23:02,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The architecture and principles of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been agreed upon but Azerbaijan has been refusing to participle in negotiations, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has said in an interview with The Telegraph when asked on the Armenian-Azeri talks and why the process is delayed.

“First of all, it should be noted that the principles of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been agreed upon in three international formats. The first took place in 2022. On October 6, during the quadrilateral meeting held in Prague, which was attended by the President of France Emmanuel Macron, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and me, and we, after long discussions, adopted a joint statement in which the following principle is recorded: Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity based on the 1991 Declaration of Alma-Ata.

“What does this mean? The Declaration of Alma-Ata is about the following and it was signed by 12 republics that were part of the Soviet Union. By signing that declaration, they recorded several things. First, the Soviet Union ceases to exist and these republics, becoming sovereign states, recognize each other's territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and sovereignty. And thus, with the Alma-Ata declaration, the existing administrative borders between the republics of the Soviet Union become state borders. I say this because it is recorded in the Alma-Ata declaration that these republics accept the existing borders, that is, whatever border existed at that moment, they recognize the inviolability of those borders.

“And of course, there is a very important nuance here that I want to emphasize, the Alma-Ata declaration and the packages related to the Declaration were ratified by the Armenian parliament in 1992, the Azerbaijani parliament ratified it later. Many events took place after the signing and ratification, but in this context it is very important to record that in Prague on October 6, in the presence of the President of France and the President of the European Council, Armenia and Azerbaijan, in fact, after all those events, reaffirmed that they recognize each other's territorial integrity on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration.

“And the second important point is that the Alma-Ata declaration should become the basis for the demarcation and delimitation of the borders between the two countries. This is also a very important principle, which in this context means that in the process of demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, no border has to be created, but the borders confirmed and reaffirmed by the Alma-Ata declaration should be expressed on the ground, on maps.

“This is the first fundamental agreement. After that, on October 30, the trilateral statement of the President of Russia, the President of Azerbaijan and myself was signed, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan acknowledged in a written statement that they recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty and declare that they refuse to use force and the threat of force, and all issues will be resolved through negotiation. This agreement also became the basis for the formation and formulation of the third fundamental principle, which means that the opening and unblocking of regional communications, and the opening of roads for each other will take place within the framework of respect for the sovereignty and jurisdiction of countries, and this principle, together with the previous two principles, was recorded based on the results of the trilateral meetings held in Brussels on May 14 and July 15. Moreover, everything I'm talking about are public documents.

“What does all this have to do with your question? And the connection is that, essentially, the architecture and principles of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been agreed upon, and at the end of last year it seemed to us that we were very close to finally agreeing on the text of the final treaty, but from the beginning, Azerbaijan three times refused to participate in negotiations in different formats, after which presidential elections in Azerbaijan were scheduled. And, in fact, we are still on this point, and I assume that after the presidential elections, we will be able to achieve implementation of these points, if there is political will. I can record that the Armenian government, as before, has the political will to precisely go for peace in our region and to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan based on the above-mentioned agreements,” Pashinyan said.

“…the fact that we have lost so much time is not a very positive sign, because you see, on June 1, a five-party meeting was held in Chișinău with the participation of the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the President of the European Council, the President of Azerbaijan and me, and where an agreement was formulated and it was published in a written form that the next meeting in that same format would take place in Granada in autumn 2023. But Azerbaijan, in fact, refused to participate in that meeting, where in that context it was formulated that the next meeting would take place at the end of October, in Brussels, in a trilateral format. Azerbaijan again refused to participate in that meeting. And if we add to this the events that took place in Nagorno Karabakh, first military strikes were carried out against Nagorno Karabakh and, in fact, Nagorno Karabakh was completely depopulated as a result of ethnic cleansing,” Pashinyan added, emphasizing that “when we put these events side by side, in Armenia, for example, there are analysts who believe that all this means that Azerbaijan is retreating step by step and abandoning the agreements reached on international platforms and between us.”

 23:58,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is diversifying its relations in the security sector and doesn’t reject cooperation with Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with The Telegraph.

The Armenian PM repeated that Armenia is not Russia’s ally in the Ukraine conflict.

