A heated conversation between Pashinyan and Papazyan

On Wednesday, February 21, on the occasion of the reburial of Misak Manushyan and his wife in the French pantheon, taking advantage of the fact that Nikol Pashinyan was in France, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron initiated the contact between Nikol Pashinyan and the co-chairs of CCAF (Coordinating Council of French Armenian Organizations), Murad Papazyan and Ara Toranyan. : The conversation took place in the presence of Emmanuel Macron, at the end of the dinner organized at the Elysée Palace.

President Macron opened the conversation by clarifying the need for contacts between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the representatives of the Armenian community in France, even if differences can separate them. President Macron highly appreciated the work done by Murad Papazyan and Ara Toranyan for Armenia. He emphasized their determination to protect Armenia and their ability to unite the Armenian community in France, the French government and all political actors.

After the words of the French President, Murad Papazyan welcomed this initiative. Addressing Nikol Pashinyan, the CCAF co-chairman condemned the fact that he was banned from entering Armenia for 19 months, which was finally lifted by the Armenian justice system. Murad Papazyan criticized Nikol Pashinyan for making this deeply undemocratic and divisive decision.

Murad Papazyan emphasized the disagreements that Nikol Pashinyan might have with him, while insisting on his right to express them publicly within the framework of a free and democratic debate. Nikol Pashinyan, clearly irritated by this lesson in democracy, got angry and criticized Murad Papazyan for discussing this topic in front of the French president.

Murad Papazyan reminded that the French president is the author of that initiative and that, probably, the French president is the only person who could organize this dialogue.

Even more enraged by that answer, Nikol Pashinyan said that he banned Murad Papazyan from entering Armenia because the latter organized a demonstration against him in Paris on June 1, 2021. This baseless claim has been spread many times by the office of the Prime Minister of Armenia and has always been denied by Murad Papazyan. However, during that conversation, Nikol Pashinyan repeated this accusation, and Murad Papazyan once again rejected it, at the same time being surprised that the security services of Armenia did not present this accusation to the court.

Murad Papazyan also clarified that the right to demonstration is not prohibited in a democratic country. He expressed surprise at Nikol Pashinyan’s weak argument and the poverty of his expressions.

At the end of the conversation, President Macron stood aside with the Prime Minister of Armenia, after which Pashinyan informed Murad Papazyan that the authorities will not appeal the decision to restore his right to return to Armenia.

ARF Paris office

BREAKING: Robert Kennedy Jr. has been granted a massive victory in his lawsuit against the Biden administration for colluding with social media companies to censor him and others.

RFK Jr. was able to win a preliminary injunction against the White House and several federal agencies as a federal judge ruled that the government was “insinuating themselves into the social-media companies’ private affairs and blurring the line between public and private action.”

Judge Doughty said Kennedy provided substantial evidence that the Biden administration had coerced the companies into suppressing free speech related to Covid, elections, gas prices, climate change, gender, and abortion.

“It is certainly likely that Defendants could use their power over millions of people to suppress alternative views or moderate content that they do not agree with in the upcoming 2024 national election,” the judge added.

The injunction is stayed until 10 days after the Supreme Court rules on Missouri v Biden, though it prevents the White House and other agencies from coercing social media companies to “remove, delete, suppress, or reduce… content containing protected free speech.”

This is a major triumph for free speech in the country that RFK Jr. has won.

Source: Christian Movick

Michael Rubin,

Talks continue quietly between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Armenian counterpart Armen Grigoryan as the Biden administration seeks to conclude a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan within months if not weeks.

Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s motives are not altruistic. Both entered office with grand diplomatic ambitions: reconciliation with Iran, peace in Afghanistan, and an end to entanglements in the Middle East. Today, the Middle East is in flames and the Afghanistan remains a stain on America’s reputation. In addition, the White House managed twice to be on the wrong side of the Ukraine War: First, Sullivan sought to convince Volodyrmyr Zelensky to flee into exile. Zelensky refused but as Ukrainians defied the odds and intelligence assessments, the White House scrambled to prevent any Ukrainian action that might cause Putin to lose too much face.

