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    Categories: 2023

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/02/2023

                                        Friday, June 2, 2023


Pashinian’s Remark On Ukraine War ‘Noted’ By Moscow

        • Astghik Bedevian

UKRAINE – Smoke erupts following a shell explosion, amid Russia's attack on 
Ukraine, in Bakhmut, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released 
on May 7, 2023


Moscow said on Friday that it “took note” of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
remark that Armenia is “not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine.”

Pashinian said this when he spoke to the Czech TV channel CNN Prima News during 
a visit to Prague in early May. The Armenian government’s press office released 
the transcript of his interview late on Thursday as he took part in a summit of 
the European Political Community attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr 
Zelenskiy.

“We are not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine, and our feeling from that war 
is anxiety because it directly influences all our relationships,” Pashinian told 
the broadcaster. “In the West, they first and foremost note that we are an ally 
of Russia, while in Russia, they see that we are not their ally in the Ukraine 
war. So we are not anybody’s ally in this situation, which means that we are 
vulnerable.”

MOLDOVA – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (C) in a joint photo of the 
participants of the summit of the European Political Community, June 1, 2023

“We took note of it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, reacting to 
Pashinian’s remarks. “This is an important statement. We know that there are 
certain nuances in Armenia's approaches to the conflict over Ukraine. We take 
them into account, we know them.”

Armenia has not publicly condemned or backed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It 
has repeatedly abstained from UN General Assembly resolutions accusing Moscow of 
military aggression.

Pashinian complained on Wednesday that the escalating conflict in Ukraine is 
narrowing Armenia’s “room for maneuver.” He did not elaborate.

Artur Khachatrian, an Armenian opposition parliamentarian, claimed on Friday 
that Yerevan is under growing Western pressure to take sides in the conflict.

“Russia can’t say openly, ‘Make a choice: either you are on our side or on the 
opposite side,’” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian meet in Moscow, May 25, 2023.

In his words, Russian President Vladimir Putin only hinted that Armenia is 
taking advantage of the Western sanctions against Russia during a Eurasian 
Economic Union (EEU) summit in Moscow last week.

“It will be difficult for us to keep up with Armenia … Their GDP growth is more 
than 12 percent [in 2022.] This is a very high, serious indicator,” said Putin.

The double-digit growth was primarily driven by soaring trade with and cash 
flows from Russia. Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to $2.4 billion 
last year. Goods manufactured in third countries and re-exported from Armenia to 
Russia are believed to have accounted for most of that gain.

Pashinian insisted earlier this year that Armenia is not helping Russia evade 
the Western sanctions.




Pashinian Satisfied With Fresh Talks With Aliyev


Moldova - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashianian attends a summit in Chisinau, 
June 1, 2023.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has described his latest meeting with Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev as “useful” but disclosed few of its details.

Pashinian and Aliyev met in Moldova’s capital Chisinau on Thursday on the 
sidelines of a European summit. They were joined by EU chief Charles Michel, 
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. No concrete 
agreements were announced as a result.

Michel said the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders will meet again in Brussels on 
July 21. According to Pashinian, their foreign ministers will hold fresh talks 
in Washington on June 12 in preparation for the next summit.

“On the whole, I consider the discussion useful,” Pashinian told a group of 
ethnic Armenians from Moldova and Ukraine in Chisinau later in the evening.

He did not clarify whether the conflicting parties narrowed their differences on 
an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. He said Baku now seems to accept an 
Armenian proposal to use 1975 Soviet maps as a basis for delimiting and 
demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Aliyev last week insisted that the border demarcation must be carried out on 
Baku’s terms and warned of fresh military action against Armenia. Yerevan 
condemned his threats.

Baku also shed little light on the Chisinau talks. The Azerbaijani Foreign 
Ministry on Friday accused Macron’s office of misrepresenting them. But it did 
not specify which concrete parts of a French readout of the talks “distort the 
positions of the parties.”

In a late-night statement, the presidential Elysee Palace said Aliyev and 
Pashinian “reaffirmed mutual respect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan 
and Armenia.” It also said the European leaders “stressed the importance of 
defining rights and guarantees for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.”




Armenian PM To Attend Erdogan’s Inauguration


TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets the audience as he 
attends the Non-Governmental Organizations and Muhtars Meeting in Ankara, on May 
24, 2023.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will attend the inauguration of Turkey’s newly 
reelected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was announced on Friday.

