Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Trump threatened with prison for violating gag order

Tatoyan Vazgen

 20:12,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS. The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial in New York raised the possibility on Friday of putting the former president in prison after Trump failed to comply with a partial gag order requiring him to remove a post trashing the judge's law clerk on social media, NBC News informed.

Judge Arthur Engoron said in court on Friday morning that Trump had posted on his social media account "an untrue and disparaging post about my clerk" and that he spoke to the former president about the matter.

Armenpress: Armenia Human Rights Defender, California Superior Court Judge meet

Tatoyan Vazgen

 21:27,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20 , ARMENPRESS. On October 20, Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Ms. Anahit Manasyan received the judge to the California Superior Court, member of the Armenian Bar Association of America Armenuhi Amy Ashvanian.

Welcoming the guest, Ms. Anahit Manasyan presented the issues related to the protection of the rights of people of Nagorno- Karabakh forcibly displaced due to the Azerbaijani aggression, which were recorded as a result of the fact-finding work carried out by her and her staff.

“During the meeting Anahit Manasyan referred to the policy of ethnic cleansing carried out against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as other cases of torture, mutilation and ill-treatment by the Azerbaijani forces prohibited by the international law.

The mentioned information was included in the extraordinary report of the Human Rights Defender, which was the first to be presented by the Defender to international organizations and actors with a mandate to protect human rights.

Within the framework of the meeting, Anahit Manasyan referred to the problems of human rights protection caused by the border security of the Republic of Armenia, noting that the presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia is very worrying from the point of view of the protection and guarantee of human rights,’’ the Human Rights Defender’s Office said in a statement.

The parties also discussed issues related to the expansion of cooperation between the Institution of the Defender of Human Rights and Armenian Bar Association of America.

In her turn, Armenuhi Amy Ashvanian thanked for the warm reception, underscoring the role of the Human Rights Defender’s institution in the implementation of the high mission of human rights protection.



Armenpress: Use of force is unacceptable – State Department on Armenia-Azerbaijan

Tatoyan Vazgen

 11:23,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The US considers the use of force to be unacceptable and calls for direct dialogue between Yerevan and Baku to resolve the conflict, the US State Department said in response to a query from the Voice of America to comment on the POLITICO article that Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned US lawmakers that Azerbaijan may invade Armenia in coming weeks.

In response, the State Department said that “the US continues to cooperate with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the highest levels, seeking dignified and lasting peace, where the rights of everyone are respected. The use of force is unacceptable, and direct dialogue is of important significance for the resolution of this long lasting conflict.”

The State Department also said that “the US supports the Armenian government’s efforts to help the displaced find shelter and comfort in Armenia in close cooperation with humanitarian organizations. We express our empathy to the displaced persons, realizing the shock and trauma they are going through, and what uncertainty they are facing.”

The US State Department added that Azerbaijan bears the responsibility to protect the peaceful civilians and guarantee humane treatment for all, including those who are suspected of war crimes.

“Azerbaijan also bears responsibility for its armed forces to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law, which regulates military operations, protection of peaceful civilians and humanitarian treatment against combatants.”

After Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan eyes a strategic strip of Armenia

Tatoyan Vazgen
Washington Post
Oct 11 2023

By Francesca Ebel

MEGHRI, Armenia — Outside the old Meghri train station in southern Armenia, a rusting locomotive, emblazoned with a fading emblem of the Soviet Union, sits on the tracks, as if still waiting for the passengers who stopped coming long ago.

The station’s overgrown courtyard and dilapidated waiting rooms were once filled with Armenians, Azerbaijanis and visitors from across the Soviet Union, traveling between Baku and Yerevan, or Moscow and Tehran. A modest cafeteria sold tea and snacks, and in summer, fruit sellers on the platform hawked persimmons and pomegranates, grown locally in the orchards that hug the valley.

Meghri sits at a strategic crossroads that regional powers, including Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Russia, are competing to access — prompting fears it could soon be at the center of a new war.

Located just north of the Aras River and the Iranian border, Meghri is hemmed in by Azerbaijani territory. To the east lies Azerbaijan proper, whose border with Armenia has been shut since 1991. Roughly six miles to the west lies Nakhchivan, a landlocked Azerbaijani exclave that Baku has long dreamed of connecting to its mainland. A sliver of Nakhchivan borders Turkey.

Azerbaijan calls Meghri, and the rest of Armenia’s Syunik province, the Zangezur corridor. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other officials have described opening this corridor as a top objective — one that is now in direct focus following Baku’s recapture of the long-disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Zangezur corridor is a broken link in a longer, potentially highly lucrative east-west route called the “Middle Corridor” that would connect China and Central Asian countries to Turkey via Azerbaijan.

