Tuesday, 


Diaspora Urged To End Armenia’s Trade Dependence On Russia

        • Narine Ghalechian

Armenia - Arayik Harutiunian, chief of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's staff, 
chairs a meeting in Yerevan, November 30, 2022.


Armenians around the world should buy more food and beverages produced in 
Armenia to end the country’s heavy dependence on their exports to Russia, Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s chief of staff said on Tuesday.

Arayik Harutiunian made the extraordinary appeal as hundreds of Armenian trucks 
remained stuck at the main Russian-Georgian border crossing due to Moscow’s 
decision to subject them to stricter sanitary checks. Dozens of other vehicles 
mainly carrying agricultural products were denied entry to Russia and had to 
return to Armenia in recent days. The tighter border controls come amid mounting 
tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.

“Now it is extremely important that Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora buy 
only Armenian goods: agricultural products, drinks and services provided by 
Armenian companies,” Harutiunian wrote on Facebook. “Supporting business and the 
taxpayer in this way is vital for strengthening our Independence and Sovereignty.

“No closure of the Lars checkpoint will affect us if Armenian business finds new 
markets on the holiday and non-holiday tables of our compatriots living abroad. 
On New Year's and Christmas tables there should be only Armenian-made 
vegetables, fruit, wine, brandy, and other agricultural products.”

Russia has long been the main export market for these products. They still 
account for a significant share of Armenia’s overall exports to Russia that 
nearly doubled to $2.6 billion in January-September this year mainly because of 
a re-export of Western consumer goods.

Russia is also home to the largest Armenian Diaspora community in the world 
comprising an estimated 2 million people. The figure is believed to exceed the 
combined number of ethnic Armenians living in the United States and the European 
Union.

Georgia - Armenian and other heavy trucks are lined up on a road leading to the 
Georgian-Russian border crossing at Upper Lars, 6May2016.

Armenia exported $575 million worth of goods -- mostly base metals, ore 
concentrates and refined diamonds -- to EU countries in the nine-month period. 
Armenian exports to the U.S. totaled a meager $35 million, according to Armenian 
government data.

Harutiunian did not say whether the Armenian government can help domestic food 
exporters gain greater access to the tightly regulated Western markets. The 
government official, who is also a senior member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract 
party, could not be reached for comment.

Harutiun Mnatsakanian, a wholesale wheat trader who has done business in Europe 
for the last eight years, said Harutiunian’s appeal is “dangerous” in the 
absence of alternative export markets for Armenia’s agricultural and 
food-processing sectors. Mnatsakanian argued that the EU has strict sanitary and 
quality standards for foodstuffs that are not enforced in Armenia.

“On top of that, you have to solve logistical problems,” he told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service. “It can be said that we don’t have a logistical system for the 
European market and transportation costs are very high. These problems make it 
practically impossible for us to engage in major commerce in the European 
markets.”

Hovik Aghazarian, a pro-government parliamentarian, was also skeptical, saying 
that while Harutiunian sent a “very important message” to the Diaspora it alone 
“will not solve the problem.” Armenia can only diversify its exports “in the 
long run,” he said.

Echoing statements by his opposition colleagues, Aghazarian suggested that the 
tighter border controls introduced by the Russians are politically motivated. 
Government officials in Yerevan have so far been careful not to make such claims 
in public.




Issue Of Karabakh’s Self-Determination Closed For Yerevan

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - Parliament speaker Alen Simonian speaks to journalists, Yerevan, 
.


The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and Armenia should not prioritize the 
quick return of the recently displaced Karabakh Armenians to their homes in 
peace talks with Azerbaijan, parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on Tuesday.

“The Republic of Armenia has no such issue today,” Simonian told journalists 
when asked about the Karabakh people’s right to self-determination that had for 
decades been championed by Yerevan. “Armenia fully recognizes the territorial 
integrity of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh 
months before Baku regained full control of the territory as a result of the 
September 19-20 military offensive that forced its practically entire ethnic 
Armenian population to flee to Armenia. Pashinian’s political opponents and 
other domestic critics say that the far-reaching policy change paved the way for 
the Azerbaijani takeover.

Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian said last week that the 
issue of the rights of the Karabakh Armenians is “on the agenda” of Yerevan’s 
dealings with Baku and international mediators. But he did not elaborate.

Simonian, who is a close associate of Pashinian, was skeptical on this score, 
saying that the Karabakh refugees are not eager to return to their homes because 
there are now no realistic mechanisms for guaranteeing their security. He 
appeared to equate them with ethnic Azerbaijanis who had fled Soviet Armenia in 
the late 1980s.

“I believe that at this historical stage we must concentrate on signing the 
Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and opening all regional communication routes,” 
he said in this regard. “Whether or not some Azerbaijanis will wish to return to 
Armenia or some Armenians will wish to return to Baku … Stepanakert, Shushi or 
the other settlements where Armenians used to live is a matter of the future.”




Blinken Again Talks To Armenian, Azeri Leaders


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at the Munich Security 
Conference in Munich, Germany, February 18, 2023.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken telephoned the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan late on Monday to discuss ways of kick-starting Armenian-Azerbaijani 
talks on a peace deal sought by Western powers.

His separate phone calls followed Baku’s cancellation of a meeting in Washington 
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani foreign ministers scheduled for November 20. The 
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry blamed the move on what it described as 
pro-Armenian statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of 
state for Europe and Eurasia.

Speaking during a congressional hearing in Washington on November 15, O’Brien 
condemned Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh 
and warned Baku against attacking Armenia to open a land corridor to its 
Nakhichevan exclave.

“We’ve made clear that nothing will be normal with Azerbaijan after the events 
of September 19 until we see progress on the peace track,” he said, adding that 
Washington has cancelled “high-level visits” by Azerbaijani officials and 
suspended military and other aid to Baku.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev complained about O’Brien’s comments during 
his phone conversation with Blinken. According to Azerbaijani media, Aliyev 
agreed to receive the senior U.S. diplomat in Baku in December in return for 
Blinken’s pledge to lift the “unfounded ban on Azerbaijani officials’ visits to 
the United States.”

“The Secretary welcomed President Aliyev’s commitment to conclude a durable and 
dignified peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Matthew Miller, the 
U.S. State Department spokesman, said in a statement on the call.

U.S. - James O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office of Sanctions 
Coordination, testifies during a Senate hearing in Washington, September 28, 
2022.

Blinken also “noted recent points of concern” in U.S.-Azerbaijani relations and 
discussed “opportunities to strengthen cooperation, especially around the peace 
process,” added Miller.

He did not say whether Blinken and Aliyev agreed on a new date for the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani talks in Washington. The press offices of Aliyev and 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also did not report such an agreement.

Aliyev and Pashinian had been scheduled to meet on the fringes of the European 
Union’s October 5 summit in Granada, Spain. Pashinian hoped that they will sign 
there a document laying out the main parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace 
treaty.

However, Aliyev withdrew from the talks at the last minute. He also cancelled 
another meeting which EU Council President Charles Michel planned to host in 
Brussels later in October. A senior EU diplomat indicated last week that the 
onus is on the Azerbaijani side to revive the stalled peace process.

O’Brien questioned Aliyev’s commitment to signing a Western-backed treaty with 
Armenia when he testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee 
two weeks ago. The peace accord would commit Baku to formally recognizing 
Armenia’s current borders.

Speaking to journalists earlier on Monday, O’Brien said there is still a “real 
opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to make peace.” He warned at the same 
time that the U.S. is ready to “use whatever tools we could” to prevent Baku 
from forcibly opening the corridor through Armenian territory.

“So we’ve been very clear with the parties about what we hope to see and about 
the consequences of moving forward otherwise,” added the U.S. official.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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