Category: 2021

PRESS RELEASE

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For immediate release

This September 21st marks three decades since the Armenian people voted to declare independence as a sovereign nation state, a status not possessed for many centuries since historical Armenia fell under the rule of successive empires except for the short-lived First Armenian Republic of 1918-1920, which was ultimately integrated into the USSR. 

For those living in those momentous years of the early 1990s, an independent Armenian state was an impossible dream come true overnight, a grand redemption for aging Genocide survivors and their progeny to see in their lifetimes the raising of the tri-color at the United Nations. Back in Yerevan, scenes of Armenian citizens rejoicing as the giant statue of Lenin toppled to the ground and the first Armenian Parliament was sworn into session are also iconic markers embedded in the collective psyche.

Suddenly, the Armenian Identity could be defined not only in the context of past tragedies but in infinite new possibilities to bring the Armenian Nation into the modern world family. A free homeland captured the imagination of Armenians in every corner of the world as the new republic took on the challenges and opportunities of self governance with the active support of the worldwide Diaspora—that saw an independent homeland as the guarantor of its heritage and identity—vigorously engaged in the nation-building process. 

Those early days soon turned bittersweet as the realities of independence settled in and Armenia endured many setbacks and false starts because of war and economic challenges. It was not until the mid-90s when the end of the first war over Artsakh ushered in a new era of reconstruction and enterprise.

In these ensuing years, Armenia had the breathing space to show the world its intrinsic value as a developing country. By the mid- 2000s, the tourism, agriculture and high tech innovation industries had clearly replaced the defunct factory-based economy of the Soviet period. Those dusty Yerevan streets, crumbling buildings, and rickety roads of the early 1990s were transformed into modern thoroughfares and connecting highways, new infrastructure with first world plumbing facilities, safe and clean new schools and concert halls, a futuristic international airport, privately-owned restaurants offering diverse culinary fare, alongside towering international hotels, well stocked supermarkets, and rows of foreign embassies. The regional city of Gyumri, the ground zero of the 1988 Armenian Earthquake, is now a high tech hub for startups, bringing in a renaissance of creative culture appealing to the youth and tourists.

In the provinces, where unemployment has stubbornly persisted to fray the cohesion of intergenerational families and communities, the last decade has seen the rise of women entrepreneurs in rural areas who have been empowered to launch micro enterprises and small businesses. There are afterschool centers for teens to explore creative technologies to stay competitive with their global peers. Many such endeavors are supported by AGBU and its partners working to level the playing field for Armenia’s women and youth. 

Higher learning institutions like American University of Armenia (AUA), which AGBU co-founded and has continuously supported, has changed the world view of young Armenians from across the national landscape. And with the help of AGBU and numerous professional healthcare organizations founded by Armenians in the West, the nation’s healthcare system has made steady progress. In the recent pandemic and war, western-trained local physicians and health professionals worked shoulder to shoulder with foreign medical teams to perform back-to-back life-saving surgeries, healing soldiers and civilians with top grade diagnostic equipment and supplies. 

Titans of industry and philanthropists from Russia, United States, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America are the legends that will live on as early Armenian pioneers, visionaries and nation builders, while thousands of youth of Armenian descent visit their homeland to reconnect with their ethnic roots or participate in renovation projects, forming close bonds with their in-country peers. AGBU scholarships have allowed scores of Armenia’s students to dream big and attend the world’s best universities, growing into competitive, sophisticated, and skilled Armenian nationals able to give back to their native country as the times demand. 

Since the change of government in 2018, Armenia has held successive elections deemed by international human rights and pro-democracy agencies to have been free and fair. Moreover, the yearnings of the electorate continue to lean into democratic values while maintaining strategically valuable relations with Armenia’s neighbors. 

The question that this year’s Independence celebration raises is whether a free Armenian state can prevail with a weakened hand, due to the new geopolitical realities and internal political strife triggered by the Second Artsakh War of 2020. 

