Category: 2021

                                        Saturday, 
Putin, Pashinian Again Discuss Karabakh In Phone Call
        • Heghine Buniatian
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
meet in the Kremlin, Moscow, October 12, 2021.
In a second telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
this week Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday again discussed agreements 
on Nagorno-Karabakh and the situation in the South Caucasus, the Kremlin said.
In a terse statement the Russian president’s press service said that 
“discussions continued on the situation in the region and measures aimed at 
stabilizing the situation in the context of the agreements reached on 
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021.”
“Nikol Pashinian expressed his gratitude for Russia’s active mediation efforts,” 
the Kremlin said.
The first telephone conversation between the leaders of Russia and Armenia this 
week that was held upon the initiative of Pashinian was on November 16. It took 
place amid a fresh escalation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which at 
least 13 troops were killed.
The skirmishes along the border turned out to be the worst Armenian-Azerbaijani 
fighting since last year’s 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh that was stopped due 
to a Russia-brokered ceasefire.
After that telephone conversation a ceasefire was established along the 
un-demarcated border with the mediation of the Russian side.
Two days later, Pashinian announced that the Russian Defense Ministry had 
submitted proposals “on the preparatory stage for the demarcation and 
delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border”, which he said were acceptable 
to Yerevan. Baku has not yet officially responded to those proposals.
Earlier, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigorian said that 
Yerevan intended to apply to Russia in writing for military assistance in 
defending its territorial integrity. Official sources, however, do not specify 
yet whether such an application has been filed. There is no mention of this in 
the Kremlin’s statement today. It is only mentioned that “an agreement has been 
reached on further contacts.”
During a news briefing on Friday Eduard Aghajanian, a pro-government lawmaker 
who heads the Armenian parliament’s foreign-relations committee, said that after 
Armenia’s application to Russia assistance in restoring its territorial 
integrity “the problem is expected to be solved as a result of the proposed 
demarcation and delimitation process.”
In early November Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that a trilateral 
meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia was being prepared in 
Moscow. Russian state television Rossia-1 even reported that the meeting could 
take place on the first anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire on 
November 9. Shortly after that announcement Armenia’s prime minister denied that 
there was any agreement about such a meeting.
Meanwhile, the European Union said on Friday that during phone talks with 
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, earlier this week 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to meet on the sidelines 
of the EU’s Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on December 15.
“During the phone calls, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have also agreed 
to establish a direct communication line, at the level of respective Ministers 
of Defense, to serve as an incident prevention mechanism,” the EU said.
Both Yerevan and Baku have confirmed the upcoming meeting in Brussels.
Armenian FM Says Turkey Sets New Conditions For Normalization
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan being interviewed by a reporter
Turkey sets new conditions for normalizing its relations with Armenia, Foreign 
Minister Ararat Mirozyan said in a recent interview with the French Le Figaro 
daily that was published this week.
Talking to the newspaper during his recent visit to Paris on November 11, 
Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia has always supported normalization of relations 
with Turkey without preconditions and is ready for that now despite the “huge 
Turkish support” for Azerbaijan in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We have received positive signals from Turkey to reopen the dialogue, but it 
remains complicated. Ankara sets new conditions. Among them is a “corridor” 
connecting Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan,” the top Armenian diplomat said in the 
interview the transcript of which the Armenian Foreign Ministry released on 
November 20.
Unblocking all transport links in the region is part of a Russia-brokered 
ceasefire that stopped the 44-day fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh last year. This 
includes Azerbaijan’s access to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenian territory.
In the post-war talks Baku appears to have insisted on the exterritorial status 
of the future road that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev calls the Zangezur 
corridor.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has rejected what he calls “corridor 
logic” for unblocking transport routes in the region.
Foreign Minister Mirzoyan also told the French daily that the demand for what 
Azerbaijan seeks as an exterritorial corridor cannot be a subject of discussion.
“States must allow transit while maintaining sovereignty over their territory. 
All transport links in the region must be reopened,” Mirzoyan added.
Turkey has long been a key regional ally of Azerbaijan and has kept its border 
with Armenia closed for nearly three decades, due to what it said was Armenia’s 
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts, an issue that was 
resolved by the cease-fire deal.
The Armenian foreign minister also said that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh 
remained tense.
“Over the past year Azerbaijan has committed about 30 serious violations of the 
ceasefire, as a result of which there have been casualties on the Armenian side. 
Civilians have also been killed. Nevertheless, Armenia is making every effort to 
establish lasting peace in the region. However, in order for this process to be 
effective, these efforts must be bilateral,” Mirzoyan said.
Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia is ready to hand over to Azerbaijan all the maps 
of minefields in the region that it has its disposal. However, he said, 
Azerbaijan, “despite having an obligation, does not release Armenian prisoners 
of war.”
“While we talk about peace, Azerbaijan multiplies xenophobic statements. This is 
evidenced by the speeches of the president of Azerbaijan, the “Trophy Park” that 
was opened in Baku last spring, where Armenians are presented in a humiliated 
and ridiculed way,” the Armenian foreign minister said.
