Author: Varazdat Torgomian

Shifting alliances: Jewish groups change tune on Armenian genocide

Varazdat Torgomian
The Jewish Weekly News
April 27 2021

By Ron Kampeas, JTA | April 27, 2021

One Wednesday in October 2007, seven Jewish lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee did something extraordinary: They ignored the pleas of the Jewish establishment.

Jewish politicos were often happy to advance the the agenda of the Jewish groups because it lined up with their ideals.

On this occasion, several powerhouse lobbying groups in the Jewish community were pressing the committee not to advance a bill that would recognize as a genocide the 1915 Ottoman massacres of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

The bill passed out of the committee in a landmark vote but ultimately failed. It wasn’t until this weekend that President Joe Biden made history and became the first U.S. president to formally recognize the Armenian genocide. (Ronald Reagan on one occasion referred in passing to the massacres as a genocide.)

Among the many organizations welcoming Biden’s statement were at least two of the Jewish groups that had lobbied against recognition 14 years ago, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.

What changed since ’07?

It’s not complicated: The Turkey-Israel alliance fell apart.

Turkey interprets criticism of the Ottoman Empire as attacking the modern state and says any deaths in 1915 — no more than 300,000, the nation claims — must be understood in the context of a war that claimed massive casualties on both sides.

Back when the bill was under debate, Turkey was Israel’s closest regional ally and, with Jordan, one of only two Muslim majority allies. AIPAC, the ADL and AJC, along with some smaller groups, made it clear to the Foreign Affairs Committee that it would be better if the bill never got to the full U.S. House of Representatives.

The custom for Israel-related issues, then as now, was for Jewish groups to make Jewish lawmakers their first stop when lobbying: The Jewish members were the likeliest to take the lead on a favored issue in Congress. (That’s hardly unusual: Other minority lobbies take the same tack.)

The Jewish lawmakers often heeded the Jewish establishment. Except in this case.

On Oct. 10, 2007, at a committee meeting that lasted hours, seven of the eight Jewish Democrats on the committee said they could not in good conscience deny a genocide when they were so often forced to repudiate Holocaust denial.

Some of them gazed at four survivors of the Armenian genocide, three nonagenarians and a centenarian, and cast their “yes” votes. A few of them said they had only just decided to vote in the affirmative.

“With a heavy heart, I will vote for this resolution,” Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, one of the most reliable friends of the pro-Israel lobby, said in casting his vote.

Brad Sherman of California said his lifetime of Jewish advocacy left him no choice.

“Genocide denial is not just the last step of a genocide, it is the first step of the next genocide,” he said.

In the months prior to the vote, there had been a full-court press against advancing the resolution. Turkish officials flew to Washington, D.C., to make their case, often at private events hosted by Jewish groups.

So did Turkish Jewish community officials who met with influential folks on the sidelines of AIPAC’s conference that year and made clear in so many words that their comfortable existence would be less so if Congress passed the law. In the end, the committee approved the bill — a first — but it died on the House floor.

The same year, the ADL made national headlines when it fired one of its Boston officials who openly criticized the organization for not naming the Armenian genocide as such. ADL had hosted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan two years earlier in New York.

Privately, officials of the Jewish groups acknowledged that they were wary of the Islamist direction that Erdogan was leading the country. Three years later, after the Mavi Marmara crisis, when Israeli commandoes raided a Turkish-flagged convoy attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, the crisis burst into the open.

The Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish citizens (one a dual American citizen) in the clashes aboard one of the ships. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded. Erdogan recalled the Turkish ambassador and canceled Israel-Turkey joint military exercises.

The relationship never fully recovered, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully cultivated other Muslim majority allies in the region. Erdogan became one of the few allies of Hamas.

By 2016, major Jewish groups were lining up to press for recognition of the Armenian genocide, including eventually the ADL and AJC.  An AJC statement in 2014 noting its prior recognition of the genocide earned the group a screed from the Turkish ambassador to Washington. Congress recognized the genocide last year with nary a peep of Jewish protest.

In fact, those two major Jewish groups that had lobbied in ’07 against genocide recognition were vocal this weekend in their support of Biden. (AIPAC did not comment.)

“This long overdue step is vital for raising awareness about the atrocities committed against the Armenian people and in efforts to address other mass atrocities occurring today,” the ADL said.

The American Jewish Committee’s executive director, David Harris, decried those who would buckle to pressure.

“Despite pledges by some, no other U.S. leader was willing to state the full truth,” Harris said on Twitter. “Instead, they buckled to pressure by Turkey. In doing so, they sacrificed truth for political expediency. President Biden didn’t.”

Asbarez: Homenetmen Navasartian Games Will not Take Place in 2021

Varazdat Torgomian

April 27, 2021



Homenetmen, Armenian General Athletic Union & Scouts, est. 1918

The Homenetmen Western U.S. Regional Executive Board has been following state, local and federal guidelines since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

Homenetmen Western U.S. suspended its activities which include scouting and athletics programs, as well as all practices and tournaments and cultural programs since the initial closures began. “As we continue to monitor local and state protocols, Homenetmen Western US Region has started reopening programs in accordance to the current tier and protocols,” said a press statement from the organization.

For the past 45 years, Homenetmen Western U.S. has been organizing the Navasartian Games & Festival, which has grown over time to become the largest event that takes place in the diaspora. It has become a family tradition and a way for most to spend their July 4 holiday. The Navasartian Games and Festival are arguably the organization’s most anticipated event.

The Navasartian Games & Festival draws participants and spectators from various counties all over the Western US Region. Currently, all of these counties are in various phases and tiers on their path to recovery from COVID-19 restrictions.

The Homenetmen Western U.S. Regional Executive, taking into consideration the health and safety of the community, announced that the 45th Navasartian Games & Festival, Victory Banquet, and Closing Ceremonies, will not be organized in 2021.

Garo Paylan files criminal complaint against Turkish politician over “Talaat Pasha experience” death threat

Varazdat Torgomian

Save

Share

 13:16,

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian HDP deputy Garo Paylan of the Turkish parliament filed a criminal complaint against Turkish politician Ümit Özdağ.

The Turkish lawmaker of Armenian descent representing the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) delivered his annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day statement on April 24. Shortly afterwards, Ümit Özdağ threatened him.

In his April 24 statement, Paylan criticized the naming of streets in Turkey after Talaat Pasha, a political leader of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century who was the architect of the Armenian Genocide.

“We are walking on streets 106 years later named after Talaat Pasha, the architect of the genocide. We send our kids to schools named Talaat Pasha. We are living in a Turkey like what Germany would have been if there had been streets and schools named after Hitler in Germany today,” tweeted Paylan.

This statement seemingly infuriated the nationalist MP Özdağ, who tweeted: “Shameless, provocative man. If you are not very pleased [about living here], go to hell…"

"When the time comes, you will and should also go through a Talaat Pasha experience," Özdağ concluded. 

Paylan filed the complaint under the penal code articles of “incitement of enmity”  ,  “insults and threats”  and  “incitement to commit a crime.”

"Calls for violence against minorities open the way to hate crimes. Discrimination and hate speech should not go unpunished," Paylan said in Ankara on Wednesday. 

The Commission against Racism and Discrimination of the Human Rights Association, a Turkish organization, also filed a complaint against Özdağ.

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Biden will officially become the first U.S. president to recognize atrocities against 1.5 million Armenians

Varazdat Torgomian
Greek City Times
April 22 2021
by GCT

More than a century after the Ottoman Empire murdered around 1.5 million Armenians, President of the United States Joe Biden is preparing to declare the atrocities an act of genocide. 

Biden is expected to announce the symbolic designation on Saturday, the 106th anniversary of the beginning of what historians call a years long and systematic death march that the predecessors of modern Turkey started during World War I.

He would be the first sitting American president to do so, although Ronald Reagan made a glancing reference to the Armenian genocide in a 1981 written statement about the Holocaust, and both the House and the Senate approved measures in 2019 to make its recognition a formal matter of U.S. foreign policy.

