Media monitoring in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, 4-8 September, 2023

●  The regular training camps for military conscripts have been completed in Azerbaijan.

●   The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called Pashinyan recent statements “another fake political manipulation”.
“To establish peace and security in the region, the Armenian side must abandon its territorial claims against Azerbaijan, stop military and political provocations, as well as remove obstacles to the successful completion of the negotiation process on a peace treaty,” the Ministry stressed.
Yesterday, the Armenian Prime Minister said, “Azerbaijan has concentrated troops on the border with Armenia and the dividing line with Karabakh” and called the situation “explosive”.

●   Armenian footballers detained for disrespecting the Azerbaijani flag have been released, Azerbaijan’s general prosecutor’s office said.
The three athletes served 10 days in jail. They were deported to Armenia.

●  “Azerbaijan is receiving positive signals from Iran on normalisation of relations. There was misunderstanding between Baku and Tehran, but now the sides are trying to solve this problem,” Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said.

●  Azerbaijan has proposed a new format of trilateral co-operation with Israel and Turkey.
“Baku has a proposal to strengthen cooperation in a trilateral format so that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Israel can work together,” presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev told Israeli TV channel i24NEWS.

●  Azerbaijan is creating an arms holding company. Azərsilah Defence Industrial Holding CJSC will be engaged in production, export and sale of weapons. The purposeis to turn Azerbaijan into one of the main industrial centres for weapon production in the region.

●  The resettlement of the Lachin village of Sus is planned in early 2024, according to Masim Mammadov, special representative of the Azerbaijani President in Lachin district.

● EU High Representative Josep Borrell during his visit to Tbilisi: “The EU is committed to supporting Georgia on its path to EU membership – the doors are open and we want to support you on this path.

“But I must also say that applying for EU membership is a serious commitment and candidate status is not something that countries can automatically qualify for.

“It has to be earned through serious reforms and commitment to European values and, frankly, there is a lot to be done in this respect.”

● Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said she was not going to resign. “I am here where I have to be and I will go everywhere I have to go because this is my highest constitutional duty,” she said in a special video address to the population.The ruling Georgian Dream party announced that they were launching impeachment proceedings against the President for going on an unauthorised trip to Europe to talk to European leaders about supporting Georgia’s EU candidate status.

●  Radio Liberty Europe bureau editor Rikard Jozwiak: “If I were betting, I would think that Georgia would eventually get that status.”

● “Closer to Europe” – this is the slogan under which a new civic platform was founded in Georgia, which includes writers, musicians, scientists, representatives of various spheres of art. These are people who are united by common views and ideas,” said former Ombudsman Nino Lomjaria, who founded the platform.

Meetings of the organisation’s representatives with the population in Tbilisi and other cities of the country have already been announced.

●”In fact, we have the cure in our hands,” Makuna Gochiashvili, a parent of a child suffering from achondroplasia, wrote on social media.
A group of parents have been protesting for months, demanding that the authorities start supplying the country with a new expensive medicine to treat this rare genetic disease.
You can read about how children with achondroplasia live in Georgia here:

● Businessman Vazha Berianidze’s car was set on fire in Gori.

One version of events is that he had a quarrel with representatives of organized crime; allegedly he was offered so-called “roofing” in return for a share in his business, but he refused.

● Nikol Pashinyan is claiming, the situation in the region has escalated, the international community and the UN Security Council need to take serious measures.

● Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan presented 1,050 smartphones, tablets and laptops to Ukrainian children affected by the current conflict during her visit to Kiev.

● Karabakh football players detained on 28 August in Lachin corridor and arrested by an Azerbaijani court have been returned to the Armenian side, the Armenian National Security Service said.

● The EU civilian mission has increased their surveillance patrols, particularly in the border regions of Syunik and Gegharkunik, the mission said in a post on X.

● There are disagreements between Armenia and Russia, but one should not call it tension, according to the Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister.

● Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Armenia in October and open an embassy in Yerevan.

● French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottigny denied claims that the French diplomatic mission asked its citizens not to visit the border regions of Armenia.

● An Armenian-Emirati business forum to be held in Yerevan in September, according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry

● Chinese Ambassador to Georgia Zhou Jian confirmed Beijing’s interest in the Anaklia deep-water port construction project.