AGBU, one of the oldest of many Diaspora organizations on the front lines of national crises, takes a long term perspective on the current challenges of the moment. Our focus on putting our people before politics has resulted in countless stories about the resilience of the Armenian people facing life and death situations. These up-close encounters with ordinary citizens and families, from both urban and rural environments, different regions of the world, and many historical turning points, have revealed a common thread of determination and hope that binds us together as one Armenian Nation. 

We believe in a free Armenia because that is the essence of the Armenian spirit that lives in every Armenian across the globe. And when Armenians are free to be Armenians, there is no limit to what we can achieve in every sphere of endeavor. Despite all the early setbacks of independence, we somehow stayed the course. So we cannot turn our backs on all that has been accomplished over these 30 years. 

Thirty years is still very young in the life of a nation state but Armenia must move past the term “fledgling democracy.” While not yet at its prime, Armenia, before last year’s war, was poised to gain momentum and consolidate progress on many important fronts. We sincerely hope this milestone anniversary will remind Armenians everywhere that after 30 years, we cannot and will not turn back or lose confidence in ourselves. 

We are “an against all odds” kind of people and the world must recognize this unique characteristic of ours to repeatedly defy those outworn predictions of our imminent demise. It’s time for the world to bet on Armenia. It is time for us Armenians to bet on ourselves.

In unity is strength. 

The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is the world’s largest non-profit organization devoted to upholding the Armenian heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs. Each year, AGBU is committed to making a difference in the lives of 500,000 people across Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian diaspora. Since 1906, AGBU has remained true to one overarching goal: to create a foundation for the prosperity of all Armenians. To learn more visit www.agbu.org.