Mirzoyan also stressed the need for resuming talks under the auspices of the 
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. “Certainly, the issue of the final settlement of the 
conflict remains on the agenda. But at this stage we have agreed to go forward 
by taking small steps, such as to secure the release of prisoners of war and 
access of international organizations, including UNESCO, to Nagorno-Karabakh for 
humanitarian purposes,” Mirzoyan said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
 

                                        Saturday, 
RFE/RL Learns New Details About Planned Pashinian-Aliyev Meeting
        • Heghine Buniatian
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian meet in Vienna, Austria, March 29, 2019.
New details of an announced meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders 
in Brussels next month have been revealed to RFE/RL.
A senior EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has provided some 
details about the upcoming meeting of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of Armenia 
and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan that a spokesman for Charles Michel, 
the president of the European Council, said yesterday the two leaders had agreed 
to have on December 15.
“The goal is to bring Pashinian and Aliyev to the same table for 
confidence-building measures,” said the EU official.
On November 19, the EU announced that Michel had telephone conversations with 
the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia about the situation in the region. As a 
result, it said, the two leaders agreed to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s 
Eastern Partnership summit.
“It is not clear yet how their Brussels meetings will look like, who of the EU 
leaders will sit, whether the defense ministers or foreign ministers of Armenia 
and Azerbaijan will be present,” the EU official told RFE/RL.
Michel’s office said Pashinian and Aliyev would meet “to discuss the regional 
situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South 
Caucasus, which the EU supports.” It said they also agreed to establish a direct 
communication line, at the level of defense ministers, “to serve as an incident 
prevention mechanism.”
The statement did not specify when such a line could become operational.
“The aim of the forthcoming talks is to establish some sort of trust between the 
two leaders via confidence building measures, especially in the field of 
connectivity,” the EU official said.
“We are talking here about transport corridors in Nagorno-Karabakh, transport 
projects involving both Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the source added.
The Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement that Armenia and Azerbaijan signed to 
put an end to six weeks of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh last November also 
referred to a new route for a connection between ethnic Armenians inside 
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia that was understood to be approved within the next 
three years, with the agreement of the parties, after which Russian peacekeepers 
would be redeployed to protect that route. It has been a year since the signing 
of that trilateral statement, but so far nothing has been reported about any 
agreement reached between the parties.
The passing week has seen a further escalation of tensions between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan that on November 16 had their worst fighting along their 
un-demarcated border since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
It was during that escalation that the president of the European Council had 
phone talks with Pashinian and Aliyev, calling for “urgent de-escalation and 
full respect of the ceasefire.”
According to the EU official who talked to RFE/RL, “Michel, Pashinian and Aliyev 
have built up quite a good rapport in the last couple of months, and Michel has 
spoken to them 4-6 times in the last couple of months.” Besides, according to 
RFE/RL’s source, Michel also speaks regularly with the presidents of Turkey and 
Russia.
In early November Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a trilateral meeting 
of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan was being prepared in Moscow. 
Shortly after that announcement Armenia’s prime minister said that there was no 
agreement about any such meeting yet. It is still unclear whether Aliyev and 
Pashinian will have a tripartite meeting together with Russian President 
Vladimir Putin any time soon, or if they do, whether this meeting will be before 
or after their announced meeting in Brussels.
Confirming the news of the upcoming meeting in Brussels, the Azerbaijani Foreign 
Ministry said on Saturday that Baku has repeatedly stated its position on the 
post-conflict situation in the region, including in the international arena.
“In this regard, we believe that the summit of the Eastern Partnership, and the 
meeting that will take place on the sidelines of this event will create 
additional opportunities,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Leyla 
Abdullayeva said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has also confirmed the news of the upcoming 
meeting, but has not provided any further comments on that yet.
EU Says Armenian, Azerbaijani Leaders Agree To Meet In Brussels In Mid-December
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (left) and Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
will meet in Brussels next month to discuss border clashes and advancing 
diplomacy, the European Union said.
“Leaders have agreed to meet in Brussels to discuss the regional situation and 
ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which 
the EU supports,” a spokesman for Charles Michel, the president of the European 
Council, said in a statement on November 19.
The meeting will take place on December 15 on the sidelines of the EU’s Eastern 
Partnership summit in Brussels.
The announcement came after Michel held phone calls with Aliyev and Pashinian.
“During the phone calls, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have also agreed 
to establish a direct communication line, at the level of respective Ministers 
of Defense, to serve as an incident prevention mechanism,” the EU said.
It would be third face-to-face talks between the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan since last year’s 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh that killed 
thousands before the sides agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire.
The two previous meetings were in Moscow with the participation of Russian 
President Vladimir Putin.
Renewed border clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan earlier this week, 
in the worst fighting since last year’s Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Azerbaijan said seven of its soldiers had been killed and 10 wounded in the 
November 16 fighting. Armenia said six of its soldiers were killed, 13 were 
captured, and the fate of another 24 servicemen is unknown.
Both sides blamed each other for starting the latest hostilities, which ended 
with another Russian-mediated cease-fire.
The violence renewed international calls for the two neighbors to engage in a 
process of delimitating and demarcating their Soviet-era border.
In last year’s war, Baku gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as 
adjacent territories that had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces 
since the end of a three-year war in 1994.
Some 2,000 Russian troops were deployed to monitor the cease-fire in the region.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.