“In general, we, Chinese companies, Chinese enterprises are interested in infrastructure projects within the framework of the One Belt and One Road initiative, along the Middle Corridor.

“So if good conditions are created, I think there will be no problem with participation for Chinese companies in [the construction of] Anaklia or other projects,” the diplomat said.

●”We have complete coincidence in our views,” Girchi More Freedom leader Zurab Dzhaparidze on the party’s unification with another opposition force Droa.

The parties announced the union by releasing a video with the slogan “Normal Choice”.

● Mamuka Mdinaradze, one of the leaders of the Georgian Dream party, said, “European leaders too find themselves in an awkward position. Well, what is a leader of a country supposed to say when the president of another country suddenly drops by? They’re not going to say ‘How dare you come without your government’s permission?’

“This creates such an awkward situation, it is such a pest, that you can’t even ‘package’ it up.”

● In Brussels, Georgian Dream’s intentions to impeach President Zurabishvili, who is highly respected in the EU was met with amazement,” writes Rickard Jozwiak, editor of Radio Liberty’s European bureau.

According to him, recently in the offices of some European officials one can hear a point of view that used to be expressed only by the Georgian opposition – that the Georgian government may be deliberately seeking the denial of EU candidate status.

●The Georgian Dream party is changing the procedure for electing the chairman and professional members of the CEC.

According to the new bill, instead of 76 votes, which under the current system should elect the chairman and members of the CEC for a 5-year term, it will now be necessary to mobilise 90 votes.

● Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili took a charter flight to the US in August.

“His son Nikoloz is studying there,” Nino Giorgobiani, head of Georgia’s Strategic Communications Department, wrote on Facebook.
According to her, the travel expenses were not covered by the state budget.

● A foreign tourist died in Tusheti after falling from a height on a motorbike.

● Joint Armenian-American military exercises EAGLE PARTNER-2023 will be held on September 11-20 in Armenia.
The Armenian Defence Ministry reported that these are preparations for participation in international peacekeeping missions.

● “The information about the Armenian and US exercises raises wariness, Moscow will deeply analyse the situation,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

● “The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the blockade of the Lachin corridor and the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Armenia’s permanent mission to the CoE said.

● Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan met with ambassadors accredited in the country and told them “about the accumulation of Azerbaijani forces on the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the border with Armenia.”

● Legendary Portuguese footballer Luis Figo is visiting Armenia. He visited the academy of Noa football club, met with its pupils, players and coaches.

● Armenia and Georgia will expand their investigative services’ cooperation, as a result of a meeting between the head of the Armenian Investigative Committee Argishti Kyaramyan and his Georgian counterpart Koka Katsitadze.

● In a telephone conversation with Anthony Blinken, the Azerbaijani President said, “After opening the Aghdam-Khankendi road, the Lachin-Khankendi road may be opened with the application of Azerbaijan’s customs and border control rules.

” The refusal to use the Aghdam-Khankendi road is a political manipulation and purposeful lie in order to claim that there is allegedly a humanitarian or food crisis in this territory.”

“The delivery of cargo to the Lachin checkpoint without agreement is an interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan. This policy of Armenia has caused serious damage to the peace treaty negotiations,” Aliyev added.

● “The only way for Karabakh Armenians is dialogue and discussion of their future as part of Azerbaijan. This is our red line,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov told Hungary’s Magyar Demokrata news agency.

● Aide to Azerbaijani President Hikmet Hajiyev met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the framework of his visit to Israel. They discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and prospects for the future.

● The Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan may ban the use of mobile phones by pupils in schools in the future.
This was stated by Minister Emin Amrullayev at a briefing. He also said that history and music lessons for pupils in the Russian sector of state schools will be taught in the Azerbaijani language.

● 270 places have been allocated for Azerbaijani citizens wishing to enter Russian universities within the quota of the Russian government for the 2024/25 academic year.

●Baku International Airport received the first Georgian Wings flight. The Georgian air carrier’s aircraft was greeted with a water arch as per tradition.
Georgian Wings will operate regular flights on the Tbilisi-Baku-Tbilisi route three times a week: on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

● A 129-kilometre section of the Baku-Guba-Russian border road will become toll road. It will be the first toll road in Azerbaijan. The Tariff Council has not yet set the toll price.

