Monday, August 7, 2023
Opposition Figure Elected Parliament Speaker In Nagorno-Karabakh
• Ruzanna Stepanian
David Ishkhanian, newly elected speaker of the Karabakh parliament, Stepanakert,
August 7, 2023.
An opposition figure representing a nationalist party with links across the
far-flung Armenian diaspora has been elected parliament speaker in
Nagorno-Karabakh, fueling speculation about a possible shift in local politics
largely influenced by Azerbaijan’s blockade of the region in recent weeks.
David Ishkhanian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), a minority group in the 32-member Karabakh parliament, was
installed to the top legislative post by a secret ballot of 22 to 9 on Monday,
nine days after former speaker Artur Tovmasian announced his resignation.
The ruling Free Homeland – United Civil Bloc faction, of which Tovmasian was a
member, denied any political motives behind his resignation, saying that it was
his personal decision driven by “health matters.”
Tovmasian himself acknowledged that it was his personal decision, but stressed
that despite his resignation he remained committed to the cause of
self-determination of the region that proclaimed its independence from
Azerbaijan in 1991.
The change in Nagorno-Karabakh’s main political body comes amid a continuing
blockade of the region by Azerbaijan that has installed a checkpoint at the
Lachin corridor connecting it with Armenia and effectively blocked all cargoes
coming to Nagorno-Karabakh from there.
Azerbaijan’s cutting off the transport link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia
and thus tightening its grip on the region that it considers to be part of its
sovereign territory is the latest in a series of similar steps that Baku has
taken since the Armenian defeat in a war three years ago.
Stepanakert and Yerevan insist that the Lachin corridor must remain under the
control of Russian peacekeepers that were deployed in the region following a
Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement that put an end to six weeks of fierce
fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
The current blockade has also revealed some growing differences between the
ethnic Armenian leadership in Stepanakert and the government of Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in Armenia. In particular, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian
government has repeatedly cautioned Pashinian against questioning the region’s
self-determination by recognizing it as part of Azerbaijan – a condition that
Baku puts forward for a peace treaty to be signed with Armenia.
Incidentally, Dashnaktsutyun is also in opposition to Pashinian in Armenia and
demands that the current Armenian government refuse to pursue a policy that
would jeopardize Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination.
Metakse Hakobian, a member of the Karabakh parliament’s opposition Justice
faction who said she had voted for Ishkhanian’s candidacy, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service that the oppositionist’s nomination for the post was a “cunning
move” on the part of Nagorno-Karabakh’s President Arayik Harutiunian.
“In the hopeless situation in which he [Harutiunian] has found himself in now
and which he is no longer able to cope with, he also considers this as a
lifeline, thinking that over time there will emerge a structure, a person who
will be able to more confidently oppose the authorities in Armenia. This is a
cunning move, because Arayik Harutyunyan has never done anything for the good of
the state or based on the interests of the state,” the opposition lawmaker
claimed.
Hakobian said that the Justice faction voted for Ishkhanian’s candidacy and
welcomes his election because it hopes that a parliament speaker representing
Dashnaktsutyun “will be able to act more independently and turn the
Nagorno-Karabakh parliament into a separate decision-making political entity.”
At the same time, Hakobian claimed that an opposition candidate’s election as
parliament speaker could also be designed by Harutiunian as a step to split the
local opposition, something that she said the authorities would not be able to
achieve.
Meanwhile, Marcel Petrosian, who heads the second largest faction in
Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament, United Homeland, which is linked with former
secretary of the region’s Security Council Samvel Babayan, said that they voted
against the candidacy of Ishkhanian because the ruling faction did not consult
them before his nomination.
“That’s not how things are done. In fact, it turns out that they have brought
the opposition to power in a roundabout way,” he said.
Attempts by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service to contact the leader of the
Nagorno-Karabakh parliament’s pro-government Free Homeland – United Civil Bloc
faction during the day were unsuccessful.
It emerged later that Harutiunian and two former Karabakh presidents Arkady
Ghukasian and Bako Sahakian had approached Dashnaktsutyun with an offer to have
Ishkhanian elected parliament speaker in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Gegham Manukian, a Dashnak lawmaker in the Armenian parliament, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service that “after long discussions the party gave its consent,
considering the crucial moment for Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh – ed.].”
Manukian made it clear, however, that the Dashnak representative would be free
to resign in case of differences with Nagorno-Karabakh’s government on key
issues.
Meanwhile, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian congratulated Ishkhanian on
the election as Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament speaker in a telephone
conversation reported by the press office of Armenia’s National Assembly today.
Russian Peacekeepers Said To Refuse To Provide Security To Karabakh Protesters
• Ruzanna Stepanian
A Russian officer meets with ethnic Armenian activists the near the command
headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh. August 4,
2023.
