Author: Babken Chilingarian

Azerbaijan’s reaction is disproportionate: Josep Borrell on Azerbaijani aggression

Babken Chilingarian

 20:21,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell  has  addressed  deadly  Azerbaijani  aggression against Armenia on February 12, which resulted in four Armenian casualties.

According to the Armenpress correspondent,  Borrell first recalled the statement issued by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan on February 12 that a soldier was allegedly injured as a result of a shot fired by the Armenian armed forces, and then noted that Azerbaijan's response was disproportionate.

"This once again underscores the necessity and urgency of establishing a distance between the opposing forces. This is what the European Union has been demanding for a long time. I reaffirm the full and complete commitment of the European Union to support sustainable peace based on the recognition of sovereignty, inviolability of borders, and territorial integrity," Borrell said.

Armenia, Armenian community in Ukraine deliver 10 tons of medical equipment to Ukrainian military hospital

Babken Chilingarian
yahoo!news
Feb 9 2024
Nate Ostiller

Representatives of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine and the Armenian Embassy in Ukraine delivered 10 tons of medical equipment to one of Ukraine's main military hospitals on Feb. 9, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said.

Armenia has long been an ally of Russia, especially vis-a-vis its primary regional foe Azerbaijan, and has thus largely refrained from getting involved in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The calculus changed after Russian "peacekeepers" failed to prevent Azerbaijan's offensive into the Nagorno-Karabakh region, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, in September 2023.

Armenia delivered its first batch of humanitarian aid to Ukraine that same month. The country's relationship with Russia has deteriorated since the offensive and subsequent collapse of the unrecognized ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh republic.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier in February that Armenia's defense strategy cannot rely on Russia as it used to.

"At this difficult time for Ukraine, when a full-scale war has been going on for almost two years, Armenia offers a helping hand," said Armenia's ambassador to Ukraine, Vladimir Karapetyan.

Karapetyan also said that up to 12,000 ethnic Armenians are fighting with Ukraine's military, including Armenians with Ukrainian citizenship. Estimates of Ukraine's Armenian population vary but range from 100,000 to 400,000.

More than 300 ethnic Armenians have been awarded medals for military heroism, Karapetyan said.

The medical equipment has a variety of uses, the defense ministry said.

New domestic violence prevention bill, including ban on virginity testing, passes first reading in parliament

Babken Chilingarian

 12:08, 7 February 2024

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian parliament adopted on Wednesday at first reading by 63-32-1 votes a bill authored by Civil Contract faction MPs aimed at preventing domestic violence.

Opposition MPs voted it down citing several issues concerning the wording of the legislation.

MP Zaruhi Batoyan, the author of the bill, told lawmakers that her legislation seeks to increase the effectiveness of the protection of domestic violence victims, and to prevent domestic violence.

Virginity testing is defined as a form of violence in the bill.

The law, among others, will also protect children, define timeframes of protection, set free healthcare for victims and set other regulations.

Armine Kyureghyan, an opposition MP from Hayastan faction, disagreed with the wording “partner” in the legislation. Batoyan said this issue is still under discussion. The authors explained that under current law police don’t have grounds to apply the domestic violence protection law if the victim isn’t married to the suspected abuser.

“We received signals from the law enforcement system that when officers enter the house and want to take the victim of violence under protection, unfortunately these women were not taken under protection because they didn’t have a marriage registration paper, because the law requires this paper. Couples who are engaged, or unmarried couples, will from now on be under protection. This bill has a highly important component of prevention,” said MP Sona Ghazaryan. She said that 14 women died in 2023 as a result of domestic violence.

Opposition MP Artsvik Minasyan disagreed with the arguments, noting that a crime is a crime regardless of the relations between the victim and offender and the current laws are sufficient. 

Kyureghyan disapproved of the virginity testing ban. She said that his is a “strong cultural problem.” Furthermore, the MP was concerned over the legal certainty stemming from the regulations. “How would an attorney prove that no virginity testing has occurred? What kind of mechanisms would work?,” she asked.

