Month: June 2022

ArmInfo. International agencies called for “lowering the bar” for Artsakh’s status back in 2016, Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated at an online new conference. 

According to him, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs made similar  proposals. 

“I have repeatedly presented the co-chairing countries’ proposals.  The proposals for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict the  co-chairs made in 2016 is nothing but a call to lower the bar,” the  premier said. 

Mr Pashinyan recalled his speech in Armenia’s Parliament, when he  stated that in all the packages since 1998 the Armenian side has  recognized Nagorno-Karabakh part of Azerbaijan. 

“When Nagorno-Karabakh was excluded from negotiations in 1998 was it  anything else but lowering the bar? When in 1999 Armenia signed the  Charter for European Security at the Istanbul Summit, which did not  directly deal with security principles, was it not lowering the bar?”  Mr Pashinyan said, recalling the Lisbon Summit in 1996. 

“True, Armenia vetoed. But why did it veto? It vetoed the wording  that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be settled within  Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. After Armenia vetoes, the  chairman made a statement conveying the international community’s  position. Was it anything else but lowering the bar?” Mr Pashinyan  said. All the documents are available online, he added. 

Armenia’s premier also recalled the resolutions by the U.S. Security  Council. 

“What was their content? Does our society know about it? There was an  unwritten law not to mention the resolutions that were not in our  favor,” the premier said. The international community could not  forget that, he added. 

Speaking of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Mr Pashinyan called  “strange” Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s statements on termination of the  OSCE Minsk Group’s activities. 

“On one occasion I could comment on the Azerbaijani president’s  statement on the past. But I should say that the Russian foreign  minister’s statement – if accurately quoted by mass media – sounds,  to put it mildly, strange. Why so? It is so because the Russian  foreign minister is an official subordinate to the Russian president.  Why I am saying it? For the simple reason that on April 19, 2022, I  paid an official visit to Russia, and the Russian president and I  signed a joint statement. What did we write in Point 24? We must  cooperate in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and must use the  potential of the OSCE Minsk Group under the international mandate,”  Mr Pashinyan said. He added that it is Russia’s official position  committed to paper. I think this discrepancy should be clarified,  though there is nothing to clarify because a joint statement was  adopted,” Armenia’s premier said. 

He stressed that thee the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs re-affirmed  their commitment to the Nagorno- Karabakh peace process. 

“Russia stated that in the joint statement. France and the United  States have stated several times. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have  never stated their nonexistence,” Mr Pashinyan said.

ArmInfo. In commenting on Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan’s statements at an online news conference, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the opposition  parliamentary faction With Honor, said that Armenia’s government is  preparing society for new concessions by blackmailing it with a  possible new war. However, a new war and new losses are not ruled out  at a certain stage, he added. 

“Nikol Pashinyan is saying that Azerbaijan is refusing to follow the  peace agenda and is paving the way for a new war against Armenia. I  would like to draw public attention to two questions: 

“First, Pashinyan is actually saying that his ‘peace era’ agenda has  failed. He cannot keep his fundamental promise to our citizens. 

“Secondly, Pashinyan is saying that we are going to see a new war if  we do not have the chief of the General Staff, a competent minister  of defense and responsible chief commander. 

“I am inclined to think that Armenia’s government is preparing  society for new concessions by blackmailing it with a possible new  war. However, a new war and new losses are not ruled out at a certain  stage,” he said. 

Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated yesterday that Azerbaijan  aggressively rejecting all of Armenia’s peace initiatives. In this  context, he said that thee trilateral statement makes both the states  legally responsible for unblocking the transport links. Mr Pashinyan   accused Azerbaijan of being unwilling to unblock the transport links. 

Armenia’s premier referred to two preliminary agreements on meetings  of border commissions. In both cases refused or demanded postponement  of meetings. The same can bee said of transport links. 

“Azerbaijan is showing Armenia allegedly opposing unblocking of  transport links thus violating the trilateral agreement,” he said. 

Azerbaijan is trying to show Armenia unwilling to honor its  commitments thereby legalizing a new war against Armenia and  Nagorno-Karabakh, the premier added. 

ArmInfo.The Russian Co-Chair did not accept the invitation to discuss the future of  Nagorno-Karabakh, the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State, reports. 

“The U.S. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair spoke with her counterparts today  to discuss the future of Nagorno-Karabakh. It’s unfortunate the  Russian Co-Chair did not accept the invitation.  We look forward to  the Minsk Group’s continuing work,” a Twitter message reads.

