RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/14/2022

                                        Thursday, 


Karabakh Leaders Warn Pashinian

        • Susan Badalian
        • Artak Khulian

Nagorno-Karabakh - The main government buildings in Stepanakert, September 7, 
2019.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership on Thursday criticized Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and warned him against helping Azerbaijan regain control over the 
Armenian-populated territory.

“Any attempt to incorporate Artsakh into Azerbaijan would lead to bloodshed and 
the destruction of Artsakh,” said Davit Babayan, the Karabakh foreign minister. 
“And after the destruction of Artsakh there would be no Republic of Armenia.”

Pashinian said on Thursday that the international community is pressing Armenia 
to “lower a bit the bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status” and 
recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to 
make such concessions to Baku, fuelling more opposition allegations that he has 
agreed to Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.

Babayan said Pashinian’s remarks caused a “wave of discontent” in Karabakh. He 
said he believes that they are also unacceptable to most residents of Armenia as 
well as the worldwide Armenian Diaspora.

“We have no bars anymore, we have only red lines drawn by blood,” added the 
Karabakh official. “Our red line is that we will not be part of Azerbaijan. This 
is out of the question.”

Davit Babayan, the Karabakh foreign minister, is interviewed by RFE/RL in 
Stepanakert, March 31, 2022.

Pashinian, he went on, is wrong to claim that “the whole international community 
is against us.” “Even if the whole international community is against us … we 
will still fight till the end,” said Babayan.

The Karabakh parliament debated the implications of Pashinian’s statement at an 
emergency session held later on Thursday. In a resolution adopted by it 
unanimously, it demanded that the Armenian authorities “abandon their current 
disastrous position.”

“No government has a right to lower the negotiating bar for a status acceptable 
to Artsakh and the internationally recognized right to self-determination under 
the pretext of peace,” reads the resolution.

Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, discussed the matter with with local 
politicians and civil society members during separate meetings held in 
Stepanakert on Wednesday. He stressed that the Karabakh Armenians will not give 
up their right to self-determination.

Meanwhile, Pashinian defended and reaffirmed his stance when he again addressed 
the Armenian parliament on Thursday.

“What I’ve been saying is all about not surrendering Karabakh … If we follow a 
difference path we will surrender Karabakh,” the Armenian prime minister told 
lawmakers.

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses the Armenian parliament, Aprl 
13, 2022.

“I have the impression that there are people who dream about seeing the 
population leave Karabakh as soon as possible,” he said. “No, what we are saying 
is that the people of Karabakh must not leave Karabakh, the people of Karabakh 
must live in Karabakh, the people of Karabakh must have rights, freedoms and a 
status.”

Pashinian again declined to specify what that status should be.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly ruled out granting Karabakh 
any status of autonomy, let alone recognizing its de facto secession from 
Azerbaijan. Aliyev maintains that Baku put an end to the Karabakh conflict with 
its victory in the 2020 war.

Pashinian and Aliyev met in Brussels on April 6 for talks on an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani “peace treaty” hosted by Charles Michel, the European 
Union’s top official. Aliyev said after the talks that “Armenia is renouncing 
territorial claims” to his country.



Turkish FM Expects ‘More Courageous’ Steps From Yerevan

        • Tatevik Sargsian

TURKEY - Turkey's Foreign Minister Mavlut Cavusoglu (R) shakes hands with 
Armenia's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum 
(ADF) in Antalya, March 12, 2022.


Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu complained on Thursday that Armenia 
remains reluctant to hold the next rounds of Turkish-Armenian negotiations on 
normalizing bilateral relations in Yerevan or Ankara.

He said the Armenian side should become “more courageous” and stop insisting on 
third countries being the venues of those talks.

“On one hand, you say that relations must be normalized and the 
[Turkish-Armenian] border must be opened,” Cavusoglu told the Turkish NTV 
channel. “On the other hand, you do not dare to meet in Turkey and Yerevan.”

“If you don’t agree to even meet in each other’s countries how are you going to 
take steps on other issues?” he said, appealing to Yerevan.

Special envoys of the two neighboring states met in Moscow in January and in 
Vienna in February for talks described by both sides as productive. In a related 
development, Cavusoglu and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met last 
month on the sidelines of an international security forum held in the Turkish 
city of Antalya.

Cavusoglu said that the envoys’ next meeting will again be held in Vienna. But 
he gave no date for it.

Ankara has for decades linked the establishment of diplomatic relations with 
Yerevan and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border to a resolution of the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Cavusoglu has repeatedly 
made clear that his government will coordinate the Turkish-Armenian 
normalization talks with Baku.

The chief Turkish diplomat on Thursday stressed the importance of last week’s 
meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev that took place in Brussels. He said he has discussed the 
summit hosted by the European Union with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun 
Bayramov.

Pashinian said on Wednesday that the Turkish-Armenian dialogue enjoys strong 
international support and that his government intends to continue it.



Moscow Rejects Armenian Criticism Of Russian Peacekeepers


Russia - Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova at a news 
briefing in Moscow, January 20, 2022.


Responding to criticism by Armenia, Russia said on Thursday that its 
peacekeeping forces did not breach any agreements when they refused to allow 
Armenian opposition parliamentarians to visit Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this week.

The deputies representing Armenia’s two main opposition groups headed to 
Karabakh on Tuesday as part of their campaign against far-reaching Armenian 
concessions to Azerbaijan. Russian peacekeepers manning a checkpoint in the 
Lachin corridor connecting Armenia and Karabakh did not allow them to proceed to 
Stepanakert.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the peacekeepers’ actions, 
saying that they run counter to the terms of the Russian-brokered ceasefire that 
stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in November 2020. Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian echoed the criticism on Wednesday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the Russian 
soldiers acted “in strict conformity” with the truce accord. Claims to the 
contrary “do not correspond to reality,” she said.

“We expect that given the incidents that have taken place both in the zone of 
responsibility of the [Russian Peacekeeping Contingent] and at certain sections 
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, both sides will refrain from steps that 
could further aggravate the situation in the region,” Zakharova added in written 
comments. She did not clarify the reason for the travel ban.

Armenian opposition leaders claim that they were barred from entering Karabakh 
at the behest of Armenia’s government. They argue that lawmakers representing 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s party condemned the trip when it was announced 
by their opposition colleagues beforehand.

The government has denied any responsibility for the unprecedented ban.

Pashinian and the Foreign Ministry in Yerevan have also criticized the 
peacekeepers for not preventing Azerbaijani troops from seizing a village in 
Karabakh and nearby hills late last month. They have repeatedly called on Moscow 
to investigate the peacekeepers’ “inactivity.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to dismiss the criticism after 
holding talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Moscow on April 8.

“Calls for bringing this contingent to account and conducting an internal 
inquiry, which are sometimes voiced, do not reflect the real attitude of the 
Armenian people and leadership towards the huge role that the Russian 
peacekeeping contingent plays in maintaining stability in this region,” said 
Lavrov.


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