Lisa Kirazian

Writer. Director. Encourager. ✝️ Wife & Mom. @TheMusicWeMade @ReflectionDay1 @Stanford alum #RRBC Lifetime Member! #RWISA Go @Padres

[Lisa Kirazian @kirazian]

@racheljwelcher 2

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

Turkey Bars Armenian Citizens From Istanbul's Armenian Schools, Directing Them to Turkish State Schools
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Turkey's Education Ministry has barred Armenian schools in Istanbul from teaching children who hold Armenian citizenship, ending an arrangement that ran for 14 years and directing about 70 students toward Turkish state schools.

Ministry inspectors delivered the instruction during visits to the schools, arriving with lists carrying the names of students from Armenia, asking what had become of those enrolled in previous years, and demanding that current registrations be transferred out.

The instruction came verbally. No written order has been issued, nothing has appeared in the Official Gazette, and the 2012 regulation that permitted the arrangement has not been repealed, which leaves school administrators with no document to appeal.

That regulation, published on March 20, 2012, allowed foreign nationals to attend private schools as guest students subject to enrollment quotas. It specified that such students could not receive diplomas, and that those who left would get a document listing the courses they attended and the grades they earned.

Armenian schools in Istanbul have enrolled children from Armenia under that provision ever since. Syrian-Armenian children were covered by the same rule.

Up to 3,000 children attend Armenian schools in Istanbul, about 70 of whom are Armenian citizens studying under guest status, Ara Gochunyan, editor-in-chief of the Istanbul Armenian newspaper Jamanak, told Armenpress.

Their parents hold the right to work or reside in Turkey. The children sit in every class and take every exam alongside children from Turkey's Armenian community, then finish with a grades document instead of a diploma. Attending under guest status was itself taking place with the permission of Turkish authorities, Gochunyan said.

Gochunyan said the ministry's position extends past Armenian schools. "The ministry has had certain observations concerning other minority schools as well, based on which it felt the need to intervene. As a result, a situation has emerged in which the children of families who emigrated from Armenia and attend our schools under 'guest student' status are being deprived of this opportunity," he said.

Greek and Jewish schools fall within the same inspection scope. Armenians, Greeks and Jews are Turkey's recognized minority groups under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and the schools established under that treaty were built to serve Turkish citizens belonging to those communities. The guest-student provision was the workaround for a system designed to exclude everyone else.

The authorities' argument, according to commentary in Agos, the Istanbul Armenian weekly that first reported the inspections, is that the 2012 regulation never covered minority schools to begin with. That reading voids 14 years of practice without producing a document anyone can appeal.

Turkey's Center for Combating Disinformation, an official body under the Directorate of Communications, has denied that anything has changed. Responding to the Agos report, it called posts about restrictions on minority schools disinformation and said no new practice is being introduced beyond the provisions of the relevant law, with schools continuing their educational activities.

Education Minister Yusuf Tekin has said the ministry does not discriminate among students, and the ministry says it is continuing dialogue with minority schools.

The Human Rights and Oppressed Peoples Solidarity Association, known as MAZLUMDER, has taken up the case. The group said the 2012 provision was an interim fix for a longstanding problem and that ending it without a replacement would leave students facing further difficulties. It has called for legal changes.

The Hrant Dink School in Istanbul is untouched, Gochunyan said. It has operated since the early 2000s without recognition or official status from Turkish authorities, teaching children of migrants from Armenia temporarily living in Turkey using Armenian textbooks and Armenia's curriculum. Its graduates can return to Armenia and continue their education after sitting an examination.

Children at the minority schools have no such route. Even the grades document often creates problems when they try to continue their education in Armenia, Gochunyan said, though the arrangement at least kept them in an Armenian-language environment in Istanbul.

The Union of Armenian Vakifs in Turkey was set to meet on August 24, with representatives of every foundation that runs a school taking part. Agos reported that Patriarch Sahak Mashalian and AKP member of parliament Sevan Sıvacıoğlu were expected to attend.

Community administrators are examining the various aspects of the issue and preparing proposals for the authorities, Gochunyan said, and a delegation representing the Armenian community may go to the Istanbul Governor's Office after the meeting to raise it.

[Tatevik Hayrapetyan @TatevikHayrape1]

Why do I keep saying that Azerbaijan is developing an expansionist agenda toward Armenia?

Azerbaijan’s 8th-grade history textbook, republished in June 2023, teaches 12–13-year-olds about “Western Azerbaijan” and claims that Armenians only arrived in the region in 1441, later “seizing” Azerbaijani lands.

This is not preparation for peace. It is the promotion of a false, expansionist narrative about neighboring Armenia.
https://t.co/ZCX1uQTygE

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed deep concern over the current situation affecting the Armenian Apostolic Church, warning against interference in the Church’s internal affairs.

WCC Central Committee Moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and WCC General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay issued a joint statement affirming the Armenian Apostolic Church’s central place in Armenian spiritual, cultural, and historical life.

“WCC, as a global fellowship of churches, affirms the vital role of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the spiritual, cultural, and historical life of the Armenian people and in the wider Christian family,” Bedford-Strohm and Pillay said.

