Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Deal On Karabakh’s Status Still Not Urgent For Russia
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks to participants of an
online forum in Moscow, May 21, 2021
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated on Wednesday that
international mediators should not rush to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani
agreement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Lavrov again insisted that return to normality and confidence-building measures
in the Karabakh conflict zone must be the top short-term priority of the U.S.,
French and Russian co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“Many are now talking about the fact that the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
status remains unresolved,” he said during a conference in Moscow. “Yes, it must
eventually be settled with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.”
“At this stage they [the co-chairs] probably should not periodically raise the
issue of the status but contribute to confidence-building measures, help to
solve humanitarian issues and help Armenians and Azerbaijanis again safely live
side by side. In this case, it will be easier to resolve the issue of the status
two or three years later,” he said.
The Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war last
November says nothing about Karabakh’s future status. It calls instead for the
restoration of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated that the six-week war,
which resulted in sweeping Azerbaijani territorial gains, essentially resolved
the long-running conflict.
By contrast, Armenia maintains that the conflict will be unresolved as long as
the two sides disagree on Karabakh’s status. It says that the disputed
territory’s population must be able to exercise its right to self-determination
in line peace proposals made by the Russian, U.S. and French mediators.
Armenian Ombudsman, Activists Deplore Toxic Election Campaign
• Naira Bulghadarian
• Satenik Kaghzvantsian
Armenia - Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rally in Armavir, June 7,
2021.
Armenia’s human rights defender, Arman Tatoyan, has accused Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and his political opponents of resorting to inflammatory rhetoric in
their election campaigns, saying that could deepen a political crisis in the
country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, Tatoyan singled out Pashinian’s
pledges to “purge” the state bureaucracy and wage “political vendettas” against
local government officials supporting the Armenian opposition.
The ombudsman issued another statement the following morning urging election
contenders to stop exploiting the issue of Armenian prisoners still held by
Azerbaijan for political purposes. Human rights lawyers and activists added
their voice to his appeal on Wednesday.
“The acting prime minister’s promises of ‘political vendettas,’ ‘civic revenge’
and ‘staff purges’ made today and his use of offensive language are extremely
concerning,” read the first statement released by Tatoyan.
“What makes such rhetoric really dangerous is that it heightens existing
tensions and carries the risk of being transferred into real life,” it said.
Campaigning in Aragatsotn province earlier on Tuesday, Pashinian pledged to
crack down on heads of local communities and private entities who he claimed are
forcing their subordinates to attend campaign rallies held by his political
opponents.
“I’m not talking about physical violence. I’m talking about political and civil
vendettas,” he stressed.
Tatoyan dismissed these assurances, saying that any vendetta is “associated with
violence” and that staff purges inevitably involve mass violations of worker
rights. Pashinian’s remarks could also send “wrong signals” to law-enforcement
agencies and other state bodies, he said.
“Exploiting the issue of the return of prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan
during the election campaign is unacceptable,” the ombudsman said in the
follow-up statement.
He referred to bitter recriminations traded by Pashinian and former President
Serzh Sarkisian on the campaign trail.
Armenia -- Human right ombudsman Arman Tatoyan speaks during parliamentary
hearings in Yerevan, April 5, 2019.
Sarkisian provoked the war of words by condemning Pashinian’s remark that the
more than 100 Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives would not mind
spending “one or two more months” in Azerbaijani captivity for the sake of
preventing “disproportionate” Armenian concessions to Baku. The ex-president,
who leads a major opposition alliance, challenged Pashinian to try to swap them
for his son Ashot.
The prime minster was quick to express readiness to do that in fiery speeches
that also contained harsh personal attacks on Sarkisian and another former
president, Robert Kocharian. He reaffirmed that readiness during a campaign trip
to Shirak province on Wednesday.
“I have instructed relevant state bodies to officially communicate to the
Azerbaijani side our proposal to the effect that my son is prepared to go to
Baku as a hostage provided that all of our prisoners are repatriated,” Pashinian
told supporters rallying in the village of Mets Mantash.
Speaking at a rally held in another village, Azatan, he insisted that the
Armenian authorities have been “doing our utmost” to secure their release. “I
have no doubts that it’s a matter of time,” he said.
