Author: Maral Takmazian

Local nurse helping train people in Armenia while maintaining its culture

Maral Takmazian
March 17 2022

(WXYZ) — We're continuing to celebrate women making a difference in local communities and beyond as part of Women's History Month.

Nairi Karapetian has spent the last two decades trying to improve the quality of life for people in Armenia. The country has a long history of genocide and unrest.

Karapetian is a nurse at Beaumont Royal Oak and a proud grandchild of four Armenia genocide survivors. Despite being born here, she's been traveling back for years to bring aid and provide medical care to her people.

Since 2020, they've been at war with Azerbaijan, a conflict similar to the one going on in Ukraine.

St. Sarkis in Dearborn is where Karapetian got married. It's also where two of her kids were baptized. There's a lot of meaning within these walls, but what she loves most about being there is how connected she feels to her roots.

"Although I wasn't born there, Armenia was part of my identity, it was part of my soul and we all felt a commitment to honor the survival of our ancestors, of our grandparents," she said.

An estimated 1.5 million people died in the Ottoman-era Armenia genocide. Turkey, the ultimate heirs of the Ottoman Empire, denied the massacre.

Last year, President Joe Biden declared April 24 National Armenian Remembrance Day. Karapetian and others living in the U.S. waited a long time for that acknowledgment.

"There are more people living in the diaspora Armenians than there are people in Armenia, but all of us are magnetized back," Karapetian said.

She said that pull got stronger in 2020 when violence erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Republic of Artsakh.

Both ex-Soviet neighbors claim the territory belongs to them. Mind you, this was all happening during the height of the pandemic.

"Ukraine is getting a lot of attention, which is what it should be, but Armenia should have gotten attention too and so should a lot of other countries when they were being brutally attacked in a very similar way. There are lots of parallels," she said.

As a long-time nurse, Karapetian knew she could help injured civilians. She collected over 280 boxes of medical supplies and headed for Armenia's front lines

"We've got this ongoing genocide right now and our history is just so sad and it just seems to never end. It is just an ongoing trauma," Karapetian said.

A nation that was once a large empire is now the size of Maryland. Karapetian fears Armenia will one day be no more, which is why she weaves tradition, language and culture into everything she does.

"I told my daughter, whether it's in my lifetime or yours, if Armenia is gone, it needs to exist in our hearts and we need to keep it going," she said.

Karapetian is going to Armenia next month to start a pilot program for nurses. She wants to empower them to take more initiative by the bedside and bring them up to date on CPR and other life-support training.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-nurse-helping-train-people-in-armenia-while-maintaining-its-culture

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https://news.yahoo.com/local-nurse-helping-train-people-114526839.html

Natural gas already being supplied to Artsakh

Maral Takmazian

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 11:17,

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. The use of the natural gas will be available to the subscribers of the Artsakhgaz CJSC from March 19, the Artsakh Information Headquarters said in a statement.

“Dear compatriots, as we already informed, the repair works of the damaged gas pipeline have been completed during the day. We want to inform that at the moment the natural gas is already being supplied to the reception point of Artsakhgaz CJSC”, the statement says.

Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Latvian counterpart discuss cooperation prospects

Maral Takmazian

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 15:09,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan met with Latvia’s Minister for Welfare Gatis Eglītis during the visit in New York, the United States, the ministry said in a news release.

The possible options of the bilateral cooperation in labor and social protection, the necessity of implementing joint programs aimed at women’s economic strengthening were discussed during the meeting.

Narek Mkrtchyan highlighted studying the best Latvian experience in digitization of social services, protection of rights of people with disabilities, employment policy.

The sides expressed readiness to take respective steps to strengthen the sectoral cooperation.

Armenian attaché invites Iranians to take part in his country’s tenders

Maral Takmazian
IRAN FRONT PAGE


ByIFP Editorial Staff

Vardan Goustanian said all signs show that trade ties between Iran and Armenia are growing.

Goustanian’s comments come as Iran’s minister of industry, mines and trade earlier this month visited Armenia for talks over ways of facilitating economic ties between the Islamic Republic and neighbors including Armenia.

Currently, the volume of trade between Iran and Armenia is $500 million per year but both sides agree this can reach $1 billion. Armenia’s economic attaché in Iran said compared to 2021 and 2020, trade between the two countries has increased 25% ($102 million) this year and now stands at $503 million.

Goustanian also confirmed that the goal is to increase that figure to $1 billion, saying if that objective is achieved, higher figures will also be discussed.

He noted that the Eurasian Economic Union has five members including Armenia, which is the only member of the bloc having a land border with Iran.

Armenia’s economic attaché in Iran said the Eurasian Economic Union is a large market with a 185 million population, and Armenia is capable of linking Iran to other members of the bloc like a bridge.

