Thursday,
Karabakh Leader Seeks To Allay Fears Over New Corridor To Armenia
• Gayane Saribekian
• Naira Nalbandian
Nagorno-Karabakh - A view of the village of Aghano and a road leading to
Armenia, April 16, 2022.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leader insisted on Thursday that a new highway that will
replace the existing corridor connecting the territory with Armenia will be
safer and more reliable for its population.
The five-kilometer-wide Lachin corridor became Karabakh’s sole overland link to
Armenia following the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. Armenian forces pulled out of
the rest of the wider Lachin district under the terms of the Russian-brokered
ceasefire that stopped the six-week hostilities.
The truce accord calls for the construction by 2024 of a new Armenia-Karabakh
highway that will bypass the town of Lachin and two Armenian-populated villages
located within the corridor protected by Russian peacekeeping troops.
Azerbaijani and Turkish construction firms have been rapidly building the
32-kilomer-long highway that will link up to new road sections in Armenia and
Karabakh. Work on those sections has still not begun.
The construction of a new road that will connect Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, sought to allay concerns about the
loss of the existing Lachin corridor and its security implications when he spoke
in the local parliament. He stressed that the route of the bypass road currently
built by Azerbaijan was approved by Karabakh’s leadership.
“We chose what we believe is the best variant,” Harutiunian told lawmakers in
Stepanakert. “It will be much safer and will address many security issues. We
can explain why it will be much safer, but without making that public here.”
Harutiunian confirmed that the Armenian side will have to evacuate the few
remaining Armenian residents of the town of Lachin and one of the two nearby
villages, Sus. He said it still hopes to retain control over the other village,
Aghavno.
“The [ceasefire] document says that we must pull out of the town of Berdzor
(Lachin),” he said. “But with regard to Aghavno, we still have things to do. We
are continuing to hold negotiations in that direction.”
Nagorno-Karabakh - Houses in the village of Aghano, April 16, 2022.
“We will continue to fight for Aghavno,” stressed the Karabakh leader.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated on Monday, however, that Aghavno will
also be given back to Baku. He said the residents of this and the other Lachin
settlements will be provided with new housing in Armenia and Karabakh.
Pashinian’s remarks angered many of Aghavno’s 200 or so residents. Speaking to
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier this week, they said they have no intention to
leave their homes.
“God forbid that such a thing happens,” one of them said. “I don’t know how the
people will react. No other place can replace Aghavno, not even the center of
Yerevan.”
“If Armenia is abandoning us … then Artsakh (Karabakh) will take care of us and
we will stay here,” said another villager.
Armenia’s Judicial Watchdog Refuses To Censure Embattled Head
Armenia - Gagik Jahangirian chairs a session of the Supreme Judicial Council,
Yerevan, July 26, 2021.
A state body overseeing Armenia’s courts has officially refused to take
disciplinary action against its acting head, Gagik Jahangirian, over leaked
audio in which he appeared to blackmail his predecessor at loggerheads with the
government.
Ruben Vartazarian, the former chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC),
publicized on June 20 a 14-minute audio clip which he secretly recorded during a
dinner meeting with Jahangirian in February 2021. The meeting took place two
months before Vartazarian was controversially suspended by other SJC members
amid rising tensions with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
In the recording full of profanities uttered by him, Jahangirian can be heard
seemingly warning Vartazarian to step down or face criminal charges.
Jahangirian claimed late last week that he simply tried to trick Vartazarian
into resigning as head of the state body that nominates judges and can also fire
them. He dismissed calls for his resignation and prosecution voiced by
opposition and civil society groups.
Immediately after the outbreak of the scandal, the SJC indicated that it will
not even consider launching disciplinary proceedings against Jahangirian. But
one of its members, Davit Khachaturian, said on Monday that the judicial
watchdog has set up a working group that will look into the audio clip and
determine whether it warrants such proceedings.
SJC spokeswoman Lilit Shaboyan said on Thursday that the group consisting of
five SJC members has concluded that the “edited recording” is not sufficient
grounds for punishing Jahangirian. She said the watchdog cannot take any
disciplinary action also because of a statute of limitations.
The SJC launched disciplinary proceedings against Vartazarian before ousting him
as its chairman and member on June 23. The official reason for the move was a
recent newspaper interview in which he claimed that Jahangirian joined the
judicial body in January 2021 in breach of Armenian law.
Jahangirian was appointed by the Armenian parliament controlled by Pashinian’s
party. Ever since Jahangirian took over the SJC in April 2021, Armenian courts
have rarely rejected arrest warrants sought by law-enforcement authorities for
opposition figures prosecuted on various charges rejected by them as politically
motivated.
