JAMnews. Daily roundup of local media from three South Caucasus countries.
Tuesday, October 15, Armenia
● In Geneva, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan held a “substantive” meeting with his Turkish counterpart. According to Simonyan, the two discussed a wide range of issues and agreed to continue their dialogue.
Another planned meeting between Simonyan and Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova was canceled. The Armenian Speaker’s press service reported that the Azerbaijani side backed out at the last moment.
● An Iranian citizen has been arrested in connection with the 2022 kidnapping of the father of former Armenian MP Khachatur Kokobelyan. According to the investigation, he created the cryptocurrency wallet where the ransom was to be deposited.
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Four Armenian citizens, including former MP Suren Manukyan, are also accused of involvement in the kidnapping. They are all currently in pretrial detention.
● Fan clubs of several Armenian Premier League teams are demanding the resignation of Football Federation President Armen Melikbekyan.
In their joint statement, they claim that the “interaction between the Federation, clubs, and fans is at a low level,” that “Armenian football survives solely due to the private sector,” and that “significant changes are needed, starting with the resignation of the Federation President.”
The fans’ protests began following Armenia’s defeat to North Macedonia in a UEFA Nations League match.
● Renowned American economist of Armenian descent, Daron Acemoglu, has been awarded the Nobel Prize, sharing it with James Robinson and Simon Johnson. They were recognized for their research on the formation of social institutions and their impact on the prosperity of nations.
Tuesday, October 15, Georgia
● “European Union leaders are set to warn Georgia that its government is jeopardising the country’s path towards the EU ahead of the parliamentary election later this month”, Reuters reports. This information comes from draft conclusions prepared for the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on October 17-18, which Reuters has obtained.
● “Someone scored an own goal today,” German Ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer tweeted yesterday, apparently in response to Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze’s derogatory comments about Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and Climate, Anna Lührmann.
Earlier, Lührmann had stated that the Georgian government was hindering the country’s Eurointegration process. In response, Kaladze remarked, “I don’t know who this woman is. She’s a real Kubilius in a skirt.”
Lithuanian politician Andrius Kubilius is known as a vocal critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Former footballer Kaladze is infamous for having once scored two own goals in his team’s net.
● EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell: “Recent statements and election promises by the [Georgian] ruling party are steering the country away from the European path. This is a signal of a turn towards authoritarianism. That is why the country’s EU accession process is de facto suspended. Let’s wait for the parliamentary elections, which will be a decisive test for democracy in Georgia and its European path.”
● The opposition party “For Georgia,” led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, does not support the Georgian president’s proposal to announce the composition of a “technical government” before the elections. According to Gakharia himself, such actions would be premature and unacceptable.
Among the main opposition groups, the idea of naming the “technical government” composition before the elections was supported by “Unity” (“National Movement,” “Strategy Aghmashenebeli,” “European Georgia”) and “For Change” (“Akhaly,” “Girchi – More Freedom,” “Droa”). However, like Gakharia’s party, “Strong Georgia” (“Lelo,” “For the People,” “Freedom Square,” “Citizens”) is skeptical about the feasibility of this measure.
● Russia has issued an interstate search warrant for Georgian citizen Alexander Inasaridze and Ukrainian citizen Sergey Andreichenko, who are believed to be involved in the bombing of the Kerch Bridge in 2022, Russian state agency TASS reports.
● At least 3,335 citizens have registered on the monitoring platform “My Voice for the EU,” created by Georgian NGOs, expressing their desire to become observers in the parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 26. This is a record number, as no previous election in Georgia has seen so many volunteer observers.
After undergoing special training, they will be assigned to various polling stations across Georgia and overseas.
● The Georgian national football team lost 0:1 to Albania in the fourth-round match of the UEFA Nations League group stage. The match took place at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi.
In their group opener, Georgia defeated the Czech Republic 4:1, then Albania 1:0, but in the third round, lost to the group’s underdog, Ukraine (1:0).
On November 16, the Georgian national team will face Ukraine again at the Batumi stadium Adjarabet Arena.
Tuesday, October 15, Azerbaijan
● President Ilham Aliyev dismissed Armenia’s proposal to “sign everything that has already been agreed upon” as unrealistic. “All points of the peace agreement are equally important; one cannot be separated from the other,” he said.
● “The European Union should continue to remain neutral in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process,” President Aliyev stated during a meeting with the newly appointed Belgian ambassador to Azerbaijan. He added, “The EU should neither follow the path of Paris nor be influenced by it, as France’s policy towards normalizing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations has been and remains destructive.”
● “Over the past four years, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian, economic, and technical assistance to more than 140 countries worldwide, totaling $330 million,” announced Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova at the 149th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva.
● “The international community must exert serious pressure on Armenia to hand over mine maps. Since the end of the Second Karabakh War, 380 people have fallen victim to Armenian mine terrorism, and this tragic statistic continues to grow,” stated Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva.
Yesterday, a 23-year-old shepherd in the Gazakh region was injured by a mine and had his leg amputated in the hospital.
● “The 44-day Patriotic War has created new realities in the region, and the large-scale construction works in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, as well as the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, will create significant opportunities for the Turkic world and Turkic-speaking countries,” said Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Numan Kurtulmuş during a meeting with Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova in Geneva.
● “A decision on President Putin’s participation in COP29 in Baku has not yet been made, but Russia will definitely be represented,” announced Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
● Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will attend COP29 in Baku. “This will be his third visit to Azerbaijan in less than a year,” stated Hungarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Tamás Torma.
● A circus tent will be set up in central Baku, provided by the Budapest Circus. Meanwhile, the restoration of Baku’s permanent circus building has been halted pending a budget assessment for the renovation works.
● The Azerbaijan national football team lost another UEFA Nations League match, this time to Slovakia, with a final score of 1-3 in Baku.