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    Categories: 2020

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/13/2020

                                        Friday, November 13, 2020

Armenia Urges Azerbaijan To Stop Racial Discrimination
November 13, 2020

An Armenian woman cries as she visits for the last time a medieval monastery in 
Kalbajar before Armenian forces withdraw from the area adjacent to 
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 15

Armenia has called on Azerbaijan to cease its “discriminatory practices” against 
ethnic Armenians as Baku prepares to take control of several districts around 
Nagorno-Karabakh following a Russia-brokered truce in the latest armed conflict.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement that Armenia signed on November 10 in 
the wake of a series of military defeats by ethnic Armenian forces in 
Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war with Azerbaijan, Armenians, in particular, 
must gradually withdraw from three districts by December 1.

As Russian peacekeepers are being deployed in the region as part of the 
agreement Kalbajar will become the first district that Azerbaijan will regain on 
November 15 according to an agreed timetable.

The road leading from Kalbajar to the Armenian town of Vardenis is full of 
trucks these days as thousands of Armenians who have lived in the district for 
decades are trying to move their belongings to Armenia.

An RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent witnessed local residents dismantling 
roofs, doors and whatever else they could from their houses to take with them to 
Armenia. One resident explained that the construction materials would help them 
build some makeshift housing in Armenia to somehow survive the coming winter.


A woman is crying near a road sign welcoming people to Nagorno-Karabakh in 
Kalbajar as Armenians prepare to hand the district over to Azerbaijan as part of 
a ceasefire agreement. November 12, 2020.
Some videos posted on social media also showed some residents in Kalbajar 
burning their houses before leaving their villages.

Meanwhile, many Armenians bid farewell to their cultural heritage in the area, 
including Dadivank, a 9th-century monastery located in Kalbajar.

In a statement issued on November 13, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 
that earlier this week Yerevan sent a letter to authorities in Baku noting that 
Azerbaijan’s “actions and policies adopted during the last decades are in gross 
violation of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms 
of Racial Discrimination.”

“Among other things, Armenia urgently called on Azerbaijan to cease its 
discriminatory practices and other continuous violations with regard to Armenia 
and ethnic Armenians, including but not limited to dissemination of 
anti-Armenian sentiment; failure to take effective measures to eliminate 
anti-Armenian propaganda; permitting public authorities or public institutions 
to promote or incite racial discrimination with respect to Armenians; 
discriminatory deprivation of the individual rights of ethnic Armenians, such as 
the right to security of person, the right to property, and the rights to access 
and enjoy cultural heritage; failure to provide ethnic Armenians with effective 
protection and remedies through competent national tribunals and other State 
institutions; and engaging in the practice of ethnic cleansing against 
Armenians,” it said.

The ministry said that in its letter dated November 11 Armenia urged Azerbaijan 
“to comply with its obligations under the Convention and invited the latter to 
address its violations of the Convention and their consequences through 
negotiations.”

“Should the Government of Azerbaijan reject Armenia’s invitation or fail to 
respond to it within the fixed timeframe, Armenia reserves its right to seek to 
settle this legal dispute in accordance with the procedure set forth in the 
Convention,” the statement concluded.



Macron Says France Ready To Help Build ‘Lasting Solution’ To Karabakh Conflict
November 13, 2020

A Russian peacekeeper shouts "No pictures!" at a checkpoint outside 
Nagorno-Karabakh's main city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020.

(RFE/RL) With a Russia-brokered truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan continuing 
to hold in Nagorno-Karabakh, French President Emmanuel Macron says he is ready 
to help build a lasting and balanced solution for all sides in the conflict.

The peace deal, announced early on November 10, came after Azerbaijani forces 
made major battlefield gains in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Three previous 
cease-fires signed since fighting broke out on September 27 had failed to hold.

While ending fighting that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians on 
both sides, the deal has been rejected by many Armenians because it allows 
Azerbaijan to keep a sizable chunk of the small mountain region, along with the 
surrounding areas captured during the fighting.

The deal includes the deployment of about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in the 
region.


France, part of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
in Europe (OSCE) -- co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States -- has 
found itself somewhat sidelined by Moscow's efforts in the conflict.

While Macron has been careful not to back one side or the other in the dispute, 
he also has to be wary with some 400,000 to 600,000 people of Armenian origin 
living in France.


