Amid a grand display of Russian flags in Yerevan, Russian and Armenian leaders on August 20 signed an agreement that extends Moscow’s lease on its Gyumri military base near Turkey to 2044. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan framed the deal as a way to guarantee peace in the South Caucasus, but critics contend that the pact is not a partnership between equals.
Plans to grant Russia a 49-year lease on its base in Armenia have sparked heated opposition criticism of the Armenian government for allegedly selling short the country’s independence. The agreement is expected to be signed next week during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s state visit to Yerevan on August 19.
Apricots may have served as Armenia’s calling card at this year’s Eurovision pop music contest, but, back home, severe crop damage has transformed these “kisses of the earth, fruits of the sun” into a source of economic hardship.
A government initiative to re-open foreign-language schools in Armenia after a 17-year ban is generating a heated public outcry. Many are concerned that the move, if implemented, would damage the country’s Armenian-language educational system.
A lawsuit filed by the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America against the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles over a medieval manuscript has revived long-standing concerns within Armenia about the need to preserve the country’s cultural heritage.
US President Barack Obama’s nomination of onetime Nagorno-Karabakh conflict mediator Matthew Bryza to be Washington’s envoy to Azerbaijan is sparking opposition from Armenian diaspora organizations and from within Armenia itself.
Surrogacy is reportedly becoming a popular option for well-to-do, childless Armenian couples who desire children. But reconciling the practice with Armenia’s relatively conservative social mores is proving a challenge.
Many Armenians are blaming President Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to freeze the reconciliation process with Turkey for US President Barack Obama’s failure again this year to call Ottoman Turkey’s World War I-era slaughter of ethnic Armenians an act of genocide.
Two days before Armenia commemorates Ottoman Turkey’s World War I-era slayings of ethnic Armenians, President Serzh Sargsyan on April 22 called on Armenia’s parliament to "suspend" the process to ratify reconciliation protocols with Turkey.
