Wednesday,
Parliament Majority Blocks Anti-Turkish Resolution
Armenia - Opposition deputies arrive for a scheduled session of the National
Assembly boycotted and thwarted by its pro-government majority, Yerevan,
.
The pro-government majority in Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday rejected an
opposition proposal to condemn a joint declaration adopted by the Turkish and
Azerbaijani presidents last June during a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev signed the declaration in the Karabakh
town of Shushi (Shusha) that was captured by Azerbaijani forces during the 2020
war. They pledged to further deepen Turkish-Azerbaijani ties and, in particular,
provide “mutual military assistance” in the event of an armed conflict with
third states.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry at the time condemned their visit to Shushi and
accused Turkey and Azerbaijan of threatening Armenia’s territorial integrity
after their “joint aggression” against Karabakh. It pointed to the Shushi
declaration’s references to a “corridor” that should connect the Nakhichevan
exclave with the rest of Azerbaijan via Armenia’s Syunik province.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance proposed earlier this month that the
Armenian parliament also condemn the “provocative” declaration. A parliamentary
resolution drafted by it says the document raises questions about Ankara’s
readiness to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations “without preconditions.”
Hayastan and the other parliamentary opposition bloc, Pativ Unem, collected
enough signatures to force a parliament debate on the proposed resolution. The
session did not take place, however, because the deputies representing the
ruling Civil Contract party boycotted it and prevented the National Assembly
from making a quorum.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, a deputy speaker of the parliament affiliated with
Hayastan, deplored the boycott, saying that the parliamentary majority is thus
“catering for Turkish-Azerbaijani interests.”
The parliament committee on defense and security refused to back the opposition
measure last week. Some pro-government members of the committee said that it
would complicate the Armenian government’s ongoing efforts to normalize
relations with Ankara.
Turkey lent Azerbaijan decisive military support during the six-week Karabakh
war. Yerevan says that Turkish military personnel participated in the
hostilities on the Azerbaijani side along with thousands of mercenaries
recruited in Syria’s Turkish-controlled northern regions.
Outgoing Ombudsman ‘Won’t Join Any Party’
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Outgoing human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan holds a farewell press
conference in Yerevan, .
Armenia’s outgoing human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, insisted on Wednesday
that he has no plans to join any political group after leaving office.
Tatoyan met with the press one day before completing his six-year tenure. He
will be replaced on Thursday by former Deputy Justice Minister Kristine
Grigorian.
Grigorian, 40, was nominated for the post by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
Civil Contract party and elected by the Armenian parliament last month.
Opposition lawmakers rejected her candidacy.
For their part, Civil Contract deputies hit out at Tatoyan, who has been
increasingly critical of the Armenian government.
In particular, Tatoyan has denounced Armenian troop withdrawals ordered by
Pashinian following the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and accused the authorities
of undermining judicial independence and bullying opposition groups that
defeated the ruling party in local elections.
He also criticized Pashinian’s pledges to wage “political vendettas” against
defiant local government officials made during campaigning for last June’s snap
parliamentary elections.
The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, responded late
last year by accusing Tatoyan of engaging in “counterrevolutionary” activities
in support of opposition forces.
Armenia - Human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan talks to Armenian soldiers
deployed in Syunik province, May 14, 2021. (Photo by the Armenian Human Rights
Defender's Office)
“I have received no offers from any political force [of late,]” Tatoyan told the
farewell news conference. “In case of receiving them, I am not going to join any
political force.”
He added that some parties did approach him in the run-up to the 2021 elections
but that he rebuffed them “very sharply.” He did not name them.
A U.S.-funded opinion poll conducted late last year found that of all state
bodies in Armenia, Tatoyan’s office enjoyed the highest approval rating.
According to some media outlets, the 40-year-old ombudsman was courted by at
least one opposition party in recent months.
Tatoyan said that he will not retire from public life and will remain engaged in
human rights advocacy. He said he will be particularly active in supporting
residents of Armenian border towns and villages facing what he sees as grave
security threats from Azerbaijan.
The U.S.-educated lawyer has frequently denounced those threats over the past
years. He has also been critical of the Armenian authorities’ responses to
cross-border Azerbaijani incursions and broader handling of border security.
Tatoyan questioned on Wednesday Pashinian’s regular assertions that the planned
opening of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier to commerce will usher in an “era
of peaceful development” in the region. “Peace is a supreme value but it cannot
come about at the expense of only one party,” he said.
Armenian Opposition Slams Government Over Russian-Azeri Accord
• Artak Khulian
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham
Aliyev meet in Sochi, November 26, 2021
Armenia’s two main opposition forces have described Russia’s and Azerbaijan’s
pledges to act like regional allies as a serious geopolitical setback for
Yerevan and blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration for it.
They claimed that a joint declaration on “allied cooperation” signed by the
Russian and Azerbaijani presidents on Tuesday was made possible by Pashinian’s
mishandling of Armenia’s relationship with Russia.
The 7-page declaration says that Baku and Moscow will deepen bilateral ties “on
the basis of allied interaction, mutual respect for independence, state
sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of the two
countries.” The two sides, it says, will avoid “any actions directed against
each other” and could also consider “providing each other with military
assistance.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the “strategic” character of the
document after four-talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev held in
the Kremlin.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry suggested on Wednesday that the development should
not have an adverse impact on Armenia’s close ties with Russia. They do not
depend on relations with third countries “unless the parties develop them to the
detriment of the Russian-Armenian alliance,” it said in what appeared to be a
veiled warning to Moscow.
