Author: Vicken Chmshkian

Mayor of Paris accuses Azerbaijani government of committing genocide in Nagorno- Karabakh

Vicken Chmshkian

 16:37, 30 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Officials from a number of regions of France have arrived in Armenia to express support and friendship to the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said at a press conference in Goris.

The French delegation that escorted a humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh to the Lachin Corridor on Wednesday includes representatives of various political parties who are all united by Armenia and Artsakh.

“We are here today because the Armenian organizations in France told us it was time to act, time to address the people of France. And there was especially a need to bring together the French local authorities in order to be able to send humanitarian aid to Artsakh. It was possible to collect ten cargo trucks of humanitarian aid thanks to the unity of local self-governing bodies, and the aid consists of food, baby food, milk powder, generators and solar panels. This will allow Artsakh to withstand,” the Mayor of Paris said.

She said that the aid is intended for six cities in Artsakh that have been under blockade since December 2022.

“Our message is clear and simple. First of all we are calling for respect of international law. The Armenians in Artsakh are under blockade involuntarily and this blockade is being perpetrated in violation of international law and the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement. What’s happening today in Artsakh is similar to genocide. The former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has described what’s happening in Artsakh as genocide, and four of the principles defining genocide have been acknowledged by the international community and experts. The advisor to the UN Secretary General responsible for genocide prevention is also using the same word to describe the situation in Artsakh. Genocide, ethnic cleansing by an authoritarian regime against a people that is simply asking for its rights to be respected, rights that any person or nation has. This is why we’ve come here to witness it and condemn it. And we are also asking the French President to use his position at the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution with the purpose of respecting the rights of the people of Artsakh,” Anne Hidalgo said.

Denmark plans jail term for burning Quran, other religious texts in public

Vicken Chmshkian

 12:33,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. The Danish government on Friday said it will propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate any holy book in Denmark, where a recent after a series of burnings of the Quran led to uproar in Muslim countries, AP reports. 

The Danish government seeks to extend Denmark’s existing ban on burning foreign flags by also “prohibiting improper treatment of objects of significant religious significance to a religious community,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said. 

“The bill will make it punishable, for example, to burn the Quran or the Bible in public. It will only aim at actions in a public place or with the intention of spreading in a wider circle,” Hummelgaard said. He said such acts would be punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.

Hummelgaard told a news conference that the recent protests were “senseless taunts that have no other purpose than to create discord and hatred.”

Denmark’s government has repeatedly distanced itself from the desecrations, but has insisted that freedom of _expression_ is one of the most important values in Danish society. It said that would not be affected by the proposed law.

Freedom of _expression_ is “a cornerstone of Danish democracy, and the freedom to express oneself is a central value in Danish society,” Hummelgaard said. The proposal is “a targeted intervention which does not change the fact that freedom of _expression_ must have a very broad framework in Denmark,” he said.

In Armenia, a Soviet era gem deserves preservation

Vicken Chmshkian
Aug 24 2023

Devin Haas

Interest in the Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort remains high in comparison to many avant garde buildings that have not reached the status of landmarks, but its long-term future is nevertheless in doubt.

Balanced atop a single concrete leg anchored in a waterfront rock formation, the curving glass of the pod-shaped Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort lounge offers scenic views of one of Armenia’s most beautiful natural wonders from what could perhaps be a spacecraft from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Its interior design remains largely unchanged from the 1960s, leaving guests to assume that little besides Wi-Fi has been added since the likes of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre stayed there in 1972.  

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While its design is timeless, this oft-photographed Soviet avant-garde icon—which has graced the covers of books on 20th century architecture in the region—has sadly seen better days. Its concrete exterior is concerningly cracked, its paint is flaked, and it risks falling into disrepair unless it is restored soon. 

The building’s history is inseparably intertwined with many of the dramatic state campaigns that defined Armenia under Soviet rule.  

The location of the writers’ resort is intentional. When the four-storey futurist accommodation building was constructed in the mid-1930s, it was on a small island in Lake Sevan—the largest body of water in the Caucasus and one of the largest in all of Eurasia. The island was home to the ninth century Sevan Monastery, which had long been a destination for poets and writers seeking isolation. 

The resort’s residence has circular windows and curving balconies, and its lower levels are built into the lakeside’s rock, as its architects Gevorg Kochar and Mikael Mazmanyan sought to marry local topography and nature with a communal-utopian, rationalist vision of modernity.  

