Tuesday,
Yerevan Rejects Aliyev’s Demands For ‘Corridor’
• Nane Sahakian
• Lusine Musayelian
Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel meets with Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian in Brussels, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Ilham Aliyev of obstructing the opening
of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday after the
Azerbaijani president said Yerevan must not control a land “corridor” demanded
by Baku.
Speaking just hours before his fresh talks with Pashinian planned in Brussels,
Aliyev said the so-called “Zangezur corridor” that would connect Azerbaijan to
its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenian territory must have the same status as the
existing Lachin corridor linking Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
“There are no customs checkpoints on the Lachin corridor right now,” Aliyev said
after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “The same must also be
the case on the Zangezur corridor.”
“If Armenia insists on setting up customs checkpoints to control the movement of
goods and people through the Zangezur corridor, then we will insist on the same
conditions for the Lachin corridor,” he told reporters.
Belgium -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrives in Brussels, December 13,
2021.
Pashinian was quick to reject Aliyev’s demands and accuse Baku of trying to
“drive the issue of opening regional transport links into deadlock.”
“The Azerbaijani president’s attempts to draw parallels between the opening of
regional transport routes and the Lachin corridor have nothing to do with
discussions held and statements signed on that topic to date and are
unacceptable to Armenia,” he wrote on Facebook. “I will make this position clear
at the trilateral meeting slated for today.”
Pashinian referred to his planned talks with Aliyev hosted by European Council
President Charles Michel. The latter held separate talks with the two leaders
earlier on Tuesday.
Aliyev, Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin reported major progress
towards opening Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links after holding talks in the
Russian city of Sochi on November 26. Putin said the
Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group will formalize in the coming days
“decisions which we agreed today.”
However, the group co-headed by deputy prime ministers of the three states
announced no agreements after meeting in Moscow on December 1.
On December 6, Aliyev renewed his threats to forcibly open a land “corridor” to
Nakhichevan. Yerevan condemned the threats and said they run counter to
understandings reached at Sochi.
Visiting Yerevan on November 5, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk
said the trilateral task force has agreed that Armenia and Azerbaijan will
“retain sovereignty over roads passing through their territory.” The Russian
Foreign Ministry also reported such an understanding at the time.
Armenian Central Bank Approves Another Rate Hike
Armenia - The Central Bank building in Yerevan.
The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) raised its benchmark interest rate on Tuesday
for the seventh time in a year as it continued to grapple with rising inflation.
The CBA’s governing board set the refinancing rate at 7.75 percent, up by 0.5
percentage points.
The minimum cost of borrowing stood at 4.25 percent when the bank began
tightening its monetary policy in December 2020 after a major weakening of the
Armenian currency, the dram, followed by rising consumer prices.
In a statement, the CBA blamed the latest increase on a “substantial increase in
inflationary pressures” on the Armenian economy emanating from the outside world.
The statement said annual consumer price inflation in the country accelerated
from 9.1 percent in October to 9.6 percent in November, the highest rate in many
years. It is well above a 4 percent target set by the Armenian authorities for
2021.
The higher-than-projected inflation was primarily driven by sharp rises in the
prices of key foodstuffs. Armenia imports some of them.
The CBA said that international food and commodity prices keep rising. “In these
circumstances, inflationary pressures on Armenia’s economy coming from the
external sector are expected to increase,” it warned.
After concluding a three-week visit to Yerevan on November 12, a senior official
from the International Monetary Fund stressed the importance of “reducing
inflation towards the Central Bank’s target of 4 percent.”
The bank also reported on Tuesday a slowdown in economic activity in the
country, raising more questions about the Armenian government’s GDP growth
projections.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in July that the domestic economy is on
course to grow by 6 percent this year after contracting by 7.4 percent in 2020.
The IMF and the World Bank forecast more modest growth rates this fall.
The government’s Statistical Committee registered a GDP growth rate of just 2.7
percent in the third quarter of 2021.
Armenia, Turkey To Name Special Envoys For Dialogue
• Tatevik Sargsian
• Artak Khulian
Lebanon - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a news conference
with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib in Beirut, November 16, 2021.
