Armenian
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Guests
Host
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the
Armenian News Network, Groong, Week
in Review. This week Dr. Pietro Shakarian here to
talk about the following major topics:
●
Independence
day
●
Pashinyan’s
Turkish overtures
●
Goris-Kapan closure
Dr. Pietro Shakarian is
a Lecturer in History at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan. His
research focuses on the history of Eastern Armenia and the Caucasus, especially
Soviet Armenia during the era of Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw.
Topics This Week
Independence Day
This Tuesday, Sept 21 marks the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union. It is bittersweet in many ways including the fact that in its 30 year history Armenia’s independence has never been so challenged and also the fact that this week will be the anniversary of the start of the 2020 Artsakh war.
Pietro: What are your thoughts on this year’s independence anniversary? Why the date September 21? Can you give us a bit of historical context on what was happening 30 years ago around Armenia?
The Armenian government has decided to forego a modest, solemn celebration and instead Pashinyan is boasting of planning a “colourful” event that will be widely celebrated around the country. The $2M budget allocated to this year’s activities is 10 times that of previous years.
A small group of citizens, including parents of killed soldiers and war veterans, were in front of the government building at Republic Square protesting the government’s plan. This happened on both Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th and during both days there were reports of arrests. However, the groups plan to continue protests on Monday and Tuesday (the day of the event).
What are the motivations of the government?
Pashinyan’s
Turkish overtures
On September 9, the entire second day of his two-day visit to Georgia, Pashinyan was in Batumi. Official news at the time were rather muted, but the choice of this city in particular was interesting in the context of Pashinyan’s recent overtures to Erdogan about normalization of ties.
Rumors that Pashinyan was trying to establish ties with Erdogan seem to have been confirmed by the latter just a few days ago, when Erdogan officially responded to Pashinyan with what seems to have been a reiteration of Turkey’s preconditions, specifically spelling out to Pashinyan that Armenia must open “corridors” connecting Azerbaijan proper with Nakhijevan.
Will Pashinyan acquiesce to Turkish/Azerbaijani demands as they concern “corridors”? How should we view these recent exchanges between Pashinyan and Erdogan?
What’s the difference between now and 2008?
What is the significance for Turkey of establishing relations with Armenia? Is it an economic or political consideration for Turkey?
Goris-Kapan highway
Azerbaijan’s brinkmanship on the Goris-Kapan
highway was ratcheted up over the last two weeks. Azerbaijan closed a segment
of the highway in late August for nearly two days and opened it only after
Pashinyan and the Armenian National Security Service made statements utilizing
Azerbaijani toponyms of Eivazli and Chaizami for the portion of the highway that Azerbaijan has
closed.
This week, we learned that Azerbaijan has
installed a border checkpoint on that road and has been charging Iranian trucks
transit fees for ostensibly traversing through territory that they claim is
Azerbaijani. Two Iranian truckers were arrested
for allegedly trying to supply goods to Stepanakert.
Even more worrisome, Azerbaijani police have
been stopping Armenian transport as well. In one case, they stopped a bus full
of members of a youth soccer team from Artsakh. They scraped off the flag and symbols
of Artsakh from the side of the bus with a knife and proceeded to verbally
abuse the kids.
Just yesterday there was a report of two young
Armenian men arrested by Azerbaijanis on that road. The Armenian NSS claimed
that the men lost their way but friends who claim
to have been on the phone with the two men while they
were stopped by Azerbaijanis indicate that the men were stopped while driving
on the road.
Thoughts on what’s going on?
What is Azerbaijan after?
Some statements from Armenian officials:
●
Pashinyan had earlier explained that his use of
the Azerbaijani toponyms of Eivazli and Chaizami were specifically meant to underscore that the
Armenian government believes that the segment of the road occupied by
Azerbaijani soldiers belongs to Azerbaijan according to Soviet maps.
●
Suren Papikian on the police checkpoint:
“Those are police checkpoints on the territory of Azerbaijan, here we can’t
adopt any decisions”
●
Andranik
Kocharyan: “Azerbaijani police activities are directed at
Iranian interests.”
That last statement about Iran is interesting.
Essentially Andranik Kocharyan is washing his hands
from this and declaring the issue to be between Iran and Azerbaijan.
Pietro:
I think in a previous episode we talked about Iran and its declarations that
for Iran, Armenia’s territorial integrity is a “red line”. Assuming even that
Armenia no longer considers segments of the Goris-Kapan highway as Armenian
territory - which is shocking in and of itself - what message does this send to
Iranians? Did Iran consider that this road is partially Azerbaijani? Did
Armenia notify Iranian truck drivers, so that their equipment and cargo doesn’t
get held up?
Wrap-up
That was our Week in Review
show, and we hope it helped you catch up with some of the issues in and around
Armenia from this past week. As always, we invite your feedback and your
suggestions. You can find us on most social media and podcast platforms, or our
website Groong.org.
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.
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Keywords
Pietro Shakarian,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Caucasus, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, Turkish-Armenian relations, Iranian-Armenian relations, Independence
Day, 1991 Armenian independence referendum, Communication Channels, Borders,
Goris-Kapan Highway, Syunik