Category: 2023

Deputy PM Khachatryan and IMF representatives discuss wide range of issues of mutual interest

Emil Lazarian

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 21:21,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan had a working meeting on March 17 with Iva Petrova, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission in Armenia, and IMF Resident Representative for Armenia Mehdi Raissii.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, at the beginning of the meeting, Deputy PM Khachatryan, welcoming the guests, highly appreciated the willingness of the IMF to constantly support the reform programs of the Armenian government.

Iva Petrova thanked for the reception and emphasized the high-level partnership relations with the Armenian government, expressing confidence that the effective cooperation will continue in the future.

The parties discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest, in particular, referred to topics related to the latest macroeconomic developments, capital expenditures and tax policy.

It is noted that at the end of the meeting, a number of agreements were reached to continue discussions of current programs in a working format in the near future.

Armenpress: Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan meets with President Vahagn Khachaturyan

Khoyetsian Rose

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 22:18,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with the President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

In his speech, the President of the country said: “First of all, thank you for the meeting. Actually, there are many questions that need to be discussed separately. What do I want to start the conversation with? I look at what is happening in the world, you are also following. There are different assessments, but there is one general assessment by all: the world has not been in such an extremely tense situation since World War II, and whether we want it or not, these problems will affect us too. In connection with that, I also wanted to say in your presence that I appreciate the work that the Government is doing, that you are doing personally, that our diplomats are doing. I understand how difficult it is today to withstand all the challenges we face. And these difficulties are mainly related to our security. You gave that opportunity to our society through journalists, during your press conference, during your speech at the Cabinet meeting.

I would like to draw attention to one important fact. It seems that the society is not ready for what you present to the society openly. What is the reason for this approach of perception, interpretations? I think we are still in the old stereotype of the Soviet Union, that how can a government or an authority be open with the public? At that time, everything was closed, we formed our opinions based on assumptions or just tried to understand what happened in the country.

Now this style, which is a result of democracy, gives everyone the opportunity to become a participant in the events taking place in the country. However, it is difficult to digest, because when you start thinking in that direction, you also fall under a certain responsibility, and the biggest problem for democracy in the world today is responsibility. Many even give up some of their rights and tell the state again: deal with it yourself. In other words, the state gave him the opportunity and he says: no, you do it, we can’t. I want to say that this is not unique to Armenia, but I think that this style, also this way of informing the public, is correct. I hope this will continue and by that we will also address some of the issues facing our country. Regarding the 2021-2026 Action Plan of the Government, I think that what has been done should be made public a little more. For example, when I look at the junction being built in the south, at Meghri, Agarak section, it is very impressive what is going to be done there, what kind of transport junction it will be as a result. There is a need for this, because in many cases we think that the important thing is doing something, but we also need to present all that to the people.”

In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan said. “Thank you, Mr. President, for the invitation and assessment.

In general, I think the topic you talked about is very important because it is very important for our government and for me personally to continue to be in communication with the public. I should also mention that at some point I noted that there are many processes the purpose of which is to abort that communication. In other words, to make the Government close inside its cabinets and not to communicate with the public, and there was a moment when I also wondered to what extent we should communicate with the public. Because our perception of governments is that we should give the public only good news or only look at things from a good perspective.

I want to say that that problem, that dilemma, it also haunted me down for a long time, until the war of 2020, because the reality that we had as of 2018 in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, that content regarding the negotiation process and content of the Karabakh issue had nothing to do with public perceptions. Basically, yes, it’s a strategic decision that we have to communicate with the public. Regardless of everything, communication with the public is the most important because it has strategic importance, including from a security point of view.

Regarding the implementation of the Government’s Action Plan, I must emphasize that according to the Constitution, we submitted the report on the implementation of the plan to the National Assembly by March 1. I think we got a very substantial document, but also not everything we managed to include in the sense that we tried to make the document concise. I can emphasize 2 very important points from that document, of course we will discuss it in detail in the National Assembly.

The first indicator that is very important to me, is related to the health sector. Compared to 2017, according to the results of 2022, we have more than doubled the volume of state-ordered health services, that is, we have had a 125 percent increase compared to 2017. The number of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia benefiting from the state order increased by 125 percent in 2022 compared to 2017, that is, it increased more than twice. It is a matter of the health of our citizens. May God give health to everyone, but of course the Government should also help God in this matter so that the health issues are resolved.