French President Emanuel Macron (foreground) made his comments in a statement 
detailing a call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. (file photo)

"The President expressed his satisfaction with the end of the fighting, recalled 
his friendship for Armenia and its people as well as his readiness to build a 
fair, lasting and acceptable political solution for all parties in 
Nagorno-Karabakh," the French presidency said in a statement detailing a call 
with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian late on November 12.

Speaking on November 13, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed criticism 
raised in Armenia that Russia, a key ally and military supplier to Yerevan, 
failed to offer the country considerable support in the conflict.

“The accusation that Russia allegedly did not support Armenia enough is 
absolutely baseless. Russia has never abandoned its commitments as part of the 
Collective Security Treaty Organization. Had anyone attacked Armenia, Russia 
would do everything to protect its ally,” Peskov said.

Peskov also said that Russia has accepted Baku’s apology over the downing of a 
Russian military helicopter that left two crew members dead and one injured.

"The instant reaction of the Azerbaijani president and the declared readiness of 
Azerbaijan to carry out an impartial inquiry into the circumstances and to 
punish the culprits allowed [Moscow] to accept those apologies," Peskov said in 
an interview with Russian-government funded TV network RT.

Earlier, Azerbaijan said the comment made by Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia 
Polad Bulbuloglu concerning the November 9 incident was “inappropriate." 
Buldbuloglu had said that "War is war, anything can happen."

“This case cannot do harm to the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia," 
Azerbaijani presidential aide and head of the presidential administration's 
foreign policy department Hikmet Hajiyev said in a statement.



Anti-Government Protests Continue In Armenia
November 13, 2020

Demonstrators at a rally in Yerevan demand the resignation of Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian. November 13, 2020.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Yerevan’s central Liberty Square on 
Friday for the fourth day of anti-government protests sparked by Armenia’s truce 
agreement with Azerbaijan signed mostly on Baku’s terms following a bloody 
six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Representatives of nearly two dozen opposition parties demand that Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian resign over what they view as an act of surrender.

Under the terms of the Russian-brokered deal, by December Armenian forces are to 
gradually withdraw from three districts held since the 1994 ceasefire agreement, 
while Azerbaijan will keep the territory in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding 
areas captured during the conflict.

Armenians will also forfeit the Lachin region, where a crucial road connects 
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The agreement calls for a 5-kilometer wide area in 
the so-called Lachin Corridor to remain open and be protected by around 2,000 
Russian peacekeepers.

The agreement also calls for Russian border services to monitor a new transport 
corridor through Armenia connecting Azerbaijan to its western exclave of 
Nakhijevan, which is surrounded by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey.

Under the timetable of withdrawals Armenian forces are due to leave the first of 
the three districts, Kalbajar, by November 15.

The road leading from Kalbajar to the Armenian town of Vardenis is full of 
trucks these days as thousands of Armenians who have lived in the district for 
decades are trying to move their belongings to Armenia.


Armenians pack their belongings as they leave their house in the town of 
Kalbajar, November 12, 2020

An RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent witnessed local residents dismantling 
roofs, doors and whatever else they could from their houses to take with them to 
Armenia. One resident explained that the construction materials would help them 
build some makeshift housing in Armenia and somehow survive the coming winter.

Some videos posted on social media also show some residents in Kalbajar burning 
their houses before leaving their villages.

Speakers at tonight’s rally in Yerevan accused Pashinian of “handing over 
Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh)” to Azerbaijan. They said he 
must resign as soon as possible so that “some points of the document could be 
renegotiated.”


Armenian Prime Minster Nikol Pashinian

Meanwhile, in an interview with Armenia’s Public Television on Friday Prime 
Minister Pashinian responded to some of the criticism heard from his opponents.

Opposition parties, in particular, criticize Pashinian for keeping the public in 
the dark about the document that he was going to sign with Azerbaijan despite 
his earlier promise that any document on Nagorno-Karabakh would first be 
discussed with people.

“I want to draw the attention of everyone to the fact that this is a document on 
the cessation of hostilities. This is not a document about a political 
settlement, and there are terms, sentences that need to be interpreted to become 
political content. And it is at that stage that discussions will become 
possible, and these discussions will take place,” Pashinian said.

The police detained several demonstrators during the Friday rally at the end of 
which the opposition promised to continue street protests.

