When President Donald Trump sat between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, few people realized the significance of the meeting and the months of negotiations that took place beforehand to get two hostile nations to come together at the White House.
Just weeks before the president and his team stepped in to maintain stability in the South Caucasus earlier this year, a full-scale invasion of Armenia&#8217;s southernmost province, Syunik, appeared imminent, according to Dr. Nerses Kopalyan, an Armenian-American political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kopalyan informally advised and supported negotiations between the Trump administration and Armenia and spoke to The Daily Wire this week about the agreement that was signed last Friday.
In March, Trump administration officials were briefed on U.S. intelligence that Azerbaijan was planning a major offensive against Armenia, reigniting hostilities two years after Azerbaijan&#8217;s ethnic cleansing campaign uprooted thousands of Armenians from their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh, Kopalyan said. The American intelligence assessment sparked immediate action from the Trump administration. Later that month, the president&#8217;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, opened up negotiations with Azerbaijan as the White House sought to prevent another armed conflict.
&#8220;Once U.S. intelligence had that information, the Trump administration decided that they had to step in and put diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan not to attack, and then initiate diplomacy to find a solution,&#8221; said Kopalyan, who previously <a href="https://evnreport.com/evn-security-report/pax-americana-comes-to-the-south-caucasus/">wrote</a> about the significance of Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal. &#8220;So if it were not for the Trump administration, Azerbaijan would have attacked, and we would have had severe instability in the region.&#8221;
A White House official told The Daily Wire, “We do not comment on specific intelligence, but President Trump’s administration was concerned about tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan before intervening to deliver peace and stability in the region.”
The challenge before the Trump administration at the beginning of the talks in March and April was complicated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in and out of severe conflict for the past 35 years, with Azerbaijan most recently taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh — a large patch of land inside of Azerbaijan that was inhabited by Armenians for centuries. In 2020, conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in thousands of casualties before a ceasefire was agreed upon. Nearly three years later, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenians to flee the region.
For the past five years, Azerbaijan has threatened to encroach on Armenia&#8217;s sovereignty, pushing for its own trade route — called the Zangezur Corridor — that would cut through Armenia and connect Azerbaijan to its landlocked exclave, Nakhchivan. With Azerbaijan potentially setting its sights on southern Armenia and risking the breakout of another war, the Trump administration had to move fast.
The White House presented a &#8220;unique solution&#8221; to get the two enemies to come to an agreement, Kopalyan said.
&#8220;The United States comes and presents the proposal that became the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),&#8221; Kopalyan added. &#8220;They present it as a very unique solution to a problem that should be accepted by both sides.&#8221;
Under the TRIPP proposal, Armenia and the United States would build a major trade route through Syunik that Azerbaijan could use freely to gain better access to Nakhchivan.
&#8220;The United States&#8217; presence would alleviate Armenia&#8217;s concerns. It would also mitigate Azerbaijan&#8217;s concerns, and Azerbaijan would no longer have the Zangezur Corridor premise to attack,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Not all Armenians were pleased with the deal, with some in the diaspora arguing that Trump&#8217;s negotiations favored Azerbaijan. The biggest criticism of the deal is that it does not address Azerbaijan&#8217;s past human rights abuses against Armenians, such as the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and allegations that Azerbaijan&#8217;s government is holding at least 23 Armenians — likely more — hostage in Baku.
The Armenian National Committee of America — which is affiliated with the pro-Russia political wing in Armenia called the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — blasted the Trump-negotiated deal. The group <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-calls-out-white-house-for-pushing-armenia-azerbaijan-deal-without-artsakh-return-prisoner-release-or-sovereignty-safeguards/">said</a> that the deal was &#8220;rewarding [Azerbaijan&#8217;s] aggression, compromising Armenia’s sovereignty, and consolidating Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.&#8221;
&#8220;A true and lasting peace requires justice — the right of return for displaced Armenians, the release of hostages, protection for Christian heritage sites, and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenia – none of which are addressed in this agreement,&#8221; the Armenian National Committee of America added in a statement.
In a phone call with The Daily Wire, Garen Jinbachian, the community coordinator for the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee of America, said that Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal &#8220;seems like a huge PR stunt to some extent.&#8221;
&#8220;Frankly, you cannot have lasting peace, you cannot have real peace if one of the parties is held at gunpoint and practically coerced to sign it,&#8221; said Jinbachian. &#8220;The whole deal is based on injustice, the lack of justice in the region. Ethnic cleansing is not justice.&#8221;
Those criticisms are missing the full context of the deal, Kopalyan argued. The deal struck last Friday between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was less of an all-encompassing peace agreement and more of the first major step in a long process of securing communication and stability between the two countries. Kopalyan added that the White House would likely negotiate further peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the next three years.
&#8220;This is a normalization process initiated by the United States,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Despite the major progress made between Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, Kopalyan remains pessimistic that a long-lasting peace treaty could be made between the two nations while Aliyev remains in power.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think Aliyev will ever sign a peace treaty because it is not in his strategic interest. It&#8217;s a very rational position by him,&#8221; Kopalyan said. &#8220;Because he enjoys so much power asymmetry and because he&#8217;s able to utilize that power disparity to exert his position in the region, if he signs a peace treaty, he&#8217;s basically giving away the last 10-15 years and the billions that he has spent to establish his position of dominance.&#8221;
&#8220;He will do normalization, he will — under American pressure — do connectivity, opening of roads and all that stuff, but unless President Trump and the United States put a gun to his head, where he realizes he has no option but to sign, I don&#8217;t see him signing a peace treaty.&#8221;

President Trump Meets With Leaders Of Armenia And Azerbaijan At The White House

How Trump’s ‘Unique Solution’ For Armenia And Azerbaijan Likely Prevented A Full-Scale War