Zaruhi Batoyan said the legislation is about family values. “We must treat domestic violence differently. This isn’t a usual type of violence. It’s no coincidence that the new law defines the circle of people considered as family members,” she said, highlighting the need for additional regulations.

The aggravating circumstances in several articles of the criminal code will be amended to include the gender-based grounds, as well as whether the crime has been committed by the victim’s family member, partner, or former partner.

Asbarez: ANCA-WR Announces Endorsements for Greater L.A. Area Ahead of 2024 Primary Elections

Babken Chilingarian
by Contributor

 

 February 2, 2024

 

in Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
Candidates endorsed by the ANCA-WR for the Greater Los Angeles Area ahead of the 2024 primary elections

As the March 5th Primary Elections quickly approach, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region announced its list of endorsed candidates who are running for election in the Greater Los Angeles Area — all of whom have demonstrated a tried-and-true commitment to advancing Armenian-American policy interests. 

ANCA Western Region List of Endorsed Candidates:

  1. Adam Schiff for US Senate, California
  2. Judy Chu for re-election to California’s 29th Congressional District
  3. Anthony Portantino for California’s 30th Congressional District
  4. Brad Sherman for re-election to California’s 32nd Congressional District
  5. Yvonne Yiu for California’s 25th State Senate District
  6. Henry Stern for re-election to California’s 27th State Senate District
  7. John Harabedian for California’s 41st State Assembly District
  8. Elen Asatryan for California’s 44th State Assembly District
  9. Jesse Gabriel for re-election to California’s 46th State Assembly District
  10. Kathryn Barger for re-election to Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, District 5
  11. Adrin Nazarian for Los Angeles City Council District 2
  12. Nithya Raman for Los Angeles City Council District 4
  13. John Lee for Los Angeles City Council District 12



Armenia joins International Criminal Court, Moscow decries ‘unfriendly step’

Babken Chilingarian
France 24
Feb 1 2024

Armenia on Thursday formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials said, in a move that traditional ally Moscow has denounced as "unfriendly".

The Hague-based court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and the alleged illegal deportation of children to Russia.

Yerevan is now obligated to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on its territory.

"ICC Rome Statute officially entered into force for Armenia on February 1," the country's official representative for international legal matters, Yeghishe Kirakosyan told AFP.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had in October branded Armenia's ratifying of the ICC's founding Rome Statute a "wrong decision".

Russia's foreign ministry called it an "unfriendly step."

Armenia is home to a permanent Russian military base and part of the Moscow-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) that consists of several ex-Soviet republics.

Western countries hailed the ratification, which marks the expansion of the court's jurisdiction into what was long seen as Russia's backyard.

"The world is getting smaller for the autocrat in the Kremlin," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in reference to Putin after Armenia ratified the ICC statute in October.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sought to assuage Kremlin fears, saying the decision was not directed against Russia.

"Joining the ICC gives Armenia serious tools to prevent war crimes and crimes against humanity on its territory," Kirakosyan said.

"First of all, this concerns Azerbaijan," Yerevan's arch-foe neighbour with which it has fought two wars over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

But Armenia's move illustrated a growing chasm between Moscow and Yerevan, which has grown angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction over Armenia's long-standing confrontation with Azerbaijan. 

Azerbaijani forces in September swept through Karabakh – where Russian peacekeepers are deployed – and secured the surrender of Armenian separatist forces that had controlled the mountainous region for decades.

"Armenia hoped that by joining the ICC, by making such a sensitive step for Russia, it could receive security guarantees from the West," independent analyst Vigen Hakobyan told AFP.

"But apparently it has strained its Russia ties without receiving real security guarantees from the West."

Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1999 but did not ratify it, citing contradictions with the country's constitution. 

The constitutional court last March said that those obstacles had been removed after Armenia's adoption of a new constitution in 2015. 

Last November, Yerevan formally deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute.

