Friday, May 5, 2023
Pashinian Points To Lingering Differences Between Armenia, Azerbaijan After
U.S.-Hosted Peace Talks
• Heghine Buniatian
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gives an interview to RFE/RL Armenian
Service Director Heghine Buniatyan at RFE/RL’s headquarters in Prague, Czech
Republic. May 5, 2023.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian still sees a “huge difference” in the
wording of a draft peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the two
sides’ positions despite reported progress in bilateral talks hosted by the
United States this week.
Pashinian, in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on May 5,
said that the key differences concern not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also
territorial and security guarantees.
“We are still unable to reach agreement in the draft peace agreement on the
wording that will give us confidence that Azerbaijan recognizes 29,800 square
kilometers of Armenia” within its Soviet-era borders, he said.
Pashinian also highlighted the need for guarantees as “any agreement, even the
most unambiguously written one, allows for interpretations.”
Pashinian, who spoke with RFE/RL while on a two-day official visit to Prague,
referred to the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of
Interstate Relations that was discussed by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat
Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, during the
U.S.-sponsored talks.
A joint statement issued on May 4 at the conclusion of the talks said Mirzoyan
and Bayramov and their teams “made progress in mutual understanding on some
articles of the draft bilateral peace agreement” but noted that positions on a
number of key issues remain different.
Despite U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s optimism that “with additional
goodwill, flexibility, and compromise, an agreement is within reach," Pashinian
assessed the progress as minimal.
“While the difference between the sides was 1 kilometer before, now it is 990
meters. It is progress, but there is still a huge difference,” he said in the
interview with RFE/RL.
Pashinian reiterated Armenia’s position that the issue of the rights and
security of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians should be discussed in a dialogue
between Baku and Stepanakert with international engagement.
“Otherwise, this topic and agenda can simply be forgotten by Azerbaijan,” he
said.
He also said that both international and local mechanisms should be applied to
such matters as the withdrawal of troops and the establishment of a
demilitarized zone. In addition, there are different interpretations in Yerevan
and Baku on how to address the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians.
Pashinian said that the discussion that started in Washington can continue in
Moscow, denying claims that there are “Western” and “Russian” drafts that differ
from each other.
“Sometimes I read articles, listen to interviews as I want to understand what
people are talking about. If I weren’t prime minister, I would have thought that
there was something I didn’t know,” said Pashinian.
He said that while there have been some approaches from the West, they have not
been presented as an option in writing.
“The approach is verbal, and if we put it down and read it on paper, it may turn
out that we understood it wrong, that it is not like that. In August 2022, the
Russian side submitted a written proposal, we accepted it, Azerbaijan rejected
it. We haven’t seen Russia putting that option on the table for a second time,”
Pashinian said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for
decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left
ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and
seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic
solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly
7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all the Armenian-controlled areas
outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era
autonomous region ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow
deployed about 2,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers.
Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around
Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted
despite the cease-fire and the presence of Russian troops.
They flared anew last month when Azerbaijan installed a road checkpoint at the
start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia says the checkpoint, set up on April 23, is a violation of the ceasefire
agreement. Azerbaijan insists it established it in response to what it says were
Armenian military supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia denies that accusation.
Armenian Parliament Speaker ‘Regrets’ Turkish Reaction to Yerevan Monument
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian at a press conference in Ankara. May
4, 2023.
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian on Thursday voiced regret over
Turkey’s reaction to a memorial to “genocide avengers” in Yerevan that he said
was erected by the decision of local authorities and did not necessarily reflect
Armenia’s foreign policy.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara where he was attending a meeting of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, a regional
organization embracing over a dozen countries, including Armenia, Simonian
commented on Turkey’s decision to close its airspace for overflights by Armenian
airlines.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Turkish television earlier
this week that banning Armenian airlines from operating flights through Turkish
airspace was a response to “Armenia’s provocations”, including the recent
inauguration in Yerevan of a memorial to participants in Operation Nemesis.
The operation pursued by a clandestine cell of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation was a 1920s program of assassinations of Ottoman perpetrators of the
1915 Armenian genocide and Azerbaijani figures responsible for 1918 massacres of
Armenians in Baku.
While Operation Nemesis participants are widely regarded by Armenians as
“avengers”, Turkey and Azerbaijan view them as terrorists.
Following the unveiling of the monument in the center in Yerevan on April 25,
one day after Armenians in Armenia and around the world marked the 108th
anniversary of the Ottoman-era Genocide vehemently denied by Turkey, the Turkish
and Azerbaijani foreign ministries issued statements condemning the event that
was also attended by Yerevan’s Deputy Mayor Tigran Avinian, a senior member of
Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party.
Yerevan’s Deputy Mayor Tigran Avinian speaks at the unveiling ceremony for a
monument to Operation Nemesis participants, Yerevan, Armenia, April 25, 2023.
Simonian stressed in Ankara that the decision on the memorial was made by a
local government body. “I do not want it to be perceived here as a manifestation
of Armenia’s foreign policy or as an unfriendly step,” he said, clarifying that
the state foreign policy in Armenia is carried out by the prime minister and the
foreign minister.
“You have all witnessed the decisions made at their level in recent months,” the
parliament speaker added.
At the same time, Simonian said that “if one wants, he can always find excuses
for worsening relations.”
“I could, too, find a thousand different reasons for not coming to Turkey. But I
am here to tell the Turkish society that Armenia is ready for peace and
normalization of relations without preconditions,” the speaker of the Armenian
parliament said.
Simonian discussed the issue of the closure of airspace to Armenian airlines
with his Turkish counterpart Mustafa Sentop when the two met on the sidelines of
the international event in Ankara on Thursday.
According to the Armenian parliament’s press service, Simonian expressed hope
that his meeting with Sentop would promote a solution to the problem.
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian meets with Mustafa Sentop, Speaker of
the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Ankara, May 4, 2023.
Armenia and Turkey embarked on their second attempt in the past decade or so to
normalize their historically strained relations in early 2022. The governments
of the two countries appointed special envoys who held several rounds of
negotiations aimed at paving the way for establishing diplomatic relations and
opening the currently closed border.
Since then Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan exchanged messages and had a phone call to discuss prospects of
settling relations.
Also, Armenia sent rescuers and humanitarian aid to Turkey when a devastating
earthquake struck the country in February, with Ankara temporarily reopening a
crossing point at the border with Armenia for the humanitarian supply. Armenia
said then it expected Turkey to reopen the border permanently at least for third
countries’ citizens and diplomats in the near future.
Earlier this week, a spokesman at the U.S. State Department noted “with
disappointment” Turkey’s announcement that it would suspend overflight
permissions for Armenia’s airlines.
“The agreement that had previously been reached between these two countries to
resume air connections had been a very important confidence-building measure not
just between these two countries but... for regional stability broadly,”
spokesman Vedant Patel said during a press briefing on May 3.
“It’s our sincere hope that Turkey and Armenia can continue to rebuild economic
ties and open transportation links as well,” he added.
Official Yerevan did not immediately comment on Turkey’s condemnation of the
Operation Nemesis monument inauguration in the Armenian capital or its ban on
overflights for Armenian airlines that began to affect air traffic still last
week.
But in remarks in parliament on Wednesday Prime Minister Pashinian said that the
closure of Turkish airspace for Armenian planes was primarily a problem for
Armenia, because “those who block our routes experience practically no problems
themselves.”
Pashinian admitted that the decision to erect the monument made months after the
2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh reflected the desire “to avoid being called
traitors.”
“But by being always guided by the logic of doing so as not to be called
traitors we actually keep betraying the state and national interests of our
country,” he said.
Pashinian Says Mechanism For Safeguarding Rights, Security Of Karabakh Armenians
Still ‘Uncertain’
• Lusine Musayelian
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaking at an event in Prague, Czech
Republic, May 4, 2023.
The mechanism for safeguarding the rights and security of Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh is still uncertain and so is the format of Stepanakert-Baku
dialogue, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday as four-day
bilateral talks between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were
drawing to a close in Washington.
Speaking at the Prague Center for Transatlantic Relations on the first day of
his two-day official visit to the Czech Republic, Pashinian said that so far it
has been impossible to agree upon mechanisms for overcoming differences in the
reading of the peace agreement text.
According to the Armenian leader, there is also no agreement on international
mechanisms for implementing the peace agreement. “We do, however, continue our
efforts in order to succeed in all these areas,” Pashinian emphasized.
