Author: Karapet Navasardian

NATO secretary general confirms term extension

Karapet Navasardian

 15:57, 4 July 2023

YEREVAN, JULY 4, ARMENPRESS. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed that his term, which was due to finish at the end of September, has now been extended until next fall.

Stoltenberg tweeted on Tuesday that he was “honoured by #NATO Allies’ decision to extend my term as Secretary General until 1 October 2024.” 

Stoltenberg was appointed to lead NATO in March 2014. His term has already been extended three times, most recently in March 2022 after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.

The United States Urges Armenia And Azerbaijan To Contain The Escalation

Karapet Navasardian
MIDDLE EAST
By David Sadler

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his official visit to the United States, and following the historic meeting of National Security Advisers from the United States, Japan, and the Philippines in Manila, the United States continues to develop its network of flexible partnerships, institutions, alliances, and groups of countries around the world, to balance with China.

US analyst Nicholas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College and director of the National Security Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, believes that the challenge facing the US political establishment is how to prevent these partnerships from deviating from their path.

So the fact that a coalition of states might find very close consensus on a particular issue (or set of issues) and is looking for ways to facilitate joint action does not mean that there is a complete alignment of interests or agreement on all issues.

Gvosdev said, in a report published by the American National Interest magazine, that today, when the rise of China and greater coordination between the countries of the Global South provide greater hedging opportunities, other countries have options, while the United States has little influence.

The network’s approach to international affairs means that the mix of obligations and obligations to other partners will vary on a case-by-case basis.

For example, Josh Rogin, a columnist for the American Washington Post, says that the security consultations between Japan, the Republic of the Philippines and the United States may herald the emergence of the “Garopus Triple Alliance” (Garopos is the initials of the names of Japan, the Philippines and the United States), which is It is firmly rooted in a common threat assessment emanating from China’s efforts to extend its maritime sphere of influence.

This does not automatically mean that Garopus will act along the lines of the Australia-U.S.-UK Partnership (Ocos), even though Ocos is also there to respond to China’s improvement of its naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific basin.

The Ocos alliance, for example, involves a level of defense technological and industrial integration, and this is not a step that Japan or the Philippines, the two partners in the “Garropos Triple Alliance”, are willing to take.

These two alliances, Garopus and Ocos, do not assume the emergence of a joint security alliance with India through the Quad Alliance (which includes Japan, Australia, India and the United States).

https://globeecho.com/news/middle-east/the-united-states-urges-armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-contain-the-escalation/

Four Armenian soldiers killed in latest ceasefire violations in Artsakh

Karapet Navasardian
 Lillian Avedian News 0

Four Artsakh soldiers killed by Azerbaijani forces (Artsakh Ombudsman, June 28)

Four Armenian soldiers were killed today in Artsakh by Azerbaijani forces, according to Artsakh authorities.

In the early morning hours of June 28, Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Artsakh Defense Army positions in Martuni and Martakert, deploying artillery systems and combat drones. Artsakh Defense Army soldiers Armo Abgaryan, Samvel Torosyan, Yervand Tadevosyan and Gagik Balayan were killed, according to the Artsakh Defense Ministry.

The Artsakh Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijan spread “false reports” about a ceasefire violation by Artsakh in order to create an “informational basis for another provocation.” On June 27, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said that its armed forces took “retaliatory measures” after an Azerbaijani soldier was injured in a ceasefire violation.

This is the largest death toll amid frequent reports of ceasefire violations in Artsakh and along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating the ceasefire nearly every day for months. Today’s attacks follow a week of ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani forces against Artsakh soldiers, as well as civilians. 

On June 27, Azerbaijani armed forces launched a mortar in the direction of the Martakert region. Azerbaijani forces previously deployed small arms toward the Martakert, Martuni, Askeran and Shushi regions on June 25, and Martakert, Martuni and Askeran on June 22. Artsakh Defense Army soldier Mher Hakobyan received a gunshot wound in the June 22 attack. 

Azerbaijani forces have also fired on civilians and civilian objects in Artsakh several times in the past week. 

On June 25, 22-year-old Mikayel Mezhlumyan was fired on while working with a tractor near Myurishen village in Martuni. That same day, Azerbaijani forces fired on a tractor in the Avdur village of Martuni.

On June 22, the roof of a house belonging to Zori Arakelyan, a resident of Chankatagh village in Martakert, was damaged by Azerbaijani fire. Azerbaijani forces also fired on a tractor in the Chartar village in Martuni that day. 

A coalition of all of the parties in the Artsakh parliament released a joint statement on June 28 urging the Armenian delegation conducting negotiations on an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty in Washington to immediately halt talks. It said the negotiations should not continue “until the establishment of a full ceasefire on the line of contact with Artsakh and the borders of Armenia.” 

