Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Pashinian, Blinken Discuss Armenian-Azeri Summit
April 05, 2022
Algeria - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference
at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, March 30, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
by phone on Tuesday before flying to Brussels for potentially crucial talks with
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
An Armenian government statement on the phone call said they discussed, among
other things, “processes taking place in the South Caucasus” and “increased
tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“The parties stressed the importance of ensuring stability and peace in the
region, emphasizing the importance of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ format,”
the statement said, adding that they also touched upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit that will be hosted on Wednesday by Charles Michel, the top European
Union official.
Aliyev and Pashinian decided last week to meet in Brussels as Azerbaijan pressed
Armenia to accept its proposals on a “peace treaty” between the two nations.
They scheduled the trilateral meeting with Michel a week after Azerbaijani
troops seized a village in eastern Karabakh and tried to push deeper into the
territory, sparking deadly fighting with Karabakh Armenian forces.
Russia called for an immediate Azerbaijani withdrawal from the “zone of
responsibility” of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh.
The U.S. State Department likewise deplored the Azerbaijani troop movements,
calling them “irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative.” Baku rejected the
criticism.
Pashinian was reported to brief Blinken on “the situation in Karabakh caused by
the actions of Azerbaijani army units.”
The two men also discussed U.S.-Armenian relations and the conflict in Ukraine,
according to the official Armenian readout of their phone call.
Blinken and the State Department did not immediately issue any statements on the
conversation.
Armenian Opposition Rally Rejects ‘New Concessions’ To Azerbaijan
April 05, 2022
Armenia - Opposition supporters rally in Yerevan's Liberty Square, April 5, 2022.
Armenia’s two main opposition alliances rallied thousands of supporters in
Yerevan on Tuesday to warn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian against agreeing to
restore Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Leaders of the Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs said that Pashinian is ready to
make this and other concessions to Baku. They also accused him of jeopardizing
Armenia’s territorial integrity with his conciliatory policy towards Azerbaijan.
“These authorities have no mandate to lead the country to new concessions with
false promises of peace,” Hayastan’s Ishkhan Saghatelian told the crowd that
gathered in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.
Saghatelian claimed that instead of strengthening national defense and security
they are preparing the ground for “new concessions” by scaring Armenians with
the prospect of another war with Azerbaijan.
“None of us present here wants war, but we can’t surrender to the butcher,” said
Aram Vartevanian, another senior Hayastan figure.
“We can’t lose again because we have nothing to lose anymore,” agreed Pativ
Unem’s Hayk Mamijanian.
A resolution presented by the two opposition groups to the demonstrators says
that Armenia must remain a guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh’s security and avoid
signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan that would undermine the Karabakh
Armenians’ right to self-determination. It warns that failure to do this would
spark a popular uprising.
Armenia - Opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelian addresses supporters during a
rally in Yerevan's Liberty Square, April 5, 2022.
“Any government that deviates from our vital demands will be sent to hell,”
Saghatelian declared before the protesters marched to a key street intersection
in central Yerevan and blocked traffic through it for an hour.
The opposition warnings came on the eve of Pashinian’s talks with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev that will be hosted by European Council President Charles
Michel in Brussels.
The talks are expected to focus on an Armenian-Azerbaijani “peace treaty.” Baku
wants such a deal to be based on five elements, including a mutual recognition
of each other’s territorial integrity. Pashinian has publicly stated that they
are acceptable to Yerevan in principle, fuelling opposition claims that he is
ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and other political allies of Pashinian have
said that Yerevan will also raise the issue of Karabakh’s status in upcoming
negotiations with the Azerbaijani side.
Baku has ruled out any discussions on the status, with Aliyev repeatedly saying
that the Azerbaijani victory in the 2020 war put an end to the Karabakh conflict.
Pashinian Ally Expects Tough Talks With Aliyev
April 05, 2022
• Nane Sahakian
• Naira Nalbandian
Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel hosts talks between Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Brussels,
December 14, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will discuss “very thorny” issues with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev when they meet in Brussels on Wednesday, a
senior Armenian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
European Council President Charles Michel will host the talks following deadly
fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh that resulted from an Azerbaijani incursion into a
local village and surrounding territory.
“Certainly the background preceding this meeting is not the best one, to put it
mildly,” said Eduard Aghajanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament
committee on foreign relations and a senior member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract
party.
“Very painful and thorny issues need to be raised at that meeting, and the
parties will try to iron out those thorny points and move forward, which won’t
be easy, to put it mildly,” Aghajanian added without elaborating.
Pashinian’s administration, he went on, remains committed to its “peace agenda.”
“The Armenian side stands for the establishment of peace, and we are not going
to abandon a diplomatic solution to the problem under any circumstances,” he
said.
The Brussels talks are expected to focus on an Armenian-Azerbaijani “peace
treaty” sought by Azerbaijan. Baku wants the treaty to be based on five
elements, including a mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity.
Pashinian has publicly stated that they are acceptable to Yerevan in principle.
This has been construed by Armenian opposition leaders and other critics as a
further indication that the Armenian government is ready to recognize
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.
The country’s two leading opposition alliances were due to rally supporters in
Yerevan later on Tuesday to warn Pashinian against making such concessions to
Aliyev. Gegham Manukian, a lawmaker representing the Hayastan alliance, said
opposition speakers at the rally will draw “the red lines” on Karabakh.
“This first all means excluding Artsakh’s being part of Azerbaijan and also
excluding this option in further negotiations,” Manukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
In the words of Hayk Mamijanian of the Pativ Unem bloc, the other parliamentary
opposition force, the rally is meant to bring together Armenians who strongly
believe that “Artsakh (Karabakh) can never be part of Azerbaijan.”
It was also announced that former President Serzh Sarkisian will join protesters
in Yerevan’s Liberty Square but will not deliver any speeches there. Sarkisian’s
Republican Party makes up Pativ Unem together with another opposition party.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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