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Author: Chakrian Hovsep

PM Pashinyan convenes consultation on preliminary fiscal framework of 2023-2025 Medium- Term Expenditure Program

Chakrian Hovsep

PM Pashinyan convenes consultation on preliminary fiscal framework of 2023-2025 Medium- Term Expenditure Program

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 19:16, 8 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation on the preliminary fiscal framework of the 2023-2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Program, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic eof the prime Minister.

Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan presented the summary analysis made by the Ministry, the purpose of which is to provide information to the state agencies on the assessment of the current and capital expenditure limits of the fiscal space. The Minister referred to the main indicators of the fiscal framework, the opportunities for the implementation of the Government’s targets in terms of current and capital expenditures, the risks of the fiscal framework and the forecasted trends in other directions.

In this context, an exchange of views took place, issues related to the activities envisaged by the Government’s Action Plan were touched upon. The current and capital projects, the reform process initiated in various spheres and further actions were discussed.

The Prime Minister stressed that it is necessary to work actively and effectively in order to achieve the social, infrastructural and other targets in all the directions, and gave specific instructions to the officials in charge.

Azerbaijani press: Baku rejects Turkish MP’s "baseless" claims, urges apology

Chakrian Hovsep
4 February 2022 17:55 (UTC+04:00)
834

By Vugar Khalilov

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva has rejected as “baseless” Turkish MP Aykut Erdogdu’s claims on the alleged “tangled and dark ties” between the Azerbaijani and Turkish leaders.

“We reject the completely baseless accusations made by the CHP [Republican People’s Party] MP about the allegedly ‘tangled and dark ties’ between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey.  Relations between President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan are fraternal and based on the two countries’ national interests,” Abdullayeva said in a statement published on the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry website.

In response to the Turkish MP’s unfounded accusations about Azerbaijani-Turkish energy relations and the two leaders, the spokesperson emphasized that Azerbaijan and Turkey have open, completely transparent, and mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, including energy.

She went on to say that as a result of these relations, the strategic partnership between the two countries has been strengthened even further, reaching the level of alliance with the historic Shusha Declaration, and the bonds of brotherhood between the two peoples have been strengthened like never before.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time a CHP representative has taken an anti-Azerbaijani stance and attempted to confuse baseless allegations. These efforts, however, have no chance of success because the manipulation of any pro-Armenian politicians cannot overshadow Turkish-Azerbaijani relations,” Abdullayeva emphasized.

Azerbaijan is expecting the CHP to apologize for the allegations made by the deputy. Otherwise, Baku reserves the right to take the issue to court, Abdullayeva said.

In response to claims about bilateral energy relations, she emphasized that the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), as a strategic infrastructure project, is based on strong cooperation and friendship between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the strong political will of the two countries’ leaders to address energy security issues.

The TANAP project has a total investment of $6.3 billion. At its peak, the project provided 15,000 jobs, with the majority of the investment coming from local producers. It should be noted that the TANAP project has added a significant amount of value to the Turkish industry and related sectors, Abdullayeva said.

“We want to emphasize that the tariffs used in this project fully comply with all international standards. The Turkish side earns the same amount of transit revenue because it is a 30 percent partner in the project via BOTAS,” she added.

The diplomat noted that along with Azerbaijan, Turkey imports natural gas from Russia, Iran, Qatar, Nigeria and other countries and that Azerbaijan has the lowest natural gas price among these producers.

On the other hand, the TANAP project creates new economic and social opportunities for Turkey and ensures the sustainability of its energy security at a time when natural gas prices are at their peak and gas shortages are growing, Abdullayeva stressed.

SOCAR Turkey, a subsidiary of Azerbaijani State Oil Company in Turkey, won a completely open and transparent tender in 2008 with an investment of $ 2.04 billion, she said of Petkim, one of Turkey’s largest enterprises.

Abdullayeva added that additional investments in Petkim totaled $ 1.2 billion over the next few years.

Furthermore, with SOCAR’s multibillion-dollar investment, the construction of the STAR refinery and its integration with the Petkim petrochemical plant has created opportunities for Turkey to produce an additional $ 2 billion worth of products. Turkey previously spent $ 2 billion on the import of these products, the spokesperson reminded.