RUSSIA

Black

Sea

Caspian

Sea

GEORGIA

ARMEN.

AZER.

Baku

TURKEY

Map view from

this perspective

SYRIA

IRAQ

IRAN

200 MILES

Yerevan

Lake Sevan

IRAN

Aras R.

Nakhchivan

AZERBAIJAN

ARMENIA

Julfa

Mount Kaputjugh

12,814 feet

Goris

Lachin

Stepanakert

Meghri

AZERBAIJAN

IRAN

Aras R.

The Aras River defines the border between

Azerbaijan and Iran and is relatively flat along

both sides. However, the portion of the river

in Armenia is surrounded by mountains.

Horadiz

NORTH

Yerevan pledged to open transport routes to Baku as part of a 2020 cease-fire after a brief war in Nagorno-Karabakh. But since then, Armenian officials have balked, saying that any such arrangement would effectively be the occupation of Armenian territory.

Betrayed by Moscow, which failed to prevent Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia now wants full control of the route. And it no longer wants Moscow’s security forces, who have guarded Meghri’s borders since the 1970s, involved.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, is pressuring Yerevan for unfettered access to the corridor, aiming to reopen the old Soviet railroad from Baku to Nakhchivan, as well as a highway for cars. It has already begun constructing infrastructure in preparation for the route.

Russia failed to keep peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, pivoting away from Armenia

Aliyev has signaled that Baku would use force to seize the corridor if the 2020 deal is not upheld. “We will implement the Zangezur corridor, whether Armenia wants it or not,” he said in 2021.

“I think the threat of a flare-up is very real,” said Stefan Meister, a South Caucasus expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “The Azerbaijanis have a maximalist approach. … If they can take it, they will do it.”

Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe who specializes in the region, said there are “two competing visions for the same east-west route,” with Armenia backed by the West, and Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey aligned together.

“It is more likely that Baku and Moscow will jointly use all their pressure points on the Armenian government to coerce them to accept their plan,” de Waal said. “So this is shaping up into a real contest.”

Turkey and Russia, which would benefit from expanding transport links crossing Armenian territory, have backed Aliyev’s plans. Russia, especially, wants this southern route to circumvent Western sanctions. Moscow has been using Azerbaijan to continue selling oil despite import bans and a price cap regime coordinated by the Group of Seven nations.

But Iran, a powerful ally of Armenia and its only friendly neighbor, has strongly opposed the project, averse to any alterations to its border with Armenia. The proposed plan would hinder, if not disconnect, free trade and traffic between the two countries. It could also reduce profits from Iran’s gas contracts with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month, which prompted more than 100,000 of the region’s ethnic Armenian residents to flee, has raised concerns that Baku — which has stepped up its hawkish rhetoric — may use force to get its way in the transit corridor dispute.

It was war between Azerbaijan and Armenia that originally shuttered the Meghri station.

At its peak during the Soviet era, the station had 70 employees. Armenian and Azerbaijani residents lived side by side. One year, even one deputy mayor of Meghri was Azerbaijani.

But in 1992, with Armenia and Azerbaijan at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, revenge attacks escalated. A group of Azerbaijanis hijacked the train running from Yerevan to Kapan as it passed through Nakhchivan and took 12 wagons full of mostly Armenian passengers hostage for a week.

As official negotiations stalled, a group of men from Meghri took matters into their own hands. Climbing the high mountain paths to a radar station, they bribed a Russian border guard to let them cross into Nakhchivan. Then, disguised as Russians, they kidnapped a local man — a relative of an Azerbaijani official — who was exchanged for the 14 remaining passenger-hostages. Baku and Yerevan later signed an accord to safeguard passenger transport.

The next year, however, a rumor spread that Azerbaijanis had abducted a busload of Armenian passengers farther north. A lynch mob of angry Armenian residents gathered at the Meghri station. Thinking that Baku had violated the accord, Arman Davtyan, the deputy station director, halted the train.

“I gave the order to the duty officer to stop the incoming train,” Davtyan said in a recent interview, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, “and by doing this, I very nearly risked an international crisis.”

After two days of talks to ensure locals would not ambush the passengers, the train departed from the station — one of the last to ever leave Meghri. The station closed a few months later, in 1993, along with the whole line from Baku to Nakhchivan.

But despite the railroad’s dark history, Davtyan — who worked at the station for 25 years — wants to see it reopened.

