Armenian Reporter: Emil Sanamyan

Emil Sanamyan

Emil Sanamyan is the Washington Editor of the Armenian Reporter.

Rep. Howard Berman chairing committee meeting. Armenian Reporter.

Genocide resolution gets March 4 committee vote

Feb 05, 2010: House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee announces plans to mark up the resolution nearly a year after its introduction and amid deadlock in Armenia-Turkey process. more...

Coming up: Washington conferences

Feb 04, 2010: Upcoming events will focus on U.S. policy in the Caucasus, Armenia-Diaspora and U.S.-Turkey relations more...

Ratings: Armenia is bit less free than year ago

Feb 04, 2010: Two Washington think tanks issued their annual ratings last month that indicated a slight deterioration in Armenia's performance compared to a year ago. Both ratings are considered when U.S. decides countries' eligibility for U.S. Millennium Challenge assistance. more...

Deputy Secretary Steinberg (right) in Yerevan with Foreign Minister Nalbandian on Feb. 4 . Photolure

U.S. continues push for Armenia-Turkey protocols

Feb 04, 2010: Senior U.S. State Department officials lobby the protocols, as U.S. intelligence chief warns of their danger. more...

Mark Kirk. Courtesy photo

Armenian caucus co-chair aims for Obama's Senate seat

Feb 04, 2010: Co-chair of the congressional Armenian caucus Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) cruised to victory in the GOP primary held February 2, ahead of general election that will decide who is to fill President Obama's old Senate seat. more...

President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Jan. 27 . Official White House photo by Pete Souza

White House requests $40mln in 2011 Armenia aid

Feb 01, 2010: The Obama Administration has requested $40 million in aid to Armenia in 2011. The request represents a substantial increase over the Administration’s 2010 proposal and is close to the amount approved by Congress last December. more...

Three presidents visit 2014 Winter Olympics site. Kremlin.ru

Latest Karabakh talks focus on preamble for Basic Principles

Jan 25, 2010: Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met on January 25 in Sochi for the latest round of high-level talks on the Karabakh peace process. more...

Danny Tarkanian. . Tarkanian campaign

Polls: Armenian-American gains in Nevada Senate race

Jan 19, 2010: Danny Tarkanian, a Las Vegas businessperson and son of nationally renowned basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, has emerged as the frontrunner in the race for the Senate seat now held by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

People scrambled in the ruins as an earthquake brought widespread death and devastation to Haiti. Photolure

Armenian groups join appeals for Haiti relief

Jan 19, 2010: The catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti in the late afternoon of January 12 left millions in need of emergency aid, with rescue and aid groups from around the globe, including several groups from the Armenian diaspora pitching in, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Putin (right) at join press conference with Erdogan on January 13. Russian government photo

Putin: “Don’t pile difficult problems together”

Jan 13, 2010: “The Karabakh problem and Turkish-Armenian relations are difficult issues each in their own right and it would not be right to link them into one package,” Russian premier Vladimir Putin said this week at a joint press conference with visiting Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. more...

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, Yerevan, June 9, 2009. . Tatul Hakobyan / Armenian Reporter

U.S. insists on delinking Karabakh from Armenia-Turkey normalization

Dec 12, 2009: Two days after the prime minister of Turkey ruled out parliamentary ratification of agreements with Armenia unless there was progress on Karabakh, the United States government reiterated its insistence that the two issues should be dealt with separately. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.), member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairwomen of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Congress sets Armenia aid at below 2009 level

Dec 12, 2009: Conferees from the two chambers of Congress have agreed on a foreign aid bill for Fiscal Year 2010 that allocates $41 million in economic aid to Armenia, $8 million for Karabakh, and $3 million each in military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan. more...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Washington Dec 7 2009

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a Washington press conference, Dec. 7, 2009. Armenian Reporter

Erdogan rules out ratification of protocols without progress on Karabakh (update 3)

Dec 12, 2009: It is up to the Turkish parliament to ratify the agreements reached with Armenia, and ratification depends on progress in the Karabakh talks, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to the United States on December 7 and 8. In Yerevan, President Serge Sargsyan warned that attempts “to link Turkish-Armenian relations with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem” were “a priori doomed to failure.” Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Ambassador Nabi Sensoy of Turkey, who attended an Independence Day reception at the Armenian Embassy in Washington on September 30, 2008. Embassy of Turkey

Turkish ambassador resigns over prime minister’s visit

Dec 12, 2009: Nabi Sensoy, a veteran Turkish diplomat who has been ambassador in Washington since 2006, resigned just hours after Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan completed his visit to Washington. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Leading Turkish think tank opens Washington branch

Dec 12, 2009: The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) of Ankara became the first private Turkey-based think tank to open a branch in the United States earlier this year. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Armen Rustamian, one of the four members of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, chairs the Armenian parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and is the head of the Supreme Council of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Tatul Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter

Senior Armenian member of parliament to meet members of Congress

Dec 12, 2009: Armen Rustamian, the chairperson of the Armenian parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee and a senior member of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), visited Washington on December 9–10. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Tony Blair in Baku. Daily Mail

British media scandalized over ex-PM Blair’s paid Baku visit

Dec 12, 2009: Tony Blair, who was prime minister of Great Britain from 1997 to 2007, received nearly $150,000 to make a visit to Azerbaijan and deliver a speech there last month. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Russia wants NATO, OSCE replaced with new security pact

Dec 04, 2009: President Dmitry Medvedev published what he called a draft proposal for a new European security treaty that Russia wants to supplant Cold War-era organizations like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Azerbaijan advises International Court of Justice on Kosovo

Dec 04, 2009: Thirty-five states, including Azerbaijan but not Armenia, starting this week have provided "advisory opinions" in an International Court of Justice (ICJ) case contesting the validity of Kosovo's independence declaration in early 2008, according to ICJ. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Celeste Wallander. Melik Baghdasarian / Photolure.

Pentagon’s regional manager makes fist Armenia trip

Dec 04, 2009: Celeste Wallander, deputy assistant secretary of defense in charge of U.S. defense policy in Eurasia, discussed bilateral cooperation with Armenian officials on December 2-3. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Barack Obama, and their spouses last met in Pittsburgh during the G20 summit in Sept. 2009. AP

Afghanistan, Iran, and weapons to dominate Erdogan-Obama agenda

Dec 04, 2009: The U.S. military buildup in Afghanistan, ongoing concerns with Iran's nuclear program, and potential American arms sales to Turkey are expected to dominate President Barack Obama's talking points as he meets Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on December 7 Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Hosts and volunteers celebrate at the end of the telethon. Photolure.

Armenians worldwide raise $15.9 million for Armenia and Karabakh

Dec 03, 2009: The Armenia Fund raised about $15.9 million in 2009 to help revitalize the town of Shushi and rural areas throughout Armenia. But for a fourth consecutive year, contributions from Armenian-Americans declined Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Rep. Bill Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts.

Armenian Caucus member takes on Congress’s European portfolio

Dec 02, 2009: Representative Bill Delahunt (D.-Mass), a veteran member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, has been selected to chair the Subcommittee on Europe of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Delahunt will replace as subcommittee chair Rep. Rob Wexler (D.-Fla.), the founder of the Turkey Caucus, who is leaving Congress next month. more...

Gegham Bagdasarian.
.

Karabakh MP: An unpleasant division of labor

Nov 27, 2009: “People know that their leaders tend to take advantage of the opportunities leaving the public to deal with the challenges. This is a very unpleasant division of labor,” says Gegham Baghdasarian, one of the few opposition members of parliament in Karabakh. Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan spoke to him about the Karabakh talks and domestic politics. more...

Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran is another project of Russia's AtomStroyExport which was selected for the Turkey plant. US Department of State

Turkey scraps nuclear power tender

Nov 26, 2009: Turkish officials moved on November 20 to cancel a 2008 tender for the construction of four nuclear reactors, but said they were determined to build the reactors after another tender is announced. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan .

Major U.S. dailies raise concerns with Turkey

Nov 26, 2009: Ahead of a summit between Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Barack Obama on December 7 in Washington, leading U.S. newspapers outlined concerns with Mr. Erdogan's policies Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

David Krikorian . Armenian Reporter

Krikorian closer to Democratic nomination in congressional run

Nov 26, 2009: Businessperson David Krikorian emerged as the frontrunner to clinch the Democratic Party's nomination for member of Congress representing Ohio's second congressional district after state representative Ted Book pulled out. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Majority leader cosponsors Senate resolution

Nov 26, 2009: Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who heads the majority Democratic Party in the Senate, on November 19 cosponsored Resolution 316, which would affirm the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Greg Aftandilian at an August 2009 . POMED.org

Expert: Armenia-Turkey protocols undermine congressional resolutions

Nov 26, 2009: The agreements signed by the Armenian and Turkish governments last month will serve to chip away at congressional support for Armenian Genocide resolutions, according to Gregory Aftandilian a former State Department analyst and senior foreign-policy advisor in Congress. more...

Ara Harutiunian .

NKR prime minister: our membership in U.N. is matter of time

Nov 26, 2009: While at the United Nations headquarters in New York on November 18, NKR prime Minister Ara Harutiunian argued that international recognition of NKR's independence and the republic's U.N. membership were just a matter of time, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Corruption perception report issued

Nov 20, 2009: Armenia was ranked 120th of 180 countries and on par with Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Vietnam in terms of perception of its government corruption, according to the Transparency International annual rating released on November 19. more...

Danny Tarkanian (center) with ANC activists.

Armenian-American candidate for Senate opposes Turkey protocols

Nov 20, 2009: Danny Tarkanian, a Las Vegas businessperson seeking the Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate, expressed opposition to the U.S.-mediated Armenia-Turkey protocols, the Armenian National Committee - Political Action Committee (ANC-PAC) reported on November 14. more...

Philip Gordon. Tigran Tadevosyan / Photolure.

U.S. official reiterates support for Armenia-Turkey “process”

Nov 20, 2009: A senior State Department official speaking in Turkey reiterated support for U.S.-mediated Armenia-Turkey talks that resulted in the signing of protocols on relations last month, but left no indication about when the agreements might be implemented, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Eka Tkeshelashvili.

Armenia mediates as Russia and Georgia talk of opening border

Nov 20, 2009: Georgian-Russian rhetoric remains acrimonious and formal negotiations over former Georgian provinces, held in Geneva, have proved fruitless so far. But low-key talks held with Armenian mediation appear to have begun to produce results, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Serli Hacikoglu's winning entry at the 2009 FotoWeek DC competition was taken on the Yerevan-Gyumri road. Serli Hacikoglu

Armenia photo takes first place in Washington competition

Nov 19, 2009: Serli Hacikoglu, an amateur photographer from Bethesda, Md., won first place in the “Student Travel” category at the FotoWeek DC competition held November 7–14. She was honored for a photo she took on the Yerevan-Gyumri road. more...

Ara Harutiunian, prime minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, in his office in Stepanakert. Armenian Reporter

Prime Minister speaks of Karabakh's growing economy, and opposes retreat on national issues

Nov 18, 2009: Prime Minister Ara Harutiunian and other Nagorno-Karabakh officials arrived in the United States this week ahead of the annual Thanksgiving telethon organized by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. On November 5, Washington editor Emil Sanamyan spoke with Mr. Harutiunian in his office in Stepanakert. more...

Coming up: Turkish leader to visit Washington

Nov 13, 2009: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to visit with President Barack Obama on December 7, officials said this week. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Morton Abramowitz.

Turkey warned against distancing from West

Nov 13, 2009: "Turkey's leaders must not think that they can expand the country's influence without first having a firm footing in the West," Morton Abramowitz, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, and Henri Barkey, a Turkey scholar, warned in an article they cowrote for the journal "Foreign Affairs." Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Senator John McCain.

Sen. McCain: Armenian Genocide “amply documented”

Nov 13, 2009: "I believe that genocide was committed against the Armenian people, I think there is ample documentation of that," Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), the former GOP presidential candidate, told the Voice of America (VoA) Georgian service on November 9. On several previous occasions, the senator from Arizona has acknowledged the Armenian Genocide while opposing congressional resolutions on the subject, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

MCC: Armenia “in red” in 8 of 17 performance indicators

Nov 13, 2009: Armenia ranks below average in nearly half of the indicators used by the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to determine countries' eligibility for its assistance programs, according to an annual scorecard released on November 9. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, right, and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands before their meeting, in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 21, 2008. Leading human rights groups criticized the visit and called on Turkish leaders to pressure him into ending violations in Sudan's Darfur region. Burhan Ozbilici / AP Photo

Sudan leader cancels Turkey trip amid international protests

Nov 13, 2009: Wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was due to attend an Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit held in Istanbul on November 9, but cancelled at the last moment. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Richard Armitage.

Turkish lobby group picks ex-State Dept. No. 2 as chair

Nov 09, 2009: Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will replace former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft as chair of the board of directors of the American-Turkish Council (ATC), the group reported on October 29. The appointment will take effect at the start of 2010. more...

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) .

Senate Democratic leader raises concerns over Armenia-Turkey protocols

Nov 09, 2009: In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) communicated his constituents' concerns over Armenia-Turkey agreements signed last month. Mr. Reid leads the majority Democratic Party in the Senate. more...

Tina Kaidanow. Mkhitar Khachatryan / Photolure.

Report: U.S. warns Azerbaijan over Karabakh war threats

Nov 09, 2009: The State Department has denied reports that it warned Azerbaijan that the United States might move to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's independence if Azerbaijan were to launch a new aggression against the Armenian region. The claim was published by an opposition Azerbaijani newspaper, Yeni Musavat, and publicized by other Azerbaijani and Russian media on November 3. more...

Nerses Yeritsian. Photolure.

