Month: December 2023

                                        Tuesday, 


Armenian, Azeri Prisoners Not Yet Exchanged Despite Deal

        • Astghik Bedevian

ARMENIA -- A freed Armenian captive is escorted off a Russian military plane 
upon arrival at a military airport outside Yerevan, December 14, 2020


Armenia and Azerbaijan did not exchange prisoners as of Tuesday afternoon almost 
one week after reaching an agreement to that effect welcomed by the 
international community.

Under the agreement announced on December 7, Azerbaijan is to free 32 Armenian 
soldiers and civilians in exchange for Armenia’s release of two Azerbaijani 
servicemen and support for Baku’s bid to host the COP29 climate summit next 
year. A senior Armenian lawmaker suggested on December 8 that the prisoner swap 
will be carried out within “hours or days.”

Parliament speaker Alen Simonian on Tuesday declined not give possible dates for 
the repatriation of the captives. He said only that the deal struck as a result 
of direct Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations remains in force.

“We are waiting,” Simonian told reporters. “I think that we will have 
information very soon.”

Vagharshak Hakobian, another lawmaker representing Armenia’s ruling Civil 
Contract party, said he hopes that the deal will not be scrapped.

The United Nations officially announced on Monday that Azerbaijan will host next 
year’s global climate summit. In line with the December 7 deal, Armenia did not 
object to that decision.

The Azerbaijani government publicized late last week the list of the 32 Armenian 
captives that will be repatriated by it. Most of them were taken prisoner in 
Nagorno-Karabakh in December 2020 just weeks after a Russian-brokered ceasefire 
stopped the last Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Also on the list is Gagik Voskanian, an Armenian army reservist who was 
mobilized a few weeks before straying into Azerbaijani territory in August this 
year in unclear circumstances. An Azerbaijani court convicted Voskanian of 
“terrorism” just hours before the announcement of the prisoner swap.

Voskanian’s mother, Ashkhen Avetisian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that she 
also does not know when he will return home.

“I contacted a Defense Ministry official and was told, ‘Keep waiting, we too 
don’t know anything, everything will be alright,’” she said.

The Azerbaijani soldiers to be freed by Yerevan were detained in April after 
crossing into Armenia’s Syunik province from Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. 
One of them was charged with murdering a Syunik resident the day before his 
detention. Armenia’s Court of Appeals sentenced him to life imprisonment last 
week.

Azerbaijan’s prosecutor-general expressed confidence on Tuesday that they will 
be set free. But he did not give any dates.




Armenia Revives Amnesty-For-Cash Option For Draft Dodgers

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia - Soldiers march at an Armenian military base, December 24, 2022.


Armenia’s parliament approved on Tuesday a bill allowing men who illegally 
evaded compulsory military service to buy an amnesty.

Armenian law requires virtually all male citizens aged between 18 and 27 to 
serve in the country’s armed forces for two years. Refusal to do so is a crime 
punishable by five years in prison.

The bill drafted by Hayk Sargsian, a parliament deputy from the ruling Civil 
Contract party, and passed by the National Assembly in the first reading will 
give fugitive draft dodgers aged between 27 and 37 a range of options.

In particular, they will be able to turn themselves in and perform a 
two-and-a-half-year service or legally evade it by paying the state 15 million 
drams ($37,000). They could also serve in the armed forces for shorter periods 
in exchange for smaller fees.

Sargsian said that about 5,000 fugitive Armenian men will be eligible for these 
options. As things stands now, they cannot serve in the army “even if they want 
to,” complained the lawmaker.

“I don’t want us to again declare an amnesty in order to exempt these 
individuals from prosecution, but nor do I want to see 5,000 citizens sentenced 
to five years in prison,” he added during a debate on the parliament floor.

The parliament declared such an amnesty in 2021. More than 1,300 draft dodgers 
took advantage of it.

Sargsian also insisted that the new legal arrangements will not encourage draft 
evasion among draft-age men. He argued that it applies only to citizens aged 25 
and older.

Opposition deputies and even some of Sargsian’s pro-government colleagues were 
not fully convinced by his assurances. Civil Contract’s Hovik Aghazarian was 
concerned that the bill will foster “wrong behavior” in the country.

“I’m quite uneasy about this idea,” said Sona Ghazarian, another Civil Contract 
deputy. “I think that we kind of undermine social justice and social equality 
with this bill.”

“We can’t tell people that if they don’t have money … they must serve the 
homeland or go to jail but if they have money they can pay up and move on,” said 
Tadevos Avetisian of the opposition Hayastan alliance.

Nevertheless, the parliament’s pro-government majority voted for the bill, while 
Hayastan and the other opposition bloc, Pativ Unem, abstained, instead of voting 
against it.

Armenia already had a similar amnesty-for-cash arrangement from 2004-2019. 
Officials say that some 10,000 draft evaders used it to avoid prosecution during 
those years.




EU Details Expansion Of Border Monitoring Mission In Armenia


Armenia - European Union monitors patrol Armenia's border with Azerbaijan.


The European Union has decided to deploy an additional 71 observers and experts 
to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan.

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced the decision late on Monday 
following a meeting of the foreign ministers of EU member states held in 
Brussels. He said they agreed to “increase our presence on the ground from 138 
staff to 209.”