The next statistic, which is again very important to me, is that during 2022, Armenian airlines carried more than 900,000 passengers. This is very important because it was also our political commitment that we should have Armenian airlines, and in fact, about 25 percent of the market is covered by Armenian airlines. This is also very important in the sense of repatriation, because during 2022, about 200 jobs were created in the field of aviation, and many high-class pilots, born and raised in Armenia, who found no job in Armenia and only came during vacations, are now working in Armenia and can also spend their vacation in Armenia.

There is more data. Thank you for following the activities of the Government, and if you follow, I assume you will also follow the discussions at the National Assembly.”

Responding, Vahagn Khachaturyan said: “Definitely. I’ll say one number. As a professional I have always looked at, it is the biggest achievement from my point of view. It is about the problem of unemployment. It has always been 25-30 percent for us for years. There is official statistics and research. Official statistics, according to the “Employment” law, was up to 10 percent, and real unemployment was 25-30 percent. And it was the most negative among all our international comparisons. Now it has become 11.5 percent. I consider this the greatest achievement in my professional evaluations. Ultimately, there are 2 important factors in US Federal Reserve policy: inflation and unemployment. We only have inflation, because in many cases inflation can be kept at the expense of unemployment, but both factors here are very important. In other words, the goal of economic policy is to provide jobs or have less unemployment and less inflation. I consider this circumstance very important in the activities of the government and, of course, I took the report again, I will follow it to the end, but I also appreciate the work that is being done.

I would like to mention one more fact: your personal participation in reports. I find it an important factor in raising the responsibility of our departments, when the Prime Minister is present in each department with a representative team. It is actually appreciable, because before there was an accepted option when the prime minister did not go, the deputy prime minister went or one minister went, that is, it was just a formality. This is also a good way to increase the effectiveness of management, and we only have to solve our most important problems, which you keep talking about. You know that I am also dedicated to the implementation of that idea, which has 2 important components: establishing full peace in the region, turning our region into a center of international cooperation, and secondly, of course, democracy. We do not step back from the principles we have chosen. The government is implementing it.”

In conclusion, Nikol Pashinyan noted: “Yes, obviously, security, ensuring external security and peace is an absolute priority, and that’s also why our joint work, in fact, a large part of our agenda is dedicated to that. But the important thing for me is that despite all that, not only we have not failed the reform agenda, but, on the contrary, the key point of the Government’s report itself is that our response to all of this should be asymmetric in some sense. I mean that we should not deviate for a second from the development agenda, the reform agenda, of course, continuing to focus more and more on the security agenda.”

Asbarez: ATP Visits Students at Armenian Academy at Blair High School

Emil Lazarian
by Contributor

 

 

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

Armenian Academy at Blair High School students and faculty with Armenia Tree Project’s West Coast Community Outreach Manager Anahid Gharibian (center, standing)


The Armenia Tree Project’s West Coast Community Outreach Manager Anahid Gharibian visited the Armenian Academy at Blair High School in Pasadena, CA. As the guest speaker, Gharibian delivered a presentation to the Academy’s middle school students in the periodicals room of the school library on March 15.

Students learned about how and why ATP, a Boston-based organization, was created shortly after the Spitak earthquake in 1988. In the last 32 years, ATP has planted 7.5 million ornamental and fruit trees around Armenia. The first generation of trees provided food and income for several thousands of people in the newly independent Republic of Armenia, which was struggling with both political and environmental hardships.

ATP provides income routes for villagers in the North and the South of the country by creating greenhouses and homespun nurseries where the trees are planted and nurtured by villagers and then transplanted all over Armenia. The organization wholeheartedly appreciates its diasporan donors and Gharibian spent a great deal of time discussing the significance of that vital support. Each tree planted allows the donor to #GetRooted to their homeland.

During her discussion, Gharibian shared a slide show, as well as videos, presenting how the ATP functions in Armenia, and surprised the students with a video of the tree planting ceremony carried out by high school seniors in Armenia, in the absence of their American counterparts due to the pandemic. The ceremony was held to celebrate the first anniversary of the Armenian Academy at Blair High School.

Each year, graduating seniors at the Armenian Academy plant trees in various regions in Armenia. This year, a group of seniors and juniors will once again go to Armenia and, with the help of ATP, plant trees in Ashtarak. As a keepsake of their time in the homeland, they will receive certificates from ATP for their efforts at the “Last Bell” ceremony, which will be provided by the organization’s main office in Yerevan.