Abdullayeva emphasized that the friendly and fraternal relations established by the leaders of the two countries have allowed Azerbaijan to invest more than $ 19 billion in Turkey to date.

On February 1, Erdogdu alleged on his Twitter post that there was corruption in Turkey’s natural gas purchase and that the country had lost billions of dollars due to a change in the natural gas agreement signed with Azerbaijan.

He claimed that the TANAP project provided no benefit to Turkey.

“While these confused and dark relations between Erdogan and Aliyev continue, 51 percent of Petkim was transferred to SOCAR and after this transfer, SOCAR received significant benefits,” he claimed.

It should be noted that the aforementioned tweet has been removed from the MP’s Twitter account.

First Ambassador to Armenia Chrysantopoulos: Azerbaijan is committing “cultural fascism” on Armenian heritage

Chakrian Hovsep

Feb 6 2022


by ATHENS BUREAU

The First Ambassador of Greece to Armenia, former Secretary General of the ISTC, Leonidas Chrysantopoulos, made a statement on Azerbaijani threats against Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

“The creation of a working group by Azerbaijan to destroy the Armenian presence in Armenian churches in the occupied territories of Artsakh as a result of the last war by Baku is cultural fascism,” said the highly experienced diplomat.

“Under the pretext of Christian churches belonging to Caucasian Albanians, this group must decide that the Armenian presence should be eliminated from the churches, he continued.

“The Albanian Church of the Caucasus was an autonomous church,” Chrysantopoulos, said, adding: “It was created briefly in the fifth century and subordinated to the Armenian Apostolic Church in 705.”

“The Albanian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots, who created it in 405 and at the same time created Albanian. Therefore, it is impossible for the Armenian Church itself to use the Albanian churches,” he explained.

“Baku’s aim is to commit cultural genocide, and for that it must be condemned,” concluded the former Secretary-General of the The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (OSEP).

READ MORE: Dendias: Greece cannot acquiesce to irrational neo-Ottoman demands.

According to Hyper Allergic, Azerbaijan on February 3 announced the creation of a state body for purging politically-undesirable monuments in Artsakh.

“A working group of specialists in [Caucasian] Albanian history and architecture has been set up to remove the fictitious traces written by Armenians,” said Azerbaijan’s minister of culture Anar Karimov.

The reference to Caucasian Albanian history is a popular state-sponsored conspiracy theory that reimagines indigenous Armenian monuments as appropriated from an extinct civilization.

“I can’t find any justification for or logic in the creation of the new state organ to remove Armenian inscriptions,” Baku-based Azerbaijani researcher Cavid Aga, whose work focuses on the Caucasian Albanian language, told Hyperallergic in an interview.

“It doesn’t serve Azerbaijan’s international standing; it doesn’t serve multiculturalism policy; it won’t serve the future. There is simply no reason to do this,” he added.

READ MORE: Antalya Diplomacy Forum: Turkey wants the participation of Greece and Cyprus in its “Davos.” 

Meanwhile, Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos is a member of the Hellenic Institute of Cultural Diplomacy.

He has served in the Greek Consulate in Toronto, the Permanent Delegation of Greece to the EU, as Consul General of Greece in Istanbul and Deputy Permanent Representative of Greece to the Greek Mission at the UN in New York, as well as at the Greek Embassy in Beijing.

He was the first Greek Ambassador to Yerevan, Ambassador to Poland, to Canada, and from 2006-2012 was Secretary-General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization based in Istanbul.

He is the author of “Caucasus Chronicles-Nation Building and Diplomacy in Armenia 1993-1994” and “The 1974 Invasion of Cyprus as presented mainly by the radio and television of Canada and the USA.”

He has published many articles in the national and international revues and press.

Recently an article written by him and entitled: “The contribution of Multilateral Cultural Diplomacy in the development of humanity and the important role of Greece”, was published in Issues of Greek Cultural Diplomacy of the Foundation of International Legal Studies.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/02/06/chrysantopoulos-azerbaijan/

Azerbaijan announces plans to erase Armenian traces from churches

Chakrian Hovsep
eurasianet
Feb 4 2022

Heydar Isayev Feb 4, 2022

The medieval Armenian Dadivank Monastery, in Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district. (photo: Joshua Kucera)

Azerbaijan’s government has announced that it intends to erase Armenian inscriptions on religious sites in the territory that it reclaimed in the 2020 war with Armenia.

