Monday, October 4, 2021
Armenian General Arrested In Corruption Probe
Armenia - Lieutenant-General Stepan Galstian, deputy chief of the Armenian
Army's General Staff.
The National Security Service (NSS) has made another high-profile arrest in an
ongoing criminal investigation into supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to
Armenia’s armed forces.
Lieutenant-General Stepan Galstian, a deputy chief of the Armenian army’s
General Staff, was charged with fraud and abuse of power and remanded in
pre-trial custody on Saturday two days after being summoned to the NSS for
questioning.
Galstian denies the accusations. His lawyer told News.am that he will appeal
against a district court’s decision to allow investigators to hold the general
in pre-trial detention.
The NSS arrested former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and an arms dealer
reputedly close to him on Wednesday part of the same criminal case. It charged
them with fraud and embezzlement that cost the state almost 2.3 billion drams
($4.7 million).
Both men deny the charges. Tonoyan’s lawyer said on Friday that he will petition
the Court of Appeals to release his client from custody pending investigation.
Another Armenian general was arrested earlier in September. The NSS claimed that
the general abused his powers to arrange for personal gain a $4.7 million
contract for the supply of outdated rockets to the armed forces.
According to the security service, the Defense Ministry had refused to buy those
rockets from a private intermediary in 2011.
Kocharian Cautious About Anti-Government Protests
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian speaks at a news conference,
Yerevan, October 4, 2021.
Former President Robert Kocharian said on Monday that Armenia’s main opposition
alliance led by him needs to “generate” greater popular anger at the government
before trying to topple it with street protests.
“Yes, we are going to also launch a street campaign,” he told a news conference.
“But conditions should be made ripe. We must also work with the people all over
Armenia. We must try to convince them.
“You cannot launch a street campaign without the active involvement of the
people. That active involvement should also be achieved by public relations
efforts.”
Kocharian was therefore careful not to set any dates for renewed anti-government
demonstrations promised by his Hayastan bloc.
Kocharian told senior members of the bloc to intensify its activities and public
outreach efforts at a meeting held on September 14. One of them said afterwards
that “street actions” against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government are
imminent.
“The biggest problem is that a considerable part of our people has come to terms
with this situation and voted for these ones,” Kocharian said on Monday,
referring to Pashinian’s political team. “Let’s not deceive ourselves. This is
the reality.”
The 67-year-old ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, insisted at
the same time that a politically active minority of citizens can also pose a
serious threat to Pashinian’s hold on power.
“Even if five percent of the population fights against a government with
determination, no government can withstand that,” he said.
Armenia - Supporters of former President Robert Kocharian and his opposition
alliance attend an election campaign rally in Yerevan, June 18, 2021.
“Twenty-one percent of voters voted for us. We will try to first and foremost
make that segment more active. We will try to also convince other people, who
voted for these authorities, in that they made a mistake,” added Kocharian.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won Armenia’s June 20 parliamentary elections
with almost 54 percent of the vote, according to their official results.
Kocharian’s bloc came in a distant second.
Kocharian, who pulled a massive crowd in Yerevan during the election campaign,
again predicted that another snap election will likely be held before the end of
2022. He also repeated opposition claims that Pashinian mishandled last year’s
war in Nagorno-Karabakh and is not capable of dealing post-war security
challenges still facing Armenia.
Kocharian further claimed that Armenia’s defeat in the war was not only the
result of Pashinian’s incompetence but also a “possible pre-planned defeat”
agreed with Azerbaijan. “There will be no calm in our country until these
suspicions are dispelled,” he said.
Armenia Reassures Iran As Tehran-Baku Tensions Mount
• Emil Danielyan
• Gevorg Stamboltsian
Iran - Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan (right) of Armenia and Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian of Iran meet in Tehran, October 4, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sent his foreign minister to Tehran on Monday one
day after publicly ruling out Armenia’s involvement in any anti-Iranian “plots”
amid stern warnings issued by Iran to Azerbaijan.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian for the second time in less than two weeks.
