Author: Albert Nalbandian

Armenian FM holds phone call with Lithuanian counterpart

Albert Nalbandian

 13:30, 9 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS. On August 9, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone call with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis, the foreign ministry said.

According to a readout issued by the foreign ministry, Minister Mirzoyan briefed his colleague on the situation and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor.

The urgency of supplying food, medicine and other essential goods to Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the need to ensure the full and uninterrupted functioning of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international humanitarian organization with access to Nagorno-Karabakh was emphasized. Minister Mirzoyan also touched upon the case of abduction by the border guard service of Azerbaijan of Vagif Khachatryan, who was being transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for medical treatment on July 29, accompanied by the ICRC. He emphasized the absolute inadmissibility of such practices by Azerbaijan.

Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the importance of taking concrete steps by international actors, including the EU and EU member states, in order to lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor and to prevent Azerbaijan’s steps aimed at ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian community call for Malta’s support in Azerbaijan crisis

Albert Nalbandian
Malta – Aug 4 2023
Sean Montebello
August 4, 2023 17:24

The Armenian community in Malta organised a demonstration on Wednesday to raise awareness on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in an area of Azerbaijan known as Nagorno Karabakh, which has been blockaded by Azerbaijani military forces for half a year, preventing vital supplies from reaching ethnically Armenian civilians.

Members of the community organised in front of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, currently headed by Minister Ian Borg, urging the Maltese government to “use its diplomatic channels and international influence to address the urgent situation”.

Malta’s support for the cause would be especially influential as both a UN member state and a member of the UN Security Council, the local Armenian diaspora claimed in a press release issued on Friday.

The Maltese government has had close ties with the Azerbaijani government, being supplied liquefied natural gas from the country through the infamous SOCAR agreement with the Electrogas consortium.

Disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat similarly has close ties with the country, forming part of Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev’s Nizami Ganjavi International Centre (NGIC).

Muscat’s visit to the country last June included an NGIC video-watching session about Azerbaijani lands ‘liberated’ from occupation. Ostensibly, these lands would be those contested as part of the protracted Armenia-Azerbaijan war which has seen tens of thousands killed.

The local Armenian community also called upon the support of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, asking for her support in raising awareness internationally and “mobilizing action to resolve the situation”.

The Azerbaijani government has blockaded the ethnic-Armenian enclave community in Azerbaijan for almost half a year, through a checkpoint on a mountainous road leading to it known as the Lachin corridor. In the press release, the community described how approximately 400 tonnes of vital humanitarian aid have been blocked in the last few days.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that they have been unable to deliver vital humanitarian aid such as food and medicine to tens of thousands of Armenians in Karabakh, stating that “despite persistent efforts, we are unable to deliver aid” in a Twitter post.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been ongoing since 2020, consisting largely of border disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan with near-constant violations of ceasefire agreements. The conflict has its origins in the late 80s in the years leading up to and following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Pashinyan urges Azerbaijan to refrain from undermining chance of peace

Albert Nalbandian

 11:44, 3 August 2023

YEREVAN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has said that there is a chance of achieving long-term and sustainable peace with Azerbaijan and called on Baku to refrain from steps aimed at decreasing these chances.

“Despite all difficulties, we really do have a chance of achieving long-term, sustainable and lasting peace. And I call on Azerbaijan to refrain from steps aimed at decreasing this chance, for example the continuous torpedoing of Stepanakert-Baku dialogue within the framework of an international mechanism, the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor and the kidnapping of Vagif Khachatryan, who was being transported by the ICRC to Yerevan, from Lachin Corridor earlier this week.  The release of Vagif Khachatryan, other captives, prisoners of war and detainees would be an impressive signal of commitment to the peace agenda,” Pashinyan said.

Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan say peace possible despite differences

Albert Nalbandian
July 1 2023
By Reuters

The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia are both hopeful they can secure a lasting peace agreement despite their differences over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, they said in interviews broadcast on Tuesday.

Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a small mountainous enclave that is part of Azerbaijan but populated by about 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

After heavy fighting and a Russian-brokered ceasefire, Azerbaijan in 2020 took over areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave.

The two sides have since been discussing a peace deal in which they would agree on borders, settle differences over the enclave, and unfreeze relations.

“I think it is right to be hopeful,” Azeri President Ilham Aliyev told Euronews television in an interview conducted on July 21 in the Karabakh town of Shusha and aired on Tuesday.