It justified the move by arguing that the churches in fact were originally the heritage of Caucasian Albania, an ancient kingdom once located in what is now Azerbaijan. The theory, which is not supported by mainstream historians, has long been propagated by nationalist Azerbaijani historians and has been embraced by the current government in Baku.

Minister of Culture Anar Karimov told a press briefing on February 3 that a working group has been established which will be responsible for removing “the fictitious traces written by Armenians on Albanian religious temples.”

“We are going to inspect those places with the working group members, and after the inspection, we will consider our next steps,” Karimov said. While he did not identify who will be in the working group, the minister stated that the group will consist of “both local and international experts.”

The Albanian theory was first developed in the 1950s by prominent Azerbaijani historian Ziya Buniyatov, who claimed that Armenian inscriptions in churches on Azerbaijani territory were later additions to Albanian churches. According to this theory, they were only “Armenianized” following large-scale Armenian emigration to the region after Russia won control of the territory from Azerbaijan in the beginning of the 19th century. 

The theory has gained momentum following the 2020 war, when Azerbaijan regained control of territory that contained several significant medieval Armenian churches.

In March 2021, on a trip to Hadrut, President Ilham Aliyev, together with his wife and daughter, visited a 12th-century Armenian Holy Mother of God Church, which was in ruins. “Armenians wanted to Armenianize this church and wrote inscriptions in Armenian here, but they failed. If this were an Armenian church, would they leave it in such a state? It looks as if it were a garbage dump,” Aliyev said at the church. “All these inscriptions are fake – they were written later.”

The day after the ceasefire was signed ending the 2020 war, Karimov tweeted about the medieval Armenian Dadivank Monastery in Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district, calling it by the Azerbaijani name Khudavang and describing it as “one of the best testimonies of ancient Caucasian Albania civilization.“

In May 2021, a 19th-century church in the city of Shusha that had been damaged in the war started to undergo reconstruction, to what Baku said was its “original” form.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan also has been promising to restore Azerbaijani monuments in the territory that had been neglected or vandalized during the years of Armenian occupation. In one case, Aliyev promised to restore a 19th century mosque which Armenians had presented as Persian rather than Azerbaijani.

But the announcement of the working group is the first concrete step that the government has taken overtly promising to erase Armenian traces on the churches now under their control.

“Usually even when they restore or renovate historic sites, we only become aware of what they have done afterwards,” Javid Agha, a social media commentator who has extensively researched Albanian heritage in Azerbaijan, told Eurasianet.

Agha drew a comparison with Julfa, in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan, where thousands of Armenian “khachkar” cross stones were destroyed in 2005.

The ongoing threats to Armenian cultural sites have drawn international concern. Shortly after the war, Aliyev promised Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would protect Christian sites in the newly retaken territories. UNESCO issued a statement warning Armenia and Azerbaijan that “damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind.” Efforts by UNESCO to send a mission to Karabakh to examine the cultural heritage sites have long been stalled, however.

In December, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Azerbaijan must “take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts.”

“If this is true, they are blatantly violating the [ICJ] order,” Sheila Paylan, a legal adviser to Armenia for the ICJ case, told Eurasianet. “For the future of this case, it certainly doesn’t help Azerbaijan’s position that they are in full respect of the obligation to prevent desecration. This constitutes an active measure to falsify and destroy Armenian cultural heritage.”

Armenian officials did not immediately react to the Azerbaijani announcement. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan told Eurasianet that they had no comment on this specific issue now but that they had repeatedly emphasized the importance of preserving Armenian cultural heritage. 

 

With additional reporting from Ani Mejlumyan.

Heydar Isayev is a journalist from Baku.

 

Judiciary crisis: Opposition MP Taguhi Tovmasyan addresses European ambassadors, CoE leaders

Chakrian Hovsep
panorama.am
Armenia – Feb 5 2022

Armenia’s judicial system is in “deep crisis”, which has strong political overtones, Taguhi Tovmasyan, an MP from the opposition With Honor faction and head of the parliament’s Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, said in a message addressed to European ambassadors and the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe.