Kochar and Mazmanyan championed the “Standard” Armenian communist avant-garde group in opposition to Stalin’s preference for historicism—Classicism with national characteristics. In 1937, two years after the accommodation building was completed, the architects were arrested for alleged participation in a Trotskyist nationalist organisation and banished to a gulag in Norilsk.  

During Kochar and Mazmanyan’s 15 years in the Arctic Circle, massive irrigation projects to supply water to the Ararat plain and hydroelectric power production to support Stalin’s rapid industrialisation campaign depleted 40 per cent of Lake Sevan’s volume. As the water level fell, the island housing the writers’ resort became a peninsula.  

After Stalin’s death, the architects were released from exile and rehabilitated during the Khruschev Thaw. Kochar was commissioned to oversee the reconstruction of the accommodation building and the addition of a lounge in 1963. With access to new technology in construction, he designed a space-age masterpiece to provide a communal space and café with panoramic views of the turquoise lake waters for writers in need of creative inspiration both social and natural. 

While almost no maintenance work has been done since the fall of communism and it now shares the lakefront with informal settlements and many tourist developments, the resort has lost none of its charm. Even in neglect, its popularity has afforded it a fate better than so many other architectural gems across emerging Europe and Central Asia that have already been demolished. 

Lake Sevan Writers’ Resort

The architecture of the Soviet Union spanned time, cultures, and artistic movements. While it evolved from avant-garde to Stalinist to post-war modernism then post-modernism, there was still considerable diversity within and discord between these schools. Architects, like other artists, displayed their individual creativity in the face of censorship, ideological restrictions, and purges. 

After the Soviet collapse, many citizens of its successor states were eager to move past its authoritarianism and saw the structures it erected as physical vestiges of its political system. Avant-garde and columned Stalinist buildings alike were reduced to their Sovietness, deemed bleakly utilitarian and dreary.

Even as the works of Soviet-era writers and composers remained celebrated, the works of architects were dissociated from their individual artists and assigned solely to the state that commissioned and built them.  

As conflicts raged from Moldova to Tajikistan, many works of 20th century architecture were damaged then destroyed. In peacetime, palaces of culture and theatres were demolished to make way for the new communal spaces: malls. 

Buildings are razed every day, growing cities need more housing units, and the Soviet Union itself was far from above tearing down historical architecture. But while there is now widespread awareness of the cultural and historical value of, say, Art Nouveau buildings, fewer see Soviet constructivist and neoclassicist buildings as worthy of the same resources and preservation.  

Now filled with shiny new developments and coloured glass domes, many of the best Soviet-era buildings are already gone forever from Dushanbe, Ashgabat, and increasingly Tashkent. Although not all see the tragedy in the loss of the structures that had defined these cities for decades, others are fighting to expand recognition of Soviet-era architecture as part of countries’ artistic, cultural, and historical heritage.  

The Moldova-based Bureau for Art and Urban Research (BACU) documents unique socialist architectural works throughout Central and Eastern Europe in hopes that they can be added to lists of historical monuments, and the City Research Centre in Gyumri offers architecture walking tours to support its work researching and preserving the city’s architectural heritage. Locals have protested the demolitions of beloved buildings around the region. 

Still, as many buildings slide into ruin, there is little indication that the funds needed to restore them are on the way. Interest in the Sevan Writers’ Resort thankfully remains high in comparison to many buildings that have not reached the status of landmarks, but even its long-term health is in doubt. So visit and appreciate it and other Soviet-era gems while they still stand. 

https://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/in-armenia-a-soviet-era-gem-deserves-preservation/

Belgium and EU to stand by Armenia, vows Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib

Vicken Chmshkian

 14:49,

YEREVAN, 22 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. Belgium’s Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib has said that her government’s decision to open an embassy in Armenia is a “powerful gesture” showing how much importance they attach to political relations with Armenia.

Hadja Lahbib, the first Belgian foreign minister to visit Armenia in the past eight years, said at a joint press conference with her Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan that the two countries have rich diplomatic relations. She mentioned that 30,000 Armenians live in Belgium.

Speaking about the decision to open an embassy in Yerevan, the Belgian FM said, “This powerful gesture shows how much we value our political relations. We are willing to further expand relations in all areas.”

Lahbib said she was moved during her visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide. She said that mankind must never forget the Armenian Genocide and do everything to avoid its repetition.

Lahbib added that Belgian and Armenian businesses are willing to cooperate. A delegation of the Wallonia trade agency will visit Armenia in October, followed by other delegations. The Belgian FM noted that the Armenia-EU CEPA is already showing results in human rights protection and good governance.

