Turkish Forum

Author: Harut Sassounian

  • Armenians Now have a New Target: Jordan For Buckling Under Azerbaijan’s Pressure

    Armenians Now have a New Target: Jordan For Buckling Under Azerbaijan’s Pressure

    As if Armenians did not have enough problems to deal with, they must now insist that Jordan reverse the dropping of its Artsakh-themed Oscar entry under pressure from Azerbaijan.

    Jordan’s Royal Film Commission had selected New York-based Jordanian American director Sareen Hairabedian’s My Sweet Land documentary as its entry for the Oscars. The film is produced by Azza Hourani and coproduced by Julie Paratian and David Rane. The executive producers are Beth Levison, Carrie Lozano, Hallee Adelman, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. Robina Riccitiello is co-executive producer.

    The film features 11-year-old Vrej who lived in Artsakh. After Azerbaijan attacked his village, Vrej and his family escaped and then returned to face devastation.

    My Sweet Land had received the Amman International Film Festival’s Jury Award in July for Best Feature Documentary and the FIPRESCI Award for Best Feature-Length Arab Documentary.

    However, the Royal Film Commission just announced that “Jordan withdrew its submission of My Sweet Land documentary film due to diplomatic pressures” from Azerbaijan, Deadline reported.

    “The Azerbaijan government wrote to Jordan’s Foreign Ministry requesting it reconsider the film’s selection as its Oscar entry, which in turn put pressure on the Jordan’s Royal Film Commission to withdraw the film,” according to Deadline.

    The Azeri media confirmed that Azerbaijan complained to Jordan about its Oscar entry. “We welcome the decision of Jordan to withdraw the film and stop its screening in Jordan,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada said.

    Director Sareen Hairabedian and producer Azza Hourani told Deadline: “This is very devastating news for our team that an emotional intimate story of a child’s love for his home and family was banned and silenced. As documentary filmmakers, this censorship compels us more than ever to share My Sweet Land protagonist Vrej’s story, which reflects the experiences of countless children around the world today, who deserve to dream freely without the threat of war and conflict.”

    However, it appears that not all is lost. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “told filmmakers they could submit My Sweet Land for consideration as Best Documentary Feature, if they followed standard qualification procedures. The filmmaking team has scrambled to arrange a qualifying run in the U.S.,” according to Deadline.

    “My Sweet Land will have its North American premiere at DOC NYC on November 16th and 17th, and our qualifying theatrical release will take place at Laemmle Theatres [in Los Angeles] starting November 29th,” Hairabedian and Hourani told Deadline. “We remain committed to sharing our truthful story, undeterred by the obstacles we face.”

    It is sickening that a work of art would fall victim to political pressure. Regrettably, but not surprisingly, “the move to withdraw the film from the International Feature Film category comes amid growing diplomatic and economic ties between Jordan and Azerbaijan, with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov receiving Jordanian officials in Baku in 2024 to discuss further ongoing cooperation,” Deadline reported.

    “Our understanding was that Jordan withdrew the film in order to preserve diplomatic ties between Jordan and Azerbaijan after a complaint from the latter,” the filmmakers told Deadline. “We also learned that after My Sweet Land’s premiere in Jordan at the Amman International Film Festival, Azerbaijan’s embassy had also filed a complaint against screening the film publicly. So, My Sweet Land, a film that was celebrated weeks prior at the festival, was suddenly banned in one of its home countries.”

    “Jordan’s Royal Film Commission is the governing body of the Amman International Film Festival. At that event in July 2024, My Sweet Land won three prizes: Jury Award for Best Arab Documentary, the Audience Award and the International Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI). The documentary premiered in June at Sheffield DocFest, the most prestigious nonfiction festival in the U.K., where it was nominated for the International First Feature Award,” according to Deadline.

    Sheffield DocFest programmers wrote of the film, “Vrej, the subject of Sareen Hairabedian’s impressive feature debut — a striking coming-of-age tale — has grown up in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. Since the end of the Soviet era it has witnessed much conflict. The 11-year-old watches birds, plays with friends and dreams of being a dentist. But echoes of the three wars his family have lived through since 1992 are ever-present. His grandmother laments the cycle of ethnic violence: ‘Living in Artsakh means that one day there will be a war and my grandson will participate in that war’. As his school lessons become increasingly militarized and Vrej struggles to hold on to his childhood dreams, his grandmother watches her prophecy unfold.”

