Day: June 6, 2024

A delegation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western U.S. Central Committee visited Western Prelate Archbishop Kegham Khatcherian on Tuesday to offer congratulations on his election and to welcome him to the region. The ARF delegation was headed by the Central Committee’s chairman, Avo Kechichian.

Prelate Khatcherian welcomed the ARF Central Committee members at the Western Prelacy, accompanied by the Prelacy Executive Council chair, Vahe Hovaguimian, and other members, the Prelacy reported.

On behalf of the ARF Central Committee, Kechichian congratulated the newly-elected Prelate and wished his success during his tenure and offered heartfelt support to all members of the Prelacy Executive Council.

Prelate Khatcherian underscored the importance of the Western U.S. community in the current Armenian reality. He then emphasized the need for unity as a fundamental condition for strengthening and advancement of the Armenian community in the United States.

Archbishop Khatcherian stressed the need to further strengthen the atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity, before offering well wishes to the ARF Central Committee and its endeavors.

Russia said that its ambassador to Armenia, who was recalled last month amid growing tensions between Moscow and Yerevan, will return to his post.

Sergei Kopyrkin, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia, on May 24 was recalled for what Moscow called “consultations,” days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that two members states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which Armenia is a member, actively supported Azerbaijan during the 2020 War.

While Pashinyan did not specify which nations he was referring to, he alluded, during remarks in parliament, that the two states were Russia and Belarus.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin on Thursday told reporters that Kopyrkin will return to his post in Yerevan. “There is no issue of breaking ties with Yerevan,” he said.

“Calling the ambassador from a post for consultations is a common diplomatic practice. It was within the framework of this practice that Sergey Pavlovich Kopyrkin was called for consultation. We have held these consultations. Accordingly, I believe that very soon one can expect that Sergey Pavlovich will return to Yerevan and resume his duties,” Galuzin explained, according the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

He categorically rejected that relations between Yerevan and Moscow had declines. “There is absolutely no such thing,” Galuzin said.

“The ambassador was called for a consultation, but he was not called back. Russia and Armenia are allies, strategic partners,” the Russian deputy foreign minister emphasized.

“There are disagreements, but this does not mean that we are lowering the level of our relations,” Galuzin said.

In an interview published on Wednesday with the Tass news agency, Galuzin said Armenia’s “thoughtless steps” may make the joint efforts of Moscow and the CSTO to create a single defense system impossible, blaming Yerevan for advancing relations with the West.

“Yerevan is taking advantage of the current situation when the West is showing great interest in strengthening cooperation, including in the security sector,” Galuzin told Tass.

“However, thoughtless decisions that will provide Westerners with full access to national databases, sensitive information for the country’s security, not only threaten the sovereignty of the state, but may also make it objectively impossible to return to the joint efforts of Russia and other CSTO allies toward building a single defense area,” Galuzin emphasized, warning Armenia against leaving the Russia-led security bloc.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced earlier this spring that Armenia would freeze its members to CSTO. Armenia’s foreign and defense ministers have opted to not attend recent ministerial summits of the organization.

After demanding — and getting — four villages in the Tavush Province, Azerbaijan, led by its president, Ilham Aliyev, is exerting pressure on Yerevan to amend Armenia’s Constitution as a precondition for peace between the two countries.

“Without amendments to the Armenian constitution, signing a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will simply be impossible,” Aliyev said on Thursday, reiterating the threats he made in April when he said such changes were a “precondition” for a peace agreement with Armenia.

The Azerbaijani Trend news agency reported that during the same remarks, Aliyev suggested that Baku and Yerevan, together, petition the OSCE for the dissolution of the Minsk Group, which for decades mediated the Karabakh conflict resolution process.

Similar demands were made on Wednesday by Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov, who said that Armenia’s Constitution contains territorial claims from Azerbaijan. He also scoffed at Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s assertion a day before that both Yerevan and Baku see “obstacles to the establishment of a lasting peace in each other’s constitutions.”

Aliyev and his government say that Armenia must remove a reference in the Constitution to Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, which calls for the reunification of Armenia and Artsakh.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the past has said the language in the Declaration of Independence threatens stability in the region, advocating for changes to Armenia’s Constitution that reflect the current geopolitical realities.