Monday,
Far-Right French Presidential Candidate Visits Armenia
France - French far-right media pundit and 2022 presidential candidate Eric
Zemmour waves to supporters during his campaign rally in Villepinte, near Paris,
on December 5, 2021.
French far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour called for strong Western
support for Armenia at the weekend as he began a surprise visit to what he
described as a Christian nation situated “in the middle of an Islamic ocean.”
The former journalist and commentator, known for provocative statements against
Islam and immigration, is the main challenger to longtime far-right figure
Marine Le Pen for a place in a second round of France’s presidential election
slated for April. One of them could face the incumbent President Emmanuel Macron
in the runoff vote.
Zemmour announced his decision to officially join the presidential race last
Tuesday. He said on Friday that he chose Armenia for his first campaign trip
because "it is an old Christian land” and “one of the cradles of our
civilization.”
"Armenia is in danger,” the AFP news agency quoted him as saying. “It was once a
martyr land during the times of the Ottoman Empire and massacres like the
Armenian genocide. This country is harassed again by its neighbor Azerbaijan and
especially by Turkey.”
Zemmour laid flowers at the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan and attended a
Sunday mass at the ancient Khor Virap monastery located just a few kilometers
from the Armenian-Turkish border.
“On the border between Armenia and Turkey, facing Mount Ararat, I want to tell
the Armenians what a model of resistance they have been for centuries,” the
63-year-old tweeted afterwards.
Armenia - French far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour (third from
right) poses for a photograph with members of the Armenian parliament, Yerevan,
.
Zemmour spoke of a renewed “great confrontation between Christianity and Islam.”
“We see it here, with Armenia, a Christian nation … in the middle of an Islamic
ocean", he told French journalists at Khor Virap.
In Yerevan, Zemmour also dined with members of the local French chamber of
commerce and met with Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI before
holding talks on Monday with four members of Armenia’s parliament affiliated
with the ruling Civil Contract party.
Two of those lawmakers head the parliament’s standing committees on legal and
foreign affairs. The parliamentary press service said they discussed with
Zemmour the “development of French-Armenian relations.”
While accusing Azerbaijan of systematically destroying Armenian churches,
Armenian leaders have long insisted that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a
religious one. Armenia has also had a cordial relationship with another Muslim
neighbor, Iran.
France - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the annual dinner of the
Coordination Council of Armenian organizations of France (CCAF) on February 5,
2019, in Paris.
France is home to an influential Armenian community. The latter was instrumental
in the December 2020 passage by both houses of the French parliament of
resolutions calling on Macron’s government to recognize Karabakh as an
independent republic.
Macron criticized Azerbaijan and accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters
from Syria for the Azerbaijani army shortly after the outbreak of last year’s
war over Karabakh. The French president stated in September this year that
France and Armenia enjoy a “special relationship” that should be deepened
further.
Zemmour complained at the weekend that French leaders “talk but don't really
defend Armenia.”
EU Announces Fresh Talks Between Aliyev, Pashinian
• Heghine Buniatian
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, chairs the EU-Western Balkans
Summit on 6 October 2021 in Slovenia
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
will meet in Brussels on Tuesday for talks hosted by European Council President
Charles Michel, a senior European Union official said on Monday.
The official told RFE/RL that Michel, who heads the EU’s top decision-making
body, will hold separate talks with Aliyev and Pashinian before attending a
trilateral meeting with them.
“I wouldn’t like to preempt what would be the outcome tomorrow evening. There is
still a lot of work going on at the moment,” said the official.
“We are working very hard at the moment with our Armenian and Azerbaijani
friends on measures that can further strengthen confidence between them,
building as well on the very, very successful establishment of a direct
communication link between the ministers of defense of both countries that was
facilitated a couple of weeks ago by President Michel,” he said.
“I do think this direct line has already been able to help deescalate some of
the tensions on the ground and can also serve to prevent future incidents,” the
official claimed just days after fresh fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border left at least two soldiers from both sides dead and several others
wounded.
Michel, he said, “has been particularly committed to finding a way out of
tensions and this planned meeting is an important step forward.”
Aliyev and Pashinian are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s Eastern
Partnership summit with several ex-Soviet states that will be held in Brussels
on Wednesday.