“If we see a constructive approach from the Armenian side, and most importantly, if they totally set aside all aspirations to contest our territorial integrity, then we can find a peace solution very soon, maybe even by the end of the year.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking separately to Euronews in Yerevan on July 26, also sounded a cautiously optimistic note.

“Not only can there be but there must be peace. This is my belief, my position… But for this to happen, it’s also important for the international community to be aware of important nuances, to be clear about why there isn’t progress at a sufficient pace,” he said.

Pashinyan repeated his accusation that Azerbaijan was still blocking the transit of food and medicines to Karabakh via the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia to the enclave, thereby causing a humanitarian crisis.

Aliyev denied that Azeri forces were blocking freedom of movement, saying more than 2,000 Karabakh residents had moved “to Armenia and back” since Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint at the entrance to the corridor in April.

“Karabakh Armenians should understand that being part of Azerbaijan society with security guarantees,… with their rights, including educational, cultural, religious, and municipal rights, they will live a normal life,” Aliyev said.

Baku has rejected Yerevan’s requests for further security guarantees for the enclave’s ethnic Armenians.

Russia, which has peacekeepers on the ground, the United States and the European Union are all trying separately to help ensure a lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Pashinyan said the 17-month-old conflict in Ukraine had impacted the ability not only of Russia but of other international players to focus on the Karabakh issue.

Azerbaijan protests after reports suggesting ‘Indian-made weapons entered Armenia through Iran’

Albert Nalbandian
The Print, India
July 27 2023
SNEHESH ALEX PHILIP
New Delhi: A cargo of what is reported to be India’s indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers has reached Armenia via Iran, leading to a protest by its arch-rival Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan-based news portal Caliber.az put out videos Tuesday evening of a camouflaged convoy moving through Iran’s Nurduz border checkpoint into Armenia.

It claimed that the convoy was likely carrying military cargo delivered to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas from the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. 

Quoting “independent” sources, the portal identified the source of the cargo as India, which has increased its military-technical cooperation with Armenia in recent years.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a conflict over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region that resulted in a 45-day war in September 2020. A peace deal brokered by Russia put an end to fighting till 2022 when frequent ceasefire violations escalated into another two-day conflict in September, followed by scattered instances of border clashes.

Hours after reports surfaced Tuesday suggesting weapons from India had entered Armenia, Hikmet Hajiyev — foreign policy adviser to the president of Azerbaijan — called on the Indian Ambassador to the country, Sridharan Madhusudhanan. Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan was concerned about expanding military cooperation between Armenia and India and the circulation of photos and videos reportedly showing the transportation of Indian-made weapons systems to Armenia through Iran, Azer News reported.

According to the report, Hajiyev added that India’s supposed supply of lethal weapons to Armenia at a time when Azerbaijan was negotiating a peace agreement with it “paves the way for the militarisation of Armenia and escalation of the situation, and creates obstacles to the establishment of sustainable peace and security in the South Caucasus region”.

Hajiyev is also learnt to have said that such actions are incompatible with India’s self-proclaimed foreign policy based on the norms and principles of international law, as well as the historic “Bandung Principles” of the Non-Aligned Movement. He expressed “serious concerns of the Azerbaijani side to the attention of officials in Delhi and (asked them) to reconsider India’s decision regarding the supply of lethal weapons to Armenia”.

As reported by ThePrint, Armenia has turned to India to beef up its defences with the purchase of multiple military systems amid continuing tensions with Azerbaijan, which is seen as an ally of Pakistan and Turkey.

Late last year, Armenia had ordered a mounted 155mm 39-calibre artillery system manufactured by Bharat Forge, a private defence firm part of Pune-based conglomerate Kalyani Group. In September last year, Yerevan signed a government-to-government contract with New Delhi for the indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and ammunition.

Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan even met his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on the sidelines of the DefExpo held last August, looking to expand defence cooperation with India. 

ThePrint had reported then that Armenia was eyeing more defence deals with India including procurement of drones, counter-drone measures and loitering munitions, besides mid-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems like the Akash developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Observers have pointed out that, despite the physical distance between them, an “indirect linkage” has emerged between Armenia-Azerbaijan and India-Pakistan in recent years.

In 2017, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan issued a joint statement, establishing security cooperation and building further on previous bilateral military aid arrangements. Azerbaijan later deployed Turkish drones in the 45-day war with Armenia in 2020 and is believed to be in talks with Pakistan to buy the JF-17 fighter aircraft.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

Role of Russian peacekeepers paramount amid tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh — diplomat

Albert Nalbandian
 TASS 
Russia –
Commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that Russian peacekeepers must leave Nagorno-Karabakh by 2025, Maria Zakharova noted that Ankara is not a party to the November 9, 2020, joint statement from the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. The work of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh is of the utmost importance amid the continued tensions in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing Thursday.

