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    Categories: 2022

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/27/2022

                                        Wednesday, April 27, 2022


U.S. Opposes ‘Unilateral’ Azeri Actions In Karabakh
April 27, 2022
        • Lusine Musayelian

U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gathers papers after a Senate 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Review of the FY2023 State 
Department Budget Request," in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022.


The United States has been discouraging Azerbaijan from escalating tensions in 
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony 
Blinken.

“I've been very actively and directly engaged with leadership in both Armenia 
and Azerbaijan, trying to help advance prospects for a long-term political 
settlement in regard to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Blinken told the Foreign Relations 
Committee of the U.S. Senate during a hearing held on Tuesday.

“We have been trying to push back on any unilateral actions, particularly by 
Azerbaijan, that would only inflame the situation, and we have a number of 
programs in place that are part of the budget to try to help advance more 
peaceful prospects,” he said without elaborating.

Blinken pointed to his recent phone calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as well as the foreign 
ministers of the two South Caucasus states.

During his conversations with Aliyev and Pashinian, he called for “restraint, 
de-escalation, and renewed diplomacy,” according to the U.S. State Department.

Blinken phoned the two leaders on April 5 more than 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.

The State Department deplored the Azerbaijani troop movements, calling them 
“irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative.” Baku rejected the criticism.

Speaking during Tuesday’s hearing, Robert Menendez, the pro-Armenian chairman of 
the Senate committee, accused Baku of trying to “eliminate the presence of 
Armenians” living in Karabakh. Menendez also criticized the U.S. government for 
continuing to seek greater U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan than Armenia.



Woman Killed By Police Car Escorting Armenian PM
April 27, 2022
        • Naira Nalbandian
        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian inspects new Patrol Police vehicles in 
Gyumri, April 16, 2022.


A pregnant woman died on Tuesday after being hit by a police car that was part 
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s motorcade racing through Yerevan.

Pashinian on Wednesday remained silent about the incident that caused uproar on 
social media. He issued no statements offering his condolences to the family of 
the 28-year-old woman, Sona Mnatsakanian.

The Armenian police confirmed shortly after the unprecedented accident that the 
car which ran over Mnatsakanian was driven by one of their officers. He was 
arrested later on Tuesday.

A separate statement released by the Investigative Committee said that the 
officer did not stop to help the victim and came back to the scene of the 
accident only two hours later.

Maria Karapetian, a lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party, essentially 
confirmed that the police vehicle was part of the motorcade carrying Pashinian. 
She told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the prime minister was on his way to a 
meeting with her and other pro-government parliamentarians.

Karapetian said that the meeting was cut short after news of the pedestrian’s 
death was reported by a Yerevan hospital. “In those circumstances it was very 
hard to continue talking about the agenda for which we gathered,” she said.

The accident was caught on street cameras, according to some media outlets. 
Videos circulated by them showed that the young woman was struck by a police SUV 
while crossing a street in downtown Yerevan. The cars carrying Pashinian and his 
bodyguards drove past her moments later.

Samvel Martirosian, a prominent Armenian blogger, witnessed the moment when the 
motorcade emerged from Pashinian’s private residence located several hundred 
meters away. He said that traffic police officers acted “wildly” as the vehicles 
moved to the scene of the fatal accident.

“They yelled hysterically and nearly hit other cars while trying to force them 
to … clear the way,” said Martirosian.

Pashinian famously boasted in May 2019 that unlike Armenia’s former leaders he 
has made sure that his motorcades stop at a red light. He listed that among 
purported achievements of his rule.

Sona Mnatsakanian, the victim, was one of the founders of Support Our Heroes, an 
Armenian charity. She coordinated a project which is currently implemented by it 
in Nagorno-Karabakh.



Opposition Protesters Detained In Yerevan
April 27, 2022
        • Artak Khulian
        • Anush Mkrtchian

Armenia - Riot police arrest an opposition activist in Yerevan Yerevan, April 
27, 2022


Riot police made at least 18 arrests on Wednesday as they scuffled with 
opposition activists holding small-scale protests across Yerevan to try to drum 
up popular support for an opposition bid to oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Armenia’s two main opposition alliances launched the protests on Monday in 
advance of mass anti-government demonstrations planned by them. They say that 
Pashinian’s removal from power would prevent sweeping concessions to Azerbaijan 
planned by him.

Groups of opposition members and supporters staged “awareness marches,” blocked 
streets and entered university campuses in Yerevan for the third consecutive day.

Traffic through one of those streets was disrupted for several minutes. Riot 
police forcibly unblocked it, detaining several protesters in the process.

The Armenian police reported afterwards that 18 opposition activists were 
arrested in various parts of the city by early afternoon.

Eleven others were detained on Tuesday. Three of them remained in police custody 
the following day, risking “hooliganism” charges. The police did not clarify 
what exactly they could be prosecuted for.

Benik Galstian, a lawyer representing the detainees, said that he too does not 
know why they were not set free. He said he has petitioned a Yerevan court to 
order their release.

Gegham Manukian, an opposition lawmaker who visited the activists in custody in 
the morning, denounced the criminal proceedings as “absurd.”

“One of the guys was arrested last night on the grounds of evading a criminal 
investigation,” Manukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “In fact, he rushed to 
the Investigative Committee immediately after they phoned him during the 
protest.”

Armenia - Riot police scuffle with opposition protesters in Yerevan, April 26, 
2022.

Meanwhile, two groups of other oppositionists continued to march to Yerevan from 
southern Ararat and northern Tavush provinces. One of them was led by Anna 
Grigorian, another lawmaker affiliated with the opposition Hayastan alliance.

Grigorian said that she is encouraged by their reception in Ararat villages 
located along a highway leading to the Armenian capital. “The spirits are high 
because we are fighting for an idea, and that unity will lead us to victory,” 
she said.

Hayastan and the other opposition bloc, Pativ Unem, have scheduled their first 
rally for this Sunday. They already jointly rallied thousands of supporters in 
Yerevan’s Liberty Square on April 5 to warn Pashinian against agreeing to 
restore Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The prime minister met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels the 
following day for talks hosted by European Council President Charles Michel.

Speaking in the parliament on April 13, Pashinian said the international 
community is pressing Armenia to scale back its demands on Karabakh’s status and 
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to 
make such concessions to Baku.

Pro-government lawmakers maintain that Pashinian did not call for the 
restoration of Azerbaijani control of Karabakh. They have accused the opposition 
of exploiting the issue in a bid to seize power.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS