Author: Alex Jidarian

During his official visit to Georgia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan advanced his government’s so-called “regional peace and stability” agenda, which, of course, was embraced by his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili.

Pashinyan and Garibashvili held a joint press conference in Tbilisi on Wednesday after talks aimed at strengthening relations between the two neighboring countries.

“Of course, the war in Karabakh has been a challenge for our region,” said Georgia’s Garribashvili. “But now, having gotten acquainted with Mr. Prime Minister’s [Pashinyan’s] new vision, I am confident that this challenge will transform into a new opportunity that will bring prosperity to Armenia and the Armenian people. I want to also say that we attach enormous importance to Armenia’s political and economic stability, as it is tied directly to the stability of our country and the region in general.”

“Consequently, I would encapsulate our common regional goal in three words: peace, stability, and prosperity, something that binds together all three countries of our region,” added the Georgian prime minister referring to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“As you know, Georgia has always been an advocate of peaceful cooperation and coexistence in the South Caucasus,” said Garibashvili, who cited his recent mediation with Azerbaijan to secure the release of Armenian prisoners of war being held captive in Azerbaijan.

The Georgian leader was quick to point out that his mediation involved strong-arming Yerevan into surrender strategic maps in order to secure the release of the captives by Azerbaijan, which is bound by the provisions of the November 9 agreement to return all POWs and captives.

While voicing optimism and committing to further mediation on confidence building measures, Garibashvili said that regional peace and stability will bring greater opportunities for the development of the region.

“I want to also note that given the numerous conflicts raging in the course of the past three decades in the region, with some of them still unresolved, our common vision and effort must be dedicated to the region’s gradual transformation into a place of new opportunities, development, and peace. This must be our main vision, and we will continue working in this direction,” said Garibashvili.

Pashinyan, in his turn, thanked the Georgian prime minister for his mediation that resulted in the release of 15 POWs in June.

“Unfortunately, there are many unresolved issues, conflicts and threats in our region,” said Pashinyan. “But we are trying to help each other to focus on the opportunities that exist in tandem. I believe that by supporting each other to take advantage of existing opportunities is the very formula that should make risk management more feasible and accessible for us.”

Pashinyan also discussed the need to advance democratic principles and praised his Georgian counterpart’s government for his government’s efforts for “the opportunities created for the preservation and development of the identity of the Armenians of Georgia. This is a topic that unites us, makes our relations more effective, promising and strategic.” In the official readout of the press conference, there was no mention of Pashinyan addressing the repressive policies of official Tbilisi toward Armenians in Georgia, especially those living in Javakhk.

Later on Wednesday, Pashinyan advanced his government’s plan for establishing “regional peace and stability” during a meeting with Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan also discussed the issue when he met with his Georgian counterpart, David Zalkaliani.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in a meeting with a United Nations representative, once again, lied to the international community and accused Armenia of placing obstacles for a visit to Karabakh by UNESCO, the UN’s agency tasked with protecting cultural heritage, especially during an armed conflict.

During a meeting with U.N. Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva on Tuesday, Aliyev took the opportunity to belittle the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and asserted that Karabakh conflict is now over, since international mediators failed in the mission and his country ended the conflict through force.

He also claimed that Azerbaijan was calling for a UNESCO mission to visit Karabakh for 30 years, and blamed Armenia for creating delays for the mission. In fact, it has been Aliyev that has been refusing UNESCO and other international agencies to visit occupied territories of Artsakh, as Azerbaijani forces systematically dismantle Armenian monuments in an effort to erase all trace of Armenian heritage in the region.

“We can say that we had been calling them [UNESCO] for 30 years and they wouldn’t come. And after the war they decided to come. Therefore, we agreed to this and, as far as I know, the latest information was that the mission had already been created, but now Armenia is protesting again. That’s why the mission is delayed,” Aliyev said, as quoted by local media.

Yerevan responded to Aliyev’s unhinged accusations by reaffirming its support for a UNESCO fact-finding mission on Wednesday.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that the need for the immediate implementation of the UNESCO fact-finding mission arose after last year’s 44-day war in order to protect the Armenian cultural and religious heritage from the imminent danger of destruction in the territories that went under the control of Azerbaijan.

“Both during the hostilities and after the establishment of the ceasefire, there have been numerous documented cases of deliberate destruction of and vandalism against Armenian churches, other cultural and religious monuments by the Azerbaijani armed forces. Moreover, in parallel with the physical destruction of religious and cultural heritage sites of Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh], we are witnessing unacceptable cases of falsification of historical facts, distortion of the identity and belonging of Armenian monuments, change of architectural appearance by the order of the top leadership of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Hunanyan added that in order to cover up cultural crimes, Azerbaijan has been blocking the visit of UNESCO experts for some time, while accusing the organization of bias. Stressing that the practice of creating obstacles for the implementation of the mission by the Azerbaijani authorities and the politicization of the issue continues, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reminded that as early as December 2020, UNESCO’s deputy director-general for cultural affairs stated that Azerbaijan was not giving its consent to the mission.

“Artsakh’s endangered cultural and religious heritage urgently needs international attention in order to properly preserve it and prevent cases of vandalism. The implementation of the UNESCO mission and a comprehensive study of the historical and cultural heritage will contribute to the efforts to preserve cultural heritage in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan and prevent possible negative developments,” Hunanyan said, emphasizing that Armenia wants the implementation of the mission as soon as possible and continues to make targeted efforts in this direction.