Day: March 28, 2024

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday slammed the leadership of Artsakh and warned that statements being made by some individuals pose a threat to Armenia’s security.

Pashinyan was referring to Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanian, who in an interview with the French Le Figaro newspaper, said he and his government, as well as other Artsakh administrative, judicial and legal institutions are functioning in Armenia, “in exile.”

“A group of forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh, willingly or unwillingly, are taking actions and steps that create a threat to Armenia’s national security, by announcing some governments in exile,” Pashinyan said at the start of his cabinet meeting on Thursday.

“I want to state very clearly that there is one government in Armenia, and that government is sitting in this hall. And I want all of us to record this message very clearly, and if necessary, appropriate steps should be taken and appropriate measures should be taken so that external forces also do not use certain circles to create threats to Armenia’s security,” Pashinyan added.

“I want to clearly state that there can be no other government in Armenia except the government of Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

“If anyone in Armenia identifies themselves as a government, it is a national security issue of Armenia, and I hope that the existence of that issue does not mean that our bodies have failed in their responsibilities,” the prime minister said, adding that the individuals who are making such statement “had the opportunity to carry out those duties.., and we have seen what they did with that opportunity.”

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Armenia on Thursday sent a planeload of humanitarian aid to Gaza ravaged by the latest conflict with Israel.

The Armenian government said the 30 tons of food and medicine will be delivered to displaced civilians huddling in the Gaza Strip’s city of Rafah. It released photographs of those items loaded onto a military transport plane at the Yerevan airport.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan earlier in the day, Deputy Interior Minister Arpine Sargsian said the aid worth about 19 million drams ($48,000) will be airlifted to Egypt. Egyptian authorities will then help to ship it to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, she said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted in this regard that the Armenian and Egyptian governments agreed on the logistical aspects of the shipment during his recent official visit to Cairo.

Gaza is facing a looming famine amid Israel’s military offensive that has reportedly killed more than 32,000 Palestinians. The offensive followed last October’s Hamas attack on southern Israel in which the militants killed 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others.

Armenia twice voted late last year for United Nations General Assembly resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

“Armenia regrets tens of thousands of innocent victims of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza,” Pashinyan said after his March 5 talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. “We ourselves have experienced the horror of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and we join calls of the international community for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”

Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan told the French Le Figaro Newspaper that his September 28 decree that dissolved the Artsakh Republic and its institutions is not valid. He said that he had to sign the document to enable Artsakh Armenians, who were forced to flee, safe passage to Armenia amid Azerbaijan’s deadline offensive.

“I understood that the decree to ‘dissolve’ the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was illegal, but it was the only way to save out compatriots,” Shahramanyan said in an interview with Le Figaro, which was published on Wednesday.

“Due to the imbalance of forces, we did not have the opportunity to show resistance [against Azerbaijan], that’s why we quickly established contact with the Azerbaijanis, so that the civilian population would be free from combat operations as much as possible,” explained the Artsakh President.

“After 12 hours of negotiations, we put an end to combat operations. The very next day, the citizens of Artsakh asked to evacuate to Armenia, fearing mass murders by the invaders. Thus, we started the second round of negotiations so that their evacuation goes as smoothly as possible,” he said, adding that there were still 10 to 11 Armenians remaining in Artsakh who are incapacitated, ill or have disabilities, who cannot move freely and do not wish to leave the “graves of their relatives.”

Shahramanyan emphasized that the Azerbaijani had already amassed troops along the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line-of-contact ahead of the September 28 attack, and shrugged at rampant rumors that his election to the post triggered the attacks.

“It was obvious that after a nine-month siege to weaken us, they were going to attack,” he said.

Shahramanyan said that the possible return of Armenians to Artsakh, under the current circumstances, is “unrealistic.

“In the current situation, it is unrealistic to think about returning to our territory occupied by Azerbaijanis. It is necessary to take into consideration the realities of the peoples of Azerbaijan and Artsakh who consider themselves enemies. In Baku, Azerbaijanis are taught at school that Armenians are enemies,” Sharamanyan said.

“It will take years for the mindset of the Azerbaijani people to change and peaceful coexistence between the [two] neighbors to become possible. And I am thinking here as much about the Armenians of Armenia as about the Armenians of Artsakh. How can the authorities of Yerevan consider their country safe, when some parts of Armenia’s territory are currently occupied by Azerbaijanis, and the leaders of Baku publicly declare their rights to other [Armenian] territories?” Shahramanyan asked.

He also discussed the the eight Artsakh leaders who were captured and are currently in detention in Baku, explaining that in addition to them, there are seven Artsakh soldiers who were also captured.

Shahramanian said that he asked France to apply pressure on Azerbaijan, demanding the release of all Armenian captives and prisoners of war.

The Artsakh President said that he and other government officials are working “in exile” in Yerevan.

“The office of the President of Artsakh and the offices of the judicial and legislative structures [of Artsakh] are located in the building where I am hosting you in Yerevan. [Artsakh] lawmakers gather here to vote on legislation. A decree was signed in October, which stipulates that all [Artsakh] government ministers remain in their positions on a voluntary basis,” Shahramanian said.

This statement has angered Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who slammed and warned the Artsakh leaders, saying at the cabinet on Thursday that such declaration endanger Armenia’s security.