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                                        Friday, September 17, 2021
Kocharian Not Allowed To Visit Russia
September 17, 2021
        • Naira Bulghadarian
        • Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian holds a post-election news 
conference in Yerevan, June 22, 2021.
An Armenian court has refused to allow Robert Kocharian, a former president 
leading the main opposition Hayastan alliance, to visit Moscow at the invitation 
of Russia’s ruling party.
Kocharian’s office revealed the invitation last week, saying that the leadership 
of the United Russia party wants to deepen “partnership” with Hayastan, 
Armenia’s second largest parliamentary force. The trip was due to start at the 
end of Russian parliamentary elections slated for September 17-19.
Kocharian needs a court permission to leave Armenia because of standing trial on 
corruption charges rejected by him as politically motivated. Anna Danibekian, 
the judge presiding over the trial, repeatedly allowed him to visit Moscow 
earlier this year and last fall. She also cleared him of other, more serious 
charges in April.
Hayastan said on Friday that Danibekian has refused to give such permission this 
time around without any “legal reason.” “We are forced to cancel the visit,” the 
opposition bloc said in a statement.
The statement charged that the judge made the decision under strong government 
pressure. It said the move is aimed at “restricting Hayastan’s political 
activities” and undermining Russian-Armenian relations.
RUSSIA - A truck drives past a campaign poster of the United Russia political 
party ahead of the Russian parliamentary and regional election outside Ulan-Ude, 
Buryatia republic, September 16, 2021.
Kocharian, who ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, is thought to enjoy a warm rapport 
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latter has repeatedly made a point of 
congratulating the ex-president on his birthday anniversaries and praising his 
legacy ever since Armenian law-enforcement authorities first indicted him three 
years ago.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has described Kocharian as a “big friend of 
Russia” and said the two men “talk to each other quite often.” But he insisted 
in March that the Kremlin is not supporting or guiding Kocharian’s political 
activities in any way.
Kocharian’s bloc was the main opposition challenger of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and his party in snap parliamentary elections held June. It finished 
second in the polls.
Kocharian told senior members of the bloc to intensify its activities and public 
outreach efforts at a meeting held on Tuesday. According to a Hayastan statement 
on the meeting, they assured him that they remain committed to ousting the 
“government wrecking Armenia and leading it to destruction.”
“Very soon you will also witness street actions,” Ishkhan Saghatelian, a senior 
Hayastan figure, told reporters earlier on Friday. He did not go into details.
Asked whether this means the alliance is planning to hold anti-government 
rallies, Saghatelian said: “We never gave up rallies in the first place.”
Armenian Opposition Lawmakers Spurn Holiday Bonuses
September 17, 2021
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Senor lawmakers from the opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances 
talk during a parliament session in Yerevan, August 24, 2021.
Opposition lawmakers said on Friday that they will not accept hefty holiday 
bonuses allocated to all members and staffers of Armenia’s parliament by speaker 
Alen Simonian.
Simonian decided to reward them on the occasion of the country’s Independence 
Day that will be marked on September 21. The one-off payments will be equivalent 
to 75 percent of the parliament deputies’ monthly wages, meaning that each of 
them will get at least 380,000 drams ($770).
Both opposition alliances represented in the National Assembly criticized the 
decision as profligate and unethical, saying that the Armenian authorities are 
continuing to neglect the country’s socioeconomic problems aggravated by last 
year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“At a time when the country has severe socioeconomic problems and more than 
10,000 wounded and disabled persons, public officials, including National 
Assembly deputies, are continuing to get bonuses,” said Ishkhan Saghatelian, a 
deputy parliament speaker and senior member of the opposition Hayastan bloc.
“In line with our campaign platform and statements, we will not benefit from 
these sums,” Saghatelian told reporters. “We will either return them to the 
state budget or use them for implementing a [charity] project in of Armenia’s 
border regions.”
The opposition Pativ Unem bloc likewise said that all of its seven 
parliamentarians will donate their bonuses to victims of the Karabakh war and 
their families. In a statement, it said accepting the money means “living a 
normal life as if nothing happened” to Armenia and Karabakh.
Armenia - Deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party attend a parliament 
session,, September 13, 2021.
The parliamentary group of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party 
did not officially react to the opposition criticism.
One of its members, Hovik Aghazarian, praised his opposition colleagues for 
planning to use their bonuses for charitable purposes. But Aghazarian made clear 
that he himself will take the extra cash.
Another pro-government parliamentarian, Heriknaz Tigranian, said there is 
nothing wrong with accepting what she described as a “symbolic reward” worth 
roughly twice the amount of the average monthly wage in Armenia.
Government officials said that all Armenian civil servants will receive 
Independence Day bonuses.
