Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Yerevan Keeps Pushing For Release Of Armenian Prisoners
June 01, 2021
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Aram Hakobian, deputy director of the National Security Service,
speaks to journalists, Yerevan, June 1, 2021.
The Armenian authorities are “working around the clock” to secure the release of
Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, a senior security official said on
Tuesday.
Aram Hakobian, a deputy director of the National Security Service (NSS),
declined to give any details of those efforts or say if they have made any
progress.
The prisoners include six Armenian soldiers who were captured by Azerbaijani
forces on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on May 27. The incident heightened
tensions at several portions of the frontier where troops from the two countries
have been locked in a standoff for the last three weeks.
The Armenian Defense Ministry initially threatened to take military action to
free its servicemen. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated, however, that
Yerevan will continue to exercise caution in the border dispute that has
prompted serious concern from the international community.
“There must be negotiations, only negotiations, there will be no use of force,”
Hakobian told reporters. “We have to try to bring back our remaining prisoners
as a result of negotiations.”
Hakobian said that although Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the dispute
were stopped on May 19 relevant officials from the two sides continue to
communicate with each other. He did not elaborate.
The Armenian and Russian defense ministers met in Moscow on May 28 to discuss
the dispute. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, they agreed on
“necessary steps” to resolve it.
The ministry said on Monday that Defense Ministers Sergei Shoigu and Vagharshak
Harutiunian discussed ways of implementing that agreement when they spoke by
phone three days later. It did not give any details.
Pashinian In No Rush To Name New Foreign Minister
June 01, 2021
• Anush Mkrtchian
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - The Armenian Foreign Ministry building, Yerevan.
The post of Armenia’s foreign minister will likely remain vacant at least until
the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 20, a government spokesperson
said on Tuesday.
Its last holder, Ara Ayvazian, stepped down on May 27 following an emergency
meeting of the country’s Security Council which discussed mounting tensions on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Ayvazian was formally relieved of his duties on Monday hours after addressing
the Armenian Foreign Ministry staff at a farewell meeting. The outgoing foreign
minister hinted that he decided to quit because of disagreeing with government
decisions which he believes could put the country’s sovereignty and national
security at risk. He did not go into details.
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian challenged Ayvazian to publicly
clarify “who, where and how was going to take some steps or to make decisions
contradicting our country’s national and state interests.”
ARMENIA -- Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian speaks at a meeting with his
Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Yerevan, May 6, 2021
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian similarly said on Tuesday that Ayvazian
should elaborate on his concerns.
Grigorian insisted that there are no threats to Armenia’s territorial integrity
emanating from the Pashinian government’s ongoing or planned talks with
Azerbaijan. He specifically denied any secret deals on the demarcation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Grigorian also dismissed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s continuing claims
about the impending creation of a transport “corridor” that will connect
Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik province. He said
Yerevan and Baku and Yerevan have only discussed the opening of transport links
between the two states envisaged by a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped
last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We are talking about our sovereign infrastructures in case of the unblocking
[transport routes,]” he told reporters.
Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian.
A government spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Pashinian is
unlikely to appoint a new foreign minister before the upcoming elections. The
ministerial duties will be performed by one of Armenia’s deputy foreign
ministers in the meantime, the official said without naming him.
Ayvazian had four deputies. One of them, Gagik Ghalachian, also tendered his
resignation on May 27.
Like other cabinet members, Ayvazian technically held the ministerial post in an
acting capacity after the government stepped down in April to pave the way for
the snap polls. Some lawyers believe that Armenian law does not allow the
replacement of acting ministers.
“Whether or not this is legally permissible, it’s hard to imagine anyone
agreeing to become acting minister now, especially with only 19 days to go
before the elections,” said Beniamin Poghosian, a political analyst.
Poghosian suggested that career diplomats like Ayvazian must be especially
reluctant to replace him even temporarily given his “serious differences” with
Pashinian.
France’s Macron Insists On Azeri Troop Withdrawal
June 01, 2021
FRANCE -- French President Emmanuel Macron, left, welcomes Armenian acting Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian before a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris,
June 1, 2021
French President Emmanuel Macron again demanded that Azerbaijan withdraw its
troops from Armenia’s border areas when he met with Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian in Paris on Tuesday.
Macron also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to demarcate their border through
negotiations and without “any fait accompli on the ground.”
“The Azerbaijani troops must leave Armenia’s sovereign territory,” he said after
greeting Pashinian at the presidential Elysee Palace. “I am calling on the
parties to return to the positions held by them on May 11. France is ready to
facilitate discussions.”
“We stand in solidarity with Armenia and we will continue to do so,” he added in
a statement to the press made before a lunch meeting with Pashinian.
Macron was quick to voice strong support for Yerevan after Azerbaijani forces
reportedly crossed several sections of the border and advanced a few kilometers
into Armenia’s Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces on May 12. “They must withdraw
immediately,” he tweeted after a May 13 phone call with Pashinian.
The U.S. State Department similarly urged Azerbaijan to “pull back all forces
immediately and cease further provocation” on May 14.
Baku maintains that its troops took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of
the frontier and did not cross into Armenia.
Tensions at the contested border sections rose further after six Armenian
soldiers were captured by Azerbaijani forces on May 27. Pashinian proposed hours
later that both sides withdraw their troops from those areas and let Russia
and/or the United States and France, the two other countries co-chairing the
OSCE Minsk Group, deploy observers there.
In a joint statement issued the following day, the French, Russian and U.S.
diplomats co-heading the Minsk Group backed the proposed troop disengagement.
But they did not specify whether their countries are ready to send observers.
Macron said on Tuesday that France will do its best to achieve a “de-escalation
and re-establishment of dialogue between the parties.” He indicated that the
border crisis and the broader situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone
will be high on the agenda of his meeting with Pashinian.
Pashinian thanked the French leader for having “spoken the language of truth
since the outset of the crisis.” “This is extremely important for overcoming
crisis situations in our region,” he told reporters before the talks.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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