Governance, business climate, technology in focus of U.S.-Armenia talks

Nov 09, 2009: The United States and Armenia drew up a new action plan focusing on "good governance, addressing regional issues, and enhancing the business climate in Armenia," the U.S. State Department reported on November 4. The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on science and technology cooperation. more...

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian during Army Day celebrations, Jan. 28, 2009. Photolure

Armenia set to join NATO’s Afghanistan force

Oct 31, 2009: Armenia is in the “final stages” of deploying a peacekeeping unit with NATO International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Armenia, European Union discuss cooperation

Oct 31, 2009: Three Caucasus foreign ministers arrived in Luxembourg for October 26–27 meetings with European Union officials intended to review cooperative programs and map out what comes next. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Coming up: Baku courts Washington

Oct 31, 2009: Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov, government counsel Malcolm Shaw, and analyst Alexandros Petersen are expected to promote Baku’s vision of “the future of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict” during a November 3 off-the-record discussion in Washington, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Vice President Joe Biden speaking at a university in Romania. White House

Biden: East Europeans should feel safe, tutor former Soviets

Oct 31, 2009: Visiting the capitals of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania, Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to their security. During his tour, he also suggested that the newer NATO members should help former Soviet states become more democratic. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.) and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R.-N.J.) .

Members of Congress urge higher Armenia aid for 2010

Oct 29, 2009: Twenty-nine members of the House of Representatives urged Senate and House appropriators to agree to allocate $48 million in U.S. assistance to Armenia, $10 million to Nagorno-Karabakh, and $3.45 million in military aid to Armenia in fiscal year 2010. more...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) at the introduction of the Armenian Genocide resolution, H. Res. 106, January 30, 2007. Armenian Reporter

Rep. Adam Schiff: Protocols offer promise for Armenia, fresh excuse for resolution opponents

Oct 29, 2009: “The opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia would be an unmitigated positive,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in an interview with the Armenian Reporter’s Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan. But the California Democrat is concerned about some provisions of the protocols signed on October 10, and with Turkey’s willingness to implement the agreement. more...

President Barack Obama in his private study on Feb. 3, 2009. White House photo by Pete Souza

Obama wants “maintained momentum” for Armenia-Turkey normalization

Oct 22, 2009: The presidents of the United States and Turkey discussed "the historic progress that is being made on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the importance of maintaining the momentum in this important effort," the White House reported on October 17 about a phone conversation the same day. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Talks over Iran's nuclear program have been underway in Vienna since Oct. 19 . AP photo

Turkey seeks mediator role between Iran, U.S.

Oct 22, 2009: President Barack Obama has invited Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Washington, the Turkish leader revealed on October 16, suggesting that he may go immediately after a visit to Iran. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Senator Robert Menendez will accept the Eastern Diocese's "Friend of the Armenians" award during the Diocesan Assembly banquet at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, on Friday, May 1.

Senators reintroduce Armenian Genocide resolution

Oct 22, 2009: Senators Robert Menendez (D.-N.J.) and John Ensign (R.-Nev.) on October 21 reintroduced a resolution on the Armenian Genocide, a move welcomed by Armenian advocacy organizations. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

The U.S. Capitol. Wikipedia

Congressional Turkey caucus expands to 100 members

Oct 22, 2009: Membership in the congressional Turkey caucus reach 100, the Turkish Coalition of America reported on October 16. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Alexander Vershbow in Kazakhstan last June . NATO website

U.S. official: No plans for missile defense in non-NATO states

Oct 22, 2009: A senior U.S. defense official this week denied reports about U.S. intentions to base radar in the Caucasus that could track missile launches from Iran. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

UNDP Human Development Report. .

Human development, press freedom reports issued

Oct 22, 2009: Armenia's level of "human development" was below Turkey's but slightly above Azerbaijan's and Georgia's, according to an annual report issued by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). And according to a report issued by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, Armenia registered a regress in press freedom. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Coming up: Armenian officials in the U.S.

Oct 22, 2009: Economics Minister Nerses Yeritsian will join Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch at the Armenia Technology Congress in San Jose, Calif., on November 5-8. more...

Turkish memorial in Baku . sapronov.livejournal.com

Azerbaijan, Turkey exchange protests after Armenia talks

Oct 22, 2009: Azerbaijan complained that Turkey was obstructing its energy projects and removed Turkish flags from a Baku memorial to more than 1,000 Turks who died while fighting to establish the first Azerbaijani state in 1918-20. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

The co-chairs of the House Armenian Caucus, Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.) and Mark Steven Kirk (R.-Ill.), who commented on the latest developments in Armenia-Turkey relations.

Key Armenian Caucus members comment on protocols, Genocide resolution

Oct 17, 2009: Leading advocates of Armenian-American issues in Congress issued a joint statement that raised concerns with some of the provisions of the Armenia-Turkey protocols, while also reiterating their intention to continue to advocate for a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Anatolian Eagle exercise emblem. Turkish air force photo

Turkey bars Israel from war games in latest snub

Oct 17, 2009: Ankara barred the Israeli air force from the annual "Anatolian Eagle" exercises conducted in Turkey together with NATO since 2001, international media reported on October 11. The United States and Italy have pulled out of the war games as a result. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Clinton and Lavrov express consternation at joint press conference in Moscow on Oct. 13 . Russian Foreign Ministry

U.S. and Russia detail their roles in Armenia-Turkey deal

Oct 17, 2009: Reports by U.S. and Russian officials played up their respective interventions as decisive in getting Armenia and Turkey to sign the protocols on bilateral relations, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Rep. Wexler during July 2008 book signing. Yelena Osipova / Armenian Reporter

Pro-Turkey member of Congress resigns to deal with Middle East peace

Oct 17, 2009: Rep. Robert Wexler (D.-Fla.), a key supporter of Turkey in Congress, said he will resign his seat in January, a year before completing his seventh term in the House of Representatives. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Coming up

Oct 09, 2009: more...

Ohio commission reprimands David Krikorian

Oct 09, 2009: An Armenian-American seeking the Democratic Party's nomination in Ohio's 2nd congressional district could not prove that the Turkish government directly funded the Republican incumbent's election campaign, while making statements to that effect, the Ohio Electoral Commission determined October 1, reprimanding the challenger, The Associated Press reported. more...

Tim Kaine with Barack Obama. AP photo

Armenians for Obama: administration’s policies undermine Armenian support

Oct 09, 2009: Armenian American supporters of Barack Obama's candidacy have written a letter faulting the president for failing to keep his pre-election promises, and warning that a continuing failure would have an electoral impact in 2010. more...

Sen. Bob Menendez . Senator’s office.

Sen. Menendez blasts Armenia-Turkey protocols

Oct 09, 2009: Sen. Bob Menendez (D.-N.J.), a leading Senate voice on Armenian issues, described elements of the proposed Armenia-Turkey protocols as "frankly absurd" and an "insult to the Armenian people." more...

Obama, Sargsyan have first phone conversation

Oct 09, 2009: In what was the first reported direct conversation between the two presidents, Barack Obama phoned Serge Sargsyan on October 5, "to commend him for his courageous leadership and to encourage continued progress on normalization of relations with Turkey," the White House reported the next day. more...

President Serge Sargsian meets with representatives of American-Armenian and Canadian-Armenian groups in New York, Oct. 3, 2009. Press Office of the President of Armenia

President Sargsyan promotes Turkey protocols in diaspora meetings (updated)

Oct 06, 2009: At meetings in New York and Los Angeles on October 3 and 4, representatives of American-Armenian and Canadian-Armenian groups had an exchange of views with President Serge Sargsyan on the agreement on the normalization of relations initialed between Armenia and Turkey, Emil Sanamyan reports from New York. more...

Ambassador John Evans explained that any diplomatic agreement can be altered or reversed. Washington, Sept. 24, 2009. Armenian Reporter

ANCA holds town hall meeting on protocols

Oct 01, 2009: On September 24, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) hosted a town hall-style meeting designed to highlight concerns with Armenia’s intention to sign protocols on relations with Turkey. Emil Sanamyan has a photo essay. more...

Europeans issue report on Ossetia war

Oct 01, 2009: More than a year after the brief but devastating confrontation over South Ossetia was fought largely on live television, European Union investigators determined that it was Georgia after all that launched the war; but they also said Russia’s response, while initially justifiable, soon became excessive. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

White House responds to congressional letter on Armenia policy

Oct 01, 2009: The Obama White House responded to 81 members of Congress more than six weeks after their letter raised concerns about the United States’ Armenia-Turkey policy. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian of Armenia, New York, Sept. 28, 2009.

U.S. again insists on “reasonable timeframe” for Armenia-Turkey normalization

Oct 01, 2009: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon reaffirmed U.S. support for the Armenia-Turkey normalization process this week. Mr. Gordon's remarks, however, pointed to persistent concerns about a speedy ratification of the agreement. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

The Turkish press reacts to the Armenia protocols

Sep 26, 2009: Most of the Turkish political class as well as Turkey’s lobbyists in the United States have welcomed the Turkish government’s intention to sign protocols on relations with Armenia. Resistance, naturally, has come from the political opposition, including the nationalist opposition parties in and out of parliament. Emil Sanamyan has a round-up of some of the reactions made public. more...

Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov at the State Department, July 7, 2007. Armenian Reporter

Azerbaijani official assails U.S. policies in “friendly talk”

Sep 25, 2009: A senior Azerbaijani official dismissed U.S. criticism of his government's treatment of political opponents, restrictions on mass media and nongovernmental groups, and corruption, pointing to what he argued were similar restrictions or greater problems in the United States. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Serge Sargsian of Armenia. Photolure

Armenian president to discuss Turkey protocols on diaspora tour

Sep 24, 2009: President Serge Sargsian will visit Armenian communities, including those in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Rostov-on-Don, and Beirut starting at the end of next week, Emil Sanamyan reports. The visit is intended to outline Armenia's policy vis-à-vis Turkey. more...

Armenian-American groups split on Turkey protocols

Sep 18, 2009: The protocols on the establishment of bilateral relations and diplomatic relations that Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign on October 13 continue to be debated by Armenian-Americans, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

U.S. scraps European missile defense plan, launches fresh Iran diplomacy

Sep 18, 2009: The Obama administration decided to cancel the former president's plan to place missile interceptors and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems used by the German military. U.S. seeks to sell similar systems to Turkey. Wikipedia

Turkey seeks upgraded missile defense shield

Sep 18, 2009: The Turkish government is considering proposals on ways to improve its missile defense capabilities, including a potential $7.8 billion deal with U.S. companies. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Tigran Sarkisian .

Coming up: Armenia’s prime minister to visit U.S.

Sep 18, 2009: A visit of Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian to the United States is in the works, Armenia's Ministry of Economy revealed in a statement on September 11. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Charles Diradour.

Armenian-American seeks Virginia congressional seat

Sep 17, 2009: Charles Diradour, a Richmond real estate developer, will challenge incumbent Rep. Eric Cantor (R.-Va.) in the 2010 congressional elections, Mr. Diradour's campaign reported on September 15. more...

David Krikorian holding the video record of Sibel Edmonds' deposition. Armenian Reporter

In congressional run, David Krikorian is banking on the people

Sep 15, 2009: David Krikorian, who is campaigning for a congressional seat in Ohio, spoke to Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan about his campaign and the legal battle initiated by the incumbent member of Congress against him for drawing attention to the support she receives from Turkish interests. more...

Millennium Challange Corporation Acting CEO Darius Mans. Armenian Reporter

U.S. agency keeps Armenia aid cut in place

Sep 12, 2009: The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) board held its regular quarterly meeting on September 9, with no new decisions on Armenia made public, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

The Global Competitiveness Report.

Rankings measure economic competitiveness, extent of state failure

Sep 12, 2009: Armenia is behind its neighbors when it comes to the ability to attract foreign investments and do business, while it has done a relatively better job establishing state institutions, recent studies say. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov at the State Department, July 7, 2007. Armenian Reporter

Coming up: Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Turkish officials in the U.S.

Sep 12, 2009: On September 14, European Union officials will gather in Brussels for a fresh review of the EU's policy in the South Caucasus. Also, officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey will be in the United States. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Amb. Robert Bradtke being interviewed about Kosovo's independence declaration in 2008. RFE/RL

U.S. appoints seasoned diplomat as next Karabakh envoy

Sep 08, 2009: Ambassador Robert Bradtke will serve as the U.S. co-chair of the international mediation group tasked with managing the Karabakh peace process, the State Department reported on September 7. more...

Rep. Adam Schiff.

Congressional, Armenian-American reaction to protocols is mixed

Sep 04, 2009: The announcement by Armenia and Turkey of their intention to sign protocols that could pave the way for diplomatic relations have elicited a slew of reactions from members of Congress and Armenian-American organizations, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

The U.S. Capitol. Wikipedia

Caucus co-chairs reiterate call for “international recognition” on Karabakh jubilee

Sep 04, 2009: “We continue to join you in the call for formal international recognition of your independence,” Reps. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R,-Ill.) declared in a September 2 letter addressed to Nagorno-Karabakh’s President Bako Sahakian on the republic’s Independence Day, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan. turkmenistan.gov.tm

Turkmenistan ratchets up rhetoric in Caspian dispute with Azerbaijan

Sep 04, 2009: Turkmenistan will build up its naval forces in the Caspian, its President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov declared on August 31. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have failed to agree on their maritime affairs after years of intermittent talks, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

The Turkish tanker Buket captured at Poti, Georgia.

Russia, Georgia square off over Black Sea traffic to Abkhazia

Sep 04, 2009: Georgia sparked a fresh bout of tensions with Russia after its coast guard boats detained a cargo ship carrying fuel from Turkey to Abkhazia, RFE/RL and other media reported this week. more...

