Thursday, Yerevan Rejects Azeri Criticism Of Karabakh Trip Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian (L) meets with Karabakh President Ara Harutiunian, Stepanakert, January 5, 2021. Armenia rejected on Thursday Azerbaijan’s strong criticism of Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian’s latest visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that it did not run counter to the Russian-brokered ceasefire in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone. Ayvazian travelled to Stepanakert earlier this week for talks with Karabakh’s leaders. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev condemned the trip as “provocative” in televised remarks aired on Thursday. Aliyev said Armenian officials must stop visiting Karabakh without Baku’s permission. “Let them not forget about the war,” he said, according to the TASS news agency. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claimed earlier that Ayvazian’s trip violated the ceasefire agreement that stopped the war in and around Karabakh on November 10. The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, dismissed the claim as “completely baseless.” In written comments to the Interfax news agency, Naghdalian insisted that the truce agreement “does not place any restrictions on contacts between Armenia and Karabakh at various levels.” Nor does it specify Karabakh’s status, she said. Naghdalian said that Baku itself is violating a key provision of the agreement by refusing to free dozens of Armenian soldiers and civilians that were captured during the six-week war. The deal brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for the exchange of all prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians held by the conflicting sides. So far 54 Armenians have been freed and returned home. A senior Azerbaijani official reportedly said on Monday that only two Armenians POWs and three civilians remain in Azerbaijani captivity. Siranush Sahakian, a Yerevan-based human rights lawyer dealing with the prisoners, dismissed that claim when she spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. Sahakian said that the Armenian side possesses evidence of at least 120 Armenian captives still being held by Baku. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s press secretary, Mane Gevorgian, warned on Thursday that Baku’s reluctance to free them will seriously complicate the implementation of another key term of the ceasefire accord: the opening of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for cargo and passenger traffic. The accord specifically commits Yerevan to opening a transport link between the Nakhichevan exclave and the rest of Azerbaijan, which would pass through Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province. Gevorgian said that contrary to Aliyev’s statements it would not serve as a permanent “corridor.” She also stressed that Baku will have to allow, for its part, Armenia to use Azerbaijani territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and from Russia and Iran. French, Armenian Leaders Again Discuss Karabakh FRANCE -- French President Emmanuel Macron (R) shakes hands with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian during a bilateral meeting as part of the Paris Peace Forum, in Paris, November 12, 2019 French President Emmanuel Macron and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have again discussed the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone following the recent Armenian-Azerbaijani war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire. They spoke by phone late on Wednesday one day after a transport plane chartered by the French government delivered more humanitarian aid to Armenian victims of the conflict. The aid included medical supplies and clothing collected by the French-Armenian Aznavour Foundation. “The President of the Republic expressed his determination to strive for a balanced political process in order to find a lasting political solution after the ceasefire agreement of November 9,” Macron’s office said in a statement on the phone call issued on Thursday. “In this context, the President of the Republic pledged to support the ongoing efforts to allow the release of all prisoners and to support the economic development of Armenia,” it added. For his part, Pashinian was reported to thank Macron for the “attention and support shown by him during this difficult time for the Armenian people.” An Armenian government statement said the two leaders also discussed French-Armenian economic ties. It gave no other details. France co-chairs the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe together with Russia and the United States. The three world powers tried hard to halt the war in and around Karabakh that broke out on September 27. The hostilities stopped only after Moscow brokered a fresh Armenian-Azerbaijani truce agreement on November 9. Macron and his foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, have repeatedly discussed the agreement’s implementation with their Russian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov. The French president criticized Azerbaijan and accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the outbreak of the war. Le Drian reiterated last month French calls for “the departure of the Syrian mercenaries” from the conflict zone. Turkey 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. Both Ankara and Baku accuse Paris of pro-Armenian bias. France is home to an influential Armenian community. The latter was instrumental in the recent passage by both houses of the French parliament of resolutions calling on Macron’s government to recognize Karabakh as an independent republic. The government ruled out such recognition, saying that it would be counterproductive for France and the Karabakh negotiating process. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.