Category: 2023

New quality and new service approaches in the Armenian fuel market. the famous Shell brand is already in Armenia

Hambik Zargarian

 19:02,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. New quality, new standards and new service approaches in the Armenian fuel market – the first two new fuel stations of the Shell brand were officially launched in Armenia. The licensed representative of the famous brand in Armenia is "Royal Oil" company.

ARMENPRESS reports, among the guests of the official opening ceremony were Vahan Kerobyan, Minister of Economy of Armenia, Tigran Avinyan, Deputy Mayor of Yerevan; Kai-Uwe Witterstein, General Manager Licensed Markets at Shell Brands International AG; Joanna Kuenssberg, VP Corporate Relations MENA & CIS at Shell International BV and other special guests.

Welcoming the guests and congratulating them on the launch of Shell brand in Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, RA Minister of Economy, notes, “Congratulations to all of us on this important day. Shell stands among the 50 largest companies in the world, and the presence of such brands in our country can serve as an incentive for attracting international investments to Armenia. This is more than just a fuel station; it represents a new culture. With its high-quality products and superior services, Shell will revolutionize the demand for services in the fuel station industry in Armenia, leading to a significant improvement in the overall market. In light of this, we are extremely excited”.

Gevorg Harutyunyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Royal Oil" company, notes, “There was a need for qualitatively new fuel on the Armenian market, as well as new approaches and standards for service at fuel stations, so after long studying the international experience, the activities of various organizations and the offers of the world's leading companies, we chose Shell. At the global level, the experience and capabilities gained by the Shell company over decades will undoubtedly have an effective effect on increasing the level of quality and services in our market, making them more competitive, fair and free. A great team work has been done and we are grateful to Shell for the great trust shown, effective cooperation and prospects. It is an important principle for us to keep the honor, importance and reputation of Shell as a global brand high, ensuring the expectations of our customers. According to the cooperation agreement, the Company will import fuel to Armenia from Europe. The fuel will initially be imported from Romania and Greece, then the geography of cooperation will increase and other European countries will be included.   By the way, every batch of imported fuel has its own certificate of origin, which shows that the country is the supplier”.

Kai-Uwe Witterstein, General Manager Licensed Markets at Shell Brands International AG notes, “We are very proud to partner with Royal Oil in Armenia, bringing our excellence in products and services to Armenian motorists. This is the first of many stations that will open in the coming months and years we can’t wait to see the Shell brand in Armenian cities and on major roads throughout the country”.

"Royal Oil" company, in cooperation with Shell, plans to open about 25 fuel stations in different parts of the country in the framework of the next 5-year strategy, with the aim of creating a network of new generation fuel stations. One of the company's strategic goals is to introduce high-quality fuel to the Armenian market and provide high-quality service, create an atmosphere of mutual trust between the consumer and the supplier

V-Power class fuel based on Shell's advanced technologies and innovative approaches will be available to the Armenian consumer. Shell V-Power fuels were first introduced over 20 years ago and are now one of the best-selling performance fuels on the market, chosen by ~20% of our fuel customers globally. Shell V-Power, with new generation of additives is so far Shell’s best Performance fuel and allows both older and new internal combustion engine vehicles to perform better than any fuel Shell previously developed. Shell V-Power 100% cleans critical engine parts to fully rejuvenate your engine’s performance and is the only performance fuel trusted and recommended by some of the world’s automotive leaders, including Scuderia Ferrari, BMW M series and Ducati.

 

Photos by Gevorg Perkuperkyan

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Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with more than 90,000 employees in more than 70 countries. With over 46,000 sites in over 80 markets, Shell is the world’s largest mobility retailer by number of mobility locations and one of the largest single-branded retailers of any kind on the planet. Every day, around 32 million customers visit Shell mobility locations to buy fuel, convenience items including beverages and fresh food, and services such as lubricant changes and car washes. . It is noteworthy that Shell stations sell 450 million cups of coffee, 1.5 billion cold drinks and more than 1 billion snacks every year. The brand uses advanced technologies and is driven by innovative approaches to help build a sustainable energy future. Shell offers its customers low-emission products and services: biofuels, electric vehicle charging, hydrogen and various gaseous fuels such as liquefied natural gas. The company cooperates with the leading world motorsport teams in the framework of the world's most prestigious championships. The company's partners in motorsport are Scuderia Ferrari, Ducati Corse in MotoGP, BMW. Shell is the number one supplier of lubricants in the world and is represented in more than 100 countries.

