Category: 2020

Asia Times
by Francesco Sisci August 4, 202
Turkish President Erdogan’s Central Asia ambitions threaten to collide
with China in a sensitive region at a sensitive time
Turkey is stretching its political footprint and ambitions from the
central Mediterranean to Western China. But there are lessons of
tolerance and modernization to take from its Ottoman legacy and its
modern political sponsors – the US and Germany.
On the surface, Turkey is a midget. Its gross domestic product (GDP)
of less than US$800 billion is almost a third of Italy’s, and
certainly not the size of a geopolitical giant.
However, it has a population of 85 million and claims to represent
tens of millions of Turkic people spread around Asia. It claims the
legacy of the Muslim caliphate and the historic victory over the
Byzantines in 1453. And it is a global superpower that could play a
major role in the fight that just started against China.
Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been spreading its wings in the
region and beyond. Yet, this latest incarnation is not just the
brainchild of the president.
Since the fall of the Soviet empire, there has been mutual interest
between Turkey and Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Turkey has proved
its mettle in recent years in containing and beating both Iran and
Russia in Syria and Iraq.
Although Ankara has also been cracking down within Turkey and in
former Northern Iraq on the aspirations of the Kurds — the darlings of
many Western liberals — Turkey has been the most effective force
hemming in Iran, which was supporting Syria’s Assad goals.
Turkey also managed at the same time to restrain and apparently root
out the Islamic State, which had been a constant threat for the
Western world. Ankara stopped the flow of immigrants from Syria into
Europe, giving breathing space to the European Union which was almost
flooded and overwhelmed by the immigrant problem.
That is, Turkey managed to deliver and became de facto the bulwark of
NATO in the region, and it could project itself east and west. Of
course, for each service Ankara claimed a reward but this further
enhanced its bargaining position.
Then perhaps it’s no surprise that the intelligence services of the
US, the United Kingdom and France are now all headed by experts on
Turkey, all fluent in Turkish.
Past and present intermingled
For the past couple of years Americans had been urging Italy to move
into Tripoli in support of the local government and to regain control
after the Russians moved in with “volunteers” and equipment in support
of East Libyan General Haftar.
After years of Rome dragging its feet on a massive Libyan
intervention, the Turks moved in, possibly with the blessing of
Washington, and stabilized the situation in Tripoli. This for Italy
was a major blow as it brought back the regional situation of more
than 100 years ago when in the 1911 Libyan war it dislodged the Turks
from Libya. But the Turks again managed to deliver a significant goal,
which was to check the Russians.
Moreover, Turkey could play a crucial role in the geopolitical fight
against China. Eight million Uighurs represent about 0.5% of the
Chinese population, yet their political activism far outweighs their
numbers. Xinjiang, home of the Uighurs, is about a quarter of the
Chinese territory.
To regain effective control of the region, Beijing has undertaken a
controversial campaign to allegedly send one million Uighurs to
re-education camps. These people, although suppressed and with little
sympathy among the Han population in China, are an extremely thorny
problem for Beijing.
Their leaders out of China have good understanding of Chinese
politics, unlike their Tibetan counterparts. One of them, Wuerkaxi,
was a leader of the Tiananmen movement and another, Nury Turkel, is an
accomplished lawyer and polyglot in America. Both were children of the
local Uighur “aristocracy” brought up by the communist education
system.
Therefore, they know well the inner workings of the party and command
high respect among their fellow Uighurs.
This is very different from their Tibetan counterparts. The Tibetan
aristocracy followed the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959, and from then
on, the Communist Party recruited its local cadres from the ex-slaves
who had little or no respect in the Tibetan community. Therefore,
Tibetan society has since been broken down with little unity, and
those who understood the party have little or no respect from the
Dalai Lama.
This is very different from the Uighurs. Now, of course, the campaign
of re-education and the massive flow of Han (China’s ethnic majority)
immigration into Xinjiang could very well undermine any clout the
local population has. However, the appeal of the Uighur cause could be
very strong in Central Asia, especially if backed by the Turkic legacy
and an American drive.
Turkic people in Central Asia are extremely divided and at odds with
one another because of ancestral tribal feuds and new frictions
between their newly established states. Yet they all look to Istanbul
as their cultural cradle.
In all this, the return of Hagia Sophia, the massive monument in
Istanbul, as a mosque is a symbol of the cultural if not religious
restoration of the Turkish caliphate, and a call to the ancient glory
when Turkic people ruled all over central Asia.
