In a formal statement today, the Minmatar Republic Parliament expressed “fervent hope that our friends in the Federation continue to exercise caution and responsibility in their efforts to recover the Crielere project scientists.” Citing concerns over the rumored concession of trade and mining rights to Gallentean border regions, Republic Parliament made the statement, “in hopes of expressing our profound concern over the safety and inviolability of Republic Sovereignty in areas adjacent to the Gallentean Federation.”
President Foiritan is believed to have given Articio Kor-Azor, son of the Amarr Emperor, rights to trade routes and resource locations in systems within Gallentean space that are not only home to significant numbers of so-called Gallentean Minmatars, members of the large ethnically Minmatar diaspora that make their home in Federation space, but also strategically closer to Republic seats of power than any previous Kor-Azor or Amarr controlled area.
Though the specificities of the agreement President Foiritan has made with Articio Kor-Azor are unknown, at least one private sector intelligence agency is claiming the reported “trade and mining rights” granted to Articio in exchange for the return of the Crielere scientists Umailen and Touvolle will lead to the de facto annexation of Gallentean systems by Articio. Articio Kor-Azor, son of the new Amarr Emperor, appears to be amassing both power and material resources, and this agreement is seen as both a conduit to express that new found power and a source of even more wealth and influence both at home in Amarr regions and beyond.