Amir-Abdollahian reportedly sounded satisfied with their latest talks, saying
that the two sides agreed to boost Armenian-Iranian political, economic and
cultural ties. He also said Iran will not allow “some foreign states” to damage
its relations with neighbors, including Armenia.
Mirzoyan visited the Iranian capital amid mounting tensions between Tehran and
Baku underscored by large-scale Iranian military exercises held along the
Islamic Republic’s border with Azerbaijan.
The Iranian military reportedly began massing troops there after Baku set up on
September 12 a roadblock on the main highway connecting Armenia with Iran.
The Armenian government controversially ceded a 21-kilometer section of the road
to Azerbaijan following last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani police
and customs are now collecting a hefty “road tax” from Iranian trucks and other
vehicles passing through it, causing significant disruptions in cargo traffic
between Armenia and Iran.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry last week linked the drills to Azerbaijan’s
military ties with Israel, saying that Iran “will not tolerate Israeli presence
near its borders.”
Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday also pointed to the widely documented participation
of Sunni Muslim militants from the Middle East in the Karabakh war on the
Azerbaijani side. He said those “members of terrorist movements” were deployed
in areas south of Karabakh bordering northwestern Iran.
“The presence of Zionists and terrorists [in Azerbaijan] … seriously worries
us,” the foreign minister told Iranian state television. “It can create problems
for the government of Azerbaijan in the near future.”
A helicopter is seen during an Iranian Army exercise dubbed "Fatehan of
Kheibar", in the northwestern parts of Iran, in this picture obtained on October
1, 2021.
“Since we are not sure that they [Sunni militants] have left the area, the
drills will convey a message to them,” the commander of the Iranian ground
forces, Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, said, according to Iran’s Press TV.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commented on “the problem that
arose on our northwestern border recently” when he addressed graduates of
Iranian military academies earlier on Sunday.
“We will not allow alien forces to intervene in processes taking place there. He
who thinks that he can ensure his own security by pinning hopes on outsiders
will get a slap,” Khamenei said in a warning clearly addressed to Baku.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected Tehran’s “baseless” claims.
“Unfortunately, friendly Iran never condemned the [Armenian] occupation of our
territory just as resolutely,” said a ministry spokeswoman.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev criticized the Iranian war games on
September 27. He also said Baku set up the roadblock on the Armenia-Iran highway
because Tehran ignored its repeated warnings to stop Iranian trucks from
shipping cargo to Karabakh.
The road mostly passes through Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province which is
sandwiched between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave and also borders Iran.
Earlier this year, Aliyev threatened to forcibly open a transport corridor to
Nakhichevan, drawing strong condemnation from Armenia.
Mojtaba Zonnouri, a senior Iranian parliamentarian, on Monday accused Aliyev of
trying to “cut Iran’s access to Armenia” with the help of Turkey and Israel. The
official IRNA news agency quoted Zonnouri as warning that Azerbaijan and Turkey
“will pay a big price if they pose a threat to Iran.”
Zonnouri was apparently among 165 members of Iran’s parliament who issued a
joint statement on Sunday saying that the Islamic Republic will not tolerate
“any geopolitical change and alteration of the borders of neighbor countries.”
Armenia - A cargo terminal at a border crossing with Iran, November 29, 2018.
(Photo by the State Revenue Committee of Armenia)
On September 28, a conservative Iranian newspaper reputedly controlled by
Khamenei’s office published a commentary that accused Aliyev and Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of helping the United States and Israel to hatch
a geopolitical “plot” against Iran and Russia.
A columnist for the Kayhan newspaper also charged that Pashinian has joined the
“hidden alliance” of the four states and is willing to “cede Syunik province to
Azerbaijan.”
The Armenian prime minister responded to the allegation on Sunday at the start
of an official visit to Lithuania.
