Author: Hovik Karapetian

Armenia lifts embargo on goods from Turkey, advancing thaw in relations

Hovik Karapetian
Middle East Monitor
Jan 2 2022
January 2, 2022 at 9:35 am

The Armenian government has announced that it is lifting its embargo on Turkish goods from the beginning of 2022, marking a new step in the thawing of relations between the two countries.

Armenia’s economy ministry made the announcement in a Facebook post on Thursday, stating that “as a result of interdepartmental discussions, a decision was made not to extend the embargo on Turkish goods.”

The embargo was imposed by Armenia due to Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan during the six-week-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh towards the end of 2020. Since Baku’s victory and subsequent internal political instability within Yerevan, however, the latter is now attempting to reconcile with Ankara and relations are being restored.

According to the ministry’s statement, it is not only the revival of ties which necessitate the lifting of the embargo, but also the fact that Armenia has struggled economically with the lack of Turkish goods into the country.

READ: Exports are Turkey’s means to tackle the sharp currency decline

Although it has resulted in “newly-established or expanded [domestic Armenian] production…the main negative effect of the embargo is the significant impact on inflation, which has been reflected especially in a number of consumer goods. There are many requests from our businessmen to lift the ban on the import of Turkish goods.”

It added that the government expects backlash from the new players in the Armenian industries due to the return of Turkish goods, but assured that the authorities will maintain “the viability and competitiveness of such companies in the new conditions, assisting them with additional tools if necessary.”

In mid-December, Turkey and Armenia agreed to appoint special envoys to each other’s countries, advancing the normalisation process.

The reset in Turkish-Armenian relations is set to enable more than just the lifting of the embargo, with the reopening of the border between the two countries and the start of chartered flights between Yerevan and Istanbul also being enabled.

Earlier this week, the Turkish foreign minister announced that the bilateral talks will be held in Russia.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220102-armenia-lifts-embargo-on-goods-from-turkey-advancing-thaw-in-relations/

Armenian year-long ban on importing Turkish goods lifted

Hovik Karapetian
Jan 1 2022

  • Jan 01 2022 02:41 Gmt+3
  • Last Updated On: Jan 01 2022 02:42 Gmt+3

The Armenian government announced that it would end its ban on the importation of Turkish goods that Yerevan implemented in response to Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s RFE/RL Armenian Service reported on Thursday.

“A decision was made not to extend the embargo on the import of Turkish goods into the country,” the Armenian Economy Ministry announced on Facebook.

The ban will be lifted on Saturday, New Year’s Day.

It was first imposed back in Dec. 31, 2020 for six months. However, in June 2021 it was extended for an additional six months.

The Economy Ministry told RFE/RL over two weeks ago that a draft decision for extending the ban was in the works but ultimately never made it onto the government agenda.

The Armenian government’s last cabinet meeting took place on Thursday. Following that meeting, the Economy Ministry released a statement revealing that interdepartmental discussions had ended with a decision not to extend the import embargo.

“We have received many statements and requests to lift the ban on the import of Turkish goods,” read a ministry statement.

Turkey gave extensive political and military support to Azerbaijan during the 2020 conflict, during which Baku reclaimed large parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenia. Turkish-built Bayraktar TB2 drones supplied to the Azerbaijani military played a decisive role against Armenian ground forces in that conflict.

Last June, when announcing the extension of the import ban, Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said that Turkish imports since the imposition of the first ban dropped by about 70 percent. And while the import of raw materials continued almost no finished products were imported from Turkey during that period.

Pécresse reception was official, while no request was made for Zemmour – Armenian presidency explains

Hovik Karapetian

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 15:08,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Recently, the delegation led by the Head of the Île-de-France Regional Council and French presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse, visited Armenia.

A few days prior to that visit another French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour had arrived in Armenia.

If the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received Mrs. Pécresse at his Residence, in the case of Zemmour, such a reception or meeting did not take place.

In response to the question of ARMENPRESS , the Office of the President informed the following: “The RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France Mrs. Hasmik Tolmajyan applied to the Office of the President with an offer and request to officially organize the meeting. The RA Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan accompanied the delegation led by Mrs. Pécresse and was present at the official meeting with the RA President Armen Sarkissian. It should be noted that this is not a matter of meeting with a presidential candidate of the French Republic, but the visit of an official delegation from France headed by Mrs. Valérie Pécresse, the current head of the regional council of Île-de-France, one of the largest regions in France. We have decades of effective cooperation with that region. In the case of the French journalist and commentator Éric Zemmour, the Office of the RA President has not officially received such an application or offer of a meeting.”

Hrachya Sargsyan elected Mayor of Yerevan

Hovik Karapetian
Public Radio of Armenia
Dec 22 2021
, 16:25

 Less than a minute

The Yerevan City Council voted 44 to 10 to elect Hrachya Sargsyan as Mayor of Yerevan.

He was elected by a closed, secret ballot in the City Hall. Three ballots were considered invalid.

He thanked outgoing Mayor Hayk Marukyan for the joint work.

“During three years we have started different reforms in different spheres. We will continue the reforms that we have started and are underway for the benefit of the city of Yerevan,” said Hrachya Sargsyan.

Last week the ruling My Step faction initiated a no-confidence motion against Mayor Hayk Marutyan.

Hayk Marutyan dismissed as Yerevan Mayor

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 22 2021

The Yerevan City Council passed a vote of no-confidence against Hayk Marutyan and terminated his powers as the mayor of the capital city. The motion was backed by 44 Council members in closed, secret ballot, 10 others voted against during the special sitting that had lasted for several hours on Wednesday. 

