Armenian analyses

After reading “Armenia’s Jewish problem” (June 24), it is clear that writer Jesse Bogner needs a reality check.

Calling Azerbaijan a beacon of religious tolerance – or any kind of tolerance – is laughable. Under Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government, freedom of expression, assembly and association, have deteriorated

Baku’s extreme sensitivity to criticism seems to get progressively worse (think Alexander Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger who was sentenced to three years in prison in Baku on a charge related to his 2011 and 2012 visits to Nagorno Karabakh).

From election violations (Aliyev’s stronghold) and politically motivated prosecutions (Lapshin) to blatant nepotism (Aliyev’s wife being promoted to vice president) and press suppression (five journalists killed since independence; two journalists recently jailed), Azerbaijan is a violator of human rights. RUPEN JANBAZIAN Former editor of The Armenian Weekly

As a Jew, I have been visiting Armenia since 2005 and have a home there when I am not in Berkeley, CA.

In the early 2000s I attended the dedication of the combined memorial to the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, a monument that remains unscathed to this day near the center of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The dedication ceremony was attended by the Jewish community, the Chabad rabbi and many others. Jesse Bogner’s opinion piece fails to mention that Israel has yet to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, although many Israeli scholars and some former government officials do so.

The author’s citation of research does not include comparative data regarding attitudes toward Jews in Azerbaijan and crucially, Bogner does not mention that Azerbaijan is a client of Israeli manufacturers of weapons that threaten and target Armenia and Artsakh.

The latter is a disputed territory, predominantly Armenian until ceded to Azerbaijan by Stalin and retaken by Armenia soon after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Every year I attend an international women’s peace conference in Armenia. Azeri women peace builders do not attend out of fear of retribution from the Azeri government. Not a high recommendation for respect, I would say. Hopefully, The Jerusalem Post will run well-reasoned analysis of the complex political and ethnic dynamics between people who for some time in the past did live together peaceably. MOLLY FREEMAN, PHD Berkeley, CA and Ushi, Armenia