Turkey and Armenia have said that they will appoint soon special envoys for
bilateral negotiations on normalizing their relations.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was the first to announce the planned
talks in Turkey’s parliament on Monday evening. The special negotiators will be
named as part of “steps to normalize relations with Armenia,” he said without
giving any other details.
Cavusoglu also stressed that Turkey consulted with Azerbaijan before making the
decision. “We will be taking every step together with Azerbaijan,” he said.
Armenia confirmed and hailed Cavusoglu’s statement on Tuesday morning. The
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanian, said “the Armenian side also will
appoint a special representative for the dialogue.”
“Armenia has always been and remains ready for a process normalizing relations
with Turkey without preconditions,” Hunanian said in written comments to the
media.
Armenia - The Foreign Ministry new building in Yerevan.
Ankara has for decades refused to establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan
and kept the Turkish-Armenian border closed out of solidarity with Azerbaijan.
It provided decisive military support to Baku during last year’s
Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
In August this year, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke of “positive signals”
sent by the Turks, saying that his government is ready to reciprocate them.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said afterwards that Pashinian has
offered to meet with him.
Erdogan appeared to make such a meeting conditional on Armenia agreeing to open
a transport corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave.
He also cited Azerbaijan’s demands for a formal Armenian recognition of
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.
Cavusoglu made clear later in September that Turkey will continue to coordinate
its policy on Armenia with Azerbaijan. “We decide together, we take steps
together,” he said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (L) meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev in Nagorno-Karabakh, June 15, 2021
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan complained last month about “new
preconditions” set by Ankara. “Among them is a ‘corridor’ connecting Azerbaijan
and Nakhichevan,” he told the French daily Le Figaro.
Eduard Aghajanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign
relations, said on Tuesday that the two sides announced plans for normalization
talks as a result of a “process that started at some point.” He shed no light on
that process.
“This doesn’t mean that Armenia is renouncing its key national interests,”
Aghajanian told reporters. “We believe that it is in Armenia’s interests to
establish diplomatic relations with Turkey.”
The main opposition Hayastan alliance dismissed these assurances. “It is evident
that Turkey and Azerbaijan are now trying to clinch everything from a weakened
Armenia and its government willy-nilly serving their interests,” said Artsvik
Minasian, a senior Hayastan lawmaker.
Hayastan and other opposition groups denounced earlier what they see as
Pashinian’s secret overtures to Erdogan. They said that Pashinian is ready to
make more unilateral concessions to Ankara and Baku.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Elizabeth Jabejian
Turkish press: In the aftermath of Joe Biden’s ‘Summit for Democracy’
An illustration by Erhan Yalvaç shows U.S. President Joe Biden wearing the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
United States President Joe Biden hosted the Summit for Democracy, an ambitious virtual meeting, on Dec. 9-10. The summit, to which 110 nations were invited, had already faced criticism over the choice of participants. Washington invited Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, the Philippines and Brazil, leaving out countries like Turkey, Bangladesh and Hungary. In this sense, many observers noted that the list of participants reflected America’s national interests. At the same time, the summit was widely viewed as an extension of Washington’s claim to global leadership. Biden, who claims that “America is back,” attached a lot of importance to that event. In an essay for the Foreign Affairs magazine, he pledged, prior to his election, to promote the issue of strengthening democracy at the global level. Biden thus promised to host a summit to bring together “the nations of the free world.”
Many things can be said about that claim. Clearly, the first point is that the U.S. will never get to define democratic legitimacy. At the same time, the so-called summit for democracy rests firmly on geopolitical calculations – at the expense of values. The summit’s chief geopolitical purpose was to form a global coalition of democratic states against the rise of China and Russia’s expansion. Yet the idea of democracies opposing authoritarian regimes is doomed to fail. The U.S. lacks the capacity to engage in the promotion of democracy globally and great power competition makes such polarization impossible.