(AFP)

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20240201-armenia-joins-international-criminal-court-moscow-decries-unfriendly-step

Armenian Church Catholicos meets with Archbishop of Canterbury in UK

Babken Chilingarian

 15:17,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos Karekin II has met with the Head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during his visit to the UK.

During the meeting Catholicos Karekin II and Archbishop Justin Welby discussed the issues facing the forcibly displaced Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, the return of POWs, the preservation of Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh and the situation in the region, the Armenian Church said in a statement.

OUTLOOK 2024 Caucasus

Babken Chilingarian
Jan 24 2024
By bne IntelliNews 

2023 was the year that Azerbaijan finally took over Nagorno-Karabakh, its dream since the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago.
 
In a surprise offensive in September, Baku’s forces attacked the ethnic Armenian enclave, forcing its de facto government to surrender after a day’s fighting. Subsequently, virtually the entire population of the disputed territory, more than 100,000 people, fled to Armenia.
 
To some extent the collapse of the statelet and the humanitarian tragedy of the refugee exodus should have been predictable after the rout of Armenian forces in the Second Karabakh war of 2020, which ended in an unstable Russian-mediated peace.
 
Since then Azerbaijan’s position has strengthened even further. Russia, the guarantor of the peace, has – on the most charitable view – been diverted by its failed invasion of Ukraine.  More cynically, many observers argue it has in fact changed sides and has chosen to back the rising Azerbaijan, which is now much more important for its trade connections, given its routes westwards through Ukraine are now blocked. This has all given President Ilham Aliyev the freedom to flex his new economic and military muscles, and his alliance with a more and more assertive Turkey.
 
What was perhaps not so predictable was the way the international community sat on its hands. Azerbaijan’s growing importance as an energy producer has made Europe turn a blind eye to both Aliyev’s human rights abuses and his aggressive posturing. Despite some wringing of hands, Europe and the US did nothing significant to either restrain the Azerbaijani dictator from invading or protect the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh afterwards from being in effect ethnically cleansed.
 
Iran, which has tense relations with Baku, was also strangely quiet and quickly adapted to the new regional balance of power, which could also offer it some trade benefits if a corridor is built through its territory to connect Turkey and Azerbaijan.
 
The big question for 2024 is whether Aliyev will be content with his territorial gains. Baku continues to put pressure on Armenia for some kind of extra-territorial route to connect to its exclave of Nakhchivan and beyond to Turkey. It has also begun to repeat old claims to some villages inside Armenia proper, warning that until it is satisfied it will maintain some mountain positions on the disputed border that it has seized. Armenia fears this could all presage another attack. A full-scale invasion, however, looks unlikely, particularly in a year when Baku is hosting the COP29 environmental conference in November. Aliyev appears to want to achieve his objectives by threats.
 
As for Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is determined to achieve peace, even at the cost of cutting Nagorno-Karabakh adrift. The real question this year is to what extent he is prepared to make significant concessions to reach a deal, notably on the issues of the return of refugees, the redrawing of borders, and a “Zangeur Corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan.
 
So far the weakness of the political opposition has enabled Pashinyan to ride out the storm of the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh, as he did in 2020 when Azerbaijan routed Karabkh and Armenian forces. Armenia also seems to be coping well with integrating the Karabakh refugee wave.
 
A peace deal would offer Yerevan the chance to open up transport connections with both Azerbaijan and Turkey that could transform its economy and that of the region. It would also provide an opportunity to push Russia out of the southern Caucasus, as it would no longer be needed as a guarantor of the peace – a role it has anyway flunked. Armenia has already begun to strengthen its links with the West, notably France. Yet Russia still has many levers it can pull inside Armenia. Pashinyan’s challenge in the coming year is going to be manoeuvring between Russia and the West, without provoking Moscow into even more overt attempts to bring him down.
 