Strategy, politics, and opportunism

Sep 04, 2009: Emil Sanamyan looks at what may be behind the Turkish government’s surprise decision to move ahead with the process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations. He focuses on the Turkish government's "democratization initiative" aimed at expanding rights for Turkey's Kurds. more...

Sargsian Gul Nalbandian Davutoglu Prague May 7, 2009

President Abdullah Gul of Turkey, left, grabs President Serge Sargsian's hand during their meeting at the EU summit in Prague on May 7, 2009. With them are Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, center, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey, partly obscured on left.

Armenia and Turkey to sign protocols on relations

Sep 01, 2009: Armenia and Turkey on August 31 made public two documents that call for the establishment of diplomatic ties, and a “roadmap” that outlines a potentially drawn-out process for the normalization of relations. Judging by the protocols’ language and Turkey’s past tactics, further progress in relations may be delayed yet again, Emil Sanamyan writes. more...

Senator Edward Kennedy.

Senator Kennedy’s leadership on Armenian issues recalled

Aug 28, 2009: Armenian-Americans this week remembered the longstanding leadership and support of Senator Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.). Throughout more than four decades in the U.S. Congress, Senator Kennedy actively supported Armenian-American concerns. more...

Doug Frantz on Tavis Smiley. PBS

Former editor Doug Frantz probing nuclear smuggling for Senate committee

Aug 28, 2009: The former Los Angeles Times editor who stirred up controversy in the Armenian community is now working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee led by Senator John Kerry (D.-Mass.) more...

Marc Grossman (right) speaking with then Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian in 2003. NATO

Former U.S. official: Karabakh settlement up to Armenia and Azerbaijan

Aug 28, 2009: The Karabakh "conflict should be solved in Baku and Yerevan, not in Washington or Moscow," Marc Grossman, former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs told Azerbaijani officials on August 24. more...

The Ronald Reagan federal building in Santa Ana, where pleas were entered. Dept. of Justice

Defendants plead “not guilty” in alleged consular scam

Aug 28, 2009: Five individuals, including two former staff members at the Armenian Consulate in Los Angeles, have entered "not guilty" pleas in four separate cases in which they are charged with conspiracy to obstruct U.S. immigration proceedings. more...

Yeghiayan Giragos Kabateck Angelides May 2006

At a May 11, 2006, press conference, attorney Mark Geragos, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, and attorneys Brian Kabateck and Vartkes Yeghiayan announce a class action lawsuit on behalf of descendants of Armenian Genocide victims, against Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank for assets belonging to descendants of Armenian Genocide victims. Damian Dovarganes / AP

In Armenian insurance case, lawyers to ask for rehearing

Aug 28, 2009: In an interview, attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan says a request for an en banc rehearing will be filed with the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court by September 10 in Movsesian v. Victoria Verscherung AG. In that case, a panel of the court last week struck down a California law that allows the descendants of Armenian Genocide victims to sue in state courts for unpaid insurance benefits. more...

Danny Tarkanian Natalie Manoogian Mosher David Krikorian

Danny Tarkanian, Natalie Manoogian Mosher, and David Krikorian.

Armenian-Americans to challenge congressional incumbents in 2010

Aug 21, 2009: At least three Armenian-Americans have launched electoral campaigns to take on incumbent members of Congress in the 2010 elections, Emil Sanamyan reports. Danny Tarkanian is running for the U.S. Senate in Nevada, Natalie Manoogian Mosher is running for the House in Michigan, and David Krikorian is running for the House in Ohio. more...

Tina Kaidanow.

State Department’s Caucasus manager names his successor

Aug 21, 2009: Ambassador Tina Kaidanow will serve as the next U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of relations with the Caucasus, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. Matt Bryza, who currently holds the job, made the announcement in Georgia on August 10. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Russia says it wants Karabakh settlement; mulls use of military force abroad

Aug 21, 2009: “Russia is interested in the [Karabakh] conflict settlement and we are not interested in any conflicts in the Caucasus,” Russian premier Vladimir Putin said on a visit to Turkey on August 6. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Putin and Erdogan meeting in Ankara on August 6.

Russia, Turkey reach fresh energy, trade agreements

Aug 21, 2009: Turkey agreed to transit Russian gas to third countries and will continue to consider the Russian bid to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, the two nations’ leaders agreed earlier this month. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Rep. Frank Pallone during a meeting with NKR officials at his office on Capitol Hill. NKR Office in the United States

Frank Pallone: U.S. recognition of NKR will be difficult

Aug 20, 2009: Drawing on questions submitted by readers of the "Armenian Reporter," Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan interviewed Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., the New Jersey Democrat who is a founding co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. more...

Sibel Edmonds answering questions after her deposition on August 8, with her lawyer Michael Kohn on right. Armenian Reporter

Sibel Edmonds offers details of Turkey’s covert operations in U.S.

Aug 10, 2009: Operatives allegedly acting at the behest of the Turkish government used evidence of an extramarital affair to blackmail a sitting Democratic member of Congress, while paying off others in Congress and the executive branch to support Turkey’s agenda, a former translator privy to federal investigations of the activities said in a deposition for the Ohio Elections Commission, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia with President Barack Obama of the United States, Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, July 6, 2009. Russia's Presidential Press and Information Office

U.S. officials, Congress members debate relations with Russia

Aug 01, 2009: In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Europe on July 28, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander discussed the aftermath of President Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow in early July. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Then-Senator Joe Biden in Tbilisi with Pres. Saakashvili and his spouse, August 17, 2009. U.S. Embassy in Georgia

Biden comments on Russian economy, Georgian politics

Aug 01, 2009: Russia will be forced to cooperate with the United States because Russia will grow economically and politically weaker, Vice President Joe Biden told the Wall Street Journal at the end of his trip to Georgia last week. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Hillary Clinton at the State Department in May 2009.

Clinton indicates shift in U.S. thinking on Iran nuclear program

Aug 01, 2009: With chances for a new government in Tehran quickly receding, American leaders have renewed warnings over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint press conference in Sochi, Russia, May 16, 2009.

Russia, Turkey to hold fresh high-level talks

Aug 01, 2009: Russian premier Vladimir Putin will visit with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on August 6, the Russian and Turkish governments announced on July 30. Emil Sanamyan reports details. more...

Some of the 81 signatures of members of Congress on a letter to President Obama urging him to separate the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations from recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

President Obama is urged to correct course on Armenia-Turkey policy

Jul 30, 2009: The United States should “separate the issues” of the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, 81 members of Congress said in July 30 letter to President Barack Obama. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

A file photo of Norair Ghalumian, now 52, a former consul at the Armenian Consulate General in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2002. Photolure

U.S. charges two former Armenian consular staff members in Los Angeles (updated)

Jul 29, 2009: Two former employees of Armenia's Consulate General in Los Angeles were among five individuals charged on July 28 by the United States in four separate criminal complaints with "conspiracy to obstruct proceedings" before the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Members of Congress reiterate support for Armenia, Karabakh

Jul 24, 2009: Four key congressional supporters of Armenian-American issues released a joint statement denouncing Azerbaijan’s threatening rhetoric and reiterating support for Karabakh peace. more...

Mark Kirk announces Senate bid with Jim Edgar

Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chair Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) announces his bid for the US Senate. He is seen here with former Illionois Gov. Jim Edgar. ANCA

Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chair to run for Senate

Jul 24, 2009: Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) who last January became co-chair of the congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues will run for the U.S. Senate, he announced on July 20. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

AYF protest at Chevron in Washington. AYF photo

Chevron lobbied against Genocide resolution as it sought Turkey oil concession

Jul 24, 2009: A major U.S. oil company engaged in lobbying against a congressional resolution that affirms the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide as it negotiated to win an oil concession in Turkey. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

The Navy destroyer USS Stout, pictured here at its home base in Norfolk, Virginia, anchored in the Republic of Georgia last week for naval exercises. Navy.mil

U.S. pledges continued military support for Georgia

Jul 24, 2009: Vice President Joe Biden toured Ukraine and Georgia this week in a visit that sought to underscore U.S. support for the two countries after President Barack Obama, on a visit to Moscow earlier this month, had declared a new, more cooperative stage in relations with Russia. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Raffi Kojian in the village of Khachik on the border with Nakhichevan.

On the Armenian blogosphere (part 1 of 2 or possibly more)

Jul 24, 2009: In recent years, bloggers in Armenia have taken an increasingly prominent role as activists and reporters, complementing and sometimes sidelining established politicians and journalists, Emil Sanamyan writes in his column Reporter.Web.Review 1.3. more...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) at microphone, with Rep. George Radanovich (R.-Calif.), left, and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.), discussing the Armenian Genocide resolution in January 2007. Armenian Reporter

Members of Congress raise concerns with Armenia-Turkey “road-map”

Jul 20, 2009: In a proposed letter to President Barack Obama, leading congressional advocates of Armenian-American issues charged Turkey with reneging on a commitment to normalize relations with Armenia and urged the administration "to separate the issues of normalization and genocide recognition." more...

Ken Hachikian, chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of America.

ANCA denounces “pressure” on Armenia regarding Karabakh

Jul 20, 2009: The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has expressed “profound disappointment” over the recent joint statement of the presidents of the United States, Russia, and France about the Karabakh conflict. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan visits Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Jan. 2008. AP Photo

Erdogan sees “nearly genocide” in China

Jul 20, 2009: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan characterized recent clashes in China’s northwestern Xiniang province as “nearly genocide.” Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Turkey agrees with Europeans over gas transit

Jul 20, 2009: After months of disagreements, Turkey signed an agreement with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria to serve as a transit point for natural gas supplies to Europe. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Negotiations on Karabakh could be illustrated as a simple pendulum moving back and forth from the point of rest at 3, equivalent to the status quo. In that case 1 could represent a return to status quo ante before the conflict (Karabakh inside Azerbaijan); 2, a transitional point in such a return, such as the 1997 "stage-by-stage" proposal or the Madrid principles; 5, formalization of Karabakh's separation from Azerbaijan; and 4, a transitional point to such an eventuality that a new referendum on status or unilateral recognition of Karabakh's independence could provide. Emil Sanamyan

The geography of the Karabakh peace process

Jul 19, 2009: Even for those following the Karabakh negotiations closely, the convoluted jargon developed in the peace process can sound like a geography quiz. more...

Hillary Clinton at the State Department in May 2009.

U.S. sees Turkey, others as “emerging global powers”

Jul 18, 2009: Turkey is the only NATO member among countries listed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as "emerging global powers" the U.S. hopes to see as "full partners in tackling the global agenda," Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Serge Sargsian on a visit to Gyumri this week. He is under fire over diplomatic setbacks in talks with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tigran Tadevosian / Photolure

Madrid principles put Armenia on verge of Lisbon 2

Jul 18, 2009: Recent developments have not brought the fundamental issue at the core of the Karabakh conflict – Karabakh’s status – any closer to resolution; but a confluence of circumstances has put recent negotiations on a track that could precipitate a serious domestic challenge for President Serge Sargsian and the administration he leads, Emil Sanamyan argues. more...

Statistics from compete.com .

We are what we read

Jul 10, 2009: Emil Sanamyan explores the question, Where do English-speaking (and –reading) people get Armenian news online? more...

G8 summit host Silvio Berlusconi gesturing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel with Indian, U.S., British, French, and Canadian leaders looking on, July 9, 2009. G8Italia2009.it

Armenian issues get high-level attention at G8 summit and in phone conversations

Jul 09, 2009: The presidents of France, Russia, and the United States were expected to issue a joint statement on Karabakh during the G8 summit of the world’s leading economies being held on July 8–10 in Italy, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia with President Barack Obama of the United States, Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, July 6, 2009. Russia's Presidential Press and Information Office

U.S., Russia agree on Afghanistan transit, disagree on Georgia

Jul 09, 2009: Russia will allow the United States to transit supplies for U.S. and coalition forces via Russian territory, news agencies reported. The agreement was made public as President Barack Obama was hosted for a working visit to Moscow on July 6–8 that was supposed to “reset” bilateral relations that have long been troubled by tensions. more...

Serge Sargsian Marie Yovanovitch July 7 2009

President Serge Sargsian with Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, July 7, 2009. Presidential Press Service

U.S. praised for aiding Armenia

Jul 09, 2009: President Serge Sargsian on July 7 visited the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan to offer congratulations on the occasion of America’s Independence Day. He reiterated Armenia’s interest in cooperation, the president’s press office reported. more...

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza in Yerevan, April 2008. . Photolure

U.S. official: “Democratic reforms” may lead to more rural aid

Jul 09, 2009: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza this week suggested that the recent amnesty of most Armenian opposition activists held in connection with deadly clashes on March 1, 2008, was a welcome, but insufficient step, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint press conference in Sochi, Russia, May 16, 2009.

Coming up: Putin in Turkey

Jul 09, 2009: In August, Russian premier Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Turkey. more...

Senators have approved President Obama's proposal to cut US aid to Armenia by $18 million in fiscal 2010. The Senate version of the bill must be reconciled with the House version that maintains 2009 levels of aid.

Senate committee endorses administration’s Armenia aid reduction

Jul 09, 2009: The Senate Appropriations Committee on July 9 approved a foreign aid bill for Fiscal Year 2010 that endorsed President Barack Obama’s request for $30 million for Armenia and no funds set aside for Nagorno-Karabakh. The Senate version of the bill will have to be reconciled with the House version, which gives Armenia $48 million and Karabakh $10 million, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Obama and Premier Putin enjoying the outdoors. . PeopleComment

Survey: Obama most, Putin least popular among world’s leaders

Jul 04, 2009: America's president is by far the world's most popular leader, according to surveys that were conducted in 20 countries and involved more than 19,000 respondents. Emil Sanamyan has additional details. more...

