Wednesday,
Armenia Signals Readiness ‘To Reengage’ In Peace Process After Azerbaijan’s
‘Direct Talks’ Offer
The Armenian Foreign Ministry building in Yerevan (file photo)
Armenia has reaffirmed its readiness to “re-engage in negotiations” with
Azerbaijan to establish peace between the two countries, its Foreign Ministry
said on Wednesday in response to Baku’s offer of “direct talks” with Yerevan.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry called on November 21 for direct negotiations with
Armenia in a “mutually acceptable” venue, including at the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border.
Baku’s call came after what appears to be Baku’s rejection of Western mediation
efforts in the process of settling relations with Armenia.
It also followed the announcement by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry that Yerevan had
submitted another proposal on a peace agreement to Azerbaijan following Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s call on November 18 for “intensifying diplomatic
efforts to achieve the signing of a peace treaty.”
In its statement today the Armenian Foreign Ministry emphasized that official
Yerevan is ready to re-engage in negotiations, having as a benchmark “mutual
recognition and respect for each other’s territorial integrity without
ambiguities, implementation of the further border delimitation based on the
[1991] Alma-Ata Declaration and the latest legitimate Soviet maps, the
unblocking of the region’s infrastructures based on the principles of full
respect for the sovereignty, jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality of the
states.”
It said that “despite all the complications and challenges” official Yerevan
sees “a real possibility of establishing peace between the two countries, which
can be realized if there is political will on both sides, and the Armenian side
has that will.”
The Armenian ministry stressed that “one of the expressions of this will is also
the fact that Armenia proposed to Azerbaijan to hold a meeting of border
delimitation commissions on the state frontier between the two countries.”
Earlier, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of delaying its reply to Baku’s proposal on
a peace agreement submitted to Yerevan in September for more than two months.
Stressing that Yerevan submitted its sixth proposal related to the draft peace
agreement to Baku on November 21, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said: “While,
after receiving the latest Azerbaijani proposals, Armenia was considering them
and was ready to continue negotiations on the draft agreement, on September 19
Azerbaijan carried out a large-scale military attack against the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which led to the forced displacement of the entire Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The Azerbaijani leadership appeared to be avoiding meetings with the Armenian
side held with Western mediation after Baku established full control over
Nagorno-Karabakh in the one-day lightening offensive in September.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s October 5 summit in Granada,
Spain, for talks mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel.
Pashinian had hoped that they would sign there a document laying out the main
parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. However, Aliyev withdrew
from the talks at the last minute.
Baku cited France’s allegedly “biased position” against Azerbaijan as the reason
for skipping those talks in Spain.
The Azerbaijani leader also appears to have canceled another meeting which the
EU’s Michel planned to host in Brussels in late October.
Most recently Azerbaijan refused to attend a meeting with Armenia at the level
of foreign ministers in Washington after allegedly “one-sided and biased”
remarks by a senior U.S. official made during a congressional hearing on
Nagorno-Karabakh. That meeting had reportedly been scheduled to take place on
November 20.
The Armenian ministry also stressed today that the Azerbaijani side did not
participate in the meetings at the level of the countries’ leaders first in
Granada and then in Brussels.
It said that “those five-way and three-way meetings had previously been agreed
upon, and Yerevan considered it to be more efficient to present [its latest
proposals] to Azerbaijan during those meetings.”
“Nevertheless, in order to prevent attempts to deadlock the negotiation process
and achieve lasting peace in our region, the Republic of Armenia constructively
conveyed its observations on the [draft] agreement,” the statement said.
Armenia ‘Inclined’ To Continue Talks With Azerbaijan Through EU Mediation
• Astghik Bedevian
European Council President Charles Michel hosts talks between Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels, May
14, 2023.
Yerevan is inclined to continue talks between the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan in the Brussels format, through the mediation of President of the
European Council Charles Michel, an ally of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian in parliament said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry called on November 21 for direct negotiations with
Armenia in a “mutually acceptable” venue, including at the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border.
Baku’s call came after what appears to be Baku’s rejection of Western mediation
efforts in the process of normalizing relations with Armenia.
Responding to the statement from Baku, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry today
reaffirmed Yerevan’s readiness to “re-engage in negotiations” with Baku to
establish peace between the two South Caucasus nations.
In particular, it mentioned a possible meeting at the state frontier of Armenian
and Azerbaijani members of commissions involved in border delimitation and
demarcation processes, something that it said Yerevan had already proposed
earlier. The Armenian ministry stopped short, however, of mentioning the
possibility of direct Armenian-Azerbaijani talks at the highest level.