“It is no secret that there are some circles that manage from time to time to
publish articles in the Iranian press saying that Armenia is involved in some
conspiracies against Iran,” Pashinian told members of the Armenian community in
the Baltic state.
“I am sure our Iranian colleagues know that Armenia has never been involved and
will never be involved in a conspiracy against Iran because those relations
[between Armenia and Iran] are extremely important to us.”
Pashinian has been facing similar allegations from his political opponents and
other critics at home. They have deplored his government’s failure to explicitly
condemn Baku’s decision to start taxing Iranian vehicles.
Pashinian and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the Armenia-Iran traffic
disruptions when they met in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on September 17.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the foreign ministers of the two
neighboring states discussed “developments taking place in the region” and
“regional security” at their meeting in Tehran.
Speaking at a joint news briefing with Amir-Abdollahian, Mirzoyan effectively
rejected Aliyev’s demands for the transport “corridor” passing through Armenia.
The Armenian minister accused Baku of misrepresenting Russian-brokered
agreements that call for the opening of transport links between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.
“In this regard, we highly appreciate Iran’s position on Armenia’s territorial
integrity and the inviolability of its borders,” added Mirzoyan.
Amir-Abdollahian was reported to express hope on Monday that Yerevan will speed
up the ongoing reconstruction of an alternative Syunik highway that will allow
Iranian drivers to bypass the Azerbaijani checkpoint. Armenia’s Deputy Prime
Minister Suren Papikian said last week that the roadwork will be completed by
the end of November.
Meanwhile, the Iranian army drills continued on Monday, involving special
forces, heavy artillery, tanks and helicopter gunships. Images aired by Iranian
television suggested that they are taking place on Iran’s border with
Nakhichevan.
In what may be a related development, Turkish media reported that Azerbaijani
and Turkish troops will start on Tuesday joint exercises in Nakhichevan.
Pashinian Ready To Meet Aliyev
Lithuania - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with members of the
Armenian community in Vilnius, October 3, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Sunday that he is ready to meet with
Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev for talks on confidence-building measures in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
Aliyev expressed readiness for such a meeting on Friday. “I am ready to hold
talks with Mr. Pashinian at any moment, whenever he is ready,” told the Spanish
EFE news agency. “I am open to discussions and believe they could be a good sign
that the war is over.”
Pashinian responded to the offer at the start of an official visit to Lithuania.
Meeting with members of the local Armenian community, he said Yerevan and Baku
should “try to move forward with small steps to build some trust” between them.
Pashinian said he is particularly interested in securing the release of dozens
of Armenian soldiers and civilians held by Azerbaijan nearly one year after
Russia brokered a ceasefire that stopped the 44-day war in Karabakh. He said to
that end the Armenian side is ready to release more maps of Armenian minefields
in districts around Karabakh that were retaken by Azerbaijani forces during and
after the war.
“I am ready to take all the maps in our possession [to the meeting with Aliyev]
and am calling on the Azerbaijani president to bring along all of our
prisoners,” added Pashinian.
Armenia already provided Baku such maps this summer in return for the release of
30 Armenian prisoners of war.
Aliyev claimed that those maps are not accurate and said Yerevan should provide
more detailed information about all Armenian minefields along the former “line
of contact” around Karabakh. “If the Armenian side does that … we will respond
in kind,” he told EFE without elaborating.
Aliyev and Pashinian most recently held talks in Moscow last January in a
meeting hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting focused on the
opening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan envisaged by the
Karabakh ceasefire.
Aliyev repeatedly threatened in the following months to forcibly open a
transport “corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through
Armenia’s Syunik province. He also said that Azerbaijan’s victory in the war put
an end to the Karabakh conflict.
Aliyev offered to meet with Pashinian one week after the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers met in New York in the presence of the U.S.,
Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
In a joint statement on those talks, the three mediators said they proposed
“specific focused measures to deescalate the situation and possible next steps.”
They also reaffirmed their readiness to help the conflicting sides “find
comprehensive solutions to all remaining issues related to or resulting from the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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