DC think tanks: Armenia, ex-USSR backsliding on democracy

Jul 04, 2009: Democratic decline in Central Europe and Eurasia was widespread in 2008, according to the Nations in Transit publication released by the Washington-based Freedom House on June 30. Worldwide Governance Indicators issued by the Brookings Institution and the World Bank found progress in Armenia in five of six areas covered, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev in Baku on June 29, 2009. . ITAR-TASS

Russia clinches Azerbaijan gas supplies

Jul 03, 2009: On June 29 Russian president Dmitry Medvedev paid a previously unscheduled three-hour visit to Azerbaijan, whose leader agreed to begin to sell natural gas to Russia, news agencies reported. more...

An Israeli-made armored jeep displayed by the Azerbaijani army. Azerbaijan State TV

Israel, Azerbaijan to step up military cooperation

Jul 03, 2009: An Israeli company will launch production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Azerbaijan, and the two countries will cooperate in other military areas, including satellite technology. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Coming up: Horserace diplomacy?

Jul 03, 2009: On July 18, the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents may hold another meeting in Moscow, as both are expected to attend an annual horserace sponsored by the Russian president. more...

The knifing death of Sergei Bondarenko (pictured) was followed by anti-Armenian reprisals in a small Ukrainain town. . Marganets.in.ua

Armenians targeted in Ukraine incident

Jul 03, 2009: A drunken argument left a local young man dead in a small Ukrainian town led to acts of reprisal against ethnic Armenian families that forced them to flee the town. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch listens to a question from an audience member at the Library of Congress on June 30, 2009. Armenian Reporter

Yovanovitch: President Obama’s April 24 statement caused “severe disappointment”

Jul 02, 2009: In a talk at the Library of Congress, U.S. ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch responded to a question posed by her predecessor John Evans by denying the statement of an American Turkey expert that Armenia had changed the goalposts in negotiations with Turkey, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

President Obama discusses Iran during a press conference, June 23, 2009. Chuck Kennedy / White House Photo

Obama condemns crackdown in Iran, but says he “respects its sovereignty”

Jun 26, 2009: As the crackdown on antigovernment protestors intensified in Iran, President Barack Obama condemned Tehran, but insisted that “the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and that it was up to Iranians to determine their future. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.

Ahead of Moscow summit, U.S. reasserts role in ex-USSR

Jun 26, 2009: As President Obama readied for talks with Russian leaders early next month, the United States held "strategic partnership" talks with Georgia and succeeded in having Kyrgyzstan reverse its decision to close the U.S. air base on its soil, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Sen. Tom Harkin (D.-Iowa). .

A century and a half later, Congress apologizes for slavery

Jun 26, 2009: Both houses of Congress have now passed resolutions apologizing for past treatment of African-Americans, including slavery and segregation. The Senate voted unanimously to do so on June 18. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Rep. Dave Obey (D.-Wis.), who chairs the House Committee on Appropriations.

Foreign aid bill endorsed by House Appropriations Committee

Jun 26, 2009: Legislation that sets out foreign-aid allocations and was passed in the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee on June 17 was approved by the full House Appropriations Committee on June 23, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Coming up: Peres and Biden in the Caucasus, Sarkozy postpones his trip

Jun 26, 2009: French president Nicolas Sarkozy has postponed his anticipated trip to the Caucasus and Kazakhstan. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Ukraine and Georgia in late July. more...

Kim Kardashian's portrait on Twitter. She is most popular Armenian on Twitter, with more than 1.2 million fans. The next most popular tweeter is the New York Times. .

The tweeting world

Jun 26, 2009: There is no doubt that when it comes to the Internet, Twitter has been all the rage this year, Emil Sanamyan writes in his Reporter.Web.Review column, v. 1.1. more...

Journalist Roxana Saberi during a June 24 press conference in Paris calling for the release of her former cellmate, aid worker Silva Harotonian. Eric Lefeuvre / FreeSilva.org

Fresh appeal launched for Silva Harotonian’s freedom

Jun 25, 2009: Amid Iran’s postelection crisis and mass arrests of antigovernment activists now underway, supporters have met to renew their appeal for release of Silva Harotonian, a U.S. aid worker who this week marked a full year of incarceration in Tehran. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Nigar Goksel in Armenia.

Nigar Goksel: “Armenian issue is at core of Turkish identity”

Jun 25, 2009: Diba Nigar Goksel, an Istanbul-based senior analyst for the European Stability Initiative, spoke to Emil Sanamyan about Armenia and Turkey. She argued that in Turkey "the Armenian issue" is a core issue when it comes to Turkish identity, and the state’s relationship with the public. more...

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza, left, with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, right, during the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Russia, June 5. . Armenian president's press office

Possible pick for U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan criticized

Jun 20, 2009: Matt Bryza, who has been the U.S. envoy for Karabakh negotiations since 2005, may be considered for a posting as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, a well-connected Foreign Policy magazine blog, The Cable, reported on June 12. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Chevron was among the corporations that disclosed lobbying on Turkey's behalf against the Armenian Genocide resolution in the U.S. Congress. .

U.S. companies with Turkey interests lobby against Genocide resolution

Jun 20, 2009: Major arms producers BAE Systems Inc., Goodrich Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co., and United Technologies Corp. and energy producer Chevron Corp. lobbied against the Armenian Genocide resolution introduced in U.S. Congress earlier this year, the Associated Press reported on June 12 citing mandatory lobbying disclosures. more...

Kurmanbek Bakiyev. . Wikipedia

U.S. seeks to keep Kyrgyzstan airbase

Jun 20, 2009: President Obama sent a letter to Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev emphasizing the importance of bilateral security ties, the Kyrgyz government reported on June 11. more...

Human trafficking ranking for Armenia from the U.S. State Dept., with Tier 1 the best, and tier 3 the worst ranking.

State Dept. sees improvement in Armenia’s anti-trafficking policy

Jun 20, 2009: Armenia has been removed from the U.S. human trafficking “watch list,” the State Department reported on June 16. After spending five years on the list, Armenia was credited with “significant efforts” to meet U.S. standards on fighting trafficking in persons, although it was still short of meeting them. more...

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16. .

World watching Iran’s post-election crisis

Jun 20, 2009: Street clashes and large-scale protests that followed Iran's June 12 presidential election continue to grab headlines as the United States and others try to make sense of the crisis, watching for any potential impact it might have on Iran's relations with the world. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.), member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairwomen of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

House panel ups Armenia, Karabakh aid levels, insists on military aid parity

Jun 19, 2009: A key congressional subcommittee responsible for U.S. foreign aid spending agreed this week to allocate $48 million in aid to Armenia and $10 million to Nagorno-Karabakh in Fiscal Year 2010. The panel also set military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan at $3.45 million each, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

The Armenian merchant marine flag had three horizontal stripes (red, yellow, red) with the Lamb of God in the middle stripe. Pictured here is a replica in the possession of Pavel Galoumian. Armenian Reporter photo

Sebouh Aslanian: “Quedah Merchant was no ordinary vessel”

Jun 18, 2009: Why was Captain Kidd tried and executed for piracy and murder in 1701? Reporting from the Dominican Republic earlier in June, Armenian Reporter Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan told the story of an amazing discovery: the underwater remains of the Armenian merchant ship Kidd had hijacked. Now historian Sebouh Aslanian provides a larger context. more...

The Armenian armored cavalry in the Total War computer game. .

Reporter.web.review 1.0

Jun 12, 2009: Emil Sanamyan launches a new column on Armenian topics on the Web. He notes that three separate videos of Sirusho’s “Qele, qele” have been viewed more than a million times each on YouTube. No other video on an Armenian subject comes close. more...

Celeste Wallander speaking to PBS in 2008. .

Pentagon’s Eurasia manager appointed

Jun 12, 2009: American University professor Celeste Wallander was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia policy, the Department of Defense reported on June 9. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Former Sen. Henry Jackson, who co-authored trade restrictions legislation with Rep. Charles Vanik.

Proposed removal of U.S. trade restrictions for Azerbaijan questioned

Jun 12, 2009: Armenian organizations are questioning the rationale and timing for the efforts to remove Soviet-era trade sanctions against Azerbaijan – commonly referred to as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

MCC Arzni-Shamiram waterway January 2009

A construction crew renovating the badly damaged Arzni-Shamiram canal, January 29, 2009. U.S. Millennium Challenge Corp. funding for the waterways project continues, but the corporation "will not resume funding" for a roads project. . Armen Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter

U.S. agency cuts $67 million in Armenia funding

Jun 11, 2009: The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) board met on June 10 and decided that it “will not resume funding for any further road construction and rehabilitation” in Armenia. The funding had been suspended after U.S. officials blamed the Armenian government for the violence that followed last year’s presidential elections, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Hillary Clinton at the State Department in May 2009.

Secretary Clinton remains upbeat on Armenia-Turkey talks

Jun 05, 2009: There has been "no flagging of commitment" to the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on June 5. She was speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Emil Sanamyan reports from the press conference in Washington. more...

Indiana University’s Charles Beeker (l.) and Fritz Hanselmann collect a sample from what is believed to be the wooden keel of the Quedagh Merchant under a pile of coral-shrouded cannons on June 2. Eleanor Seagle / Published with permission

Long-lost Armenian ship, the stuff of legend, to become a “living museum” in the Caribbean

Jun 05, 2009: Off the coast of the Dominican Republic, researchers are studying a newly discovered wreck that is very likely an Armenian merchant ship captured in 1698 by British privateer Captain William Kidd. The Armenian Nautical Association is collaborating with researchers from the University of Indiana who are studying the wreck and transforming it into a living museum. The Armenian Reporter’s Emil Sanamyan reports from the Caribbean. more...

President Barack Obama in Egypt. . White House photo

Barack Obama urges fresh start with Muslim world

Jun 05, 2009: In a much-anticipated address, President Barack Obama acknowledged on June 4 misunderstandings between the United States and many Muslims, and also stressed that “America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.” more...

Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister of Turkey and president of the United Nations Security Council for June 2009, chairs a Security Council meeting on genocide – specifically the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, June 4, 2009. UN Photo / Eskinder Debebe

FM: Turkey wants new emphasis on U.S. ties, continued Armenia talks

Jun 05, 2009: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, addressing the American-Turkish Council (ATC) conference in Washington, acknowledged the link between Armenia-Turkey talks and Armenian-American efforts to pass a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Russia, Georgia may discuss opening of border crossing

Jun 05, 2009: The Russian Foreign Ministry has proposed to hold talks with Georgian diplomats on reopening the main highway linking the two countries at the Lars checkpoint. more...

Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, debating presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, right.
.

Iran’s president faces strong electoral challenge

Jun 05, 2009: Early expectations that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would easily win reelection in voting on June 12 have now been replaced with those of a close race with a former prime minister, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, with the outcome likely to be decided in a runoff election. more...

Coming up: Sarkozy, Gordon, and Peres in the Caucasus, Obama in Russia

Jun 05, 2009: Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and Israeli president Shimon Peres are all headed for the Caucasus. President Barack Obama will visit Russia. more...

Ken Hachikian, chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of America.

ANCA charges Obama with “grave offense” to Armenian Americans

May 22, 2009: In a strongly worded communication, the Armenian National Committee of America’s chair Ken Hachikian urged President Barack Obama to “revise the course your Administration has chosen on issues of special concern to Armenian Americans,” Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on April 22 testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

U.S. reassures Armenia on Turkey talks

May 22, 2009: A letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent to Armenian President Serge Sargsian last week reiterated U.S. support for Armenia-Turkey talks. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Philip Gordon.

State Department’s new Eurasia manager confirmed

May 22, 2009: Philip Gordon, the Obama administration’s nominee for assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, was confirmed by the Senate on May 14. According to earlier reports, Mr. Gordon’s nomination was held up for over a month by Sen. John Ensign (R.-Nev.) because of Mr. Gordon’s opposition to U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. Emil Sanamyan has the story. more...

Turkey, Azerbaijan boosters hold Washington events

May 22, 2009: Hardly a week goes by in the U.S. capital without a public event intended to extol the importance of Turkey to the world. Less frequently, but also on regular basis, the Azerbaijani government’s mercenaries gather to discuss ways to ingratiate that eccentric regime to the Washington establishment. Emil Sanamyan rounds up the latest Washington events. more...

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint press conference in Sochi, Russia, May 16, 2009.

Putin meets Erdogan, indicates no change in Russia’s Karabakh policy

May 22, 2009: Meeting with visiting Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian premier Vladimir Putin appeared disinclined to lean on either Armenia or Azerbaijan to attempt any kind of settlement of the Karabakh standoff, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Amb. John (Jack) Maresca.

Maresca: “I would not have expected Karabakh cease-fire to last as long as it has”

May 22, 2009: Ambassador John (Jack) Maresca was the first U.S. official to directly deal with the Karabakh conflict as a special envoy between 1992 and 1994. He answered Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan’s questions on May 18. more...

Roxana Saberi.

U.S., family continue to call for Iranian-Armenian’s release

May 16, 2009: With Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist released this week, the family of Iranian-Armenian aid worker Silva Harotonian urged Iranian authorities to offer her clemency as well, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Rep. Brad Sherman.

Members of Congress react to administration’s Armenia aid request

May 16, 2009: Reps. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), co-chairs of the congressional Armenian caucus, said they “will work to restore funding for Armenia,” Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. Also reacting to the request was Rep. Brad Sherman (D.-Calif.) who briefly raised the issue during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing more...