The current rush for peace in the South Caucasus fits a pattern in which incumbents rush initiatives as elections approach in order to redefine personal legacies. It is not just President Joe Biden. As the public turned on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, President George W. Bush rushed separate peace processes with North Korea and the Palestinians. Likewise, as Benghazi threatened to overshadow Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s legacy, she suddenly revived and rushed a flawed Somalia political process that now threatens to drag the Horn of Africa into war.

Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are advanced. Rather than agree on specific borders, Sullivan has proposed both sides agree on how many square kilometers Armenia and Azerbaijan will be, an idea that theoretically bypasses disputes over maps and the difficulties of demarcating borders. Such a formula would also facilitate eventual land swaps, especially among the many enclaves that former Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin created.

Biden, Sullivan, and Blinken may want a quick deal, but there are three reasons why Armenia should not allow Washington to bully it to achieve one. First, too often, the State Department seeks to force concessions from democracies like Armenia, Cyprus, Israel, or Ukraine because it is easier than forcing dictators to bend. Second, to be an even broker, the State Department inadvertently encourages extremism as dictators make ridiculous claims believing American mediators will split the difference. Finally, too many American diplomats still believe parties enter negotiations sincerely, rather than as a means to delay and distract.

Armenians are pro-peace, but peace must bring security. Armenian negotiators should demand the United States recognize both Armenia’s borders and its total size. Russian President Vladimir Putin explained his inaction in the face of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh with reference to the 1991 Almaty Declaration in which the newly-independent states recognized both the “territorial integrity of each other and inviolability of the existing borders.” Azerbaijan applauded. But if the Almaty Declaration is immutable, then Washington should not only demand the immediate withdrawal of all Azerbaijani forces from Armenian territory, but also recognize the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontier as laid out by the 1975 Soviet General Staff map. These should be prerequisites before negotiations begin rather than agenda items.

Both Armenia and the United States have ample reason to doubt Azerbaijani sincerity in negotiations. The backstory to Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim’s September 14, 2023 declaration before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh” just days before the Biden administration did just that was that she and Blinken believed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s private assurances that he planned no military operations.

Given Aliyev’s frequent lies, it is imperative that the United States guarantee Armenia a qualitative military edge over Azerbaijan. There are two ways to achieve this. First, the United States can augment weaponry available to Armenia. Concerns about leakage to Russia have little merit given both that Russia has already captured much the same weaponry from Ukraine and such concerns do not prevent weapons sales to India. Rather, the Pentagon can do as France does and deploy personnel to supervise the status and handling of such weapons platforms. Second, the United States should use diplomatic pressure to end Israel and Turkey’s supply of high-end drones and weaponry to Azerbaijan. That Israel seeks an emergency supplemental from the U.S. Congress to help it defend itself from Hamas should only enhance American insistence that Israel keep Israeli weaponry inside Israel. Likewise, Turkey should receive no new aircraft so long as it arms Aliyev.

Finally, peace will be meaningless if Armenia’s economy is left to wither on the vine. The end of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s blockade must be hardwired into any peace agreement, with the United States and France — not Russia and Turkey — in charge of the customs systems and information sharing at the root of seamless travel from the Turkish-Armenian frontier to the Black Sea and onward.

Too often, the Armenian government acts passively as other powers impose disadvantageous terms upon it. That was the case after the November 2020 ceasefire Putin crafted as well as last September’s end to the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Armenia’s government should not allow Biden, Sullivan, or Blinken to act like Putin. Rather, democracies and allies should have each other’s backs. Peace is crucial to the region’s future, but it must be real, based on Armenia’s security and economic needs and not simply on Washington political calculations.

(Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.)

Today, during an interview with Public Radio of Armenia, Pashinyan discussed the New Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. “We need to settle our relations with the Declaration today. Now the question is whether our state policy should be directed to it and whether our state policies should be guided by that message and should be based on the decision of the National Council of Nagorno Karabakh and the Supreme Council of Armenia on the reunification of Karabakh and Armenia. This is a matter of political choice. If so, we will never have peace,” he said. Notably, Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, shared a similar message today during the meeting with Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong. He highlighted that the Constitution and other legal documents of Armenia have to be changed. He noted that Armenia’s claims against Azerbaijan in international courts are based on issues such as “Armenia’s non-recognition of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the separation of Karabakh from Azerbaijan.”

