Your Namak for Friday, October 29
Concern grows over press freedom, new cases filed before ECHR and Armenian president visits Saudi Arabia.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Concern Grows Over Press Freedom in Armenia
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding the accreditation procedure for journalists covering the National Assembly. Tatoyan has stated that journalists accredited to the parliament are subject to unreasonable restrictions. Following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenian legislature adopted and discussed new laws imposing penalties for insult and defamation, drawing criticism from press freedom activists. “The third quarter of 2021 brought serious challenges for the media which had to operate in extremely difficult conditions, especially due to a number of restrictions adopted by the legislative body,” said Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression.
Armenian President Makes Historic Visit to Saudi Arabia
On October 26, President Armen Sarkissian became the first Armenian official to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two countries have lacked diplomatic relations since Armenia’s independence in 1991. Sarkissian attended the Future Investment Initiative Summit, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of an effort to strengthen ties between Yerevan and Riyadh.
Armenian Legal Center Appeals to ECHR
The Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC) has filed 16 cases before the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Armenians who are believed to have disappeared while in Azerbaijani captivity. In collaboration with the International and Comparative Law Center, the ALC has appealed to the Court on behalf of 20 individuals who were captured by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, but whose detention has not been confirmed by the Azerbaijani government.
Human Rights Defender and MoD Contradict Each Other Over Intelligence
The Human Rights Defender has publicly sparred with the Ministry of Defense regarding Azerbaijan’s territorial gains in Armenia’s Gegharkunik region. On October 18, Arman Tatoyan published a statement on Facebook stating that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces were completing construction work to fortify their presence on the border. The following day, the Ministry called Tatoyan’s claims “obviously exaggerated.” The Defender replied with yet another statement, saying he has never published unverified information, and accusing the Ministry of fueling the Azerbaijani disinformation campaign. This back-and-forth was closely watched by observers throughout Armenian society. It is not the first time the Human Rights Defender and the Armenian authorities have shared conflicting information regarding sensitive national security issues.
Arpe Asaturyan: Meet a psychotherapist who left California to support Armenian soldiers
“There is no basic understanding of mental health here. The common person didn’t know what depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety was, even before the war.”
Arpe Asaturyan was a baby when her family left Armenia for the United States. The 34-year-old psychotherapist was raised in Los Angeles, and received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California in 2012. As a clinical social worker, she counseled patients with severe mental health issues, and managed various programs within healthcare facilities, before opening her own private practice.
Her Armenian roots always intersected with her work. Early in her career, she began organizing outreach projects in Los Angeles to provide free mental health services for undocumented Armenian immigrants, who lacked access to other resources due to their legal status.
Arpe is a sharp and energetic woman, visibly passionate about what she does. Like many Armenians in the diaspora, when the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out, she immediately wanted to help.
“I knew that there was going to be PTSD. I knew that there were going to be people coming back with trauma, and I knew people there had trauma because I had trauma, all the way in Los Angeles,” she says.
On November 7, 2020, she landed in Yerevan with more than a dozen therapists from the U.S. who had started providing online mental health services for Armenian soldiers before arriving on the ground. With approval from the authorities, they began working right away with soldiers who had severe physical wounds in the trauma unit, amputees and families of missing servicemen. Nothing could have prepared her for the scene she encountered on her first day at the hospital.
“Walking into the hospital rooms where you had six guys in a room, all of them with an arm torn off or a leg torn off, people with wires, blood everywhere, the wounds, everything was so fresh,” Arpe says. “No matter how much you prepare, you are not prepared.”
Arpe had planned to come to Armenia for a few weeks, but ended up staying. “After I saw what I saw, I just couldn’t leave,” she says. “A year out, there are still many wounded soldiers being treated in the hospital.”
Aside from the emergency situation created by the war, Arpe and her colleagues also noticed structural issues within the country's mental health system. “We realized there weren't enough therapists, especially outside of Yerevan,” she says. “I saw many of them had several jobs to be able to live, because being a mental health professional does not pay and I realized I need to do more.”
Even in the wake of the war, mental health is still a taboo topic in Armenia. “There is no basic understanding of mental health here. The common person didn’t know what depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety was, even before the war,” Arpe says. This climate led Arpe to adopt different approaches for working with soldiers.
The psychotherapists educate soldiers about their mental wellbeing over casual conversations. She explains to her patients that many of the behaviors they might be exhibiting are related to their experiences during the war.
“We say, ‘You know you might be angry right now, you might be very sad right now, you might not be sleeping right now, you might be yelling at your family. That’s related to the war,’” Arpe says. Sometimes the soldiers recognize themselves in these symptoms. “They understand that what they are feeling, there is a reason for that, not just because.”
Arpe recognized the need to continue her work in a more formal capacity. She founded the non-profit Frontline Therapists to provide emergency mental health services for soldiers, veterans and anyone impacted by the war. She collaborates with volunteers and local professionals to provide wellness retreats, community events and art therapy.
“I want to create more sustainable, long-term mental health care, and create opportunities for local therapists to become more educated, more equipped in interventions, and at some point be able to hire them at proper salaries,” she says. For now, Arpe intends on staying in Armenia.
To listen: Siretsi Yars Daran, a single by the French band Hey Djan that blends Armenian classics with pop tunes.
To read: Little Leaves, an ode to the grape leaves that bring us back to our childhood kitchen, part of a broader series on taste and memory.
To attend: USSR 30: Cinema After the Collapse, a free three-day program in Los Angeles featuring films from various former Soviet republics, including Armenia.
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.