Amb. Marie Yovanovitch. Photolure

Ambassador to Armenia reacts to critics of aid request

May 16, 2009: The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan responded to critics of the administration’s aid request for Armenia, noting that it was higher than the previous administration’s last aid request and that Congress, once again, was likely to allocate more than requested. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

U.S., Armenian officials hold regular consultations

May 16, 2009: At a meeting of the U.S.-Armenia Economic Task Force (USATF) on May 13, delegations “discussed advancing economic and market reforms, strengthening rule of law, and other bilateral issues.” Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Azerbaijan voted out of UN body

May 16, 2009: Hungary will replace Azerbaijan at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Outside the Holy Cross Church on Aghtamar Island, Lake Van. Tatul Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter

Going in circles with Turkey

May 08, 2009: "Preconditions have become a dirty term in Armenia's political lexicon," Emil Sanamyan writes. "In fact, they are a common way to outline one's priorities in any negotiation. By obfuscating their own priorities, successive Armenian governments have only confused their own public as well as Turkish interlocutors and have not helped advance an already complex diplomatic effort." more...

President Obama presents his budget request to Congress.

Obama’s Armenia aid request: less than Congress, more than Bush

May 08, 2009: The Obama administration requested $30 million in aid to Armenia in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, down from $48 million allocated by Congress in 2009 and $58 million in 2008. However, the request is larger than the $24 million requested by the Bush administration in January 2008 before that amount was doubled by congressional appropriators. more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia at the State Dept. on May 7, 2009. State Dept. photo

U.S., Russia say both want Caucasus stability, but disagree on Georgia

May 08, 2009: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia met in Washington on May 7 to discuss a long list of issues on U.S.-Russia agenda. Mr. Lavrov was also received by President Barack Obama, who confirmed plans to visit Russia in July. more...

Ahmet Davutoglu. Armenian Reporter

Turkish government ideologue appointed foreign minister

May 08, 2009: Ahmet Davutoglu formally replaced Ali Babacan as Turkish foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle announced on May 1. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Israeli Knesset revisits Armenian Genocide

May 08, 2009: “We have a moral duty to remember the killing of Armenians,” a spokesperson for the rightwing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on May 6. But like his predecessors, he relayed the government’s opposition to commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in the Knesset, deferring to Turkey’s position on the issue. more...

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian after leaving the State Department on May 5. Mr. Nalbandian declined interview requests during a 2-day trip to Washington. Armenian Reporter

Washington hosts foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan (updated)

May 08, 2009: The U.S. State Department hosted the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan this week on the eve of yet another meeting between the leaders of the two South Caucasus countries, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Freedom House catalogues worldwide media struggles

May 02, 2009: “Journalists faced an increasingly grim working environment in 2008,” Freedom House reported in its annual report released on May 1. The think tank’s research registered global decline for the seventh year in a row and, for the first time, a decline in every region of the world, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

“Rival” gas pipelines discussed in Sofia, Prague

May 02, 2009: A meeting in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on April 24–25 focused on the so-called South Stream project. On May 6–7, at the European Union summit in Prague, EU support for the U.S.-backed Nabucco gas pipeline is on the agenda, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

In July 2000, then–Defense Secretary William Cohen (left) signs a nonproliferation deal with Armenia’s Serge Sargsian. Department of Defense

State Dept. report notes Armenia’s “active interest” in aiding the U.S. in Afghanistan

May 02, 2009: After Armenian peacekeepers completed their mission in Iraq in October 2008, "the Armenian Ministry of Defense has expressed active interest in sending a peacekeeping contingent to Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force," according to the State Department, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian visited Washington in July 2008, where he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Armenian Reporter

Armenian FM to visit U.S. after “historic step” with Turkey

May 02, 2009: The U.S. State Department invited Armenia's foreign minister to Washington in early May and reached out to the Armenian Assembly, which had welcomed a joint statement issued on April 22 by Turkey and Armenia reporting progress toward the normalization of relations, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressing the annual congressional commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on April 22, 2009. She called for “mass mobilization” to surmount opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution but did not pledge to act on the measure now backed by more than 100 members of the House of Representatives. Armenian Reporter

Members of Congress mark April 24 with calls for U.S. recognition of Armenian Genocide

Apr 30, 2009: As in years past, members of the U.S. Congress marked April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, with speeches, statements, and pledges of support for the congressional resolution on the Genocide, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Practically the entire population of Armenia once again paid its respects at the Armenian Genocide memorial monument at Tzitzernakaberd, Yerevan, April 24, 2009. Tigran Tadevosian/Photolure

Armenians around the world commemorate the Genocide

Apr 24, 2009: Hundreds of thousands of people, from near and far, today made the solemn journey to Tzitzernakaberd, the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan. In Washington, President Obama issued a statement on “the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,” avoiding the term genocide. more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on April 22 testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Clinton avoids Armenian Genocide reference, plays up Armenia-Turkey, Karabakh talks

Apr 22, 2009: Despite strong indications that talks between Armenia and Turkey have ground to a halt, and few signs of movement in the Karabakh peace process, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed optimism about both issues on April 22, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. She spoke of a “shared tragic history” that needs to be addressed by Armenians and Turks. more...

Nancy Pelosi Armenian Genocide Commemoration 2008

Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the 2008 commemoration of he Armenian Genocide, with the ANCA's Aram Hamparian, r., and Raffi Karakashian. ANCA

Speaker Pelosi says she’s committed to Armenian Genocide affirmation

Apr 17, 2009: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) reiterated her support for affirmation of the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported. more...

Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House, is a lobbyist for Turkey. AP

Ex-Speaker Hastert hired by Turkish lobby

Apr 17, 2009: The firm of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) will receive $35,000 a month to lobby for the Turkish government, the Hill newspaper reported on April 10. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Crisis Group issues report on Armenia-Turkey issues

Apr 17, 2009: Armenia, the United States, and European and other countries should avoid "statements or international actions relating to [Armenian] genocide recognition that could inflame Turkish public opinion," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) recommended this week. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Coming up: Armenian Genocide commemorative events in Washington

Apr 17, 2009: The co-chairs of the House Armenian Issues Caucus, Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.), and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), on April 22 will host the annual congressional commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Other commemorative events are also planned for Washington. more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Georgia's Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze. AFP

U.S. indicates neutrality on Georgia standoff

Apr 17, 2009: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met visiting Georgian foreign minister Grigol Vashadze on April 14 to reiterate "U.S. support for Georgian independence and democracy," but she did not openly support President Mikheil Saakashvili, currently under siege by his domestic opposition. more...

Tom de Waal at CSIS in May 2007. Armenian Reporter

de Waal: “Armenians should focus on improving Karabakh de-facto”

Apr 17, 2009: Tom de Waal, a leading expert on Karabakh, argues that the status quo is fragile and must be challenged. Mr. de Waal elaborates on his arguments in an interview with Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan. more...

President Obama prepares to enter Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on April 7, 2009.

Obama visits Turkey, calls Azerbaijan

Apr 11, 2009: President Barack Obama visited Turkey on April 6-7 in an effort to rebuild a troubled alliance and reach out to the Muslim world. The White House reported that on April 7, Mr. Obama also placed a call to the president of Azerbaijan. more...

Georgian opposition posters. Civil.ge

Georgian opposition launches campaign for president’s ouster

Apr 11, 2009: Political opponents of Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili began on April 9 what they promise will be continuing protests aimed at toppling the president, whom they blame for authoritarianism and last year’s defeat in the war with Russia, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Silva Harotonian .

U.S. joins talks with Iran, requests release of detainees

Apr 11, 2009: On April 6, the State Department additionally urged Iran to release 34-year-old Silva Harotonian, an Iranian-Armenian employee of the U.S.-funded International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) imprisoned in Iran since last June, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Philip Gordon.

State Department nominee held up over Armenian Genocide comments

Apr 11, 2009: Left out of President Obama’s trip to Turkey was his pick for assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Gordon, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

President Obama meets with, from left, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian, Swiss foreign minister (and mediator) Micheline Calmy-Rey, Turkish undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Ertugul Apakan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan at a reception in Istanbul on April 6. The president met with the foreign ministers to commend them on “recent progress” toward the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and urged them to complete a bilateral agreement. Pete Souza / White House

President Obama, in Turkey, raises Armenian issues

Apr 10, 2009: In a first for a U.S. president, Barack Obama used his visit to Ankara to publicly speak of the need for Turkey to address its past and improve its present relations with Armenia. But citing reports of an impending breakthrough in talks between Armenia and Turkey, Mr. Obama effectively sidestepped his pre-election promise to clearly recognize the destruction of Ottoman Armenians as genocide. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with President Abdullah Gul (right) and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, left on March 7. State Dept.

Speculations mount about a possible Armenia-Turkey deal

Apr 03, 2009: With President Barack Obama on his way to Turkey just weeks before Armenian Genocide commemoration day, and unprecedented high-level meetings between Armenia and Turkey, expectations for progress in relations between Armenia and Turkey are once again being fueled. Emil Sanamyan has details and an analysis. more...

Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) who has been selected as co-chair of the House Caucus on Armenian Issues.

Rep. Mark Kirk is waiting for Speaker’s decision on Genocide resolution

Apr 02, 2009: Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), co-chair of the congressional Armenian caucus, says that he remains hopeful about the progress of the Armenian Genocide resolution and was misquoted by the Turkish media about it. more...

Rep. Nita Lowey. . AP

Armenian Caucus co-chairs make aid, policy proposals

Mar 27, 2009: The United States should increase engagement with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and tighten existing restrictions on ties with Azerbaijan, Reps. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues recommended in a March 24 letter to colleagues, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Armen Rustamian, one of the four members of Armenia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, chairs the Armenian parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and is the head of the Supreme Council of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Tatul Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter

Armenian politician weighs in on Genocide resolution

Mar 27, 2009: In a rare letter to a congressional colleague, a senior member of the Armenian parliament wrote to express “complete support” for the House Resolution 252 affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide, introduced earlier this month, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Ahmet Davutoglu. Armenian Reporter

Senior Turkish official in Washington ahead of Obama’s visit

Mar 27, 2009: Ahmet Davutoglu, senior foreign policy advisor to Turkish leaders, last week met with U.S. officials to discuss President Barack Obama’s visit to Ankara and Istanbul on April 5–7, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Obama offers goodwill message to Iran

Mar 27, 2009: President Barack Obama stressed U.S. commitment to diplomacy and dialogue with the Iranian government in a March 20 video message dedicated to Nowruz, the Iranian new year, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

European Union leaders agree on “Eastern” policy

Mar 27, 2009: During a March 19–20 summit in Brussels, European leaders agreed to set aside 600 million euros for a multiyear program dubbed “Eastern Partnership,” which will involve Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Turkish F-16s.

Turkey to buy more combat aircraft from U.S.

Mar 21, 2009: Turkey will take delivery of 30 new F-16 fighter jets produced by Lockheed Martin Corporation. The order is worth $797 million and planes would be locally built in Turkey by 2012. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban on March 18, 2009. RFE/RL

Azerbaijan scraps presidential term limits, may defer elections

Mar 21, 2009: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev could remain in his position for as long as he wants and may scrap holding scheduled elections if he determines that the country is "at war," according to the changes approved by Azerbaijan's citizens on March 18. more...

The ANCA's Aram Hamparian during protest near Turkish Embassy in Washinton, April 24, 2008. Armenian Reporter

Coming up… Congressional advocacy and commemoration of Genocide

Mar 21, 2009: The annual Capitol Hill commemoration of the Armenian Genocide will take place on April 22 this year. From April 22 to 24, the Armenian National Committee of America will hold its third annual “End the Cycle of Genocide: Grassroots Capitol Campaign,” which includes visits to congressional offices and meetings with their staff, and a protest outside Turkish Embassy in Washington. more...

State Department withholds comment on Genocide resolution

Mar 21, 2009: “We’re looking at that resolution,” the State Department’s acting spokesperson Robert Wood said on March 18 when asked about the congressional Armenian Genocide resolution introduced the day before. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Hillary Clinton.

Secretary Clinton calls Armenia

Mar 21, 2009: In the first high-level contact between the Obama administration and Armenian government, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by telephone with President Serge Sargsian on March 17. more...

The U.S. Capitol. Wikipedia

Armenian Genocide resolution introduced in Congress

Mar 17, 2009: A measure affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide was been formally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 17. Emil Sanamyan reports that passage hinges on President Obama's position. more...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) at microphone, with Rep. George Radanovich (R.-Calif.), left, and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.), discussing the Armenian Genocide resolution in January 2007. Armenian Reporter

Resolution sponsors praise Obama’s record on Genocide

Mar 14, 2009: Key sponsors of the anticipated congressional resolution affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide have written to President Barack Obama to recall his “courage” as a senator and a presidential candidate “in characterizing properly the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915–1923 as genocide” and stressing the importance of “formal American recognition.” more...

Philip Gordon.

State Department’s incoming Eurasia manager opposed Genocide resolution

Mar 14, 2009: Philip Gordon, who has been nominated as U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, replacing Daniel Fried, has warned Turks to have a Plan B in case the Armenian Genocide resolution is adopted by the House of Representatives. more...

Azerbaijanis lobby in California

Mar 07, 2009: Azerbaijani officials were in California for the second time in six months, visiting with members of California State Assembly, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Turkish officials resume Washington lobbying

Mar 07, 2009: As in years past, Turkish officials intensified efforts to lobby the U.S. Congress ahead of the anticipated introduction of a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide and a presidential statement on April 24, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan visits Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Jan. 2008. AP Photo

Sudan’s leader wanted over Darfur crimes

Mar 06, 2009: In a landmark ruling against a sitting head of state, the Hague-based International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Emil Sanamyan has the story. more...

President Barack Obama with Vice President Joseph Biden in Washington, March 3. Both men are strong supporters of U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. AP Photo Gerald Herbert

Armenian Genocide resolution to be introduced shortly

Mar 06, 2009: A resolution affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide will be introduced in the House of Representatives shortly, key Congressional supporters said while playing down expectations that the president will act immediately to recognize the Armenian Genocide. more...