The Russian peacekeeping force deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh has declined to
provide security to participants in a local protest planning a trip to an
Azerbaijani checkpoint at the Lachin corridor to try to break what authorities
in Stepanakert view as an illegal blockade of the region.
In a written reply to participants of the planned protest on buses a deputy
commander of the peacekeeping force reportedly said that the terms of the
deployment of the Russian military under a trilateral statement signed by the
leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in November 2020 to end a six-week war
in Nagorno-Karabakh did not provide for the possibility of escorting protests on
wheels and ensuring the security of various demonstrations and rallies.
“Peacekeepers are there to check for prohibited items, in particular, firearms
and explosives, among participants of traffic at checkpoints,” Russian officer
Sazonov, who introduced himself only by his surname, wrote, as quoted by Artur
Osipian, a Karabakh activist engaged in the local movement against the
Azerbaijani blockade.
The Russian representative also reportedly dismissed claims being disseminated
on social media in Azerbaijan that Russian troops intended to use force against
Azerbaijani officers at the checkpoint of the Hakari bridge on the pretext of
providing the security for a peaceful Karabakh Armenian protest. Sazonov, as
presented by Osipian, stressed that peaceful protests were not grounds for
holding any military operation by the Russian peacekeeping force.
Having a written reply from Alexander Lentsov, the commander of the Russian
peacekeeping forces, was the demand of members of the movement for unblocking
the Lachin corridor that they presented to the command of the Russian contingent
in Nagorno-Karabakh last Friday.
Participants of the movement say that the intended goal of their action is “to
show to the world that [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev is lying when he
says that the road is open.”
It is unclear yet whether members of the movement will attempt their announced
protest on dozens of buses towards the Azerbaijani checkpoints in the coming
days, but activist Osipian said that they remained adamant despite the reply of
the Russian peacekeeping force command that he described as preposterous.
“Now let the Russians explain how providing the security of a dozen or a hundred
civilian vehicles is different from providing the security of one civilian
vehicle,” Osipian said in a Facebook video.
The activist claimed that with this latest development “the Kremlin has revealed
its true face, showing that the Russians are together with Azerbaijan.”
“We have great suspicions now that along with Azerbaijan it is the Russian
peacekeepers, or should I say occupation troops, which they are, who subject us
to a blockade… We do not lose heart, we will continue our struggle,” Osipian
said.
Amid severe shortages of food, medicines, fuel and other basic products brought
on by the Azerbaijani blockade Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian authorities
stressed last week that while they were not part of the civil initiative and did
not provide it with logistics, they treated with understanding the demands of
the movement.
Meanwhile, at least one opposition member of the region’s parliament, Metakse
Hakobian, claimed last week that the “theatrical” initiative was being guided by
authorities in Stepanakert and Yerevan to discredit the Russian peacekeepers.
Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the 2020 ceasefire
agreement have increasingly been criticized in Stepanakert and Yerevan for their
inability to act in accordance with their mission stated in the document, that
is, to protect the security of the local population.
They are also blamed for effectively ceding control of the Lachin corridor, the
only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, to Azerbaijan earlier this
year amid a perceived weakening of Russia’s political and military positions in
the region due to its largely failing invasion of Ukraine.
Echoing this widely held belief, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader
Arayik Harutiunian acknowledged on Sunday that Russia’s inability to implement
“the most important provision [of the ceasefire agreement] concerning the Lachin
corridor” is “a consequence of the Russo-Ukrainian war.”
Armenia Urges International Action To End Karabakh Blockade
Ani Badalian, a spokersperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia
A diplomatic representative in Armenia has stressed the need for international
calls and decisions on restoring free and safe access to Nagorno-Karabakh to be
acted upon amid a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Armenian-populated
region surrounded by Azerbaijan.
Problems with shortages of foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods have
remained acute in Nagorno-Karabakh for weeks as Azerbaijan continues to keep a
convoy of Armenian trucks with humanitarian supplies stranded at the entrance to
the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia with the region on which
Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint in April and tightened the effective blockade
several weeks later.
The United States, the European Union and Russia have repeatedly called for an
immediate end to the blockade of the corridor that Yerevan and Stepanakert
insist must remain only under the control of Russian peacekeepers in accordance
with the terms of a Moscow-brokered trilateral ceasefire agreement that put an
end to a deadly six-week Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
Baku has dismissed such appeals, saying that the Karabakh Armenians should only
be supplied with food and other basic items from Azerbaijan.
A number of international organizations have also issued appeals urging the
reopening of the Lachin Corridor. Among them was the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE).
In a tweet on Monday a spokesperson for Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
referred to a PACE resolution adopted on June 22 that was based on the report of
one of its members, Paul Gavan.