 

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"Royal Oil" LLC was founded in 2019. The company is engaged in the import of high-quality European fuel, retail and wholesale sales, development of the network of fuel stations of the new generation. Since 2022, the Company is the licensed representative of the Shell brand in Armenia.

Armenian refugees and forcibly displaced people of Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan and Artsakh issue a call-alarm

Garo Vardanian

 19:14,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 200th day of the blockade of Artsakh, Armenian refugees and forcibly displaced people from the Azerbaijan SSR, Nakhichevan and the Republic of Artsakh spread a call-alarm. ARMENPRESS reports, the statement of the refugees and forcibly displaced persons states that June 30 marks the 200th day of Azerbaijan's siege of Artsakh, the hostage-taking of 120,000 Artsakh residents, their survival without basic living conditions and under the threat of ethnic cleansing.

"Azerbaijan not only ignores the calls of international structures regarding the lifting of the blockade of Artsakh, including the UN International Court of Justice. the legally binding decision of February 22, according to which Azerbaijan must restore uninterrupted movement through the Lachin Corridor, but continues the practice of terrorizing the civilian population of Artsakh – a vivid example of what the said is the 4 victims of the Armenian side as a result of opening artillery fire in the direction of Martuni and Martakert in Artsakh two days ago.

At the same time, Azerbaijan also grossly violates its own commitments, including paragraph 7 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, according to which displaced persons and refugees return to the territory of Artsakh and neighboring regions under the supervision of the United Nations.

As decades ago, Azerbaijan continues its consistent policy of depopulation with the threat and use of force. In 1987-1992, in the Azerbaijani SSR hundreds of thousands of Armenians were also dispossessed and became refugees, which continued by the crimes committed against the Armenians, genocidal actions, state-sponsored pogroms by the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a result of that policy, Armenian cultural heritage was deliberately and criminally destroyed in Nakhichevan, once populated by Armenians, but later depopulated. Artsakh is also threatened by the example of Nakhichevan.

Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the non-condemnation by the international community of its crimes committed against Armenians and the fact of the lack of legal investigation, has engaged in the implementation of the Armenian-hating, Armenian-persecuting policy with greater momentum. Currently, the situation is extremely difficult," the statement said.

Based on the above, refugees and forcibly displaced persons demand from the international community, international organizations and partner states:

To develop and take effective steps to force Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of Artsakh and stop the humanitarian disaster and fulfill the decision made by the International Court of Justice of the United Nations.

To support the realization of the right of dignified and safe voluntary return of all Armenian refugees and forcibly displaced persons, to develop mechanisms to ensure return and their physical, political and civil security, with all guarantees,

To ensure the safe and unharmed existence of the Armenian cultural heritage of the regions that have passed under the control of Azerbaijan,

Create the necessary conditions for providing compensation by Azerbaijan for the lost property of the refugees and their descendants and compel Azerbaijan to fulfill its obligation,

Along with the political processes, zealously pursue the quick and unhindered settlement of humanitarian problems.


Azerbaijani ambassador threatens Members of European Parliament

Hovsep Chakrian

 20:30,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. EU officials should realize the threat of supporting dictatorial Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS reports, Artak Beglaryan, adviser to the Minister of State of Artsakh, wrote on his "Twitter" page, referring to the obvious threat addressed to the Members of the European Parliament by the ambassador of Azerbaijan to the EU, Vagif Sadikov.

"The obvious threat to the members of the European Parliament by the Azerbaijani ambassador Vagif Sadikov is only the beginning. Declaring him an undesirable person in this case is the least that can be done," he wrote.