In Azerbaijan, Aliyev looks increasingly impregnable following Baku’s victory over the tiny Nagorno-Karabakh army. Taking advantage of this, he has called early presidential elections to be held in February, a year earlier than originally planned. But the Aliyev family, which has ruled the country for 30 years, is taking no chances in the façade elections. It has launched a wave of arrests and currently more than 200 people are held as political prisoners.
Georgian dreams
The other big event of the year was the European Commission’s decision on  December 14 to finally grant candidate status for EU membership to Georgia, after turning it down in 2022. The green light was more a reflection of the geopolitical environment than any progress Tbilisi has made to fulfil the conditions the EU had set. Failing Georgia again could have pushed the Georgian Dream government to accelerate its already worrying drift towards Moscow.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Georgia steered a middle course, refusing to join sanctions on Moscow but also not obviously acting as a backdoor to help the Kremlin evade them. But last year Georgia appeared to be moving closer to Moscow, with deepening economic ties and a resumption of direct flights.
 
The increasingly authoritarian government even proposed a Russian-style foreign agent law, though it eventually backtracked after a domestic outcry and Western pressure. It also unfroze the bank assets of sanctioned former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze ­–­ who is closely linked to the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia ­­– causing the International Monetary Fund to suspend its programme in the country.
 
The big question on Georgia this year is whether the government will finally get serious about qualifying for EU membership. Several conditions remained unfulfilled and the EU added three more.
 
The list now includes: deoligarchisation; depolarisation of politics; fighting disinformation and foreign (Russian) interference; improving the independence of the electoral system; removing state control from the judicial system; strengthening the independence of other government institutions, such as the police and the national bank, greater parliamentary and public oversight of the security services' work;
harmonising foreign affairs with the EU; empowering anti-corruption agencies; and strengthening human rights protections.
 
Many of these look extremely challenging – especially with elections scheduled for October. It would be optimistic to expect the EU to decide to open negotiations at the end of the year.
 
In those elections Georgian Dream looks well placed, given that the United National Movement, the largest opposition party, has experienced a split, raising questions about its future. Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream’s founder, last month announced his return to frontline politics to assure his party’s victory – and also defuse EU criticism that he was pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
 
Sanctions rebound
 
For the economies of the three South Caucasus countries, 2023 was a surprisingly good year. All three countries are closely connected with Russia’s struggling economy but given that country’s resilience to sanctions, the impact of the Ukraine war and sanctions has not been as bad as expected. Moreover, the region has also benefited from the redirection of trade, as well as the influx of Russian migrants and capital flows. In the first 10 months, Armenian exports to Russia increased by 63% to approximately $2.9 billion. This has all boosted demand, labour supply, GDP growth and current accounts.
 
For Georgia, two thirds of whose exports go to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), GDP growth in 2023 is forecast at close to 7%, though this will ease to 4.8% this year, according to the IMF. Inflation dropped to 0.4% at the end of the year, allowing rate cuts and boosting consumption, helped by wage growth of 17%.
 
In terms of vulnerabilities, the current account deficit widened to an estimated 5.9% of GDP in 2023 and is expected to increase to 6.4% in 2024. By contrast, gross external debt has fallen to around 79% of GDP as of the third quarter of 2023, the lowest level since 2014, and by November 2023, the National Bank of Georgia's international reserves hit a record high of $5.1 billion.
 
The Armenian economy was projected to grow by 7% in 2023, followed by 5% in 2024, with private consumption and investment as the main drivers of this growth. Inflation is expected to average 3.5% in 2023 and accelerate to 4% in 2024.
 
In terms of vulnerabilities, the main worry for Armenia is the budget, given the cost of integrating the Karabakh refugees and building up the country’s defence capacity. The government expects the state budget deficit to increase to 4.6% of GDP in 2024, compared to the planned 3.1% for 2023.
 
Petrostate Azerbaijan’s economy has been the poorest performer of the three because of falling oil prices and its declining oil production. In 2023 Azerbaijan's oil production with condensate decreased by 7.4% to 30.2mn tonnes. In 2024 oil production is forecast to fall a further 3% to 29.49mn tonnes. In terms of gas production, there was a 3.2% increase to 48.3bn cubic metres in 2023, with 2024 output expected to rise by 0.7% to 49.06 bcm.
 
