When 18-year-old Arman went to the United States to study with the FLEX student exchange program for one year, he had visions of Hollywood and big sprawling cities. He ended up in Harmony, Minnesota, a small farming community of about 1000 residents that bills itself as the “Biggest Little Town in Southern Minnesota.” After getting over the initial culture shock, Arman slowly began integrating into American life. His host family, the Syversons with 9 children of their own took him into their home and made him part of their lives. They were so moved by Arman’s stories of Armenia that they decided to take a family trip and for the first time travelled outside of the U.S. to come to Armenia to see how their ‘adopted’ son really lived.
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Armenia remains freest country in region for media
By Paul Vartan Sookiasian Armenia remains the freest country for the press in the South Caucasus and one of the best in the entire former Soviet Union, the Paris-based non-profit Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, has determined. In the latest edition of its yearly World Press Freedom Index, published Friday, Armenia ranks 43rd out of 180 countries surveyed, with a score of 71.6 out of 100. That puts Armenia in what RSF calls as a “satisfactory situation” with regard to media freedom. Armenia’s position has steadily risen over the past few years, though it remained relatively stable this year, with […]
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CFTJ accuses Azerbaijan of torturing Armenian prisoners of war at
Last week, the United Nations Committee against Torture reviewed Azerbaijan’s compliance with its commitments under international law. Prior to the hearings, the Center for Truth and Justice, a U.S.-based nonprofit, submitted a report based on interviews with nearly three dozen former Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, detailing widespread use of torture. CivilNet’s Mark Dovich traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to hear firsthand from the CFTJ team about their findings and about what these proceedings can achieve.
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The Turkish Malaise: A Conversation with Cengiz Aktar
On the Tsitsernakaberd hill in Yerevan, near the Memorial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, renowned Turkish political scientist and activist Cengiz Aktar sat down with CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian to discuss his recent book “The Turkish Malaise,” which has been translated into Armenian. Dr. Aktar also talks about broader regional geopolitics and developments.
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EXPLAINER: Azerbaijan border delimitation deal sparks protests in Armenia
By Paul Vartan Sookiasian Earlier this month, Armenia formally launched a long-delayed process to delimit, or legally define, a section of its border with Azerbaijan for the first time, sparking ongoing protests across the country. That process is expected to involve Yerevan handing over to Baku four abandoned villages along the border between Armenia’s northeastern Tavush region and Azerbaijan’s northwestern Gazakh district. The announcement has been met with fierce protests in the nearby communities of Kirants and Voskepar, where scores of residents have been blocking one of the country’s main highways. They are concerned they may be forced out of […]