● The EU Mission to Armenia has recorded an increase in tension at a number of sections in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border zone. “We have reported the situation to Brussels. Our patrols continue observations on the border sections and on the clash lines,” the mission said in a statement on social network X.

● Moscow has asked the Armenian side for clarifications on sending the Rome Statute to parliament for ratification and will decide on further steps based on Yerevan’s response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

● One should be able to take responsibility for one’s own actions, and not look for the guilty endlessly, Maria Zakharova said in response to Nikol Pashinyan. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman noted that otherwise it becomes “like a story about a bad dancer”.

● The Kremlin also expressed disagreement with Pashinyan. “Russia is not going to leave the South Caucasus,” Dmitry Peskov said about the prime minister’s statements about the failure of the Russian peacekeepers’ mission.

● The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have transferred and concentrated a large amount of military equipment in Nagorno-Karabakh, reports from the unrecognised NKR say.

● Gymnast Albert Azaryan, a legend of Armenian sports, passed away at the age of 94. Azaryan was 11-time USSR champion, 3-time Olympic champion, 4-time world champion and 2-time European champion.

● Viktor Biyagov was recalled from the post of Armenia’s permanent and plenipotentiary representative in the CSTO by the presidential decree. By another decree, he was appointed Ambassador to the Netherlands, as well as the country’s permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

● Regular training camps of military conscripts have started.

● President Ilham Aliyev received Igor Khovayev, special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for normalisation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Aliyev drew the interlocutor’s attention to the fact that representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh refused to visit Azerbaijan to discuss reintegration issues. Khovayev responded by assuring that Russia will continue its efforts to normalise relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and ensure sustainable peace in the region.

● “The opening of the Zangezur corridor can make a significant contribution to the expansion of the Middle Corridor,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov said at a meeting with EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Oliver Varheli.

● An Azerbaijani presidential aide held a meeting in Baku with the head of Israel’s National Security Council. Hikmet Hajiyev and Tzahi Hanegbi discussed bilateral issues and regional agenda.

● Swiss companies are willing to participate in Karabakh’s reconstruction. “Enterprises are ready to provide their advanced technologies to Azerbaijan,” Swiss Charge d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Alexander Hoffet said.

● Slovakia is implementing the Smart Village project in Bash Garvend village of Agdam district. In the near future Slovak delegation will visit Karabakh and familiarise with the reconstruction works going on there. This was announced by Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Boris Kollar, who is on a visit to Baku.

● President Ilham Aliyev has allocated AZN 20 million [about $12 million] for the design and construction of a new road Gubadli-Lachin. The road will start at the 33rd kilometre of the Khudaferin-Gubadli-Lachin road section.

● Azerbaijani serviceman Ramal Tagiyev shot himself. The incident occurred in Kelbajar district. The fact was confirmed in the military prosecutor’s office of Azerbaijan. A criminal case has been opened under the article “leading to suicide”.

● A “clairvoyant” was detained in Sumgait. Internet fraudster Fuad Mammadov “tricked” users of the TikTok social network for money, promising to “predict the future” in return. When gullible citizens transferred money to him, he blocked them, hoping to avoid punishment.

● The new general director of the popular independent TV channel Mtavari archi Giorgi Gabunia (pictured) stated that “earlier the channel was indeed a television channel [of the United National Movement party], but now everything has changed and the channel has freed itself from political influence”. Journalists of the channel protested against this assessment. In particular, Eka Kvesitadze in her programme “Monologue” refuted Gabunia’s words and called them “extremely insulting” to her and her colleagues.

● At the parliamentary session, the leader of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze once again accused the opposition and the President of “uniting into a party of global war and opposing Georgia’s European integration”.

● A bill initiated by a part of the opposition MPs, which proposed to move the celebration of the Victory Day over fascism from 9 to 8 May, failed. “Only Russia celebrates World War II Victory Day on 9 May, while the rest of the world celebrates it on 8 May,” the authors of the draft argued, but they were not supported by the ruling majority.

● “Victory over Putinism” – the seventh international conference with this title is being held in Tbilisi. It is being organised by the McCain Institute for International Leadership, the George W. Bush Institute and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. This is the second year the ruling party has refused to participate in the conference.

