Your Namak for Friday, July 8
Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire on Vayots Dzor, controversial proposal to restrict internet in Armenia, and Canada to open embassy in Armenia.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Azerbaijani Armed Forces Open Fire on Vayots Dzor
The Armenian Ministry of Defense reported that on July 4, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire on Khachik village in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor region, damaging the car of the community head. On July 7, the Azerbaijani military once again fired on Vayots Dzor, this time near the village of Yelpin, damaging a civilian car. The region borders the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan.
Controversial Proposal to Restrict Internet in Armenia
Armenian Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan has proposed a law allowing the state to restrict the internet in Armenia. Davtyan cited the Russian Roskomnadzor, responsible for censoring the internet after the launch of the war in Ukraine, forbidding the use of the term “war,” as inspiration. Many media outlets and international observers have expressed concern that such a law could mean political censorship.
Canada to Open Embassy in Armenia
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced Canada would open an embassy in Armenia. The announcement said the move aims to deepen bilateral ties in a context of “profound geopolitical shift” and also described it as a way to “push back on Russian influence” and “increase Canadian support for Armenian democracy.” Russia quickly reacted to that statement, accusing Canada of being “arrogant” and “dismissive” toward Armenia.
Bela Poghosyan: Meet a Russian-Armenian artist exploring collective and individual memories
“I think everything around us has memory. Just like humans, places and walls and stones have memory.”
Bela Poghosyan has a very calming presence. With her low voice and big blue eyes, she seems to attentively observe all of her surroundings, and listens twice as much as she speaks.
The 27-year-old artist was born in Voronezh, Russia. “I grew up surrounded by Armenian culture, books, visual arts, food, the language,” she says. Bela also spent a few years of her childhood in Vanadzor, Armenia, before her family moved back to Russia.
Several of her mother’s siblings and her dad have an artistic background, all focusing on drawing. Yet Bela’s family did not want her to become an artist, fearing she would have a harsh life. But she could not help it.
“My mother kept a diary and if you check the pages she wrote when I was a child, she often described how if someone gave a pen and paper, I would just draw all day,” she says.
After studying journalism and public relations at the University of Voronezh, she studied at the Institute of Contemporary Art of Moscow. She was going back and forth between Russia and Armenia, before moving to Armenia a few months ago. Bela is now based between Vanadzor and Yerevan.
“I think everything around us has memory. Just like humans, places and walls and stones have memory,” Bela says.
That’s why besides her abstract drawings on paper, she likes to work on stones and walls in the city. You can spot Bela’s work by its minimalist style: black dots and curves, straight black lines, all coming together to create an emotion. Dostoievsky and Arshile Gorky are two of the artists who inspire her the most.
Bela’s work has been shown in exhibitions in Armenia and Russia. She also works as a curator, art therapist and teacher during artistic workshops with adults and children.
“Adults cannot stop overthinking so drawing can help them shift their focus,” she says. “Kids have a more open and free mind. But art allows them to explore their feelings and express themselves.”
Bela worked with children from Nagorno-Karabakh during the Sunrise Stepanakert Art Festival. Teaching is important to the artist because she says she learns as much from them as they learn from her. “The kids in Artsakh are quite different from others,” she says. “They think like adults even at a young age, but at the same time, they are still kids and that’s very interesting.”
“They have no internet and they are way more creative thanks to that. They also are used to hardships and are very practical,” she says. “No pencils? No problem, they went and took flowers and grass to create colors and then drew with them. I was impressed.”
Bela has just debuted the exhibition “Mijansq” which she curated at the NPAK Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art in Yerevan. It shows the works of Armenian artists and Russian artists in exile, and will be open until August 6.
To read: Husband Dies in Baku Prison, Wife Survives to Tell the Tale, the Armenian investigative news outlet Hetq publishes the testimony of Arega Shahgeldyan, an Armenian civilian taken as prisoner of war by Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. Her husband Edward died in custody in Baku, after suffering severe physical violence.
To attend: The Golden Apricot International Film Festival, held in Yerevan from July 10 to July 17. This year’s guest of honor is Greek-French director and screenwriter Costa Gavras.
To read: 7x25 cm, the story of photojournalist Vaghinak Ghazaryan who became a taxi driver after losing his job. He began capturing portraits of his passengers through the rearview mirror.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
Questions? Story ideas? An urge to say barev/parev? You can send us a secure email at namaknews@protonmail.com.