Month: June 2022

Armenian FM responds to Azerbaijani president’s latest statements

David Nargizian
Panorama
Armenia –


Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has reacted to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that Armenia “is not sincere” in the process of achieving peace.

“The Armenian government has repeatedly proved its readiness to make efforts for the establishment of long-term stability and peace in the South Caucasus. At the same time, it is obvious that these efforts cannot be one-sided, and Azerbaijan must also take active and sincere steps in this direction. The establishment of peace cannot come as a result of the efforts of one side only, and peace negotiations cannot be based on the proposals of one side only,” Mirzoyan said on Friday in response to a request for comment from Armenpress.

“It is also obvious that for the success of these efforts, it is necessary to address the whole set of existing problems that have caused the conflict in order to find a solution acceptable to all parties. In this context, the statements made by official Baku about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict being settled are at least not understandable or, moreover, put under doubt the sincerity of the intention of the authorities of Azerbaijan to achieve peace. Whatever statements are made, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue continues to exist until adequate guarantees for the issues of the security of the Armenians of Artsakh and protection of all their rights, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh arising from it are not addressed. In the modern world, the situation created as a result of use of force cannot be a solution to a problem.

“The assertion that as a result of the use of force there is no Nagorno-Karabakh at all, does not speak about the constructiveness of Azerbaijan. Needless to say that this, indeed, does not correspond to the factual reality, the most important part of which is the existence of Armenians in Artsakh as well as the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces to ensure their security, or the November 9 trilateral statement, which stopped the war and clearly defines the existence of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The same can be said about the statements of the Azerbaijani authorities on the non-existence of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. First of all, no one has suspended it and without the relevant decision of the international institution defining it, they cannot suspend the international mandate of the co-chairmanship, that is, to contribute to the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In that case, it is incomprehensible that if the parties really want to negotiate sincerely, to find mutually acceptable solutions, to achieve a lasting and sustainable peace, then why should not those talks take place in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, which has the clear support of the international community, and non-use of the experience and potential of which is simply illogical and unreasonable,” the minister said.

Commenting on Aliyev’s claims that the Armenian side is delaying the process of unblocking the region, Mirzoyan stressed Armenia has always been interested in opening all the transport and economic infrastructures in the region.

“This is evidenced by both the trilateral statements adopted by the Russian mediation on January 11 and November 26, 2021 as well as the agreements reached in Brussels,” he said.

“I would like to emphasize that Armenia has been involved in the discussions in good faith, and the process would have been much smoother and faster if Azerbaijan would not have come up with statements on the extraterritorial corridor, which are not in line with the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020 as well as with the commitments made by the statements I mentioned.

“As for Azerbaijan’s efforts to draw parallels between the Lachin corridor and the regional transport routes to be unblocked, they obviously cannot have the same status, at least coming from the provisions of the trilateral declaration signed on November 9, 2020, which clearly define the status of the Lachin corridor. Moreover, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic have different statuses, different neighborhoods, and different security environments. Accordingly, their relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be identical.

“I would like to emphasize again that the November 9 statement envisages unblocking of all infrastructures in the region, while Azerbaijan is delaying in undertaking steps in this direction. We are ready for unblocking the region within the framework of the agreements on the preservation of the sovereignty of the countries and jurisdiction over roads, and the recent talks between the Deputy Prime Ministers of the two countries in Moscow followed this logic,” Mirzoyan said.

Preliminary probe into case involving producer Armen Grigoryan over

Andranik Taslakhchian
Panorama
Armenia –


The preliminary investigation into the case involving producer Armen Grigoryan has been completed, lawyers Ruben Melikyan and Armen Mashinyan said, citing the agency dealing with the probe.

“The case files have been made available to the defense lawyers for study,” they said in a statement on Saturday.

Court hearings on the case are expected to begin in July.

The lawyers reiterate that the act incriminated to Grigoryan does not contain elements of a crime under Armenia’s Criminal Code and his prosecution is politically motivated.

