20:16,
YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. The National Assembly of Armenia will convene an extraordinary session on April 18, ARMENPRESS reports, the session will be convened on the initiative of the MPs.
The agenda of the extraordinary session includes 6 issues, including the report “On the implementation process and results of the Government’s Action Plan (2021-2026) for 2022”.
19:24, 4 April 2023
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Today Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan also participated in the meeting, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.
In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted.
“Dear Alexey Logvinovich,
I welcome you and I am very happy for our meeting.
I must note with satisfaction that we have a high intensity of contacts between the representatives of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, but despite this, there is a need for more dynamic contacts, because our agenda is so full that it is not always possible to cover all issues.
I am sure that today we will discuss a wide range of issues: economic and political issues, issues related to the regional and international situation. It is always a pleasure for me to meet you and have the opportunity to discuss all these issues. Welcome”:
The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia said,
“Dear Nikol Vovaevich,
Thank you very much: I am also very pleased to meet with you and discuss the issues of our bilateral agenda. First of all, I would like to mention the strategic nature of the relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. Of course, these are relations that have been built to their current form over the past 30 years, but in fact have a centuries-old history and have more than once faced various challenges, including economic crises, changes in the global trade and economic system.
Despite this, we continue to strengthen our cooperation in the economic sphere, and last year we had very good indicators of mutual trade turnover growth. Investments from Russia to Armenia are also in good progress. We are really happy with the success recorded by the economy of Armenia as a part of the large economy of the Eurasian Economic Union and the advantages that the Union provides are certainly visible.”
The interlocutors discussed issues related to the Armenian-Russian cooperation agenda. Trade and economic relations and other topics of mutual interest were discussed.
Monday, April 3, 2023
Azeri Troops Hold On To ‘Newly Occupied Armenian Territory’
• Susan Badalian
Armenia - Azerbaijani troops dig trenches outside Tegh village.
Azerbaijani troops have not withdrawn from community lands of an Armenian border
village occupied by them last week, local residents insisted on Monday, denying
the Armenian government’s implicit claims to the contrary.
Azerbaijani army units redeployed by Thursday morning to more parts of the
Lachin district sandwiched between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, completing a
change in the route of the Lachin corridor which began last August. Armenia’s
National Security Service (NSS) said hours later that they advanced up to 300
meters into Armenian territory at five local sections of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border adjacent to the village of Tegh.
Local government officials and farmers said Tegh lost a large part of its
agricultural land and pastures. Some of them said that the Azerbaijani military
made bigger territorial gains than is admitted by official Yerevan.
The Azerbaijani advance also caused an uproar in Yerevan, with Armenian
opposition leaders blaming Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the loss of yet
another part of Armenia’s internationally recognized territory.
In another statement released on Saturday, the NSS claimed that the situation in
that border area “improved significantly” as a result of negotiations held by
Armenian and Azerbaijani officials. It did not elaborate.
Tegh residents said afterwards, however, that the Azerbaijani troops remain
stationed in the newly occupied positions just outside the village.
“They keep digging in … and haven’t retreated a single inch,” said Masis
Zeynalian, a member of the local council who no longer access to his wheat field.
“They’re staying put and continuing fortification works,” said another Tegh
councilor, Argam Hovsepian. “Is this what they [the NSS] call an improvement?”
Armenia’s Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsian refused to comment on that
“improvement” when he was approached by journalists on Monday.
“The Defense Ministry has a press service that periodically and promptly reacts
to any issue,” Sargsian said vaguely.
The ministry has made no statements on the situation around Tegh so far.
Speaking right after the Azerbaijani advance on Thursday, Pashinian said that
from now on the area will be patrolled and protected by border guards
subordinate to the NSS, rather than the Armenian army.
Opposition leaders also blamed Pashinian’s government for much bigger
territorial losses suffered by Armenia during border clashes with Azerbaijan in
May 2021 and September 2022. They regularly charge that it cannot defend the
country and rebuild its armed forces after mishandling the disastrous 2020 war
in Karabakh. Pashinian and his political allies deny this.
Opposition Lawmaker Freed For Now
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Opposition deputy Mher Sahakian (left) is released from custody, Aprl
3, 2023.
An opposition member of Armenia’s parliament was released from custody on Monday
three days after punching a pro-government colleague during an ill-tempered
meeting of a National Assembly committee.