They specifically raised concern over outside involvement in matters belonging to the Church itself.

“As WCC, we express our concern about undue interference in inner church matters.”

Bedford-Strohm and Pillay said they hope the ongoing conflict will be resolved in a manner that contributes to the flourishing of the Armenian people.

“We uphold the Armenian Church and its people in prayer and support during this time,” they added.

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has NOT LIFTED A FINGER to help the at-risk Armenian Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, a 1,700+ year old treasure of the Holy Land.

Why has @USAmbIsrael forsaken the faithful Armenian guardians of Christendom’s most sacred sites?

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

"The State Department set up a $200 million fund to make private sector investments in and around Armenia. And the guy they appointed to lead it just so happens to be one of Trump's ballroom donors." - @SenBrianSchatz

“The fate of Armenia – or, for that matter, any aspect of American foreign policy – should not be sold to whoever writes the biggest checks to President Trump’s latest pet project,” said Aram Suren Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.

“An issue as serious as the TRIPP corridor – a project that poses existential threats to Armenian security and sovereignty – should not be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Rather, it must be subject to an intense all-of-government review, full public transparency, the strictest of Congressional oversight, and, of course, close consultation with the Armenian American community.”

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

#BREAKING: The Trump Administration signals its intent to extend the waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, clearing the way for continued U.S. aid to Azerbaijan.

"President Trump continues to make a mockery of his America First promise by greenlighting foreign aid to Azerbaijan - shipping U.S. tax dollars to an oil-rich, genocidal dictatorship," stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

"A regime that holds Armenian hostages, occupies Armenian territory, bulldozes Christian churches, and blocks the return of refugees to Artsakh.

Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family - a clan with net worth in the tens of billions of dollars - neither needs nor deserves the generosity of the American people," concluded Hamparian.

The Senior Bureau Official for Legislative Affairs at the State Department transmitted the determination, titled "Extension of Section 907 Waiver," to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. It was printed in the Congressional Record on July 28th (Vol. 172, No. 123, EC-4220) under Executive and Other Communications.

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

Azerbaijan has released the trailer for a new feature film depicting the capture of Shushi during the 2020 Artsakh War, prompting allegations that Armenian property in the occupied city was deliberately destroyed during filming to create realistic battle scenes.

The allegations were raised by Alen Gulyan, who says the trailer shows the deliberate demolition of an Armenian-owned house in Shushi's historic quarter. According to Gulyan, the property was destroyed specifically for the production to create realistic combat scenes, calling it another example of Azerbaijan's systematic destruction of Armenian heritage and property in occupied Artsakh.

According to Gulyan, in the months following the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement, residents returning to Armenian-controlled areas of Artsakh repeatedly reported hearing automatic gunfire, powerful explosions, and sounds resembling active combat coming from occupied Shushi. During the same period, Azerbaijani media and pro-government social media accounts repeatedly reported that Azerbaijani special forces were participating in productions depicting the battle for Shushi.

Gulyan also compares the newly released trailer with footage from an earlier documentary filmed in Shushi, arguing that several sequences were shot during the same production period before being reused across multiple film projects.

According to Gulyan, Anar Alakbarov, an aide to Ilham Aliyev, personally oversaw the filming and was repeatedly present on set supervising the production. He argues Alakbarov's involvement indicates the project received direct attention from Azerbaijan's senior leadership.

Since occupying Shushi in 2020, Azerbaijan has faced repeated criticism over the destruction, alteration, and appropriation of Armenian cultural heritage and property throughout the city and across occupied Artsakh.

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

Azerbaijan Admits It Forced Israel to Bury the Armenian Genocide Recognition Vote, Citing "Brotherly Turkey"
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A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has confirmed that Baku pressured Israel to drop its recognition of the Armenian Genocide, telling Turkish television that the intervention was carried out to protect the interests of "brotherly Turkey."

Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyev's foreign policy adviser, said in an interview with the Turkish news channel Haber Global that Israel's move to recognize the genocide was a "red line" for Baku. "Since the interests of brotherly Turkey have always been a priority for Azerbaijan, this issue is an unchanging 'red line' for us," he said. Hajiyev said Aliyev personally ordered his government to contact Israel immediately after the recognition, which he called "unfair," saying it "does not reflect historical reality" and was "unacceptable." Israel took Baku's concerns seriously, he said.

The admission confirms what Israel's own government had refused to acknowledge. When the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last month that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally blocked the Knesset vote after being contacted by Hajiyev on Aliyev's behalf, the account rested on an anonymous Israeli source, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar's office denied that the vote had been canceled because of Netanyahu's intervention. Hajiyev, the official Haaretz named, has now confirmed the contact himself.

The recognition, unanimously approved by Israel's cabinet on June 28, required a Knesset vote to become binding state policy. That vote was pulled from the agenda before the parliament's summer recess and cannot be revived until after Israel's October 27 elections, if a future government takes it up at all.

