RFE/RL Armenian Service – 12/11/2023

                                        Monday, 


Karabakh Leaders Vow Continued Fight For ‘Rights’

        • Shoghik Galstian

Nagorno-Karabakh - People gather outside the parliament building in Stepanakert 
during the election of a new Karabakh president, September 9, 2023.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s exiled political leadership has balked at attempts to 
“finally close the Artsakh issue” while signaling its desire to discuss them 
with the Armenian government.

The Karabakh parliament made the offer in a weekend statement issued on the 22nd 
anniversary of a referendum on the region’s secession from Azerbaijan which it 
said reaffirmed the Karabakh Armenians’ “will to have an independent state.”

“Taking into account the intensity of the steps taken by the parties interested 
in the final closure of the Artsakh issue and the aggressive behavior of the 
parties interested in it, the National Assembly reaffirms its commitment to 
stand up for the rights of the people of Artsakh and expresses its readiness to 
discuss all contentious issues with the interested parties,” it said.

Although the statement did not name those parties, it seemed primarily addressed 
to the Armenian government.

“All those individuals who do not want Artsakh’s state institutions to operate 
stand for the destruction of the Artsakh statehood,” said Davit Galstian, the 
leader of the Artarutyun (Justice) bloc represented in the Karabakh legislature. 
But he too did not name names.

Political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have said in recent weeks 
that Karabakh government bodies should be dissolved following the recent 
restoration of Azerbaijani control over the territory and the resulting exodus 
of its ethnic Armenian population.

Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian declared on November 16 that their 
continued activities would pose a “direct threat to Armenia’s security.” Gevorg 
Papoyan, a deputy chairman of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, on Monday echoed 
that warning condemned by the Armenian opposition.

“This is would be a bomb planted under the Republic of Armenia,” Papoyan told 
journalists. He also pointed to Karabakh President Samvel Shahramanian’s 
September 28 decree which said that the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh 
Republic, set up in September 1991, will cease to exist on January 1.

Shahramanian implied in October that the decree is null and void. He said he was 
forced to sign it in order to stop the hostilities and enable the Karabakh 
Armenians to safely flee their homeland.

The Karabakh parliament’s statement likewise said that Shahramanian’s decision 
forced by Baku helped to prevent a “genocide.”

Pashinian’s government stopped championing the Karabakh Armenians’ right to 
self-determination in April 2022. A year later, Pashinian declared that it 
recognizes Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan. Armenian opposition leaders say 
that this policy change paved the way for Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military 
offensive in Karabakh.

Simonian said later in November that a peace treaty currently discussed by Baku 
and Yerevan should not contain any special provisions on Karabakh and the return 
of its ethnic Armenian residents.




Ruling Party Vague On Next Steps In Gyumri

        • Satenik Kaghzvantsian

Armenia - Civil Contract leaders in Gyumri hold a news conference, December 11, 
2023.


Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party gave no indications on Monday that it will 
try to oust the mayor of Gyumri through a no-confidnce vote after pulling out of 
a power-sharing agreement with his political force.

The agreement was reached two years ago following a municipal election in which 
a bloc linked to the city’s longtime former mayor, Samvel Balasanian, garnered 
most votes but fell short of a majority in the local council. The Balasanian 
Bloc teamed up with Civil Contract, which finished second.

In line with that deal, the new Gyumri council appointed the Balasanian Bloc’s 
Vardges Samsonian as mayor and two Civil Contract members as deputy mayors. 
Seveal other members of the party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian were 
also given posts in the municipal administration.

All those officials stepped down after Civil Contract unexpectedly announced 
last week the end of the power-sharing arrangement. It said vaguely that it does 
not want to be part of what it called “shady governance.”

Local Civil Contract leaders shed little light on their discord with the 
Balasanian Bloc when they met the press to explain the decision. They accused 
the bloc and the incumbent mayor of a lack of transparency but did not elaborate.

Knarik Harutiunian, who leads the Civil Contract group in the city council, 
complained about “outside forces meddling in municipal governance.” It was not 
clear whether she referred to ex-Mayor Balasanian.

“I will now refrain from giving any names,” said Harutiunian.

Pashinian’s party scrapped the coalition deal in Gyumri one day after 
controversially ousting the head of a major community in neighboring Lori 
province comprising the town of Alaverdi and two dozen other towns and villages.

The mayor, Arkadi Tamazian, lost his narrow majority in the Alaverdi council 
after one of its members representing his opposition Aprelu Yerkir party 
defected to Civil Contract in July. Civil Contract capitalized on the defection 
to replace Tamazian by its local leader amid serious procedural violations 
alleged by the Armenian opposition and some civil society members.

Commenators have suggested that Pashinian’s political team may attempt a similar 
power grab in Armenia’s second largest city. Harutiunian said, however, that 
such a scenario is “not realistic” because Civil Contract controls only 11 of 
the 33 seats in the Gyumri council. She insisted that her party has not urged 
any council members to defect to it or reeived such offers from any of them.

