new promising era New Promising Era "President" & VP Nikol Pashinian

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Jan 22 2025

 

Trump, Congressional reps have a chance to elevate key needs for Armenia

“As much as President Trump is making America great again, it is time he and the [Congressional Armenian] Caucus make Armenia great again, writes Marshall Moushigian for Sun View.

byMarshall Moushigian

 

 

As President Trump finalizes his priority lists, Armenia should be at the top of many. When it comes to protecting Christians, Armenia is ground zero; when fostering the tech industry, Armenia is a world-leader relative to its size; when supporting democracies straddling Russia, the Middle East and Europe, Armenia is the keystone; when supporting free and dynamic citizens to serve as a counterbalance to the repressive turkic world, to wit Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia must be strengthened; and when doing right by a country that holds the unenviable title as victim of the 20th century’s first genocide, the scales of injustice are still tipped in favor of Turkey, and lately have tipped even farther thanks to the destruction wrought by Turkey’s lackey, Azerbaijan.

A Christian with a keen eye for opportunity, Trump has a golden opportunity to engage Armenia, via the Congressional Armenian Caucus, and elevate Armenia beyond the issues that mire its potential. Armenians have, from time immemorial, been creators, involved with activities of the mind. If Armenians are anything, they are ambitious; they are not lazy. 

The Congressional Armenian Caucus should emulate its constituents. For too long Armenians have accepted mediocrity from the Caucus, pleased, or pacified, with just their representative’s signature on legislation. A simple signature for a simple constituency used to be enough, but those days have long passed. Armenians have evolved into a major political force, highly relevant in every aspect of society. In Fresno, the physical and metaphysical heart of the Armenian Diaspora, that ambition and drive can inspire and guide the Caucus. 

In September of 1920 Turkey attacked the nascent Armenian republic, still in the throes of genocide, intending to “eliminate Armenia physically and politically”. Not coincidentally, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan launched its suicide drone and cluster bomb assault on the peaceful Christian Armenian civilians of Artsakh (FNA Nagorno Karabagh). Although the Turkish-backed and Israeli-armed onslaught was on Trump’s watch, the entire world during those early days of Covid minded a global commitment to refrain from aggression; Azerbaijan was the exception. Forty-four days after the bombardment began, a cease fire ended the carnage. But just over a year later, under former President Biden’s watch, Azerbaijan launched a complete blockade of Artsakh, continuing a genocide that has never ended. No food, medicine or supplies came in, and nobody could leave. Biden and his useless State Department apparatchiks of Secretary Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power did nothing until, in October of 2023, the 120,000 Armenians who for millennia called Artsakh home, were driven out. Not coincidentally, the Turkish republic was founded in October 1923. 

Since the Artsakh Armenians’ forced expulsion, the Azeris have destroyed ancient churches and other religious and cultural sites. Like Turkey, which has portrayed Armenians for over a century as villains, deserving of a genocide they deny, Azerbaijan continues to fan the flames of Armenophobia, portraying Armenians as vermin worthy of extermination, deserving of a genocide they promise. Azerbaijan now claims that Armenia is part of historic, albeit fictitious, “Western Azerbaijan”. Most recently Azerbaijan, taking a play from Russia’s Ukraine handbook, referred to Armenia as “a fascist state…and must be destroyed”. There are Azeri soldiers on Armenian soil. This is not good. The dark forces of despotism and prejudice are hard at work, and they are patient. The Armenian Genocide began in 1915, and the Turks and Azeris are methodically working today to complete the job. 

Engagement and coordination with the Caucus is key to reversing the tide of misery. Calling out Turkey, Azerbaijan and Israel for their aggression must run concurrent with this engagement. Opportunities for success must be recognized and seized. The Caucus certainly recognizes the issues, as evidenced by various Resolutions, but seizing them and taking productive action has escaped its members. 

In September 2022, just prior to the blockade, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Armenia. Her presence was intended to stave off further misery to the Armenians. Whether the signal to Azeri strongman Ilham Aliyev that the US would stand by Armenia was missed, or whether any signal was sent at all, the beginning of the end of Artsakh began four months later with the blockade. Upon her return, she and the entire Armenian Caucus, including Tom McClintock, David Valadao and Jim Costa, should have been in the Oval Office presenting their obvious case, demanding Biden act immediately to protect what was left of Armenia. No visit occurred. 

Tom McClintock and David Valadao are two committed and effective conservatives, passionate about their districts’ issues and people. Both have served on the Caucus for many years, but they box below their class when it comes to helping Armenia enjoy her full potential. They both have the talent and ability to be more effective. Valadao has been more active than McClintock in terms of legislation; McClintock’s shortcoming is that he is not well versed in Armenian issues. Meet-and-greets with the community are nice but, like most professionals requiring continuing education to maintain their credentials, McClintock would be well-advised to take a class on present-day Armenia, and the history that has put Armenia on the precipice of annihilation. 

Vince Fong is new to Congress but proved himself a champion of Armenian issues while in Sacramento. As the newest kid on the Capitol block, he should not let slip his chance to shine. Regarding Armenian issues and the Central Valley, Fong is the counterbalance and polar opposite of Jim Costa.

Jim Costa, a twenty-year Congressional veteran whose district covers much of Fresno, should be leading the charge in Congress. Instead, he delivers the same tired speeches and exhibits a lack of understanding of why Armenia is in such dire straits. Costa’s website mentions, in the same sentence, that he supports Genocide recognition and is a strong supporter of Israel. Yet Israel has provided over $7Billion worth of offensive weapons to Azerbaijan, knowing they are aimed at Christian Armenians, to help Azerbaijan continue the Genocide and finish off the Armenians. Israel provides the weapons for a genocide he condemns. 

