Author: Emil Lazarian

                                        Monday, May 2, 2022
Yerevan Denies Plans For Armenia-Turkey Border Demarcation
        • Tatevik Sargsian
Turkey -- The Church of Tigran Honents at the ruins of Ani, the capital of a 
medieval Armenian kingdom, on the Turkey-Armenia border, 11Sep2008
Armenia on Monday denied Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s claims that 
Ankara and Yerevan have agreed to re-demarcate their closed border.
Cavusoglu said over the weekend that the issue will be on the agenda of the next 
round of Turkish-Armenian normalization talks which will be held in Vienna on 
Tuesday. Turkish and Armenian negotiators will discuss practical modalities of 
the demarcation process, he said, adding that the two neighboring states may set 
up a bilateral commission for that purpose.
“There have been no discussions or agreements between Armenia and Turkey 
regarding the border re-demarcation,” said Vahan Hunanian, the Armenian Foreign 
Ministry spokesman.
“There is no such issue on the agenda,” Hunanian added in written comments.
Cavusoglu said last month that sections of the Turkish-Armenian border marked by 
the Arax river need to be demarcated again because over the past few decades the 
river has changed its course as a result of floods.
Turkey -- A Turkish army watch tower on the border gate with Armenia, in Akyaka, 
province of Kars, 15Apr2009
Ruben Galchian, an Armenian cartographer, insisted on Monday that the changes 
cited by Cavusoglu are insignificant. He suggested that Ankara simply hopes to 
use a re-demarcation process to get Yerevan to formally and explicitly recognize 
the existing frontier.
“I think that those minor border changes are simply a pretext [for the Turks,]” 
Galchian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Turkey has for decades kept the border closed and made its opening conditional 
on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. 
Cavusoglu has repeatedly made clear that Ankara is coordinating its ongoing 
dialogue with Yerevan with Baku.
At their two meetings held earlier this year, Armenian and Turkish envoys 
discussed prospects for normalizing bilateral relations. According to the 
foreign ministries of the two countries, they agreed to “continue the process 
without preconditions.”
Iran Reaffirms Support For Armenian Control Over Transit Roads
Armenia - Iranian Ambassador Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri (center) meets with senior 
officials in Syunik province, Kapan, April 29, 2022.
Iran remains strongly opposed to the opening of any exterritorial corridors that 
would pass through neighboring Armenia, according to a senior Iranian diplomat.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are to reopen their border to commercial and passenger 
traffic under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped their 
six-week war for Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020. The deal specifically 
commits Yerevan to opening rail and road links between Azerbaijan and its 
Nakhichevan exclave.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that it envisages an 
exterritorial land corridor that would pass through Armenia’s Syunik province 
bordering Iran. Armenian leaders deny this, saying that Azerbaijani citizens and 
cargo cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi backed Yerevan on the issue in a January phone 
call with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He said Tehran supports Armenian 
sovereignty over all roads passing through the country.
Iran’s ambassador to Armenia, Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, reportedly reaffirmed 
that stance when he visited Syunik and met with the provincial governor, Robert 
Ghukasian, and other local officials late last week.
“Statements made about transport corridors are unacceptable to us,” Ghukasian’s 
office quoted Zohouri as saying. “We believe that Armenia must preserve its 
territorial integrity.”
Armenia/Iran - The Arax river separating Armenia and Iran.
Some Iranian officials accused Aliyev last fall of seeking to effectively strip 
Iran of a common border with Armenia. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein 
Amir-Abdollahian likewise warned against any “changes in the region’s map.”
The Islamic Republic underscored its interest in Syunik when it announced last 
December its decision to open an Iranian consulate in the provincial capital 
Kapan. This was the main focus of Zohouri’s talks with the Syunik officials, 
according to a statement released by the provincial administration.
The statement said that while in Kapan Zohouri and other Iranian diplomats 
accompanying him “considered possible locations for the consulate building.”
