Category: 2021

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will continue to yield to Azerbaijan. Anzhela Elibegova, a political scientist and Azerbaijani Studies specialist, told this to a press conference Tuesday.

She explained that there are no “red lines” after which Azerbaijan will be ready to stop if it is not hindered.

Elibegova noted that during his last press conference PM Pashinyan did not clearly answer the questions as to whether the Azerbaijanis will leave the territory of Armenia, and did not give a clear answer to the questions about the possible handing over of some territories in Tavush Province and of Tigranashen village in Ararat Province to Azerbaijan.

“We do not know what he [i.e., Pashinyan] is secretly negotiating and what else we can lose,” the analyst emphasized.

According to her, the task of the Armenian side is to prevent and not allow the Azerbaijanis to advance.

“However, the inaction of the current Armenian authorities is beneficial to the Azerbaijanis, who say that if the corridor [to Nakhichevan] is not provided, it will be taken by force; that is, they are confident that they will get [it]. In such conditions, the Armenian soldier does not know whether or not there is a state behind him,” Elibegova said.

She added that by showing that they are not going to hand over a single centimeter of Armenian land, the leaders of the communities of Syunik Province, who ensured the security of Syunik and the reliable rear of Karabakh during the 44-day war last fall, are now defendants.

“We see that as long as they are arrested, the Azerbaijanis are occupying the strategically important territories of Armenia. These people have proved that they can resist the Azerbaijanis. A question arises: Why were they arrested in that case? These guys hinder the implementation of broader agreements which were reached verbally—behind the scenes. We saw part of those agreements in the document adopted during the meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in Sochi,” the political scientist concluded.

Providing medical services to the primary figures of the country is an approach that is very necessary and correct. This is what Armenia’s Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan told reporters today, touching upon the question on how fair it is for the Prime Minister and President to have personal doctors and to not provide out-of-turn services for military servicemen.

Avanesyan urged to not view the facts of giving a negative conclusion to the bill on providing out-of-turn medical services to servicemen and the provision of personal doctors to the Prime Minister, President and parliamentary speaker through funds from the State Budget in one dimension.

“Our servicemen and their family members benefit from medical services under special conditions, and they can choose their preferred medical centers,” Avanesyan added.

As far as the free medical services for the country’s primary figures are concerned, Avanesyan said this is a matter of national security. “The primary figures, as well as high-ranking guests from foreign countries must be provided with free medical services as well. This is accepted, and it is the right practice,” she said.

The Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is concerned about the situation of LGBTI people in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, noting that “many infringements of these people’s human rights have been alleged or confirmed”.

Those countries, the Committee said, should adopt effective legislation and “policies to strengthen action against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender _expression_, and sexual characteristics”.

While welcoming the progress made by Georgia in combating discrimination, as well as the opportunities that arise with the current democratic transition process in Armenia, the parliamentarians called on Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi “to guarantee the right to hold public events to support the rights of LGBTI people” such as Gay Pride marches, ensure that they can take place safely and “protect the participants from any violence”.

The adopted draft resolution, based on the report prepared by Christophe Lacroix (Belgium, SOC), calls for the adoption of codes of conduct for the media and members of parliament “prohibiting stigmatising and discriminatory comments and hate speech targeting LGBTI people”.

The parliamentarians also called on the three Southern Caucasus states “to improve access to sexual and reproductive health care and information and awareness-raising about sexually transmitted diseases; introduce procedures which allow transgender persons to change their name and sex on birth on documents; and to strengthen co-operation with civil society organisations working to protect human rights including those of LGBTI people, while guaranteeing their independence and protecting their safety and that of people working with them”.

The draft resolution will be debated at the next PACE plenary session (24-28 January 2022).