Wednesday, April 27, 2022
U.S. Opposes ‘Unilateral’ Azeri Actions In Karabakh
April 27, 2022
• Lusine Musayelian
U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gathers papers after a Senate
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Review of the FY2023 State
Department Budget Request," in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022.
The United States has been discouraging Azerbaijan from escalating tensions in
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken.
“I've been very actively and directly engaged with leadership in both Armenia
and Azerbaijan, trying to help advance prospects for a long-term political
settlement in regard to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Blinken told the Foreign Relations
Committee of the U.S. Senate during a hearing held on Tuesday.
“We have been trying to push back on any unilateral actions, particularly by
Azerbaijan, that would only inflame the situation, and we have a number of
programs in place that are part of the budget to try to help advance more
peaceful prospects,” he said without elaborating.
Blinken pointed to his recent phone calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as well as the foreign
ministers of the two South Caucasus states.
During his conversations with Aliyev and Pashinian, he called for “restraint,
de-escalation, and renewed diplomacy,” according to the U.S. State Department.
Blinken phoned the two leaders on April 5 more than a week after Azerbaijani
troops seized a village in eastern Karabakh and tried to push deeper into the
territory, sparking deadly fighting with Karabakh Armenian forces.
The State Department deplored the Azerbaijani troop movements, calling them
“irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative.” Baku rejected the criticism.
Speaking during Tuesday’s hearing, Robert Menendez, the pro-Armenian chairman of
the Senate committee, accused Baku of trying to “eliminate the presence of
Armenians” living in Karabakh. Menendez also criticized the U.S. government for
continuing to seek greater U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan than Armenia.
Woman Killed By Police Car Escorting Armenian PM
April 27, 2022
• Naira Nalbandian
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian inspects new Patrol Police vehicles in
Gyumri, April 16, 2022.
A pregnant woman died on Tuesday after being hit by a police car that was part
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s motorcade racing through Yerevan.
Pashinian on Wednesday remained silent about the incident that caused uproar on
social media. He issued no statements offering his condolences to the family of
the 28-year-old woman, Sona Mnatsakanian.
The Armenian police confirmed shortly after the unprecedented accident that the
car which ran over Mnatsakanian was driven by one of their officers. He was
arrested later on Tuesday.
A separate statement released by the Investigative Committee said that the
officer did not stop to help the victim and came back to the scene of the
accident only two hours later.
Maria Karapetian, a lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party, essentially
confirmed that the police vehicle was part of the motorcade carrying Pashinian.
She told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the prime minister was on his way to a
meeting with her and other pro-government parliamentarians.
Karapetian said that the meeting was cut short after news of the pedestrian’s
death was reported by a Yerevan hospital. “In those circumstances it was very
hard to continue talking about the agenda for which we gathered,” she said.
The accident was caught on street cameras, according to some media outlets.
Videos circulated by them showed that the young woman was struck by a police SUV
while crossing a street in downtown Yerevan. The cars carrying Pashinian and his
bodyguards drove past her moments later.
Samvel Martirosian, a prominent Armenian blogger, witnessed the moment when the
motorcade emerged from Pashinian’s private residence located several hundred
meters away. He said that traffic police officers acted “wildly” as the vehicles
moved to the scene of the fatal accident.
“They yelled hysterically and nearly hit other cars while trying to force them
to … clear the way,” said Martirosian.
Pashinian famously boasted in May 2019 that unlike Armenia’s former leaders he
has made sure that his motorcades stop at a red light. He listed that among
purported achievements of his rule.
Sona Mnatsakanian, the victim, was one of the founders of Support Our Heroes, an
Armenian charity. She coordinated a project which is currently implemented by it
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Opposition Protesters Detained In Yerevan
April 27, 2022
• Artak Khulian
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Riot police arrest an opposition activist in Yerevan Yerevan, April
27, 2022
Riot police made at least 18 arrests on Wednesday as they scuffled with
opposition activists holding small-scale protests across Yerevan to try to drum
up popular support for an opposition bid to oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Armenia’s two main opposition alliances launched the protests on Monday in
advance of mass anti-government demonstrations planned by them. They say that
Pashinian’s removal from power would prevent sweeping concessions to Azerbaijan
planned by him.
Groups of opposition members and supporters staged “awareness marches,” blocked
streets and entered university campuses in Yerevan for the third consecutive day.
Traffic through one of those streets was disrupted for several minutes. Riot
police forcibly unblocked it, detaining several protesters in the process.
The Armenian police reported afterwards that 18 opposition activists were
arrested in various parts of the city by early afternoon.
Eleven others were detained on Tuesday. Three of them remained in police custody
the following day, risking “hooliganism” charges. The police did not clarify
what exactly they could be prosecuted for.
Benik Galstian, a lawyer representing the detainees, said that he too does not
know why they were not set free. He said he has petitioned a Yerevan court to
order their release.
Gegham Manukian, an opposition lawmaker who visited the activists in custody in
the morning, denounced the criminal proceedings as “absurd.”
“One of the guys was arrested last night on the grounds of evading a criminal
investigation,” Manukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “In fact, he rushed to
the Investigative Committee immediately after they phoned him during the
protest.”
Armenia - Riot police scuffle with opposition protesters in Yerevan, April 26,
2022.
Meanwhile, two groups of other oppositionists continued to march to Yerevan from
southern Ararat and northern Tavush provinces. One of them was led by Anna
Grigorian, another lawmaker affiliated with the opposition Hayastan alliance.
Grigorian said that she is encouraged by their reception in Ararat villages
located along a highway leading to the Armenian capital. “The spirits are high
because we are fighting for an idea, and that unity will lead us to victory,”
she said.
Hayastan and the other opposition bloc, Pativ Unem, have scheduled their first
rally for this Sunday. They already jointly rallied thousands of supporters in
Yerevan’s Liberty Square on April 5 to warn Pashinian against agreeing to
restore Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The prime minister met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels the
following day for talks hosted by European Council President Charles Michel.
Speaking in the parliament on April 13, Pashinian said the international
community is pressing Armenia to scale back its demands on Karabakh’s status and
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to
make such concessions to Baku.
Pro-government lawmakers maintain that Pashinian did not call for the
restoration of Azerbaijani control of Karabakh. They have accused the opposition
of exploiting the issue in a bid to seize power.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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