Thursday, September 2, 2021
Russia ‘Ready’ To Facilitate Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIAN -- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova gives a press
conference in Moscow, July 1, 2021
Russia expressed readiness on Thursday to help Armenia and Turkey normalize
their relations, saying that would boost peace and stability in the region.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Moscow took note
of a recent “exchange of positive signals” between Yerevan and Ankara.
Zakharova recalled in that context Russia’s stated support for the 2009
protocols on normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties.
“Now too we are ready to assist in a rapprochement between the two neighboring
states based on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests,” she
told reporters.
Ankara never implemented those protocols, continuing to link the establishment
of diplomatic relations with Yerevan to a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. As a result, Armenia’s former government annulled the Western-brokered
agreements in early 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke on August 27 of “some positive signals”
sent by the Turkish government of late and said his administration is ready to
reciprocate them.
Commenting on Pashinian’s remark the following day, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said regional states should establish “good-neighborly relations”
by recognizing each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “If Yerevan
is ready to move in that direction Ankara could start working on a gradual
normalization of relations with Armenia,” he said.
In that context, Erdogan was understood to echo Azerbaijan’s demands for a
formal Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Eduard Aghajanian, a senior lawmaker representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract,
responded by saying earlier this week that Armenia will not accept any Turkish
preconditions for improving bilateral ties.
“Unfortunately, Erdogan’s statement contained points resembling preconditions,
which do not help to launch that [normalization] process at all,” Aghajanian
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Turkey completely closed its border with Armenia in 1993 out of solidarity with
Azerbaijan. It provided Azerbaijan with decisive military support during last
year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Health Minister Sees Falling Vaccine Hesitancy In Armenia
• Narine Ghalechian
ARMENIA -- People prepare to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) at a mobile vaccination center in Yerevan, July 19, 2021
Although vaccine hesitancy remains widespread in Armenia, many more of its
citizens are now willing to get inoculated against the coronavirus, Health
Minister Anahit Avanesian said on Thursday.
Avanesian cited a recent opinion poll showing that the proportion of Armenians
ready take coronavirus vaccines has risen to over 40 percent from just 10
percent in March.
“This testifies to a change in public opinion,” she said during a weekly cabinet
meeting in Yerevan. “But of course we still have a lot to do in terms of
combating disinformation and other vicious phenomena.”
The Armenian government’s immunization campaign launched in April has made slow
progress so far, with less than 5 percent of the country’s population fully
vaccinated against the coronavirus as of August 29.
Avanesian told fellow cabinet members that the process accelerated significantly
this week. She said Armenian health workers administered a record 6,227 vaccine
shots on Wednesday, raising to almost 294,000 the total number of inoculations.
The increase may have to do with the health minister’s decision late last month
to require many public and private sector employees refusing vaccination to take
coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense.
Among those covered by the directive are civil servants, schoolteachers and
workers of private firms involved in the services sectors of the Armenian
economy.
Armenia - Health Minister Anahit Avanesian holds a briefing after a cabinet
meeting in Yerevan, September 2, 2021.
The government is keen to speed up the vaccination process amid a steady
increase in coronavirus cases which began two months ago and is now putting the
national healthcare system under growing strain.
The Armenian Ministry of Health recorded on Wednesday 636 cases and 21
coronavirus-related deaths, the highest single-day death toll from COVID-19
reported in months.
The government has pledged in recent weeks to toughen its lax enforcement of
anti-epidemic rules, notably mandatory mask wearing inside buses, shops and
offices.
Avanesian acknowledged that the rules are still ignored by most Armenians. “Yes,
we do have room for improving our enforcement,” she told journalists.
Armenian Government Shuns Karabakh Anniversary Events
• Gayane Saribekian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.
Armenian government officials declined to attend on Thursday official ceremonies
in Stepanakert to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the
unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Armenia was represented in the ceremonies instead by a multi-partisan delegation
of its parliament led by deputy speaker Ruben Rubinian.
A government spokesman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Pashinian did not
travel to Karabakh on the occasion because he is currently on vacation.
Armenia’s Minister of High-Tech Industry Vahagn Khachaturian said, however, that
the prime minister and members of his cabinet shunned the low-key celebrations
for political considerations.
“A political decision was made Don’t look for other reasons,” Khachatrian told
reporters. He did not elaborate.
Tigran Abrahamian, an opposition member of the parliamentary delegation visiting
Karabakh, deplored the absence of Armenian government officials, saying
Pashinian did not want to anger Azerbaijan.
“If we accept the rules of the game dictated by Azerbaijan we will accelerate
and complete the loss of Artsakh (Karabakh),” Abrahamian said, referring to
Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war over Karabakh.
Pashinian last visited Stepanakert during the six-week war stopped by a
Russian-brokered ceasefire in November.
The premier congratulated the Karabakh Armenians on the anniversary of the
proclamation of their republic, not recognized by any country, in a statement
issued on Thursday. He reiterated that the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved
and that Yerevan will continue to champion a settlement based on the Karabakh
Armenians’ right to self-determination.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated that Azerbaijan
essentially ended the conflict with its victory in the war. He has said that
Yerevan should therefore recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh through
a “peace treaty” proposed by Baku.
Other Armenian politicians, notably the Karabakh-born former Presidents Serzh
Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian, also issued statements on the occasion.
Sarkisian again blamed Armenia’s current leadership for the outcome of the war.
“We would have won had they not discredited and purged our armed forces and
replaced experienced commanders with conformists prior to the 44-day war and
ineptly managed the war,” he charged.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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