“Armenia is committed to continue reforms, eliminate all kinds of discriminations and more effectively combat corruption. Belgium and the EU will stand by Armenia on the path of implementing ambitious programs. The EU is already contributing to the development of the sustainable, innovative economy, supporting various startups and SMEs. We are also participating in the construction of the North-South road and the launch of a modern transport network in Yerevan. Belgium will assume EU presidency on January 1, 2024. Armenia is an important partner for Europeans, therefore, in this difficult and unstable global situation, Belgium wants to strengthen partnership with Armenia,” FM Lahbib said.

United States continues to urge Azerbaijan to open Lachin Corridor

Vicken Chmshkian

 15:29,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, ARMENPRESS. The United States remains deeply concerned about the continued closure of Lachin Corridor and continues to urge Azerbaijan to restore free transit through the corridor, United States National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said at a press briefing on August 16.

“We remain deeply concerned about the continued closure of that corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh to commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles.  We want to see that corridor opened up again.  We continue to urge the Government of Azerbaijan to restore free transit of commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles through the corridor expeditiously,” Kirby said.

He added that the White House has maintained a level of dialogue and diplomacy at various levels and is “engaged on a routine basis to see if we can achieve a better outcome diplomatically. “

“…we’re going to continue to stay engaged diplomatically to encourage a peaceful resolution here for an easing of tensions, and certainly to get the corridor open again in Nagorno-Karabakh so that humanitarian assistance and supplies can get to the people that need it most,” he added.

Abdullah bin Zayed, Armenian counterpart discuss bilateral relations

Vicken Chmshkian
Aug 11 2023

WAM

ABU DHABI, 10th August, 2023 (WAM) — H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, discussed over the phone with Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, bilateral relations and opportunities to strengthen them across all domains.

During the call, the two ministers reviewed efforts aimed at developing and enhancing joint cooperation in all fields.

They also discussed several issues of common interest and exchanged views on regional and international developments.

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/273928044/abdullah-bin-zayed-armenian-counterpart-discuss-bilateral-relations

Armenpress: In urgent appeal, Nagorno-Karabakh President asks int’l community to take immediate action to prevent genocide

Vicken Chmshkian

 20:20, 8 August 2023

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 8, ARMENPRESS. On August 8th, President of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh Republic) Arayik Harutyunyan sent an urgent appeal to the international community to take immediate measures to prevent the genocide of the Artsakh people and to lift the siege.

Below is the transcript of President Harutyunyan’s address, as published by the Nagorno-Karabakh presidential press service.

“Esteemed members of the international community,

“I, Arayik Harutyunyan, the President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), bring forth this urgent appeal to draw your attention to the fact that this very moment, the people of the Republic of Artsakh find themselves in the midst of a harrowing genocide, confronted with an imminent threat to their very existence and the homeland they hold dear.

“For the purpose of controlling the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the outside world, passing through the Lachin Corridor, the Azerbaijani authorities planned and initiated a show that started on December 12, 2022, under the guise of an “environmental” protest. In reality, this was just a prelude to the crime of genocide, which gained an official and systemic nature with the illegal establishment of an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor on April 23, 2023. On June 15, Azerbaijan completely sealed off the road passing through the Lachin Corridor, besieging the 120-thousand population of the Republic of Artsakh. For almost eight months now, the population of Artsakh has been deprived of the opportunity for unimpeded and two-way movement along the Lachin Corridor. For about two months now, there were no supplies of food, medicines and other essential goods, previously carried out by the Russian peacekeeping forces and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Azerbaijan's actions not only violate universal legal norms but also specific international legal acts regarding the Lachin Corridor, including paragraph 6 of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, legally binding decisions of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights requiring the unblocking the Lachin Corridor.

“The blockade of the Lachin Corridor is not an isolated incident; it should be regarded as part of a planned, large-scale and coordinated policy by Azerbaijan aimed at the destruction of the people of Artsakh as a whole. The blockade of Artsakh is a direct continuation of the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in 2020, with the direct involvement of Turkey and terrorist organizations from the Middle East. Azerbaijan has consistently pursued a policy of forcibly suppressing the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, accompanying its actions with the use of force and widespread violations of human rights. The ultimate goal of this policy is the expulsion of the people of Artsakh and closing the issue of the right to self-determination for the people of Artsakh.

“It is in this context that Azerbaijan's encroachments on the sovereignty of Artsakh must be considered, since the presence of a sovereign state with international legal subjectivity is a crucial condition and means for preserving the people of Artsakh and their traditions, values, culture, as well as their natural development.