Sargis Khandanian, who represents the pro-government Civil Contract faction and
heads the Armenian National Assembly’s Foreign Relations Commission, told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service today that the main principles for
Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization, including mutual recognition of territorial
integrity and borders based on a 1991 declaration signed by a dozen former
Soviet republics, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, after the collapse of the
USSR, and the sovereign jurisdictions of the states over transportation links
passing through their territories, were agreed upon by the parties in July when
the latest round of EU-mediated talks was held between Pashinian and Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev.
“Based on this logic, it is necessary to ensure the continuity of those
negotiations and continue meetings at the level of the countries’ leaders
through the mediation of the European Union, in particular, European Council
President Charles Michel,” Khandanian said.
“But we saw that Azerbaijan rejected both meetings that were scheduled in
Granada and Brussels. Nevertheless, Armenia continues to adhere to this logic
and wants to achieve settlement within this framework,” the pro-government
Armenian lawmaker said.
A member of the Armenian opposition, meanwhile, pointed to dangers in
Azerbaijan’s offer. Armen Rustamian from the Hayastan faction said that by
boycotting Western platforms Aliyev wants to achieve face-to-face meetings or
meetings through Russia’s mediation “in order to get what he wants” under the
2020 Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement for Nagorno-Karabakh, namely, a land
corridor to Azerbaijan’s western exclave of Nakhichevan via Armenia.
“He has already got what he needed from the West and he doesn’t have any
problems there. That’s why he says: if you want to continue calling me to the
West with your logic, I won’t come. Your alternative is either to return to the
field of the [Moscow-brokered] trilateral agreements or we negotiate face to
face,” Rustamian said.
Germany Announces Aid To Armenia
Parliamentary State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development Niels Annen (L) and Armenia’s Minister of Economy
Vahan Kerobian at a joint press conference in Yerevan. .
The government in Berlin will provide 84.6 million euros (about $92.2 million)
in aid to Armenia in the form of grants and loans, a German official announced
on Wednesday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan
Kerobian in Yerevan, Parliamentary State Secretary at Germany’s Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development Niels Annen said that “it is a clear
message to the whole world that Germany and Armenia are opening a new way of
cooperation.”
“Armenia has once again proven that it is committed to democracy, a democratic
society,” the German official stressed.
The announcement came after two-day intergovernmental negotiations focused on
developing Armenian-German cooperation that were held in Yerevan on November
21-22.
Earlier this week, the United States announced more than $4.1 million in
additional humanitarian assistance for Armenians affected by the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through which the
assistance will be provided, said that this funding will increase “life-saving
food assistance and provide humanitarian protection and emergency shelter” for
almost 74,000 out of more than 100,000 Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh
after Azerbaijan’s military operation in September.
It said that the additional funding brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance
for the Nagorno-Karabakh response to nearly $28 million since 2020.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced on Wednesday
that it will deliver 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Armenia for “citizens who
were forced to leave the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
It said that the aid, which includes food, blankets and a mobile power station,
is organized at the direction of the president of Russia and on behalf of the
government of the Russian Federation.
Moscow Sees ‘Camouflaged’ Efforts By Yerevan To Change Foreign-Policy Vector
Maria Zakharova, an official representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia
(file photo)
Russia sees a “radical change” in Armenia’s foreign-policy orientation despite
what its Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson has described as Yerevan’s attempts to
“camouflage” it with its rhetoric.
At a press briefing in Moscow on Wednesday Maria Zakharova jibed at statements
made by Armenian officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, about
“diversifying of Armenia’s foreign policy without changing the vector.”
“One would also like to hear how they see it in practice,” Zakharova said, as
quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency.
She said the kind of rhetoric is “a blatant attempt to hide true intentions.”
“It is clear that the matter concerns a radical change in the republic’s
orientation in foreign affairs,” she said, claiming that Yerevan is changing its
foreign-policy vector “clearly at the suggestion or prompting of the West.”
“On the other hand, they are trying to camouflage it in every possible way,
thinking that this way they can maintain the same level of assistance and
special relationship. This is all so visible and clear that it is impossible to
hide it all behind such words or formulations,” Zakharova said.
In his recent public remarks Pashinian has criticized Russia, a formal military
and political ally of Yerevan, for failing to come to Armenia’s aid in its
disputes with Azerbaijan, including a series of recent deadly border clashes as
a result of which Armenia says some of its territories were occupied.
