Friday, November 26, 2021
Statement Issued After Russia-Hosted Armenian-Azerbaijani Talks
November 26, 2021
(Left to right) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian attend a press briefing after
their trilateral talks in Sochi, Russia, November 26, 2021.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to move towards starting a process
of delimitating and demarcating their Soviet-era border and pursue unblocking of
all economic and transport links in the region as a result of Russia-hosted
talks on Friday.
In a trilateral statement released after their meeting in Sochi Russian
President Vladimir Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said, in particular, that they have agreed
“to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border and to work towards the creation of a bilateral
commission on the delimitation of the state border between the Republic of
Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia with its subsequent demarcation with the
consultative assistance of the Russian Federation at the request of the parties.”
The statement said that the parties also agreed “to intensify joint efforts
aimed at the earliest possible resolution of the remaining tasks arising from
the statements of November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021” that includes the
resumption of all economic and transport links in the South Caucasus.
“We have emphasized the need to launch specific projects as soon as possible in
order to tap the economic potential of the region. The Russian Federation will
continue to provide all necessary assistance in the interest of normalizing
relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia,
creating an atmosphere of trust between the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, as
well as building good-neighborly relations in the region,” the statement added.
After their talks that, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, lasted for
about three hours, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia also made
statements for the press, in which all described the meeting as positive.
“We have worked very constructively today. It was a deep analysis of the current
situation,” said Putin, adding that agreements had been reached “on a number of
key issues.”
“The first of them is the creation of mechanisms of the delimitation and
demarcation of the border between the two states, which we have agreed to do by
the end of this year. I hope it will be done as soon as possible. There are no
obstacles to the creation of these mechanisms,” the Russian leader said.
Putin said that “significant progress” was also made on issues of humanitarian
nature. He did not elaborate.
He also said that the parties discussed in detail issues of developing economic
ties and primarily the issue of unblocking “transport corridors.”
“It concerns both railway and road links. I think that here we should thank our
vice-premiers who have been working over this issue for quite a long time now,”
the Russian president said.
He said that as part of the agreements made during the November 26 talks deputy
prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will gather in Moscow next
week “to summarize some results and announce the decisions that we have
coordinated today.”
In his remarks Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed a hope that the
Sochi talks will lead to results that will make the situation in the South
Caucasus “more secure and predictable.”
“Today we had a very detailed and I would say frank conversation on issues of
border delimitation and demarcation and unblocking of transport arteries. We
openly discussed our plans, we openly discussed issues that cause concern with
both sides. The most important thing is that the decisions that we’ve made in
the issue of settling disputes, differences will contribute to a more secure and
predictable situation in the South Caucasus,” he said.
Aliyev said that Baku also sees willingness from the Armenian side “to create
preconditions for the situation in the region to become more predictable.”
“I have repeatedly said that in Azerbaijan we feel like turning over the page of
many years of confrontation with Armenia to begin a stage of normal
interaction,” Aliyev said. “I think our meeting will lead to good results that
won’t make us wait for too long.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in his remarks described the meeting as
“very positive,” saying that “we have, in fact, discussed all issues of the
agenda.”
“This wasn’t a meeting to hide problems. This was a meeting during which we
openly discussed all issues. I want to point out that it is very positive that
on many issues we clarified our positions, and it turned out that on some issues
we have no misinterpretations as it would seem before this meeting. I want to
say that, indeed, we stated that in regards to the issue of the opening of all
transport and economic links in the region we have a common idea as to how these
links will work,” Pashinian said.
The Armenian leader said that it is necessary to create mechanisms of ensuring
security and stability along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan before
starting the process of border delimitation and demarcation. He said
humanitarian issues were also addressed during the talks.
“On the whole, I too assess today’s talks very positively. I think that we can
expect concrete results if we manage to build on the dynamics of our talks,”
Pashinian said.
