Weekly update
11 February
To date, 8 transactions of state registration of real estate rights have been carried out by Azerbaijani citizens in Armenia, and 82—by Turkish nationals, reports Sputnik Armenia. In 2022, Azerbaijani nationals acquired two real estates in Armenia. This was reported to Sputnik Armenia by the Cadastre Committee of Armenia—and in response to a written request. According to news.am, last year, Azerbaijani citizens acquired one apartment in Armenia’s capital Yerevan and one house in Lori Province. Turkish nationals bought 11 real estates in Armenia in 2022: 11 apartments in Yerevan. Turkish citizens did not buy real estate in the provinces. Also, Azerbaijani and Turkish citizens did not sell any real estate in Armenia during the past year. The nationality of the citizens of those countries, however, is not specified in the response received from the Cadastre Committee. According to the data published earlier by the Cadastre Committee, until 2022, six transactions of state registration of real estate rights were carried out by Azerbaijani citizens in Armenia, and 71—by Turkish nationals. Accordingly, Turkish citizens had bought 54 apartments in Armenia, received two apartments as gifts, and exchanged one apartment. In addition, they had bought five houses, one garage, eight public properties, and 12 plots of land.
https://news.am/eng/news/744343.html
10 February
The Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution Friday supporting legislation that would condemn Azerbaijan’s attacks on territory held by Armenia. Los Angeles County is home to the largest population of Armenians in the United States, with an estimated 214,628 residents in the county, according to the 2011 American Community Survey. Azerbaijan has engaged in attacks on the Lachin corridor, which connects the small Republic of Artsakh to Armenia, in line with heysocal.com. It called the attacks “illegal, unprovoked and repeated.” The resolution called for the support of any federal legislation that would result in: diplomatic action to ensure safe passage through the Lachin corridor; U.S. involvement in humanitarian assistance to Artsakh; action holding the regime in Azerbaijan accountable; a number of high school students were in the council chamber on Friday to speak out in support of Armenia, earning the praise of Council President Paul Kerkorian and other council members.
https://heysocal.com/2023/02/10/la-council-supports-condemning-azerbaijans-attacks-on-armenia/
9 February
The most endangered Armenian population lives in the Artsakh region, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh. According to troymedia.com they are surrounded by Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani leaders have made it clear that they want to annex this territory, even though the population voted 92 per cent in a referendum to remain separate. One can see the steady progress toward extermination. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has strongly condemned recent actions by Azerbaijan. The progressive stages of genocide begin with classification, symbolization, discrimination, dehumanization, organization, and polarization. There is a sentiment of “Armenophobia” in both Azerbaijan and Turkey; both were involved in the armed conflict in 2020. The Azerbaijani dictatorship has gained power through the sale of fossil fuels in recent years, built up its military, and backed a campaign of aggressive anti-Armenian propaganda, the most haunting being a postage stamp showing an exterminator spraying Artsakh. Stages seven and eight of genocide are preparation and persecution, respectively. Populations are isolated and forcibly starved of food and other resources. Given the historical patterns of mass violence, it is reasonable to assume that a military invasion of Artsakh is being planned.
https://troymedia.com/crime/world-stands-by-in-the-face-of-the-second-armenian-genocide/
8 February
Rescue teams and humanitarian aid from around the Caucasus have been sent to Turkey and Syria to aid recovery efforts following a massive earthquake this week. In line with eurasianet.org The Armenians’ contribution was smallest in quantity, but carried the most political significance. Armenia is in the delicate process of normalizing relations with Turkey following its 2020 war with Azerbaijan, in which Turkish support played a key role in the Azerbaijani victory. The process stalled following a flareup in tensions in the Caucasus last fall, starting with a September offensive by Azerbaijan into Armenian territory and continuing through the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the Armenian protectorate of Nagorno-Karabakh today. But at the beginning of January, Armenia announced that ties with Turkey had taken a step forward, albeit a mostly symbolic one, with the reestablishment of air cargo flights between the two countries. Yerevan also said that a pilot reopening of the countries’ land border, which has been closed since 1993, would take place “very soon.”
