Month: June 2022

President Vahagn Khachatryan (center) briefs members of the Russian Armenian community

President Vahagn Khachatryan said on Friday that Russia has admitted that it had not fulfilled its obligation in its peacekeeping mission in Artsakh, which led to Azerbaijani forces breaching the line-of-contact and advancing their positions into the Parukh village in Artsakh’s Askeran Region.

Khachatryan was speaking to members of the Armenian community in Russia as he is in St. Petersburg to attend an international economic forum.

“I also took part in the discussions during those tense days and we showed a very tough position,” Khachatryan told the gathering. “As a result of that position, the Russian side finally admitted that there was a gap. Now they are conducting an internal investigation to understand the reason, but they admitted that they had not actually fulfilled their obligation,” the Armenian Service of RFE/RL reported on Friday.

Khachatryan said that at the time there was no need to address the matter publicly. He explained that during internal discussion the Russians admitted that the peacekeepers did not do what they should have done.

After weeks of attacks on the Parukh village, in late March, Azerbaijani forces breached the line-of-contact, which is under the Russian peacekeepers control, and advanced their positions into the village, from where they also set up positions on the strategic Karaglukh Heights.

At the time, Russia called on Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from the area. However, local observers continue to observe that such a pull-back has not occurred and Azerbaijani forces continue to remain in the area.

“The situation is so tense there that even the people of Nagorno Karabakh have said that if the peacekeepers can not ensure our security, we will return to Armenia,” said Khachatryan, who explained that the Russian side has insisted that its peacekeepers are obligated to ensure the security and urged the population to not abandon the area.

Last week, while in Yerevan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a resolution to the situation in Parukh was a key foreign policy priority for Russia, adding that such issues would be discussed within the context of delimiting and demarcating of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Lavrov’s remarks set off a frenzy in Baku, which shot back by saying that the Parukh region has nothing to do with the demarcation process, since the village is located in Khojaly, which Azerbaijan is currently occupying.

Since then, the Russian foreign ministry has walked back Lavrov’s statements, with its spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday saying that Parukh matter has no connection to the border demarcation process.

During his meeting with the Russian Armenian community, President Khachatryan insisted that based on the new developments, Yerevan should first advance the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, and secure the final status of Nagorno Karabakh. Moreover, Khachatryan claimed, that the leadership of Artsakh agrees with this position.

Official Stepanakert has been clear in its position: the Karabakh conflict should be settled by ensuring Artsakh’s right to self-determination, which does not envision Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Khachatryan claimed that when he met with Lavrov on June 9, Russia’s top diplomat supposedly told him that Moscow shares Yerevan’s position on the Parukh matter, which Khachatryan claimed Lavrov spoke about “in a special way” and thanked him for coming to that conclusion, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reported.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses a gathering of CSTO national security advisors in Yerevan on June 17

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a gathering of national security advisers of CSTO member-states that continued aggressive statements from Azerbaijan should serve as a warning sign for the Russia-led security organization as it is a “fundamental issue” both for Armenia and the organization.

The national security advisers of Collective Security Treaty Organization’s member-states were meeting in Yerevan as part of a week-long convergence of CSTO leaders in Armenia for meetings on various governmental levels.

On the heels of another military threat from President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Thursday, Pashinyan told the gathering that in light of continued “aggressive statements” from Baku, the CSTO should consider dispatching a monitoring mission to the border.

When Azerbaijani forces breached Armenia’s sovereign border in May, 2021, and advance onto the provinces on Gegharkunik and Syunik, Armenia appealed to the CSTO for immediate assistance, but was rebuffed, receiving a response two month later urging Yerevan to negotiate with Baku. Yet in January, Yerevan not only heeded an appeal but also sent troops to Kazakhstan when protests demanding the government’s resignation turned violent.

When Armenia appealed to the CSTO in May 2021, some member-states said that the area was heavily militarized and not demarcated.

Pashinyan on Friday told the CSTO representatives that the attitude shown toward Armenia last year was “dangerous.”

“Our position is that there is a concrete border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, because in 1991, when the Commonwealth of Independent States was established, an interstate agreement was signed, which clearly states that the countries mutually recognize each other’s existing borders.  This refers to the administrative boundaries of the Soviet period, and I think we should have this as a starting point. The opposite interpretation of this situation, I think, will reduce the effectiveness of the CSTO,” said Pashinyan.

As the holder of the CSTO’s rotating presidency, Pashinyan urged the members of the group to have an earnest discussion about the matter.

“Why?” Pashinyan asked. “Because we see that aggressive statements by Azerbaijan are continuing. We should discuss this issue, especially considering that Armenia has applied to the CSTO, as it is a very fundamental issue for both us and the Organization.”

On Thursday Aliyev overtly threatened a military response if Armenia continued to oppose his proposed so-called “Zangezur Corridor”—a road connecting mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan.

In his presentation at the CSTO gathering on Friday, Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoyan rejected such a “corridor,” saying that the agreements signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia merely call for the opening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Grigoryan held a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev, late on Thursday. After the meeting Grigoryan’s office reported that Patrushev said “Moscow supports Armenia in the processes of ensuring regional security.”

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan

A day after President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan overtly threatened war against Armenia if it continued to oppose a proposed land corridor through Armenia, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan blasted Aliyev saying that his “destructive” assertions call into question Baku’s commitment to peace in the region.

In remarks made at an international conference in Baku, Aliyev also threatened Armenia, and any international entity, if they continue to insist that the Karabakh conflict has not been settled, claiming that with the 2020 war conflict was settled, hence there is no place called Karabakh.

In an interview with Armenpress on Friday, Mirzoyan responded to Aliyev’s statement and when asked to comment about the Azerbaijani leader’s accusation that Armenia was not being sincere in the peace process, Mirzoyan said that Azerbaijan must take “practical and sincere steps” toward that end.

“It is also obvious that for the success of these efforts, it is necessary to address the entire 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 that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been solved are at least not understood or, moreover, cast doubt on the sincerity of the Azerbaijani authorities’ intention to achieve peace,” Mirzoyan told Armenpress.

‘No matter what statements are made, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue will continue to exist as long as the issues of security, sufficient guarantees for the protection of all rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh arising from them are not addressed. In the modern world, the situation created by the use of force cannot be the solution to a problem,” added Mirzoyan.

“The assertion that as a result of the use of force even Nagorno Karabakh does not exist, does not speak about the constructiveness of Azerbaijan. Needless to say that this, of course, corresponds neither to the de-facto reality, the most important part of which is the existence of Artsakh Armenians in Artsakh and the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces to ensure their security, nor the November 9 trilateral declaration, which stopped the war and clearly defines the existence of Nagorno Karabakh,” explained Mirzoyan.

“The same can be said about the statements of the Azerbaijani authorities on the non-existence of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. First of all, no one has suspended it or can suspend the international mandate of the Co-chairs to contribute to the political settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict without the relevant decision of the international institute defining it. In that case, it is incomprehensible that if the parties really want to negotiate sincerely—to find mutually acceptable solutions, to achieve a stable, comprehensive peace—then why should those talks not take place in the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ format? A format which has the clear support of the international community and not using its experience and potential is simply not logical and reasonable,” said Mirzoyan.

Armenia’s top diplomat reiterated Yerevan’s commitment to fulfilling the provisions of the agreements between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and said that Armenia has entered the talks in “good faith.”

“The process would advance more smoothy if there are no statements by Azerbaijan about extraterritorial corridors, which have nothing to do with the trilateral declaration of November 9, as well as with the commitments assumed by the [other] statements,” said Mirzoyan.

“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 arising from the provisions of the trilateral declaration signed on November 9, 2020, which clearly defines the status of the Lachin corridor,” explained the foreign minister. “Nagorno Karabakh and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic have different statuses, different neighborhoods, different security environments. Accordingly, their relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be identical.”

Mirzoyan said that Azerbaijan is delaying the process of unblocking transport links, adding that Yerevan is for that process through the provisions of the agreements that stress “the sovereignty of the countries and jurisdiction over roads.”