Indeed, the real world is full of contradictions. For example, Vietnam, which positions itself opposite China, is a U.S. ally that happens to be authoritarian – just like China itself. Likewise, European democracies have no interest in jeopardizing their natural gas interests (like the Nord Stream 2) for the purpose of containing Russia. For the record, neither China nor Russia has a problem with working together with democratic states. They are not in a position to impose their own models on the rest. Indeed, authoritarianism reflects each country’s respective circumstances as opposed to promotion.
Another important point is that Beijing does not ostensibly intend to turn its strategic competition with Washington into an ideological cold war. In other words, there is a difference between supporting democracies and forming an alliance of democratic states against authoritarian regimes. As such, it is already clear that Washington’s newest geopolitical tool will be unsuccessful. It is true that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration did not care about promoting freedom. It is also true that the Biden administration is tapping into democracy and human rights as a discourse, a source of domestic consolidation and a foreign policy tool. Yet the failure of America’s democracy promotion is self-evident.
Moreover, what happened at the U.S. Congress in January 2021 compelled the experts in Washington to be more humble. They now stress that democracy remains a fragile and unfinished project – even in the United States. Recalling that America’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan stained the relevant concepts, they recommend their leaders make less ambitious policy choices. For example, they think that America should promote “pluralism” instead of “democracy.”
Does the United States have what it takes to lead the world? Considering that the Biden administration lacks an effective strategy to deal with China or Russia, expecting a strategy on democracy promotion would be a tall order. Let us recall that the U.S. president threatened only economic sanctions if Russia were to invade Ukraine. In other words, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have nothing to worry about, except Ukrainian resistance.
The difficulty of restoring America’s global standing, the fact that interests trump values, the complexities of foreign policy and the preferential treatment of certain allies turned Biden’s ambitious summit into an uninteresting online festival.
There are some folks who viewed Washington’s failure to invite Turkey as a sign that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was being excluded. Some even believe that the opposition could benefit from that situation. Indeed, they justify that act of exclusion with reference to Turkey’s “drift away from the Western alliance.” One cannot help but find that inferiority complex and unfair approach irritating. Here’s just one fact about those people: They cannot even criticize Washington’s favorable treatment of terrorist organizations like the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing, the YPG.
Russia awaits formation of Armenian, Azeri delegations to delimit borders, diplomat says
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 9 2021
Moscow awaits the formation of delegations from Baku and Yerevan as soon as possible to establish a commission on the border delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday, TASS reported.
“As it was agreed in Sochi on November 26 this year, it is extremely important to work towards the creation of a bilateral commission on the delimitation of state boundaries between Azerbaijan and Armenia <...> We are also looking forward to forming national delegations from both countries as soon as possible,” she said.
Zakharova stressed that the work on the unblocking of economic and transport links in the South Caucasus has been underway, adding that agreements achieved following the meeting of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Sochi confirmed the countries’ readiness to move towards normalizing the situation in the region.
“The high-level agreements in Sochi confirmed the readiness of the leadership of Azerbaijan and Armenia for further steps towards the normalization [of the situation]. We have been working on their consistent implementation in contacts with both Baku and Yerevan, including the settling of border disputes as well as unblocking transport links in the South Caucasus,” the diplomat concluded.
Armenian FM, OIF Secretary General discuss regional security-related issues
11:55,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met on December 9 with Secretary General of the International Organization of la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo on the sidelines of his working visit in Paris, the foreign ministry reports.
The sides discussed the implementation process of the initiatives within Armenia’s chairmanship at the Organization.
Ararat Mirzoyan and Louise Mushikiwabo discussed the prospects of strengthening the Armenia-OIF cooperation, particularly through the implementation of programs in economy and youth fields.
FM Mirzoyan said that Armenia supports Louise Mushikiwabo’s proposed reforms agenda of the Organization.
Louise Mushikiwabo presented to the Armenian FM the report of the OIF mission which observed the 2021 June parliamentary elections of Armenia.
The sides then exchanged ideas about the preparation works ahead of the 18th Francophonie summit to be held in Tunis in 2022.