“My honest opinion as a railway employee is that it’s more in Armenia’s interests than Azerbaijan’s,” he said. “It would be very important for our economy.”

Meghri Mayor Bagrat Zakaryan, 40, said the local government would be willing to reopen the old railway.

“We understand the necessity of doing this, and it’s beneficial for us too,” Zakaryan said in an interview. “We cannot oppose the whole world. If we don’t compromise, people will turn away from us.” Still, he said, Armenia needed some guarantees. “Otherwise,” he said, “Baku will just take more and more, bit by bit.”

But, he said, a shared highway was risky.

“It is impossible for people to share the same road with those who have killed their children or relatives,” he said. “What if people want to take revenge? It’s a security issue.”

Indeed, many Meghri residents are skeptical of any plans to reopen transport.

“I don’t want this railway back again. We are living peacefully here without it. I don’t trust the Azerbaijanis,” said Silva Hovakian, 63, a retiree.

Marat Khachatryan, 70, a vegetable seller, remembers the old train line well. It would take 12 hours to get from his native Kapan to Yerevan. In those days, the train passed through Nakhchivan and, Khachatryan said, Azerbaijanis would sometimes throw stones at the windows.

“Once I was sitting in the carriage and a stone shattered the window and flew right past me — it was terrifying,” he said. “I always sat away from the windows after that.” He added: “Even though there was no war then, and it was communist rules and society; there was still a lot of hatred.”

“I don’t want the train line,” Khachatryan said. “We don’t need it. The Azerbaijanis could stop off in Meghri and just do whatever they want.”

Baku insists these fears are unfounded. Elin Suleymanov, Baku’s ambassador to Britain, said that those fearing Azerbaijani military action were living in “a paranoid dreamworld” and that Azerbaijan had no military objectives on Armenia’s territory.

Meanwhile, Davtyan, the station’s former deputy director, said that transit should not be blocked by politics. “Yes, you can expect anything from the Azerbaijanis,” Davtyan said. “But there are nations who have been enemies for centuries and who still have transport links. We have recognized borders. We have to believe in international law and order.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/11/azerbaijan-armenia-karabakh-nakhchivan-corridor/

Turkish Press: Pashinyan steadfast in turning Armenia into Ukraine BY MELIH ALTINOK

Tatoyan Vazgen
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Oct 5 2023

Armenia has been steadily losing territory to Azerbaijan since 2020, with the Azerbaijani Army recently achieving complete control over Karabakh.

Amid these developments, one might wonder whether Russia, Armenia’s longstanding ally, remained passive.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan certainly thinks so. He argues that Russia has fallen short in safeguarding the Armenian population in Karabakh. Pashinyan believes that placing Armenia’s security solely in the hands of Russia was a strategic error and that they have been contemplating a broader partnership with Western nations.

However, the Kremlin appears to dismiss Armenia’s “flirtation” with the West with mere rhetoric, stating firmly, “We have no intentions of withdrawing from the region.”

Curiously, the West seems equally disengaged when it comes to Armenia, mirroring Russia’s apparent disinterest. A recent display of mock troops sent to Armenia for supposed exercises serves as a clear indication of the level of seriousness with which they regard Pashinyan’s overtures.

It appears that Pashinyan is endeavoring to provoke Putin into breaking this impasse and constructing the desired relationship with the West through assertive actions. The recent approval of the Rome Statute in the Armenian Parliament represents the latest provocative step in this pursuit.

As commonly understood, the Rome Statute serves as the foundational document for the International Criminal Court (ICC). The binding authority of ICC rulings hinges on whether nations are signatories to the Rome Statute. Countries that have ratified the Rome Statute are obligated to enforce ICC decisions, while non-signatory nations can grant the court jurisdiction over specific crimes. In the past, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the grounds of the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.

With the recent decision passed by Pashinyan in parliament, he conveys a clear message to Putin, who seems reluctant to take decisive action: any movement toward Armenia will lead to potential arrest.

What could be the underlying motive behind this seemingly “unconventional” move, apart from possibly pressuring Moscow into intervention, similar to what occurred in Ukraine?

Nevertheless, Putin is a seasoned and unflappable leader, renowned for his ability to make composed decisions even when faced with global opposition. Luring him into a precarious situation is no easy task.

Perhaps Pashinyan is calculating that Putin’s focus on Ukraine may dissuade him from opening up a new front in Armenia.

