Author: Emil Lazarian

Musavat, an online Azerbaijani newspaper, recently carried a story alleging that Armenia was luring fighters from India to help it fight Azerbaijan. Such a cock-and-bull story could only have been inspired by Pakistan’s ISI.

Let us analyse what such stories intend to achieve and why they are being put out now. The article, (published on June 24) written by Elchin Khalidbayli, supposedly, a political expert with the “Yeni Musavat” Media Group, claims that Indians from poor provinces are being lured with money and sent to Armenia.

The report claims that Yerevan is creating armed mercenary groups with people brought to Armenia from various countries and India allegedly being one of those helping in the creation of armed mercenary groups.

The aim is to show that Armenia is supporting terrorist tactics against Azerbaijan and to allege that India is behind the supply of manpower.

There is no doubt that external actors are attempting to intervene in the processes in the South Caucasus, except that it is not India. Turkey and Pakistan are the players who have supported Azerbaijan. The only conclusion one can draw is that Pakistan is trying to prove that India is a “terrorist state” to try and wriggle out of the discomfort of having FATF and other international organisations brand them as global sponsors of terrorism.

India’s military supplies to Armenia obviously make a difference and the other side is feeling the pinch, which is why the article claims that “these interventions are being conducted unequivocally only through Armenia”.

Propoganda is the need of the hour and therefore, it is argued that the Armenian Army has lost its capability to fight and has formed small guerrilla units with mercenary troops. The logic used here is that Armenians don’t have the will to fight and are unwilling to be recruited into the Army. This of course does not mean that the Armenian Army is incapable of fighting. It is technically correct that the Armenian Parliament adopted a law creating a legal basis for conscription of women into active military service.

Military service in Armenia is compulsory for male citizens of the republic aged 18 to 27 for a period of two years. At present, women serve in the Armenian military only on a contract basis and accounted for 9.1 per cent of contract service members in 2019.

Armenia has undertaken to reform its military after the defeat in 2020 against Azerbaijan. An ambitious defence modernisation plan proposed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in 2021 has not taken off because of domestic political squabbles. The lack of progress can be attributed in part to the regular shakeups at the top of Armenia’s defence establishment. Since then, both the Minister of Defence and Chief of the General Staff have been replaced three times.

The most dramatic moment was in February 2021, when the top army brass, led by the then-Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasapryan, joined the Opposition’s demand for Pashinyan’s resignation. This conflict was resolved by the dismissal of Gasparyan. Pashinyan then resigned and called a snap election, which his party won.

Steps were taken to rebuild the army on the Russian model, though enthusiasm for this has since waned given Russia’s poor performance in Ukraine and Russia’s rejection of requests to help its military ally Armenia amid incursions by Azerbaijan in fall 2022. Russia had earlier been a regular supplier of arms and weapons to Armenia.

Prime Minister Pashinyan publicly complained (September 29, 2022) about Armenia’s failure to receive armaments from allies even after they were paid for. Though he did not name a specific state, it was clear he was referring to Russia, which is the largest supplier of weapons to the Armenian Army.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports that 94 per cent of the weapons acquired by Armenia from 2015 to 2019 were produced in Russia.

As seen above, the Pashinyan government is trying to use the most diverse options to solve the problem of military modernisation. One of them is to import weapons and equipment from India.

Recently, the Indian Ambassador emphasised that her country was determined to provide all kinds of military and political support to Armenia. The Indian Ambassador also emphasised that Pakistan’s strategic alliance with Azerbaijan is dangerous for her country. Therefore, she claimed that India provides active military and political support to Armenia.

The facts as explained by the Ambassador is no open secret and is known to all.

It is important to understand what India has supplied to Armenia as part of the $249 million deal. This includes the indigenously manufactured Pinaka MLRS, Swathi radars and 155 truck mounted artillery guns.

One wonders then how France comes into the picture? That is precisely what Khalidbayli does and claims, without proof that India has transferred weapons “jointly produced with French military companies” to Armenia. While Khalidbayil can be excused for not having done proper research for his article, his obvious bias, being driven by Pakistan becomes clear with his absurd allegation that India has deployed mercenaries from India to Armenia, a process he claims has intensified recently.

The further allegation is made that India and Armenia have signed a secret agreement whereby Indian citizens from “poor provinces” are being lured with money to Armenia. There can be only one rational reason for such an absurd and unfounded allegation. Pakistan through its friend Azerbaijan wants to brand India as a sponsor of terrorism. Therefore, it is reported that Indian mercenaries are being trained in India, and then sent to Armenia.

Officially, there are only around 3,000 Indians in Armenia, settled mostly in the capital Yeravan. There have been no reports of Indian citizens undergoing military training in Armenia in accordance with the “local conditions” as claimed by Musavat. The only thing stated to support this allegation is that mercenaries sent from India are registered as “labour force” in Armenia. It is therefore, concluded that Armenia “is trying to hide mercenary terrorists brought from India under the name of labour force”.

How on earth is it possible to convince such writers that facts are facts, and one cannot obfuscate the issue by mixing them up. What else does one make of the assertion that Indians brought in “manpower” to take part in military exercises? Is the reference here to trainers? This is unlikely and it is more likely that “manpower” was made available to explain the functioning of Indian defence equipment to the Armenian military.