The Hagia Sophia was built as the largest church of Christianity
during the Byzantine rule, then it was turned into a mosque when
Mehmet II took the city from the Byzantine, and a century ago it
became a museum as Turkey vowed to distance itself from its Islamic
legacy.
Turkey’s outreach into Central Asia, right at the heart of one of
China’s most controversial issues, could become very important if it
manages to mobilize and unite modern Turkic populations of Central
Asia in an anti-Beijing stance. Many of those states, despite their
differences, have growing qualms with Beijing as they follow the fate
of their fellow Turkic Uighurs.
In this sense, the economic weaknesses of Turkey and its inability to
get its economy together could prove to be an asset in disguise. With
overblown political ambitions and little economic strength to back it
up, Turkey becomes more dependent on its patrons, the US and Germany
(in place of the European Union). In this situation, Turkey could be
rewarded even further with a greater role in the Mediterranean.
Turkey would create a three-seas link: the Mediterranean, the Black
Sea, and the Caspian Sea, all lined up by a Turkish presence. This
would be a Turkish Silk Road with anti-Chinese connotations that could
be supported by India, the European Union, and the United States. This
support would be essential for Turkey.
After the 1453 victory, the Ottomans established a monopoly on the
eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia that eventually forced the
European to reach Asia from the west, something that led to the
discovery of America and the eventual demise of the Turks. A Modern
“caliphate” then ought to avoid the mistakes of the past and gain as
many friends as possible rather than enemies.
Enemies or not? The Pope
Some countries may be unhappy with Turkish global ambitions. Egypt,
Greece, Israel and Italy, although firmly in the Western camp, are ill
at ease with the new Turkish posture. However, none of them alone or
in alliance can make up for the services that Turkey has provided and
could provide in the future. Yet Turkey cannot just depend on American
good offices to get along with these countries.
The main goal that the United States envisions now is the containment
of China. It is therefore very unlikely that these countries would
openly go against American wishes or even try to undermine them. This
brings the ball back into Erdogan’s court.
Erdogan cannot carry on his massive ambitions just thanks to economic
and political handouts by the United States and Germany (where Turkish
immigrants are a political force of their own). The Ottoman sultanate
was able to survive and thrive for centuries because it commanded the
loyalty and respect of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious population.
There were Christians, both Orthodox and Catholic, Jews and Muslims of
all sects.
Erdogan cannot just press on the pedal of Turkic identity and Muslim
faith. He must reach out to the Christian world, in a modern way, to
gain more of its support and to non-Turkic ethnic minorities, such as
Kurds of Persian descent, or Arabs and Jews. This could help Erdogan
inch closer to the European Union, the United States, and Israel,
which in turn could help turn the Turkish economy around.
In all of this, it could be crucial for Erdogan to reach out to the
Holy See. The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque was seen by the
whole Christian world as a historic defeat of Christianity.
A hundred years ago with the revolution of the Young Turks, the
massive temple was turned into a museum as a sign of transformation
towards the Western world and first admission of modern Turkey into
the system of Western alliances.
In this sense, the persecution of Christians in Turkey or the
suppression of non-Muslim faiths could be a major drag on Erdogan’s
ambitions.
Allowing Christian activity in the Muslim world has been a
long-awaited signal and could bring about huge political dividends for
Erdogan. Now is the time for Erdogan to collect on 30 years of Turkish
efforts but he has to deliver something that goes beyond military and
political prowess. The key is a reconciliation with the past. The turn
of the Hagia Sophia skips the past 100 years and reaches out to the
Ottoman.
But at the height of the empire the Ottomans were a very complex reality.
Turkey needs to set in motion its economy and for this it needs
friends and a more liberal internal society. Without an efficient
economy and friends all political dreams go bust. The oil of Arab
friends/clients, sold at declining prices, can’t last long.
Moreover, Ankara needs to reconcile with its past. The recent past is
the grudge over not being admitted to the EU. Now it’s clear that it
was a blessing in disguise. If Turkey had been in the EU it could not
have pursued its geopolitical goals. And, given the poor performance
of its economy, it might now be in a worse crisis than Italy or Greece
and the dealings with the EU could have further soured Turkish
sentiments.