On June 23, Vagif Sadikov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Belgium and Luxembourg and head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the European Union, made a post on "Twitter" in response to the visit of the delegation of MEPs to the border with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Sadikov posted a photo and description of an Azerbaijani-made sniper rifle and wrote,

"They know what to do to protect themselves. The Azerbaijani-made Istigal IST-14.5 sniper rifle shoots at a range of about 3000 meters. Guys, stay away from the state border of Azerbaijan…"




The Prime Minister receives the delegation of the British-Dutch Shell company

Kanayan Tamar

 19:25,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Joanna Kuenssberg, deputy director for CIS and Middle East countries of the British-Dutch Shell company, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic eof the Prime Minister. 

The Prime Minister welcomed the entry of the prestigious company into the Armenian market, whose first gas station was opened in Yerevan on June 29. Nikol Pashinyan expressed confidence that the company will introduce new quality and business culture to the Armenian market with its activities. The Prime Minister wished success to the company and emphasized that the Government will continue consistent steps to improve the business environment.

Joanna Kuenssberg thanked the Government for supporting the launch of Shell in Armenia and provided details on further plans. Joanna Kuenssberg informed that within the next 5 years, the company plans to operate 25 gas stations in Yerevan and all regions, where various other services will also be provided.

Armenpress: Georgia always ready to be a mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan – Garibashvili

Edgar Tavakalian

 20:52,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Georgia has shown that it is capable of being an effective mediator in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and is ready to re-engage in the process if necessary, ARMENPRESS reports, citing "Sputnik-Georgia", Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in the Parliament of Georgia.

"Two years ago, we showed the first concrete results of the mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in which I was personally involved. It was, so to speak, one of the exemplary mediations in the region," Garibashvili said.

The Prime Minister expressed Georgia's readiness to continue playing the role of a mediator.

"I want to once again publicly reaffirm our full readiness from this podium. If necessary, we are ready to be involved once again as a mediator in the ongoing negotiations between the two countries, our friends," Garibashvili stated.

RFE/RL Armenian Service – 06/30/2023

Edgar Tavakalian 
                                        Friday, 


Karabakh Leader Rules Out ‘Integration’ Into Azerbaijan

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Nagorno Karabakh - President Arayik Harutiunian holds a meeting in Stepanakert, 
June 26, 2023.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s president said on Thursday that the Armenian-populated region 
will continue to assert its right to self-determination despite mounting 
pressure from Azerbaijan.

“As for Armenia or various international bodies, I want to make clear that 
nobody can strip us of our right to self-determination, an international norm,” 
Arayik Harutiunian told Karabakh lawmakers.

Harutiunian said that Azerbaijan is heightening tensions along the Karabakh 
“line of contact” and using its nearly eight-month blockade of the Lachin 
corridor to force the Karabakh Armenians to disband their government bodies and 
armed forces and accept Azerbaijani rule.

“The objective is [to ensure] an Artsakh delegation’s visit to Baku,” he said. 
“They are doing everything for that. Baku is discussing only one topic with us: 
the topic of integration. It’s not discussing any other topics.”

Azerbaijan’s leaders have openly threatened to launch a new military attack on 
Karabakh in recent weeks.

“That is why the [Karabakh] parliament must be dissolved, the element who calls 
himself the president [of Karabakh] must surrender and all ministers, deputies 
and other officials must resign. Only then can there be talk of amnesty,” 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in late May.

Two weeks later, Baku completely blocked relief supplies to Karabakh carried out 
by Russian peacekeepers. It thus aggravated shortages of food, medicine and 
other essential items there.

Aliyev’s threats and the tightening of the blockade followed Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over 
Karabakh. The authorities in Stepanakert strongly condemned Pashinian, saying 
that his statement is “null and void” for them.

Pashinian’s government wants Baku and Stepanakert to address “the rights and 
security” of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population through an internationally 
mediated dialogue. Its critics say the Karabakh Armenians cannot live safely 
under Azerbaijani rule and would inevitably leave their homeland in that case.




Armenian Government Raises Pensions


Armenia - The main government building in Yerevan, March 6, 2021.


The Armenian government has raised the country’s modest pensions by roughly 7 
percent amid continuing double-digit economic growth.

It also approved on Thursday similar increases in disability benefits. They too 
will take effect on July 1.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Labor and Social Affairs Minister 
Narek Mkrtchian said the average monthly pension in Armenia will reach about 
50,000 drams ($128). Retired military personnel will now be paid 91,600 drams 
per month, he said. The government raised the minimum pension by almost 14 
percent, to 36,000 drams.