Armenia’s previous parliament also controlled by Pashinian’s party faced similar 
criticism earlier this year when it decided to add 250,000 drams to its 
deputies’ monthly wages worth at least 473,000 drams. The extra sum was supposed 
to cover their job expenses.
Armenia Takes Azerbaijan To International Court
September 17, 2021
        • Anush Mkrtchian
NETHERLANDS -- People walk toward the International Court of Justice in the 
Hague, August 27, 2018
Armenia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold Azerbaijan 
responsible for what it called anti-Armenian “racial discrimination,” mass 
killings and other grave human rights abuses committed during the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“For decades, Azerbaijan has subjected Armenians to racial discrimination, with 
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev himself leading the way,” reads its lawsuit 
announced by the Hague-based UN tribunal on late Thursday.
“As a result of this state-sponsored policy of Armenian hatred, Armenians have 
been subjected to systemic discrimination, mass killings, torture and other 
abuse,” it says, adding that they “once again came to the fore” during last 
year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
It claims that Azerbaijan has continued to kill and torture Armenian prisoners 
of war and civilian captives even after the six-week war was stopped by a 
Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. Dozens of Armenians are believed to 
remain in Azerbaijani captivity.
Yerevan wants the ICJ to find Baku guilty of violating several articles of the 
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 
Discrimination (CERD). It is also seeking urgent measures to “protect and 
preserve Armenia’s rights and the rights of Armenians from further harm.”
Responding to the Armenian move, Azerbaijan said it is poised to file a similar 
lawsuit against Armenia in the same court. The Foreign Ministry in Baku said it 
has been “carefully documenting and compiling evidence of gross human rights 
abuses” for that purpose.
“This includes Armenia’s targeting of Azerbaijanis for expulsion, torture, 
murder and serious mistreatment,” it said in a statement reported by the AFP 
news agency.
In comments cited by the Interfax news agency, the ministry spokeswoman, Leyla 
Abdullayeva, accused Yerevan of hampering the return of Azerbaijani civilians to 
districts around Karabakh retaken by the Azerbaijani army during and after the 
hostilities. She said the Armenians are refusing to share with Baku all maps of 
their landmines laid in those areas.
Ara Ghazarian, a Yerevan-based international law expert, welcomed the Armenian 
government’s decision to take Baku to the UN court.
“For Armenia and its people, this lawsuit is a means for legal protection and 
also deterrence against Azerbaijan,” Ghazarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on 
Friday.
The ICJ was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member 
states. The court usually takes years to hand down rulings on cases brought by 
them.
Armenian, Iranian Leaders Discuss Closer Ties Amid Transport Hurdles
September 17, 2021
Tajikistan - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) and Armenian Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian meet in Dushanbe, September 17, 2021.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
discussed on Friday ways of deepening bilateral commercial ties complicated by 
an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up on the main highway connecting the two 
neighboring states.
Raisi and Pashinian met on the sidelines of a Collective Security Treaty 
Organization summit in Tajikistan as Azerbaijani officers stopped and demanded 
hefty payments from Iranian trucks transporting goods to and from Armenia for 
the sixth consecutive day.
More than a hundred such trucks were reportedly stranded on Thursday at a 
21-kilometer section of the highway which the Armenian government 
controversially ceded to Azerbaijan following last year’s war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani authorities set up the checkpoint there on Sunday 
after again accusing Iranian trucks of illegally shipping cargos to 
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian government’s press office said Pashinian and Raisi discussed, among 
other things, ways of “organizing unfettered cargo shipments between the two 
countries” as well as “processes taking place in the region.” It gave no details.
The official Iranian readout of the talks made no mention of the new obstacle to 
Armenian-Iranian trade and wider transport links. It said Raisi “stressed the 
need to increase the current level of economic relations between Iran and 
Armenia.”
In that regard, the recently elected Iranian president was reported to say that 
an Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation should 
become “more active.” He proposed that Yerevan and Tehran set up joint 
“specialized working groups” that would deal with “obstacles” to the 
implementation of their joint economic projects.
According to the statement posted on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website, 
Pashinian pledged to “instruct relevant ministers” to remove those obstacles.
It was Pashinian’s second meeting with Raisi in less than two months. The two 
men held their first face-to-face talks in early August when the Armenian 
premier visited Tehran to attend Raisi’s swearing-in ceremony held in the 
Iranian parliament.
During those talks Pashinian reaffirmed his government’s readiness to have 
Iranian companies participate in its plans to refurbish Armenian highways 
leading to the Islamic Republic. The two governments set up in May a working 
group tasked with looking into practical aspects of such participation.
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.
 