● Former public defender Nino Lomjaria is creating a civic platform “European Orbit of Georgia”, a presentation will take place tomorrow. The aim is to unite all those who support the country’s accession to European institutions and values.

● Major General Kirill Kulakov was appointed commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh from 3 September. He succeeds Alexander Lentsov, who was appointed in April.

● “Armenia is obstructing dialogue between Azerbaijani authorities and residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov told a conference of heads of diplomatic missions in Hungary.

● Drinking water will be supplied from Lachin to Baku. This will become possible after the completion of the construction of the Khakarichay reservoir.

● Hungary has started to receive Azerbaijani gas. Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and Hungary’s MVM CEEnergy signed a contract in June to supply Azerbaijani gas (100 million cubic metres) to Hungary in 2023.

● Air passenger transport in Azerbaijan in 2023 has increased in price by almost a quarter. Due to the closure of land borders, it is the only way to leave the country. The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan has reported on what has risen most sharply in the country in 2023. The top three are vegetables (by 28.40 per cent), air passenger transport (23.70 per cent) and stationery (18.90 per cent).

● The Grape and Wine Festival will be held in Shamakhi from 29 September to 1 October. The aim is to promote local viticulture and winemaking. Read more about the problems of viticulture and winemaking in Azerbaijan here

● More than 100 writers, translators and publishers have announced a boycott of the House of Writers. The writers refuse to participate in projects funded by the Ministry of Culture and the House of Writers. The reason for the boycott was the appointment of a representative of the ruling party, MP Ketevan Dumbadze, as the head of the House of Writers, who is accused of, among other things, actively promoting the adoption of the law on foreign agents in Georgia. A brief context of that story is here in the video “Who are these people who defended freedom of speech in Georgia despite gas and water cannons?”

● The rules for entering the building of the Parliament of Georgia have been tightened. In particular, it is now not allowed to bring banners, posters and other protest paraphernalia. The order of issuing passes to visitors is also tightened.

● EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borelli is scheduled to visit Georgia on 7-8 September.

● Local non-governmental organisations have called on the government to halt impeachment proceedings against the president and say it is an attack on the country’s aspirations to join the EU. Read more here

● The Kula juice company has been criticised on social media for its packaging, on which inscriptions in Russian have appeared. The company called the critics “pseudo-patriots” but said it would change the packaging.

Photo: Building of the House of Literators / Facebook

● Azerbaijan has not yet reacted to Armenia’s latest peace treaty proposals, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told reporters.

● The president of NATO’s European Development Committee has called on Armenia to join the alliance. Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s joining NATO was out of the question. “No one in NATO has called on Armenia to join the alliance, but Yerevan is ready to continue cooperation with the organisation,” Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan said.

● Armenian military medics participated in a multinational exercise in Hohenfels, Germany. The purpose of the exercise was to practise prompt and safe evacuation of the wounded by helicopters.

● The Ministry of Justice of Armenia proposes to abolish the honorary titles “People’s” and “Honoured”. The bill retains only the title “honoured collective”. The authors want to ensure equal conditions for self-expression and work of specialists.

● The Ministry of Ecology of Armenia showed a herd of red-listed Armenian mouflons in the mountains of Zangezur reserve.

● A month after a terrible natural disaster occurred in the mountain resort of Shovi. As a result of the landslide on 3 August, 31 people were found dead and the search for two children is still ongoing.

● European Council President Charles Michel hailed the Georgian President, “her commitment to moving the country forward on the European path” and put a picture from his meeting with Salome Zurabishvili on his X account. “You have the full support of the European Union. The European Commission’s decision to grant Georgia an EU perspective is a historic opportunity. Further reforms are needed – justice, depolarisation, de-oligarchisation. And the formation of an inclusive political culture” – wrote Charles Michel. Georgian authorities said the president had violated their ban on travelling to Europe and lobbying for a European perspective for Georgia, and announced the start of an impeachment against her. Read more here

● “This is an attempt to divert attention from the real problems in Georgia” – MEP Viola von Kramon on the impeachment of the president announced by the ruling party.

