16:35, 7 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in Batumi, Georgia.
He was welcomed by Georgia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili at the Batumi International Airport, the Prime Minister's Office said in a press release.
The Prime Minister’s Office earlier reported that Pashinyan will meet his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili in Batumi.
20:32, 7 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS. Between 19:00 and 19:26 on July 7, Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire in the Martuni region by opening fire from firearms and 60 mm mortars at a combine doing agricultural work in the fields of Machkalashen village, Artsakh.
As Armenpress was informed from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Artsakh, there were no casualties on the Armenian side.
The ceasefire violation case was reported to the command of the Russian peacekeeping troops.
Sarkis and Nune Sepetjian flanked by their children
Mr. & Mrs. Sarkis and Nune Sepetjian and their family donated $5,000 to Asbarez and expressed their continued support for the publication, which will mark its 115th anniversary next month.
The Sepetjians have been long-time supporters and sponsors of Asbarez and its ongoing mission to inform, empower and create an arena for the community to share news and commentary about the important issues impacting its advancement.
The Sepetjians’ contribution serves as a starting point for Asbarez to kick off its annual anniversary campaign, which was launched with its 100th anniversary.
“The Asbarez management and the board of the Armenian Media Network are grateful to the unwavering support they have received from Sarkis and Nune Sepetjian and their family,” said Asbarez Editor Ara Khachatourian.
Over the years the Sepetjian family has contributed more than $40,000 to Asbarez.
The Sepetjian family’s generosity extends to all facets of the community. They have been benefactors to organizations such as the Armenian Cultural Foundation, the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region, and the Western Prelacy and its schools, to name a few.
Most recently, the Sepetjians were major sponsors of the Armenian American Museum, which recently completed the first phase of its construction and celebrated that achievement through its Elevate Gala in March. In 2018, Sarkis and Nune Sepetjian were honored with the “Legacy Award” by the ACF. That same year they also made a generous donation to the ANCA-WR.
The Sepetjians generosity extends beyond the Western U.S. Armenian community. After the devastating explosion in Beirut in 2020, the Sepetjian family heeded the call and contributed to the more than $1.5 million that was raised for that effort. In 2017, Sarkis and Nune Sepetjian provided apartments to families in Gyumri displaced by the earthquake.
“Throughout the years the Sepetjian family has demonstrated its commitment to the mission of this important community institution and has allowed Asbarez to expand and advance its capabilities in reaching the community. We wholeheartedly thank them and express our appreciation,” added Khachatourian, the Asbarez Editor.
May the Sepetjians contribution serve as an example for others in our community and encourage them to support and advance Asbarez’s more than century-old mission.
The International Court of Justice on Feb. 22
Baku Says ICJ Ruling Justifies Illegal Checkpoint at Lachin Corridor
The International Court of Justice reaffirmed its February 22 ruling, in which it ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.”
The Friday ruling was in response to Armenia’s application regarding the illegal checkpoint Azerbaijan installed at the Lachin Corridor in April.
The ICJ said that at this moment it did need to amend its February 22 ruling.
The United States, European Union and Russia have all spoken out against the blockade and urged Baku to comply with the ICJ ruling. Yet Azerbaijan’s leadership not only has not heeded those calls, it has complicated matters by escalating the blockade, leaving the Artsakh population on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, which its authorities say is part of a systematic plan to ethnically cleanse the Armenian population there.
Baku on Friday reacted by welcoming the ICJ decision and declaring that the court opting not to issue a new ruling confirmed Azerbaijan’s right to control its “sovereign rights,” seemingly giving Baku the green light to tighten the blockade of Artsakh.
“We welcome the court’s ruling that has reconfirmed Azerbaijan’s right to control its borders, and that Armenia’s request on removal of the Checkpoint was unfounded. Thus, misinterpretation by the Armenian side of the latest decision is nothing more than a desperate attempt,” said a statement issued by Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry.
“Azerbaijan’s decision to establish its border checkpoint at the entrance of the Lachin road was in keeping with its sovereign rights to secure its border. (…) Azerbaijan (…) will continue to hold Armenia accountable for its ongoing and historic grave violations of international law,” the statement added.
21:25, 6 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. For months, Azerbaijan has been spreading large-scale counter-propaganda against France, which expresses its direct assessment of Azerbaijan's illegal actions against the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, ARMENPRESS reports, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter.
“For months, Azerbaijan has been disseminating a large-scale counter-propaganda against France, which officially and publicly used to voice its targeted assessments and concerns over the illegal actions of Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh”, Pashinyan wrote.
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Karabakh Rejects Azeri Demands To Disband Army
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Nagorno Karabakh - Sergey Ghazarian, the Karabakh foreign minister.
