21:48,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, the PM’s Office said.
The interlocutors discussed issues related to the agenda topics of Armenian-Iranian relations. Reference was made to the implementation of bilateral agreements.
They also exchanged ideas on the "3+3" regional platform, and both parties considered the meeting held in Tehran productive.
A Muhlhauser Steel, Inc. fabrication facility
GLENDALE—The Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center of California has commenced the structural steel fabrication for the two-level 50,820 square foot museum building superstructure. The major announcement kicks off the second phase of construction for the historic project.
“We are excited to announce a major milestone with the commencement of the structural steel fabrication for the Armenian American Museum,” stated Executive Director Shant Sahakian. “Our vision for the cultural and educational center will be taking shape in the new year as the museum building superstructure is elevated to the horizon.”
Berdj Karapetian, Executive Chairman of the Armenian American Museum, addressing attendees at the museum construction site
The museum is a world-class cultural and educational center that is currently under construction in the museum campus at Glendale Central Park. The first phase of construction featuring the museum parking garage and building foundation has been completed. The second phase of construction features the two-level 50,820 square foot museum building superstructure. The structural steel delivery, erection, and installation is anticipated to commence in early 2024.
PNG Builders, the General Contractor for the museum project, contracted with Muhlhauser Steel as the structural steel subcontractor following a competitive bidding process. Muhlhauser Steel is based in Southern California and brings more than four decades of experience with commercial, industrial, educational, and entertainment facility projects.
The mission of the museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience. The museum will offer a wide range of public programming through the Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Exhibitions, Auditorium, Learning Center, Demonstration Kitchen, Archives Center, and more.
Visit the website to learn more about the museum project.
A military post along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border
Official Baku has signaled that the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan may proceed on a separate track and should not be linked to a peace deal between the two countries currently being discussed.
“The 35-year-long conflict is now over,” Hikmet Hajiyev, a top foreign policy adviser to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, told reporters in London, Reuters reported.
“The strategy for Azerbaijan now is to win peace. (This) requires action from both sides,” he added.
“A peace treaty is not rocket science,” Hajiyev said. “For Azerbaijan there are no longer obstacles on the way to a peace agenda.”
“Azerbaijan is ready to form a peace treaty with Armenia. For that reason, Azerbaijan has also suggested five fundamental principles and a text for a peace treaty. Currently, there are diplomatic engagements between Armenia and Azerbaijan in direct talks. I believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan have managed to surprise the world with a positive agenda. On December 7, the two countries made a joint statement expressing their intention to advance the peace agenda and implement confidence-building measures,” Hajiyev told reporters in London on Tuesday.
He noted that these last three months could be considered the most calm and peaceful period in the history of the Armenia-Azerbaijan relationship since the independence of the two countries.
“There is no war, no atrocities, and no confrontation, with soldiers returning to their barracks. Relative peace has been ensured on the ground. Now is the time to transform it into a long-lasting peace, including the signing of a peace treaty,” Hajiyev added.
He claimed that Baku has made it possible for Armenians who fled Artsakh to return, after a vetting process and as long as they are ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship.
By Karine Halajian
The Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church
The Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra ushered in the Christmas season with its annual Christmas concert on December 10 in the sanctuary of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston. The collective, founded in 1966 by Very Rev. Fr. Oshagan Minassian and directed by Maestro Konstantin Petrossian since 2009, is the only one of its kind in the Diaspora, and is a great promoter of Armenian music. Thanks to the group’s long standing relationships with Armenian composers and performers, many pieces authored by Armenians have been premiered and popularized outside of Armenia by this very collective.
The concert began with the Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra. In its usual style, the group’s repertoire consisted of a wide and rich palette. The audience was treated to a high-level performance of Christmas carols, as well as traditional Armenian sacred music.
Rubik Mailian
In commemoration of the 850th death anniversary of St. Nerses Shnorhali, his works were included in the concert program, including “Aravod Looso” performed by the choir and orchestra. For the first time, his “Nor Dzaghik” and “Norahrash” chants were also performed, specially arranged by Petrossian. The audience warmly welcomed the wonderful performances of soloists Rubik Mailian, lyric tenor from Detroit, and vocalist Astghik Martirosyan from New York. The famous guitarist John Baboian brought a special flavor to the performance. Erevan Chorale dedicated its performance of “Yegeghetzin Haygagan” to the memory of its founder Very Rev. Fr. Minassian.