Gharibian shared activity booklets, titled “Building Bridges,” with the Academy’s students to further their education on ecology in Armenia. She also presented samples of t-shirts the students will be wearing when they have their turn in Armenia. In turn, the children presented Gharibian with bouquets of flowers and a thoughtfully written thank you card.

CSTO Secretary General Says Aliyev’s Latest Speech ‘Contradicts’ Earlier Agreements

Ara Felekian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov (left) meets with Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan in Yerevan on Mar. 17


While visiting Yerevan on Friday, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, concurred that President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, during a recent speech in Ankara, contradicted earlier agreements made by him and the leaders of Armenia, Russia and the European Union.

Speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States, Aliyev called Armenia “Western Azerbaijan” and faulted Yerevan for not advancing the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” effort. Aliyev, along with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed that Armenia and Azerbaijan will respect each other’s territorial integrity in two separate meetings last fall in Prague and later in Sochi, Russia.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry warned that Aliyev’s speech was “a clear manifestation of territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia and preparation of another aggression.”

CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov told Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan that he believed that Aliyev’s latest speech “contradicts the Prague and Sochi statements.”

The current situation along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, as well as the crisis that have ensued as a result of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh were topics of discussion with Grigoryan, as well as Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

Pashinyan and Tasmagambetov also exchanged views about the current responsibilities of the CSTO, regional developments and security challenges. In this context they also discussed a number of issues related to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border situation and the CSTO collective defense mechanisms, according to a short statement from the prime minister’s press office.

Pashinyan and his government have been on a collision course with the Russia-led CSTO ever since the security bloc, of which Armenia is a member, did not send assistance when Azerbaijan invaded Armenia in September 2022. Instead the group sent two fact-finding missions and later failed to condemn Azerbaijan for its military advances.

During his meeting with Tasmagambetov, Mirzoyan emphasized the need for a clear and targeted response by the CSTO to the military aggression carried out by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia, which is a member of the CSTO.

Mirzoyan also stressed the imperative for the implementation of the November 9, 2020 Trilateral Statement and the decision made by the International Court of Justice on February 22, compelling Azerbaijan to end the Lachin Corridor blockade.

The foreign minister emphasized that with its ongoing provocations Azerbaijan is disrupting efforts to establish peace and stability in the region, while Baku’s hostile rhetoric is aimed at preparing ground for the use of large-scale force against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, as well as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Asbarez: In Welcoming European Parliament Resolution, Artsakh Calls for Sanctions Against Baku

Badalian Vardan
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijanis, claiming to be environmental activists, have been blockading the Lachin corridor since Dec. 12


The Artsakh Foreign Ministry on Friday welcomed the adoption of resolutions by the European Parliament on EU-Armenia and EU-Azerbaijan relations, expressing its belief that the measures, including the recommendations on imposing sanctions on Azerbaijani officials, will be an important contribution to efforts to lift Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh and prevent its plans to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocide in Artsakh.

The European Parliament, with an overwhelming majority, adopted a resolution, in which it called on Baku to end the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and comply with the order of the International Court of Justice, which last month urged Azerbaijan to ensure “unimpeded movement” along the road.

“We support the call by the European Parliament on the European Council to impose targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani government officials, if the order of the International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023 is not immediately implemented,” the Artsakh foreign ministry said.

“We consider it important that in its resolutions the European Parliament has clearly acknowledged that the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, which has lasted for more than three decades and has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, immense destruction and the forced displacement of thousands of people, remains unresolved,” the foreign ministry added.

In particular, members of the European Parliament expressed its legitimate and justified concern over the fact that the ceasefire statement of November 9, 2020, introduced following the 44-day war waged by Azerbaijan in 2020, has not been fully implemented. Deadly military clashes continue to erupt periodically, the ceasefire has been violated repeatedly resulting in hundreds of casualties and the occupation of new territory by Azerbaijani troops, including the territory of the Republic of Armenia, and since December 12, 2022, civilian traffic between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh along the Lachin Corridor has been blocked, which has a negative impact on deliveries of food and other essential supplies to Artsakh.

In its resolution on EU-Azerbaijan relations, the European Parliament also recognized and condemned Turkey’s expansionist and destabilizing role in the South Caucasus, which manifested itself, among other things, in sending Syrian mercenaries to the conflict zone to fight on the side of Azerbaijan, and expressed the position that for Turkey to play a constructive role in the region, it should reconsider its unconditional support for Azerbaijan and take tangible steps towards normalizing relations with Armenia.