“Yerevan and Moscow … have been consistently taking steps to expand their
relations in both bilateral and multilateral formats for the benefit of the
development of our countries in the conditions of guaranteed security,” the
ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanian, added in written comments.
Hunanian also said Yerevan hopes that the Russian-Azerbaijani declaration will
facilitate the implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by
Moscow since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances insisted, meanwhile, that the
declaration is a serious blow to Armenia.
“This document highlights the completely failed foreign policy of the current
Armenian authorities,” said Artur Khachatrian, a senior lawmaker from Hayastan.
“We have lost old friends but have not gained new ones.”
“They have thoroughly botched our relations with Russia … and this document also
shows that something is not right in [Russian-Armenian] relations,” he told
journalists.
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in Sochi, November 26, 2021
Pativ Unem’s Hayk Mamijanian claimed that Moscow “needed another ally in the
South Caucasus” because it does not view Pashinian’s government as a predictable
and trustworthy partner.
Pativ Unem consists of two opposition parties, including former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). The HHK’s governing body was the
first to react to the Russian-Azerbaijani document with a statement issued late
on Tuesday.
“When your sole ally becomes allied to your adversary that is first and foremost
a consequence of your own weakness, blunders, and geopolitical failure and
bankruptcy,” the statement said, adding that Pashinian’s foreign policy has not
been “compatible” with Russian interests in the South Caucasus.
Pashinian’s political allies dismissed the opposition criticism. Hakob
Arshakian, a deputy parliament speaker and senior member of the ruling’s Civil
Contract party, said Russia’s military alliance with Armenia never prevented the
two nations from forging close ties with other states.
Armenia Treads Carefully On Ukraine Crisis
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Ukraine - A military vehicle drives on a road as smoke rises from a power plant
after shelling outside the town of Schastia, near the city of Lugansk, February
22, 2022.
Armenia on Wednesday refrained from publicly siding with Russia in its deepening
standoff with Ukraine and the West.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry indicated that Yerevan will not join Moscow in
recognizing two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics.
“There is no such issue on the agenda,” the ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanian,
said in written comments.
“We certainly want the existing issues between the two friendly states to be
resolved through diplomatic dialogue, negotiations, and in accordance with the
norms and principles of international law and the UN Charter,” he said. “We hope
that necessary steps will be taken towards reducing tension and resolving the
situation peacefully.”
The Ukrainian charge d’affaires in Yerevan, Denis Avtonomov, welcomed this
stance. “We are grateful,” Avtonomov told a news conference.
“Unfortunately, international law and the UN Charter have ceased to exist for
the Russian Federation because so have also the [2014] Minsk agreements,” he
said.
UKRAINE -- A tank drives along a street in the city of Donetsk in eastern
Ukraine, February 22, 2022
The diplomat referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to
recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's
Republic which has drawn strong condemnation from the United States and the
European Union.
Putin spoke with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian hours before announcing the
decision late on Monday. According to Pashinian’s press office, the two men
discussed, among other things, “the current situation in Russian-Ukrainian
relations.”
The Russian and Armenian foreign ministers also spoke about the Ukraine crisis
in a phone call last week.
Armenia has for decades been Russia’s main regional ally. Its dependence on
Moscow for defense and security has deepened further since the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Successive Ukrainian governments have supported a resolution of the Karabakh
conflict based on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
Russia, Azerbaijan Agree On ‘Allied’ Ties
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham
Aliyev sign a joint declaration on "allied cooperation" between their countries,
Moscow, February 22, 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham
Aliyev on Tuesday pledged to deepen political, economic and military relations
between their countries and strive for the implementation of
Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow.
The two leaders signed a joint declaration on bilateral “allied cooperation”
during four-hour talks held in the Kremlin.
“The Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan build their relations on
the basis of allied interaction, mutual respect for independence, state
sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of the two
countries,” reads the declaration.
It says that the two sides will not only step up Russian-Azerbaijani military
cooperation but may also “consider the possibility of providing each other with
military assistance.”
“The Parties refrain from any actions, including those carried out through third
states, directed against each other,” adds the 7-page document.
“This declaration takes our relation to an allied level,” Aliyev told reporters
after the talks.
Putin similarly emphasized the “strategic” character of the document. He said he
and Aliyev also agreed to closely cooperate in implementing the Russian-brokered
agreements on the opening of economic and transport links between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and the demarcation of their long border.
Moscow will keep helping Baku and Yerevan to settle their “border issues” and
other “acute problems,” added the Russian leader.
Aliyev complained about “very slow” progress towards the opening of a transport
corridor that will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through
Armenia. He also spoke of the “post-conflict situation in the region,”
effectively standing by his earlier claims that Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020
war with Armenia put an end to the Karabakh dispute.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Putin noted, however, that the conflict
is “not fully resolved.”
Putin spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian by phone on Monday. He
invited Pashinian to pay an official visit to Moscow in April.
Armenia has for decades been Russia’s main regional ally. Its dependence on
Moscow for defense and security deepened further after the 2020 war.
For its part, Azerbaijan has a military alliance with Turkey which proved
critical for the outcome of the six-week war.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.