Armenians

Donald Trump

Foreign Policy

Global Politics

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump oversaw the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, securing a deal that was unsuccessfully sought by the European Union, Russia, and the Biden administration.
Trump met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev privately in the Oval Office before they all appeared for a press conference and signed the peace declaration.
&#8220;The countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel, and diplomatic relations and respect each other&#8217;s sovereignty and territorial integrity,&#8221; Trump said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;It&#8217;s a long time&#8230; 35 years they fought — and now, they&#8217;re friends&#8230; It&#8217;s a big beautiful honor to welcome everyone to the White House for this very historic peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/a2vgx1pzGD">pic.twitter.com/a2vgx1pzGD</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1953909197248004139?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
The deal promises peace between majority-Christian Armenia and majority-Muslim Azerbaijan after the two nations have fought since the early 1990s. Under the deal, Armenia will grant the United States the rights to develop a transit corridor through the South Caucasus that will be named after President Trump. The trade corridor would be in a strategic location as the South Caucasus acts as the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Trump said the United States is also signing a bilateral agreement with both Armenia and Azerbaijan &#8220;to expand cooperation in energy, trade, and technology, including AI.&#8221; The president also ended U.S. restrictions on foreign aid and defense cooperation with Azerbaijan that had been in place since 1992.
President Aliyev said that the deal means that Azerbaijan is &#8220;writing a new history in the bilateral and interstate relationship&#8221; with the United States.
&#8220;To be in a strategic partnership with the greatest country in the world is a great opportunity, and also a very big responsibility,&#8221; he said, adding, &#8220;President Trump brings peace to the Southern Caucasus, and we&#8217;re grateful for that.&#8221;
Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia said the peace deal &#8220;will pave the way to ending decades of conflict between our countries and open a new era based on the full respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other.&#8221; He told Trump that &#8220;today&#8217;s great achievement is yet another testimony to your global leadership and your legacy as a statesman and a peacemaker on the world stage.&#8221;
By bringing Armenia and Azerbaijan together, President Trump ratchets up another victory in the foreign policy column. In just the past few weeks, Trump&#8217;s negotiations have been instrumental in peace agreements between Pakistan and India and Cambodia and Thailand, as well as a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran. Trump also hopes to achieve a massive deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the more than three years of fighting in the coming weeks.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has centered on a 1,700-square-mile mountainous region called Nagorno-Karabakh that has been inhabited by Armenians for thousands of years but is inside Azerbaijan’s borders. In recent years, the conflict escalated when Azerbaijan set up a military blockade around Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting off food, electricity, and water for the Armenians living in the region. Azerbaijan then launched a full-scale military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, effectively engaging in an ethnic cleansing campaign as Armenians fled the region to seek refuge outside of the area they used to call home.
Azerbaijan argued that Armenia was &#8220;illegally stationing&#8221; over 10,000 troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/19/asia/armenia-azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-bombardment-intl/index.html">defended</a> its actions in the region as &#8220;anti-terrorist.&#8221;
Armenians, who represent the oldest Christian nation in the world, have been targeted in the past. During World War I, around 1.5 million Armenians were murdered at the hands of Muslim Turks, who sought to purge Armenians from Turkey, mainly through forced death marches. The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thursday-marks-armenian-genocide-remembrance-day">Armenian genocide</a> is commemorated every year, but Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/europe_erdogan-demands-biden-reverse-armenian-genocide-declaration/6205093.html">deny</a> that it ever took place.

US-ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN-DIPLOMACY-POLITICS

‘Stop All Fighting Forever’: Trump Secures Major Peace Deal Between Armenia, Azerbaijan

White House

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will oversee a historic peace summit on Friday between the warring nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Trump said he will meet with both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the White House, as the two countries appear ready to bring an end to a decades-long conflict. Armenia, the oldest Christian nation in the world, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/azerbaijan-slams-u-s-for-siding-with-armenians-will-skip-meeting-with-armenia-in-d-c-as-tensions-rise">pushed</a> for peace talks with Muslim-majority Azerbaijan with little success when President Joe Biden was in office.
&#8220;These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to &#8216;TRUMP.&#8217; My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time,&#8221; the president wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. &#8220;Tomorrow, President Aliyev AND Prime Minister Pashinyan will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony. The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.&#8221;
&#8220;I am very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing for the Great People of Armenia and Azerbaijan,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;It will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD. See you then!&#8221;
The peace deal will also include Armenia granting rights to the United States to develop a transit corridor through the South Caucasus that will be named after President Trump, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-secures-strategic-transit-corridor-armenia-azerbaijan-peace-deal-2025-08-07/">reported</a>, citing a U.S. official. The South Caucasus is a strategic location for energy and trade routes between the Black and Caspian Seas, acting as the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-hate-us-so-much-worlds-oldest-christian-nation-faces-ethnic-cleansing-as-emboldened-azerbaijan-wages-a-silent-war">conflict</a> between Armenia and Azerbaijan has centered on a 1,700-square-mile mountainous region that has been inhabited by Armenians for thousands of years but is inside Azerbaijan&#8217;s borders. In recent years, the conflict escalated when Azerbaijan set up a military blockade around Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting off food, electricity, and water for the Armenians living in the region. Azerbaijan then launched a full-scale military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, effectively engaging in an ethnic cleansing campaign as Armenians fled the region to seek refuge outside of the area they used to call home.
In 2023, under President Biden, Azerbaijan blasted the United States for taking a &#8220;one-sided approach&#8221; to the conflict and skipped out on a meeting with Armenia that was set to take place in Washington, D.C. Azerbaijan felt slighted by America&#8217;s support for Armenia and accused Armenia of refusing to respond to peace talks. Azerbaijan also said that Armenia was “illegally stationing” more than 10,000 troops in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh began in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union led to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh petitioning to leave Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia. Azerbaijan refused the petition, and war ensued. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the early years of the conflict, and ethnic minorities in both countries were forced to leave their homes.
After the conflict resumed in 2020 due to border clashes, Russia stepped in to hold the peace and push for the nations to strike a deal. Russia, however, took a step back from its peacekeeping operation in the region when President Vladimir Putin&#8217;s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. With Russia mostly out of the picture, Azerbaijan moved in to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Trump Teases Historic Peace Summit Between Warring Christian, Muslim Nations