This translated into a decline in the oil and gas sector of 1.7%, while the non-oil and gas sector grew by 3.7%, resulting in an estimated increase of just 1.1% in real GDP.
 
ING predicts 2.5% growth this year, while inflation is forecast to fall to 5% from an estimated 9.1% in 2023, which may help consumption revive. Future growth should also be boosted by reconstruction of the reconquered Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
 
The foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan at the end of the year were a massive $11.613bn, up by 29.1%.

 

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Scammers make half a million dollars in Armenia with the help of AI neural networks

Babken Chilingarian
Jan 24 2024
  • Sona Martirosyan
  • Yerevan

Scam with neural networks

Internet scammers have robbed gullible citizens of Armenia of half a million dollars with AI neural networks to create promotional videos in which famous people urge investing in various commercial projects and profit-sharing schemes.

  • “We need to integrate into a new market”: NK residents in business in Armenia
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  • How the influx of Russian citizens has affected the Armenian real estate market

“What I did is just stupid. I’m ashamed to talk about it because I was always sure I was an educated, informed person. A person of my type cannot fall victim to such a cheap deception. But it happened,” says 38-year-old Anush K.

She teaches social studies at a high school in Tavush province and fears that her students will stop trusting her if they learn about the incident:

“I also teach media literacy as part of the social studies subject. Can you imagine how ridiculous it is that a person who talks about safe behavior on the internet every day, gives their money to scammers?”

Anush, like thousands of other residents of Armenia, was the victim of an internet scam that was distributed on behalf of Gazprom Armenia.

According to the Armenian Investigative Committee, the victims have already “invested” half a million dollars in the non-existent financial system.

“With the help of neural networks, scammers created advertisements in which well-known figures – politicians and businessmen – call for investing in various projects or purchasing shares of various companies, including Gazprom Armenia CJSC.” The victims are mostly people who are not familiar with technology and agree to provide their bank details,” the Investigative Committee said.

Anush was “persuaded” to invest by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose image was also used by the scammers.

“I knew that modern information technologies make it possible to duplicate the appearance and voice of any person. But I thought it was impossible to create such a video that would not differ at all from the real one. In the video I saw, Pashinyan’s voice, facial expressions and speech were absolutely real. It was my mistake to believe what I saw.”

Here is one such video that has been circulating on Facebook

After watching the video, Anush clicked on the link provided in the video description. A page appeared on her phone screen, asking her to enter her name, surname and phone number.

She says that if the first link had asked for bank details, she would have had doubts. Immediately after entering her personal details, she received a call via the WhatsApp app. A man named Andrei explained the details of the transaction in Russian. Anush says the young man’s words did not inspire confidence, she disconnected the call and did not respond to subsequent ones.

“It seemed suspicious to me that the call was from abroad, that the guy spoke Russian. I thought it wasn’t worth making a dubious deal. But a few hours later, the call came from an Armenian number. A young woman spoke to me in Armenian. She said that the program allowed me to invest starting from $300, after which I would get a significant profit.

She explained that specialists, who understand securities, instead of us, send our money to buy such shares, which in a few days are sold two or three times more expensive. Allegedly, that’s how the profits are generated. I agreed, but decided to take my time. Over the next two days, this woman kept calling and asking why I hadn’t invested the money. During the last conversation, she said that the stock market was changing from day to day and that it was impossible to delay.”

Following instructions, Anush posted her bank details on the website and received a notification that the money had been transferred from her card. A few days later, the phone numbers from which she was contacted – both Armenian and foreign – were unavailable.

“Then we had to go to the bank, block this card and related accounts, get a new card. I realized that they already had all the data of this account, and any amount appearing on this card would immediately go to them.”

Her husband also insisted that she go to the police. The application was accepted, but she was warned that such cybercrimes are difficult to solve. Fraud groups operate from different countries using secure communications, so it is not easy to detect them or track their movements.

