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
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