It remained unclear whether prosecutors will move to indict Mher Sahakian of the
main opposition Hayastan alliance.
The violence reportedly followed a shouting match between Vladimir Vartanian,
the chairman of the parliament committee on legal affairs, and Sahakian and
other opposition lawmakers. Vartanian, who represents the ruling Civil Contract
party, suffered an injury to his left eyebrow and was taken to hospital before
police detained Sahakian.
Sahakian received a hero’s welcome from other Hayastan deputies and activists as
he walked out of a police detention center in Yerevan. Echoing their statements
made on Friday, he claimed that he hit Vartanian because the latter stood up and
walked menacingly towards him.
“I resorted to necessary self-defense,” Sahakian told journalists.
Vartanian insisted, however, that he did not charge at Sahakian. He again blamed
opposition members of the panel for bitter exchanges that marred the meeting
held behind the closed doors.
Under Armenian law, law-enforcement authorities cannot hold a parliament deputy
in detention without a charge and without the National Assembly’s permission for
more than three days. The Office of the Prosecutor-General did not say whether
it will ask the parliament controlled by Civil Contract to lift Sahakian’s
immunity from prosecution.
“If the investigating body reckons that I crossed that line [of self-defense]
I’m ready to answer,” Sahakian said in this regard.
The ruling party’s parliamentary group has strongly condemned the 35-year-old
oppositionist’s actions, saying that he must be held accountable. Some of its
members themselves assaulted opposition colleagues on the parliament floor in
2021. They were not prosecuted for that.
Armenian Parliament Speaker Accused Of Spitting At Heckler
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Parliament speaker Alen SImonian chairs a session of the National
Assembly, November 24, 2022.
Parliament speaker Alen Simonian has caused another scandal after allegedly
spitting on Sunday at an opposition activist who branded him a “traitor.”
Garen Megerdichian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) party, shouted the insult at Simonian as the latter visited a
popular pedestrian area in downtown Yerevan.
Megerdichian claimed that Simonian responded by ordering his bodyguards to grab
his hands before swearing at him and spitting in his face. He said he was then
briefly detained by police.
Simonian did not deny spitting at the Canadian-born activist highly critical of
Armenia’s government when he commented on the incident later on Sunday. In a
Facebook post, he said that Megerdichian already publicly insulted him earlier
this year.
“I ignored him during the first incident a month ago. During the second one, I
countered his right to free speech and insults with my opinion about him and my
freedom,” he wrote, adding that anyone offending the Armenian authorities will
get a “legal response.”
Speaking to 1in.am on Monday, Simonian claimed that his bodyguards caught the
heckler “so that he doesn’t attack me.” He refused to speak to other media
outlets.
Opposition lawmakers condemned the speaker and demanded criminal proceedings
against him, saying that his alleged behavior amounted to “hooliganism,” a
criminal offense in Armenia.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, shrugged off Simonian’s remark
that he is a “Yerevan guy” from whom oppositionists “will always run away.”
“As far as I know, good fellows of Yerevan and real men in general don’t behave
like that,” he told journalists.
Saghatelian also defended Megerdichian. “This is a fight between patriots and
people who say we can live without a homeland,” he said.
Two other opposition lawmakers visited Megerdichian in police custody and warned
law-enforcement authorities against prosecuting him.
As of Monday evening the authorities did not say whether they will launch a
formal investigation into the incident.
Simonian, who is a senior member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil
Contract party, is no stranger to controversy. In 2020 he brawled with an
outspoken anti-government activist who insulted him on a street in Yerevan.
In late 2021, Simonian angered the families of Armenian soldiers taken prisoner
during the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. He was caught on camera labeling many of
those POWs as deserters who “laid down their weapons and ran away” during
fighting with Azerbaijani forces.
A few weeks later, he reportedly told journalists that they must stand up every
time they see him in the parliament building. Simonian imposed unprecedented
restrictions on press coverage of the National Assembly immediately after
becoming its speaker in August 2021.
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.
14:24, 21 March 2023
YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. On March 21, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh published an ad hoc trilingual report on the violations of individual and collective human rights as a result of the 100-day blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan.
The report comprehensively and in detail presents data on the violations of 7 individual rights, 5 rights of vulnerable groups and 4 collective rights, which reflect the deepening humanitarian crisis and the genocidal policy of Azerbaijan towards the people of Artsakh. The document also contains 24 pictures and 27 human stories about the blockade, as well as 46 useful documents since 2016 on the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and the violations of the rights of Artsakh people in its context.