    In an email to Deadline, Jordan’s Royal Film Commission (RFC) highlighted the awards earned by My Sweet Land at the Amman International Film Festival and noted that the film “received development funding from the RFC’s Jordan Film Fund in 2021.”

    Armenians worldwide, led by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, should complain to the Jordanian government. They should not let this Azeri pressure on Jordan go unchallenged. Losing Artsakh should not mean that Armenians would also lose the public relations battle where connections and planning replace drones and military might.

    First of all, the Armenian community in Jordan should immediately use all of their contacts with the Jordanian government to demand that the Jordanian Foreign Ministry reverse its decision and not buckle under Azerbaijan’s ugly pressure.

    Secondly, the Armenian Foreign Ministry should send a diplomatic note to the Jordanian government objecting to allowing Azerbaijan to interference in Jordan’s internal decisions.

    Thirdly, Armenians worldwide should contact Jordanian Embassies and Consulates to express their utter displeasure at Jordan succumbing to Azeri threats and intimidation.

  • Baku Hires PR Firm for $4.7 Million To Cleanse Image before Climate Summit

    Baku Hires PR Firm for $4.7 Million To Cleanse Image before Climate Summit

    Azerbaijan’s dictatorial and corrupt government is paying $4.7 million to a US PR firm in order to whitewash its tarnished image prior to hosting the prestigious COP29 international conference in Baku this November.

    In February, Azerbaijan hired the American public relations firm, Teneo Strategy, to make “the warring petrostate look like a Mother Teresa,” according to Nick Cleveland-Stout who wrote in ResponsibleStatecraft.org an article titled, “How Azerbaijan is ‘peacewashing’ its image ahead of COP29; Baku is hosting the climate summit in November with some help from a high-priced PR firm.”

    To earn its excessive pay, Teneo contacted “144 journalists in 88 different global media outlets some 500 times to promote Azerbaijan’s COP29 agenda….  In just one day, the PR firm … treated three journalists to dinner at a five-star hotel restaurant in Nagorno-Karabakh during a media forum. The very next day, one of them celebrated Azerbaijan’s newly established control of the region in an article published in Pakistan. A few weeks later, he tweeted that Azerbaijan is ‘lucky to have such a leader’ in President Ilham Aliyev.” 

    An Azerbaijani official announced that his country had hired Teneo to “establish the COP29’s communications function, including narrative development, initial content development, communications and engagement campaign planning, issues management, organizational development, establishing media relations capability, and media training.” Nick Cleveland-Stout reported that “At least five Teneo executives are always on the ground in Baku — racking up a tab of $350,000 on airfare and hotels to date.”

    Hikmat Hajiyev, Pres. Aliyev’s top advisor, shamelessly announced a “COP29 Truce,” meaning that Azerbaijan is calling on all warring parties in the world to declare a ceasefire during the November conference. Such a deceitful announcement is being made by a country whose leader has been issuing repeated threats to invade Armenia. This reminds us of the biblical admonition: “Physician, heal thyself!”

    Nick Cleveland-Stout wrote: “Azerbaijan has become notorious for flaunting its oil wealth to court foreign officials, lawmakers, and journalists with gifts, free flights, and luxury hotels, dubbed ‘caviar diplomacy’…. According to a trip itinerary obtained by RS [Responsible Statecraft] via a Freedom of Access Act Request, state lawmakers from Maine spent nine days in Azerbaijan in May with flights, food, and lodging paid for by the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the same agency that hosted [NY Mayor Eric] Adams’ aides. Part of the itinerary included two days learning about ‘new development after liberation from occupation’ in Nagorno-Karabakh. ‘Guess I should locate my passport. I am very excited!’ wrote State Representative Jill Duson in response to the invitation. In June, Azerbaijan’s embassy in Washington even hired former Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) in part to coordinate congressional delegation visits to Azerbaijan.”

