Your Namak for Tuesday, February 14
Border passage opened for earthquake aid to pass from Armenia to Turkey, Armenia deploys rescue teams to Turkey and Syria to assist with earthquake response, and gas cut again in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
In Unprecedented Move, Border Passage Opened for Earthquake Aid to Pass from Armenia to Turkey
For the first time in more than 30 years, a border passage opened on February 11 between Armenia and Turkey to let Armenian vehicles deliver humanitarian aid to Turkey following the devastating earthquake. Armenian trucks ferried a hundred tons of food, medicine and water across the Margara-Alican bridge on the Aras River, a historic move that marks a new step toward normalizing relations. On February 15, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan is scheduled to visit Turkey and meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara.
The land border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 –– at the time, Armenia was fighting the First Nagorno-Karabakh War against Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. The relationship between Armenia and Turkey has been strained due to Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide, and its support to Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Armenia Deploys Rescue Teams to Turkey and Syria to Assist with Earthquake Response
Last week, Armenia sent disaster relief teams to Turkey and Syria to support search and rescue operations following the earthquake. More than 30,000 people have died in both countries and the number is expected to increase as thousands are still stuck under the rubble in freezing temperatures. In Adiyaman, together with their Turkish and American counterparts, the Armenian team rescued two young women trapped beneath the wreckage. A team also arrived in Aleppo, Syria, home to a sizable Armenian diaspora community.
Gas Cut Again in Nagorno-Karabakh, As Blockade Continues
As the Nagorno-Karabakh blockade enters its second month, Azerbaijan has cut off the gas supply yet again. The electricity situation is critical, with Armenian residents relying solely on resources available in Nagorno-Karabakh, which are insufficient to provide energy to the entire region. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have asked locals to limit energy usage, and daily electricity cuts last six hours on average. With no gas supply, electricity and burning wood are the only ways for people to heat their homes.
Ashot Gabrielyan: Meet a teacher dedicated to helping Nagorno-Karabakh youth thrive through education
“I decided to become a teacher after the 2020 war. One day after the ceasefire, I realized I needed to go back to Artsakh and use my skills to help. I believe that every change starts thanks to education.”
Ashot Gabrielyan has an infectious positive energy. The 22-year-old teacher almost always wears a smile, in any circumstances. Born and raised in Askeran, Nagorno-Karabakh, a town located about 20 minutes from the capital Stepanakert, he left the region to study in Yerevan.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Yerevan State University in 2021 and completing an Erasmus program exchange at the Universidade do Minho in Portugal, he founded a marketing agency based in Nagorno-Karabakh with his older brother.
But when the 2020 war broke out, his priorities changed. “I decided to become a teacher after the 2020 war. One day after the ceasefire, I realized I needed to go back to Artsakh and use my skills to help. I believe that every change starts thanks to education,” Ashot says.
He signed on to become a teacher through the non-profit Teach for Armenia and was assigned to Kolkhozashen, in Nagorno-Karabakh, a village he had never heard of. “I was a little shocked when I discovered the house I would stay in, lacking basic things, but then I got used to it,” the young teacher says. “I was really warmly welcomed by everyone. The kids were so excited.”
Ashot teaches English and sociology to kids of all ages from the village, whom he affectionately refers to as his “chickadees.” He tries to make classes as interactive as possible, even though the lack of internet and mobile connection pose a challenge. “But it also means more offline interactions, you spend more time with people and it’s more interesting,” he says.
Like many teachers, Ashot has also become a young role model for the kids to feel close to and confide in. “The past four years have been really hard for the children. First, Covid, then the war here, then the war in Armenia and now the blockade here,” Ashot explains. “The kids are of course psychologically affected by the uncertainty because it does not allow them to think about their future properly.”
Despite the difficult conditions, Ashot encourages his students to invest in their education and dreams.
“I have two girls in the graduating class who are telling me why are we even preparing for the exams, what will happen to us if this blockade never ends. They are in constant fear,” he adds. But even in these circumstances, Ashot encourages his students to go after big goals.
“One student got accepted in an international school, two others were at the final stage. We are so proud of them, they come from a tiny village nobody knows about, and it’s a very selective school. It’s a huge success for me,” Ashot says. “My students have many success stories to share and that gives me a lot of hope, so much hope.”
Ashot says his students have demonstrated incredible leadership skills and motivation to make their reality and village known to the world. Their work has already caught the attention of a global audience.
“Kim Kardashian posted a video made by my students! The next generation is better than us, they will come back to their villages and make it all great again,” he adds.
But school is not the only way to make the youth in Nagorno-Karabakh thrive. Ashot also works on several community projects with his students, and tries to keep them positive despite the blockade and constant uncertainty about what will happen to the region.
Shortly after Ashot began his position, he and the youngsters decided to create a space in Kolkhozashen that would offer inspiration, host special events and foster community. From that idea, “Jane” Youth Center was born.
“The villagers were very annoyed by the fact that young people did not have anything to do, any place to have fun in the village, and that they would always eventually leave,” Ashot says. “So we wanted to create such a place, and with the kids we made the center ‘Jane,’ we literally made it from scratch, because we designed, renovated, built and decorated the place. It’s a project incubator and community center for the nearby villages as well.”
The young teacher wants to continue his studies with a master’s degree in international law, and then return to Nagorno-Karabakh to keep developing Kolkhozashen and nearby villages. “My biggest dream is to see Artsakh lively and full of life,” he concludes.
To watch: Reviving Armenia’s forgotten space giant, a documentary by Marta Miskaryan for Al-Jazeera about Arevik Sargsyan, a radio-engineer who tried to preserve the Soviet-era ROT54, a giant radio-telescope built by her uncle in Armenia in the 1980s and abandoned when the USSR collapsed.
To listen: The Deadly Earthquake in Turkey and Syria, an episode of the New York Times’ podcast The Daily, explaining the unprecedented devastation following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Among the interviewees is Turkish-Armenian parliamentarian Garo Paylan, whose region of Diyarbakır was badly hit.
To follow: Mirzoyan Library Yerevan, the Instagram account of this eclectic library and gallery created by photographer Karen Mirzoyan in the Armenian capital. Every day since the beginning of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, it publishes one picture from Mirzoyan’s archive of photography made there over the years.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
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