Your Namak for Sunday, October 9
Pashinyan meets with Aliyev, Erdogan in Prague, Azerbaijani video of POW executions sparks outrage, and U.S. mediates return of 17 Armenian POWs.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Pashinyan Meets with Aliyev, Erdogan in Prague
On October 6, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel, in talks held at a gathering of the European Political Community in Prague. In a statement, Pashinyan said that “Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, through which both sides recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Following the meeting, the European Union announced that it would send a “civilian mission” to Armenia to demarcate the border with Azerbaijan. The mission will start work in October, for a maximum duration of two months.
Pashinyan also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the same event. In a statement, the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office said the leaders discussed the ongoing Armenia-Turkey normalization process, including opening the land border and implementing direct air cargo transportation between their two countries.
Azerbaijani Video of POW Executions Sparks Outrage, Calls for Accountability
A graphic video of Azerbaijani troops executing a group of Armenian soldiers spread widely on social media, drawing outrage from Armenian society and condemnation from international observers. In a statement, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Kristine Grigoryan confirmed the authenticity of the video, saying it was filmed during Azerbaijan’s incursion into sovereign Armenian territory on September 13. U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. is “deeply disturbed” by reports of Azerbaijani soldiers executing unarmed Armenian prisoners. Price called for “a full and impartial investigation” and added that “those responsible for any atrocities must be held to account.”
U.S. Mediates Return of 17 Armenian POWs
On October 4, 17 Armenian prisoners of war returned home from Azerbaijan, following mediation by the U.S. government. Pashinyan said he “highly appreciates” Washington’s assistance in negotiating the POWs’ repatriation. An unknown number of Armenians remain in captivity in Azerbaijan, and at least 20 additional servicemen were captured by Azerbaijan in last month’s offensive.
Mariam Khachaturian: Meet a creative fostering the new generation of Armenian artisans and bringing back life to Yerevan’s courtyards
“I always wanted to reestablish the nice vibe of the old Yerevan. In the baks between the buildings, in the different garages, there were many little shops and a lot of life.”
Mariam Khachaturian is very smiley and gentle. She moves around gracefully, showing the work of TUMO Studios students like a proud mother would. The 32-year-old creative was born in Yerevan, but grew up in Tbilisi, before moving to Moscow and then Saint Petersburg. As a child of a diplomat, she did not spend much time in Armenia.
“I am very inspired by old Tbilisi, the one I knew as a child. But I feel closer to Yerevan even though before moving here a few years before, I had mostly lived elsewhere,” she says.
Mariam graduated from Moscow State University of Printing Arts Ivan Fedorov and worked as a typographer and art director in Russia, always having Armenia in the back of her mind.
“I went through many phases. Sometimes I thought I just had to move to Yerevan, but sometimes I was worried that it was too late, that I had lost my connection with the city and that everything I had built was outside of Armenia,” she says. “I was worried because even though Armenian is my native language, Russian was slowly taking over and I had the language skills of a child in Armenian, I was not able to talk about serious stuff.”
But the pandemic made her change course. The idea of being stuck in Moscow stressed her and her husband, who is Russian, so the couple decided to move to Yerevan with their little boy. “We felt good, could feel the impact of our work here and decided to stay,” Mariam says.
Being in the city where she was born, the young woman wanted to find ways to bring back the nice atmosphere of her childhood in the Caucasus.
“I always wanted to reestablish the nice vibe of the old Yerevan. In the baks between the buildings, in the different garages, there were many little shops and a lot of life. People sold fruits and vegetables, little things, and it gave so much life,” Mariam says. “When I looked out my window I saw that there was nothing of that tradition left, it all looked dead. I wanted to do something very beautiful in a garage to make people like it again.”
She opened a concept store called 8RR in a garage, in which she sells unique and vintage objects from Europe, Asia and America, centered around the concept of home.
“I wanted a shop that was very beautiful but also accessible for people. People from that bak can go and buy stuff, it’s not a museum,” she says. “So I made it about house stuff, decoration, ceramics but also objects to clean the house, etcetera.”
A beautiful tree crosses the garage, and kids come and look at the objects, play around. Mariam managed to bring back life to the courtyard. She also inspired others to open businesses in garages; there are now cafes and clothes shops.
One day, executives from the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies paid Mariam a visit when she was working in the store. Mariam was offered and accepted the position of deputy director at TUMO Studios. She now oversees this free educational program teaching local artisanal heritage and modern design trends to students in the heart of Yerevan.
“We want to help create a new generation of Armenian craftsmen and artists who will be successful here and abroad. We teach them the business side of it too,” she says. “The quality, Armenian creations are not only the clichés or the stuff you find at Vernissage. We need to aim for great quality, because we can and we deserve it.”
The workshops teach ceramics, typography, perfumery, product design, jewelry making and many other crafts. Most students are in their twenties, either already studying arts and design in university, or have no diplomas and are just curious.
TUMO Studios has partnered with Ecole Duperré in Paris, where many students have studied abroad, returned and found work in Armenia. The students’ work is sold online and at the program’s atelier on Pushkin Street in Yerevan.
“My dream would be for us to be able to sell enough to finance ourselves, and have an ecosystem that just works like that, so that we use grants not to finance ourselves but to grow and finance new things,” Mariam says.
She also has another idea she would like to develop: a vintage store in yet another garage.
To listen: ու՞ր տարաք, a beautiful and melancholy song about the human toll of war, by Armenian indie pop musician Yellowheart.
To read: More War Crimes and Still No Justice in Sight, an EVN Report piece by international criminal lawyer Sheila Paylan, who argues that the most viable path to accountability for Azerbaijani war crimes will start with Armenia signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
To watch: Arménie : après la reprise des combats avec l'Azerbaïdjan, la jeunesse prend les armes, a report in French by Namak’s Astrig Agopian, who traveled to the heart of the conflict zone in Armenia for Quotidien.
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.