Weekly update
9 July
According to armradio.am, after the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020, the conflict doesn’t stop existing just because Azerbaijani authorities are declaring that it does not exist, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Miroyan said in an interview with Greek newspaper “Kathimerini.” Nagorno Karabakh conflict still needs a final settlement through negotiations under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmanship; a settlement, which should provide guarantees of security and protection of all rights of the Armenians of Artsakh who continue to live in their ancestral land and accordingly the deriving final status of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, Azerbaijan continues its policy of provocative actions and threats of use of force. “After the situation unfolded in Ukraine, the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the village of Parukh in Nagorno-Karabakh, which was preceded by constant shelling of villages and civilian infrastructure, urging the peaceful Armenian population of neighboring villages to leave their homes under the threat of use of force, disruption of the operation of the gas pipeline for several weeks amid the unprecedented cold weather, etc, ” Minister Mirzoyan stated. “Currently, when the world focuses its attention on Ukraine, Azerbaijan may be tempted to launch a large-scale provocation at any moment. Hence, it is extremely important for the international community to undertake effective steps to prevent the attempts of destabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus,” he added.
https://en.armradio.am/2022/07/09/the-conflict-doesnt-stop-existing-just-because-one-of-the-sides-is-declaring-that-it-does-not-exist-armenian-fm/
8 July
Accusing Armenia of setting preconditions, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said the process of demarcation and delimitation of borders between the two countries will not be a simple. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan touted the benefits of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor.” In line with asbarez.com Bayramov told the APA news agency on Thursday that given the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the delimitation process will not be as simple as there are “sensitive moments.” He added, however, that Baku considers the formation of a commission to discuss the matter “progress.” “The formation of commissions on determining borders was a complex process in itself. Armenia had preconditions. They demanded de-escalation measures and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani soldiers from the borders,” Bayramov told APA. “However, Azerbaijan put forward its position. We believe that we stand on our borders and it is our duty to protect borders. This process should be conducted by analyzing historical and legal documents through negotiations with the participation of experts,” added Bayramov, who said the process cannot be completed in a short time. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia have agreed to form two commission, both of which are headed by those countries deputy prime ministers. Another commission is concurrently working on the process of opening transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a provision of the November 9, 2020 agreement.
https://asbarez.com/baku-says-border-delimitation-not-simple-while-turkish-envoy-speaks-of-zangezur-corridor/
7 July
The video broadcasted by CBC TV Azerbaijan on July 5 and spread with Greek translation by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Greece regarding the village of Mehmana of Artsakh and its historical-cultural heritage is nothing more than an irritating attempt to “export” Azerbaijan’s policy of Armenophobia and hatred against Armenians to other countries, the Embassy of Armenia in Greece said in a statement on social media. According to armenpress.am “The village of Mehmana of Artsakh’s Martakert region has been founded by four Greek miners, who, according to their descendants, were Greeks from Pontus who survived the genocide. Before the war Greeks and Armenians have lived here side by side, there have been many Armenian-Greek families. In 1992, as a result of the large-scale aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan captured the village of Mehmana together with the entire Martakert region, forcing its Greek residents together with thousands of Armenians to leave their homes”, the statement says. A year later Mehmana was liberated, and its residents had a contribution to it. The village, that was completely destroyed by the Azerbaijani armed forces, has been reconstructed and some of the Greeks returned back, including the 80-year-old grandfather of Sofi Ivanidis, who died in the village 15 years later. “The facts of “encroachment” of the Greek orthodox church and the Greek historical-cultural heritage in the video broadcasted on Azerbaijan’s CBC TV channel are also distorted and have nothing to do with the reality because that church is a Russian church located in Gevorgavan in Martuni region, which, has been destroyed during the first war and then during the 2020 war unleashed by Azerbaijan, by not giving a chance to restore it.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1087780.html
6 July