The repertoire was accompanied by new arrangements of Christmas hymns, as well as the premier performance of the song “My Armenia” by Seyran Nazaryan, which was warmly received by the audience.
Students of the Holy Trinity Armenian School participated in the program with wonderful recitations dedicated to Christmas, New Year’s and Armenia. The festive concert ended with Handel’s Hallelujah.
Guitarist John Baboian and vocalist Astghik Martirosyan (right) delighted attendees at the Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra Christmas concert, conducted by Maestro Konstantin Petrossian (left)
The evening passed in high spirits, as all the artists brilliantly performed a varied and interesting program. The Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra worked on the repertoire for several months, which undoubtedly contributed to the success of the evening, as did the creative work and dedication of artistic director and conductor Petrossian and pianist Nune Hakobyan.
At the conclusion of the program, church pastor Rev. Fr. Vasken A. Kouzouian expressed warm thanks to Maestro Petrossian and all performers of the Christmas concert.
The concert was attended by numerous community members and guests from other cities. The Erevan Choral Society and Orchestra’s annual Christmas concert has been a gift to the community for 56 years and is a monumental event in Greater Boston celebrating Armenian culture.
Wednesday,
Baku Suggests Peace Deal Without Border Delimitation
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - A view of an area in Armenia's Syunik province where Armenian and
Azerbaijani troops are locked in a border standoff, May 14, 2021. (Photo by the
Armenian Human Rights Defender's Office)
Armenia and Azerbaijan should sign a peace treaty before delimiting their long
border, a senior Azerbaijani official said on Tuesday.
The Reuters news agency quoted Hikmet Hajiyev, a top foreign policy adviser to
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, as telling reporters in London that Baku
believes "the border delimitation issue should be kept separate from peace
treaty discussions."
The issue has been one of the main sticking points in Armenian-Azerbaijani talks
on the treaty. Armenia has said until now that it wants the peace deal to
contain a concrete mechanism for the border delimitation.
Yerevan insists on using late Soviet-era military maps as a basis in that
process. Baku rejects the idea backed by the European Union.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan
Kostanian insisted that the two South Caucasus countries must have a “clear
border” reflecting a 1991 declaration signed by newly independent ex-Soviet
republics.
Kostanian suggested in July that Baku is reluctant to formally recognize
Armenia’s existing borders because it wants to leave the door open for future
territorial claims.
“They key question is whether the parties will manage to agree on the
delimitation principles and the issue of maps before signing the peace treaty,”
Tigran Grigorian, a political analyst, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on
Wednesday. “There seems to be no such agreement yet.”
Azerbaijan Signals Conditions For U.S.-Mediated Talks With Armenia
AZERBAIJAN -- Hikmet Hajiyev, the head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department
of Azerbaijan's Presidential Administration, gives a press briefing in Baku,
February 26, 2021
Azerbaijani has indicated that it will not hold fresh peace talks with Armenia
hosted by the United States unless Washington reconsiders what Baku sees as a
“one-sided approach” to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been scheduled to host the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington on November 20 for further
negotiations on a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations. Baku
cancelled the meeting in protest against statements made by James O’Brien, the
U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia.
Speaking during a congressional hearing in Washington on November 15, O’Brien
condemned Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh
and warned Baku against attacking Armenia to open a land corridor to its
Nakhichevan exclave.
“We’ve made clear that nothing will be normal with Azerbaijan after the events
of September 19 until we see progress on the peace track,” he said, adding that
Washington has cancelled “high-level visits” by Azerbaijani officials and
suspended military and other aid to Azerbaijan.
O’Brien visited Baku earlier this month in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani
leadership to reschedule the cancelled meeting. He announced no agreement to
that effect after the trip.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev,
complained about Washington’s “one-sided and lopsided approach” when he spoke to
a small group of Western journalists in London on Tuesday.
“We do expect that there could be some different attitudes ... demonstrated by
the United States executive branch of government,” Newsweek.com quoted him as
saying. “Once it's done and we don't have any problems, [we can] continue our
discussions on the Washington platform and with regard to peace discussions.”