Europe

Executive

Middle East

Politics

Later this month, I will travel to Armenia as part of a delegation of American Christian leaders. By historical consensus, Armenia is the world’s first Christian nation, having adopted Christianity in AD 301, more than a decade before Constantine&#8217;s Edict of Milan that granted religious liberty to Christians and others across the realm.
Over the centuries, Armenia has preserved its Christian faith through hostile enemy invasions, forced conversions, and even genocide. Despite being surrounded by autocratic regimes and militant ideologies that directly contest its survival, it has maintained its original faith.
In 2023, the world witnessed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-hate-us-so-much-worlds-oldest-christian-nation-faces-ethnic-cleansing-as-emboldened-azerbaijan-wages-a-silent-war">forced displacement</a> of over 120,000 Christian Armenians from their ancestral homeland of Artsakh (widely known as Nagorno-Karabakh), which had long been a self-governing democratic entity within the international borders of Azerbaijan.
The removal of these Christians was the result of a brutal blockade, military assault, and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by despotic Azerbaijan, backed by authoritarian Turkey. Sadly, the world’s response to this attack on freedom, religious liberty, self-government, and the right of political self-determination was largely silence.
As Scripture reminds us, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Corinthians%2012%3A26">(1 Corinthians 12:26</a>). Armenia’s suffering must be our concern, not only because of our shared faith but because Armenia’s fate determines whether ancient Christian civilizations will be allowed to survive in an increasingly hostile neighborhood.
Azerbaijan currently holds dozens of Armenian political prisoners, including former political and religious leaders and journalists. It has demolished centuries-old churches, bulldozed cemeteries, and attempted to erase every vestige of the region’s indigenous Christian heritage. What it cannot destroy is often defaced, and border communities in southern Armenia live in constant fear of violence.
Our trip is organized by <a href="https://www.savearmenia.us/">Save Armenia</a>, a U.S.-based coalition of Christian and Jewish leaders. We draw global attention to these current threats and offer meaningful solidarity to Christians and Jews living in a perilous region. In the aftermath of recent ethnic cleansings, Save Armenia has mobilized support to protect Armenia’s sovereignty, advocate for justice, and raise awareness among American faith communities and policymakers alike.
Our itinerary is both spiritual and strategic.
We will visit displaced families who have lost everything yet remain deeply rooted in faith, and we will hear the voices of a people who have suffered for their faith yet never abandoned it.
We will walk through villages near hostile frontiers, speak with the provincial governor, and meet with high-ranking officials from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry and Security Council.
We will stand in monasteries older than most nations, praying in the 9th-century monastery of Tatev, perched high above a gorge in Armenia’s south. And we will stand in the ancient 3rd-century monastery where Saint Gregory the Illuminator was once imprisoned, and where the story of Christian Armenia began.
We believe Christians everywhere have a moral responsibility to help their persecuted brethren. We speak up for persecuted Christians in the Middle East and Africa, and we must not ignore what is occurring in Armenia. Religious freedom cannot be a selective principle.
Armenia has had a rocky path since regaining its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is now a pluralistic and scrappy democracy striving for peace and justice under immense pressure.
It does not enjoy the protections of NATO, the backing of global oil wealth, or the security of a powerful military. What it does enjoy is a legacy of faith, a thirst for freedom, and a history that dates back to the earliest days of the Church. Armenia must continue to exist as a free nation.
We urge our fellow Christians to learn more about our brethren there and help raise awareness about its dangerous situation.
Inform your church, and pray for our brothers and sisters there.
Also, let the federal Congressmen and Senators from your state know what is happening in and to Armenia. Knowledge is power, and once they know, they can take effective action.
Specifically…
<ol>
<li>Let them know about the recent ethnic cleansings at the hands of Azerbaijan.</li>
<li>Urge them to seek the release of all Armenian political prisoners.</li>
<li>Likewise, urge the defense of Armenia’s Christian heritage — demand that Azerbaijan preserve intact, without desecration or destruction, the ancient Armenian cultural and religious sites it controls.</li>
<li>Insist on the preservation of Armenia’s borders against it neighbors who want to seize and control that land area.</li>
</ol>
Collectively, we must support the Trump Administration’s efforts to help Armenia, but we must also encourage our federal legislators to do the same. Urge their specific engagement on the above matters.
It’s easy to despair in today’s world, but Armenia offers a different lesson: that faith, even when bruised, can endure —that Christian identity, even when threatened, will inspire — and that moral solidarity can still change the course of history.
Let us not stand idly by when there is so much we can easily do to help our brethren.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/48949/sunday-special-ep-57-david-barton">David Barton</a> is the Founder of WallBuilders and the author of numerous best-selling books. 
<div>
<div id="post-body-text">
<div class="ep1tdco0 css-fgibv1">
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
</div>
</div>
</div>

Armenia

Why Christians Must Stand With Armenia

Christianity

Christians

Persecution

Turkey

Thursday is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, commemorating the reputed one and a half million Armenians murdered by the Turks in 1915 during World War I.
The Turkish assault began with hundreds of Armenian intellectuals forcibly deported from the Turkish capital of Constantinople. The Muslim Young Turks intended to get rid of the Christian Armenians in Turkey. Massive atrocities, from forced death marches to placing women and children aboard ships and then deliberately sinking them, were carried out by Turkish government-backed forces.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/23/world/armenian-mass-killings/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
While the death toll is in dispute, photographs from the era document some mass killings. Some show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing amid skulls in the dirt. The victims are reported to have died in mass burnings and by drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation. Children were reported to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard. Rape, too, was frequently reported.
</blockquote>
The U.S. Congress has passed resolutions acknowledging the genocide, but no U.S. administration has, likely because of concerns about relations with Turkey. Instead, the murders have been referred to as &#8220;massacres&#8221; or &#8220;crimes against humanity.”
In April 1981, soon after he was elected president, Ronald Reagan delivered a Proclamation on Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust. Speaking of the Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered six million Jews, he <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/proclamations-april-22-1981" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>:
<blockquote>
When America and its allies liberated those haunting places of terror and sick destructiveness, the world came to a vivid and tragic understanding of the evil it faced in those years of the Second World War. Each of those names &#8212; Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Treblinka and so many others &#8212; became synonymous with horror.
The millions of deaths, the gas chambers, the inhuman crematoria, and the thousands of people who somehow survived with lifetime scars are all now part of the conscience of history. Forever must we remember just how precious is civilization, how important is liberty, and how heroic is the human spirit. 
</blockquote>
He then mentioned the “genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it.”

Armenians killed by Turks.

Thursday Marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

genocide

World

As tensions spill over in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it would not be attending a meeting with Armenia that was set for next Monday in Washington, D.C., condemning the U.S. for taking a “one-sided approach” to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-hate-us-so-much-worlds-oldest-christian-nation-faces-ethnic-cleansing-as-emboldened-azerbaijan-wages-a-silent-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conflict</a> between the European countries. 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been looking to ramp up <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenian-pm-says-intensify-efforts-agree-peace-treaty-with-azerbaijan-tass-2023-11-16/">peace talks</a> between his country and Azerbaijan as the nations contend for the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The 1,700-square-mile mountainous slice of land has been inhabited by Armenians for thousands of years, but it is surrounded by Azerbaijan, a majority Muslim nation that says the region is its territory. 
Azerbaijan was angered by testimony from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien, who spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/azerbaijan-snubs-armenia-meeting-washington-accusing-us-bias-2023-11-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The country said O’Brien’s remarks were “one-sided and biased” after the assistant secretary of state discussed Azerbaijan’s take over of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, which forced more than 100,000 Armenians to flee their homes in what has escalated to ethnic cleansing of the Christian population from the oldest Christian nation in the world. 
During the hearing, O’Brien <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA14/20231115/116574/HHRG-118-FA14-Wstate-OBrienJ-20231115.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the committee that the U.S. government has “urged Azerbaijan to ensure all ethnic Armenians who have departed Nagorno-Karabakh are guaranteed a safe, dignified, and sustainable return, should they so choose, with their rights and security guaranteed.” 
“We have also called for Azerbaijan to respect and protect the cultural heritage of the many groups who have lived in the region throughout the millennia,” O’Brien said, adding, “Our message to Armenia and the displaced has been unambiguous: The United States will support Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic institutions.”
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry claimed that O’Brien’s testimony left out important context in the conflict. Azerbaijan accused Armenia of refusing to respond to peace negotiations “for more than two months” and claimed Armenia was “illegally stationing” more than 10,000 troops in Nagorno-Karabakh before Azerbaijan’s takeover. The country also said U.S. officials are unwelcome in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. 
The Muslim country’s bombardment of Nagorno-Karabakh in September was preceded by a military blockade that began last December, which cut off access to food, electricity, and water from the outside. Yana Avanesyan, a doctoral researcher who is originally from Nagorno-Karabakh, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-hate-us-so-much-worlds-oldest-christian-nation-faces-ethnic-cleansing-as-emboldened-azerbaijan-wages-a-silent-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Daily Wire</a> last month that the religious difference between the two countries plays a major role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
“When we say Armenians, we are speaking about us being Christians,” Avanesyan told The Daily Wire. “We know they hate us so much that they will just destroy everything.” 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-friday-gift-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE</a>
The U.S. has taken a clear stance in the conflict, condemning Azerbaijan for its recent actions in Nagorno-Karabakh. 
“Azerbaijan’s use of force in Nagorno-Karabakh has eroded trust and raised doubts regarding Baku’s commitment to a comprehensive peace with Armenia,” O’Brien said. “Given this new reality, the Department has made it clear to Azerbaijan that there cannot be ‘business as usual’ in our bilateral relationship. The United States has condemned Azerbaijani actions in Nagorno-Karabakh, canceled high-level bilateral meetings and engagements with Azerbaijan, and suspended plans for future events.”  
Michael Whittaker contributed to this report.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan Slams U.S. For Siding With Armenians, Will Skip Meeting With Armenia In D.C. As Tensions Rise

