Day: January 9, 2024

Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan said Monday that Baku was “backtracking” in its latest proposals for a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Speaking to Armenia’s Public Television, Grigoryan said that certain elements on which there was a verbal agreement have not found their way in the written proposals submitted by Baku.

‘The dynamics are positive, but there are certain unresolved issues,” said Grigoryan who expressed hope for progress in the future.

“We hope that it will be possible to finalize the peace treaty and conclude it in a short time,” Grigoryan said.

He added that Armenia is not waiting for Azerbaijan’s response after Yerevan sent its amendments on January 4.

Grgoryan said also that the parties have agreed that their border delimitation and demarcation commissions will meet at the end of January.

The National Security chief expressed confidence that a document fully corresponding to Armenia’s interests will be signed, downplaying opposition concerns that the future peace treaty will not be in line with Armenia’s national interests.

“The treaty will create security guarantees for Armenia,” Grigoryan said, adding that the issue of providing Azerbaijan with an extraterritorial corridor through Armenia is not included in the document.

Hikmet Hajiyev, a lead advisor to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said last week that the creation or “opening” of such a “corridor” was one of the main issues in the treaty. Turkey’s defense minister also expressed confidence that the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” would open by 2029.

In direct response to Ankara’s latest efforts to advance Baku’s aspirations, Iran’s foreign ministry reiterated Tehran’s opposition to changes of borders in the region.

In his interview with Armenia’s Public Television, Grigoryan made assurances that Azerbaijan recognizes the four principles fundamental to Armenia: sovereignty, jurisdiction, reciprocity and equality, which will be “determined during the negotiations.”

He did say, however, that official Baku has not made any public announcements signaling its recognition of Armenia’s territorial integrity.

“We hope that the issue of the Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan will be solved before the conclusion of the peace agreement and  23 captives (the captivity of whom  is confirmed by Azerbaijan) will return home,” Grigoryan said.

He noted that the peace treaty has made reference to the Almaty Declaration, according to which the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are recognized within their borders when they were constituent Soviet republics.

As a security guarantee, Grigoryan  mentioned the necessity of mirror withdrawal of troops from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border based on the 1974 maps of the USSR General Staff. 

France accused Azerbaijan on Tuesday of holding a French national arbitrarily and demanded his immediate release after Baku’s envoy to France said the man had been arrested on suspicion of espionage.

The announcement about the arrest was made by Azerbaijan’s Ambassador France, Leyla Abdyllayeva, who told Agence France Presse that Martin Ryan, the French national, was arrested on December 4, yet Azerbaijan’s National Security Service has not made any such announcements.

Judicial authorities then “ordered his detention for a duration of four months,” the ambassador said, adding that the French embassy in Baku was informed “as soon as he was arrested.”

“We are in close contact with his family and the French embassy in Baku was able to visit our compatriot twice as part of consular protection,” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it had asked to see him again.

“As we have already had the opportunity to indicate to the Azerbaijani authorities, we consider this detention to be arbitrary and demand the immediate release of our compatriot.”

Ryan, the CEO of Mercorama LC, a French citizen conducting business in Baku, has categorically denied the charged and entered a not guilty plea.

Nizami Aliyev, a lawyer representing Martin Ryan, told the Turan new agency that “Martin Ryan does not plead guilty. He was simply deceived by the French intelligence services.”

Ryan’s attorney did not provide details to AFP, saying that “talking about this case is dangerous… Martin is not a spy. He is an ordinary French citizen.”

Martin Ryan’s father, Richard, said that the family has spoken to him.

“We spoke to him four times, each time for two minutes. He says he’s being treated well and is getting on well with his lawyer,” Richard Ryan told AFP.

The news comes amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Azerbaijan and France over what Baku has deemed Paris’ “one-sided” approach to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Baku has also condemned France for agreeing to sell military hardware to Armenia.

In December, Baku expelled two French diplomats over “conduct that is not compatible with their diplomatic status.” The French foreign ministry retaliated by expelling two Azerbaijani diplomats a day later, and said it “categorically reject[ed] the allegations.”

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has strongly condemned the recent brutal attack on the Armenian Quarter in East Jerusalem by armed mobs associated with an Israeli-Australian businessman Danny Rubenstein. It reiterates the call to protect the cultural heritage of the Armenian Quarter and respect the will of its residents, who continue to resist the forcible development of their land.