One of the participants of the discussion asked Pashinian why Yerevan does not
invoke “remedial secession” given Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions against
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
The Armenian government began to address this principle in public statements
during the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh in September-November 2020 and it was
also reflected in the election platform of Pashinian’s ruling Civil Contract
party that regained its majority in the Armenian parliament in the following
year’s snap elections.
The prime minister did not specifically talk about the principle of remedial
secession in answering the question, but reaffirmed his previous statements that
“Baku is preparing ethnic cleansings and the security and rights of
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians should be addressed in negotiations that will take
place between Baku and Stepanakert.” The Armenian leader admitted, however, that
the administration of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has no desire for such
dialogue.
“Not only do we expect this, but we have been working in this direction for more
than 30 years. And we must redouble our efforts to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem, to establish lasting peace in our region. We are committed to the peace
agenda, because we have received a mandate for it from the Armenian people,”
Pashinian said.
Earlier, speaking at a joint press conference with his Czech counterpart Petr
Fiala, the Armenian prime minister urged the international community to give a
“clear and targeted” assessment of the “humanitarian crisis” in
Nagorno-Karabakh, claiming that Azerbaijan’s actions to cut the
Armenian-populated region from Armenia amount to “preparations for ethnic
cleansings.”
Pashinian’s remarks concerned a checkpoint that Azerbaijan installed on April 23
at the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
Yerevan and Stepanakert believe that the roadblock is illegal as it contradicts
the terms of a 2020 Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement under which control in
the corridor is to be exercised only by Russian peacekeepers deployed in the
region. Baku discards accusations from the Armenian side that it is blockading
the region.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement later on May 4,
describing Pashinian’s statements in Prague as “absolutely unacceptable.”
One of the participants of the discussion at the Prague Center for Transatlantic
Relations asked about Armenia’s relations with Russia. Pashinian said that there
were factors complicating these relations and in that context mentioned
Yerevan’s differences with the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
stressing that the Moscow-led military alliance “has not fulfilled its
obligations to Armenia.”
Pashinian ended the discussion with observations about a possible “unpredictable
end” to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He stressed that the situation is
“completely unpredictable” and that there is no analytical structure that can
predict what will happen in a month.
“I can only say with certainty that I am going to Moscow next week,” Pashinian
said, without specifying the agenda of his upcoming visit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that “certain plans” regarding a
possible meeting between Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin were
being discussed.
It is not clear yet whether Pashinian’s visit to Moscow will also be connected
with the military parade that Russia stages on Red Square every year on May 9 to
mark victory in Europe in World War Two or the Great Patriotic War as it is more
commonly referred to in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
Washington Says Peace Agreement Between Armenia, Azerbaijan ‘Within Reach’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C), Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov (L) and Armenian Foreign Minster Ararat Mirzoyan during a trilateral
meeting in Arlington, VA, May 4, 2023. (Photo: Courtesy of the Armenian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck an optimistic note about the
prospect of normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan in his remarks on May 4
at the closing session of what were marathon talks between the two countries’
top diplomats in Washington this week.
“A final agreement is within reach, and we’re determined to continue to help our
friends achieve it,” Blinken said as he welcomed “tangible progress on a durable
peace agreement” made by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his
Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov at the four-day negotiations conducted
since May 1.
The top U.S. diplomat also acknowledged that the two sides “have discussed some
very tough issues over the last few days.”
“I hope that they see – and I believe that they do, as I do – that there is an
agreement within sight, within reach. And achieving that agreement would be, I
think, not only historic, but would be profoundly in the interests of the people
of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and would have very positive effects even beyond
their two countries.
“I think the pace of the negotiations and the foundation that our colleagues
have built shows that we really are within reach of an agreement. The last mile
of any marathon is always the hardest; we know that. But the United States is
here to continue to help both of our friends cross the finish line. And as I
say, I think we’re very much within reach of that,” Blinken said according to a
readout released by the U.S. Department of State.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) hosting a meeting between Armenian
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov at the start of their bilateral negotiations. Washington, May 1, 2023.
The U.S. secretary of state described the leadership from both Armenia and
Azerbaijan and the two countries’ foreign ministers as “inspiring.”