A Joint Turkic Front
Hajiyev said Azerbaijan intervened on Turkey's behalf as much as its own. "Where there is no Turkey, there is Azerbaijan, and where there is no Azerbaijan, there is Turkey," he said. "We resolutely respond to every step directed against the interests of our countries and will continue to do so in the future." Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire that carried out the genocide, and Azerbaijan, its closest ally, both reject the recognition of the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, and both condemned Israel's cabinet decision when it passed.

Inside the Israel-Azerbaijan Alliance
Azerbaijan used Israeli-supplied weapons in September 2023 to ethnically cleanse more than 120,000 Armenians from occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), emptying the region of its Armenian population within days. The state that carried out that campaign has now reached into Israel's parliament to keep the killing of those Armenians' ancestors from being named a genocide.

The two countries are bound tightly. Azerbaijani crude accounted for roughly 46 percent of Israel's oil imports in 2025, its single largest source, while Israel has supplied roughly 70 percent of Azerbaijan's major arms imports in the years surrounding its wars against Armenia, including the loitering munitions and drones that proved decisive in emptying Artsakh. Israeli forces have also operated from Azerbaijani territory against Iran, CNN reported. Israel pulled the recognition to protect that partnership.

Pressure on Armenia's Constitution
In the same interview, Hajiyev pointed to Baku's pressure on Yerevan. Azerbaijan has refused to sign a final peace treaty with Armenia until Yerevan strips its constitution of a passage referencing the country's 1990 Declaration of Independence, which Baku claims invokes a 1989 act uniting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We expect that the provision that stipulates territorial claims to Azerbaijan and Turkey will be removed from the Armenian Constitution," Hajiyev said, adding that Baku expects a new Armenian constitution to be drafted and a referendum possibly held. Once "territorial claims" are removed from the preamble, he said, Azerbaijan sees "no obstacle to signing a final peace treaty."

[Kegham Balian @kbalian90]

BREAKING: The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem blasts Israel after the Knesset abandoned a proposed Armenian Genocide recognition vote, allegedly due to foreign influence by Azerbaijan, a country responsible for the ethnic cleansing of more than 120,000 Christian Armenians.

[ESPN @espn]

Her one wish was to meet her favorite player Fernando Tatis Jr. 🥺 @MakeAWish

Victoria García's smile is one the @Padres will never forget.

[Lisa Kirazian @kirazian]

Super fun to see @SammyLev on Sports Night! @nbcsandiego #Padres

[Darnay Tripp @DarnayTripp]

And with that - @SammyLev is in the house!

Pumped to have him on Sports Night! We’re next on @nbcsandiego after Cubs-Cardinals.

Come hang!

[Lisa Kirazian @kirazian]

@MattSkraby I know I couldn’t even look at it. It’s like my worst nightmare.

[Save Armenia @SaveArmeniaUS]

Congress is considering 2 bills that could impact Armenian security, human rights, and regional stability:

🇦🇲 H.R. 6840 - Armenia Security Partnership Act
🇦🇿 H.R. 5369 - Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act

These bills address POWs, illegal detentions, accountability, cultural protection, and peace benchmarks.

Policy decisions have human consequences. Contact Congress and speak up.

#Armenia #HumanRights #SaveArmenia #Congress

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

The truth:

George Deek actively (and eagerly) aided and abetted Azerbaijan's genocide of Armenian Christians (2023).

Also the truth: The government he represents:

1) Denies (w/Turkey) the Armenian Genocide
2) Armed Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing of Artsakh
3) Endangers Jerusalem's Armenian Christian Quarter
4) Condones the harassment of Armenian clergy
5) Unfairly taxes the Armenian Patriarchate

[Armenian Assembly @ARAMAC_DC]

#BREAKING: A newly released report by the International Commission of Jurists confirms the sham nature of Azerbaijan’s political trials against Armenian hostages seized from Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian Assembly of America welcomes the ICJ report and renews its call for governments to take concrete action to secure the release of Armenian Christian hostages held by Azerbaijan and hold the Aliyev regime accountable.

🔗 Read more: https://t.co/J9FBXUKvrZ

[David Ojakian, Exec. MBA | #StopArtsakhGenocide @DavidOjakian]

More action must be taken by the international community to demand the release of Armenian Christian hostages held illegally by Azerbaijan.

#FreeArmenianHostages

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

Recent online attacks against @NickKristof - a longtime NYT columnist of Armenian & Polish heritage - include vile anti-Armenian tropes & toxic stereotypes that have no place in our national discourse.

The ANCA condemns this anti-Armenian racism.

Pictured: Nick w/ father Ladis

[Karabakh Records @KarabakhRecords]

🇦🇲🇦🇿 Azerbaijanis destroyed an Armenian cemetery in Vaghuhas

Azerbaijanis have destroyed an Armenian cemetery in the village of Vaghuhas, in the #Martakert district of Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is important to note that this is far from the first case of #Armenian cemeteries and monuments being destroyed in Artsakh after the region came under #Azerbaijani control.

Such actions are not merely acts of vandalism, but part of a consistent policy aimed at erasing the Armenian presence, historical memory, and cultural heritage of #Artsakh.

The destruction of cemeteries is an attempt to erase the memory of people, their roots, and the centuries-old #Armenian presence on this land. These actions require international attention, proper documentation, and legal assessment.

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

Still no answer.