He also said Iranian businesspeople can use the links their Armenian peers have in the Eurasian Economic Union for the purpose of doing lucrative business with the bloc’s members.

He said Iranians are highly skilled in road and dam construction and the two sides can engage in profitable cooperation in this regard. He also noted that Armenia has a population of 3.5 million, saying his country imports $5 billion worth of goods each year. Goustanian said Iran can secure a larger share of Armenia’s imports.

https://ifpnews.com/armenian-attache-invites-iranians-to-take-part-in-his-countrys-tenders/



The world failed to act in 2020 when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia. Now history repeats itself in Ukraine

Maral Takmazian
OPINION
By Stephan PechdimaldjiUpdated

A country led by an authoritarian launches an unprovoked war claiming sovereignty over historical lands. Thousands of innocent lives are upended. Fathers leave children behind to defend their country. Churches and hospitals are bombed. War crimes are committed.

Sound familiar? While this might depict events currently unfolding in Ukraine, it also describes what happened to Armenians living in their ancestral homeland of Nagorno-Karabakh when Azerbaijan started a war in the fall of 2020.

But unlike Ukraine, where worldwide condemnation of Russian aggression has been swift and severe, the world stayed mostly silent when Armenians were desperately asking for support and help. For millions of Armenians living around the world, this story is all too familiar. As victims of the first genocide of the 20th century, when more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks, an event Turkey denies to this day, Armenians have come to expect that their suffering and pain is not worthy of comparable attention.

The events taking place in Ukraine and the imbalance of coverage that the Nagorno-Karabakh war received has only crystalized those feelings of frustration and exasperation. Wars are not a competition. And the people of Ukraine deserve all the help and support that the world can give them to stop Vladimir Putin’s quixotic campaign to revive the Soviet Union. But focusing on just one group undermines what other countries have endured in similar conflicts, wars, and wanton acts of violence. It gives despots cover to commit acts of violence at will and without restraint.

Strongmen like Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan share contempt for the rule of law. Had the world acted on behalf of Armenia in 2020 — or, for that matter, during the Armenian genocide in 1915 — then maybe that would have sent a stronger message to autocrats like Putin whose actions demonstrate that they believe they can carry out acts of aggression against other nations with impunity. What’s happening to Ukrainians is similar to what happened to Armenians. These are not mutually exclusive events. The parallels could not be starker.

Taking a page out of Putin’s playbook, President Aliyev used the pretext of historical revisionism to launch his unprovoked war against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Claiming that large parts of Armenia’s territory were Azerbaijan’s “historic lands,” Aliyev defended this belief through incendiary language in numerous speeches leading up to the war and even went so far to say that Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, belonged to Azerbaijan. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is one of the reasons why he has embarked on a campaign to erase Armenia’s history and existence in the region by defacing, vandalizing, and destroying Armenian heritage and cultural sites, including churches and monasteries that have stood for hundreds of years.

Already we are seeing Russian forces try to engage in similar efforts. For instance, Moscow drew international condemnation after an airstrike hit Babyn Yar, a Holocaust memorial site where Nazis killed thousands of Jews during World War II. Whether or not it was intentional, the ultimate message that Russia sent was clear. Similarly, images surfaced during the Nagorno-Karabakh war showing a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide in Shushi being razed by occupying Azeri forces.

Despite these parallels, the world responded much differently to each event. While Russia has rightly been sanctioned economically and labeled a pariah, Azerbaijan didn’t even get a slap on the wrist. FIFA and UEFA, the world’s largest governing body for soccer, banned Russia but rewarded Azerbaijan by allowing it to host the 2020 European Championship games. Those same games were held next door to Azerbaijan Military Trophies Park, which glorifies and extols Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War with Armenia, which basically represents a blatant disrespect for human rights as it celebrates its war crimes.

The park features a display of hundreds of helmets taken from Armenian soldiers killed during the war and wax mannequins of captured soldiers portrayed through exaggerated caricatures based on Armenian stereotypes and tropes like crooked noses and bushy eyebrows. Many of these mannequins are of people shown in their dying moments or chained to jail cells.

War should not be a zero-sum game when it comes to awareness. It is evil and represents the very worst of humanity. That is why all conflicts deserve attention. Human lives should not be measured by the size of a country or the natural resources it may have. In many ways, the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 was a harbinger of Russia’s war in Ukraine. As with the lessons of the Armenian genocide, the world failed to learn from history. Sadly, that history is repeating itself once again.

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/14/opinion/world-failed-act-2019-when-azerbaijan-attacked-armenia-now-history-repeats-itself-ukraine/ 


Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic and religious hatred against Armenians is of systematic nature – Ombudswoman

Maral Takmazian

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 12:09,

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. The shots and terrorist actions in the direction of the peaceful settlements of Artsakh are manifestations of ethnic and religious hatred, being coordinated by the Azerbaijani authorities, against Armenians, Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan said during a discussion today relating to Azerbaijan’s ethnic hatred policy and its consequences.