“We share the position of European Parliamentarians that sustainable and lasting peace cannot be achieved through military means and the threat or use of force, but requires a comprehensive political settlement in accordance with international law, including the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, the 1975 OSCE Helsinki Final Act, in particular non-use of force, territorial integrity and equal rights and self-determination of peoples, as well as the Basic Principles of the OSCE Minsk Group of 2009,” added the Artsakh foreign ministry.

“To this end, we concur with the European Parliament members that comprehensive peace requires an end to all violence and addressing the root causes of the conflict, including those related to ensuring the security and the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and determining its final status, and the issue of the prompt and safe return of all refugees and internally displaced people to their homes,” said the Artsakh Foreign Ministry.

“We are confident that the resolutions of the European Parliament, including its recommendation to impose targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani government officials, will become an important contribution to the common efforts to end the blockade and stop Azerbaijan’s criminal plans to commit ethnic cleansing and genocide in Artsakh,” concluded the foreign ministry statement.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/17/2023

Arpi Talalian 
                                        Friday, 
Russia Laughs Off Pashinian’s Comments On Karabakh, CSTO
RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attends a 
congress of the International Russophile Movement in Moscow, March 14, 2023.
Russia has reacted scathingly to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s latest 
statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenia’s increasingly tense 
relationship with the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Pashinian declared on Thursday Russia took on the role of the guarantor of 
Karabakh’s security when it deployed Russian peacekeeping forces there following 
the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. He said that if the peacekeepers are unable 
to protect the Karabakh Armenians against Azerbaijani military attacks Moscow 
should ask the UN Security Council to “activate additional international 
mechanisms” in Karabakh and the Lachin corridor.
“This can be evaluated with one word: a miraculous ride,” Maria Zakharova, the 
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters when asked to comment on 
Pashinian’s statement.
“That phrase is so inexplicable that I’m not going to explain it. This is some 
incredible equilibristics, you know,” she said, grinning and shrugging her 
shoulders.
Zakharova also disputed Pashinian’s claim about the Russian security guarantee 
for Karabakh, implying that it is at odds with the terms of the Russian-brokered 
ceasefire that stopped the 20202 war.
“The Russian peacekeepers are doing everything they can to prevent an escalation 
and to stabilize the situation on the ground in their zone of responsibility,” 
she said.
“We regard the statements of the Armenian leadership as a continuation of the 
line adopted at the October 2022 [Armenian-Azerbaijani] summit in Prague held 
under aegis of the European Union. So we leave on the conscience of the Armenian 
side, I mean the leadership of Armenia, the attempts to lay responsibility for 
the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh on third countries,” added Zakharova.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that Pashinian effectively 
recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh in a joint statement with 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and EU 
chief Charles Michel issued after that summit. Lavrov said the Armenian leader 
thus all but precluded a different peace deal favored by Moscow. It would 
indefinitely delay an agreement on Karabakh’s status.
Zakharova declined to clarify what Russia will do if Azerbaijani launches a 
military offensive to try to regain full control over Karabakh.
Her scathing reaction underlined growing friction between Russia and Armenia. 
Armenian leaders have repeatedly complained about what they see as a lack of 
Russian support in the conflict with Azerbaijan. They have accused the Russians 
of doing little to get Baku to lift its three-month blockade of Karabakh’s sole 
land link with Armenia.
Yerevan is also unhappy with the Collective Treaty Organization (CSTO), raising 
questions about its continued membership in the Russian-led military alliance. 
Pashinian claimed on Tuesday that it is the CSTO that could “leave Armenia.”
Zakharova laughed off that remark as well, saying that she has trouble 
understanding its meaning.
Yerevan Mayor Resigns
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Hrachya Sargsian takes over as mayor of Yerevan, December 22, 2021.
Yerevan’s mayor, Hrachya Sargsian, stepped down on Friday after only 15 months 
in office.
Sargsian gave no clear reason for his resignation when he announced it at a 
meeting with other senior officials from the municipal administration.
“Now that the [next] elections of the city council are approaching and there is 
quite good cooperation between the mayor’s office and the government I want to 
announce my resignation,” he said, adding that he will remain part of Armenia’s 
ruling “political team.”
The elections of a new municipal council empowered to appoint the mayor are due 