Hajiyev hinted that Baku expects U.S. President Joe Biden to waive Section 907
of the 1992 Freedom Support Act passed in 1992 that bans U.S. assistance to
Azerbaijan. Like his predecessors, Biden did so in 2021 and 2022.
“Azerbaijan doesn't need any foreign aid or support … But here the psychological
aspect and political aspect is very important, because it was unfair treatment
of Azerbaijan,” said Hajiyev.
Aliyev also withdrew from talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
which the European Union had planned to host in October. The EU too has been
accused by Baku or pro-Armenian bias.
Armenian leaders have suggested that Aliyev is simply dragging his feet on the
peace treaty in hopes of clinching more concessions from Yerevan
“Azerbaijan may state that it is interested in finalizing the peace treaty with
Armenia, but unfortunately words are not enough: we need to concentrate on
deeds,” Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian told the BBC in an interview
published on Tuesday.
“The fact is that Azerbaijan is reluctant to finalize the treaty based on
principles endorsed by the international community,” he said.
Pashinian Hits Back At Putin
• Shoghik Galstian
• Astghik Bedevian
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, April 19, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
latest statement blaming him for Azerbaijan’s September military offensive in
Nagorno-Karabakh and the resulting exodus of the region’s ethnic Armenian
population.
Putin again claimed last week that Russian peacekeepers could not have thwarted
the offensive because Pashinian had downgraded their mandate by recognizing
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh during Western-mediated talks with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held in October 2022 and May 2023.
“It’s not we who abandoned Karabakh. It’s Armenia that recognized Karabakh as a
part of Azerbaijan,” he told a year-end news conference in Moscow.
Pashinian hit back at Putin in an interview with Armenian Public Television
aired late on Tuesday. He said that the Russian leader himself recognized
Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan shortly after brokering a ceasefire agreement
that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
“Those statements were public and are still available on social media, if I’m
not mistaken,” said Pashinian.
He went on to deplore Russia’s “zero reaction” to Azerbaijan’s subsequent
attacks on Armenian border areas and military aid requested by Yerevan. He noted
that one of the Azerbaijani military operations launched in the run-up to
Armenia’s June 2021 general elections coincided with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov’s visit to the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh - A general view of Stepanakert, 10 October 2023.
“There was a high probability that the Armenian government would react
differently [to that assault,] as a result of which the elections would not have
taken place in Armenia, which would have essentially meant the dissolution of
the Republic of Armenia. We realized that there is an attempt to dissolve
Armenia,” Pashinian alleged, implicitly pointing the finger at Moscow.
Addressing the European Parliament in October this year, the Armenian premier
accused Moscow of using the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict to try to topple him.
A Russian government source responded by accusing him of helping the West “turn
Armenia into another Ukraine.”
The Azerbaijani takeover of Karabakh added to unprecedented tensions between
Moscow and Yerevan. Pashinian and other senior Armenian officials have since
boycotted meetings of their counterparts from other ex-Soviet states making up
Russian-led organizations. They have sought instead closer relations with the
United States and the European Union. The Russian Foreign Ministry has
repeatedly accused Pashinian of systematically “destroying” Russian-Armenian
relations.
Armenia - Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan, June 14, 2022.
Armenia’s leading opposition groups also hold Pashinian responsible for the fall
of Karabakh, saying that he precipitated it with his decision to recognize
Azerbaijani sovereignty over the territory. They staged street protests in
Yerevan and tried unsuccessfully to topple him last year after he pledged to
“lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to Armenia.
Pashinian on Tuesday again blamed Armenia’s former governments for the
restoration of Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. And he gave more indications
that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
“As I said, I am the prime minister of Armenia and must advance Armenia’s
national interests,” he told the government-controlled TV channel.
Artur Khachatrian, an opposition parliamentarian, countered on Wednesday that
Pashinian had made diametrically opposite statements on Karabakh before the 2020
war.
“When was he lying: yesterday or in June 2020? Yesterday or in Stepanakert’s
Renaissance Square where he said [in 2019] that ‘Artsakh is Armenia, period,’
that Armenia is the guarantor of Artsakh’s security and that Artsakh will never
be part of Azerbaijan?” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Iran Reaffirms Opposition To Outside Powers In South Caucasus
Russia - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, December 7, 2023.