“Recently, our country has repeatedly recorded blatant encroachments on the judiciary by the authorities, including cases of disciplinary proceedings and criminal prosecution against unwanted judges. According to experts, the process of the illegal arrest of judge Boris Bakhshiyan has now started,” she said in her address on Saturday.

Earlier on 2 February, Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) approved a request of Prosecutor-General Artur Davtyan to allow the law enforcement authorities to prosecute and arrest Bakhshiyan, a judge of the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction. The decision came days after Bakhshiyan ruled to release jailed opposition figure and war veteran Ashot Minasyan on bail.

Tovmasyan highlighted that there is no convention or international law that would allow judges to be prosecuted for their rulings.

She cited Article 3 of Armenia’s Constitution, which says: “The respect for and protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people are the duty of the public authorities. The inalienable dignity of the human being constitutes the integral basis of his or her rights and freedoms.”

“Such steps have nothing to do with the establishment of democratic institutions, they indicate political problems and a deep crisis in the country.

“Assessing the situation and predicting the possible consequences for our state, as well as being guided by our country’s commitments to international organizations for the observance of democratic principles and human rights, I expect you to give a fair response and make a proper and objective assessment of the situation,” Tovmasyan noted.

Armenia-Turkey normalization to be “big step for entire region” – Austrian FM

Chakrian Hovsep

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 15:41, 2 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg expressed support to the establishment of peace and stability in South Caucasus, noting that Vienna will continue to care and show its dedication to the region and Armenia.

FM Schallenberg was speaking in Yerevan at a joint press conference with Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan.

FM Schallenberg said Austria encourages the solution of conflicts in the region and welcomes the new dialogue between Armenia and Turkey for normalization. The Austrian FM said that the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey will be a big step for the entire region.

“We must work for easing tensions and building trust in the region. In my opinion the element which is very interesting is that very conscious steps are being made in the direction of normalizing relations with your neighbor Turkey, which would be a big step for the entire region and for the people of Armenia,” the Austrian FM said.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 01/26/2022