“I reaffirm the readiness of Armenia and its government that has received a
mandate from the people of Armenia to open a peaceful era for our country and
our region. This is what we are striving for and today’s meeting is beneficial
for the realization of this agenda,” the Armenian leader added.
Border Delimitation, Regional Unblocking On Agenda Of Russia-Hosted
Armenian-Azerbaijani Talks
November 26, 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (left to right) attend a trilateral meeting
in Sochi, Russia, November 26, 2021.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed their readiness to engage in the
process of delimitating and demarcating their Soviet-era border and pursue
regional unblocking as they began on Friday talks hosted by Russian President
Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
At the start of the trilateral meeting Putin told Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan that “a lot has been done”
since last year’s Moscow-brokered ceasefire that stopped a 44-day
Armenian-Azerbaijan war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Unfortunately, not all issues have been settled. I know about tragic incidents
at the borders in which people have been killed and wounded on both sides. These
are things that require special attention on our part. Strictly speaking, it is
for this purpose that we’ve also gathered together today, that is, to avoid such
incidents in the future,” Putin said, as quoted by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader said that the absence of large-scale hostilities in the
conflict zone was positive in itself.
“It is important that conditions are being created for future normal life,”
Putin said, expressing a hope that decisions on the unblocking of transport
links will become possible in the near future as a result of the work of a
relevant trilateral working group.
“The goal of all our efforts is to create conditions for the revival of the
region, for people there to feel secure and be able to engage in economic
activities, which will have a favorable impact on the living standards of people
in both countries. It also has a great importance to Russia, considering the
special nature of relations it has with Armenia and Azerbaijan. For centuries we
lived as part of a common state. We have deep historical ties. One would not
want these ties to be destroyed. On the contrary, we should seek to restore and
maintain them in the future,” Putin said.
In his remarks Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the incidents in the
conflict zone during the past year have not been of a systemic nature. He also
said that one point of last year’s ceasefire agreement concerning unblocking in
the region remained unimplemented. At the same time, the Azerbaijani leader
reiterated Baku’s readiness to start the process of delimitating the Soviet-era
border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“We have also publicly offered to Armenia to start working on a peace treaty to
put an end to confrontation, recognize each other’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty and learn again to live as neighbors in the future,” Aliyev said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, for his part, described the situation
in Nagorno-Karabakh “not as stable as one would like it to be.”
“Since November 9 last year [when the ceasefire was signed] several dozen people
have been killed on both sides. Incidents happen in Nagorno-Karabakh, and since
May 12 we, in fact, have had a crisis at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Our
assessment is that Azerbaijani troops have invaded Armenia’s sovereign
territory,” Pashinian emphasized.
The Armenian leader said that despite the fact that the border between Armenia
and Azerbaijan is neither delimitated nor demarcated, “the state frontier still
does exist.”
Pashinian also said that the point of the ceasefire agreement concerning the
return of all prisoners of war and other detainees has not been fully
implemented by Azerbaijan yet. He also reiterated Yerevan’s position that
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement should proceed within the framework of the OSCE
Minsk Group.
At the same time, Pashinian expressed Armenia’s readiness to engage in the
process of delimitation of borders with Azerbaijan. He said that regional
unblocking is also very important to Armenia.
“I think that today we have gathered here not only to state about problems, but
also to discuss ways of solving the problems that exist and reach concrete
decisions – or decisions that will be as much concrete as possible – on
stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus, because peace, stability and
people’s security are our responsibility,” Pashinian said.
Before proceeding to talks behind closed doors Putin hailed the interest of both
Armenia and Azerbaijan in seeing “normalization and positive development of the
situation” in their region.
Pashinian and Aliyev are also scheduled to meet in Brussels on December 15 on
the sidelines of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Summit. The two
leaders agreed on the meeting following talks with European Council President
Charles Michel last week.
In his remarks today Putin also welcomed bilateral contacts between Yerevan and
Moscow, including the planned Pashinian-Aliyev meeting in Brussels.
