Opinions & Editorials

During the victory parade in Baku on December 10, 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey stood on the dais as a hero next to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, as he extolled the memory of Enver Pasha, one of the planners of the Armenian Genocide, and declared, “We are here to realize the dreams of our ancestors,” meaning to bring the century-old genocidal policy to its logical conclusion. Today, Mr. Erdogan wishes to project a...

Throughout history Armenians have been notoriously divided, even in the face of catastrophe, and that, more often than not, has contributed to our historic losses. Today, as Artsakh nears the point of extinction, are we speaking with one voice? Apparently not. We hear pro-Russian comments from Stepanakert and anti-Russian statements from Yerevan. If this dissonance were based on agreed upon disagreements, we would be gratified that finally Armenians have come to the realization that in the...

It has been almost a month since Artsakh’s blockade by Azerbaijan in full view of the Russian peacekeeping forces. Yet, there is a general apathy in the world and even in the world Armenian community — shocking, as the destiny of 120,000 Armenians is on the line. On December 31, the Guardian newspaper published a summary of worldwide problems by its correspondents around the world mentioning hotspots to be watched during the new year. They...

The world did not learn its lesson after the Nuremberg Trials exposed in detail how ethnic cleansing could happen. Genocide has been perpetrated many times since then, and now, the Armenians might once again be targeted for one. “Risk for ethnic cleansing facing Armenian Christians is being highlighted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague this week,” we read in the December 5 issue of the Independent Catholic News. The rise of the threat...

The cross-border rhetoric flying back and forth between Iran and Azerbaijan thus far has created a false sense of hope for Armenia. If until now this war of words was considered political drama in the South Caucasus, the further escalation of tensions between the two major parties makes it pale in comparison in terms of scale. In the aftermath of the 44-Day War in 2020, political developments exposed regional rivalries which use Armenia and Azerbaijan to...

The city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan may be distant from Armenia, but it will shape its future, as it has in the past. Samarkand has become the focus of the political world recently. On November 11, it hosted the ninth summit of the Organization of the Turkic States (OTS), with the participation of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with Turkmenistan and Hungary attending as observers. One would ask why a European country would be present...

The Armenian Diaspora is a force born out of tragedy. It has followed its own path, and perhaps incidentally, it has become a political force to be reckoned with. Diasporan Armenians sometimes fail to recognize the clout they wield to impact policies concerning Armenia. But the enemies of the latter, the Turkish and Azerbaijani governments, realize its potential and they arm themselves to thwart anticipated negative consequences for themselves. In a recent statement, Ibrahim Kalin,...

Following the September 13 Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia, which led to more than 200 casualties and the occupation of a swath of Armenian territory, a flurry of intense diplomatic activity has taken place. The US State Department and French President Emmanuel Macron have issued stern statements blaming Azerbaijan as the aggressor and calling for the withdrawal of its forces from Armenia’s sovereign territory. That stance injected some assertiveness into Armenia’s diplomacy; thus Foreign Minister Ararat...

All indications point to the fact that Turkey and Azerbaijan have found the once-in-a-century opportunity to finish up the grisly job that they had begun 107 years ago. This conclusion should not be construed as an exaggeration in light of some historic facts. In 1914, a situation was created in the Ottoman Empire which led to the implementation of some clauses of the Berlin Treaty of 1878, whereby European governors were sent to the interior...

Efforts to solve the Armenia and Azerbaijan issue are moving from one capital to another in rapid succession, causing a whirlwind effect for the players and observers. On October 6, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders met in Prague to discuss the peace treaty between the two countries. On October 14, they met in Astana, Kazakhstan, within the forum of the Heads of States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose federation of former Soviet...