In parallel with the complete blockade, Azerbaijan deliberately disrupts the normal operation of the vital infrastructure of Artsakh – the gas and electricity supplies, mobile and Internet communications with the aim to further aggravate the already severe humanitarian crisis and cause human suffering to the people of Artsakh.
The continuous blockade by Azerbaijan, disruption of the operation of vital infrastructure, as well as regularly and consistently carried out armed attacks and threats of use of force are aimed at subjecting Artsakh to ethnic cleansing and destroying the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh by physical and psychological terror and creation of unbearable living conditions.
Below are presented some basic data reflected in the Report on human rights violations as a result of the 100-day blockade:
In addition to the continuous and multiple violations of the provisions of the Tripartite Statement of November 9, 2020, for 27 consecutive days now, the mandatory execution of the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations (UN) on ensuring unhindered entry and departure of people, cars and cargo along the Lachin corridor has not been implemented by Azerbaijan, which once again tramples on the highest international values and principles. Consequently, the international community has not only the right, but also an indisputable obligation to implement the decision of the Supreme International Court of Justice by practical means as soon as possible and to prevent future Azerbaijani crimes, including the new planned and brutal crime against humanity.
All the violations of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh are carried out within the framework of its state policy of racial discrimination (Armenophobia) and are deeply directed against their right to self-determination and the fact of its realisation, aimed at finally resolving the conflict to their advantage via ethnic cleansing based on the “no people, no rights” logic.
The systematic and consistent policy of ethnic hatred pursued by Azerbaijan, which manifested itself both during the aggression against the people of Artsakh in 2020 and after the establishment of the ceasefire regime, indisputably proves that any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan is tantamount to ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and the genocide of the Armenians of Artsakh. Therefore, in the context of the Artsakh conflict, the right to self-determination is equal to the right of people to live in their homeland.
The fundamental right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh, as well as the Azerbaijani encroachments and threats against their physical existence on the basis of racial discrimination are more than sufficient grounds for the protection of the people of Artsakh by the international community, as well as the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh based on the principle of “remedial recognition”.
The report is available at the following link:
16:26,
YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting on March 24 with the new Ambassador of Georgia to Armenia George Sharvashidze.
PM Pashinyan congratulated Ambassador Sharvashidze on taking office and expressed confidence that his activities will boost the development of the Armenian-Georgian relationship, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.
The Prime Minister praised the Armenia-Georgia cooperation course and attached importance to further expanding the economic ties and initiatives aimed at utilizing untapped potential.
Ambassador Sharvashidze vowed to make maximum efforts to strengthen the Armenian-Georgian ties.
PM Pashinyan and Ambassador Sharvashidze exchanged views around prospects of cooperation and discussed the trade-economic agenda. In this context they attached importance to active contacts and mutual-visits between business circles and their involvement in investment programs.
The importance of the signing of the agreement on introducing simplified visa-free travel requirements between Armenia and Georgia was stressed in terms of strengthening humanitarian ties.
Both sides attached importance to regional stability and peace.
Growing tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in Nagorno-Karabakh have led to fears that a new escalation, or full-scale war, may be inevitable.
Tensions have been on the rise since a deadly clash on 5 March between Nagorno-Karabakh police officers and Azerbaijani troops near the Lachin corridor, which has been blocked for over three months.
Since then, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have regularly accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire, including reports of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh coming under fire.
On Wednesday, the Armenian Defence Ministry said a soldier was killed on the border with Nakhchivan, just south of Yerevan.
Baku has also accused Yerevan and Stepanakert of multiple ceasefire violations; on 20 March they said that an Azerbaijani soldier was wounded on the Armenian border in the south.
Azerbaijan has also accused Russian peacekeepers of escorting Armenian troops and arms to Nagorno-Karabakh, with Armenia denying the reports and Russia reporting only about humanitarian vehicles passing through the Lachin corridor.
Tensions at the border have been accompanied by hostile rhetoric in Baku. During a Novoruz event last week, President Ilham Aliyev said that if Armenians wished to ‘live comfortably in an area of 29,000 square kilometres’ — the size of Armenia — they must recognise Azerbaijan’s borders and sign a peace deal ‘according to our conditions’.
‘If Armenia does not recognise our territorial integrity, we will not recognise their territorial integrity either’, he said.
