Category: 2022

YEREVAN. – Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: In recent times, we have been witnessing how the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] authorities oppose, at certain intervals, the concessionary actions and various initiatives of the RA authorities.

There was a similar situation also recently—related to the Berdzor [(Lachin)] corridor issue. (…) the authorities of Armenia "washed [their] hands" of this issue once and for all and directed all vectors in the direction of the Russian peacekeepers [in Artsakh].

Moreover, according to Past newspaper’s information, the RA authorities are creating centers of fight against the local authorities in Artsakh, which carry out actions at various frequency. According to our source, [Armenia PM Nikol] Pashinyan's teammates are attempting to also create anti-Russian sentiments in Artsakh. It is noteworthy that the anti-Russianness being circulated in Artsakh is spreading widely, especially on platforms with Western funding.

Robert Ghukasyan, the governor of Armenia’s Syunik Province, also joined the tour of the houses of people who have moved from Berdzor town and Aghavno village of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Syunik.

He visited such families who have now settled in Karahunj village, talked with them, inquired about their living conditions, and heard about their problems, the Syunik provincial hall informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The employees of the Syunik provincial hall have started to respond to the problems recorded so far; necessary household appliances were delivered to Goris city and allocated to families as needed.

"The process will continue," the Syunik provincial hall added on Facebook.

There was an incident in Vedi, with the participation of a group of people, the clarifications are currently being carried out, we are finding out who they are, we are carrying out identification, about the results of which we will definitely inform. Deputy Chief of Police Ara Fidanyan stated this at the press briefing after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia—and referring to the incident involving Turkish citizens in Vedi town of Armenia.

"The police were informed that there is an incident, there is a fight, an argument between a group of people, to which the police have responded," Fidanyan said.

"We will find out and present all the circumstances. The incident happened hours ago," he said.

And asked whether there is fear that this argument will continue between the same people, Fidanyan responded: "There are concerns, of course, but more comprehensive measures should be taken. That is, if we are concerned, should these people be constantly kept under arrest? If there are no grounds, they should be released immediately."

Earlier, the media reported that there was an incident involving Turks in Vedi at night, as these Turks had cursed at Armenians at the Vedi station.

And the Investigative Committee of Armenia reported that the participants in this incident are Turkish citizens who are spouses.

Mere notification does not mean that the holding of certain assemblies are permitted or possible. Deputy Chief of Police Ara Fidanyan stated this at the press briefing after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia—and responding to the question on what grounds a group of Russian citizens holding a peaceful anti-war protest at Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan were detained a few days ago.

"Even the law [of Armenia] on freedom of assembly clearly defines the limitation of freedom of assembly. It is noted there if there is information or certain actions aimed against public order are possible. The police had clear information, and it was already noted that there are also people with a different point of view in the given area, which means that clashes are not ruled out there. Due to this, a decision was made that the given assembly should be interrupted at that very moment," said Fidanyan.

Work with the Federal Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Nikolayevna Moskalkova on the issue of missing persons and prisoners of war went on as smoothly as clockwork. The work was conducted through telephone and personal meetings. Former Armenian human rights defender Arman Tatoyan told NEWS.am, referring to his colleague's interview in which she spoke about joint efforts to find missing Armenian servicemen during the 44-day war.

"Federal Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova has been an extremely reliable partner for me. She helped me with everything. When she received the lists I sent her with specific names, she worked with the Russian Government, the Russian Ministry of Defense, the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Moscow. She did everything to find out the fate of each serviceman on the list," Arman Tatoyan said.

Tatyana Moskalkova told Rusarminfo about the list presented by Arman Tatoyan which includes more than 200 names of missing persons.

"I cannot say that all have been found, but nevertheless someone from this list has been found, his whereabouts and fate have been determined," Tatyana Moskalkova said.

A peace treaty would mean a final settlement of the Artsakh issue in favor of Azerbaijan, Yerevan would make new concessions. The Armenian authorities have adopted the policy of peace at any price, which may cost the statehood in the end, and in these conditions everything is expected. This was stated by Andranik Tevanyan, an MP from the "Armenia" bloc, in a conversation with journalists on September 1.

According to his assessment, the last meeting in Brussels was held on the Azerbaijani agenda.

"Azerbaijan presented the five principles that should be the basis of the peace treaty. Yerevan responded to them very quickly and agreed to them. Then the Armenian authorities stated that they presented their six proposals that were supposed to supplement the five Azerbaijani proposals, but Baku simply ignored them. Yerevan responded to this with silence, actually accepting that the peace treaty should be on Azerbaijani conditions," the MP said.

He reminded that Azerbaijan's five principles did not presuppose any status of Artsakh, did not presuppose any conflict, and Aliyev stated that the Artsakh issue is closed and Armenians must reconcile with the total loss of Karabakh.

"If we compare the 5 Azerbaijani principles and Baku's official statements, it becomes clear that the peace treaty will be on Baku's agenda. Moreover, there is no word about Karabakh in Charles Michel's statement, even the word "Karabakh" is not mentioned. "Earlier we argued that Michel did not use the term 'Nagorno Karabakh', which implies the entity, used the wording 'the Armenian population of Karabakh' and spoke about their rights and security guarantees, but now there is none of that either," Tevanyan said.

He is sure that official Yerevan washed its hands of the Karabakh issue.

