Unannounced until the last moment, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday facilitated and mediated a long overdue meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany. With Blinken were Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried and newly appointed Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, Louis L. Bono.
CATEGORY RESULTS
Toivo Klaar: Georgia an important bridge between Armenia and Azerbaijan
In an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, the European Union’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, has stressed the importance of Tbilisi’s role in bridging the divide between its immediate regional neighbours, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is highly welcomed and not least because some of us have long argued for the emergence of some kind of “Tbilisi Process” given that it would be both logical and practical.
Expectations, Hopes, and Fears accompany new European Union Mission in Armenia
The International Crisis Group (ICG) has published a report on the potential role of the new European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) once it is deployed to patrol the country’s sometimes volatile border with Azerbaijan later this month. The mission, a dedicated deployment, is more on par with the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in neighbouring Georgia than the temporary and much shorter-term European Union Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP) that ended on 19 December last year.
European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) to contribute to normalising relations with Azerbaijan
Despite Baku’s concerns with this week’s decision to deploy a dedicated two-year European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA), and with political tensions still heightened over the continuing impasse on the strategic Lachin Corridor, there could be some hope on the not too distant horizon. Possibly.
European Union Establishes Longer-Term Monitoring Mission in Armenia
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso has today published my piece on the new European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA), a longer-term monitoring mission that will take over from the European Union Monitoring Capacity (EUMCAP) on the country’s border with Azerbaijan that ended its two-month deployment late last month.
Corridors, Highways, and Revisiting Key West
Eurasianet last week published a piece on what we anyway knew were long-standing disagreements over the construction of a new highway that would connect Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan via Armenia as dictated by the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement. It also quoted an anonymous government official as saying that Baku expected a dedicated road in much the same way that the Lachin Corridor passes through Azerbaijan.
Final confirmation of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) expected on 23 January
As had been expected, a final decision on the deployment of a larger and longer-term Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian monitor mission to Armenia will be made by the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on Monday, 23 January. This follows a preliminary decision already taken by the Political and EU Security Committee (PSC).
Social, Economic, and Political Pressures increase in Besieged Karabakh
Tomorrow, 17 January, residents of what remains of the besieged and breakaway Soviet-era Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) will be allocated ration coupons for basic and essential foodstuffs as control of the strategic Lachin Corridor by self-identified Azerbaijani environmental activists enters its second month. Despite their claims, however, most consider the effective but albeit partial blockade of the region, situated within Azerbaijan but populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, to be more than just about that.
Ration Coupon system to start operation in Karabakh on 20 January
Not unexpectedly, on 20 January, certain food products in Karabakh will only be available via a rationing coupon or voucher system. This had already been announced by defacto State Minister on 8 January before it was then announced yesterday that it would brought into operation on 20 January. This is something anyway anticipated when stocks in shops started to increasingly disappear or sell out quickly. The coupons will be distributed on 17 January.
Some residents had already been quoted by media calling for such a system as the effective siege of Karabakh on the Lachin Corridor enters its second month.