Friday, November 13, 2020
Armenia Urges Azerbaijan To Stop Racial Discrimination
November 13, 2020
An Armenian woman cries as she visits for the last time a medieval monastery in
Kalbajar before Armenian forces withdraw from the area adjacent to
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 15
Armenia has called on Azerbaijan to cease its “discriminatory practices” against
ethnic Armenians as Baku prepares to take control of several districts around
Nagorno-Karabakh following a Russia-brokered truce in the latest armed conflict.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement that Armenia signed on November 10 in
the wake of a series of military defeats by ethnic Armenian forces in
Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war with Azerbaijan, Armenians, in particular,
must gradually withdraw from three districts by December 1.
As Russian peacekeepers are being deployed in the region as part of the
agreement Kalbajar will become the first district that Azerbaijan will regain on
November 15 according to an agreed timetable.
The road leading from Kalbajar to the Armenian town of Vardenis is full of
trucks these days as thousands of Armenians who have lived in the district for
decades are trying to move their belongings to Armenia.
An RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent witnessed local residents dismantling
roofs, doors and whatever else they could from their houses to take with them to
Armenia. One resident explained that the construction materials would help them
build some makeshift housing in Armenia to somehow survive the coming winter.
A woman is crying near a road sign welcoming people to Nagorno-Karabakh in
Kalbajar as Armenians prepare to hand the district over to Azerbaijan as part of
a ceasefire agreement. November 12, 2020.
Some videos posted on social media also showed some residents in Kalbajar
burning their houses before leaving their villages.
Meanwhile, many Armenians bid farewell to their cultural heritage in the area,
including Dadivank, a 9th-century monastery located in Kalbajar.
In a statement issued on November 13, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said
that earlier this week Yerevan sent a letter to authorities in Baku noting that
Azerbaijan’s “actions and policies adopted during the last decades are in gross
violation of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination.”
“Among other things, Armenia urgently called on Azerbaijan to cease its
discriminatory practices and other continuous violations with regard to Armenia
and ethnic Armenians, including but not limited to dissemination of
anti-Armenian sentiment; failure to take effective measures to eliminate
anti-Armenian propaganda; permitting public authorities or public institutions
to promote or incite racial discrimination with respect to Armenians;
discriminatory deprivation of the individual rights of ethnic Armenians, such as
the right to security of person, the right to property, and the rights to access
and enjoy cultural heritage; failure to provide ethnic Armenians with effective
protection and remedies through competent national tribunals and other State
institutions; and engaging in the practice of ethnic cleansing against
Armenians,” it said.
The ministry said that in its letter dated November 11 Armenia urged Azerbaijan
“to comply with its obligations under the Convention and invited the latter to
address its violations of the Convention and their consequences through
negotiations.”
“Should the Government of Azerbaijan reject Armenia’s invitation or fail to
respond to it within the fixed timeframe, Armenia reserves its right to seek to
settle this legal dispute in accordance with the procedure set forth in the
Convention,” the statement concluded.
Macron Says France Ready To Help Build ‘Lasting Solution’ To Karabakh Conflict
November 13, 2020
A Russian peacekeeper shouts "No pictures!" at a checkpoint outside
Nagorno-Karabakh's main city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020.
(RFE/RL) With a Russia-brokered truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan continuing
to hold in Nagorno-Karabakh, French President Emmanuel Macron says he is ready
to help build a lasting and balanced solution for all sides in the conflict.
The peace deal, announced early on November 10, came after Azerbaijani forces
made major battlefield gains in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Three previous
cease-fires signed since fighting broke out on September 27 had failed to hold.
While ending fighting that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians on
both sides, the deal has been rejected by many Armenians because it allows
Azerbaijan to keep a sizable chunk of the small mountain region, along with the
surrounding areas captured during the fighting.
The deal includes the deployment of about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in the
region.
France, part of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) -- co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States -- has
found itself somewhat sidelined by Moscow's efforts in the conflict.
While Macron has been careful not to back one side or the other in the dispute,
he also has to be wary with some 400,000 to 600,000 people of Armenian origin
living in France.
