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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/ar_david_hh on 2024-09-11 23:03:04+00:00.
Original Title: EU visa liberalization in 3 years? \ Pashinyan discusses “corridor” details \ ICC case vs Azerb. \ Hungary in EU: Visa lib, CEPA+ \ Armenia has youngest parliament: IPU \ USAID’s quarter billion: areas \ Illegal demolition \ Yerevan’s elevators \ Gym bros \ C-section & marriage \ and…
13 minutes of Armenia coverage in Transcaucasian Telegraph’s Sep/11/2024 edition.
Armenian NGO provides an update on the International Criminal Court war crime case against the Aliyev regime
Regular readers may recall from April 18 telegraph that a US-based NGO “Center for Truth and Justice” filed a claim with ICC (Rome Statute) to launch a war crime investigation against Azerbaijani authorities for the aggression since 2020.
A representative of the NGO says they need multiple ambassadors of ICC to back up their petition and promote it, lobby the case in front of prosecutors, for the case to move forward. This is difficult because of how overloaded the court is today and how busy everyone is; the cases are being prioritized.
The NGO is competing not only for their attention but also for financial resources. The [presumably ICC’s] budget will become clear soon, and if the Armenian case is part of the 2025 budget, only then ICC will send its prosecutor to Armenia for investigation before they can decide how to proceed.
The NGO has gathered information from 500 victims and witnesses. This case is about Azerbaijan’s war crimes in the Republic of Armenia in 2022. This is separate from Azerbaijan’s war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the NGO will use Azerbaijan’s crimes against Nagorno-Karabakh as evidence because in both cases it’s about ethnic Armenians.
One of the incidents is about an Armenian female soldier who was killed and had her body mutilated then posted on the internet; it caught the attention of international investigative reporters. Azerbaijani army commanders, and their leader President Ilham Aliyev, are the targets of this criminal case.
The NGO representative likes prosecutor Karim Khan and believes he is independent because he had the courage to go after Benjamin Netanyahoo. In any case, the NGO needs multiple powerful states to back its case.
Nikol Pashinyan urges Russian and Azerbaijani officials to read Paragraph 9 of the November 9 ceasefire statement before they speak about it
Russian officials recently renewed accusations that Armenia is supposedly violating Paragraph 9. Russia wants Armenia to surrender a Russian-controlled corridor to Azerbaijan.
PASHINYAN: We refrained from speaking about this in public because it’s a working process, diplomatic process, and we didn’t want to speak in detail publicly, but we are speaking publicly now because representatives of certain countries chose to make public statements about it. Their statements make it obvious that they have never actually read the Nov 9 statement.
Here is what I mean. They often raise Paragraph 9 of the Nov 9 statement. Let’s read what Paragraph 9 says:
“All economic and transport connections in the region shall be unblocked.”
That means Paragraph 9 isn’t only about establishing a connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan. Moreover, the Azerbaijan-Nakhijevan link is not the primary goal. It is about unblocking all the routes in the region.
For example, the Armenia-Iran railway, the Armenia-Russia railway, including through Meghri or Ijevan, a road connection between Armenia and Iran through Nakhijevan, a road connection between Armenia and Russia through Azerbaijan, a connection between Armenia and Kazakhstan, so on and so forth. This is the first [sentence], this is the primary point of Paragraph 9.
Where is the Armenia-Iran railway link? Is Armenia the one preventing its opening? Are we the ones not allowing it to function? Is it open? If it’s open, let me know, because we need to transport some cargo there.
Continuing Paragraph 9:
“The Republic of Armenia shall guarantee the security of transport connections between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to arrange unobstructed movement of persons, vehicles and cargo in both directions”
Did you hear carefully what it says? The guarantor of its security is Armenia. Anyone who suggests this Paragraph gives the security guarantor duties to a third party [Russia] must show where it says that.
Moreover. It says Armenia is the one that organizes [arranges] the traffic.
In other words, it says Armenia is the one that guarantees its security and Armenia is the one that organizes the traffic. [He is shouting at this point] NOWHERE DOES IT SAY SOMEONE HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE, PROVIDE THOSE GUARANTEES AND ORGANIZE THE TRAFFIC. ARMENIA DOES ALL OF THAT.
Continuing Paragraph 9:
“The Border Guard Service of the Russian Federal Security Service shall be responsible for overseeing the transport connections.”
Where does it say Russian agents must be PHYSICALLY present there? Where is it written? Nowhere. The presence of Russian border agents in Armenia is a separate contractual issue, completely up to Armenia. If today Armenia wants Russian border agents to be present, tomorrow we might decide that they aren’t present.
Continuing Paragraph 9:
“Subject to agreement between the Parties, the construction of new transport communications to link the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan will be ensured.”
We agree. We agree. Come travel through Armenia. Who is preventing you? Azerbaijan refuses. They refuse because they don’t want Armenia to be the party responsible for security, despite the fact that the November 9 statement, signed by Azerbaijan, states that Armenia must be the one to provide the security. They also signed on November 9 that states Armenia must organize the traffic.
Paragraph 9 contains no sentence limiting Armenia’s sovereignty over its territory. Paragraph 9 contains nothing that requires Armenia to hand over its duties to a third party.
There was a time [after signing November 9], during a crisis situation, when we offered to transfer the duties, but in a mirrored fashion. We weren’t required to do it, but we decided to make that offer anyway as a gesture of goodwill. It’s our decision to make. We are not required. And today, as a gesture of goodwill, we are offering Azerbaijanis to travel to Nakhijevan through Armenia. Today Azerbaijani jets fly over Armenia between Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan. So this language [about the Zangezur corridor] is at a minimum inexplicable. The statements made by public officials of certain countries make it obvious that they either have never read the November 9 statement or they need a refresher.
So Paragraph 9 does not say Russian agents must be present on the ground. Moreover, even Vladimir Putin’s December 10 decree does not say that; it similarly highlights that the subject that provides and guarantees for connection is the Republic of Armenia. Any other comment/interpretation is groundless. //
Pashinyan said they have paused the plan to build new infrastructure to connect Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan because of Azerbaijan’s refusal to use the route. “Why would Armenia waste money on infrastructure that Azerbaijan says it doesn’t plan to use?” The infrastructure will be built when Azerbaijan agrees to respect Armenia’s sovereignty over the routes.
Pashinyan also said Armenia is ready to simplify travel through this east-west route by utilizing modern technologies used around the world so the Azeri travelers will spend as little time on procedures as possible before proceeding.
can Russia provide guarantees that its border agents aren’t secretly trafficking narcotics from Iran through Armenia?
—> JUST ASKING <—
Because Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of Russia’s foreign ministry, brought up the topic on Wednesday.
While responding to Armenian parliament president Alen Simonyan’s latest remarks critical of Russia, Zakharova reminded about the “importance” of the presence of Russian border agents on the border with Iran:
SUBORDINATE OF MIHRAN POGHOSYAN’S BIGGEST CLIENT: Russian border guards have repeatedly confirmed the need for their presence in Armenia, including for preventing illegal crossing of the Armenian border and suppressing attempts at drug trafficking. When people who are not specialists in this field so freely discuss this topic, perhaps it makes sense to give the floor to those who have been really guarding the border of Armenia, not sitting in soft chairs, but with weapons in their hands, on the front lines for many years. Maybe we should ask them? Maybe they will have their say? //
[source,](https://arka.am/en/news/politics/w…
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