Muslims

Washington D.C.

While war and atrocity dominate headlines around the world, a largely overlooked conflict in the Caucuses has escalated to ethnic cleansing of the Christian population from the oldest Christian nation in the world.
For fear of their lives, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/nagorno-karabakh-enclave-emptied-entire-armenian-population-flees/story?id=103655356">more than 100,000 Armenians</a> have been forced to flee their ancestral home in Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan seized total control over the region in September. The 1,700-square-mile mountainous slice of land has been inhabited by Armenians for thousands of years, but it is surrounded by Azerbaijan, a majority Muslim nation that says the region is its territory. 
Though the fight is over territory, experts say that at its core, the conflict stems from ethnic and religious differences between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
“Ethnicity and religion are intertwined. Azerbaijanis may say they do not hate Christians But, when it comes to Armenians — the indigenous population in the region — the Azerbaijanis show no tolerance,” explained Dr. Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and expert on the region. “Azerbaijanis recognize deep down that had it not been for Joseph Stalin, they would have no claim whatsoever to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijanis realize they have no legitimacy and so target with special animus those who do.”
Yana Avanesyan, a doctoral researcher who is originally from Nagorno-Karabakh, says the religious difference between the two countries plays a major role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. 
“When we say Armenians, we are speaking about us being Christians,” Avanesyan told The Daily Wire. “We know they hate us so much that they will just destroy everything.” 
Many refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are sick and malnourished – Azerbaijan’s military began blockading the region in December of last year, cutting off access to food, electricity and water from the outside. Some are also exhausted after fleeing into Armenia on foot – and Armenia has expressed concern that it may not have the resources to care for such a massive influx of people.
Her family was among the more than 100,000 who fled the region without a place to go. The estimated population of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh is roughly 120,000, meaning nearly the entire population have decided to flee.
“War started in Nagorno-Karabakh, and people were forced to flee, and more than 100,000 people — including my entire family, my parents, my sister, my grandma — they were forced to flee their homes,” Avanesyan said. She was finally reunited with her family around a month ago, but they are now struggling to find a place to live after being uprooted from their home. 
“There are not enough resources in Armenia and people try to solve their issues by themselves. So we are trying to find apartments or houses for me, my family, and my relatives,” said Avanesyan. “I&#8217;m currently trying to find an apartment for my family before we will know what&#8217;s going on because the situation now is very uncertain.”
“No one from the displaced people knows what is going to happen to us,” she said.
<div id="attachment_643009" style="width: 481px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-643009" class=" wp-image-643009" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.29.15-PM-264x300.png" alt="" width="471" height="535" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.29.15-PM-264x300.png 264w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.29.15-PM-508x576.png 508w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.29.15-PM-768x871.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.29.15-PM.png 1220w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px" />Ethnolinguistic distribution in The Caucasus Region in 2007 via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Armenia has existed in some form or another for nearly three millennia, and became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD. While it has historically been in the political orbit of Russia, since <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/armenia">2018</a> it has made significant anti-corruption and pro-democracy reforms, and has been <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/putin-trip-goes-awry-angry-184312726.html">distancing itself from Moscow.</a> It is currently home to about 2.7 million people.
Azerbaijan traces its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Azerbaijani-people">roots</a> back to the Old Azeris, who were conquered by and intermarried with the Seljuk and later the Mongol Turks between the 11th and 13th centuries. It is predominantly Shia Muslim, although its culture is comparatively secular. Despite its historic and ethnic ties to Iran (more ethnic Azeris live in Iran than Azerbaijan) it is most closely aligned in global politics with Turkey. While it is nominally a republic, it is in fact an authoritarian state controlled by de facto dictator Ilham Aliyev, who was preceded by his father, Heydar Aliyev. It is home to 10.3 million people.
Azerbaijan’s claim to Nagorno-Karabakh, as explained by Rubin, can be traced to Stalin and the Soviet Union, which absorbed both nations.
The Soviets nominally advocated for a universal communist model that would transcend ethnicity and language barriers, but in practice, they often found it prudent to administer regions and subregions based on ethnic divides – the Socialist Republic of Armenia and the Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan were both members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh was given autonomous status within Azerbaijan.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-643025" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.42.53-PM-300x194.png" alt="" width="568" height="367" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.42.53-PM-300x194.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.42.53-PM-892x576.png 892w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.42.53-PM-768x496.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.42.53-PM.png 1174w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" /></div>
In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to collapse, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/nagorno-karabakh-conflict-visual-explainer#:~:text=In%201988%2C%20ethnic%20Armenians%20living,grew%20into%20an%20outright%20war.">petitioned</a> to leave Azerbaijan and unify with Armenia – but Azerbaijan refused. What started as a political dispute became a military dispute between the newly independent nations in 1992, in which tens of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities in both nations were expelled from their homes.
In the aftermath of the 1994 ceasefire, the ‘Republic of Artsakh’ was allowed to exist as a de facto independent state within Azerbaijan, though no other nation, including Armenia, formally recognized its independence. The uneasy truce persisted for decades in what was widely regarded as a “frozen conflict.”
But that conflict rethawed in 2020 after years of border clashes, and ended with Azerbaijan seizing large portions of the Republic of Artsakh. Russia stepped in to negotiate a truce, and sent peacekeepers into Artsakh, as well as the Tachin Corridor (the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to the outside world) to ensure the continued independence of the region.