 

Jim Costa’s time has run. Fresh energy and fresh ideas are needed and Michael Maher, who pushed Costa farther than any opponent to date, already has considerable Armenian support. He has that support because, along with energy, drive and fresh ideas, his grasp of Armenian issues, as I discovered in meeting with him and other engaged local Armenians, is deeper and broader than Costa could ever imagine. 

It’s an open secret that Costa will never retire from Congress. It’s also an open secret that his heart is in his Portuguese highlands. President Trump posting him there as US Ambassador would allow a respected and entrenched member of Congress to remain relevant.

Armenia has done nothing to deserve being on the receiving end of genocide. Along with being the first Christian nation, Armenia has a free press, a free society, and transparent elections. Azerbaijan has none of these qualities. Despite the malicious intentions and actions of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Israel, Armenia is a thriving democracy with a growing middle class and a booming tech industry. The key item Armenia lacks is oil; Azerbaijan has plenty. For all the right reasons, Armenia deserves the same level of passion and funding that have been bestowed on Israel and Ukraine. 

 

Turkey and Azerbaijan have made clear their intention to finish what was started in 1915, and Israel is eager to profit by supplying Azerbaijan with more suicide drones and cluster bombs. US priorities must be reexamined and recalibrated, and Armenia falls squarely into this analysis. The Caucus must step up instead of idling along. McClintock, Fong, and Valadao certainly have the talent and ability; perhaps they need to be reminded why Armenia is important, aside from how it affects the vote count in November. As much as President Trump is making America great again, it is time he and the Caucus make Armenia great again. 

https://sjvsun.com/view/trump-congressional-reps-have-a-chance-to-elevate-key-needs-for-armenia/

 

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Together for Peace and Democracy: Nordic-Baltic meets Armenia discussion opens in Yerevan

Read the article in:ՀայերենРусский

The Together for Peace and Democracy: Nordic-Baltic meets Armenia panel discussion has commenced in Yerevan.

The event is attended by the speakers and deputy speakers of parliament of Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) countries, including Estonia’s President of the Riigikogu Lauri Hussar, Latvia’s Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa, Finland’s Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho, Norway’s President of the Storting Masud Gharahkhani, Denmark’s Deputy Speaker of the Folketing Karsten Hønge, Lithuania’s First Deputy Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas, Sweden’s First Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag Kenneth G. Forslund and other officials. 

Armenian Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan delivered opening remarks. 

 

 

https://armenpress.am/en/article/1210246?fbclid=IwY2xjawH_5ZZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHc2IxCbw8e78-UtxxENpbr_tLF3S6C1OqM2UEJ_18-mGO6-1Esy8U_StjQ_aem_7FVmk45ujufdDWwc5pdy2w

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Azatutyun.am

 

Parliament Panel Approves Bill On Armenia’s EU Membership

Հունվար 24, 2025

• Shoghik Galstian

 

Belgium - European Union and Armenian flags fly outside the EU headquarters in Brussels.

 

A standing committee of the Armenian parliament on Friday endorsed a government-backed bill calling for the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union,” paving the way for its adoption by the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government approved the bill on January 9, prompting criticism from Russia. A senior Russian official swiftly warned that Armenia risks paying a huge economic price for its EU membership bid.

Armenian opposition leaders have likewise described the move as reckless and warned of its severe consequences of the domestic economy heavily dependent on Russia’s vast market, cheap energy resources and capital inflows. Pashinian appears to have ignored these warnings, saying on Thursday that the parliament will likely pass the bill.

The bill was drafted by several pro-Western political and civic groups largely loyal to Pashinian. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU.

Representatives of those groups defended their initiative during a nearly four-hour meeting of the parliament committee on European integration. One of them, Artak Zeyanlian, said the EU membership bid will “increase the Armenian government’s resilience” in the new “geopolitical situation” in and around the region. Two opposition lawmakers present at the meeting disputed the claim.

“Do we understand the geopolitical and economic challenges we will face in the coming years if we adopt this law?” one of them, Armen Gevorgian, said.

The parliament’s legal experts questioned its conformity with Armenia’s relevant laws and international obligations. Nevertheless, the parliament panel dominated by pro-government deputies approved the bill. This means that it will be debated on the parliament floor on February 11.

Armenia - The parliament committee on European integration meets in Yerevan, January 24, 2025.

Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian, who also spoke during the committee meeting, did not clarify what exactly Pashinian’s government is planning to do after its passage. Pashinian said on January 9 that the referendum on EU membership should be held only after Yerevan and the EU work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s accession to the bloc. No EU member state has officially voiced support for such a prospect so far.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk stated later on January 9 that the launch of the accession process marks the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union,” a Russian-led trace bloc. That exit, he said, would push up the cost of Russian natural gas and food imported by Armenia and cause a sharp decline in Armenian exports.

Armenian officials responded by emphasizing that Yerevan has no plans yet to leave the EEU. Overchuk reiterated his warnings afterwards, however.

According to Armenian government data, Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in January-November 2024, compared with the EU’s 7.5 percent share. Russia is also Armenia’s principal supplier of natural gas and nuclear fuel.

Armenia pays the Gazprom giant $165 per thousand cubic meters of Russian gas used by not only power plants and households but also the vast majority of car owners in the country. Wholesale gas prices in the EU are currently three times higher than that.

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33287952.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIBep5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbyYAJyExTo3AaQ_5QryWO1DJFxSr2E5nKYoFuaXi6GREO0j0A5iHv-tag_aem_6XgQWejAXxU7c_SYtnNnog

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Armenpress.am

 

Armenia22:59, 25 January 2025

Intelligence indicates banned methods used against Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan to extort testimonies for escalation, warns PM

Read the article in: العربيةفارسیFrançaisՀայերենქართულიРусский简体中文

Armenia has intelligence data indicating that the Azerbaijani authorities are using banned psychoactive methods against the Armenian prisoners in order to extort narratives or testimonies aimed at inciting regional escalation, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

Pashinyan was asked during an interview aired on Public Television to comment on allegations that his administration hasn’t done much to release the Armenian prisoners in Baku because the detained former Karabakh officials are said to be his political opponents.

