Wednesday,
Russia-West Standoff ‘Complicates’ International Mediation On Karabakh
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan speaking in parliament (file photo).
Aggravating tensions in relations between Russia and the West over the war in
Ukraine complicate the work of international mediators on the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan acknowledged on Wednesday.
During a question-and-answer session of government members in parliament
Mirzoyan, however, stressed that the international community continues to see a
settlement of the issue within the format of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
involving Russia, the United States, and France.
“The ongoing hostilities in Ukraine have sharply complicated the work of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs up until the level of joint discussions, but based on
very specific, certain signals and messages that I have been receiving from the
co-chair countries and many other countries, I want to reaffirm that the
international community continues to see the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict in the context of the Minsk Group co-chairmanship. And this is quite
encouraging,” the top Armenian diplomat said.
“We work on a daily basis to be able to organize a discussion under the [Minsk
Group] co-chairmanship, including with the latest proposals,” Mirzoyan added.
The Armenian foreign minister reiterated that Yerevan saw nothing unacceptable
in the five-point proposal of Azerbaijan for starting negotiations around a
peace treaty with Armenia. He repeated that at the same time Armenia deems that
it “does not fully address the possible agenda of comprehensive peace between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
Baku insists that a future peace treaty with Yerevan should be based on five
fundamental principles, including mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity, mutual reaffirmation of the absence of territorial
claims to each other and a legally binding obligation not to make such claims in
the future, abstaining from threatening each other’s security, delimitation and
demarcation of the border with the establishment of diplomatic relations and
unblocking of transport links.
In a recent interview with the state-run Armenpress news agency Mirzoyan said it
is vital for the Armenian side that “the rights and freedoms of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians be clearly guaranteed, and the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh be finally clarified.” “For us, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is not a territorial issue, but a matter of rights,” he said.
“One of the key points of our proposals is that the issue of the rights and
status of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh remains a matter of principle for us. It
is impossible to call it a complete agenda until this issue is discussed there,”
Mirozyan explained in parliament today.
On March 14, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said that it had applied to the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs requesting that they organize Armenian-Azerbaijani
negotiations on a peace treaty “on the basis of the UN Charter, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Helsinki Final
Act.”
The foreign minister said that Armenia was informed by the Co-Chairs that its
proposals had been passed on to Azerbaijan. He said, however, that Baku has not
responded to Yerevan’s proposals yet.
EU Concerned Over ‘Renewed Disruption’ Of Gas Supply to Karabakh
Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
(file photo).
The European Union is concerned about reports of a renewed disruption of the gas
supply to Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a spokesman.
“Following the first disruption of the supply on March 8 the EU encouraged
Azerbaijan’s active engagement on the matter, which led to repair works and the
resumption of the gas supply on March 19.
“There is an urgent need to ensure the immediate resumption of the gas supply to
the affected local population, in particular in the context of the dire weather
conditions, and the EU calls on the authorities in control to allow this to
happen,” Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the EU’s Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The European Union is closely following this and other developments in the
region and will continue its engagement towards sustainable peace and stability
for the South Caucasus,” he added.
On Tuesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry accused Azerbaijan of deliberately
disrupting the normal operation of the gas pipeline passing through the
territory controlled by its military forces. “We consider this outrageous policy
of systematic violence against Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to be
unacceptable,” it said.
The statement followed reports by de-facto Armenian authorities in
Nagorno-Karabakh that natural gas supplies to the region had been cut by Baku,
which created humanitarian problems for the population of the region still
experiencing subzero temperatures despite early spring.
In remarks issued today Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Leyla
Abdullayeva did not directly refer to the situation with gas supply to
Nagorno-Karabakh, but urged official Yerevan not to interfere in what she
described as “Azerbaijan’s internal affairs” regarding different situations.
Baku Tells Yerevan To Stop ‘Interfering In Azerbaijan’s Internal Affairs’
• Lusine Musayelian
Leyla Abdullayeva, a spokeswoman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry (file photo).
Official Baku has urged authorities in Yerevan to stop “making unfounded
statements and interfering in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs” after Armenia
raised the issue of another disruption of natural gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh
affecting the humanitarian situation in the region.
In a statement on March 22 Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, in particular, accused
Azerbaijan of deliberately disrupting the normal operation of a gas pipeline
passing through the territory controlled by its military forces. “We consider
this outrageous policy of systematic violence against Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh to be unacceptable,” it said.
The statement followed reports by de-facto Armenian authorities in
Nagorno-Karabakh that natural gas supplies to the region had been cut by Baku,
which created humanitarian problems for the population of the region still
experiencing subzero temperatures despite early spring.
Still earlier, the Armenian ministry slammed Baku over inviting United Nations
officials to an event in Shushi (Susa), a key town and site in Nagorno-Karabakh
contested by Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
“The Armenian Foreign Ministry first tries to interfere in the internal affairs
of Azerbaijan by issuing a statement on the participation of international
organizations in an event held in Azerbaijan. And now it [issues a statement] on
a different matter,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva
said on Wednesday as quoted by Azerbaijani media.
“We recommend that instead of making unfounded and illegal accusations, Armenia
should ensure the fulfillment of its obligations, including the withdrawal of
the remnants of its armed forces from the region, and thus contribute to
regional peace and security,” she added.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Chief of the General Staff of
the Azerbaijani Army, Colonel-General Kerim Veliyev had met with a delegation
led by Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation
for Peacekeeping Activities, Colonel-General Alexey Kim. It said that during
that meeting the sides “held a thorough exchange of views on the withdrawal of
illegal Armenian armed groups from the territory of Azerbaijan and a number of
other issues.”