At least 29 other countries have taken similar steps — mostly in Europe and the Americas, but also Russia and Syria, Turkey’s political adversaries.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the administration’s discussions said Biden had decided to issue the declaration, and others across the government and in foreign embassies said it was widely expected.

In a statement, 107 U.S. House members ask President Biden to “clearly and directly recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

3

April 24th is the day the world commemorates the Armenian Genocide committed by Turks in 1915. That day, 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested in Constantinople and sent to Chankri and Ayash, where they were later slain.

On this day, the Armenian genocide began.

The cleansing continued during and after World War I, resulting in the massacre of millions of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians of Anatolia.

Armenians were turned out of their homes and sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert without food or water. Frequently, the marchers were stripped naked and forced to walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead.

At the same time, it is said that the Young Turks created a “Special Organisation,” which in turn organised “killing squads” or “butcher battalions” to carry out, as one officer put it, “the liquidation of the Christian elements.” These killing squads were often made up of murderers and other ex-convicts. They drowned people in rivers, threw them off cliffs, crucified them and burned them alive.

It is estimated about 1.5 million Armenians, 900,000 Greeks, and up to 400,000 Christian Assyrians, were killed due to the genocide.

Records show that during this “Turkification” campaign government squads also kidnapped children, converted them to Islam and gave them to Turkish families. In some places, they raped women and forced them to join Turkish “harems” or serve as slaves. Muslim families moved into the homes of deported Armenians and seized their property.

On August 30, 1922, Armenians who were living in Smyrna were victims of more Turkish atrocities. The “Smyrna Disaster” of 1922 also killed Greeks who were living in the seaside city and involved thousands of Armenians. Turkish soldiers and civilians set all Greek and Armenian neighbourhoods on fire, forcing the fleeing of Greeks and Armenians to the harbour, where thousands were killed.

On April 24, 1919, the Armenian community that had survived held a commemoration ceremony at the St. Trinity Armenian church in Constantinople. Following its initial commemoration in 1919, this date became the annual day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide.

Today, most historians call this event a genocide–a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people.

However, the Turkish government does not acknowledge the enormity or scope of these events. Despite pressure from Armenians and social justice advocates throughout the world, it is still illegal in Turkey to talk about what happened to Armenians during this era.

After the Ottomans surrendered in 1918, the leaders of the Young Turks fled to Germany, which promised not to prosecute them for the genocide. Ever since then, the Turkish government has denied that a genocide took place.

The veil of Turkey’s genocide crime has been exposed in a new documentary, as reported by Greek City Times.

When It Comes to Visibility, Armenians in America Are Hopeful Change Is on the Horizon

Varazdat Torgomian
LA Magazine
Last year, the war in Artsakh seemed to get buried beneath heaps of pandemic and election news. Now, an American president is poised to acknowledge the 1915 Genocide for the very first time
By

 Liz Ohanesian

 -

As we approach April 24, the day each year we memorialize those who died during the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and call for international recognition, I think back to last fall. For six weeks, as a war seethed in the ethnically Armenian enclave of Artsakh (known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh), Armenians took their activism online.

My timeline reflected the urgency of the situation. It was a conflict that began with a ground offensive launched by Azerbaijan, and was supported by Turkey. It looked very much like an attempt to drive Armenians from what remains our indigenous homeland post-Genocide. What I saw online was a combination of grief, anger, and cultural pride in a collective cry far louder than what I’ve witnessed on any April 24.

“All of my friends stopped posting about anything else for 44 days,” says Vanna Kitsinian, a Los Angeles-based attorney who has long been involved with various Armenian groups. “All we would post about and share and talk about, to anybody that would listen, was about the Artsakh story and about the attack by Azerbaijan.”

The irony, though, is that this massive attempt to bring attention to a dire situation seemed confined to circles of Armenians and their allies. Artsakh wasn’t a major news story in the U.S. It certainly didn’t go viral. That Artsakh was largely buried under the pile bad news 2020 threw at the world was disheartening.