Nagorno-Karabakh will continue to reject Azerbaijan’s demands to disband its
armed forces, a senior Karabakh official said on Thursday.
Sergei Ghazarian, the Karabakh foreign minister, said the existence of the
Defense Army remains essential in the face of what he described as existential
threats to Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population.
“Seeing how the Azerbaijani side’s aggressive actions and rhetoric are gaining
momentum, it’s obviously not realistic to discuss the dissolution of the Defense
Army or the state system,” Ghazarian told reporters.
In recent months, Baku has repeatedly threatened military action against
Karabakh’s “illegal armed formations” that were supported by Armenia until the
2020 war and significantly downsized since then. Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev said on Wednesday that they must be
“disarmed” and disbanded.
Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, said last week that this is
Azerbaijan’s main precondition for negotiating with Stepanakert. He also
complained that Baku is only willing to discuss the Armenian-populated region’s
“integration” into Azerbaijan.
One of Harutiunian’s political allies told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday
that this is the reason why Karabakh’s leaders turned down last month a U.S.
proposal to meet with Azerbaijani officials in a neutral location for
integration talks.
Ghazarian said, however, that they did not refuse to negotiate with Baku. He
stressed at the same time that Stepanakert cannot negotiate “under pressure” and
that the Azerbaijani side must first unblock emergency food supplies to Karabakh
through the Lachin corridor.
“There can be no dialogue with preconditions,” he said. “The other side must
demonstrate that it is ready for dialogue. But if they close the road, how can
we be sure that they are ready for dialogue?”
Ghazarian also confirmed that Harutiunian last week appealed to Russian
President Vladimir Putin to help lift the eight-month Azerbaijani blockade of
Karabakh’s only land link with the outside world. He said Stepanakert
specifically hopes that the Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh will
“make every effort” for that purpose in line with the Russian-brokered ceasefire
that stopped the 2020 war.
Putin discussed the matter with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in a
phone call on Wednesday. Harutiunian said he asked Pashinian to phone the
Russian leader.
U.S. Envoy Clarifies Karabakh Remarks
Armenia - Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador Kristina Kvien hands her credentials
to Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian, February 22, 2023.
The United States is not trying to predetermine the outcome of
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks with pro-Azerbaijani statements, the U.S.
ambassador to Armenia, Kristina Kvien, insisted on Thursday.
Kvien responded to an uproar caused by her interview with Armenian Public
Television aired on Monday. In particular, she told the state-run broadcaster
that Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population could live safely under
Azerbaijani rule.
Armenian opposition figures as well as Karabakh’s leadership criticized the
remarks. The Karabakh foreign ministry said on Wednesday the United States
should refrain from “appeasing the aggressor” keen to commit “ethnic cleansing”
in Karabakh. It also said that the U.S. and other mediating powers “must not
predetermine the outcome” of the ongoing peace talks in the first place.
“The United States does not presuppose the outcome of negotiations on the future
of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Kvien said in written comments to the Armenpress news
agency.
“The question of the rights and security of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh
is central to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ultimately ensuring
that this population can feel secure in their homes and have their rights
protected is the only way to guarantee a lasting settlement to a conflict that
has lasted too long and cost too many lives,” added the diplomat.
Kvien did not say whether she believes Azerbaijan can ensure that if it regains
full control of Karabakh.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has pledged to recognize Azerbaijani
sovereignty over the Armenian-populated region through a bilateral peace treaty.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers discussed the treaty in great
detail during two rounds of marathon talks hosted by Washington in early May and
late June. Pashinian praised the U.S. peace efforts earlier this week.
Pashinian Reaffirms Commitment To ‘Peace Agenda’
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses the Armenian parliament,
Yerevan, May 24, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that he will continue to push
for a comprehensive peace accord with Azerbaijan despite what he described as
Baku’s intention to commit “genocide” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian again decried Azerbaijan’s continuing blockage of the Lachin corridor
and mounting pressure on Karabakh, saying that this policy is aimed at
“subjecting the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
“Basically, we are seeing a creeping implementation of that policy in
Nagorno-Karabakh,” he charged during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
Pashinian made clear that in these circumstances he will not deviate from his
“peace agenda” denounced by his domestic political opponents as well as
Karabakh’s leadership. Armenian opposition leaders claim that Baku was
emboldened by his readiness to sign a peace treaty upholding Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh. They maintain that the Karabakh Armenians will have
to flee their homeland in that case.
“The rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh should be
addressed within the framework of international mechanisms for a
Baku-Stepanakert dialogue, and a peace treaty should be signed between Armenia
and Azerbaijan,” insisted Pashinian.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers reportedly narrowed their
governments’ differences over the treaty during another round of U.S.-mediated
negotiations held in and outside Washington last month.