The success of scammers lies in carefully thought-out advertising, says information security expert Samvel Martirosyan:

“They shoot high-quality videos using the faces of famous people. Then they distribute them using advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Many people say that all their pages should be blocked and they should not be allowed to create new ones. But this is impossible. After all, ads are placed through constantly changing and even hacked pages. Vigilance is essential.”

There are signs of deception that should alert people, the expert said. For example, when strangers suggest investing a small amount, but get a big profit. According to Martirosyan, before investing money, it is necessary to study a particular market, to understand what interest rates are offered here. Scammers usually offer much higher percentages.

“A normal business offers 10-20 percent annual return on investment. And when it comes to investing with getting 20, 30, 40 or more percent per week, believe me you are being scammed. Especially when the offer comes from a stranger.”

As soon as a person invests an amount of money, he immediately finds himself “in the crosshairs of fraudsters”. They start working with him individually, using methods of psychological influence. Often those who made the first deposit are actually transferred a certain amount of money so that they tell others about it and attract more people.

“When someone receives a money transfer, they say, ‘If you tell your friends and acquaintances, you will get money for this. And when they get a certain number of people, they take all the money and disappear. But since they are not simple swindlers, they start calling the person again, demanding to invest the amount again, saying that the previous deposit is frozen.

After a certain period of time this person can even see his name and surname on some pages indicating the amount. And he thinks it is his money, but it is not. These are just drawn figures on which they are trying to build new frauds,” says Martirosyan.

And when the “victim” already intends to apply to law enforcement agencies, it even comes to threats.

According to the expert, scammers do not stop there. At the next stage, when a person realizes that all these steps are useless, they start calling him again with an offer of help. Some people present themselves, for example, as representatives of a large Swiss company, but are in fact from the same group demanding a fee for their services.

The mass involvement of Armenian residents in this manipulative process is due to several circumstances, psychologist Hayk Baghdian believes. Among them are the high threshold of social insecurity, as well as psychological traumas resulting from the tragic events of recent years. The psychologist says that wars make people especially vulnerable and Armenia is no exception:

“First of all, a person with psychological trauma starts to be told what he can achieve with the help of this money. For example, they say that you will get rich, you will have the house of your dreams, you will provide everything you need for your family. They create in his perception a certain desired future, what he dreams of. The impact of this technique increases when a person has a feeling of emptiness and needlessness, when the present does not satisfy him. And he begins to think that if he accepts this offer, life will become full.”

Regarding videos distributed by fraudsters and their impact, Bagdyan emphasizes that any advertisement contains elements of manipulation. And advertisements created for this purpose are usually well thought out and have maximum impact on the subconsciousness of a person. That is why it is very difficult to refuse this temptation, and it requires attention and vigilance.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 01/22/2024

Babken Chilingarian 
                                        Monday, 


Pashinian Ready For More ‘Guarantees’ To Azerbaijan

        • Robert Zargarian
        • Naira Bulghadarian

Russia - Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian are seen during a visit to the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, 
December 26, 2023.


Armenia is ready to formally pledge not to have any territorial claims to 
Azerbaijan in the future, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said over the weekend.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev demanded such guarantees in early December, 
saying that an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty would not be enough to preclude 
another war between the two countries. Aliyev did not elaborate on the 
safeguards against Armenian “revanchism” that would satisfy him.

Pashinian was understood to express readiness to meet this demand if Baku 
recognizes Armenia’s territorial integrity through that treaty “without any 
reservations.”

“We expect from Azerbaijan guarantees that Azerbaijan does not want to leave 
grounds, between the lines, for future territorial claims to Armenia,” Pashinian 
told senior members of his party in southeastern Vayots Dzor province. “We want 
such guarantees. But I must also say we are ready to give [Azerbaijan] such 
guarantees.”

“This should be a mutual action. It cannot be unilateral for us or for them,” he 
said.

Pashinian made the remarks one day after declaring that Armenia must adopt a new 
constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. That 
was widely construed as a further indication that he wants to get rid of a 
preamble to the current Armenian constitution enacted in 1995.