    Furthermore, Nick Cleveland-Stout mentioned that Azerbaijan had hired another PR company, “The Friedlander Group, a firm retained by Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, [which] is leading the charge on Capitol Hill in Washington. An email obtained by RS shows that the firm sent an email on September 23 to members of Congress asking them not to sign onto a congressional letter calling for Baku to release Armenian prisoners ahead of COP29.” The firm’s CEO, Ezra Friedlander, wrote to members of Congress “we owe Azerbaijan praise, an apology and an open hand.”

    Returning to the PR firm, Teneo, Nick Cleveland-Stout reported that: “When Azerbaijan flew out some 300 foreign journalists to the newly-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region for a media forum in July, Teneo held meetings and hosted expensive dinners — during which it discussed interviews with Azerbaijan’s COP leadership team.”

    The RS reporter wrote that: “Three days after meeting with Teneo, the influential Indian newspaper, The Hindu, published an article titled “Climate conference in November to emphasize ‘peace’ and ‘truce.’” The firm also “facilitated a New York Times article featuring [Mukhtar] Babayev [COP’s president] in Azerbaijan that was based in part on a trip to Nagorno-Karabakh.”

    Teneo has assigned a 17-person team to the pro-Azeri PR task. Azerbaijan’s officials are very pleased by the propaganda Teneo is doing for their country. Babayev told Azeri TV that “the government’s media strategy to change international perceptions of Azerbaijan is a success story, including its ‘restoration of territorial integrity,’ referring to its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. Without mentioning Teneo by name, he credited a new media team ‘consisting of serious specialists’…. Thanks to the work of this professional team, there has not been a week this year when we have not provided information and made statements to international media…. Now they all understand and see the strength of our country.”

    The most unfortunate issue is that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is the one who allowed Azerbaijan to host the conference by lifting Armenia’s veto in return for the release of 32 Armenian prisoners of war in exchange for two Azeri murderers who penetrated Armenia’s border in 2023 and killed an innocent Armenian worker. 

    While I welcome the return of the 32 Armenian prisoners, I believe that Pashinyan should have bargained for Azerbaijan’s release of all Armenian prisoners of war and the eight Artsakh political hostages held in Baku. Pres. Aliyev was so obsessed with hosting the prestigious UN conference in Azerbaijan that he would have agreed to such a comprehensive deal.

    If Pashinyan had made such a deal, Armenians and sympathetic non-Armenians around the world would not have needed to work so hard to pressure Azerbaijan to release all the Armenian detainees prior to the November conference.

  • Jerusalem Patriarchate Wins Lawsuit To Recover its Vast Properties in Turkey

    Jerusalem Patriarchate Wins Lawsuit To Recover its Vast Properties in Turkey

    In 2019, I wrote about the status of the lawsuit filed in 2012 in Turkey by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem to recover its over one thousand real estate properties confiscated decades ago.

    After going through various legal maneuvers in Turkey for years, the Patriarchate finally won last week a major victory.

    Ishan Erdinc reported the good news on October 4. 2024 in Agos Armenian newspaper of Istanbul in an article titled, “Critical development for the properties of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Turkey: Mar Yakoup Foundation is gaining legal personality.” Mar Yakoup refers to the Armenian Patriarchate of St. James (Sourp Hagop) in Jerusalem.  

    Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations (GDF) confiscated the Jerusalem Patriarchate’s properties in 1973, describing the Mar Yakoup Armenian Church Foundation, established during the Ottoman Empire, as no longer functional.

    Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian’s 2012 lawsuit was initially rejected by both a lower court in Ankara and the court of appeal. The Patriarch then appealed to the Constitutional Court of Turkey, the highest court in the country, which decided that the lower court had violated the rights of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The lower court then reversed the frozen status of the Armenian Patriarchate’s properties.

    Ali Elbeyoglu, the Turkish lawyer of the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate, told Agos newspaper that the Patriarchate now has two options. It will either appoint a Turkish citizen as its representative in Turkey to manage the properties, as it was before their confiscation, or they will be managed from Jerusalem.

    Over the years, most of the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate’s confiscated properties were sold to third parties without any compensation to the Patriarchate.