Silva Harotonian, an Iranian-Armenian IREX employee who has been sentenced to three years in prison over what her family calls a “tragic misunderstanding.” .

An Armenian is imprisoned in Iranian crackdown

Feb 27, 2009: An Iranian-Armenian employee of the U.S. government-funded International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) has been detained in Iran for more than seven months and was recently sentenced to a three-year prison term. Emil Sanamyan has the story. more...

Polls note Muslim suspicion of U.S., worldwide religiosity

Feb 27, 2009: A new poll puts Muslim suspicion of the United States in perspective, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Tom de Waal, author of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War . Armenian Reporter

Expert recommends change of rhetoric on Karabakh

Feb 27, 2009: “Both internationally and locally, the language used about the [Karabakh] dispute needs to change for progress to be made” in the peace process, the leading Western expert on the conflict Thomas de Waal argued in a paper for the Conciliation Resources, a British charity. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Cover of the Human Rights Watch study, “Democracy on Rocky Ground: Armenia’s Disputed 2008 Presidential Election, Post-Election Violence, and the One-Sided Pursuit of Accountability.” .

Reports review Armenia’s post-election crisis

Feb 27, 2009: The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on February 25 released a detailed study, “Democracy on Rocky Ground: Armenia’s Disputed 2008 Presidential Election, Post-Election Violence, and the One-Sided Pursuit of Accountability,” perhaps the most comprehensive available account of Armenia’s latest post-election crisis. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

President Obama and cabinet members discuss the administration’s budget proposal on Jan. 24 at the White House. White House photo: Pete Souza

Obama proposes 2010 budget, as Congress funds 2009

Feb 27, 2009: President Barack Obama made his first budget proposal since taking office, calling for an overall increase in funding for the State Department and other international programs to $51.7 billion, or $4.5 billion more than the Fiscal Year 2009 spending estimate, the White House announced on February 26. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Co-chair of the Israel-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, Ze’ev Elkin, campaigning with Benjamin Netanyahu in Dec. 2008. netanyahu.org

Armenia’s Israeli friends re-elected to Knesset

Feb 19, 2009: Among members of the Knesset re-elected on February 10 were Ze’ev Elkin, co-chair of the Israel-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, and Chaim Oron, who has long championed Armenian Genocide affirmation efforts, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia shows President Abdullah Gül of Turkey the way to go in the Kremlin during a state visit, Feb. 13, 2009.

Russia, Turkey tout friendly relations

Feb 19, 2009: Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül visited with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin on February 13, with the two presidents signing a joint declaration “on new stage of relations” and “deepening of friendship and wide-ranging cooperation,” according to the Kremlin website. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

The nuclear power plant at Metsamor. Photolure

U.S. nuclear regulator ready to help Armenia

Feb 19, 2009: “We have had a good bilateral agreement with Armenia,” sharing technology and training, chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Dale Klein told the Armenian Reporter on February 13. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Admiral Dennis Blair, U.S. Director of National Intelligence. Office of the Director of National Intelligence

National intelligence director notes Caucasus problems

Feb 19, 2009: “Fundamental differences between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh will keep tensions high in the Caucasus,” National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in testimony on February 12. Emil Sanamyan has a report. more...

President Barack Obama in his private study on Feb. 3, 2009. White House photo by Pete Souza

Obama hears about Armenia from Turkish leaders

Feb 19, 2009: President Barack Obama had “wide-ranging” phone discussions with Turkey’s president and prime minister, the White House reported on February 16, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Grigor Hovhanissian, Armenia’s consul general in Los Angeles.

Armenia’s new consul in Los Angeles pledges better constituency services and outreach

Feb 19, 2009: Grigor Hovhanissian comes to Los Angeles after two and a half years as executive director of the Shushi Revival Fund, an Armenian government entity. Prior to that, Mr. Hovhanissian worked from 1993 to 2006 for the United Nations in field offices in Armenia, Africa, and the Middle East. He spoke with the Armenian Reporter’s Emil Sanamyan on February 12, about a week into his posting. They discussed Mr. Hovhanissian’s background and plans in the new assignment. more...

Poll: U.S. edges out China and Russia in worldwide popularity

Feb 13, 2009: The overall view of the United States has improved while that of Russia and China has declined, according to a BBC World Service Poll conducted in 26 countries around the world late last year and made public on February 5. Emil Sanamyan has details. more...

Plouffe in Baku. RFE/RL.

Obama campaign manager queried over paid speech in Azerbaijan

Feb 13, 2009: David Plouffe pledged to donate proceeds from his paid speech in Azerbaijan to pro-democracy groups after his surprise trip was made public and subsequently questioned in U.S. media. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Feb. 7, 2009. Harald Dettenborn

Biden: U.S. seeks cooperation with Russia while noting disagreements

Feb 13, 2009: Vice President Joe Biden was the star speaker at the Munich Security Conference, an annual event held last weekend. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Rep. Adam Schiff during the introduction of the House resolution on the Armenian Genocide in Jan. 2007 with Rep. Frank Pallone behind him . Armenian Reporter

Congressional support sought for Genocide resolution as opposition readies

Feb 13, 2009: In a message to fellow members of Congress, Reps. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.), George Radanovich (R.-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) are urging them “to re-affirm the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide by cosponsoring a bipartisan resolution” on the subject, according to a February 10 electronic letter made available to the Armenian Reporter, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Ian Bremmer, 2d from right with, from left, Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian of Armenia, and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday Jan. 29. AP Photo: Michel Euler

Ian Bremmer: no war over NK, same challenges for Genocide resolution

Feb 12, 2009: The prominent political risk consultant Ian Bremmer spoke to the Armenian Reporter's Emil Sanamyan about risks faced by Armenia and the world in 2009. more...

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan points his finger at Israeli president Shimon Peres on a panel in Davos.

Erdogan’s verbal assault pits Turkey against Israel

Feb 05, 2009: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s public squabble with Israeli president Shimon Peres was welcomed in Turkey and the rest of the Middle East, but created anxiety in Israel and the United States. more...

ARF: Javakhk activists not ARF members

Feb 05, 2009: Sarkis Hakobjanian and Grigor Minasian, arrested last month in Georgia’s Armenian-populated Javakhk province, are not members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), the party’s Yerevan spokesperson Giro Manoyan told the Armenian Reporter this week. This newspaper last week identified the two individuals arrested on espionage, weapons, and conspiracy charges as ARF members, citing published media reports. Emil Sanamyan has the story. more...

At the Manas Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan on Sept. 11, 2008, a remembrance of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. U.S. Air Force

U.S. squeezed by Russia in Central Asia, by Iran in space

Feb 05, 2009: Russia offered massive financial incentives to Kyrgyzstan, apparently on the condition that its government close a U.S. Air Force base on its territory. Meanwhile, Iran launched its first domestically built satellite into space. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Obama with Sen. Dick Lugar on visit to Russia in 2005. Wikimedia photo.

Obama administration announces foreign travel plans

Feb 05, 2009: Barack Obama will make his first foreign trip as president to Canada, on February 19. He will also visit a yet-to-be-determined Muslim country, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Dr. Samantha Power, recipient of the ANCA Eastern Region Freedom Award on September 13, 2008 in New York. Arsineh Khachikian

Power, McFaul to join Obama White House

Feb 05, 2009: Samantha Power, a Harvard professor and a strong supporter of U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, will serve as senior director for multilateral affairs in the s National Security Council. Stanford professor and Russia expert Michael McFaul has been appointed senior director for Russia in the National Security Council. more...

Robert Avetisyan, representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) in the United States.

New appointments: Karabakh Representative to the United States, Armenia’s consul in Los Angeles

Feb 05, 2009: Robert Avetisyan will replace Vardan Barseghyan as the representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the United States. Grigor Hovhannisyan will replace Armen Liloyan as Armenia's consul general in Los Angeles, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Sarkis Hakobjanian and Grigor Minasian, who have been arrested on espionage charges by authorities in the Republic of Georgia. Photolure

Georgian-Armenians charge “intimidation” by Tbilisi

Jan 29, 2009: Two Armenian community leaders from Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti province have been arrested on espionage, weapons, and conspiracy charges, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a brief statement on January 23. The arrests come amid Georgia’s continued standoff with Russia and the opposition’s increasingly vocal calls on Mikheil Saakashvili to resign, Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Priorities for the new U.S. administration, .

World optimistic about Obama presidency

Jan 29, 2009: A majority of more than 17,000 respondents queried in 17 countries around the world believe that their nations will enjoy better ties with the United States under President Barack Obama, according to a BBC World Service study released on January 20. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Russia expands Georgia sanctions

Jan 29, 2009: The Russian government could slap sanctions on countries and companies supplying the Georgian military, according to President Dmitry Medvedev’s executive order issued on January 19. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Cover of "Global Trends" released by the National Intelligence Council.

U.S. study: China, India, Russia to dominate headlines in next decade

Jan 29, 2009: U.S. global influence will diminish and that of China and India will increase in the next decade and half, according to a study prepared by the National Intelligence Council, an in-house think tank of the U.S. intelligence community. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

In Turkey: Dink murder trial, apology petition, and curriculum changes

Jan 29, 2009: The trial of the accused assassins of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink rambled on in Istanbul this week, as his friends marked the second anniversary of his death, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

European Union promises funding for Russia gas bypass

Jan 29, 2009: The European Commission has proposed $330 million in initial funding for what is known as the Nabucco gas pipeline. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Jewish Americans “gravely distressed” with Turkey, which in turn is upset with Israel

Jan 29, 2009: In a January 21 letter addressed to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and made available to the Armenian Reporter, leaders of five Jewish-American organizations expressed profound concern over what they described as “the current wave of anti-Semitic manifestations in Turkey.” Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

President Barack Obama on al-Arabiya, Jan. 27, 2009.

Obama seeks dialogue with Iran, Muslim world

Jan 29, 2009: “As I said during my inauguration speech, if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us,” President Barack Obama said in his first White House interview, granted to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television on January 27. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Barack Obama, joined by his wife Michelle, takes the oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States, Jan. 20, 2009. AP Photo: Elise Amendola

President Barack Obama sworn in amid high hopes

Jan 23, 2009: In a joint letter, twenty leading Armenian-American organizations warmly welcomed the election and inauguration of Barack Obama, who on January 20 was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Hillary Clinton with Barack Obama.

Obama administration charts foreign policy course

Jan 15, 2009: President-elect Barack Obama and his nominee for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, have in recent weeks provided rough outlines of what U.S. foreign policy will look like under the new administration, in which officials from the Clinton and Bush administrations and retired military officers have been recruited for key roles. Presenting the Obama administration’s foreign policy vision to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 13, Secretary-designate Clinton said foreign-policy initiatives would represent a “marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology.” more...

Turkish “apology” campaigners under investigation

Jan 15, 2009: Turkish intellectuals who last month launched an online petition apologizing to Armenians for Turkey’s attitude toward the Armenian Genocide are under government investigation. more...

A rendering of Turks' departure from Ergenekon, with a she-wolf pointing the way.

Coup investigation dominates Turkish politics

Jan 15, 2009: Archbishop Mesrop Mutafyan, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, and other Turkish-Armenian leaders were targeted for assassination by ultranationalist conspirators aiming to overthrow Turkey’s Islamist-leaning government, according to government sources cited in Zaman newspaper on January 13. more...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze of Georgia signing a Strategic Partnership Charter on January 9. Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

U.S. pledges support for Georgia “to defeat threats”

Jan 14, 2009: Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze of Georgia signed a Strategic Partnership Charter on January 9 outlining a mutual interest in bilateral cooperation on military, political, economic, and humanitarian issues. more...

Freedom House released its annual Freedom in the World report on January 12, 2009.

Ratings: Armenia remains economically liberal, “partly free” politically

Jan 14, 2009: In the “Economic Freedom Index” jointly prepared by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation Armenia received the same score it had last year and was ranked 31st in the world, once again placing ahead of its neighborhood and many European Union countries. In its “Freedom in the World” ranking, Freedom House noted a decline in political freedoms in Armenia. more...

U.S. President George W. Bush thanks Iraq coalition countries in a speech at U.S. Central Command headquarters, May 1, 2007. The Armenian flag is next to the U.S.flag. White House photo

Bush thanks Armenia for Iraq war role

Jan 14, 2009: President George W. Bush expressed the “deep gratitude of the United States” for Armenia’s contribution to the U.S.–led Iraq coalition in a letter released by the office of Armenia’s President Serge Sargsian on January 13. more...

Sketch of Gazprom tower planned for St. Petersburg, Russia.

Russia, Ukraine in fresh row over natural gas supplies

Jan 09, 2009: Charging Ukraine with siphoning off supplies transited through the country to European markets and leaving bills unpaid, the Russian government began to cut off supplies to the former Soviet republic. more...

Turkey launches Kurdish-language TV station, plans one in Armenian

Jan 09, 2009: In a new public relations push targeting its largest ethnic minority, Turkish state television launched a 24-hour Kurdish-language station on January 1 It will begin radio broadcasts in the Armenian language in February and is looking into launching an Armenian-language TV station by late 2009. more...

World reacts to Israel’s attack on Gaza

Jan 09, 2009: Foreign governments issued a mixed reaction Israel’s massive assault on the Palestinian-populated Gaza Strip on December 27. More than ten days into the fighting an estimated 660 Palestinians and at least 10 Israelis died in the war. more...

Russian tanks in Tskhinvali on August 8. AFP photo.

The Ossetia war

Jan 03, 2009: In 2008, Mr. Obama became Time magazine's Person of the Year, succeeding Vladimir Putin, who was that person in 2007. And although in 2008 he was succeeded as president by former aide Dmitry Medvedev, Mr. Putin became Russia's prime minister and remained its undisputed leader. more...

