The report of Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Gegham Stepanyan on “Malicious Prosecution by Azerbaijan of Captured Armenian Servicemen and Civilians” was disseminated as an official document in the United Nations, Stepanyan said on Facebook on Tuesday.
The report is available here. https://undocs.org/A/76/581?fbclid=IwAR2FhHGSDqx2NqFs-fmKVeRGcK2dnuPoniY5SZnFtzvIGQvcb_JAPtA2n3k
The Yerevan City Council adopted the draft budget of the city for 2022 by a vote of 36 for, no against and one abstention at a session on Tuesday.
The document envisages 94,560,201 drams in revenues and 98,821,222 in spending for the capital next year. The budget deficit is projected at 4,261,021 drams.
City councilor Arman Antonyan deplored the budget as “reckless” in his speech at the session.
“Does this draft budget have anything to do with the capital of a war-torn country?” he said.
Antonyan regretted that no joint debates were held and many proposals were not included in the reference summary sheet. He stated the figures in the budget are “ungrounded”.
Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan disagreed with his claims, admitting, however, some changes may be made in the document.
18:03,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan participated in the informal meeting of the leaders of the CIS member states in St. Petersburg, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.
The event was attended by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Toka, the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev.
First, the participants of the meeting took a “family photo”, then Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted those present.
Issues related to the development of cooperation in the CIS area, as well as joint measures to combat the coronavirus were discussed at the meeting.
Anna Popova, Acting Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, presented a detailed report on the work and measures taken against the coronavirus.
The meeting ended with an informal dinner of the CIS leaders.
Tuesday,
Coup Charges Dropped Against Armenian Oppositionists
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Former National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian speaks at
an opposition rally in Yerevan, November 21, 2020.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) has reportedly dropped coup charges
that were brought against its former director, Artur Vanetsian, and another
prominent opposition figure one year ago.
Vanetsian, who now leads a major opposition party, Ashot Minasian, a militia
commander critical of the Armenian government, as well as two other
oppositionists were detained in November 2020 amid anti-government protests in
Yerevan sparked by Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war with Azerbaijan
The NSS charged them with plotting to kill Pashinian and overthrow his
government. The NSS claimed to have found large quantities of weapons and
ammunition in a property belonging to Minasian.
All four men rejected the charges as politically motivated before being freed by
courts a few days later.
Vanetsian’s lawyers said on Tuesday that a senior NSS investigator has decided
to close the criminal case against their client for lack of evidence.
“The decision made confirmed that there was no conspiracy to assassinate Nikol
Pashinian or seize power,” the lawyers, Yervand Varosian and Lusine Sahakian,
said in a joint statement.
Vanetsian, who headed the NSS from 2018-2019, described the yearlong probe as
“yet another show staged against me.”
“For a whole year, the authorities claimed that ‘they tried to kill the prime
minister’ and thereby justified the presence of armed people in the National
Assembly,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But as we can see, the criminal
case opened one year ago … had nothing to do with reality. All steps taken by
the authorities are aimed at protecting their power.”
Armenia - Ashot Minasian.
Minasian was also cleared of the coup charges, according to his lawyer, Mihran
Poghosian.
The prominent Karabakh war veteran was arrested as recently as on December 1.
Poghosian said he continues to be accused of illegal arms possession and will
therefore remain in detention for now. Minasian denies that accusation as well.
Earlier this year, the Armenian Ministry of Justice asked the country’s judicial
watchdog to take disciplinary action against a judge who refused to issue an
arrest warrant for Minasian in November 2020. The judge, Arman Hovannisian,
described the move as government retribution for his decision.
The NSS did not comment on the latest developments. It was also not immediately
clear whether the two other suspects were also cleared of the alleged coup plot.
Deadlock Continues Over Parliament Post
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Artur Ghazinian of the opposition Hayastan bloc attends a meeting of
the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, September 22, 2021.
A key committee of the Armenian parliament failed to elect its deputy chairman
for the 18th consecutive time on Tuesday as its pro-government members continued
to object to an opposition candidate for the post.
Armenian law entitles opposition lawmakers to heading three of the parliament’
12 standing committees. It stipulates that the deputy chairpersons of several
other parliamentary panels should also represent the opposition minority in the
National Assembly.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance nominated this summer one of its
lawmakers, Artur Ghazinian, as deputy head of the parliament committee on
defense and security. He was also backed by the Pativ Unem bloc, the second
parliamentary opposition force.
Seven members of the 11-member committee representing the ruling Civil Contract
party have blocked Ghazinian’s appointment since then. Some of them have cited
Ghazinian’s harsh criticism of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s handling of last
year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hayastan responded by re-nominating him for the
vacant post for 13 more times.
A senior Civil Contract lawmaker, Armen Khachatrian, again demanded on Tuesday
that the opposition minority propose another candidate.