The preamble makes reference to a 1990 declaration of independence adopted by 
the republic’s first post-Communist parliament. The declaration in turn refers 
to a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia 
and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It also calls for international 
recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians “in Ottoman Turkey and Western 
Armenia.”

Five lawmakers representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance issued a joint 
statement on Friday night condemning Pashinian’s plans for the new constitution.

“Pashinian is trying to launch a new attack on one of the pillars of the Third 
Republic of Armenia, preparing the ground for meeting another of the nonstop 
Turkish-Azerbaijani demands,” they charged.

Armenia - Opposition deputy Kristine Vartanian speaks during the government's 
question-and-answer session in parliament, April 13, 2022.

“What regional changes have left Armenia needing a change of its constitution?” 
one of those lawmakers, Kristine Vartanian, said. “The biggest change is the 
establishment of Azerbaijani control over Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). 
[Pashinian] is openly telling us that our constitution must also reflect this 
reality.”

Pashinian recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh months before Baku 
recaptured the region as a result of the September military offensive that 
forced its population to flee to Armenia. The Armenian opposition says the 
recognition paved the way for the assault.

Vartanian and other signatories of the statement were recently allowed by the 
Armenian Foreign Ministry to read Azerbaijani proposals regarding the peace 
treaty currently discussed by the two sides. They said afterwards that Baku is 
seeking the kind of agreement that would leave the door open to future 
territorial claims to Armenia.

Some Armenian officials have made the same claims. Foreign Minister Ararat 
Mirzoyan spoke on January 10 of “some regression” in the Azerbaijani position on 
the treaty.

Earlier this month, Aliyev renewed his demands for Armenia to open an 
extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. He also demanded 
Armenian withdrawal from “eight Azerbaijani villages” and again dismissed 
Yerevan’s insistence on using the most recent Soviet maps to delimit the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Pashinian on January 13 said Aliyev’s demands amount to territorial claims to 
Armenia and accused Baku of undermining prospects for the signing of the peace 
accord. Still, a few days later, he expressed hope that Azerbaijan is committed 
to making peace with Armenia. He went on to make the latest overtures to Baku.




EU Cocerned About Azeri ‘Territorial Claims’ To Armenia


European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, speaks with Belgium's 
Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in 
Brussels, .


The European Union on Monday expressed serious concern at what its foreign 
policy chief described as territorial claims to Armenia made by Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev.

“We agreed that Azerbaijan needs to return to substantive peace and 
normalization talks with Armenia,” Josep Borrell said after chairing a meeting 
of the foreign ministers of EU member states that discussed the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict among other issues.

“The latest territorial claims by President Aliyev are very concerning, and any 
violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity would be unacceptable and will have 
severe consequences for our relations with Azerbaijan,” he told a news briefing 
in Brussels.

Earlier this month, Aliyev renewed his demands for Armenia to open an 
extraterritorial corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. He also demanded 
Armenian withdrawal from “eight Azerbaijani villages” and again dismissed 
Yerevan’s insistence on using the most recent Soviet maps to delimit the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Borrell issued the same warning to Baku in November as the EU decided to deploy 
more observers to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan. The 27-nation bloc 
launched the monitoring mission in February 2023 with the stated aim of 
preventing or reducing ceasefire violations there.

Aliyev twice cancelled talks with Pashinian which the EU planned to host in 
October. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a 
meeting with his Armenian counterpart scheduled for November 20 in Washington. 
Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias. It now wants to negotiate 
with Yerevan without third-party mediation.




Government Moves To Allow Minority Rule In Armenia

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian chairs a weekly cabinet meeting in 
Yerevan, February 9, 2023.


Armenia’s prime minister and their cabinet should no longer necessarily enjoy 
the backing of the parliamentary majority, according to constitutional reform 
proposed by the country’s Minsitry of Justice.

