RFE/RL Armenian Report – 02/01/2021

                                        Monday, 
Armenian NGOs Urge EU Involvement In Karabakh Peace Efforts
NAGORNO-KARABAKH - Local residents repair a roof with construction supplies 
brought from Russia as humanitarian aid, November 25, 2020.
A coalition of pro-Western Armenian nongovernmental organizations has urged the 
European Union to help “establish lasting security and peace” in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone by recognizing Karabakh’s “interim status” and 
its population’s right to self-determination.
In a weekend statement, the NGOs representing Armenia in the Civil Society Forum 
of ex-Soviet states involved in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program said the EU 
should seek the conflict’s resolution based on the so-called Madrid Principles, 
a framework peace accord put forward by the United States, Russia and France in 
2007.
The statement called on the EU to help Karabakh’s civilian population and, in 
particular, people who fled their homes during the recent war described by it as 
an “aggression by Turkey and Azerbaijan against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.” 
It said the 27-nation bloc should initiate an international investigation into 
“war crimes” committed by Azerbaijani and Turkish forces during the six-week 
hostilities stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 10.
The NGOs also hit out at Russia, saying that it has not fulfilled some of its 
obligations stemming from the ceasefire agreement.
“In addition … the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) 
has no international mandate, its legal basis is unknown … The powers and rights 
of the mission are not known either, which severely limits the capabilities of 
that mission to fulfill its commitments and accountability in ensuring the 
security of the local Armenian population,” they said.
The EU, the statement went on, should therefore seek the deployment of UN-backed 
“international peacekeeping forces” to Karabakh alongside about 2,000 Russian 
soldiers already stationed there.
The political leaders of both Armenia and Karabakh regularly praise Moscow’s 
role in stopping the war and preventing its resumption. They have also described 
the presence of the Russian peacekeepers as the decisive factor behind the 
return of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenian refugees to Karabakh.
UN Human Rights Experts Urge Release Of Captives From Karabakh Conflict
SWITZERLAND -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet speaks on 
the opening day of the 39th UN Council of Human Rights in Geneva, September 10, 
2018
Human rights experts at the United Nations have called for the "prompt" release 
of prisoners of war and other captives by Armenia and Azerbaijan from their 
recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner in Geneva said in a 
statement on Monday that the two countries should also move quickly to return 
the bodies of those killed to families for burial "with due respect for cultural 
customs."
“Everyone deprived of their liberty for reasons related to the conflict should 
be returned to their homes, and relatives of those killed must be able to 
receive the mortal remains of their loved ones, in line with the ceasefire 
agreement signed on November 9, 2020,” the experts said.
“Failure to disclose information on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons 
and refusal to hand over the remains of the deceased may amount to enforced 
disappearance, which both Azerbaijan and Armenia have committed to preventing,” 
they added.
At least 6,000 people were killed in the six-week war stopped by a 
Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement on November 10. The agreement calls for the 
unconditional exchange of all prisoners held by the conflicting parties. Dozens 
of them were swapped in December.
On Thursday Azerbaijan released five more Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in 
return for an Azerbaijani captive freed by the Armenian side. The latest 
exchange raised to 59 the total number of Armenian POWs and civilians 
repatriated to date.
More than 100 others are believed to remain in Azerbaijani captivity. Yerevan 
accuses Baku of dragging its feet over their release.
The UN expert group also expressed concern at “allegations that prisoners of war 
and other protected persons have been subjected to extrajudicial killing, 
enforced disappearance, torture, and other ill-treatment.”
“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever -- whether a state of war, internal 
political instability, or any other public emergency -- may be invoked as a 
justification of torture and enforced disappearances,” they said. “Such acts, 
when perpetrated in armed conflict, may also constitute war crimes.”
“We appeal to the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to carry out thorough, 
prompt, independent, and impartial investigations into allegations of serious 
human rights violations committed during the conflict and its aftermath in order 
to hold perpetrators to account and provide redress to the victims. These 
actions will facilitate truth, reconciliation, and healing,” the experts said.
Armenian Defense Contractor Charged With Fraud
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- A screenshot of a National Security Service vide of the arrest of 
defense contractor Davit Galstian, February 1, 2021
The owner of a company supplying Armenia’s armed forces with weapons and 
ammunition has been arrested on fraud charges, the National Security Service 
(NSS) said on Monday.
The NSS said that the charges stem from a $1 million contract for the supply of 
artillery shells which Davit Galstian’s Mosston Engineering company signed with 
the Armenian Defense Ministry in 2018.
It said the company breached the contract by providing the ministry with 
ammunition designed for older and different artillery systems. Artillery units 
could not accomplish their “combat tasks” with those shells, the NSS added in a 
statement.
