Category: 2022

Murovdag tunnel in Kalbajar region

One of the longest tunnels in the world will be built on the highway that will connect the city of Ganja with Kalbajar. It will pass under the Murovdag ridge. Why did Azerbaijan need a several-kilometers-long tunnel to Kalbajar, and for what reason is it being built to bypass Nagorno-Karabakh? According to the expert, an alternative road never hurts, but there are also serious questions.

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After the end of the second Karabakh war and the return of the Kelbajar region under the control of Azerbaijan, the question of communication with this region arose.

Before the start of the Karabakh conflict, the only road to Kalbajar ran through the Aghdere (Mardakert) region. Later, the Azerbaijani authorities abolished this region and administratively it joined with the Terter region. The road through Agdere (Mardakert) still exists, but it passes through part of Karabakh, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is stationed.

The northern, much more difficult road to Kalbajar runs through the Murovdag Range and is almost impassable in winter.

August 16, 2021, i.e. nine months after the end of the 44-day war, the foundation was laid for the tunnel – part of the road that will connect the city of Ganja (the second most important city in Azerbaijan) with Kalbajar.

The length of the tunnel will be 11,658 meters, and according to the Azerbaijani authorities, it will become one of the longest road tunnels in the world.

The tunnel is planned to be commissioned in 2025.

According to expert Nazim Gamidov, the very construction of this tunnel and the year it was put into operation raise several questions at once.

“Let’s be honest, a tunnel under a mountain with a length of almost 12 kilometers requires huge material investments. In other words, for Azerbaijan it is not a matter of image, or something else, there were simply no other options.

If you look at the map, on the western side, the Kelbajar region borders Armenia. From the south, with the Lachin region, which also returned under the control of Azerbaijan. But in the Lachin region, there is a corridor 5 kilometers wide connecting Armenia with Khankendi (Stepanakert). It is also problematic with the eastern side – the old road runs through the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers.

Only the northern direction remains for unhindered communication. But…

The tunnel will be put into operation only in 2025. As we remember, the period of stay of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh expires in the same year. Official Baku has already stated several times from the lips of various persons close to the government that it will not renew the agreement with Moscow on the continuation of the peacekeeping mission. And the agreement of November 10, 2020 has not yet been ratified by the country’s parliament. If you follow the law, the peacekeepers are illegally on the territory of Azerbaijan recognized by the whole world.

But here we have a multi-million dollar tunnel construction project, which could not have been built if we were sure that by 2025 Baku would have unhindered access to the road through Agdere to Kalbajar. Apparently, there is no such certainty. But in any case, the second – an alternative road will not hurt anyone.

As for the statements about one of the longest tunnels in the world, the Murovdag tunnel is not even included in the first hundred of the longest. If taken on a global scale. But undoubtedly, this is a huge project on a regional scale,” Hamidov said.

https://jam-news.net/azerbaijan-to-build-one-of-the-longest-tunnels-in-the-world-to-bypass-nagorno-karabakh/

State control of publications on the Internet

Armenian Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan suggested that the government introduce state control over information published on the Internet and, if necessary, force the removal of any publications. The Prosecutor General actually made a proposal to introduce censorship in the network. As an example, he referred to the experience of Roskomnadzor.

The initiative of the Prosecutor General’s Office has not yet been formalized in the form of a draft law. But if this regulation is adopted, it will apply not only to the media, but also to users who publish a post on Facebook.

Human rights activists and media experts reacted negatively to the proposal of the Prosecutor General. They warn that if a structure is created to control information on the web, it could become “a tool that restricts freedom of speech,” a “ministry of censorship.”

The government has not yet commented on the proposal of the prosecutor’s office, and there are no comments on the critical remarks made by the experts.

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From the message published by the Prosecutor General’s Office, it turns out that Artur Davtyan proposed to the government

• discuss issues of legal regulation of the security of information distributed through Internet resources;
• based on this, discuss the issue of introducing state control in the sphere.

At the same time, it is emphasized that control should be combined “with a guarantee of the constitutional right to freedom of _expression_”.

The prosecutor’s office also reports that it has conducted a study in the field of protecting the non-property interests of the state, which showed:

• “in recent years, national, religious, sexual or other discrimination has increased in the information disseminated on websites and social media, advertising of substances prohibited in Armenia, including drugs,
• according to the legislation of Armenia, the security of information distributed on social media is not ensured, there are no legal norms,
• control over the provision of information security and the application of the measures arising from this are not assigned to any body.

The prosecutor’s office said that in the absence of such control, information resources continue to freely distribute such content, distorting and abusing the democratic principle of freedom of speech.