Ankara Again Urges Yerevan To Mend Ties
November 26, 2021
• Tatevik Sargsian
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (file photo).
Turkey has made more overtures to Armenia, calling on Yerevan to embrace its
“offer of peace” to improve historically strained relations between the two
neighbors.
Recent developments in the Black Sea and Caucasus region were discussed at a
meeting of the Turkish National Security Council chaired by President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
The statement published after the meeting, which lasted for about three hours,
in particular, reads: “The need for a speedy settlement of disputes in a
peaceful way based on respect for international law and the territorial
integrity of countries was emphasized. Besides, the need for Armenia to maintain
the ceasefire and take advantage of the peace offer was emphasized.”
In the past Turkey at different levels has already offered “peace” Armenia and
also spoke about “positive signals” coming from Yerevan.
The Turkish National Security Council made its statement on the eve of crucial
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit talks hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in
Sochi.
In the days preceding today’s meeting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
reiterated Yerevan’s readiness to engage in a dialogue with Ankara to normalize
historically strained relations between the two neighboring countries. He,
however, warned Turkey against tying such a rapprochement to the creation of an
extraterritorial corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its western Nakhichevan
exclave via Armenia.
Unblocking regional economic and transport links is part of the Russian-brokered
tripartite agreement that ended an Azerbaijani-Armenian war over
Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
Armenia says it objects to providing extraterritorial corridors, but is ready to
open transit roads for Azerbaijan, maintaining sovereignty over them.
Earlier this week an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service that Yerevan had asked Moscow to act as a go-between in Armenian-Turkish
normalization that he said should proceed without preconditions.
During a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed such a request from Armenia and said that
Moscow was ready to facilitate efforts to repair relations between Yerevan and
Ankara.
Azerbaijan Returns Two Captives To Armenia Ahead Of Sochi Talks
November 26, 2021
Armenian POWs arriving in Yerevan (file photo)
Armenia has confirmed that Azerbaijan has released two Armenians on November 26,
hours before the leaders of the two countries were to meet for talks in Sochi
hosted by the Russian president.
In a statement Armenia’s Ministry of Defense said today that Azerbaijan handed
over to the Armenian side two captives identified as 28-year-old Aren Aramian
and 21-year-old Mihran Musayelian.
Earlier, the handover was reported by Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Captives
and Missing Persons. It said that Aramian is a serviceman who was taken prisoner
during November 16 clashes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, while
Musayelian is a civilian who had strayed into territory controlled by
Azerbaijani soldiers.
The Azerbaijani agency said Aramian had received treatment in Baku. It did not
elaborate.
On November 23, ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh reported that a
resident of the village of Ashan in the region’s Martuni district had lost his
way and strayed into Azerbaijani-controlled territory.
Neither Azerbaijan, nor Armenia have officially tied the handover of captives to
the talks between their leaders in Russia.
During an online press conference on Tuesday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian said that as many as 32 Armenian soldiers may have been taken prisoner
by Azerbaijan as a result of the recent border fighting in which at least seven
Azerbaijani and six Armenian soldiers were killed.
Over a hundred Armenian POWs and other detainees have been repatriated from
Azerbaijan since the end of hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh in
November 2020.
Scores, however, continue to be held by Azerbaijan despite a ceasefire provision
calling for the return of all captives and hostages.
Baku acknowledges that it continues to hold up to 40 Armenians that it says are
being prosecuted for different alleged crimes against Azerbaijan.
Armenian Court Hears Opposition Claim Against Mandatory COVID-19 Tests
November 26, 2021
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia’s Constitutional Court is hearing an opposition lawsuit against
mandatory COVID-19 tests, November 26, 2021.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court this week began hearing a claim against the
mandate for regular COVID-19 tests for all unvaccinated workers in the country.