Chakrian Hovsep 
                                        Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Ethics Inquiry Sought Against Pro-Government Lawmaker
January 26, 2022
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Vahagn Aleksanian, a parliament deputy from the ruling Civil Contract 
party, at a news briefing in Yerevan, October 8, 2021.
The opposition Pativ Unem bloc said on Wednesday that it will demand a 
parliamentary ethics inquiry into a pro-government lawmaker who branded 
journalists critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian as “prostitutes.”
The controversial lawmaker, Vahagn Aleksanian, lashed out at Armenian TV 
channels in a speech delivered on the parliament floor last week. He claimed 
that almost all of them have been disseminating “hate speech” against Pashinian 
and his family members since Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
“They are not journalists, they are verbal prostitutes,” Aleksanian said, 
drawing strong condemnation from opposition lawmakers and Armenia’s leading 
press freedom groups.
More than a dozen such organizations issued a joint statement last Friday 
demanding that the ruling Civil Contract party public denounce Aleksanian’s 
insults. They warned that failure to do so would mean that Pashinian’s political 
team approves and encourages such rhetoric.
Pashinian, who himself is a former journalist and newspaper editor, defended on 
Monday his loyalist’s scandalous comments.
“If I was still a journalist … and first and foremost honesty served my 
profession, I would not attribute those comments to myself,” he told Armenian 
state television.
The media associations also called on the Armenian parliament to form an ad hoc 
ethics commission that would investigate and evaluate Aleksanian’s conduct.
Pativ Unem’s Taguhi Tovmasian, who chairs the parliament’s standing committee on 
human rights, said that her opposition bloc will propose a relevant decision to 
the National Assembly in the coming days.
The decision must be backed by the parliament majority representing Civil 
Contract. Lawmakers from Pashinian’s party declined to comment on the opposition 
initiative.
Pointing to Pashinian’s remarks, Tovmasian suggested that Civil Contract is 
unlikely to agree to the ethics inquiry. “But we should try,” she said.
“After Pashinian’s words, I can say for certain that the ruling force will not 
agree to set up the ethics commission,” said Gegham Manukian of the opposition 
Hayastan alliance.
In the course of last year Armenian media watchdogs repeatedly accused 
Pashinian’s administration of seeking to curb press freedom in the country. In 
particular, they denounced government-backed bills that tripled maximum legal 
fines for “slander” and made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and 
public figures.
EU Envoy Hails Pashinian’s ‘Positive’ Comments On Azerbaijan
January 26, 2022
        • Siranuysh Gevorgian
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets the representative of the French 
Presidency to the Council of the European Union, Isabelle Dumont, and the EU's 
special representative to the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar, January 21, 2022.
A senior European Union diplomat on Wednesday praised Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian for sticking to conciliatory rhetoric and stressing the importance of 
normalizing Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan.
Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, reacted to 
Pashinian’s televised interview aired on Monday.
“I was pleased to see several positive and forward-looking remarks in the 
interview given by Prime Minister Pashinian on January 24, 2022, in particular 
on his vision for the future of the region, normalization of relations between 
neighbors and conflict-related rhetoric of the 1990s,” Klaar told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service.
“A lot more needs to be done by the sides when it comes to dealing with the past 
and the legacy of conflict,” he said in written comments. “This is indeed a long 
but certainly a crucial process that needs to involve the societies on both 
sides.”
In his interview, Pashinian avoided condemning Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev’s bellicose statements directed at Armenia and claims that Azerbaijan’s 
victory in the 2020 war put an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and that 
Yerevan and other parts of the country are “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
Pashinian drew parallels between Aliyev’s aggressive rhetoric and statements 
made by politicians in Armenia and Karabakh after the Armenian victory in the 
first Karabakh war.
“Statements frequently voiced from Azerbaijan mirror statements that were made 
in Armenia after 1994 … Those statements [by Aliyev] contain a certain element 
of revenge and we must take this into account,” he said.
Pashinian also reaffirmed strong support for opening transport links between 
Armenia and Azerbaijan. They will contribute to regional peace and earn Armenia 
economic benefits, he said.
Klaar and a senior French diplomat visited Baku and Yerevan last week to discuss 
with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders ongoing efforts to de-escalate 
tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The EU envoy reiterated on Wednesday that he is satisfied with the results of 
the talks. But he did not go into details.
“Our discussions last week were positive and we are looking forward to 
continuing our engagement with the sides to help them build a safe, stable and 
prosperous South Caucasus,” he said.
Armenian Government Downplays Gas Price Hike
January 26, 2022
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia -- A gas distribution facility.
The Armenian government has sought to justify a widely anticipated increase in 
the retail prices of natural gas in the country.
The government said on Wednesday that the prices should not go up again for the 
next ten years if they are raised soon by public utility regulators.
The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) signaled a price rise before it 
was formally requested this month by Armenia’s Russian-owned gas distribution 
network. The PSRC said that gas mostly imported from Russia could become more 
expensive for Armenian households on April 1.
In a December statement, the PSRC cited the need to repay $270 million in loans 
used for the recently completed modernization of the Metsamor nuclear plant. It 
also pointed to Armenia’s contractual obligation to enable Gazprom to recoup 
investments made in a large thermal-power plant located in the central town of 
Hrazdan.
The regulatory body revealed that the Armenian and Russian governments have 
reached an agreement that commits Yerevan to providing the Hrazdan plant with 
$31.8 million annually for the next ten years.
Armenia - The Public Services Regulatory Commission meets in Yerevan. November 
20, 2019.
In written comments sent to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the government said that 
the deal -- and the promised subsidy in particular -- will become null and void 
if the Gazprom Armenia operator or its parent company seeks further price hikes 
by 2032.
The PSRC already raised the prices of electricity and drinking water last month 
following a highest inflation in many years recorded in the country. Analysts 
say that the upcoming gas price hike will further increase the cost of living 
and hit vulnerable groups of the population especially hard.
In its latest application to the PSRC, Gazprom Armenia requested, among other 
things, an end to a more than 30 percent price discount enjoyed by low-income 
families. Government officials have promised, however, that the preferential 
tariff for the poor will remain the same.
Babken Pipoyan, who leads a consumer rights group, argued that even if the 
authorities honor that pledge they cannot prevent knock-on effects on the cost 
of other essential products.
“You can’t raise the gas price for bread producers and expect the prices of 
bread to stay unchanged,” he said. “You can’t raise the gas price for greenhouse 
owners and expect no impact on the prices of agricultural products.”
International gas prices have skyrocketed over the past year. They are now much 
higher than Russia’s existing wholesale tariff for Armenia set at $165 per 
thousand cubic meters.
Pashinian Again Infected With Coronavirus
January 26, 2022
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is vaccinated against the coronavirus, 
Yerevan, May 3, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has tested positive for the coronavirus for the 
second time in 20 months, his office said on Wednesday.
The office said that Pashinian has gone into self-isolation and is not showing 
any symptoms of COVID-19. He will therefore work from home for now, it added in 
a statement.
Pashinian and members of his family were already infected with the coronavirus 
in June 2020. He announced their recovery from the disease a week later. During 
that weeklong self-isolation, Pashinian held daily news briefings with other 
officials outside his residence.
The prime minister claimed to have again gone into coronavirus-related 
self-isolation in January last year when he commented through a spokeswoman on 
his failure to attend an Armenian Christmas mass in Yerevan.
It was not clear whether he took a coronavirus test at the time. Pashinian, his 
wife and elder children were vaccinated against COVID-19 later in 2021.
Pashinian’s latest positive test result was announced amid an upsurge in 
coronavirus cases blamed by Armenian officials on the Omicron variant of the 
virus.
Armenia - Pedestrians wear mandatory face masks in Yerevan, November 2, 2021.
The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that 1,931 new cases were registered in 
the country of about 3 million in the past 24 hours. It reported only 100-150 
cases a day in late December and early this month.
The ministry hopes to contain the latest wave of COVID-19 infections by stepping 
up its vaccination campaign. Less than a third of Armenia’s population has been 
fully vaccinated so far.
The Armenian government introduced on January 22 a mandatory coronavirus health 
pass for entry to cultural and leisure venues. Only those people who have been 
inoculated against COVID-19 or have had a recent negative test are now allowed 
to visit them.
Entities failing to ensure their visitors’ compliance with the requirement risk 
initial fines ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 drams ($210-$630).
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenian side wants to get involved in substantive talks with Turkey as soon as possible