to be held September. It was not immediately clear whether Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, which controls the current council, engineered 
Sargsian’s resignation to bring forward the vote.
The ruling party announced a year ago that former Deputy Prime Minister Tigran 
Avinian will be its mayoral candidate in 2023. Avinian was appointed as one of 
the city’s five deputy mayors in September.
The Armenian press has been rife with speculation lately that Avinian has low 
approval ratings and is overshadowed by Sargsian despite leading most official 
ceremonies organized by the municipality.
Isabella Abgarian, an independent member of the city council, said that the 
mayor’s resignation is part of government efforts to boost Avinian’s chances in 
the municipal elections.
“I see only one explanation,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “They want to 
make sure that the city is put under the exclusive control of Tigran Avinian 
ahead of these elections.”
Abgarian said that despite being installed by the country’s leadership Sargsian 
followed “his own line” and relied on “his own people” during his tenure.
In his farewell remarks, Sargsian said that he supports Avinian’s mayoral bid 
and hopes that Pashinian’s party will win the upcoming polls. But he also 
acknowledged differences within the municipal administration.
The current Yerevan council appointed Sargsian as mayor in December 2021 right 
after ousting his predecessor Hayk Marutian, who fell out with Pashinian 
following the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Marutian, who is a former TV 
comedian, has since been coy about his participation in the 2023 polls.
None of Armenia’s major opposition groups have fielded mayoral candidates so far.
Yerevan Again Warns Of ‘Large-Scale’ Azeri Attack
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
A view of Azerbaijani (L) and Armenian army posts on the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
border, June 18, 2021
The Armenian government has again accused Azerbaijan of planning to launch fresh 
military aggression against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, responding to 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest statements.
Speaking during a summit of Turkic nations held in Turkey on Thursday, Aliyev 
said Armenia should be “held responsible” for its refusal to given Azerbaijan an 
exterritorial land corridor to the Nakhichevan exclave.
Aliyev said Yerevan must also allow the return of thousands of Azerbaijanis who 
fled Soviet Armenia following the outbreak of the Karabakh conflict in 1988. He 
described them as the people of “western Azerbaijan” and said they must enjoy 
the kind of “individual rights and security” which Baku is ready to ensure for 
the Karabakh Armenians.
In a statement issued later in the day, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said 
Aliyev’s comments amount to territorial claims to Armenia.
“The bellicose rhetoric of Azerbaijan’s leader is aimed at torpedoing efforts to 
establish stability in the South Caucasus and resorting to the use of 
large-scale force against both the sovereign territory of the Republic of 
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” it charged.
Yerevan already accused Baku of preparing the ground for another military 
assault on Karabakh following the March 5 shootout near Stepanakert which left 
three Karabakh police officers and two Azerbaijani soldiers dead. It has since 
repeatedly denied Azerbaijani allegations that it illegally ships weapons to 
Karabakh. Baku has threatened to use force to stop the alleged shipments.
The rising tensions in the conflict zone highlight a lack of progress towards 
the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty sought by Baku.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed on Tuesday that the Azerbaijani side is 
rejecting most Armenian proposals regarding the would-be treaty and making more 
demands unacceptable to Yerevan. He said that he will not sign any 
“capitulation” deals with Aliyev.
Aliyev and Pashinian most recently met in Munich on February 18 for talks 
mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Aliyev said after the talks 
that he is largely satisfied with their results.
The U.S. State Department announced later in February that the European Union’s 
top official, Charles Michel, is due to host another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit 
“in the coming days.” There have been indications so far that the summit could 
take place soon.
Thomas de Wall, a veteran British journalist and analyst who has written 
extensively about the Karabakh conflict, suggested on Thursday that Michel is 
unlikely to kick-start the peace process as long as Azerbaijan continues its 
blockade of the Lachin corridor.
“So the threat grows of more violence,” de Wall wrote on Twitter.
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.

Azerbaijan signals possible military action as Karabakh talks falter

Frangulian Shushan
Lilit Shahverdyan Mar 16, 2023

Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian leaders clearly have radically different visions and objectives for the talks that seemed to begin in earnest two weeks ago. 

On March 13, the Azerbaijani presidential administration invited Karabakh representatives for talks in Baku, “to continue contacts for reintegration.”

The proposal was immediately rejected by Karabakh’s de-facto foreign ministry, which insisted that “such meetings should be held within an agreed and internationally recognized format” and not politicized.