Such comments have led to widespread fears in Armenia that Azerbaijan was laying the grounds for an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia itself.
Tigran Grigoryan, a Yerevan-based political analyst and the head of the Regional Centre for Democracy and Security, warned that a new escalation was now likely.
‘The trend is that every time, [Azerbaijan] are trying to increase the scale of the tension to see what is the international reaction’, Grigoryan told OC Media, adding that Azerbaijan also wanted to test Russia’s ‘red lines’.
The Azerbaijani incursion into Armenia in September 2022 came to an end after unprecedented international criticism aimed specifically at Azerbaijan.
Grigoryan said Azerbaijani aims in a new escalation might be to force Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to accept Azerbaijan’s terms, as peace talks remained ‘at an impasse’.
[Listen on the Caucasus Digest: A looming conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and newborn trafficking in Georgia]
Officials in Armenia have also raised the alarm. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said the current rhetoric coming from Baku suggested a heightened risk of escalation.
‘There’s always a risk of aggression regardless of the negotiations and Armenia’s constructive approach during the negotiations’, he said.
Mirzoyan added that if war broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region’s Armenian population was at risk of ethnic cleansing.
Azerbaijani officials and pro-government figures have also poured fuel on the fire.
Following Aliyev’s Novuruz comments, several officials posted similar statements online, stating that Armenia must ‘reciprocate Azerbaijan’s peace proposals’ to be allowed to live in its internationally recognised borders.
Several also switched to using the Armenian name for Armenia — Hayastan — in an apparent attempt to insult Armenia.
Commenting on the situation earlier in March, Azerbaijani writer and activist Samad Shikhi said that the government was attempting to create a pretext for military action by painting the other side as being unwilling to negotiate.
He said the government and pro-government media were already trying to ‘create support for [military action] in society’.
‘It is the state and its propaganda that shape the people’s thinking’, Shikhi wrote. ‘There is only one institution (the government) that creates and manages ideas in Azerbaijan.’
‘The Presidential Administration has tried to publish this kind of information in the media as much as possible, and tried to make it visible to everyone’, he added.
If a new outbreak of hostilities were to occur, it is unclear what the international response might be.
Russia, Armenia’s traditional ally, has grown increasingly estranged from the Armenian government.
Speaking on 16 March, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan repeated a claim that Russia was Nagorno-Karabakh’s ‘security guarantor’ as per the 2020 ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The agreement saw the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region.
Pashinyan also urged Russia to apply to the UN Security Council to take measures to protect the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh if their peacekeepers were ‘unable’ to do so.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed his claims, stating that ‘there is no mention of Russian guarantees regarding Karabakh’ in the agreement, and that calls for the security council to intervene were a ‘miraculous ride’.
Azerbaijani official rhetoric has also grown increasingly hostile towards Russia. Since early March, Baku has frequently accused Moscow of escorting Armenian military vehicles and troops to Nagorno-Karabakh bypassing the blockaded Lachin corridor.
There has also been growing speculation about Tehran’s potential role in any renewed hostilities.
On Wednesday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, met with the Secretary of Armenia’s National Security Council, Armen Grigoryan, in Yerevan. According to Armenia, they discussed ‘regional security’ and the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Iran has grown more supportive of Armenia since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
The country has previously stated that it would not allow Azerbaijan to threaten its shared border with Armenia. One of Azerbaijan’s demands to Armenia has been a corridor through southern Armenia connecting the west of Azerbaijan with the exclave of Nakhchivan.
Kani’s visit came as tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran continue to flare.
On 10 March, during a visit to Baku by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, Azerbaijan accused Iran of violating the country’s airspace. They said a military plane flew along the border around areas in the south that Azerbaijan took control of in 2020, crossing into Azerbaijan and back.
13:17, 14 March 2023
YEREVAN, MARCH 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is not leaving the CSTO, the organization itself is leaving Armenia, PM Nikol Pashinyan said when asked to comment on Armenia renouncing its quota of Deputy Secretary-General of the CSTO.
Pashinyan said that the CSTO Secretary General told him in 2022 that there are concerns within the organization that Armenia could leave it. Pashinyan said he found the comments to be inappropriate and conveyed the concerns in Armenia that the CSTO itself could withdraw from Armenia.
