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

Blinken Stresses Importance of Lifting Artsakh Blockade in Call with Aliyev

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijan’s illegal checkpoint at the Lachin Corridor


Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan the importance of lifting the seven-month-long blockade of Artsakh.

“Secretary of State Blinken emphasized the need for free movement of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin Corridor. He emphasized that both sides should maintain the positive progress of the negotiations leading to a lasting and dignified peace,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Blinken also expressed the continued support of the United States to the Armenia-Azerbaijan and emphasized the need for flexibility and compromise in negotiations.

At an earlier press briefing, Miller said that during the last meeting held in Washington, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov “narrowed down the scope of the issues that still remain unresolved.”

“When we say that [peace] is close, we mean that they have made significant progress on a number of issues. So we think that given the reduction in the number of issues to be resolved, agreement is close,” Miller added.

He emphasized that in order to reach a peace treaty, both sides must have willingness for compromise. Miller said that there are no upcoming meetings scheduled between Mirzoyan and Bayramov.

Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan, who is on a working visit to the U.S. met with Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

According to a press statement, Grigoyan briefed Power about the worsening humanitarian crisis created in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and its consequences.

ARF Bureau Office of Youth Affairs launches “Armenian Students for Artsakh”

Emil Lazarian
 Guest Contributor Youth, Announcements 0

The ARF Bureau Office of Youth Affairs is pleased to announce the launch of a new research call titled “Armenian Students for Artsakh.” The program aims to harness the potential of Armenian students worldwide in support of the Artsakh front. The office is initiating this program in light of the critical period that Artsakh is currently experiencing and the pressing need to utilize the academic and professional skills of Armenian students and scholars for the greater Armenian cause, particularly in relation to Artsakh.

The program aims to bring together the professional capacity of Armenian students across various disciplines, such as political science, economics, social sciences, legal, culture and investigative journalism. The objective is to make their research available for effective use by influential institutions involved in pro-Armenian activities.

Students aged 20-35 from Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora are invited to participate in this program. The participants’ work will be supervised by renowned mentors.

To apply, please complete the application form and submit the accompanying explanatory notes by July 31, 2023, at studentsforartsakh.am. 

The deadline for submission of research papers is October 1, 2023.

The following materials and mentors are planned for the program:

The destructive impact of the blockade of Artsakh on the rights and mental state of the children of Artsakh
Gegham Stepanyan, Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh

Blockade of the Berdzor Corridor as a war crime, from the International Law perspective
Siranush Sahakian, Head of the Armenian Center for International and Comparative Law

Azerbaijan’s Caviar Diplomacy in Europe
Heghineh Evinian, Director of European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy

The Aliyev family and Azerbaijan’s foreign investments and manifestations of corruption
Harout Sassounian, Editor-in-chief of the California Courier newspaper

The importance of the implementation of sanctions against Azerbaijan
Aram Hamparian, Executive director of the ANCA office in Washington, D.C.

Azerbaijan’s Energy Policy with Russia and the West
Yeghia Tashjian, Researcher at the American University of Beirut

The nation to an army system ideology in Armenia and Artsakh
Former Deputy Supreme Commander, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatryan

Relations between Azerbaijan and Israel
Shahan Kandaharian, Editor-in-chief of Beirut Aztag Daily

National minorities of Azerbaijan
Edgar Elbakyan, Co-founder of the Armenian Project

Azerbaijan’s relations with regional powers
Abraham Gasparyan, Founding director of Genesis Armenia Center

Azerbaijan’s political and academic attempts to distort history
Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh Lernik Hovhannisyan

The potential of unconventional water resources in Artsakh
Hovsep Der Kevorkian, ARF Bureau member and water resources specialist

The urgent necessity to preserve spiritual and non-material heritage of Artsakh
Father Garegin Hambardzumyan, Director of Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage preservation office in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

Possibilities of increasing the resilience of Artsakh’s economy
Suren Parsyan, ARF Bureau Economic Research Office director

The importance of involving international humanitarian organizations in Artsakh
Vicken Ashkarian, Collaborator at International Organization for Humanitarian Aid

Armenian humanitarian assistance to Artsakh Armenians after the 44-day war
Lilit Martirosyan, Chairwoman of ARS Artsakh

Artsakh issue on the agenda of international organizations
Mario Nalbandian, Member of the Central Council of ARF Hye Tahd, Socialist International Vice President

The white papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Modernity
  • Feasibility significance
  • Research work capacity
  • Objective basis of the work
  • Compliance with technical requirements

Students are encouraged to enter the program either individually or in groups of up to three.

All participants will receive symbolic gifts. The research papers will be evaluated by a panel of mentors. Each selected winner will be rewarded with scholarships as follows: first place – $1,000 USD, second place – $750 USD, and third place – $500 USD.

At the conclusion of the competition, an online conference will be organized to present the best white papers to the public. Each research paper will be published in newspapers in Armenia and the Diaspora.

The competition results will be announced on November 1, 2023.