Indeed, Azerbaijan sees the talks as a component of establishing sovereignty over the region while Karabakh Armenian officials refuse to engage in political dialogue without international mediators. 

The previous meetings, which took place in Karabakh and were mediated by the Russian peacekeepers deployed there, were aimed at addressing humanitarian, infrastructure, and technical issues.   

Shortly before the first high-profile meeting on March 1, both Azerbaijan and Karabakh formed working groups for the talks. MP Ramin Mammadov was identified in Azerbaijan as the person responsible for contacts with Armenians, while Karabakh’s delegation was led by the head of the security council, Karen Shahramanyan.

The invitation to Baku followed a clash on March 5 which left three Karabakh Armenian police officers and two Azerbaijani soldiers dead. 

Karabakh and Armenia said it was an unprovoked Azerbaijani attack on a police patrol inside the area of the de facto authorities’ control. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said that Armenian vehicles were transporting “military equipment, ammunition, and personnel” from Armenia to Karabakh. That statement suggested that these vehicles had been trying to bypass the blockade of the Lachin corridor, Karabakh’s only lifeline to Armenia and the outside world. The blockade — which Azerbaijan denies is a blockade — has been maintained by Azerbaijani government-sponsored protestors since December 12. 

Then, on March 13, Azerbaijani media published aerial footage of what was said to be Armenian vehicles transporting arms into Karabakh. Karabakh’s interior ministry, meanwhile, said those vehicles carried civilians accompanied by Russian peacekeepers. 

Two days later, Karabakh police reported that three civilians came under fire from adjacent Azerbaijani combat positions while tending to their vineyards. 

The pattern of incidents has led both Armenian and Azerbaijani observers to wonder if Azerbaijan will soon escalate militarily in what it will call a response to Armenian provocation.

Tigran Grigoryan, a political analyst originally from Karabakh, tweeted that the invitation for talks in Baku was a bid “to create a pretext for starting a new escalation and putting the blame on NK, perfectly knowing the ‘invitation’ will be rejected.” 

Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan government-affiliated Center of Analysis of International Relations, similarly wrote that Karabakh Armenians’ refusal to continue the dialogue in Baku “indicates the high probability of tension, and Azerbaijan is not going to tolerate illegal establishment & armed groups on its territory.”

Meanwhile, on March 11 Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said that Armenia was “trying to artificially create tension in the region” and that “the Azerbaijani Army will take all necessary decisive measures to halt any provocation.” 

He specifically ordered a high level of army preparedness during the Novruz holiday (March 20-24).

And Azerbaijani TV stations, which uniformly support the government, have been full of rhetoric about possible “Armenian provocation” and “anti-terrorist operations” in the coming days, the foreign-based independent outlet Mikroskop Media observed.

The building tension comes amid fraught efforts to reach a comprehensive peace agreement between Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. The main sticking point there is that Armenia insists on a separate internationally mediated peace process between Azerbaijan and Karabakh while Baku says Karabakh and the fate of its ethnic-Armenian population is a strictly internal affair.

Hikmet Hajiyev, the chief foreign policy adviser to President Ilham Aliyev, recently reiterated that message, and gave assurances that the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians would be guaranteed in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Azerbaijan, with no special privileges granted to them.

Karabakh’s foreign ministry quickly responded, noting that a number of international organizations, including the OSCE Minsk Group and the UN Security Council, still have the Karabakh issue on their agenda and recalling that the UN’s International Court of Justice recently ordered Azerbaijan to “ensure unimpeded movement” through the Lachin highway.

The ministry further reiterated Karabakh’s readiness to continue negotiations over the comprehensive settlement of the conflict, “on the basis of the norms and principles of international law.”

In remarks to a government meeting on March 16, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated Yerevan’s objection to Baku’s rhetoric about the “reintegration” of the Karabakh Armenians, which he said amounts to an intention to commit “ethnic cleansing.” He added that he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to pursue UN genocide prevention mechanisms. 

Addressing the most recent tensions, he said, “The Azerbaijani state propaganda has long been creating an information background for a large-scale attack on Nagorno Karabakh, and the trends of escalation are visible on the ground, as well.”

Lilit Shahverdyan is a journalist based in Stepanakert. 

