Thursday,
U.S. Insists On Armenia-Azerbaijan Troop Disengagement
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Philip Reeker, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for
European and Eurasian affairs, at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian, Yerevan, .
A senior State Department official reiterated U.S. calls for Armenia and
Azerbaijan to pull back their troops from contested portions of their border
during a visit to Yerevan on Thursday.
Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian
affairs, arrived in the Armenian capital late on Wednesday from Baku where he
met with President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials.
The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh and, in particular, an ongoing military standoff
on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were the main theme of his talks held in the
two capitals.
“As we made very clear in statements from Washington, we would like to see both
parties pull back to positions, relocate to where they were on May 11,” Reeker
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service after meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and senior Armenian diplomats.
He said the troop disengagement is essential for preventing shootouts and other
violent incidents at border sections where Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers
have been facing off against each other for the past month. It should be
followed by a demarcation of the long and mountainous frontier, he said, adding
that Washington is ready to provide “technical expertise” for that purpose.
The State Department similarly urged both sides to “return to their previous
positions and cease military fortification of the non-demarcated border” in a
statement issued on May 27. A department spokeswoman said earlier that Baku
should “pull back all forces immediately and cease further provocation.”
Pashinian proposed on May 27 that Armenia and Azerbaijan withdraw their troops
from the disputed border areas and let Russia and/or the United States and
France, the two other countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, deploy
observers there. He also called for the launch of a process of “ascertaining
border points” supervised by the international community.
Asked whether the U.S. supports the idea of an observation mission, Reeker said:
“The talk of some sort of a peacekeeping mechanism or observers has long been
part of the co-chair process. For many, many years that’s been discussed.”
According to an Armenian government statement, Pashinian told Reeker that Baku
must withdraw its forces from Armenia’s “sovereign territory” and
unconditionally free all Armenian soldiers and civilians remaining in
Azerbaijani captivity seven months after a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped
the war in Karabakh.
“I have expressed concern, as has the United States government repeatedly, over
the need to have all prisoners, all detainees freed and returned home,” Reeker
said in this regard, commenting on his talks in Yerevan and Baku.
Pashinian Dismisses Disclosure Of ‘Scandalous’ Comments On Karabakh
• Karine Simonian
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is approached by a supporter during an
election campaign trip to Echmiadzin, June 7, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday brushed aside the publication of what
former President Serzh Sarkisian has portrayed as further proof of his reckless
rejection before last year’s war with Azerbaijan of an international plan to
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Sarkisian publicized on Wednesday the purported audio of Pashinian’s comments on
the conflict amid a continuing war of words between the two men running in the
June 20 general elections. He did not say who and when secretly recorded them.
Pashinian can be heard talking about his first conversation with the presidents
of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan which took place just days after he became
prime minister in May 2018. He said they urged him to accept a Karabakh peace
plan drafted by Russia and approved by the United States and France, the two
other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The plan represented the latest version of the so-called Madrid Principles of
the conflict’s resolution first drafted by the three mediating powers in 2007.
It called, among other things, for the gradual liberation of virtually all seven
districts occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in the early 1990s.
Pashinian says in the audio that he rejected the plan because it would not
immediately formalize Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan and determine the
territory’s internationally recognized status. He says he was unconvinced by the
Russian, Kazakh and Belarusian presidents’ arguments that Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev’s realizes that that Baku will never regain control of Karabakh but
cannot formally renounce Azerbaijani sovereignty over the territory lest he be
branded a “traitor” at home.
Pashinian says he felt at that point that he must avoid such a settlement and,
if necessary, “play the fool or look a bit insane” for that purpose.
Armenia -- Former President Serzh Sarkisian holds a news conference in Yerevan,
August 19, 2020.
“Here is my conclusion: this guy is not crazy, this guy plays the fool, fools
around,” Sarkisian said during a campaign trip to Gegharkunik province. “This is
inadmissible for a country’s leader.”
The ex-president, who lost power in April 2018 during the Pashinian-led “velvet
revolution,” also charged that the prime minister’s intransigent stance left
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks in deadlock and led to the autumn war won by
Azerbaijan.
Pashinian dismissed Sarkisian’s claims and said the audio did not reveal
anything new or damage his reelection chances as he campaigned in Lori province
the following day. He said he has repeatedly stated that the peace proposals
made by the U.S., Russian and French mediators favored Azerbaijan.
“The international community, on which we pinned our hopes for many years,
pressed us to return the territories in return for nothing,” he told supporters
rallying in the town of Spitak.
Pashinian made similar statements in the immediate aftermath of the six-week war
stopped by a Russian-brokered agreement in November. He denied critics’
assertions that he could have prevented the disastrous war, which left at least
3,700 Armenian soldiers dead, by accepting the mediators’ peace proposals.
In January, Igor Popov, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, accused
Pashinian of misrepresenting those proposals. Popov specifically denied his
claims that the mediators offered the Armenians nothing in return for their
withdrawal from the districts around Karabakh.
The envoy argued that under the Minsk Group plan Karabakh’s population would be
able to determine the disputed territory’s status in a future legally binding
referendum. He also stressed that the plan tied Armenian withdrawal from two of
the seven districts, Lachin and Kelbajar, to a deal on the status.
Armenian Deputy FM Stands By Decision To Resign
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Ghevondian meets with officials from
Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan, April 14, 2021.
Armenia’s sole remaining deputy foreign minister, Armen Ghevondian, said on
Thursday that he has not withdrawn his resignation despite the government’s
refusal to accept it.
Ghevondian and the three other deputy ministers decided to resign after Foreign
Minister Ara Ayvazian stepped down on May 27 following an emergency session of
the Armenian government’s Security Council which discussed mounting tensions on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
At a May 31 farewell meeting the Armenian Foreign Ministry staff, Ayvazian
signaled strong objections to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s policies relating
to national security.
Three of Ayvazian’s deputies -- Artak Apitonian, Avet Adonts and Gagik
Ghalachian -- were formally relieved of their duties on Tuesday. By contrast,
Ghevondian’s resignation was not accepted, meaning that he will run the Foreign
Ministry for the time being.
The career diplomat attended on Thursday a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. He
told reporters afterwards that his resignation still stands.
Ghevondian also said that all four vice-ministers tendered their resignations
for the same reason.
“Because we said that generally the Foreign Ministry must have a greater
involvement in foreign policy decision making,” he said when asked reveal that
reason. He declined to elaborate.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who chaired the cabinet
meeting, said Ghevondian’s letter of resignation was not approved because “the
Foreign Ministry could not have been left without anyone performing the
minister’s duties.”
Avinian refused to comment on Ayvazian’s resignation. “Let Mr. Ayvazian tell
whether or not he had disagreements,” he said, adding that Pashinian has always
consulted with Armenia’s top diplomats before making key foreign policy
decisions.
In his farewell remarks, Ayvazian urged diplomats to avoid implementing policies
jeopardizing Armenia’s sovereignty and national security.
“The reason for my decision to resign was to make sure that there are never any
suspicions that this ministry could take some steps or agree to some ideas,
initiatives going against our statehood and national interests,” the outgoing
foreign minister said in a speech greeted with rapturous applause.
Ayvazian has since repeatedly refused to elaborate on his apparent concerns.
Armenian prosecutors have instructed the National Security Service to examine
his speech and see if it warrants a criminal investigation.
Speaking at the May 27 meeting of the Security Council, Pashinian called for the
deployment of international observers along contested portions of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Critics denounced the proposal, accusing Pashinian
of failing to defend Armenia against foreign aggression and plotting to cede
Armenian territory to Baku. The prime minister dismissed those claims.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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