The Defender said the numerous reports of the Ombudsmen of Armenia and Artsakh, the fact-finding missions and analysis of organizations having an international mandate prove that Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic and religious hatred against Armenians is of systematic nature.

“It feeds the Azerbaijani society. In particular, the 2020 September 27 war was accompanied by huge hatred and hostility campaign, which was being encouraged by the Azerbaijani authorities. The state-sponsored propaganda of Armenophobia and hostility today is reaching very dangerous and extremely fascist manifestations. I want to note that our studies show that the policy is based on two pillars – ethnic and religious, because there are talks on ethnic hatred, Armenophobia very often, but in many cases the religious hatred becomes secondary. But our reports also state that the facts prove that this hatred on religious grounds also exists”, Kristinne Grigoryan said.

Azerbaijan again fires mortars in new ceasefire breach in Artsakh

Maral Takmazian

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 16:36, 9 March, 2022

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. On March 9, around 14:00-14:30, the Azerbaijani military violated the ceasefire in Artsakh, again firing 60mm mortars, the Artsakh authorities said.

The Azerbaijani forces fired 4 mortar shells from positions deployed in the direction of the Khnushinak village of Martuni region, Artsakh.

There are no victims from the Armenian side, the Artsakh authorities said.

Autonomous University of Madrid to host Armenia Day

Maral Takmazian
panorama.am
Armenia – March 8 2022


EDUCATION 12:54 08/03/2022 WORLD

The Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) will host Armenia Day on March 23, the Armenian Embassy in Spain reports.

The speakers include Armenian Ambassador to Spain Sos Avetisyan, university professors as well as well-known Spanish journalist Miguel Angel Nieto.

Nieto’s "The Shadow of Ararat" documentary about Armenia is expected to be screened at the event.

ART: Cafesjian Center for the Arts to host ‘Leo Leo Vardanyan: Traces’ exhibition

Maral Takmazian
panorama.am
Armenia – March 2 2022


The Cafesjian Center for the Arts announces the opening of the exhibition, Leo Leo Vardanyan: Traces on March 4 in Gallery One of the Center, for the first time presenting a significant series from the artist’s recent oeuvre.

Leo Leo Vardanyan is an abstractionist artist working with varied techniques and media, sometimes applying multimedia approach as well. In his recent works the artist has examined the relation of varied physical dimensions, gravitations and vibrations of different layers (this is how the artist calls it himself).

In the Traces series this relation with varied surfaces is taken to another level, where the creation of the image is more free and seemingly uncontrolled; the author’s impact on the process is minimized to an extent that it seems entirely spontaneous.

The artist created special conditions and environment for the Traces series, when fire flames and jets swallowed the canvas on the stretcher attached to the fiberboard, thus leaving abstract images and traces on the latter. Initially created for a video art piece, it has developed into a separate series, becoming derivative to the mentioned video artwork.

With this exhibition CCA also launches the project Tabula Rasa. The aim is to use the clear and blank wall of Gallery One, realizing different exhibitions and experimental projects. Tabula Rasa (Latin translation: "blank slate") is a term that derives from Greek Philosophy: in epistemological and psychological context, the theory offers that individuals are born without built-in mental content like a blank slate/board, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. In this context, it is indeed symbolic to start the project with Leo Leo Vardanyan’s Traces, where real blank boards are literally charged with new layers and meanings.

“Using flame, air and substance from the elements of nature (without which there is no burning), the artist renders fire not only as a means of destruction, but also purification, a new beginning”,- states Vahagn Marabyan, the Acting Executive Director of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.

Leo Leo Vardanyan: Traces exhibition will last from March 4 to May 29, 2022. The entrance is free of charge.

Armenian Deputy PM speaks about the expected benefits in case of launching the Yeraskh-Julfa- Meghri-Horadiz railway

Maral Takmazian

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 18:48, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan is sure that the launch of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway will have positive results, it will be profitable for the country, ARMENPRESS reports Mher Grigoryan mentioned that the restoration of Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway will cost 226-230 million dollars, the construction duration will be up to 36 months.

"If we look at the tax revenues of the South Caucasus Railway, they amount to about 4.7 billion drams a year. If we take into account that in case of unblocking, the cargo flows will at least double, even at the expense of the internal potential, we will have at least 5% yield, which is not bad. This allows to enter the next stage and carry out more in-depth calculations and project, as a result of which, of course, the numbers will be adjusted. But I am absolutely confident that in terms of the profitability of this initiative we will get more positive data, we will see better profitability," Grigoryan said, answering the question of "Hayastan" faction MP Artur Khachatryan how much revenue the government expects from the operation of Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway.