Day: June 25, 2024

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhum Bayramov told a visiting Russian official on Tuesday that Armenia’s Constitution remained an obstacle in the negotiation process between Yerevan and Baku.

Bayramov told the visiting Igor Khovayev, Russia’s envoy of Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process, that Armenia’s Constitution contained territorial demands from Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani foreign minister briefed the Russian official on the negotiation process with Armenia, as well as a draft peace proposal.

Earlier this month, Yerevan accused Baku of “torpedoing” the peace process, after President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan renewed his demands for amendments to Armenia’s Constitution, saying, without such changes, “it would be difficult” to sign a peace agreement.

Bayramov and other high-level Azerbaijani officials have also made similar threats and claims, stemming from a reference in Armenia’s Constitution to the country’s Declaration of Independence, in which the reunification of Artsakh with Armenia is emphasized.

“The Republic of Armenia does not have any territorial claims toward any of its neighbors, including Azerbaijan,” said a statement issued by Armenia’s foreign ministry on June 7, in response to Aliyev’s “preconditions.”

“The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and the amendments to it are internal affairs of Armenia, and we consider the attempts by official Baku to intervene in the internal discussions in Armenia as a gross intervention into the domestic affairs of the country,” the statement added.

“At the same time, we believe that such rhetoric torpedoes the peace process and casts doubts on the sincerity of the leadership of Azerbaijan to achieve peace,” the foreign ministry emphasized.

“The negotiated peace agreement clearly states that the parties recognize each other’s territorial integrity and do not have territorial claims against each other. There is also an agreed provision in the draft peace agreement that neither party may invoke its domestic legislation for not implementing its obligations under the peace agreement,” the statement explained.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Under the terms of the latest French-Armenian arms deal, France will deliver 36 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Armenia over the next 15 months, a senior official in Yerevan confirmed on Tuesday.

The Armenian Defense Ministry and the French manufacturer of the howitzers signed the contract during talks held by the defense ministers of the two states in Paris on June 17. French Defense Minister Sebastien described it as a “new important milestone” in French-Armenian military ties. No details of the contract were officially made public.

France’s Le Figaro newspaper and defense news website Forces Operations Blog reported the following day that Armenia purchased 36 units of CAESAR and that they will be delivered within 15 months.

“Of course, the report by Le Figaro is based on information provided by the French Defense Ministry. We will certainly not deny it,” Armen Khachatryan, the deputy chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

With a firing range of more than 40 kilometers, CAEASAR is one of the most advanced artillery systems of its kind in the world. France as well as Denmark have gifted Ukraine 49 such 155 millimeter truck-mounted systems since the 2022 Russian invasion of the country. Early this year, Kyiv bought another six French howitzers for between 3 million and 4 million euros ($3.3-$4.4 million) each.

“They have proven their effectiveness in various combat situations in many places around the world,” said Khachatryan. “France has sold that artillery system to very few countries … It is very important for us to have such systems to achieve our defense objectives.”

The pro-government lawmaker described their acquisition as “one component” of the ongoing “full modernization” of Armenia’s armed forces.

Paris pledged last fall to sell defensive weapons and provide other military assistance to Armenia part of a broader deepening of bilateral relations cemented by the existence of an influential Armenian community in France. The French weapons include sophisticated radars, short-range air-defense systems and armored personnel carriers.

Azerbaijan condemned the sale of the howitzers as “another proof of France’s provocative actions in the South Caucasus” that will create a new regional “hotbed of war.” The deal also prompted criticism from Russia, Armenia’s longtime and increasingly estranged ally. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it will fan tensions in the South Caucasus.

Khachatryan rejected the Russian criticism as “incomprehensible.” He argued that Moscow is currently not in a position to help Armenia “increase its defense capabilities.”

Russia had long been Armenia’s main supplier of weapons and ammunition. Tensions between the two nations have steadily grown since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Yerevan accusing Moscow of not honoring its security commitments.

The South Caucasus country has been looking for other arms suppliers also because of the continuing war in Ukraine which is absorbing the bulk of Russia’s military resources. Since September 2022, it has reportedly signed a series of defense contracts with India worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held a telephone conversation on Tuesday with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, with whom he discussed the normalization process between their two countries.

Mirzoyan’s call with Fidan comes a week after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held what may be called a ceremonial call with President Recep Yayyip Erdogan of Turkey and discussed, among other issues, the two countries’ commitment to adhering to agreements reached to normalize relations.

According to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, Mirzoyan and Hakan “discussed issues of continued dialogue between the two countries as well as related to regional developments.”

“The process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, the implementation of the agreements were touched upon,” the foreign ministry said in its readout of the call.

Armenia and Turkey decided in 2022 to open their land border to citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders, promising at the time that the process would take months. Armenia also contracted the construction of a new checkpoint at Maraga, on the border with Turkey.

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.

Earlier this month, Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia’s special envoy on Turkey normalizations, said that official Ankara has yet to take steps toward implementing an agreement to open the Turkey-Armenia border.

Rubinyan told reporters on June 11 that Ankara, thus far, has refused to fulfill its end of the agreement.

“On the Armenian side, we have completed all our infrastructural works, the checkpoint is ready for operation. We have not seen any steps towards the implementation of this agreement from the Turkish side, but we hope that this agreement will be implemented,” Rubinyan said.

“Our position: we have an agreement that the land border should be opened for citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders, and we expect this agreement to be fulfilled,” Rubinyan added at the time.

Just over the horizon, destroyed buildings and thick black smoke can be seen rising in the enclave of 2.3 million people, more than eight months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.

Reuters was given rare access to the pier on Tuesday and saw aid pallets being moved from a vessel onto the 370-meter-long pier as it bobbed around with the incoming waves. The pallets were then taken by trucks to the coast.  

For U.S. Army Sergeant Ibrahim Barry, who is a forklift operator on the pier, the operation is personal. Barry, who is Muslim, was in the U.S. when war broke out and watched as families in Gaza during Ramadan in March and April had no food with which to break their fast.  

“Being in this mission [is] on a personal level for me,” he said. “Helping to help them get food … just taking care of people.”

U.S. President Joe Biden announced in March the plan to put the pier in place for aid deliveries as famine loomed in Gaza. As of Tuesday, 8,332 pallets had been delivered via the pier.  

But nearly 6,900 pallets of those have just been sitting on Gaza’s coast, in a marshaling area, waiting to be picked up by the United Nations for distribution. The World Food Program paused deliveries earlier this month over security concerns.  

For many troops working on pier operations, this is their first combat zone. But not for Captain Joel Stewart, commander of Naval Beach group 1.

“War is a terrible thing. I don’t care where it is. I don’t care what it is. It is destruction. It is never pretty. It is certainly not something that I ever want to see again,” Stewart said while standing on the pier.  

“The sailors, marines, merchant men, soldiers are all behind this mission because they see they are making a difference for the people of Gaza,” Stewart said.  

The pier’s usage has been paused multiple times because of sea conditions and at one point was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod for repairs.  

A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday the pier may be extended well beyond its July 31 authorization date if the United States and aid organizations can get aid flowing again to Palestinians in the coming days and weeks.