Category: 2023

Attacks against Armenian Christians by extremist Jews in Jerusalem are on the rise, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post, noting that the near-daily harassment of spitting, cursing, and pushing is largely ignored by the police.

In the article, "Armenians in Jerusalem Live in the Crosshairs of Hate," The Post notes an incident on Jan. 30, 2023, when "a bunch of young Jewish holligans" attacked a restaurant in Jerusalem's Christian Quarter. 

"Harassments that include spitting, cursing and pushing Armenian priests in the alleys of the Old City have already become routine," reported The Post. "Young boys with an ultra-Orthodox appearance come in groups to identify the priests and harass and humiliate them."

"This has been an almost daily occurrence for several years, but the police have so far failed to provide even a minimal response," said the news outlet. "The Armenian residents claim that they do not receive an adequate response; there is no follow-up to the complaints submitted to the police; there are no updates; and, most importantly, there is no sign of this harassment abating. The opposite is the sad reality."

In another incident on Jan. 31, 2023, "two Jewish extremists" tried to block traffic on a street where the Armenian Patriarchate is located. In addition, "two Israelis also struck a car in which a group of young Armenians were traveling on their way home from work," reported The Post.

One of the extremists yelled at Fr. Aghan Gogchian, chancellor of the Patriarchate, “You don’t have a neighborhood here. This is our country. Get out of our country!"

In another incident a "group of Israelis" tried to get on the roof of the Patriarchate to "remove the flags of the Patriarchate and the Republic of Armenia."

The owner of the restaurant that was attacked, Miran Krikorian, said, “We no longer want to file complaints with the police every time there is an attack because it’s clear to us that they won’t do anything about it anyway."

Amnon Ramon, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Studies, told The Post "that this is a general attack on all Christians in the city."

“It’s not just the Armenians, although the fact that the Armenian Quarter is closest to the Jewish Quarter, where most of the offending youths come from, exposes them more," he said.  "But really, in recent years, the attacks have been directed against Christians, against what these youth call pagan worship, and a strong desire to remove them from the Land of Israel and that, of course, is exactly what is worrying the Christian communities. … This should be the most secure section in the area, so how does this happen under the nose of the police?"

A rabbi, who asked not to be identified by name, told The Post that he knows why these Jewish extremists are attacking the Christians.

“I know from where and on what soil grows the ideology that activates these young people," he said.  "They are subject to the increasing influence of national haredi rabbis, who are becoming more and more extreme and mainly point the finger of blame at the Christians."

"For them, the greatest threat to the Jews in the Land of Israel are the Christians, whom they see as merely idolaters who must be removed from the holy Land of Israel," said the rabbi.  "They are young, usually lacking any knowledge in the field, and subject to the influence and manipulation of those rabbis, while the eyes of the state and its institutions are focused away from this dangerous arena.”

According to the Britannica encyclopedia, Haredi Judaism is also known as ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Its practitioners "strictly observe Jewish religious law and separate themselves from Gentile society as well as from Jews who do not follow the religious law as strictly as they do. Ultra-Orthodox communities are found primarily in Israel, where they form about 13 percent of Israel’s population."

Amnon Ramon said that the young extremists feel emboldened in their attacks because Likud party member Itamar Ben-Gvir is the Minister of National Security, which runs the police. Ben-Gvir has a history of anti-Christian activity, said Ramon, and the radicals "feel that they can afford to go wild and no one will stop them.”

In early January, two young Jewish men were charged with vandalizing a Christian cemetery on Mount Zion. 

The Armenian Christian presence in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century AD.

Local composer Dan Yessian has been a longtime fan of composer Burt Bacharach. Yessian is CEO of Yessian Music, which develops commercial and production sounds for major corporations around the world.

When Yessian learned that a Bacharach piano, a Steinway baby grand, was up for auction in 2005, he cast the winning bid, and the instrument came to Yessian’s Milford home from Bacharach’s California residence to be established as an important element of creativity.

On the piano that saw the development of the Bacharach hit song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” Yessian wrote the music for the symphony An Armenian Trilogy that marks the anniversary of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish Ottoman Empire during the World War I era.

In 2017, Yessian traveled to Armenia to work on the film that describes his own life.

The Yessian symphony and film will be televised at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12, on Detroit Public Television hosted by Fred Nahhat. Two Jewish film production assistants, Ohad Wilner and Stewart Shevin, were important in making the film.

“My music, whether it’s for commercials or television, has been inspired by Bacharach music, so much so that people would say there’s a tinge of a Bacharach style in what you’re doing,” Yessian said.

“Burt’s music, apparently, had seeped into my consciousness. When I started writing the symphony in 2014 at the suggestion of a priest, I thought the piano had a big part in writing it.”