“Extra-regional countries” must not be allowed to intervene in disputes in the
South Caucasus, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in a phone call late on Wednesday.
“Care must be taken that the Caucasus region does not become a field of
competition for extra-regional countries and that its issues are handled by the
countries of the region and without the interference of outsiders,” Raisi was
quoted by his office as saying.
Raisi thus reaffirmed Iran’s strong opposition to Western presence in the
region, which is shared by Russia. He described it as “harmful for regional
peace and stability” during an October 23 meeting with Armenia’s visiting
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
Mirzoyan travelled to Tehran to attend a multilateral meeting with his
Azerbaijani, Iranian, Russian and Turkish counterparts held there within the
framework of the so-called “Consultative Regional Platform 3+3” launched in
December 2021 in Moscow. Georgia continues to boycott the platform, citing
continuing Russian occupation of its breakaway regions.
Amid its deepening rift with Moscow, Pashinian’s government is now pinning hopes
on Western efforts to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal. Russian
officials claim that the main aim of those efforts is to drive Russia out of the
South Caucasus, rather than bring peace to the region.
Yerevan is also seeking to deepen Armenia’s ties with the United States and the
European Union. In September, it hosted a joint U.S.-Armenian military exercise
criticized by Moscow and Tehran.
According to the official Armenian readout of Pashinian’s call with Raisi, the
two leaders discussed Armenian-Iranian relations and the implementation of
bilateral economic agreements. Raisi’s office said in this regard that he
“expressed satisfaction with the process of developing relations and
implementing agreements between the two countries.”
Russian Soldier Who Fled To Armenia Found In Custody In Russia
• Naira Bulghadarian
A photo of Dmitri Setrakov, a Russian soldier who fled to Armenia before being
arrested there and sent back to Russia.
A Russian conscript soldier who reportedly deserted his army unit fighting in
Ukraine has been arrested in Armenia and sent back to Russia.
The 39-year-old Dmitry Setrakov was mobilized, along with hundreds of thousands
of other Russian men, late last year and sent to the frontline in Ukraine’s
southern Zaporyzhzhia region mostly occupied by Russian forces following their
February 2022 invasion of the country. Setrakov fled a military hospital there
in April this year, according to the Russian human rights group Idite Lesom that
helped him take refuge in Armenia in late November.
The group revealed recently that Russian military police arrested and
transferred Setrakov to a Russian military base in the northwestern Armenian
city of Gyumri in early December. It said on Tuesday that he is currently in
police custody in Russia.
“They got him out of Gyumri, he is not there anymore,” said Idite Lesom
spokesman Ivan Chuviliaev.
Both Idite Lesom and an Armenian human rights group, the Helsinki Citizens’
Assembly (HCA), earlier condemned Setrakov’s detention in Armenia as illegal.
The HCA leader, Artur Sakunts, appealed to Armenian prosecutors to clarify how
Russian officers were able to arrest the man on Armenian territory. Sakunts also
demanded that they prevent his extradition to Russia.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Wednesday that Russian
law-enforcement authorities had not asked it to track down, detain and extradite
Setrakov. It claimed to have “no information” about his detention in Armenia. It
thus remained unclear how the fugitive soldier was flown back to his country
where he is now facing up to ten years in prison on desertion charges.
An HCA spokeswoman, Ani Chatinian, decried the prosecutors’ statement and
accused the law-enforcement agency of inaction.
“In essence, Dmitry Setrakov was illegally transported to the Russian
Federation, and Armenia signed the [guilty] verdict which will be given to him
in Russia,” Chatinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Setrakov is the first Russian soldier known to have fled to Armenia and been
arrested there after refusing to take part in fighting in Ukraine.
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.
LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan sees no major obstacles to securing a lasting peace treaty with its neighbour Armenia and believes the question of defining their borders can be resolved separately, a senior Azerbaijani official said on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's forces mounted a lightning offensive in September to retake control of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, whose ethnic Armenian population had broken away in a war in the 1990s. Aliyev said his "iron fist" had restored his country's sovereignty.
"The 35-year-long conflict is now over," Hikmet Hajiyev, a top foreign policy adviser to Aliyev, told reporters in London. "The strategy for Azerbaijan now is to win peace. (This) requires action from both sides.