The Prime Minister strongly denied these allegations.

“I don’t consider anyone there to be my political opponent, and furthermore, we realize that what is happening there is not only seriously concerning but will be used and is used for inciting new escalation in the region. Moreover, we have intelligence data that banned psychoactive methods are being used against those individuals in order to extort narratives and testimonies aimed at inciting regional escalation. We are deeply concerned over this process,” Pashinyan said.

Commenting on the trial in Baku, he added, “That trial will be used against the Republic of Armenia, it is possible that through banned psychoactive methods they will extort from those individuals the kind of testimonies that will be used against the Republic of Armenia in the most various ways. We understand this issue very well and very deeply.”

Pashinyan said the government is doing everything it can to resolve the matter.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1210452?fbclid=IwY2xjawIDfkNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHc0KKYHZPXIOYYsuvM8-RznPZINP6m8fPZNafKgSV25y5w1rZwjnZWlenQ_aem_zSYqH2LT54pMWu0U3YZ4kQ

[MosJan]

 

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Azatutyun.am

 

Pashinian Under Fire After Questioning Armenian Genocide

Հունվար 27, 2025

• Ruzanna Stepanian

 

Switzerland - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets a group of Diaspora Armenians in Zurich, January 24, 2025.

 

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has provoked a storm of criticism from his political opponents and historians after questioning the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey and the decades-long Armenian campaign for its international recognition.

“We must also revisit the history of the Armenian genocide,” Pashinian told a group of Swiss Armenians at the end of his visit to Switzerland late last week. “We must understand what happened and why it happened, how we perceived it and through whom we perceived. How is it that in 1939 there was no Armenian genocide [recognition] agenda and how is it that in 1950 the Armenian genocide agenda emerged?”

Suren Manukian, an Armenian scholar specializing in genocide studies, deplored the statement, saying that Pashinian lacks elementary knowledge of the World War One-era slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians recognized as genocide by dozens of countries and most international historians.

“Semi-literacy is one of the most dangerous things,” Manukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “I think the prime minister just needs to read a little.”

One thing Pashinian will learn, he said, is that the term “genocide” was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin after 1939, during the Jewish Holocaust. Lemkin also drew on the events of 1915.

Armenia - People walk to the Tsitsernakabert memorial in Yerevan during an annual commemoration of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, April 24, 2021.

In Manukian’s words, Pashinian hinted that Armenian started calling the 1915 mass massacres a genocide and campaigning for its international recognition at the behest of the Soviet Union. The scholar countered that Soviet Armenia was allowed to mark genocide anniversaries only in 1965, more than a decade after the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Armenian opposition leaders went farther, accusing Pashinian of openly denying the genocide on Turkey’s orders.

“Armenia is ruled by a collaborationist regime that serves only Turkey and Azerbaijan,” said Gegham Manukian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a pan-Armenian party that has for decades been at the forefront of genocide recognition campaigns in the United States and Europe.

“This is an insult to the memory of the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, one and a half million Armenian martyrs canonized by the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church,” read a statement released by Dashnaktsutyun’s chapter in Armenia on Monday.

Tigran Abrahamian, an opposition lawmaker representing the Pativ Unem bloc, likewise said that Pashinian’s “denial of the Armenian Genocide” is part of Turkish-Azerbaijani efforts to wipe out the “historical memory of the Armenian people.”

U.S. - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meet in New York, September 24, 2024.

Vartan Oskanian, another vocal critic of Pashinian who had served as foreign minister from 1998-2008, charged that he committed “treason” by “parroting” Ankara’s continuing denial of the genocide.

“By hinting that perhaps Armenians themselves are also responsible for what happened, Pashinian repeats one of the most dangerous theses of genocide denial which has been propagated by the Turkish state for more than a century,” Oskanian said in a Facebook post.

Pashinian was accused by his detractors of casting doubt on the Armenian genocide even before his latest comments.

In his statement on the 109^th anniversary of the genocide commemorated in April 2024, Pashinian no longer called for its wider international recognition. He also put the emphasis on the Armenian phrase “Meds Yeghern” (Great Crime), rather than the word “genocide.”

Earlier in April, a senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker, Andranik Kocharian, called for “verifying” the number of the genocide victims and ascertaining the circumstances of their deaths. He said Pashinian wants to “make the entire list of compatriots subjected to genocide more objective.” Faced with an uproar from opposition leaders, civil society figures and genocide scholars, Kocharian claimed the following day that he only expressed his personal opinion.

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33290488.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIFardleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdURk3JtJgc-glgZpVsoADSeC47qna3CsP5M08mspc-6CVE35515dPOf3g_aem_A_8wkN7lkVvvqTRJoeGEvg

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Pashinian Allies Deny Questioning Of Armenian Genocide

Հունվար 28, 2025

• Ruzanna Stepanian

 

Switzerlan - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets a group of Diaspora Armenians in Zurich, January 24, 2025.

 

Political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have insisted that he did not deny or question the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey in remarks that sparked an uproar from Armenian historians, opposition figures and retired diplomats.

Pashinian stressed the need to “revisit the history of the Armenian genocide” when he met with a group of Diaspora Armenians in Switzerland late last week.

“We must understand what happened and why it happened, how we perceived it and through whom we perceived. How is it that in 1939 there was no Armenian genocide [recognition] agenda and how is it that in 1950 the Armenian genocide agenda emerged?” he said, implying that foreign powers were instrumental in the decades-long Armenian campaign for international recognition of the genocide.

Critics expressed outrage at the remarks, saying that he cast doubt on the fact that the World War One-era slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians constituted genocide.