Independent and pro-opposition media outlets have regularly accused Jahangirian
of pressuring judges to make such decisions. He denies that.
Pashinian admitted on Monday that a scandal sparked by the leaked audio has
undermined the credibility of judicial reforms declared by his administration.
But he did not say whether he believes Jahangirian should resign.
Pashinian’s political opponents have said all along that the stated reforms are
a smokescreen for increasing government influence on courts.
Families Of Fallen Soldiers Continue Protests
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - The parents of soldiers killed in the 2020 Karabakh war protest
outsidethe Supreme Judicial Council, Yerevan, May 26, 2022.
Dozens of parents of Armenian soldiers killed in the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh again rallied outside prosecutors’ headquarters in Yerevan on
Thursday to demand criminal charges against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Their protests were sparked by Pashinian’s remarks made on April 13 in response
to continuing opposition criticism of his handling of the devastating war that
left at least 3,825 Armenian soldiers dead.
“They say now, ‘Could they have averted the war?’” Pashinian told the
parliament. “They could have averted the war, as a result of which we would have
had the same situation, but of course without the casualties.”
The protesting families of several dozen fallen soldiers say Pashinian thus
publicly admitted deliberately sacrificing thousands of lives. They submitted a
relevant “crime report” to Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General on April
18.
The office instructed other law-enforcement agencies to question Pashinian and
decide whether to launch criminal proceedings against the prime minister. The
latter has still not been summoned by them for questioning.
The protesting relatives reportedly held a tense meeting with Argisthi
Kyaramian, the head of the Investigative Committee, last month. They accused him
of disrespecting and insulting them, a claim denied by the committee.
Representatives of the relatives demanded that Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian
assign the case to the National Security Service when he received them during
Thursday’s demonstration. They gave Davtian until Saturday to respond to their
demand.
“We don’t see any progress [in the promised inquiry,]” one of the protesters
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Let them summon [Pashinian] so he answers why
he made that statement.”
“They killed five thousand guys,” charged another man. “It’s treason.”
Armenian opposition groups hold Pashinian responsible for Armenia’s defeat in
the war with Azerbaijan. For his part, Pashinian has put the blame on former
Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, who now lead two of those
groups.
Kocharian ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, while Sarkisian, his successor, lost
power more than two years before the outbreak of the hostilities.
Canada To Open Embassy In Armenia
CANADA - People are silhouetted in front of the Canadian national flag at the
Palais des Congres in Montreal, October 21, 2019.
Canada announced late on Wednesday that it will open an embassy in Armenia to
deepen bilateral ties in view of the ongoing “profound geopolitical shift” in
the world.
It said it will also enhance its diplomatic presence in four Eastern European
countries to “help counter Russia’s destabilizing activities” in the region.
“This diplomatic expansion will help guide Canada’s response to evolving
security threats, enhance political and economic cooperation to support European
Allies, and further counter the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and
support Armenia in its democratic development,” read a statement released by the
Canadian government.
It quoted Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly as saying that this will give
Ottawa “the tools we need to reinforce Armenian democracy and address some of
the greatest security and diplomatic challenges of our time.”
The statement was timed to coincide with a NATO summit in Madrid that focused on
continued Western military support for Ukraine. It said Canada’s current
geopolitical priorities include “pushing back on Russian influence, whether they
assert it through soft power, disinformation or military force.”
Like other Western powers, NATO member Canada has strongly condemned the Russian
invasion and provided Ukraine with military and economic assistance. By
contrast, Armenia has refrained from criticizing the “special military
operation” launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
The South Caucasus state has long maintained close military, political and
economic ties with Russia. Its heavy dependence on Moscow for defense and
security deepened further after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sweden - Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks with her Armenian
counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan during an OSCE ministerial meeting in Stockholm,
December 2, 2021.
Armenia was quick to welcome Canada’s decision to open an embassy in Yerevan,
with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan calling it “another milestone in
progressively developing Armenian-Canadian relations.”
Joly announced the decision one day after her phone call with Mirzoyan.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the two ministers reaffirmed their
governments’ plans to “further deepen Armenian-Canadian relations.”
The ministry said they also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other
“security challenges” in the South Caucasus.
Joly expressed “Canada’s solidarity with Armenian people” when she spoke with
Mirzoyan last December on the sidelines of an annual meeting of the top
diplomats of OSCE member states held in Sweden.
Just days after the outbreak of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in September 2020,
the Canadian government suspended the export of drone technology to Turkey. It
banned such exports altogether in April 2021 after investigating and confirming
reports that Turkish-manufactured Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, heavily used by
the Azerbaijani army, are equipped with imaging and targeting systems made by a
Canada-based firm.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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