Author: Bedik Zaminian

                                        Friday, July 28, 2023


Armenia Fears Azeri Territorial Claims
July 28, 2023
        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenia - Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian visits a disputed section of the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border, November 17, 2021.


Azerbaijan remains reluctant to recognize Armenia’s borders despite progress 
made in talks on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, according to a senior 
official in Yerevan.

Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian said this is one of the main obstacles 
to the signing of the treaty strongly backed by the United States and the 
European Union.

“Azerbaijan still does not want to accept a clear border line between Armenia 
and Azerbaijan, which leads us to suspect that Azerbaijan has far-reaching goals 
and may make territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia in the future,” 
Kostanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday.

This is why, he said, Yerevan insists that 1975 Soviet military maps be used as 
a basis for delimiting the long Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Baku has rejected the proposed mechanism in delimitation talks with Yerevan held 
so far. It stressed earlier this year that Azerbaijan’s borders with other 
neighboring states have been delimited and demarcated “on the basis of analyses 
and examination of legally binding documents, rather than any specially chosen 
map.”

The most recent round of delimitation talks took place on July 12 three days 
before the EU chief, Charles Michel, hosted yet another meeting of Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in 
Brussels.

Michel said after the meeting that the two leaders reaffirmed their earlier 
“understanding that Armenia’s territory covers 29,800 square kilometers and 
Azerbaijan’s 86,600 square kilometers.” Aliyev has still not publicly 
acknowledged, however, Armenia’s total internationally recognized area cited by 
Michel.

Opposition leaders and other critics of the Armenian government note that Baku 
is unwilling to do that even after Pashinian pledged in May to recognize 
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh through the peace deal. This 
means, they say, that even such a far-reaching concession offered by him would 
not safeguard Armenian territory from future Azerbaijani attacks.

Following Pashinian’s pledge, Azerbaijan also tightened its crippling blockade 
of Karabakh’s only land link with Armenia. Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan 
warned last week that the region is now “on the verge of starvation.”

Kostanian said that lingering differences between Yerevan and Baku on the 
question of the “rights and security” of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population 
are also hampering the deal. The official was careful not to speculate about 
possible timelines for its signing.




Armenian Officer Dies Years After ‘Unsolved Attack'
July 28, 2023
        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - The entrance to a military hospital, July 8, 2021.


An Armenian military officer has died in hospital almost four years after being 
badly injured in a violent incident that led to the resignation of a political 
ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ara Mkhitarian fell into a coma in September 2019 after 
arguing with an assistant to Trdat Sargsian, the then governor of Armenia’s 
Vayots Dzor province, in the provincial capital Yeghegnadzor in disputed 
circumstances. Mkhitarian never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead 
on Thursday.

According to Armenia’s Investigative Committee, Mkhitarian was punched by 
Sargsian’s aide, Harutiun Grigorian, and fell to the ground. Grigorian was 
arrested and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison.

Mkhitarian’s family and friends dismissed the official version of events. They 
said that the officer and three of his colleagues were assaulted by a larger 
group of men that may have included Sargsian.

“How can you knock down a 120-kilogram guy and smash his skull with one punch?” 
the victim’s father, Samvel Mkhitarian, argued shortly after the incident.

The three other officers testified during the ensuing investigation that 
Sargsian, who is a senior member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, was among 
the attackers. The Investigative Committee dismissed their claims and charged 
them with “false denunciation,” however. It said that Sargsian “was not at the 
site of the incident” when it happened.

Armenia - Trdat Sargsian.

Sargsian also strongly denied any involvement despite resigning as Vayots Dzor 
governor a week after the violence. He is now a member of the Armenian 
parliament.

His jailed aide’s lawyer, Levon Sahakian, on Friday blamed Mkhitarian and the 
other officers for the “fight.” He claimed that they were drunk and attacked his 
client.

It is not clear whether the officer’s death could lead the investigators to 
again examine the ex-governor’s possible role in the 2019 incident. Zhanna 
Aleksanian, a veteran human rights campaigner, said they must launch a fresh 
inquiry.

“I’m not sure that the [2019] investigation was objective and comprehensive,” 
Aleksanian said, adding that there may well have been a cover-up.

Some critics of the Armenian government have openly alleged that Pashinian saved 
his loyalist from prosecution. The premier has denied that.




U.S. Again Urges Reopening Of Lachin Corridor
July 28, 2023
        • Anush Mkrtchian
        • Tigran Hovsepian

Armenia - U.S. diplomat John Allelo (left) inspects an Armenian aid convoy stuck 
near the Lachin corridor July 28, 2023.