“We have not said that we deny and reject cooperation with Russia in general and in the security sector in particular. What we have said is that we are going to diversify our relations in the security sector. What does this mean? Does this mean that we are going to break our security relationship with Russia? No, it doesn't mean that, but it means that in the field of security, we are preparing and ready, and we are discussing and working to establish relations, for example, with the European Union, which is already a reality by and large, with France, which is already a reality by and large, with the United States, which is already by and large a reality, with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is already by and large a reality, with India, which is already by and large a reality, and with many other countries. Our security relations with the United States, or France, or India, or the European Union are not naturally directed against Russia. This is simply the consequence of the reality that the security relationships we used to have in the past do not address our security needs,” the Armenian PM said when asked to comment on his earlier statement that Armenia "cannot rely on Russia" as its defense partner anymore and whether this means that Armenia is seeking a future with NATO.

“As to NATO, this is not an item on our agenda. In other words, we have not and are not discussing NATO membership. We do have partnership relations with NATO, and there is nothing new there. We used to have an Individual Partnership Action Plan, now that program is being reformatted into a certain partnership format that doesn't imply membership. I will also tell you something that we are at least a de jure member of the CSTO today, and I am not sure if there are discussions on that topic in general, or rather in Armenia, as to how well the alliance-based strategy corresponds to Armenia's interests, in general, in the long term,” Pashinyan added.

Asked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Pashinyan repeated that Armenia is not Russia’s ally in the conflict with Ukraine. “Ukraine war had just started, I believe I gave an interview to the Czech CNN and I said that we are not Russia's ally in the matter of Ukraine, and that is the reality. But I also want to say that our security cooperation with the United States or France or our other security partners is not directed against our other security partner. Another thing is that our partners may have concerns about how cooperation with others could affect their security systems. We are trying to manage this issue being as transparent as possible,” he said.

 00:17,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenia started the process of joining the Rome Statute in December 2022, and that decision was conditioned by the assessment of changes in the country’s security environment, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with The Telegraph.

“First of all, I want to say that the Republic of Armenia started the process of joining the Rome Statute in December 2022, and that decision was conditioned by the assessment of changes in our security environment. We ratified the Rome Statute, among other things, analyzing the consequences of the September 2022 war and noting that there are some cracks in our security system. In that sense, we also ratified the Rome Statute as an additional factor to increase Armenia's security level. I understand that it was a difficult time period, and we made that decision because it was a difficult period. That decision serves to increase the security level of Armenia,” Pashinyan said when asked about Armenia’s decision to join the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court.

The Telegraph’s Roland Oliphant asked the Armenian PM whether the country would enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to visit Armenia. “As for the legal nuances, I can't carry out a legal analysis right now because that's the job of lawyer,” PM Pashinyan responded. “I think, as I said, Armenia as a responsible state should adhere to all its international commitments, including the commitments it has in relations with the Russian Federation, the commitments it has in relations with the international community. By the way, there are various opinions and legal analyzes on that topic, and in particular, the lawyers who say that the current heads of state have immunity, insurmountable immunity, due to their status are not just a few. I mean, it's a legal issue, not a political issue that I have to discuss and respond to.”

“Since 2018, many large-scale democratic reforms have started in Armenia, and I do not make decisions about who should be arrested and who should not be arrested. There is an established legal order in Armenia, there are legal institutions, and in all cases the legal institutions of Armenia are the ones who make such decisions. For that we have the Prosecutor's Office, we have courts, we have the Investigative Committee and so on. It is very important that, being a member of the Eastern Partnership, the Republic of Armenia stands out especially for institutional reforms of having an independent judicial system. There is rule of law in the Republic of Armenia, the Prime Minister has his powers in the Republic of Armenia. Under no circumstances those powers include the solution of the question whether this person should be arrested or not. All of that is done through legal procedures,” the Armenian PM added.

 00:37,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The relations between Armenia and the European Union are deepening, including under the conditions and because of the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with The Telegraph’s Roland Oliphant.

“We should clarify what we mean by saying direction, because even before I became the prime minister, Armenia and the European Union had already signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. Now that agreement is being implemented,” he said when asked if he wants to lead Armenia in the direction of the EU.

“It is obvious that the relations between Armenia and the European Union are deepening, including under the conditions and because of the implementation of the "Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement". But, of course, on the other hand, it is obvious that the relations between Armenia and the European Union are getting closer because, according to the international community, we have visible successes in implementing democratic reforms.

