Friday, June 2, 2023
Pashinian’s Remark On Ukraine War ‘Noted’ By Moscow
• Astghik Bedevian
UKRAINE – Smoke erupts following a shell explosion, amid Russia's attack on
Ukraine, in Bakhmut, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released
on May 7, 2023
Moscow said on Friday that it “took note” of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
remark that Armenia is “not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine.”
Pashinian said this when he spoke to the Czech TV channel CNN Prima News during
a visit to Prague in early May. The Armenian government’s press office released
the transcript of his interview late on Thursday as he took part in a summit of
the European Political Community attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy.
“We are not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine, and our feeling from that war
is anxiety because it directly influences all our relationships,” Pashinian told
the broadcaster. “In the West, they first and foremost note that we are an ally
of Russia, while in Russia, they see that we are not their ally in the Ukraine
war. So we are not anybody’s ally in this situation, which means that we are
vulnerable.”
MOLDOVA – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (C) in a joint photo of the
participants of the summit of the European Political Community, June 1, 2023
“We took note of it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, reacting to
Pashinian’s remarks. “This is an important statement. We know that there are
certain nuances in Armenia's approaches to the conflict over Ukraine. We take
them into account, we know them.”
Armenia has not publicly condemned or backed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It
has repeatedly abstained from UN General Assembly resolutions accusing Moscow of
military aggression.
Pashinian complained on Wednesday that the escalating conflict in Ukraine is
narrowing Armenia’s “room for maneuver.” He did not elaborate.
Artur Khachatrian, an Armenian opposition parliamentarian, claimed on Friday
that Yerevan is under growing Western pressure to take sides in the conflict.
“Russia can’t say openly, ‘Make a choice: either you are on our side or on the
opposite side,’” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian meet in Moscow, May 25, 2023.
In his words, Russian President Vladimir Putin only hinted that Armenia is
taking advantage of the Western sanctions against Russia during a Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) summit in Moscow last week.
“It will be difficult for us to keep up with Armenia … Their GDP growth is more
than 12 percent [in 2022.] This is a very high, serious indicator,” said Putin.
The double-digit growth was primarily driven by soaring trade with and cash
flows from Russia. Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to $2.4 billion
last year. Goods manufactured in third countries and re-exported from Armenia to
Russia are believed to have accounted for most of that gain.
Pashinian insisted earlier this year that Armenia is not helping Russia evade
the Western sanctions.
Pashinian Satisfied With Fresh Talks With Aliyev
Moldova - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashianian attends a summit in Chisinau,
June 1, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has described his latest meeting with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev as “useful” but disclosed few of its details.
Pashinian and Aliyev met in Moldova’s capital Chisinau on Thursday on the
sidelines of a European summit. They were joined by EU chief Charles Michel,
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. No concrete
agreements were announced as a result.
Michel said the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders will meet again in Brussels on
July 21. According to Pashinian, their foreign ministers will hold fresh talks
in Washington on June 12 in preparation for the next summit.
“On the whole, I consider the discussion useful,” Pashinian told a group of
ethnic Armenians from Moldova and Ukraine in Chisinau later in the evening.
He did not clarify whether the conflicting parties narrowed their differences on
an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. He said Baku now seems to accept an
Armenian proposal to use 1975 Soviet maps as a basis for delimiting and
demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Aliyev last week insisted that the border demarcation must be carried out on
Baku’s terms and warned of fresh military action against Armenia. Yerevan
condemned his threats.
Baku also shed little light on the Chisinau talks. The Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry on Friday accused Macron’s office of misrepresenting them. But it did
not specify which concrete parts of a French readout of the talks “distort the
positions of the parties.”
In a late-night statement, the presidential Elysee Palace said Aliyev and
Pashinian “reaffirmed mutual respect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
and Armenia.” It also said the European leaders “stressed the importance of
defining rights and guarantees for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Armenian PM To Attend Erdogan’s Inauguration
TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets the audience as he
attends the Non-Governmental Organizations and Muhtars Meeting in Ankara, on May
24, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will attend the inauguration of Turkey’s newly
reelected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was announced on Friday.
