Tuesday,
Yerevan Slams Baku Over ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ in Nagorno-Karabakh
• Naira Nalbandian
The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan.
Official Yerevan has accused Baku of deliberately disrupting the normal
operation of vital infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh, which it said is “clearly
leading to a humanitarian crisis” in the region.
“We consider this outrageous policy of systematic violence against Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh to be unacceptable,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a
statement on Tuesday.
The statement followed reports by de-facto Armenian authorities in
Nagorno-Karabakh that natural gas supplies to the region had been cut by Baku in
an area where a pipeline from Armenia passes through Azerbaijani-controlled
territory.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities said Azerbaijan was thus creating humanitarian
problems for the population of the region amid still freezing temperatures
despite early spring.
“The current situation necessitates a clear response from the international
community to prevent a humanitarian crisis, as well as immediate and unhindered
involvement of international humanitarian organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh,”
the Armenian Foreign Ministry added.
It said that disrupted gas supplies deprived about 120,000 people in
Nagorno-Karabakh of vital fuel in adverse weather conditions.
Gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia were first disrupted on March 8
due to damage to the pipeline in Baku-controlled territory.
Stepanakert then accused Baku of not letting its maintenance workers to repair
the pipeline quickly and restore the supply of vital fuel used for heating homes
in Nagorno-Karabakh’s towns and villages as well as by bakeries and other
businesses around the region.
The issue was also reportedly discussed by Armenian officials at an
international level.
After 11 days of no gas supplies, the damaged pipeline was finally repaired on
March 18 and the flow of natural gas to Nagorno-Karabakh was restored the next
day.
But Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities said late on March 21 that the gas delivery
was again discontinued “as a result of direct interference from the Azerbaijani
side.”
“We have sufficient grounds to assume that during the repairs of the gas
pipeline the Azerbaijani side installed a valve through which it stopped the gas
supply a few hours ago. Adverse weather conditions serve the insidious purpose
of Azerbaijan to create additional humanitarian problems for our population,
which is a crime,” Nagorno-Karabakh’s Information Headquarters said in a
statement last night.
It added that commanders of the Russian peacekeeping force deployed in
Nagorno-Karabakh had immediately been informed about the situation and that
efforts were underway to restore gas supply to the region.
Authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh urged local residents to use electricity
sparingly to avoid power outages.
Azerbaijan did not immediately comment on the situation or respond to
accusations from Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Meanwhile, two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament, Hayastan and
Pativ Unem, initiated closed-door discussions today regarding the humanitarian
situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ruling Civil Contract party agreed to hold the discussions, but did not take
part in the subsequent vote on an opposition-drafted resolution condemning
Baku’s “aggressive actions” against Nagorno-Karabakh that have resulted in “a
humanitarian disaster” in the region.
Leader of the party’s parliamentary faction Hayk Konjorian said that while Civil
Contract largely shares the positions expressed in the draft resolution, they
considered that “all diplomatic channels and instruments are being used now to
address these issues.”
“We think that there is a sufficient number of instruments at the moment to deal
with this issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s ombudsperson Kristine Grigorian and her Nagorno-Karabakh
counterpart Gegham Stepanian issued a joint statement, condemning Baku for using
gas supply as an instrument of pressure on Armenians in the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Soviet Azerbaijan, has been claiming
its independence from Baku since the collapse of the Soviet Union and a
separatist war waged in the early 1990s that also led to ethnic Armenians’
making territorial gains inside Azerbaijan proper.
The standoff with Baku led to another war in 2020 as a result of which Baku
gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as seven adjacent districts
that had been under Armenian control since 1994. Some 2,000 Russian troops were
deployed in the region to monitor the cease-fire following a Moscow-brokered
truce.
Armenians Accuse Azerbaijan Of Cutting Gas Supply To Nagorno-Karabakh
The view of the town of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh (file photo).
Ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have accused Azerbaijan of
cutting natural gas supplies to the region and creating humanitarian problems
for its population in conditions of still freezing temperatures despite early
spring.
Gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia was first disrupted on March 8 due
to damage to a pipeline passing through Azerbaijan-controlled territory.
Stepanakert then accused Baku of not letting its maintenance workers to repair
the pipeline quickly and restore the supply of vital fuel used for heating homes
in Nagorno-Karabakh’s towns and villages as well as by bakeries and other
businesses around the region.
The issue was also reportedly discussed by Armenian officials at an
international level.
After 11 days of no gas supplies the damaged pipeline was finally repaired on
March 18 and the flow of natural gas to Nagorno-Karabakh was restored the next
day.
But Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities said late on Monday that the gas delivery was
again discontinued “as a result of direct interference from the Azerbaijani
side.”
“We have sufficient grounds to assume that during the repairs of the gas
pipeline the Azerbaijani side installed a valve through which it stopped the gas
supply a few hours ago. Adverse weather conditions serve the insidious purpose
of Azerbaijan to create additional humanitarian problems for our population,
which is a crime,” Nagorno-Karabakh’s Information Headquarters said in a
statement.
It added that commanders of the Russian peacekeeping force deployed in
Nagorno-Karabakh had immediately been informed about the situation and that
efforts were underway to restore gas supply to the region.
Authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh urged local residents to use electricity
sparingly to avoid power outages.
Azerbaijan did not immediately comment on the situation or respond to
accusations from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Soviet Azerbaijan, has been claiming
its independence from Baku since the collapse of the Soviet Union and a
separatist war waged in the early 1990s that also led to ethnic Armenians’
making territorial gains inside Azerbaijan proper.
The standoff with Baku led to another war in 2020 as a result of which Baku
gained control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as seven adjacent districts
that had been under Armenian control since 1994. Some 2,000 Russian troops were
deployed in the region to monitor the cease-fire following a Moscow-brokered
truce.
Armenian Minister ‘Concerned’ Over Inflation Trends
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - A supermarket in Yerevan.
Armenia’s economy minister has expressed his concern over current inflation
trends, at the same time calling them a “global phenomenon.”
Talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday, Vahan Kerobian said that the
government is working on the creation of better conditions for the import of
certain types of goods, such as meat, sugar and rice, that he said would lead to
a certain decrease in the level of prices.
At the same time, the minister warned that a new global inflation wave is
expected this year that will also affect agricultural products.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian
Kerobian said that during the latest meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of
the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russia-led economic group of five post-Soviet
nations, including Armenia, a number of decisions were made and one of them
provides for the abolition of customs duties on a wide range of goods.
“This will significantly influence the cost of goods in terms of customs duties
and prices for some of them, including foodstuffs, will go down a little,”
Kerobian said.
In order to curb inflation, which stood at 6.5 percent in February, the Central
Bank of Armenia decided earlier this month to raise its benchmark interest rate
by 1.25 percentage points – to 9.25 percent.
Price increases appeared to accelerate in Armenia in March against the backdrop
of the ongoing war in Ukraine and Western sanctions imposed on Russia for
invading the country.
Citing regional and global spillovers from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the
International Monetary Fund last week revised downwards its forecast for
Armenia’s economic growth from 4.5 percent to 1.5 percent this year.
Armenia’s Central Bank also sharply cut its initial annual GDP growth forecast
from 5.3 percent to 1.6 percent.
Still, the Armenian government expects annual inflation in Armenia to be within
the target range of 5.5 percent.
“We are very concerned about inflation trends, but one should take into account
that this is a global phenomenon,” Kerobian said.
At the same time, he said that at the moment there is a sufficient supply of
food in Armenia and that the government is doing everything possible to avoid
any disruptions of food supplies caused by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Earlier in March there was some apparent panic buying in Armenia of foodstuffs
like flour, sugar and cooking oil. But the government urged the population not
to stock up on food staples, saying that they will not be in short supply
despite the fallout from Western sanctions against Russia.
Kerobian also said that in conditions of many Western goods no longer being
supplied to Russia, Armenian manufacturers may see a chance to expand to the
Russian market. But he warned: “Exports [to Russia] may increase, but
profitability will fall.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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