Tensions between Armenia and Russia rose further after Azerbaijan’s September
19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that led to the exodus of the
region’s virtually entire ethnic Armenian population. Armenia, in particular,
blamed Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh under the 2020
ceasefire agreement between Moscow, Baku and Yerevan for failing to protect the
local Armenians.
Pashinian defended his government’s policy that he said was aimed at
diversifying relations in the security sphere as he addressed the parliament in
Yerevan on November 15.
The day before that the Armenian leader announced his decision not to attend an
upcoming summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a
Russia-led defense bloc of six former Soviet countries that also includes
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Earlier this year Armenia also declined to participate in CSTO military drills,
while hosting joint exercises with the United States military in Yerevan. This
and several other moves by Yerevan drew angry reactions from Russia that has
accused the Pashinian administration of systematically “destroying” relations
with Moscow.
During today’s press briefing Russia’s Zakharova lamented Yerevan’s decision not
to attend the CSTO’s November 23 summit and meetings at the level of ministers
prior to it.
“We do not believe that it meets the long-term interests of the Armenian people
and will contribute to the strengthening of security and stability of this
friendly country,” she said.
At the same time, Zakharova said that Armenia is not going to block the work of
the CSTO’s statutory bodies or prevent the approval of documents that have
already been agreed.
“This essentially leaves the door open for Yerevan and allows it to join the
work in the future, and we hope that [our] Armenian ally will use this
opportunity in the near future,” she concluded.
Another Armenian Official To Skip CSTO Event
Նոյեմբեր 22, 2023
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian attending the European Conference of
Speakers of Parliaments of the Council of Europe in Dublin, the Republic of
Ireland, September 29, 2023.
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian said on Wednesday that he will not
attend an upcoming event of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
as Armenia’s prime minister and other officials have skipped the Russia-led
defense bloc’s meetings being held in Minsk, Belarus, this week.
Simonian said that he had informed his CSTO colleagues that he would not attend
the event that he said is scheduled for December.
“There is no answer from them until now. And I think there won’t be. I am sure
that the reasons for my not participating are clear to them,” said Alen
Simonian, denying, at the same time, that this amounts to “freezing of
relations.”
“Armenia does not have a decision to withdraw from the CSTO, but I believe that
my participation in the given event is not appropriate in the current situation.
And the situation is that the CSTO does not fulfill its obligations and did not
fulfill its obligations in the past either,” the Armenian parliament speaker
said.
Earlier this month Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced that he
will not attend the CSTO summit due to be held in Minsk on November 23.
Armenia’s foreign minister and defense minister are not attending the meetings
of their colleagues gathering in the Belarusian capital on Wednesday either.
CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov said earlier this week that
official Yerevan had asked to remove the issue of providing military assistance
to Armenia from the summit agenda.
Armenia had appealed to the CSTO for military assistance in September 2022
following two-day deadly border clashes with Azerbaijan that Yerevan said
stemmed from Baku’s aggression against sovereign Armenian territory.
The Russia-led bloc that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan did not publicly call Azerbaijan the aggressor and refused to back
Armenia militarily, while agreeing to consider sending an observation mission to
the South Caucasus country.
At the CSTO summit held in Yerevan in November 2022 Armenia declined such a
mission, saying that before it could be carried out it needed to give a clear
political assessment of what Yerevan said was Azerbaijan’s aggression and
occupation of sovereign Armenian territory.
Explaining his decision to skip the Minsk summit, the Armenian prime minister
told the parliament in Yerevan earlier this month that the “fundamental problem”
with the CSTO was that this organization had refused “to de-jure fixate its area
of responsibility in Armenia.”
“In these conditions this could mean that by silently participating [in the
summit] we could join the logic that would question Armenia’s territorial
integrity and sovereignty. We can’t allow ourselves to do such a thing, and by
making such decisions [not to attend CSTO gatherings] we give the CSTO and
ourselves time to think over further actions,” Pashinian said.
During the November 15 question-and-answer session in parliament the Armenian
leader refused to be drawn into the discussion of whether Armenia planned to
formally quit the CSTO, nor would he speak about any security alternatives to
membership in this organization.
“We are not planning to announce a change in our policy in strategic terms as
long as we haven’t made a decision to quit the CSTO,” Pashinian said.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday
again lamented the decision by the Armenian leader not to attend the Minsk
summit of the CSTO. But he added, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, that
the Kremlin expects that “Armenia will continue its work within the framework of
the organization.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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