The relevant lawsuit was submitted by a group of opposition lawmakers who find
that the measure taken by Armenian authorities runs counter to the country’s
constitution.
Against the background of a low COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country and a
spiking number of coronavirus cases and fatalities resulting from the
potentially deadly disease, Armenia’s Ministry of Health introduced some
administrative measures last month in an attempt to speed up the inoculation
campaign.
Since October 1 virtually all public- and private-sector employees refusing
vaccination have been obliged to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their
own expense.
During the opening of the hearings at the Constitutional Court on Thursday
member of the opposition parliamentary Hayastan faction Aram Vardevanian said
that the order of the health minister potentially affected 450,000 employees
across Armenia, arguing that legal relations between employees and their
employers should be regulated by labor laws rather than by a government
official’s order.
“I think that issues like that must be solved at a different level, which is
called legislation rather than an order,” Vardevanian, who is a professional
lawyer, said.
Anna Mkrtumian, a Ministry of Health representative at the trial, objected to
that statement, saying that “considering the pandemic and the importance of
public health, the Ministry of Health has the right to issue corresponding
orders.”
Mkrtumian argued that the order complies with all the norms of Armenia’s
constitution and does not violate human rights.
The Constitutional Court adjourned the examination of the opposition’s claim as
the hearing resumed on Friday.
Judge Arevik Petrosian submitted a motion to the court, proposing that
information be requested from the government regarding the number of cases of
noncompliance by workers with the minister’s order since its execution began as
well as the number of workers fired over that noncompliance.
The defendant’s representative said that the ministry does not possess such data
as it is not a direct supervising body. She asked for at least five working days
to provide that information.
The Court satisfied the request, adjourning the hearing until December 16.
The Armenian government says only about 14 percent of the country’s population
of 3 million has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date.
Experts estimate that 70 to 85 percent of the population has to be fully
inoculated to reach the herd immunity threshold.
More than 7,400 people have died in Armenia from COVID-19 since the start of the
pandemic in March last year.
Invitation Of Armenia To U.S.-Initiated Summit Viewed Negatively In Moscow,
Analyst Says
November 26, 2021
• Astghik Bedevian
Political analyst Armen Baghdasarian being interviewed in the Yerevan studio of
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (file photo)
The Kremlin has a negative perception of Armenia’s expected participation in a
United States-initiated democracy summit next month, a Yerevan-based political
analyst told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service after statements about the upcoming event
made by senior Russian officials.
The U.S. administration has invited a total of 110 participants to the “Summit
for Democracy”, a virtual event on December 9 and 10, which aims to help stop
democratic backsliding and the erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.
Only Armenia and Georgia have been invited from the South Caucasus region. The
list of participants from among former Soviet nations also includes the three
Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Ukraine and Moldova.
Russia has not been invited to the event.
Official Yerevan has confirmed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will take
part in the event held upon the initiative of the White House.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova have expressed Moscow’s
negative attitude towards the U.S.-initiated event. Neither, however, mentioned
Armenia specifically in this context.
“The United States prefers to create new dividing lines, dividing nations at its
discretion into good and bad,” Peskov said.
Zakharova, too, said that the Summit for Democracy has a “confrontational”
nature.
Political analyst Armen Baghdasarian sees a hidden reproach to Armenia, Russia’s
key political and military ally in the region, behind the statements made in
Moscow. He believes that Yerevan will have to balance its approach, reckoning
with possible damage and benefits from the participation in the upcoming summit.
“Armenia is in a situation when one way or another it has to coordinate its
position with Moscow. It doesn’t necessarily mean obeying Moscow’s orders. It
only means to calculate whether or not the threats coming from Russia will be
real in case of its participation in the U.S.-initiated summit and whether or
not there will be support from the United States in case of its participation,
and which is more important for Armenia. Frankly, I don’t think that Armenia’s
current political leaders are capable of making such calculations,” the analyst
said.