California State Senate Passes Holden’s Resolution Condemning Azerbaijan’s Blockade of Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
PASADENA NOW
Published on Thursday, | 4:57 am

The California State Senate passed a resolution by Pasadena area Assemblymember Chris Holden condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh with a unanimous vote of 39-0. 

“This resolution reaffirms California’s solidarity with Armenia and our 200,000 strong community of California-Armenians,” said Assemblymember Holden. “There is power in our solidarity and there is even more when we acknowledge the wrongs committed and urge for justice.”

Holden added that the resolution, known as AJR 1, sets a precedent for the future and creates long-lasting ties toward a better tomorrow.

The bill has passed both houses of the California Legislature with bi-partisan support. The resolution calls on the Biden Administration to work to immediately facilitate the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance by way of airlift to Armenians in Artsakh.

“Armenians in Artsakh are facing extermination by the Azerbaijani government, with their illegal blockade.  Mr. Holden and his colleagues in the California Legislature have stood up for humanity by condemning Azerbaijan’s barbaric acts,” said ANCA National Board Member Aida Dimejian.

“The Armenian American community is thankful for this resolution calling on the Azeri government to end its illegal blockade and to hold Azerbaijani government accountable for its relentless aggression against the innocent men, women and children of Artsakh.”  

Today, there are nearly three million Armenians living in the Republic of Armenia, which consists of a portion of the Armenians’ historic homelands. The United States has the second largest diaspora of Armenians.  California has the largest population of Armenians in the country.

https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/california-state-senate-passes-holdens-resolution-condemning-azerbaijans-blockade-of-artsakh

Simplified visa-free travel between Georgia, Armenia comes into force today

Emil Lazarian
AGENDA, Georgia
Agenda.ge, 13 Jul 2023 – 19:37, Tbilisi,Georgia

A deal between Georgia and Armenia came into force today, allowing their nationals to cross the border using biometric identification cards. 

  • Georgian, Armenian PMs sign deal to further simplify visa-free travel

The agreement was signed by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan on January 12 in Yerevan, which replaced the agreement on visa-free movement of citizens of Armenia and Georgia through their territories concluded on May 19, 1993.

  • Georgia and Armenia simplify visa-free travel, further deepening people-to-people relations –  Georgian FM

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said the new deal aimed to establish “even more” favourable conditions for Georgian and Armenian citizens.

https://agenda.ge/en/news/2023/2750

Why deepening Russia-Azerbaijan ties should worry the United States

Emil Lazarian

By Sheila Paylan

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has left it with few friends, but Azerbaijan is an important exception. In fact, Moscow and Baku are effectively allies now. Just two days before the February 2022 invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a wide-ranging political-military agreement, following which Aliyev declared that the pact “brings our relations to the level of an alliance.” A few months later, Azerbaijan signed an intelligence-sharing agreement with Russia.

This has proven catastrophic for Armenia, which has maintained close security ties with Russia since joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 1992. In September 2022, Azerbaijan launched what the European Parliament called a “large-scale military aggression” against Armenia and, according to Armenia’s foreign minister, took over 150 square kilometers of Armenian territory. But the CSTO—to which Azerbaijan does not belong—refused to intervene on Armenia’s behalf. Washington stepped in to broker a ceasefire, and the European Union (EU) followed suit by sending a monitoring mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, much to Russia’s and Azerbaijan’s discontent.

The Putin-Aliyev partnership has also spelled disaster for the breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose remaining 120,000 ethnic Armenians live under Russian protection after Azerbaijan’s 2020 offensive to reclaim the territory. Forty-four days and thousands of deaths later, Russia brokered a ceasefire stipulating the five-year deployment of 1,960 Russian armed peacekeepers along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and in control of the “Lachin Corridor,” the only road linking it to Armenia. At the time, analysts opined that Putin’s imposition had cemented Russia’s role in the region. According to the decree authorizing the deployment, Russia’s reason for sending peacekeeping troops was to “prevent the mass death of the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

But the deployment has not prevented Azerbaijan from continuing to try to expel ethnic Armenians from what’s left of Nagorno-Karabakh. Last December, a group of Azerbaijanis set up a roadblock along the Lachin Corridor claiming to advocate for environmental rights in the region. But the roadblock in effect slowed the flow of goods into Nagorno-Karabakh, creating a humanitarian crisis. The United States and the EU, as well as Human Rights Watch and others, have called for Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin Corridor. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Azerbaijan to do the same.

Instead, Azerbaijan solidified the blockade by installing an armed checkpoint at the mouth of the Lachin Corridor, thus effectively seizing control over it. The move was further condemned by the United States and EU, and led Armenia to seek renewed intervention from the ICJ. Russia issued tepid statements and then replaced its peacekeeping force commander in Nagorno-Karabakh. But such a fundamental change in the regime over the Lachin Corridor could not possibly exist without approval—however tacit—from the Kremlin. Video footage taken last month purports to show Russian peacekeepers accompanying Azerbaijani forces to install a concrete barrier near the checkpoint and hoist an Azerbaijani flag in adjacent Armenian territory.

