Wednesday,
Moscow, Baku ‘Discussing Return Of Karabakh Armenians’
Ethnic Armenian flee Karabakh for Armenia sitting in a truck at the Lachin
checkpoint controlled by Russian peackeepers and Azeri border guards, September
26, 2023.
Russia said on Wednesday that it is discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility
of the safe return of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by
last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive.
Azerbaijan launched the offensive despite a Russian-brokered ceasefire that
stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Armenia has denounced Russian peacekeepers for their failure to prevent or stop
the September 19-20 assault that restored Baku’s full control over Karabakh and
forced the region’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. President
Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have rejected the criticism.
“Moscow and Baku are discussing prospects for the return of the Armenian
population to Karabakh,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman, told a news briefing in Moscow.
Zakharova gave no details of those discussions. She stressed the importance of
“ensuring the rights and security” of Karabakh Armenians willing to return to
their homeland. Earlier this week, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail
Galuzin similarly called for “creating conditions” for their repatriation.
“We are ready to provide necessary support to that process, including through
Russian peacekeeping troops whose presence is of great importance,” Galuzin told
the official TASS news agency.
A board displaying a Russian state flag and an image of President Vladimir Putin
in Stepanakert following an Azeri military operation conducted and the mass
exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023.
Even before their exodus, Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents made clear
that they would not live under Azerbaijani rule. None of the more than 100,000
Karabakh refugees are known to have expressed a desire to return home in the
current circumstances.
Last month, Karabakh’s main political factions exiled in Armenia set up a
political committee to campaign for their “collective repatriation.” The
committee is headed by Vartan Oskanian, a former Armenian foreign minister
Oskanian said earlier this month that Armenia should seek “international
guarantees” for the repatriation and raise the matter during peace talks with
Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly indicated, however,
that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s special envoy on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict, Igor Khovayev, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
in Baku. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not mention the possible
repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians in its readout of the meeting.
The ministry cited Bayramov as blaming Armenia for Tuesday’s fighting on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left four Armenian soldiers dead. He accused
Yerevan of undermining the negotiation process.
Pashinian charged on Tuesday that the ceasefire violation shows that Baku lacks
the political will to negotiate a peace treaty with Yerevan and is intent on
heightening tensions along the border.
Armenia Shakes Up Military Top Brass
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - General Kamo Kochunts (left), acting army chief of staff, greets
Defense Minister Suren Papikian, Yerevan, June 28, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has dismissed the first deputy chief of the
Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Kamo Kochunts, and appointed
nine other senior officers to the top brass.
Kochunts was replaced by Colonel Artur Yeroyan through a presidential decree
initiated by Pashinian and made public late on Tuesday. Yeroyan, 46, has headed
the Armenia’s main military academy until now.
Two other deputy army chiefs of staff were named on Wednesday. The other
appointed officials include the new heads of three General Staff divisions.
No official explanations were given for these appointments. Gagik Melkonian, a
pro-government lawmaker and retired army general, said they are part of ongoing
defense reforms announced by the Armenian government.
“There will be more changes in the General Staff as it’s clear that we are
buying new military hardware and are going to change our previous mode of
governance,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Melkonian denied any connection between Kochunts’s sacking and the latest
Azerbaijani ceasefire violation that left four Armenian soldiers dead early on
Tuesday. He said that the 61-year-old veteran of the first Armenian-Azerbaijani
war, who had also fought in Afghanistan in Soviet army ranks, was replaced
because of his age.
The Yerevan newspaper Hraparak, which predicted Kochunts’s dismissal earlier
this month, claimed on Wednesday that the General Staff chief,
Lieutenant-General Eduard Asrian, could also lose his job soon.
Asrian’s predecessor, Artak Davtian, and six other generals were sacked in
February 2022 one year after the top brass issued a statement accusing
Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanding its
resignation. Asrian was among the signatories of the statement welcomed by the
Armenian opposition but condemned by Pashinian as a coup attempt.
Pashinian promised a major reform of the military shortly after Armenia’s defeat
in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. He has replaced three defense ministers since
then. The current minister, Suren Papikian, is a leading member of his Civil
Contract party.
Opposition groups blame Pashinian for the outcome of the six-week war that left
at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead. They also say that his administration is
doing little to rebuild the armed forces.
Armenian Economy Minister Resigns After Arrests
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian attends the Armenian goverment's
question-and-answer session in parliament.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian announced his resignation on Wednesday two weeks
after one of his deputies and several other subordinates were arrested on
corruption charges strongly denied by him.