                                        Monday, 
Vehicles ‘Escorted By Armenian Border Guards’ On Azeri-Controlled Road
        • Susan Badalian
An Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at on the main road conneting Armeia to Iran, 
September 14, 2021.
Armenian border guards have reportedly begun escorting Armenian vehicles driving 
along an Azerbaijani-controlled section of the main highway that connects 
Armenia to Iran.
The 21-kilometer section is part of contested border areas along Armenia’s 
Syunik province which were controversially handed over Azerbaijan following last 
year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani forces set up a checkpoint there on September 12 to check and tax 
Iranian commercial trucks transporting cargo to and from Armenia. The move 
caused serious disruptions in Armenian-Iranian trade operations.
Officials in Syunik have also accused masked Azerbaijani officers of bullying 
some Armenian drivers and their passengers at the same section of the road that 
also connects the Syunik towns of Goris and Kapan.
Two Armenian men were detained by Azerbaijani authorities in the area in unclear 
circumstances on Saturday. Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said they 
“deviated” from the highway.
Both men were set free late on Sunday night as a result of what the NSS 
described as joint efforts of Armenian as well as Russian border guards deployed 
in Syunik.
“The Goris-Kapan highway is safe,” an NSS officer said on Monday, answering a 
call to the security agency’s hotline. “They [the travellers] are escorted right 
now. So no problems arise at that four-kilometer stretch.”
The security escorts began on Sunday morning, according to the NSS.
Two Iranian truck drivers were arrested at the Azerbaijani checkpoint last week 
for allegedly travelling to Nagorno-Karabakh without Baku’s permission. The 
Iranian Foreign Ministry called for their immediate release on Sunday.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the road crisis with Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian at a meeting held in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on Friday.
Pashinian Congratulates Putin On Election Win
Russia - A man casts his ballot during parliamentary and local elections at a 
polling station in St. Petersburg, Russia, September 18, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Monday congratulated Russian President 
Vladimir Putin on the Kremlin-backed United Russia party’s “convincing” victory 
in parliamentary elections held over the weekend.
“The election results testify to support shown by citizens of Russia for 
policies consistently implemented by the country’s political leadership,” 
Pashinian said in a congratulatory message publicized by his office.
He expressed confidence that “close cooperation” between the newly elected State 
Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, and Armenia’s National Assembly 
will help to “advance the Russian-Armenian alliance.”
With 99.7 percent of ballots counted, the Russian Central Election Commission 
said United Russia, which backs Putin, won 49.84 percent of the vote. Its 
closest rival, the Communist Party, had 18.95 percent, and the nationalist 
Liberal Democratic Party received 7.5 percent.
United Russia Secretary-General Andrei Turchak said the party expects to control 
315 of the Duma's 450 seats, giving it a comfortable two-thirds majority that 
continues to allow it to change the constitution.
The three-day elections were marred by allegations of voting irregularities and 
ballot tampering.
An independent monitoring agency called them "one of the dirtiest" elections in 
Russian history.
Germany said on Monday that the allegations must be taken “seriously and should 
be clarified” and the European Union denounced the climate of "intimidation" in 
the run up to the vote.
The vote is widely seen as an important part of Putin’s efforts to cement his 
grip on power ahead of a possible run in the 2024 presidential election, making 
control of the State Duma key.
Transport Corridors ‘Not Discussed’ In Armenian-Azeri Talks
        • Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk speaks with journalists 
during a business forum in Yerevan, .
Armenia and Azerbaijan have not discussed possible transport corridors in 
Russian-mediated talks on restoring economic links between them after last 
year’s war, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said on Monday.
The Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani governments set up in January a trilateral 
working group to try to work out practical modalities of opening the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border for commercial traffic. The task force co-headed by 
Overchuk and his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts has met regularly in 
Moscow since then.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire deal that stopped the six-week war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh last November commits Armenia to opening rail and road links 
between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave. Armenia should be able, for its 
part, to use Azerbaijani territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and 
from Russia and Iran.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that the deal 
envisages a permanent land “corridor” that will connect Nakhichevan to the rest 