“Now clear steps are needed to implement all international calls and decisions,”
Ani Badalian wrote, without elaborating. She cited Gavan, an Irish politician,
as saying that “what we are witnessing now is a deliberate attempt to ethnically
cleanse the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Edmon Marukian, Armenia’s ambassador-at-large, also recently wrote on Twitter
that people in Nagorno-Karabakh faint on a daily basis due to malnutrition,
publishing a photograph of one such reported incident.
“The leadership of Azerbaijan bears direct responsibility for this and the
international community is sharing this responsibility by doing nothing to save
people’s lives,” Marukian contended.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian on August 6
described the Azerbaijani blockade of access to the region for goods from
Armenia as a genocidal policy. He again ruled out the possibility of
humanitarian supplies to the region that seeks independence from Baku by
Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for
decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left
ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and
seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic
solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly
7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The 44-day war in which Azerbaijan regained all of the Armenian-controlled areas
outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era
autonomous oblast proper ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire under which
Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.
Tensions along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around
Nagorno-Karabakh leading to sporadic fighting and loss of life have persisted
despite the ceasefire and publicly stated willingness of the leaders of both
countries to work towards a negotiated peace.
Karabakh Leader Sees Risk Of Renewed War With Azerbaijan
Arayik Harutiunian, leader of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, Aug 6, 2023.
Azerbaijan seeks to renounce a 2020 Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement with
Armenia and renew hostilities against Nagorno-Karabakh, the region’s ethnic
Armenian leader warned over the weekend.
In an August 6 interview with Nagorno-Karabakh’s Public Television Arayik
Harutiunian also cautioned Armenia against taking any steps that would “question
the self-determination” of Karabakh Armenians.
Speaking about the current blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan
Harutiunian claimed that it was already a siege warfare employed by Baku.
“Azerbaijan continues to exert pressure to extract maximum [concessions].
Azerbaijan is seeking to hold Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians in some sense hostage,
while simultaneously committing genocide and putting pressure on the Armenian
authorities and international actors in terms of having a more privileged
version of the Zangezur road,” the Karabakh leader said, referring to what
Armenians perceive as Baku’s plans to get an extraterritorial corridor to its
western Nakhichevan exclave via the southern part of Armenia.
Armenia insists that a road via its Syunik province (also called Zangezur in
both Armenia and Azerbaijan), which is part of the 2020 ceasefire agreement,
should remain under Armenian sovereignty. In contrast, Yerevan stresses that the
Lachin corridor must remain under the control of Russian peacekeepers in
accordance with the terms of the trilateral statement that put an end to a
44-day Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh in which nearly 7,000
soldiers were killed from both sides.
Yerevan and Stepanakert accused Baku of violating the terms of the agreement by
installing a checkpoint at the Lachin corridor in April and then tightening the
effective blockade of the Armenian-populated region in June.
The blockade, which has effectively been in place since last December when a
group of pro-government Azerbaijani activists began a protest in the Lachin
corridor, cutting off Nagorno-Karabakh’s connection with Armenia, has resulted
in severe shortages of foodstuffs, medicines and other essentials in the region
populated by some 120,000 Armenians.
Authorities in Stepanakert stress that Nagorno-Karabakh’s population is
increasingly suffering from malnutrition and facing the imminent threat of
starvation. They have already reported cases of people fainting while standing
in queues for rationed bread.
In his latest interview Harutiunian said that Azerbaijan’s actions amounted to
genocide. Baku routinely denies such claims.
The United States, the European Union and Russia have repeatedly called for an
immediate end to the blockade. Baku has dismissed their appeals, saying that the
Karabakh Armenians should only be supplied with food and other basic items from
Azerbaijan.
The Karabakh leader, however, again rejected Baku’s offer of an alternative
route for humanitarian supplies passing through Azerbaijan-controlled Agdam. He
said that Azerbaijan, whom Stepanakert views as the cause of the situation,
cannot be the one to offer a remedy.
“First they turn it into a concentration camp, and then they start offering what
they want and as much as they want,” Harutiunian said. “Any proposal addressed
to us must first of all respect our dignity, be within the framework of our
dignity and comply with international humanitarian standards,” he added.
The Karabakh leader confirmed the news that a meeting between representatives of
Stepanakert and Baku, which was supposed to take place on August 1 in Bratislava
with the mediation of the West, did not take place. He claimed it was Azerbaijan
who refused to hold the meeting.
Armenia insists that a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be found
through an internationally visible dialogue between representatives of
Stepanakert and Baku that would discuss the rights and security of the region’s
ethnic Armenian population. Armenia views this as an essential prerequisite for
a durable peace agreement with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan insists that no special
treatment is required for Karabakh Armenians, while pledging that if
reintegrated they will enjoy all the rights that other citizens of Azerbaijan,
including ethnic minorities, have.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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