“Otherwise, the continuation of negotiations will mean encouraging the aggressive behavior of the Azerbaijani side and privilege at the international level,” the statement reads. 

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are in Washington this week for three days of talks mediated by the U.S. scheduled to end on June 29. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov held separate meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the first day of negotiations on June 27. 

“We support Armenia and Azerbaijan working together toward a durable and dignified agreement. Dialogue is key to lasting peace,” Blinken tweeted on June 27. 

Mirzoyan and Bayramov previously met in Washington for marathon talks from May 1-4 to negotiate a peace deal titled “Agreement on normalization of relations.” American and Azerbaijani leaders struck an optimistic tone after the talks, stating that significant progress was made on a peace deal. Armenian authorities, however, said that disagreements remained on fundamental issues. Namely, Azerbaijan has not agreed to the creation of an international mechanism to oversee talks between Artsakh and Azerbaijan. 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Armenia is ready to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, which would include Azerbaijani control over Artsakh. He has also called for direct talks between Baku and Stepanakert, overseen by an international mechanism, and special guarantees for the rights and security of the Armenian population of Artsakh. Azerbaijan has so far rejected these measures, insisting that talks between Azerbaijan and Artsakh are a domestic matter.

During an interview with Reuters published on June 23, Bayramov said that special guarantees for the rights and security of Artsakh Armenians are unnecessary. He said that the Armenians of Artsakh would be subject to the same constitutional principles and international conventions as ethnic and religious minorities in Azerbaijan.

Senior Analyst for the South Caucasus at the International Crisis Group Olesya Vartanyan said that the outcome of the talks largely depends on Azerbaijan’s position moving forward. “Azerbaijan is undoubtedly aware that a mass exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh driven by fear and uncertainty would result in substantial global repercussions, potentially impeding the country in various ways,” Vartanyan said in an analysis for openDemocracy. “By heeding international appeals and entering the talks with Stepanakert, Baku can reassure Armenians that they would have a chance to continue living in Nagorno-Karabakh.” 

In response to the June 28 escalation, Pashinyan warned of a “high risk of destabilization” in the region. “Urging international community to take practical steps to ensure rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh people. Meanwhile Lachin Corridor remains illegally blocked, tonight as result of Azerbaijani attack with use of UAVs there are four casualties,” Pashinayn tweeted.

Azerbaijan has blockaded the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor, the sole route connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the outside world, since December 2022, leading to critical shortages of food and medical supplies. Since June 15, Azerbaijan has tightened the blockade by prohibiting humanitarian shipments, which had been delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Russian peacekeepers. 

The ICRC had also been prevented from transporting medical patients awaiting treatment from Artsakh to Armenia. On June 24, Russian peacekeepers transported a one-year-old child diagnosed with acute hemorrhagic encephalitis by helicopter to a medical center in Armenia. The ICRC resumed the transfer of medical patients to Armenia by ambulance on June 28. 

Government-backed Azerbaijani protesters posing as eco-activists had closed the Berdzor Corridor from December 12, 2022 to April 23, 2023. They ended their protest after Azerbaijan set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to the corridor from Armenia, placing movement along the corridor completely under the control of Azerbaijani border guards. On June 23, Artsakh authorities published a video reportedly showing Azerbaijani guards installing concrete barricades along the corridor. 

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Lillian Avedian is a staff writer for the Armenian Weekly. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq and the Daily Californian. She is pursuing master’s degrees in journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University. A human rights journalist and feminist poet, Lillian’s first poetry collection Journey to Tatev was released with Girls on Key Press in spring of 2021


Turkish Press: Azerbaijan and Armenia summit in the US

Karapet Navasardian
Politics  

2023-06-26 13:52:36 | Son Güncelleme : 2023-06-26 13:58:33

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov traveled to the United States for the negotiations on a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

It was stated that Bayramov will hold a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken within the scope of his visit, and after the bilateral meeting, he will meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at a trilateral meeting to be held with the participation of Blinken. 

It was also stated that the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia will hold talks within the framework of the Bilateral Agreement on Peacebuilding and Interstate Relations.

The last trilateral meeting between Antony Blinken, Ceyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan was held on May 1 in the US capital Washington DC.

Sorurce: Ihlas News Agency



Azerbaijani Press: Vardanyan – largest menace to Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agreement, Forbes says

Karapet Navasardian
Azerbaijan –

BAKU, Azerbaijan, June, 26. Forbes, an American financial and economic magazine, one of the most authoritative and well-known economic publications, has called Ruben Vardanyan “a leader in blocking a lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan”, Trend reports.