Vartan Oskanian, a vocal critic of Pashinian who had served as foreign minister from 1998-2008, accused him of “parroting” Turkey’s continuing denial of the genocide. Another former foreign minister, Ara Ayvazian, likewise decried “the beginning of the denial of our national tragedy.”

Pashinian and his office did not react to these accusations by Tuesday evening. The chorus of condemnations was dismissed instead by several senior members of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.

“The well-known information troops of the empire are … trying to prove that the prime minister questioned the fact of the Armenian genocide in Switzerland, which is an absolute lie,” said Vahagn Aleksanian, the party’s deputy chairman.

In his words, Pashinian simply made the point that “when you look at your tragedy with your own eyes, when you don't need a mediator to mourn and face your tragedy, then the empire doesn't have much to sell you.”

Like Pashinian, Aleksanian seemed to refer to Russia and the Soviet Union as the driving force behind the genocide recognition drive. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service at the weekend, Suren Manukian, an Armenian scholar specializing in genocide studies, countered that Moscow reluctantly allowed Soviet Armenia to mark genocide anniversaries only in 1965.

Pashinian himself stated in 2021 that the Ottoman regime of the so-called Young Turks was solely responsible for the genocide. He said the purpose of its deliberate effort to exterminate the Armenian and other minorities of the Ottoman Empire was to “create a monoethnic and expansionist Turkey.”

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33292202.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIGXLhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVyWBc70CssJQVRwidZ1nu7sVN7rBnzUFdLNCcExUTiIPfF1uiysZh6REQ_aem_j-nmsRcKsimGpZOlItVmIQ

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Aliyev Again Demands Corridor Through Armenia

Հունվար 28, 2025

 

A view of the Arax river separating Armenia and Iran.

 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev continued to demand on Tuesday that Armenia open a land corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave.

“Armenia must fulfill its obligations and ensure unhindered passage from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan,” he said during a meeting with Azerbaijani government officials.

Aliyev accused Yerevan of not complying with a relevant provision of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The clause commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. It says that Russian border guards will “control” the movement of people, vehicles and goods.

The Armenian government maintains that the truce accord calls for only conventional transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan and does not exempt people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan from Armenian border checks. The government’s Crossroads of Peace project regularly promoted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stipulates that the two South Caucasus states should have full control of transport infrastructure inside each other’s territory.

Aliyev shrugged off the project, saying Baku has repeatedly made clear to Yerevan that it is “not worth a penny.” He accused the Armenian side of misleading the international community with various “manipulations.”

Pashinian insisted on the project in response to Aliyev’s January 7 threats to forcibly open the “Zangezur corridor.” He said Yerevan is still awaiting Baku’s reply to its “very concrete proposal” on the issue made after his most recent talks with the Azerbaijani leader held in October.

Armenian officials said earlier in 2024 that Azerbaijan may be planning to launch another military aggression against Armenia after hosting the COP29 climate summit in November. Pashinian’s domestic critics as well as some analysts have portrayed Aliyev’s threats as a further indication of Baku’s war preparations.

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33292099.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIGXcJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaBmpt4cA9sZlomkGxLApt0FZbWPuUb9dn1AA6ftf03g3j6N9PaH20ULsg_aem_HSz0CK3OGYbSUlmf_iY7Nw

[Yervant1]

ARKA, Armenia

Jan 29 2025

 

Almost half of Armenian citizens do not intend to file income tax returns – survey

The results of a survey conducted by the Armenian office of the GALLUP International Association showed that the newly introduced system of universal income declaration has caused dissatisfaction among citizens, with almost half of the respondents indicating their intention not to fill it out.

YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. The results of a survey conducted by the Armenian office of the GALLUP International Association showed that the newly introduced system of universal income declaration has caused dissatisfaction among citizens, with almost half of the respondents indicating their intention not to fill it out.

According to the survey, 18.5% of respondents will definitely fill out the declaration, 19.1% are likely to do so, 18.2% are unlikely to do so, and 31.7% will definitely not fill it out.

At the same time, only 9.8% of respondents stated they are fully aware of how to fill out the declaration, 18.9% are partially informed, 16.1% are somewhat uninformed, and 52.9% of citizens indicated they do not know how to fill out the declaration.

About the Declaration System
The system of universal income declaration for citizens and residents has been implemented in Armenia since January 1, 2023, and will continue for three years. As stated by Armenia's former Minister of Finance, Tigran Khachatryan, in November 2022, the declaration were to be pre-filled by the tax authorities. The idea was that data available to the tax authorities would be automatically entered into the declaration, after which it would be sent via email for review.

Under the new procedure, all adult resident citizens must submit a declaration.

In the first stage, declarations were submitted by citizens holding community or public positions and their family members, as well as individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activities.

In the second stage, beginning in 2024, declarations were filled out by employees in the private sector and workers who received income under civil law contracts.

Starting in 2025, declarations will need to be submitted by all resident citizens of the country who do not fall into the two aforementioned groups.

Citizens are required to submit their declarations by May 1 of each year following the reporting year. Failure to comply or late submission will result in fines — 50,000 drams for entrepreneurs and 5,000 drams for other citizens. ($1 = 398.36 drams)

https://arka.am/en/news/society/almost-half-of-armenian-citizens-do-not-intend-to-file-income-tax-returns-survey/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Politics12:02, 30 January 2025

Simplified transit procedures could be considered in unblocking routes with Azerbaijan, says Armenian FM

Read the article in: ՀայերենქართულიРусский简体中文

Armenia considers the possibility of simplifying transit procedures through its territory for transport connection with Azerbaijan in case of unblocking the connection routes, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has said.

Armenpress asked FM Mirzoyan to comment on Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev’s latest statement regarding the unblocking of routes in the region. 