To stretch the argument to asset that Indians supposedly involved in construction, received military training to become terrorists is a fairy tale woven out of nowhere.

According to the article, Armenians don’t want to do military service and therefore, the government is training Indians to act as mercenaries.

Recently, it was reported that two Indian citizens were injured by gunfire in the border regions. The official Armenian statement, posted on the Telegram messenger app by the Defence Ministry (14 June) said that two Indian nationals were involved in construction work at a metallurgical plant in Yeraskh, which is close to the border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave.

Therefore, there is no question of Yerevan trying to cover up this information. On the contrary, the Armenian Prime Minister had earlier said that Pakistan had a role to play in the war raging across the Nagorno- Karabakh region.

In an exclusive conversation with an Indian news channel, he said: “We have information that armed fighters from Pakistan are participating in the war raging in the Karabakh region. We can see that Turkey is also involved in the war, mercenaries are being brought to the conflict zone by Ankara. It is a chaotic, confusing situation that we are seeing in Karabakh.”

Last year, Pashinyan had also claimed that Pakistani Special Forces had fought alongside the Azerbaijani Army in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in an interview with Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya (October 15, 2022).

In October 2020, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had boasted of having sent troops to Nagarno-Karabakh to fight alongside the Turkish military and the Azerbaijan Army. Subsequent reports indicated that Pakistani terrorists had also flocked to Azerbaijan to fight against Armenia.

All these provide clear evidence of Pakistani and Turkish forces fighting alongside Azerbaijani forces.

Pakistan needs to do its homework well. For a country that has nurtured and developed terrorist entities for several decades now, their efforts to blame India for terrorism sound amateurish. That India is helping Armenia in bolstering its defence machinery has more to do with regional geo-politics and business sense.

After all, if Turkey can sell its UAVs to Azerbaijan, what stops India from selling its home made Rustom II drones to Armenia. This is the primary narrative emerging from the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

For Pakistan and Azerbaijan to make false claims about India deserves a riposte. The time and place will be that of India’s choosing.

TEHRAN – Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan met on Monday with Iranian Ambassador Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri in conjunction with the completion of his diplomatic mission in Yerevan.

Khachaturyan commended Zohouri for his contributions to the advancement of Armenia-Iran ties during his diplomatic career.

The relevance of the North-South Corridor’s construction and its significance for the regional nations were also emphasized by both parties.

Khachaturyan said, “I wish to extend special gratitude for your work and your personal efforts in the development of relations between our two countries. It so happened that in the period of your service, you were in Armenia during one of the most challenging periods of our newly independent history, and we sensed the support of both you and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He added, “You also understand what support means for those countries that need help and support at such time.”

Armanian also wished the ambassador success in his diplomatic service and said, “I am confident that in the course of your future activities you will continue to do your best to promote the development of relations between our two countries."

Ambassador Zohouri thanked Khachaturyan for the reception and said, “The relations between Iran and Armenia have a deep-rooted history and, certainly, we have achieved a high level in all fields at present. The work done as well as the bilateral cooperation is set at a very high level. I am hopeful that in the future we will witness further development of these relations.”

During the meeting, the parties discussed a wide variety of issues relating to the ongoing development of multi-level cooperation.

The topics included the potential for increasing commercial, economic, political, and cultural collaboration as well cooperation in areas of shared interest.

Armenian Christians are worried about the future of their neighborhood in east Jerusalem's Old City. A shady real estate deal has brought uncertainty to the city's Armenian Quarter.

For the past couple of weeks, Hagop Djernazian, an Armenian youth activist, has been one of the organizers of weekly protests in what's known as the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City. The neighborhood is home to around 2,000 Armenian Christians, a community that has been there for hundreds of years.

"We are going through very difficult times. In my opinion this is our last battle, not just as an Armenian community but as Christians," Djernazian told DW. "When I say the last battle, it means we need to protect what we have."

Djernazian is talking about a shady real estate deal that has shaken many in this tight-knit community to the core and reverberated well beyond the walls of the Old City in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Any piece of real estate in the walled Old City, barely 1 square kilometer in size (about 0.35 square miles), is politically important and much sought-after.

The little that is known about the real estate deal is that it involves approximately 25% of the Armenian Quarter. Land located within the Old City walls was leased for 99 years to a commercial entity owned by a Jewish-Australian businessman, to reportedly develop a luxury hotel complex. It mainly involves a large parking lot, one of the few open areas in the densely built ancient city and a prime area for potential real estate. 

"We have become detectives, every week we are finding out new information," said George Hintlian, an Armenian historian, who describes the developments as "cultural suicide."

In April, residents said, Israeli land surveyors inspected the area and the new owner marked out the parking lot with company signs in Hebrew and English. But residents have since learned that the scope of the lease is much larger and allegedly entails the entire area commonly known as the Cows' Garden. Today, this area houses the Armenian seminary, the homes of several Armenian families, a restaurant, the community's printing press and a cultural hall. 