“On May 28, Vardanyan said separatists should not sign onto any agreements with Azerbaijan on his Russian language Telegram channel. Vardanyan has been entwined in the separatist government for some time. On his Twitter page, Vardanyan writes about human rights issues related to Karabakh region and has been especially vocal about the alleged blockade of a road connecting the region to Armenia,” the author said.

Despite reaching out three times to his personal foundation and twice to his Twitter account, the author noted that there has been no response from him regarding the requests to address the Azerbaijani claims of him fueling tensions to advance Russian interests.

Moreover, as the author rightly pointed out, Vardanyan, the criminal oligarch, who was ‘exported’ to Azerbaijan’s Karabakh from Moscow, and used to be the so-called “state minister” of the separatists may have stepped down from his “post” to avoid the risk of individual sanctions.

He is also currently subjected to immediate detention and transfer to law enforcement agencies of Ukraine or NATO countries, the Forbes article added.

https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/3766690.html

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/27/2023

Karapet Navasardian 
Tuesday, 
Armenian, Azeri FMs Begin Fresh Talks In U.S. Հունիս 27, 2023
U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts talks between the Armenian 
and Azerbaijani foreing ministers in Arlington, Virginia, . The Armenian and Armenian foreign ministers began on Tuesday a new round of 
U.S.-mediated negotiations focusing on a peace treaty between the two South 
Caucasus states. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the opening session of the talks 
in Arlington, Virginia after holding separate meetings with Armenia’s Ararat 
Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov. The talks continued in a bilateral format. The U.S. State Department spokesman, 
Matthew Miller, said on Monday that they will likely last for three days. “We continue to believe that peace is within reach and direct dialogue is the 
key to resolving the remaining issues and reaching a durable and dignified 
peace,” Miller told a news briefing in Washington. Mirzoyan and Bayramov reported major progress towards the peace treaty after 
meeting outside the U.S. capital for four consecutive days in early May. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
held three face-to-face meetings in the following weeks. The two sides say that despite Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani 
sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh through the peace treaty, they still disagree 
on other sticking points. Tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and “the line of contact” around 
Karabakh have increased over the last few weeks, with the sides accusing each 
other of violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis. A June 15 skirmish 
on the Lachin corridor led Azerbaijan to completely block relief supplies to 
Karabakh through the sole road connecting the disputed region to Armenia. The 
move aggravated shortages of food, medicine and other essential items in 
Karabakh. Mirzoyan brought up the “illegal” blockade and the resulting humanitarian crisis 
in Karabakh with Blinken during their separate conversation. For his part, 
Bayramov was reported to tell Blinken that Yerevan is attempting to “obstruct 
the peace process.”
Pashinian Defends Failure To Prevent 2020 War
Հունիս 27, 2023
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian prepares to testify before an Armenian 
parliamentary commission, Yerevan, ,
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday sought to justify his failure to avert 
the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that it might not have broken out had 
he made disproportionate concessions to Azerbaijan. He testified before an ad hoc commission of the Armenian parliament for the 
second time in just over a week in what opposition groups see as continuing 
attempts to dodge responsibility for the disastrous war. Pashinian defended his handling of the six-week hostilities in his first lengthy 
testimony given on June 20. He focused on events preceding them while answering 
on Tuesday questions from pro-government members of the commission tasked with 
examining the causes of Armenia’s defeat. “I’m not saying that it was theoretically impossible to avoid the war,” he told 
the panel boycotted by opposition lawmakers. “But the necessary condition for 
that theoretical possibility was a renunciation of, let’s put it this way, the 
Armenian vision for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Asked what he thinks he had failed to do before the war, Pashinian said: “I feel 
guilty about absolutely everything, but I say, ‘OK, it’s just a declaration.’ 
When I start drawing up my own indictment … I enter a deadlock at some point.”
Armenian opposition leaders say that Pashinian made the war with Azerbaijan 
inevitable by mishandling peace talks mediated by the United States, Russia and 
France. They specifically accuse him of recklessly rejecting a peace deal put 
forward by the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The plan was the last version of their so-called Madrid Principles of the 
conflict’s resolution originally drafted in 2007. It called for an eventual 
referendum of self-determination in Karabakh that would take place after the 
gradual liberation of virtually all seven districts occupied by Karabakh 
Armenian forces in the early 1990s. In 2021, former President Serzh Sarkisian publicized the secretly recorded audio 
of a 2019 meeting during which Pashinian said he opposes the plan because it 
would not immediately formalize Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. Pashinian 
said he is ready to “play the fool or look a bit insane” in order to avoid such 
a settlement. Pashinian has repeatedly alleged that the Madrid Principles recognized Karabakh 
