Wednesday,
Armenia To Ratify International Court Treaty Amid Tensions With Russia
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian attends his government's
question-and-answer session in parliament, Yerevan, .
Despite stern warnings from Russia, Armenia will unconditionally accept
jurisdiction of an international court that issued an arrest warrant for Russian
President Vladimir Putin early this year, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on
Wednesday.
Pashinian made this clear amid unprecedented tensions between Moscow and
Yerevan. They rose further after he declared early this month that Armenia’s
reliance on Russia for defense and security has proved a “strategic mistake.”
Russian officials condemned Pashinian’s remarks.
The Russian Foreign Ministry listed them among “a series of unfriendly steps”
taken by Yerevan, in a note of protest handed to the Armenian ambassador on
September 8. Those steps also include the Armenian parliament’s plans to ratify
the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Moscow demanded last week “clarifications” over the Pashinian government’s
decision to send the treaty, known as the Rome Statute, to the parliament for
ratification. The decision was announced on September 1.
“The Rome Statute will be fully ratified in accordance with my position and with
the backing of our parliamentary allies,” Pashinian told the National Assembly
controlled by his Civil Contract party. “It has nothing to do with
Russian-Armenian relations. It has to do with Armenia’s security issues.”
Pashinian’s political allies said earlier that Yerevan wants to submit to the
ICC’s jurisdiction in order to bring Azerbaijan to justice for its “war crimes”
and to prevent more Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia. Russian officials were
unconvinced by these assurances, warning of serious damage to bilateral ties.
Independent legal experts believe that the ratification of the Rome Statute
would commit the Armenian authorities to arrest Putin and extradite him to The
Hague tribunal if he visits the South Caucasus country. Pashinian did not
comment on such a possibility on Wednesday.
Lachin Road Still Closed Despite Reported Deal On Aid Supplies
• Artak Khulian
ARMENIA - Armenian lorries carriyng humanitarian aid for Nagorno-Karabakh are
seen stranded near an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at the entry of the Lachin
corridor, July 30, 2023.
Humanitarian traffic through the Lachin corridor was not restored on Wednesday,
with Azerbaijan accusing Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership of continuing to oppose
an alternative Azerbaijani-controlled supply route.
The authorities in Stepanakert indicated at the weekend that they agreed to let
a Russian Red Cross truck enter Karabakh from the Azerbaijani town of Aghdam in
return for Baku’s pledge to unblock the corridor.
The truck delivered 15 tons of food and other humanitarian aid on Tuesday. The
Russian Foreign Ministry reported later in the day an agreement on the “parallel
unblocking of the Lachin and Aghdam routes.” The Azerbaijani side confirmed its
readiness for such an arrangement, which is also favored by the United States
and the European Union.
Hikmet Hajiyev, a senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, accused
Karabakh’s “illegal regime” of obstructing the “simultaneous opening” of the two
roads which he said was first agreed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in a September 1 phone call.
A Karabakh official, Davit Babayan, denied Hajiyev’s claims and said Baku itself
is violating an agreement to reopen the Lachin road after the delivery of the
Russian aid through Aghdam.
“Our people are in a situation where no issue can be politicized,” Babayan told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We have never breached or distorted any agreements.”
Sources said that the conflicting sides as well as Russia and other
international actors are continuing negotiations on the issue. Babayan confirmed
the information but did not give any details.
The European Union effectively welcomed the shipment of the Russian aid to
Karabakh. A spokeswoman for European Council President Charles Michel called it
“an important step that should facilitate the reopening also of the Lachin
corridor.”
“We call on all stakeholders to show responsibility and flexibility in ensuring
that both the Lachin and the Aghdam-Askeran route will be used,” she added in a
statement.
Snoop Dogg Concert In Armenia Raises Corruption Concerns
• Nane Sahakian
U.S. -- US singer Snoop Dogg arrives on the red carpet for the 31st MTV Video
Music Awards at The Forum in Inglewood, California, August 24, 2014
Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog on Wednesday expressed concern over
the choice of a company that will spend about $6 million allocated by the
Armenian government for American rapper Snoop Dogg’s upcoming concert in Yerevan.
The government sparked controversy when it approved the funding, which covers
the singer’s performance fee and logistics expenses, in early August 11.