Since the blockade began, traffic along the Lachin Corridor has been reduced to an all-time low. This makes it more difficult for essential humanitarian aid to pass into Nagorno-Karabakh. In the last seven months, Nagorno-Karabakh has turned into an open-air prison, with ethnic Armenian inhabitants increasingly deprived of food and medicine, and energy resources almost entirely drained. They may soon be forced to flee their ancestral homeland for good just to survive.

In May, Aliyev demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, suggesting that he might offer them amnesty should they accept Azerbaijani rule. Oddly, the US State Department praised Aliyev’s remarks on amnesty, glossing over other parts of his speech in which he threatened violence if the authorities did not surrender: “[E]veryone knows perfectly well that we have all the opportunities to carry out any operation in that region today… Either they will bend their necks and come themselves or things will develop differently now.”

But Washington’s seemingly tactful acquiescence to Azerbaijan’s growing aggression against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in fact hurts US efforts to curb malign Russian influence and end Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The Russo-Azeri pact provides for enhanced economic ties, including in the gas and energy sectors, and has proven successful in helping preemptively circumvent Western sanctions against Russia. A deal between Baku and Brussels in July 2022 to double the flow of gas to Europe to wean it off Russian gas was soon followed by a deal in November 2022 between Baku and Moscow to increase gas imports from Russia to enable Azerbaijan to meet its new obligations to Europe.

In May, Russia and Iran agreed to complete a railroad that would link Russia to the Persian Gulf through Azerbaijan, thus providing a route through which Iran can directly send Russia more weapons and drones. One week later, during a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, in which Aliyev participated as a guest for the first time, Putin stated that cooperation on developing this North-South railway is carried out “in close partnership with Azerbaijan.” Baku knows it can play both sides because it has backing from Moscow, while the West is blinded by non-Russian energy imports and dreams of regional stability.

If the West seeks to reduce tensions in the South Caucasus, it needs to step up its pressure on Azerbaijan. In the short term, this might include the threat of sanctions in response to further military action against Armenia and the continued refusal to unblock the Lachin Corridor, as well as lending support to Russia. By law, Azerbaijan cannot receive US military or foreign assistance unless it eschews military force to solve its disputes with Armenia, but the White House keeps letting Azerbaijan off the hook by waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act and sending millions of dollars in military aid to Baku. Washington should treat Baku’s actions against Armenia as attempts at coercion, just as it does with Russian aggression against Ukraine.

For its part, Armenia has sought to unwind some of its security arrangements with Russia. Yerevan has refused to host CSTO military drills, send a representative to serve as CSTO deputy secretary general, sign a CSTO declaration to provide defense aid to Armenia, or accept the deployment of a CSTO monitoring mission in lieu of the EU-led mission. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has even threatened to terminate or freeze Armenia’s CSTO membership.

Even so, the West cannot reasonably expect Armenia to leave the CSTO and break with Russia without significantly helping Armenia diversify and mitigate its security, energy, and economic reliance on the Kremlin. As part of this, the United States may want to consider inviting Armenia to become a Major Non-NATO Ally. Washington should provide training and equipment to enhance Armenia’s defense capabilities and help it develop a more robust and independent security apparatus. The United States could also push forward on the prospect of building a small modular nuclear power plant in Armenia, providing an incentive for Armenia to decide against partnering with Russia on energy.

The West has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to facilitate a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is good, but these efforts should not come at the cost of abetting the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh. Now is the time to compel Baku to cease its bellicose rhetoric and consent to an international presence in Nagorno-Karabakh to mediate dialogue with residents there and promote a more meaningful transition from war to lasting peace.

Sheila Paylan is a human rights lawyer and former legal advisor to the United Nations. She is currently a senior fellow in international law at the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia.


​Dmitry Trenin: “Russia ready for a new format of relations with Armenia”

Emil Lazarian
Armenia –

Dmitry Trenin: “Russia ready for a new format of relations with Armenia”


Dmitry Trenin

Mediamax’s interview with Dmitry Trenin, research professor of the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics at the Higher School of Economics and leading researcher at the Center for International Security of the National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

 

Dmitry Trenin was Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from 2008-2022.

 

– In your article “Russia’s allied policy: What to do and what to change?” published in late August 2020, about a month before the war, you wrote that Armenia’s value for Russia is not too big. Can we say that after the defeat in the 2020 war, Armenia’s value has further decreased?

 

– I think, first of all, it is not that Armenia has changed, but the general situation in the region. The changes inside Armenia were rather a consequence of what happened during the war and what changed the balance of power in the South Caucasus.

 

Today, Russia’s position has changed not only towards Armenia but the South Caucasus in general.

 

I will not say that a disaster occurred for Russia, but in any case, the changes are serious. Today, Turkey is probably a more significant player in the South Caucasus than Russia. In addition, in the context of the war in Ukraine, Western countries, primarily the United States and partly the United Kingdom, began to attach much more importance to the post-Soviet space in case when they distanced themselves from the 2020 war. In general, this war was very peripheral for the Western political class and, in general, for Western society – little was written about it, little was said or thought about it. But now, after Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian developments, the West thinks there is an opportunity and a need to expand the geopolitical pressure with access to the Caucasus, Middle and Central Asia.