“I had to almost scream on social,” says L.A.-based filmmaker Natalie Shirinian of her own efforts to urge people to pay attention to the situation and reach out to their senators.

It was an incredibly frustrating time, one that could easily make you wonder if anyone was listening. In the midst of that, though, there were signs that some people did care. In mid-October, L.A. City Hall lit up in red, blue, and orange, the colors of the Armenian flag. In early November, Glendale Dia de los Muertos erected an ofrenda for Armenia and Artsakh. Gestures like that didn’t go unnoticed.

Online, I saw some engagement within my mostly non-Armenian social circles, which came overwhelmingly from the friends I’ve made while DJing at L.A. clubs. Taleen Kali and I befriended each other through the music scene a few years ago. She’s an L.A.-based musician of Armenian heritage and, last fall, Kali used her social media platform to both fundraise and help educate people on the situation in Artsakh.

“I started seeing a lot more support come through in the music community,” says Kali, “and, not just in the music community, but people who had been following me in different artistic communities as well, who were shocked to hear this was happening.”

She adds, “And some of them were hearing it for the first time.”

That might seem like inconsequential information—at first I thought that it might be too— but, in early April, something unexpected happen. The U.K. record label formerly known as Young Turks, home to The xx, FKA twigs, and Kamasi Washington, changed its name to Young. The reason: the name is associated with the early 20th century political group responsible for the Genocide (although the label was named after the Rod Stewart rather than the political movement). “Through ongoing conversations and messages that have developed our own knowledge around the subject, it’s become apparent that the name is a source of hurt and confusion for people,” label founder Caius Pawson said in a statement posted to Instagram. The label also made a donation the Armenian Institute in London.

“That was a huge admission,” Kali says of Pawson’s comments on the name change. “I thought it was really cool that they not only made the change, but they also used their platform to explain why and, therefore, they educated everybody on their platform. And then, on top of that, they sent donations.”

THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO HEAR WHAT ARMENIANS HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS.

For Armenians, the simple name change was a big deal. Keep in mind that there’s still a news program that purports to be progressive, yet continues to use the name Young Turks after years of outcry about it. There are still plenty of people who don’t want to hear what Armenians have been saying for years.

Yet, at the risk of sounding overly optimistic, it’s starting to look like there’s a sea change coming, especially because a lot of the activism that rose from social media during the war hasn’t stopped.

“I feel the need more now to put out stories that have to do with our culture,” says Shirinian, who previously incorporated Armenian culture into her short film Parev, Mama. “I think the more and more we communicate with people that really don’t know what Armenian is and we start telling our story—there’s a lot to tell, but you can kind of make it compact enough that people can understand—it helps to a degree.”

I keep thinking back to last fall for a few reasons. One is that the response from the United States, which is part of the OSCE Minsk Group that exists to negotiate peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and dates back to the 1990s, was too little, too late. Another is that there is currently a widespread call for President Biden to refer to the Armenian Genocide as a genocide, something that U.S. presidents have not historically done for political reasons. Citing an unnamed official, The New York Times reported that Biden is intending to make this statement on April 24.

If Biden uses the word “genocide” in his statement on Saturday, it will be a massive moment for Armenian Americans, who have been asking for this recognition. It’s crucial not just for historical accuracy, but for recognizing the threat that Armenia and Artsakh continue to face.

In October I wrote that some Armenians in L.A. feared that the attack on Artsakh could turn into a continuation of the Genocide. It’s hard to say that those fears have subsided. There may have been a ceasefire in November, but there isn’t truly peace. Armenia still awaits the return of POWs. Meanwhile, as Al-Jazeera reported, Azerbaijan’s president was recently photographed at the “park of trophies,” a display of helmets seized from Armenian troops during the war.

Shirinian suspects that this April 24, Armenians will be mourning more than the Genocide of 1915. “The marches will be different. The social posts will be different,” she says. “The community will be different.”