Furthermore, Ankara needs to reach out to Greeks and Armenians who for
centuries had been an integral part of the Ottoman empire. The break
in relations with the two Christian groups also contributed to the
fall of the empire.
If Turkey wants a glimmer of its past it has to find a new future with
these two important neighbors, and this could also start by
recognizing many of its mistakes, the ethnic and religious
persecutions of the past. With this, the future of Central Asia and of
the three-seas system could be set on a different course.
 

                                        Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Fugitive Tycoon’s Russian Citizenship Revealed
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Ruben Hayrapetian, chairman of the Football Federation of Armenia, 
speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, 12Jan2018.
Ruben Hayrapetian, a once influential businessman linked to Armenia’s former 
leadership and prosecuted on a string of criminal charges, has been a Russian 
citizen since 2003, prosecutors in Yerevan said on Tuesday.
Hayrapetian left for Russia in March this year shortly before being indicted in 
two criminal investigations launched by Armenian law-enforcement authorities. He 
strongly denied all accusations leveled against him and claimed to be unable to 
return to Armenia because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Investigative 
Committee dismissed the claim, saying that it believes he fled the prosecution.
The committee charged Hayrapetian, his son and four other persons with 
kidnapping, violent assault and extortion in May. Another law-enforcement 
agency, the Special Investigative Service, claimed afterwards that the tycoon 
illegally privatized municipal land in Yerevan in 2015.
Later in May, a Yerevan court agreed to issue an arrest warrant for Hayrapetian 
before investigators launched an international hunt for him. One of his lawyers 
said last week that Russian law-enforcement bodies have formally decided to stop 
hunting for his client.
Armenian prosecutors asked their Russian colleagues to confirm or refute the 
lawyer’s claim. According to Gor Abrahamian, a spokesman for the Office of the 
Prosecutor-General, they have still not received an answer from Moscow.
Abrahamian said investigators have found out that Hayrapetian received Russian 
citizenship in June 2003. It is not yet clear whether this is the reason why he 
was reportedly removed from Russia’s most wanted list, the official told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
In late 2018, Moscow refused to extradite Mikael Harutiunian, a former Armenian 
defense minister wanted by Armenian law-enforcement authorities on coup charges. 
It argued that Harutiunian is a Russian national.
Armenia’s constitution did not allow dual citizenship until 2006.
Hayrapetian, 56, has long supported former President Serzh Sarkisian and remains 
affiliated with the latter’s Republican Party (HHK). He was repeatedly elected 
to Armenia’s former parliaments on the HHK ticket.
Hayrapetian, who is commonly known as “Nemets Rubo” and notorious for violent 
conduct, also headed the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) from 2002-2018.
Armenian President Also Picks Candidate For High Court
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian speaks at a meeting with members of a 
government commission on constitutional reform, Yerevan, July 7, 2020.
President Armen Sarkissian also nominated on Tuesday a candidate to replace one 
of the three members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court controversially dismissed 
in June.
The candidate, Artur Vagharshian, is a chair of jurisprudence at Yerevan State 
University (YSU). Sarkissian already nominated him for a vacant seat in the 
Constitutional Court as recently as in May 2019.
The Armenian parliament controlled by the ruling My Step bloc refused to appoint 
Vagharshian to the country’s highest court at the time despite his assurances 
that he is “not linked to any political force.” The parliament also voted 
against another candidate proposed by the largely ceremonial head of state in 
April 2019.
The presidential press office mentioned these rebuffs in a statement released on 
Tuesday. It said Sarkissian stands by his recently articulated view that he 
should be empowered to appoint, and not just nominate, some of the 
Constitutional Court justices.
The statement emphasized the fact that Vagharshian, 56, was one of three 
prospective justices who had been shortlisted by an advisory “working group” set 
up by Sarkissian in 2018.This is why Sarkissian decided to again seek his 
appointment to the court, it explained.
Under Armenian law, the government, a general assembly of judges of all Armenian 
courts and the president of the republic must each field one candidate to fill 
the three high court vacancies.
The government picked its candidate, senior YSU professor Vahram Avetisian, on 
July 23, while the judges nominated Court of Cassation Chairman Yervand 
Khundkarian at the weekend. The National Assembly is expected to discuss and 
vote on the three candidacies in September.
Constitutional changes passed by the parliament in June call for the gradual 
resignation of seven of the Constitutional Court’s nine justices installed 
before April 2018. Three of them are to resign with immediate effect. Also, 
Hrayr Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but remain a judge.