However, Armenia is not even a burden on Putin, who, in addition to Ukraine, plays chess with the United States in Africa, the Pacific and Syria. He doesn’t seem inclined to intervene or even acknowledge it. The Azerbaijani Army, benefiting from the Kremlin’s passive stance, looms ominously close to Armenia’s borders. What’s more, Aliyev’s armed forces, driven by the zeal and confidence of resolving the three-decade-old Karabakh conflict, are as formidable as ever. It is widely known that they enjoy unwavering support from Türkiye. Armenia’s military appears powerless, and it seems they could surrender Yerevan to Azerbaijan without a single shot fired.

Setting aside these dynamics, the U.S. has little goodwill to spare, particularly in the run-up to elections. Just recently, the White House declared that the U.S. lacks the resources for long-term military aid to Ukraine.

As for the military assistance pledged to Armenia by French President Emmanuel Macron, delivered from Africa, it appears inadequate to secure Pashinyan’s position.

Following the path of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who led his nation into a “precarious venture” driven by Western assurances, Pashinyan should reconsider. Such a course would be detrimental to the already struggling Armenian populace, who have endured their share of hardships.

ANCA-Western Region to Honor Luis Moreno Ocampo with ‘Champion of International Justice’ Award

Tatoyan Vazgen
by Contributor

 

 October 6, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Community, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

BY KATY SIMONIAN

The Armenian National Community of America–Western Region will honor human rights activist and the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo with the prestigious “Champion of International Justice” award for his unequivocal support of preventing genocide in Artsakh and his lifetime of pursuing justice for crimes against humanity around the world.

The Armenian community will have the opportunity to salute Ocampo’s trailblazing work at the ANCA-Western Region’s annual Awards Banquet which will take place on Sunday, November 12 at The Beverly Hilton.

Following nearly ten months of Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of Artsakh and its military onslaught which resulted in the forced depopulation of Artsakh, the ANCA-WR Board seriously considered canceling this year’s Awards Gala.

However, remembering the inspiring words of Artsakh Foreign Minister and last year’s Freedom Award honoree David Babayan, who is currently unlawfully imprisoned in Baku, the ANCA-WR Board decided that it must not show weakness in the face of Azeri aggression and that it must forge ahead in a show of unity and resilience against the injustices inflicted on our people, pledging to donate a portion of the proceeds toward humanitarian assistance for Artsakh genocide survivors.

A few short weeks ago, while speaking at a Congressional Hearing for the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Ocampo articulated a clear, declarative rejection of any refusal to call Azerbaijan’s actions against Artsakh a case of genocide in the name of preserving negotiations.

“The negotiation is between a genocider and his victims. You cannot ask for a negotiation between Hitler and the people of Auschwitz. It’s not a negotiation. You have to stop Auschwitz and then discuss negotiation. And that, I think, is the secret here,” he said at the hearing.

Ocampo’s words and presence at the Congressional Hearing offered an unprecedented display of support from one of the world’s most influential figures in international criminal justice. The context he provides with his detailed report on the current conditions in Artsakh, including the blockade that has pushed 120,000 Armenians to the brink of starvation, demonstrates that the Azeri government is clearly and incontrovertibly attempting to commit genocide against Christian Armenians in Artsakh.

“You cannot be involved in negotiations when President Aliyev uses genocide as a method of negotiation,” said Ocampo, as he continues to urge the Biden Administration to take a declarative stance to end Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade of Artsakh.

“Having the support of Luis Moreno Ocampo during one of the darkest moments in our history offers all Armenians a sense of hope, knowing that a human rights defender of his caliber is committed to protecting the people of Artsakh and securing the safety of the Armenian homeland. History will remember him as a man of honor who spoke the truth, sounding the alarm to prevent crimes against humanity in the name of justice,” said ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

“We salute Mr. Ocampo and continue to urge lawmakers across the United States and around the world to heed his word and take action in preventing further crimes against humanity in Artsakh,” added Hovsepian.

Ocampo’s words carry a great deal of weight across the international community.

A living legend who served as the First Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2003-2012, Ocampo has been at the forefront of pursuing justice in the name of peace and democracy for over fifty years. Born in Argentina, Ocampo trained at the University of Bueno Aires before starting his career as a Prosecutor.

In 1985, he made history while serving as Assistant Prosecutor in the Trial of the Juntas, which prosecuted the heads of the military Juntas that governed Argentina during the country’s last military dictatorship in 1975. The prosecution proved criminal responsibility against former Presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Roberto Viola, Admirals Emilio Massera and Armando Lambruschini, and Brigadier Orlando Agosti, who were all convicted on December 9, 1985. This was the first case since the Nuremberg Trials where miliary commanders faced accountability for mass killings of the country’s citizens. Argentina 1985, a film chronicling the harrowing efforts of Ocampo and his fellow prosecutors, was released in 2022 and is available on Amazon Prime after becoming Argentina’s official film submission for the Academy Awards.