The two leaders most recently met on November 26 in Sochi in the presence of
Russian President Vladimir Putin. They reported major progress towards opening
transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Putin said a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group dealing with transport
issues will formalize in the coming days relevant “decisions which we agreed
today.” However, the group co-headed by deputy prime ministers of the three
states announced no agreements after holding a meeting in Moscow on December 1.
Armenian Opposition Demands Parliament Speaker’s Ouster
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Newly elected speaker Alen Simonian chairs a session of the National
Assembly, Yerevan, August 3, 2021.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance has formally demanded that the National
Assembly remove its pro-government speaker Alen Simonian, accusing him of
undermining Armenia’s national security with controversial statements.
Presenting the impeachment motion on Monday, a senior Hayastan lawmaker, Artsvik
Minasian, pointed to Simonian’s disparaging comments about Armenian prisoners of
war and other statements that carry “risks for our foreign policy.”
Minasian clearly alluded to Simonian’s recent claim that Russia sought to
restore Azerbaijani control over Nagorno-Karabakh through peace proposals made
before last year’s war.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the “baseless” claim on December 3. It
argued that the peace plan jointly drafted by Russia, the United States and
France stipulated that Karabakh’s internationally recognized status would be
determined through a future referendum.
Simonian, who is a leading political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, was
also caught on camera saying recently that many of the Armenian soldiers taken
prisoner by Azerbaijan “laid down their weapons and ran away” during
hostilities. He claimed that their relatives have not protested lately because
they realize that the soldiers are deserters.
The remarks sparked uproar in Armenia, with angry relatives of POWs staging
street protests and opposition and civil society members demanding the speaker’s
resignation. Pashinian’s Civil Contract party did not disavow or disapprove of
them.
Predictably, a lawmaker representing the party made clear that it will reject
the impeachment motion also backed by Pativ Unem, the other opposition bloc
holding seats in the Armenian parliament. Vahagn Aleksanian accused the
parliamentary opposition of trying to earn “cheap political dividends” with
initiatives that are doomed to fail.
Simonian also scoffed at the demands and stood by his statements. “Your
political ineptness is at its peak. As for me, I have gotten everything right so
far,” he wrote in a Facebook comment addressed to the opposition.
Russia Hosts Multilateral Talks On South Caucasus Peace
RUSSIA -- A view of the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, April 6,
2018
Senior diplomats from Russia, Turkey, Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan have held the
inaugural session of a multilateral platform supposedly aimed at promoting peace
and economic cooperation in the South Caucasus.
The idea of the so-called “3+3” peace platform involving the three South
Caucasus states and the neighboring powers was floated by Ankara shortly after
last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was backed in one way or another by all
but one of those countries. Georgia said it will not join the cooperation
framework because of its long-running conflict with Russia.
Deputy foreign ministers of the five other nations met in Moscow on Friday in
what the Russian Foreign Ministry described as the launch of the “Consultative
Regional Platform 3+3.” A ministry statement said they agreed to concentrate on
confidence-building measures, regional economic cooperation and transport links
as well as “common threats and challenges.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the talks involved a “constructive exchange of
views” on “practical issues of common interest to all participants.” The five
sides agreed to “give priority to trade, economy, transport, culture and
humanitarian issues,” it said in a statement.
“Representatives of the five participating countries agreed to adopt a flexible
working format and expressed their hope that Georgia too will join the
consultations in the future,” added the statement.
Armenia was represented at the meeting by Deputy Foreign Minister Vahe
Gevorgian. According to the Foreign Ministry in Yerevan, Gevorgian reaffirmed
the official Armenian position that the regional initiative must avoid any
“duplication of other international platforms, including those with conflict
settlement mandates.”
The ministry clearly referred to the OSCE Minsk Group co-headed by Russia, the
United States and France. Moscow has also been mediating ongoing
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on opening transport links between the two
South Caucasus foes.
The Armenian government has sought to allay in recent weeks domestic fears that
Turkey could use the five-party platform to further increase its presence in the
region to the detriment of Armenia and its national security. Ankara provided
decisive military support to Baku during the 2020 war.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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