Kerobian indicated that he has disagreed with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on
numerous occasions during his more than three-year tenure.
“When I took up the post of minister on November 20, 2020 there was a high
probability that I will keep it for a few days or months as regime change [in
Armenia] was very likely,” he wrote on Facebook. “During this period, due to
many disagreements, I wanted to leave this job many times but I subordinated
myself to maximize the value of my service to my country.”
Kerobian shed no light on those disagreements. Nor did he mention the arrests of
several senior officials from the Ministry of Economy carried out in two
criminal investigations jointly conducted by Armenia’s Investigative Committee
and National Security Service (NSS). The officials were moved to house arrest or
freed in the following days.
One of them allegedly helped other individuals receive 238 million drams
($590,000) in state agribusiness funding from 20222-2023 in violation of rules
set by the ministry. Neither this nor the others officials was charged with
bribery or embezzlement, a fact emphasized by Kerobian during cabinet meeting
chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian last week.
The minister told Pashinian that investigators have “paralyzed the work of the
entire state system” because many government officials are now not sure that
“their honest work will not be punished in the end.”
The ministry grants investigated by the law-enforcement authorities were
allocated from a state fund that helps private entrepreneurs set up intensive
fruit orchards. The Armenian government has provided about 100 billion drams
($248 million) in such funding since 2018. Kerobian defended his ministry’s
handling of the scheme which the government extended by two more years on
February 8.
Kerobian announced his resignation as the Investigative Committee said in a
statement that it is continuing to investigate the alleged abuse of the scheme
and may identify and indict “dozens of other individuals possibly involved” in
them.
Kerobian ruled out his resignation in the immediate aftermath of the arrests. He
told state television afterwards that he will take responsibility if the
investigators prove their accusations.
Armenia - Ashot Hovanesian inaugurates his Synergy International Systems
company's branch in Vanadzor, March 11, 2022.
The other criminal case stems from a procurement tender that was organized by
the Ministry of Economy and invalidated by a court last summer. Ministry
officials are accused of illegally disqualifying an information technology
company, Harmonia, to make sure that the tender is won by another, larger firm,
Synergy International Systems.
The investigators also arrested on January 31 Synergy’s founder Ashot Hovanesian
and two current and former employees. The latter were set free on Monday.
Hovanesian’s lawyers on Tuesday condemned his continuing detention as “illegal
and discriminatory.”
Hovanesian’s arrest earlier drew strong condemnation from Armenia’s Union of
Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE). It said that “unfounded” detentions of
“business representatives and other prominent persons” are turning Armenia into
a “risky country” for local and foreign tech entrepreneurs.
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.
Author: Emil Lazarian
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS
Armenian Foreign Minister meets with Chair of European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defense
09:56,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has met with MEP Nathalie Loiseau, the Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defense.
“Armenia-EU Partnership agenda issues were discussed, where the EU legislative body has its unique role in advancing them. In this context, the prospects of deepening partnership and mutual efforts were discussed,” the foreign ministry said in a readout.
The sides comprehensively discussed regional issues in the South Caucasus. Armenia’s vision of overcoming the existing challenges, including with international support, was presented to MEP Loiseau. The importance of suppressing territorial aspirations against Armenia and the unconditional adherence to the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders was emphasized. The principled approach and documents adopted by the European Parliament, containing unambiguous assessments and messages, in difficult times for the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, were touched upon.
FM Mirzoyan thanked MEP Nathalie Loiseau for her significant contribution in advancing issues of key importance for Armenia and protection of humanitarian values and awarded her with the Medal of Gratitude of the Republic of Armenia.
Armenian Speaker of Parliament visits Bulgaria
10:15,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan is leading a delegation to Bulgaria on an official visit on February 14-17.
The Speaker of Parliament will have meetings with President Rumen Radev, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Speaker of Parliament Rosen Zhelyazkov and Members of Parliament included in the Bulgaria-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Major General Artak Budaghyan appointed Commander of Armenian-Russian joint military force
10:35,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Major General Artak Budaghyan of the Armenian Armed Forces has been appointed as Commander of the Armenian-Russian United Group of Forces.
The decree on his appointment was signed by President Khachaturyan at the advice of Prime Minister Pashinyan.
Lt Gen Kamo Kochunts sacked
10:37,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Kamo Kochunts has been relieved of duties.
