Day: June 19, 2024

Canada Designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Entity  Bloomberg

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NPR News: 06-19-2024 3PM EDT

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Russia accused France of provoking further armed conflict in the South Caucasus, reacting to reports that Armenia will acquire advanced defensive weapons from a French arms manufacturer.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday that France is not being guided by the interests of Armenia, “but only seeks to use the existing differences within various countries as a tool to achieve its own opportunistic goals.”

She accused France of being “conduit for NATO’s ideology” in the region.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned in a newspaper interview on Monday that if Yerevan continues to strengthen relations with the West, it might be left out of security and economic projects helmed by Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Galuzin said that Western powers were using Armenia as a pawn in their ongoing conflict —war— with Russia, warning of “further erosion of Armenia’s sovereignty and security.”

The Russian official also accused the West of pushing Armenia to freeze its participation in the CSTO, adding that Western powers will also force Armenia to leave the Eurasian Economic Union.

“It’s not hard to guess that the country will be pressed to abandon the mechanisms that have ensured record growth of its [Armenia’s] economy in recent years,” Galuzin said. “Severing of economic ties with Russia will mean a loss of the main [export] market for Armenian business.”

Zakharova, on Wednesday, touched on Galuzin’s remarks, saying that Russia has never rejected arms negotiations with Armenia.

“Deliveries of [Russian] military equipment to foreign countries are carried out by taking into account the needs for a special military operation, as the leadership of the Russian Federation has repeatedly said,” Zakharova explained.

“Existing restrictions on certain types of weapons and military equipment apply not only to Armenia, but also to the technical-military cooperation with our other partners. As for the contacts with Armenia in that sector, we have not rejected them. They are proceeding on a regular basis, we have not seen any complaints from that [Armenian] side,” Zakharova added.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Law-enforcement authorities have still not brought criminal charges against any of the police officers who were caught on camera beating up an Armenian opposition parliamentarian during antigovernment protests in Yerevan late last month.

Videos of the incident showed several dozen members of a special police unit punching, kicking and swearing at the lawmaker, Ashot Simonian, outside the Yerevan headquarters of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a major opposition party involved in the protests led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.

The Armenian Interior Ministry claimed to have launched on May 27 an “internal inquiry” into the policemen’s behavior that drew strong condemnation from opposition leaders and human rights campaigners. The ministry said hours later that one of the officers was suspended as a result. It has since reported no disciplinary action against other policemen involved in the violence.

Law-enforcement authorities subsequently opened a criminal case in connection with the incident. They have not charged anyone so far.

“This is telling evidence of the fact that the authorities are not intent on administering justice in this country,” Simonyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “It’s very clear, isn’t it?”

Simonian, who is an ARF leader, described the police and other law-enforcement agencies as “servants” of the Armenian government who help Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stay in power. It would be “naïve” to expect punishment for human rights abuses committed by them, he said.

Simonian was beaten up as riot police unblocked streets in Yerevan closed by protesters demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. About 300 of them were arrested that day. According to the ARF, the lawmaker was assaulted because he stopped the special police squad from “illegally” entering the party headquarters.

Dozens of other, ordinary protesters have also been seriously injured by the police since Archbishop Galstanyan launched his campaign for regime change on May 9. No policeman has been suspend, let alone prosecuted, over those incidents.

The authorities have prosecuted instead 59 supporters of Galstanyan on various charges denied by them. Twenty-nine of them are currently under arrest pending investigation.

Armenia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected criticism and opposition voiced by Azerbaijan to Yerevan’s deepening military cooperation with France, saying that every sovereign state has a right to have a combat-ready armed forces.

Soon after France’s defense minister announced on Tuesday that Armenia would acquire CAESAR Howitzer anti-missile weapons from a French manufacturer, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry voiced its objections and accused France of derailing the peace process.

The Azerbaijani announcement also overtly threatened retaliation.

“It is the sovereign right of any country to have combat-ready army equipped with modern military equipment,” the Armenian foreign ministry said in its statement.

“The Republic of Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of all its neighbors. Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed at the highest level that they recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. The Republic of Armenia adheres to this principle and has no ambitions beyond its internationally recognized territory of 29,743 square kilometers. The Republic of Armenia has practically proven this approach by demarcating four villages in the Tavush region of the Republic of Armenia and Ghazakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the statement added.

“Azerbaijan’s practice of predicting regional escalations at every opportunity is thought-provoking and comes to justify the analyzes made by a number of centers that Azerbaijan will do everything to abort the process of concluding a peace agreement with Armenia, in order to undertake new aggression against the Republic of Armenia after the COP29 summit in Baku in November 2024,” the foreign ministry emphasized.

“It draw the international community’s attention to this, as well as to the fact that official Yerevan’s proposal to conclude a peace agreement within one month remained without response by official Baku,” the foreign ministry added.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a telephone conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Tuesday.

An official readout from Pashinyan’s office said the two leaders reaffirmed their will “to fully normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey without preconditions.” Erdogan’s office did not issue a statement on the phone call.

Regarding the normalization of relations, “the leaders noted the importance of the continuation of meetings between the Special representatives of both countries and reconfirmed the agreements reached so far,” Pashinyan’s office said in a statement.

Turkey and Armenia decided in 2022 to open the land border between the two countries for travel by citizens of third countries and those holding diplomatic passports. Easing of air cargo trade was also part of the agreement, as were weekly flights between Turkey and Armenia.

Despite emphasizing that the normalization process is being advanced “without preconditions,” Turkish officials, including Erdogan, have preconditioned the process on a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan that includes a so-called land “corridor” through Armenia to Nakhichevan. This scheme is being advanced by Baku and has thus far been opposed by Yerevan.

“The leaders also noted with satisfaction the ongoing dialogue between high level officials of Armenia and Turkey. They also discussed recent developments in the region and international agenda,” added the statement from Pashinyan’s office.

In some of his recent remarks, Pashinyan has been criticized for altering history and going as far as whitewashing his remarks about the Armenian Genocide.

In his statement on April 24 this year, Pashinyan did not call for the international recognition the Armenian Genocide and referred to the events of 1915 as “Medz Yeghern,” a departure from his and other administrations’ statement on this national day of remembrance. He also called on Armenians to “overcome the trauma” caused by the genocide.

Pashinyan’s April 24 statement was met with broad condemnation, especially from human rights and academic circles. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued a strongly-worded statement characterizing Pashinyan’s statement as state-sponsored genocide denial.

Prosecutors try to link alleged bribes of Sen. Bob Menendez to appointment of federal prosecutor  WHYY