Report: May-October, 2024

Siranush Sargsyan

Thank you to all the individuals and organizations supporting me through the reArmenia platform, enabling me to continue this work. It’s quite challenging to bring topics related to Artsakh and Armenia to an international audience. Additionally, there are numerous and diverse issues faced by those forcibly displaced. In the absence of centralized solutions, we are forced to collaborate with various individuals and organizations to try and find solutions.

Since I don’t have a permanent job and mostly work as a volunteer, these months’ funds were used for rent, communal expenses, transportation, and health-related matters. Once again, I’m grateful for your support during this difficult time.

Articles and Journalistic Activities

I have prepared the following articles:

• In Newsweek, I published an article titled Reflections From a Forgotten Ethnic Cleansing where I shared my personal experiences related to the Artsakh war and forced displacement. This article was also translated into Armenian and published on Mediamax.
• I continued my collaboration with Armenian Weekly and published an article about Artsakh residents living in a remote Armenian village, Lernahovit.
• One year after displacement, I wrote an article on housing and other social-humanitarian issues facing Artsakh residents, which was translated into Spanish as well.
• I conducted an interview with genocide scholar Tessa Hoffman about a book on Artsakh and wrote about the book presentation event.
• With Hetq, I conducted a three-part investigative series on the explosion at a fuel depot near Stepanakert:
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• I published an article on Persecution.org covering the same topic.

I wrote articles on missing persons during the war and the explosion, published on Step1 and For Rights.

Interviews and International Participation

During the reporting period, I gave interviews:

• To a Swiss news outlet about the destruction of Artsakh’s cultural monuments following forced displacement and blockade, and helped prepare the material.
• To a Portuguese media outlet about the issues arising from the blockade, Azerbaijani attacks, and forced displacement.
• With French-Armenian journalist Taline Oundjian, discussing the challenges faced by journalists covering the conflict and the problems of displaced people.
• With German journalist Antonina Grob, sharing the hardships of Artsakh and Armenian journalists covering these events. The interview was published on the Medium platform.
• With genocide scholar Tessa Hoffman for German media, which was published on three different platforms (links below).
• I gave an interview to Hetq about my research on the fuel depot explosion and to the Media Initiatives Center’s “Fact-Checked” program on the same topic.
• I also shared the story of displaced people’s collective memory on Kushane Chobanyan’s "SocPod" program.
• I contributed to an NPR radio program in the U.S., discussing the issues Artsakh residents face one year after forced displacement.
• During my visit to the U.S., I gave interviews to Glenn Beck, who has a multi-million audience, and to Jaco Booyens.
• I participated in a documentary called Faces of Persecution - Genocide 2.0 - Sizzle Reel.
• Lastly, a full-length documentary titled There Was, There Was Not, directed by Emily Mkrtchyan, featuring me, has been released.

In addition, I worked with foreign journalists, assisting them in conducting and translating interviews for leading publications in their respective countries. In the upcoming period, they will prepare a video report aimed at raising awareness about the issues of displaced people in Portugal and providing potential support.

Dutch journalists are preparing an investigative piece on the destruction of civilian structures in Stepanakert and the personal stories of the residents affected.

Meetings, Discussions as Speaker, Eyewitness

During this period, I participated in several important political, scientific, and social discussions where I spoke on the humanitarian issues faced by displaced people from Artsakh and their consequences.

1. On July 25, I participated in a closed discussion organized by SAVE ARMENIA with former and current American officials, as well as public figures, where I presented the events in Artsakh and the main needs of refugees. Both long-term and urgent actions to support the displaced were discussed.
2. On July 27, I spoke at the ASOF Scientific Conference, where the humanitarian challenges of forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh and possible solutions were discussed.
3. On July 28, I spoke at APRI’s Annual Conference, discussing the issues of forced displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh.
4. In Goris, I gave a talk at the workshop organized by AGBU and the Ronak International Journalism Club, sharing my experience with aspiring journalists from Armenia.
5. I participated in the AIWA Conference in Yerevan, focusing on the employment and social integration challenges faced by displaced women from Artsakh.
6. In September, I was invited to the United States for meetings organized by Save Armenia and Save Persecuted Christians to present the situation one year after the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh to American political and social circles. The delegation included the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, Ter-Hovhannes, relatives of victims of Azerbaijani crimes, and CFTJ members. During this visit, I gave interviews, links to which are mentioned above.

Charity and Support

During the reporting period, I focused more on generating connections established through various meetings and discussions.

As a result, support was provided to several families and displaced children, including covering several months of expenses for the "Dizak Art" center, which is involved in art and education.

Additionally, I assisted the center in fundraising for a summer educational camp for children, which took place in July.

I published separate posts on social media about nearly all the individuals featured in my articles, and we received responses regarding almost all the families. Most of the feedback came from our compatriots in the diaspora and other supportive individuals who expressed a desire to provide assistance and have already offered various forms of aid to those families.

I personally reached out to interested organizations and individuals, requesting their assistance for the aforementioned families.

I managed to organize the procurement of essential medications for twenty people injured in an explosion. Following the publications about the injured, one family received long-term business support.

As a result of these connections, we also managed to cover the surgical expenses of a mother who had lost two sons. I must admit that individual posts tend to receive responses, and families are provided with support. Attached are some of the posts that received responses.

As part of my research, I initiated the process of verifying data on the victims of the explosion. Over several days, I worked with the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, contacting the families of all the victims to complete missing data. This effort aims to ensure that both the office and interested organizations can use the information in the future to provide support to the victims' families.

Professional Development

During this period, I participated in several professional courses and training sessions to strengthen my journalistic and investigative skills:

• A journalism course by The Armenian Project.
• A three-day investigative training by Hetq Media.
• Currently, I am undergoing professional training in Berlin at TAZ, an investigative site.

Report for March-May

Marut Vanyan

During this period, I continued my journalistic activity, cooperated with Caucasus Watch, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, OC Media and Armenian media. Some of my articles were published in March, some in April-May. Considering that I have quite a large audience on X (13.6K), I try to put more emphasis on that platform, and I mainly post there about issues related to Artsakh and the people of Artsakh.

I have had meetings with various international experts and ambassadors interested in the subject of Artsakh, and tried to present the problems of the people of Artsakh. I cooperated with representatives of Armenian media organizations, participated in journalistic events organized by them, which were related to the problems of people forcibly displaced from Artsakh.

Below, please find my articles and posts.

https://caucasuswatch.de/en/insights/abandoned-to-their-fate-the-dim-future-of-karabakh-armenians.html

https://caucasuswatch.de/en/insights/the-daily-struggles-of-karabakh-armenians-in-their-new-home.html https://mirrorspectator.com/author/marut/

https://twitter.com/marutvanian

Attached, please also find the financial report