Tovmasian and the ousted judges have refused to step down, saying that their 
removal is illegal and politically motivated. They have appealed to the European 
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated.
Mayor Defends Café Construction In Yerevan Park
        • Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia -- A new cafe and restaurant is constructed at Mashtots Park in downtown 
Yerevan, August 4, 2020.
Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian defended on Tuesday his decision to allow the 
construction of a new restaurant and café in a famous park which was the scene 
of a three-month standoff between former municipal authorities and environmental 
activists eight years ago.
Marutian’s predecessor, Taron Markarian, sparked angry protests in early 2012 
when he placed a dozen commercial kiosks in the small park located in downtown 
Yerevan. They were due to be rented out to private entrepreneurs.
Scores of mostly young people demonstrated there on a virtually basis for more 
than three months in protest against what they saw as further damage to the 
city’s green areas. They repeatedly clashed with riot police while trying to 
stop construction work.
The protests ended only after then President Serzh Sarkisian visited the park 
and publicly told Markarian to remove the kiosks. The decision was hailed as a 
landmark triumph of growing civic activism in Armenia.
Armenia - A police officer tries to stop environmental activists pitching a tent 
in Yerevan's Mashtots Park, 13Mar2012.
The former authorities refurbished the park, commonly known as Mashtots Park, in 
the following years. Only one structure, a one-story glass-and-steel café and 
restaurant built in the early 2000s, was allowed to remain there.
The café was dismantled after the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” which was followed by 
Marutian’s election as Yerevan mayor. It emerged earlier this year that the new 
municipal administration allowed its owner to build a new and apparently larger 
property in its place.
The builders have cut down several trees as a result, triggering an uproar on 
social media from environment protection and other civic groups in recent days. 
The latter have demanded that the mayor’s office halt and ban the construction.
Some activists point out that Marutian was among those prominent public figures 
who voiced support for the 2012 protests at Mashtots Park. The 43-year-old mayor 
was a popular TV comedian at the time.
Armenia -- Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutian speaks at a news conference, August 4, 
2020.
Marutian held a news conference on Tuesday to explain his decision which he said 
was the result of a deal struck with the café owner. In his words, the owner 
agreed to give up ownership of the 300-square-meter former café in return for 
renting the same plot of land from the municipality until 2040.
The new café will formally belong to the municipality, stressed Marutian. He 
also insisted that the trees in question were too old and had to be cut down in 
any case.
The mayor further defended his failure to organize prior public discussions on 
the issue. “Discussions are held during elections,” he said. “Then [voters] 
elect a mayor, who takes over and makes decisions.”
Marutian announced at the same time that work on the new café was suspended 
earlier in the day because of what he described as violations of the 
construction permit issued by his office. He said he will decide his further 
steps after municipal officials “ascertain the number of deviations” from the 
construction project.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
 

                                        Monday, August 3, 2020
Court Rejects Arrest Warrant For Former Yerevan Vice-Mayor
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Vahe Nikoyan, a deputy mayor of Yerevan, Nvember 16, 2016.
A court in Yerevan on Monday refused to allow a law-enforcement agency to arrest 
the city’s former deputy mayor indicted in an ongoing criminal investigation 
into Ruben Hayrapetian, a wealthy businessman linked to Armenia’s former 
leadership.
Earlier this year, the Special Investigative Service (SIS) accused Hayrapetian 
of illegally privatizing in 2014 municipal land at a knockdown price. It claimed 
that he paid only 169 million drams ($350 million) to buy, through 
intermediaries, a plot worth 800 million drams.
The SIS said at the weekend that then Deputy Mayor Vahe Nikoyan arranged the 
transaction through a bogus auction. It charged Nikoyan and one of his former 
aides with abuse of power and forgery before asking the district court to 
sanction their pre-trial arrest. The court rejected both arrest warrants.
Nikoyan denied the accusations leveled against him but declined to comment 
further when contacted by RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
A member of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Nikoyan served 
as deputy mayor from 2012-2018. He and Yerevan’s HHK-affiliated former Mayor 
Taron Markarian resigned shortly after the 2018 “Velvet Revolution.” Nikoyan 
subsequently turned down an offer to become an adviser to Hayk Marukian, the 
city’s new mayor linked to Armenia’s current government.
