Friday,
Armenian Government Blamed For Fresh Azeri Territorial Gains
• Artak Khulian
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Azerbaijani soldiers set up positions near the Armenian village of Tegh, March
31, 2023.
The Armenian opposition accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government on
Friday of letting Azerbaijan occupy more Armenian territory after rerouting much
of the Lachin corridor to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The five-kilometer-wide corridor became Karabakh’s sole overland link to Armenia
following the 2020 war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement. The
agreement called for the construction of a new Armenia-Karabakh highway
bypassing the town of Lachin.
Azerbaijan regained control of the town last August after building a
32-kilomer-long highway linking up to a new Armenian section of the corridor
which was supposed to be completed by April 1, 2023. Azerbaijani troops
redeployed on Thursday morning to more parts of the Lachin district adjacent to
the Armenian border, blocking the old corridor section.
Armenia’s government and National Security Service (NSS) downplayed the
redeployment, saying that the new Armenian road leading to Karabakh is already
passable. However, the NSS also said that the Azerbaijani troops occupied
Armenian territory in the process.
“In some places, the Azerbaijani side, without waiting for pre-arranged [border]
adjustments, started to position itself and carried out fortification works,”
said the statement. “According to the Armenian side’s calculations, there are
five such points where the Azerbaijani side crossed the border and advanced 100
to 300 meters [into [Armenian territory.]”
The NSS added that the two sides agreed that their cartographers will try to
“ascertain the situation.” Armenia is keen “to not allow an escalation,”
emphasized the security service.
The Azerbaijani forces moved very close to the Armenian border village of Tegh.
According to local government officials and farmers, they now control a large
part of the community’s agricultural land and pastures.
One of the Tegh residents, who did not want to be identified, said he discovered
on Thursday that he no longer has access to his 2-hectare wheat field.
“They [Azerbaijani soldiers] are now uprooting my wheat and digging trenches
there,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia - A road to Nagorno-Karabakh passing through the village of Tegh.
The development left many in the country wondering why Yerevan did not act to
prevent the loss of what it regards as Armenia’s internationally recognized
territory.
Pashinian stressed that the Armenian military did not lose any of its border
posts in that area.
“The Armenian army had no positions at the border section in question because
such positions are set up not on the border line but on nearby strategic
heights,” the NSS said for its part.
Leaders of Armenia’s two main opposition groups dismissed these explanations.
They said that Pashinian’s administration could and should have prevented
Azerbaijani from making the fresh territorial gains.
“Clearly, this is a major failure by the Armenia authorities in both the
political and military fields,” said Seyran Ohanian, a former defense minister
who now leads the parliamentary group of the Hayastan alliance.
“We have a situation for which the authorities and Nikol Pashinian personally
are responsible because … the change of the [corridor] route presupposed
political decisions that were not made,” agreed Tigran Abrahamian of the Pativ
Unem bloc.
Abrahamian argued that Pashinian’s government itself has repeatedly accused Baku
of violating Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements and launching military aggression
against Armenia after the 2020 war.
“Objectively, no Armenian government could have had reason to believe that
Azerbaijan would honor an oral agreement [reached in August 2022 and cited by
the NSS,]” he told reporters.
Senior lawmakers representing the ruling Civil Contract party refused to comment
on the opposition accusations.
Opposition leaders also blamed Pashinian’s government for much bigger
territorial losses suffered by Armenia during border clashes with Azerbaijan in
May 2021 and September 2022. They regularly charge that it cannot defend the
country and rebuild its armed forces after mishandling the disastrous 2020 war.
Pashinian and his political allies deny this.
Russia Signals Ban On Dairy Imports From Armenia
Armenia - Dairy products at a supermarket in Yerevan.
Russia moved on Friday to ban imports of dairy products from Armenia amid rising
tensions between the two allied countries.
The Russian government’s Rosselkhoznadzor agriculture watchdog first warned of
such a measure on Tuesday, saying that Armenian dairy companies use Iranian milk
and other raw materials banned in Russia. It said that Russia risks importing
“low-quality and unsafe products” also because of a lack of “proper oversight”
of those companies’ operations by relevant Armenian authorities.
Rosselkhoznadzor reported on Friday its ensuing negotiations with Armenia’s Food
Safety Inspectorate yielded “unsatisfactory results.” It said it has therefore
asked the Armenian state veterinary service to suspend from April 5 mandatory
safety certifications of all dairy products exported to Russia.
The Armenian government did not immediately comment on the move.
A spokeswoman the Food Safety Inspectorate insisted on Wednesday that the
Iranian raw materials are safe for consumption. She also told RFE/RL’s Armenian
that Rosselkhoznadzor’s inspection of some Armenian dairy firms conducted last
week did not detect “any problem threatening people’s lives and health.”
The Russian watchdog issued its first warning four days Armenia’s Constitutional
Court gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the International
Criminal Court’s founding treaty. The ruling in turn came one week after the ICC
issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes
allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Moscow warned on Monday that recognition of The Hague tribunal’s jurisdiction
would have “extremely negative” consequences for Russian-Armenian relations.
The Armenian government has still not publicly reacted to the stern warning.
Still, two pro-government lawmakers stated earlier this week that Yerevan should
not be afraid of pledging to arrest Putin if he visits the South Caucasus
country.
Russian-Armenian relations have soured lately due to what Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s administration sees as a lack of Russian support for Armenia in the
conflict with Azerbaijan.
Dairy products make up a small share of Armenia’s exports to Russia. The Russian
market is far more important for Armenian exporters of fresh fruits and
vegetables, processed foods and alcoholic drinks.
Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to $2.4 billion last year as a
consequence of Western economic sanctions against Moscow. The soaring trade with
and other cash flows from Russia are the main reason why the Armenian economy
grew by 12.6 percent last year.
Media Figures Dismiss Pashinian’s Press Freedom Claims
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a news conference, March 14, 2023.
Journalists and other media professionals disputed on Friday Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s claims that he has consistently strengthened press freedom in
Armenia during his five-year rule.
“As a former editor-in chief and journalist, I know full well, from my own
experience, the importance of being able to function without interference from
the state,” Pashinian told on Thursday a media-related event held as part of the
U.S.-led Summit for Democracy.
In a video address, he said that his government has put in place “all the
mechanisms for developing free press as an essential part of true democracy.”
“Armenia is continuously implementing reforms aimed at improving its legislation
for ensuring better environment for media and journalists to perform their
professional duties safely and freely,” added Pashinian.
Ashot Melikian of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect the Freedom of Speech
countered that in 2021 Pashinian’s administration tripled maximum legal fines
for “slander,” made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and imposed
unprecedented restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement inside the
Armenian parliament building.
More than 50 Armenians were prosecuted for defamation and hundreds of others
investigated on the same grounds before the authorities decriminalized such
offenses under domestic and foreign pressure last year. Many of those criminal
cases stemmed from offensive comments on Pashinian made on social media or in
public speeches.
Melikian also said that government, law-enforcement and judicial bodies remain
reluctant to provide important information to the media.
“It is not accessible,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Often times media
outlets do not receive information sought by them even after filing numerous
requests.”
Armenia -- Photojournalists and cameramen at an official ceremony in Yerevan,
January 10, 2019.
Aram Abrahamian, the veteran editor of the independent Aravot daily, noted in
this regard that a government bill recently approved by the parliament should
make it even easier for the authorities to withhold such data from the public.
Abrahamian believes that only the methods of government pressure on the media
have changed since the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power.
“The methods have become somewhat more subtle and less crude,” he said. “And I
prefer these methods. Unlike the former authorities that could simply have
journalists beaten up, [the current authorities] just say, ‘You’ve bought a
particular home.’”
Abrahamian referred to Pashinian’s recent reaction to growing media reports
about personal enrichment of members of his political entourage. The prime
minister suggested that journalists investigate instead properties bought by
their bosses.
Earlier this month, hackers hijacked Aravot’s YouTube channel just as it was
about to publish a video report detailing expensive property acquisitions by
several senior government officials and pro-government lawmakers. Abrahamian did
not rule out government involvement in the cyber attack.
Another major newspaper, Hraparak, blasted Pashinian’s “completely false” claim
that his government “didn’t put any restrictions on media freedom and the
Internet” even during martial law declared right after the outbreak of the 2020
war with Azerbaijan.
The government banned at the time any news reports and social media content
contradicting its official statements on the hostilities. It used heavy fines to
enforce that ban.
Hraparak also pointed out that the Armenian Ministry of Justice drafted late
last year legislation that would empower authorities to block access to news
websites and social media in times of war. The proposed bill prompted serious
concern from media freedom advocates.
Armenian Opposition Lawmaker Arrested
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Parliament deputies Vladimir Vartanian (left) and Mher Sahakian.
An opposition member of Armenia’s parliament was arrested on Friday after
brawling with a pro-government colleague in disputed circumstances.
Eyewitnesses said that Mher Sahakian of the main opposition Hayastan alliance
punched Vladimir Vartanian, the chairman of the parliament committee on legal
affairs, during a session of the panel held behind the closed doors. They said
the violence followed a shouting match between Vartanian and Sahakian and other
opposition lawmakers.
Vartanian, who represents the ruling Civil Contract party, suffered an injury to
his left eyebrow and was treated in hospital following the incident.
Meanwhile, other senior pro-government lawmakers called the police. Parliament
speaker Alen Simonian could be seen giving instructions to police officers and
security guards in the parliament lobby before they dragged away Sahakian to a
police station in Yerevan.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said later in the day that Sahakian was placed
under arrest on suspicion of “hooliganism.” The law-enforcement agency did not
clarify whether it will bring relevant charges against him.
Armenian law gives it three days to decide whether to indict the 35-year-old
oppositionist and ask the National Assembly to lift his immunity from
prosecution.
“We know very well what influence Civil Contract has on the law-enforcement
system and don’t exclude that they will also raise the issue of his arrest and
prosecution,” Sahakian’s lawyer, Ruben Melikian, told reporters.
Melikian insisted that his client acted in self-defense, a claim echoed by
Artsvik Minasian, another opposition parliamentarian who also attended the
committee meeting. Minasian said that during the meeting Vartanian shouted at
opposition members of the committee before standing up and walking menacingly
towards Sahakian.
In a statement, Hayastan’s parliamentary group likewise blamed the incident on
Vartanian’s “provocative and unbalanced behavior.”
Vartanian said, however, that the assault was unprovoked. He claimed that
Sahakian and other opposition deputies ignored his “legitimate demands” to stick
to the meeting’s agenda.
Sahakian’s swift arrest sharply contrasted with law-enforcement authorities’
response to violent incidents involving lawmakers affiliated with the ruling
party.
One of those pro-government lawmakers, Vahagn Aleksanian, approached and kicked
Hayastan’s Vahe Hakobian as the latter gave a speech on the parliament floor in
August 2021. Hakobian and five other opposition deputies were hit by a larger
number of Civil Contract lawmakers in an ensuing melee that was not swiftly
stopped by scores of security personnel present in the chamber. The authorities
did not try to prosecute anyone in connection with that incident witnessed by
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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