he mostly served the National Park Service. It was at AYF Camp Haiastan where he would meet his future wife Seta in 1960. They married the same year in California and would raise four sons, Dikran, Zohrab, Aram and Garin.

Keeping the Armenian nation at heart, Kaligian would serve his community by participating in a broad range of local and regional community organizations. For nearly three decades, he served on the Board of Directors for AYF Camp Haiastan and contributed to its development as a mainstay of Armenian community life in the Eastern United States. During this period, he also sang in the choir at St. Stephen’s Armenian Church for over 50 years and was a member of the ARS Javo Chapter. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the Armenian Cultural & Educational Center in Watertown for 20 years.

However, Kaligian’s greatest passion was reserved for promoting Hai Tahd. He would be found in the front row of lectures conducted by denialists and by representatives of Turkey and Azerbaijan, prepared with a tape recorder to disprove false statements and to be a voice for honesty and transparency. Whether at Harvard, Tufts Fletcher School, the World Affairs Council or any other venue, Kaligian was determined to break the silence and confront the speakers and the moderators with the truth. He has also been a prolific letter writer, addressing U.S. policy in letters to executive branch officials and members of Congress, pointing out the pernicious influence of Turkey.

Activism was a cornerstone of the Kaligian family, as Seta Kaligian served for several years on the Central Executive of the Armenian Relief Society and with the Armenian National Education Council. Their sons would also become Camp Haiastan counselors, AYF Central Executive members, frequent AYF Junior Seminar lecturers and chairmen of local ANCs and Gomidehs. Barkev and Seta are blessed with 11 grandchildren who continue to hold the family mantle.

“Lifelong activists such as Unger Barkev are a rarity and a blessing to the region as a whole. The Vahan Cardashian Award is deserved by such individuals, who are always prepared to serve their nation – through the AYF, ARF and the ANCA Eastern Region,” said Zargarian.

Kaligian will be joined by hundreds of supporters, activists and community leaders celebrating other deserving individuals at the gala who will be awarded the ANCA Eastern Region Freedom Award, the ANCA Eastern Region Advocacy Award, and the inaugural Excellence in Education Award, to name a few. 

Tickets for the gala, which include a cocktail reception, silent auction, and seated dinner, can be purchased at www.givergy.us/ancaer.

For more information about this year’s gala, visit www.givergy.us/ancaer or contact [email protected]

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The Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region is part of the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization, the ANCA. Working in coordination with the ANCA in Washington, DC, and a network of chapters and supporters throughout the Eastern United States, the ANCA-ER actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


No alternative to Lachin corridor: Armenia MFA

Karapet Navasardian
MEHR News Agency, Iran
Sept 4 2023

TEHRAN, Sep. 04 (MNA) – The Lachin corridor was agreed upon as a link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and has no alternative, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia said.

The RFE/RL Armenian Service asked the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs whether Azerbaijan made the opening of the Aghdam road to Nagorno-Karabakh a precondition for Baku to reopen the Lachin corridor, News Armenia reported. 

Armenia responded that the Lachin corridor should be reopened, and as for other possible communications, this matter should be resolved within the framework of the international mechanism of the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue.

"Armenia's position on this matter has not changed, and the work with our international partners continues, aimed at Azerbaijan’s implementation of the relevant decisions of the International Court of Justice and the lifting of the illegal blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, including by implementing the relevant mechanisms of the UN and the UN Security Council," the Armenian ministery added.

One of the most challenging remaining issues between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia is the Lachin corridor, which Azerbaijan has blocked or subjected to strict inspections. This important route connects the Karabakh region to Armenia.

SKH/PR

Baku says Armenian sabotage group tried to infiltrate Azerbaijani territory, Yerevan refutes claim

Karapet Navasardian
IRAN FRONT PAGE
Aug 16 2023
ByIFP Media Wire

An attempt by an Armenian sabotage and reconnaissance group to infiltrate into Azerbaijan has been foiled and one of its members was detained, the Azeri defense ministry announced.

“On August 16 at about 11:15 a.m. (10:15 Moscow time a.m.), a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Armenian armed forces, taking advantage of the gaps between the combat positions of the Azerbaijani army located in the direction of the Istisu settlement of the Kalbajar district, tried to infiltrate into the territory of Azerbaijan in order to carry out sabotage and terrorist operations. <…> With the support of firearms, the provocation of the Armenian military was stopped. As a result, Azerbaijani servicemen detained a wounded member of the sabotage group,” the statement said.

According to the defense ministry, other members of the Armenian group were “forced to retreat.”

“At present, the data on the detained member of the group are being clarified,” the Defense Ministry added.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has branded as misinformation a statement by the defense ministry of Azerbaijan on a sabotage attempt by Armenia’s armed forces in the eastern sector of the border between the two countries.

"The statement issued by the MoD of Azerbaijan as if the units of the RA Armed Forces fired against the Azerbaijani combat outposts located in the eastern part of the border on August 15, at around 6:05 p.m., is another disinformation,” its statement said.

The military agency reiterated that, according to preliminary data, one of the reserve servicemen who participated in a training mission had left his combat position. “A possible version and all the circumstances of the reservist appearing on the Azerbaijani side are being investigated,” the ministry added.