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
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