The United States renewed its calls for the immediate lifting of Azerbaijan’s 
blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday as Armenian trucks carrying food for 
Karabakh’s residents remained stuck at the entrance to the Lachin corridor for 
the third consecutive day.

The Armenian government sent the aid convoy on Wednesday in an attempt to 
alleviate severe food shortages in Karabakh. Azerbaijan, which tightened the 
blockade on June 15, condemned the move as a “provocation,” refusing to let 19 
trucks loaded with about 400 tons of basic foodstuffs to pass through an 
Azerbaijani checkpoint.

John Allelo, the acting deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, 
joined Yerevan-based foreign diplomats in visiting an adjacent Armenian border 
area to inspect the long line of trucks awaiting permission to proceed to 
Stepanakert. The diplomats accompanied by Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister 
Vahan Kostanian also met with Karabakh Armenian refugees.

In a Twitter post, the U.S. Embassy said Allelo “heard from displaced persons 
and regional officials about the suffering caused by continued blockage of the 
Lachin corridor.”

“We reiterate [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken’s call for an immediate 
reopening of the corridor to commercial and private traffic,” it wrote.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, likewise said on 
Wednesday that the Azerbaijani authorities should “guarantee safety and freedom 
of movement along the Lachin corridor.” He pointed to “dire consequences” of the 
blockade for Karabakh’s population. France and several other EU member states 
echoed Borrell’s appeal rejected by Baku.

Armenia - Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian speaks to journalists, July 
28, 2023.

“Unfortunately, there have been no positive developments so far,” Kostanian 
said, adding that the aid convoy will remain there “as long as it’s necessary.”

“We will try to ensure the reopening of the Lachin corridor by all political 
means at our disposal,” he told reporters. “The trucks will stay here for now.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that Baku’s continued refusal to 
let the convoy through would testify to its “intention to commit genocide in 
Nagorno-Karabakh.” The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded by saying that the 
Armenian side should agree to an alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled supply 
route for Karabakh.

Borrell stressed that the proposed route rejected by Karabakh’s leadership 
“should not be seen as an alternative to the reopening of the Lachin corridor.”

Meanwhile, Armenia’s Vienna-based ambassador to the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe, Armen Papikian, called on the international community 
to impose sanctions on Baku to ensure its compliance with a UN court’s February 
order to “ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the 
Lachin Corridor in both directions.”




Armenian Farmers Hit By Cheaper Russian Grain
July 28, 2023
        • Satenik Kaghzvantsian

Armenia - Wheat harvest in Shirak province.


Wholesale prices of wheat mostly imported to Armenia from Russia have shrunk by 
half over the past year, taking their toll on Armenian grain farmers.

A significant weakening of the Russian ruble appears to have been the main cause 
of the price collapse. The ruble has lost more than 40 percent of its nominal 
value against the Armenian dram since June 2022 amid a barrage of Western 
sanctions imposed over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to Hunan Petrosian, a wholesale trader from Armenia’s leading 
grain-producing region, Shirak, the sanctions have also cut the cost of 
transporting Russian wheat to non-Western countries still buying it. This has 
made it even cheaper in the local markets, he said.

“Quite cheap wheat is imported from the Russian Federation. This is the main 
reason,” Petrosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

The downward trend does not seem to have reversed yet by this month’s 15 percent 
rise in global wheat prices, which followed Moscow’s decision to quit a deal 
allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea.

Russia meets about 70 percent of Armenia’s domestic wheat demand estimated at 
500,000 metric tons per annum.

In Petrosian’s words, a kilogram of wheat now costs an equivalent of 40-45 drams 
(10-11 U.S. cents) in Russia. The wholesale prices of the essential crop in 
Armenia range from 70 to 90 drams per kilogram.

Armenia - Workers at a wheat storage facility in Shirak province.

Farmers in Shirak complain that this is below their current production costs. 
One of them, Garnik Marzetsian, has 50 tons of grain left over from last year’s 
harvest and expects to harvest another 90 tons this fall.

“I’ll rather let it rot or burn it down than sell [at the current prices,] 
Marzetsian warned on Thursday.

The 69-year-old farmer and other residents of the Shirak village of Meghrashen 
demanded government intervention. The Armenian government, they said, should set 
a higher minimum price.

Last year, the government provided Shirak farmers with more subsidies to 
encourage them to grow more grain. As a result, they planted the crop on an 
additional 5,000 hectares of land. Many farmers are now thinking about shrinking 
their next wheat plantings.