The situation changed in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. As the war dragged on, it became clear that Russia was bogged down and could not commit its forces to another theater, and the Russian peacekeepers who remained in the region did not intervene when Azerbaijan blockaded the Tachin Corridor and cut Nagorno-Karabakh off from the outside world.
“We cannot tolerate any longer having such armed forces on our territory and also a structure which, on a daily basis, challenges the security and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/azerbaijan-says-six-its-citizens-were-killed-by-land-mines-karabakh-2023-09-19/">said</a> Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to President Aliyev.
A coalition of global organizations called <a href="https://www.120000reasons.org/">120,000 Reasons</a> launched a campaign in September that seeks to end the Azerbaijan blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh, and bring attention to what it says is an attempted genocide of the region’s entire Armenian population.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ySWKyVjXJU">Gev Iskayjan</a>, a resident of Nagorno-Karabakh who recently fled to Armenia, told 120,000 Reasons that “over 99% of the ethnic population of Artsakh has left the area. 
“That land that we were on, that Armenians lived on for thousands of years, now, only a handful remain,” Iskayjan said.
<div id="attachment_643011" style="width: 637px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-643011" class=" wp-image-643011" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-300x177.png" alt="" width="627" height="370" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-300x177.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-974x576.png 974w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-768x454.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-1536x908.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Screen-Shot-2023-10-25-at-3.32.47-PM-2048x1211.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px" />Timeline of the flight of the ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Azerbaijan has denied claims that it is pursuing genocide or forcing Armenians out. Its claims were undermined after it captured Stepanakert, the capital of the region, when it renamed one of the city’s streets in honor of Enver Pasha, a military officer for the Ottoman Empire who is known as the architect of the last Armenian genocide, which killed more than a million people in the 1900s. 
That sent a clear signal to the city’s Armenian population.
“Azerbaijan did not order any Armenians to leave,” Amberin Zaman wrote from Armenia for <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/10/azerbaijan-eyes-iran-armenia-borderlands-after-voluntary-exodus-nagorno-karabakh">Al-Monitor</a>. “Yet it ensured that life was so miserable that few would opt to stay. Indeed, even as Azerbaijani authorities rebuffed claims of ethnic cleansing, insisting their forces had struck ‘legitimate military targets,’ eyewitness accounts of rape and indiscriminate shelling that wounded and killed children began to emerge.”
Various Western nations, including the United States, condemned Azerbaijan, and as recently as last month <a href="https://asbarez.com/u-s-will-not-tolerate-ethnic-cleansing-in-artsakh-opening-lachin-corridor-is-not-negotiable/">senior U.S. officials</a> said they would not tolerate any action against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. But in the aftermath of the invasion and dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh there has been no meaningful response. Even Armenia stayed out of the conflict, to the outrage of many of its citizens.
“It is amazing that an ethnic cleansing happened in the 21st century and there is absolutely no reaction from the international community,” political analyst Tigran Grigoryan told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/04/1203548012/armenia-scrambles-to-absorb-the-flood-of-refugees-from-nagorno-karabakh">NPR</a>. “If this happened somewhere in Europe, I believe [the Azerbaijani leadership] would already be on international wanted lists.”
Iskayjan told reporters that while he and many other Armenians feel “betrayed” by the international community, the incident raises broader questions about the influence of the United States and its allies overseas.
“Policymakers in the United States have to ask themselves, Does our word mean anything?” he said. “If a state actor like Azerbaijan can, at any time, willingly disregard what we say, what does that say about the strength of our State Department and the strength of our foreign policy?”
It’s possible that Azerbaijan believes it has too much leverage to be cowed by Western condemnation – the country is rich in natural gas, and since trade sanctions against Russia have cut Europe off from Russian energy exports, Azerbaijan has stepped in to cover some of the shortfall, with tentative plans to <a href="https://eurasianet.org/plans-for-doubling-azerbaijans-gas-flows-to-europe-on-hold">double its gas exports to Europe</a>. 
Now that Azerbaijan has secured Nagorno-Karabakh, many observers fear that an emboldened Azerbaijan could push into Armenia proper to seize control of the strategic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/11/azerbaijan-armenia-karabakh-nakhchivan-corridor/">Zangezur corridor</a>, which would create a direct land route from the Caspian Sea to its close ally, Turkey. Armenia had promised Azerbaijan access to trade throughout the territory as part of the 2020 truce but has since walked back that promise, arguing that Azerbaijan’s presence in the area would effectively mean military occupation.
It’s unclear how other global or regional powers would respond to such an invasion, given the muted response thus far to the seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh. The escalated conflict could produce strange bedfellows, according to <a href="https://nesa-center.org/the-stakes-of-the-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-and-the-strategic-alliances-mapping/">foreign policy analysts</a>.
Russia could pivot into Azerbaijan’s camp out of a simple desire to side with the stronger party and minimize its own involvement. Turkey, formally a U.S. ally, is very close to Azerbaijan, and Israel has <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/azerbaijan-israels-secret-muslim-friend-431810">a strategic partnership</a> with the Azerbaijanis based on their mutual enmity with Iran. <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/india-considers-sending-armenia-more-weapons/articleshow/104707633.cms">India</a>, meanwhile, has been strengthening its ties with Armenia, while Iran is also backing the Christian nation against its regional rivals.
It’s also possible that Armenia could pivot further into the Western camp now that it no longer sees Russia as a reliable protector.
Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback, has called for greater U.S. support to Armenia and blasted the Biden administration for <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/551577-biden-waiving-restriction-blocking-aid-to-azerbaijan-over-armenia/">sending U.S. aid and weapons to Azerbaijan</a>. He also expressed concern that the mass exodus was part of a broader pattern of anti-Christian discrimination around the world.
&#8220;We&#8217;re seeing another ancient Christian population being run out of the region,” Brownback said. “Most of the Middle East and North Africa, the Christians have all been run out.”