as a part of Azerbaijan. His political opponents and other critics shrug off 
those claims, arguing that the proposed settlement upheld the Karabakh 
Armenians’ right to self-determination. Another Russian-Armenian Meeting On Lachin Corridor Crisis
RUSSIA - The Russian Foreign Ministry building is seen behind a social 
advertisement billboard showing Z letters - a tactical insignia of Russian 
troops in Ukraine - and reading "Victory is being Forged in Fire," Moscow, 
October 13, 2022. Armenia’s ambassador to Russia has visited the Foreign Ministry in Moscow after 
Yerevan blamed Russian peacekeepers for a shooting incident that led to the 
tightening of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian border guards opened fire on June 15 to stop Azerbaijani servicemen 
from placing an Azerbaijani flag near a checkpoint controversially set up by 
them in the Lachin corridor in late April. Baku denied that they tried to cross 
into Armenian territory. Videos of the incident suggest that the Azerbaijanis were escorted by Russian 
soldiers as they crossed a bridge over the Hakari river in order to hoist the 
flag. The Armenian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Yerevan 
on June 16 to express “strong discontent” with the Russian peacekeepers’ actions. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, defended the 
peacekeepers and rejected the Armenian criticism as “absolutely groundless.” She 
said the incident resulted from the “absence of a delimited Armenian-Azerbaijani 
border.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry dismissed that argument on June 22, saying that 
Zakharova echoed Baku’s regular justifications of its “aggressive actions 
against Armenia’s borders.” It said that instead of “looking for excuses,” 
Moscow should help to ensure the conflicting parties’ full compliance with a 
Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020 war Karabakh. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported late on Monday that Deputy Foreign 
Minister Mikhail Galuzin “received” Armenian Ambassador Vagharshak Harutiunian. A short statement released by the ministry said they discussed in detail 
“developments in the Lachin corridor and around Nagorno-Karabakh in general.” 
Galuzin stressed the importance of unconditional implementation of all 
Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow during and after the 2020 
war, the statement added without elaborating. It was not clear whether the Russian Foreign Ministry formally summoned 
Harutiunian to again hit back at the Armenian Foreign Ministry. The latter did 
not issue a statement on Harutiunian’s conversation with Galuzin. The ceasefire agreement placed the only road connecting Karabakh to Armenia 
under the control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and committed 
Azerbaijan to guaranteeing safe passage through it. Azerbaijan blocked 
commercial traffic there last December before setting up the checkpoint in what 
the Armenian side denounced as a further gross violation of the Russian-brokered 
ceasefire. Dashnaktsutyun Demands Stronger International Pressure On Baku
        • Artak Khulian
Armenia - Members and supporters of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party picket 
the Russian Embassy in Yerevan, . Members and supporters of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) 
picketed the Russian and key Western diplomatic missions in Yerevan on Tuesday 
to demand that the international community do more to end Azerbaijan’s 
seven-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. The opposition party organized a 24-hour sit-in outside the Russian, U.S. and 
French embassies as well as the European Union mission almost two weeks after 
Baku halted the movement of humanitarian convoys through the Lachin corridor. “Azerbaijan’s impunity has led to the fact that Artsakh (Karabakh) is cut off 
from the outside world,” one of the protesters said through a megaphone. Russia and the EU have expressed serious concern over the further tightening of 
the blockade, which has aggravated the shortages of food, medicine and other 
essential items in Karabakh. Organizers of the sit-in complained that such statements alone cannot force Baku 
to unblock the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. They demanded stronger 
action from the foreign powers and Russia in particular, which brokered a 
ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war and has 
peacekeeping troops in Karabakh. “Russia needs to take much more practical steps because Azerbaijan’s brazenness 
is transcending all limits,” Gegham Manukian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, told 
reporters. “After all, it’s Russia that has the strongest political, diplomatic and 
military instruments in our region and brokered the November 9 [2020] agreement. Therefore, it’s Russia that must first and foremost take concrete steps to end 
the blockade,” said Anna Grigorian, another lawmaker representing the main 
opposition Hayastan alliance comprising Dashnaktsutyun. Hayastan and other major opposition groups also blame the Armenian government 
for the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. They say that Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the 
Armenian-populated region only emboldened Baku to step up the pressure on the 
Karabakh Armenians. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Travel: 8 Reasons To Visit Spectacular Yerevan, Armenia

Karapet Navasardian
ULRIKE LEMMIN-WOOLFREY
If it wasn’t for my quest to see a few select places along the Silk Road this year, I have to admit that I would have been hard-pushed to find Yerevan on the world map. I am quite embarrassed about that because not only is Yerevan one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, but I also heard much about its border issues with Azerbaijan and Turkey, yet I’d never bothered to learn more.

Arriving in Yerevan, located to the south of the country which borders Georgia (the only open border), Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran, it was pretty much love at first sight. The weather was sunny but the imposing Mount Ararat with its two peaks was snow-capped, making it look even more volcanic. The tree-lined streets were filled with people strolling along and sitting in cafés, and there was art and architecture waiting to be discovered at every corner.

There is so much history evident everywhere, as well as a strong national pride. Here are my personal reasons why you should be putting Yerevan on your “to-travel-to” list.

I know, I know. Really, the number one spot should have been taken by something historic, but bear with me. The first place everybody visiting Yerevan should go to first is the Cascades Complex. This is a set of steps, an incredible 572 of them, leading up the side of a hill, and once at the top (don’t worry, you can take the escalators within the Cafesjian Center for the Arts next to the steps) the views are incredible. Yerevan spreads out below you and Ararat fills the horizon. The step complex is typically Soviet in style, with fountains and sculptures all the way up.

At the bottom of the Cascades, you’ll find the wonderful sculpture park, part of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. World-class artists are represented here, all part of a private collection made available for the city to enjoy. The art center itself is a marvelous construction of what would normally have been a boring set of escalators leading up the hill. Instead, it has been cleverly utilized as a quirky gallery space.

There are some fantastic museums in the city, with the Genocide Museum — which consists of a museum, the eternal flame, and the imposing Tsitsernakaberd Memorial — leading the pack. It is the most insightful and powerful of the museums but a must-see to understand the country and its people. 

On Republic Square, there is the State Museum of Armenian History, showcasing finds dating back from the Stone Age to more modern cultural heritage such as local carpets. In the same building, you have the National Art Gallery, always running temporary exhibitions by local artists with an amazing array of superb talent on display. The modern art museum had a Banksy exhibition when I visited and generally has mold-breaking contemporary art in its rooms.

If you want to stay in the heart of the city, I can recommend the Marriott Armenia Hotel right on Republic Square. With its museums, fountain, and Government House, the square is a site for celebrations as well as demonstrations. It is beautiful, and from the hotel’s windows, you have the chance to see Republic Square in the changing daylight and all lit up at night when it is stunning. It is a truly great spot for a hotel, with absolutely everything in Yerevan within walking distance.

This 18th-century Persian Shia Mosque, also known as the Persian Mosque or the Mosque of Shah, is the last mosque operating in the whole of Armenia. It’s a reminder that Armenia was the first country in the world to embrace Christianity as a state religion. Maybe not quite as striking as the mosques of Isfahan or Samarkand, but its blue and green tiled exterior is beautiful, as is the little garden it is located in.

As I already mentioned, walking around Yerevan, you’ll stumble across restaurants and cafés everywhere. They have plenty of outdoor seating, making the most of the warmer months with people lingering over coffee and enjoying the green spaces. The green areas between the Armenian National Opera, Ballet Theatre, and Cascade Complex are filled with great outdoor cafés, as are the sides of the sculpture park.

Head along Moskovyan Street for an international selection of cuisines and types of restaurants. From wine bars to fine dining, street food to relaxed student hangouts, it’s all there. Must-try foods include all things lamb and eggplant, plus the lovely fresh flatbread called lavash, which is baked in clay ovens and stuffed with all sorts of things. For a wide variety of foods and some local entertainment, try Sherep Restaurant just off Republic Square next to the Marriott. Hugely popular with locals, make sure you book ahead.

You always need a souvenir to bring back and there is no better place to search out some local arts and crafts than the open-air Vernissage Market — a short walk from Republic Square. Here, you’ll find a wide range of traditional Armenian crafts, souvenirs, artwork, jewelry, and antiques. It’s a great place to explore and purchase unique items, with blood-red ceramics featuring locally grown pomegranates, a firm favorite.

What really struck me is the fact that everywhere in Yerevan, as well as outside the city limits, there are huge pictures of Armenians who live abroad. These individuals have helped their country with money or celebrity status to either build infrastructure, restore historic sites, donate art, or simply help out with some funds for the people. 

From Charles Aznavour to Cher, and even the Kardashians, all have Armenian roots. And here is something I learned about how to spot someone with Armenian roots: the names all end in –ian, –jian, or a similar derivative. I spent a long time looking at the names of the artists in the Art Gallery and loved that there is such an easy way of connecting, wherever you find yourself.