Grigoryan was arrested in May on charges of “humiliating national dignity” of the residents of Shirak and Ararat Provinces and questioning their national identity in various interviews.

One killed in Yerevan explosion

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama
Armenia –


According to preliminary data, one person was killed and another was injured in the wake of an explosion in Yerevan on Saturday afternoon, the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

The incident occurred at 3/6 Arin Berd Street.

One fire and rescue squad of the ministry was dispatched to the scene.

It turned out that the explosion occurred in the area of Vellar Group LLC.

No other details were immediately available.

Armenian expert: Enemy responds to ‘peace agenda’ with war symbols

Antonian Lara
Panorama
Armenia –


Expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan on Saturday again dismissed the “peace agenda” promoted by the incumbent Armenian authorities, saying Azerbaijan and Turkey respond to it with war symbols.

“The “positive” signals coming from the Erdogan regime have increased by another. Recently, former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim presented the leader of Baku’s barbarian regime with a copy of the sword of Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, who conquered Constantinople,” he wrote on Telegram.

“At the same time, the member of Erdogan’s regime noted during its presentation that he was giving a copy of Mehmed II the Conqueror’s sword to “the Conqueror of Karabakh.”

“Leaving aside the fact that the so-called “conqueror” of Artsakh was able to seize only a small part of the second Armenian republic and was gifted larger territories exclusively by force of signature, while Artsakh never fully fell under the barbarian occupation, it is worth noting that the enemy responds to the “peace agenda” with symbols of war.

“This once again indicates that the truly far-sighted Armenian agenda should be aimed at subduing the enemy by removing the cancerous tumor called Azerbaijan from the healthy body of the South Caucasus,” Voskanyan said.

Artak Zakaryan: ‘Nikolism’ must be rooted out in Armenia and Artsakh

Vorskanian Yeghisabet
Panorama
Armenia –


Artak Zakaryan, a former deputy defense minister and a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Executive Body, reiterated the need for the ouster of Nikol Pashinyan and his cabinet.

“The [resistance] movement continues its struggle. Through the change of power, the country will restore its security, lasting peace, public solidarity and the well-being of its citizens. Lies, falsifications, ignorance mixed with profanity as well as defeatist politics must be completely eliminated from our country,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Armenians have always been and will remain a dignified and deferential people. Servility is inherent only to capitulators. But we are not like them, we reject political and domestic ignorance, illiteracy, wretchedness, envy, gluttony and betrayal.

“Those in power must be moral. Immoral authorities have brought common good, justice, solidarity or peace in no country. Nikolism, which has formed an immoral regime, must be eradicated in Armenia and Artsakh,” Zakaryan said.

Armenia ready to open consulate in Tabriz

Toneyan Mark
TEHRAN TIMES
Iran –

TEHRAN – The Armenian Parliament speaker has said that his country is ready to open a consulate in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz. 

Alen Simonyan, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, who has traveled to Tehran at the invitation of the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, met with Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Thursday evening.

Simonyan said the establishment of the consulate general of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Armenia’s Syunik Province is a turning point in the relations between the two countries and announced Armenia’s readiness to establish its consulate general in Tabriz, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

In this meeting, Amir Abdollahian called Armenia “an important friend and neighbor of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Citing high-level political relations between the two countries, Amir Abdollahian stressed the need to develop economic cooperation and take advantage of the two countries’ diverse capacities. He expressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s readiness to increase trade volume with Armenia to $1 billion a year.

Amir Abdollahian also referred to Iran’s principled position to support the territorial integrity of the region and stressed the unchangeability of international borders and the need to respect the sovereignty of the regional countries.

Putin to Khachaturyan: Armenia is not just our partner, it is also our strategic ally, and we appreciate it

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. On the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian leader Vladimir Putin had a conversation with Armenian President Vahagn  Khachaturyan.

According to the Kremlin press service, during the conversation,  Putin expressed the hope that Khachaturyan did not coming to St.  Petersburg to participate in the Economic Forum.

“We have been holding this event for 25 years, it has become a  landmark, at least for our country, for Russia. I hope for our  partners as well. And Armenia is not just our partner, it is also our  strategic ally, we appreciate it. We understand everything that is  happening today in Armenia, around Armenia, we are determined to  develop our partnership relations, We are interested in the situation  of the country to be stable and guarantee development.

I hope that our meeting today will also contribute to this,” Putin  said.

In turn, Khachaturyan noted that he had not been to St. Petersburg  for a long time, he had been there in Soviet years- these were the  1980s, until 1992.

“And this is another opportunity for me to see how [the city] has  changed. And I can also give an assessment, as a former mayor of the  city, that in reality the city looks very good.  I know your personal  attitude towards St. Petersburg – I also feel about Yerevan,” he  said.

As for the St. Petersburg forum, the President of Armenia stated with  regret that he was taking part in it for the first time. At the same  time, he assured that as an economist, as a specialist, he always  followed, and always highly appreciated it, because from the economic  point of view, very interesting discussions are taking place here.

“And yesterday’s discussion, which took place on the platforms, is  also very interesting: the economic leaders of the country, your  adviser [assistant to the President M. Oreshkin], the Minister of  Economy [M.  Reshetnikov], the chairman of the Central Bank [E.  Nabiullina]. And I also wanted, as a specialist, to understand how  events will develop, and my, so to speak, expert assessment coincided  with what you also spoke about today.

By the way, I followed very carefully. I have always been engaged in  the economic aspect and I want to say that I agree with your  conclusions. In fact, this is a new time. Actually, we probably need  to think about how to develop further in the new conditions that  provide new opportunities”, added the RA President.

At the same time, Khachaturyan agreed, for example, with the  conclusions made by the head of the Central Bank: there is no need to  think that this situation will change, sanctions will stop or end  soon – you just need to get used to it and prepare the economy for  completely different tests.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that the Russian economy  will endure, based on what resources are available, what  opportunities are available, taking into account the past two months.   “Those expectations, forecasts, as you also have mentioned, even by  Russian specialists, financiers and economists, did not come true.

It is also interesting what methods the Central Bank, economic  bodies, the Ministry of Finance used to ensure that the ruble  recovered, inflation stopped, and development continued. Even now,  the current, latest forecasts of the International Monetary Fund have  also changed towards positive, that is, the assessments that were  given,” the Armenian leader added.

At the same time, Khachaturyan expressed his conviction that the  Armenian people appreciate the efforts of the President of Russia in  the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “. I can state that  your efforts made for stopping the war are appreciated not only by  myself personally, but also I know that they are appreciated by the  people of Armenia. 

In fact, you wanted to stop it early, somehow end the war, and I know  your efforts. There was such an opportunity on October 19 [2020] – we  talked about this with Sergei Viktorovich [Lavrov] when he was in  Yerevan. But it so happened that on November 9 [2020], but most  importantly, the war stopped.  And after that, your efforts to  prevent any hostilities, so that these agreements between you, the  Prime Minister [of Armenia] and the President [of Azerbaijan] are  actually consolidated and observed, is also very important for us,”  he said.

At the same time, the President of Armenia noted that both he and the  Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the Government of the  Republic of Armenia are determined to live together with Russia, to  use joint efforts in order to simply develop. “I’m sure that our  further relations will develop, of course”.

Artsakh NSS accuses Azerbaijani special services of trying to create a climate of fear in Artsakh

Tambiyan Samvel
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani special services continue to spread misinformation from Armenian accounts on the Facebook social network, thus trying to create a climate of fear in Artsakh. This is stated in the statement of the NSS of Artsakh.

“The National Security Service of the Republic of Artsakh, fulfilling  the functions and powers assigned to it by law in the field of  information security, reports that the Azerbaijani special services  continue to spread disinformation through Armenian accounts in the  Artsakh sector of the Facebook social network, trying to create a  climate of fear. The National Security Service of Artsakh is taking  appropriate steps to prevent possible developments.

We urge not to  give in to misinformation and refrain from spreading  suspicious news, d to discuss it on social networks,  and follow only  the official news,” the NKR NSS said in a statement. 