President Abdullah Gül with President Serge Sargsian in Yerevan, September 6. Photolure.

The Armenian Genocide

Jan 03, 2009: It has been more than 90 years since 1915, but the unresolved legacy of the Armenian Genocide remains newsworthy. The Genocide remains the Armenian subject most frequently discussed by the world, more so than Armenia's contemporary security and development challenges. more...

Barack Obama.

Barack Obama

Jan 03, 2009: The meteoric rise of the junior senator from Illinois, elected just four years earlier, to President-elect of the United States became the biggest news event of 2008. more...

February 23, 2008 in Austin, Texas: "Obama shaking hands" from Yes We Can: Barack Obama's History-Making Presidential Campaign . Scout Tufankjian

Scout Tufankjian followed Obama for two years to create “an eyewitness record”

Jan 01, 2009: Armenian-American photographer Scout Tufankjian just published Yes We Can: Barack Obama’s History-Making Presidential Campaign, which documents her two years covering the campaign. Ms. Tufankjian talked about her background and experiences to the Armenian Reporter’s Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan on December 23. more...

Ilham Aliyev consults sheepherder Khanysh Kishi during his election campaign. www.president.az.

Aliyev seeks to remain Azerbaijan’s president indefinitely

Dec 27, 2008: Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev is apparently considering keeping his post for at least another decade, according to reports from Baku. Mr. Aliyev just started his second five-year term as president after being formally re-elected with no significant opposition. more...

Irakli Alasania. UN.

Former Georgian diplomat adds voice to early elections calls

Dec 27, 2008: Irakli Alasania, former Georgian representative to the United Nations who resigned earlier this month, blamed the country's leader Mikheil Saakashvili for failing to avoid the war with Russia and said he is consulting with other Georgian politicians on taking the country out of crisis via early elections, Civil Georgia reported. more...

Ogryzko of Ukraine with Rice last September. AP photo.

U.S. signs security charter with Ukraine, plans one with Georgia

Dec 27, 2008: A Charter on Strategic Partnership between Ukraine and the United States was signed last week in Washington and a similar deal is in the works with Georgia. more...

UN study: Armenia falls behind Turkey in “human development”

Dec 27, 2008: An annual United Nations study of the world's development released on December 18 placed Armenia 83rd of 175 countries ranked. The Human Development Index takes into account life expectancy, more...

Rwandans sentenced in genocide case

Dec 20, 2008: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced three former senior military officials to life in prison on charges stemming from the 1994 genocide, the New York Times reported on December 18. The conviction of Theoneste Bagosora and two others was handed down at a United Nations court in Tanzania after a six-year-long trial. Mr. Bagosora was found responsible for the killing of several Tutsi leaders and ten Belgian peacekeepers on April 7, 1994, and organizing army units for subsequent attacks against ethnic Tutsis. more...

Azerbaijan, Russia cut oil output as prices fall

Dec 20, 2008: Azerbaijan and Russia joined with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in announcing a big cut in oil production this week, news agencies reported. more...

Poll: U.S. military presence in Middle East opposed

Dec 20, 2008: Most nations oppose continued U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf, according to a World Public Opinion poll conducted in 21 nations between July and October and released on December 15. more...

U.S. developing security pact with Georgia

Dec 20, 2008: U.S. and Georgian officials are discussing a security agreement along the lines of the 1998 U.S.-Baltic charter, according to a RFE/RL report on December 18. The charter became a precursor to the Baltic states' membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004. more...

Russian Navy destroyer Admiral Chabanenko. This vessel this week delivered humanitarian aid to Nicaragua. Royal Navy photo.

In tit-for-tat with U.S., Russia seeks sphere of influence in the Americas

Dec 20, 2008: Russian naval vessels delivered humanitarian aid to Nicaragua last week, shortly after Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev arrived to observe joint Russian-Venezuelan military exercises and contemplated reviving a Cold War-era Russian radar during a visit to Cuba. more...

Amb. John Danilovich on Dec. 12. Armenian Reporter.

U.S. agency wants democratic reforms stepped up in Armenia

Dec 20, 2008: The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) "reiterated its concerns about the status of democratic governance" in Armenia, according to MCC's statement following its board meeting on December 11. Although Armenia has remained eligible for U.S. aid under the program's guidelines, the volume of assistance has been restricted throughout 2008 after the State Department blamed the government for post-election violence. more...

Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) who has been selected as co-chair of the House Caucus on Armenian Issues.

Mark Kirk selected as Armenian caucus co-chair

Dec 18, 2008: Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) will take over from Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R.-Mich.) as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the offices of the two members and fellow co-chair Rep. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) reported on December 17. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

At the funeral of Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Jan. 22, 2007. Ara Sarafian

Turkish “apology to Armenians” aims to improve relations

Dec 18, 2008: An online apology to Armenians for the “Great Catastrophe” had collected the signatures of more than 13,000 Turks within days of its launch on December 15. Emil Sanamyan asked some of the U.S.-based signers about the meaning of the statement and what they hoped it might accomplish. more...

Georgian Catholicos visits Russian-occupied town of Gori on August 15, 2008. Interpressnews.

In Georgia, calls for early elections, another reshuffle, and efforts to mend ties with Russia

Dec 13, 2008: Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili replaced more ministers and faced new potential challengers to his power amid a gloomy economic outlook, Civil.ge reported this week and last. more...

Turkey prepares ground for U.S. ties under new administration

Dec 13, 2008: Turkish officials and commentators have been actively reminding Washington of their country's importance to the United States, ahead of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. more...

Obama with Sen. Dick Lugar on visit to Russia in 2005. Wikimedia photo.

Obama promises to “reset” relations with Russia

Dec 13, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama said he was determining when to meet Russian leaders and said there was a need to "reset U.S.-Russia relations" following tensions earlier this year. more...

Cohen Albright Genocide Prevention task force

William Cohen and Madeline Albright at the National Press Club on November 13, 2007, announcing the formation of the Genocide Prevention Task Force. Nareg Seferian for the Armenian Reporter

U.S. told to give higher priority to genocide prevention

Dec 11, 2008: The United States should establish early warning mechanisms and if necessary lead an international coalition that would take military action to prevent incidents of mass violence against civilians, says a report prepared by former senior U.S. officials and unveiled on December 8. Emil Sanamyan and Nareg Seferian report. more...

Ilham Aliyev wearing Turkmen national garb, with portrait of Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov in the background, receiving a diploma at Turkmenistan State University, Ashgabat, Nov. 28, 2008. President.az

Azerbaijan, Turkey seek Turkmenistan gas, ferry link up

Dec 06, 2008: The presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey were in Turkmenistan last week in another effort to encourage routing of that country's natural gas exports via the Caspian, the Caucasus, and Turkey. more...

NATO: contacts to resume with Russia; no new decisions on Georgia, Ukraine

Dec 06, 2008: Meeting on December 2, NATO foreign ministers agreed to resume some of of the alliance's contacts with Russia. The relations were suspended three months earlier over Russian military intervention in Georgia. more...

U.S. considers Caucasus to Central Asia route to supply Afghanistan forces

Dec 06, 2008: With an increasingly unstable Pakistan, the United States is looking into the possibility of supplying its forces in Afghanistan via the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Washington Post reported on November 18 citing Pentagon documents. more...

Azerbaijan, Turkey seek Turkmenistan gas, ferry link up

Dec 06, 2008: The presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey were in Turkmenistan last week in another effort to encourage routing of that country's natural gas exports via the Caspian, the Caucasus, and Turkey. The United States has long supported the trans-Caspian gas pipeline, having in August 2007 allocated funds to study its feasibility. more...

NATO: contacts to resume with Russia; no new decisions on Georgia, Ukraine

Dec 06, 2008: Meeting on December 2, NATO foreign ministers agreed to resume some of of the alliance's contacts with Russia, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. The relations were suspended three months earlier over Russian military intervention in Georgia. more...

Gen. Duncan McNabb. . AP.

U.S. considers Caucasus to Central Asia route to supply Afghanistan forces

Dec 06, 2008: With an increasingly unstable Pakistan, the United States is looking into the possibility of supplying its forces in Afghanistan via the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Washington Post reported on November 18 citing Pentagon documents. Since President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to increase the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, the need for additional supplies may add to existing concerns. more...

Samantha Power (on right) during a presentation of Carla Garapedian's (on left) Armenian Genocide documentary at Harvard in 2007. Harvard News Office

Samantha Power is back

Dec 04, 2008: Harvard University professor Samantha Power, who resigned last March from the Obama campaign after calling his then-rival Sen. Clinton "a monster," is now back working for President-elect Obama's transition team. more...

Hillary Clinton with Barack Obama.

Obama administration’s national security team takes shape

Dec 04, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama will appoint Hillary Clinton as secretary of state; keep the serving Bush administration Defense Secretary Robert Gates; and nominate retired Gen. James Jones as national security advisor. Emil Sanamyan looks at the three nominees' records on Armenian affairs. more...

Caucasus countries clarify NATO policies

Nov 28, 2008: NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on December 2-3 to find face-saving solutions that would help postpone immediate membership action plans (MAPs) for Ukraine and Georgia, news agencies report. Both countries were promised eventual membership at the NATO summit last April. more...

European Union weighing ties with Russia, ex-Soviet republics

Nov 28, 2008: "In recognition of European aspirations" of Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, the European Commission is set to propose a new Eastern Partnership project to encompass the six republics in June 2009, www.EUObserver.com reported on November 24. more...

The Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI, with Catholicos Aram I. Catholicossate.

Vatican: Memories of Armenian Genocide need to be overcome

Nov 28, 2008: "The Holy See’s official position was expressed in Pope John Paul II visit in Armenia [where he] spoke about genocide,” Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Vatican’s voice on interfaith relations told Vatican Radio on November 22. Cardinal Kasper was asked about the issue on eve of a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia who visited the Vatican from November 23 to 27. more...

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. Armenian Reporter.

Rep. Pallone: U.S. should step up support for Karabakh

Nov 28, 2008: "It is necessary that the United States place an importance on the existence of the smaller states in the Caucasus,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) said in a statement released following his meeting with president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Bako Sahakian, on November 22 in New York, Emil Sanamyan reports from Washington. more...

Turkish leader derides Bush, lobbies Obama

Nov 28, 2008: Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan used an invitation from President George W. Bush to an economic summit in Washington to lecture President-elect Barack Obama and to lambast the Bush administration’s policies as “disastrous.” more...

Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian with BSEC Secretary General Amb. Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos in Istanbul.

Armenia’s foreign minister expects normalization of relations with Turkey “very soon”

Nov 27, 2008: Speaking in Istanbul, Armenia's foreign minister said he expected Turkey to normalize relations with Armenia "very soon," Emil Sanamyan reports. However, he ruled out compliance with Turkey's longstanding precondition that Armenians cease efforts to win international acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide. more...

Obama, Biden in telephone talks with foreign leaders

Nov 22, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President–elect Joe Biden called a number of “world leaders and expressed thanks and appreciation for their congratulations on the election,” Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Bako Sahakian, the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Karabakh president begins U.S. visit

Nov 22, 2008: President Bako Sahakian of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) began a 10-day working visit to the United States on November 18. Mr. Sahakian's delegation includes NKR Finance Minister Spartak Tevosian and other officials. more...

U.S.-Armenia Task Force meets in Washington

Nov 22, 2008: Economic Development Minister Nerses Yeritsian led an Armenian government delegation to Washington for talks with U.S. officials from November 19 to 21. more...

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline at Saralanj. Photolure

Georgia cedes its natural gas network to Azerbaijan

Nov 21, 2008: Georgia agreed to hand over the ownership of its natural gas network, which includes the transit gas pipeline from Russia to Armenia, to the Azerbaijani government, in a November 14 deal, in exchange for natural gas at below-market prices. Emil Sanamyan considers the possible consequences for Armenia of this handover. more...

Presidents Sarkozy (left) and Medvedev.

Europeans resume talks with Russia over Georgian objections

Nov 15, 2008: The European Union (EU) will resume talks with Russia on a "strategic partnership" agreement, which it suspended on September 1 as a punishment for Russian military operations in Georgia. more...

World leaders to gather in Washington for economic summit

Nov 15, 2008: Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan will be among heads of state and government and senior officials from the world's 20 biggest economies who are arriving in Washington on November 14 for a summit called by President George Bush. more...

Multi-National Force-Iraq insignia.The 7-pointed star represents Iraq's largest communities- Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Turkomans, Assyrians, Yazidis, and Armenians. Source U.S. Dept. of Defense.

U.S.-led coalition members pull troops out of Iraq

Nov 15, 2008: With the twilight of the George W. Bush administration and with President-elect Barack Obama having pledged a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office, most of the remaining members of the so-called Coalition of the Willing are no longer willing to stay in Iraq. more...

Obama sweeps Armenian-heavy California constituencies

Nov 15, 2008: Senator Barack Obama polled above state average in Southern California communities with a substantial Armenian presence, according to final election results certified and published on November 8. more...

Moscow declaration on Karabakh welcomed, analyzed in the West

Nov 08, 2008: Although France and the United States were not involved in drafting of the Moscow declaration on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the document is nevertheless "totally supported" by the United States, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and envoy to the Karabakh talks Matt Bryza told Azerbaijani media on November 2 and 3. more...

Vahan Hovhannesian. Photolure.

U.S. diplomats, Armenian commentators disagree on trends in U.S. Caucasus policy

Nov 08, 2008: Although Barack Obama ran with the slogan "The change we need," American diplomats posted in the Caucasus say they do not expect U.S.' regional priorities to change. more...

