Category: 2021

                                        Monday, October 4, 2021
Armenian General Arrested In Corruption Probe
Armenia - Lieutenant-General Stepan Galstian, deputy chief of the Armenian 
Army's General Staff.
The National Security Service (NSS) has made another high-profile arrest in an 
ongoing criminal investigation into supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to 
Armenia’s armed forces.
Lieutenant-General Stepan Galstian, a deputy chief of the Armenian army’s 
General Staff, was charged with fraud and abuse of power and remanded in 
pre-trial custody on Saturday two days after being summoned to the NSS for 
questioning.
Galstian denies the accusations. His lawyer told News.am that he will appeal 
against a district court’s decision to allow investigators to hold the general 
in pre-trial detention.
The NSS arrested former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and an arms dealer 
reputedly close to him on Wednesday part of the same criminal case. It charged 
them with fraud and embezzlement that cost the state almost 2.3 billion drams 
($4.7 million).
Both men deny the charges. Tonoyan’s lawyer said on Friday that he will petition 
the Court of Appeals to release his client from custody pending investigation.
Another Armenian general was arrested earlier in September. The NSS claimed that 
the general abused his powers to arrange for personal gain a $4.7 million 
contract for the supply of outdated rockets to the armed forces.
According to the security service, the Defense Ministry had refused to buy those 
rockets from a private intermediary in 2011.
Kocharian Cautious About Anti-Government Protests
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian speaks at a news conference, 
Yerevan, October 4, 2021.
Former President Robert Kocharian said on Monday that Armenia’s main opposition 
alliance led by him needs to “generate” greater popular anger at the government 
before trying to topple it with street protests.
“Yes, we are going to also launch a street campaign,” he told a news conference. 
“But conditions should be made ripe. We must also work with the people all over 
Armenia. We must try to convince them.
“You cannot launch a street campaign without the active involvement of the 
people. That active involvement should also be achieved by public relations 
efforts.”
Kocharian was therefore careful not to set any dates for renewed anti-government 
demonstrations promised by his Hayastan bloc.
Kocharian told senior members of the bloc to intensify its activities and public 
outreach efforts at a meeting held on September 14. One of them said afterwards 
that “street actions” against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government are 
imminent.
“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 on Monday, 
referring to Pashinian’s political team. “Let’s not deceive ourselves. This is 
the reality.”
The 67-year-old ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, insisted at 
the same time that a politically active minority of citizens can also pose a 
serious threat to Pashinian’s hold on power.
“Even if five percent of the population fights against a government with 
determination, no government can withstand that,” he said.
Armenia - Supporters of former President Robert Kocharian and his opposition 
alliance attend an election campaign rally in Yerevan, June 18, 2021.
“Twenty-one percent of voters voted for us. We will try to first and foremost 
make that segment more active. We will try to also convince other people, who 
voted for these authorities, in that they made a mistake,” added Kocharian.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won Armenia’s June 20 parliamentary elections 
with almost 54 percent of the vote, according to their official results. 
Kocharian’s bloc came in a distant second.
Kocharian, who pulled a massive crowd in Yerevan during the election campaign, 
again predicted that another snap election will likely be held before the end of 
2022. He also repeated opposition claims that Pashinian mishandled last year’s 
war in Nagorno-Karabakh and is not capable of dealing post-war security 
challenges still facing Armenia.
Kocharian further claimed that Armenia’s defeat in the war was not only the 
result of Pashinian’s incompetence but also a “possible pre-planned defeat” 
agreed with Azerbaijan. “There will be no calm in our country until these 
suspicions are dispelled,” he said.
Armenia Reassures Iran As Tehran-Baku Tensions Mount
        • Emil Danielyan
        • Gevorg Stamboltsian
Iran - Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan (right) of Armenia and Hossein 
Amir-Abdollahian of Iran meet in Tehran, October 4, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sent his foreign minister to Tehran on Monday one 
day after publicly ruling out Armenia’s involvement in any anti-Iranian “plots” 
amid stern warnings issued by Iran to Azerbaijan.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein 
Amir-Abdollahian for the second time in less than two weeks.
Amir-Abdollahian reportedly sounded satisfied with their latest talks, saying 
that the two sides agreed to boost Armenian-Iranian political, economic and 
cultural ties. He also said Iran will not allow “some foreign states” to damage 
its relations with neighbors, including Armenia.
Mirzoyan visited the Iranian capital amid mounting tensions between Tehran and 
Baku underscored by large-scale Iranian military exercises held along the 
Islamic Republic’s border with Azerbaijan.
The Iranian military reportedly began massing troops there after Baku set up on 
September 12 a roadblock on the main highway connecting Armenia with Iran.
The Armenian government controversially ceded a 21-kilometer section of the road 
to Azerbaijan following last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani police 
and customs are now collecting a hefty “road tax” from Iranian trucks and other 
vehicles passing through it, causing significant disruptions in cargo traffic 
between Armenia and Iran.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry last week linked the drills to Azerbaijan’s 
military ties with Israel, saying that Iran “will not tolerate Israeli presence 
near its borders.”
Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday also pointed to the widely documented participation 
of Sunni Muslim militants from the Middle East in the Karabakh war on the 
Azerbaijani side. He said those “members of terrorist movements” were deployed 
in areas south of Karabakh bordering northwestern Iran.
“The presence of Zionists and terrorists [in Azerbaijan] … seriously worries 
us,” the foreign minister told Iranian state television. “It can create problems 
for the government of Azerbaijan in the near future.”
A helicopter is seen during an Iranian Army exercise dubbed "Fatehan of 
Kheibar", in the northwestern parts of Iran, in this picture obtained on October 
1, 2021.
“Since we are not sure that they [Sunni militants] have left the area, the 
drills will convey a message to them,” the commander of the Iranian ground 
forces, Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, said, according to Iran’s Press TV.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commented on “the problem that 
arose on our northwestern border recently” when he addressed graduates of 
Iranian military academies earlier on Sunday.
“We will not allow alien forces to intervene in processes taking place there. He 
who thinks that he can ensure his own security by pinning hopes on outsiders 
will get a slap,” Khamenei said in a warning clearly addressed to Baku.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected Tehran’s “baseless” claims. 
“Unfortunately, friendly Iran never condemned the [Armenian] occupation of our 
territory just as resolutely,” said a ministry spokeswoman.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev criticized the Iranian war games on 
September 27. He also said Baku set up the roadblock on the Armenia-Iran highway 
because Tehran ignored its repeated warnings to stop Iranian trucks from 
shipping cargo to Karabakh.
The road mostly passes through Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province which is 
sandwiched between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave and also borders Iran. 
Earlier this year, Aliyev threatened to forcibly open a transport corridor to 
Nakhichevan, drawing strong condemnation from Armenia.
Mojtaba Zonnouri, a senior Iranian parliamentarian, on Monday accused Aliyev of 
trying to “cut Iran’s access to Armenia” with the help of Turkey and Israel. The 
official IRNA news agency quoted Zonnouri as warning that Azerbaijan and Turkey 
“will pay a big price if they pose a threat to Iran.”
Zonnouri was apparently among 165 members of Iran’s parliament who issued a 
joint statement on Sunday saying that the Islamic Republic will not tolerate 
“any geopolitical change and alteration of the borders of neighbor countries.”
Armenia - A cargo terminal at a border crossing with Iran, November 29, 2018. 
(Photo by the State Revenue Committee of Armenia)
On September 28, a conservative Iranian newspaper reputedly controlled by 
Khamenei’s office published a commentary that accused Aliyev and Turkish 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of helping the United States and Israel to hatch 
a geopolitical “plot” against Iran and Russia.
A columnist for the Kayhan newspaper also charged that Pashinian has joined the 
“hidden alliance” of the four states and is willing to “cede Syunik province to 
Azerbaijan.”
The Armenian prime minister responded to the allegation on Sunday at the start 
of an official visit to Lithuania.
“It is no secret that there are some circles that manage from time to time to 
publish articles in the Iranian press saying that Armenia is involved in some 
conspiracies against Iran,” Pashinian told members of the Armenian community in 
the Baltic state.