Meanwhile, a pro-government lawmaker in Yerevan said that Armenia did not take
Russia’s reaction to the U.S.-initiated democracy summit as a hint that it
should refuse to participate in it.
Anush Beghloyan, who sits on the Armenian parliament’s foreign relations
committee, said that Peskov’s statement was about Russia’s relations with the
West rather than Armenia’s participation in the event.
Asked whether Armenia has anyhow been told about Russia’s possible negative
attitude, Beghloyan said: “I don’t have such information. I think it cannot be
the case, since the Russian side also never conditions its relations with other
countries with relations with its strategic partner.”
During a meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Armenia last week Secretary of the
Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigorian condemned Azerbaijan’s actions along
its border with Armenia as a blow against Armenian democracy. His remarks came
amid deadly border clashes on November 16 in which at least seven Azerbaijani
and six Armenian soldiers were killed.
Yerevan and Baku accused each other of provoking the deadliest fighting since
last year’s 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh that was also stopped through
Russia’s mediation.
During his online press conference on Tuesday Pashinian emphasized that
“Azerbaijan is assailing Armenia’s independence, sovereignty, statehood and
democracy.” The Armenian leader said he will raise this issue too at the Summit
of Democracy in December.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have not been invited to participate in the event.
Pan-Armenian Charity Raises More Money For Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh
November 26, 2021
A pan-Armenian charity has raised more than $12.3 million in fresh funds in the
United States, France and Canada for humanitarian and economic aid to Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund said on Friday that it attracted the bulk of the
donation pledges, worth over $7.8 million, during an annual telethon broadcast
from Los Angeles. The remaining sum – nearly $4 million – was raised by the
charity’s French branch in an annual phonethon held prior to that. Half a
million dollars were raised in Canada, Hayastan said.
The four-hour 24th annual International Thanksgiving Day Telethon on November 25
was held “in support of the ongoing recovery of the people of Armenia and
Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh – ed.], including dozens of communities and close to
100,000 persons displaced by last year’s 44-day war.”
With the theme “Empowering the Homeland’s Remote Communities,” the telethon,
according to its organizers, would “build on the work of the past 12 months by
securing comprehensive support for the war-ravaged populations of Armenia and
Artsakh.”
“Telethon 2021 is as much about accountability and transparency as rallying
global support for the recovery of the people of Armenia and Artsakh,” said
Hayastan Fund Board Chair Maria Mehranian prior to the event. “Parallel to
informing our supporters about how their contributions have been spent in the
course of the past year, the upcoming Telethon will seek to raise urgent support
for the recovery of communities and families that were devastated by the war.”
The organizers of the event said that this support will comprise emergency
humanitarian assistance; housing construction; extensive medical relief; vital
infrastructure repairs and development, including road repairs; and
cultural-recovery programs including schooling and arts education for displaced
communities.
During its 2020 Thanksgiving Day Telethon Hayastan raised over $26 million for
humanitarian and economic aid to Nagorno-Karabakh on top of $170 million raised
during an international fundraising campaign launched by the pan-Armenian
charity immediately after the outbreak of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in and
around Nagorno-Karabakh in late September that year.
The charity headquartered in Yerevan redirected more than $100 million of those
$170 million proceeds to Armenia’s government. The Armenian Finance Ministry
said the sum would finance the government’s “infrastructure, social and
healthcare expenditures” necessitated by the six-week war.
President Armen Sarkissian and Armenian opposition leaders criticized the
donation, saying that it undermined donors’ trust in the Hayastan Fund.
Sarkissian said in December that the government should consider redefining the
hefty contribution as a “loan” and eventually reimbursing the fund.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the donation, saying that it was used
for purposes defined by Hayastan’s statutes. He also suggested that lawmakers
scrutinize the donation.
Last month the Armenian National Assembly approved an opposition initiative to
launch a parliamentary inquiry into the use of funds raised by the Hayastan Fund
for Nagorno-Karabakh during last year’s war.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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