“My assessment is that the CSTO, willingly or unwillingly, is leaving the Republic of Armenia. And this worries us. We’ve not concealed anything that’s happened. We’d be happy to assume the position of the CSTO Deputy Secretary-General if we wouldn’t be sending the wrong message to our people by doing so, if it would mean ensuring an additional factor for the security of Armenia. If not, we don’t see sense in doing such step, at least from the logic of being honest with our people,” Pashinyan said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia has been working with the CSTO very consistently for a long time and continues doing so. He said that Armenia conveyed its principles to the organization. “It’s about whether or not the CSTO functions at least in the territory of Armenia, whether or not it exists. We are willing to face this question,” Pashinyan said.
He mentioned the fake news claiming that the Armenian government applied to the CSTO under a wrong article in 2022 amid the Azeri attacks so that the organization won’t be able to send help. “We applied to the CSTO under all possible articles,” Pashinyan said. “Our assessment isn’t that we are leaving the CSTO, our assessment is that the CSTO is leaving us, which is worrying,” Pashinyan said.
Nagorno Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, has responded to Azerbaijan’s proposal for a meeting in Baku. In a statement released on March 13, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh stated that meetings between the representatives of Artsakh and Azerbaijan should take place with mediation of Russian peacekeepers, and should be held at the same location as the March 1 meetings.
They emphasized that the discussions should focus on humanitarian, infrastructure, and technical issues but without unnecessary politicization.
The Nagorno Karabakh authorities also expressed concern about the closure of the Lachin Corridor and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, which they believe to be unacceptable and not contributing to creating an environment suitable for negotiations.
The statement further urged Azerbaijan to fulfill their obligations under the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement and the demands of the International Court of Justice ruling, by refraining from the use of force or the threat of force and unilateral, maximalist approaches. This would create favorable conditions for further discussions.
Regarding the political issues of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh reiterated their commitment to negotiations aimed at a comprehensive resolution of the conflict in an internationally recognized and approved format.
They further emphasized the need for international guarantees for the equal rights of the parties and implementation of obligations.
This response from Nagorno Karabakh underlines the ongoing tensions and complexities of the conflict and highlights the need for finding a peaceful resolution.
Nagorno-Karabakh has international recognition as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 population is formed mostly of ethnic Armenians. The province broke away from Baku in the early 1990s.
Armenia and Russia have completely stopped using dollars and euros in mutual settlekents, Vagan Kerobyan, Armenia’s Minister of Economy said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper.
According to him, Armenia’s exports to Russia quadrupled in 2022 from $850 million to $2.5 billion. Such an increased largely occurred as many Western companies decided to leave the Russian market. Armenian suppliers thus had an opportunity to expand their businesses in Russia. The trade turnover between the two countries doubled to $5.3 billion.
The choice of currency for trading under the current conditions is a big problem, Kerobyan said. The Russian currency is too volatile against the dollar and the euro, which hinders the conclusion of long-term contracts, he noted. In addition, the supplies of the Armenian currency, the dram, does not make it possible to ensure the existing flow of goods.
At the same time, Armenian companies, banks and agencies risk falling under secondary sanctions. However, the financial system and customs are doing their best to avoid this, the minister said. Russia is Armenia’s most important economic partner. The republic is a member of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union), and it will be difficult for Armenia not to have mutual trade with Russia.
“Global development is impossible against the backdrop of isolation of some political blocs from others. We would like to become a bridge between different fragments of the world economy. We communicate a lot with both Russian and European and American colleagues, explaining our position to them,” Kerobyan added.
https://english.pravda.ru/news/world/156072-armenia_russia/
YEREVAN, March 10. /TASS/. Armenia has notified the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of its refusal to use its quota to appoint a CSTO deputy secretary-general.
“We submitted a corresponding proposal to the CSTO,” the Armenpress news agency quotes Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan as saying.
The CSTO secretary general has three deputies.
On January 20, Armenia’s ambassador to Britain, Varuzhan Nersesyan, said that Yerevan was dissatisfied with Russia’s reaction to Azerbaijan’s actions, because it had hoped for concrete assistance within the framework of the CSTO. However, he noted that Armenia highly appreciated the role of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, who maintain peace and fulfill their mandate.
On January 26, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Yerevan had preferred to make a choice in favor of the EU without bringing to its logical conclusion the work on the track of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s mission. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the appearance of EU representatives in the border regions of Armenia can only exacerbate the existing contradictions and geopolitical confrontation in the region.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on February 18 that Armenia and other CSTO countries continued to work to address Yerevan’s concerns.