These figures will pale in comparison with the country’s average monthly wage, 
which currently stands at about 256,000 drams ($656), according to government 
data. The average pension will also remain well below the per-capita minimum 
cost of living.

The so-called “consumer basket” calculated by the Armenian Statistical Committee 
is now worth just over 80,000 drams. Mkrtchian said that the government remains 
committed to gradually bringing the average pension to this level in the coming 
years.

The pension rises were clearly made possible by Armenia’s robust economic growth 
that exceeded 12 percent in 2022 and seems to be continuing unabated now. They 
will not be enough to offset nearly 9 percent consumer price inflation recorded 
last year. According to the Statistical Committee, inflation fell to just 1.3 
percent in May this year.




Yerevan Details Lingering Differences With Baku

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan.


Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to disagree on practical modalities of 
delimiting their border and organizing a dialogue between Baku and 
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The foreign ministers of the two countries concluded late on Thursday a new 
round of U.S.-mediated negotiations held in and outside Washington. The Foreign 
Ministry said they agreed on more articles of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace 
treaty but did not iron out their differences on “some key issues.”

The ministry spokeswoman, Ani Badalian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that 
those issues include the border delimitation, troop disengagement and how to 
“properly address the rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh people under 
an international mechanism.”

Yerevan says that such a mechanism is essential for protecting Karabakh’s ethnic 
Armenian population. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made clear 
late last week that Baku will not agree to any special security arrangements for 
the Karabakh Armenians.

Also, the Armenian side wants to use 1975 Soviet maps as a basis for delimiting 
the long border. Baku has opposed the idea so far. The Azerbaijani Foreign 
Ministry emphasized earlier this month that Azerbaijan has demarcated its 
borders with other neighboring states “on the basis of analyses and examination 
of legally binding documents, rather than any specially chosen map.”

Tigran Grigorian, a Yerevan-based political analyst, said the parties’ failure 
to eliminate any of these sticking points means that they did not achieve a 
breakthrough during the three-day talks. The signing of the peace treaty is 
therefore still not on the cards, he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Speaking during the concluding session of the talks, U.S. Secretary of State 
Antony Blinken said that despite “further progress” made by the two conflicting 
sides “there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement.”

“I think there is also a clear understanding on everyone’s part that the closer 
you get to reaching agreement, in some cases the harder it gets by definition,” 
added Blinken.

One day after the start of the talks, four Karabakh Armenian soldiers were 
killed in Azerbaijani artillery and drone attacks on their positions, one of the 
deadliest ceasefire violations in Karabakh reported since the 2020 war.

“I think that Azerbaijan definitely used that escalation to try clinch some 
concessions from the Armenian side at the negotiating table,” said Grigorian. He 
claimed that Baku is seeking an agreement that would amount to Armenia’s “de 
facto capitulation.”




More Progress Reported In Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Talks


U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Armenian Foreign Minister 
Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minoster Jeyhun Bayramov, Washington, 
June 27, 2023.


The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers made further progress towards a 
bilateral peace treaty but still disagree on some of its key terms, official 
Yerevan said on Thursday night after they concluded a new round of U.S.-mediated 
negotiations.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov 
met outside Washington for three consecutive days. They also held trilateral 
meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security 
Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“The Ministers and their teams continued progress on the draft bilateral 
‘Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations,’” read a 
statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

“They reached an agreement on additional articles and advanced mutual 
understanding of the draft agreement, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions 
on some key issues require further work,” it said, adding that Mirzoyan and 
Bayramov pledged to “continue their negotiations.”

The statement did not disclose those articles or the remaining sticking points. 
It reflected Blinken’s comments made during the final session of the three-day 
talks.

The top U.S. diplomat also said that “there remains hard work to be done to try 
to reach a final agreement.”

“I think there is also a clear understanding on everyone’s part that the closer 
you get to reaching agreement, in some cases the harder it gets by definition. 
The most difficult issues are left for the end,” added Blinken.

The two sides were understood to disagree before the latest talks on practical 
modalities of delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and a dialogue between 
Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership as well as international safeguards 
against non-compliance with the treaty.

Yerevan has been pressing for an “international mechanism” for such a dialogue, 
saying that it is essential for protecting “the rights and security” of 
Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population. Bayramov made clear late last week that 
Baku will not agree to any special security arrangements for the Karabakh 
Armenians.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

US seeks Armenia, Azerbaijan de-escalation as 4 separatists killed

Arsine Chaltikian
Four Armenian separatist fighters killed in renewed violence with Azerbaijan, as Washington's Blinken prepares to meet with his counterparts from both countries.

The United States on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to de-escalate in a meeting with their top diplomats, hours after four Armenian separatist fighters died in renewed violence.

The two countries' foreign ministers, on the second of three days of talks opened on Tuesday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, went to the White House to see Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor.

"I encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue making progress toward peace, as well as to avoid provocations and de-escalate tensions in order to build confidence," Sullivan wrote on Twitter afterward.

Hours after the talks opened, rebels said the four were killed in the breakaway Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region, where tensions have been flaring over a blockade of the only land corridor connecting to Armenia.

"We are deeply disturbed by the loss of life in Nagorno-Karabakh and we offer our condolences to the families of all of those who were killed," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

He said that the killings "underscore the need to refrain from hostilities and for a durable and dignified peace."

Patel said the negotiations led by the United States "were constructive, and we continue to build on those discussions today and tomorrow, so there's no change in the schedule."

The talks mark the second such session in as many months led by Blinken, with Russia, long the primary power-broker between the two former Soviet republics, bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.newarab.com/news/us-seeks-de-escalation-new-armenia-azerbaijan-meeting

The United States Urges Armenia And Azerbaijan To Contain The Escalation

Emil Lazarian
MIDDLE EAST
By David Sadler

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his official visit to the United States, and following the historic meeting of National Security Advisers from the United States, Japan, and the Philippines in Manila, the United States continues to develop its network of flexible partnerships, institutions, alliances, and groups of countries around the world, to balance with China.

US analyst Nicholas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College and director of the National Security Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, believes that the challenge facing the US political establishment is how to prevent these partnerships from deviating from their path.

So the fact that a coalition of states might find very close consensus on a particular issue (or set of issues) and is looking for ways to facilitate joint action does not mean that there is a complete alignment of interests or agreement on all issues.

Gvosdev said, in a report published by the American National Interest magazine, that today, when the rise of China and greater coordination between the countries of the Global South provide greater hedging opportunities, other countries have options, while the United States has little influence.

The network’s approach to international affairs means that the mix of obligations and obligations to other partners will vary on a case-by-case basis.

For example, Josh Rogin, a columnist for the American Washington Post, says that the security consultations between Japan, the Republic of the Philippines and the United States may herald the emergence of the “Garopus Triple Alliance” (Garopos is the initials of the names of Japan, the Philippines and the United States), which is It is firmly rooted in a common threat assessment emanating from China’s efforts to extend its maritime sphere of influence.

This does not automatically mean that Garopus will act along the lines of the Australia-U.S.-UK Partnership (Ocos), even though Ocos is also there to respond to China’s improvement of its naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific basin.

The Ocos alliance, for example, involves a level of defense technological and industrial integration, and this is not a step that Japan or the Philippines, the two partners in the “Garropos Triple Alliance”, are willing to take.

These two alliances, Garopus and Ocos, do not assume the emergence of a joint security alliance with India through the Quad Alliance (which includes Japan, Australia, India and the United States).

https://globeecho.com/news/middle-east/the-united-states-urges-armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-contain-the-escalation/

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Disputes: We Need a Peace Treaty That Will Bring Peace

Lena Karagyozian

Published

 14 hours ago 

on

 

By

 Dr. Vasif Huseynov

The agreement reached by conflicting parties to sign a peace treaty following violent wars is a significant turning point and has the potential to create a more positive and cooperative framework. However, history is replete with examples where painstakingly negotiated peace treaties failed to bring about lasting peace, often leading to the resumption of conflicts. It is crucial to thoroughly consider this aspect in the present peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We need a peace treaty that addresses the underlying causes of the conflict, minimizes, if not eliminates, the chances for the resumption of hostilities, and, towards this end, includes monitoring mechanisms that should be established to ensure compliance and accountability from the parties.

