Category: 2022

ArmInfo. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan made the following statement. 

Today’s infiltration of Azerbaijani military forces into the village  of Pharukh of Askeran region of the Republic of Artsakh is the  logical continuation of criminal policy of Azerbaijan.

In breach of all well-known norms of international law this behavior  continues weeks and months – through the various acts of  intimidation, terrorization and creation of unbearable conditions for  normal life of people of Artsakh. This penetration is yet another  proof of the fact that the weeks-long targeting of the population of  Khramort village didn’t bring the desired result – people didn’t  leave their homeland, so Azerbaijan applied to its well-proven  behavior which is the provocation.

It is a shameful fact that the ethnic cleansing policy of Artsakh is  the state priority of Azerbaijan which undermines the fulfillment of  the obligations of international law and infringes the signatures of  that country put under its legally binding commitments.

The “uncomfortable” silence of international community about voicing  out the human rights violations is not being remedied by real actions  to address the situation. Meanwhile the people of Artsakh have same  rights as humans in any other part of the world.

I strongly condemn criminal behavior of Azerbaijan and call to  international human rights organizations and actors to ACT to STOP  this genocidal policy towards people of Artsakh.  

ArmInfo. In case a decision is made on Armenia joining the Allied State as “nominal Tatarstan” or “nominal Buryatia”, no one is going to inquire about Armenia’s  opinion, Stepan Safaryan, Head of the Armenian Institute of  International and Security Affairs (AIISA), said in an interview with  ArmInfo. 

“All the talks about choosing between bad and worse are surprising.  This opinion will turn into a real disaster for our society and  people. We must not surrender our hard-won nationhood, sovereignty  and freedom – albeit relative – to anyone,” Mr Safaryan said. 

According to him, the Armenian elite and society should focus on how  they could prevent such developments. Therefore, discussions should  be focused on the ways of retaining and strengthening Armenia’s  statehood, not on renouncing it. Mr Safaryan considers wrong the  parallels between the Allied State and the EU drawn by Armenia’s  ex-president Robert Kocharyan. In this context, he notes that  comparing an economic structure with a supranational Allied State is  at least irrelevant. The recent action in support of the war in  Ukraine, attended by several dozens and, later, many more people, is  extremely detrimental to the Armenian state. The videos of the event  on social media cause a surprise in Europe and in the entire  civilized world, particularly in the context of a nation that  survived a genocide and suffered the consequences of the  Turkish-Azerbaijani fascism.  

“And Azerbaijanis and Turks are sure to take advantage of this by  drawing parallels between Armenian and Russian expansionism, to say  nothing of even more unfavorable comparisons. By means of social  networking bots they will cause the collective West to form an  opinion of Armenians in the interests of Armenians’ foes. Their  specific goal is showing general approval of the war in Ukraine in  Armenia’s society, and they are achieving it step by step.  Simultaneously, the agenda of destroying Armenia’s statehood has been  put into circulation in the media environment,” Mr Safaryan said. 

ArmInfo.Despite the high-level talks, we note that the Russian peacekeeping force  deployed in Artsakh managed only to stop the advance of the  Azerbaijani armed forces in the Parukh community of Askeran region at  this stage, and firing from different caliber weapons. This is stated  in the statement of the Artsakh InfoCenter.

“As the Artsakh Republic Ministry of Defense has already reported,  today, March 25, the Armenian side suffered 2 casualties and a number  of servicemen were wounded (5 more servicemen were wounded last  night) as a result of the attacks of Bayraktar UAV used by the  Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Hence, Azerbaijan is grossly violating the  provisions of the November 9 trilateral statement in the form of  invasion and ceasefire violations.

Despite the high-level talks, we note that the Russian peacekeeping  force deployed in Artsakh managed only to stop the advance of the  Azerbaijani armed forces in the Parukh community of Askeran region at  this stage, and firing from different caliber weapons. However, at  the same time, we emphasize that the Russian peacekeeping forces have  not been able to solve the main problem within their mission, as the  Azerbaijani troops that invaded the village of Parukh of Askeran  region and the adjacent areas on March 24, remain on the ground.

The Artsakh authorities, however, hope that due to the decisive  efforts of the Russian side, the Azeri troops will return to their  starting positions, and the civilian population of Artsakh will be  able to return to their homes, otherwise the security guarantees  given to the civilian population in Artsakh are in serious doubt.” 

ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s team could well organize a referendum on ways and prospects of settling the conflict with Azerbaijan. In any case, such a possibility could be considered now, Sergey Markedonov, Leading  Researcher of the Euro-Atlantic Security Center, Moscow State  Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), said in an interview  with ArmInfo. 

“In considering this possibility, we should not forget that, after  coming to power as a result of the ‘velvet revolution’ Pashinyan,  immediately after being elected Armenia’s premier, stated that any  solution to the Karabakh problem implied nationwide approval.  However, in less than two years, he actually broke his promise by  signing the statement ending the 44-day war on November 9, 2020 –  primarily due to the fact that the trilateral statement obviously  outlined the future peace settlement. Nevertheless, that document did  not receive universal approval in Armenia. Rather, it is being  severely criticized,” Mr Markedonov said.

Under the circumstances, a referendum on the prospects of settling  the conflict with Azerbaijan is, in general, in interests of the  ruling party and Pashinyan-led team. By holding a referendum,  Pashinyan will place the responsibility on the people of Armenia,  which will allow him to state, when necessary, that, after doing his  best, he cannot act against popular will. 

According to Mr Markedonov, the people could well disapprove the  prospect of Armenia and Azerbaijan recognizing each other’s  territorial integrity. With such referendum results, accusing the  Armenian leadership of being incapable of reaching agreements will be  a rather difficult task to accomplish. The result could be a chance  of new negotiations, with the parties’ positions clarified.    

“All this appears quite interesting and, of course, is capable of  offering new prospects in the normalization of the Yerevan-Baku  relations. But let us come back to the current situation round  Nagorno-Karabakh, especially to its geopolitical background, which is  much more apparent now than it was a month ago. We should note that  the result of the Ukraine developments will have its impact on the  settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict – not less  significant than the domestic political discourses,” Mr Markedonov  said. 

During a question hour in Armenia’s Parliament on Wednesday, Aghvan  Vardanyan, a member of the Armenia faction, asked Armenia’s FM Ararat  Mirzoyan about a possible referendum on the ways and prospects of  settling the conflict with Azerbaijan. The minister said that such a  possibility has not yet been discussed and needs considering.