“I won’t name names today there are opposition members of the committee who are
acceptable candidates for us,” Khachatrian told reporters.
“We could have appointed our candidate today or a week ago, which could have
been totally legitimate and legal … and closed the issue,” he said. “But this is
a political decision to enable the opposition to field its candidate.”
Hayastan’s Gegham Manukian rejected the demand, saying that the opposition
alliance is continuing to insist on Ghazinian’s candidacy. “Nobody can impose
their will on us,” he said.
Another Former Armenian POW Arrested
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - A soldier at an Armenian army post on the border with
Azerbaijan,November 12, 2021.
An Armenian court has allowed law-enforcement authorities to arrest another
soldier who was freed and repatriated by Azerbaijan earlier this month.
Major Narek Yeremian was among three dozen Armenian soldiers taken prisoner
during the November 16 fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left at
least 13 troops from both sides dead. The Armenian military also lost two border
posts in what Yerevan condemned as an Azerbaijani incursion into Armenian
territory.
Baku freed ten POWs on December 4. A few days later, Armenia’s Investigative
Committee arrested four of them on charges of violating “rules for performing
military service.”
The law-enforcement body said they tried to negotiate with, rather than engage,
Azerbaijani troops that attacked and seized their border post. It filed the same
accusation carrying between three and seven years in prison against Yeremian.
A court of first instance refused to sanction the officer’s arrest, however. The
Court of Appeals overturned that decision late on Monday.
Yeremian’s lawyer, Karmen Poghosian, said on Tuesday that he only partly accepts
the accusations and maintains that he and his subordinates “didn’t have enough
time to destroy the enemy that intruded the position.”
“They didn’t leave their position, flee and surrender,” Poghosian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
A lawyer representing another arrested soldier said on December 14 that he and
his comrades repeatedly warned their senior commanders about an Azerbaijani
military buildup in the border area but were ordered not to open fire.
Armenian opposition politicians have for months accused the government of not
allowing army units to shoot at Azerbaijani forces attacking them at various
sections of the border. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian insisted on November 17
that neither he nor any other official had ever issued no-shoot orders.
Baku set free on December 19 ten other Armenian soldiers captured on November
16. None of them is known to have been indicted so far.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
On December 10, 1991 a referendum cemented Artsakh’s independence
Artsakh President, Parliament and State Minister Voice Outrage at Pashinyan’s Claims
The leadership of Artsakh, including its parliament, voiced outrage at remarks made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who on Friday called into question Artsakh’s independence, prompting Stepanakert officials to firmly protest statements that can jeopardize the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh.
Since the beginning of the Karabakh Liberation Movement in 1988 there has not been such a standoff between the authorities of Artsakh and Armenia, with Pashinyan on Monday again doubling down on the assertions he made during a virtual press conference on Friday.
In his ongoing efforts of to deflect blame for the debilitating defeat of last year’s war, Pashinyan on Friday again blamed Armenia’s previous leaders for what he called mishandling of the negotiations. He also criticized the OSCE Minsk Group co-charing countries—the United States, Russia and France—for putting forth proposals in 2016 that he claimed diminished Artsakh’s status as an Armenian settlement and envisioned the restoration of control by Azerbaijan over Artsakh.
Furthermore, Pashinyan reiterated an earlier statement that a final status of Karabakh does not necessarily stipulate its independence, saying that the Minsk Group Co-chairs’ proposals “Artsakh could not have ended up being completely Armenian.”
“It was obvious during those negotiations that Artsakh is going to have both Armenian and Azerbaijani populations,” Pashinyan said.
These statements have prompted Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan to issue a statement, which was echoed in more blatant terms by an unanimous decision of the Artsakh Parliament on Monday.
The complete recognition of the right of the Armenians of Artsakh to self-determination cannot be doubted or conceded, President Harutyunyan said, adding that only Artsakh Republic leaders are authorized to speak on behalf of the people of Artsakh.
“The goal of the international recognition of Artsakh Republic’s Independence is our main objective, from which no government can afford to deviate. Therefore, the people and the authorities of Artsakh will never and in no way accept any status within Azerbaijan until our goal is achieved,” Harutyunyan said.
He added that there can be no return to the past, not only in terms of status, but also in terms of demographics.
“What kind of coexistence can we talk about, if Azerbaijan continues to feed its society with Armenophobia, to prepare it not for peace but for eviction of Armenians from Artsakh?” asked Harutyunyan. “Of course, we are in favor of a peaceful settlement of the conflict, we are ready to make efforts in that direction, but the vital rights, interests and demands of our people are not negotiable.”
“The territorial integrity of the Artsakh Republic must be restored at least in the territories where the Republic of Artsakh was proclaimed in 1991. Therefore, our occupied territories must be de-occupied; our compatriots must be able to return to their homes,” he added.