Trust: once broken, it’s hard to restore

The relationship between Armenians and Azerbaijanis was not always marked by hostility. For a significant part of history, these two peoples lived in a state of friendship, often sharing familial ties. These friendly relations persisted during the period of the Soviet Union, serving as a testament to their shared past of coexistence.

A similar situation existed in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) and surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, including the Kalbajar region where my family lived until 1993, when the region was occupied by Armenia. Despite the fact that the Armenian population in the region was less than 1 percent of the total population during the Soviet era, local Azerbaijanis maintained amicable relations with the Armenians. I remember my parents recounting stories of how the Armenian craftsmen were highly regarded among the Kalbajaris, who frequently invited them to construct their homes and other structures.

These historically-rooted connections were the primary factors that led Azerbaijanis to be caught off guard by the Armenian nationalists who, first in 1987-1988, advanced a territorial claim to NKAO and then in 1992 launched a full-scale war to invade Azerbaijani territories. Indeed, most of Azerbaijanis in Karabakh and surrounding regions, including my parents in the Bashlibel village of Kalbajar, were not prepared to the Armenian assaults.

The residents of Bashlibel were uninformed of this situation in the first days of April 1993, because the villagers had not had a stable means of communicating with the outside world since the electricity supply was cut by Armenians more than a year ago in January 1992. Nor did they believe that their Armenian neighbors would take up arms, launch a war, and forcefully expel them from their homes. This was part of the reason that local Azerbaijanis continued to live in Kalbajar as if nothing had happened, even after the blockade of the Kalbajar region in the wake of Armenia’s 1992 occupation of the former NKAO and the cities of Shusha and Lachin.

On April 2, 1993, Kalbajar’s residents, then approximately 60,000 people, woke up to the horror of being surrounded by the Armenian armed forces. The Armenians gave local Azerbaijanis only ten hours to leave the area. The alternative was being killed or, worse, taken hostage. Not everyone managed or wanted to leave their homelands. Hundreds of people were killed, tortured, or taken hostage. The Kalbajaris paid a rather high price for their miscalculation of the intentions and territorial ambitions of Armenia.

“Duality of the Armenian consciousness” and security threats it poses to the neighboring countries

30 years passed since the occupation of the Kalbajar region by Armenia. The region was liberated in November 2020 in accordance with the outcomes of the Second Karabakh War. Soon after this war, Baku and Yerevan launched peace talks and started negotiations on a peace treaty which is going to be oriented around the principle of mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity.  It is, however, imperative that the peace treaty goes beyond mere words on paper and has a practical impact on the ground. Thus far, too much attention is given to the rights and securities of Armenians in Karabakh rather than to concerns of Azerbaijanis. It is therefore essential to address the legitimate problems and security anxieties of the Azerbaijani people, particularly those who were displaced from the formerly Armenia-occupied territories.

One major reason for the security concerns of the Azerbaijani people is related with what the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan calls “duality of the Armenian consciousness”. Making critical comments about the coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia in a speech at the parliament on the 15th of June, he highlighted the irrelevance of some elements (e.g., the picture of the Mount Ağrı/Ararat [Armenian name of the Mount Ağrı] that is located in Turkey) on the coat of arms and the implications of such a discourse and public thinking for Armenia’s political future. “Looking at the center [of the coat of arms], there is Noah’s ark on Mount Ararat, today’s territory of the Republic of Armenia is under flood, a lion that has not lived here in natural conditions in Armenia for a long time. And this issue that we are discussing is actually about each of us, about that duality that exists in each of us, historical Armenia and real Armenia”, the Armenian premier said.

It is an apparent attempt by him to wake up the nation and urge them to discard dreams for territorial expansion of the modern Republic of Armenia to what they believe the boundaries of historical “Greater Armenia”. The reactions to his statement by some members of the Armenian public and expert community, however, demonstrate that these territorial claims to Azerbaijan and Turkiye are deep-rooted in their consciousness and run the risk of taking over the political rule in the Republic of Armenia at an opportune moment in the future. In particular, those from the Armenian diaspora, who called Pashinyan’s statement “anti-constitutional”, look for an opportunity to bring “more nationalistic” leader to the governance of the country.

In my personal exchanges with the Armenian political experts at international events, none of those experts dared to acknowledge or endorse the statement of the Armenian premier that Karabakh is part of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. Some of them do not shy away from publicly recommending the Armenian leaders to delay the peace negotiations as long as possible and wait for a better geopolitical situation emerge – in which Armenia’s bargaining power would be stronger. One senior member of the former Armenian government once told me at an international event in the presence of mediators from the EU and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that “tell your government upon your return that we will abolish all the deals you now reach with the incumbent government in Armenia as soon as they are removed from power”.

Needless to say that almost no Armenian, including Nikol Pashinyan, who boasts his endeavors to build a democratic society, speak about the return and restitutions of the rights of Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia before the conflict. Though, the mutual exodus of the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations from the respective countries occurred during 1987-1991, the fair and just resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conundrum requires the comprehensive approach.

If no demilitarization, then robust monitoring mechanisms and security guarantees

History can suggest some insights into how to deal with the polities with territorial ambitions and records of violent aggressions while ensuring  the practical implementation of the peace treaty.  For example, following World War II, at the initiative of the Allied leaders, both Germany and Japan underwent demilitarization as part of broader efforts to promote stability and prevent future aggression. In the case of Japan, the demilitarization process involved the dissolution of the country’s imperial armed forces and the adoption of a new pacifist constitution, known as the
Article 9 Constitution,” which renounced war as a means of settling international disputes.

Demilitarization of the Republic of Armenia would have been surely the policy options of the Allied leaders if they were in the present situation Azerbaijan is in. Under the present circumstances and due to the biased support of some countries, such as France, to Armenia, such measures are not on the agenda, though they would have been decisive with a real contribution to regional peace and security.

Nevertheless, a peace treaty should still address the security concerns of the Azerbaijani side. Above all, it should make sure that the territorial claims to Azerbaijan and Turkiye in the legislative documents and state symbols of the Republic of Armenia will be removed. The treaty should be built on the fact that the deep-rooted territorial ambitions in the consciousness of the Armenian nationalists and their threats against Azerbaijan necessitate robust security guarantees. Such a treaty should include provisions that not only facilitate the return of displaced Azerbaijanis to their homes, amongst others, by urging Armenia to cooperate in demining the region, but also guarantee their safety and security with assurances that no aggression will take place in the future. Additional mechanisms should be established to ensure compliance and accountability with the provisions of the peace treaty.

Dr. Vasif Huseynov is a senior fellow at the Center of Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/06/29/the-armenia-azerbaijan-disputes-we-need-a-peace-treaty-that-will-bring-peace/

EU and Armenia agree to strengthen cooperation

Hovik Karapetian

On 27-, the EU-Armenia Partnership Committee, established under the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), met for the fourth time in Brussels. 

The EU and Armenia agreed to strengthen their cooperation, emphasising the EU’s active engagement in the South Caucasus, and to pursue their efforts for the implementation of the CEPA, recognising the progress made so far. 

The Partnership Committee reviewed developments related to the rule of law, in the fields of the justice sector, law enforcement, the fight against corruption, and respect for human rights, saying that the EU appreciated Armenia’s progress in these fields. Nevertheless, the EU said Armenia should continuously improve the independence and efficiency of the judicial system and the fight against corruption to increase citizens’ trust in state institutions. The EU also said Yerevan needs to make further efforts to eliminate discrimination on all grounds and involve civil society in public consultations on legislative proposals.

The Partnership Committee also reviewed the progress on issues related to transport, energy, environment, climate action, and disaster risk management, and confirmed that the EU and Armenia will continue their cooperation to enhance safety at the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. 

The sides also reviewed their cooperation in the field of customs and economic development. The EU underlined the importance of customs cooperation to prevent the circumvention of the EU sanctions on Russia through the territory of Armenia.

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Press release

https://euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/eu-and-armenia-agree-to-strengthen-cooperation/