"A peace treaty is not rocket science," Hajiyev said. "For Azerbaijan there are no longer obstacles on the way to a peace agenda."
The South Caucasus neighbours have fought two wars in the past 30 years over Nagorno-Karabakh, but staged a prisoner exchange this month and issued a joint statement saying they want to normalise relations and reach a peace deal.
The United States, the European Union and Russia have all tried for decades to mediate between the two sides, but Hajiyev stressed the importance of direct bilateral talks which he said would continue next year.
Since its recapture of Karabakh, Azerbaijan has been increasingly hostile to outside involvement in brokering an agreement. Aliyev has accused the United States of jeopardising relations by siding with Armenia, and Hajiyev called the U.S.-led approach to talks lopsided.
Among the outstanding issues between the two neighbours is the lack of agreement over their shared border, with each holding small enclaves surrounded by the other's territory.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said last month that this was a matter for negotiations. Hajiyev said Baku was willing to discuss it but "the border delimitation issue should be kept separate from peace treaty discussions".
Most of Karabakh's 120,000 ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia after Azerbaijan took back control of the territory. Armenia described that as ethnic cleansing; Baku denied that and said they could have stayed on and been integrated into Azerbaijan.
The World Court last month ordered Azerbaijan to let ethnic Armenians return and ensure their safety. Hajiyev said people's right to return should be determined on a case-by-case basis, and they would need to become citizens of Azerbaijan.
"Once Azerbaijani citizenship has been granted, the right of return can be ensured," he said. "We cannot afford a legal limbo status any more."
There should be reciprocal rights, he said, for Azerbaijanis who were forced to flee Armenia or Armenian-controlled territory since 1988.
Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan
Members of President Joe Biden's administration need to adopt "different attitudes" before the White House can play a mediating role in thorny—and strategically vital—peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, a top official has said.
Speaking at a briefing with a small group of journalists in London on Tuesday, Hikmet Hajiyev—the top foreign affairs adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev—warned that a "lopsided" American stance on the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh dispute has caused "concern" in Baku.
Azerbaijan is becoming as a key battleground for Western, Russian, Iranian, and Chinese competition in the South Caucuses and Caspian Sea regions. The oil- and gas-rich nation is emerging as a key Western energy partner amid Russia's war on Ukraine, but concerns remain about human rights abuses and Baku's close relations with Moscow.
"We do expect that there could be some different attitudes…demonstrated by the United States executive branch of government," Hajiyev told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted the White House by email to request comment.
Baku and Yerevan are now negotiating an end to decades of conflict and several territorial disputes. Most notable among them is related to the ethnically Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory. A 23-hour conflict in September saw Baku seize control of the enclave and dismantle the Yerevan-aligned Republic of Artsakh.
Aliyev's administration has accused Washington of being "biased" in favor of Armenia. His officials have refused to take part in peace talks held in the U.S.
In November, Baku protested after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien told a Congressional hearing that the State Department "has made it clear to Azerbaijan that there cannot be business as usual in our bilateral relationship" after its seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The United States has condemned Azerbaijani actions in Nagorno-Karabakh, canceled high-level bilateral meetings and engagements with Azerbaijan, and suspended plans for future events," O'Brien said.
Hajiyev said O'Brien's intervention was not helpful. "The approach was not balanced and also didn't demonstrate a quite objective position with regard to the history of the 35-year-long conflict," he said. "It was a one-sided and lopsided approach, which caused concern in Azerbaijan."
O'Brien visited Baku earlier this month in a bid to ease tensions, writing on X—formerly known as Twitter—that the visit was "positive and constructive."
But the U.S.-Azerbaijan spat goes beyond the State Department. Since 1992, Baku has contacted with the "Section 907" measure blocking American aid to Azerbaijan in response to its blockade of Armenia during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Each year since 2002, the White House has issued a waiver to send aid despite ongoing conflicts over the enclave.
"We have not and do not anticipate submitting a waiver on 907," O'Brien told Congress in November. U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing for further measures. The Senate voted unanimously in November to suspend military assistance to Baku, though the House did not take up the proposal.
Hajiyev said the issue remains a frustration in Baku, describing Section 907 as "incomprehensible" and "one of the most unfair, unjust amendments in the history of the U.S. Congress."