This is why, it said, NSS investigators have indicted Galstian and Mosston’s 
director and asked a Yerevan court to remand them in pre-trial custody. It was 
not immediately clear if the suspects will plead guilty to the accusations.
Nor was it clear if the NSS could also prosecute any current or former Defense 
Ministry officials. The statement said in this regard that the investigators are 
taking measures to “identify the full circle of individuals involved in the 
corruption scheme.”
Galstian was an adviser to Armenia’s former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan, who 
was sacked in November following the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The security service further revealed that Galstian is also facing three other 
criminal investigations into his companies’ dealings with the Armenian military. 
But it did not give any details of those inquiries.
Galstian’s companies have been among the Defense Ministry’s leading suppliers in 
recent years.
Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian, who served as chief of the Armenian army’s 
General Staff from 2018-2020, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday that they 
repeatedly failed to fulfill their contractual obligations during his tenure.
“There were quite a lot of cases where we handed back supplies, demanded their 
replacement or found defects and told [the contractor] to eliminate them,” 
Davtian said without elaborating.
Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament 
committee on defense and security, described the fraud accusations as credible 
and said they were made possible by the sackings of Tonoyan and previous NSS 
directors.
“Such corrupt practices are not possible without the support of high-ranking 
officials,” he claimed. “So let’s wait for further developments.”
Kocharian and Tonoyan traded bitter accusations in the immediate aftermath of a 
Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the Karabakh war on November 10.
Russian-Turkish Center Begins Monitoring Karabakh Truce
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Russian APC and soldiers of the peacekeeping force (L) 
patrol in front of an Azerbaijan's army checkpoint near the demarcation line 
outside the town of Shushi (Susa), November 26, 2020
A joint Turkish and Russian observation center to monitor the ceasefire in 
Nagorno-Karabakh started operations after an opening ceremony with senior 
defense officials in attendance on Saturday.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and deputy defense ministers from 
regional powers Turkey and Russia were there to launch the center, in the Agdam 
region east of Karabakh, according to Azerbaijan's state news agency Azertac.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced on Friday that one Turkish 
general and 38 personnel will be stationed at the center.
"Our activities will intensify with the work of this joint Turkish-Russian 
center and we will fulfill our duty to defend the rights of our Azerbaijani 
brothers," Akar said in a statement posted on the Defense Ministry’s website.
Turkey and Russia agreed to form a joint observation center shortly after Moscow 
in November brokered a ceasefire agreement that ended the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
war in and around Karabakh. Turkey was a major backer of Azerbaijan in the 
conflict.
Turkish Major General Abdullah Katirci and Russian Major General Viktor 
Fyodorenko will reportedly command their respective contingents at the center.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev 
welcomed the opening of the Russian-Turkish center when they spoke by phone 
later on Saturday. According to the Kremlin, the two leaders expressed hope it 
“will contribute to the further stabilization of the situation” in the conflict 
zone and the conflicting parties’ compliance with the ceasefire agreement.
Under the agreement, around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers are also deployed along 
Karabakh frontline areas and a land link connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian praised the Russian 
peacekeeping operation on Monday in a phone call with his Russian counterpart 
Sergei Shoigu. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, Harutiunian said the 
peacekeepers have helped to ensure the “almost full observance of the ceasefire.”
A ministry statement said Shoigu phoned Harutiunian to discuss the results of 
“staff negotiations” held by senior Russian and Armenian military officials in 
Yerevan last week. The two ministers also spoke about “the course of the 
resolution of Armenia’s security issues in the post-war period,” it said without 
elaborating.
Armenia, Azerbaijan Start Talks On Transport Links
Russia -- A Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group on cross-border transport 
issues meets in Moscow, January 30, 2021.
Senior Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian officials met in Moscow at the weekend 
to discuss practical modalities of opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for 
commercial and other traffic.
The restoration of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan is envisaged 
by the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian decided to set up a trilateral “working 
group” for that purpose when they met in Moscow on January 11. They said it will 
submit by March 1 a timetable of “measures envisaging the restoration and 
construction of new transport infrastructure facilities.”
The group co-headed by deputy prime ministers of the three states held its first 
meeting in the Russian capital on Saturday. A Russian government statement said 
it decided to form two “expert subgroups” that will deal with transport issues 
and border controls.
The truce agreement specifically commits Yerevan to opening rail and road links 
between the Nakhichevan exclave and the rest of Azerbaijan that will presumably 
pass through southeastern Armenia. Armenia should be able, for its part, to use 
Azerbaijani territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and from Russia 
and Iran.
Visiting Yerevan last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said 
his country looks forward to establishing a rail link with Armenia.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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