"After the 44-day war, Armenia has significantly lost its subjectivity in international relations, and in Artsakh, its statehood. Now we see that Armenia is being kicked like a soccer match by the Turks on one side, by Brussels on the other, and by Moscow on the third. Each is pursuing its own interests, but no one is promoting Armenia's interests. The Armenian authorities are exclusively engaged in protection of their seats. If they find this protection in Turkey, they will serve the interests of Turkey. It will be the same with Brussels and Moscow," the deputy added.

Based on his experience, Tevanyan concluded that the tasks Azerbaijan sets for itself get from Pashinyan.

"Now Baku talks about the same enclaves, but I don't see any counterarguments based on the policy of the authorities. What happened in Lachin contradicts the November 9 statement, and even the Armenian authorities said that Azerbaijan's demands are illegitimate. But a few days later, the proxies of the Armenian authorities in Artsakh said that the Armenians should leave Lachin. So in the end what Baku demanded happened," the deputy concluded.

During his second trip to neighboring countries after his visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Abedin Khorram headed a delegation of economic and commercial figures from the province to Armenia, IRNA reports.

Referring to the goals of the provincial trade and economic delegation in Armenia, Khorram noted that tracking customs and transport issues, tracking the establishment of a joint trading city on the border of the two countries and a joint technology city between Iran and Armenia are among the most important goals of this trip.

"This trip is carried out in accordance with the use of border opportunities and the development of the province's international relations and on the basis of the powers that the government has," Khorram told reporters.

According to him, the development of relations with neighboring countries and an active presence in regional markets is one of the main and strategic directions of the policy of the 13th government in the field of diplomacy, and “East Azerbaijan, being in the neighborhood of several important countries in the region, has a significant contribution to the implementation this policy."

"During this trip, meetings and negotiations are also planned with government officials, such as the Minister of Economy, the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Regional Administration and Infrastructure, the Deputy Minister of Economy of this country," he said.

All the worst predictions keep coming true. Armen Ashotyan, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, told NEWS.am.

He recalled that prior to yesterday's meeting in Brussels, Aliyev said he was expecting Brussels to establish a working group to prepare a peace treaty.

"After the meeting, the Armenian authorities circulated a press release about nothing, except that they tried to mislead us by allegedly talking about the Karabakh problem. In fact, Baku's demands are being met: the foreign ministers have been instructed to discuss the draft within a month, i.e. a working group.

Another traitorous step is also implemented: the so-called agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations is separated from the Karabakh problem. Armenia's traitorous government continues to pursue a line according to which Artsakh must be completely washed of its hands.

If the peace agreement doesn't reflect the approaches and points related to Artsakh, it turns out that Armenia "reconciles" with Azerbaijan and leaves Artsakh at the mercy of Azerbaijan, or, at the best, leaves it to Russia, or at the discretion of fate," Ashotyan added.

This, in his assessment, will not be a reconciliation, and Armenia will only end up in a "sagging state." 

"Now Armenia is not only not a guarantor of Artsakh's security but it does not even raise Artsakh's voice in the international arena. If in the statement on the results of the previous meeting "Nagorno-Karabakh" became "Karabakh" (this is also an Azerbaijani demand), now it is not mentioned at all, which again completely reflects Baku's viewpoint," he stressed.

As for the prisoners and other issues, Armenia is not dealing with this issue, having all legal grounds.

"Yesterday the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published a report on Azerbaijan, which says that Armenian prisoners are tortured, their humanitarian rights are violated, that Azerbaijan shows xenophobia against Armenians.

Normal authorities would have taken this report and other previously published documents and appealed to international instances, instead of forgiving Aliyev and washing the blood of Armenians off his hands.

We have 303 missing persons, over 100 unidentified bodies, over 100 prisoners. No one deals with the fate of our children. Before the change of power in 2018, during the incidents in the military, all the Soros media actively turned inside out. And now these people are gone.

These issues are not being addressed because Nichol is politically impotent. He is incapable of solving them and doesn't want to do so. How will he do it on the international stage if inside he and his team call these people deserters or non-existent people. These are the same heroes who should have waited 1-2 months during the election campaign. Pashinyan could at least ask Charles Michel at every meeting to mediate and return 5-10 of our guys," concluded the Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia.

You cannot solve problems during geopolitical clashes and rumblings, because everyone's interests are different, and you become a geopolitical "night butterfly," a bargaining chip. Nikol Pashinyan does just that. There are upheavals all over the world. How do you want to build a house of peace in the conditions of such upheavals? How is peace possible in one region, if there are bloody geopolitical wars in other regions of the world? Armen Ashotyan, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, told NEWS.am.

He noted that there is no talk of peace in any region of the world, the situation has aggravated even in Bosnia, Serbia, Uzbekistan and other places.

"What kind of person should be immoral, so that in the conditions of an earthquake and rumbling, not to run away from the place of disaster, but to build a house on this place?" added the politician.

He reminded that first the announcement of the meeting was about Moscow, then it was changed to Brussels. Yesterday Zakharova stated that the mediating role of the EU is determined by its geopolitical ambitions.

Ashotyan stated that the fact of such meetings becomes a part of the geopolitical collision agenda which cannot be in Armenia's interest since the geopolitical collision in the region is to the detriment of Armenia.

The oppositionist reminded that when the Republican Party was in power, it managed to keep Armenia and the Artsakh issue away from confrontations. The relations between the West and Russia were tense even then, though not to the same extent as now.

"But you can remember the Russian-Georgian war, the tension after the Crimean events, and so on," he concluded.