Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Azerbaijan Blocks Armenian Aid Convoy To Karabakh
July 26, 2023
Armenia - Trucks carrying food aid to Nagorno-Karabakh approach the Lachin
corridor, July 26, 2023.
Azerbaijan refused on Wednesday to allow a convoy of trucks to deliver emergency
food aid provided by Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor
that has been blocked by Baku for more than seven months.
The Armenian government announced on Tuesday that it will try to send 360 tons
of flour, cooking oil, sugar and other basic foodstuffs to Karabakh to alleviate
severe food shortages there caused by the blockade. Government officials
expressed hope that Russian peacekeepers will escort the relief supplies to the
Armenian-populated region.
Nineteen Armenian trucks carrying them reached the entrance to the Lachin
corridor late in the afternoon but remained stranded there in the following
hours, with Baku refusing to let them though an Azerbaijani checkpoint
controversially set up there in April.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned the aid convoy as a “provocation” and
“encroachment” on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. A senior aide to
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Yerevan should renounce “territorial
claims” to his country and stop impeding the restoration of Azerbaijani control
over Karabakh.
The official, Hikmet Hajyev, said Karabakh should be supplied with basic
necessities from Azerbaijan proper and the town of Aghdam in particular. “There
is no other way!” tweeted Hajiyev.
Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leadership has rejected the proposed Azerbaijani
supply line. It maintains that Baku should comply with a Russian-brokered
ceasefire that mandates unfettered commercial traffic through the only road
connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the attempted
delivery of the humanitarian aid.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the situation that Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh
are currently facing,” Pashinian wrote in a late-night tweet. “The 360 tons of
vitally important foodstuff sent to Nagorno-Karabakh is exclusively for
humanitarian purposes.”
The shortages of food, medicine, fuel and other essential items in Karabakh have
worsened significantly since Baku completely blocked on June 15 relief supplies
that were carried out by the Russian peacekeepers and the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said last week that Karabakh is “on
the verge of starvation” and called for stronger international pressure on Baku.
Armenia’s Top Investigator Not Charged Over Torture Claims
July 26, 2023
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Argisthi Kyaramian, head of Armenia's Investigative Committee, meets
with the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, June 22, 2023.
The head of Armenia’s Investigative Committee, Argishti Kyaramian, has not been
indicted in a criminal inquiry into allegations that he tortured and threatened
to kill a man arrested in June.
Tigran Arakelian, a former political activist, was charged with blackmailing
state officials to extort money from them and moved to house arrest a few days
later. In a video message posted on social media on June 22, Arakelian claimed
that Kyaramian and the chief of the Investigative Committee’s Yerevan division,
Azat Gevorgian, beat him up in the latter’s office.
“They poured water on me and started burning various parts of my body with an
electric shock gun,” he claimed.
Kyaramian dismissed through a spokesman the “baseless” allegations before
prosecutors ordered another law-enforcement agency, the National Security
Service (NSS), to investigate them.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday
that nobody has been charged in that probe yet. It did not comment further.
The NSS has interrogated Arakelian as a “victim.” But it has declined to clarify
whether Kyaramian or Gevorgian were also questioned.
Kyaramian, 32, is widely regarded as one of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
trusted lieutenants, having held five high-level positions in the Armenian
security apparatus and government since 2018.
Armenia - Tigran Arakelian.
In further Facebook broadcasts, Arakelian alleged that Kyaramian tried to force
him to testify that NSS Director Armen Abazian and Prosecutor-General Anna
Vardapetian gave him discrediting information about senior government officials
which he then passed on to an Armenian video blogger based in the United States.
The blogger, Vartan Ghukasian, is a former police officer nicknamed Dog. He has
attracted a large audience in recent years with his hard-hitting and opinionated
comments on events taking place in Armenia. Ghukasian is notorious for routinely
using profanities to attack both Armenia’s current leaders and their political
foes in videos posted on YouTube.
The Investigative Committee charged Ghukasian with extortion, calls for violence
and contempt of court before a Yerevan court issued in May an international
arrest warrant for him. The ex-policeman denies the accusations.