Pashinian cautioned that the progress made by them was “not significant.” Still,
he expressed hope that he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will build on
that progress during their next meeting in Brussels expected later this week.
Aliyev on Wednesday demanded that Armenia withdraw “the remnants” of its troops
from Karabakh and that the Karabakh Armenians disarm and disband their military
forces. He also complained that Yerevan remains reluctant to open a “corridor”
that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenian
territory.
Pashinian rejected Aliyev’s “baseless accusations.” He reiterated that Armenia
“has no troops in Karabakh” and that the Russian-brokered agreement that stopped
the 2020 war calls for conventional Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links, rather
than an extraterritorial corridor for Nakhichevan.
Armenian Hospitals Accused Of Refusing Free Healthcare
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - A newly renovated ward at the Fanarjian National Center of Oncology,
Yerevan, October 8, 2022.
Scores of Armenians eligible for free healthcare financed by the state complain
that hospitals across the country have stopped providing such services due to an
alleged lack of government funding.
In the absence of a national system of health insurance, successive Armenian
governments have for decades covered the cost of some surgeries, tests and other
medical procedures. The beneficiaries of this subsidized coverage currently
include cancer patients and some socially vulnerable categories of the
population.
Many such individuals have claimed in recent weeks that the mostly private
hospitals refuse to treat them free of charge on the grounds that they have
already run out of government funding allocated for this year.
“The hospital just told me that the money provided by the state has run out,”
said Gevorg Safarian, a young man who was seriously wounded during the 2020 war
in Nagorno-Karabakh. He was due to have an X-ray examination and blood test
there.
Armine Khachatrian, a woman who recently underwent breast cancer surgery, heard
the same explanation when she was denied a post-operative computer tomography
scan in another Yerevan clinic. “They told me to come in the beginning of 2024,”
she said.
Nvard Kocharian, the founder of a Yerevan-based NGO helping patients like
Khachatrian, said that about 70 such women have asked her organization for
financial assistance after encountering the same problem.
In an online poll organized by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week, more than
700 citizens likewise claimed to have been denied free medical services on the
same grounds.
Armenia - Health Minister Anahit Avanesian visits the Armenian company Liqvor
producing Sputnik Light vaccine, Yerevan, December 6, 2021.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian on Thursday categorically denied a lack of
government funding for such services, which is due to total 118 billion drams
($304 million) this year, up from 112 billion drams in 2022. She linked the
problem to the recent introduction of electronic registration for the subsidized
coverage which gives priority to patients who are in urgent need of surgery or
other treatment.
Other citizens eligible for free healthcare must now wait their turn, Avanesian
said, adding that she has ordered the Ministry of Health to provide additional
funding to hospitals so that they cut their waiting lists.
“If a citizen is signed up for, say, September, their registration date will be
brought forward and they will get a service much quicker,” she assured
journalists.
An RFE/RL reporter posing as the mother of a chronically ill child phoned
several hospitals to inquire about a free service. One of them said it cannot be
provided this year while the others refused to give any information at all.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
11:22, 6 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. The public narrative in Azerbaijan is full of Armenophobia, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Anahit Manasyan warned Thursday.
She cited a recent report by her office quoting and describing the speeches by the Azeri government officials, including the president, lawmakers and others.
Given the status of those who make the anti-Armenian statements it is obvious that Armenophobia is state-sponsored in Azerbaijan, Manasyan said, adding that in this condition it is impossible to find solutions guaranteeing human rights.
Manasyan made the remarks at the July 6 Armenia-Nagorno Karabakh telebridge press conference.
She said that the Ombudsperson’s reports are regularly provided to international partners.
The Armenian Ombudsperson’s office is conducting daily monitoring of the Azerbaijani press regarding the policy of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan.
The reports also include human rights violation committed as a result of the illegal Azeri military deployment inside Armenian territory. The aim of the Azeri policy of Armenophobia is to commit ethnic cleansing in a specific region and specific settlements.
Ozon has already opened logistics centres in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Russian e-commerce firm Ozon has started sales of goods in Armenia, the company said, its latest expansion into the former Soviet Union at a time when Western countries are widely shunning Russian business.
Ozon has already opened logistics centres in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It has opened local offices in China and Turkey, designed to bring more sellers onto the platform.
Delivery would take around seven days at first, Ozon said. The company plans to develop logistics infrastructure in Armenia, including having its own delivery service there and a network of pick-up and drop-off points, it said. (Reporting by Olga Popova; Writing by Alexander Marrow, editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Azerbaijan seems to be waiting for an opportunity to restore its sovereignty over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh that are still under the ethnic Armenians’ control. Harsh threats from Baku suggest that the energy-rich South Caucasus nation might soon launch a military operation in the mountainous region where Armenians make up the majority of the population.