“We support the idea of unblocking connections in the region,” Mirzoyan said at a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart Maka Botchorishvili. He said that Yerevan’s position in the matter is well-known. Mirzoyan said Armenia has conveyed constructive proposals to Azerbaijan and is waiting for a response.

Armenia’s vision for the unblocking would bring great economic benefits to the entire region, including Armenia itself, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Mirzoyan said.

“Our approaches are reflected in the Crossroads of Peace project which is based on the principles of territorial integrity and countries’ sovereignty over connections and infrastructures,” he said.

Mirzoyan emphasized that all countries seek to simplify logistics in the present days.

“If the routes are unblocked with Azerbaijan, we too see some simplified procedures that could be applied, from which Armenia and Azerbaijan could benefit,” Mirzoyan said, reaffirming that Yerevan’s position regarding the matter is unchanged.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently said that Armenia’s Crossroads of Peace project is meaningless without Azerbaijan. He claimed that Armenia must provide unobstructed passage between Azerbaijan proper and its exclave of Nakhchivan.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1210757?fbclid=IwY2xjawIJM1dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYr_XSeZCSVyaH4OXYehwl_wiK3Ihc75sVJwpVCON0AR5xEM6L9FKuYEjg_aem_ctQQMTjyt3L3yOCK4JmZ6w

[Yervant1]

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Armenpress.am

 

Politics14:50, 30 January 2025

EUMA chief joins patrol on Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Read the article in: العربيةفارسیՀայերենРусский

The European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) on Thursday said it will stay committed to security in the region.

In a post on X, EUMA said that Head of Mission Markus Ritter joined the patrol in Martuni and observed the situation on the border with Azerbaijan.

“EUMA Head of Mission Markus Ritter joined the patrol in FOB Martuni and observed the situation on the Armenian side of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Grateful to local villagers for coffee and hospitality. EUMA is proud for the trust in community and will stay committed to security in the region,” EUMA said.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1210780?fbclid=IwY2xjawIJNEpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHT5wCBgS_MTBF27klCqRSgslmfqMZ6cKi4so4LeSySq2SlUGSljWWHwQ4w_aem_NEviN7IaYVyddvi5FEohyQ

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Pashinian Denies Questioning Armenian Genocide

Հունվար 31, 2025

• Ruzanna Stepanian

 

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a news conference in Yerevan, January 31, 2025.

 

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian insisted on Friday that he did not deny or question the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, responding to a wave of condemnation of his comments on the subject made late last week.

“Denial of the genocide is a criminal offense in Armenia,” he told a news conference. “The fact of the genocide is indisputable and undeniable.”

Speaking during a visit to Switzerland on January 24, Pashinian said Armenians should “understand what happened” in 1915 and what prompted the subsequent campaigning for international recognition of the slaughter of some 1.5 million as genocide. He seemed to imply that foreign powers, notably the Soviet Union, were behind that campaign.

Armenian historians, opposition figures and retired diplomats expressed outrage at the remarks, saying that Pashinian cast doubt on the fact of the genocide officially recognized by over three dozen countries, including the United Staes. Some of them claimed that this is part of his efforts to cozy up to Turkey, which continues to deny a deliberate government effort to exterminate the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.

Some Armenian Diaspora groups that have long been at the forefront of the recognition campaign have also deplored Pashinian’s remarks. Catholicos Aram I, the Lebanon-based number two figure in the Armenian Apostolic Church hierarchy, on Thursday urged Pashinian not to “make the undeniable fact that the Armenian genocide was masterminded by the Ottoman Empire a subject of discussion.”

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a U.S. legal think-tank, joined in the chorus of criticism, saying that Pashinian is helping Turkey deny the genocide.

“By implying that basic questions about the Armenian Genocide, such as ‘what happened and why it happened,’ have not yet been adequately answered, Pashinian’s statement works to challenge the Armenian Genocide as an established historical fact,” it said.

Armenia - People walk to the Tsitsernakabert memorial in Yerevan during an annual commemoration of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, April 24, 2022.

Pashinian countered on Friday he simply wants Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora to rethink their “formulas for perceiving the world.”

“We may not have accurately perceived the realities at the beginning of the [20^th] century, in the middle of the century, at the end of the century and even today,” he said. “Perhaps we place too much hope in some external encouragement.”

Pashinian caused a similar uproar with his statement issued in April 2024 on the 109^th anniversary of the genocide. In that statement, he no longer called for its wider international recognition. He also put the emphasis on the Armenian phrase “Meds Yeghern” (Great Crime), rather than the word “genocide.”

Earlier in April, a senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker, Andranik Kocharian, called for “verifying” the number of the genocide victims and ascertaining the circumstances of their deaths. He said Pashinian wants to “make the entire list of compatriots subjected to genocide more objective.” Faced with strong condemnations from opposition leaders, civil society figures and genocide scholars, Kocharian claimed the following day that he only expressed his personal opinion.

 

 

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[Yervant1]

Interfax

Jan 31 2025

 

Armenia invites Azerbaijan to launch rail freight transportation - PM

 

YEREVAN. Jan 31 (Interfax) - Yerevan has offered Baku to launch rail freight transportation, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

"We have made a concrete proposal to Azerbaijan regarding the reopening of communications. It is based on the stance of both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Given those stances, we invite Baku to launch rail freight transportation from western Azerbaijani regions to Nakhchivan through the Armenian city of Meghri, and back," Pashinyan said at a press conference on Friday.

He added that Yerevan had offered Baku to begin rail freight transportation from Yeraskh, Armenia, to Meghri via Nakhchivan. "We will start thinking about passenger transportation later on, under proper circumstances. We are waiting for a positive response from Azerbaijan. I see no reason why they should refuse," Pashinyan said.

https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/109513/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Politics13:01, 3 February 2025

Armenian parliament sets up friendship group with Saudi Arabia

Read the article in: EspañolՀայերենქართულიРусскийTürkçe

The Armenian parliament will set up a friendship group with Saudi Arabia.

