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    Categories: 2021

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 01/07/2021

                                        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
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Raffi Khondkarian: