Disputed land deal threatens future of Jerusalem’s Armenian community

Hannah McCarthy in Jerusalem,

It’s almost midnight and a group of people nervously talk among themselves on Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Road in Jerusalem’s old city. One man holds a muzzled dog, while another speaks anxiously on a phone. The group becomes agitated as an Israeli police car drives down the narrow street towards the car park that lies on land owned by the local Armenian church.

Inside the car park, about 200 local residents of the Armenian quarter are gathered at the site that they say is under threat from an Israeli-Australian property developer. Known as the Cow’s Garden, the site includes a seminary, community hall, five homes and represents 25 per cent of the Armenian quarter’s land in the old city. Surrounded by historic ramparts, the car park is an important space for the 1,000 Armenians who still live within the old city and a possible site for affordable housing.

Many protesters are descendants of those displaced by the Armenian genocide committed by Turkish Ottomans more than a century ago, although the Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates back more than 1,600 years. “There were contacts between Armenia and Palestine even before Christ, and the Cathedral of St James – which stands today at the heart of Jerusalem’s Armenian community – was founded around 420 AD,” says Matthew Teller, author of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Like Palestinians in the old city, Armenians are technically stateless and deemed residents rather than full citizens of Israel, after its forces occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967.

The Armenian community’s future is under threat after its local religious leader, known as a patriarch, Nourhan Manougian, entered into a controversial deal in 2021 to lease church land to Xana Capital, a United Arab Emirates company owned by an Israeli-Australian property developer who plans to build a hotel. The developer did not respond to a request for comment sent on LinkedIn.

Local resident Kegham Balian says the deal undervalued the old city site and should never have been agreed to without the community’s consent. One priest who was heavily involved in the deal has since been defrocked and after significant backlash, Manougian says he cancelled the deal with Xana Capital last month – although members of the community have not yet seen the letter canceling the lease.

Despite the deal supposedly being cancelled and no court order enforcing the lease, armed Israeli settlers turned up at the car park on November 5th with dogs and pepper spray; while diggers remain at the site, after arriving earlier this month and knocking down one wall and digging up in one section of the car park. The Armenian community rallied in response and set up a 24-hour watch to prevent further demolition, which senior church leaders in Jerusalem criticized as “illegal actions”.

On this night, those gathered at the car park were joined by patriarch Manougian – who arrived in a black Mercedes and refused to speak to these pages – and several priests who led locals in prayers. “We’re peaceful and we get on with our Jewish and Palestinian neighbours,” says Balian, “but if we don’t make a stand here, the entire Cow’s Garden will be gone.”

Earlier that evening, Setrag Balian says the Israeli police arrived with a private security company and told them that if they didn’t leave the site, they would be forced to by Israeli soldiers. The next day armed settlers arrived again, accompanied by Israeli police who arrested three Armenians while demanding they produce evidence that the land is theirs.

An Israeli military spokesperson referred The Irish Times to the Israeli police for comment, who said: “The Israel Police is not a party to civil or contractual disputes and it is not part of its role. Upon receiving reports or complaints in suspicion of a criminal offence, they are dealt with by the police accordingly.”

The Armenian Quarter sits beside the old city’s Jewish Quarter and includes one of the main routes to the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites.

Israeli lawyer Daniel Seidemann, who founded Terrestrial Jerusalem which tracks development that harms the status and stability of the contested city, says that “settlers are interested in creating an uninterrupted bridge between Jaffa Gate and the Jewish quarter of the city” and describes this as dovetailing with a wider strategy backed by the Israeli authorities to encircle the old city with settlements and biblically-inspired settlement projects. As examples, he cites Israeli encroachment in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheik Jarrah and proposals for a settler-run national park on the Mount of Olives.

Multiple properties in Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian neighbourhoods have become embroiled in opaque transactions often involving shell companies which sometimes lie dormant for years before groups aligned with settlers take legal action to force possession through the Israeli courts.

With media attention focused on the war in Gaza and in the West Bank, Seidemann believes settlers see an opportunity to take possession of the strategic Armenian site quickly. “What is happening there is not only a threat to the community, it is a threat to the city’s integrity,” he says. “Jerusalem would not be Jerusalem without a vibrant Armenian community.”

Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/world/middle-east/2023/11/26/disputed-land-deal-threatens-future-of-jerusalems-armenian-community/

Aliyev Pashinyan has issued a directive commanding his supporters to target ANCA_DC, aided by assistance from international media outlets, azatutyun radio Video

this “Assistant Professor” Kopalyan is attacking the ANCA.

Until 2018, the ANCA was only attacked by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Let that sink in….

The ANCA is a lobby group of Armenian-Americans, primarily composed of volunteers. It is important to note that they are neither legally nor intentionally representing the Republic of Armenia; instead, they focus on advocating for Arm-American interests. Their role involves countering the influence of Turkish-American or Azeri-American lobbies if such lobbies exist.

