THE ARMENIAN MIRRORc SPECTATOR Since 1932 Volume LXXXXI, NO. 45, Issue 4687 MAY 29, 2021 $2.00 Members of Congress Urge US to Suspend Military Aid to Azerbaijan WASHINGTON — The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) welcomed a biparti- san letter on May 24, spearheaded by Congres- sional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), along with the Caucus leader- ship, calling on the Administration “to suspend any existing military or security assistance to Azerbaijan,” given the war it launched last year against Art- sakh, reported the Assembly. In a statement re- leased today, Rep. Valadao remarked: “Not a single American tax dol- lar should be sent to the armed forces of oil-rich Azerbai- jan - a country that ethnically cleansed Rep. David Valadao Artsakh, holds Ar- Harvard Square Protestors Call for Release of Armenian POWS, End to US Military Aid to Azerbaijan, Page 11 menian POWs, and now occupies territory in the Republic of Armenia.” Highlighting concerns over the Adminis- tration’s decision to waive Section 907 of the Armenia Rules out Border Demarcation Talks until Freedom Support Act, the letter states in part: “We are concerned that the State Department did not fully consider Azerbaijan’s lack of Azerbaijani Forces Pull out of Armenian Territory progress in ceasing its blockades and other of- By Raffi Elliott nian forces around Lake Sev (Sev Lidj). to the unrecognized nation’s legal status fensive uses of force against Armenia and Na- gorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), and instead moved Special to the Mirror-Spectator A similar intrusion was also halted south under the auspices of the Organization of the village of Verin Shorja in the Ge- for Security and Cooperation in Europe forward with this waiver without detailing se- YEREVAN –– Armenia will only gharkyunik province. (OSCE) Minsk group. rious national security concerns. This year’s agree to start border demarcation nego- At a press event on Friday, May 18, The Foreign Ministry’s statement waiver comes despite last year’s 44-day war, tiations once Azerbaijan fully evacuates Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna seemingly corresponds to an earlier com- Azerbaijan’s embrace of Al Qaeda-linked Syr- the area around Lake Sev and ceases fur- Naghdalyan insisted that in addition to ment by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ian mercenaries, and Azerbaijani President Il- ther intrusions into Armenian sovereign Azerbaijani withdrawal to their positions concerning a leaked document purport- ham Aliyev’s renunciation of further diploma- territory, officials announced this week. as of May 11, the processes of border de- edly exposing plans to cede more territo- cy to resolve outstanding issues. These actions Azerbaijan sparked this ongoing limitation and demarcation between Ar- ries to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan confirmed are inconsistent with provisions of the Section stand-off two weeks ago when several menia and Azerbaijan should be part of the authenticity of the document which 907 waiver and demonstrate the dire need for hundred Azerbaijani soldiers infiltrated the comprehensive peace settlement of was first shared on social media by Mi- changes to the Administration’s waiver process on foot some 3.5 kilometers (2.1 miles) the conflict. Naghdalyan added that this kael Minassian, the exiled son-in-law of to prevent further aid from going to Azerbaijan the international border area around the framework would include the “de-occu- former President Serzh Sargsyan, but in- until they make demonstrable changes to their remote Ishkhanasar in Armenia’s Syunik pation of the territories of the Artsakh sisted that it was “100% pro-Armenian.” behavior.” province before being halted by Arme- Republic” as well as a final settlement see WITHDRAWAL, page 2 see AID, page 20 BOSTON GLOBE / GETTY IMAGE Gardner Museum Robbery Gets Netflix Treatment By Alin K. Gregorian BOSTON — It is not often one gets to talk to Mirror-Spectator Staff the star of a Netflix series, but Stephen Kurk- jian is not a typical star. The veteran reporter is responsible for keeping alive the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery in 1990 through his book, Master Thieves, which came out in 2015. Now, the story of the single largest art robbery in the world is told in the four-part Netflix series, “This Is a Robbery.” Very late on the night of March 18, 1990, two men, dressed as Boston Police officers, knocked on the door of the museum, where a night watch- man, against protocol, opened the door. One of the thieves entered and said, “Gentlemen, this is a robbery,” putting into motion a crime that has yet to be solved. Stephen Kurkjian see HEIST, page 10 PARIS MONTREAL MASSACHUSETTS Bust of Charles Edoyan’s Film Medical Group Aznavour Explores Aftermath to Present Inaugurated in of Lebanese Civil Healing Power Paris War of Music Page 4 Page 12 Page 20 2 SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2021 ARMENIAN MIRROR-SPECTATOR ARMENIA NEWS from ARMENIA Armenia Rules out Border Demarcation Talks Armenian Soldier Dies After Azerbaijani Attack Until Azerbaijan Pulls out of Armenian Territory YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Foreign