The Syunik officials were cited as telling the diplomats that they are “ready to 
do everything” to help deepen Armenian-Iranian relations. Kapan Mayor Gevorg 
Parsian announced in that regard that Persian will be taught in local schools 
starting from the next academic year.
Armenia’s new ambassador in Tehran, Arsen Avagian, reportedly told Raisi last 
week that Yerevan would like to upgrade bilateral ties to the “level of 
strategic relations.”
Armenia Completes Three-Year Loan Deal With IMF
U.S. - A man walks past the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo at its 
headquarters in Washington, U.S., May 10, 2018.
The International Monetary Fund has disbursed a fresh $35 million loan to 
Armenia, completing a three-year lending program designed to bolster 
macroeconomic stability in the country.
The IMF’s “stand-by arrangement” was worth $248 million when it was first 
approved in May 2019. The Washington-based fund increased it to $415 million a 
year later to help Armenia cope with economic consequences of the coronavirus 
pandemic.
Announcing the latest installment of the program at the weekend, the IMF said 
the Armenian authorities have carried out “important structural reforms” in the 
last three years. It cited their efforts to improve tax collection, “strengthen 
governance” and combat corruption.
“The authorities have also developed an ambitious medium-term reform program 
that, if successfully implemented, could lead to stronger and more inclusive 
growth,” it added in a statement.
“Armenia’s economy continued to recover in 2021 and early 2022, largely thanks 
to the authorities’ economic management efforts,” added the statement.
Still, the IMF again predicted that economic growth will slow down to about 1.5 
percent this year due to the fallout from the war in Ukraine. It said inflation 
in Armenia will remain “elevated” for the same reason.
The World Bank likewise forecast last month that the Armenian economy will 
likely grow by just 1.2 percent in 2022 because of its dependence on Russia hit 
hard by Western sanctions.
Hundreds Arrested In Anti-Government Protests In Armenia
        • Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Riot police arrest an opposition protester in Yerevan, May 2, 2022.
Armenian security forces made at least 244 arrests on Monday as they clashed 
with protesters blocking streets in Yerevan as part of an opposition campaign to 
oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The country’s leading opposition groups launched the “civil disobedience” 
campaign after rallying thousands of supporters in a key square in the city 
center and setting up a protest camp there on Sunday. They pledged to bring 
other parts of Yerevan to a standstill.
Groups of activists mostly led by opposition lawmakers began blocking three 
dozen busy streets and street intersections in the Armenian capital early in the 
morning. Riot police reinforced by special police units used force to unblock 
them.
A statement released by the national police said traffic through those streets 
was fully restored by noon. The police reported later in the afternoon that 244 
protesters were detained in scuffles with security forces.
Opposition leaders condemned the use of force and said the arrests will not 
deter them from continuing their push for regime change.
“We have many cases of violence, including against parliament deputies,” one of 
them, Ishkhan Saghatelian, told reporter. “But you know, all this is secondary. 
Everything is alright. People have risen up and the objectives set up by us are 
being methodically achieved.”
Armenia - Riot police clash with opposition protesters blocking a street in 
Yerevan, May 2, 2022.
Security forces did not attempt to disperse protesters camped out at the 
intersection of four central avenues forming Yerevan’s France Square. The 
opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances were due to hold another rally 
there on Monday evening.
The opposition campaign was sparked by Pashinian’s recent statements on the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Addressing parliament on April 13, the prime minister said the international 
community is pressing Armenia to scale back its demands on Karabakh’s status and 
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to 
make such concessions to Baku.
Opposition leaders and other government critics say Pashinian is intent on 
helping Baku regain control of Karabakh.
Pashinian’s political allies say that he did not call for the restoration of 
Azerbaijani control of Karabakh. They have accused the opposition of exploiting 
the issue in a bid to seize power.
Vahagn Aleksanian, a pro-government lawmaker, said on Monday that the opposition 
forces are now trying unsuccessfully to replicate mass protests that brought 
Pashinian to power in 2018. He expressed confidence that they will fail to 
topple the current government.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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