Vicken Cheterian

Vicken Cheterian

In Defence of Armenian Jerusalem: The Struggle for the Cow Gardens
Will the Armenians lose new lands, this time in Jerusalem? Hagop Djernazian and Setrak Balian are struggling against this danger. Their initiative “Save the ArQ” (save the Armenian Quarter) aims to annul a controversial deal between the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and a dubious company known as Xana Gardens that risks giving up a substantial part of Armenian Jerusalem.
18 October 2025
Trump the Godfather of Armenia-Azerbaijan Agreement
On August 8, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, with the US President Donald Trump signed a joint “Declaration” in Washington. Is this a first step towards peace between the two Caucasian rival countries?
11 August 2025
Repression Intensifies in Azerbaijan: Scholars and Journalists are Filling Baku Jails
Why this extremely harsh repression of a doctoral student? The reason is that Bahruz Samadov single-handedly succeeded where the entire Azerbaijani opposition failed: to develop an alternative discourse to that of state-sponsored nationalism, that the way to freedom and prosperity for the Azerbaijani people was not through wars and ethnic cleansing, but through talking, meeting, exchanging and working with his Armenian counterparts. That peaceful coexistence with neighbouring Armenians was as not only possible, but also desirable.
7 July 2025
The War on Iran and the famous “Weapons of Mass Destruction”
The war against Iran might not be for preventing nuclear weapons in Iran, as the war against Iraq was not about Saddam’s “weapons of mass destruction”. But the Israeli intention is clearly declared by Netanyahu: the destruction of the Islamic Republic, and its replacement with a decentralised entities something like Iraq or Syria today. If the US invasion of Iraq unleashed two decades of wars and disasters and led to the creation of a monster like Daesh the destruction of the Iranian state will be no less than a civilizational catastrophe of a large scale.
17 June 2025
Massacre of the Alawis and the Future of Syria
The most recent massacres against Alawis and the sense of insecurity will lead to demographic reshuffling, where the mixed sectarian areas will be divided once again, with Alawis moving away seeking safety. The Druze in the south and the Kurds in the north-east will do the same, while the Christian outflow will also restart, after the optimism of Christian leaders in previous months. The forces of the interim government will be seen as – and will act like - a force of occupation in neighbourhoods with none-Sunni majority.
9 March 2025
Letter to Osman Kavala
Dear Osman, many things have changed since the last time we met. I am sure you are following the news from your prison cell. Since they arrested you with unfair and unjust accusations, the world has turned upside down. Turkey became a harder place, and your efforts for mutual understanding and develop a culture of dialogue became more difficult to achieve.
14 November 2024
Israeli Invasion of Lebanon and the Ghosts of 1982
In the summer of 1982 Israel launched what it called “Operation Peace for Galilee” and invaded Lebanon. Its aim was to liquidate the PLO. The Israeli army occupied Beirut and chased away the Palestinian guerillas from its southern suburbs. It was the summer of Sabra and Shatila massacres, when Israeli soldiers surrounded the two Palestinian camps, brought in Right-wing Lebanese Christians militias who for three days butchered hundreds of Palestinian civilians. How many died that summer we do not know for sure, but it could be as high as twenty thousand. In the summer of 1982 Hezbollah did not even exist.
8 October 2024
When Netanyahu Remembers the “Armenian Holocaust”
Israeli has not only participated in denying the Armenian Genocide of the past, but also taken an active part of the ethnic cleansing of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh. The spat between Israel and Turkey is taking place as the Israeli army is accused of committing war crimes and crimes of genocide, in its war in Gaza.
18 April 2024
Climate Change Goes to Baku
It is of course difficult to predict how Azerbaijan might organize the COP29 in 2024. Azerbaijan is not known for its expertise in environmental matters, for innovations in fighting climate change. But Baku is historically associated with oil. Remember, in the year 1900 Baku produced half of the total global oil. Azerbaijan has expertise in hydrocarbon production and export even today over 90% of the total national exports are oil and gas.
15 December 2023
Nagorno-Karabakh, The Death of a Rebel Republic
The fatal mistake was that Armenian politicians did not follow the changes in international policies. They relied on Russia to moderate the conflict and stop it from escalating. But Russia under Putin was different from Russia under Yeltsin. Armenians especially relied on Russia to stop direct Turkish intervention in the South Caucasus. This would guarantee the balance-of-power between Armenia and Azerbaijan, they thought. They were mistaken.
22 September 2023
Siege of Karabakh and Two Visions of Azerbaijan
The siege of Karabakh imposed by the authorities of Azerbaijan is nearing its ninth month. Cases of death from lack of food, fuel and medication has been recorded. As winter approaches the entire population of Nagorno Karabakh – or the Armenian Artsakh – is threatened by the policies of Azeri authorities. This siege is the outcome of a specific ideological vision dominant within Azerbaijani ruling circles. In the meanwhile, alternative voices are taking shape, while in minority yet powerful.
31 August 2023
Tal Afar: The New Normality of the Old ISIS Stronghold
According to journalist Jafar Talafari, ISIS kidnapped 1300 Turkmen civilians among them 460 women and girls and 120 children. Just like ISIS kidnapped and enslaved Yazidi women, they treated Turkmen Shiite women in the same manner. Yet, Turkmen society out of conservatism does not publicize this crime, and the fate of the majority of kidnapped remains unknown.
27 June 2023
Yazidi Victims of ISIS Genocide cannot Return Home
ISIS spread its horrors on Sinjar from August 3, 2014, until November 13, 2015, when Kurdish and Yazidi fighters, supported by Coalition airstrikes, retook the town. Yet only a minority of its inhabitants went back home. The city itself which once had 70 thousand inhabitants, has no more than 2 thousand now.