A group of Ghukasian’s friends and like-minded individuals in Armenia are facing
the same charges. At least one of them is held in detention.
Arakelian used to be a well-known member of former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) party. He was already arrested
in 2015 and subsequently convicted of blackmailing two Armenian parliamentarians.
Yerevan Draws Fresh Criticism From Karabakh
July 26, 2023
• Astghik Bedevian
• Susan Badalian
Armenia - A Karabakh flag is displayed during a protest outside the French
Embassy in Yerevn, July 18, 2023.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership demanded on Wednesday explanations from the
Armenian government over Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s claim that it
has accepted Azerbaijan’s terms of a dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert.
Speaking after a trilateral meeting with his Armenian and Azerbaijani
counterparts in Moscow held on Tuesday, Lavrov said they discussed “the problem
of guaranteeing the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in
the context of ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.” He said
Yerevan “understands the need to convince the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh” to
reach agreements with Baku stemming from international conventions on ethnic
minorities.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Armenian Foreign Ministry declined to comment on
Lavrov’s statement which prompted serious concern from the Karabakh premier,
Gurgen Nersisian.
“It is becoming clear from yesterday's statement by the Russian foreign minister
that Armenia has already decided the range of issues to be discussed during the
dialogue or has agreed with the subject of discussion proposed by Azerbaijan,”
Nersisian wrote on Facebook. “Now either Armenia must deny that or we will have
to conclude that the ‘bar’ on the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue has also been
lowered to an unspeakable extent.”
Nagorno-Karabakh - Gurgen Nersisian.
Nersisian said that the agenda of such a dialogue must include Karabakh’s right
to self-determination still championed by the authorities in Stepanakert. Arayik
Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, complained late last month that Baku is
only willing to discuss the Armenian-populated region’s “integration” into
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned in late May that the Karabakh
Armenians must accept Azerbaijani rule or risk fresh military action. In
mid-June, Baku completely blocked relief supplies to Karabakh carried out by
Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Aliyev’s threats and the tightening of the blockade followed Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over
Karabakh.
Nersisian demanded that Yerevan walk back on that pledge when he addressed late
on Tuesday thousands of people who again rallied in Stepanakert in protest
against the Azerbaijani blockade. “Artsakh and the people of Artsakh cannot be
part of Azerbaijan,” he said, responding to Pashinian’s comments made at a news
conference earlier in the day.
The tensions between Yerevan and Stepanakert have been stoked by a controversy
caused by Pashinian’s wife, Anna Hakobian.
Last week, Hakobian posted on her Facebook page photographs of vegetables grown
in the garden of the Pashinian family’s state-owned residence and a soup cooked
by her. Critics in Armenia and especially Karabakh said the post was
inappropriate and ill-timed given the worsening food shortages in Karabakh.
Singapore - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian takes a selfie with his wife
Anna Hakobian during a visit to Singapore, July 7, 2019.
Pashinian bristled at the criticism during his news conference, seemingly
blaming Stepanakert for it. He spent about 15 minutes detailing the Armenian
government’s economic aid to Karabakh and accusing the Karabakh authorities of
failing to develop local agriculture to better cope with the blockade
“Some should have planted eggplants instead of [relying on] 150 billion drams
[in Armenian government aid,]” he said.
Nersisian hit back at Pashinian in his speech at the Stepanakert rally. He
argued that Karabakh farmers have cultivated this year more land than in 2022
and 2021 but now have trouble harvesting their crops because of systematic
gunfire from Azerbaijani army positions. Also, he said, a lack of fuel prevents
them from delivering agricultural produce to markets.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said last week that “Azerbaijan
continues to obstruct agricultural activities on approximately 10,000 hectares
of land adjacent to the line of contact, which constitutes a significant portion
of [Karabakh’s] total cultivated land.”
EU Hopes For Renewed Red Cross Aid To Karabakh
July 26, 2023
Armenia - A convoy of Red Cross vehicles is seen outside Stepanakert, January 4,
2023.
A senior European Union diplomat effectively urged Azerbaijan on Wednesday to
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to resume its
humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special envoy for the South Caucasus, posted on his
Twitter page an ICRC statement expressing serious concern over severe shortages
of food and life-saving medicine in Karabakh resulting from the Azerbaijani
blockade of the Lachin corridor.
The statement issued on Tuesday warned that humanitarian situation there “will
further deteriorate” unless the Geneva-based organization is allowed to again
ship limited quantities of such items.
“The ICRC is doing a tremendous job in very challenging circumstances on the
ground,” tweeted Klaar. “It is important that they are able to operate freely.
The EU is taking their warnings seriously.”
The EU has repeatedly urged Azerbaijan to unblock the only road connecting
Karabakh to Armenia. The president of the EU’s decision-making Council, Charles
Michel, reiterated those calls when he hosted fresh talks between Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Brussels
on July 15.
At the same time, Michel appreciated Baku’s offer to deliver basic necessities
to Karabakh through an alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled route bypassing the
Lachin corridor.
“I see both options as important,” he said, prompting strong criticism from
Karabakh’s leadership that regards the offer as a cynical ploy designed to
facilitate the restoration of Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry pointed to the Karabakh Armenians’ rejection of
the alternative supply line when it reacted to the ICRC statement later on
Tuesday. The ministry also warned the Red Cross against “abusing” its mandate.
Russian FM Hosts Fresh Armenian-Azeri Talks
July 26, 2023
Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets his Armenian and
Azerbaijani counterparts in Moscow, July 25, 2023.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled lingering major obstacles to an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal late on Tuesday after hosting fresh talks
between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Moscow.
Lavrov described the trilateral talks as “useful” but reported no concrete
agreements reached by the three ministers.
He said he stressed the need to end a grave humanitarian crisis in
Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor
supposedly controlled by Russian peacekeepers. But he gave no indications that
Baku agreed to unblock Armenia’s vital supplies of food, medicine, energy and
other essential items to Karabakh.
In his opening remarks at the talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan
said the “illegal” blockade is “complicating the negotiation process.” Speaking
at a separate meeting with Lavrov held earlier in the day, Mirzoyan expressed
hope that “some solutions” to the crisis will be found during their discussion
with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
A peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan was also high on the agenda of the
trilateral meeting.
“The path is not easy,” Lavrov said, commenting on prospects for its signing.
“There are quite a few complex and important issues to be resolved.
“The most sensitive of them was and remains the problem of guaranteeing the
rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the context of
ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in full accordance with the
1991 Declaration signed by the leaders of the former Soviet republics in Almaty.
Its validity is confirmed today by both the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership.”
Russia - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks after hosting talks between his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Moscow, July 25, 2023.
The Armenian government, Lavrov went on, “understands the need to convince the
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet as soon as possible with Azerbaijani
representatives” and ascertain their “rights” in accordance with international
conventions designed to protect ethnic minorities.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has pledged to recognize Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh during talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
mediated by the European Union. In a clear jibe at Yerevan, the Russian Foreign
Ministry said earlier this month that Pashinian’s move “radically” changed
negotiation process.
Lavrov indicated that Armenia and Azerbaijan are much closer to working out
modalities of planned transport links between the two South Caucasus nations.
But he did not say when such an agreement could be finalized by a
Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task force dealing with the matter.
Mirzoyan and Bayramov held two rounds of intensive U.S.-mediated negotiations
outside Washington in May and June. Meanwhile, the EU’s top official, Charles
Michel, hosted a series of fresh meetings between Aliyev and Pashinian in
Brussels. Russia claims that the main aim of the Western powers if to drive it
out of the South Caucasus.
Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow “understands” the conflicting sides’
“interest” in not only Russian but also Western mediation efforts.
“But there should be no attempts to artificially impose certain agreements not
in the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples but for the sake of
nice headlines in the media and geopolitical and domestic political
considerations,” he said.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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