Armenian law-enforcement authorities have warned people that political 
gatherings are banned in conditions of martial law that was put in place at the 
start of hostilities in late September.

Earlier on Friday several opposition leaders, including Prosperous Armenia Party 
leader Gagik Tsarukian, Homeland Party leader Artur Vanetsian, Armenian 
Revolutionary Federation leader Iskhan Saghatelian, Republican Party of Armenia 
member Eduard Sharmazanov and others were freed by courts after being arrested 
on charges of organizing mass disorders.

Some of them, including Saghatelian, were later summoned for questioning by the 
National Security Service.

The opposition parties claim the cases against their leaders and activists are 
politically motivated.



Russia Calls ‘Unfair’ Accusations From ‘Some Armenian Circles’
November 13, 2020
        • Armen Koloyan

Two soldiers attaching a flag on the Russian peacekeeping forces' military 
vehicle as they move on the road towards Martuni in Nagorno-Karabakh. November 
13, 2020.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called criticism in Armenia of Russia’s 
stance on Nagorno-Karabakh “unfair.”

“The accusation that Russia allegedly did not support Armenia enough is 
absolutely baseless. Russia has never abandoned its commitments as part of the 
Collective Security Treaty Organization. Had anyone attacked Armenia, Russia 
would do everything to protect its ally,” Peskov said.

The spokesman for the Russian president said it was unfair of some circles in 
Armenian society to say that “Russia has betrayed Armenia.”


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

Russia, Peskov stressed, simply did not have the right to send troops to 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We did it only after it was approved by the parties to the conflict. Otherwise 
Russia would not have been able to do so under international law,” Peskov said.

Six weeks of Armenian-Azerbaijani hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict 
zone ended on November 10 in a trilateral statement brokered by Russia that put 
an end to military operations mostly on Baku’s terms.

The agreement also envisages the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers 
to ensure the security of the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The deal that was negotiated in the wake of a series of military defeats by 
ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh sparked protests in Armenia, with 
opposition parties branding it as an act of surrender and demanding Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.

Throughout the course of the armed conflict Russia, as one of the three chief 
international mediators along with the United States and France, showed 
neutrality concerning the hostilities taking place within what internationally 
are recognized as Azerbaijan’s borders.

On October 31, Pashinian formally asked Russia, as its ally, to consider 
rendering military assistance to Armenia. Russia responded the same day by 
reaffirming its commitments to Yerevan “if military operations take place 
directly on the territory of Armenia.”



Lawmaker Quits Pro-Government Faction Over Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis
November 13, 2020

Vardan Atabekian

A lawmaker elected to the Armenian National Assembly on the slate of an alliance 
led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has announced his quitting the 
pro-government faction over the ongoing political crisis over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a statement released late on Thursday Vardan Atabekian said that while he 
leaves the My Step faction, he will keep his mandate in order to work towards 
ending the crisis.

Atabekian said that “like the overwhelming majority of the people it was from 
the media that I learned about the statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, 
Russia and Azerbaijan regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The news of the Russian-brokered agreement with Azerbaijan putting an end to six 
weeks of deadly fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh mostly on Baku’s terms sparked 
disturbances in Armenia on November 10 followed by a political crisis as the 
opposition began to stage rallies and demand Prime Minister Pashinian’s 
resignation and annulment of the deal.

A loose alliance of 17 opposition parties also demanded a special session of 
parliament to be convened over the crisis. It also urged members of the majority 
My Step faction which refused “to take part in any sessions aimed at 
destabilizing the situation” to join the movement aimed at removing Pashinian 
from power.

Atabekian said that he will not give up his mandate and will continue to serve 
as a member of parliament not affiliated with any faction.

“In my further activities I will focus on efforts to quit the current situation 
with as few losses as possible and solve problems of Armenians of 
Nagorno-Karabakh. It is due to this that I am not giving up my mandate,” the 
lawmaker explained.

Meanwhile, the opposition has vowed to continue its rallies despite warnings 
from authorities that political gatherings are banned under the current martial 
law.

In what Pashinian critics view as political persecution over a dozen opposition 
leaders were arrested earlier this week mainly on charges of organizing mass 
disorders.

Courts later ruled that several of the arrested politicians, including 
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian and Homeland Party leader Artur 
Vanetsian, be released.


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