Following the landmark prosecution, Ocampo continued his commitment to seeking justice against the Juntas who sought to flee prosecution and successfully facilitated the extradition of many, including General Guillermo Suárez Mason from California in 1988.

During the 1990s, he joined the private sector, whilst maintaining his commitment to human rights by taking on cases of corruption across the public and private sectors. His experience made him a prominent voice across the international community and he used his platform by hosting a television series, Fórum, la corte del Pueblo, which gave audiences a window into the process of mediation.

After years of serving as a jurist across the field of human rights, Ocampo made history in 2003 when he was unanimously elected as the first prosecutor of the newly founded International Criminal Court. During his nine-year tenure as prosecutor, he opened investigations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Kenya, as well as Darfur and Libya, at the request of the UN Security Council, and in Côte d’Ivoire at the request of national authorities.

His unique insight and background equipped him with formidable antennae to pursue cases of crimes against humanity and leaders with a complete absence of empathy and regard for the law, chief among them being Omar al-Bashir who Ocampo accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur. His office prosecuted Bashir, after investigations proved he had caused the deaths of over 300,000 people including a UN peace keeping force.

Under his leadership, the first trial of the ICC resulted in the conviction of Thomas Lubanga, who was convicted of war crimes and the use of child soldiers in the Congo. As fate would have it, the legendary Ben Ferencz, who served as prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, closed the prosecution at age 93 – a fitting connection for Ocampo, who embraced the legacy of Nuremberg in seeking justice for his country of Argentina.

Ocampo went on to prosecute cases in Sudan and Kenya, with his trademark steadfast dedication to holding those in power accountable for their actions and maintaining a strong stance against corruption that would cause harm to developing democracy. As the first prosecutor, he set crucial precedents for what is possible when achieving international criminal justice, proving that victims of crimes against humanity can and must be heard in order to heal and to prevent future crimes.

After his tenure at the ICC was completed, he carried on with his groundbreaking work, applying pressure to the UN Security Council in many high-profile cases, as he joined the campaign group Yazda, which sought to persuade heads of state to recognize the crime of genocide in support of the Yazidi community of Iraq. He is a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University and a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.

As a man of immense humility and grit, he has never chosen to shy away from challenging cases or be discouraged by the often-deafening silence of the international community on matters of genocide prevention. His presence, speaking truth to power on behalf of the Armenian community has been quite impactful. “This is an ongoing genocide. This is happening now,” he told the Congressional hearing. “Genocide under Article IIC requires just creating the conditions to destroy a people … blocking the Lachin Corridor with its life systems for the Nagorno-Karabakh people is exactly creating those conditions.” His words offer a stern warming to the United States against any complicity in what is clearly an act of genocide by all legal and moral standards.

After the most recent horrors that took place in Artsakh which saw Azerbaijan’s forces attack innocent civilians, forcing over 100,000 Armenians to flee their ancestral lands, Ocampo voiced his position once again in a scathing article in The Washington Post, condemning international complacency in failing to prevent a second Armenian Genocide. His article calls for international intervention and the need for acknowledge the crime of genocide, writing “The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance to using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international affairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the mass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in thirty years.” Ocampo’s command of the geopolitical nuances at the backdrop of international complacency is matched only by the clarity with which he condemns all who are willfully complicit in allowing what he calls “the Armenian genocide of 2023” to occur.

One of the greatest enemies of progress is the cold, glazed wall of indifference. Such walls cannot be broken with force, but rather with the blazing light of truth, melting barriers of injustice and fear. Luis Moreno Ocampo has dedicated his life to being a light for those without a voice in order to create spaces in which people may be heard and justice can be accomplished. The light he continues to shine on the people of Artsakh serves as a warning for all nations and a call to action to prevent genocide from ever again occurring in the name of global accountability and peace.

