Category: 2021

Iran International
By Maryam Sinaee
10/22/2021
Iran is in no position to "target Azerbaijan" for relations with
Israel for fear of its own Azari population, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan has said.
Referring to a reporter’s question on whether recent Iranian military
maneuvers would “escalate into a hot crisis” in the Caucasus, Erdogan
said he had "no such expectation," according to a government
English-language news release.
Because of Baku’s relations with Israel, “Iran will not be hostile to
Azerbaijan or put Azerbaijan on the target list” because its own
Azaris were “noticeable,” the president said.
During the 2020 conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, some among
Iran’s Azaris, around a quarter of the 80 million population,
expressed sympathy for Baku’s cause.
But Erdogan, speaking to reporters on a plane returning from an
African tour also played down tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan,
which relaxed this week with Thursday’s release of two Iranian truck
drivers arrested on a transit route to Armenia now under Azerbaijani
control.
"It is not that simple,” the president said. “What has been done thus
far [by Iran] is inappropriate, and I believe that Iran's new
administration will not repeat this misstep.”
The first to fall in
Iranian authorities have not commented on Erdogan’s remarks, the first
from a senior Turkish figure on Iran's military drills near the
Turkish border and the recent standoff between Tehran and Baku. Iran's
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on October 3 highlighted a reported
Israeli military presence in Azerbaijan and appeared to refer to
Turkey's role in warning that "the person who digs a well [to trap]
for his brothers is the first one to fall into it."
Iran is also concerned at the reported presence of jihadist fighters
from Syria in Azerbaijani territory allegedly recruited by Turkey to
help Baku in its war against ethnic Armenians in and around
Nagorno-Karabakh during last year's conflict. Turkey and Azerbaijan
have denied the allegation.
The Turkish president's comments came as tensions between Tehran and
Baku appeared to ease since last week’s phone-call between the Iranian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. In a meeting with lawmakers from
East and West Azarbaijan provinces Thursday, President Ebrahim Raisi
(Raeesi) stressed that good relations with neighboring countries was a
government priority, and that Iran would not allow Israel to sabotage
them.
In a December 2020 speech to a victory parade in Baku after the
Azerbaijan-Armenia war,
Erdogan recited a folk poem, popular both in both Azerbaijan and the
Iranian Azari provinces, lamenting the division of the ethnic Azari by
the river Aras separating Azerbaijan and Armenia from Iran.
Sultan of illusion
Iran's foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador, while foreign
minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted with uncharacteristic vigor.
Much of the Iranian media dubbed the Turkish president the 'Sultan of
illusion.'
Erdogan also in the speech referred to "one nation, two states,"
citing Turkey and Azerbaijan’s shared linguistic heritage. "One
nation" is often used by pan-Turks to express the unity of speakers of
all Turkic languages, across central Asia and including Azerbaijan and
Iran’s north-west Azari-populated northwest.
Pan-Turkism has been on the rise among Azari (Torki) speakers of Iran
in the past two decades. Separatist groups call Iran’s northwestern
regions ‘South Azerbaijan.’ The Turkic languages spoken in Iran's
northwest and some other parts of Iran have fed a movement advocating
unification of speakers in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, whose
territory was part of Iran until the early nineteenth century when
ceded to the Russian empire.
 

                                        Friday, 
Kocharian’s Bloc Plans Anti-Government Rally
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Thousands of opposition supporters led by former President Robert 
Kocharian (center) and senior members of his Hayastan alliance march to the 
Yerablur Militarty Pantheon in Yerevan, September 26, 2021.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance said on Friday that it will rally 
supporters in Yerevan soon in an effort to thwart what it described as more 
Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan planned by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Senior representatives of the bloc led by former President Robert Kocharian 
claimed that Pashinian is ready to cede more territory to Baku, including by 
agreeing to a land corridor between the Nakhichevan exclave and western 
Azerbaijan passing through Armenia’s Syunik province.
“We believe that what is happening will lead to a new capitulation agreement,” 
said Ishkhan Saghatelian, a deputy parliament speaker. “Armenia will be making 
new concessions. In order to prevent that, pan-Armenian forces must form a 
national resistance front to show the entire world, including this government of 
evil, that our people disagree with this course and are fighting against it.”
“We need to explain all this to people because [Pashinian] is continuing to fool 
people [with talk of peace.] After sending people to their death [in 
Nagorno-Karabakh last fall] he is now intimidating them with [warnings about] 
another war,” he told reporters.
Armenia - Opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelian attends a session of the 
National Assembly after being elected one of its three deputy speakers, Yerevan, 
August 6, 2021.
Saghatelian said that Hayastan is now holding consultations with other 
opposition groups and will announce the date of its rally next week. He would 
not say whether it will be a one-off protest or the first in a series of 
anti-government rallies.
Pashinian visited the Armenian parliament on Thursday to meet with deputies 
representing his Civil Contract party. According to one of those lawmakers, 
Gagik Melkonian, Pashinian assured them that he is not planning any territorial 
concessions to Baku.
Melkonian shrugged off the opposition allegations about such concessions, saying 
that Kocharian’s bloc simply wants to seize power. He said the authorities are 
not worried about Hayastan protests.
“Their place is the street,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Let them fight 
on the street. Nobody will be standing by their side.”
Armenia - Supporters of former President Robert Kocharian and his opposition 
alliance attend an election campaign rally in Yerevan's Nor Nork district, June 
9, 2021.
Saghatelian confirmed that Pashinian’s removal from power remains on Hayastan’s 
agenda.
Kocharian, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, likewise said on October 4 that 
regime change remains his and his political allies’ key goal. But he cautioned 
that they must “generate” greater popular anger at the government before trying 
to topple it with street protests.
“The biggest problem is that a considerable part of our people has come to terms 
with this situation and voted for these ones,” Kocharian said, referring to the 
ruling political team. He insisted at the same time that a politically active 
minority of citizens can also pose a serious threat to Pashinian’s hold on power.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won Armenia’s June 20 parliamentary elections 
with almost 54 percent of the vote, according to their official results. 
Hayastan came in a distant second with 21 percent. Its final election campaign 
rally in Yerevan drew a massive crowd.
Armenian Watchdog Alarmed By ‘Curbs On Press Freedom’
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Ashot Melikian, chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of 
Speech, at a news conference in Yerevan, .
An Armenian press freedom group on Friday expressed serious concern over what it 
called new restrictions on news reporting imposed by the authorities in recent 
months.
“These restrictions have taken the form of legislative initiatives, rules and 
regulations, and practical actions restricting journalistic activity,” said 
Ashot Melikian of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech.
Presenting a quarterly report released by his organization, Melikian singled out 
serious curbs on journalists’ freedom of movements inside the Armenian 
parliament building which were imposed days after the current National Assembly 
held its inaugural session on August 2.
Under the new rules introduced by parliament speaker Alen Simonian, reporters 
accredited to the parliament can no longer interview deputies coming out of the 
chamber or enter a section of the building housing their offices. Simonian, who 
is a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, cited security concerns 
and the need for greater media respect for parliamentarians.
Opposition lawmakers, human rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan and Armenia’s leading 
media associations rejected that explanation.
Those groups expressed outrage at Simonian’s attempts to block press coverage of 
an August 11 parliament session that descended into chaos amid bitter insults 
traded by pro-government and opposition deputies. Security officers entered the 
press gallery overlooking the chamber and ordered journalists present there to 
stop filming or photographing the ugly scenes.
Armenia - Parliament speaker Alen Simonian talks to journalists, August 25, 2021.
“It was an unprecedented and condemnable action,” Melikian told a news 
conference. “Journalists must be able to show the public what kind of a National 
Assembly was elected and how each deputy behaves.”
Melikian also condemned recent government-backed bills that tripled maximum 
legal fines for “slander” and made it a crime to gravely insult state officials 
and public figures.
“Nobody is going to defend slanderers or slander in general,” he said. “What we 
emphasize is that very often strong criticism is interpreted as a grave insult. 
We all know that officials and politicians regard such criticism as an insult.”
The bill on heavier defamation fines was authored by speaker Simonian. President 
Armen Sarkissian refused to sign it into law in April, asking the Constitutional 
Court to assess its constitutionality. The court ruled earlier this month that 
the bill does not run counter to the Armenian constitution.
The Armenian authorities’ decision to criminalize slander and defamation was 
strongly criticized by Freedom House late last month. The Washington-based 
democracy group said it testifies to a “clear degradation of democratic norms in 
Armenia, including freedom of expression.” Pro-government lawmakers rejected the 
criticism.
Norway, Moderna Pledge Biggest Vaccine Donation To Armenia
Vials with a sticker reading, "COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" 
and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Moderna, October 31, 2020.
The Norwegian government and Moderna have pledged to give Armenia more than 
620,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine manufactured by the U.S. biotech company, 
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian announced on Friday.
Avanesian said the Armenian Ministry of Health signed a “trilateral agreement” 
to that effect with them on Thursday.