Chakrian Hovsep

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 15:24,

YEREAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. During their recent first meeting in Moscow, the special envoys of Armenia and Turkey for the dialogue between the countries exchanged views on how they see the process both from technical and also from content terms, Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan, who is Armenia’s special envoy, told reporters today.

He reminded that the foreign ministries of Armenia and Turkey have issued statements about the results of that meeting. “It is also fixed in the statement of the Turkish foreign ministry that the sides agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions. In general, that meeting was held in a constructive environment, but how the process will move on depends on the readiness of the sides and the continuation of constructiveness. Armenia has always stated that it is ready to normalize the relations with Turkey without preconditions, reach the opening of borders and establish diplomatic relations”, Rubinyan said.

Therefore, the sides agreed to hold negotiations and continue them without preconditions. As for how the process will move on, Rubinyan stated once again that it will depend on Turkey’s level of constructiveness, honesty and readiness.

“The desire of the Armenian side is to get involved in substantive talks as soon as possible because we are interested in the solution of the real problems. And this is, firstly, the opening of the border. We have stated and state the following: Armenia is ready to achieve the normalization of the relations without preconditions”, Rubinyan said.

He also reminded that no leadership of Armenia has put the recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a precondition of the Armenian side for the normalization of the relations.

“When we say that Armenia is ready to normalize the relations without preconditions, it means that the same is expected from the other side. What is the entire meaning of negotiations? There is situation which is not beneficial to us. I think that it is not beneficial to Turkey too. We want for the border to open. And we are ready to negotiate around it, the main essence of the negotiation is that there is a problem between the two countries, and it must be solved”, he said.

Commenting on his first meeting in Moscow with Turkey’s special envoy Serdar Kilic, Rubinyan said that they have tried to discuss the positive issues. “What will happen then depends on Turkey’s level of constructiveness, readiness to get involved in substantive talks. I can state that I assess what has taken place as of this moment normal, I assess the first meeting as constructive. But how the process will move on, it depends also on Turkey’s readiness, honesty and constructiveness”, Ruben Rubinyan said.

He informed that no agreement has been reached about the date and venue of the next meeting. “But, of course, one day that agreement will be reached, and I will inform”, he added.