“More than two years after the trilateral ceasefire statement, and having failed to achieve its criminal goal of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh through military means, Azerbaijan continues making consistent attempts to achieve its nefarious objectives еmploying non-violent yet equally inhumane methods. The establishment of an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, with its evident criminal intent to deliberately restrict and eventually halt humanitarian cargo shipments, which are crucial for sustaining the normal livelihood of the people of Artsakh, has become a new weapon in Azerbaijan's arsenal against the people of Artsakh. A direct victim of this illegally established checkpoint was Vagif Khachatryan, a citizen of the Republic of Artsakh, who was abducted by Azerbaijani military personnel in violation of international humanitarian law while traveling under the escort of the ICRC.

“The Azerbaijani authorities, attempting to conceal their genocidal intentions, come up with false alternatives, supposedly aimed at mitigating the humanitarian catastrophe they have themselves created. The current critical situation, which Artsakh can overcome only with international humanitarian and political support, is a direct consequence of Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the factual siege of the people of Artsakh. Azerbaijan is thus trying to create the illusion that Artsakh is unsustainable and dependent on external assistance. The imposed offer of so-called assistance by the Azerbaijani authorities is an attempt to subjugate Artsakh and its people.

“But make no mistake: the offer to deliver humanitarian cargo to Artsakh from Azerbaijan is yet another means of realizing Azerbaijan's criminal agenda, which will lead to imposing its own will, violating the human dignity and other criminal consequences of subjugating the people of Artsakh to Azerbaijan. Through these actions, Azerbaijan aims to hinder the normal development of Artsakh and the improvement of the people's living standards.

“The Azerbaijani authorities do not conceal their goal of expelling the Armenian population of Artsakh from their homeland. Accordingly, by presenting a so-called concept of conflict resolution, along with a package of proposals, Azerbaijan is attempting to hide this new way of realizing their genocidal intention under the cover of negotiations.

“The fabricated agenda of dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku promoted by the Azerbaijani authorities is, in fact, an attempt to legitimize Azerbaijan's criminal actions. Any calls encouraging Artsakh's participation in such dialogue without international mediators and effective guarantees is perceived as support for the implementation of Azerbaijan's genocidal policy. Artsakh's participation in any such talks under these conditions would be tantamount to recognizing and legitimizing Azerbaijan's veiled program of genocide.

“For the effectiveness and legitimacy of negotiations, it is necessary to ensure at the very least that the parties adhere to the norms of international law. At the same time, both proposals aimed at resolving the conflict itself and the potential consequences of their implementation should align with the principles of international law and universal human values. However, all of this continues to be violated by Azerbaijan with persistence and impunity.Artsakh, in turn, has always advocated for the start of meaningful and substantive negotiations, based on universal principles of justice, dignity and equality.

“Our unwavering stance is that for negotiations to take place, first of all, it is necessary to ensure favorable and equitable conditions. Subsequently, an international mechanism with a relevant international mandate should be established to define the criteria for the negotiation process. These criteria should be based on norms of international law and international practice. Otherwise, proposals to engage in negotiations with a party that remains committed to its criminal intention of destroying the other party by all means, be it military, economic or political, cannot be a subject of discussion.

“Decisions of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, periodic appeals and statements from international institutions, individual states and organizations all universally acknowledge the fact of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor. They underline the necessity of restoring free movement through the corridor. However, no effective and concrete steps are being taken in this direction. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's deliberate actions to create unbearable living conditions in Artsakh with the ultimate goal of physically destroying the people of Artsakh constitutes nothing less than a crime of genocide, composed of criminal intention and explicit actions. Leading international experts also concur with this assessment. For instance, the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, highlighted this in his recent comprehensive report. Preventing the crime of genocide is a universal obligation of states, and each state must actively and consistently exert efforts to prevent such a crime from occurring.

“In the current circumstances, displaying inaction or indifference amounts to nothing less than condoning the crime of genocide. The international community is obligated to take effective individual and collective measures to prevent Azerbaijan's attempt to inscribe another page of genocide into the annals of history.