Armenia Ethnic Cleansing

‘They Hate Us So Much’: World’s Oldest Christian Nation Faces Ethnic Cleansing As Emboldened Azerbaijan Wages A Silent War

Christian

Religion

Tensions boiled over Tuesday night outside a California school board meeting where officials were discussing efforts to celebrate Pride month, with parents and activists squaring off against masked Antifa members.
The clash came outside the Glendale Unified School District&#8217;s headquarters, where parents, many from the Los Angeles County city&#8217;s Armenian and Hispanic communities, were blasting board members for promoting a pro-LGBTQ agenda to young children. Other speakers, including a man in a skirt and high heels, showed up in support of the district&#8217;s pro-Pride agenda, according to reports.
“All of these fake people [pointing to several masked crowd members] are going to go away, and we’re going to vote every one of you [pointing to the school board] out,” one father warned, <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/06/06/antifa-armenian-parents-clash-california-school-board-meeting-required-lgbtq-activities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The Daily Signal</a>.
The issue has roiled the district in recent days, with many parents, including those from ethnic communities, pulling their children out of school in protest.  Some elementary schools only had a 40% attendance rate on June 2, The Daily Signal <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/06/06/antifa-armenian-parents-clash-california-school-board-meeting-required-lgbtq-activities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Outside the meeting Tuesday, three people were arrested as parents confronted members of Antifa clad in masks and pink bandanas. It was not known who was arrested, but Glendale Police said the suspects “exceeded the bounds of peaceful assembly” and blamed &#8220;agitators&#8221; for sparking the confrontation outside.
&#8220;Unfortunately, a handful of agitators, on both sides of the issue, arrived at the demonstration with a clear desire to confront and incite violence, ultimately engaging in physical assaults,&#8221; Glendale Police said in a statement. &#8220;Both sides took to social media to rally their supporters to convene at GUSD Headquarters ahead of the last board meeting of the school year.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Breaking: Armenian-American men fight against <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Antifa?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Antifa</a> &amp; far-left protesters outside the Glendale (CA) school board meeting. Immigrant families have been furious that elementary schools are doing pride events. Antifa have gathered to oppose the parents. <a href="https://t.co/1LCTeCgc32">pic.twitter.com/1LCTeCgc32</a>
&mdash; Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1666254636443918338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Armenian parents have not been the only ethnic community protesting the LGBTQ+ agenda.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH today in Glendale, CA. You know you messed up when the papa bears show up. These are Armenian papa bears. The school district is also pushing age-inappropriate sexual content to 4-year-olds. Antifa came out to fight the dads. The papa bears WON. <a href="https://t.co/bKWn5Lio25">pic.twitter.com/bKWn5Lio25</a>
&mdash; Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) <a href="https://twitter.com/AsraNomani/status/1666321546263121921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Parents told board members inside and media covering the confrontation outside that they opposed pushing the pro-LGBTQ agenda on children.
“Bringing in curriculum for K-6 on gender ideology, that is what we’re against,” Any Torosyan, a parent from Glendale, told <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/fights-break-out-amid-glendale-school-board-meeting-on-pride-curriculum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KTLA</a>.
“I graduated from Glendale in ‘96, and I have two daughters,” one father told the board. “My daughter is afraid to change in the locker room because she knows another guy could come into the room. When I asked the principal, he told me there were no cross-gender bathroom policies.”
One teacher who works in the district told the board that children know they are transgender by as early as 3 years old, and that they are being persecuted.
“I am also a community member who volunteers extensively in South LA and work with the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles with queer/trans youth in large groups, and so I deal with a lot of their trauma related to the hetero-normative, Judeo-Christian, patriarchal, imperialist, capitalist system that oppresses them.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A teacher in the Glendale School District in California, where the violent protests went on earlier between Antifa and Armenians over pride month, went on an absolutely batshit insane rant during the school board meeting:
&quot;I deal with a lot of the trauma of LGBT youth related to… <a href="https://t.co/9igIPL5R4Q">pic.twitter.com/9igIPL5R4Q</a>
&mdash; Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1666275924508114944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Recently, intentional and harmful disinformation has been circulating about what is being taught in our district and the ways we serve our students,” Glendale Unified School District said in a <a href="https://www.gusd.net/info" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “This includes disinformation about LGBTQIA+ curriculum, sex education, and supporting transgender and gender non-conforming youth.”
“The option to opt out pertains only to certain curriculum, including development/maturation and sex education. Parents/guardians may not opt their child out of any lesson referencing LGBTQ+ individuals and history, as dictated by the FAIR Act,” the statement adds.
The California FAIR Education Act was passed in 2011. It <a href="https://www.scusd.edu/fair-education-act#:~:text=The%20FAIR%20Education%20Act%20(also,history%20and%20social%20studies%20curriculum." target="_blank" rel="noopener">requires</a> instruction in history/ social science to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans in the teaching of California and United States history.
The California Department of Education&#8217;s California Healthy Youth Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2016, mandates that K-12 curriculum incorporate the LGBTQ agenda.
&#8220;Instruction shall affirmatively recognize that people have different sexual orientations and, when discussing or providing examples of relationships and couples, must be inclusive of same-sex relationships,&#8221; it states. &#8220;It must also teach students about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes.&#8221;

Protestors face off with their opposing opinions as they join crowds gathering outside a Glendale Unified School District meeting where parents and activists differ over teaching sexual identity to kids at Glendale Unified School District in Burbank

Armenian, Hispanic Parents Clash With Antifa, School Board Over LGBTQ Agenda

Antifa

California

Education

LGBTQ

U.S.

A large fireworks blast in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, rocked the city on Sunday, killing multiple people and wounding dozens more.
The explosion, which occurred at the Surmalu market, killed at least two people and injured at least 60 others.
First responders were still battling the fire that the explosion set off at the shopping mall well into the night while others tried to search for people who might be trapped under the rubble.
Video of the incident shows a massive plume of black smoke coming up from the area before the explosion leveled the building and sent people running.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
At least one person is dead and 20 injured after a strong explosion at a fireworks storage hit a large market in Armenian capital Yerevan.
Read more: <a href="https://t.co/5tZerDKEIU">https://t.co/5tZerDKEIU</a> <a href="https://t.co/lr4O5b6eLz">pic.twitter.com/lr4O5b6eLz</a>
&mdash; Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1558819931613011970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.

ARMENIA-BLAST

WATCH: Massive Fireworks Explosion Levels Building; Multiple Fatalities Confirmed With Dozens Injured