 

Armenpress: Stable situation reported along Armenian-Azerbaijani border – defense ministry

Varazdat Torgomian

Stable situation reported along Armenian-Azerbaijani border – defense ministry

Save

Share

 17:45, 12 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. A stable operational situation with no incidents has been maintained along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact of the Armenian state border overnight April 11-12, the Defense Ministry of Armenia told Armenpress.

According to the information provided by the Armenian National Security Service, no border incidents were registered in Vorotan-Davit Bek section of the Goris-Kapan inter-state road which is under the responsibility of the NSS border troops.

The Armed Forces of Armenia and the NSS border troops confidently control the border situation along the entire length of the border zone and fulfill their tasks.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Citing economic benefits, government plans to cut number of New Year public holidays by 5

Varazdat Torgomian

Save

Share

 12:28,

YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government plans to cut the number of annual public holidays by reducing the New Year non-working days by 5.

Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said at the Cabinet meeting that they want January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th to be business days. “This is aimed at the establishment of a strong economy,” he said.

Kerobyan argued that the current number of public holidays during the New Year period “take away 10 days from the Armenian economic life”. He said that all citizens, businesses and entrepreneurs “cannot afford such luxury”. According to him, the changes will lead to an annual GDP growth of 88 billion drams (1,5%), and a GO increase of 123 billion.

However, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mesrop Arakelyan disagreed with Kerobyan, arguing that not only did the economy minister miscalculate the figures, but that the proposal would disrupt citizens’ right to rest and leisure. Instead he proposed to cut only January 4th, 5th and 7th as holidays.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that this subject is being discussed for a long time and said that it will further be debated. The Cabinet gave a preliminary approval for the bill. “Let’s consider this as more of an offer for everyone to think about rather than a final political decision,” he said.

By current law, the public holidays during the New Year period start from December 31 until the 7th of January. January 6 is the Armenian Christmas, while the 7th is marked as a Day of Remembrance of the Dead.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Russia conducts over 123 million COVID-19 tests

Varazdat Torgomian

Save

Share

 10:48, 9 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. Russian healthcare workers have conducted more than 123 million coronavirus tests, Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing said, reports TASS.

“More than 123 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in the Russian Federation”, its press service reported. As many as 340,000 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

According to the watchdog, about 499,400 people remain under medical supervision over suspected COVID-19.




The Armenian visionaries fighting to create a new contemporary culture for Yerevan

Varazdat Torgomian
Calvert Journal
March 29 2021

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Creative cities: Yerevan

Text: Lucía de la Torre
Images: Hrant Khachatrian

Yerevan’s young creative generation are tireless, resilient, and unafraid of pushing boundaries. Whether their work means creating inclusive art spaces, putting Armenia on the international fashion scene, or encouraging new generations of photographers, they are all united in one mission: pushing the city’s cultural scene to the cutting edge to keep it both alive and thriving.

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Anush Babajanyan
<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Born and bred in Yerevan, Anush Babajanyan believes in photography’s power for social change. Starting with her degree in journalism at the American University in Bulgaria, Babajanyan says “the visual _expression_ pulled me, I loved it. I wanted to photograph way more than I wanted anything else.” It took her ten years to make documentary photography a viable, successful career, but she now boasts collaborations with prestigious publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and a contract with agency VII.

Among her recent reports, Babajanyan’s photographs from Nagorno-Karabakh spotlight the human stories lost between the headlines of the 2020 war that tore through the region, as Armenia and Azerbaijan fought for control of the mountainous land. Babajanyan has been photographing Nagorno-Karabakh for years — always searching to balance out everyday moments of joy and sorrow with the pain and destruction that political conflict has brought to the region. “Documenting what has been going on in Nagorno-Karabakh has brought me closer to understanding why I do what I do,” she told The Calvert Journal. “It’s the question that keeps me searching.” 

Outside of her news reports, one of Babajanyan’s most original photo series, Inlandish, focuses on gender and womanhood. The title is a pun on the outlandish women with bold outfits that she captured in Yerevan. “The women I photograph never consider themselves to be outside the norms of society,” the photographer explained. “Yet every time they walk along the streets of Yerevan, people look at them with amazement. In an environment that is often conservative and controlled by men, these women separate themselves by dressing differently or wearing bright makeup.”