“Thank you the Kingdom of Norway and the Moderna company for your efforts to 
overcome the pandemic,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Avanesian said that the European Union will assist in the upcoming shipments of 
Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine to Armenia. She gave no dates for their delivery.
Moderna’s co-founder and chairman, Noubar Afeyan, is an Armenian-American 
billionaire businessman. Afeyan has financed various charity projects in Armenia.
Armenia -- Armenian-American businessman Noubar Afeyan speaks in Yerevan, April 
24, 2019
Armenia has already received smaller quantities of vaccines donated by the 
governments of France, Belgium, Lithuania, China and Russia.
Health authorities in the South Caucasus state began using earlier this month 
50,000 doses of Spikevax provided by the Lithuanian government. Armenians were 
previously inoculated only with Chinese and Russian vaccines as well as the 
Astra Zeneca jab developed by Oxford University.
Avanesian said in July that Armenia will buy this fall 50,000 doses of Johnson & 
Johnson’s single-dose vaccine and 300,000 doses of the Novavax jab. Shortly 
afterwards the Armenian government allocated funds for the purchase of 300,000 
doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. None of those vaccines have been imported 
yet.
Armenia - Health Minister Anahit Avanesian is vaccinated against COVID-19, April 
28, 2021.
The latest donation pledge comes as the authorities in Yerevan are trying to 
speed up the slow pace of vaccinations in the country of about 3 million amid 
rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that have overwhelmed the Armenian 
healthcare system.
As of October 17, just over 403,000 people there received at least one dose of a 
coronavirus vaccine and only about 185,000 of them were fully vaccinated.
Starting from October 1, all Armenian workers are required to get inoculated or 
take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense. Avanesian said last 
week that the authorities could also introduce a mandatory coronavirus health 
pass for entry to cultural and leisure venues.
The Ministry of Health said on Friday that 42 more Armenians have died from 
COVID-19 in the past day. The ministry also reported five other deaths 
indirectly caused by the disease.
Russia Indispensable For Ending Armenian-Azeri Border Dispute, Says Putin
        • Nane Sahakian
Russia - President Vladimir Putin attends a session of the annual Valdai 
Discussion Club in Sochi, .
Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot end their simmering border disputes without 
Russian mediation and mutual concessions, according to Russia’s President 
Vladimir Putin.
Putin commented on the aftermath of last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh and 
Russian efforts to bolster a shaky peace in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict 
zone during an annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday.
“The main thing now is to finally resolve the situation on the 
[Armenian-Azerbaijani] border, and it’s impossible to do anything here without 
Russia’s participation,” he said. “We probably don’t need anyone except Russia 
and the two sides. Why? … Because the Russian army’s General Staff has maps 
showing the borders that existed between Soviet republics in Soviet times.”
Tensions have run high in recent months at several sections of the long border 
where Azerbaijani forces reportedly advanced a few kilometers into Armenian 
territory in mid-May. Armenia has repeatedly demanded their unconditional 
withdrawal. Azerbaijan maintains that its troops took up new positions on the 
Azerbaijani side of the frontier.
Amenia - An Armenian soldier at a border post in Gegharkunik province, July 5, 
2021.
Moscow proposed later in May that Yerevan and Baku set up a commission on border 
delimitation and demarcation. It offered to act as a mediator in such talks.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stated at the time that the talks are conditional 
on an Azerbaijani withdrawal from Armenia’s “sovereign territory.” But he 
indicated in August that his government is ready to negotiate without any 
preconditions.
Baku has also expressed readiness for such negotiations. They have still not 
begun, however.
Putin, who brokered a ceasefire that stopped the Karabakh war last November, 
said that while Soviet military maps must serve as a basis of the talks the two 
conflicting sides should be ready for minor territorial swaps and other mutual 
concessions.
“There are things there that also require mutual compromises,” he said. 
“Something could be straightened [on the map] in some places and swapped in 
others.”
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)
Pashinian has for months been facing Armenian opposition allegations that he has 
secretly agreed to cede major chunks of Armenian territory to Azerbaijan. The 
prime minister has categorically denied that.
Russia is already the sole international facilitator of ongoing 
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on opening transport links between the two 
South Caucasus foes. A Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task force set up in January 
for that purpose held a fresh meeting in Moscow earlier this week.
Putin stressed on Thursday that Moscow remains committed to a “multilateral 
format” of achieving a broader normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations 
and a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. He said it is now trying to step up the 
mediating activities of the OSCE Minsk Group co-headed by Russia, France and the 
United States.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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