This is an alarming prospect for Petrosian. The grain dealer too called for 
urgent government support to the farmers, saying that Armenia must not become 
even more dependent on wheat imports.

“This [domestic grain] production is of strategic importance and it should be at 
the center of the state’s attention,” he said.


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.

 

                                        Monday, 


Karabakh Leader Joins Protests Against Azeri Blockade


Nagorno Karabakh - The Karabakh president, Arayik Harutiunian, joins a sit-in in 
the center of Stepanakert, July17, 2023.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s president announced late on Monday that he is joining ongoing 
protests in Stepanakert against Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor in 
a bid to draw greater international attention to the worsening plight of the 
region’s ethnic Armenian population.

Arayik Harutiunian said that the Karabakh Armenians are not only struggling with 
severe shortages of food, medicine and energy but also facing a “real threat of 
physical annihilation.” He said he expects Armenia, Russia, the United States 
and the European Union to back up their calls for the lifting of the blockade 
with concrete actions and to uphold Karabakh’s right to self-determination.

“If the plight of the people of Artsakh does not return within a week to a more 
or less stable and normal state with international intervention, then we will 
resort to tougher actions both in Artsakh and outside of it,” he warned before 
joining a nonstop sit-in staged in Stepanakert’s central square.

Thousands of people rallied there on Friday at the start of the daily protests 
organized by Karabakh’s leadership. They marched to the headquarters of the 
Russian peacekeeping contingent to demand that it unblock Karabakh’s only land 
link with Armenia and the outside world.

Azerbaijan further tightened the blockade on June 15, banning all relief 
supplies to Karabakh carried out by the peacekeepers as well as the 
International Committee of the Red Cross. This only aggravated the shortages of 
food, medicine, fuel and other essential items experienced by the local 
population.

The Russian Foreign Ministry “strongly” urged the Azerbaijani side on Saturday 
to lift the blockade and unblock Armenia’s supplies of electricity and natural 
gas to Karabakh. Baku rejected the call and criticized Moscow in unusually 
strong terms.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko deplored Baku’s “incorrect” 
reaction during a meeting with the Azerbaijani ambassador in Moscow on Monday. 
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rudenko insisted on “the need for 
complete and immediate unblocking of the Lachin corridor” and Baku’s compliance 
with relevant provisions of the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire.

The U.S. and the EU likewise renewed last week their calls for the resumption of 
traffic through the corridor. The issue was on the agenda of Saturday’s talks 
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders hosted by the EU head, Charles 
Michel, in Brussels. Still, an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty was apparently 
the main focus of the summit.

Rudenko reiterated a Russian proposal to organized more talks on the treaty 
which Moscow says must put in place security guarantees for Karabakh’s 
population.




Court Upholds Arrest Of Armenian Opposition Leader

        • Naira Bulghadarian

Armenia - Opposition leader Armen Ashotian speaks at a news conference in 
Yerevan.


An Armenian appeals court on Monday refused to order the release of Armen 
Ashotian, a prominent opposition politician arrested last month on what he and 
his Republican Party (HHK) call politically motivated charges.

Ashotian was charged last November with abuse of power and money laundering in 
connection with his past chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of Yerevan’s 
Mkhitar Heratsi Medical University. The accusations, strongly denied by him, 
stem from a number of property acquisitions carried out by the university 
administration on his alleged orders. Armenia’s Investigative Committee claims 
that those deals caused the state-run university substantial financial damage.

The law-enforcement agency also charged Ashotian with “waste” of public funds 
following his arrest on June 15 which it attributed to his alleged attempts to 
obstruct its investigation. The oppositionist, who is the HHK’s deputy’s 
chairman, denies such interference.

The opposition party headed by former President Serzh Sarkisian has condemned 
Ashotian’s arrest as government retribution for his harsh criticism of Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s policy on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Pashinian’s 
government and political allies insist that he did not order the investigators 
and courts to prosecute his vocal critic.

Ashotian’s lawyer, Tigran Atanesian, asked the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeals 
to overturn a lower court’s decision to allow investigators to hold his client 
in pre-trial detention for at least two months. One of the high court’s judges, 
Artur Nahapetian, rejected the appeal.

Atanesian said the decision was predictable because Nahapetian is a “close 
friend” of Argishti Kyaramian, the head of the Investigative Committee and one 
of Pashinian’s trusted lieutenants.

Armenia - Republican Party (HHK) activists protest against HHK deputy chairman 
Armen Ashotian's arrest, Yerevan, July 4, 2023.

Ashotian, 47, was an influential figure during Sarkisian’s rule, serving as 
education minister from 2012-2016 and subsequently heading the Armenian 
parliament’s foreign relations committee.