Meanwhile, the Balasanian Bloc and the Gyumri mayor remained reluctant to 
comment on Civil Contract’s accusations and reveal their next steps. The 
collapse of their alliance with Pashinian came as a surprise also because 
Balasanian’s son Misak was appointed as Armenia’s ambassador to Iraq just two 
months ago.




Argentina’s New President Vows Closer Ties With Armenia


Argentina - Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei meets Armenian President 
Vahagn Khachaturian, Buenos Aires, December 9, 2023.


Argentina’s new President Javier Milei met with his Armenian counterpart Vahagn 
Khachaturian and called for closer ties between their countries ahead of his 
inauguration ceremony held on Sunday.

Khachaturian was among a handful of foreign leaders, including Ukrainian 
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who attended the ceremony held in Buenos Aires. 
According to the Armenian presidential press office, he was the first of those 
dignitaries to be received by Milei in his new capacity.

“I have been to Armenia and am familiar with Armenia,” the office quoted Milei 
as saying. “I am confident that we will further deepen our relations.”

The Armenian president, who has largely ceremonial powers, likewise expressed 
confidence that the two governments “will do everything to raise the 
Armenian-Argentinian relationship to a higher level.” He thanked Argentina for 
its “support that has been shown to Armenia in recent years.”

Khachaturian held a separate meeting with the South American country’s outgoing 
President Alberto Fernandez and gave him an Armenian state medal, the Order of 
Honor. Fernandez has repeatedly denounced Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin 
corridor that preceded its September military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia has long maintained warm relations with Argentina as well as neighboring 
Brazil and Uruguay cemented by the existence of influential Armenian communities 
in the three nations. There are an estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in 
Argentina. Most of them are descendants of survivors of the 1915 Armenian 
genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

Armenia - Argentine-Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian speaks to reporters 
in Echmiadzin, 14Sep2017.

The most prominent Argentinian of Armenian descent is Eduardo Eurnekian, 
Argentina’s fourth-richest person whose Corporacion America group runs 53 
airports in and outside the country and also has a wide range of other business 
assets.

Milei, who is known for his libertarian and far-right views, worked for the 
conglomerate from 2008-2021, eventually becoming its chief economist. Eurnekian 
reportedly backed his former employee’s presidential bid. An Argentinian 
lawmaker quoted by the Financial Times in September described the 90-year-old 
billionaire as Milei’s “intellectual father.”

“I think Milei would be a very good president,” Eurnekian told the London-based 
paper at the time.

Corporacion America’s holdings also include Yerevan’s Zvartnots international 
airport. Eurnekian also invested in other sectors of the Armenian economy in the 
early 2000s. In particular, he purchased an Armenian commercial bank and set up 
what is now one of the South Caucasus country’s largest wine companies.

In 2017, then Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian bestowed the highest state 
award, the title of National Hero, on Eurnekian.




Armenian Official Looks Forward To Peace Deal With Azerbaijan

        • Karlen Aslanian
        • Robert Zargarian

Armenia - Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, March 
10, 2023.


Armenia and Azerbaijan moved closer to signing a bilateral peace treaty by 
agreeing to exchange prisoners and take other confidence-building measures, a 
senior Armenian official said over the weekend.

“We believe that this is a very positive, important step towards signing the 
peace treaty,” Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, 
told Armenian Public Television.

“To a certain extent, this is the kind of step which shows that there is a 
desire to follow the logic of solving problems, and the peace treaty is the 
biggest opportunity to solve problems,” he said.

The Armenian government is ready to sign the treaty before the end of this month 
even if that time frame “seems a bit difficult” now, added Grigorian.

The agreement on the prisoner swap announced last Thursday is the result of 
direct Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations. Azerbaijan is to free 32 Armenian 
captives in exchange for Armenia’s release of two Azerbaijani soldiers and 
support for Baku’s bid to host the COP29 climate summit next year.

A senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker, Sargis Khandanian, cautioned on 
Friday that implications of the prisoner swap should not be overestimated. The 
two sides have only solved a “humanitarian issue” and it remains be seen whether 
they can make similar progress on other fronts, he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled talks with Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian which the European Union planned to host in October. 
The peace accord was due to be their main focus.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 
20 meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan that was due to take 
place in Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and 
proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.

Mirzoyan deplored later in November Baku’s “refusal to come to meetings 
organized by various international actors, including the U.S. and the EU.” 
Bayramov claimed that Yerevan itself is dragging its feet on the peace treaty.

Aliyev likewise accused the Armenian side of “artificially dragging out the 
process” in an interview with the Euronews TV channel recorded on November 23 
but aired on December 9. He said at the same that Azerbaijan’s recent recapture 
of Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to the mass exodus of the region’s ethnic 
Armenian population, removed the main obstacle to the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
treaty.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.