19:51,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court testifies to Armenia’s commitment to international law and the protection of human rights, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in a post on X.
''Every accession brings us closer to universal participation and to ending impunity for the most serious crimes,'' Borrell added.
Over the past week Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other Armenian officials have been hinting that a peace deal with Azerbaijan could be imminent.
They say the sides have reached agreement on three core principles of a deal while "details" remain to be settled.
Pashinyan told parliament on October 30 that a peace deal is "realistic" if the sides remain faithful to the principles of mutual recognition of territorial integrity, delimitation/demarcation of the shared border based on the 1991 Almaty declaration and the opening of transport links in a way that respects the two countries' sovereignty and customs laws.
Later, ruling party MP Gevorg Papoyan echoed the prime minister, saying that only the "details" of the agreement are left to be hammered out.
Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, Elnur Mammadov, confirmed that "most points" of the peace agreement had been agreed with Yerevan. Mammadov said that reaching a deal had become "easier" thanks to Azerbaijan's takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh after its September 19-20 lightning offensive.
Following that offensive, several planned meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders failed to take place in a reflection of the sides' differing preferences on who should mediate.
Baku refused to take part in EU-led peace talks in Granada, Spain and in Brussels, while Armenia's prime minister was a no-show at a CIS summit in Bishkek where he'd been expected to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Armenia was represented at a meeting in Tehran on October 23 that involved Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
Armenia's lack of interest in Moscow-brokered peace talks comes as the country looks to the West for new strategic and security allies, signing an arms deal with France and intensifying diplomatic relations with a number of Western states.
Prior to Azerbaijan's September offensive, which triggered the exodus of the region's entire Armenian population, the Karabakh Armenians' fate had been the thorniest issue in the talks. Baku had rejected the prospect of granting the region autonomous status, as well as Yerevan's calls for an international mechanism that would ensure the Karabakh Armenians' rights and securities under Azerbaijani rule.
During Azerbaijan's attack on Karabakh on September 19, Pashinyan announced that Armenia's priority was to ensure that Karabakh Armenians could remain in the region and live a "dignified" life there. But now that it has been emptied of Armenians, Yerevan seems to have abandoned this demand and instead started the process of granting them refugee status or Armenian citizenship.
"Our policy is that if those displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh do not, objectively speaking, have the opportunity to return to Nagorno-Karabakh – our wish is that they all stay in Armenia, and live and work here," Pashinyan told a cabinet meeting on November 2.
Another critical issue is "the opening of transport links," a provision of the 2020 ceasefire agreement that cemented Azerbaijan's gains in the Second Karabakh War.
Baku long discussed this provision in the context of its "Zangezur corridor" project, which for a time it insisted was to be a seamless corridor connecting mainland Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhchivan through Armenian territory and beyond Armenian sovereignty.
Azerbaijan stepped back from the maximalist version of this project in February, and, after the September offensive, began giving assurances that it would no longer insist on a corridor and would instead make do with an alternative route through Iran.
But Armenians are wary of these assurances, particularly given Russia's apparent interest in the Zangezur corridor project.
Fears persist in Armenia that Azerbaijan will use force to make the corridor a reality, and continued rhetoric from Baku about "Western Azerbaijan" is doing nothing to allay these fears. This is the notion that parts of Armenian territory rightfully belong to Azerbaijan, or that, at the very least, Azerbaijanis have the right to settle in formerly Azerbaijani-populated parts of Armenia.
These concerns are shared by the EU, which has called on Azerbaijan to commit to respecting Armenian territory and by the U.S., where, according to Politico, Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefed members of Congress in early October on the risk of an Azerbaiajni invasion of Armenia. (The State Department rejected this report.)
The Lemkin Genocide Prevention Institute issued a "red flag alert" on November 1 over a possible "invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan in the coming days and weeks."
On November 2, the US State Department told the Voice of America's Armenian service: "Any violation of Armenia's territorial integrity will have serious consequences."
By Eurasianet.org
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Azerbaijan-Softens-Stance-On-Zangezur-Corridor-As-Peace-Deal-Nears.html
Artsakh is a ghost town.