● “Georgian Dream” threatens the European dream of the people of Georgia. I express my solidarity with President Salome Zurabishvili, who is a true European leader” – Head of the German Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Michael Roth.

● “Bravo, Madame President Zurabishvili, for your role in promoting a European future for Georgia!” – wrote French Ambassador to Georgia Cheraz Ghasri in her X account.

● The international conference “Defeat Putinism!” will be held in Tbilisi on 4-5 September.

● The visit of Israeli Knesset deputies headed by Speaker Amir Ohana begins. Tomorrow they will take part in the plenary session of the Georgian parliament.

● Media in Georgia discuss the Ukrainian president’s decision to dismiss Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and appoint former head of the State Property Fund Rustem Umerov to the position.

● “Migrants arriving in the country must either show a document about their HIV status or be tested. Increasing migration from Russia and Ukraine complicates the HIV/AIDS situation in Georgia. Also, more and more students from countries where HIV prevalence is even higher than in Russia are coming to Georgia” – Tengiz Tsertsvadze, director of the main infectious disease hospital of Georgia, appealed to the authorities.

● In the Kakheti region, anti-hail rocket attacks on clouds were used on a massive scale over the weekend. The grape harvest is in full swing in the region, and heavy rains and hail threaten to completely destroy the crop, which has already suffered significant damage. At least 150,000 hectares are to be protected.

● Over 87,000 people emigrated from Georgia in 2021-2022 alone. From 2012 to 2022, about 245 thousand citizens left the country and did not return. After the pandemic, twice as many people leave Georgia to live in other countries than return from emigration – Committee on Statistics. About 70 per cent of emigrants are women, who go to look for cleaning or care work to support families staying at home.

● The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society has not given up hope to deliver food to Khankendi (Stepanakert). “There is no positive answer so far,” said AOCS vice-president Gafar Askerzadeh. 40 tonnes of flour in two lorries are waiting on the Aghdam-Khankendi road for the seventh day.

● “BBC should stop propaganda of Armenian separatism,” the Press Council of Azerbaijan said. The reason was “biased materials with prejudiced statements about relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia” disseminated by the BBC TV channel, including its Azerbaijani service. “Either this organisation must learn to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, or its activities in the country must be suspended and its licence revoked,” the organisation added.

● “The Armenian footballers regret what they have done and expressed deep gratitude to Azerbaijan,” Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva said, commenting on the meeting with the athletes detained at the border who showed disrespect to the Azerbaijani flag.
“According to the guys, they were forced to commit such a misdemeanour by the club management and coaches,” Aliyeva said.

● “Armenians living in Karabakh should apply for Azerbaijani citizenship. Azerbaijan will ensure their linguistic, cultural, religious and municipal rights,” Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said.
He emphasised that the country is a member of various international conventions, including the CoE Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

● A strong earthquake occurred last night in Azerbaijan. According to the country’s seismological station, the epicentre of the 5.2 magnitude tremors was located in the Kurdamir district. The earthquake was felt by residents of many districts of Azerbaijan. Emergency Situations Ministry reports that there are no casualties and destruction.

● Azerbaijan’s investment and business opportunities have been presented in China within the framework of the International Trade in Services Exhibition (CIFTIS). “Possessing a strategic position at the intersection of East and West, Azerbaijan has great opportunities to attract Chinese investors,” said Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov.

● A video shot in Azerbaijan went viral on social networks in many countries over the weekend. The footage shows a seal attacking men swimming. According to eyewitnesses, no one was hurt in the end. “These mammals become aggressive towards humans to protect themselves,” commented Azerbaijani scientist Suleyman Suleymanov.

● Iran will not accept geopolitical changes in the region, Iranian Foreign Minister said following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart. Hosein Amir Abdollahian said Tehran supports agreements and dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan but will not accept “restrictions on existing historical transit routes in the region.”

● A general prayer service for the peaceful and secure life of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh was held today by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II at St Gayane Church (pictured).

● The opposition gathered people in Freedom Square in support of Nagorno-Karabakh. Former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan participated. The solution to the Karabakh problem for them remains the resignation of the government.

● “In a month’s time, a draft law on criminalising statements about the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh (to Azerbaijan) will be submitted to parliament” – coordinator of the initiative Hayakwe.

Media monitoring in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, 28 August-1 September, 2023