 

– In the same article you wrote: “The main value of the position on Armenia is in the possibility of maintaining relative stability in Transcaucasia, the balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and deterring Turkey’s ambitions. Today, this balance no longer exists.

 

– Actually, Russia cannot play this game anymore. For many years it had the opportunity to act as a balancer and believed that it could – as the Americans do in the Middle East – sell weapons to one and the other, control the situation in the zone of extinguished or frozen conflict and thus maintain its position in the South Caucasus, not allowing regional powers such as Turkey and world powers such as the United States or even China enter the region. Now Russia does not have such an opportunity, so there can be no talk of any balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

 

At the same time, Russia is interested that a solution be found to the problem of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Peace creates more opportunities for Russia than war. If earlier it was possible to say that Russia benefited from this conflict, although I think this is not quite true, now it hopes that a peaceful settlement will create some conditions: first of all, by intensification of economic relations, creation of new transport opportunities, including through the territory of Armenia. We should also keep in mind that the relations between Russia and Georgia have warmed up a bit recently. This is also an interesting factor.

 

– How fair is the opinion that the fate of the South Caucasus is decided not in the region itself, but in Ukraine? In the sense that after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Russia does not want or is unable to play the role it had in the first post-war phase.

 

– I agree with that point of view. But when we say that everything depends on the outcome, we assume that the outcome is somewhere close. But the outcome is very far away, we are probably talking about years. The conflict in Ukraine may freeze on some point for a while, but it will not change the state of hybrid war between Russia and the West. The situation will remain in limbo without a clear final outcome for a long time.

Dmitry Trenin

 

Obviously, priorities have now changed a lot, and we have to mobilize resources in the most important areas. The luxury that Russian foreign policy used to have will no longer exist.

 

– And the need for Russia to take into account Turkey’s interests in the region will only grow?

 

– Of course, Turkey remains a very important country for Russia, and the need to take Turkish interests into account, of course, remains. I would also add that Russia has obvious interests in Azerbaijan, and these interests have grown: I mean the North-South corridor which is also one of the connecting threads between Russia and the economies of the Near and Middle East, India, Iran. This is also of strategic importance for Russia. With Europe no longer being Russia’s main economic partner, there is a need to interact more closely with Azerbaijan. The importance of Armenia as a military outpost in relation to Turkey is much smaller in the current conditions. This does not mean that Russia has stopped being interested in Armenia and would like to close this “unpromising direction”. There is nothing of the sort. There is a willingness to work with the government that exists in Armenia, understanding its aspirations and its limitations.

 

– Many people in Yerevan ask: in light of the difficult situation Armenia is in, and the growing importance of Turkey and Azerbaijan for Moscow, what can Armenia do, to gain competitive advantages and become more interesting for Russia?

 

– I repeat that Russia has no wish to reduce its presence in Armenia. Armenia today is not a “burden” or “ballast”. In the current circumstances, it is important for Russia to maintain allied relations with Armenia through the CSTO and the EAEU. For this, the relations should be more pragmatic. There is a thing which, if does not disturb the Russian side but somewhat annoys it. This is the resentment against Russia in Armenian society. I believe that Russia does not deserve such criticism. Russia is being asked to, so to speak, harness for Armenia, while Armenia is not going to harness for Russia. Such moments of tension, in my opinion, can be significantly reduced in the case of more pragmatic, more open and more honest relations. I think that Russia is ready for such a new format of relations, which would not be the relations of boss and client, as it was seen by many in Moscow and Yerevan, but the relations of two countries linked by common interests, historical and demographic ties.

Dmitry Trenin

 

You talk about Armenia’s difficult situation. Russia is also in a very difficult situation, with a huge number of sanctions and other forms of pressure from the West. The situation in Russia is quite difficult. It has to wage a hybrid war against the collective West, and I would like Russian partners and allies to understand this, just as Russia understands Armenia. Russia did not obstruct the choice of the Armenian people in 2018, it agreed to live with the government the Armenian people chose. Whatever Putin thinks of the notorious “Sorosians”, he is working with Nikol Pashinyan and quite closely.

 

– You mentioned the CSTO, which, instead of acting as a guarantor of Armenia’s security, today is actually one of the main irritants in Armenian-Russian relations.

 

– I would partly argue with this, saying that the CSTO is of little use to Armenia, but the CSTO does not force Armenia to do anything. CSTO members are Russia’s formal allies, but now when Russia is actually at war with the collective West, they take a neutral position. And Russia accepts this as a fact; no one is demanding that the CSTO be dissolved and no one calls on the CSTO to consolidate around Russia. In this sense Russia acts very adaptively and understands what it can demand from its allies and what it cannot. It is not an ideal tool, of course, but it is a burden that at least does not pull you down. Right, it does not help much either. But leaving the CSTO will bring forth unnecessary losses that will not be compensated. Let’s say Armenia withdraws from the CSTO, what does it mean? Will it become a member of NATO? No, it will not. Will it abandon bilateral military relations with Russia? As I understand it, no, although obviously there are circles that demand the withdrawal of Russian forces. No good alternative is seen for Armenia. Of course, Armenia is the one that determines its own fate, its military-political status, but we should look at the situation from different sides and refrain from emotions. We in Russia also have a lot of emotions not related to the Caucasus and Armenia. This should also be kept in mind.    