The disputed territory, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, was once home to around 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Artsakh is officially viewed by much of the world as part of Azerbaijan, but ethnic Armenians predominantly populate it.
In September, Azerbaijani forces enacted a large-scale military offensive against the breakaway state.
This led to residents fleeing and a decree that saw the abolition of all Nagorno-Karabakh institutions.
The military and geo-political tussle between Azerbaijan and Armenia has led to a humanitarian crisis, with families being forced to leave their homes to evade the conflict.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the story has all but faded from public attention.
Western eyes are instead currently focused on Israel and Ukraine, while the struggles of these Armenian families are largely ignored.
One person who has been speaking about the chaos is Dr Maria Armoudian, a senior lecturer on politics and international relations at Auckland University.
She tells The Front Page podcast that this is a story of people being denied their right to live in their homeland.
“In essence, Armenians wanted to stay on their indigenous lands,” Armoudian says.
“This is where their parents and grandparents, and their graveyards and churches [have been]. So they stayed, and they maintained that lifestyle as much as they could, but then Azerbaijan started to squeeze them, cutting off all food, water and energy. It’s winter, they’re freezing and they can’t feed their children. It’s a really horrific situation.”
After these measures, a military attack ensued, which left the families with no choice but to leave their homeland.
“They forced them out of their homelands, and they fled to Armenia, which was the closest place they could go. There are 120,000 refugees, which have nothing. They’ve left everything.”
Dr Anna Matevosyan, a former student at the University of Auckland, recently returned to Aotearoa from Armenia and also joined The Front Page.
She says the families that fled Nagorno-Karabakh are simply looking for a place to stay.
“In our village, we have a couple of families who have found temporary accommodation. They’re getting support from strangers or relatives in the form of very basic supplies. They had to escape Artsakh to save their lives, without anything. They just got into their cars and moved to Armenia.”
This story is personal for Matevosyan, given that her mother’s side of the family actually comes from this region.
“My grandparents and my aunt were refugees in the 1990s, so it’s very personal for me… During 1988 and 1990, when the [previous] war was ongoing, I was living in a frontline village… My family, including my father and uncles, had to go and defend the border… That was all happening at around the age of 10. Even then, I could understand that being Armenian is not a very safe thing.”
So is there any hope of this crisis resolving? And what role can New Zealand play in this geo-political tension?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/the-front-page-armenians-in-nz-explain-the-refugee-crisis-tearing-families-from-their-homeland/77RNLC2MTREBVFFPDYYDC77TYQ/
Yerevan State University, with the support of the European Union, is launching modules on ‘Media Literacy and Critical Thinking’. The modules will be funded by the EU as part of the EU’s support to Armenia in building a resilient society and a safe digital space.
On 2 November, Ambassador Vasilis Maragos discussed the modules to be launched during a meeting with Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, vice-Rectors, as well as students and professors of Yerevan State University.
The comprehensive training will be extended to academic and administrative staff.
“Providing young people with media literacy and high-quality education is the cornerstone of building a society that is resistant to information manipulation,” Ambassador Maragos said at the meeting.
Find out more
Press release
https://euneighbourseast.eu/news/latest-news/armenia-yerevan-state-university-launches-eu-funded-modules-on-media-literacy/
13:08,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, ARMENPRESS. At its meeting today, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia decided to reduce the refinancing rate by 0.25 pp, setting it at 9.5%, the Central Bank said in a press release.
The Lombard repo facility rate is set at 11.0 % and the Deposit facility rate is at 8.0 %.
21:16,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. On October 26, Tobias Billström, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden received Ambassador of Armenia Anna Aghadjanian, Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to Sweden informs.
FM Billström reiterated Sweden's strong support to Armenia. Discussion focused on regional developments, ways to further expand bilateral agenda, as well as the cooperation through EU framework.
Yervant Kotchounian
Yervant Kotchounian was born on May 20, 1950, in Damascus, Syria. He was the youngest son of Garabed and Tshkhoun (Vanes Kehian) Kotchounian. He came to join his siblings Kalousd and Elmasd.
