RFE/RL Armenian Service – 10/09/2023

                                        Monday, October 9, 2023


Some Karabakh Refugees Still Homeless In Armenia

        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - A school gym in Artashat turned into a shelter for Karabakh refugees, 
October 9, 2023.


Nearly 100 people who fled Nagorno-Karabakh after last month’s Azerbaijani 
military offensive continued to live in a school gym in Armenia on Monday, 
highlighting the Armenian government’s failure to accommodate all refugees 
lacking adequate housing.

The government claims to have housed more than half of the 100,000 or so 
refugees in hotels, disused public buildings and empty village houses. It says 
the others have told government officials that they will stay with their 
relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.

However, there is growing evidence of a large number of refugees remaining 
homeless after the mass exodus of Karabakh’s population that began two weeks 
ago. Activists of two Yerevan-based nongovernmental organization spotted such 
people sleeping in their cars or even the streets of the Armenian border town of 
Goris before deciding to open a temporary shelter for them.

The municipal administration of Artashat, a town 30 kilometers south of Yerevan, 
agreed to make one of the local school gyms available to the NGOs called 
Fist-2020 and Smart Armenia. The latter provide the refugees staying there with 
hot meals and other essential items on a daily basis.

Marcus Azatian, the Fist-2020 founder, said the charities initially hoped that 
the refugees will spend a few days in the shelter before finding other 
accommodation. However, only about 20 of the 114 beds placed in the gym were 
vacated in the past week, according to him.

“At some point, we will tell people that they have 10 days to leave this place 
so that they look for homes a bit more actively,” Azatian told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
Service.

Armenia - Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrive in Goris, September 29, 2023.

He confirmed that for security reasons many of the refugees are refusing 
government offers of free housing in mostly rural communities close to Armenia’s 
volatile border with Azerbaijan. Exorbitant rent prices in and around Yerevan 
are seriously complicating their search for alternative housing. And more 
affordable homes often lack basic amenities.

“There are homes [available for rent] but they are in poor condition … They may 
have no running water or bathroom,” said Robert Avagian, a Karabakh Armenian man 
staying in the Artashat shelter with four other family members.

Anya Safarian, a 78-year-old schoolteacher from the Karabakh town of Askeran, is 
stuck there with her son, daughter and three grandchildren. They have no 
relatives or other contacts in Armenia.

“People here are nice and they treat us well,” said Safarian. “But until when? 
We feel ashamed when they bring us food.”

The government is due to give every refugee 50,000 drams ($125) per month for 
housing expenses. Also, the United States, the European Union and some of its 
member states have pledged tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Karabakh 
refugees. It is not yet clear whether some of that money will also be used for 
their housing needs.




Armenian Official Warns Of ‘Imminent Azeri Attack’

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan at a news briefing 
in Yerevan, 22 May 2018.


Azerbaijan may attack Armenia in the coming weeks to open a land corridor to its 
Nakhichevan exclave unless the West imposes sanctions on Baku, a senior Armenian 
diplomat claimed in an interview published on Monday.

“We are now under imminent threat of invasion into Armenia because if 
[Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev is not confronted with very practical steps 
taken by the so-called collective West, then he has no reason or incentive to 
limit himself to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Tigran Balayan, the 
Armenian ambassador to the EU, told BrusselsSignal.eu.

“He and some of his Turkish counterparts have declared that they need to open a 
land corridor through Armenia’s sovereign territory,” said Balayan.

Asked just how imminent the attack is, he said: “I think if bold steps are not 
taken, it’s a matter of weeks.”

The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not clarify as of Monday evening whether 
Balayan’s remarks reflect its official position and, if so, what they are based 
on. For its part, the Defense Ministry in Yerevan said only that the situation 
along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is “relatively stable” now.

Yerevan said in early September that Azerbaijani troops are massing along the 
border and the “line of contact” in Nagorno-Karabakh in possible preparation for 
a large-scale attack. About two weeks later, they launched an offensive in 
Karabakh that caused a mass exodus of its population and paved the way for the 
restoration of Baku’s control over the region.

The Azerbaijani takeover of Karabakh raised more fears in Yerevan that Baku will 
also attack Armenia to open an exterritorial land corridor to Nakhichevan 
passing through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. Aliyev and 
other Azerbaijani leaders regularly demand such a corridor.

Iran has repeatedly warned against attempts to strip it of the common border and 
transport links with Armenia. Iranian leaders reiterated last week Tehran’s 
strong opposition to “any changes in the geopolitics of the region.” According 
to a deputy chief of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s staff, he told visiting 
Armenian and Azerbaijani officials that the corridor sought by Baku is 
“resolutely opposed by Iran” because it would give NATO a “foothold” in the 
region.

The EU and the United States voiced strong support for Armenia’s territorial 
integrity following the latest escalation in Karabakh. But they signaled no 
sanctions against Azerbaijan, which is becoming a major supplier of natural gas 
to Europe.

Balayan suggested that the sanctions include price caps on Azerbaijani oil and 
gas imported by the EU. He said the 27-nation bloc should also suspend a visa 
facilitation agreement with Baku if the latter refuses to withdraw troops from 
Armenian territory seized in 2021 and 2022.




EU’s Von Der Leyen Signals More Western Aid To Armenia


European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech during the 
European Campus of the French governing party Renaissance, in Bordeaux on 
October 7, 2023.


The European Union and the United States will organize a conference of donors as 
part of their efforts to deepen ties with Armenia, European Commission President 
Ursula von der Leyen indicated over the weekend.

“I strongly condemn the Azerbaijani military operation which led to the exodus 
of more than 100,000 Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region,” she told a 
youth conference held in the French city of Bordeaux. “I reiterate my absolute 
support for Armenia's territorial integrity in line with the principles of the 
United Nations.”