 

Ara Tadevosyan spoke with Dmitry Trenin

 

This interview has been prepared as part of a joint project with the Tufenkian Foundation.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 07/11/2023

Emil Lazarian 
                                        Tuesday, 
Blinken, Pashinian Discuss Armenian-Azeri Talks
U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian meet on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session, New York, 
September 22, ,2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony 
Blinken Armenia’s peace talks with Azerbaijan and Baku’s continuing blockade of 
Nagorno-Karabakh in a phone call on Tuesday.
“The interlocutors reviewed the situation in the region, ongoing negotiations on 
the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, necessary steps to ensure the 
rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the need for 
a Baku-Stepanakert dialogue with international involvement,” the Armenian 
government’s press office said in a statement on the call.
“Prime Minister Pashinian referred to the deepening humanitarian crisis in 
Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin 
Corridor and steps necessary for overcoming it,” it added without elaborating.
Blinken and the U.S. State Department did not immediately issue statements on 
the conversation. It took place five days after U.S. National Security Adviser 
Jake Sullivan met with Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security 
Council, in Washington. Sullivan did not comment on that meeting.
Both Blinken and Sullivan held late last month trilateral meetings with the 
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers during their fresh round of 
U.S.-mediated peace talks focusing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. 
Blinken said on June 29 that despite “further progress” made by the two 
ministers “there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement.”
Speaking in Baku on Tuesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed the 
importance of Armenia’s recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over 
Nagorno-Karabakh which was declared by Pashinian in May.
“Now, however, the time has come to put those words to paper,” Aliyev said, 
referring to the peace deal currently discussed by Baku and Yerevan.
Opposition Lawmaker Ousted From Armenian Parliament Post
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - A session of the National Assembly, Yerevan, .
The Armenian opposition accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of dealing 
another blow to pluralism and democracy on Tuesday after his party ousted the 
last remaining opposition head of a standing parliament committee.
Lawmakers representing the Civil Contract party voted to dismiss Taguhi 
Tovmasian as chairwoman of the National Assembly’s committee on human rights 
after a brief session. The vote was boycotted by their colleagues from the 
opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances.
Civil Contract’s Hovik Aghazarian was the only parliament deputy who spoke 
during the session. He repeated the ruling party’s complaints that Tovmasian did 
not attend most meetings of the Armenian parliament’s leadership and did not 
stop “hate speech” when her committee discussed on April 4 candidacies for the 
then vacant post of the state human rights defender.
Edgar Ghazarian, the opposition candidate for the post, enraged pro-government 
lawmakers with his claim that the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought 
Pashinian to power was in fact a “Turkish-Azerbaijani revolution.” They shouted 
abuse and threats at Ghazarian during the meeting chaired by Tovmasian.
One of those lawmakers, Artur Hovannisian, pledged to “cut the tongues and ears 
of anyone” who would make disparaging comments about the regime change. 
Pashinian’s party did not criticize his behavior.
Tovmasian, who is affiliated with Pativ Unem, insisted that she did nothing 
wrong on April 4. In a written statement, she also argued that the parliamentary 
statutes did not require her to attend meetings of the National Assembly’s 
Council consisting of speaker Alen Simonian, his deputies as well as the 
committee chairpersons.
Tovmasian again claimed that Pashinian personally ordered his loyalists to strip 
her of the parliamentary post in retaliation against her defection from his 
political team following Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
“As you can see, any dissent in Armenia is strangled by imprisonment and 
dismissal,” added the former journalist and newspaper editor.
Armenia - Taguhi Tovmasian (right) and other deputies from Pativ Unem bloc 
attend a parliamernt session, September 14, 2021.
Pativ Unem voiced strong support for Tovmasian, saying that she acted 
professionally on April 4 in the face of her pro-government colleagues’ 
“hooligan behavior.” The official grounds for her dismissal are “completely 
baseless and illegal,” the opposition bloc charged in a statement.
Hayastan also condemned Tovmasian’s dismissal. “The government cannot put a 
straitjacket on the opposition; that means totalitarianism, dictatorship, 
tyranny,” said one of its senior parliamentarians, Artsvik Minasian.
Armenian law reserves a number of leadership positions in the parliament for the 
opposition minority. Tovmasian’s ouster left the opposition without any such 
posts.
Hayastan’s Ishkhan Saghatelian and Vahe Hakobian were ousted as deputy speaker 
and chairman of the parliament committee on economic affairs respectively in 
July 2022 after weeks of anti-government protests organized by Hayastan and 
Pativ Unem. Another Hayastan deputy, Armen Gevorgian, immediately resigned as 
chairman of a committee on “Eurasian integration” in protest.
Both opposition blocs made clear on Tuesday that they will not nominate a new 
head of the human rights committee. Civil Contract likewise said that it will 
not install Tovmasian’s successor.
Nevertheless, the ruling party will effectively gain control of her post even in 
the absence of a new committee chair. In line with the parliamentary statutes, 