His mother passed away when Yervant was an infant. In 1958, with the help of his brother Kalousd, Yervant and his sister Elmasd were accepted into the Armenian Evangelical Secondary School of Anjar, Lebanon, where they spent the next ten years.
In 1968, Yervant moved to the capital city of Beirut where he attended Haigazian College for four years, graduating in 1972 with a degree in English literature. He taught at Shamlian-Tatigian High School in Beirut for two years after completing his degree. Yervant also hosted a radio program called Armenian Hour, which aired in Beirut. He hosted another radio program that aired in Cyprus.
In 1974, he married Grace Varbedian and together they immigrated to the United States in 1975, where they settled in Los Angeles and where their children — son Todd and daughter Tara — were born.
For many years, Yervant worked at Blue Cross in an administrative capacity.
At his core, however, Yervant was a man of letters. He loved words and ideas — in all languages. The best living examples of that are his children and their names. Todd is “tahd” — cause, the permanent Armenian call for justice. And his daughter is Tara — terra, land, the resolution that justice would bring. This is how he was in all things: he was true to himself, honest and very smart — sometimes even practical.
His true passion was Armenian letters. He was a translator who sought to preserve and extend the essence of Armenian for its rich and expansive vocabulary while creating a bridge for Armenian writers to reach new audiences. He was the translator and editor of a number of scholarly and literary books — some on commission — most out of love and curiosity. He had translated a series of adventure novels because he wanted them available to Armenian language readers. His writings appeared in all of the local Armenian newspapers, and he was respected as a theater critic.
He served as a jurist for many years for the Hamazkayin Tololyan Prize in Contemporary Literature, awarded to authors of various genres in both English and Armenian whose themes centered around Armenian issues.
Yervant had a passion for music and was always quick to sing or hum along, especially if it was country music. He especially appreciated classical and Armenian music and was an avid supporter of the Lark Conservatory and the Dilijan Chamber Music Series.
He loved gathering with friends and family, sharing poetry and telling stories — a smile never far and his booming laugh often filling the room.
In the past few months, he was in significant pain when he agreed to enter the hospital. On Friday, September 29, he had been in good spirits, laughing and talking. Later that night, he suffered a heart attack that greatly deteriorated his overall condition. After two weeks of treatment in critical care, Yervant died on Saturday, October 14, 2023, surrounded by loved ones.
He is lovingly remembered by: former wife, Grace Kotchounian; son, Todd Kotchounian; daughter, Tara Kotchounian; brother, Kalousd Kotchounian; sister, Elmasd Kotchounian Miller; niece, Nanor and Elie Tashdjian and family; niece, Houry and Zohrab Ghazarian and family; niece, Hasmig and Kevork Harboyan and family; nephew, Garo and Katie Kotchounian and family; nephew, Greg and Katrina Miller and family; and the entire Kotchounian, Miller and Varbedian families, relatives, friends and colleagues.
A celebration of life will be held on October 28 at 5 p.m. at Phoenicia Restaurant (343 N. Central Ave., Glendale, CA). In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that remembrances be made by supporting Abril Bookstore or by donating to an Armenian literary cause in Yervant’s name.
The 35-year-old Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict could finally be coming to an end after last month's lightning offensive by Azerbaijan to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent exodus of the region's Armenian population and dissolution of its de facto government.
The fate of the Karabakh Armenians had long been the main sticking point in the peace talks underway since 2021. Now that that issue has been resolved, however crudely, and the sides have vowed to recognize one another's territorial integrity, it might seem that a conclusion could be at hand.
But things aren't that simple. Apart from the actual content of a peace deal – chiefly border delimitation/demarcation and the opening of transit links – the sides are at odds over who should mediate.
Up to this point there have been two separate tracks of negotiations, one mediated by Russia and the other by the European Union with U.S. help.
Now, after Azerbaijan's takeover of Karabakh, Armenia is more dissatisfied than ever with its nominal strategic partner Russia and is increasingly positive on the West. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has been expressing distaste with Western mediation and calling for a regional solution to the conflict, one that could involve Russia, Turkey and Iran, or, perhaps, just Georgia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had been due to meet in the presence of European mediators on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Granada, Spain, on October 5.
