Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Mediators Concerned Over Fresh Fighting In Karabakh (UPDATED)
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Ethnic Armenian soldiers walk in a trench at an
artillery positions near the Nagorno-Karabakh's town of Martuni, April
7, 2016
A team of U.S., Russian and French negotiators on Wednesday urged the
parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to observe the ceasefire
following fresh skirmishes that reportedly left two Azerbaijani
civilians dead.
"The Minsk Group Co-Chairs urgently call upon the sides to cease
military action," the mediators said in a joint statement. "Violence
only begets further violence and accomplishes nothing."
"The only responsible and humane way to resolve this long-standing
conflict is for the sides to return to the negotiation table in good
faith," they added.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said a 50-year-old woman and her
2-year-old granddaughter were killed on Tuesday evening by Armenian
shelling of their village of Alkhanli just southeast of
Karabakh. Another local resident, also a woman, was seriously wounded,
the ministry said, adding that the Azerbaijani side fired back at
Armenian forces stationed across the nearby section of "the line of
contact."
Azerbaijan -- An Azeri man points at a house damaged during clashes
between Armenian and Azeri forces in the settlement of Gapanli,
outside the frontline Azeri town of Terter, April 5, 2016
Karabakh's Armenian-backed Defense Army came up with a different
version of events, saying that Azerbaijani forces fired five rockets
towards one of its command points from an artillery position located
within Alkhanli.It said its frontline troops retaliated by targeting
that position.
In a separate statement, the Defense Army accused the Azerbaijani
military of using Alkhanli residents as a "human shield." It also
released a short video that purportedly shows two Azerbaijan rockets
landing near Karabakh Armenian trenches overlooking the Azerbaijani
village. It said it was the first time that the Azerbaijanis used
Turkish-made TR-107 multiple-launch rocket systems since the April
2016 hostilities in and around Karabakh.
"If the enemy really suffered casualties among civilians, then we have
to express regret," said the Karabakh army commander,
Lieutenant-General Levon Mnatsakanian. "At the same time I want to
make clear that the armed forces of Artsakh (Karabakh) # will continue
to fully exercise their right to defend themselves and, if need be,
respond to the enemy's offensive actions in a targeted and
disproportionate manner."
Mnatsakanian also warned Baku against resorting to "further military
adventures," saying that they would have "unpredictable consequences."
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claimed on Wednesday, however, that
the Armenians are deliberately targeting Azerbaijani civilians living
near the Karabakh frontlines. It said the deaths of the two villagers
"confirmed the terrorist nature" of Armenia. The ministry also said
the American, French and Russian mediators must now demand "the
immediate withdrawal of Armenia's armed forces from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and a change of the status quo."
Nagorno-Karabakh -- An Armenian man walks inside a destroyed building
in the village of Talish, some 80km north of Karabakh's capital
Stepanakert, April 6, 2016
Official Yerevan blamed the Azerbaijani side for the deadly
incident. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian discussed it in phone
conversations with the Minsk Group co-chairs. Nalbandian's press
office said he briefed them on "the situation after the Azerbaijani
provocation."
The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, said that in
order to prevent further bloodshed Baku should comply with
confidence-building agreements that were reached by Armenia's and
Azerbaijan's presidents last year.
Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev specifically agreed to
allow the OSCE to deploy more field observers in the conflict zone and
investigate truce violations occurring there. The Azerbaijani
leadership has since been reluctant to implement these safeguards,
saying that they would cement the status quo in the absence of
progress in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.
The latest escalation comes ahead of a meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers expected later this month. The Minsk
Group co-chairs hope that they will help to prepare for a fresh
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit. The mediating troika said after visiting
Baku, Yerevan and Stepanakert last month that Aliyev and Sarkisian
"expressed their intention to resume political dialogue in an attempt
to find a compromise solution for the most controversial issues of the
settlement."
The Interfax news agency quoted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
spokesman, Hikmet Hajiyev, as saying later in the day that Baku does
not plan to cancel the ministerial meeting that could take place as
early as next week. "We want substantive negotiations," he said.
Moscow Slams Azeri Travel Ban For Russian Armenians
Russia -- Aaerial view of central Moscow, with the headquarters of
Russian Foreign Ministry, one of the so-called Stalin high rises, in
the foreground, April 06, 2012
Russia publicly demanded on Wednesday Azerbaijan stop barring Russian
citizens of Armenian descent from visiting the South Caucasus country,
saying that the "blatant discriminatory practice" could hurt
Russian-Azerbaijani ties.
The Azerbaijani government has long maintained a travel ban for not
only Armenia's citizens but also ethnic Armenians from other countries
because of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.It considers any
Armenian presence on Azerbaijani soil a security risk and an affront
to the country's honor and territorial integrity.
The TASS agency quoted an unnamed official at the Russian Foreign
Ministry as saying that 25 Russian nationals with Armenian surnames
have been detained and deported after attempting to enter Azerbaijan
so far this year. The official said Azerbaijani immigration officers
have also interrogated individuals with traditional Russian names
suspected of having Armenian ancestors.
"We have to conclude that Russian citizens arriving in Azerbaijan are
really discriminated against on ethnic grounds," said the official.