The lease was reportedly signed by the Armenian patriarch, Nourhan Manougian, the head of the Armenian Christian community in Jerusalem. According to media reports, he has denied any wrongdoing, instead blaming a local priest who headed the real estate department for deceiving him. The now-defrocked priest has since left for the US state of California.

The patriarch is said to be mostly confined to his quarters at the Armenian Convent of Saint James, sources in the community have said. The Patriarchate did not respond to DW's requests for an interview.

Both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II — who is the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy sites in east Jerusalem — have suspended their recognition of Manougian. This affects his ability to run the community's civil and religious affairs.

Meanwhile, the community is looking for answers. Apparently, the deal was done without the oversight of the Armenian synod, a body which oversees the church's affairs. But it is unclear whether this could prove essential to cancel the deal.

"We are all very upset, and we need to do everything to revoke this illegal contract," said activist Djernazian. The 23-year-old said the secrecy and the way that issues were dealt with have broken the trust between residents and some parts of the Armenian clergy.

"We have always warned the patriarch: You can't lease anything, not even for one year. The Greek Patriarchate is the best example — the land will never return to you," he said.

Djernazian is referring to the recent takeover of parts of the Palestinian-run Petra Hotel near Jaffa Gate by an Israeli settler organization. This property inside the Old City, in the neighboring Christian Quarter, was signed away about 20 years ago in an alleged deal with a foreign firm acting as a front for an extremist Israeli settler organization, which wants to see a Jewish majority established in the Old City. Former Greek patriarch Irenaeus I was subsequently ousted after the deal came to light.

In interviews given from the US to media outlets, the demoted Armenian priest, who has denied any wrongdoing, claims the developer is not politically motivated.

The deal reflects the political sensitivity of the situation in Jerusalem, and one of the core issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel captured east Jerusalem — including the Old City — from Jordan after the war in 1967. It later annexed the area and declared the city Israel's undivided capital, in a move that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians seek to establish their own capital in east Jerusalem in any future state. Any major change in the social fabric of the Old City, and every plot of land, has political impact.

Residents have now placed their hopes on a group of lawyers from the US and Armenia who carried out a fact-finding mission in early June. Their report and recommendations are expected to be released soon.

Speaking in the courtyard of the Armenian Convent of Saint James, attorney Garo Ghazarian, of Los Angeles, said "the absolute value in the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem lies in the integrity of all its components … Handing [it] over to some private organization for commercial purpose, we must be mindful of the credible risk of displacement which stands to threaten Armenians who have lived in the quarter since historical times."

For many Armenians, the act of signing away land in the Armenian Quarter has sent the community into uncharted territory. Armenians have long had historical ties to Jerusalem; their ancestors came to the region over 1,500 years ago. After 1915, many more fled to Jerusalem from parts of the former Ottoman Empire where they were threatened with genocide.

Their quarter is the smallest of the four neighborhoods in Jerusalem's Old City and sits next to the Jewish and the Christian Quarters. The Armenian Convent of Saint James is at the heart of this community and its social life, with youth clubs and even its own football pitch. It's right next to the land that has been allegedly leased. Additionally, residents say young Armenians already have a hard time finding housing, and signing away land will just exacerbate the many pressures on the dwindling community.

"The lease of the land will change the status quo and mosaic of Jerusalem," warned Djernazian. It comes at a time when the Christian community in Jerusalem has seen an increase in attacks by Jewish Israeli extremists in recent months.

In January, some restaurants in the Christian Quarter were attacked by far-right Israeli extremists. Monks, nuns and priests who live in the Old City frequently report being spat at or harassed, and churches and cemeteries have been vandalized. Church leaders and residents have blamed Israel's far-right government for a culture that rarely prosecutes the culprits.

For young Christians like Djernazian, this makes it even more important to create awareness of what is happening with the land deal in the Armenian Quarter. "For me, this is a joint battle for all Christians, it is not just the Armenians. This should be a joint fight to preserve the Christian presence in Jerusalem."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Azerbaijan and Armenia made progress during three days of negotiations and voiced hope for an accord despite a flare-up in violence.

The adversaries' foreign ministers met at a State Department office in suburban Washington and also went to the White House to see Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, in the latest US-led mediation.

Closing the talks, Blinken said the two sides had made "further progress" on "the objective of reaching an overall final agreement in the weeks and months ahead" on Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region under effective Armenian control.

"I think there's also a clear understanding on everyone's part that the closer you get to reaching an agreement, in some cases the harder it gets because by definition, the most difficult issues are left for the end," Blinken said.

Blinken saluted the "candor, openness, directness" between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, who traveled to the US capital for the second time in as many months for talks.

The European Union has also been mediating at the level of leaders between the former Soviet republics, stepping into diplomacy where Russia has historically been the chief broker.

With Moscow bogged down by its invasion of Ukraine, Armenia has repeatedly accused Russian peacekeepers of failing to live up to promises to protect ethnic Armenians in line with a Kremlin-brokered ceasefire that ended major fighting in 2020.

While the foreign ministers were visiting in Washington, four Armenian separatist fighters died in renewed Azerbaijani firing, according to the rebels.

Tensions have soared over a months-long blockade of the only land corridor that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, with accounts of food and medicine shortages.