However lovely, Yerevan should never be just a city trip. The true beauty of Armenia lies outside of the city limits. A mountainous country with huge peaks, high lakes, and mountain passes, everywhere you look, ancient monasteries are perching atop cragged hills. Probably the closest and most impressive monastery is Khor Virap Monastery, situated near the border of Turkey. Khor Virap offers breathtaking views of Mount Ararat. This little monastery, originally dating to the 600s (with the current church dating to the 1600s), is a significant religious site. It’s the place where St. Gregory the Illuminator — the Patron Saint of Armenia and reason behind Armenia embracing Christianity — was imprisoned.

A natural beauty is Lake Sevan, located about 37 miles northeast of Yerevan. Lake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world. On its shores lies the Sevanavank Monastery, but the lake is lovely just for its serenity and mountainous fringes. If you are also looking for Silk Road sites, the Orbelian’s Caravanserai not far from the lake is a must. The former overnight resting point during travel along the Silk Road, weary merchants had a chance to sleep, have their animals looked after, and meet other travelers along the way, while doing a bit of business as well.

For a way to see two countries at once, why not get a driver to take you across the border to Tbilisi in Georgia, a mere 4-hour drive from Yerevan?

Theoretically 2020 war could have been avoided by abandoning Armenian vision of NK resolution – Pashinyan

Karapet Navasardian

 11:47,

YEREVAN, JUNE 27, ARMENPRESS. Theoretically, war could have been avoided if Armenia abandoned its vision of a Nagorno Karabakh outside of Azerbaijani control, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told lawmakers on June 27 at the parliament selection committee on the 2020 war.

“We could have said that we abandon our vision of viewing Nagorno Karabakh outside of Azerbaijan and taken that path, which of course wouldn’t have guaranteed that it could be possible to avoid war,” Pashinyan said when asked whether or not he believes war was inevitable.

“I also want to speak about the crossroads of war, because the war conveyer was followed by crossroads of war with negotiations content, there were issues leading to war in the negotiations process. The crossroads of war were clarifications regarding Lachin Corridor which weren’t clarified in Kazan, and were less clarified afterwards, some discussion should have taken place there. The next crossroads of war was the process of the involvement of the so-called Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno Karabakh, the next was the possible process of delimitation and demarcation as part of a peace treaty. I mean I am not saying that there was no theoretical chance of avoiding war, but that theoretical chance required a mandatory condition of abandoning the Armenian vision of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution which could have created a theoretical possibility of avoiding such developments,” Pashinyan said.

Steps inciting and elevating tensions are unproductive – U.S. State Department on Armenia-Azerbaijan talks

Karapet Navasardian

 10:42,

YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS. Steps that are going to incite tensions and elevate tensions are certainly unproductive right now as talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are proceeding in different venues, U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel has said.

“So we look forward to hosting another round of talks in Washington soon as the parties continue to pursue a peaceful future in the South Caucasus region. We continue to believe direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a durable and dignified peace,” Patel said at the June 21 press briefing.

“…we continue to believe that steps that are going to incite tensions and elevate tensions are certainly unproductive right now as talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are proceeding in different venues. And so we’ll continue to engage on this and look forward to hosting another round of talks very soon,” he added, when asked to comment on the border shootings.

Patel was also asked to comment on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s accusation claiming that Washington is actually attempting to squeeze Russia out of the region in mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“If Russia thinks that they can play a constructive role in this, certainly they are welcome to, but we continue to feel that these talks are progressing, they’re proceeding,” the U.S. State Department spokesperson said.

“The United States has been an important partner in this. The Secretary personally has been engaged on this,” he said, adding that “we think direct dialogue is key to resolving this issue and reaching a durable and dignified peace and we also continue to think that dialogue can’t be replaced in this process.”

Azerbaijan is intermittently shelling Armenian positions and civilian facilities in cross-border shooting attacks. Furthermore, a U.S.-affiliated company’s construction site in the Armenian border village of Yeraskh came under Azeri gunfire several times, resulting in two construction workers being wounded.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has been generating an intensive disinformation campaign aimed at falsely accusing Armenia of shootings.

“Sixty telephone conversations with Putin” – Pashinyan on ending the 2020 war

Karapet Navasardian
  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Pashinyan on the circumstances of the Karabakh war

The Prime Minister of Armenia participated in a meeting of the parliamentary commission investigating the circumstances of the Karabakh war in 2020 and made a detailed report. In his speech, which lasted more than three hours, Nikol Pashinyan touched not only on the course of the war and the circumstances of the signing of the November statement on the cessation of hostilities, but also on the history of the negotiation process in the Karabakh conflict.

The meeting of the commission will continue on June 27, and its members will have the opportunity to get answers to their questions from the prime minister himself. Pashinyan promised to answer all questions live, except for those that would contain state secrets. The deputies will receive all the information during closed hearings.