of Azerbaijan via Armenia’s Syunik province. He has threatened to forcibly open 
such a corridor if Yerevan continues to oppose its creation.
Armenian leaders have denounced Aliyev’s threats as territorial claims, saying 
that the truce accord only calls for transport links between the two South 
Caucasus states.
“We don’t have corridors [on the working group’s agenda,]” Overchuk told 
journalists while attending a Russian-Armenian business forum in Yerevan. He 
said that no such issue is being discussed by the trilateral group.
“We discuss the issue of economic unblocking. The parties have been exchanging 
views,” added Overchuk.
The group’s Armenian co-chair, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian, said 
Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian officials have been exploring “possible 
infrastructure solutions” and a legal framework for customs and other border 
controls. He did not give any details.
“We are very interested in the opening of transport links because we see that as 
an opportunity to overcome the blockade in which Armenia has been more than 25 
years,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told Overchuk later in the day. He said 
he hopes that the ongoing talks will yield “concrete decisions.”
Pashinian Said To Seek Meeting With Turkey’s Erdogan
        • Heghine Buniatian
        • Tatevik Sargsian
        • Nane Sahakian
CYPRUS -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the Turkish Cypriot 
Parliament, in Nicosia, July 19, 2021.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian has offered to meet with him for talks on improving 
Turkish-Armenian relations.
Erdogan appeared to make such talks conditional on Armenia agreeing to open a 
transport corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave.
“It is bewildering that on the one hand Pashinian is saying that the Armenian 
side is not discussing that [corridor] issue and on the other expressing a 
desire to meet with me,” he said. “If he wants to meet with Tayyip Erdogan then 
clear steps will have to be taken.”
Erdogan said that the offer was communicated to him by Georgian Prime Minister 
Irakli Gharibashvili. The latter met with Pashinian in Tbilisi on September 8.
Pashinian did not explicitly deny making such an offer when he reacted to 
Erdogan’s remarks through his spokeswoman, Mane Gevorgian, on Monday.
“As of now, there have been no contacts between Armenian and Turkish officials, 
even though the Armenian government is prepared for such contacts,” Gevorgian 
told the Armenpress news agency. “In the event of such productive work, Armenia 
will also be ready for meetings at a high and the highest level.”
Gevorgian also criticized Erdogan’s calls for the “Nakhichevan corridor,” saying 
that such statements run counter to efforts to establish “peace and stability 
and overcome the atmosphere of enmity in the region.” She said that Armenia 
stands for the opening of all regional transport links.
Pashinian spoke on August 27 of “some positive signals” sent by the Turkish 
government to Yerevan and said his administration is ready to reciprocate them.
Erdogan responded by saying that Ankara is open to normalizing Turkish-Armenian 
relations. But he cited in that context Azerbaijan’s demands for a formal 
Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pashinian described Erdogan’s statements as encouraging and reiterated his 
readiness to embark on a dialogue with Ankara hours before flying to Tbilisi on 
September 8.
GEORGIA -- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (L) and his Armenian 
counterpart Nikol Pashinian attend official welcoming ceremony in Tbilisi, 
September 8, 2021
Armenian opposition leaders and some analysts say Ankara continues to link the 
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations to a resolution of the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict favorable to Baku. They say the Turks also want 
Yerevan to stop campaigning for a greater international recognition of the 1915 
Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan expressed hope on Sunday that the “problem between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan will be overcome through the opening of corridors.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev threatened earlier this year to forcibly open 
a corridor to Nakhichevan through Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province 
repeatedly described by him as “historical Azerbaijani lands.” Yerevan strongly 
condemned the threat.
A Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped last year’s war in Karabakh 
commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest 
of Azerbaijan. Armenia should be able, for its part, to use Azerbaijani 
territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and from Russia and Iran.
Armenian leaders maintain that the agreement does not call for the creation of a 
permanent land corridor for Nakhichevan. The Azerbaijani region also borders 
Turkey.
Turkey provided decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan during the six-week 
war in Karabakh. Armenia says that Turkish military personnel participated in 
the hostilities on the Azerbaijani side along with thousands of mercenaries 
recruited in Syria’s Turkish-controlled northern regions.
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.
 