Babajanyan’s impact on Armenian photography goes beyond what she captures on camera. In 2016, a year after the centenary of the Armenian genocide, the photographer co-founded the #BridgingStories project, which brought together dozens of young photographers from Turkey and Armenia to take shots of their own villages and communities, in an effort to promote peace between the two countries.

Three years earlier, she also co-founded women’s photography collective 4Plus, to support the development of professional photographers in Armenia through courses, talks, and exhibitions. 4Plus has since evolved to become a visual media centre focused on promoting documentary photography by photographers of all genders. 

Victoria Aleksanyan

Victoria Aleksanyan is a filmmaker, photographer, and activist. As a director, her work has always been closely tied to Armenia, from Caregivers, her graduation film for Columbia University, to Flights, exploring the themes of migration, After years of working in the Manhattan film scene, Aleksanyan swapped New York for her home city of Yerevan — right on the brink of the 2018 Velvet Revolution, which would overthrow Armenia’s government. “I decided that it was time to go back and make a film in Armenia, to get its stories and narratives out to the world,” she told The Calvert Journal. “But when I started working on my short, I realised many problems were stopping local filmmakers from succeeding, and jumping into the international scene. The state system for film funding, inherited from the Soviet Union, has not been reformed at all. Can you imagine? State funding has such strict budget and time constraints that it is dangerous for the arts. Many filmmakers tried their best, struggled, and failed.”

This sparked the beginning of Aleksanyan’s activism journey. Alongside fellow filmmakers, she founded the IFCA (International Filmmakers Community of Armenia): a non-profit organisation that advocates for effective policy making to boost the local film industry. Two years into their work, after tireless legal research and lobbying, they have almost achieved their main goal: drafting a law that will cut down on bureaucracy and create a new framework for officials and artists to cooperate in order to build the local film industry. Although the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war put the process on a halt, Aleksanyan is confident that the bill will be implemented soon — and pave the way for other creative industries to follow. “This should have happened decades ago, but it’s never too late. Give it a few years, and the local film industry will be booming with new talent.”

Karen Mirzoyan

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Since 2003, Karen Mirzoyan, a Tbilisi-born Armenian photographer, has been on the road, developing his photography career and winning multiple awards for his work. Hovering between photojournalism and art photography, his projects often span several years of research into the cultural and sociopolitical context of a story, and the development of personal relationships. Mirzoyan is a member of the Magnum Photography Foundation, from which he has received several awards for his photo stories Underground Culture in Iran, Illegal Weapons in South Ossetia, and Daily Life in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. At the heart of his practice are human rights and unseen stories. 

In 2014, the photographer opened the first photographic library in the Caucasus, the Mirzoyan Library. From its inception as a depository for his personal collection of photobooks, Mirzoyan Library has expanded into a bohemian café, bar, and working space, hosting a myriad events and competitions, and becoming the birthplace for collaborations between local creatives.

“Our goal is not to make money through the library, but to have more young people interested in photography coming to the library, and finding everything they need,” explains Mirzoyan. “Books are what made me want to be a photojournalist. I want for new generations of Armenian photographers to have the same opportunity”. 

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Anna Mikaelian Meschian <img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/> <img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" /> <img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

A musician, educator, and social entrepreneur, Anna Mikaelian Meschian, a US-raised and Yerevan-based pianist, is one of the driving forces behind the next generation of Armenian musicians. Inspired by El Sistema, a music education programme founded in Venezuela in the 70s, Mikaelian established the Armenian chapter of the movement in 2013. The project slowly evolved from a series of after-school music lessons for children into what it is today: the Nexus Center for the Arts, a music school, “where people who love making music and art can come together and learn from each other,” explains Mikaelian. Today, Nexus’ students range from preschoolers to adults, and the emphasis is clear: “learn to play, compose, sing, bang on a can, whatever you want, but you must be ready to share the joy.”