“I am sure our Iranian colleagues know that Armenia has never been involved and 
will never be involved in a conspiracy against Iran because those relations 
[between Armenia and Iran] are extremely important to us.”
Pashinian has been facing similar allegations from his political opponents and 
other critics at home. They have deplored his government’s failure to explicitly 
condemn Baku’s decision to start taxing Iranian vehicles.
Pashinian and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the Armenia-Iran traffic 
disruptions when they met in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on September 17.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the foreign ministers of the two 
neighboring states discussed “developments taking place in the region” and 
“regional security” at their meeting in Tehran.
Speaking at a joint news briefing with Amir-Abdollahian, Mirzoyan effectively 
rejected Aliyev’s demands for the transport “corridor” passing through Armenia. 
The Armenian minister accused Baku of misrepresenting Russian-brokered 
agreements that call for the opening of transport links between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan.
“In this regard, we highly appreciate Iran’s position on Armenia’s territorial 
integrity and the inviolability of its borders,” added Mirzoyan.
Amir-Abdollahian was reported to express hope on Monday that Yerevan will speed 
up the ongoing reconstruction of an alternative Syunik highway that will allow 
Iranian drivers to bypass the Azerbaijani checkpoint. Armenia’s Deputy Prime 
Minister Suren Papikian said last week that the roadwork will be completed by 
the end of November.
Meanwhile, the Iranian army drills continued on Monday, involving special 
forces, heavy artillery, tanks and helicopter gunships. Images aired by Iranian 
television suggested that they are taking place on Iran’s border with 
Nakhichevan.
In what may be a related development, Turkish media reported that Azerbaijani 
and Turkish troops will start on Tuesday joint exercises in Nakhichevan.
Pashinian Ready To Meet Aliyev
Lithuania - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with members of the 
Armenian community in Vilnius, October 3, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Sunday that he is ready to meet with 
Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev for talks on confidence-building measures in the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
Aliyev expressed readiness for such a meeting on Friday. “I am ready to hold 
talks with Mr. Pashinian at any moment, whenever he is ready,” told the Spanish 
EFE news agency. “I am open to discussions and believe they could be a good sign 
that the war is over.”
Pashinian responded to the offer at the start of an official visit to Lithuania. 
Meeting with members of the local Armenian community, he said Yerevan and Baku 
should “try to move forward with small steps to build some trust” between them.
Pashinian said he is particularly interested in securing the release of dozens 
of Armenian soldiers and civilians held by Azerbaijan nearly one year after 
Russia brokered a ceasefire that stopped the 44-day war in Karabakh. He said to 
that end the Armenian side is ready to release more maps of Armenian minefields 
in districts around Karabakh that were retaken by Azerbaijani forces during and 
after the war.
“I am ready to take all the maps in our possession [to the meeting with Aliyev] 
and am calling on the Azerbaijani president to bring along all of our 
prisoners,” added Pashinian.
Armenia already provided Baku such maps this summer in return for the release of 
30 Armenian prisoners of war.
Aliyev claimed that those maps are not accurate and said Yerevan should provide 
more detailed information about all Armenian minefields along the former “line 
of contact” around Karabakh. “If the Armenian side does that … we will respond 
in kind,” he told EFE without elaborating.
Aliyev and Pashinian most recently held talks in Moscow last January in a 
meeting hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting focused on the 
opening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan envisaged by the 
Karabakh ceasefire.
Aliyev repeatedly threatened in the following months to forcibly open a 
transport “corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through 
Armenia’s Syunik province. He also said that Azerbaijan’s victory in the war put 
an end to the Karabakh conflict.
Aliyev offered to meet with Pashinian one week after the Armenian and 
Azerbaijani foreign ministers met in New York in the presence of the U.S., 
Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
In a joint statement on those talks, the three mediators said they proposed 
“specific focused measures to deescalate the situation and possible next steps.” 
They also reaffirmed their readiness to help the conflicting sides “find 
comprehensive solutions to all remaining issues related to or resulting from the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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