“The results of the vote show the draft motion of the City Council of no-confidence vote against Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan has been backed by the Council,” the presiding officer announced, inviting Deputy Mayor Hayk Sargsyan to take the seat of the Mayor. It had been earlier announced that Sargsyan would be in charge of the city mayor. 

To remind, the vote of no-confidence in Mayor Marutyan had been initiated by the ruling “My Step” faction. 

 

Armenian judges address justice minister, say draft laws will put their independence at risk

Hovik Karapetian
News.am, Armenia
Dec 21 2021
00:03, 22.12.2021

A group of judges of the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction and the Criminal Court of Appeal have addressed Minister of Justice of Armenia Karen Andreasyan with regard to the drafts of the constitutional laws on making amendments to the Constitutional Law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia” and on making amendments to the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court, along with their comments and suggestions.

The judges expressed certainty that the amendments proposed under the drafts are inadmissible and directly oppose the principle of legal certainty and the inadmissibility of the use of regressive force of a law, and adoption of the drafts will put the independence of judges and the judiciary at risk.

 Judges Davit Harutyunyan, Zaruhi Nakhshkaryan, Artur Stepanyan, Arman Hovhannisyan and Davit Balayan of the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction, as well as Judges Alexander Azaryan, Vazgen Rshtuni, Arshak Vardanyan and Mkhitar Papoyan of the Criminal Court of Appeal of Armenia signed under the comments and suggestions.

178 babies born in Artsakh in November

Hovik Karapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 3 2021

Artsakh has reported a record number of 178 births in November.

“This is a record number compared to the previous months and is the closest to the pre-war figures,” President Arayik Harutyunyan said in a Facebook post on Friday.

“The true guarantee of our success is demographic growth,” he said, adding that his government will spare no effort to promote population growth through various programs.

A total of 1,614 babies, including 818 boys and 796 girls, were born in Artsakh in 2020. 1,389 of the babies were born in Stepanakert.

Armenia and Azerbaijan pledge progress as leaders meet in Sochi

Hovik Karapetian
Dec 1 2021
Aliyev and Pashinyan pledged to establish a bilateral commission.
Written byArzu Geybullayeva

On November 26, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in the Russian city of Sochi to discuss bilateral relations, in a meeting organized by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The meeting took place, almost two weeks after the worst fighting broke out since the war the two ex-Soviet Caucasus republics fought last year, which Azerbaijan won.

Commenting on the meeting, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the leaders reached agreements on some of the key issues and that the meeting was overall positive.

In a joint statement issued following the meeting, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to establish a bilateral commission on delimitation and demarcation of the border.

Both leaders thanked the president of Russia, and the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces on the ground for the work carried out since last year’s war.

In his statement, President Ilham Aliyev said:

Today we have had a very detailed and I would say sincere talk on all these issues. We openly discussed our plans that cause concern of both parties, and I think the key is that the decisions we made regarding settling arguments and disputes will contribute to making the situation in the South Caucasus safer and more predictable.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also thanked the Russian president for the efforts to maintain stability in Nagorno Karabakh, adding:

I think that if our talks gain momentum based on this meeting, we can expect real results.

I reaffirm the readiness of Armenia and the Government of Armenia, which got its mandate from the people of Armenia, to usher in the era of peaceful development for our country and for our region. We are committed to that and today’s meeting clearly contributed to the implementation of this agenda.

A list of decisions taken during the meeting will be announced in early December, following the meeting between Russian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani deputy prime ministers in Moscow.

Aliyev and Pashinyan are scheduled to meet next on December 15, in Brussels, on the margins of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit. According to the press statement issued by the European Council, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to “discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which the EU supports.”

In an interview with OC Media, political analyst and the director of Regional Studies Center, Richard Giragosian said the meeting in Sochi was “significant” even if not “producing concrete commitments.”

The meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders offered an essential return to diplomacy over force of arms.

Giragosian also stressed the role of Russia as a mediator in the conflict, especially ahead of the upcoming summit in Brussels. “Putin sought to preempt the EU and used Sochi to reassert Russia’s role as the initiator and enforcer of the 2020 Russian-imposed ceasefire.”

Armenia’s Pashinyan, Russia’s Putin and Azerbaijan’s Aliyev adopt joint statement

Hovik Karapetian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 26 2021
Armenia’s Pashinyan, Russia’s Putin and Azerbaijan’s Aliyev adopt joint statement
21:11, 26.11.2021

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev adopted a joint statement based on the trilateral meeting, as reported the Government of Armenia.The statement particularly reads as follows:

“We, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia N.V.Pashinyan, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I.H. Aliyev, President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin, met on November 26 in Sochi and discussed the implementation process of the declaration of November 9, 2020 on the complete ceasefire and termination of all types of military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and the implementation process of the January 11, 2021 statement on unblocking all economic and transport infrastructures of the region.

We reaffirmed commitment to the further and consistent implementation and unconditional observance of all the provisions of the November 9, 2020 declaration and January 11, 2021 statement for the benefit of the stability, security and economic development of the South Caucasus. We agreed to intensify joint efforts aimed at the immediate solution of the remaining issues arising from November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021 statements.

We mentioned the significant contribution of the Russian peacekeeping mission in stabilizing the situation and ensuring security in the region.

We agreed to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, to push the process of establishment of a bilateral commission with the advisory participation of the Russian Federation based on the application of the sides, on delimitation, and afterwards demarcation, of the state border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

We highly appreciated the activity of the trilateral working group on unblocking all economic and transport communications of the region, established in accordance with the January 11, 2021 statement under the joint chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation. We stressed the need to launch specific programs as soon as possible, aimed at identifying the economic potential of the region.

The Russian Federation will continue to provide the necessary assistance for normalizing relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, building an atmosphere of trust between the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, and establishing good-neighborly relations in the region.”