Although music in all its forms is the beating heart of the project, Nexus is also a deeper community experience — teaching students to learn on their own, work in a team, and produce art that makes them better individuals. “For us, it’s important to give children something they don’t get elsewhere, an environment that is rigorous, but also fun,” Mikaelian tells The Calvert Journal. “It is important for students to learn to make music in ensemble with others, because that develops their listening and empathy skills to those around them.”

Beyond Nexus, Mikaelian also organises events, gives talks, and plays in her own band. When the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out, Mikaelian, alongside her colleague Sevana Tchakerian, founded the “Nexus for Artsakh” programme, which provided temporarily-displaced children with music and art education in a bid to bring a sense of normality to their lives — an emergency project that reflects the core of her mission to using music as an educational tool.

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Vahan Badalyan <img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/> <img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" /> <img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

After graduating from Yerevan’s State University of Theatre and Cinema and working in drama projects in France and Italy, Vahan Badalyan came back to Yerevan in the early 2000s with a clear idea: Armenia needed free, independent theatres, otherwise, contemporary playwriting would die. As a result, he founded the NCA Small Theater: a company championing artistic independence, innovation, and youth drama education.

Twenty years since opening, Badalyan looks back on his journey with pride, and rightly so. Since its inauguration, the Small Theater has produced hundreds of plays, revolutionising traditional performance with contemporary dance, video, photography, and other art forms.

Due to the outdated and stagnating state funding system, very few freelancers get a chance and a platform, and the only opportunities for young artists are to participate in international projects

In 2013, the Small Theater also decided to create the first country’s first dance ensemble with disabled and able-bodied performers. Since then, Badalyan’s inclusive performances have travelled both in and outside of Yerevan, promoting inclusivity in Armenian regions, where disabled people still face major physical and societal obstacles.

There is still a long way ahead for the Armenian theatre scene. “Over the past years, there have been great changes, but our scene still lags behind the contemporary art world. Due to the outdated and stagnating state funding system, very few freelancers get a chance and a platform, and the only opportunities for young artists are to participate in international projects,” explains Badalyan. “We need sustainability for our inclusive work in Armenia, but that cannot happen without government support — although discussions about these topics have begun in recent years.” Badalyan’s latest project, opening a inclusive dance training centre in Yerevan, recently received a green light — another step in the right direction to broaden the Armenian arts scene.

<img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>

<img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" />

<img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

Armine Harutyunyan <img height="1" width="1" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=132505190651897&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/> <img height="1" width="1" st1yle="display:none" src=”"https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1534116563569885&ev=PageView&noscript=1" /> <img src=”"https://vk.com/rtrg?p=VK-RTRG-254200-hlQp6" st1yle="position:fixed; left:-999px;" alt=""/>

When artist Armine Harutyunyan walked down the Gucci catwalk during Milan Fashion Week in September 2019 — after being scouted in a Berlin mall — she made history as the first Armenian model to do so. Yet Harutunyan, who was born and bred in Yerevan, is used to being on stage for other reasons. After studying fine art, scenography, and theatre design in Yerevan, she started out her career as a graphic designer, illustrator, and set designer.

“I have been on stage from a young age, first as a ballerina, and then I’ve made a career out of being a set and stage designer. As far as modelling goes, it was just another way for me to be on stage; it all ties together. These are all parts of my life I don’t see myself giving up,” explains Harutyunyan. Creativity runs in the family: she is the granddaughter of Khachatur Azizyan, one of Armenia’s most celebrated living painters, and her grandmother and great-grandfather are also renowned Armenian artists. After her brief modelling stint, she was the target of both sexist hate and xenophobia for her unusual looks. Her advice, as she remarked in an interview to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, “is to concentrate on yourself, on who you are and what you really love”. For her, that is all things arts-related, and Yerevan’s creative atmosphere — which Harutunyan, who is much-loved by locals for her international recognition in the fashion world, proudly praises for its rich cultural heritage, buzzing exhibition schedule and skillful, innovative young artists.