Yessian reveals that he thinks about the history of the piano.

“I often have to pinch myself knowing that this piano came from Burt’s home in New York originally and then followed him throughout his marriage to Angie Dickinson,” Yessian said. “I have been motivated by the catalog of Burt’s music.”

 Faizan Hashmi

YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 07th March, 2023) The number of confirmed cases of measles in Armenia as of Tuesday morning increased to 29, the Armenian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

The number of confirmed cases on Monday was 20.

"As of 10 a.m. (06:00 GMT), the number of laboratory confirmed cases of measles reached 29, 15 people were hospitalized, seven were already released," the ministry's statement read.

The condition of the patients is assessed as moderately severe.

Some of the patients were not vaccinated, while others had only one injection, the ministry said.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that is transmitted by airborne droplets. Young children are at the highest risk with serious complications, including death. Vaccination against measles is extremely effective with 97% of the vaccinated never catching this disease. Conversely, a non-vaccinated person has almost a 100% chance of being infected at the first contact with a carrier.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/number-of-confirmed-measles-cases-in-armenia-1654706.html

On Friday, February 3rd, Monday, February 6th, and Thursday, February 9th, students across the world protested the ongoing human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan towards ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. Student representatives from Columbia, Cornell, GWU, Harvard, Princeton, Villanova, University of Buenos Aires, Imperial College London, London School of Economics, King’s College, and University College London participated in the events and publicly condemned the recent blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

Unfortunately, the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh is rarely reported on by mainstream media or included in school curricula. Most Americans remain completely unaware of the current political situation.

On December 12th, 2022, Azerbaijanis posing as eco-activists imposed a blockade, accusing Armenians of transporting military hardware to Nagorno Karabakh and illegally mining for resources in the contested region. State officials in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh dispute these claims and Azerbaijan has yet to provide substantial evidence. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty investigated the protestors and concluded that a majority of them have not historically identified as environmentalists. In reality, many of the participants are Aliyev supporters, military personnel, members of the Turkish nationalist group Grey Wolves, and more. Further, RFE/RL found that the Azerbaijani government provided the tents that the protestors sleep in. 

The Lachin Corridor comprises the main passageway linking Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh and is used to deliver hundreds of tons of food, medicine, fuel, and other essential goods to the residents of Nagorno Karabakh. The blockade has placed over 120,000 ethnic Armenians under siege for close to two months. Without their daily imports from Armenian proper, the residents of Nagorno Karabakh are suffering major food and medicine shortages. Businesses have closed, leaving thousands of Armenians unemployed, and markets remain empty. In addition, residents are experiencing sporadic disruptions to their power and energy lines, which lie in Azerbaijani territory. The government has started providing firewood and wood burning stoves so that residents can have a reliable source of heat and have shut down schools that lack energy supplies. These dire situations have exacerbated pre-existing health conditions, and without working hospitals and proper medical supplies, many patients’ health remains in danger. Patients in grave condition that require transfer to the larger hospital in Yerevan have been prevented from accessing life-saving treatment by the blockade. This has resulted in at least one death.

When the blockade was first instituted, Armenians were still recovering from the military operations that Azerbaijan launched on September 13th. The two-day attacks resulted in 207 Armenian soldiers dead, 293 Armenian soldiers wounded, 20 new prisoners of war, 7600 civilians displaced, and 3 civilians dead.

In addition to threatening Armenians physically, Azerbaijan has continuously engaged in hateful rhetoric, calling for the destruction of all Armenians and referring to them as parasites, dogs, savages, and terrorists. President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has publicly expressed his hatred of Armenians on countless occasions. In November 2020, he proudly declared: 

“We did, we brought [the Armenians] to their knees, and they are on their knees now! There is hardly anyone [Pashinyan] didn’t call over the past 40 days, begging for help and humiliating himself. We have disgraced him, and we were absolutely right in doing so. When he danced drunk on Jidir Duzu in the sacred city of Shusha, he should have thought that this day would come. He would receive his punishment. Now he hides like a mouse as he takes this document and signs it in tears. We showed him his place. We taught him a lesson. We chased them out of our lands like dogs. I said that we would chase them, that we would chase them like dogs, and we chased them, we chased them like dogs. He is now signing this document out of fear, knowing that we will come to Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin. No-one can stop us. Everyone sees our strength; everyone understands what our iron fist is like.”

The language Aliyev uses to describe and address the Armenian people has influenced colleagues, major media corporations, and everyday civilians. Other examples include:

Hajibala Abutalybov, former Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You Nazis eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.” 

Habil Aliyev, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gundelik Baku Local Newspaper: “I consider the Armenians my eternal enemies. Wherever I see Armenians, I will cut their tongues off and will call them perverts. Even if I am torn into pieces, I will always hate them…If I go to war again, I will not pity even the Armenian children.” 

