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Armenia

LGBTQ Plus

LGBTQ+ International: Polish Schools Progress, Qatar Arrests Gay Activist — And The Week’s Other Top News

Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll!

This week featuring:

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How Russia's Setbacks In Ukraine Could Reignite Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

Azerbaijan’s recent shelling of Armenia is the worst hostilities since the war in 2020 over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. While in the past, Russia, a historic ally of Armenia, sought to restore peace, the Kremlin may make a different calculus this time.

-Analysis-

Almost two years ago, what is now referred to as the “Second Karabakh War” broke the uneasy truce which had been in effect between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 1994. After 44 days of intense fighting – with thousands of dead on both sides – it ended in a precarious, Russian-mediated ceasefire on November 10, 2020.

The nine-point document setting out the terms of the ceasefire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of the South Caucasus largely cemented the gains made by Azerbaijan during the war. Among others, it provided for a withdrawal of Armenia’s troops from Azerbaijan and the restoration of economic and transportation links between the two countries.

This is particularly important for Azerbaijan, whose access to its Nakhchivan exclave is separated by Armenia’s Syunik province. The agreement also included arrangements for the stationing of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh until at least 2025.

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Armenia-Azerbaijan Reignites, Greenpeace Nuke Protest, Godard Dies

👋 Ushé-ushé!*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Ukraine continues to reconquer territory, fresh clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border leave at least 49 dead and France says adieu to two 20th-century titans of the visual arts. Meanwhile, business daily Les Echos draws a profile of Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia's top 10 billionaires who continues to grow his business despite Western sanctions.

[*Kanuri, Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon]

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A Visit To Shusha, A Ghost City Marked By Culture And Ethnic Cleansing

The capture of the city sealed last year's Azerbaijani victory against the Armenians — the latest change of control after a century of war and ethnic cleansing.

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Geopolitics
Faustine Vincent

Armenia's 'Velvet Revolution' Betrayed By Shame And Loss

A crushing military defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh, in neighboring Azerbaijan, has cost Armenia at least 2,300 lives and sapped support for the reformist government of Nikol Pachinian.

YEREVAN — Clad still in their fatigues, two haggard soldiers returning from the front wander around the streets of Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Barely 18, they've just buried their friend. Farther on, a refugee couple from the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, in neighboring Azerbaijan, rings the bell at the gate of the French embassy, hoping it will bring them help.

"We know that France is a friendly country to Armenia," the woman says. "Maybe it will help us?"

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Geopolitics
Konstantin Aggert

After Sargsyan Resignation, What Next For Armenia-Russia Relations?

MOSCOW — Following a series of demonstrations against the political class that began across Armenia on April 13, the country's prime minister Serzh Sargsyan has resigned. His duties are being temporarily carried out now by First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. In Moscow, the events in Armenia have prompted a public reaction from Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, who wrote on her Facebook page: "Armenia, Russia is always with you!"

Zakharova singled out the capability of the Armenian society to conserve unity amid internal political strife, adding that Moscow was willing to maintain good relations with Yerevan. But the longer-term question of how Sargsyan's resignation will influence bilateral relations may be more complicated. Konstantin Eggert, the former top editor of Kommersant, offered his analysis earlier this week on Kommersant FM.

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Geopolitics
Laurence D’Hondt

Honoring “Turkish Schindlers” — Forgotten Heroes Of The Armenian Genocide

Unlike the 'Righteous Among The Nations' of the Nazi Holocaust, individual Turks who opposed the Armenian genocide are lost to history. Again, Turkey's government is largely to blame.

SOLOGNE — Whenever Jean-Pierre Fleury's mother talked to her son about the fate of the Armenian people, she would always end her story with a reminder: "Never forget it was Turks who saved us..."

Fleury, growing up in France, had only discovered his mother's Armenian origins when she started talking with a stranger in a language he did not understand, and suddenly burst into tears. Shaken by this revelation, the young man never stopped questioning his mother about the tragic events that led to the death of 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, between 1915 and 1923.

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Sources
Artyom Galustyan

Armenia's Mini Maidan Gives Voice To New Generation

Persistent poverty used to be quietly endured, but protests are rising against a political leadership that long ago lost the trust of the people. Still, it is a long way from Kiev.

YEREVAN — There is little to differentiate downtown Yerevan from western European cities. There are cafés at every turn, entertainment centers aplenty, well-kept parks everywhere, even luxury cars. But once you leave the center of the Armenian capital, towards the outer slums and tower blocks, the picture changes dramatically.

There are many towns throughout the country that look like the outskirts of Yerevan, where protests have sprung up to denounce steep increases in electricity costs in a country plagued by poverty and unemployment.

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blog

Extra! Armenians Mark 100 Years Since Genocide

The Armenian-Canadian newspaperHorizon Weekly featured a man kneeling before the eternal flame of Yerevan's Armenian Genocide memorial complex, as ceremonies are being held in the Armenian capital in remembrance of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks, which began 100 years ago today.

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blog

Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Armenia

For the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, Armenia will be represented by Genealogy, a supergroup of singers from five different continents and all from Armenian descent. Genealogy includes Ethopian Vahe Tilbian, American Tamar Kaprelian, Japanese Stephanie Topalian, French Essaï Altounian, Australian Mary-Jean O'Doherty Basmadjian and Armenian Inga Arshakyan.

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Geopolitics
Aleksei Boyarskii

In Russia's Orbit, Searching The Sleepy Economy Of Armenia

YEREVAN — There used to be trains that connected Moscow and Armenia's capital of Yerevan. But for different reasons, mostly an array of regional tensions in former Soviet republics, Armenia is no longer connected to Russia by rail.

To get to Yerevan from Moscow, you can either drive for 48 hours through the North Caucasus and Georgia, or you can take a flight of less than three hours. I chose the latter.

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