The decision to form the Armenia-Saudi Arabia parliamentary friendship group was approved at the parliament foreign relations committee on Monday.

The Saudi parliament recently also formed the friendship group with Armenia.

“I think this is a very commendable step, especially when diplomatic relations are just developing, and we will mutually create the friendship group,” chair of the foreign relations committee, MP Sargis Khandanyan said at the session.

Armenia and Saudi Arabia established diplomatic relations in 2023.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1211024?fbclid=IwY2xjawIOdXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXXG6vXD5EfkBBKXdtK4dwCbcL11HG7CN_8EiV9ktmxoLIRNtpQXUE-PRg_aem_cesd1WRdQFbYTPbuUtVHZw

[MosJan]

 

[MosJan]

 

[MosJan]

 

[MosJan]

 

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Azatutyun.am

 

Details Emerge On Turks Extradited By Armenia

Փետրվար 06, 2025

• Artak Khulian

 

Turkey - A screenshot from video of Turkish policemen escorting two men extradited by Armenia, January 19, 2025.

 

The two Turkish nationals handed over by Armenian law-enforcement authorities last month to Turkey completed 11-month prison sentences in Armenia before their extradition, court records show.

The men, Ercan Yilmaz and Ibrahim Kaymak, were flown to Turkey on January 19. The Turkish police described them as members of a Turkish organized crime group who have long been wanted in their country.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said they were extradited “in response to a request from Interpol under its Red Notice. It said Ankara “appreciates the cooperation demonstrated in this matter by Armenia.”

Announcing the extraditions, the Armenian government did not clarify when and how Yilmaz and Kaymak entered Armenia.

According to detailed information posted on Armenia’s official judicial portal, they arrived from neighboring Georgia and settled in Yerevan in November 2023, using false Bulgarian passports provided to them by an Armenian national, Armen Mkrtchian. The two Turks were arrested in February 2023 before being indicted and put on trial.

In September, a court in the northern Armenian town of Ijevan convicted them of forgery and illegal border crossing and sentenced them to 11 months in prison. They both pleaded guilty to the accusations. The 38-year-old Mkrtchian got off with a fine of 3 million drams ($7,500).

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33305761.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawISWU5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQg85nT7ZhT1uAVQsKGcCapl1vhrrh5zdjxyZRiHJ7XtUxCnJW3dHe5QtQ_aem_-CsWtn49avgSRc1jX4LOBg

[Yervant1]

OC Media
Feb 10 2025


Pashinyan says ‘real threats are being generated’ in Azerbaijan against Armenia

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

In an article published on Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan insisted that the claims about Armenia’s intention to attack Azerbaijan ‘are simply made-up’. Instead, he noted that ‘solutions to this situation are on the table’ and those were ‘generated as a result of the joint work’ of the sides.

‘Armenia is purportedly preparing to attack Azerbaijan, therefore it is better for Azerbaijan to attack Armenia as a preventive measure’, Pashinyan wrote, attempting to ‘restate’ the ‘official narrative’ of Azerbaijan ‘in shorter and simpler terms’.

Pashinyan suggested there are ‘two potential origins’ of those narratives — ‘either Azerbaijan really thinks that Armenia intends to attack Azerbaijan, or Azerbaijan intends to attack Armenia and is trying to create a foundation for doing so’.

Pashinyan dismissed the narrative of Armenia’s intention to attack Azerbaijan as ‘simply made-up’.

In order to prove his point, he reiterated that Armenia has no territorial claims against Azerbaijan in addition to having no intention of  ‘using military means’ to return control over Armenia’s ‘more than 200 square kilometres of territories’ occupied by Azerbaijan in 2021 and 2022.

Instead, he stated that there was ‘a real and substantive possibility to resolve it in practice in the demarcation process’.

‘A gross violation of international law’

Pashinyan also addressed Azerbaijan’s continuing criticism of Armenia’s procurement of arms.

This issue has been raised by several high-ranking Azerbaijani officials multiple times, and was touched upon during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest interview in early January, when Aliyev insisted that Armenia ‘must immediately stop arming’.

At the time, Aliyev claimed that ‘arming Armenia will simply lead to new tensions’, and posed an additional demand — ‘the weapons that have already been sent to Armenia must be returned’.

Azerbaijan’s demands come as the country is increasing its military budget, as well as saying that defence spending is a ‘number one priority’. Azerbaijan has also continued to scale up its arms purchases.

Pashinyan wrote that Armenia was ‘reforming’ its army ‘to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty’, calling it an ‘internationally-recognized right of any country’, and saying that challenging it was ‘a gross violation of international law’.

Pashinyan did not deny that the reforms were also connected to Azerbaijan, elaborating that ‘threats to the security’ of Armenia were generated there.

As an example, Pashinyan cited the ‘Western Azerbaijan’ narrative, an irredentist concept commonly used by the Azerbaijani authorities to lay claim to the territory of modern-day Armenia.

Pashinyan stated that the narrative was ‘sponsored by the top leadership of Azerbaijan’, which has posed territorial claims against 60% of the sovereign territory of Armenia.

‘Now, let us see this in combination with the staged trial taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan’s billion-dollars procurement of weapons, and [...] Baku’s aggressive rhetoric, only to make it clear that real threats are being generated in Azerbaijan against the security of the Republic of Armenia’, Pashinyan wrote.

Pashinyan accuses Azerbaijan of drugging imprisoned former Nagorno-Karabakh officials
Pashinyan concluded his article by pointing at the ‘solutions’, which ‘are on the table’ and were ‘generated as a result of the joint work’ of the two sides.
He reiterated that ‘the agreed part’ of the peace treaty was ‘sufficiently weighty and mature for signing’, and that Armenia ‘has proposed comprehensive solutions’ for the two non-agreed articles.

