Plus, celebrities put a spotlight on Polish LGBT rights, Belarus tightens departure rules, and more.
The Big Story: Azerbaijan Conflict Leads to Resignations in Armenia
What happened: Recent resignations at Armenia’s Foreign Ministry point to a rift with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Eurasianet reports. After announcing his departure last week, Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan told ministry staff he would not carry out “ideas or initiatives that go against our statehood and national interests.”
More context: Ayvazyan’s deputy, Gagik Ghalachyan, and spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan also announced their resignations after the prime minister reportedly blindsided Ayvasyan with talk of a preliminary deal to solve border issues with archrival Azerbaijan. In fighting last fall over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan took back some lands that had long been under Armenian control. In May, months after a cease-fire, Armenia said Azerbaijani troops made an incursion across the border.
Worth noting: French President Emmanuel Macron urged Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from “the sovereign territory of Armenia,” and the two neighbors to demarcate their border through negotiations and without “any fait accompli on the ground,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports. Macron made the remarks yesterday, during Pashinyan’s visit to Paris. Pashinyan himself stepped down in April to trigger early elections.
News from the Regions
Central Europe and the Baltics
- Hungary will not take part in the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office or strengthened cooperation among EU prosecutors, Justice Minister Judit Varga announced yesterday on social media, according to Hungary Today. Varga said the new office was a way for Brussels to grab power from EU countries. Hungary had been threatened with losing EU recovery funds over its democratic backsliding, and Varga warned that the new prosecutor’s office could be “just another supranational tool for blackmail.”
- A Polish foundation meant to raise money for LGBT rights groups has garnered the support of international celebrities and prestigious figures, The Associated Press reports. The board of the Equaversity Foundation includes model Anja Rubik, Nobel-winning Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, film director Agnieszka Holland, and Antoni Porowski, a Polish-Canadian cook who stars in the Netflix show Queer Eye. Noting that 70 percent of LGBT youth in conservative and Catholic-majority Poland have suicidal thoughts, Holland said, “We just have to fight for their lives.”
Southeastern Europe
- A hard-line Bosniak nationalist organization espousing Nazi views has been flying under the radar of Bosnian authorities for more than a decade, BIRN reports. Founded in 2009, the Bosnian Movement of National Pride (BPNP) embraces a “blood and soil” ideology and considers multiculturalism “a threat to the survival of ‘true’ Bosnians,” according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Although most Bosniaks are Muslim, the group is also against Islamism — as well as Zionism, communism, and capitalism. Most BPNP members joined the organization while they were under the age of 18, BIRN added, judging from their social media profiles.
- A humanitarian campaign has been offering eye exams to Romanian children living in remote villages in the southern Carpathian Mountains, AP reports. “Given that out of 30 children tested, 20 needed glasses, I think such ophthalmic caravans are needed in as many villages in the country as possible,” said Mioara Marinescu, a volunteer ophthalmologist for the campaign. In addition to free eye exams, the Casa Buna (Good House) organization has been helping disadvantaged families with remote learning since the start of the pandemic, by offering them laptops and internet access.
Eastern Europe and Russia
- The upper house of the Russian parliament has approved a bill banning members of organizations deemed “extremist” from holding elective office, RFE/RL. Leaders, founders, and members of organizations declared extremist or terrorist by Russia’s courts would be banned from office for three to five years. The bill still needs to be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law. Its reach would likely include supporters of jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
- Only Belarusians holding permanent residency in other countries will be allowed to leave Belarus, Agence France-Presse writes. “Permission for a temporary stay … does not constitute a reason for traveling abroad,” a statement from the Belarusian border guards service, posted on social media app Telegram, reads. Leaving Belarus by land routes is already allowed only every six months. Valery Kovalevsky, an adviser to opposition leader Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya, called the restrictions “an absolute violation of the law.”
Central Asia
- In his second-ever interview, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan shed little light on life in his secretive country, Eurasianet reports. Moscow-based Mir 24 TV asked scripted questions “designed to allow the Turkmen leader to drone on about his government’s triumphs,” according to Eurasianet. The country is hosting events celebrating the 140th anniversary of the foundation of Ashgabat, its capital. Other cities, such as Turkmenabat, had little reasons for celebration, amid recent power and tap water shortages.
Borderlands
- The upcoming presidential election in Mongolia will carry high stakes, Bolor Lkhaajav, a book editor at Indiana University Bloomington’s Mongolia Society, told The Diplomat. Voters will deliver their verdict on the government’s response to the pandemic, but they will also determine if all the national political power will go to one party. The Mongolian People’s Party holds a majority in parliament, but the Democratic Party, which holds only nine of 76 seats in parliament, now has the presidency. A year ago, a nationwide poll of Mongolians ages 18 to 40 by the International Republican Institute found widespread disillusionment with the country’s politics.