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-signals-possible-military-action-as-karabakh-talks-falter

WHO: Armenia takes steps to improve its primary health-care system

Emil Lazarian
             
 

News release

 

Reading time: 2 min (431 words)

Armenia is moving forward with redesigning the model and structure of primary health care (PHC) in the country. A technical team from the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care discussed the country’s PHC priorities with Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Health and the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) PHC Task Force during a recent visit to the country. The meeting also identified areas where WHO could provide technical assistance.

Currently Armenia is facing numerous challenges in health care, with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) accounting for an estimated 93% of all deaths in the country, which is higher than the global average of 71%. Governance, financing, workforce, model of care, quality of care and digital technologies are all areas of concern that need to be addressed in order to improve the health-care system. 

The country committed to the development of PHC reforms based on the European Programme of Work, 2020–2025, and the 2018 Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care, as well as the 2020 WHO and UNICEF Operational Framework for Primary Health Care. During a recent high-level meeting in Yerevan, the PHC Task Force discussed existing challenges and reaffirmed priorities.

During the visit the team contacted PHC workers in various PHC facilities and co-facilitated a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders, including representatives from the MoH, international partners and donors, and shared their observations from the mission. The team was impressed by the potential of the information system developed by Armenia’s national e-health operator, ArMed.

The team then met with the Minister of Health to reaffirm PHC priorities and agree on WHO-specified technical support, a visit to the WHO PHC Demonstration Platform in Kazakhstan, participation in the performance measurement and management programme, and a brief mission report to the MoH.

Overall, the mission identified areas for improvement in Armenia’s PHC system and outlined specific steps that the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care can take to provide technical support and assistance in the priority areas listed below.

  1. Workforce: to ensure an adequate supply of health professionals, the Government of Armenia needs to revisit the supply of narrow specialists according to future needs, retrain some narrow specialists into family doctors, revise their scope of practice, redistribute them between hospital outpatient departments, and increase the supply of nurses.
  2. Model of care: revise family medicine and nursing training to strengthen focus on selected NCDs, implement revised clinical guidelines and protocols, ensure alignment between clinical pathways and guidelines, and identify and promote a network of champions of family medicine.

Implementing these reforms will help to ensure the long-term success of PHC in Armenia.

“Azerbaijan has intensified its military aggression against Armenia” – Freedom House

Hovhannisian John
  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

Freedom House on Armenia

“In 2022 Azerbaijan continued intensifying its military aggression against Armenia, despite security guarantees from Russia,” a report by the international human rights organization Freedom House says.

It contains detailed information on the situation in Armenia, describing both internal problems and external challenges. The document says, in particular, that the September advance of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces deep into the sovereign territory of Armenia “had a significant impact on the trajectory of democracy in the country.” Freedom House experts believe that these events “deserve special attention.”

This refers to military operations on September 13-14, 2022, when Azerbaijani troops advanced on the territory of Armenia in several directions. The Armenian authorities claim that more than 140 square kilometers of the country’s territory have passed under the control of Azerbaijan. The number of victims from the Armenian side is 224 people. After the hostilities, Baku returned 17 prisoners and the bodies of 157 dead Armenian soldiers.

  • “Azerbaijan has territorial designs on Armenia” – Nikol Pashinyan
  • “Baku is trying to speak in ultimatums” – Secretary of the Council of Armenia
  • “Hundreds of bullets fired”: details of the death of Armenian policemen in NK

Armenia continues to be listed among the “partially free” countries. According to the latest report, the country “receded one position” on the freedom table.

On a 100-point scale, Armenia’s rating for 2022 was estimated at 54 points. In 2021 the country scored a point higher.

The report highlights that after the change of power in 2018, Armenia is still in “an important transition process and is seriously suffering” from the consequences of the 2020 44-day war.

The report also assesses the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The organization considers the unrecognized republic partially free, receiving 36 points. Azerbaijan scored 9 points, and the authors of the report ranked the country as not free.

An incident of the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers has brought the issue of who will mediate – the US ir Russia – to the fore

Commenting on the use of regional structures by dictatorial regimes, Freedom House discusses the Russian-controlled military bloc CSTO:

“Unlike the crisis in Kazakhstan, the CSTO was unable to support Armenia, the only country among the members of the bloc, which is considered partially free and is under constant attack from Azerbaijan.”

The members of the CSTO are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Both the authorities and the society of Armenia are disappointed that Russia and the entire bloc operating under its auspices did not provide military assistance to the country, despite numerous appeals.