Pashinyan also enumerated other proposals submitted by the Armenian side, and noted that the works of the bilateral commissions on border demarcation ‘are operating normally and constructively’, and that commissions for prisoners of war, hostages, and missing persons of the sides held a meeting last Friday.

‘All of this means that there are no prerequisites for escalation in the region and, moreover, all the prerequisites for peace have been put in place’, Pashinyan said, adding that it was necessary ‘to abandon staged actions and a policy of staging escalations, and to establish institutional peace’.

‘Armenia not only is ready for this but will not divert from this path’, Pashinyan concluded.

https://oc-media.org/pashinyan-says-real-threats-are-being-generated-in-azerbaijan-against-armenia/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Politics12:22, 11 February 2025

No response from Azerbaijan for three months, says Armenian Speaker of Parliament

Read the article in: العربيةEspañolՀայերենРусскийTürkçe简体中文

Azerbaijan hasn’t responded to Armenia’s latest peace treaty proposals for three months now, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Simonyan emphasized that Armenia doesn’t seek to mislead anyone and this is obvious for all international partners.

“Armenia is offering concrete mechanisms to Azerbaijan and is ready to discuss these mechanisms, because the goal of both the government and the people of Republic of Armenia is well known, it is the establishment of peace. The accusations often made by Azerbaijan have absolutely nothing to do with Armenia,” Simonyan said.

At the same time, Simonyan said he doesn’t think that the negotiations are in a deadlock. He mentioned the ongoing delimitation and demarcation process.

“Indeed, it is already the third month that the Azerbaijani side hasn’t anyhow responded to our proposal. The Azerbaijani posture is highly concerning, we have been talking about this with all our international partners. I think it would be good if Azerbaijan resumed its participation in the peace process. We have presented a package and we are waiting for a response. We still don’t have a response,” Speaker Simonyan said.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1211711?fbclid=IwY2xjawIYnDtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZYp4X5fv1nwjwrX9aMlC8k3ANdtT0TKwl7gASatDF04an3ub3QP53ar3w_aem__qZj29Guq-Nlv1Xt6SpQAg

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

 

Politics15:24, 13 February 2025

Armenia to defend itself with all means at its disposal in case of Azeri attack, says official

Read the article in: العربيةEspañolفارسیFrançaisՀայերենქართულიРусскийTürkçe简体中文

In case of a possible Azerbaijani aggression Armenia must defend its territorial integrity with all means at its disposal, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan has said.

At a press briefing on Thursday Kostanyan was asked what actions Armenia would take if Azerbaijan were to launch an attack in an attempt to capture territory and open an extraterritorial corridor. “Naturally, the Republic of Armenia must defend its territorial integrity with all instruments at its disposal,” he said.

He dismissed the Azerbaijani accusations regarding Armenia’s arms supplies, emphasizing that Armenia is exercising its sovereign right and is developing its defense capabilities.

“As mentioned in the past, we do not have any intention to attack any of our neighbors. Regarding the so-called arms race, which we are witnessing in the region, in the direction of addressing this issue Armenia has offered Azerbaijan to create a mutual mechanism for arms control, and the offer is still in force,” Kostanyan said.

 

 

 

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1211952?fbclid=IwY2xjawIb6GlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYr5vyphaCH_E5yLxaSpyaCoUR-0gZKM32ti7oVyT03yPUHxEuQ3OhHIFw_aem_efORIIG42jFA1LiQYxua3w

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Pashinian Admits Receiving New Karabakh Peace Plan In 2019

Փետրվար 13, 2025

• Ruzanna Stepanian

 

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian attends his government's question-and-answer session in parliament, Yerevan, February 12, 2025.

 

Contradicting his earlier claims, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has acknowledged that international mediators presented Armenia and Azerbaijan with an updated plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict one year after he came to power in 2018.

Armenian opposition leaders have for years claimed that Pashinian’s failure to accept it paved the way for the disastrous 2020 war in Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s subsequent recapture of the region.

The proposed peace deal was based on the so-called Madrid Principles of a Karabakh settlement originally drafted by the U.S., Russian and French mediators in 2007. It upheld the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination while calling for their withdrawal from Azerbaijani districts around Karabakh occupied in the early 1990s. Karabakh’s internationally recognized status would be determined through a future referendum.

The 2019 plan is understood to have been the last version of the Madrid Principles. Pashinian denied its existence in December 2019.

Pashinian admitted receiving it in June 2019 during his government’s question-and-answer session in the Armenian parliament on Wednesday. He played down that fact, though.

“What was put on the table [at the time] was the result of negotiations that took place before me,” Pashinian said, answering a question from Agnesa Khamoyan of the opposition Hayastan alliance.

Armenia - Opposition deputy Agnesa Khamoyan attends a session of parliament.

“You deceived Armenia’s citizens by declaring that there is no document on the negotiating table,” charged Khamoyan.

Pashinian denied lying to Armenians, saying that “there was always a document on the negotiating table.”

“Whether the document on the negotiating table was new or old, you hid it from Armenia’s citizens,” insisted the opposition lawmaker.

Pashinian did not clarify whether he rejected the 2019 plan and, if so, why.

The Armenian premier has repeatedly criticized the Madrid Principles since the 2020 war. In particular, he claimed in 2021 that the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group sought a “surrender of lands” to Azerbaijan and offered the Armenian side nothing in return.

The then Russian co-chair of the group, Igor Popov, bluntly denied that in written comments posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. He said Yerevan and Baku intensively negotiated on the proposed peace formula until Pashinian’s government “came up with new approaches” in 2018.

Popov argued that under the 2019 peace plan, Karabakh would have an internationally recognized interim status and retain control of two of the seven surrounding Azerbaijani districts pending the future referendum on its status.

Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Yerevan, February 20, 2019.

In 2021, former President Serzh Sarkisian publicized the secretly recorded audio of a 2019 meeting during which Pashinian said he opposes the plan because it would not immediately formalize Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. Pashinian can also be heard saying that he is ready to “play the fool or look a bit insane” in order to avoid such a settlement.

In December 2024, Pashinian doubled down on his strong criticism of the peace proposals jointly made by the United States, Russia and France, saying that they all were about “returning Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.”

Sarkisian and the two other former Armenian presidents -- Levon Ter-Petrosian Robert Kocharian -- responded by accusing Pashinian of continuing to distort the history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process. Ter-Petrosian also challenged the prime minister to publicize all peace plans put forward by the mediators from 1994 onwards along with Yerevan’s official responses to them.

Pashinian claimed on Wednesday that he is ready to do that but that his administration has still not managed to find those documents.

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33313937.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIb8E9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHahUG5eDhpT9n61xtdRc9LDl8i8GB1NGBCsW7YPmbgl36cYjiLOrHMoPuQ_aem_rm1zXdKWYrzLQoIOmugASA

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Armenian Officials Ambiguous About Corridor Sought By Baku

Փետրվար 13, 2025

• Shoghik Galstian

 

Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and speaker Alen Simonian arrive for a session in parliament, February 12, 2025.

 

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political allies have made ambiguous statements about his terms for opening transport links between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia, fueling opposition claims that Yerevan may have agreed to an extraterritorial corridor demanded by Baku.

Pashinian’s government rejected, at least until recently, Azerbaijani demands for people and cargo transported to and from Nakhichevan to be exempt from Armenian border checks. But it also expressed readiness to put in place “simplified procedures” for Armenian-Azerbaijani border crossings and cargo transit.

The government sent relevant proposals to Baku last October. It still refuses to publicize them. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian stoked speculation about the nature of those proposals on Tuesday when he said that Yerevan is prepared to guarantee “unhindered” traffic between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan.

“Whatever that road is … they [Azerbaijan] will call it a corridor,” Simonian said, echoing Pashinian’s comments made at a news conference earlier this month.

Faced with an opposition outcry, the controversial speaker tried to walk back on his statement on Wednesday, saying that Pashinian’s administration continues to oppose the “Zangezur corridor” sought by the Azerbaijani side.

Opposition leaders were unconvinced by Simonian’s assurances. They voiced more concerns on Thursday after two other senior pro-government lawmakers pointedly declined to say whether the proposals sent to Baku stipulate that Azerbaijani travelers and cargo will be checked by Armenian border and customs officers.

“I do not find it appropriate to answer your question at the moment because negotiations are underway,” one of those lawmakers, Artur Hovannisian told reporters.

“Any cargo passing through the territory of Armenia must be subject to a certain level of control, if not inspection, meaning that Armenia must know what is passing through its territory,” said the other parliamentarian, Arman Yeghoyan.

Commenting on Hovannisian’s and Yeghoyan’s remarks, Gegham Manukian, a lawmaker representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance, said the government thus does not rule out the extraterritorial nature of the would-be transport links for the Azerbaijani exclave.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev renewed last month his threats to open the “Zangezur corridor.” His foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the Armenian proposals on the matter have no “practical significance.”

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33313758.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIb8JpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeCtfXokQWYqpRGAQ46Z9XLM_FyH3C4W-9s4E1hl9Ylhns61Cp0P91kgjA_aem_BcWLubqBUqx24nAP5hh6Sg

[Yervant1]

Azatutyun.am

 

Pashinian Urged Not To Bow To Another Azeri Demand

Փետրվար 19, 2025

• Shoghik Galstian

 

Armenia - Opposition deputy Artur Khachatrian speaks in the Armenian parliament, Yerevan, February 6, 2024.

 

The unfolding thaw in U.S.-Russian relations is another reason why Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian must not accept Azerbaijan’s demands for the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian opposition leader said on Wednesday.

The Minsk Group set up in 1992 to deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was for decades co-headed by the United States, Russia and France. It became essentially moribund after the three world powers stopped working together following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Azerbaijan has listed the group’s formal dissolution among its preconditions for signing a peace deal with Armenia.

Until recently, Pashinian linked that to the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. But he clearly softened his stance two days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made last month fresh threats of military action against Armenia. His office said Yerevan is now “considering the possibility of appealing to the OSCE regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group.” It remains unclear whether this could be done before or after the possible signing of the treaty.

Pashinian’s political opponents have denounced his readiness to make this and other additional concessions to Baku. They argue that the group’s dissolution will close the Karabakh issue for good and preclude the Karabakh Armenian’s eventual return to their homeland.

Artur Khachatrian, a senior lawmaker representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance, said on Wednesday that Pashinian should also take into account geopolitical implications of the start of U.S.-Russian negotiations on stopping the war in Ukraine.

“As we can see, the situation is changing and the change of the situation could make allies enemies and turn enemies into friends, and the Artsakh issue may well return to international political agendas in case of skillful diplomacy,” Khachatrian told a news conference. “The Minsk Group is perhaps the best format for discussing this issue.”

“Unlike Pashinian, Aliyev understands very well that the changes could open a window of opportunity for Armenia and the Armenian people, including the Armenians of Artsakh,” he said.

Vahagn Aleksanian, a deputy chairman of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, dismissed that argument.

“If Armenia and Azerbaijan achieve peace, then the non-dissolution of the Minsk Group would be at least strange,” he said.

 

 

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/33320467.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIjTQlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYWTn7wuaOvHALFEn_RdsSWpkBAeLJPisEEJPY9VT0kH5RUxwBNly59T9g_aem_WINXTVOAuDni39riqfRMog