"Russian peacekeepers continue to play an important stabilizing role in Nagorno-Karabakh; their main function is to uphold the ceasefire regime," she said. "Considering the persisting tense situation in the region, their work is as important as ever."

Commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that Russian peacekeepers must leave Nagorno-Karabakh by 2025, Zakharova noted that Ankara is not a party to the November 9, 2020, joint statement from the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The diplomat pointed out that the Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area based specifically on this document, and it was this document that outlined the terms of the contingent’s stay in the region and the parameters for its potential five-year extension.

"The upholding of peace in the South Caucasus meets the interests of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as regional [powers], including Turkey. In this regard, we note the important cooperation with our Turkish partners within the joint Russian-Turkish Center in the Aghdam District," the diplomat added.

https://tass.com/world/1649699

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 18-07-23

Albert Nalbandian

 17:09,

YEREVAN, 18 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 July, USD exchange rate up by 0.15 drams to 386.29 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.10 drams to 434.77 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 4.26 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.85 drams to 506.77 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 41.50 drams to 24213.08 drams. Silver price up by 0.62 drams to 308.13 drams.

Pashinyan, Blinken Discuss Karabakh

Albert Nalbandian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 July 11, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijan installed a concrete barrier on the Lachin Corridor on June 22


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a telephone conversation with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.

According a readout from the prime minister’s press office, the two discussed “the situation in the region, the ongoing negotiations on the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the necessary steps to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the need for a Baku-Stepanakert dialogue with international involvement.”

Pashinyan reportedly also addressed the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the steps necessary for ending that crisis.

The call comes days after President Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, met with his Armenian counterpart Armen Grigoryan in Washington last week.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing that U.S. is looking forward to the next round of talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, which are scheduled to take place on July 21. He added that the continuing talks will be a sign that the most recent meeting in Washington between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were successful.

“We continue to believe an agreement is possible and we look forward to further talks in the coming months,” Miller said.

UAE-Armenia relations are witnessing a new historic era: UAE Ambassador

Albert Nalbandian

 13:26, 1 July 2023

YEREVAN, JULY 1, ARMENPRESS. UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia Dr. Nariman Al Mulla has highlighted the strong relations between the two countries, which are witnessing a “new historic era”, underscoring the keenness of both countries to enhance their historical cooperation for the benefit of both countries and peoples, WAM reports.

Ambassador Dr. Al Mulla told WAM on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Armenia, that both countries look forward to strengthening bilateral relations, especially in the economic, commercial, and investment fields.

Dr. Al Mulla highlighted that under the directives of the leaderships of the UAE and Armenia, mutual economic partnerships are experiencing continuous growth, creating more opportunities for the business community and the private sector in the markets of both countries.

The Ambassador added that there are promising prospects between the UAE and Armenia in several sectors, which will positively affect the two nations. These sectors include healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturing, real estate development, infrastructure and logistics, telecommunications, and agriculture and others.

Ambassador Dr. Al Mulla affirmed the Embassy's keenness to facilitate economic and trade links and provide all necessary assistance to companies and businesspeople, to diversify current partnerships and to assist emerging businesses to expand in sectors of common interest, including trade, technology, agriculture, food security, tourism & travel, renewables, transport, as well as other new economic sectors, especially technological industries, space, and the circular economy.

Ambassador Dr. Al Mulla also called for businesses to benefit from the advantages and incentives provided by the national economy to achieve further growth and expansion in the markets of the UAE and the Middle East and Africa.

The Ambassador reiterated the importance of the COP28 climate conference, which will be hosted in the UAE at Expo City Dubai this November to enhance global climate action, and welcomed Armenia's participation in this key international conference.

Deadly clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh as Armenia-Azerbaijan engage in US peace talks

Albert Nalbandian




Al Jazeera English published this video item, entitled “” – below is their description.

Four Armenian soldiers have been killed in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to separatist authorities.

This comes as Baku and Yerevan held peace talks mediated by the United States to end a decades-long conflict.

The Armenian Prime Minister has warned of a further risk of destabilisation if the issue is not resolved.

There has been frequent fighting on the border between the neighbours.

The situation is now relatively stable but the region remains at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute.

Olesya Vartanyan is a Senior Analyst for the South Caucasus region at Crisis Group. She joins us live from Tbilisi, Georgia to discuss the latest news.

Al Jazeera English YouTube Channel