Thursday, Jailed Former Top Prosecutor To Be Released On Bail • Naira Bulghadarian Former Prosecutor-General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepian (standing) during his trial in a Yerevan court, May 16, 2022. A court in Yerevan on Thursday granted bail to former Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian who was arrested last September on a string of corruption charges denied by him. Judge Mnatsakan Martirosian ordered that Hovsepian pay 100 million drams (about $245,000) before being released from custody pending trial. Hovsepian’s lawyers had argued that their client suffered from a number of diseases, including severe diabetes, that they insisted were incompatible with detention. Hovsepian, 69, served as Armenia’s chief prosecutor from 1998-1999 and 2004-2013. He went on to become the first head of a newly created law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, in 2014. He ran the committee until the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that brought current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to power. Hovsepian was one of Armenia’s most powerful state officials during his tenure. The former top prosecutor now stands accused of bribery, money laundering and illegal entrepreneurial activity. The Anti-Corruption Committee claims that he also misappropriated several properties while in office. Hovsepian denied the charges at the start of his trial in early May. He said these charges are based on false testimony given by two individuals. Reports On Next Round Of Turkey-Armenia Talks In September Not Confirmed In Yerevan Yet • Tatevik Sargsian The Armenian and Turkish envoys for normalization talks, Ruben Rubinian and Serdar Kilic (combination photograph). Official Yerevan does not yet confirm reports in the Turkish media quoting a senior diplomat in Ankara that the next round of talks between special representatives of Turkey and Armenia on normalization will take place in September. Vahan Hunanian, a spokesman for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday that “at the moment there is no agreement regarding the next meeting.” He added that officials in Yerevan “in due time inform the public about scheduled meetings of the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey engaged in the normalization process.” So far, Armenia’s Ruben Rubinian and Turkey’s Serdar Kilic have met four times since the beginning of this year in a fresh bid to achieve rapprochement between the two neighbors feuding over historical events, including the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians denied by Turkey. The first meeting between the two envoys took place in January in Moscow, Russia, with the three subsequent meetings taking place in Vienna, Austria. The unnamed high-ranking Turkish diplomat told the Turkish media that Ankara insists that the next rounds of talks take place not in third countries, but in Armenia and Turkey, but for this, the diplomat said, a number of clear steps must be taken. After all meetings that have taken place between Rubinian and Kilic the parties emphasized their readiness to go for a full settlement of relations without preconditions. Following their latest round of talks on July 1 the two envoys announced agreements on enabling the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Turkey by third-country citizens as well as on commencing direct air cargo trade between the two countries. The official who talked to the Turkish media also noted that the current process is different from the 2009 negotiations, but he said that “one can talk about taking clear steps like signing a document when there is a certain maturity in the process.” According to him, normalization should be carried forward with steps aimed at increasing confidence. Moscow Rejects Criticism Of Russian Peacekeepers In Karabakh • Astghik Bedevian Russian peacekeepers guard the area in the town of Lachin (file photo). Russia does not consider “separate criticism” of its peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh to be fair, a senior diplomat in Moscow said on Thursday. During a news briefing Ivan Nechayev, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stressed that Russian peacekeepers in the region are engaged in efforts to stabilize the situation on the ground. During last week’s weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian strongly criticized the Russian peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh following the most serious fighting along the line of contact that left at least two Armenian and one Azerbaijani soldiers dead. Pashinian urged Russia to do more to prevent further ceasefire violations, charging that Baku has been stepping up such violations despite the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops in the region. “In these circumstances, it is becoming imperative to adjust details of the [Russian] peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinian said. “We expect that any attempt to cross the line of contact will be stopped by the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation.” In an apparent reaction to this criticism, Nechayev said that “along with intensive political contacts Russian peacekeepers also continue to be engaged in active work, taking necessary efforts for stabilization on the ground.” “Both Baku and Yerevan have before emphasized the important role of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. We do not consider separate criticism of the peacekeepers to be fair,” the diplomat added. Nechayev also announced that Moscow plans to organize high-level trilateral contacts by the end of August on different subjects concerning the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the situation around the Lachin corridor should be resolved in accordance with the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. “Point 6 of the statement stipulates that the plan for the construction of a new route through the Lachin corridor, which will ensure a link between Karabakh and Armenia, should be determined with the agreement of the parties in the next three years, with the subsequent redeployment of Russian peacekeeping troops to maintain the security of the route,” he said. The Armenian prime minister also insisted last week that the ceasefire agreement requires Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to work out before 2024 only a plan for the construction of a new Armenia-Karabakh road. He emphasized that no such plan had been drawn up yet. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said, however, that the three sides did agree on the “route” of the new corridor early this year and accused Yerevan of dragging out construction work on its Armenian sections. After the latest escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh the local ethnic Armenian authorities ordered the few remaining Armenian residents of villages situated along the current route of the Lachin corridor to leave their homes for good until August 25. Incidentally, Azerbaijan announced on August 11 the completion of the construction of its section of the road bypassing Lachin. The Armenian side launched construction on its section of the road on August 1 and expects the work to be completed by spring. Until then, authorities say, people will have to fall back on unpaved roads for travel. Tehran Reassures Yerevan Over Iran-Armenia Border Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meet in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, September 17, 2021. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated his country’s opposition to any attempt to alter borders in the region as he held a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reported by Yerevan on Thursday. The reassurance comes a week after a major escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in which at least two ethnic Armenian and one Azerbaijani soldiers were killed on August 3. Both parties blamed each other for the most serious fighting since March. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has also accused Armenia of showing ‘unconstructive approaches’ in terms of implementing the Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement that put an end to a deadly 44-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, in particular, charged earlier this week that Armenia was dragging out the implementation of the point concerning the opening of road and railway links to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenia’s southern Syunik province. The ceasefire that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that it calls for an exterritorial land corridor that would pass through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. At least one of the routes of what Baku calls the ‘Zangezur corridor’, namely the railway, should stretch along the river Arax, which marks the border between Armenia and Iran. Armenia publicly supports the idea of unblocking regional transport links, but rejects what it calls “the corridor logic” behind such efforts. Armenia insists that it must maintain sovereignty over the transport routes in its territory. A statement issued by Pashinian’s press office today said that during their telephone conversation the leaders of Armenia and Iran discussed “issues related to regional developments and security challenges.” “The prime minister of Armenia presented to the president of Iran details about the recent border incidents between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In the context of establishing stability and peace in the region, Pashinian emphasized the importance of the full implementation of the trilateral agreements of November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021,” it said. “Referring to the recent tense incidents in the South Caucasus, the president of Iran mentioned the statement made by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei during the recent meetings with the presidents of Russia and Turkey that Iran is sensitive about its borders in the Caucasus region and will oppose any attempt to alter them,” the statement added. Pashinian’s press office said that the parties also “exchanged ideas on bilateral ties and emphasized the importance of bringing them closer.” “Pashinian expressed satisfaction with the development of Armenian-Iranian relations and noted that Armenia is ready to maximally promote the transit of goods between the two countries and to develop cooperation in the field of infrastructure in terms of roads, energy and other directions. “The president of Iran described the relations between the two countries as historical and deep and emphasized the need to raise the level of sustainable Armenian-Iranian economic cooperation,” the statement said. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned against attempts to block Armenia’s border with his country when he held separate meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran last month. Under the 2020 ceasefire agreement, Russia, which protects Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkey, is to oversee the security of the transport links between Azerbaijan and its western exclave passing through Armenian territory. Images of Russian checkpoints set up along several roads in Syunik that appeared on the Internet earlier this week fueled speculations among Armenians about an imminent deal on the transport links. But Russia’s Federal Security Service said the stepped-up security measures were due to increased drug trafficking and other illegal cross-border activities in the area. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.