“As for the security of Artsakh, we will continue our efforts to strengthen the capabilities of the Defense Army, and the Russian peacekeeping troops must remain in Artsakh permanently and indefinitely until the final and just settlement of the conflict and the provision of additional international security guarantees,” Harutyunyan added.
Without referring to the details of the negotiation process in the past, he stated that “now the moment is much more decisive moment than ever. Therefore, we have no right to make mistakes, otherwise those mistakes can be fatal for Artsakh and Mother Armenia.”
“If any Armenian wants to support Artsakh, they must take into account the will and goals of the Armenians of Artsakh, otherwise they should simply not interfere,” added the Artsakh president.
“All authorities are temporary, but our goals and positions must be maintained firmly and and must be unshakable. Unity around our national values and goals is important, and, as I mentioned, the guiding principle for every Armenian and the government in the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict must be the will and aspirations of the Armenians of Artsakh,” he added.
“Artsakh has been Armenian for thousands of years and will remain Armenian. The Armenians of Artsakh have enough will and strategic patience to continue that struggle. Regardless of anyone’s claims and opinion, I am confident that the Armenians of Artsakh will continue their just struggle for the international recognition of Artsakh’s independence and the defense of the Homeland,” added Harutyunyan.
Artsakh State Minister Artakh Beglaryan took to Facebook to voice his grievance about Pashinyan’s remarks.
“The will and aspirations of the Armenians of Artsakh need to be inviolable and serve as a basis for supporting the homeland for every Armenian. There need to be specific goals, principles and red lines established on the basis of national interests, above any narrow and short-term interests, including the political situation in the country, and this concerns the political forces and figures in Artsakh, Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, starting from me,” said Beglaryan
“Every Armenian who believes Artsakh needs to remain Armenian, has something to do, and he or she must first and foremost not harm, and must then support,” added Beglaryan.
The Artsakh Parliament on Monday delivered a terse—and unanimous—rebuke to Pashinyan, calling his statements dangerous. Below is the translated text of the statement.
Throughout the history of the Karabakh conflict, statements distorting the essence of the problem are periodically exaggerated, which complicate and confuse the process of a comprehensive and final settlement of the conflict, the parliament said.
We consider it inadmissible any statement by any political force and figure that casts doubt on or belittles the existence of the Republic of Artsakh and its future as an Armenian settlement. It is puzzling that the last such statement was made on December 24 by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, while answering questions from representatives of the media and public organizations.
The fate of Artsakh was not and will not be a monopoly of any political force. Representing the opinion and position of broad public and political circles of the Republic of Artsakh, we express our disagreement and indignation at a number of dangerous and distorted formulations and ideas voiced during the press conference.
Concern is also caused by the fact that against the backdrop of the achievements of the national liberation struggle of 1988—the Karabakh Movement—formulations are being voiced that cast doubt on the very existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Republic of Artsakh), proclaimed on September 2, 1991 and formed in complete compliance with the norms of international law, as well as its long struggle to achieve international recognition.
The legal and political foundations of the Armenian representatives in the negotiation process in previous years and the protection of our national interests in this context did not enter into any contradiction with the positions of international structures and mediators.
The fact that the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh has never been ignored in the proposals previously submitted by the mediators is confirmed by the explanations of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Speculations about the working options discussed in the negotiation process over the years and a possible change in the format of the negotiations cause alarm and concern.
We consider unacceptable statements that question Artsakh’s Armenianness and emphasize the importance of the presence of possible external forces, which we reject and condemn, in memory of the thousands of Armenians who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and independence of Artsakh.
While respecting all victims of the Artsakh liberation struggle, we simultaneously express our gratitude to all Armenians, in particular to our compatriots from the Republic of Armenia, for standing with Artsakh and sharing in its suffering and hardships.
The fraternal relations between the two Armenian republics have been based on a resolution adopted on July 8, 1992 by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia, which clearly defined the attitude of the Republic of Armenia, as a full member of the international community, to the Republic of Artsakh striving for international recognition. According to this resolution, Armenia undertakes to “consistently support the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and protect the rights of its population,” and it is also established that “any international or domestic document in which the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will be indicated as a part of Azerbaijan is unacceptable for the Republic of Armenia.” This formula is still valid today.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, reaffirming the adherence of the people and the authorities of Artsakh to the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Artsakh, declares that it is inadmissible to express any position without taking into account the point of view of the authorities of Artsakh, since only the legal authorities formed by the citizens of the Republic of Artsakh through elections have the right to make decisions regarding the future of the Republic of Artsakh.”
11:14,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. 59 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 344,540, the Armenian National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said in a statement.
4669 tests were administered (total 2,540,319 tests).
248 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 330,841.
7 people died, bringing the death toll to 7950.