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Russia. According to azatutyun.am, the Kremlin said that the two leaders focused on “issues of ensuring security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the restoration of economic, transport and logistics ties in the South Caucasus.” The Armenian government’s press office similarly reported that Putin and Pashinian spoke about continuing efforts to demarcate the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and open it to travel and cargo shipments. It said they specifically discussed the work of a recently formed Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on the border demarcation. The commission held its first meeting at a border section on May 24. Its second session is due to be held in Russia. No date has been set for it yet. Moscow has been more actively involved in separate negotiations on Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links. A Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani commission dealing with the matter met in Moscow and Saint Petersburg last month.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31932010.html
5 July
In the wake of its aggression against Artsakh and its victory against Armenians therein, Azerbaijan is more than ever engaged in attempts to justify its actual occupation of large territorial fractions of this country and an alleged sovereignty over it and its Armenian inhabitants. To say it otherwise, Ilham Aliyev duly endorses the famous apocryphal statement assigned to Bismarck according to which “Macht geht über Recht.” According to armenianweekly.com this situation is facilitated by the great political weakness of Armenia, which so far is the main ally of the Republic of Artsakh. Such a weakness of course results from the military defeat, which weakens the current Armenian government, now strongly contested by a reinvigorated opposition supported by broad, if not dominant, segments of the population. Indeed, the defeat again made Artsakh the key contentious issue on Armenia’s political scene. This evolution is certainly logical, as the loss of Artsakh is rightfully perceived as an existential threat for Armenia itself. As a matter of confirmation, Azerbaijani troops started encroaching on strategic heights of Syunik, Armenia’s southern province, while the regime of Baku makes regular claims, not only over this region but also over Lake Sevan and Yerevan itself, i.e., over three quarters of the tiny Armenian territory. The current political conditions are so critical that Armenia is unable to guarantee the security of Artsakh, hardly its own security and that Russia, through its peacekeepers, is now the only guarantor of the security of the Republic of Artsakh.
https://armenianweekly.com/2022/07/05/using-the-aland-example-for-artsakh-is-ludicrous/
4 July
Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office officials claim new rules will only monitor “banned” content. Others argue they can be used to restrict freedom of speech. In line with hetq.am Armenian Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, in a letter today to the government, proposes that various state agencies discuss the issue of subjecting the security of information spread over the Internet to legal regulation and implementing state control over such content. The main problem with this proposal is that the prosecutor's office wants to monitor media publications and unsolicited posts by Facebook users, thus duplicating the functions of Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). Davtyan, in his letter, noted that Russia has created a list of “proscribed” information (including information on suicide methods and inciting suicide, preparation and use of narcotics, psychoactive substances, involvement of minors in illegal behavior, sale. information containing the offer of retail sale of restricted or prohibited drugs, alcoholic products, etc.) that needs to be blocked.
https://hetq.am/en/article/146218
3 July
When NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in Finland on June 12, yet again proclaimed that Turkey is a key ally whose “security concerns” must considered, any rational onlooker would have believed that he finally pulled the rug from underneath many Armenians who still cling to the fanciful belief that the “West” is still on their side. According to hetq.am these naive Armenians believe the West is sympathetic to their moral claims to justice, occupied lands, an independent status for Artsakh, et al. Realpolitik is never a part of the equation for many Armenians. Morality is very low on the list when the domianant nations of the world draft their foreign policy.The West’s strategic interests outweigh any moral demands such Armenians continue to clamor about in the streets of Yerevan or some cozy corner of the diaspora. Stoltenberg’s comments came on the heels of Turkey’s opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Ankara accuses the Nordic states of supporting and harboring “terrorists” (read Kurds). “We have to remember and understand that no NATO ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkiye,” Stoltenberg said with a straight face.
https://hetq.am/en/article/146177
2 July
The Armenian military has allegedly moved to call up dozens of opposition activists who have actively participated in opposition demonstrations aimed at toppling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Acording to azatutyun.am Pashinian’s cabinet approved last week a three-month call-up of more than 1,440 army reservists which will start on August 1. It cited the need to reinforce the armed forces with skilled and combat-ready personnel. Gegham Manukian, an opposition leader, said on Friday that he knows of several dozen opposition activists who have since received summonses from military commissariats dealing with mobilization. “We are now putting together all data to see which military commissariats are especially active,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Manukian linked the development with an effective order which a senior pro-government lawmaker issued to the country’s security apparatus on May 5 five days after the Armenian opposition began daily antigovernment protests in Yerevan.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31925207.html
Sources: armradio.am, asbarez.com, armenpress.am, azatutyun.am, armenianweekly.com, hetq.am