16 May 2023
The Battle for Bakhmut and the War in Ukraine
In Bakhmut, Russia and Ukraine are locked in a war of attrition. All sides seem determined to continue a war in which thousands of young soldiers are sacrificed, for unrealistic objectives. Political will to end the war is lacking, which makes any ceasefire agreement difficult to achieve.
30 March 2023
Karabakh’s Second Siege
Azerbaijan, the economy of which is completely based on hydrocarbon production and exportation, and a contributor to global warming which is devastating our planet, a country where the slightest protest movement is repressed by police, is suffocating Karabakh Armenians by organizing a siege under slogans such as “stop ecocide”, “save nature”. When Orwell wrote 1984 and coined the term “doublespeak”, he had exactly this into consideration: totalitarianism deforming language and thought: the independent activities of civil society are replaced by soldiers of an authoritarian state.
9 January 2023
After Russian Invasion of Ukraine: A Wave of Destabilization from the Caucasus to Central Asia
Russia was not the guardian of peace, nor a side favouring conflict resolution. In fact, Russia tried to maintain its influence by balancing between conflict parties – as in Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Russian military presence in Armenia did not hinder Azerbaijan from launching the Second Karabakh War. When this balancing act was not possible, then Russia opted direct military intervention, as in Georgia in 2008.
27 November 2022
Azerbaijani Invasion of Armenia Changes the Geopolitical Map of the Caucasus
On September 12, Azerbaijan launched a massive attack along the eastern border of Armenia. This Azerbaijani attack has changed the geopolitical map of the South Caucasus, where great power competition will only be accentuated.
21 September 2022
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Armenia-Turkey negotiations
Intense negotiations continue between Armenian and Turkish diplomats to normalize bilateral relations and open the long-closed border, and with-it raising expectations. How close are we to a breakthrough?
24 August 2022
Political Crisis in the Kurdistan Regional Government
There is a deepening political crisis in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – or the Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq. Following the news from a distance, one would get alarmed that the crisis might go out of hand, fear that the crisis might even turn once again into inter-Kurdish conflict. How does the situation look from the ground?
21 June 2022
Syrian Christians: Life Between War and Migration
Father Levon Yeghyaian receives me in his office and explains the difficulties of his community in Qamishli; the city had 1800 families before the conflict erupted, now only 700 families remain. In neighbouring Hassakah there are only 89 families, while in Derik (al-Mailikiyah) 69 Armenian families live.
4 June 2022
Looking North from Qamishli
As we pass next to regime checkpoints in the centre of the city, my driver cautions not to film, as we risk being stopped and interrogated. The Syrian regime still has presence in Qamishli, preserving some government buildings there known as “security square”. The Qamishli airport, just to the south-west of the city, is also under regime control.
25 May 2022
Putin’s Ideological Invasion of Ukraine
Most of all, Putin was not realistic about his own forces, the capabilities of his own armies. Russian soldiers do not want to fight in Ukraine; the numerous cases where tanks and other military equipment are abandoned testifies to this. Russian military equipment evidently suffers from lack of maintenance, Russian logistics are overstretched, but more important Ukrainian army proved itself more skilled in fighting a war with modern digital technologies and combined arms.
10 April 2022
The Coming Long Winter: Russia Invades Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russian military invaded Ukraine. International Relations will not be the same again. As Russian military targets the entire territory of Ukraine, its political objective remains ill-defined.
24 February 2022
When Azerbaijan Censors the Founder of Its First Republic
In a matter of days, Azerbaijani politicians succeeded in censoring the history of their own republic, and officially announced future acts of anti-Armenian cultural genocide.
10 February 2022
Kazakhstan Uprising: Central Asia’s Full Circle
Russian military intervention might stabilize the ruling cast for a while, but it will deepen its lack of legitimacy. As events unfold, there are numerous questions that remain open.
11 January 2022
In the Middle East, we have no time for “Climate Change”
If in the Middle East we did not have so many other problems, may be we would have discussed climate change and its impact on our lives. But no, not now, we are too busy with our never-ending self-destruction.
5 November 2021
The Karabakh War Transformed Conflict, but did not End it
Now, a year after the war started, and nearly eleven months after it ended, the positions of the conflict sides and influential powers changed dramatically. Yet, the war did not put an end to the conflict; it just transformed it.
8 October 2021
The Unbearable Silence of Turkish Intellectuals
Why did Turkey support Azerbaijan in its war effort? Why Turkey continues to impose economic blockade against Armenia from the first day of its independence? Isn’t this the legacy of the 1915 Genocide?
12 September 2021
Surprising Outcome in Armenia’s Snap Elections
The results of June 20 snap parliamentary elections in Armenia reconfirmed the leadership of Nikol Pashinyan, in spite of the 2020 military defeat. With the new parliament including forces representing two former presidents, the entire political system has taken a new shape.
22 June 2021
Armenia’s Revolution Betrayed
Snap Parliamentary Elections will be held in Armenia on June 20. Will anything survive from the promises of the 2018 peaceful revolution?
18 June 2021
It is April 24 again, and I want to remind you of the Armenian Genocide
I will not ask you for justice, as I know your justice fails to face the crime of the crimes. How could human justice tackle the uprooting of millions, the robbing of their churches, schools, homes, gardens and even cemeteries?
24 April 2021
Political Crisis in Armenia and Georgia
In Armenia, the political crisis is caused by the 2020 Karabakh War and defeat, which intensified the internal power struggle that was on-going since at least since the 2018 regime change. This is an extraordinary crisis since political institutions, even ones well established, have difficulties in dealing with political challenges that emerge from war, military defeat, and territorial losses. Yet, Armenian institutions are evidently not developed enough to face the task.
1 March 2021