4 April 2022: Week to Week by Armenia Media with Shahen Araboghlian

By Shahen Araboghlian – Armenia Media | Tuesday, 05 April 2022

Week to Week / ՇԱԲԱԹԷ ՇԱԲԱԹ

By Shahen Araboghlian – Exclusively for Armenia Media



Armenia Did Not Send Fighter Jets to Help Russia in War, NATO & EU Confirm

Image caption: Defence Attachés Visit Armenian Airbase, Confirm Presence of Fighter Jets (Photo by Armenian MOD)


Haber Global TV, an Azerbaijani news channel, citing anonymous sources of Turkish intelligence in a news report last week, indicated that Armenia’s given Russia all four of its SU-30SM fighter jets.


The Ministry of Defence of Armenia released a statement denying this. “The information is absolutely false. All the planes in the arsenal of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, together with the crew, are in their place, fulfilling the set tasks,” the Ministry of Defense read the statement.


A few days later, defence attachés from the European Union and NATO visited one of the MOD airbases. “Commander of the airbase, Air Force Colonel Samvel Tavadyan presented the daily activities of the military unit to the foreign guests & gave answers to the questions they're interested in”, read a tweet by the Armenian MoD.


“The visiting personnel was most interested in [the] SU30-SM aircraft. Expressing gratitude for acceptance, defence attachés noted that during the visit they were convinced that all 4 SU-30SM aircraft were at [their] home base & the info spread in Azerbaijani & Turkish press, that the aircraft're taking part in hostilities in Ukraine, didn't correspond to reality”, the MOD tweet thread concluded.


Another Bite Taken of Artsakh – Again



Last Tuesday, Armenia’s Security Council rang the sirens and warned the government of a potential Azerbaijani-initiated threat against Artsakh and Armenia. These threats of attack, the Council said, will be based on unfounded claims of accusations and the unwillingness to cooperate from the Armenian side.


A day later, the Artsakh Infocenter released information confirming that Azerbaijan controlled strategic positions in Karaglukh, close to the village of Parukh, in Artsakh. The Infocenter said Russian peacekeepers will be intervening to sort the problem out.


On the same day, RA NA Speaker Alen Simonyan said Russian peacekeepers will help Azerbaijani forces return to their original posts. This was said during a CIS-Inter Parliamentary Assembly in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Factions in the Artsakh Parliament reiterated similar sentiments.


Russian Presidential Spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said “Russia is making very vigorous efforts to maintain peace in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) region, and for all relevant parties to fulfil obligations”. Extra Russian peacekeepers were deployed to stop escalations.


During an RA Gov Cabinet Meeting, RA PM Pashinyan said the lack of protection in Artsakh can lead to a potential genocide of the Armenian population.


There have been no updates as of the time of writing this recap, while it has been revealed Europe will mediate the next meeting between Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on 6th April in Brussels.


Hollywood Dares Utter the G-Word

Image caption: Marvel’s Moon Knight Mentions the Armenian Genocide, Angers Genocide Deniers. (Image belongs to Disney and Marvel)


Oscar Isaac and mention of the Armenian genocide? Unsurprising, considering he starred as an Armenian character in the very popular (and insanely expensive) movie, The Promise, not too long ago. This time, things were a little different.


I checked my Twitter timeline to find out that the gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has mentioned the Armenian genocide too in their latest TV series Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke.  The MCU studios constitute the conceptual birthplaces of superheroes like Spiderman, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Ironman, and others. The first episode of Moon Knight is currently streaming and available on Disney+.


Why’s this worth mentioning as news? Well, because, review-bombing is a thing, especially if you’re a genocide denier.


“There is no Armenian genocide you liars[...]they should keep away politics from super [h]ero shows”, reads one review. Another asks the review readers to “learn history”. Most have not bothered to comment.


The user rating on IMDb currently stands at 7.5/10 despite the review-bombing, but most of the recent comments are filled with hate and rage. Most genocide-denying comments seem to have been removed because I personally cannot find the comments I read a day ago.


Hollywood doesn’t always get it right, but occasionally, it does.

Football Kentron - Weekly Soccer News

Image caption: Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the only goal for AS Roma's win over Sampdoria. (Image by Getty Images)


Our friends over at Football Kentron have, once again, done a splendid job in hand-picking soccer-related news from the past week. Read them below, and follow them for more.


  • Armenian Men's National Team suffered a horrific 9-0 defeat against Norway in the friendly match, after beating Montenegro a few days earlier. Arman Hovhannisyan received a red card from the 17th minute, which left a gap for Armenia to concede several goals. This is the biggest loss (the biggest margin) the Men's National Team has suffered.

  • Noravank beat Ararat Yerevan with a scoreline of 2-1 and they head to the finals of the Armenian Cup. Their opponents are Urartu FC who knocked out FC Van with a 3-0 scoreline. The details of the final are to be released soon.

  • Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the only goal for AS Roma's win over Sampdoria.

  • Eduard Spertsyan played 75 minutes for Krasnodar in their 0-1 loss against Dinamo Moscow.

  • Sargis Adamyan came off the bench for 30 minutes in Club Brugge's 3-1 victory over Bearschot Amtwerp. He was absent from the friendlies due to injury.

  • Another Armenian attacker, Lucas Zelerayan, was awarded MLS Player of the Month for March with 4 goals and 2 assists over 4 games played.

  • Hovhannes Hambardzumyan recovered from COVID-19 and featured for 60 minutes in the huge Anorthosis win of 4-1 against APOEL Nicosia.

  • Vahan Bichakhchyan came off the bench in the 73rd minute in Pogon Szczecin's 0-4 over Gornik Leczna.

  • Football Kentron guest-buddy Felix Ferahyan fully recovered from his back injury and is back on the teamsheet for the Finnish League.


Notable News:

  • Gas supply has been restored in Artsakh.

  • Armenian wrestler wins European Wrestling Championship, winning the final against Turkey. His name is Malkhas Amoyan.

  • Hetq.am reported that the RA Minister of Emergency Situations has gotten detained.

  • Armenian-American Museum raised a whopping $31 million USD at a gala dinner.

  • Mayor of Goris Arush Arushanyan has been released from imprisonment. The imprisonment was politically motivated, according to the opposition.

  • Co-founder of Istanbul-based Aras Publication House Mgrdtich Margosian has passed away.

  • The LA Unified School District (LAUSD) President, Kelly Gonez has announced a partnership with partnered with the Armenian National Committee of America to train teachers in the district on the Armenian genocide.

  • The Sunrise Stepanakert Art Festival is now accepting submissions! Read more here. We interviewed the founder for our weekly recap last week.

  • POTUS Biden reportedly cut aid to Armenia by almost half, and no aid to Artsakh has been yet foreseen.


Multimedia Corner

Image caption: Mgrdtich Margosian’s Writings Narrated in the Dikranagerd/Diyarbakir dialect of Western Armenian, presented by Houshamadyan.


  • Read: Read about the fascinating life of Parajanov in Ukraine on the Ara the Rat blog here.
  • Listen: Check out all the high-quality Armenian (both Eastern & Western) audiobooks that are free on Vlume this month here.

  • Watch: Mgrditch Margosian’s death shook the Armenian community of Istanbul. Watch this narration of his writings from his Mer Ayt Goghmeru (Where We Come From) book here. The narration is in the Dikranagerd dialect of Western Armenian, produced by Houshamadyan, and performed by Arsinee Khanjian.

  • Learn: Who/what is Armenia.jpg? Learn about them here.

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