the human rights panel will be run, in an acting capacity, by Rustam Bakoyan, 
its deputy chairman affiliated with Civil Contract.
Last year, Bakoyan’s former wife accused him of systematically beating her, 
publicizing purported photographs of injuries sustained by her. Bakoyan, who 
denied the allegations, was not prosecuted or even censured by Pashinian’s party.
Government Vows To Tackle ‘Police Violence Against Lawyers’
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian speaks in the parliament, Yerevan, 
March 1, 2023.
Armenia’s Interior Ministry and national bar association agreed on Tuesday to 
set up a joint working group tasked with protecting lawyers against violent 
police actions.
The agreement was announced after hundreds of lawyers again went on a one-day 
strike and marched to the ministry headquarters in Yerevan to show support for 
their colleagues allegedly beaten up by police officers.
Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian received the leaders of the Armenian Chamber of 
Advocates, which organized the protest. One of them, Ara Zohrabian, was 
satisfied with the meeting that lasted for less than an hour.
Zohrabian said they received assurances that “there will no such instances 
involving lawyers anymore.” Lawyers assaulted by police officers will now be 
able to swiftly appeal to the joint commission that will comprise three Interior 
Ministry officials and three lawyers, he told journalists.
Neither Ghazarian nor the ministry’s press office made any statements to that 
effect immediately after the meeting.
The protests began late last month after one attorney, Karen Alaverdian, claimed 
to have been subjected to “undue physical force” while trying to stop several 
policemen kicking and punching his client at a Yerevan police station.
Armenia - Lawyers protest outside the Interior Ministry in Yerevan, July 11, 
2023.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee denied the allegations on June 13, saying that 
Alaverdian himself shoved and even hit the officers in a bid to free the 
criminal suspect. The law-enforcement agency charged him with “hooliganism” and 
obstruction of legitimate police actions. The Chamber of Advocates voiced 
support for Alaverdian and demanded a proper investigation into the incident.
Alaverdian revealed on Tuesday that two senior officers working at the police 
department of Yerevan’s central administrative district have been indicted by 
another law-enforcement body, the National Security Service (NSS), and suspended 
as a result. He welcomed the development.
Two other lawyers claimed to have been ill-treated at another Yerevan police 
station in February while representing a teenage criminal suspect. Their 
allegations were likewise denied by the Armenian police and the Investigative 
Committee.
The protesting lawyers say that the national police chief, Karlen Hovannisian, 
is personally responsible for the alleged violence. More than 500 of them have 
signed a petition demanding his dismissal.
According to Zohrabian, Hovannisian also attended the interior minister’s 
meeting with the Chamber of Advocates leadership. The latter insisted on 
Hovannisian’s resignation during and after the meeting.
Azerbaijan Again Blocks Medical Evacuations From Karabakh
        • Artak Khulian
Armenia - A Red Cross vehicle is seen in Syunik province, June 1, 2023.
Azerbaijan has again banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
from evacuating seriously ill persons from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
Azerbaijan’s state border guard service said on Tuesday that it made the 
decision because Karabakh residents returning home from Armenia repeatedly tried 
last week to “smuggle” cigarettes, mobile phone screens, gasoline and other 
items. The ICRC failed to stop such “illegal actions,” it said, adding that the 
Azerbaijani checkpoint controversially set up in the Lachin corridor in April 
will remain completely closed until the end of its inquiry into the alleged 
smuggling attempts.
The ICRC has transported hundreds of Karabakh patients to Armenian hospitals 
since Baku blocked last December commercial traffic through Karabakh’s sole land 
link with Armenia. Only Red Cross vehicles as well as convoys of Russian 
peacekeepers were able to pass through the road.
The ICRC said later on Tuesday that four of its hired drivers “tried to 
transport some commercial goods in their own vehicles which were temporarily 
displaying the ICRC emblem.”
“These individuals were not ICRC staff members and their service contracts were 
immediately terminated by the ICRC,” it added in a statement.
"Our work along the Lachin corridor is always strictly humanitarian. This 
essential work, which has allowed more than 600 patients to be evacuated for 
medical care and for medical supplies, food, baby formula and other essentials 
to reach health care facilities and families, must be allowed to continue.”
Baku already blocked the medical evacuations in late April and on June 15. They 
most recently resumed on June 25.
Karabakh’s leadership did not immediately react to the latest Azerbaijani ban. 
The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about it, saying that “more 
international efforts and actions are needed to lift the 7-month blockade of 
Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“It is obvious that Azerbaijan is simply looking for excuses to finally close 
the only way through which medicines and other medical supplies were brought to 
Karabakh,” Artur Harutiunian, a senior Karabakh lawmaker, told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
Service.
Harutiunian argued that family members accompanying Karabakh patients on their 
way back from Armenia did not try to smuggle weapons or drugs. He said they only 
carried things that are running out in Karabakh due to the Azerbaijani blockade.
Baku further tightened the blockade on June 15, banning the Russian peacekeepers 
from shipping limited amounts of food to Karabakh. It has also been blocking 
Armenia’s electricity and gas supplies to the Armenian-populated region.
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.