"You know, this subtlety is very important for understanding our situation, the situation and many events that are unfolding in Armenia. Look, we don't turn away from anyone. We are implementing the messages received from our people. And that message is primarily about democratic reforms. And democracy, democratic reforms, the development of a democratic society are not agendas caused by certain circumstances. I have stated many times that this is a strategy for us, and in my speech in the European Parliament I stated that we will continue the implementation of these strategies, we will continue these reforms. And I said that the Republic of Armenia is ready to be as close to the European Union as the European Union deems it possible,” Pashinyan added.

 09:37,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. The diplomatic relations between Armenia and Hungary are now fully restored after President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s official visit to Hungary on February 5-7, Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan has said.

“We didn’t have any high-level visits to Hungary for more than eleven years, and with this visit, we can say that the Armenian-Hungarian diplomatic relations are fully restored,” Hovhannisyan told Armenpress, describing the trip as comprehensive.

“I’d like to mention the importance which we attach to this in terms of partnership with the EU. Hungary will assume the EU presidency in July, and from this perspective Hungary’s stance is very important in terms of deepening and enhancing our partnership with the EU. Besides, a number of important sectoral cooperation directions were discussed,” Hovhannisyan said, pointing out the talks involving Healthcare Minister Anahit Avanesyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Artur Martirosyan with their counterparts, as well as discussions with lawmakers.

The Deputy FM said that given the Hungarian side’s interest, Armenia presented the Crossroads of Peace project.

“Hungary attaches importance to energy and transport projects in the South Caucasus, not only with Armenia but also with our neighboring countries. I think that all these issues were important for us and the visit served its goal,” Hovhannisyan said.

Hovhannisyan said that the Hungarian side regrets for what happened in the past and has done several steps to restore the diplomatic relations.

“Hungary provided support to the Gurgen Margaryan School, supported in the issue of release of prisoners of war, sent humanitarian aid during the pandemic. All of this shows that the Hungarian side regrets for the pain caused in the past and tries to restore the relations based on the existing rich historical ties. Hungary is home to one of the oldest Armenian communities. The Armenian community in Hungary enjoys a number of privileges: they have representation in parliament, and the Armenian church in Budapest has been restored. Hungary’s very sensitive approach towards Christian minorities also matches our approaches. All of this created the grounds to believe that there was a sincere desire to overcome that painful chapter and move forward,” Hovhannisyan said.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Hungary were severed in 2012 by then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan after Hungary extradited Ramil Safarov, the convicted murderer of an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan. Armenian military officer Lt. Gurgen Margaryan was murdered by Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov during a February 2004 training course organized by NATO in Hungary. Gurgen Margaryan was asleep in his room when Safarov attacked him with an axe. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hungarian court. However, in 2012 Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan upon Baku’s request, where he was pardoned.  On the same day, then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan severed diplomatic relations with Hungary.

10 years later, in 2022, Armenia and Hungary to restore diplomatic relations.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1129962.html?fbclid=IwAR220B2-pmVSGPy9Jq5pwYsaAJG4Nqir59wbOEoYsJg70Hn8lF0Pa_a3wIo

 09:50,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Iran supports the implementation of the Crossroads of Peace concept proposed by the Government of Armenia, the Embassy of Iran said in response to a query from Armenpress on Tehran’s stance regarding the project.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the implementation of the Crossroads of Peace concept because we are in favor of the expansion of connections within the region. We consider the countries’ right to sovereignty to be the main precondition for any project on unblocking of routes. We welcome the project which is conducive to the creation of the opportunity for Armenia’s role in the region’s system of dynamic economic ties. On the other hand, we believe that the strengthening of Armenia’s North-South connection direction is of great importance because through activating the Persian Gulf-Black Sea strategic transit corridor it efficiently ensures Armenia’s development and role in establishing connection between the two important continents and major economies. Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the readiness of Iranian companies to participate in the development of this axis. Our view is that this historical route must be maximally strengthened. The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes any project and initiative which can strengthen the strategic importance of Armenia’s North-South road. The Crossroads of Peace project, given the facilitation of the East-West connection, creates new opportunities for the development of the region and can become the guarantee for peace, security and prosperity for the region’s population. Certainly, one of the requirements for establishing sustainable peace in the region is the development of connections between neighbors,” the Embassy of Iran said.

The Armenian government’s Crossroads of Peace project is designed to establish connections between the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea via a consolidated, regional railway network and via the North-South and East-West roads.