Monday,
Moscow ‘Satisfied’ With Karabakh Truce Implemenation
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with his Armenian
counterpart Ara Aivazian in Moscow, December 7, 2020
Russia is satisfied with Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s compliance with a
Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on
November 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
“We are satisfied with the fact that the ceasefire on the ground has been
observed for almost a month and there is a return of refugees,” Lavrov said
after talks with his visiting Amenian counterpart, Ara Ayvazian.
“There is progress in the exchange of prisoners of war and bodies of the dead
and the search for missing persons,” he told reporters. “But as we pointed out
earlier today, we are interested in seeing these acute humanitarian issues
solved as soon as possible. And we mapped out today a number of steps in that
direction.”
In his opening remarks at the three-hour negotiations, Lavrov said that through
Russian peacekeepers deployed in the Karabakh conflict zone Moscow will seek to
facilitate a “quick completion” of the exchange of POWs envisaged by the truce
agreement.
Ayvazian also stressed the importance of the prisoner exchange, which has not
yet begun. “We hope that there will be no obstacles from the Azerbaijani side,”
he said at the joint news briefing with Lavrov. “Also, there have been many
cases of inhumane treatment of Armenian prisoners held by the Azerbaijanis.”
A Russian peacekeeper stands guard on a road in the town of Lachin on December
1, 2020.
Ayvazian, who was appointed as foreign minister less than a month ago, also
reiterated Armenia’s strong condemnations of Turkey’s role in the Karabakh war
that broke out on September 27.
“Turkey must withdrawl its military personnel and armed terrorist groups linked
to them from the Karabakh conflict zone and the South Caucasus in general,” he
said.
Ankara has denied sending members of Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups to fight
in Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side. Azerbaijan also denies the presence of such
mercenaries in the Azerbaijani army ranks.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Lavrov discussed the
implementation of the truce agreement in a weekend phone call. Baku and Moscow
reported few details of the conversation.
The agreement brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin says nothing about
Karabakh’s status. It is expected to be a key focus of Armenian-Azerbaijani
negotiations planned by Russia, France and the United States.
Lavrov said Russian, French and U.S. diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group
are planning to visit the conflict zone soon in an effort to kick-start the
peace process. But he gave no possible dates for the trip.
Pashinian Must Go, Insists Parliamentary Opposition
• Anush Mkrtchian
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia -- Emond Marukian, the leader of the opposition Bright Armenia Party,
speaks during parliamentary hearings in Yerevan, December 7, 2020.
The two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament remained adamant
on Monday in demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation and fresh
parliamentary elections.
One of them, Bright Armenia (LHK), has not joined street protests organized by a
coalition of 16 opposition groups accusing Pashinian of mishandling the war with
Azerbaijan. Nor has the LHK backed an interim prime minister nominated by them
last week.
“The prime minister symbolizing our defeat must resign. The parliament should
choose an interim prime minister because this parliament obviously cannot serve
out its constitutional term,” LHK leader Edmon Marukian said during
parliamentary hearings organized by his party.
Marukian stressed at the same time that the Armenian opposition and the
parliamentary majority representing Pashinian’s My Step should work together in
trying to end the post-war political crisis in Armenia. They should do
everything to prevent violent unrest in the country, he said.
Prosperous Armenia (BHK), the second parliamentary opposition party, is a key
member of the opposition coalition holding anti-government rallies in Yerevan.
It has given Pashinian until Tuesday to resign or face nationwide “civil
disobedience” actions.
Naira Zohrabian, a senior BHK parliamentarian, said such actions are inevitable
because Pashinian is unwilling to step down.
“He will not quit before provoking violent clashes,” claimed Zohrabian. “We must
to everything to prevent such clashes.”
My Step lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary hearings.
One of them, Andranik Kocharian, rejected at the weekend the opposition demands
for Pashinian’s resignation and accused the opposition of plotting a violent
overthrown of the government. He rejected any parallels between the ongoing
opposition demonstrations and the protest movement that brought Pashinian to
power in 2018.
“The state must protect state structures, the government,” Kocharian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “This government has a high degree of legitimacy even
in this difficult, depressing post-war situation.”
Echoing Pashinian’s statements, Kocharian insisted that the current government
should stay in power to “maintain stability” and cement the ceasefire in and
around Karabakh.
Armenian President Wants Government To Return $100 Million Donation
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian speaks during an official ceremony at the
presidential palace in Yerevan.
President Armen Sarkissian has criticized a pan-Armenian charity for donating to
Armenia’s government most of $170 million raised by it for Nagorno-Karabakh
during the recent war.
Sarkissian said the unusual move undermined donors’ trust in the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund. He urged the government to release a detailed report on how
it has used the economic and humanitarian aid to Karabakh.