“Our immediate priority is to help Armenia receive the displaced persons and 
support the Armenian state in this ordeal,” she said, pointing to over $11 
million in humanitarian aid to Karabakh refugees and $16 million in separate 
financial assistance to the Armenian government provided by the EU.

“In addition, with the United States, we will organize a joint meeting to 
support Armenia. This is a first step to strengthen our bilateral relations. 
Because Europe and Armenia share a long and rich common history and the time has 
come to write a new chapter in this shared history,” added the head of the EU’s 
executive body.

In her speech repeatedly interrupted by rapturous applause, von der Leyen gave 
no dates or other details of the donors’ conference announced by her. She met 
with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of an EU summit in 
Granada, Spain last Thursday.

Pashinian also held a separate meeting there with the EU’s top official, Charles 
Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Sczholz. In 
a joint statement, the European leaders expressed their “unwavering support” for 
Armenia and called for the “strengthening of EU-Armenia relations in all its 
dimensions.”

While in Bordeaux, von der Leyen also met with a group of pro-Armenian French 
lawmakers. They reportedly told her that the EU must also provide military aid 
to Armenia and impose sanctions on Azerbaijan.

The European Parliament urged such sanctions in an October 5 resolution that 
accused Azerbaijan of committing “ethnic cleaning” against Karabakh’s ethnic 
Armenian population. It criticized von der Leyen for describing Azerbaijan as a 
“key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels” during a 
2022 trip to Baku.

None of the 27 member states -- include France, Armenia’s main Western backer -- 
has backed the idea of sanctions. French President Emmanuel Macron said October 
5 that they would be counterproductive at this point.

The EU as well as the United States are moving to forge closer links with 
Armenia amid the South Caucasus state’s mounting tensions with Russia, its 
longtime ally.




Diplomat Sees Continued Russian Presence In Karabakh


Russian peacekeepers stand next to an armored vehicle at a checkpoint in 
Nagorno-Karabakh on October 7, 2023.


Russian peacekeepers should stay in Nagorno-Karabakh despite the restoration of 
Azerbaijani control over the territory and its almost complete depopulation, 
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said on Monday.

His remarks contrasted with other signals sent by Moscow in recent days. In 
particular, the official TASS news agency said on Friday that a Russian military 
delegation will visit Yerevan to discuss with Armenian officials the 
peacekeepers’ withdrawal from Karabakh.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied the report hours later. But it reported over 
the weekend that the peacekeepers continued to dismantle their observation posts 
along the Karabakh “line of contact” that existed until Azerbaijan’s September 
19-20 military offensive.

“The role of our [peacekeeping] contingent is in demand, and I believe that it 
will also be necessary in the future,” Galuzin told the Russian news agency RBC. 
“Firstly, the question remains of making sure that those residents of Karabakh 
who stay there feel secure. It cannot be ruled out that some of those who left 
Karabakh today will at some stage decide to return, and the presence of 
peacekeepers will become an additional factor of calm for these people.”

“So I would not say that the activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent 
in Karabakh have exhausted themselves,” he said.

Japan - Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin pauses as he speaks during a 
news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Tokyo, November 
11, 2022, .
The number of Karabakh Armenians remaining in their homeland is believed to be 
negligible, a fact acknowledged by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. 
The more than 100,000 other residents of the region have fled to Armenia since 
September 20 because of being unwilling to live under Azerbaijani rule.

Nevertheless, Galuzin said, Moscow still believes that an Armenian-Azerbaijani 
peace treaty discussed by the conflicting sides should address the issue of “the 
rights and security of Karabakh’s Armenian population.” It has presented Baku 
and Yerevan with “some ideas on this score,” he added without elaborating.

The Russian diplomat also said that Moscow hopes to broker the peace treaty and 
help the sides delimit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and work out terms for 
opening it to trade and cargo shipments. He dismissed similar efforts by the 
European Union, claiming that their main goal is to drive Russia out of the 
South Caucasus.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
were expected to reach a framework peace deal on the sidelines of last week’s EU 
summit in Spain. However, Aliyev withdrew from the talks at the last minute, 
citing pro-Armenian statements made by France. European Council President 
Charles Michel indicated afterwards that he will likely hold a trilateral 
meeting with Aliyev and Pashinian in Brussels later this month.

An abandoned car left by fleeing Armenians is seen on the side of a road leading 
to the Lachin corridor during an Azeri government organized media trip to 
Nagorno-Karabakh, October 3, 2023.

The Armenian government urged the Russian peacekeepers to step in to protect 
Karabakh’s population hours after the start of the Azerbaijani assault. The 
absence of such intervention led Yerevan to accuse Moscow of not honoring its 
obligations spelled out in a 2020 truce accord brokered by it.

Galuzin rejected the criticism. Echoing Putin’s statements, he said Pashinian 
himself downgraded the peacekeepers’ status and legitimized Baku’s military 
action by recognizing Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan during earlier talks with 
Aliyev organized by the EU.

The fall of Karabakh and the resulting exodus of its population added to 
unprecedented tensions between Russia and Armenia increasingly calling into 
question their long-running alliance. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused 
Pashinian on September 25 of seeking to ruin Russian-Armenian relations and 
reorient his country towards the West.

Galuzin reiterated Moscow’s condemnation of Yerevan’s “unfriendly” moves, 
notably the decision to recognize jurisdiction of an international court that 
issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March.

Despite the mounting tensions, Pashinian phoned Putin on Saturday to 
congratulate him on his 71st birthday anniversary. Official readouts of the call 
said they discussed the situation in and around Karabakh.



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