                                        Tuesday, 
Armenia Marks Independence Anniversary
        • Naira Nalbandian
        • Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - A concert dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Armenia's independence 
is held in Yerevan's Republic Square, .
Armenia marked on Tuesday the 30th anniversary of its declaration of 
independence from the Soviet Union with official ceremonies and an open-air 
concert boycotted by opposition leaders and condemned by some relatives of 
Armenian soldiers killed in last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ceremonies began in the morning at the Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan 
where President Armen Sarkissian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other 
senior officials laid wreaths at a Karabakh war memorial.
Journalists were barred from not only approaching the officials but also 
watching the wreath-laying ceremony. Security officers deployed at Yerablur also 
interrupted their interviews with the parents of several fallen soldiers who 
wanted to prevent Pashinian from approaching their graves.
“He must not come to my boys’ home,” said one woman. “I didn’t invite him.”
Moments later the angry father of another soldier was forcibly removed from the 
military cemetery where hundreds of Armenian victims of the first Karabakh war 
of 1991-1994 were also laid to rest.
“Nikol, you will answer for ruining our independence,” shouted another man 
holding Pashinian responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war that left 
about 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead and more than 200 others unaccounted for.
He and other protesters, most of them relatives of soldiers killed in action, 
argued with riot police after the prime minister left Yerablur.
Armenia - Riot police scuffle with relatives of Armenian soldiers killed during 
the war in Nagorno-Karabakh at the Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan, 
.
More than 200 other relatives led by a well-known political activist staged a 
candlelight march to Yerablur from the city center in the afternoon. They not 
only paid their respects to their loved ones but also protested against the 
Independence Day concert organized by the Armenian government in the city’s 
central Republic Square.
Pashinian announced the concert on September 8, saying that it will be the 
culmination of “large-scale and colorful” celebrations of Armenia’s main public 
holiday. He said it will be “first and foremost dedicated to our martyrs who 
sacrificed their lives for Armenia’s independence.”
The announcement prompted strong condemnations from many families of war victims 
as well as opposition politicians and other critics of his government. They said 
that any festivities would be highly inappropriate in a country which is still 
mourning the war dead and has not yet found, identified and buried all of its 
fallen soldiers.
Pashinian last week apologized for using the word “colorful” but said the 
concert will not be an affront to the soldiers’ memory and will go ahead as 
planned.
The concert featured classical, folk and modern music played in front of the 
country’s political leadership and other dignitaries. It also attracted hundreds 
of ordinary people to the sprawling square guarded by an unusually large number 
of police officers and other security personnel.
Armenia - President Armen Sarkissian (R) and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
shake hands at the Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan, .
Addressing the crowd before the live performances, Pashinian paid tribute to the 
fallen soldiers. He said they must be regarded as “symbols of life, not death.” 
He also urged Armenians to “transform our defeat into victory” and “defeat 
desperation, destiny and death.”
Lawmakers representing Armenia’s two main opposition alliances led by former 
Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian were also invited to the event 
broadcast live by state television. Predictably, they chose to boycott it.
Also invited was Levon Ter-Petrosian, another former president who led Armenia 
to independence in the final months of Soviet rule. Ter-Petrosian, whose 
spokesman branded Pashinian a “nation-destroying scourge” right after last 
year’s war, shunned the event too.
The government’s press office declined to clarify whether personal invitations 
were also sent to Kocharian and Sarkisian, who are even more critical of the 
current Armenian authorities.
Both ex-presidents again blamed Pashinian for the outcome of the six-week war 
stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November in separate statements 
issued earlier on Tuesday on the occasion of the independence jubilee.
“As recently as one year ago, we were proud of our Armed Forces and were an 
essential factor in the geopolitical configuration of the South Caucasus,” read 
Kocharian’s statement. “But now we have not only ceased to be the security 
guarantor of Artsakh (Karabakh) but are also unable to protect our own 
sovereignty and citizens.”
Macron Wants To Deepen France’s ‘Special’ Ties With Armenia
FRANCE -- French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the annual dinner of 
the Co-ordination Council of Armenian organisations of France (CCAF), in Paris, 
February 5, 2019
France and Armenia enjoy a “special relationship” that should be deepened 
further, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.
“France and Armenia have forged a special relationship deeply rooted in history. 
This relationship of friendship, dense and trustful, continues today in all 