https://eurasianet.org/caucasus-earthquake-diplomacy-tied-up-in-regional-politics
7 February
The Beverly Hills Police Department said that an anti-Armenian flyer threatening to “wipe Armenia off the map” is protected by the First Amendment. According to asbarez.com yet the Beverly Hills Police Department, as well as the city’s mayor and other officials reached a completely different conclusion when flyers denying the Holocaust were circulated anonymously around the city. In fact, in that instance hate crime charges were immediately pursued against the perpetrators of that crime. On January 28, the Beverly Hills Police Department said it was investigating an anti-Armenian flyer that was spotted around the city and its vicinity, ahead of an Armenian Youth Federation march scheduled on that day to protest Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh. “Azerbaijan; Turkey; Pakistan; Israel = 4 BROTHERS WILL WIPE Armenia OFF the MAP Inshallah!!!,” read the message on the various iterations of the flyers that were found posted around the city on that day. “On Saturday, 01/28/23, the Beverly Hills Police Department launched an investigation into the posting of anti-Armenian flyers. Although offensive and insensitive, it has been determined that the flyers fall within the protection of the First Amendment of the US Constitution,” the Beverly Hills Police Department said in a Twitter post on Tuesday, effectively ending its investigation.
https://asbarez.com/beverly-hills-police-says-threat-to-wipe-armenia-off-the-map-is-protected-by-first-amendment/
6 February
In an op-ed published in The Independent on Sunday, renowned international legal expert Geoffrey Robertson declared that Nagorno-Karabakh “originally belonged to Armenia and has always been inhabited mainly by Armenians.” In the article titled, “Are we really asking Russia to ‘keep the peace’ in a completely different conflict?” Robertson argued that the world’s superpowers—Russia, Great Britain, the United States, France and China—have “the power to stop authoritarian Azerbaijan, which has besieged Nagorno-Karabakh in order to starve 120,000 inhabitants.” According to asbarez.com in the article, Robertson, who was lead council representing Armenia in the famous Armenian Genocide case at the European Court of Human Rights, went on to stress that the blockade is a crime against humanity and contradicts a number of international agreements. He discusses that the blockade has impeded the passage of more than 400 tons of goods from Armenia to Artsakh. “The country is a hostage of Azerbaijan and history. It originally belonged to Armenia and has always been inhabited mainly by Armenians, known for their early Christian churches and unique carpets. In the 19th century it was occupied by Russia, and in 1921 Stalin arbitrarily and wrongly included this Christian enclave as an independent region within Muslim Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh demanded independence and fought a war to achieve it,” Robertson said in his op-ed.
https://asbarez.com/nagorno-karabakh-originally-belonged-to-armenia-and-has-always-been-inhabited-mainly-by-armenians-says-international-law-expert-geoffrey-robertson/
5 February
Armenia offered to provide urgent aid to Turkey and Syria after the two countries were hit by a powerful earthquake early on Monday. According to azatutyun.am the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Turkey and northwest Syria early in the morning, tearing down many buildings. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address that it left at least 912 people dead in Turkey In neighboring Syria, at least 386 people died, including 239 mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia and Tartus, according to a Syrian state TV report cited by CNN. The city of Aleppo has a sizable ethnic Armenian population.At least four Syrian Armenians and two Turkish citizens of Armenian descent were reportedly killed by the quake. Zarmig Boghigian, the editor of the Alepp-based Armenian-language newspaper “Kantsasar,” said the victims included a young woman and her son. Her husband and daughter were seriously injured and hospitalized, Boghigian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service from the northern Syrian city.“The earthquake was very powerful and lasted long,” she said, adding that it caused serious damage to local Armenian schools, churches and other buildings.The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan reported, meanwhile, that it has opened a hotline for Armenia’s citizens who live in the earthquake zone and may need help.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/32257639.html
4 February
The ANCA Eastern Region gathered hundreds of activists, allies and coalition partners including the Hellenic American Leadership Council, A Demand for Action, In Defense of Christians as well as genocide scholars from across the Eastern Region on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2, 2023, in the nation’s capital. In line with armenianweekly.com they led meetings with legislators on Capitol Hill with one message: end all aid to Azerbaijan as the genocidal blockade of the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor continues. The advocacy days were followed by a protest on Capitol Hill. Hundreds of activists, allies, community members and leaders echoed the message presented during the advocacy days, demanding that Congress put an end to all aid to a genocidal Azerbaijan. Activists encouraged legislators to co-sponsor and join the bi-partisan Resolution Condemning Azerbaijan’s Blockade of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), led by New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone, California Representative Brad Sherman and leaders of the Congressional Armenian Caucus. The resolution aims to break the brutal blockade that oil-rich Azerbaijan put in place on December 12, 2022, against the 120,000 Christian Armenians living in their indigenous Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) homeland.
https://armenianweekly.com/2023/02/04/anca-eastern-region-brings-together-hundreds-of-activists-for-artsakh/