“In line with the above, I earnestly call upon international actors, within the scope of their commitments, to take decisive and effective measures to prevent the crime of genocide against the people of Artsakh. Specifically, I address:

“to the Republic of Armenia

  • In order to adopt a resolution involving urgent and specific actions, I urge for the immediate presentation of the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from Azerbaijan's blockage of the Lachin Corridor and the unlawful blockade of Artsakh, which has escalated into the crime of genocide, to the discussion of the United Nations Security Council;
  • I call for intensified efforts to actively raise awareness of the issue of the unlawful blockade of the Lachin Corridor and Artsakh through information, advocacy and other platforms, as well as by informing the international community;
  • I call to engage with international partners to discuss and impose sanctions against Azerbaijan in order to halt its international crimes.
  • At the same time, I strongly urge the authorities of Armenia, public figures and political leaders to exercise caution in their public statements and assessments of the situation: no statement or action should cast doubt on the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination or contribute to further aggressive actions by Azerbaijan;

“to the Armenian Diaspora

  • I urge you to consolidate efforts with the aim of drawing the attention of authorities and the public in the countries of your residence to the international crimes committed in Artsakh, and to demand immediate and effective measures to stop them;
  • from our compatriots in the Diaspora, we expect actions in the following directions:
    • ensure that your governments strongly condemn and take specific measures to increase pressure on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of Artsakh;
    • ensure that your governments, human rights organizations, media outlets and other actors provide direct legal and political assessments of Azerbaijan's crimes against Artsakh;
    • ensure that your governments consider and impose sanctions against Azerbaijan to halt its international crimes;

“To the Russian Federation

  • Emphasizing the importance of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh, I strongly urge the intensification of efforts for the immediate lifting of the unlawful blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and the restoration of the functioning of the Lachin Corridor, as established by the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020;

“To OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs – the Russian Federation, the United States of America and the French Republic

  • I strongly urge you, both as counties directly involved in the conflict resolution process and as UN Security Council member states, to fulfill your primary obligation by taking effective measures for the immediate cessation of the illegal blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and the restoration of uninterrupted functioning of the Lachin corridor;
  • I call upon the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs countries to exert individual and joint efforts to establish a robust negotiation format endowed with an appropriate international mandate, which would ensure that the negotiation process, its criteria and final outcomes are in line with international law and universal human values;
  • I hope that the co-chairing countries will demonstrate consistency in pursuing a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and will actively work towards reactivating the negotiation mechanism empowered with an international mandate for the resolution of the conflict;

“To UN Security Council members states

  • I urge an immediate convening of a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the genocide and humanitarian catastrophe caused by the blockade of Artsakh. Furthermore, I call for the adoption of a UNSC resolution obligating Azerbaijan to promptly unblock the Lachin Corridor and restore its functioning in accordance with the decision of the International Court of Justice dated February 22, 2023;
  • I also remind that preventing genocide is not only an erga omnes obligation but also a collective responsibility of the international community;

“To the Secretary-General of the United Nations

  • I urge you to demonstrate moral and political responsibility and leadership by engaging the entire UN system to prevent further international crimes committed by Azerbaijan in Artsakh;
  • I urge the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and other relevant entities to present factual and legal information to the United Nations Security Council regarding the international crimes committed against the Republic of Artsakh;
  • I propose making a meaningful contribution to the process of forming a conflict resolution mechanism between Artsakh and Azerbaijan by using your institution of good offices;

“To the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide

  • I urge you to activate the early warning mechanism within your mandate, thereby presenting the crisis situation that has emerged in the Republic of Artsakh to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and through him, to the Security Council;
  • I urge you to take effective measures to dispatch a fact-finding mission to the Republic of Artsakh to assess the consequences of international crimes committed by Azerbaijan through the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor;

“To the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other UN structures responsible for the protection of human rights

  • I urge you, within the scope of your mandates, to provide a legal assessment of the crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh, document the widespread violations of human rights and provide member states of the United Nations Security Council and other international entities with detailed factual and legal information about the escalating human rights crisis in Artsakh;

“To the International Committee of the Red Cross, as the sole international organization present in the Republic of Artsakh and having the appropriate international mandate

  • I urge you to provide all actors of the international community and, in particular, the UN Security Council member states, with detailed factual and legal information about the situation in Artsakh and the actions of Azerbaijan, which grossly violate norms of international humanitarian law;

“To the Council of Europe

  • I urge you to take effective and decisive measures to ensure the immediate implementation of the binding ruling issued by the European Court of Human Rights on December 21, 2022;
  • I strongly call for measures to be taken regarding the flagrant and severe violation by Azerbaijan of the “three pillars” of the Council of Europe, including a potential exclusion of this member state from the organization;

“To the European Union

  • I urge the utilization of available resources and tools within the European Union, including the imposition of sanctions, to intensify pressure on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of Artsakh and end its widespread human rights violations;
  • I urge you to remain faithful to the values and principles proclaimed by the European Union, refraining in particular from prioritizing energy partnership with Azerbaijan over human rights and freedoms;

“To International Human Rights Organizations and Other International Actors

  • I urge you to actively engage in campaigns to raise awareness about the massive and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law committed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, including by providing clear legal descriptions and demanding that governments and international organizations take appropriate preventive measures;

“To Representatives of the Media

  • Acknowledging the indispensable role of independent media in increasing awareness about mass crimes and their prevention, I urge you to remain true to your mission and break the unacceptable silence by providing the international community with objective information about the mass crimes taking place in Artsakh, thereby breaking the vicious cycle of injustice and impunity.