EU Envoy Says Criminalizing Insult May Have ‘Chilling Effect’ On Freedom Of
Expression
• Siranuysh Gevorgian
Andrea Wiktorin, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia (file photo).
Criminalizing defamation or insult can have a serious chilling effect on the
right to freedom of expression, Andrea Wiktorin, head of the European Union’s
delegation to Armenia, said answering the RFE/RL Armenian Service’s questions on
the recent Armenian legislation criminalizing “grave insults.”
In her written replies the EU ambassador referred to the case-law of the
European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, stressing that Armenia
is a member of the Council of Europe.
She stressed that a law which interferes with freedom of expression “must be
narrowly and precisely circumscribed so that it is legally predictable and
certain.”
“But most importantly, the question is whether the law is implemented in a
democratic and non-arbitrary manner, on the basis of objective criteria, subject
to independent judicial control, where the judges consider the proportionality
of the sanction. Should the insult amount to hate speech, which is speech likely
to produce the effect of legitimizing, spreading or promoting violence, racial
hatred, xenophobia, antisemitism or other forms of discrimination or hatred
based on intolerance, arguably sanctions or restrictions can be more severe,”
the EU diplomat said.
Asked whether the EU Delegation to Armenia shares the concerns of local and
international human rights groups regarding this legislation, Wiktorin said that
the EU Delegation is closely monitoring the situation and, together with
colleagues in Brussels, “does its own legal analyses.”
The ambassador also said that they had “a general consultation” with Armenia’s
Prosecutor-General Artak Davtian earlier this month rather than discussed only
the law on grave insults. “We talked about a number of issues and had a very
profound and detailed discussion. I am convinced he takes the issue very
seriously,” Wiktorin said.
Under amendments to the Armenian Criminal Code voted for by only pro-government
lawmakers and enacted last summer anyone insulting government officials and
public figures risks paying hefty fines or going to jail for up to three months.
Opposition members and human rights activists in Armenia have criticized the
authorities for adopting the measure, describing it as an infringement of free
speech.
A number of international organizations, including the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe, have called on Armenia to decriminalize “grave insults.”
The U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House has repeatedly said that the passage
and enforcement of the controversial law highlighted a “clear degradation of
democratic norms” in Armenia.
Armenian authorities have defended the controversial law. Meeting with the EU
ambassador on March 3, Armenia’s Prosecutor-General Davtian said that the law is
necessary for “reducing or neutralizing the scale and impact of hate speech.”
Armenia’s Constitutional Court on March 22 began considering the
constitutionality of the legislation following a claim lodged by the country’s
ombudsperson. The court said that the examination of the claim proceeds in
writing.
Armenian Trucks Stuck At Russian-Georgian Border
• Narine Ghalechian
Trucks stuck in a long queue at the Upper Lars checkpoint along the
Russian-Georgian border, .
Hundreds of Armenian trucks have been stuck at both sides of a Russian-Georgian
border checkpoint after heavy snowfalls brought traffic along the only road
connecting Armenia to Russia via Georgia to a standstill.
Armenian authorities say there is little they can do to help the truck drivers
who have spent weeks in what is reported to be a 150-kilometer queue of vehicles
waiting to cross the border.
Such situations at the Upper Lars checkpoint are typical of winter months, but
also happen during the rest of the year when landslide block traffic along a
mountain serpentine in Georgia.
Local authorities are trying to clear the road from snow, but heavy snowfalls
still make the Gudauri section of the road impassable for trucks.
“It is very narrow, ours are long trucks, they don’t fit into those turns…
Snowplows have been trying to clean the road, but the wind blows more snow
there,” said Tigran Gabrielian, one of the Armenian drivers stuck at Upper Lars.
Many truck drivers are concerned that perishables that they are transporting
will soon go bad.
“The thing is that a lot of diesel fuel is spent every day to maintain the
necessary temperature inside the refrigerator. We hope that at least some of the
cargo will be preserved,” Gabrielian said.
“I am transporting tomatoes and have to keep the temperature inside the
refrigerator at +6 degrees Celsius, but still it is very likely that some of
them will go bad,” he added.
Another Armenian truck driver Azat Davtian said that after spending about 20
days in the queue he and his fellows were also worried about the prospect of
losing their cargoes and freezing if they ran out of fuel.
“We have three trucks loaded with apples. We have been stranded here for 19
days. Our diesel fuel will end soon. I don’t know what we are going to do then.
But something will have to be done,” Davtian said.
Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said that as many as 375 vehicles had
lined up on the Russian side of the Russian-Georgian border due to bad weather
conditions. The Armenian ministry said it had no data on the number of vehicles
stuck in traffic at the Georgian side of the border.
Arion Logistics cargo company owner Gurgen Vanetsian said that 25 of their
trucks have for more than three weeks been stuck in traffic on both sides of the
border. He said that drivers constantly ask for money so that they can buy
something to eat in nearby villages where food now costs twice as much as its
normal price. He said that already now they are counting their costs.
Meanwhile, truck drivers in the long queue have set up an online group that now
has about 4,000 users to share information on the situation. All appear to have
the same problems: requests from banks to repay overdue loans, problems with
food and fuel and concerns about perishables in their trucks.
Armenian authorities say that representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the State Revenue Committee are dealing with the situation, but they
acknowledge that little can be done to change the weather conditions.
Aram Tananian, a customs attache at the Armenian embassy in Russia, said that he
was trying to help the drivers as much as it was possible to do in a long queue
at a border checkpoint outside Armenian jurisdiction.
“Of course, we drive along that 150-kilometer queue and stop and approach people
there. But we can’t really do much to solve everyday problems that these people
have,” the official said.
Tananian also denied claims by some companies about discrimination against
Armenian drivers at the border.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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