Armenian
News Network / Groong
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Guests
Hosts
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the
Armenian News Network, Groong,
Week in Review. This week we’re going to talk about the following major topics:
●
Syunik Confidential [Asbarez]
[RFE/RL]
●
Developments in Artsakh [Moscow
Times] [Tert.am]
[Panorama]
[A1+]
[ArmRadio]
●
Snap elections flip flop [News.am]
[Panorama]
[RFE/RL]
[EurasiaNet]
[CivilNet]
To talk about these issues, we have with us:
Emil Sanamyan,
a senior research fellow at USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies specializing in
politics in the Caucasus, with a special focus on Azerbaijan.
And
Alen Zamanyan
who follows and has analyzed Armenian politics for over a decade.
Topics This Week
Syunik Confidential
Former Prime Minister Hrant
Bagratian made some shocking revelations after his
visit to Syunik earlier this week. He published a document that Armenia had
allegedly secretly signed with Azerbaijan and Russia on the use of segments of
a highway in Syunik bordering Zangelan and Kubatli.
The document seems to answer many of the
questions raised over the past few months around the mysterious withdrawal of
Armenian and advancement of Azerbaijani border guards in the region despite the
Nov 10 agreement specifying that both sides remain standing in the positions
they occupy. Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan indirectly
confirmed this in a parliament question and answer session when he did admit
that besides the Nov. 10 and January 11 statements, there is a third agreement
covering the border highway in Syunik. He also mentioned that he can’t say
anything more about it in an open session of the parliament because of the
secret nature of the issue.
We have talked extensively about demarcation and
delimitation in previous episodes of this podcast, how is this issue being revealed
to the public.
--
The purported document specifies a date of
December 18, 2020 for the withdrawal of Armenian troops. Yet, in an interview
to Armenian Public TV on Dec. 27, Pashinyan denied
the existence of any document on Syunik and mentioned that the repositioning of
troops around Zangelan and Gubatli
is based on VERBAL agreements.
Why is the government of Armenia apparently
obsessed with secrecy when this document appears to be in the hands of Russian
and Azerbaijani troops and being shown to whomever requests to see it?
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Security
Service has announced that any news coverage from Syunik must be done with
prior permission from the NSS.
What is the legal basis for such a request? Does
this mean that we will be hearing about more “surprises” about Syunik in the
future?
Developments in Artsakh
Earlier this week Arayik
Harutyunyan met with the head of the Azerbaijani NSS. The official announcement
says that they spoke about return of prisoners, search for the missing and
“other humanitarian issues”?
What was talked about that hasn’t been
announced?
--
We also read earlier that visitors to Artsakh -
with the exception of Armenian citizens - will now be required to obtain
permission from Russian peacekeepers.
It wasn’t specified how the Russians would
determine eligibility for issuing visas but is it safe to assume that the
Azerbaijani government will be responsible for the final OK of visas?
--
In other news, the Artsakh government announced
plans to build 200 houses in the Astghashen community
of the Askeran region intended for homeless families
of the region. Post war reconstruction will require significant investment and
financial load on the government especially considering other major
expenditures such as reorganization of the army to a contract-based one and the
significant loss of income sources (such as farmland in Hadrut, hydroelectric
power stations).
Who will foot the bill for this reconstruction?
Given Artsakh’s post-war position, what economic
tools are at the disposal of the government in Artsakh to help fund this
reconstruction.
Snap elections?
We should briefly mention that around the time we recorded our podcast last Sunday discussing the issue of snap parliamentary elections, the ruling My Step parliamentary faction announced cancellation of their plans for snap elections, citing “lack of popular demand” for elections and that the parliamentary opposition had rejected the idea of snap elections.
How sincere is the government in its offer to
hold snap elections, or is it simply a maneuver to take some steam out of the
opposition’s momentum, a ploy to slow them down?
Wrap-up
That concludes our program
for This Week in Review episode. We
hope it has helped your understanding of some of the issues from the previous
week. We look forward to your feedback, and your suggestions for issues to
cover in greater depth. Contact us on our website, at groong.org,
or on our Facebook Page “ANN - Groong”, or in our Facebook Group “Groong - Armenian News Network”.
Special
thanks to Laura Osborn for providing the music for our podcast. On behalf of
everyone in this episode, we wish you a good week. Don’t forget to subscribe to
our channels, Like our pages and follow us on social
media. Thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.
Keywords
Syunik, Hrant Bagratian, Zangelan, Kubatli, Azerbaijan, Russia, Tigran Avinyan, National Security Service, Arayik Harutyunyan, Russian peacekeepers, Astghashen, Askeran, Hadrut, My Step, Civil Contract