Regional leaders offer courtesies to President-elect Obama

Nov 08, 2008: Following the election of Barack Obama as president on November 4, foreign leaders communicated their desire to strengthen their respective countries' relations with the United States. more...

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, right, seen with Armenia's President Serge Sargsian, center, and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, as they shake hands, during a meeting at Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008. AP Photo: RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service

Russia brokers Armenia-Azerbaijan commitment to “a political settlement,” more talks

Nov 02, 2008: The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, meeting on the invitation of the Russian president in Moscow on November 2, pledged to reach “a political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” via intensified talks mediated by Russia, the United States, and France. Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan reviews the substance of the declaration, its background, and what it may mean for the peace process. more...

Georgian government reshuffled

Nov 01, 2008: more...

International Monetary Fund to prop up Ukraine and Belarus

Nov 01, 2008: more...

Senior Turkish official: “Armenians aren’t our enemies”

Nov 01, 2008: more...

Compare & Contrast: Barack Obama and Joe Biden vs. John McCain and Sarah Palin

Oct 31, 2008: View the positions of the two major-party presidential and vice presidential nominees on issues of concern to Armenian-American voters more...

ANC-PAC supporter Aida Dimejian, California State Assembly member Paul Krekorian, Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian (in glasses), with presidential hopeful Barack Obama at a campaign event in Los Angeles, December 10, 2007. ANC-PAC.

Armenian-Americans rally around Barack Obama for president

Oct 31, 2008: The campaign of Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware to become the next president and vice president of the United States has gained strong support throughout the Armenian-American community. more...

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhán Casamitjana, the ambassador of Mexico in Washington.

Mexico's ambassador to the United States discusses his Armenian heritage

Oct 29, 2008: In an October 9 interview with Arturo Sarukhán Casamitjana, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, the Armenian Reporter’s Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan and intern Lusine Sarkisyan asked him about his unique family history, his thoughts on Armenia, and Mexico’s foreign policy priorities vis-à-vis the United States. more...

Media watchdog: peace is good for press freedom

Oct 25, 2008: "It is not economic prosperity but peace that guarantees press freedom," Paris-based Reporters without Borders argues in its annual report released on October 22. more...

UN Security Council.

151 countries vote Turkey into the UN Security Council

Oct 25, 2008: Turkey successfully concluded its five-year $50 million campaign for a two-year nonrenewable term on the United Nations Security Council, as it was voted in by 151 countries on October 17, Turkish and international news agencies reported. more...

Abkhazia, South Ossetia status talks stall; more aid pledged to Georgia

Oct 25, 2008: European, Georgian, Russian, and U.S. officials met in Geneva on October 15 to start discussions, in the words of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the "future status" of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and quickly adjourned until November, Civil.ge and others reported. more...

U.S.S. Barry.

Active U.S. diplomacy continues in Eurasia

Oct 25, 2008: Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried was in Armenia (Oct. 17), Georgia (Oct.18-20), and Turkey (Oct. 21) to discuss regional conflicts and bilateral relations, local news media reported. United States regional diplomacy has been stepped up significantly since Russian-Georgian fighting in August. more...

Turkey still weighing nuclear power plans

Oct 18, 2008: The Turkish government is seeking to build two nuclear power plants – a long-delayed one at Akkuyu near the Mediterranean port of Mersin, and another near the Black Sea port of Sinop. more...

Ilham Aliyev claims less than 90 percent of vote in re-election

Oct 18, 2008: Azerbaijan’s incumbent president Ilham Aliyev won just over 89 percent of the votes cast on October 15 and will remain president at least until 2013; his “main rival,” Milli Majlis member Iqbal Agazade was second, with 2.78 percent, according to official returns cited by RFE/RL. more...

Armenian church in Mosul following 2004 bombings. www.texansforpeace.org

Iraqi Armenians killed, wounded in attacks

Oct 18, 2008: An ethnic Armenian music-store owner, Farques Batool, was killed, and his nephew was wounded in attacks in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul on October 13. The attacks were apparently religiously motivated. more...

Nora Keomurjian, Karine Birazian, Valerie Jarrett

Nora Keomurjian and Karine Birazian with Barack Obama's senior campaign advisor Valerie Jarrett, in Philadelphia on October 13, 2008. ANCA

Armenian activists meet Barack Obama’s advisor, confidante

Oct 16, 2008: Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett expressed "deep interest" in the Armenian community's efforts "to elect Senator Obama our next president." more...

U.S. vice president Dick Cheney with Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia in Washington on October 10, 2008. Armenian government photo

Armenia takes issue with Bush administration’s rhetoric on Karabakh

Oct 16, 2008: It is “extremely dangerous” to emphasize the principle of territorial integrity at the expense of self-determination when it comes to Karabakh, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia told U.S. vice president Dick Cheney on October 10 in what amounted to the first publicly reported criticism by Armenia of revised U.S. policy language on the Karabakh conflict. more...

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian in Washington . Lusine Sarkisyan for the Armenian Reporter

Prime Minister: Armenia's economy is "facing very serious dangers”

Oct 16, 2008: In an interview on October 14 with the Armenian Reporter's Washington Editor Emil Sanamyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia spoke about the impact of the global financial crisis and unresolved conflicts on Armenia. more...

Turkey poised to win UN Security Council seat

Oct 16, 2008: After years of lobbying and courting countries worldwide, Turkey appeared poised to win a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, in an election set for October 17. more...

European MPs: Georgia, Russia both guilty in Ossetia war

Oct 11, 2008: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on October 2 that called for an “independent international investigation into what happened” in and around South Ossetia last August, “since the facts surrounding the outbreak of war between Georgia and Russia are disputed.” more...

Azerbaijani government seeks “diaspora” presence in Washington

Oct 11, 2008: Azerbaijani officials, Azerbaijanis resident in the United States, and others met on October 1-2 in Washington to discuss ways to establish a more effective "diaspora" presence in Washington that could counter the influence of the Armenian community. more...

John Negroponte.

U.S., Azerbaijan calibrating ties after Georgia war

Oct 11, 2008: Deputy Secretary John Negroponte, the State Department's second most senior official, went to Azerbaijan on October 2 in an apparent effort to safeguard plans for Caspian natural gas to flow to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. more...

David Krikorian and family campaigning.

David Krikorian in tight race for Ohio congressional seat

Oct 11, 2008: Cincinnati-area businessperson David Krikorian is making the strongest nonparty bid for the House of Representatives this year, according to RealClearPolitics.com more...

Ilham Aliyev, center, with his wife Mehriban and his late father Heydar.

Azerbaijan going through electoral motions

Oct 11, 2008: Looking at Azerbaijan’s news portals this week, it is impossible to tell that on October 15 there will be a vote for the country’s next president. News analysis by Emil Sanamyan. more...

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia. Wikimedia

Russia touts self-determination in “mini-empires”

Oct 07, 2008: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia on September 24 spoke at length on nations’ right to self-determination. more...

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia will visit Washington October 9–14, 2008. Photolure

Coming up: Armenian prime minister plans U.S. visit

Oct 06, 2008: Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian will visit Washington between October 9 and 14. Mr. Sarkisian will participate in the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on October 11–13. more...

Ambassador Nabi Sensoy of Turkey, who attended an Independence Day reception at the Armenian Embassy in Washington on September 30, 2008. Embassy of Turkey

Senior U.S., Russian, and Turkish officials mark Armenia’s independence

Oct 06, 2008: Ambassador Nabi Sensoy of Turkey was among more than 100 guests at a reception on September 30, 2008, at the Armenian Embassy in Washington to mark Armenia's independence. more...

U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Turkey clarifies position on Genocide

Oct 04, 2008: U.S. ambassadors to Ottoman Turkey Henry Morgenthau (1913–16) and Abram Elkus (1916–17) and other contemporary U.S. diplomats described in their communications “an attempt to exterminate the Armenian population,” ambassador-designate to Turkey James Jeffrey noted in a written response to questions for the record from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair and vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (D.-Del.) more...

Alex Russin, the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s resident country director for Armenia, in Washington on October 1, 2008. Armenian Reporter

MCC Armenia representative: $20 million disbursed in two years

Oct 04, 2008: In public remarks at the headquarters of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on October 1, Alex Russin, the corporation's resident country director for Armenia, outlined the program's goals, while sharing his concerns about Armenia's continued eligibility under the good-governance criteria. Emil Sanamyan reports. more...

Serge Sargsian, President of the Republic of Armenia, addresses the general debate of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly. Marco Castro / UN Photo

At UN, Serge Sargsian calls for prevention of war, genocide

Sep 27, 2008: "If a country increases its military budget and brags about it, [this country] must receive a rapid and firm response" from the international community, Armenia's president Serge Sargsian told the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 as he spoke of lessons learned from Georgia's attack against South Ossetia and the subsequent Russian response. more...

Artsakh’s freedom celebrated on Capitol Hill

Sep 27, 2008: About 100 supporters of Artsakh attended a September 19 Capitol Hill program that featured remarks by members of Congress, a keynote address by community activist and lawyer Mark Geragos, and calls for formal U.S. recognition and greater assistance to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Lusine Sarkisyan and Emil Sanamyan report. The event, “Nagorno Karabakh Republic/Artsakh: 20 Years of Freedom, Democracy, and Progress,” was hosted by the co-chairs of the Congressional Armenian Caucus in cooperation with the NKR Office in the United States and the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia. more...

Amb. Gilmore in his Virginia home. Armenian Reporter.

Ambassador Harry Gilmore: The United States will oppose a Russian sphere of influence

Sep 27, 2008: Harry Gilmore, former U.S. ambassador to Armenia (1993–95) spoke with the Armenian Reporter’s Emil Sanamyan and Lusine Sarkisyan on September 16 about ongoing U.S.-Russian tension over Georgia and its implications, Turkey’s position on the matter, and Armenia’s latest effort to normalize relations with Turkey. Arguing that Russia’s assertiveness is borne out of years of frustration with West, Ambassador Gimore also suggested that by pushing the idea that it has a sphere of influence, Russia would get a negative reaction from the political class of the United States. more...

Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev at the Meyendorf castle near Moscow on September 16, 2008.

On visit to Russia, Aliyev touts peaceful conflict resolution

Sep 23, 2008: President Ilham Aliyev struck an unusually timid tone when speaking about Karabakh and other Caucasus conflicts during a visit to Russia this week to meet President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. more...

Seeking to overtake Armenia in rating, Azerbaijan improves business regulation

Sep 23, 2008: World Bank staff was approached by Azerbaijani officials several months ago with a mandate from the Azerbaijani president to do everything necessary to overtake Armenia in the Doing Business ranking. more...

Tu-160 in flight; Russia sent two such strategic bombers to Venezuela in mid-September 2008. .

Russia sends aircraft, naval vessels to the Americas

Sep 23, 2008: In a dramatic shift of military posture reminiscent of the height of the Cold War, last week two Russian strategic bombers flew for 13 hours over the Arctic and the Atlantic to land in Venezuela. more...

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.), with Rep. George Radanovich (R.-Calif.) behind him. . Armenian Reporter

Members mobilize congressional support for additional U.S. aid to Armenia

Sep 23, 2008: Reps. Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and George Radanovich (R.-Calif.) have called on colleagues to co-sign a letter they will send to President Bush arguing for additional U.S. aid to Armenia to offset the damages its economy has suffered as a result of interruptions in cross-Georgia trade since last month. more...

Rep. Joe Knollenberg (l.) and Amb. John Danilovich during an interview. Armenian Reporter

Millennium Challenge Armenia program “moving ahead in all respects”

Aug 30, 2008: Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R.-Mich.), co-chair of the Armenian Caucus and senior congressional appropriator, highlighted the importance of the five-year $235 million Millennium Challenge Corporation's program in Armenia as Detroit's Armenian community hosted MCC chief executive Ambassador John Danilovich on August 5. more...

Rep. Joe Knollenberg (l.) and Amb. John Danilovich during an interview. Armenian Reporter

Millennium Challenge Armenia program “moving ahead in all respects

Aug 30, 2008: Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R.-Mich.), co-chair of the Armenian Caucus and senior congressional appropriator, highlighted the importance of the five-year $235 million Millennium Challenge Corporation's program in Armenia as Detroit's Armenian community hosted MCC chief executive Ambassador John Danilovich on August 5. more...

Russian navy cruiser Moskva (background) dropped anchor in Abkhazia this week. In this NATO photo it is seen side by side with a British vessel in 2006 exercises.

Russia, West mull options in stare-down over Caucasus

Aug 30, 2008: Moscow on August 26 recognized the independence of Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia's rule in the early 1990s. more...

Marie Yovanovitch confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Armenia

Aug 15, 2008: The Senate on August 1 confirmed Marie L. Yovanovitch as the next United States ambassador to Armenia. The position had been vacant since September 2006, when Ambassador John M. Evans was recalled for speaking openly about the Armenian Genocide. more...

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian Reporter map by Grigor Beglaryan

Azerbaijan parades newly acquired military arsenal

Jul 05, 2008: In an unusually candid display of military technology that combined Soviet-era grandeur with Azerbaijan’s increasingly Middle Eastern flair, President Ilham Aliyev showed off newly acquired missile systems and spy planes in a grand parade held in Baku on June 26. These weapons included Scarab tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. more...

Sadness, concern, calls for dialogue over Armenian crisis

Mar 08, 2008: The United States and international human rights and media organizations issued statements and dispatched envoys as Armenia's post-election crisis took a violent turn last weekend. more...

West’s leading Karabakh expert says people’s aspirations for independence must be recognized

May 26, 2007: Tom de Waal speaks about his book, Black Garden, to Washington editor Emil Sanamyan. He discusses the impact of the book and more recent developments in Karabakh. more...

Emil Sanamyan

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