Ashotian’s supporters have also condemned the authorities for sending to him to 
Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison whose inmates include individuals convicted of 
murders and other violent crimes. The Investigative Committee has declined to 
clarify why he is not held in two other prisons reserved for former government 
and security officials.

Vartan Harutiunian, a veteran human rights activist, suggested that the 
committee’s choice of the prison is an additional punishment for Ashotian. “Had 
he been kept in another prison he would have found himself in a very different 
human environment,” Harutiunian said, pointing to the presence of many violent 
criminals at Nubarashen.

The authorities have also banned Ashotian’s family members from visiting him in 
the prison. In addition, unlike many other criminal suspects and convicts, the 
former minister is not allowed to talk to them by phone.




Azerbaijan Rejects Russian Calls To Reopen Lachin Corridor

        • Heghine Buniatian
        • Astghik Bedevian

A view of an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up at the entry of the Lachin corridor, 
by a bridge across the Hakari river, May 2, 2023.


Azerbaijan has rejected Russia’s latest calls for an immediate end to its 
seven-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh’s only land link with Armenia which has 
led to a serious humanitarian crisis in the Armenian-populated region.

In a weekend statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry defended Baku’s 
decisions to set up a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor and block relief 
supplies carried out through it by Russian peacekeepers. It accused the 
peacekeepers of not preventing Armenia’s alleged shipments of

weapons and military personnel to Karabakh and not ensuring the “withdrawal of 
the remnants of Armenian military units from Azerbaijani territory.”

“Armenian army units on the contrary receive assistance under the guidance of 
the Russian peacekeeping mission,” it said without offering proof of the 
allegations strongly denied by Armenia.

Baku reacted to Saturday’s statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry expressing 
serious concern over the worsening shortages of food, medicine and other 
essential supplies in Karabakh and warning of even more “dramatic” consequences 
of the blockade.

The Azerbaijani side dismissed those concerns, saying that Karabakh can be 
supplied with basic necessities from Azerbaijan proper and the town of Aghdam in 
particular. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev apparently insisted on this idea 
during his latest trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and European Union head Charles Michel held in Brussels on Saturday.

Michel said after the talks that as well as urging Aliyev to reopen the Lachin 
corridor he “noted Azerbaijan’s willingness to equally provide humanitarian 
supplies via Aghdam.”

“I see both options as important and encouraged the humanitarian deliveries from 
both sides to ensure the needs of the population are met,” he said.

Karabakh’s leadership rejected the Aghdam option earlier, saying that it is a 
ploy designed to facilitate the restoration of Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.

Michel’s reference to it was constructed by some Armenian analysts and critics 
of Pashinian’s government as a serious setback for the Armenian side. One of 
those analysts, Tigran Grigorian, on Monday decried “the inactivity and 
incompetence of the Armenian diplomacy.”

“By including such a point in the statement [by Michel] and putting that point 
on the same plane with the issue of unblocking the Lachin corridor … Azerbaijan 
will be able to nullify the previous decisions of various international 
structures -- and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in particular -- 
regarding the unblocking of the Lachin corridor,” Grigorian told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service.

The ICJ court ordered Azerbaijan in February to “take all measures at its 
disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the 
Lachin Corridor in both directions.” The European Court of Human Rights issued a 
similar order in December.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry pointed to those injunctions on Monday. “Other 
international actors should follow this line,” the ministry spokeswoman, Ani 
Badalian, said in a Twitter post that may have been a veiled rebuke of Michel.


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.

 

                                        Wednesday, 


Karabakh Leaders Urge Armenia To Halt Talks With Azerbaijan

        • Artak Khulian

Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership and main political factions urged Armenia to stop 
ongoing peace talks with Azerbaijan on Wednesday after four Karabakh Armenian 
soldiers were killed overnight in what Stepanakert described as an Azerbaijani 
ceasefire violation.

In a statement unanimously adopted by its members, the Karabakh parliament 
linked the bloodshed to a new round of U.S.-mediated negotiations which the 
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers began outside Washington on Tuesday.

It said that Yerevan must refuse to negotiate until Baku ends truce violations 
along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and 
provides “documentary guarantees” of its commitment to the ceasefire regime.

“Otherwise, the continuation of the negotiations would mean the encouragement of 
the Azerbaijani side’s aggressive behavior and a privilege [granted] at the 
international level,” it warned.

The statement also called for international sanctions against Baku and said 
Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh should take “tougher measures to 
counter Azerbaijan’s inhuman, genocidal actions.”