The current Armenian constitution requires the government to have a “stable 
majority” in the National Assembly, meaning that the prime minister has to be 
backed by most parliament deputies. It envisages a second round of voting in 
cases where up to three parties or blocs fail to form a majority government as a 
result of a general election.

A reform “concept” submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s office earlier this month would the abolish this requirement and 
make it much easier for a political force winning the plurarity of votes to come 
to power. It claims that “stability can cause political and economic stagnation.”

The document obtained by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday proposes two ways 
of forming a minority government. One option is for the largely ceremonial 
president of the republic is to appoint the leader of the political force that 
won most votes but fell short of a parliamentarity majority as prime minister.

Alternatively, the parliament itself would pick the premier through a plurality 
voting system. A similar system is already in place in Yerevan. It enabled 
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party to install its top candidate as mayor following 
municipal elections held in September.

In what is widely considered a serious setback, Civil Contract fell well short 
of an absolute majority in the city council empowered to appoint the mayor. The 
ruling party capitalized on opposition contenders’ failure to quickly agree on a 
common mayoral candidate.

Armenian opposition groups refrained from commenting on this proposed 
arrangement, saying that they have not yet seen the Ministry of Justice 
document. At least some opposition figures are bound to say that Pashinian is 
simply trying to make sure that he can cling to power despite a serious decline 
in his popularity.

Pashinian said Armenia must have a new constitution when met with senior 
Ministry of Justice officials late last week. Commenting on the wisdom of such a 
change, he made no mention of domestic politics and cited instead the need to 
ensure country’s “external security” in the “new geopolitical environment” in 
the region.

Pashinian has repeatedly called for constitutional changes and made conflicting 
statements about them during his nearly six-year rule. Two years ago, he set up 
a new body tasked with coordinating the constitutional reform process. The body 
now headed by Justice Minister Grigor Minasian has still not drafted any 
constitutional amendments. It is not clear whether it approves of the document 
put forward by Minasian’s ministry.




Russian-Armenian Arms Supply Issues ‘Mostly Settled’

        • Shoghik Galstian

Russia - Military vehicles move toward Red Square to attend a Victory Day 
military parade in Moscow, May 9, 2023.


The Armenian Defense Ministry signaled on Monday significant progress in the 
implementation of multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed by Armenia and 
Russia after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a short statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the ministry said that 
“contentious issues” with Russian arms manufacturers have been “mostly settled.” 
Some of those issues remain unresolved, though, it added without giving any 
details.

The statement did not explicitly refer to the contracts for the delivery of 
Russian weapons worth $400 million, according to Armenian officials. The latter 
repeatedly complained last year that the Armenian military has still not 
received any of those weapons.

Two senior Armenian lawmakers revealed earlier this month that Russia has 
shipped the first batch of that military hardware. But they did not specify the 
types of weaponry commissioned and/or received by Yerevan.

Russia’s ambassador to Armenia, Sergei Kopyrkin, acknowledged late last month 
“issues” in the implementation of Russian-Armenian arms deals. He implied that 
Russian defense companies have not fulfilled their contractual obligations on 
time because of having to manufacture more weapons for the Russian military 
embroiled in the continuing war with Ukraine.

Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of weapons and ammunition. The 
South Caucasus nation has acquired them at domestic Russian prices, set below 
international market-based levels, and even for free.

With no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and tensions between Moscow and 
Yerevan continuing to grow, the Armenian government is increasingly looking for 
other arms suppliers. Since September 2022 it has reportedly signed a number of 
defense contracts with India worth at least $400 million. In October 2023, it 
also signed two arms deals with France.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenpress: Fire broke out at the residence of the Greek Prime Minister

Babken Chilingarian

 11:32,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. A fire broke out in a ground-floor store in the courtyard of the Maximos Mansion, the official residence of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Saturday morning,  the Greek Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection reported.

The incident is being investigated by the competent investigative department.

The residence of the Prime Minister of Greece is located in the very center of Athens, on Herodou Attikis Street. There is a fire station not far from it.