"Azerbaijan doesn't need any foreign aid or support," he said. "Azerbaijan is a self-sufficient country. But here the psychological aspect and political aspect is very important, because it was unfair treatment of Azerbaijan."
The dispute, the foreign affairs adviser added, makes it difficult to work with Washington on any peace deal with Armenia. "We do expect that there could be some different attitudes… demonstrated by the United States executive branch of government," Hajiyev said.
"Once it's done and we don't have any problems, [we can] continue our discussions on the Washington platform and with regard to peace discussions."
Around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers, deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh area after the 2020 conflict between the two nations, proved unable to prevent resurgent tensions. Hajiyev said Moscow and its local forces were given a 10-minute warning before the September "anti-terrorist" effort began. Several peacekeepers were killed in the crossfire of the short operation.
Neither Moscow nor Yerevan stepped in to stop the rout. Years of tensions between the Kremlin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have poisoned the fraying alliance between the two Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, while growing cooperation between Moscow and Baku have raised suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin has dropped Armenia in favor of its long-term rival.
"It's yet another false narrative pursued by the Armenian side," Hajiyev said of suggestions that the September operation was coordinated with Moscow. "We didn't have any plan for the start of this operation…We had been left with no other choice."
Baku was not surprised with the lack of a Russian response, the official added. "Legitimacy was on the side of Azerbaijan," he said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan conducted a prisoner exchange last week, in what was touted as a diplomatic breakthrough and a significant step on the road to a comprehensive peace deal.
Hajiyev said it is "very difficult" to predict the next breakthrough and noted there remain "issues that need to be discussed." Still, he added: "I think we are much closer to the peace agenda…we don't see any longer major problematic issues."
"It's not nuclear physics, it's not rocket science," Hajiyev said. "What we are talking about are very basic principles of international law."
"Azerbaijan restored its full sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are facing a completely new reality in our region. Now the strategy of Azerbaijan is to win the peace. And winning the peace requires action from both sides, like a tango."
Azerbaijan is maintaining its "regional solutions to regional problems" mentality, disputing the need for any outside mediation.
"The seeds of the peace are lying in our region, in Baku and in Yerevan," Hajiyev said. "Our other partners can help us to move forward, but sometimes we are finding ourselves in a situation where we are trying to mediate between the mediators."
Baku, Hajiyev added, is "not excluding" peace talks held in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels. But, he said, "It doesn't matter where we are meeting, the important thing is [whether] it is result-oriented and what's on our agenda."
Baku sees no need for further fighting, the official continued, dismissing concerns that Azerbaijani forces might undertake an operation into southern Armenia to carve out a land bridge to its Nakhchivan exclave.
"We see false alarmism and hysteria [from] Armenia's side, and we also see the narrative of some partners, [as to] whether Azerbaijan has some other intentions," Hajiyev said. "Azerbaijan no longer has any military goals. For us, war and confrontation is over. We achieved what we deserved to achieve."
But now Baku and Yerevan must juggle the difficult challenges of peace, including a settlement on the right of return for some 100,000 people Armenia said fled Nagorno-Karabakh during the September fighting.
"Azerbaijan is proud to have a multiethnic society where different ethnic minorities are living side by side in peace," Hajiyev said. "The same conditions can be provided to Armenians who are living in Karabakh."
"But what we said is that we cannot accept aggressive separatism, we cannot accept the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and we cannot accept also armed forces on the ground."
https://www.newsweek.com/us-lopsided-contest-russia-azerbaijan-armenia-peace-hajiyev-1853720
A Russian soldier who was detained by Russian troops in Armenia on desertion charges last week has been forcibly returned to his home country, a project that helps Russians avoid military service in Ukraine said Tuesday.
“We have learned that Dmitry Setrakov is now in [the Russian city of] Rostov-on-Don at the address Budennovsky 66. The regional military police directorate for the Southern Military District is located there,” the Idite Lesom (“Get Lost”) project wrote on its Telegram channel.
Setrakov, 39, fled Russia on Nov. 30 with the help of Idite Lesom after he refused to fight in the war.
In Armenia, Setrakov was held at a Russian military base in the northern Armenian city of Gyumri after being apprehended on Dec. 6-7, said the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, an Armenian rights organization.