But Aliyev backed out. The presence of France, an ally of Armenia that has offered to sell it defensive weapons, and the exclusion of Azerbaijan's strategic partner Turkey were the reasons, his advisor later explained.
Pashinyan went anyway, and talked Armenia-Azerbaijan peace with President Charles Michel of the European Council, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany.
Those four released a joint statement afterwards expressing commitment to the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan, and the two countries' mutual respect for one another's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The statement also emphasized the importance of "strict adherence to the principle of non-use of force and threat of use of force." Concerns persist in Armenia that Azerbaijan could invade in order to force the establishment of a transit corridor, and the EU wants assurances from Baku that it won't do so.
A few days later, Armenia decided to skip a meeting of leaders and foreign ministers of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members in Bishkek. Aliyev criticized the move, as supposedly a separate meeting was to be held between Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the event.
"We perceive the mediation of the Russian Federation with gratitude because Russia is our neighbor and ally, as well as Armenia's ally. This country is located in our region, unlike those who are thousands of kilometers away. Naturally, the history of relations between our countries presupposes the mediation of the Russian side," Aliyev said while receiving security council heads of CIS state members.
"Now, this invites the question: does Armenia want peace? I think not, because if it had wanted peace, it would not have missed this opportunity. The Armenian prime minister flies six hours to Granada and participates in an incomprehensible meeting there, where Azerbaijan is discussed without actually being present, but he cannot fly for two to three hours to Bishkek. He has other important things to do," Aliyev added.
After Aliyev met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek on October 13, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed a similar view. "Baku has a very constructive position on this [signing a peace treaty], while Yerevan has not quite decided yet," he said.
The rift between Armenia and Russia further widened when Pashinyan told the European Parliament on October 17 that Russia was trying to topple him.
"When the 100,000 Armenians were fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, our security allies not only failed to help us, but were publicly calling for a change of government, overthrowing the democratic government in Armenia," he said.
Russian state media the following day quoted a "high-ranking" Russian official as calling Pashinyan's statement "provocative" and suggesting Armenia could suffer the same fate as Ukraine, which Russia has waged full-scale war against for the past 18 months.
"We see that there's an attempt to turn Armenia into a Ukraine number three. If we consider that Moldova is Ukraine number two, Pashinyan is going by leaps and bounds down the path of [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelensky," the unnamed official said.
Exclaves complicate border talks
When Armenia and Azerbaijan finally begin delimiting their common border, one of the more difficult issues is likely to be that of exclaves – the tiny islands of each country's territory that are surrounded entirely by the other's.
During the First Karabakh War in the 1990s all of these villages, most of which are actually far from Karabakh, were abandoned and taken over by the surrounding power. There are three Azerbaijani exclaves in Armenia and one Armenian exclave in Azerbaijan. There are also several bits of territory contiguous with contiguous with each country that the other sliced off during the first war.
After Pashinyan signed the statement affirming Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in Granada, Aliyev told European Council President Charles Michel by phone on October 7 that eight villages of Azerbaijan were "still under Armenian occupation, and stressed the importance of liberating these villages from occupation."
Asked by Armenian Public TV about this claim in an interview on October 10, Pashinyan did not comment directly but said that Azerbaijan has likewise been occupying several Armenian villages since the 1990s.
"We proposed a solution to that issue back in 2021 and said let's decide what the delimitation map is, and pull back the troops simultaneously from the border line according to that map. These are very important nuances," he said.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry in response said that Baku does not occupy any Armenian villages and suggested that Pashinyan was making that claim in order to justify Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani villages.
(In June Pashinyan appeared to acknowledge the validity of Azerbaijan's claims on at least one village currently controlled by Armenia.)
Another issue that will need to be addressed in the border talks is the presence of Azerbaijani troops deep inside what's generally regarded as Armenian territory.
Azerbaijan has made several incursions into Armenia since the 2020 war and currently holds an estimated 215 square kilometers of its land.
By Heydar Isayev via Eurasianet.org
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Armenia-Azerbaijan-Peace-Talks-Reach-Critical-Crossroads.html