    Patriarch Manougian has never made a public announcement over the years about the lawsuit he had filed in Turkey. The only media reports were about his multiple visits to Istanbul for undisclosed reasons. Even though attorney Elbeyoglu told Agos that the Jerusalem Patriarchate has over 100 properties in Turkey, Patriarch Manougian, in an exclusive interview, told me in 2019 that the Patriarchate had owned 1,200 properties in Istanbul alone and dozens more throughout Turkey. The Patriarch also informed me that a very large and valuable property owned by the Jerusalem Patriarchate in Yalova, Turkey, formerly a part of Istanbul, was sold by a Turkish-Armenian in the 1950’s to a Turk and then fled to the United States. The Patriarch said he is interested in filing a lawsuit against the heirs of that Turkish-Armenian.

    Attorney Elbeyoglu told Agos last week that the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate owned a highly valuable “mansion in Kuzguncuk [Istanbul], the title of which was transferred to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was then demolished.” The Attorney also said that there are “21 properties seized from the Armenian Patriarchate Foundation in Altunizade [Istanbul], [the prominent] Istiklal Boulevard of Istanbul, the Fatih [region of Istanbul] and the City of Adana.”

    It remains to be seen what the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate will do with the recovered properties and the compensations it will receive for the properties sold long ago to third parties.

    I suggest the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate form an international commission of highly respected Armenian individuals to oversee the management of these properties and the compensations paid to the Patriarchate. Given the controversy revolving around the sale or lease of the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate’s properties in Israel, it would be in the Patriarch’s interest to exhibit transparency to avoid secretive business deals and accusations of corruption.

    The anticipated return of these properties is a very positive development since the Turkish government has rarely agreed to give back to their Armenian owners the properties it had confiscated decades ago. In 2011, the Turkish government announced that real estate confiscated from Armenian, Greek and Jewish charitable foundations would be either returned to them or pay compensation for the value of the properties if they have been sold to third parties.

    However, after a number of properties were given back to these minorities, the government halted the process, even though some court cases are still pending.

    I view Turkish efforts to return some of the confiscated Armenian properties as a means to whitewash their historic crimes. Even though we should be wary of such clever Turkish ploys, we should take advantage of every opportunity to recover a portion of what we lost during the Genocide, such as territories, properties, and other assets. And whatever we cannot recover, we need to receive restitution for them.

    This is why Armenians should never forget past injustices and do everything possible to preserve the memory of their losses as long as necessary. Nothing is lost forever. History will take twists and turns and no one knows when the tide will turn in our favor. However, if we ourselves give up our claims, they will be lost forever.

  • Turkish Diplomats Accused In D.C. Court of Violating U.S. Laws

    Turkish Diplomats Accused In D.C. Court of Violating U.S. Laws

    Turkish investigative reporter Abdullah Bozkurt wrote in the Nordic Monitor an article titled, “Senior Turkish diplomats accused of human trafficking, fraud in Washington, D.C., court.”

    Bozkurt reported that Husnu Sinan Ertay, the former deputy chief of mission — the second-highest ranking diplomat at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., — and his wife, Anil Ozge Ertay, a diplomatic Counselor at the Embassy, were “accused of human trafficking, fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract and violations of U.S. labor and wage laws.” The civil suit was filed in May in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by their nanny, Philippine national Sharon Thomas Agdipa. If the judge agrees to accept the case, the court will determine the couple’s guilt or innocence.

    The Turkish diplomats lived in a million-dollar, 1,330-square-foot townhouse in a gated community on Embassy Park Drive, in the Washington neighborhood of Wesley Heights. Their babysitter claims that “she was lured from the Philippines to the U.S. with promises of a job, fair wages and a private room, only to be subjected to forced labor.” According to her lawyers, “she endured emotional and physical suffering, was deprived of regular meals, denied a private bedroom, grossly underpaid, threatened with deportation and frequently subjected to verbal abuse.”

    Bozkurt wrote that his “sources in the Turkish diplomatic community who spoke to Nordic Monitor expressed little surprise at the charges, citing the nature and character of the Ertay couple. ‘Mrs. Ertay is known to be a vicious person among her colleagues,’ one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other sources claimed that her husband secured his position at the foreign ministry largely due to his father’s influential role as deputy undersecretary responsible for personnel.”