“He was mobilized and didn’t want to fight so we helped him leave the country,” Idite Lesom head Grigory Sverdlin told The Moscow Times last week.
He faces five to 10 years in prison if convicted of leaving his military unit during Russia’s mobilization period.
“The Russian military kidnapped a person in a sovereign state and has now taken him back to the Russian Federation,” Idite Lesom said Tuesday.
The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor has said that Russian authorities violated Armenia’s sovereign power to restrict a person’s liberty on its territory by detaining Setrakov.
Tens of thousands of military-age Russian men fled from Russia to Armenia following the Kremlin's September 2022 mobilization for the war in Ukraine.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/19/russian-deserter-taken-to-russia-after-detention-in-armenia-activists-a83489
In the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, the Armenian community, celebrated for resilience and profound centuries-old cultural legacy, is facing a dire battle for survival. As regional tensions escalate, the community grapples with challenges that not only endanger their freedom of _expression_ but also imperil their distinctive dialect— unique to Jerusalem and now on the brink of disappearing—along with their rich culture and very existence.
In July 2021, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem discreetly signed a real estate contract, ceding 25 percent of their quarter for 99 years to an Australian–Israeli settler investor. This action has thrust the Armenian community into crisis, as they now face the imminent threat of losing a significant portion of their quarter.
While the community temporarily suspended proceedings upon the discovery of this arrangement in May 2023, bulldozers, accompanied by armed Israeli settlers, have already initiated the excavation of the parking lot surrounding the Monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The Armenian ethnolinguistic minority has been present in the Holy Land since the fourth century, with a history that includes aiding survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide. After the 1948 war, the Armenian population in Jerusalem has dwindled to fewer than 2000 residents today, the majority of whom live within the Armenian Quarter.
The site houses the Patriarchate’s Theological Seminary, the Brotherhood of St. James, ancient churches, a museum, library, health clinic, and the Sts. Tarkmanchatz Armenian School, founded in 1929. Here, Armenian children not only learn their language but also engage in activities within the courtyard—a pivotal space for the community to convene, converse in their native tongue, and safeguard their cultural identity.
Global Voices conducted an interview with an Armenian resident from Jerusalem who chose to remain anonymous for safety amid the ongoing war on Gaza and the threat faced by the Armenian quarter.
The interview delved into the political climate and surveillance in Jerusalem, shedding light on issues such as discrimination, hate speech, and the escalating restrictions on freedom of _expression_.
Co-authored by the resident and refined for clarity, the interview offers valuable insights into the challenges faced by the Armenian community as they strive to preserve their language and cultural identity in the region.
Mariam A. (MA): How are you coping with the situation in Jerusalem and Gaza?
Armenian Resident (AR): It's been very difficult. The current situation in Jerusalem, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the fact that we feel paralyzed and unable to do anything contribute to the overwhelming sense of helplessness.
The most challenging aspect for non-Jewish Jerusalemites is that we have been forbidden from expressing any type of sympathy or concern. We are witnessing complete surveillance, a militarized city, with most [Jewish] civilians armed with rifles, and a heightened presence of police officers and soldiers patrolling the city.
There is a constant fear of being stopped at any moment, with the risk of having your phone snatched and the security forces going through its contents.
I checked the emergency state law, and it states that the IDF has the right to enter private spaces, including homes, or go through personal property based on suspicions. This legal provision legitimizes such actions.
Aware of this, people are trying to monitor not only their speech but also their thoughts, fearing potential endangerment for knowing more than what is deemed acceptable about the current situation.
I would say it's a state of paranoia at this moment.
MA: Have community members experienced incidents where they were stopped, had their phones confiscated, and been checked?
AR: Yes, I've witnessed this happening several times in different parts of the city as I walk around. They stop young men under suspicion of being Arab, conducting thorough searches, which include checking their phones.
I know of particular cases involving young students, both men and women, whose phones were snatched. If phones showed any social media or text messages expressing sympathy or concern for the ongoing situation, they were detained.
MA: Do you think the Armenian community is affected by this surveillance mentality, or do you feel they are exempt from it?
AR: Nobody is exempt. What we've been witnessing, not just during this war but even before, is a trend that emphasizes that this is an exclusive city and an exclusive country. Waves of people, youth especially, audaciously scream out chants proclaiming it as a Jewish-only state, asserting that this is the state of Israel.