BREAKING: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has urged Armenia to consider constitutional changes for peace. Aliyev made several statements during the reception of the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Martin Chungong, discussing the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations and proposed amendments to the Constitution of Armenia.

According to Aliyev, there is already de facto peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with a peaceful situation maintained on the border for several months. He believes peace can be achieved through changes to the Constitution of Armenia and other relevant documents. Aliyev criticized France for what he perceived as a destructive regional policy, accusing it of fueling the fire. Aliyev highlighted that many legal documents of Armenia contain points asserting territorial claims to Azerbaijan. He pointed out that various conventions and documents do not recognize Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Karabakh. Aliyev emphasized that Armenia’s claims against Azerbaijan in international courts are based on issues such as Armenia’s non-recognition of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the separation of Karabakh from Azerbaijan. According to Aliyev, achieving peace requires ending these claims and changing the Constitution of Armenia and other legal documents. Notably, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, made a similar claim days ago, stating that the Armenian Constitution does not need amendments; it needs to be changed.

As much as the CP members deny that they did not receive the demand-instruction to have a new Constitution from Aliyev, our sources in the diplomatic field say that in the draft of the peace treaty, Aliyev fixed that demand in writing. He wrote that Armenia’s internal legislation should be harmonized so that the contracting parties do not have territorial claims against each other.

It should be noted that a national referendum will adopt the new Constitution, and “more than half of the participants in the referendum, but not less than a quarter of the citizens who have the right to participate in the referendums”, should vote in favor of the new Constitution, that is, as many as Nikol Pashinyan and his team voted in the previous elections. have received And CP received 688 thousand votes. In other words, at least 647 thousand people must vote in favor of the new Constitution. The solution to the issue can be the “cleaning” of the voters’ register, which is being discussed by the authorities.

It should be noted that the purpose of having a new Constitution and not of changing the existing one is to delete the reference to the Declaration of Independence from the preamble of the main law. The point is that the preamble cannot be edited with the amendment, and in case of adopting a new Constitution, you can just write a new preamble.

You can read the full article here: https://hraparak.am/post/f3e7c91de2b83a6d896e34c81c7ef7b4

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NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Mayor Karen Bass, LA Firefighters, and now, The Los Angeles Times. After exhaustive interviews with every candidate in the Council District 2 race, the Los Angeles Times have assertively endorsed Adrin Nazarian’s campaign. This endorsement reaffirms Nazarian’s deep understanding of the pressing issues and the bold leadership he brings to this district. The Times’ highlighted Adrin’s unmatched experience and diverse policy positions on the issues that face Los Angeles as their reasons for backing him. 

“Nazarian is a thoughtful, collaborative leader who is willing to take on difficult, weedy issues,” said the LA Times in their article in support of Adrin. “In this race, Nazarian has experience and a record of leadership that makes him the best choice for voters.”

“I’m honored to have the support of such a prestigious and credible organization” said Nazarian. “I see this endorsement as a call to action. Like the Times’ outlined, our City needs experienced and community oriented leaders to usher in a new era in Los Angeles that represents the interests of the people, not special interests. I thank the Los Angeles Times for their stamp of approval, and to the residents of Council District 2, I am committed to representing you to the best of my ability, and I will not let you down.”

The Times’ is an immensely trusted entity in Los Angeles politics, and this endorsement will surely send significant waves of influence over the Council District 2 race as election day is rapidly approaching.



Former Assemblymember Nazarian served the East San Fernando Valley for a decade in the California State Assembly, where he worked successfully to pass protections for renters, patients and seniors. Former Assemblymember Nazarian is also known for creating the CalKIDS College Savings Program, the largest college savings program in the nation, ensuring every child born in California after July 2022, a path to college and career training. Former Assemblymember Nazarian and his family are residents of North Hollywood.