Friday, September 3, 2021
New Armenian, Iranian FMs Talk In First Phone Call
Armenia - An Armenian Foreign Ministry combo photo of Foreign Ministers Ararat
Mirzoyan (left) of Armenia and Hossein Amir Abdollahian of Iran, September 1,
2021.
The recently appointed foreign ministers of Armenia and Iran have reaffirmed
their governments’ plans to deepen relations between the two neighboring
countries during their first phone conversation.
Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan phoned his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir
Abdollahian late on Wednesday one week after Iran’s parliament confirmed the
latter as foreign minister.
According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Amir Abdollahian told Mirzoyan that
Tehran is “ready to deepen relations” with Yerevan.
Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi pledged to strive for closer Armenian-Iranian
ties when he met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Tehran on August 5.
Pashinian was among foreign leaders who travelled to the Iranian capital to
attend Raisi’s inauguration.
In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Mirzoyan and Amir Abdollahian
had a detailed discussion on “productive cooperation” between their states.
“Prospects for expanding cooperation in the economic sphere were especially
emphasized,” it said.
Regional security and ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani border disputes were also on
the agenda, according to the statement, with Mirzoyan bringing up the recent
“illegal infiltration of Azerbaijan’s armed forces into the sovereign territory
of Armenia.”
“The Iranian foreign minister said all countries should respect internationally
recognized borders,” said the official Iranian readout of the phone call. “He
underlined the need for finding a peaceful solution to disputes between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.”
Azerbaijani troops briefly blocked last week a section of the main highway
connecting Armenia to Iran which runs along a disputed portion of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The Iranian Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern over the two-day blockage which
disrupted cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran. It expressed hope that the
Armenian government will speed up work on “alternative routes” for
Iranian-Armenian trade.
Amir Abdollahian, 57, is an anti-Western hardliner believed to have close ties
with Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. He was a deputy foreign minister between
2011 and 2016 and served until recently as a senior adviser to Iran’s parliament
speakers.
In March 2020, Amir Abdollahian criticized the Armenian government’s decision to
open an embassy in Israel, saying that it will have a “negative impact on
stability and security in the region.”
Yerevan recalled the Armenian ambassador in Tel Aviv just days after outbreak of
the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27, 2020 in protest against Israel's
continuing arms supplies to Azerbaijan.
Russia Calls On Armenia, Turkey To Normalize Ties
RUSSIA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks at the prestigious
Moscow State Institute of International Relations during the traditional opening
of the school year known as "Day of Knowledge" in Moscow, September 1, 2021
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope on Friday that Armenia and
Turkey will normalize their relations after last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Now that the groundwork has been laid for a political process and the
unblocking of all [Armenian-Azerbaijani] transport and economic links after the
end of the war there I think that it would be totally logical if our Turkish and
Armenian colleagues resumed their efforts to normalize relations,” Lavrov said
during a youth forum in Moscow.
“We are ready to assist in that in the most active way,” he said, echoing a
statement made by a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Thursday.
Turkey has for decades made the establishment of diplomatic relations and
opening of the border between the two countries conditional on a resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Baku claims that its
victory in the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last
November put an end to the conflict.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke on August 27 of “some positive
signals” sent by the Turkish government of late and said his administration is
ready to reciprocate them.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by saying that Ankara is open
to normalizing ties with Yerevan. But he appeared to echo Baku’s demands for a
formal Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
A senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker said earlier this week that
Pashinian’s administration will not accept any Turkish preconditions.
Armenia and Turkey came close to normalizing bilateral relations in 2009 when
their foreign ministers signed two relevant protocols in Zurich, Switzerland in
the presence of Lavrov and the top U.S. and European Union diplomats.
Ankara subsequently linked their ratification by the Turkish parliament to a
Karabakh settlement. As a result, Armenia’s former government formally annulled
the protocols in 2018.
Lavrov revealed on Friday that during the 2008-2009 Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement he “warned” then Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian that
the Turks will not drop their preconditions.
Another Russian Military Delegation Visits Armenia
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Major-General Valery Zhila (center) and other Russian military
officials meet with Armenian Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian, Yerevan,
September 2, 2021.
Another Russian military delegation is visiting in Armenia following Moscow’s
pledges to provide more defense and security aid to its main regional ally.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Friday that the team of Russian “military
specialists” led by Major-General Valery Zhila has arrived in Yerevan for
further negotiations with Armenian military officials.
A statement released by the ministry said Zhila briefed Armenian Defense
Minister Arshak Karapetian on the “directions and volume of upcoming work” at a
meeting held on Thursday. Karapetian specified, for its part, “the scope of
issues of utmost importance to the Armenian side,” the statement said without
elaborating.
Armenia moved to deepen its already close military ties with Russia shortly
after the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered
ceasefire last November.
Moscow has since deployed troops in Armenia’s Syunik province bordering
districts southwest of Karabakh retaken by Azerbaijan during and after the
hostilities. Yerevan requested additional Russian troop deployments along the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border in May.
The Russian and Armenian militaries held at least two rounds of “staff
negotiations” in the first half of this year. Karapetian’s predecessor
Vagharshak Harutiunian said in January that they are aimed at “assisting us in
the reform and modernization of Armenia’s armed forces.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reportedly assured Karapetian on August
11 that Moscow will continue to provide such assistance. Shoigu also signaled
the start of more Russian arms supplies to the Armenian army.
Karapetian again visited Moscow two weeks later to attend the opening ceremony
of an international arms exhibition and meet with top Russian defense industry
executives. He said Armenia plans to buy modern Russian weapons but did not go
into details.
“I can say that I haven’t heard a single word ‘no’ here,” the Armenian defense
minister told reporters in the Russian capital.
Dmitry Shugayev, director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical
Cooperation, listed Armenia among several countries with which Russia signed
defense contracts on the sidelines of the Army-2021 Expo.
Earlier this week the TASS news agency quoted a senior military official in
Moscow as saying that Russia and Armenia are now discussing a new agreement on a
joint air-defense system.
The two states already have such a system that includes elements of a Russian
military base stationed in Armenia. It was set up in the late 1990s and upgraded
by a Russian-Armenian treaty signed in 2015.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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