    Bozkurt wrote that “Agdipa’s ordeal began in November 2019, when Mrs. Ertay offered her a job in Washington, D.C. However, when Agdipa began working for the couple in February 2020, her duties extended beyond caring for their 5-year-old son, to include various housekeeping tasks, from cleaning and cooking to gardening.”

    Bozkurt reported: “Although her contract specified a 35-hour workweek at $14 an hour, Agdipa was working over 80 hours a week and was required to remain on standby at all hours to accommodate the couple’s demands. She received no compensation for overtime, a clear violation of the contract’s terms. The suit alleges that the couple compelled Agdipa to return a portion of her salary by instructing her to withdraw cash from an ATM and hand it back to them…. Over the course of 15 months of working for the couple, Agdipa was required to return approximately one-third of her total wages, amounting to $9,450.”

    The lawsuit alleges that the Turkish couple “was abusive toward her, using insults and curses, threatening to evict her and inflicting emotional and psychological distress. She was told that she would be deported from the country if she complained about the working conditions.”

    Agdipa alleges that she was denied regular meals contrary to the contract, was not allowed to prepare her own food and was refused medical care and sick leave when needed. Bozkurt reported: “Although the contract stipulated that she would receive private room and board, Agdipa was assigned to sleep in a windowless basement. This space was regularly accessed by the Turkish deputy chief of mission.”

    On May 5, 2021, the babysitter fled from the diplomats’ house, leaving most of her belongings behind. The labor attaché for the Embassy of Philippines in Washington, learning of her situation, referred Agdipa to a law firm to defend her.

    The law firm notified the U.S. government of the case after Agdipa testified about the abuse and forced labor she had endured. However, to date, no criminal charges have been filed against the diplomats by the U.S. authorities.

    The lawsuit alleges that “the actions of the Ertays — ranging from recruiting Agdipa and convincing her to travel to the US, to threatening her with deportation and stealing her wages — violate multiple laws…. Moreover, their conduct is alleged to have involved breaches of contract, unjust enrichment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud.”

    On May 20, 2024, Agdipa’s attorneys — Olamide S. Orebamjo, Melissa L. Patterson and Elizabeth S. Fassih of the Jones Day law firm in Washington, D.C. – asked the court for a jury trial.

    It is not known how the judge will deal with the case, given the fact the Turkish couple had returned to Turkey and enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

    Buzkurt reported that the Turkish couple is working at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara. “Mr. Ertay currently serves as head of department at the Directorate General for East Asia” while Mrs. Ertay is “head of department at the Directorate General for North America.”

  • Pashinyan’s Remarks at Diaspora Summit: Wrong Ideas, Wrong timing, Wrong Place

    Pashinyan’s Remarks at Diaspora Summit: Wrong Ideas, Wrong timing, Wrong Place

    I would like to comment on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s shocking statements at the Global Armenian Summit in Yerevan on September 18, 2024.

    For an hour and a half Pashinyan answered the moderator’s questions in front of the gathered hundreds of Diaspora Armenians from around the world.

    Before we delve into the substance of Pashinyan’s answers, his basic problem is that he often says whatever comes to his mind at the moment, without giving it much thought.

    On September 19, 2024, in the presence of a large number of Diaspora Armenians, Pashinyan made three major mistakes: 1) he said very wrong things; 2) he said them to the wrong people (Diaspora Armenians); and 3) he picked the most inappropriate time, a few days before the anniversary of Armenia’s Independence, to disparage his own patriotism as well as the patriotism of all Armenians.

    Here are excerpts from Pashinyan’s shocking remarks on patriotism: “I will tell you as I tell my family, the biggest problem we had is our patriotism. Moreover, there is no derision, no sarcasm in what I am saying. The biggest problem we had, the biggest problem I had was my patriotism with the perception that this model of patriotism has nothing to do with our homeland. It is simply an imperial model of patriotism, which was introduced into our social psychology through books, films, texts, speeches, heroes, characters, names and images.”

    Pashinyan illogically told the audience that “this model of patriotism is aimed at excluding the existence of an independent and sovereign state…. But, this model of patriotism is so that we should not have a homeland, but only love it in theory, have a theoretical Armenia and love it, hanging it on the wall, in toasts, on cakes, but not on the ground, which is what happened to us in the last several hundred years.”

    Thereafter, Pashinyan blamed Armenians and ‘others’: “I’m talking so much about a garrison. I understand that many people think I have in mind that others have turned us into a garrison. No, we have turned ourselves into a garrison. We have turned the Republic of Armenia into a garrison by believing that this is not a country which has to secure the well-being of its citizens, but rather a base through which we should reach other goals…. Others saw that there is a lot of fertile ground and planted seeds to reap the fruits necessary for them …. For our own good, we must recognize the destructive aspect of our patriotism. It would have been in the best interests of the Republic of Armenia if I were not a patriot. That is the greatest harm I have caused — the love I have given to my country and my people…. However, the main problem is that neither you nor I are the creators of that love. That is an imperial love, shaped by the empire, instilled in us,” Pashinyan said.

    Pashinyan then falsely attributed Armenians’ efforts to commemorate the Armenian Genocide to manipulations by the Soviet Union, ‘allowing’ Soviet Armenia to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, in order to counter Turkey and NATO. He wrongly claimed that the Soviet Union allowed the Genocide Monument to be built in Yerevan at a time when the Soviet Union and the United States were on the verge of a nuclear war. Thus, he denigrated the Armenian Genocide by shamefully describing it as a tool for Soviet propaganda.

    Most of what Pashinyan said was wrong, disrespectful and anti-Armenian. Pashinyan made these statements in front of the hundreds of patriotic Armenians who had come all the way to Yerevan from around the world to show their support for the homeland, only to be told that patriotism is a ‘destructive’ and foreign-inspired concept. His words were also ill-timed coming just days before the 33rd Anniversary of Armenia’s Independence. This is the deliberate policy of the Pashinyan regime to create a split between Armenia and the Diaspora, and divide Armenia’s population into supporters of the former and current leaders.

    During the same interview, Pashinyan made another erroneous and highly inappropriate remark, criticizing and dismissing the humanitarian aid sent by the Diaspora, in front of the gathered hundreds of Armenians from around the world.

    He said: “I would like very much that Armenia stop being an object of compassion — to get out of that situation. Of course, I don’t know if — it is not always that my instructions are correctly implemented — for example, I have forbidden — I don’t know how much they are implanting it — that they [the Diaspora] send whatever used clothing, whatever used cars, I don’t know, send half worn out tires, send half worn out shoes for state institutions, I don’t know, for orphanages. Pardon me, but the Republic of Armenia is in a position to provide the minimum for institutions falling under its responsibility. In other words, from the perception of sending used things to Armenia, and then for months to publicize that — I don’t know — so much medicine has been sent which has a one-week expiration date. I am not happy with that, I am in conflict with that perception of the Republic of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia is a sovereign state which has complexities [difficulties]. But, pardon me, which country does not have complexities?”

    Pashinyan’s disparaging remarks about the aid sent to Armenia by the Diaspora are deeply insulting. He should not talk about things he knows nothing about. I am the President of Armenia Artsakh Fund which has sent to Armenia in the past 35 years over one billion dollars of aid, mostly medicines. We strictly follow all Armenian laws and procedures. No one can send to Armenia medicines that expire in one week. Donors need to obtain in advance an import license from the Ministry of Health which requires that all medicines have a minimum of one year expiration date. Otherwise, they are confiscated and destroyed by customs officers.

    Instead of criticizing the Diaspora’s aid, the Armenian government should issue a list of priority items that the population needs and encourage the potential donors to send those items. Pashinyan is acting as if he is the Prime Minister of a wealthy country with a population that needs nothing. Regrettably, that is not the case. Instead of disparaging the aid sent by the Diaspora, the Armenian government should express its gratitude to all donors and encourage them to do more.

    The Prime Minister’s false statements about patriotism and humanitarian aid left many in the audience in shock. Pashinyan does not seem to realize that his words have consequences on Armenia and Armenians. He is no longer an irresponsible street protester who can say anything that comes to his mind.