“Esteemed representatives of the international community,

 

“As I conclude this message of alarm, I implore you not to forget that Artsakh is currently the only territory in the world under a complete siege, where even the international community lacks access. Do you not question Azerbaijan's intent to subject the peaceful population of Artsakh to total isolation? Does it not concern you that, from a human rights perspective, Artsakh has become not a gray zone but a black hole where all the crimes imaginable by human civilization can occur? Do you not realize that such international impunity and the allowance of another genocide will give rise to new crimes, possibly even against your own peoples?!

 

“Therefore, I implore and demand from all of you to promptly take action and stop this ongoing genocide of the people of Artsakh before it becomes too late.”

ANCA-North San Fernando Valley Endorses John Lee for Re-election to LA City Council

Vicken Chmshkian
by Contributor

 

 August 8, 2023

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

LOS ANGELES – The Armenian National Committee of America – North San Fernando Valley endorsed Councilmember John Lee for re-election to Los Angeles City Council District 12 on Tuesday. Councilmember Lee is a friend of the Armenian community and has a proven track record of working to improve public safety, homelessness, and quality of life in the North Valley.
 
Councilmember Lee has served the City of Los Angeles in various capacities for over 20 years. In 2019, Lee was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, representing District 12, including the Northridge, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, and North Hills communities. He is the first Asian American to represent District 12.
 
Lee has been supportive of the Armenian community in the Northern San Fernando Valley. He worked with LAPD to provide more patrol units around Cabayan Elementary School in North Hills during the incidents of vandalism at Armenian community schools. He also worked with a city task force to address homelessness around the Massis Homenetmen Gym in Chatsworth, where hundreds of children and families congregate for sports and Homenetmen Scouts. In addition, Lee has attended events at the Armenian Center in Granada Hills and engaged with community members at Armenian institutions in the North Valley.
 
During his tenure as Lee has prioritized public safety, homelessness, and quality of life, three issues common to every Armenian in the North Valley. He currently serves as the Chair of the Public Works Committee, Vice Chair of the Public Safety Committee, Vice Chair of the Neighborhoods & Community Enrichment Committee, and is a member of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee and the Housing & Homelessness Committee.
 
“The North San Fernando Valley supports John Lee for his re-election campaign to LA City Council CD 12 due to his countless efforts to provide public safety and quality of life for our children, families, and communities,” said Sarkis Aposhian, Chair of the ANCA – North SFV. “We know that John will continue to be a strong advocate for the Armenian community in his next term on the City Council.”
 
Primary elections will take place on March 5, 2024. Visit hyevotes.org for more voter information.
 
The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.




Azerbaijan president gives insight into prospect of peace with Armenia

Vicken Chmshkian

PUBLISHED

 1 DAY AGO 

ON

 JULY 23, 2023

By

 Nick Powell

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has held a question-and-answer session with some 200 members of the press from around the world, gathered in the city of Shusha. It was recaptured from Armenia in 2020, during the Second Karabakh War. Since that conflict, a peace agreement has proved elusive, writes Political Editor Nick Powell from the Shusha Global Media Forum.

He described the forum as “a remarkable event for our country and for Karabakh”. Shusha, he added, is a symbol of Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Karabakh War but also of peace; after it was liberated the war stopped.

Shusha has been officially declared by presidential decree the cultural capital of Azerbaijan. The government is restoring the city’s monuments after the Armenian occupation when Shusha’s traditional 17 mosques and 17 springs were destroyed. Five of the springs again have water.

Symbolically, the forum took place in a hotel newly built on the site where Armenian separatists planned to build the ‘parliament’ of their breakaway republic. But President Aliyev observed that the Armenian church remained untouched. He said Azerbaijan was not dealing in revenge and had left hostility on the battlefield.

Armenian revanchism remained, said the President. However, Azerbaijan’s army was much stronger than when it secured victory three years ago and the fact that Karabakh is Azerbaijan is acknowledged more and more often by the international community.