Explosion

Fire

In a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday, President Joe Biden told the Turkish leader that he plans to recognize the mass killing and displacement of more than 1.5 million Armenians that occurred over a hundred years ago as genocide, according to a report from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">Bloomberg</a>.
The White House did not discuss the topic of Biden’s potential declaration in a statement regarding Biden’s first call of his term with Erdoğan. The White House <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">said</a> that Biden told the Turkish president that he is interested in a “constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements.”
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/23/world/europe/armenia-genocide-turkey-biden.html">The New York Times</a> reported that Biden is set to make the official declaration on Saturday, likely upsetting Turkish leaders like Erdoğan who have pushed back on using the term “genocide” to describe what happened to the Armenians. On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-poised-to-recognize-armenian-massacres-as-genocide-officials-say-11619048891">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported that officials said Biden is expected to describe the deportation, starvation, and massacres of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915 as genocide.
In early 2019, Erdoğan <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">reportedly</a> said in a Twitter post that “the relocation of the Armenian gangs and their supporters, who massacred the Muslim people, including women and children, in eastern Anatolia, was the most reasonable action that could be taken in such a period.”
Erdoğan said in a statement Thursday that Turkey &#8220;will continue to defend truths against the so-called Armenian genocide lie and those who support this slander with political motivations,&#8221; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/23/989915018/what-it-means-for-the-u-s-to-call-the-atrocities-against-armenians-genocide">NPR</a> reported.
<a href="https://cqrcengage.com/aaainc/genocide">The Armenian Assembly of America</a> states that April 24th is the day that the Armenian Genocide is commemorated around the globe. The group includes the importance of acknowledging the massacre as genocide on their website, writing, “Unequivocally affirming the Armenian Genocide would honor the more than 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred. It would also serve to remember this proud chapter in America&#8217;s history of helping to save the survivors. We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again.”
According to the online <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Armenian-Genocide">Encyclopedia Brittanica</a>, the Armenian Genocide refers to the efforts to deport and kill massive numbers of Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I (between 1914 and 1918). Armenians claim that the campaign was a deliberate venture to destroy the Armenian people and, therefore, was an act of genocide. However, the Turkish government has pushed back on calls to recognize the events in those terms. It has conceded that atrocities occurred, but there was no official extermination policy that was carried out against the Armenians as a unit.
President Reagan was the only president to speak of the devastating events as genocide in a declaration remembering the horrors of the Holocaust. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/proclamations-april-22-1981">stated</a>, “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it — and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples — the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.” Many of Reagan’s successors have made claims that they would recognize the Armenian genocide when they are elected, but none have officially done so. On April 24, presidents have released statements commemorating the day of remembrance, but none since have referred to it as “genocide.”
As reported by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-poised-to-recognize-armenian-massacres-as-genocide-officials-say-11619048891">The Wall Street Journal</a>, at the end of his presidential campaign, Biden’s campaign said that he would “recognize the Armenian genocide and make universal human rights a top priority for his administration so that such a tragedy can never again occur.”
On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day last year, Biden put out a <a href="https://medium.com/@JoeBiden/statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-genocide-remembrance-day-78500cb4dd1c">statement</a> regarding the commemoration of the tragedy.
Biden <a href="https://medium.com/@JoeBiden/statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-genocide-remembrance-day-78500cb4dd1c">stated</a>, “Today we remember the atrocities faced by the Armenian people in the Metz Yeghern — the Armenian Genocide…We must never forget or remain silent about this horrific and systematic campaign of extermination. And we will forever respect the perseverance of the Armenian people in the wake of such tragedy.”
His statement continued, “It is particularly important to speak these words and commemorate this history at a moment when we are reminded daily of the power of truth, and of our shared responsibility to stand against hate — because silence is complicity. If we do not fully acknowledge, commemorate, and teach our children about genocide, the words ‘never again’ lose their meaning. The facts must be as clear and as powerful for future generations as for those whose memories are seared by tragedy. Failing to remember or acknowledge the fact of a genocide only paves the way for future mass atrocities.”

883414A7-53ED-44C0-96E5-79B90DDF12A7_1_201_a

Report: Biden Tells Turkish President Erdogan He Will Recognize Armenian Genocide

Biden Administration

Joe Biden

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

On Thursday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused members of the military of trying to start a coup after a group of military leaders called on him to resign from his position.
The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56194421">BBC</a> reports,
<blockquote>In its statement, the military said &#8220;the prime minister and the government are no longer able to make reasonable decisions&#8221;, according to the Armenpress.
&#8220;For a long time, the Armenian armed forces were patiently tolerating the &#8216;attacks&#8217; by the incumbent government aimed at defaming the armed forces, but everything has its limits.&#8221; 
The statement accused Mr Pashinyan&#8217;s government of making &#8220;serious mistakes in foreign policy&#8221; that resulted in the Armenian state being on the verge of destruction.</blockquote>
The prime minister fired the deputy chief of the General Staff, Tiran Khacharyan and the military put forth its declaration after Khacharyan was let go.
According to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56194421">BBC</a>, Pashinyan told thousands of people who support him that the army &#8220;must obey the people and elected authorities.&#8221;
Pashinyan has reportedly been criticized due to his loss of a conflict with Azerbaijan last year that led to large protests. The conflict was reportedly involving an enclave that is technically accepted as belonging to Azerbaijan, but following a truce in 1994, it has been run by ethnic Armenians.
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/armenian-pm-faces-militarys-demand-to-resign-talks-of-coup">Fox News</a> reports that earlier in the week Lt. Gen. Tiran Khacharyan &#8220;derided the prime minister&#8217;s claim that just 10% of Russia-supplied Iskander missiles that Armenia used in the conflict exploded on impact.&#8221; This appears to have possibly impacted the prime minister&#8217;s decision to fire Khacharyan, which then led to the military releasing its statement.
As reported by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56194421">BBC</a>, &#8220;During the bloody six-weeks of fighting late last year, Azerbaijan not only recaptured areas around the enclave but also took the key town of Shusha inside it. Under the Russian-brokered deal that emerged shortly afterwards, Azerbaijan keeps the areas it has captured. Hundreds of Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the disputed area.&#8221;
After Pashinyan signed the peace deal on November 10, protests reportedly began as people claimed that he should resign.
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/armenian-pm-faces-militarys-demand-to-resign-talks-of-coup">Fox News</a> reports,
<blockquote>The Russia-brokered agreement ended 44 days of fierce fighting in which the Azerbaijani army routed Armenian forces. Pashinyan has defended the peace deal as a painful but necessary move to prevent Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region. </blockquote>
The Prime Minister originally posted a video on Facebook on Thursday, saying that he saw the military&#8217;s declaration from earlier in the day as an &#8220;attempted military coup.&#8221;
Later, he was spotted with thousands of his backers, telling them, &#8220;The army is not a political institution, and attempts to involve it in political processes are unacceptable.&#8221; The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56194421">BBC</a> reports, &#8220;But he invited the opposition to hold talks on how to resolve the crisis, stressing that any change in power must take place &#8216;only through elections&#8217;.&#8221;
At the same time, people who oppose the prime minister gathered and, according to reporting by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/armenian-pm-faces-militarys-demand-to-resign-talks-of-coup">Fox News</a>, &#8220;swarmed the streets of the Armenian capital, chanting &#8216;Nikol, you traitor!&#8217; and &#8216;Nikol, resign!'&#8221;
Armenian President Armen Sargsyan reportedly asked for the people involved to &#8220;show restraint and common sense&#8221;.
Pashinyan used to be a journalist and, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56194421">BBC</a>, led a &#8220;peaceful 2018 revolution in the post-Soviet state&#8221; before becoming prime minister.
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/armenian-pm-faces-militarys-demand-to-resign-talks-of-coup">Fox News</a> reports that after the statement was issued by the military, Pashinyan fired the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan.