"We are continuing to demand an end to the blatant discriminatory
practice which is not compatible with friendly relations between the
two countries. We will certainly be drawing conclusions from the
existing situation."
According to TASS, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly
demanded explanations from the authorities in Baku and has been told
by them that the travel ban is needed for averting "undesirable
incidents." The ministry official dismissed the explanation as
unsatisfactory.
Commenting on the unusually strong Russian criticism later in the day,
a spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry cited continuing
"Armenian occupation" of Azerbaijani territory. "Unfortunately, some
ethnic Armenian individuals display ethnically motivated hostility,
and that is why we take certain measures," the official said,
according to the Turan news agency.
Incidentally, Russia's longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was
born to an ethnic Armenian father. Lavrov has visited Baku on a
regular basis.
The Azerbaijan ban also applies to presumed or actual ethnic Armenians
from Turkey, Azerbaijan's closest ally. In 2014, a Turkish
arm-wrestler called Zafer Noyan was reportedly barred from entering
Azerbaijan and participating in a major competition there because of
his last name which officials at the Baku airport felt is
Armenian. Noyan was forced to flow back to Istanbul despite his
assurances that he is not of Armenian origin.
Polish Envoy Expects New EU-Armenia Deal With `Fingers Crossed'
. Sargis Harutyunyan
Belgium - Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan (L) walks next to
European Council President Donald Tusk after a joint news statement in
Brussels, Belgium February 27, 2017
Poland's ambassador in Yerevan expressed hope on Wednesday that a new
agreement to deepen Armenia's political and economic ties with the
European Union will be signed as planned this autumn.
"We are waiting for the signing of the document," Jerzy Nowakowski
told reporters. "And as [EU] Ambassador Piotr Switalski has pointed
out, we are waiting not for promises but for concrete steps from our
Armenian partners."
The Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a less
ambitious alternative to an Association Agreement negotiated by
Armenian and EU officials in the summer of 2013. President Serzh
Sarkisian precluded the signing of that deal with his unexpected
decision in September 2013 to make Armenia part of the Russian-led
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The U-turn was widely attributed to
strong Russian pressure.
The alternative deal apparently contains the main political provisions
of the cancelled Association Agreement. It was finalized in Yerevan in
March and is expected to be signed in Brussels in November.
Armenia - Polish Ambassador to Armenia Jerzy Nowakowski gives a press
conference in Yerevan, 4May2015.
Asked whether he thinks the CEPA could be scuttled like the
Association Agreement was, Nowakowski said: "I cross my fingers and
say no [there is no such risk.] But I cross my fingers."
Speaking in the Armenian parliament last week, Deputy Foreign Minister
Shavarsh Kocharian insisted that the CEPA is "due to be signed this
autumn." "We'll talk about the results next year," he added with a
grin.
Naira Zohrabian, the chairwoman of an Armenian parliament committee on
European integration, said on June 21 that Armenia has "discussed" the
key CEPA provisions with Russia and that the latter does not object to
them. "Therefore, right now I see no risk that the Comprehensive and
Enhanced Partnership Agreement will not be signed in Brussels on
November 24," she told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Press Review
Armenia -- Newspapers for press review illustration, Yerevan,
12Jul2016
"Aravot" pays tribute to Armenia's post-Soviet constitution on the
22nd anniversary of its adoption in a disputed referendum held in July
1995. The paper says that the constitution is one of the key state
symbols that should be respected by Armenians even if it has not been
enforced by successive governments in Yerevan. "Wrong things may be
written in the constitution," editorializes the paper. "Constitutional
provisions are not necessarily enforced, which is certainly the
case. Courts may be dependent [on the government] and corrupt. This
also happens often times. But to extend our cynicism and nihilism to
state institutions means to contribute to their being weak and
underdeveloped."
"Hraparak" quotes Mane Tandilian, a parliament deputy from the
opposition Yelk alliance, as criticizing the Armenian government's
decision to use more water from Lake Sevan for irrigation and power
generation. "We see serious corruption risks here," she says. "When we
speak of [the extra] 100 million cubic meters of water we are told
that only 40 million cubic meters will reach farmers for irrigation
purposes and that the remaining 60 percent will be lost. How did they
calculate that? There are concerns that those 60 million cubic meters
will benefit hydroelectric plants, resulting in extra profits that
will not be taxed."
"We really have a problem with serious oversight in the area of use of
water," Gagik Melikian, a senior lawmaker representing the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), tells "Hayots Ashkhar," commenting
on an opposition argument that water losses have not decreased despite
substantial government sums spent on refurbishing Armenia's irrigation
networks. "On the other hand, I don't think that the losses are that
big," Melikian goes on. "I don't exclude that we may have losses in
the canals, but they are not large-scale. I am inclined to think that
water reaches villages but its entire volume is not recorded because
of a lack of necessary equipment. A lot needs to be done in that
area."
In an interview with "Past," political commentator Manvel Sargsian
says that popular demand for political changes in Armenia is not
strong enough. "Unlike previous elections, these latest
[parliamentary] elections were not followed by a wave of protests," he
says. "This is a very important fact. There may be different reasons
for that." The election outcome is viewed as natural by many
Armenians, he adds.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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