The experience of Russia is also cited as an example, where the Prosecutor General or his deputies, in the event that information about suicide methods or drug trafficking is discovered, submit a demand to Roskomnadzor to immediately delete this information and restrict access to the relevant Internet resources.

Armenian experts believe that the goal of the Prosecutor General’s proposal is not to prevent suicide and drug sales among minors, but to control media and social media.

The experts were alarmed not only by the prosecutor’s proposal itself but also by the reference to the experience of the Russian Roskomnadzor.

“In fact, Roskomnadzor has become a body that exercises open censorship in some cases necessary for the state. And the reference to it does not give grounds to think about anything positive”, said Shushan Doydoyan, head of the Freedom of Information Center.

According to her, this creates the ground for prompt intervention, so that government agencies, if necessary, can immediately take measures and actions on the Internet. According to her, this is fraught with serious consequences.

Shushan Doydoyan agrees with the presence of numerous problems in the content published on the Internet, but believes that their resolution “is not the job of the prosecutor’s office”.

“It would be good if the prosecutor’s office did not take on functions reminiscent of the Russian Roskomnadzor. This is in the interests of everyone, first of all, in the interests of our democracy”.

Boris Navasardyan regarded the proposal of the Prosecutor General as an attempt to restrict freedom of speech. He says that the initiative has no serious justification. And the expert does not consider it a coincidence that the statement of the prosecutor’s office was preceded by high-level Armenian-Russian contacts.

“Now, when he leaves his post [the term of office of Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan expires on September 15] and receives a medal, he is doing his duty. At the same time, he will not be obliged to complete this initiative”, Boris Navasardyan emphasized.

The expert considers the initiative of the prosecutor’s office a proposal to introduce censorship on the Internet, an attempt to “create a ministry of censorship.” He says that he does not understand why the structure has only now discovered that “there is an Internet where, for example, people can swear or sell drugs.”

“If we follow the path of Russia, then first the fight against drugs and calls for suicide will be banned on the Internet. And one fine day we will find that the state is engaged in blocking, and, moreover, mainly of posts of a political nature.

In his article published on the Media.am website, Samvel Martirosyan emphasized that it would not be possible to fight drug selling in this way, but it would be possible to block political dissent, “closing websites for every unauthorized sneeze”.

“Under the guise of this fight against windmills, huge amounts of money for Armenia will be written off. Because if you decide to do a quality job, this implies serious costs at the level of the Internet infrastructure. Not to mention the fact that they will feed the hungry army of censors at the expense of the taxes we pay”, the expert believes.

Freedom House Address to the Prime Minister of Armenia

The international human rights organization Freedom House has addressed two topics that are now being actively discussed by Armenian journalistic organizations and in expert circles. On its Twitter, the organization has welcomed the decriminalization of grave insult in Armenia and called on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to take seriously the media demand to restore direct contact with journalists.

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Freedom House urges Nikol Pashinyan to take media concerns seriously. The organization believes that it is necessary “to use direct channels of communication, including through open and transparent press conferences, to ensure the healthy functioning of democracy”.

Since the 2020 Karabakh war, the Prime Minister of Armenia has held four press conferences, all four were held online. Initially, the government explained this by the pandemic and the fight against the spread of coronavirus. However, the press conferences continued to be held online even after the infection rate dropped.

This caused concern and even outrage in journalistic circles. Now the Armenian media must send questions to the prime minister’s office in advance, and they do not have the opportunity to respond to his answer. In addition, the questions of some publications may not sound at all, thematically close ones are often grouped into one, and some are edited. For this reason, more than 30 media outlets boycotted the latest press conference of the prime minister and refused to send questions.

They also issued a statement that they considered the format of the press conference “discriminatory, ineffective and contrary to the principles of transparency and accountability, which are the key to freedom of speech and democracy”.

During a press conference, the Prime Minister of Armenia, in response to a media statement, stressed that the online format is “an opportunity, not a coercion, and there will always be a reason for a boycott”.

On July 30, 2021, the Armenian parliament decided to include an article on “grave insult” in the new criminal code. Only deputies of the ruling faction took part in the voting.

Recently, Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan announced that the article on the criminalization of grave insults would cease to operate from July 1. For those who “abuse freedom of speech, the current norms of civil liability will remain” – compensation of up to 3 million drams ($7,300 at the current exchange rate).

Local experts believe that the reason for this decision was the criticism of human rights activists and international structures, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Freedom House called on the Armenian authorities to decriminalize “grave insult” back in August last year. The organization said in a statement that this article jeopardizes Armenia’s achievements in the field of democracy and law. In February 2022, the structure addressed the Armenian Parliament with the same appeal.

Now, the human rights organization has welcomed the decriminalization of “grave insult” as well as the government’s commitment to broad consultations on media legislation.