“None of this is easy, but the commitment, the determination to move forward, to
deal with the remaining challenging issues is real. And we feel, coming out of
these few days, that, as I said, we’ve made very tangible progress. A final
agreement is within reach, and we’re determined to continue to help our friends
achieve it,” Blinken said.
In a later statement released by the U.S. Department of State Blinken described
Armenian-Azerbaijani bilateral peace talks and trilateral meetings in Washington
as “intensive and constructive,” saying that the parties have made “significant
progress toward addressing difficult issues.”
He said that both Armenia and Azerbaijan “demonstrated a sincere commitment to
normalizing relations and ending the long-standing conflict between their two
countries.”
The two sides agreed in principle to certain terms and have a better
understanding of one another’s positions on outstanding issues, Blinken said.
He proposed the ministers return to their capitals “to share with their
governments the perspective that, with additional goodwill, flexibility, and
compromise, an agreement is within reach.”
Baku and Yerevan will continue to have the full support and engagement of the
United States in their effort to secure a durable and sustainable peace, Blinken
underscored.
Washington hosted Mirzoyan and Bayramov at a new State Department facility in
Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosting a meeting between Armenian
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov, Washington, May 1, 2023.
Blinken said at the start of the meetings that dialogue between Yerevan and Baku
is key to achieving lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for
decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left
ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and
seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic
solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly
7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all of the Armenian-controlled
areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the
Soviet-era autonomous oblast proper ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire under
which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.
Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around
Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted
despite the ceasefire.
They flared anew last month when Azerbaijan installed a road checkpoint at the
start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia says the checkpoint, set up on April 23, is a violation of the 2020
ceasefire. Azerbaijan insists it established the checkpoint in response to what
it says were Armenian weapon supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia denies that
accusation.
A joint statement issued by the parties after the talks said Mirzoyan and
Bayramov and their teams “made progress in mutual understanding on some articles
of the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate
Relations.” The statement also noted that positions on a number of key issues
remain different.
“The ministers presented their views on the current situation and expressed
their positions on the existing problems related to the regulation of
relations,” it said.
“The two ministers expressed their appreciation to the American side for hosting
the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The parties have agreed to
continue discussions,” the statement concluded.
In addition to meeting Blinken, the ministers also met with U.S. National
Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Armenia, Azerbaijan Make Progress On Difficult Issues At U.S.-Hosted Talks,
Blinken Says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) hosting a meeting between Armenian
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (L) and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov at the start of their bilateral negotiations. Washington, May 1, 2023.
Azerbaijan and Armenia made significant progress toward addressing difficult
issues at “intensive and constructive” U.S.-hosted talks this week, U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 4.
Blinken said in a statement that after a series of bilateral and trilateral
discussions during four days of talks both sides “demonstrated a sincere
commitment to normalizing relations and ending the long-standing conflict
between their two countries.”
The two sides agreed in principle to certain terms and have a better
understanding of one another’s positions on outstanding issues, Blinken said.
He proposed the ministers return to their capitals “to share with their
governments the perspective that, with additional goodwill, flexibility, and
compromise, an agreement is within reach.”
Baku and Yerevan will continue to have the full support and engagement of the
United States in their effort to secure a durable and sustainable peace, Blinken
said.
Washington hosted Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at a new State Department facility in
Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington.
Blinken said at the start of the meetings that dialogue between Yerevan and Baku
is key to achieving lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for
decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left
ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and
seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic
solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly
7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all of the Armenian-controlled
areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the
Soviet-era autonomous oblast proper ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire under
which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.
Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around
Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted
despite the ceasefire.
They flared anew last month when Azerbaijan installed a road checkpoint at the
start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia says the checkpoint, set up on April 23, is a violation of the 2020
ceasefire. Azerbaijan insists it established the checkpoint in response to what
it says were Armenian weapon supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia denies that
accusation.
A joint statement issued by the parties after the talks said Mirzoyan and
Bayramov and their teams “made progress in mutual understanding on some articles
of the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate
Relations.” The statement also noted that positions on a number of key issues
remain different.
“The ministers presented their views on the current situation and expressed
their positions on the existing problems related to the regulation of
relations,” it said.
“The two ministers expressed their appreciation to the American side for hosting
the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The parties have agreed to
continue discussions,” the statement concluded.
In addition to meeting Blinken, the ministers also met with national-security
adviser Jake Sullivan.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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