“The fact that we have decided to increase by such an important number our staff 
on this mission shows our clear commitment to stability on the border between 
Armenia and Azerbaijan and an important contribution to the peace efforts,” 
Borrell told a news briefing.

He said the expansion of the monitoring mission, approved by the ministers in 
principle last month, also reflects the EU’s deepening relations with Armenia.

“Armenia clearly sees the benefits of increasing cooperation with us and we are 
ready to respond positively,” added the EU foreign policy chief.

The mission was launched in February at the request of the Armenian government 
and with the stated aim of preventing or reducing ceasefire violations along the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Russia, Armenia’s increasingly estranged ally, has 
opposed it from the outset, saying that it is part of U.S. and European Union 
efforts to drive Moscow out of the South Caucasus.

Moscow has pressed Yerevan to agree to a similar monitoring mission proposed by 
the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly declined those offers, accusing the military 
alliance of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia.

The recent Azerbaijani takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh has raised more fears in 
Yerevan that Azerbaijan will invade Armenia to open a land corridor to its 
Nakhichevan exclave. Pashinian urged Western powers to prevent Baku from 
“provoking a new war in the region” when he addressed the European Parliament in 
October.

Both the EU and the United States regularly voice support for Armenia’s 
territorial integrity. Unlike Russia, they have condemned Baku’s September 19-20 
military offensive that forced Karabakh’s practically entire population to flee 
to Armenia.




Yerevan Backs Further EU Expansion Into Former Soviet Union


Belgium - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan arrives for a meeting in 
Brussels, .


Amid its growing rift with Russia, the Armenian government has voiced support 
for Georgia’s, Ukraine’s and Moldova’s membership in the European Union and 
reaffirmed its desire to deepen ties with the EU.

“My government warmly welcomes the European Commission’s [recent] decision to 
recommend the European Council to open accession talks with Moldova and Ukraine 
and to grant candidate status to Georgia,” Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said 
late on Monday. “This decision is welcomed not only by the government of Armenia 
but also people of Armenia, who also have European aspirations.”

Yerevan is committed to “coming closer to the European Union to the extent the 
EU will deem it possible,” Mirzoyan added in a speech delivered during a meeting 
in Brussels of the foreign ministers of EU member states and five ex-Soviet 
republics involved in the 27-nation bloc’s Eastern Partnership program.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian expressed that commitment when he addressed the 
European Parliament in October. He stopped short of announcing plans to seek 
Armenia’s eventual membership in the EU.

In his speech, Pashinian also accused Moscow of using the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
conflict to try to topple him. A Russian official responded by saying that the 
Armenian premier is helping the West “turn Armenia into another Ukraine.”

Mirzoyan and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met in North Macedonia late 
last month as a team of EU officials wrapped up a visit to Yerevan during which 
they explored ways of bringing Armenia closer to the bloc.

Borrell also met with Mirzoyan in Brussels earlier on Monday. He said they had a 
“good exchange of views … on concrete ways to enhance EU-Armenia relations” but 
did not elaborate.




Armenia Keeps Up Contacts With Ukraine


Beglium - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Ukrainian 
counterpart Dmytro Kuleba meet in Brussels, .


Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba met 
in Brussels on Monday, continuing diplomatic contacts between their counties 
that were denounced by Russia this fall.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the two ministers discussed “bilateral 
cooperation on issues of mutual interest” and “regional issues” relating to the 
South Caucasus. Kuleba tweeted, for his part, that they talked about the 
“advancement of Ukraine-Armenia dialogue.”

That dialogue appears to have begun in early September amid a further worsening 
of Armenia’s relations with Russia, its longtime ally. Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s wife visited Kyiv at the time to attend the annual Summit of First 
Ladies and Gentlemen held there. Anna Hakobian also delivered Armenia’s first 
humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.

The Russian Foreign Ministry listed Hakobian’s trip among “a series of 
unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan against Moscow when it summoned the Armenian 
ambassador a few days later. The strong criticism did not stop Pashinian from 
talking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during an EU summit in Spain 
on October 5.

Spain - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet in Granada, October 5, 2023.

Three weeks later, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, 
participated in a multilateral peace forum in Malta initiated by Ukraine. 
Grigorian also met with the powerful chief of’Zelenskiy’s staff, Andriy Yermak, 
during what Moscow described as a “blatantly anti-Russian event.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, called Grigorian’s 
trip to Malta a “demonstrative anti-Russian gesture of official Yerevan” and 
linked it with Pashinian’s conversation with Zelenskiy. She accused Pashinian’s 
government of “persistently destroying our allied relations.”

The Armenian leaders’ attendance of those events contrasts with their boycott of 
recent months’ meetings of top officials of ex-Soviet states making up the 
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization as well as the Commonwealth 
of Independent States.

Pashinian embarked on the apparent rapprochement with Ukraie despite its stong 
support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In particular, Kyiv was 
quick to condemn the September 9 election by Karabakh lawmakers of the region’s 
new president, saying that it is “contrary to the rules and principles of 
international law.” The election came ten days before the Azerbaijani military 
offensive that forced Karabakh’s practically entire population to flee to 
Armenia.

“I reiterated Ukraine’s support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within 
its internationally recognized borders,” Kuleba wrote after meeting with 
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov earlier on Monday.



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.

 

                                        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.