For more information about Luis Moreno Ocampo’s extraordinary work for global human rights, genocide prevention and justice, and to purchase tickets for the 2023 ANCA-Western Region Awards Banquet, please click here. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s gala will be donated to support Artsakh Genocide survivors.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 10/04/2023

Tatoyan Vazgen 
                                        Wednesday, September 4, 2023
Aliyev Cancels Planned Talks With Pashinian (UPDATED)
Moldova - The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Germany and the European 
Union meet in Chisinau, June 1, 2023.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has cancelled a fresh meeting with Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian which was due to take place on Thursday on the 
sidelines of a European Union summit in the Spanish city of Granada.
Aliyev and Pashinian were expected to be joined there by European Council 
President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor 
Olaf Scholz. The five leaders already met in this format in Moldova on June 1.
The Azerbaijani APA news agency reported on Wednesday that Aliyev accused the 
European leaders of pro-Armenian bias and demanded that Turkish President Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan also join the talks. France, Germany and other parties rejected 
the demand, it said, citing official Baku. Diplomatic sources confirmed to 
RFE/RL that Aliyev and Erdogan will not fly to Granada.
The last-minute cancellation follows upbeat statements made by Armenian and 
Azerbaijani officials on prospects for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty in 
the wake of Baku’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. 
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on September 24 that the two 
sides are now “very close” to signing the deal.
Pashinian confirmed that and expressed regret at Aliyev’s decision when he spoke 
in the Armenian parliament later in the day.
“We were very constructive and optimistic because we thought there is a chance 
to sign a landmark document,” he said. “Basically, up until this morning we 
assessed that probability as being very high.”
“Of course, we regret that the meeting will not take place, but we hope that the 
framework document, which is on the table, will be signed at an opportune time. 
I am ready to sign that agreement,” added Pashinian.
The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, and Aliyev’s top 
foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, as well as diplomatic advisers to Michel, 
Macron and Scholz met in Brussels on September 26 to prepare for the Granada 
summit. Haiyev said afterwards that the “quite constructive” meeting increased 
chances of the peace accord.
Pashinian on Wednesday also denounced Armenia’s “puppet opposition” for trying 
to scuttle the deal. Opposition leaders have speculated that he is ready to make 
more concessions to Azerbaijan now that Baku is regaining full control over 
Karabakh.
Yerevan Eyes ‘Defensive’ Weapons From France
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Parliament deputy Armen Khachatrian, November 14, 2022.
A senior Armenian lawmaker suggested on Wednesday that Armenia will seek to 
acquire air-defense systems and other “defensive” weapons from France after 
Paris gave the green light for first-ever defense contracts between the two 
states.
Visiting Yerevan on Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said her 
government has approved “future contracts with Armenia which will allow the 
delivery of military equipment to Armenia.” She cited threats to the country’s 
territorial integrity emanating from Azerbaijan which “has continuously armed 
itself to take action.” Colonna did not specify the types of French weapons that 
could be supplied to Armenia.
“We may be talking about defensive weapons, training of military officers in 
French academies,” said Armen Khachatrian, the deputy chairman of the Armenian 
parliament committee on defense.
“Air defense is one of our main problems now, especially after the 2020 war [in 
Nagorno-Karabakh] and the events of September 2022,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
Service.
Khachatrian cautioned that it would take a while before the Armenian military 
receives such weapons.
“Arms acquisitions are a quite complicated process all over the world,” he 
explained. “A number of processes must happen before they materialize, perhaps 
within one year.”
Tigran Abrahamian, an Armenian opposition lawmaker, said that while we would 
only welcome French arms supplies to Armenia he is highly skeptical about the 
current government’s ability to boost the country’s defense potential.
“An army is not just weapons and military personnel,” said Abrahamian. “It also 
requires good management, correct tactical and strategic objectives and their 
achievement, something which I find impossible under the current authorities.”
Colonna signaled the arms supplies amid Armenia’s mounting tensions with Russia, 
its longtime ally and until recently principal supplier of military hardware and 
ammunition. Khachatrian said Moscow cannot frown upon the deepening 
French-Armenian military cooperation because it has stopped providing weapons to 
its South Caucasus ally.
In an apparent reference to Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian complained in 
September 2022 that “our allies” have failed to deliver weapons to Armenia 
despite contracts signed with them since 2020. At around the same time, Armenia 
reportedly signed contracts for the purchase of $400 million worth of Indian 
artillery systems, anti-tank rockets and ammunition.
Armenia Condemns Arrests Of Karabakh Leaders
Armenia -- Karabakh President Bako Sahakian (C) and his predecessor Arkadi 
Ghukasian (R) shake hands with prosecutors during former Armenian President 
Robert Kocharian's trial in Yerevan, May 16, 2019.
Armenia on Wednesday strongly condemned Azerbaijan for arresting about a dozen 
current and former leaders and military commanders of Nagorno-Karabakh and urged 
the international community to help it secure their release.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the “arbitrary arrests” run counter to Baku’s 
pledges to respect the rights of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population and 
embark on dialogue with its representatives.
“The Republic of Armenia will take all possible steps to protect the rights of 
illegally arrested representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh, including in 
international courts,” it said in a statement.
It noted that the Armenian government already asked the International Court of 
Justice on September 28 to issue an injunction banning such “punitive actions” 
against Karabakh leaders.
“We also call on international partners to … address the issue both on a 
bilateral level with Azerbaijan and on various international platforms,” added 
the statement.
Karabakh’s three former presidents -- Arayik Harutiunian, Bako Sahakian and 
Arkadi Ghukasian -- as well as current parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanian were 