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Pashinyan has never said before that in order to end the 44-day war in Karabakh, Russia offered to deploy peacekeepers in the Armenian city of Meghri and around it. They were supposed to provide a connection between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan.

“I did not agree to this. I did not agree to the creation of a layer not controlled by the Republic of Armenia, that is, the creation of a corridor through the territory of Armenia. My position has not changed: roads should be open, but they should remain under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

The prime minister recalled the document on the exchange of territories between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which, in the context of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, could have been signed during the 1999 Istanbul summit. He announced that Armenian Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan and Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan “prevented” the implementation of this project at the cost of their lives.

Pashinyan is referring to the terrorist attack on October 27, 1999, when an armed group entered the parliament building and shot deputies and members of the government. He talks about one of the unofficial versions of the causes of the attack. Many believed that it was organized by the secret services of countries that have their own interests in the region — Russia and the United States.

The theory was based on the fact that in November 1999 an OSCE summit was to be held in Istanbul, where the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan could sign some document. It was about the mediators’ proposal for a territorial exchange: Azerbaijan ceded to Armenia the Lachin corridor connecting it with Nagorno-Karabakh, and in return received part of the territory of the Meghri region, that is, the same corridor to Nakhichevan. This option was considered unacceptable by many Armenian politicians, including Vazgen Sargsyan and Karen Demirchyan. After the terrorist act in the Armenian parliament, the documents were not signed.

“This document actually records the death of the fundamental ideas of the Armenian side about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” he said.

Pashinyan said that although the document has not gotten legal force, proposals of such content continue to appear at the negotiating table.

The prime minister believes that the document on the exchange of Meghri for Nagorno-Karabakh had nothing to do with the right to self-determination and violated the principle of the territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan:

“This is nothing but an act of recognizing Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. Otherwise it is impossible to formulate. If you give away part of your territory in order to get Karabakh from Azerbaijan, then this means that you recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and you put your own territory up for auction.”

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In 2018, Pashinyan announced that he would start negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict anew, from scratch. He now explained that as of May 2018, he had two options to avoid it:

  1. “Azerbaijan should have actually recognized the interim status of Nagorno-Karabakh according to the logic of the Kazan document. It couldn’t be. Why did Azerbaijan have to accept what it rejected 7 years ago, and for the sake of which it started the April four-day war [2016]?”
  2. “I had to not only recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, but also agree to the status quo established around Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and also to dismantle the existing status quo within Nagorno-Karabakh itself. It is impossible to imagine, even if we evaluate the situation from today’s point of view.

The prime minister assumes that for Armenia, the statement of the OSCE chairman made back in December 1996 may be news: “The legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined on the basis of the right to self-determination, which will give it a high status of autonomy within Azerbaijan.”

Pashinyan recalls that hostilities ceased on November 9, and the fall of Shushi played a pivotal role. He said that he has in mind the strategic role of the city, and not the symbolic one:

“After the loss of Shushi, Stepanakert, in fact, would be under attack, pressure on Martuni would inevitably increase, and most importantly, 25,000 of our soldiers would be under the threat of encirclement.”

According to the prime minister, the November announcement was the fifth attempt to stop the war.

He presented to the parliamentary commission details of the attempts and details from conversations with Vladimir Putin. Initially, the Azerbaijani side presented the following preconditions for a ceasefire:

  • “Surrender of Fuzuli without a fight,
  • the retreat of the Armenian forces along the Araks to the Khodaferi reservoir so that the reservoir would be under the control of Azerbaijan,
  • return of Azerbaijanis Guliyev and Askerov, who are serving sentences for murders and kidnappings in Karabakh, with the possibility of returning captured Armenians.”

These conditions were unacceptable for the Armenian side. In addition, according to Pashinyan, Baku did not link the fulfillment of these requirements with the cessation of hostilities, but only promised “a humanitarian truce to organize the funeral of the dead.”

Several attempts at a truce were unsuccessful. Baku not only did not support the ceasefire, but also intensified “its offensive actions, inflicting missile strikes on Stepanakert, Martakert, attacking Hadrut.”

Pashinyan says that along with attempts to prevent attacks, Armenia also made diplomatic efforts:

“The issue of deploying Russian military observers on both sides of the line of contact was considered, who would monitor the situation and record violations of the ceasefire. However, Azerbaijan constantly shied away from such a decision and conducted more intense hostilities.”

Russian media, citing a “diplomatic source”, reported that Washington is forcing representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh to agree to a meeting with the Azerbaijani side.

