Monday,
Envoy Reiterates U.S. Stance On Karabakh
Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosian meets US Ambassador Lynne
Tracy,
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unresolved after the 2020
Armenian-Azerbaijani war, the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy,
reportedly reiterated on Monday.
Tracy and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosian discussed the
conflict, among other issues, at a meeting in Yerevan.
An Armenian government statement on the meeting said Matevosian praised the U.S.
involvement in long-running international efforts to broker a Karabakh
settlement.
“Ambassador Tracy concurred with the deputy prime minister: the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is not resolved and that process must be carried out
under the aegis of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group,” added the
statement.
Tracy already made such statements last year after U.S. President Joe Biden said
Washington remains committed to facilitating a “comprehensive”
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal together with Russia and France, the two other
co-chairs of the Minsk Group.
“We do not see the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved,” the
envoy insisted on September 13 in remarks condemned by Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry echoed President Ilham Aliyev’s claims that
Azerbaijan’s victory in the war put an end to the conflict.
Aliyev repeated those claims in early January. He also mocked the Minsk Group
co-chairs and questioned the wisdom of their continued activities.
“They must not deal with the Karabakh conflict because that conflict has been
resolved,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani television.
A senior Russian diplomat said a few days later that the U.S., Russian and
French mediators should be able to resume their visits to Nagorno-Karabakh as
part of their peace efforts. Armenian officials backed that statement.
The co-chairs had for decades travelled to Karabakh and met with its ethnic
Armenian leadership during regular tours of the conflict zone. The visits
practically stopped with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the
subsequent outbreak of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
The mediators planned to resume their shuttle diplomacy after organizing talks
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in New York in September.
The trip has still not taken place, however.
Armenian Judge Faces Arrest After Freeing Oppositionist
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- The main entrance to the National Security Service building in
Yerevan.
Armenian law-enforcement authorities have moved to arrest a judge just days
after he ordered the release of yet another jailed opposition figure.
A spokesman for Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian said on Monday that he has
asked Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to allow the National Security
Service (NSS) to indict and arrest Boris Bakhshiyan, who works at the court of
first instead of Syunik province.
He refused to reveal the accusations which the NSS wants to bring against
Bakhshiyan, citing the “secrecy” of the investigation and the need to show
respect for the judge.
Aleksandr Azarian, the chairman of the Union of Judges of Armenia, expressed
serious concern over the criminal proceedings, linking them to Bakhshiyan’s
professional activities.
“We will closely monitor further developments and come up with an appropriate
statement if necessary,” Azarian said in a statement.
Armenia -- Ashot Minasian.
As recently as on January 26, Bakhshiyan agreed to grant bail to Ashot Minasian,
a prominent war veteran and opposition activist arrested on December 1.
Minasian and three other opposition figures were charged in November 2020 with
plotting to kill Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and overthrow his government.
The NSS claimed to have found large quantities of weapons and ammunition in a
Syunik property belonging to Minasian.
Later in December 2021, the NSS dropped the coup charges strongly denied by all
four men. But Minasian remained accused of illegal arms and was not set free
until last week’s decision made by the Syunik judge.
Bakhshiyan also freed last fall two local government officials from Syunik
affiliated with the main opposition Hayastan alliance. They were arrested last
summer on separate charges rejected by them as politically motivated.
Erik Aleksanian, a trial attorney critical of the Armenian government, said
Bakhshiyan is prosecuted because he freed the oppositionists. He claimed that
the authorities want to punish him for those decisions and discourage other
judges from thwarting politically motivated criminal cases.
Prosecutor-General Davtian’s spokesman, Gor Abrahamian, denied that. Speaking
with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Abrahamian said that the move to arrest
Bakhshiyan has nothing to with Minasian’s release and that it stems from “an
incident that occurred much earlier.”
In recent months, Armenian opposition groups, lawyers and some judges have
accused the authorities of seeking to increase government influence on Armenian
courts under the guise of judicial reforms. The authorities deny this, insisting
that the reforms are on increasing judicial independence in the country.
A controversial government bill enacted last year empowered the Armenian
Ministry of Justice to demand disciplinary action against judges by the Supreme
Judicial Council (SJC), a state body overseeing Armenian courts.
In a joint statement issued in early January, a dozen judges, among them
Azarian, accused Justice Minister Karen Andreasian of abusing that authority to
try to bully them and their colleagues known for their independence.
Minister Set To Become Armenia’s New President
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Economist and opposition politician Vahagn Khachatrian speaks at a
seminar in Yerevan, April 30, 2013
High-Tech Industry Minister Vahagn Khachatrian on Monday effectively confirmed
reports that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has offered him to become Armenia’s
next president.
The largely ceremonial post became vacant after President Armen Sarkissian
unexpectedly announced his resignation on January 22, citing a lack of
constitutional powers. Sarkissian’s successor is to be elected for a seven-year
term by the Armenian parliament controlled by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.
Pashinian indicated on January 23 that he will replace Sarkissian by a figure
loyal to him but did not name any candidates. Armenian media outlets reported
over the weekend that the prime minister and his political team have decided to
nominate Khachatrian.
Khachatrian did not deny the reports when he spoke with journalists. He said he
meets the qualifications of the job spelled out by the Armenian constitution.
“In these circumstances I could presumably be on the list [of presidential
candidates] given that I’m a member of the current government and the [ruling]
political team,” he said.
Under the constitution, Sarkissian will be formally relieved of his duties
unless he withdraws by Monday night his resignation letter submitted to the
National Assembly. In that case, parliament speaker Alen Simonian will serve as
interim president of the republic pending the election of a new head of state,
which should happen by the beginning of March.
Khachatrian, 62, is an economist who had served as mayor of Yerevan from
1992-1996 during former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s rule. He was a staunch
political ally of Ter-Petrosian until agreeing to join the government last
August.
Ter-Petrosian has been highly critical of Pashinian since Armenia’s defeat in
the 2020 war with Azerbaijan, branding the premier as a “nation-destroying
scourge.” The ex-president has also slammed several members of his entourage who
took up senior state positions over the past year.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.