According to the authors of the report, cooperation in such regional structures is based on the narrow personal interests of dictators and can givea way if these interests do not coincide or if democratic pressure is applied thereto.

Armenia refused the quota for the post of Deputy Secretary General of the CSTO. What does this mean and what could be the consequences? Political observer Hakob Badalyan does not believe that Armenia will have to “pay dearly” for this decision

Freedom House recalls that the Pashinyan government promised to resolve problems that have existed in Armenia for many years, such as

  • systemic corruption,
  • opaque political system,
  • imperfect electoral system,
  • weak legal system.

The authors point to another unfulfilled promise of the prime minister’s — separating business from politics, emphasizing that two major businessmen received a deputy mandate in the ranks of the ruling party.

Also according to the report, the Armenian authorities paid for use of the Predator spyware created by Cytrox in North Macedonia:

“This program has been used in a number of countries, including in Armenia, against journalists, dissidents and human rights activists.”

Freedom House cites research from Meta and Citizen Lab. The report says that Google’s Threat Analysis Group also linked similar incidents in Armenia to the use of the Cytrox program, declaring that “government-backed players” were responsible.

During a press conference on March 14, the Armenian prime minister denied reports that the government had launched a spy program, calling it “absurd.”

Personae non gratae in Armenia – On the banning of Margarita Simonyan and Aram Gabrielyanov, Russian journalists of Armenian origin

  • For 2022, a decrease in the level of human rights and freedoms in the world has been noticed, for the seventeenth year in a row, and influenced by wars, coups, and abuse of power by leaders.
  • The cooperation and interaction of dictatorial regimes in international structures, where they are trying to change the rules of the game and evade responsibility, causes concern.
  • In the past year, democracies have succeeded in punishing or condemning dictatorial regimes in a number of countries, including Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
  • Three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, authoritarianism still dominates Eurasia, in large part owing to Russia.

According to the authors of the document, democracy is under threat by authoritarian countries and the policies pursued by the leaders of dictatorial states.

Freedom House research has shown that when states retreat and find themselves in the ranks of partially free or not free countries, it is difficult for them to recover:

“Therefore, it is very important to provide diplomatic, technical and financial support to those states that are promising in terms of democratic development or are facing a deterioration in the democratic situation.”

According to the report, Armenia is also among those countries where democracy is under pressure.

The Armenian Prime Minister is on a working visit to Berlin where he met with Olaf Scholz and discussed issues of Armenian security

According to the head of the human rights organization Helsinki Association, Nina Karapetyants, Armenia’s retreat would have been more significant if not for “spectacularly designed, beautifully packaged individual steps.”

“For example, as part of the fight against corruption, many structures have been created that, by their nature, are in the logic of transitional justice. Officials are involved in them, whose presence, in particular, in the anti-corruption system, is, to put it mildly, controversial,” she said.

According to Karapetyants, one can even say that Armenia has made some progress, if only this “spectacular packaging” is taken into account.

She says that in the near future, when the newly created structures start working, people will receive “dividends” from them, and it will become clear what “the content of this progress” is. So far there are no results, she said.

Karapetyants finds it difficult to say what the next Freedom House annual report will be, but believes that Armenian society itself will have a great influence on it:

“The events that took place in Georgia proved once again that the people are not an indefinite mass, but a decisive force if they organize themselves. When the people know exactly what they want and have clear demands, no one can stop it, be it the pro-Russian government in Georgia or the authorities using weapons and large police forces.”

https://jam-news.net/freedom-house-on-armenia/


Armenian News note:
The Freedom House Report is at

Armenian PM says no humanitarian disaster in Karabakh thanks to peacekeepers

Emil Lazarian
 TASS 
Russia –
It was also added that Russia had assumed the role of the guarantor of the security of the population and civil infrastructure of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020

YEREVAN, March 16. /TASS/. The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan’s blocking of the Lachin corridor has not turned into a catastrophe thanks to Russian peacekeepers, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.

“I cannot but note the special role of Russian peacekeeping troops. Thanks to them, the humanitarian crisis that emerged after the illegal closure of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh did not turn into a humanitarian disaster,” he said.

Pashinyan also added that Russia had assumed the role of the guarantor of the security of the population and civil infrastructure of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. “We hope that the Russian Federation will fulfill this function, but if our ally cannot fulfill this role for any objective reason, I think it should turn to the UN Security Council and warn the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh of the danger,” he added.

https://tass.com/world/1589463