FM Mirzoyan also presented a number of issues relating to regional stability and security to the OIF Secretary General.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
IRICA head visits Armenia, Georgia to explore customs co-op
Tehran Times
Dec 10 2021
– 15:35
TEHRAN – A high-ranking Iranian delegation led by Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mirashrafi traveled to Armenia to review mutual interests.
The Iranian delegation entered Armenia through the Moghri border crossing, in which Mirashrafi held talks with the border authorities to get more familiar with the services rendered to Iranian citizens and traders at the border.
Upon arrival in Armenia, he met with the Chairman of the Revenue Committee of Armenia to discuss customs issues, exchange trade information, and follow up on previous agreements.
During his stay in Armenia, the IRICA head also met Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan and Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan.
He also had a meeting with Iranian businessmen and economic activists living in Armenia.
Mirashrafi then left Armenia for Georgia on Friday Morning.
EF/MA
Opposition Armenia faction suspends its activities in international organizations
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 7 2021
The opposition Armenia parliamentary faction is suspending its activities in international organizations and will resume them only if all bans and restrictions imposed on its MPs are lifted, the Armenia alliance said in a statement on Tuesday.
It says that parliamentary delegations involving the Armenian faction MPs, among others, were formed back in August. However, the opposition lawmakers have not taken part in the activities of the delegations to date due to “unlawful” arrests and restrictions on the movement of MPs, including those involved in the delegations.
“In fact, it is an obstacle to the constitutional activity of MPs. All trials have exclusively political overtones and lack any legal grounds. This situation is unprecedented for a member state of the Council of Europe and shows that Armenia is no longer a democratic state, where the rule of law prevails,” reads the statement.
The faction will notify the relevant international organizations of its decision.
Pashinyan proposes Armenian opposition to withdraw from CSTO and EAEU
Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 4 2021
The Armenian newspaper Past, with a reference to its sources, reported that today, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, is holding behind closed doors meeting with the extra-parliamentary opposition
The opposition in parliament is currently represented by two nationalist blocs of the leaders of the Karabakh clan – Robert Kocharian’s Armenia Alliance and Serzh Sargsyan’s I Have Honor Alliance. Both are Nikol Pashinyan’s political opponents. In this regard, the Prime Minister has to seek support among the political forces that did not pass to the National Assembly this year.
The agenda of the meeting includes the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the restoration of diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Ankara. However, there is also a less constructive issue – a possible break with Russia.
According to Past, the question in the program of Pashinyan’s meeting with the opposition is formulated as “Foreign policy prospects: discussion of Armenia’s withdrawal from the CSTO and the EAEU and alternative ways.” In addition, the Armenian prime minister wants to discuss the acceleration of Armenia’s European integration with extra-parliamentary politicians.
Thus, fears that Yerevan seeks to break with Russia, including through the termination of participation in Russian integration projects, are confirmed.
Azerbaijan continues ignoring the calls of the international community for release of Armenian POWs – FM Mirzoyan
21:13, 2 December, 2021
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The definition of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh based on the realization of the right to self-determination, the safe and dignified return of the displaced Armenian population throughout the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh should be substantive issues of negotiations. Equally, the resolution of pending humanitarian issues such as unconditional return of all Armenian POWs and all other captives, inquiry into the cases of enforced disappearances, protection of cultural heritage necessitates the strong engagement of the OSCE and its relevant mandates, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan announced at the 28th Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan said in his speech,
“Madam Chairperson,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset I would like to join my colleagues in thanking the OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship for steering the Organization throughout the year.
One year after the war of aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the conclusion of the November 9 Trilateral Statement, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains tense. Since May 2021 Azerbaijani armed forces have infiltrated across the borders of Armenia. Up to now, they maintain and continue strengthening their illegal presence on the sovereign territory of Armenia.
By its aggressive actions Azerbaijan is flagrantly violating the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. Needless to say, Azerbaijan’s actions also violate its obligations under the trilateral statement of 9 November on the cessation of all hostilities.
Another feature of the use of force is a constant attempt of Azerbaijan not merely to hold but capture Armenian servicemen and civilians. Not only does Azerbaijan continue to ignore the calls of the international community for the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages, but on number of instances, most recently on 16 November, its armed forces captured more military personnel in the course of its attack on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
No pretext can justify these violent actions. The continued presence of Azerbaijani armed forces on the territory of Armenia is a factor of destabilization in our region.
We hope that the November 26 trilateral meeting organized by the Russian Federation will pave the way for undertaking certain measures towards de-escalation of the situation in the region.
Dear Colleagues,
The use of force has never been a way to peace in general and in particular in our region. The use of force can defreeze dormant conflicts for a certain period of time but they will get frozen again once there is no negotiated and peaceful solution. War can come as a unilateral choice but peace always requires consent of all sides.
Armenia is willing to achieve lasting stability in the South Caucasus and is ready for negotiations to achieve that.
The sooner Azerbaijan embarks on the resumption of the peace process, the better will be chances to achieve comprehensive and durable settlement in our region. The definition of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh based on the realization of the right to self-determination, the safe and dignified return of the displaced Armenian population throughout the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh should be substantive issues of negotiations. Equally, the resolution of pending humanitarian issues such as unconditional return of all Armenian POWs and all other captives, inquiry into the cases of enforced disappearances, protection of cultural heritage necessitates the strong engagement of the OSCE and its relevant mandates.
With this in mind, Armenia will further contribute towards the resumption of a full-fledged NK peace process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in close cooperation with all OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries.
In closing, I would like to welcome Poland as an upcoming Chair of the OSCE and wish them every success.
Thank you.”
Turkish press: Kazakhstan buys 3 Turkish Aerospace-made Anka UCAVs: Report
TAI’s Anka is seen in the air in this photo provided on Aug. 14, 2021. (IHA Photo)
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will sell a total of three of its medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), Anka, to Kazakhstan, according to a media report.
Negotiations between the company and the Central Asian country have been ongoing for a while and resulted in an agreement signed in October, a report by Turkish daily HaberTürk said.
Back in May 2021, a military cooperation agreement was signed between Turkey and Kazakhstan that also foresees sharing tactical and experience of reconnaissance and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The report also claimed that negotiations are currently ongoing with two other potential purchasers of the Anka UCAV.
TAI made its first export of this particular drone to Tunisia. The company is to deliver three Anka UCAVs and three Ground Control Systems to the Tunisian Air Force Command as part of the agreement announced last year.
Anka UAV, developed entirely by TAI engineers domestically within the country, made its maiden flight on Dec. 30, 2010. A mass production agreement for the armed version of the drone, Anka-S, was signed in October 2013 and entered the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) inventory in 2017.
Turkish press: Putin regrets situation in Karabakh still not completely calm
Elena Teslova |26.11.2021
MOSCOW
The Russian president on Friday regretted that armed clashes continue on and off in the Nagorno-Karabakh region despite existing peace treaties, leading to more casualties.
Opening a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Sochi, Vladimir Putin said discussion on the Karabakh settlement will continue later in the day during trilateral talks, which will also include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
He said Russia’s peace-keeping mission and the Russian-Turkish monitoring center play a positive role in preventing wider confrontation, however, more needs to be done.
“It is necessary to discuss what has already been done and what still needs to be done by everyone, such that not only nothing like this (armed clashes) arises, but conditions are created for calming the situation and allow people to live in peace, and countries to develop,” the Russian leader added.
Putin said he has held a series of consultations with other government officials about economic problems and unblocking transport corridors in the region. “A lot of questions have piled up on this topic,” he said.
Baku and Yerevan were embroiled in a 44-day conflict on Karabakh – a region that lies within Azerbaijan but was under occupation of Armenia – last year, which ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire on Nov. 10, 2020.
During the faceoff that started in September 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades. The peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.
The leaders of the three countries later agreed to develop economic ties and infrastructure for the benefit of the entire Caucasus region.
Earlier this month, clashes broke out on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Russia stepping in again to mediate.