E291ABEA-0426-4862-826C-3DAC99E1D9A6_1_201_a

Armenian Prime Minister Accuses Military Of Attempted Coup

System of a Down, the esteemed alternative hard rock band, has returned after a long-awaited, fifteen-year hiatus from releasing original music. The Los Angeles based group, comprised entirely of ethnically Armenian musicians, released a double A-side single this week, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz.”
The band’s beginnings trace back to Los Angeles in the early 90s, where Serj Tankian first met guitarist Daron Malakian. Bonding over their shared culture and passion for music, the Armenian duo decided to start a band, recruiting Shavo Odadjian on bass and John Dolmayan on the drums. Tankian, a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, was also an ardent political activist, especially on issues surrounding Armenia. It was the convergence of these passions, seasoned with an array of musical influences, that birthed System of a Down.
Bursting onto the hard-rock scene in 1998 with their eponymous debut, SOAD’s music was, from its earliest epoch, brimming with both ferocity and creative melodies. SOAD crafted a unique sound born of its members&#8217; influences, with heavy, overdriven riffs that hark back to Slayer and Metallica, and distinct scales echoing Armenian folk. The drums, similarly, eschew typical orthodoxies of metal and swing – a characteristic of jazz, which the band’s drummer, John Dolmayan, has cited as an early influence.
Throughout their career, despite being a Los Angeles band, SOAD has never demurred from their roots, instead, they proudly intertwined their image as a band with their ethnic Armenian heritage. In the music video for their 2001 hit, &#8220;Toxicity,&#8221; they featured a scene of all four band members eating sunflower seeds – a stereotypical Armenian past time according to the lyrics &#8212; with their discarded shells forming an effigy of Mount Ararat, a national symbol for the Armenian people. The video for their 2005 single, &#8220;B.Y.O.B.&#8221; (&#8220;Bring Your Own Bombs&#8221;), featured a giant Armenian flag waving in the background.
In addition to using their platform to promote Armenian culture, System of a Down has also never shied away from using its art as a vessel for addressing political and moral issues. In “Holy Mountains,” off their 2005 album, Hypnotize, they wrote a rock song about the Armenian Genocide – exposing reams of otherwise unaware music fans to what, especially in the early 2000s, remained largely a concealed facet of history. In &#8220;B.Y.O.B.,&#8221; SOAD penned a contemporary antiwar anthem as an upbeat hard rock song – much like Creedence Clearwater’s “Fortunate Son” or Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.”
Citing creative and artistic differences, the band announced an indefinite hiatus from making music in 2006, after releasing a pair of albums in 2005, Mesmerize and Hypnotize. More recently, political differences had flared and wedged themselves between members. I spoke with the band’s songwriter and vocalist, Serj Tankian, about music as a form of political commentary, the current state of System of a Down, and its future.
Tankian shared his insight on how music &#8212; especially good music that can withstand the test of time and become ingrained in our cultural fabric – can be wielded to motivate cultural and political change, explaining, “Music, especially with strong intentional messaging, can be a potent form of soft power. Our intuitive senses first process it and if we’re moved, it then in turn affects our reasoning which itself can shape the world that we live in or at least our worldview.”
Expounding on the contention within the band surrounding the American elections and President Donald Trump, Tankian stated, “The band may not agree on American politics, but we are all on the same page with Armenia and Artsakh. That does not mean we no longer have artistic or political differences.” 
During his time away from SOAD, Tankian has remained dedicated to his advocacy, embarking on numerous film and solo music endeavors. But nothing generated the excitement that came from SOAD reuniting, with the release of new music leading to a frenzy from fans. I asked Tankian for his thoughts on System of a Down as cultural phenomenon and as something greater than the sum of its parts, he explained, “SOAD is a unique phenomenon that has resonated resolutely with people around the world in a beautiful and powerful fashion that cannot be replicated. That said it doesn’t mean we can’t as artists pursue all our individual pursuits as not everything can be accomplished within one group.”
When asked about his plans to continue making music with System of a Down, he emphasized that currently creating music for solely artistic and creative ends is not the band’s focus. Tankian added that Armenia is still in the midst of an unnerving war with Azerbaijan and Turkey that has, to date, displaced more than <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/azerbaijan-makes-gains-in-conflict-with-armenia-setting-back-peace-efforts-11604683127">sixty percent</a> (over 90,000 civilians) of Nagorno Karabakh’s indigenous Armenian population. “Right now, we’re focused on what’s happening in Artsakh; we didn’t record these songs for us as artists, nor each other as friends. We did this for our people, our nation, suffering a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe due to Azerbaijan and Turkey committing war crimes against Artsakh and Armenia. So, no, we have not discussed the future of SOAD. It’s not what’s pertinent to us right now.”
It was against this ominous backdrop that Serj, Daron, Shavo and John, under the banner of System of a Down, began recording sessions for their new singles, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz.”
The first of the double A-side singles, “Protect the Land,” was written by the band’s guitarist, Daron Malakian, and features Tankian on backing harmonies where he supplies his far-reaching vocal range in spates. The song pays homage to Armenian soldiers past and present, with Tankian and Malakian harmonizing to form a blend of vocals with immense musical deftness.  In his lyrics, Malakian repeatedly queries the listener, asking, “If they will try to push you far away, would you stay and take a stand? Would you stay with gun in hand?” Malakian is quick to draw a distinction between himself and the men and women on the front lines whose bravery he extolls in the third person, &#8220;They protect the land.&#8221;
“Genocidal Humanoidz” exudes the very essence of System of a Down; it is the band at their most primal. At just two-and-a-half minutes long, it never lingers. The song is terse and precise, maximizing its effect. It wastes no time, opening with Malakian’s distorted, crunchy guitar riff over John Dolmayan’s thumping drumbeat. Tankian’s vocals shimmy into the mix as he moves in and out of his hypnotic staccato cadence and unleashes his mammoth vocals in the chorus. Tankian goes on to express his disdain for NATO and the U.N., saying &#8220;prostitutes who prosecute have failed us from the start.&#8221;
While diverging artistic visions and political squabbles splintered System of a Down, it was their initial source of camaraderie: a deep passion and ardor for their Armenian culture that brought them back together.
Underscoring their decision to overlook and set aside trivial disagreements in pursuit of a common goal, the band issued an official statement on their website, writing that both songs “speak of a dire and serious war being perpetrated upon our cultural homelands of Artsakh and Armenia.” Proceeds from the double A-side single as well as the accompanying merchandise, all available on System of a Down’s <a href="https://systemofadown.com/splash/">website</a>, will be donated to the Armenian Fund.
<a href="https://twitter.com/Harry1T6">Follow Harry Khachatrian on Twitter</a>

System Of A Down

Rock Band ‘System of a Down’ Puts Aside Political Disagreements on Trump, Reunites For New Music

Menu