“The Republic of Armenia has received an invitation to take part in Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s swearing-in ceremony,” said the Armenian
government’s press office. “Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will leave
for Ankara on June 3 to take part in the ceremony.”
The short statement did not specify whether the invitation was personally
addressed to Pashinian.
Pashinian, who is accused by his political opponents of making unilateral
concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan, rushed to congratulate Erdogan on winning
reelection in a run-off vote on May 28. He said he hopes to continue “working
together towards full normalization of relations between our countries.”
Erdogan’s first presidential inauguration in 2014 was attended by then Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.
Turkey has since continued to make the opening of the border and the
establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia conditional on an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish leaders have
repeatedly reaffirmed this precondition since the start of the normalization
talks with Yerevan in January 2022.
Armenia - A monument in Yerevan dedicated to Armenians who had assassinated
masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey,
April 25, 2023.
Tensions between the two neighboring states were reignited in late April after
municipal authorities in Yerevan unveiled a monument dedicated to Armenians who
had assassinated masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian genocide in
Ottoman Turkey.
The Turkish government strongly condemned the move and banned Armenian airlines
from flying over Turkey to third countries. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
threatened last week “new measures” against Armenia if the monument is not
removed soon.
Pashinian described the erection of the monument as a “wrong decision” when he
spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier in May.
During the presidential election campaign, Erdogan and his political allies
repeatedly touted Turkey’s decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan provided
during the 2020 war with Armenia. They accused Erdogan’s main challenger, Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, of opposing Ankara’s political and military alliance with Baku.
Violent Policeman Indicted After Public Uproar
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Police officer Arsen Ghaytmazian.
Facing a public uproar, Armenian law-enforcement authorities reversed on Friday
their decision not to prosecute a senior police officer who beat up a teenage
waiter at a hotel in the resort town of Dilijan.
A regional prosecutor ordered investigators to not only indict but also arrest
Arsen Ghaytmazian, the chief of the Dilijan police department’s investigative
unit.
A video circulated on Thursday shows Ghaytmazian repeatedly hitting the
17-year-old waiter, Araz Amirian. According to Amirian’s lawyer, the drunk
officer assaulted him on April 10 after being told to pay for a hotel room
upfront.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said later on Thursday that it has not brought
criminal charges against Ghaytmazian because he has cooperated with its criminal
investigation, “fully regretted” his actions and apologized to the young man. It
said a prosecutor overseeing the probe has approved the decision.
The decision was strongly condemned by the victim’s family and human rights
activists. It also sparked outrage on social media. Two pro-government members
of the Armenian parliament added their voice to the uproar.
“We, the parents, haven’t forgiven and will not forgive him and we will not
withdraw our complaint,” the waiter’s mother, Araksya Artinian, told RFE/RL’s
Armenia Service. “He must be put on trial.”
The Office of the Prosecutor-General announced afterwards that the chief
prosecutor of northern Tavush province encompassing Dilijan instructed the local
division of the Investigative Committee to reopen the criminal case, charge
Ghaytmazian with assault and seek court permission to hold him in detention.
The policeman will face between three and seven years in prison if tried and
found guilty. According to the Interior Ministry, he was earlier suspended
pending an internal police inquiry.
“I am ready to apologize to those public circles who may be disappointed with
the work of the law-enforcement system because of this case,” said Argishti
Kyaramian, the head of the Investigative Committee.
Kyaramian said his Tavush subordinates were wrong to close the case. But he at
the same time sought to shift the blame onto the regional prosecutor, arguing
that the latter endorsed the initial decision not to prosecute the officer.
Artur Sakunts, a human rights activist, accused the Investigative Committee of
trying to dodge responsibility for what he sees as an attempted cover-up of the
assault. He said that both the Tavush prosecutor and the investigator in charge
of the case must at least be fired.
Ani Chatinian, another activist, said police brutality remains a serious problem
in Armenia despite police reforms declared by the authorities. She argued that
law-enforcement officers are still rarely prosecuted for such abuses.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.