taken to Baku to face grave criminal charges on Tuesday. Their detentions 
followed the mass exodus of Karabakh’s residents that left the enclave almost 
fully depopulated less than two weeks after Azerbaijan launched a military 
offensive in the region.
Karabakh’s former premier Ruben Vardanyan, former Foreign Minister Davit 
Babayan, former army commander Levon Mnatsakanian and his ex-deputy Davit 
Manukian were arrested by Azerbaijani security forces last week while trying to 
enter Armenia through the Lachin corridor.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected the Armenian criticism and defended 
the arrests, saying they “serve to restore justice.” It said the jailed Karabakh 
leaders promoted separatism, organized “terrorist acts” and participated in 
“aggression against Azerbaijan.”
The arrests also raised more question about Russia’s peacekeeping mission in 
Karabakh which many in Armenia now regard as a gross failure. Karabakh’s 
political and military leadership has long been known for its pro-Russian views.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, indicated on 
Wednesday that the Armenian government did not ask Moscow to help free the 
jailed Karabakh leaders. “Nobody has appealed to us officially or unofficially,” 
Zakharova told reporters.
“One should first of all remember that Karabakh’s former leaders are citizens of 
Armenia and one of them had renounced Russian citizenship,” she said, referring 
to Vardanyan, a billionaire businessman who relocated to Karabakh a year ago.
Iran Offers To Send Observers To Armenian-Azeri Border
IRAN -- Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri 
speaks during an international conference in Tehran, February 23, 2021.
Iran has offered to deploy military observers to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 
amid the lingering risk of renewed fighting there.
The Iranian army chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, made the offer 
at a meeting with the visiting secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen 
Grigorian, held late on Tuesday. Grigorian flew to Tehran on Sunday to discuss 
the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh with top 
Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi.
Iranian media cited Bagheri as urging Armenia and Azerbaijan to deescalate 
tensions and resolve their disputes peacefully.
“Expressing Iran's readiness to dispatch observers to the Armenia-Azerbaijan 
border, the Iranian military official emphasized that there should not be any 
aggressive goal or intention behind the improvement of the defense capabilities 
of any country,” reported the Mehr news agency. It gave no details of the 
proposed deployment.
Grigorian’s office did not mention Bagheri’s offer in its readout of the 
meeting. It said the Armenian official praised “Iran’s position on the 
inviolability of borders in the region.”
The European Union deployed about a hundred monitors along Armenia’s border with 
Azerbaijan early this year after the Armenian government refused a similar 
mission proposed by the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization 
(CSTO). Moscow has criticized Yerevan and said the EU monitors cannot prevent 
deadly fighting that periodically breaks out along the border.
Armenia - The foreign ministers of Armenia and Iran inaugurate the Iranian 
consulate in Syunik's capital Kapan, October 21, 2022.
The Azerbaijani takeover of Karabakh raised more fears in Yerevan that Baku will 
also attack Armenia to open an exterritorial land corridor to Azerbaijan’s 
Nakhichevan exclave passing through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering 
Iran. President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani leaders regularly demand such 
a corridor.
Iran has repeatedly warned against attempts to strip it of the common border and 
transport links with Armenia. Meeting with Grigorian on Monday, Ali-Akbar 
Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, reaffirmed 
Tehran’s strong opposition to “any changes in the geopolitics of the region.”
For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Grigorian 
that regional problems should be addressed “without external intervention” and 
in a “3+3 format” involving the three South Caucasus states as well as Iran, 
Turkey and Russia.
Bagheri similarly objected to the “presence of extra-regional forces” in the 
region. In that context, he repeated Tehran’s criticism of a U.S.-Armenian 
military exercise hosted by Armenia last month.
France Signals Arms Supplies To Armenia
        • Nane Sahakian
Armenia - French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrives for a news 
conference in Yerevan, October 3, 2023.
France is ready to deliver weapons to Armenia to help the South Caucasus state 
counter threats to its territorial integrity, French Foreign Minister Catherine 
Colonna said during a visit to Yerevan late on Tuesday.
"France has given its agreement to the conclusion of future contracts with 
Armenia which will allow the delivery of military equipment to Armenia so that 
it can ensure its defense," Colonna told a joint news conference with her 
Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.
She declined to shed light on those contracts, saying only “there are things 
that were already agreed between Armenia and France and that are in progress.”
The French government has condemned Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military 
offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that paved the way for the restoration of 
Azerbaijani control over the region and displaced its virtually entire ethnic 
Armenian population. President Emmanuel Macron suggested last week that Baku 
might now attack Armenia as well.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said afterwards that the sovereignty 
and territorial integrity of Armenia are an “absolute objective for us.” Lecornu 
did not rule out arms supplies or other military aid to Armenia, saying that 
Paris is already examining Yerevan’s defense “needs.”
Speaking after talks with Mirzoyan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Colonna 
noted that Azerbaijan has “continuously armed itself to take action,” using its 
oil revenues and Turkey’s military assistance.
She said Paris has also proposed that the European Union expand its monitoring 
mission along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan and help Yerevan from a special 
fund designed to boost EU partners’ defense capacity.
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian revealed in July that the Armenian 
government requested “technical assistance” from the European Peace Facility 
(EPF) but was rebuffed by Brussels.
Colonna signaled French arms supplies amid Armenia’s mounting tensions with 
Russia, its longtime ally, which are calling into question its membership in the 
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Mirzoyan insisted 
that Paris is not pressing Yerevan to leave the CSTO in return for such aid.
Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of military hardware and 
ammunition.
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.

