Hey there, dear reader. A lot has happened in the past week, from a faux “specialists committee” in Azerbaijan, to the Winter Olympics, and beyond. Read below to find out what you may have missed out on.

The Latest on Azerbaijan’s Cultural Erasure

Image caption: Armenian Heritage Sites Under Azerbaijani Control Are Under Threat (photo via vahemart/Wikimedia Commons)

Once again, Azerbaijan’s stepped up to drive what can be best described as “war on Armenian heritage sites,” as Simon Maghakyan, a scholar of cultural erasure, has put it.

Earlier last week, Azerbaijani Culture Minister Anar Karimov announced that the government will set up a group of “specialists in Albanian history and architecture has been set up to remove the fictitious traces written by Armenians on Albanian religious temples.” The group intends to “expose” alleged changes carried out by Armenians. Azerbaijani journalist and researcher Cavid Ağa tweeted, “we are going to see Julfa II soon” upon reporting on the announcement.

This is quite absurd, considering the Azerbaijani government made no efforts to save antiquities that were from actual Caucasian Albanian times and towns, namely Basqal, through the Parthian and Sassanid eras.

The First Ambassador of Greece to Armenia, Leonidas Chrysantopoulos, says “the creation of a working group by Azerbaijan to destroy the Armenian presence in Armenian churches in the occupied territories of Artsakh as a result of the last war by Baku is cultural fascism.”

An Exclusive Conversation with Dutch Ambassador HE Nico Schermers - Armenia Concludes Two Weeks of Celebrating Diplomatic Relation Anniversaries

Image caption: HE Dutch Ambassador Nico Schermers With His Family on a Hike at Carahunge (Photo From Amb Schermer’s Twitter Profile)

Canada, Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Argentina, the UK, and Australia are among the many states Armenia formed official ties with 30 years ago, not long after declaring formal independence. The Armenian MFA has spent the last two weeks celebrating these ties.

The Netherlands, like many, was among the celebrated states, but they did not have an embassy in Armenia before the summer of 2020.

Nico Schermers, the Dutch Ambassador, landed in Armenia when the country was still in lockdown, peak heat days. He was tasked with establishing the first Embassy of the Netherlands in Armenia. Four days after presenting his credentials to the president,  war broke out.

“[We] still managed to recruit staff, establish networks, acquire the necessary housing and offices and start programs in the field of economic cooperation, democracy, rule of law, human rights, and promotion of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Armenia in general. Privately, I started to explore the country, its nature, its cuisine, and its culture, with great pleasure,” Ambassador Schermers tells me.

Within less than two years, Amb. Schermers has managed to discover Armenia more than most Armenians would in their lifetimes. I ask him about his favourite Armenian cultural aspects:

“Although I try to be as vegetarian as possible, I cannot escape an occasional khorovats… I ate more peaches in my first two weeks in Armenia than in my entire life, and Armenian wine is what I drink and serve at home in The Netherlands.

I find it very humbling when I visit Armenian churches and the priest or a guide is – in a nonchalant way – explaining that this one was built in the fifth or seventh century. Even more humbling when visiting the Armenian Stonehenge Carahunge (I am very much into astronomy) or Areni-1 cave realizing that Armenians were producing wine 6200 years ago while walking on leather shoes and studying the stars with a complicated observatory.”

The Ambassador, through his Twitter profile, guides us through the mountains of Armenia through his weekly Sunday hikes around the country.

“I very much appreciated my hike to the North Peak of Aragats with Hatis hiking group; spectacular to be on the top of this huge volcano. I am always impressed by this mountain’s enormous size. I also appreciated my hikes in Lori, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik, and Tavush very much, in particular a hike to Dimats, close to Dilijan, where we were visited by four large eagles flying below us,” says Amb. Schermers.

What are some of the plans of the Dutch Embassy in Armenia? “What I envisage in the coming years is that we establish a thriving relationship between both countries in terms of tourism and business, culture and science based on common values such as respect for human rights, democracy, and rule of law. I already notice an increase of interest from The Netherlands for Armenia, I see it as the task of the Embassy to support as many initiatives as we can.

My expectation is that, if we succeed in the field of human rights, democracy, and rule of law, success in trade relations will be substantially higher: investors prefer investment opportunities in an environment that is predictable and transparent based on democracy and rule of law. The work of the Embassy will be focused on these areas,” was Amb. Schermers’ answer.

Finally, I had to ask the Ambassador what he would wish the Armenian people, both in Armenia and abroad, for the upcoming years.

“Naturally, I wish them peace and security, a country they can live in and enjoy the growing up of children. For those abroad, I wish they can and will return as often as they can to enjoy this cradle of civilisation. For your Australian audience – I lived three years in Yarralumla, Canberra – I would like to mention that Armenians know how to make a barbie as brekkie and enjoy drinking a cold one at the Billabong. I haven’t seen cab sav but Areni is much better!”

Notable News Worth Mentioning

Image Caption: Armenia at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China (Photo from Arm Public TV)

• Armenia is represented by five athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

• Five weeks ago, we assumed Hungary was cozying up with Armenia. Well, Hungarian Eximbank opens a $200-million worth credit line during a visit of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban to Baku.

• Armenia jumpstarts collaborative efforts with Austria. This comes weeks before Armenian and Turkish envoys are set to meet in Vienna.

• Director of ANC of MENA Vera Yacoubian appointed as adviser to the Press Editors’ Syndicate of Lebanon.

• Mirzali Mahammad, a staunch critic of the Aliyev regime and victim of previous pro-regime attacks, to speak at the European Parliament.

• Tory MP Bob Blackman was “fed Azerbaijani propaganda by the Embassy,” according to a recent report.

• EU grants €2 billion to Azerbaijan as part of the economic investment collaboration plan.

• Minister of High-Tech of RA, Vahagn Khachatryan, is Civil Contract’s current go-to candidate for RA Presidency. Opposition parties decide against nominating a potential candidate.

Multimedia Corner

Image Caption: Artur Grigoryan performing Gyank u Griv via Arm Public TV YouTube channel.

The Armenian multimedia world is ever-growing. Here’s some for this week:

• Read: Simon Maghakyan’s article in Hyperallergic on the newly-established Azerbaijani working group.
  
• Listen: Gyank u Griv/Կյանք ու Կռիվ - a song composed by Artur Grigoryan, a great composer who passed away this past week. According to a Facebook post by Sirusho, the first song he composed was performed by Syuzan Margaryan, Sirusho’s mom, ages ago.
  
  
• Watch: Zartonk Media is covering many local and repat Armenians carrying out interesting work in the country. Watch one, or more, here.
  
  
• Learn: Armenian IT giant PicsArt acquired Code Republic and renamed it PicsArt Academy. Learn all about it here.