Azerbaijan’s claims were false and manipulative. Armenian MFA welcomes the decision of International Court of Justice

Emil Lazarian

 10:17,

YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia welcomes the Order of the International Court of Justice of 6 July 2023, the complete text of which was communicated to the parties on .

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the MFA Armenia, the Court unanimously reaffirmed its 22 February 2023 Order obligating Azerbaijan, pending the final decision in the case, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination “to take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions”.

The Court unanimously confirmed with its 6 July 2023 legally binding Order that the 22 February 2023 Order “applies without limitation” to the checkpoint established by Azerbaijan and the existence and operation of the Azerbaijani checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor plausibly constitutes racial discrimination.

It is important to highlight that the Court considered that “the tenuous situation between the Parties confirms the need for effective implementation” of that Order, which was taken to prevent an imminent risk of irreparable harm to ethnic Armenians’ rights under the CERD and which has been and is still being intentionally disregarded by Azerbaijan.

Thus, the 6 July 2023 Order of the Court reaffirms Azerbaijan’s international legal obligation to take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions, and therefore to immediately cease the operation of its checkpoint, as it unquestionably impedes the rights under the CERD of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It can be stated that the 6 July 2023 Order of the Court once again proves that Azerbaijan’s assertions of its compliance with the Order of the Court of 22 February 2023 were false and manipulative.

We also call on other international actors, and the UN Security Council in particular, to take all steps to ensure the immediate and effective implementation of the Court’s Order by Azerbaijan.

The Vatican’s other peace mission

Emil Lazarian
ANALYSIS
LUKE COPPEN

 . 9:09 PM  

The man sometimes called the Vatican’s “prime minister” is on a peace mission this week. But unlike the Ukraine war initiative led by the Vatican envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, it probably won’t generate many headlines.  

In fact, you may struggle to find any reports on it at all. As of July 11, the Vatican’s in-house media doesn’t seem to have mentioned it. And it doesn’t appear on the Twitter account of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, the hub of the Holy See’s diplomatic activity. 

But if you comb through government press releases and specialist Italian Catholic websites, you will see that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is currently on a trip to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are located in the Caucasus region, where Europe and Asia meet. But that is where the commonalities between the two countries seem to end. 

Azerbaijan is a majority Muslim country of around 10 million people. It is almost three times larger than the majority Christian Armenia, which has a population of less than three million. 

Since the last years of the Cold War, the two countries have been locked in post-Soviet Eurasia’s most enduring conflict. 

Fighting has broken out periodically since 1998 over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is situated within Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians. The area is home to the breakaway state known as the Republic of Artsakh, which is closely tied to Armenia.

A upsurge in violence in 2020, in which both sides used loitering munitions (also known as “kamikaze drones”), is believed to have ushered in a new era of warfare dominated by deadly autonomous machines — as seen in Ukraine today.

Hundreds of soldiers were killed in the most recent major clashes at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in September 2022, which ended with an uneasy ceasefire. 

Shortly afterward, purported environmental activists blocked the Lachin corridor, the sole road linking Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. Human rights groups have said that the blockade is creating a humanitarian crisis in the disputed region. 

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has often shown his concern over the ongoing feud between the two nations. His sensitivity to the 35-year conflict possibly dates back to his years as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, when he was said to have maintained close ties with the local Armenian community.

In 2016, Francis visited both nations on separate trips, traveling to Armenia on June 24-26 and Azerbaijan on Oct. 2. In recent months, he has repeatedly expressed his anguish over the deteriorating humanitarian situation connected to the Lachin corridor blockade.

It is against this background that Cardinal Parolin began his five-day trip to the neighboring countries.

On July 10, Parolin met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. According to the president’s website, the two men reviewed the deepening of ties between Azerbaijan in the Holy See in recent years.

Steps forward have included Aliyev’s 2020 visit to the Vatican, the opening of an Azerbaijani embassy to the Holy See in 2021, and the signing that year of a cooperation agreement to restore Rome’s Catacombs of Commodilla between the Vatican and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, a charitable body led by Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. 

The cardinal held talks with the country’s foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov, discussing “the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the current situation in the region,” according to the Azerbaijan State News Agency.

The agency added that Bayramov told Parolin about the situation following the 2020 conflict, known in Azerbaijan as the “44-day Patriotic War” and by neutrals as the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (following the first in 1988-1994). The foreign minister highlighted what he called “the crimes, vandalism and destroyed cultural and religious heritage in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories,” as well as “the mine threats and other provocations committed by Armenia.”