The most recent incidence of violence occurred on December 28, 2023, when an armed mob of about thirty people associated with Israeli-Australian businessman Danny Rubenstein attacked the historical area called Goveroun Bartez (the “Cows’ Garden”), injuring several Armenians, including a priest and students of the Theological Seminary. According to the local activists, two Armenian residents were arrested by Israeli police while none of the attackers were apprehended.

This incident, together with others, occurred after a controversial land development deal was canceled by the Armenian Patriarchate in November. The deal, originally signed by the Armenian Patriarchate in July 2021, would have granted Danny Rubenstein’s company, XANA, rights to build a luxury hotel on the property, destroying many historic buildings in the area. The deal was canceled after the Patriarchate faced pressure from the local Armenian community, the greater Armenian Diaspora, and Palestinian authorities. Since November, XANA has sought to claim the Cows’ Garden by use of force.

Prior to the attacks in the Armenian Quarter, there were other incidents in which Israeli extremists harassed Jerusalem Armenians. For instance, on January 29, 2023, an Armenian restaurant in the Christian Quarter of East Jerusalem was attacked. Continuing harassment and attacks on Jerusalemite Armenians together with coercive and possibly illegal construction in the Cows’ Garden pose an existential threat to the oldest Armenian Diaspora community in the world. This threat is very alarming, especially after the tragic fate of the 4000 year-old Armenian community in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), where, in September, Azerbaijan forcibly displaced more than 100,000 Artsakh Armenians – the entire Artsakh population – from their ancestral home to Armenia.

“In the context of the violent climate against Christians in Israel fueled by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right government and the ongoing genocide against Palestinians unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank, attacks on the Armenian Quarter can be also viewed as another attempt by Israeli extremists to create a homogenized Jewish ethnostate in Palestinian territories. It is crucial for international organizations and the UN to keep an eye on the tense situation in the Armenian Quarter and protect the 1600-year-old neighborhood and its inhabitants from violence and elimination,” the Lemkin Institute said.

The Lemkin Insitute stressed that such events contribute to an environment conducive to mass atrocities and genocide; recognizing and responding to these warning signs promptly is essential for preventing further escalation against Armenians. Moreover, it expressed full support for the resistance of Jerusalemite Armenians and calls on relevant authorities to ensure the safety and territorial integrity of the Armenian Quarter and the rest of East Jerusalem by all necessary means.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—The United States keeps trying to host fresh talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers that had originally been scheduled for November, a senior Armenian official said late on Monday.

Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, told Armenian Public Television that this was the main focus of U.S. special envoy Louis Bono’s meetings with him and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held earlier in the day. He did not say whether Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has agreed to meet with Mirzoyan in Washington anytime soon.

Baku cancelled Bayramov’s November 20 trilateral meeting with Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in protest against what it called pro-Armenian statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. O’Brien visited Baku in early December in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani leadership to reschedule it.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, said afterwards that Washington must reconsider its “one-sided approach” to the conflict before it can mediate more peace talks. Later in December, Bayramov said he has offered to meet with Mirzoyan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border without third-party mediation.

Despite holding no face-to-face negotiations in recent months, Baku and Yerevan have exchanged more written proposals on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty discussed by them.

According to Grigoryan, the Armenian side responded to the most recent Azerbaijani proposals on January 4.

The official did not disclose that reply. He indicated only that Baku has toughened its position on some key points of the peace accord.

“There are issues that were agreed upon during verbal negotiations, but we have seen some steps backwards in the [Azerbaijani] text of the peace treaty,” Grigoryan said without elaborating. “But there are also points on which we made progress.”

Azerbaijani officials said last month that the two sides should sign the treaty before delimiting the long Armenian-Azerbaijani border, raising more fears in Yerevan that Baku remains reluctant to formally recognize Armenia’s territorial integrity. Mirzoyan insisted that the treaty should contain a concrete mechanism for the border delimitation.

In recent weeks, Baku has also renewed its demands for the opening of an extraterritorial corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenia. Yerevan has repeatedly rejected such demands before.

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FBI:
Was the girl that Anthony Weiner sexted with herself adequately investigated, if at all? Is her father a member… pic.twitter.com/1AOU8XiCMC

— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 9, 2024

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