Azerbaijani citizen, Facebook post: “We must drink the blood of these bastard Armenians, regardless of age and sex.”

American media and politics has neglected this crisis for far too long. The ethnic Armenian students and leaders from Armenian Student Associations (ASAs) on these 11 campuses therefore took it upon themselves to spread awareness within their respective communities. Columbia, GWU, Northwestern, University of Buenos Aires, and the London cohort held signs in public spaces on campus that advertised the devastating impacts of Azerbaijan’s actions. Villanova hosted a discussion on Azerbaijan’s recent violations of the trilateral peace agreement. Harvard Law and Cornell students stationed themselves at tables and engaged in dialogue with passersby. Princeton engaged in a week-long poster initiative to continue drawing attention to the issue. The participating schools all asked their attendees to sign a joint petition condemning Azerbaijan’s actions. They also shared organizations to donate to and ways to contact Congresspeople to urge them to take action. 

The skirmishes in September and the current blockade both occurred in direct violation of the 2020 Trilateral Statement. Our protest strove to shed light on all the human rights abuses that Azerbaijan has committed against Armenians over the past two years, in addition to the  innumerable violations they have perpetrated for decades. The events of the last few months have placed Armenians in danger. If not held accountable, Azerbaijan will continue engaging in such illegal and inhuman behavior.

This protest demonstrates that students across the world, the future leaders of America, are invested in this issue and watching to see how our current leaders react. International political figures, lawyers, and activists must act in accordance with their official duties and protect all Armenians from further atrocities. We ask our officials to join us in condemning the actions of Azerbaijan.  

To sign our petition and learn more about the conflict and places to donate, visit https://linktr.ee/studentsforarmenia.

Annie McGovern graduated from Wesleyan University in 2022 with a degree in Psychology and Government. In the fall of her senior year, she was selected to participate in the undergraduate human rights advocacy training program led by the University Network of Human Rights. She was then assigned to a project investigating human rights abuses committed by Azerbaijan against Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh. During spring break, she traveled to Armenia and assisted her supervisors in conducting interviews and gathering facts about the ongoing violations. Her team is currently writing a report on their findings and engaging in advocacy work. She can be reached at [email protected].

The continuous conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has once again come to the forefront, igniting the passion of those who have previously fought in wars. Colonel Gilbert Minassian, who had previously fought for Armenia, speaks up about his experience and sheds light on the origins of the current republic of Armenia.

Hailing from Marseille, Colonel Minassian was forced to flee France due to accusations of committing a crime. He found refuge in the Caucasus nation, Armenia, during a time of great unrest – the prelude to the downfall of the Soviet Socialist Republics. The ongoing armed conflict with its neighboring country, Azerbaijan, has plagued Armenia ever since.

Colonel Minassian, along with a local teacher, founded an armed group which would later become the foundation for the Armenian Army. However, despite his past involvement in the military, the Colonel now voices his opposition to violent confrontations in a country that is constantly in a state of war.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been ongoing for decades, resulting in countless casualties and the displacement of families. While the roots of the conflict are complex and multifaceted, it is important to remember the human toll that it takes. Hopefully, as more voices like Colonel Minassian’s speak up against violence, a peaceful solution can be found to end this long-standing conflict.

In this presentation, Elyse Semerdjian will outline the earliest Armenian pilgrimages to the killing fields of Dayr al-Zur in the Syrian Desert. It is there that Armenians interacted with the remains of Armenians murdered during the Armenian Genocide (1915-1918) in acts of remembrance. Semerdjian will discuss the origins of the now-destroyed Armenian Genocide Memorial in Dayr al-Zur and the ritual and collection habits of pilgrims that enact what she calls bone memory. Using archival documents alongside recorded testimony of survivors preserved in the Shoah Foundation archives, she will present the genesis of these memory practices that largely halted during the Syrian War.

Elyse Semerdjian is Professor of Islamic World/Middle Eastern History and Chair of the History Department at Whitman College. She teaches a broad range of courses at Whitman on the subject of gender, sexuality, social history, culture, and politics of the Middle East. A specialist in the history of the Ottoman Empire and Syria, she authored " Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo (Syracuse University Press, 2008), Remnants: Embodied Archives of the Armenian Genocide (forthcoming with Stanford University Press, 2023), and has published several articles on gender, law, violence, and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She was awarded a fellowship at Cornell University Society for the Humanities in 2016-2017 to support research for her forthcoming book Remnants. She recently received a German Research Grant with the “Religion and Urbanity” Research Group at University of Erfurt, Germany to write an inclusive pre- and post-war urban history of Aleppo's Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants.