Month: June 2022

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: [Ex-President] Serzh Sargsyan’s statement the other day has increased the interest in today’s [opposition] rally [in downtown Yerevan].

On June 14, [opposition Resistance Movement coordinator] Ishkhan Saghatelyan [the National Assembly deputy speaker from the opposition “Armenia” Faction and a representative of the Supreme Body of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia] will not only sum up what has been done or not done [by this movement] in the past nearly two months, but will also announce the tactics to continue the series of rallies with longer intervals. Earlier, the agreement was reached at one interval per week.

Tent protests will also be discussed; they will probably urge to remove the tents from France Square [in downtown Yerevan], proposing to continue the struggle in other ways.

[Opposition MP] Agnesa Khamoyan conveyed to us: “Wait for Ishkhan Saghatelyan’s speech on the future tactics and future steps of the [Resistance] Movement.”

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Qatar, gave an interview to Al Jazeera Monday, during which he touched upon the processes taking place in the South Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations, and several other topics. Below is the text of an excerpt from this interview.

You speak in a very positive language, while Armenia’s relationship with neighboring countries is generally bad with the exception of Iran, and some are actually surprised that Iran, the Islamic Republic, stood by you in the face of Azerbaijan, the Muslim country? How do you explain this situation?

We have four neighbors, we have very good relations with two of them; I mean Georgia and Iran. Iran is a friendly country for us, which also has good relations with Azerbaijan, we do not intend not to have good relations with countries that have good relations with Azerbaijan. But now we have very close ties with Iran, by the way, we hope that by cooperating with Iran we will be able to expand our bilateral relations with Qatar as well. We are now working to develop communications between Iran and Armenia, and we are currently in the process of constructing a very strategic highway called North-South, which connects our border with Georgia to the border with Iran. We hope that as a result of this program, our economic relations with Iran will develop. By the way, the Eurasian Economic Union, I have already said that Armenia is a member of it, has a free trade agreement with Iran, which is very important in the context of our bilateral relations.

Let me to conclude this meeting with a question about your tour in the Arab region, what is your expectation from the Arabs?

I should mention that there is a very warm attitude towards the Arab world in Armenia, because we have traditional relations. Now I hope for the growth of bilateral trade between Armenia and Qatar, because there is a very positive political environment in our bilateral relations with this wonderful country.

For small countries, especially those surrounded by hostile neighbors, the key geopolitical task is to maintain their status of geopolitical actor and factor. Without this, they are doomed. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan wrote this Tuesday on Facebook.

“Among the most important components of being geopolitical actor and factor is adherence to principles. The absence of principles and value components deprives the state and people of geopolitical autonomy and specificity. Such a state becomes a geopolitical ‘snack’ for neighbors, especially the principled and ambitious ones.

“Artsakh and Armenia are in a difficult situation, which makes the imperative of maintaining the status of geopolitical actor and factor and adherence to principles even more relevant,” Babayan added.

At Tuesday’s sitting of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, NA deputy speaker Ruben Rubinyan noted that the draft NA statement on Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations, which was tabled by the opposition “Armenia” and “With Honor” Factions of the NA, shall be put to a vote.

“As the Steering Committee did not discuss the matter and did not present a conclusion, this matter must be put to a vote in order to be included in the agenda of the session,” he said.

Hayk Konjoryan, the leader of the ruling majority “Civil Contract” Faction of the NA, said that his faction will not take part in this voting.

As the opposition factions are not in attendance to this sitting, the following voting result was registered: 0 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.

On June 3, the MPs of the opposition “Armenia” and “With Honor” Factions had convened a special sitting of the NA, on the agenda of which was the draft aforesaid statement submitted by them. But the session did not take place due to the lack of a quorum as the lawmakers of the majority faction did not attend this sitting.

The Azerbaijani authorities on Wednesday will hold another international conference in the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

The event, entitled “Azerbaijan-Turkey strategic alliance is a source of peace and stability for the Caucasus and the region” and dedicated to the first anniversary of the “Shusha (Shushi) Declaration,” will be attended by state and government representatives of Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as leaders of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party, APA reported.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s message to attendees of the conference will be read at the event.

Then panel discussions will be held on issues arising from the “Shusha Declaration.”

Norabak village of Gegharkunik province has been deprived of water supply since 12 May, 2021, when Azerbaijani troops invaded Armenia, the head of the village Vazgen Asatryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He said that before the 44-day war, the villagers had installed a water pipeline, a two-kilometer stretch of which remained under Azerbaijani control. “We cannot use it. The Azerbaijanis are also standing at the other water pipeline. It was enough for the whole village. Now we use the water pipe which comes down from the mountain next to the Azerbaijanis. Villagers bring water in buckets. We are afraid of being poisoned, but we have no choice,” Asatryan says.

According to him, over 1,000 hectares of pastures have come under Azerbaijan’s control. “It is a serious loss for us. There are pastures that are close to the Azerbaijanis,” the head of the village said.

Georgia continues the trial of two former members of the commission on border delimitation with Azerbaijan, who are accused of concealing maps. They are cartographers Iveri Melashvili and Natalya Ilyicheva.

In October 2020, a Georgian state examination found out that these defendants were guided by maps published in the 1970s and 80s, which casts doubt on the ownership of the David Gareja monastic complex.

Melashvili and Ilyicheva are charged with concealing a map from 1937 and 1938 while working for the Georgian-Azerbaijani border delimitation and demarcation commission, which could have deprived Georgia of 3,500 hectares of its territory, including part of the David Gareja monastery. According to the investigation, they committed this crime “on the instruction of superior officials.”

The monastery of David Gareja has been carved into a mountain on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. Both countries have been trying to delimit this area ever since their independence. Georgia’s proposal to exchange the entire monastic complex with other territories was rejected by Azerbaijan, which stated that these heights are of strategic importance. Only a small part of the David Gareja monastic complex is contentious.

Georgian prosecutors allege that the aforesaid unfavorable map was used in order to delimit parts of the border with Azerbaijan in 2006 and 2007.

The defendants face 10 to 15 years of imprisonment.

Accused cartographers Melashvili and Ilyicheva were arrested in 2020, but released on bail in 2021.

They plead not guilty.

Five days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement on the “simplified regime” of the road through the territory of Armenia, which should connect Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan, it is not officially specified what this means.

However, some details about the ongoing negotiations became known. Azatutyun.am reported.

“So, Azerbaijani cargoes and passengers entering the territory of Armenia will first be checked by the Russian border service and then by the Armenian customs service. Then the crossing will be accompanied by an Armenian patrol, which will include at least one Russian officer. Will the same conditions be applied in case of Armenian cargoes and passengers entering the territory of Azerbaijan? According to the same sources the negotiations are still going on. Journalist Tatul Hakobyan wrote about it the other day, according to whose information Baku demanded a Russian patrol.

Official Moscow and Yerevan published different information after the meeting of the three countries’ vice-premiers in Moscow about ten days ago. According to the Russian government, the sides have brought their positions closer on border, customs and other controls. Meanwhile, according to the Armenian government, the sides clarified their approaches. The approaches have not been officially clarified yet,” the media reported.