Government officials said the money is worth it because the concert slated for
September 23 will raise Armenia’s international profile and attract thousands of
foreign tourists.
Critics shrugged off the explanation, condemning the government decision as
reckless extravagance aimed at distracting Armenians from grave national
security problems facing their country. Some of them also pointed to drug
references in Snoop Dogg’s songs. The rap star has had a history of using drugs.
The entire sum exceeding the annual budgets of most rural communities of Armenia
will be handled by a little-known private company. Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s government chose the company called Doping Space and signed a
contract with it on August 18 without a tender. The government did not explain
why it avoided competitive bidding.
It emerged afterwards that the allocation took the form of a government grant, a
highly unusual arrangement that prompted serious concern from the
Anti-Corruption Center (ACC), the Armenian affiliated of Transparency
International.
“We need to understand why they gave the grant to that company without a
tender,” Varuzhan Hoktanian, the ACC’s programs director, told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service on Wednesday.
“I suppose that just like in the case of procurements there should have been a
tender here,” said Hoktanian. “Especially in the case of such a large sum, a
tender must be obligatory. We would consider it non-obligatory only if no other
company had the capacity to organize such an event.”
Doping Space was set up as recently as in July this year and is not known to
have organized any major entertainment events. One of its two-founders, Makar
Petrosian, is a son of a wealthy businessman who used to have close ties to
Armenia’s former governments. Incidentally, prosecutors accused Petrosian, his
father Alik and other family members of illicit enrichment and moved to
confiscate some of their assets late last month.
In addition to its share of the government funding, the Snoop Dogg concert
organizer hopes to raise an equivalent of $1.5 million from ticket sales. The
contract requires it to pay only $63,000 of the ticket revenue to the government.
Doping Space’s 7-page cost breakdown publicized by the government indicates that
about $3 million will be paid to Snoop Dogg and his production team.
The other half of the government money is to be spent on promotional, logistical
and other services to be provided by the company. Speaking on the condition of
anonymity, some Armenian entertainment industry executives suggested that their
costs are inflated.
“Most, if not all, of those services could have been provided at more affordable
prices,” one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Iran Sees No War Between Armenia, Azerbaijan
Iran -- Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani.
Iran’s defense minister ruled out a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan on
Wednesday while reaffirming his country’s strong opposition to any change in
regional countries’ borders.
“We believe that no war will break out in the region,” Brigadier General
Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying after a
cabinet meeting in Tehran.
“We do not accept any change in the borders,” Ashtiani said, adding that the
Iranian army’s General Staff also made this clear when it discussed increased
tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone during a recent meeting.
The Armenian government said last week that Azerbaijan has been massing troops
along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in
possible preparation for another large-scale military assault. Baku denied any
military buildup there, saying that its troops are simply engaging in routine
training.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian raised his concerns about the alleged buildup
with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other foreign leaders in a series of
phone calls made over the weekend. Raisi was reported to reiterate that the
Islamic Republic continues to support the territorial integrity of Armenia.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said on Monday that Baku
has assured Tehran that it has no plans to attack Armenia. Azerbaijani officials
have alleged this month growing Armenian “military provocations” in the conflict
zone.
IRAN - The Iranian army holds a military exercise in the northwest of Iran,
close to the border with Azerbaijan, October 1, 2021.
Armenian officials and pundits believe that a key goal of an Azerbaijan attack
would be to open an exterritorial land corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its
Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran.
President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani leaders regularly demand such a
corridor, citing the terms of a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020
war in Karabakh. Yerevan counters that the agreement calls for only conventional
transport links for Nakhichevan.
Iran has repeatedly warned against attempts to strip it of the common border and
transport links with Armenia. The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei repeated these warnings when he met with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran last year.
Erdogan complained about Iran’s stance on the issue after visiting Baku in June.
He claimed that unlike Tehran, Yerevan does not object to the idea of the
“Zangezur corridor.”
Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu reportedly
said on Wednesday that “in the coming months” Ankara will join in efforts to
open the corridor. He did not elaborate.
“I believe that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia will implement this project in a
short period of time,” Uraloglu said, according to the Azerbaijani APA news
agency.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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