Armen Gevorgyan to CoE Secretary General: Great injustice is being enforced against people of Nagorno Karabakh

Hambardsumian Paul
NEWS.am
Armenia –
10:25, 18.06.2022

The Armenian public has not yet heard the Council of Europe’s resolutions condemning Azerbaijan on the 44-day war in 2020, Armen Gevorgyan, an MP from the opposition Armenia bloc said.

His remarks came at a meeting with Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić in the parliament.

Here is Armen Gevorgyan’s statement in full:

“Madam Secretary General:

Welcome to Armenia. It’s rather unfortunate that you don’t have a separate meeting with the representatives of the parliamentary opposition. It is becoming a bad tradition when representatives of the Council of Europe avoid direct dialogue and engagement with the mainstream political opposition in Armenia. Nevertheless, I would like to focus your attention on a number of important issues.

The domestic socio-political life in Armenia has reached its boiling point, because a great injustice is being enforced against the people of Nagorno Karabakh. I believe in the course of your meetings with the Armenian officials you have often heard about a certain “agenda of peace” for the region. Let me reiterate, that no one in Armenia wants another war. But there is a much greater number of people who do not accept that after thirty years of free and independent state-building the people of Nagorno Karabakh can live as part of Azerbaijan. The people of Nagorno Karabakh are against that too. We are greatly concerned that, for example, in contrast to the European Parliament, we observe the Council of Europe’s determination to put a sign of equality between Armenia and Azerbaijan, aspiring to be “less annoying” for Azerbaijan and Turkey with critical resolutions and assessments of their policies. By the way, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that by avoiding direct dialogue with mainstream opposition forces both in Armenia and Azerbaijan you, in essence, indirectly put another sign of equality between these two countries in terms of their democratic credentials.

The Armenian public has so far not seen any relevant resolutions about Azerbaijan’s launching of the unprovoked and unjustified war against Armenians in 2020. The Council of Europe has failed to adopt sanctions following the acts of aggression by Azerbaijan against the territorial integrity of Armenia since May 2021. Azerbaijan continues to ignore the calls of the international community to free all prisoners of war and other detainees, and still carries out its racist and xenophobic policies and propaganda against Armenians. I presume, this will also be testified by the International Court of Justice in the relevant proceedings currently underway. All these are major points of concern, essentially questioning whether we at all can agree with Azerbaijan on anything.

 

You may well ask: what can the Council of Europe do to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict fairly? I am convinced that first and foremost our Organisation must begin by objective assessments of the situation, which I believe will be a good deterrence against Azerbaijan’s aggressive aspirations, but also will protect the quality of democratic governance in the Council of Europe Member States. This will also contribute to any future dialogue for peace in the region.

Our Organisation must be fair and consistent in supporting the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms, and first and foremost in terms of upholding the right of peoples to self-determination.

 

Madam Secretary General:

At the same time, we are deeply concerned that the Council of Europe has been disregarding the clear backsliding from norms and traditions of democracy in our country. The restrictions of the freedom of speech and freedom of the media, the growing dependence of the judiciary and the investigative bodies on the executive branch, the illegal persecutions of opposition figures have become “new normal” of the so-called democratic traditions in Armenia. The disputable quality of the elections to the local self-governance bodies held in the past few months is impossible to disregard even by the international organisations.

Over the past two months this long list of such unacceptable phenomena has been supplemented by violations of the rights of citizens to peaceful protests, as well as by the use of brutal and disproportionate force by the police against protesters. On June 3 the police used stun grenades to disperse the multi-thousand opposition rally, without due warning and without necessity, and as a result many policemen and protesters were seriously wounded and taken to hospitals. Currently 31 opposition figures are arrested on various illegal grounds and with obvious political motivations.

I would like to remind everyone here that in the Spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly a resolution on genuine democracy has been adopted, which stated, I quote, that “democracy is not the dictatorship of the majority”.

