Friday, April 30, 2021
France Also Pressing For Release Of Armenian Prisoners
April 30, 2021
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - French Ambassador Jonathan Lacote, April 30, 2021
France has joined international efforts to secure the release of Armenian
soldiers and civilians remaining in Azerbaijani captivity, the French ambassador
to Armenia, Jonathan Lacote, said on Friday.
Lacote said the issue was on the agenda of French President Emmanuel Macron’s
April 26 phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There is an intensification of processes, which on the one hand is connected
with the April 24 [anniversary of the Armenian genocide] and on the other the
fact that there is no progress on Armenian prisoners and other issues,” he told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Russia, France and the United States have long been spearheading international
efforts to end the Karabakh conflict in their capacity as co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group. Moscow single-handedly stopped the autumn war over the disputed
territory with an Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire deal brokered by Putin on
November 9.
“The objective is to step up the work of the OSCE Minsk Group,” said Lacote.
“Russia is obviously part of this process because Moscow is present in Karabakh,
and the objective is the resumption of a political process so that issues that
were not settled by the November 9 document are discussed.”
“We have a ceasefire, which is an important achievement, but there are also many
unresolved issues that need to be addressed in the Minsk Group format,” the
envoy stressed, adding that the unconditional release of the Armenian prisoners
is one of them.
The Kremlin reported earlier this week that Putin and Macron “reviewed the
developments around Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“The parties expressed mutual readiness for coordination on various aspects of
the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, including through the OSCE Minsk Group,” it
said in a statement.
The truce agreement calls for the release of all prisoners held by the
conflicting sides. A total of 69 Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians
have been freed to date. More than 100 others are believed to remain in
Azerbaijani captivity. Baku is reluctant to repatriate them, having branded them
as “terrorists.”
The European Union said on Wednesday that all remaining Armenian captives must
be set free “as soon as possible” and “regardless of the circumstances of their
arrest.”
Armenian Army Chief Visits Moscow
April 30, 2021
Armenia/Russia - Lieutenant-General Artak Davtian (L), chief of the Armenian
amy's General Staff, and his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov.
Armenia’s and Russia’s top army generals have met in Moscow for talks
highlighting high-level military contacts between the two states that have
intensified after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Lieutenant-General Artak
Davtian discussed with his Russian opposite number, General Valery Gerasimov, “a
number of issues of bilateral military cooperation” during the meeting held on
Thursday.
A short ministry statement gave no details of Davtian’s trip to Moscow. The
Russian Defense Ministry issued no press releases on the talks.
The chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff flew to the Russian capital five
days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Armenian counterpart
Vagharshak Harutiunian spoke by phone for a second time in as many weeks.
According to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, Shoigu and Davtian discussed
Russia’s ongoing peacekeeping operation in Karabakh, activities of a joint
Russian-Armenian military contingent and “the main directions of large-scale
reforms” of the Armenian army launched after the war.
Harutiunian also discussed the reforms with Gerasimov in a March 23 phone call.
The minister’s press office said they agreed that a high-ranking Russian
delegation will visit Armenia soon for more detailed talks on the subject.
A delegation led by one of Gerasimov’s deputies already held weeklong
negotiations with the Armenian army’s top brass in Yerevan in January.
Harutiunian said afterwards that the talks were aimed at “assisting us in the
reform and modernization of Armenia’s armed forces.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the Russian military is already providing
such assistance when he spoke after meeting with Russian President in Moscow on
April 7. Pashinian told Armenian lawmakers afterwards that the two sides are
holding “quite productive discussions” on a possible deployment of more Russian
troops to Armenia and its southeastern Syunik province in particular.
Syunik borders Iran as well as districts southwest of Nagorno-Karabakh which
were retaken by Azerbaijan during and after a six-week war stopped by a
Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 10. Russia sent soldiers and border
guards there late last year to help the Armenian military defend the region
against possible Azerbaijani attacks.
Erdogan Avoids Escalating Genocide Dispute With Biden
April 30, 2021
U.S. - Members of the Armenian diaspora rally in front of the Turkish Embassy in
Washington after U.S. President Joe Biden recognized that the 1915 massacres of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, April 24, 2021.
(REUTERS) - Despite its fury with the United States for calling the Ottoman
massacre of Armenians a genocide, Turkey is for now avoiding a showdown which
could hurt its fragile economy and scupper hopes of better ties with U.S.-allied
Arab states.
President Tayyip Erdogan angrily condemned Joe Biden’s characterization of the
killings a century ago, saying the U.S. president should “look in the mirror”
and examine the fate of Native Americans wiped out by settlers who founded his
country.
But the usually combative Turkish leader, who has often used foreign disputes to
rally domestic support, is more focused on reviving a battered economy which is
key to his long-term reelection prospects.
In a largely restrained response, he has taken no concrete retaliatory steps,
and addressed the issue just once since Biden’s historic declaration on Saturday.
In the same televised speech in which he lashed out at Biden’s “baseless, unjust
and untrue remarks”, Erdogan stressed that the two leaders could forge a new
start when they meet in June for the first time since Biden took office.
That softer tone reflects the delicate path Erdogan is treading between fury
over the genocide designation and fear of the damage which could be done by a
deeper rift with Washington.