President Khachaturyan signed the Lt Gen’s dismissal decree at the advice of Prime Minister Pashinyan.
Colonel Artur Yeroyan appointed Deputy Chief of General Staff
10:40,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. President Vahagn Khachaturyan has appointed Colonel Artur Yeroyan as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia.
Yeroyan was previously the Head of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military University.
The appointment was signed at the advice of Prime Minister Pashinyan.
EU reaffirms commitment to expand security cooperation with Armenia: Borrell
20:34,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The European Union reaffirms its commitment to expanding cooperation with Armenia in the field of security and defense.
According to the Armenpress Brussels correspondent, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said during the joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan following the results of the 5th session of the Armenia-EU Partnership Council.
"Today's discussions clearly showed that our relations are developing in a positive direction. We have addressed all the aspects of our relationship within the framework of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. We recognize, however, that we still need to work to realize the full potential of this agreement. We have decided to start a new agenda of very ambitious partnership between the European Union and Armenia," said Borrell.
Aleksanyan enters semi-finals at European wrestling championships
17:15,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Olympic champion Artur Aleksanyan has advanced to the semi-finals at the European Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships after defeating 8:3 his Dutch opponent Tyrone Sterkenburg in the 97kg division.
Aleksanyan earlier defeated Turkey’s Beytullah Kayisdag 9:1 in his first bout at the event.
Armenia’s Gevorg Gharibyan (60kg) defeated 9:0 Ilias Zairakis (Greece) in the elimination round. Slavik Galstyan (67kg) also won his first bout against Sweden’s Niklas Oehlen 12:4, but then lost 8:0 to Russian Ruslan Bichurin (who is competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete) in the quarter finals. Galstyan will continue at the championships if Bichurin makes it to the finals.
In the 82kg division’s elimination round Karen Khachatryan defeated 8:6 Croatia’s Filip Sacic.
Asbarez: Armenia’s Alexandra Grigoryan Becomes European Weightlifting Champ
Alexandra Grigoryan named European Weightlifting Champion
Armenian national team member Alexandra Grigoryan won the title of champion at the European Weightlifting Championships, which kicked off on Monday in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The Armenian weightlifter registered the result of 196 kg (81+115). In this weight category the second representative of Armenia, European bronze medalist, participant of the Olympic Games in Tokyo Izabella Yaylyan, took the 7th place. She registered a result of 180 kg (80+100).
AW: ARF Bureau Chairman meets with Canada’s Ambassador to Armenia
Ambassador to Armenia Andrew Turner (left) and ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau Chairman and President of the Armenian National Committee International Hagop Der Khatchadourian
YEREVAN – On Friday, February 9, 2024, ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau Chairman and President of the Armenian National Committee International Hagop Der Khatchadourian met with Ambassador Andrew Turner at the Canadian Embassy.
Der Khatchadourian offered his congratulations on the recent inauguration of the Embassy of Canada in Yerevan in October 2023, which will deepen Canada-Armenia relations.
The ARF-D Bureau chairman discussed the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) through Azerbaijan’s genocidal acts and the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, highlighting the threats and occupation of Armenian territory by Azerbaijan. He also raised concerns regarding Canada’s recent decision to lift its ban on military exports to Turkey. In early October 2020, Ottawa suspended export permits to Turkey for optical technology gear, with which Turkey equipped drones that were redirected to Azerbaijan and used to target Armenians during the 2020 Artsakh War.
Ambassador Turner reaffirmed his government’s support of the right of return of the people of Artsakh and the territorial integrity of Armenia. Canada will participate in the EU Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP), which, in response to an official request by the Armenian authorities, has been deployed on the Armenian side of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border since October 2022. The mission aims to build confidence between the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan and, where possible, their authorities. So far, Canada is the only non-EU country to participate in the EU civilian mission on the ground.
The Canadian ambassador also said that Canadian exporters have been notified that applications for new defense exports will require statements from Turkey indicating whether the goods will be re-exported to a third country or non-NATO member and whether they will be incorporated into a weapons system. Canada is obliged under domestic law and the global Arms Trade Treaty to detect and prevent the diversion of military goods to users other than intended customers.
The 90-minute meeting ended with both sides expressing readiness to continue such meetings in the future and, when possible, to cooperate on mutually beneficial initiatives to strengthen Canada-Armenia relations in different spheres.
Also attending the meeting were Giro Manoyan, ARF-D Bureau member and executive director of the ANC-International, and Aaron Coe, political counsellor at Canada’s Embassy.