  • Text of UN-Azerbaijan Agreement Revealed For the Climate Summit to be Held in Baku

    Text of UN-Azerbaijan Agreement Revealed For the Climate Summit to be Held in Baku

    As the UN Climate Summit (COP29) is set to be held in Baku starting on November 11, it is becoming increasingly clear that Azerbaijan should not have been allowed to host such a prestigious gathering. In addition to Armenian protests about ethnic cleansing and the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners in Baku, there have been worldwide objections about the Conference being held in Baku because of Azerbaijan’s flagrant and persistent violations of human rights.

    On October 10, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published an article titled, “COP29 Host Country Agreement Lacks Rights Protections: Azerbaijan Should Guarantee Rights of Civil Society Participants at Climate Conference.” HRW expressed its serious concerns about Baku hosting the Conference.

    HRW obtained a copy of the signed UN-Azerbaijan Agreement which has not been made public, despite the fact that UN members had insisted “that host country agreements should be made publicly available and should uphold international human rights law.”

    HRW urged the UN to “publicly call upon the Azerbaijani government to respect its human rights obligations and facilitate a rights-respecting climate conference.” Amnesty International also issued a similar request in July. It is important that the Agreement protect not only the rights of Azerbaijani citizens, but also the safety and security of thousands of international participants of the Conference.

    When I clicked on the link that HRW had included in its article, I found the text of the 20-page-long Agreement signed between the UN and the Government of Azerbaijan in August 2024. HRW complained that the Agreement “is replete with significant shortcomings and ambiguities on the protections for participants’ rights.” For example, while the Agreement states that Conference participants “shall enjoy immunity from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and any act performed by them,” it requires that they “respect Azerbaijani laws and not interfere in its ‘internal affairs.’”

    Here are the highlights of the signed Agreement:

    –“The Government [of Azerbaijan] is committed to uphold the fundamental human rights, dignity and worth of the human person, and equal rights of all participants participating in the Pre-sessional Meetings/Conference/UNFCC Meetings [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].”

    –“The area within the Baku Olympic Stadium where the Conference and the Pre-sessional Meetings shall be held, including any area immediately outside it, will be under the direct supervision and control of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security….”

    –“Host country support and technical personnel shall be guided by the highest ethical and professional standards and are expected to behave with integrity and respect. The Government shall ensure that relevant standards are fully understood.”

    –“The Government shall be responsible, at its expense, for such police protection and security as may be required to ensure the efficient running…of the Conference without interference of any kind.”

    –“Security within the Conference premises shall be the responsibility of the UN Department of Safety and Security…. Security outside the Conference premises shall be the responsibility of the Government…. Such security personnel shall be guided by the highest ethical and professional standards and are expected to behave with integrity and respect. The Government shall ensure that relevant standards are fully understood.”

    –All Participants “shall enjoy the privileges and immunities within the Republic of Azerbaijan,” under the UN “Convention on the Privileges and Immunities…. The representatives of observer organizations/other persons…shall enjoy immunity from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and any act performed by them in connection with their participation” in the Conference.

    –All Participants “have the right of entry into and exit from the Republic of Azerbaijan and no impediments shall be imposed on their transit to and from the Conference premises.” Exceptions can be made in case the Government presents to the UN “well founded objections based on law concerning the entry of a particular individual. Such objections must relate to specific criminal, security matters and not to nationality, religion, professional or political affiliation.”

    –The Conference premises are “protected…and access thereto is subject to the authority and control of the [UN] secretariat. These premises shall be inviolable for the duration of the Conference.”

    –All Participants enjoying “privileges and immunities provided by this Agreement…have the duty to respect the laws and regulations in force in the Republic of Azerbaijan and have the duty not to interfere in its internal affairs.”

    –In addition to paying the expenses of hosting the Conference, the Government of Azerbaijan will reimburse the UN $5,811,800 for the costs incurred in planning the Conference, airfare for UN personnel, and technical services.

    The Agreement finally states that “upon the conclusion of the Conference, the [UN] secretariat will issue a report regarding the implementation of the terms of this Agreement, including on lessons learned and challenges faced, to the [UN] Bureau.”

    We will find out at the end of the Conference if Azerbaijan has abided by the terms of the Agreement, particularly in respect to human rights, including suppression by police of public protests by Azerbaijani citizens during the Conference.