The sad part is that this wave of fanaticism doesn’t acknowledge diversity; The danger of this discourse is that it fails to recognize non-Jewish individuals for who they are, focusing instead on who they are not part of. It doesn’t acknowledge Armenians, Christians, Palestinians, what kind of Muslims they are, do they have families? Do they have pets?
The trend categorizes individuals as something that doesn't belong. So their identity isn't even seen as an identity. It is negated.
MA: Within this political landscape, how does the Armenian community's freedom of _expression_ fare? Do you think the community can openly express opinions and identities?
AR: It's funny that you ask that. We've had many discussions within in the Armenian community regarding this particular issue. Since the Armenian genocide of 1915, Armenians have been minorities in various parts of the world.
What's funny is that most Armenians assimilate, consciously avoiding what the state might perceive as “problematic,” by staying away from politics. They adapt quickly, embracing new languages, contributing their skill sets, and harmoniously coexisting with their host societies. Grateful for the countries that provided refuge after the genocide, they preserve their Armenian language, food, and culture. They have always been welcomed.
In Jerusalem for example, Armenians established the first printing house in 1833 and introduced photography and hand-crafted ceramics to the region.
So it's strange for us to see that even Armenians are viewed as an unwelcome minority by settlers.
In recent years, various settlers have engaged in spitting at religious figures, cursing them, and even pushing them into alleyways. They target people they deem incompatible with their vision of a Jewish-only state.
There is a lot of silence.
People don't express their true thoughts; they are too afraid to express their opinion or criticize the state. The system compels us to keep our mouths shut and avoid trouble as much as possible.
Even having this conversation or contributing to this article makes me wonder if it's worth it. It's disempowering and makes me feel cowardly. However, looking around, I realize that most people are scared. They censor themselves, both offline and online.
This exclusive mindset discriminates against Arab Christians and Armenians. In principle, it shouldn't discriminate against anyone. But the fact that it targets minorities speaks volumes about the mindset in this country at this moment.
MA: In January, settlers inscribed hate slogans on the walls of the Armenian Patriarchy in Jerusalem, advocating revenge and death to Arabs, Armenians, and Christians. Can you provide more insight into these occurrences and elaborate on how they impact the community?
AR: There have been many incidents and they have been on the rise.
It's been happening against people who look religious and places that might not be strictly Jewish.
In the Armenian quarter, settlers have been observed spitting at Armenian establishments. If anyone tries to defend or say, “hey, what's wrong with you?” they are met with pepper spray, if not rifles, often with impunity.
Visitors from Armenia are surprised by our “too nice” attitude; they ask us “How do you confront this type of radical, in-your-face harassment? Why aren't you fighting back? Why aren't you doing anything about it?”
They don't realize that people can't do much because the state may seize documents, rescind building permits, remove inhabitants, confiscate properties, or detain individuals. If individuals get attacked and they try to defend themselves, it would be a justification for further attacks.
MA: In light of the current atmosphere and the numerous threats— security concerns, hate speech, and existential threats — how do you preserve your language and cultural identity?
AR: In our community courtyard, we speak our own language, keeping it very much alive. It is used in our meetings and communications. We love it and feel attached to it, as it plays a role in strengthening our sense of identity and community.
The courtyard invokes memories of childhood. Whenever the city is under threat, the Armenian community gathers in the courtyard. It has always been a safe haven.
Amid the ongoing war, Armenians from various parts of the country, like Yafa and Haifa, have either temporarily relocated or begun bringing their kids to the courtyard. It's a beautiful space for children with clubs and the school. When we seek a sense of togetherness, it's usually found there.
When my dad passed away, I experienced the power of community. Almost everyone attended the funeral, arriving in waves. It was then that I truly realized the strength of our community. We're there for each other.
I hope the monastery remains, though we're cynical these days. Amidst our uncertainty, I am certain of one thing, it is a beautiful community.
09:26,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Ambassador to the Holy See, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, and Portugal, Garen Nazarian has been relieved of duties.
President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan formalized the dismissal at the advice of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the presidency reported.
Nazarian was serving as Armenian Ambassador to the Vatican since 2018. Since 2019 he was concurrently serving as Ambassador to the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, and to Portugal.