Earlier on Friday, Mirzoyan met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić who is in Yerevan. The two reportedly discussed the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the consequences of the aggression against Artsakh in 2020, and the issues of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“I particularly emphasized the fact that by attempting to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict by the use of force in 2020, as well as by invading the sovereign territory of Armenia, Azerbaijan has grossly violated its commitments undertaken when ascending to the Council of Europe, and this must be properly addressed by the Council of Europe and its member-states,” Mirzoyan told the visiting secretary-general.

He said that on the road to establishing peace and stability in the region, “addressing of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is fundamental, which should include the provisions of ensuring the security and all the rights of the people of Artsakh, and final determination of the status of Nagorno Karabakh.”

“The people of Artsakh have the same rights as everyone and the fact of being in the conflict zone cannot deprive the Armenians of Artsakh of their universal fundamental rights,” added Mirzoyan.

He also discussed the humanitarian issues that have arisen as a result of the 2020 war, specifically the return of Armenian prisoners of war, who are being held captive in Azerbaijan.

“The humanitarian issues resulting from the aggression unleashed against Artsakh—the return of Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan and the humanitarian access to Artsakk—remain unresolved, the politicization of which is unacceptable,” Mirzoyan told the Council of Europe president.

“The Anti-Armenian and warmongering rhetoric, physical and psychological terror against the civilian population are unacceptable in the same way,” said Mirzoyan.

“We believe that the Council of Europe, its relevant bodies and leaders should be more determined, at least when it comes to the issues of Armenian prisoners of war and the humanitarian access to Artsakh, and put their utmost effort so that the the interim decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, PACE Resolutions and the provisions of the memorandum of the Commissioner for Human Rights issues on November 8, 2021, are being respected,” Mirzoyan added.

President of the European Council Charles Michel

At the initiative of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, 91 organizations operating within EU member-states sent a letter to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, expressing profound discontent with his statement of May 23, following the trilateral meeting with the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.  

The organizations welcomed Michel’s efforts for peace negotiations. Nevertheless, they emphasized the importance of ensuring that peace is negotiated based on justice and not by sacrificing the fundamental rights and needs of the Armenian side which was a victim of vicious aggression of the Turkish-Azerbaijani axis in 2020.  

The organizations voiced their regret that Michel’s press statement on May 23 disregards key principles of EU’s documented approach toward the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and, overall, endorses the Azerbaijani stance on the conflict resolution in some crucial aspects. This includes using the word “Karabakh” while referring to the conflict, instead of “Nagorno Karabakh” which is a political entity with a defined territory. The letter further elaborated that using the term Karabakh by the Azerbaijani authorities is a part of Baku’s ongoing state policy of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh.

Referring to the statement by Charles’ spokesperson May 31, the organizations expressed their appreciation that it introduced important clarifications and emphasized key principles. The organizations expressed hope that EU’s future mediation on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict does justice to negotiating an equitable and lasting peace.

For this purpose the signatories to the letter called on Michel to base the mediation on the following six concrete aspects:

• The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the EU and Armenia (CEPA), which entered into force in March 2021, “recognizes the need to achieve that settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the basis of the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, including the equal rights and self-determination of peoples, as one of the three Basic principles.”
• Any direct control of Baku over the Nagorno Karabakh inevitably means ethnic cleansing of its millennia-old native Armenian population. Hence the question of the status of Nagorno Karabakh which must reflects the democratic _expression_ of will of the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh is primordial in ensuring the long-term, sustainable security of the population and guarantee their right to live in their homeland. 
• Unblocking transportation/communication links must be carried out in full respect of sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia. Any potential risk of creating a new ground for conflict must be excluded.
• Border delimitation and demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be a consequence of the use of force and must not be carried out hastily without taking into consideration all the details of its consequences.
• Azerbaijan must immediately stop its state policy of Armenophobia in all its manifestations
• Following inter alia by the European Parliament as well as that of a number of parliaments of the EU Member states, Azerbaijan must immediately and unconditionally release all the Armenian prisoners of war and captives.