Hayrapetian, who is also an HHK member, left Armenia for Russia in March more 
than a month before being indicted in a separate inquiry conducted by the 
Investigative Committee. The committee claims that the tycoon, his son and four 
other persons kidnapped and repeatedly beat up in 2016 the chief manager of a 
Hayrapetian-owned resort who allegedly misused more than 52 million drams 
($108,000) borrowed from a commercial bank.
The tycoon rejects all charges brought against him as politically motivated. He 
claims to be unable to return to Armenia because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In late May, a Yerevan court agreed to issue an arrest warrant for Hayrapetian 
and four other suspects. The investigators launched an international hunt for 
Hayrapetian shortly afterwards.
One of Hayrapetian’s lawyers, Amram Makinian, said last week that Russian 
law-enforcement bodies have formally decided to stop hunting for him. The 
decision means that he is unlikely to be extradited to Armenia.
Armenian Government May Ease Coronavirus Restrictions
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- High school graduates controversially denied admission to 
universities hold an unsanctioned demonstration outside the Armenian Ministry of 
Education, Yerevan, July 27, 2020.
The Armenian government said on Monday that it is considering lifting a 
coronavirus-related ban on rallies while keeping in place other safety rules 
imposed by it more than four months ago.
The government declared a state of emergency on March 16 after confirming the 
first cases of the coronavirus in Armenia. With the virus continuing to spread 
across the country, emergency rule has been extended on a monthly basis since 
April.
It allows the authorities to ban all street gatherings, enforce social 
distancing and hygiene rules, ban or restrict some types of business activity, 
seal off local communities hit by COVID-19 outbreaks and impose a nationwide 
lockdown.
The government kept the state of emergency in place even after lifting lockdown 
restrictions and reopening virtually all sectors of the Armenian economy in 
early May. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other government officials have 
said that it still needs the emergency powers to make Armenians wear mandatory 
face masks in all public areas and follow other rules designed to contain the 
epidemic.
The monthly extensions of the state of emergency are increasingly criticized by 
opposition groups, however. Some of them claim that Pashinian is exploiting the 
coronavirus crisis to prevent anti-government street protests. The prime 
minister and his political allies deny this.
Speaking at a recent cabinet meeting, Pashinian said that the authorities should 
explore alternative legal mechanisms for enforcing the coronavirus safety rules. 
“We do realize that we cannot and must not endlessly extend the state of 
emergency,” he said.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a news briefing on the 
coronavirus ciris, July 29, 2020.
Pashinian’s spokeswoman, Mane Gevorgian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that an 
interagency task force is now working on a relevant government bill.
“Working groups are continuing to work on a daily basis and I hope that we will 
be able to present a final draft to the public in the coming days,” she said. “I 
can assure you that nothing is going to change with regard to anti-epidemic 
rules. The option of maintaining the state of emergency but lifting the ban on 
rallies is under discussion.”
Gevorgian cautioned that it is still not clear whether the bill will be drafted 
and sent to the Armenian parliament for approval before the state of emergency 
ends on August 12. The government has yet to decide whether to extend it by 
another month, she said.
The government said last week that the daily number of new coronavirus cases has 
fallen considerably since mid-July after months of rapid growth. Pashinian 
expressed hope that Armenia will practically overcome its coronavirus crisis 
already in September.
A total of 39,102 cases have been registered in the country of about 3 million 
to date.
The Armenian Ministry of Health also reported on Monday morning that 8 more 
people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll 
to 762.
Another Candidate Nominated For Constitutional Court
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- The chairman of the Court of Cassation, Yervand Khundkarian, speaks 
to RFE/RL, Yerevan, May 24, 2019.
A senior judge has been nominated by his colleagues as another candidate to 
replace one of the three members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court who were 
controversially dismissed in June.
The nominee, Yervand Khundkarian, has headed the Court of Cassation, the 
country’s highest body of criminal and administrative justice, for the last two 
years. His candidacy was backed by 145 of 195 Armenian judges who gathered and 
voted in Yerevan at the weekend.
The vote resulted from constitutional changes passed by the Armenian parliament 
in June. They call for the gradual resignation of seven of the Constitutional 
Court’s nine justices installed before April 2018. Three of them are to resign 
with immediate effect. Also, Hrayr Tovmasian must quit as court chairman but 
remain a judge.
Tovmasian and the ousted judges have refused to step down, saying that their 
removal is illegal and politically motivated. They have appealed to the European 
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated.