In contrast, there had been ambiguity from global actors during the decades of Armenian occupation, with the goal of freezing the conflict. President Aliyev recalled unsuccessfully asking for sanctions, “so we had to do it ourselves, we had to implement Security Council resolutions of the United Nations on the battlefield”.

Now, if international brokers said Azerbaijan must accept reality, he could reply “I agree!” Russia, the United States and the European Union are each trying to facilitate a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The President said his government was working in good faith on all three tracks, as he described the potential paths to peace, but so far without an end result.

"Armenia needs to make, I think, one of the final steps. They already made several steps after the war; I would not say that these were not steps which they made voluntarily” he said, adding that during the last two and a half years,”several episodes … clearly demonstrated to Armenia that if they do not recognise our territorial integrity, then we will not recognise their territorial integrity”.

So far Armenia has verbally acknowledged Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and that Karabakh is Azerbaijan but it is yet to take the crucial step of putting it in writing. If Armenia put its words on paper, perhaps at forthcoming talks in Moscow, President Aliyev said that there could be a peace treaty by the end of the year.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has taken a more belligerent view, stating that a fresh war with Azerbaijan remains probable without a peace treaty between the two countries. "So long as a peace treaty has not been signed and such a treaty has not been ratified by the parliaments of the two countries, of course, a war is very likely”, he said in an interview with Agence France Presse, published on the same day as President Aliyev was speaking in Shusha.

The President characterised the European Union’s efforts to broker peace, spearheaded by Council President Charles Michel, as a supplementary and supportive mechanism that had so far worked more or less successfully. Tensions had perhaps been decreased, enabling Azerbaijan and Armenia to understand each other better.

The Azerbaijani President and Armenian Prime Minister last met in Brussels on July 15, for what Charles Michel described as “frank, honest and substantive” exchanges. He highlighted that the leaders had once again fully reconfirmed their respect for the other country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, “based on the understanding that Armenia’s territory covers 29.800 km2 and Azerbaijan’s 86.600 km2”.

In Shusha, President Aliyev stressed the importance of bilateral negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, however helpful the efforts of international actors. He said there are proposals for “bridging language” to bring the two sides together on the issue of national minorities, giving the same recognition to Azerbaijanis in Armenia as Armenians in Azerbaijan.

The President reflected on how Armenians had lived for a long time in Azerbaijan, first coming to Karabakh in 1805. They had gone from arriving as guests to claiming Shusha as an Armenian city, although Azerbaijanis were in the majority before the occupation.

Shusha’s first returning residents, who fled when Armenia invaded, are being welcomed back but many areas of Karabakh still need to be cleared of Armenian landmines. Planting them is a war crime that still continues, as Armenia has not supplied accurate maps of the minefields. It was important that peace talks were informed more by realism than optimism, the President concluded.

Book Review: The sea in Russian strategy

Vicken Chmshkian
 Yeghia Tashjian Literary Corner, Tashjian's Take, Reviews 0

The sea in Russian strategy
Edited by Andrew Monaghan and Richard Connolly
Publisher: Manchester University Press (August 2023)
272 pages, English
$21.95

Understanding Russia’s foreign policy or strategy in the post-Ukraine war era may be complex to most of us. Reading a few articles in western media on Russia, or traveling a few times to Russia, won’t make us experts on Russian politics. Andrew Monaghan and Richard Connolly are two of the few western experts who write objectively on Russia by analyzing reports and literature published by Russian political and military experts. In their recent edited volume, The sea in Russian strategy, they provide a very timely contribution regarding Moscow’s maritime capability and intent. 

For those who are interested in Russia’s foreign policy, the book is valuable for two reasons. First, it helps us to compare Russian strategy and shipbuilding plans within the context of the war in Ukraine. Second, while it argues that Russia’s land and air forces received a heavy blow in the Ukraine war, its naval force is stronger than ever. 

The sea in Russian strategy is also the first well-written examination of Russia’s maritime power after the fall of the Soviet Union. The book brings together leading experts (with history, military and security backgrounds) to reflect on historical and contemporary aspects of Russia’s naval strategy and capacities. The authors also provide special attention to the Arctic region at a time of mounting tensions between Russia and NATO which some experts call the “Fourth Battle of the Atlantic.” The experts also sketch a trajectory of Russia’s power at sea and consider current capabilities and problems, as well as the Kremlin’s strategic planning for the future. 

In the book, the term sea power, which is relatively used to encompass military and non-military dimensions, is a significant component of Russia’s wider strategy and is likely to rise in importance. The sea is seen as vital to domestic industrial and regional development. To develop Russia’s Arctic and offshore natural resource base, huge investment is being made in Russia’s domestic shipbuilding industry and in building capabilities to extract and transport oil and gas. 