On Monday, the cardinal also met with Sheikh Allahshukur Pashazadeh, the Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, who reportedly defended Azerbaijan against accusations that it is destroying Armenian cultural heritage. 

Concerns about the erasure of historic Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh have been raised at the European Parliament and the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO.

The Shiite Muslim cleric also decried what he called “Armenian vandalism” of Azerbaijani sites — demonstrating that both sides accuse each other of attacking their patrimony.

In addition, Parolin visited the grave of Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president from 1993 to 2003, located in the Alley of Honor, a burial site for distinguished Azerbaijanis in the capital, Baku.

Cardinal Parolin was expected to travel to Armenia July 11 (via neighboring Georgia), remaining there until July 13. He is likely to receive a warm welcome as Armenia — the first country in the world to formally adopt Christianity in 301 A.D. — sees the Vatican as a crucial ally in the preservation of its unique spiritual culture.

As well as meeting with political leaders, the cardinal may be received by Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the ancient Armenian Apostolic Church, which has drawn closer to Rome since 1970 through a series of joint declarations and gestures such as the addition of the Armenian St. Gregory of Narek to the list of Doctors of the Church recognized by Catholics in 2015.

Parolin is also due to lay a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in the capital, Yerevan, emphasizing the Vatican’s recognition of the systematic destruction of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1917. Pope Francis has not hesitated to describe the killing of between 1.2 and 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, despite opposition from Turkey, the republic born out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire (and a close ally of Azerbaijan).

Parolin is also expected to celebrate a Mass in Gyumri, the country’s second-largest city, which will no doubt be attended by members of the minority Armenian Catholic Church, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope.

Even if Parolin’s trip doesn’t produce immediate results, such as an easing of the Lachin corridor crisis, it’s likely to prove a shrewd investment of the Holy See’s diplomatic capital if — or perhaps when— Armenia and Azerbaijan take up arms again.

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/the-vaticans-other-peace-mission

Obstructing the supply of ICRC humanitarian goods by Azerbaijan is a war crime. Artsakh MFA

Emil Lazarian

 20:09,

YEREVAN, 12 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh issued a statement regarding Azerbaijan’s obstruction of the movement of vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross through the Lachin Corridor, stressing that Azerbaijan is obliged not to obstruct the delivery of humanitarian goods to the besieged Artsakh. Violation of this obligation is a serious violation of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and is qualified as a war crime.

ARMENPRESS reports, the statement of the Artsakh Foreign Ministry stated:

“On 11 July, the Azerbaijani side once again blocked the movement of the ICRC vehicles through the illegally established checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, thereby grossly violating both the norms of international humanitarian law and Azerbaijan’s own obligations under the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020 and the ICJ orders of 22 February and 6 July 2023. The fact that Azerbaijan justifies this unlawful and inhumane act by alleging the transportation of “unauthorised items” such as mobile phones, cigarettes and fuel on ICRC vehicles only proves the ongoing transport, food and energy blockade of Artsakh and the acute shortage of essential goods, as well as Baku’s hostile and inhumane attitude towards the people of Artsakh. 
 
We reiterate that in accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, Azerbaijan has an obligation not to impede the delivery of humanitarian cargo to besieged Artsakh. Violating this obligation constitutes a serious breach of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a war crime. 
 
While acknowledging the ICRC’s statement of 11 July regarding this matter, it is also necessary to emphasise that Azerbaijan’s actions directly violate the Trilateral Statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, which, among other things, provides for the establishment of the Lachin Corridor regime under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces to ensure a connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, as well as the security of movement for persons, vehicles and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor. Moreover, the continued blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan constitutes a violation of the two legally binding decisions of the International Court of Justice, which ordered Azerbaijan to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons and goods in both directions through the Lachin Corridor. We emphasise that in their approaches to the issue of the Lachin Corridor, international actors should proceed from the legally binding decisions of the International Court of Justice. 
 
By obstructing the humanitarian operations of the ICRC, including medical evacuations, Azerbaijan not only disregards its international obligations but also exacerbates the already dire humanitarian situation in Artsakh. This ban effectively deprives access to urgent medical assistance for all those who critically need it, which can lead to serious consequences and loss of life. 
 
The disruption of ICRC humanitarian operations, combined with the total blockade in place since 15 June and Azerbaijan’s consistent obstruction of humanitarian outreach to the population of Artsakh, as well as its policy of creating most unbearable conditions in Artsakh, is yet another manifestation of Azerbaijan’s genocidal intentions towards the people of Artsakh. 
 
We believe it is imperative for the international community to condemn Azerbaijan’s unlawful actions, exert pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities to restore the ICRC’s ability to conduct humanitarian transportation and medical evacuations through the Lachin Corridor based on the principle of respect for human dignity, and make collective efforts to protect the rights and security of the people of Artsakh. Once again, we remind of the responsibility of all parties involved in the peace process in lifting the criminal blockade of Artsakh that has been going on for 7 months now and ensuring Azerbaijan’s full compliance with its obligations under the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020 and the decisions of the International Court of Justice”.