It is also consistent with Turkey’s broader goal since late last year of mending
frayed ties with Western and Arab states, after years of military interventions
and assertive foreign policy which increased Ankara’s hard power but left it
largely isolated in the east Mediterranean and Middle East.
Relations with Washington were already strained by Turkey’s purchase of Russian
air defenses and U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish fighters Ankara says are
inextricably linked to militants waging a decades old insurgency in Turkey.
In contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump, who spoke to Erdogan regularly and
was largely sympathetic to the Turkish president, Biden has kept his distance
and his administration has criticized Ankara’s human rights record. Three months
after taking office, Biden had not spoken to Erdogan until last Friday, when he
called the Turkish leader to give him advance notice of his genocide declaration.
Turkey -- US Vice President Joe Biden meets with Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan (R) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, August 24, 2016
“Certainly it was not something pleasant,” a senior Turkish official with
knowledge of the call told Reuters. “Doing this in his first year was a stance
that put relations in jeopardy”.
At the same time, the official said the phone call “laid the foundations” for
the two NATO partners to cooperate in future. “Developments will show how
relations will evolve, but it still appears that it can be overcome.”
Two other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Turkey would
seek to avoid escalating the dispute with Washington - at least for now.
Erdogan’s spokesman and national security adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, told Reuters
the day after Biden’s announcement that Turkey would respond in various ways in
the coming months.
After 18 years in power, support for Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party has
eroded as Turkey’s once vibrant economic growth has stalled and it grapples with
the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing elections in 2023, the centenary of the modern
Turkish state, Erdogan’s chances of heading into a third decade in office rest
on his ability to revive the country’s fortunes.
Opposition parties say the government mismanaged COVID-19 and erred in selling
off $128 billion in foreign currency to stem losses in the lira.
Biden’s statement showed Erdogan was too weak to give the U.S. president the
response he deserved, said Meral Aksener, head of the centrist nationalist Iyi
Party, mocking what she said was Erdogan’s uncharacteristic deference.
“The world leader who takes pride in shunning those who upset him has become a
very polite, very cute, little darling Mr Erdogan,” she said in a speech to
party members on Wednesday.
But with the lira not far off a record low against the dollar and COVID-19 rates
still perilously high, officials say Erdogan’s priority is to avoid further
harm. Ankara is trying to rebuild bridges with the European Union, as well as
U.S. allies including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
“We will act within the framework of the economic conditions during the pandemic
and the approach the president signaled to in November about opting for better
ties with the European Union, Gulf nations or other problematic regions,” a
senior security official said. He said Turkey’s policy would be one of
‘wait-and-see’, until the presidents meet in June.
Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy
Studies think tank, said those talks would be crucial to shaping Turkey’s
relationship with Biden.
“The fact that the reaction has been muted until now does not mean it will
remain as such in the future,” he said.
Nevertheless, the measured response suggested Ankara was avoiding a
“conflict-prone foreign policy” which has hurt the economy by putting off
foreign investors.
“It’s the beginning of a sea change,” he said. “It remains to be seen whether
this will be sustainable and constitute the main thrust of Turkish foreign
policy in the years to come.”
Chief Prosecutor Denies Political Orders From Pashinian
April 30, 2021
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Riot police guarding the Office of the Prosecutor-General in Yerevan
clash with protesters demanding the release of arrested residents of Syunik
province, April 22, 2021.
Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian insisted on Friday that Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian did not order law-enforcement authorities to crack down on people who
insulted and jeered him during his visit to Armenia’s Syunik province last week.
Angry local residents blamed Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in last year’s
Nagorno-Karabakh which has gravely affected their communities. Dozens of them
swore at him and branded him a “capitulator” as he walked through the Syunik
towns of Agarak and Meghri on April 21.
Pashinian described the protests as a “violation of the law” at a meeting with
senior government and law-enforcement officials held in the provincial capital
Kapan. He told the chiefs of Armenia’s police and National Security Service
(NSS) to respond “in a tough manner.”
More than two dozen people were rounded up and charged with hooliganism and/or
violent resistance to police in the following days. Courts in Yerevan ordered
virtually of all them freed pending investigation.
While condemning the protesters for the verbal abuse, the state human rights
ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, accused the prime minister of issuing unlawful orders
to the law-enforcement agencies. Armenian opposition figures said, for their
part, Pashinian openly ordered a political persecution of the disgruntled Syunik
residents.
Armenia - Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian speaks to journalists, November 29,
2019
Davtian flatly denied that. He said Pashinian simply addressed the NSS and
police chiefs technically subordinate to the premier and “shared” with them his
thoughts about the Syunik incidents.
“It’s wrong to speak of any political persecution. In general, I don’t like
using that term,” the chief prosecutor told reporters.
The arrests made in Syunik sparked protests in Yerevan. Hundreds of opposition
supporters demanding the release of the detainees rallied outside the
prosecutors headquarters and clashed with riot police on April 22.
Several of those protesters were themselves detained as a result. At least one
of them remains under arrest, having been charged with violent assault.
Davtian denounced the demonstrators. “Participants of the protest said, ‘Come
down and tells us whom you will stop persecuting and when.’ No prosecutor will
come out and say such a thing,” he said.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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