According to Pashinyan, 20 out of 60 telephone conversations with Putin during this period took place on November 8 and 9, when the text of the tripartite statement was discussed. He agreed to start these negotiations on the condition that the document does not contain provisions regarding Shushi and the corridor through the territory of Armenia. For his part, he offered to return the Aghdam region instead of the Hadrut region.

Pashinyan said that he signed the statement on the morning of November 9, but Azerbaijan refused to sign this version of the document and put forward new demands.

“The culmination of the process was the evening of November 9, when it became clear that Azerbaijan was making new additions to the agreed document. This meant that the text I had signed in the morning was no longer valid.”

According to him, Azerbaijan did not accept the proposal of Aghdam instead of Hadrut, there was no mention of Shushi and the creation of a corridor through the territory of Armenia in the text. It was only about the cessation of hostilities, the return of 7 regions around NK, the creation of the Lachin corridor and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers here and in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“But at the moment when the President of the Russian Federation said that Azerbaijan was proposing to add a clause on the return of enclaves in the Tavush region to the text, I stated that I ruled out the possibility of signing such a document,” Pashinyan said.

After some time, the parties managed to agree on removing the clause on enclaves from the document. It was signed, according to the Armenian prime minister, after “difficult, lengthy” discussions, in parallel with reports “about the intensification of hostilities and the accumulation of a large number of drones in the sky over Stepanakert.”

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What needs to be done to reach a truce and stop the war? For the first time, Pashinyan addressed this issue with the President of Russia on October 13. Putin said that “one can try to talk about ending the war in exchange for the return of 5 regions” around NK, which were under the control of Armenia after the first Karabakh war. A few days later, on October 19, in a telephone conversation, the Russian president confirmed that the war could be stopped according to the Russian plan developed many years ago.

“And the condition is as follows: 7 regions are returned in the 5 + 2 format, the issue of NK-Armenia communication through the Lachin corridor is being resolved, Russian peacekeepers are deployed in Karabakh, the status issue remains unresolved, it is postponed for an indefinite future,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister of Armenia agreed, but the Azerbaijani side stated that it expected to receive all 7 regions at once.

According to an official statement from the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks scheduled for June 12 in Washington were postponed “at the request of the Azerbaijani side.”

The Prime Minister says that on October 19 he learned from the President of Russia about another condition from Baku. It was about guarantees for the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Shushi, who “accounted for 90 percent of the population of Shushi without any restriction on further increase.”

Baku also proposed the construction of a new road for the unhindered movement of Azerbaijanis:

“According to the proposal, all Azerbaijanis should have direct and unhindered access to Shushi, and not just those living in Shushi. For example, 50,000 Azerbaijanis could come to those living in Shushi, there could not be any restrictions. And they could stay.”

Pashinyan did not accept the offer. He says he was worried that the Lachin corridor would not operate, Azerbaijan could close it at any moment, because Shushi would not enter the Lachin corridor, and it would pass a few meters from Shushi. He believes that “recent events”, that is, the blocking of the Lachin corridor, proved him right.

As for the “fall of Shushi”, Pashinyan expects that the circumstances of the loss of the city should be clarified in the framework of the initiated criminal cases. He emphasizes that all his instructions concerned the strengthening of Shushi and the organization of the defense of the city. And he received assurances that he would stand. Contradictory information came from the President of Nagorno-Karabakh and from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

“Before signing the tripartite statement, I was also informed that a part of Shushi was under the control of the NK Defense Army,” he said.

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Pashinyan also touched upon the former leaders of Armenia. He mentioned the article of the first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan “War or Peace? Time to think”, which talked about the need for compromises:

“To briefly formulate what Ter-Petrosyan said, it will turn out: it is impossible to maintain the status quo for a long time, let’s not engage in self-deception and cherish vain hopes, we have no allies on the issue of the independence of Karabakh.”

He stressed that Ter-Petrosyan does not give a clear and literal answer to the question of what status Nagorno-Karabakh will eventually have, whether it will be independent, whether it will be part of Armenia or Azerbaijan. According to him, this article has become “another factor aggravating the confusion in the Karabakh issue.”

According to the prime minister, the second president, Robert Kocharyan, deprived Nagorno-Karabakh of “any independence”, excluding Karabakh from the negotiations:

“Moreover, he deprived Nagorno-Karabakh of the only internationally recognized status, which made it possible to sit at the same table with representatives of Russia, the United States, France, Azerbaijan and Armenia. This, in fact, was the end of the international subjectivity of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

He also criticized third President Serzh Sargsyan, recalling his team’s “dubious slogan” that “bad negotiations are better than the best war”:

“The worst negotiations gave Azerbaijan time to prepare for the best war for it. With this slogan, they tied Armenia hand and foot, so that Armenia and Karabakh at some point X would be in a hopeless situation.”


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