Category: 2021

The US Government supports Armenia’s efforts to fight corruption by providing $9.5 million through the United States Agency for International Development.

The announcement was made during today’s conference on “Priorities of Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Policy,” which was also attended by Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Grigoryan. The program aims to reduce corruption opportunities, strengthen public demand for accountability in Armenia, and improve accountability.

Also present at the launch of the program were US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Lynne Tracy, Chairman of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption Haykuhi Harutyunyan, MPs, civil society representatives and others.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Grigoryan welcomed the launch of the program on behalf of the Ministry.

In the context of the development of the institutional system of anti-corruption policy, the Deputy Minister presented the procedure for forming the Anti-Corruption Committee, the regulation of prosecutorial control over the legality of criminal proceedings on corruption, as well as the process of establishing an anti-corruption court.

Following the tragic recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the PACE Migration Committee has set out a series of recommendations to both countries to address the humanitarian consequences in the short and long term, and move towards a process of peace and reconciliation.

Approving a resolution and recommendation on the basis of a report by Paul Gavan (Ireland, UEL), who visited both countries, the committee said it was “concerned about the many allegations of crimes, war crimes and other wrongful acts,” during the six-week war, listing the most serious. It called on both countries to “fully investigate the allegations and bring to justice anyone, including at command level, found to be responsible” and to co-operate fully with the European Court of Human Rights on the complaints lodged against them. “Unless there is accountability and some form of truth and reconciliation, these allegations will poison relations between the two countries for generations, and the consequences of the conflict will linger,” the committee pointed out.

While welcoming the recent release by Azerbaijan of 15 Armenians on 12 June 2021 and a further release of 15 persons on 3 July 2021, bringing the total of repatriated to above 100, the committee also called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release all remaining captives and return them to Armenia without further delay. It deplored that since the November cease-fire, 159 Azerbaijanis and 5 Armenians have been killed or injured by mines, and called on Armenia to “release, without delay, all mine maps in its possession”. In light of various border incidents since May 2021, the parliamentarians urged both sides to de-escalate, and to negotiate a border demarcation process.

Regarding displaced persons, the committee called on the international community to continue to support Armenia and Azerbaijan, and encouraged both countries to make good use of Council of Europe expertise. It also recommended that both countries take steps to tackle hate speech as well as hate crimes, including by introducing appropriate legislation with Council of Europe assistance. The long-running conflict has had a “catastrophic” impact on the cultural heritage and property of the region, the committee pointed out.

Two dissenting opinions were presented by members of the committee and are annexed to the report. It is due to be debated by the full Assembly on Monday 27th September, during its Autumn plenary session.

The developments taking place along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have multiple layers and pretexts, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a Q&A session at the National Assembly.

He noted that “it is important to correctly perceive and interpret those pretexts.”

“In December 2020, we carried out a process of aligning the positions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia with the borders inherited from the Soviet Union. And that process was done to avoid a new military escalation,” the Prime Minister said.

In this context PM Pashinyan reminded about the Law on Administrative Territorial Division adopted by the National Assembly in 2010, which, he said, clearly stipulated that the administrative borders of the villages of Shurnukh and Vorotan correspond to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“In this case I should state that this reality, as well as the Soviet-era administrative border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan later turned into a state border. This reality has been accepted as a ground. Now, by the same logic, the Goris-Kapan highway crosses the administrative border of the Republic of Armenia or Soviet Armenia in two places. And it is due to this circumstance that the well-known signs and bases appeared on the roads.

The Prime Minister reminded that in December 2020, an agreement was reached that this road could be used for the transit of goods and vehicles of the Republic of Armenia.

“I suppose that since there was no mention of foreign cargoes in that agreement, Azerbaijan probably uses that measure in response to our statements that both the November 9th and January 11th trilateral statements do not provide for any corridor through the territory of Armenia. While accepting that the regional communication routes should be opened, the Republic of Armenia states that when crossing the territory of the Republic of Armenia, foreign goods, including those from the western regions of Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan, must cross customs, passport and other checkpoints, as defined by the legal framework providing transport communication between the CIS countries,” PM Pashinyan stated.

Referring to the use of Azerbaijani names of Eyvazli and Chaizami, the Prime Minister noted: “It has been done for a simple reason to make it clear for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia that the areas in question are not in the territory of the Republic of Armenia or the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, but outside that territory, which Armenia accepted under the Law on Administrative Territorial Division in 2010.”