Ministry of Armenia WITHDRAWAL, from page 1 major international highway connections. ceasefire agreement. “There’s a chance that issued a statement on the occasion The heavily-redacted document, accom- During Thursday’s parliamentary session, we might not even sign [the document]” of the death of an Armenian ser- panied by allegations from Minassian him- Security Council chairman Armen Grig- Pashinyan announced to Parliament, add- viceman as a result of Azerbaijani self that Pashinyan had agreed to hand over oryan refuted the idea as being impracti- ing “Nothing will be signed until Azeri shootings on Armenia-Azerbaijan chunks of Armenian sovereign territory to cal. Indeed, none of those three exclaves, troops withdraw from Armenian territory.” border in Gegharkunik Province. Azerbaijan including half a dozen villag- which have been under Armenian control Responding to the crisis, Baku denied Its press service statement runs as es, sparked more protests in the Armenian since 1991, would be viable if handed to that its troops were even inside Armenian follows. capital as well as condemnation from op- Azerbaijan. They are not accessible to territory, claiming instead that the entirety “On May 25, Armenian ser- position politicians. During an emergency mainland Azerbaijan which would make of Sev Lake falls within its own borders. In viceman, junior sergeant Gevorg parliament session held on Thursday, May infrastructure projects and administrative an attempt to soften decades-worth of rac- Khurshudyan was fatally wounded 17, Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon tasks impossible. Grigoryan also reminded ist and denigrating comments towards Ar- by the fire of the military units of Marukyan insisted that a bilateral agree- listeners that Azerbaijan also controls the menians, Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev told Azerbaijan in the direction of the ment could not be signed by an interim Armenian exclave of Artsivashen which is the Russian state-owned TASS agency that Upper Shorzha of Gegharkunik re- government and insisted that the Prime larger than all three Azerbaijani exclaves “Azeri and Armenian peoples need to learn gion of the Republic of Armenia. Minister hold off until after the June 20 combined, and holds strategic value due to to live side-by-side again.” We strongly condemn the blatant election. its altitude. Despite faux-conciliatory rhetoric com- armed encroachment against the This call was also supported by Trans- During the same question period, Pash- ing from Azerbaijani leadership, interna- sovereign territory of Armenia - the parency International’s Armenian branch inyan also suggested that one likely out- tional pressure has continued to mount on UN member state, which is a vio- as well as several other civil liberties come of the border demarcation is that the Baku to pull its troops out of Armenian lation of the norms of international watchdogs. Human Rights Ombudsman de facto frontier, which mostly follows a territory, free Armenian POWs from cap- law. Despite calls from the inter- Arman Tatoyan called on the government system of trenches across mountain tops tivity and cease its belligerent rhetoric. national community, Azerbaijan to publish the uncensored draft in its entire- built in during the First Karabakh War, The United States, Canada, Greece, India, refuses to withdraw its armed forc- ty to “prevent the outflow of information of might simply remain as is. A similar solu- Iran and France have all condemned Azer- es from the sovereign territory of such exclusive importance from unofficial tion to the exclaves question had been part baijan’s aggression. The European Union Armenia, by further escalating the sources, and avoid an irreversible loss of of the aborted 1996 peace treaty. “Azeri recently voted to demand that Azerbaijan situation and undermining regional public trust in state bodies.” military positions remain on territory of the release Armenian prisoners of war. The security and stability. The hostili- The fully declassified draft agreement, Republic of Armenia since the 1990s, sim- EU’s representative in Armenia, Ambassa- ties carried out by Azerbaijan in the which was published later that same day, ilarity some Armenian trenches sit within dor Andrea Wiktorin, who visited Sev Lake sovereign territory of Armenia give revealed none of the attributions made by the soviet-era boundaries of Azerbaijan,” as part of a delegation of European ambas- the right to the Republic of Arme- Minasyan. Rather than an agreement to cede Pashinyan said. Agreeing on an interna- sadors and military attachés, confirmed Ar- nia to undertake the necessary and Armenian territory, the document commits tional border would be one way to solve menia’s sovereignty over the area, saying adequate steps to protect its sover- Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to form a this issue according to the prime minister, “It’s obvious from the maps that the greater eignty and territorial integrity and border demarcation committee “in accor- who suggested that negotiations may go on part of Lake Sev is located in the territory to ensure the security of its popula- dance with their respective national laws.” for years.