French President Emanuel Macron (foreground) made his comments in a statement
detailing a call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. (file photo)
"The President expressed his satisfaction with the end of the fighting, recalled
his friendship for Armenia and its people as well as his readiness to build a
fair, lasting and acceptable political solution for all parties in
Nagorno-Karabakh," the French presidency said in a statement detailing a call
with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian late on November 12.
Speaking on November 13, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed criticism
raised in Armenia that Russia, a key ally and military supplier to Yerevan,
failed to offer the country considerable support in the conflict.
“The accusation that Russia allegedly did not support Armenia enough is
absolutely baseless. Russia has never abandoned its commitments as part of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization. Had anyone attacked Armenia, Russia
would do everything to protect its ally,” Peskov said.
Peskov also said that Russia has accepted Baku’s apology over the downing of a
Russian military helicopter that left two crew members dead and one injured.
"The instant reaction of the Azerbaijani president and the declared readiness of
Azerbaijan to carry out an impartial inquiry into the circumstances and to
punish the culprits allowed [Moscow] to accept those apologies," Peskov said in
an interview with Russian-government funded TV network RT.
Earlier, Azerbaijan said the comment made by Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia
Polad Bulbuloglu concerning the November 9 incident was “inappropriate."
Buldbuloglu had said that "War is war, anything can happen."
“This case cannot do harm to the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia,"
Azerbaijani presidential aide and head of the presidential administration's
foreign policy department Hikmet Hajiyev said in a statement.
Anti-Government Protests Continue In Armenia
November 13, 2020
Demonstrators at a rally in Yerevan demand the resignation of Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian. November 13, 2020.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Yerevan’s central Liberty Square on
Friday for the fourth day of anti-government protests sparked by Armenia’s truce
agreement with Azerbaijan signed mostly on Baku’s terms following a bloody
six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Representatives of nearly two dozen opposition parties demand that Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian resign over what they view as an act of surrender.
Under the terms of the Russian-brokered deal, by December Armenian forces are to
gradually withdraw from three districts held since the 1994 ceasefire agreement,
while Azerbaijan will keep the territory in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding
areas captured during the conflict.
Armenians will also forfeit the Lachin region, where a crucial road connects
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The agreement calls for a 5-kilometer wide area in
the so-called Lachin Corridor to remain open and be protected by around 2,000
Russian peacekeepers.
The agreement also calls for Russian border services to monitor a new transport
corridor through Armenia connecting Azerbaijan to its western exclave of
Nakhijevan, which is surrounded by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey.
Under the timetable of withdrawals Armenian forces are due to leave the first of
the three districts, Kalbajar, by November 15.
The road leading from Kalbajar to the Armenian town of Vardenis is full of
trucks these days as thousands of Armenians who have lived in the district for
decades are trying to move their belongings to Armenia.
Armenians pack their belongings as they leave their house in the town of
Kalbajar, November 12, 2020
An RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent witnessed local residents dismantling
roofs, doors and whatever else they could from their houses to take with them to
Armenia. One resident explained that the construction materials would help them
build some makeshift housing in Armenia and somehow survive the coming winter.
Some videos posted on social media also show some residents in Kalbajar burning
their houses before leaving their villages.
Speakers at tonight’s rally in Yerevan accused Pashinian of “handing over
Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh)” to Azerbaijan. They said he
must resign as soon as possible so that “some points of the document could be
renegotiated.”
Armenian Prime Minster Nikol Pashinian
Meanwhile, in an interview with Armenia’s Public Television on Friday Prime
Minister Pashinian responded to some of the criticism heard from his opponents.
Opposition parties, in particular, criticize Pashinian for keeping the public in
the dark about the document that he was going to sign with Azerbaijan despite
his earlier promise that any document on Nagorno-Karabakh would first be
discussed with people.
“I want to draw the attention of everyone to the fact that this is a document on
the cessation of hostilities. This is not a document about a political
settlement, and there are terms, sentences that need to be interpreted to become
political content. And it is at that stage that discussions will become
possible, and these discussions will take place,” Pashinian said.
The police detained several demonstrators during the Friday rally at the end of
which the opposition promised to continue street protests.