As of December 27, the number of active cases stood at 4250.
20:33,
YEREVAN, 27 DECEMBER, ARMENPRESS. NATO’s confronting political course against Russia forces Moscow to strictly put forward the issue of legally binding security guarantees, which will exclude any further movement of the NATO to the East, ARMENPRESS reports Deputy Minister of Defense of Russian Federation Alexander Fominsaid.
He reminded that the draft agreement on security measures of Russia and the NATO member states was transferred to the American side on December 15, 2021.
The position of these authorities on the Artsakh issue is clear to everyone. Now it’s worth trying to neutralize that danger and go another way or not. Or should we just go into the current and say, this is what these people want us to go and do. The second president of Armenia, leader of the opposition “Armenia” Bloc Robert Kocharyan stated this during his year-end press conference Monday—and when asked whether he has at least an approximate solution to the situation of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) if we imagine for a moment that the current Armenian authorities will no longer miraculously rule the country.
“The dilemma is in this. On the one hand, it is already clear what they [i.e., the incumbent Armenian authorities] want and where they want to take us. On the other hand, we say that there are other forces that will try to change this dangerous path. Should we now do [it] or not? It’s me, it’s not me, it’s someone else. It does not matter anymore. That should be our starting point. Whether we allow do to it or not. Yes, I see an opportunity to save something in this situation thanks to active diplomatic work, I see that path. These authorities will not even try to do that because these people have thought all their conscious lives the way they do today. Expectations from them are zero. Now let’s change my proposal, give a chance to those people who have shown all their lives that they think differently. Yes, I see that path. It will be very difficult, we will not get what opportunity we missed without losing. But yes, in some domains we are able to correct something about the status of Artsakh, too,” Kocharyan said.
Also, the second president made a historical reference to the settlement of the Artsakh issue.
“If we compare what we got [when Kocharyan to power in Armenia] in 1998 with the legacy of negotiations and what we had [when Kocharyan ended his presidential tenure] in 2008, we will see that we had achieved serious success thanks to our consistent work during that time. Same thing now; I realize what needs to be done. I cannot say one hundred percent that yes, I will achieve this; but I see a sequence of steps whereby something can be saved. These authorities will not even try because that’s how they think; this is their conviction. Apart from their conviction, whose interests they serve. I assume there is certainly a task of serving certain interests. I’m just convinced,” Kocharyan said.
The tension between Russia and the West has led us to a point where there is a markedly narrow opportunity for complementarism, and it almost doesn’t exist. The second president of Armenia, leader of the opposition “Armenia” Bloc Robert Kocharyan stated about this during his year-end press conference Monday.
“During my presidency, we declared a policy of complementarism, but at the time, with regard to Russia-NATO relations, Russia had more plans with NATO than Armenia did. There was a special NATO-Russia Council. This means Armenia should orientate in a more comprehensible manner and state what it wants.
To this day, I haven’t understood the logic and course of Armenia’s foreign policy. For instance, the U.S> hosts a so-called democracy summit, and it’s clear that this is an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese project. What is Armenia doing there? This is an attempt to revitalize a trend that was rather powerful after the collapse of the USSR. At the time, the idea was that we were going to have a more predictable and safer world by democratizing the whole world, but then there were color revolutions with devastating consequences. The world has changed, and we can’t do things like this,” Kocharyan declared.
Kocharyan emphasized that if the West-Russia relations escalate further and there are extreme manifestations, this may harm Armenia, if it doesn’t have a strong army and powerful security system. According to him, the aim of the West is to remove Russia from this region or at least reduce its influence in this region essentially.
“For a rather long time, Russia would keep a distance from Armenia and Azerbaijan, and this was in Russia’s interests. However, the situation has changed in the South Caucasus after the war. I am certain that we are in a process that we can describe as geopolitical transformation in the South Caucasus. When Turkey entered the process and the Turkey-Azerbaijan tandem became totally different, it is hard to maintain equal distancing between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said. According to him, Armenia has lost the status of a country with the most combat-ready army and now it constantly needs protection.
Asked if this means that Armenia’s foreign vector needs to be geared only towards Russia, Kocharyan said the following: “Why is Armenia participating in anti-Russian and anti-Chinese events? There are several other formats in which there is no anti-Russianism. Of course, the balance needs to be maintained, but do the people who need to maintain that balance understand what that balance is?”
Kocharyan also surprisingly asked why Armenia is serving Turkey’s interests in the region.
Azerbaijan will file two more claims against Armenia in international arbitration, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said.
“In 2021, interstate lawsuits between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place for the first time. Work in this direction has already begun, during this year Azerbaijan filed a lawsuit against Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights, at the same time, within the framework of the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of Any Forms of Racial Discrimination – to the UN International Court of Justice,” Bayramov said.