Under Armenian law, the government, a general assembly of judges of all courts 
and the president of the republic must each field one candidate to fill the 
three high court vacancies. The parliament controlled by Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s My Step bloc will then vote to confirm or reject them.
The government picked its candidate on July 23. President Armen Sarkissian has 
yet to name his nominee.
Some lawyers and human rights criticized the judges’ decision to choose 
Khundkarian, saying that he took the bench in 2001 and must have therefore been 
loyal to Armenia’s former governments. One of those lawyers, Nina Karapetian, 
claimed that this fact alone runs counter to the stated purpose of judicial 
reforms initiated by the current authorities.
The authorities say that their persistent efforts to get rid of Constitutional 
Court members installed by the former regimes are part of the reforms. Critics 
maintain, however, that Pashinian is simply seeking to take control of the court.
Armenia -- Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian reads out a court 
ruling, Yerevan, March 17, 2020.
Alexey Sukoyan, one of the judges who voted to nominate Khundkarian for the 
Constitutional Court, defended the 47-year-old with whom he had worked in the 
same court in the 2000s. “I consider him a good specialist and a very honest 
person,” he said.
Sukoyan also said that Khundkarian has specialized in civil law and never dealt 
with politically charges cases. “We worked in parallel with the former 
authorities and were not one of their components,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
service.
Khundkarian made headlines in 2004 when he served as an economic court judge and 
ruled against the independent TV station A1+ controversially pulled off the air 
in 2002. A1+ took legal action in a bid to win another broadcasting license.
The current government’s pick for the Constitutional Court, Vahram Avetisian, 
has also caused controversy.
In a joint petition issued late last month, several dozen supporters of former 
President Levon Ter-Petrosian and relatives of protesters killed during the 2008 
post-election unrest in Yerevan urged the government to withdraw the nomination. 
They said, in particular, that Avetisian’s father Davit upheld prison sentences 
handed to opposition members and supporters when he served as a senior Court of 
Cassation judge from 2008-2016.
Avetisian, who is a senior law professor at Yerevan State University (YSU), has 
dismissed the objections to his candidacy, saying that they are fuelled by 
individuals motivated by their “parochial and factional interests.”
Armenia Seeks To Offset ‘Turkish Threat’
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (second from right) visits a 
Russian-Armenian border guard post on Armenia's border with Turkey, July 4, 2020.
Armenia counts on Russia’s support in its ongoing efforts to counter a serious 
threat to its national security emanating from neighboring Turkey, a senior 
Armenian official said over the weekend.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of the Armenian government’s Security Council, 
reaffirmed Yerevan’s serious concerns over Turkey’s vehement support for 
Azerbaijan shown during and after recent deadly clashes on the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
“Seeing that Azerbaijan is unable to keep the situation under control on its 
own, Turkey is trying to intervene,” Grigorian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. 
“I think that this poses a serious threat to the region. It is also a challenge 
to the regional security architecture. The regional security architecture has 
long been unchanged. Turkey is now trying to change it through its intervention.”
“We are fully prepared and will take steps to minimize this [threat.]” he said. 
“We also have a lot of work to do in this direction with our strategic ally 
Russia in order to prevent such changes in the region.”
Asked about Moscow’s reaction to the Armenian concerns, Grigorian said: “The 
July incidents [on the border] coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, and we 
have not yet been able to discuss the issue at a higher level. But these issues 
are on the agenda because they are about challenges facing the region and we 
need a common response to these challenges.”
Ankara has blamed Yerevan for the fighting that broke out at a western section 
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on July 12 and vowed to boost Turkish 
military support for Baku. In what appears to be a related development, Turkish 
and Azerbaijani troops began on July 29 joint military exercises in various 
parts of Azerbaijan.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed concern at the exercises before the 
Armenian military put some of its forces on high alert. Defense Minister Davit 
Tonoyan said on July 28 that Armenian army units as well as a Russian-Armenian 
military contingent are “continuing to constantly monitor and analyze” 
Turkish-Azerbaijani military activities “with all reconnaissance means” at their 
disposal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani flare-up during a phone conversation 
on July 27. According to the Kremlin, Putin “stressed the importance of 
preventing any steps that could cause an escalation in tensions.” Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov similarly urged the Turks to exercise restraint.
Russia is allied to Armenia and has thousands of troops stationed in the South 
Caucasus state.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.