Category: 2021

Armenian MP Garo Paylan’s call to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during budget debates in Turkey’s parliament has been widely covered in the Turkish press.

In his speech addressed to the Turkish FM Garo Paylan, an Armenian lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), criticized Cavusoglu for his discriminatory statements against Turkish citizens, T24 reported.

Paylan stressed that Cavusoglu should not use the phrase “dear kinsmen” in his speeches, as Turkish citizen Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and other nations also have equal rights in Turkey.

The Armenian MP called on the Turkish FM to from now on use the word “countrymen” instead, and not the discriminatory word “kinsmen.”

According to the Turkish press, Mevlut Cavusoglu found himself in an awkward situation after Garo Paylan’s aforesaid remarks.

Continuing its policy of turning everything upside down, Azerbaijan promotes the idea of its being the “victim” by presenting Armenia as the “aggressor.”

“Azerbaijan’s proposals are known to Armenia. The Armenian society must also change politically, psychologically, and accept peaceful coexistence with its neighbors.” Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijani president, stated this at a press conference, APA reports.

“If such a peace treaty was signed between France and Germany after the Second World War, why shouldn’t it be signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia? We call on the international community to mobilize efforts in this regard,” Hajiyev added, obviously comparing Armenia with Germany.

According to him, before the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) war last fall, it was “very difficult” for him to “speak at foreign events as a representative of a losing country.”

The assistant to the president of Azerbaijan noted that there is a problem in the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and these relations must be changed.

“It is necessary to sign a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the [two] countries must recognize each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty,” Hajiyev stressed.

According to him, Armenia’s lawsuits against Azerbaijan show that Armenia does not recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

“This must end. Armenia must renounce its territorial ambitions towards Azerbaijan,” he added.

At the same time, Hajiyev stressed that Armenia’s intention to create another Armenian state in the South Caucasus has failed.

Thus, distorting history and reality, Azerbaijan is attempting—through blackmail and threats—to force the Armenian side to recognize its territorial integrity, but forgetting that Nagorno-Karabakh was not part of Azerbaijan at the time of the collapse of the ex-USSR and the declaration of independence of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.

Also, Hikmet Hajiyev did not mention the Armenian captives whom Azerbaijan has refused to release for more than a year now, its war crimes, the captured Armenians—including the elderly and women—, the destruction of Armenian cultural monuments, the actual causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the military aggression Azerbaijan had unleashed against Artsakh.

I definitely understand why that day was selected for the referendum. This is what deputy of the opposition “Armenia” faction of the National Assembly of Armenia said during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Hakobyan recalled that that day marks the anniversary of the signing of the disgraceful document, adding that the “Armenia” Alliance is launching a resistance movement. “The rest will be announced during the rally. I don’t want to let people in on secrets,” he stressed.

On November 8 at 6 p.m. “Armenia” alliance will hold a rally at Freedom Square in Yerevan.

On September 27, 2020, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, by grossly violating the norms of international humanitarian law and the logic of the process of peaceful negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, used missiles and artillery weapons and aircraft, targeting the combat positions of the Defense Army and the peaceful settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire length of the line of contact.

The hostilities ended with the signing of a trilateral statement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020. As a result of the war, Azerbaijan occupied over 70% of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk.

The Prime Minister welcomed Mr. Overchuk’s visit to Armenia, noting that it is a good opportunity to discuss the current agenda. “I would like to note that I highly appreciate the works of the trilateral working commission chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. I hope that we will finally be able to reach concrete solutions.

I would like to say the following in this regard. Armenia is committed to the statements of November 9 and January 11, which refer to the unblocking of all transport and economic ties in the region. But I would like to emphasize that the statements made by Azerbaijan regarding the corridors have a negative impact on the efficiency of our work and atmosphere, especially considering that in our trilateral statements there are no remarks about corridors.

My impression is that Azerbaijan is trying to impose its perceptions on the commission, which, of course, is unacceptable for us. I would like to reaffirm that Armenia is interested in opening and unblocking regional transport and economic infrastructure. I have repeatedly stated publicly that we are ready to go to concrete solutions, the essence of which should be the following. Armenia should get road and railway communication routes through Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan should receive railway and road communication routes through Armenia, including one connecting Azerbaijan to the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

Our documents are about the unblocking of economic and transport infrastructures, our position is the following. What do we offer? The railways that existed during the Soviet era must be restored; the highways that existed during the Soviet era, including those connecting the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic with Azerbaijan, must also be restored.

We are ready for such solutions. We have concrete proposals, it should be emphasized that according to the January 11 statement, about which we have talked many times, we should also negotiate on customs control, phytosanitary control, border control and other possible types of control. This is what is stated in our statements of November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021. I want to confirm once again that Armenia is interested, ready, and we hope that in the near future we will be able to reach concrete solutions to these issues. We are constructive,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.

Alexei Overchuk thanked the Prime Minister for the meeting and for highly appreciating the activities of the working group comprised of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.

“We are really working within the mandate that you, together with the leaders of the other countries, granted us in the framework of the statements of November 9-10, 2020 and January 11, 2021. I would like to note that we are in constant touch with our partners and deputy prime ministers. We have held 8 meetings, 4 of which were in-person, the other four were held remotely.

At the same time, we talk on the phone almost every day, discussing various options to find more optimal, more acceptable solutions for all parties. You know that road construction experts also worked, who examined the roads. Today we have a very good understanding of what those roads really look like. Based on these data, after the 8th session of the joint working group held on October 22, it seems to us that we will reach concrete solutions. They are based primarily on that the roads remain under the jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass.

You also mentioned and it is enshriend in the statements that all kinds of controls should be carried out. We agreed that such control should be exercised based on the parity priciple, and we also discussed it, including how and from where to start unblocking automotive infrastructure. We want to discuss it with you today and think about how to move forward,” Alexei Overchuk said.