Your Namak for Wednesday, May 24
Pashinyan says Armenia ready to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh leadership vow to continue struggle for self-determination.
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 Says Armenia Ready to Recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijan
On May 22, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government is prepared to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory, provided that guarantees are made to protect the region’s Armenians. To date, it is the clearest signal that Pashinyan has given of his administration’s willingness to accept Azerbaijan’s claims to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a peace deal between the two countries.
“The perception of the international community is increasingly leaning towards the idea that Armenia and Azerbaijan, without reservations, should recognize each other's territorial integrity of 29,800 square kilometers and 86,600 square kilometers, respectively, and a dialogue must take place between Baku and Stepanakert aimed at ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan said. He added that “86,600 square kilometers also includes Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Nagorno-Karabakh Leadership Vow to Continue Struggle for Self-Determination
The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities responded with outrage and defiance to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s announcement that his government is prepared to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial claim to the region. In a special session of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly on May 22, the body adopted a statement lambasting the Armenian leadership and refusing to abide by its decision to accept Azerbaijani jurisdiction over the mountainous territory. “For us, any statement of Nikol Pashinyan ignoring the sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh and the right of self-determination of our people, and any document drawn up on its basis, is unacceptable and worthless,” the statement said. “Artsakh will never give up its unwavering struggle.” The Nagorno-Karabakh government has long held that Azerbaijani control over the region would result in ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population, a policy that has already been set in motion by the months-long blockade of the Lachin corridor.
Woman Detained in Attempted Kidnapping of Pashinyan’s Son
On May 17, the Investigative Committee of Armenia announced it had detained one woman in connection with the attempted kidnapping of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s son. In a police report, the prime minister’s son Ashot Pashinyan claimed a woman approached him on the street in Yerevan, identifying herself as the mother of a fallen soldier and requesting to speak with him in her car. Once inside the car, Ashot Pashinyan said the woman unexpectedly drove off, threatening to take him to Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery and kill him. At an intersection, the younger Pashinyan threw himself out of the car, sustaining leg injuries in the process. Under Armenian law, kidnapping a public figure or the close relative of a public figure carries a four- to eight-year prison term.
Nina Shahverdyan: Meet a teacher from Nagorno-Karabakh educating youth –– and the outside world –– despite the blockade
“Education is essential. To be strong and have a good future, any country must have educated citizens. It is important to have teachers and ensure a childhood for kids in war torn regions too.”
Nina Shahverdyan agreed to share some of her precious electricity time with us for Namak. She is serious and articulate, trying her best to explain the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh despite the imperfect internet connection.
Born and raised in Stepanakert, the 22-year-old did not plan on becoming a teacher. After graduating from high school in her hometown, she studied communications and English at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan.
“I never imagined myself as a teacher but after the 2020 war I understood that I did not do enough for my region and I decided to join the Teach for Armenia program as a duty, like as my own personal ‘military service,’ something to help my nation,” she says.
She was assigned to the village of Aghavno. While her primary responsibility was teaching English, she also spent a lot of time being an empathetic ear for children traumatized by war. She even organized a trip to Armenia for them.
Aghavno was handed over to Azerbaijan in September 2021, and Nina had to pack up her own home in a matter of days.
“I cannot explain with words how it was to leave Aghavno,” Nina says. “Now the village, physically speaking, does not exist anymore. It was destroyed. It only exists in our memories.”
Along with saying goodbye to the village itself –– her home of one year –– she had to leave behind all the memories she created there.
“It was such a traumatizing experience to build something and connect with the kids post-war and then lose all that, that at first, I considered quitting, and just not teaching anymore,” she says.
But when Teach for Armenia offered to place her in a new village and Nina saw the faces of the kids she was supposed to teach, she could not say no.
“Education is essential. To be strong and have a good future, any country must have educated citizens,” Nina says. “It is important to have teachers and ensure a childhood for kids in war torn regions too.”
The young teacher also makes videos for social media, in a blogger style, in Armenian and English, through which she shares snippets of daily life in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Her documentation of the region has become even more precious since the Azerbaijani blockade that began in December 2022. Nina has gained thousands of followers from the Armenian diaspora and beyond.
With no access to the region and very little information coming out, it is hard for outsiders to know exactly what is going on there. Nina’s Instagram provides a window.
“On December 12, I was at school when we heard about the blockade and at first nobody reacted because we thought it was just a bad joke by Azerbaijan and they just wanted to frighten us,” Nina recalls. “Because it’s such a huge human rights violation that we did not expect that Azerbaijan would make this move but they did.”
Nina explains and shows as much as she can –– everything including gas and electricity cuts, coupons and queues to buy food, shortages of medicine and other essential goods, and closed schools.
“We had a very tough winter and what was hard was not just as me, but as a teacher, to see our kids deprived of the right to education,” Nina says.
Nina also published a video explaining the security and humanitarian concerns of the newly installed Azerbaijani checkpoint on the Lachin corridor.
“It means that we will have to, if the blockade ends, pass through them and show our passports and IDs to Azerbaijanis,” Nina says. “They can have data about us, where we live, our names, occupations, they can interrogates us, take us to prison, close that road and start an ethnic cleansing of us and nobody will be able to help because they have this huge checkpoint, a lot of weapons and a lot of their soldiers.”
But even the worrying news doesn’t stop her from setting big goals. Nina wants to pursue a master’s degree in education and become a social entrepreneur. “We don’t know what’s next but that cannot stop us from continuing our lives and working,” she says.
To listen: Alo Alo, a beautiful song about love and longing, performed in the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian dialect by Artem Valter.
To attend: EVN Report Media Festival, a summit on the state of media in Armenia and the world, from May 26-28 in Yerevan. Hosted by digital magazine EVN Report, the event will feature panel discussions with local and international journalists, workshops and exhibitions.
To read: An Armenian-Azerbaijani life of wandering, the story of one man born to an Azerbaijani mother and Armenian father, making his way through life with an identity complicated by conflict.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
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