In conclusion, I would like to add that we do not intend to make the Council of Europe a space for gladiator fights against either Armenian authorities or Azerbaijan. But we neither intend to put up with the facts that our Organisation is being transformed into a platform of legitimising the consequences of the 44-day war; into a platform clearly promoting the interests of the Turkic coalition led by Turkey and Azerbaijan at the expense of the Armenian people; or a space silently observing anti-democratic processes in our country.”

Expert: In normalization process of Armenian-Turkish relations we will face number of problems

Emil Lazarian
NEWS.am
Armenia –
14:17, 18.06.2022

After the 44-day war and the trilateral statement signed on 9 November, the Armenian and Turkish authorities are trying to create mechanisms for the normalization of relations, particularly in the “3+3” format involving the South Caucasus countries (except Georgia), as well as Russia, Turkey and Iran, and in the bilateral format with the participation of special representatives of Turkey and Armenia.

These initiatives cause serious concern and criticism on the part of the Armenian public, which sees it as a threat of strengthening Ankara’s position at the expense of Armenian interests.

Talking to Armenian News-NEWS.am, Russian Turkologist Vladimir Avatkov said Turkey is trying to build relations with Armenia from scratch but is linking this with the formation of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

There are a number of problems to be faced.

These are issues of borders, corridor and territories. Regarding the corridor, it is clear that Turkey wants to have another passageway to Azerbaijan. Ankara wants to connect faster with Middle and Central Asia through the Caspian Sea and get as close as possible to China, expanding the function of the two-string not only at the level of Russia-West, but also at the level of West-China.

Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan

There are problems in the region in terms of trade by land, with the transportation of goods by rail from Baku through Georgia to Turkey due to Russia’s complicated relationship with Georgia.

Armenia, becoming the point through which the conjunction passes, will be able to gain added value and increase its own prosperity from the movement of goods through its territory.

The only chance to overcome the conflict zone is to look for infrastructure projects that will be mutually beneficial and at the same time will connect Armenia and Azerbaijan in a way that neither side can damage the process, because it will not be profitable. The corridor is one of the possible infrastructure projects that can do that.

It is important that under the agreement, Russia will be the guarantor of the corridor’s safety. That is, it is beneficial not only from Turkey’s point of view, which many fear, but also from Russia’s point of view. Moscow will be interested in this corridor. In addition, it will be unambiguously beneficial from the standpoint of the sides themselves: communications will begin to emerge, and only through it will it be possible to overcome the conflict. If there is no such communication, the next generations are unlikely to be able to create this communication at all, given the negativization of each other in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The possible normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey is certainly not a risk, but an opportunity to develop and strengthen communication in the region.

The role of the West

The West has always sought to extend its influence in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. But Russia shows that it ensures its own security and plans to be a guarantor of security for neighboring spaces. This can be done in different ways: through “soft power” as well as through hard power. Russia is a world power and is responsible for security both in neighboring regions and in world politics.

Russia cannot be excluded. No matter how much the West tries to exclude Russia, it excludes itself from world politics, because Russia, China, Turkey and the Arab countries together form the future world order.

For what reason should the West be positive about the problems in the South Caucasus? No reason at all. For what reason should they be impartial? They will not be. For what reason should they be interested in peace? They will not be interested in peace. The countries in the region and Russia are really interested in peace in the South Caucasus, because the South Caucasus is in direct contact with the North Caucasus. Russia implements the foreign political ideology of peace and security in the world politics. And this is fundamentally important for us in the South Caucasus. Therefore, Moscow is a guarantor and an interested party in the realization of this very peace in the current difficult processes.

Syrian formula

Russia and Turkey have historically clashed in the Caucasus, but today they are trying to implement a formula similar to the Syrian formula. There is nothing wrong with that, because in the South Caucasus, of the external players in the world, Russia, as well as Iran and Turkey, are interested because they are neighbors. Being at one table, they can solve a lot of issues together. The same applies to Georgia, which is not yet part of the “3+3” format. But this would move a lot of issues from the dead point, because Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan live in the region and, respectively, it is necessary to find points of contact. In this case, Moscow is only helping to find these points of contact.