More than 50 of the Armenian POWs are army reservists who were drafted from
Shirak during the autumn war with Azerbaijan. Pashinian briefly spoke with some
of their relatives after the Azatan rally. The latter seemed dissatisfied with
the conversation and refused to talk to reporters.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, many other relatives also urged all
election contenders to avoid exploiting the issue during the parliamentary race.
Zhanna Aleksanian, a human rights activist, echoed their calls.
“He should not speak about his son in that context,” Aleksanian said of
Pashinian. She at the same time faulted Sarkisian and other former government
for claiming that the current authorities have done nothing to have the
prisoners freed.
Armenian Opposition Leader Favors Closer ‘Integration’ With Russia
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Former President Serzh Sarkissian (R) and former National Security
Service Director Artur Vanetsian present an electoral alliance set up by their
parties at a ceremony outside Yerevan, May 15, 2021.
Artur Vanetsian, a leader of a major opposition bloc running in the upcoming
Armenian parliamentary elections, called on Wednesday for Armenia’s “deeper
integration” with Russia.
“Russia is our ally and Armenia cannot have a better ally,” Vanetsian told
Vladimir Solovyov, an outspoken Russian TV host close to the Kremlin, in an
interview live streamed on the latter’s YouTube channel. “We must have the
right, straightforward relationship with Russia.”
“Russia is not an ordinary country, Russia is a superpower,” he said. “I think
that after coming to power we will need to consider having closer cooperation,
deeper integration processes with the Russian Federation. Relations between
Armenia and Russia must be upgraded to a lever where nobody would be able to
change it.”
Vanetsian is a former director of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) who
tops the list of the Pativ Unem bloc’s candidates in the early elections slated
for June. The bloc consists of his Fatherland party and former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). It is seen as one of Prime Nikol
Pashinian’s main challengers.
Vanetsian, Sarkisian and their associates accuse Pashinian of seriously
undermining Russian-Armenian relations during his three-year rule. The prime
minister has also faced similar accusations from other opposition leaders,
notably former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian, who leads another opposition alliance, has repeatedly made a case for
much closer ties with Russia after Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian has also vowed to deepen Russian-Armenian ties. He stated in April
that Russian military presence in Armenia is vital for the country’s national
security and should become even stronger soon.
Vanetsian also effectively endorsed Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea strongly
condemned by the West. He said it was backed by the vast majority of the
Ukrainian region’s population.
“I believe that everyone must respect the Crimean people’s right to
self-determination and I’m sure that Crimea is Russian,” he declared.
Vanetsian, 42, was appointed as head of Armenia’s most powerful security agency
immediately the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian and brought
Pashinian to power. He quickly became an influential member of Pashinian’s
entourage but eventually fell out with the prime minister and resigned in
September 2019.
Armenian Soldier Freed
Armenia - A view of an area in Armenia's Syunik province where Armenian and
Azerbaijani troops are locked in a border standoff, May 14, 2021. (Photo by the
Armenian Human Rights Defender's Office)
An Armenian army soldier was set free early on Wednesday hours after being
captured by Azerbaijani forces on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that the 25-year-old soldier, identified as
A. Katanian, lost his way and strayed into Azerbaijani-controlled territory in
thick fog. It denied Baku’s initial claims that he was part of an Armenian
“sabotage group” that tried to lay landmines in the Lachin district bordering
Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Tuesday night that a further
investigation into the incident established that Katanian indeed crossed the
border by accident. It said he has therefore been released.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan announced the following morning that the
serviceman was handed over to the Armenian side and is currently in
Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert.
The ministry did not comment on Armenian press reports that the commander of
Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in Karabakh, Lieutenant-General Rustam
Muradov, personally negotiated with Azerbaijani officials to secure Katanian’s
release.
According to a local government official from the Syunik village of Verishen,
Katanian was captured at a nearby section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Armenian and Azerbaijani troops deployed there have been locked in a tense
standoff for the past month.
The standoff began after Azerbaijani troops reportedly crossed several sections
of the border and advanced a few kilometers into Syunik and another Armenian
province, Gegharkunik, on May 12-14.
Six other Armenian soldiers were taken prisoner in Gegharkunik on May 27. Baku
has refused to free them so far.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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