ArmInfo. If Russia does not deal with the problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan, the West will inevitably deal  with this. Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of  the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Skakov expressed a similar  opinion to ArmInfo.  

“I believe that, taking into account the current relations of Moscow  with Washington or Brussels, Moscow is, let’s say, not too interested  in this. This is where the need to intensify our diplomacy in the  normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations comes from. For  example, in the context of the visit of its head Sergey Lavrov to  Baku, who discussed the process of unblocking transport  communications there,” he said.  According to Skakov, against the  background of the current acute phase of geopolitical competition  with the US and the EU, not only in the South Caucasus, but also in  all other regions, given the new challenges and the growth of Western  influence in the Karabakh conflict zone, stimulating the dialogue  between Yerevan and Baku is a priority for Moscow, of course, both in  a bilateral format and with its own participation. 

At the same time, Skakov conditioned the growth of mutual demands of  the parties to the conflict by the presence of a mediator in the  person of the EU, with whom, quite possibly, it would be more  profitable for them to deal with today.  This regard, everyone will  try to benefit from the current situation. This will require Moscow  to make additional efforts to balance the expectations and appetites  of the parties, including in order to maintain the existing influence  on them.

“We see that it is precisely additional efforts in solving emerging  problems that are expected in Yerevan and Baku from Moscow. Baku, in  particular, is rushing Moscow to reach a peace agreement and  communication to Nakhichevan. This is accompanied by an increase in  the degree of Azerbaijani rhetoric.  Hence, the high degree of  Moscow’s position, both diplomatically and militarily  arises in  Nagorno- Karabakh,” summed up the orientalist. 

ArmInfo.Official Baku issued an unclear statement in response to accusations by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made during an online press conference on  June 27.

In particular, Pashinyan stated during an online press conference  that Azerbaijan responds to all the peace initiatives of Armenia with  aggressive rhetoric.  In this regard, the Prime Minister noted that  the tripartite statement establishes the legal obligation of  Azerbaijan and Armenia to achieve the opening of communications. He  accused Azerbaijan of unwillingness to open communications. Pashinyan  cited two cases when a preliminary agreement was reached on holding a  meeting of the commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the   Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and in both cases Baku either refused   or demanded to postpone it. The same applies to transport   communications.  < Azerbaijan tries to make an impression that   Armenia opposes the unblocking of transport communications, which   violates the provisions of the tripartite statement," Pashinyan  said, adding that with its attempts Baku is trying to make an  impression that Armenia does not want to fulfill its obligations  under the tripartite statement, and thereby legitimize a new war  against Armenia and Karabakh.

The RA Prime Minister also noted the importance of continuing the  activities of the OSCE Minsk Group and expressed bewilderment at the  statements of the Russian Foreign Minister on this issue, made in  Baku.

In this regard, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry decided, already by  tradition, to shift all the blame to Armenia and assured that these  statements by Pashinyan cast doubt on the desire of this country to  establish peace in the region.

“Azerbaijan presented Armenia with the basic principles for  concluding a peace treaty. If Azerbaijan wanted war, it would not do  so. Azerbaijan also calls for delimitation of borders between the two  countries and opening all communications in the region,” the Ministry  of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan noted, adding that  the obligations, taken by the parties on tripartite statements and  their implementation are obvious.

“As for Pashinyan’s statements about the disruption of the June 27  meeting by Azerbaijan, the Armenian side, under various pretexts, has  repeatedly disrupted meetings with the participation of international  mediators.  If Armenia really wants peace, then it must show  political will and take steps towards peace, and not try to revive  the format, the effectiveness of which has always been low, and its  participants openly admit the impossibility of its functioning,” the  Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a comment.  

ArmInfo. Ishkhan Saghatelyan will be dismissed from the post of Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament. This was stated by secretary of the Civil Contract  faction Artur Hovhannisyan, referring to the results of the meeting  of the Civil Contract, during which the corresponding decision was  made.  In addition, Vahe Hakobyan, chairman of the Standing  Parliamentary Commission on Economic Affairs, will also leave his  post.

According to him, the basis of such a decision is the non-fulfillment  of their official duties by the latter.  Speaking specifically about  Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the Secretary of the Civil Contract noted: “The  public saw that de facto Ishkhan Saghatelyan had never been the  Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, and therefore we made such a  decision,” Hovhannisyan said.