“The Republic of Armenia has received an invitation to take part in Turkish 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s swearing-in ceremony,” said the Armenian 
government’s press office. “Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will leave 
for Ankara on June 3 to take part in the ceremony.”

The short statement did not specify whether the invitation was personally 
addressed to Pashinian.

Pashinian, who is accused by his political opponents of making unilateral 
concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan, rushed to congratulate Erdogan on winning 
reelection in a run-off vote on May 28. He said he hopes to continue “working 
together towards full normalization of relations between our countries.”

Erdogan’s first presidential inauguration in 2014 was attended by then Armenian 
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

Turkey has since continued to make the opening of the border and the 
establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia conditional on an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish leaders have 
repeatedly reaffirmed this precondition since the start of the normalization 
talks with Yerevan in January 2022.

Armenia - A monument in Yerevan dedicated to Armenians who had assassinated 
masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, 
April 25, 2023.

Tensions between the two neighboring states were reignited in late April after 
municipal authorities in Yerevan unveiled a monument dedicated to Armenians who 
had assassinated masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian genocide in 
Ottoman Turkey.

The Turkish government strongly condemned the move and banned Armenian airlines 
from flying over Turkey to third countries. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu 
threatened last week “new measures” against Armenia if the monument is not 
removed soon.

Pashinian described the erection of the monument as a “wrong decision” when he 
spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier in May.

During the presidential election campaign, Erdogan and his political allies 
repeatedly touted Turkey’s decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan provided 
during the 2020 war with Armenia. They accused Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal 
Kilicdaroglu, of opposing Ankara’s political and military alliance with Baku.




Violent Policeman Indicted After Public Uproar

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia -- Police officer Arsen Ghaytmazian.


Facing a public uproar, Armenian law-enforcement authorities reversed on Friday 
their decision not to prosecute a senior police officer who beat up a teenage 
waiter at a hotel in the resort town of Dilijan.

A regional prosecutor ordered investigators to not only indict but also arrest 
Arsen Ghaytmazian, the chief of the Dilijan police department’s investigative 
unit.

A video circulated on Thursday shows Ghaytmazian repeatedly hitting the 
17-year-old waiter, Araz Amirian. According to Amirian’s lawyer, the drunk 
officer assaulted him on April 10 after being told to pay for a hotel room 
upfront.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee said later on Thursday that it has not brought 
criminal charges against Ghaytmazian because he has cooperated with its criminal 
investigation, “fully regretted” his actions and apologized to the young man. It 
said a prosecutor overseeing the probe has approved the decision.

The decision was strongly condemned by the victim’s family and human rights 
activists. It also sparked outrage on social media. Two pro-government members 
of the Armenian parliament added their voice to the uproar.

“We, the parents, haven’t forgiven and will not forgive him and we will not 
withdraw our complaint,” the waiter’s mother, Araksya Artinian, told RFE/RL’s 
Armenia Service. “He must be put on trial.”

The Office of the Prosecutor-General announced afterwards that the chief 
prosecutor of northern Tavush province encompassing Dilijan instructed the local 
division of the Investigative Committee to reopen the criminal case, charge 
Ghaytmazian with assault and seek court permission to hold him in detention.

The policeman will face between three and seven years in prison if tried and 
found guilty. According to the Interior Ministry, he was earlier suspended 
pending an internal police inquiry.

“I am ready to apologize to those public circles who may be disappointed with 
the work of the law-enforcement system because of this case,” said Argishti 
Kyaramian, the head of the Investigative Committee.

Kyaramian said his Tavush subordinates were wrong to close the case. But he at 
the same time sought to shift the blame onto the regional prosecutor, arguing 
that the latter endorsed the initial decision not to prosecute the officer.

Artur Sakunts, a human rights activist, accused the Investigative Committee of 
trying to dodge responsibility for what he sees as an attempted cover-up of the 
assault. He said that both the Tavush prosecutor and the investigator in charge 
of the case must at least be fired.

Ani Chatinian, another activist, said police brutality remains a serious problem 
in Armenia despite police reforms declared by the authorities. She argued that 
law-enforcement officers are still rarely prosecuted for such abuses.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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