The Armenian government did not immediately respond to the appeal. Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian tweeted instead that the international community should 
take “practical steps to ensure rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh 
people.”

Pashinian pointed to the deaths of the four Karabakh soldiers and the continuing 
Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor. “High risk of destabilization in 
the South Caucasus,” he added.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded by accusing Pashinian of misleading 
the international community. The ministry spokesman, Aykhan Hajizada, claimed 
that the Azerbaijani army took “retaliatory measures” after one of its soldiers 
was wounded by “illegal” Armenian forces.

“Armenia, instead of interfering in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs, must … 
respect Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in both words and 
deeds,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Russia expressed serious concern at the overnight incident but 
stopped short of publicly blaming the Azerbaijani side for it. The Russian 
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, also renewed Moscow’s calls for 
Baku to fully unblock traffic through the only road connecting Karabakh to 
Armenia.

“We believe that taking quick measures to fully unblock the Lachin corridor and 
creating conditions for the normal life of the civilian population would 
contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Zakharova told reporters.

Pashinian drew strong condemnation from the Karabakh leaders and the Armenian 
opposition after he pledged in May to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over 
Karabakh through an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. His critics say the 
far-reaching move only emboldened Baku to step up the pressure on the Karabakh 
Armenians.

The peace treaty is the main focus of the ongoing meeting of the Armenian and 
Azerbaijani foreign ministers which began in the presence of U.S. Secretary of 
State Antony Blinken. The latter also held separate talks with the two ministers.

“We support Armenia and Azerbaijan working together toward a durable and 
dignified agreement,” Blinken tweeted late on Tuesday.




Four Karabakh Soldiers Killed In ‘Azeri Shelling’


Nagorno-Karabakh - A road sign at the entrance to the town of Martakert.


Nagorno-Karabakh’s military said on Wednesday morning that four Karabakh 
Armenian soldiers were killed when Azerbaijani forces shelled its positions 
overnight.

It said that the positions located in Karabakh’s Martakert and Martuni districts 
were struck by artillery systems as well as combat drones. The situation in 
these and other sections of the “line of contact” was “relatively stable” as of 
7 a.m. local time, according to the Karabakh Defense Army.

On Tuesday evening, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Karabakh Armenian 
forces of wounding an Azerbaijani soldier and said it is taking retaliatory 
measures. The authorities in Stepanakert were quick to deny that. They said Baku 
used the “false” claims as an “information basis” for the overnight shelling, 
which was one of the deadliest ceasefire violations reported from Karabakh since 
the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Tensions along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
border have increased significantly over the past month, with the conflicting 
sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis. 
The Armenian government said earlier this month that Baku may be gearing up for 
another attack on Karabakh.

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov threatened the Karabakh Armenians 
with fresh military action in televised remarks aired on Monday. Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev said in late May that they must dissolve their government 
bodies and unconditionally accept Azerbaijani rule.




Erdogan, Pashinian Discuss Normalization Efforts


Czech Republic- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Turkish President 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Prague, October 6, 2022.


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian discussed efforts to normalize relations between their countries in a 
phone call on Wednesday.

Pashinian was reported to congratulate Erdogan on the Eid al-Adha Muslim 
holiday. His press office said the two leaders discussed the implementation of 
an agreement to open the Turkish-Armenian border to citizens of third countries. 
It did not elaborate.

Ankara and Yerevan reached the agreement last July after several rounds of 
negotiations held by their special envoys. They have still not said when it will 
be put into practice.

According to a Turkish readout of the phone call cited by the Anatolia news 
agency, Erdogan told Pashinian that the two neighboring states should continue 
to take “confidence-building measures.” No other details were reported.

Erdogan also spoke with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by phone. The Turkish 
leader visited Baku earlier this month. Following that trip, he praised 
Pashinian for attending his recent inauguration ceremony in Ankara.

Armenian opposition leaders condemned Pashinian’s presence at the ceremony held 
after Erdogan’s reelection. They argue that Ankara continues to fully support 
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and make the normalization of 
Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on Yerevan meeting Baku’s key demands.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan visited Turkey and met with his then Turkish 
counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in February in the wake of a powerful earthquake in 
the country’s southeast. Mirzoyan said afterwards that Yerevan and Ankara agreed 
speed up the normalization efforts.

Ankara banned Armenian airlines from flying over Turkey to third countries after 
municipal authorities in Yerevan unveiled in late April a monument dedicated to 
Armenians who had assassinated masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian 
genocide in the Ottoman Empire. It threatened “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 in May.



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.