By the year 2000, as the experts mention in the book, there were debates in Moscow that “Russia may lose its status as the world’s second strongest naval power,” where in the Baltic, Russia would become inferior to Germany and Sweden, and in the Black Sea region, it would be inferior to Turkey. However, this has changed in the last two decades as President Putin heavily invested in Russia’s naval forces.

According to the authors, it is increasingly important to have a nuanced grasp of the sea in contemporary Russian strategy for three interconnected primary reasons. First, there is a wider “maritime turn” in international affairs of which Russia is a part. Second, the sea is more significant in the Russian leadership’s thinking and activity—the Russian naval activity in the Black, Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, in addition to the Arctic Ocean reflects this thinking. Finally, throughout the ages, Russia’s perception of the sea has changed based on certain geopolitical and geo-economic developments. One needs to explain these three reasons.

First, the sea serves as a connective fiber of global power, with growth in global trade by sea. Analysts suggest that some 80 to 90-percent of global trade by volume is seaborne. This has led to a dramatic increase in spending on navies. In Asia, China, India, Japan and Australia started upgrading their naval forces and investing in key ports. This fact has led to a “paradigm shift” in naval matters with the development of new submarines and carrier-killer missiles. For this reason, Russian ports are used as “secure hubs,” not only to prevent long-ranged attacks against the Russian navy or key coastal cities, but also to secure maritime trade routes as an alternative to land routes that can be easily exposed and vulnerable to security risks (sanctions, terror attacks, wars, etc.). 

Second, the sea has economic importance to the Russian leadership. While Russia’s imports from Asia have grown since 2014, largely by sea, the Russian economy depends on the ability to exploit and export hydrocarbons and agricultural products by sea. Logistical and transport infrastructure is being built to support this. For this reason, Russia is developing its infrastructure in the North to facilitate the Northern Sea Route (NRS) and the Black Sea to export grain to the Middle East and North Africa. The linking of railways and highways to ports aiming to create a cross-continental bridge between seas and oceans is a prominent feature in speeches by senior Russian officials who are concerned about their country’s geo-economic interests. This is why when the Suez Canal was blocked (March 2021), Moscow seized the opportunity to emphasize the advantages that the NRS would bring to global trade. 

Third, geography and history mean there are a number of noteworthy specificities in the way Russia looks at the sea. Geography imposes significant challenges on the way Moscow determines strategy at sea, creating specific ambiguities in the heat of thinking about power at sea. While Russia is usually known as a continental (Eurasian) power, it also has the longest seaboard in the world. It is worth mentioning that within the Russian collective historical memory, it is always emphasized that most military defeats have been brought from the sea, such as the Crimean War (1854-1856) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Hence, historically, Russia has been challenged by power projected from the sea; therefore, it prioritizes its ground forces. Meanwhile, the navy is a junior service and used as a deterrent force. 

Moreover, despite its long seaboard, as the book argues, Russia has few outlets for its own naval deployment. Its bases are separated by thousands of miles, and access to the seas and oceans is only possible through narrow exits and choke points. This is what drives the Russian navy’s division into four fleets and a flotilla and automatically puts it at a serious disadvantage compared to other major powers, since it generates logistical problems and difficulties in reinforcement. 

Hence, Russia’s strategy at sea illuminates a key feature of contemporary national power and long-term trajectory of growth, and, within this, Moscow’s priorities and choices as well as the concepts that underpin its activities. Importantly, as the authors of the book mention, as Russia’s maritime economic interests grow, and with it the importance of the sea to its grand strategy, the need to guarantee sea lines communication and to bolster Russia’s military presence abroad will increase.  

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Yeghia Tashjian is a regional analyst and researcher. He has graduated from the American University of Beirut in Public Policy and International Affairs. He pursued his BA at Haigazian University in political science in 2013. In 2010, he founded the New Eastern Politics forum/blog. He was a research assistant at the Armenian Diaspora Research Center at Haigazian University. Currently, he is the regional officer of Women in War, a gender-based think tank. He has participated in international conferences in Frankfurt, Vienna, Uppsala, New Delhi and Yerevan. He has presented various topics from minority rights to regional security issues. His thesis topic was on China’s geopolitical and energy security interests in Iran and the Persian Gulf. He is a contributor to various local and regional newspapers and a presenter of the “Turkey Today” program for Radio Voice of Van. Recently he has been appointed as associate fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and Middle East-South Caucasus expert in the European Geopolitical Forum.