It’s crucial to clarify that Armenia’s decision not to allocate funds for hiring lobbyists in the US is the responsibility of the Armenian government, not the ANCA. Rather than leveraging the Arm-American lobby as an additional resource aligned with Armenian interests, individuals like “Assistant Professor” Kopalyan, who are part of the government, criticize the ANCA.

Up until 2018, the ANCA had been subjected to attacks mainly from Turkey and Azerbaijan. Reflecting on this fact is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the situation.

The Artsian,

One of the first things Nikol did when he came to power was to try to replace the Armenia Fund with the “My Step Fund”. He immediately arrested the director of the fund on charges of misappropriating $250k ($250k out of $220million).

5 years have passed and Ara still hasn’t been convicted of a crime. Then in 2020, his administration decided to transfer $105 million dollars from the Armenia fund to the government budget. This was something unprecedented. Interestingly, the members of the government and the parliament received substantial bonuses shortly after. Now with Artsakh being completely under Azeri occupation, the Armenia fund has literally lost everything that it. Has worked since the day of its inception. Everything we donated and built is gone. Literally everything. Today, the Armenia Fund has become somewhat obsolete, which is exactly what Nikol as well as Aliyev, and Erdogan always wanted. Armenia fund is partly to be blamed for this. After all, throughout the past 5 years they either promoted Nikol or stayed silent when Ara Vardanyan was spending time in prison for an allegation that was never proven, they were silent on Nikol’s organized efforts to undermine the organization. Most importantly i haven’t heard anything from the Armenia Fund in regard to how this government handled the wars and gave away every inch of Artsakh. So i think its time for us to create a new organization. With Artsakh gone, Armenia Fund has lost its meaning.

I will fight to restore my right to return to Armenia

Member of the ARF Bureau, co-chairman of the Co-ordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) Murad Papazyan has appealed to the justice system of Armenia to assume its responsibilities, rejecting the decision of the National Security Service. He has issued a statement about this.

“On July 14, 2022, when I was leaving for Armenia, the National Security Service barred my entry and ordered my deportation, saying I was “persona non grata.”

13 months after the incidents, on August 21, 2023, during the preliminary court hearing the judge demanded the NSS to present the reasons for my ban on entry to Armenia. 13 months after the events, they could not present the slightest reasons… The judge gave Security Service 14 days to present the reasons for my dismissal, September 4. My attorneys asked me to attend the next hearing, but the judge declined, instead, offered to attend remotely. Security Service of course never presented the required elements. I learned in October that the judge was changed, and on November 23rd, At 14:30, a new preliminary court hearing should be held. The reason for the change of the judge is not mentioned.

I apply to the justice system of Armenia to obtain the reasons for my dismissal and to give me the right to participate in this trial. And if the Security Service still does not present the reasons for my removal, I expect this decision to be questioned. And if we witness the simple formality of justice, I will not hesitate to pass it on to the European Human Rights Council court to annul this baseless decision. I will fight to restore my right to return to Armenia. a country for which I have fought for more than 40 years”.

Murad Papazyan

Member of the ARF Bureau, Co-chair of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France

Paris, November 21, 2023

Yerevan /Mediamax/. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “Gaza has the same place in our hearts as Karabakh”

At a press conference following the presidential cabinet meeting, Erdogan said, in particular:

“Any incident taking place around us, from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, is of direct concern to us. Gaza has the same place in our hearts as Karabakh. We do not discriminate between Bosnia and Aleppo, or Tripoli and Balkh, or Thessaloniki and Mosul.”

“Those who for years emboldened Armenia and profited from the suffering, troubles and fights of the people living in the region actually caused the biggest harm to Armenia itself. By fanning the flames of unrealistic pipedreams, they manipulated and exploited the Armenians, condemning them to insecurity. Armenia needs to realize and accept this reality. The Armenian people and their rulers had better seek their security in establishing peace with their neighbors, not thousands of miles away.

No weapon or ammunition sent by Western countries can substitute for the tranquility to be enabled by an environment of permanent peace. It is our biggest desire that the Armenians shall not waste, once again, the peace opportunity,” Erdogan said.

The Parliament of Azerbaijan adopted a statement in response to the Act for the Protection of Armenians adopted by the US Senate. “The Milli Majlis resolutely rejects it as an act against Azerbaijan adopted in the US Senate and considers it a serious blow to relations between the two countries.

This poses a serious obstacle to efforts to bring peace to the region. The act passed by the US Senate is a clear example of double standards and a selective approach. When Armenia expanded its occupation against Azerbaijan, the “Khojaly genocide” and massacres of the Azerbaijani population were committed; the United States, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, did not try to prevent these actions but, on the contrary, adopted the 907th Amendment against Azerbaijan. The United States supported the separatist regime created on the territory of Azerbaijan. The current actions of the United States as a mediator have led to a loss of authority in Azerbaijan. US foreign policy has suffered a complete collapse in recent years. In this regard, special mention should be made of the policies in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan once again declares that Azerbaijan, based on the norms and principles of international law, will always react firmly to all negative steps.”