Armenian law-enforcement authorities have warned people that political
gatherings are banned in conditions of martial law that was put in place at the
start of hostilities in late September.
Earlier on Friday several opposition leaders, including Prosperous Armenia Party
leader Gagik Tsarukian, Homeland Party leader Artur Vanetsian, Armenian
Revolutionary Federation leader Iskhan Saghatelian, Republican Party of Armenia
member Eduard Sharmazanov and others were freed by courts after being arrested
on charges of organizing mass disorders.
Some of them, including Saghatelian, were later summoned for questioning by the
National Security Service.
The opposition parties claim the cases against their leaders and activists are
politically motivated.
Russia Calls ‘Unfair’ Accusations From ‘Some Armenian Circles’
November 13, 2020
• Armen Koloyan
Two soldiers attaching a flag on the Russian peacekeeping forces' military
vehicle as they move on the road towards Martuni in Nagorno-Karabakh. November
13, 2020.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called criticism in Armenia of Russia’s
stance on Nagorno-Karabakh “unfair.”
“The accusation that Russia allegedly did not support Armenia enough is
absolutely baseless. Russia has never abandoned its commitments as part of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization. Had anyone attacked Armenia, Russia
would do everything to protect its ally,” Peskov said.
The spokesman for the Russian president said it was unfair of some circles in
Armenian society to say that “Russia has betrayed Armenia.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
Russia, Peskov stressed, simply did not have the right to send troops to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We did it only after it was approved by the parties to the conflict. Otherwise
Russia would not have been able to do so under international law,” Peskov said.
Six weeks of Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
zone ended on November 10 in a trilateral statement brokered by Russia that put
an end to military operations mostly on Baku’s terms.
The agreement also envisages the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers
to ensure the security of the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The deal that was negotiated in the wake of a series of military defeats by
ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh sparked protests in Armenia, with
opposition parties branding it as an act of surrender and demanding Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.
Throughout the course of the armed conflict Russia, as one of the three chief
international mediators along with the United States and France, showed
neutrality concerning the hostilities taking place within what internationally
are recognized as Azerbaijan’s borders.
On October 31, Pashinian formally asked Russia, as its ally, to consider
rendering military assistance to Armenia. Russia responded the same day by
reaffirming its commitments to Yerevan “if military operations take place
directly on the territory of Armenia.”
Lawmaker Quits Pro-Government Faction Over Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis
November 13, 2020
Vardan Atabekian
A lawmaker elected to the Armenian National Assembly on the slate of an alliance
led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has announced his quitting the
pro-government faction over the ongoing political crisis over Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a statement released late on Thursday Vardan Atabekian said that while he
leaves the My Step faction, he will keep his mandate in order to work towards
ending the crisis.
Atabekian said that “like the overwhelming majority of the people it was from
the media that I learned about the statement signed by the leaders of Armenia,
Russia and Azerbaijan regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The news of the Russian-brokered agreement with Azerbaijan putting an end to six
weeks of deadly fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh mostly on Baku’s terms sparked
disturbances in Armenia on November 10 followed by a political crisis as the
opposition began to stage rallies and demand Prime Minister Pashinian’s
resignation and annulment of the deal.
A loose alliance of 17 opposition parties also demanded a special session of
parliament to be convened over the crisis. It also urged members of the majority
My Step faction which refused “to take part in any sessions aimed at
destabilizing the situation” to join the movement aimed at removing Pashinian
from power.
Atabekian said that he will not give up his mandate and will continue to serve
as a member of parliament not affiliated with any faction.
“In my further activities I will focus on efforts to quit the current situation
with as few losses as possible and solve problems of Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh. It is due to this that I am not giving up my mandate,” the
lawmaker explained.
Meanwhile, the opposition has vowed to continue its rallies despite warnings
from authorities that political gatherings are banned under the current martial
law.
In what Pashinian critics view as political persecution over a dozen opposition
leaders were arrested earlier this week mainly on charges of organizing mass
disorders.
Courts later ruled that several of the arrested politicians, including
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian and Homeland Party leader Artur
Vanetsian, be released.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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