Your Namak for Sunday, November 13
Washington hosts Armenian and Azerbaijani top diplomats, Erdogan says Turkey ready to normalize ties with Armenia, and Pashinyan warns that Aliyev preparing to cut off Nagorno-Karabakh from 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.
Washington Hosts Armenian and Azerbaijani Top Diplomats
On November 7, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington. In a statement, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the parties reiterated their commitment to reaching a peace deal by year end, and agreed to “expedite their negotiations.” Blinken described the U.S. as “a friend to both Armenia and Azerbaijan,” and said, “I think it’s also fair to say that 30-plus years of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh have had tremendous human, material costs –– lives lost, scars that are deep. But what we are seeing now are real steps, and courageous steps, by both countries to put the past behind and to work toward a durable peace.”
Erdogan Says Turkey Ready to Normalize Ties with Armenia
On November 10, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists in Istanbul that his government is ready to normalize ties with Armenia if Yerevan maintains “positive relations” with Azerbaijan. At a press conference, Erdogan said Armenia continues to hinder the peace process with Azerbaijan and that Armenian communities in France and the U.S. are pushing Yerevan to adopt a hardline stance. “We try to make friends, not produce enemies,” Erdogan said.
Pashinyan Warns that Aliyev Preparing to Cut Off Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia
During a cabinet meeting on November 10, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev plans to close the only land route connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Pashinyan, Aliyev may claim that Armenia has failed to fulfill its obligations under joint agreements with Azerbaijan and Russia, and use this accusation as pretext to block the Lachin Corridor. Pashinyan added that Aliyev’s ultimate goal is to ethnically cleanse Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian population.
Nane Avetisyan: Meet an Armenian beauty queen defying clichés
“I did not see beauty contests as a way to show that I am the best or the most beautiful girl. I see them as a platform to talk about topics I care about, meaning, my country and the war.”
The first thing you notice about Nane Avetisyan is that she is a gorgeous woman. She is tall, has beautiful dark eyes and long, shiny black hair, moves gracefully, has a smile that makes everybody melt. That’s one of the reasons why she was elected Miss Universe Armenia 2021.
But when I met Nane, I had no idea who she was, and she did not tell me. She was wearing military clothes, had a fake gun in her hands and was participating in a paramilitary training for civilians in Yerevan. I filmed her, photographed her, along with other participants, and briefly interviewed her.
I have never really watched beauty pageants. Nane did not mention that she was Miss Universe Armenia, and actually quite famous in the country. I realized who she was when I started editing my work, and a friend of mine looked over the screen and recognized her.
I thought: “She’s not seeking attention if she did not tell me anything even though she knew that I am a foreign journalist.” This intrigued me.
Many civilians have joined paramilitary groups to learn self-defense and feel prepared in case of a new war, after the shelling of southern Armenia in September. Teachers, nurses, travel agents… But a 25-year-old beauty queen? It seems like a world even further from war and the military than other professions I encountered.
I contacted Nane again, and wanted to learn more about her and her decision to join a paramilitary training. I mentioned her to several friends and colleagues. Swiss-Peruvian journalist Nadege Justiniani from the French media Brut came to Armenia and filmed a documentary about Nane and other Armenian women preparing for the war.
“I studied law at the French University in Yerevan, and was always fascinated by the world of fashion. I dreamed of being a model,” Nane says. “I never really imagined it would come to this.”
“This” being waking up early to learn emergency first aid, shooting, military strategy, before going to work, and spending several evenings a week doing intense physical preparation. Nane works as director of operations at the Tovmasyan International Fund; part of her work has been to organize art therapy for wounded soldiers after the 44-Day Nagorno-Karabakh War.
“I miss the old days, when you did not worry. When you had only small problems, maybe a dispute with a friend, or things like that,” she says. After the 2020 war, during which she felt powerless and lost, Nane thought that she was not doing enough.
“I also felt a tremendous amount of guilt. I mean when you see all these boys, some younger than you, who died to protect your country, it’s hard,” she says. The young woman started paramilitary training, to be ready in case a new war starts.
“But I hate violence… war is literally the worst thing that anyone can imagine, but to understand that, you need to have lived through it,” Nane says. “I have never thought about killing anyone. I don’t want to do that ever. I also hope I will never actually have to put to use anything I am learning.”
But Nane also decided to run for Miss Universe Armenia, and won, which allowed her to gain visibility for her country. “I did not see beauty contests as a way to show that I am the best or the most beautiful girl. I see them as a platform to talk about topics I care about, meaning, my country and the war,” she says. She won in 2021 and represented Armenia at the Miss Universe contest in Israel.
The competition did not take place in September 2022 because of the war, so Nane still holds the title, but she hopes to pass it on very soon. Now, the young woman is juggling between fashion photoshoots, her work, paramilitary training, and defying the clichés around what it means to be a young Armenian woman.
To listen: Armenians in Russia: A Case of Linguistic Plastic Surgery, a podcast exploring the complexities of heritage language use among Armenians in Russia. While Armenian language fluency is central to cultural participation in most diaspora communities, this same rule does not apply in Russia.
To read: Ambivalence to Things Armenian in Middle Eastern Studies and the War on Artsakh in 2020, an article by scholar Bedross Der Matossian in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, explaining the political and ideological reasons behind the marginalization of Armenian studies in academia.
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.