areas,” Macron said in a congratulatory message sent to President Armen 
Sarkissian on Armenia’s Independence Day.
“I would like this link, which forms the richness of our bilateral relationship, 
to deepen even further when it comes to our cooperation in various sectors such 
as culture, education, health or even economic cooperation,” he wrote.
France, Macron went on, “stands with Armenia to help it overcome the challenges 
facing it one year after the deadly conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.” He said Paris 
will also remain actively involved in international efforts to resolve the 
Karabakh conflict spearheaded by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the 
OSCE Minsk Group.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian discussed those efforts in a 
September 17 phone call with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. According 
to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the two men also agreed on the need to expand 
“multidimensional cooperation” between their countries.
“The sides agreed to discuss in greater detail soon prospects for stepping up 
their cooperation in the economic sphere, including through the implementation 
of new development programs in Armenia,” the ministry said in a statement.
Mirzoyan praised France’s position and actions taken during and after last 
year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Karabakh.
Macron criticized Azerbaijan and accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters 
from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the war broke out in September 
2020. Le Drian demanded “the departure of the Syrian mercenaries” from the 
conflict zone following a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 
hostilities in November.
Turkey denied sending members of Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups to fight in 
Karabakh. Azerbaijan also denied their presence in the Azerbaijani army ranks. 
Both Ankara and Baku accused Paris of pro-Armenian bias.
Macron was also quick to voice strong support for Yerevan after Azerbaijani 
forces reportedly crossed some sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and 
advanced several kilometers into Armenian territory in May.
“The Azerbaijani troops must leave Armenia’s sovereign territory,” he said 
during a June 1 meeting in Paris with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Baku maintains that its troops took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of 
the frontier and did not cross into Armenia.
France is home to an influential Armenian community. The latter was instrumental 
in the December 2020 passage by both houses of the French parliament of 
resolutions calling on Macron’s government to recognize Karabakh as an 
independent republic. The government ruled out such recognition, saying that it 
would be counterproductive for France and the Karabakh negotiating process.
Biden Vows Continued U.S. Efforts For Karabakh Peace
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Delta variant of coronavirus, 
September 9, 2021.
President Joe Biden said the United States will continue to strive for a 
peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict when he congratulated Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian on Armenia’s Independence Day on Tuesday.
In a message sent on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the South Caucasus 
state’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, Biden also promised 
continued U.S. support for the Armenian government’s “efforts to strengthen your 
democratic institutions, advance human rights, combat corruption, and uphold the 
rule of law.”
“The Armenian people have faced challenges over the last year, including the 
tragic loss of life in the fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” added the 
letter publicized by the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.
“As we mourn with the people of Armenia, we will work hand in hand with your 
government, including through the OSCE Minsk Group and other regional formats, 
to promote regional stability and conflict resolution. The United States will 
continue to advocate for the release of all Armenian detainees held in 
Azerbaijan.”
Biden similarly assured Pashinian in early August that Washington remains 
committed to facilitating a “comprehensive” Karabakh settlement together with 
Russia and France, the two other co-chairs of the Minsk Group.
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, has repeatedly said since then that 
the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved after last year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani 
war.
“We do not see the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved,” Tracy 
insisted on September 13.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned the envoy’s remarks. It echoed 
President Ilham Aliyev’s repeated claims that Azerbaijan’s victory in the 
six-week war put an end to the conflict.
Aliyev ruled out on July 22 any negotiations on Karabakh’s status, saying 
Yerevan must instead recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the 
Armenian-populated territory.
Later in July the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group issued a 
joint statement calling for a “negotiated, comprehensive, and sustainable 
settlement of all remaining core substantive issues of the conflict” and urging 
the conflicting parties to resume talks “as soon as possible.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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