But how likely is another conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
Azerbaijani media have reportedly increased their pro-war rhetoric. Even the country’s President Ilham Aliyev allegedly threatened to attack Nagorno-Karabakh – a region that, in his view, is an “artificial construct created by the Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin”.
From a purely military perspective, the Karabakh Armenians have zero chance of defeating the Azerbaijani military. Their armed forces heavily depend on supplies from Armenia. After Azerbaijan established full control over the Lachin corridor – the only land route linking Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh – the mountainous region became effectively surrounded by the Azerbaijani army.
Thus, if Azerbaijan launches a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh (Artsakh being the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh) will cease to exist within days.
A potential, although not very probable, Armenia’s interference would be unlikely to change the outcome of the conflict. In 2020, the two archenemies fought the 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan came out as a clear winner. Baku managed to recapture significant portions of the region, as well as surrounding areas that were under the ethnic Armenian forces’ control. That, however, does not mean that Azerbaijan has completely resolved the Karabakh issue in its favor.
The self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh still exists, although life in the region is reportedly becoming unbearable. Local Armenians claim that they are facing a humanitarian crisis, and that some 120,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are trapped in an increasingly precarious situation that came as a result of the Lachin corridor crisis.
“There is almost no food left in the stores, medicines in pharmacies and hospitals are on the verge of exhaustion, and there is no possibility to provide medical assistance to seriously ill patients”, Nina Shahverdyan, an English teacher living in Nagorno-Karabakh told Global Comment.
Azerbaijan, on the other hand, insists that it has created conditions for the unhindered passage of Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin border checkpoint. The country’s Foreign Ministry argues that there is “no basis for the claims of humanitarian threats against the Armenian residents living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.”
“Presenting the temporary restriction of the operation of the Lachin border checkpoint regarding the investigations and the security measures implemented by Azerbaijan as a ‘blockade and ethnic cleansing’ after the provocation of Armenia is part of Armenia’s false propaganda”, the Ministry said.
Previously, Aliyev said that the installation of an Azerbaijani border checkpoint at the entrance of the Lachin corridor near the Armenian border on 23 April “should be a lesson” for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Such a statement indicates that Baku likely aims to force the Armenian population to integrate into Azerbaijani society, which is something most of them refuse to do.
Authorities in Baku claim that the Karabakh Armenians could get Azerbaijani citizenship through the country’s state agency for public services ASAN, “if they comply with the nation’s laws”. According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan is willing to offer “concessions and amnesty” to Nagorno-Karabakh’s officials if they dissolve the region’s parliament and government, and apply for Azerbaijani citizenship. Such a move, however, would represent their de facto and de jure capitulation to Baku. But given that Karabakh Armenians are unlikely to be able to count on Armenia’s protection, sooner or later they may have a hard choice to make – to leave the region, or to stay and integrate into Azerbaijani society, hoping that they will not face ethnic cleansing.
After Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan repeatedly stated that Yerevan “fully recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity”, and that “there will not be a new escalation” in the region, it became clear that Yerevan does not aim to fight a new war for Nagorno-Karabakh. The landlocked country of around 2,8 million people has still not fully recovered from the defeat it suffered three years ago.
More importantly, unlike Azerbaijan, which is fully backed by its ally Turkey, Armenia cannot count on Russia’s support, despite the fact that it is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Western countries, for their part, seek to establish strong energy ties with Azerbaijan, which is why they are unlikely to side with Armenia in case of new hostilities in the region. Quite aware of the current geopolitical reality, Pashinyan does not seem to have any good options regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. Even if he turns a blind eye to a potential Azerbaijani military incursion in the region, that will not end all the disputes between the two countries.
As soon as the Karabakh issue is resolved in Azerbaijani’s favor, Baku will start seriously pressuring Armenia to complete its section of the Nakhchivan corridor (also known as the Zangezur corridor) – a transportation route that would connect the mainland Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia’s southernmost province of Syunik. In other words, Yerevan would have to build road and rail links along its border with Iran, with no passport or customs controls, and allow Azerbaijan to establish a land connection not only with its exclave of Nakhchivan, but also with Turkey.
If Pashinyan accepts Baku’s demands, he will undoubtedly be under serious pressure from Iran, given that the Nakhchivan corridor poses an existential threat for the Islamic Republic. Therefore, at this point, Armenia’s position, as well as the position of the Karabakh Armenians, remains hopeless.
Finally, the only reason why Azerbaijan still has not launched a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh is because it does not seem to have gotten the green light, or at least a tacit approval from the United States – the world’s only superpower. That is why, for the foreseeable future, Baku – being in a position of strength – is expected to continue using the “stick and carrot strategy” regarding Yerevan, aiming to force Pashinyan to make more concessions to Azerbaijan. But in the long-term, the military option remains on the table.