Hayastan launched an international fundraising campaign immediately after the
outbreak of the war on September 27. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians from
around the world responded to its appeal for urgent aid to Karabakh and its
population severely affected by the fighting. They donated roughly $170 million
to Hayastan within weeks.
It emerged afterwards that the charity headquartered in Yerevan redirected more
than $100 million of those proceeds to the government. The Armenian Finance
Ministry said on November 24 that the hefty donation will finance the
government’s “infrastructure, social and healthcare expenditures” necessitated
by the six-week war.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Sarkissian’s office revealed that he objected
to the financial contribution approved by most members of Hayastan’s board of
trustees headed by the Armenian president. It said he believes the decision left
the fund’s donors suspecting that “their trust has been abused.”
According to the statement, Sarkissian has sent a letter to the board members
arguing for “urgent steps” that should be taken before the donors’ “trust in the
Government and the Fund has been finally lost.”
“Consequently, according to the President, the Government must submit a clear,
detailed, and transparent report on the expenditures made with the transferred
sums of the Fund, and this must be done in the most public way,” the
presidential office said.
Sarkissian also called for an “urgent international audit” of Hayastan. He said
that in case of “negative” findings” of the audit the government should redefine
the hefty donation as a “loan” and pledge to eventually reimburse the fund.
“The return of the funds, transferred by the Government to the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund, can significantly change the situation and become a guarantee
of restoring the confidence in the Fund,” added the statement.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office and the Hayastan management did not
immediately react to Sarkissian’s concerns and proposals.
Later in November, Hayastan raised in the United States and France $26 million
in fresh funds for Nagorno-Karabakh. It attracted the bulk of the donations
pledges during an annual telethon broadcast from Los Angeles.
Hayastan has implemented $370 million worth of various infrastructure projects
in Karabakh and Armenia since being set up in 1992. Its board of trustees mostly
comprises Armenia’s political leaders and prominent Diaspora philanthropists.
Ter-Petrosian Slams Pashinian, Opposition
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian at his election campaign
headquarters in Yerevan, 2Apr2017.
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian has added his voice to calls for Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation while condemning what he called
opposition threats of a violent overthrow of Armenia’s government.
In a weekend article posted on ilur.am, Ter-Petrosian said that both Pashinian
and opposition groups holding anti-government protests are putting the country
at risk of “civil war” with their radical stances.
He pointed to veteran politician Vazgen Manukian’s speech at a rally held by a
coalition of 16 opposition groups in Yerevan on Friday. They hold Pashinian
responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the war with Azerbaijan and want him to cede
power to an interim government that would hold snap parliamentary elections.
Manukian, whom the opposition forces want to take over as a caretaker prime
minister, said Pashinian should “realize that the sooner he willingly resigns
the better it will be for him.” “If this movement does not win, furious people
will rip him apart,” he warned before thousands of opposition supporters marched
to the prime minister’s residence guarded by security forces.
ARMENIA -- Politician Vazgen Manukian attends an opposition rally in Yerevan,
December 5, 2020
Opposition leaders gave the prime minister until Tuesday to step down or face a
nationwide campaign of “civil disobedience.”
Ter-Petrosian said Manukian’s speech amounted to a threat of violent regime
change. He claimed that the radical opposition also demonstrated its “readiness
for violence” by rallying supporters outside the government compound where
Pashinian lives with his family.
The 75-year-old, who served as Armenia’s first president from 1991-1998, also
hit out at Pashinian, saying that the latter is ready for “any confrontation” to
cling to power in the wake of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a
Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 10.
“Given the shameful and humiliating defeat inflicted on Armenia and Artsakh,
Pashinian’s regime must definitely and immediately resign,” he said. “Not
through internal clashes but a solely constitutional path … I am therefore
calling on the people not to participate in mass unrest provoked by both the
current government and the opposition.”
ARMENIA -- People attend an opposition rally in Yerevan, December 5, 2020
Like the Armenian opposition, Ter-Petrosian has been highly critical of
Pashinian’s handling of the war that killed thousands of Armenian soldiers and
resulted in sweeping Armenian territorial losses. He and two other former
presidents, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, offered to negotiate with
Russia in a bid stop the hostilities shortly after their outbreak on September
27.
Pashinian questioned late last month the sincerity and seriousness of the
ex-presidents’ offers, prompting angry responses from all three men.
Levon Zurabian, Ter-Petrosian’s right-hand man, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service
earlier in November that Pashinian did not give the 75-year-old ex-president a
“mandate” to negotiate in Moscow a better peace deal. Zurabian blamed that on
Pashinian’s “insatiable and morbid vanity.”
Pashinian played a major role in Ter-Petrosian’s 2007-2008 opposition movement.
He subsequently fell out with the ex-president and set up his own party.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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