US to take steps in the coming days regarding sending international monitoring mission to Nagorno-Karabakh

Tatoyan Vazgen

 10:16,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Azerbaijan will welcome an international monitoring mission and the US will work with partners and allies in this direction, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing on September 27.

“So, I would say a few things. Number one… Samantha Power, the USAID administrator, and Acting Assistant Secretary Yuri Kim are in Azerbaijan today, where they stressed a number of things, the same things that the Secretary stressed in his conversation with President Aliyev yesterday and that I reiterated at the podium, which is that, number one, we want to see the ceasefire maintained; number two, we want to see humanitarian needs addressed; that means keeping the Lachin corridor open, it means ensuring that humanitarian supplies can come in, and that it means an international monitoring mission to ensure that humanitarian needs are addressed. And I will say that we did welcome the comments by the Government of Azerbaijan just a little while ago before I came out to this podium, that they would welcome such an international monitoring mission. That’s something that the Secretary had directly pushed the president for, and we’re glad to see his having agreed to it, and we will work with our allies and partners in the coming days to flesh out exactly what that mission will look like. But then ultimately what we do want to see is a return to the negotiating table, where they can ultimately reach a dignified, lasting peace,” Miller said.

Miller said the US wants to see Armenia and Azerbaijan return to the negotiations table.

“We have been pursuing negotiations. The Secretary has been having direct conversations with the president of Azerbaijan, the prime minister of Armenia. We’ve had a number of officials travel to the region – not just in the past week or 10 days since hostilities broke out but going back months and months and months.

“We have done everything we can to pursue diplomacy, but ultimately, remember, it’s up to the two parties here who are the parties that have direct disagreements. We can do everything we can to push them but ultimately they have to agree to talk and they have to agree to ultimately come to some resolution. That’s what we’re going to do, is continue to play our part to facilitate that,” Miller said.

The US State Department spokesperson also commented on Russia’s role over the past days.

“I certainly do not think Russia has played a productive role here in the past week. We have seen them at times – there have been times where they facilitated negotiations, and that was something that we welcomed; but certainly in the last week their role has not been productive in this situation.”

Matthew Miller was also asked to comment on former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan’s arrest by the Azeri authorities.

“We are aware of the arrest. We’re closely monitoring the situation. I don’t have any further comment today,” Miller said.

Armenian parliamentary committee to discuss ratification of Rome Statute on September 28

Tatoyan Vazgen

 12:18,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian parliamentary committee will discuss the ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC on September 28.

The Armenian government on September 1 sent the Rome Statute to parliament for ratification.

In 2022, the Pashinyan Administration explained that it seeks to join the Rome Statute because it would allow to hold the government of Azerbaijan to account for its aggressions against Armenia.

The bill will be discussed at the Parliamentary Committee on State-Legal Affairs.