Monday,
Most Karabakh Residents Displaced By Fighting
• Marine Khachatrian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A medical worker talks to a sick woman in a bomb shelter in
Stepanakert, October 22, 2020
Nearly 60 percent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has been forced to flee homes
since the start of the war with Azerbaijan one month ago, an official in
Stepanakert said on Monday.
Artak Beglarian, Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, said an estimated 90,000
ethnic Armenian civilians have been relocated to other parts of Karabakh or have
taken refuge in Armenia due to Azerbaijan’s shelling of their towns and
villages. They are enduring serious hardship despite food and other relief aid
delivered to them by the Armenian and Karabakh governments as well as private
charities, Beglarian told reporters.
The shelling has targeted Stepanakert and most other Karabakh communities,
causing extensive damage to local homes and public infrastructure. Most of
Stepanakert’s remaining residents now live in basements and other bomb shelters.
The vast majority of the displaced people are women, children and elderly
persons. Those who have fled to Armenia are typically staying with their
relatives or in temporary shelters made available by the government.
Among them are Nanar Karapetian and her two young sons. They lived in the town
of Shushi until the outbreak of the war on September 27.
Like many other Karabakh men, Karapetian’s husband is a military officer who is
now fighting against Azerbaijani forces on the battlefield. “My brothers,
cousins, husband’s brothers are also on the frontline,” the young woman told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service in Yerevan.
“All I want is peace so we can return to our homes,” she added.
“I miss my town, I miss my dad, and I want us to go back home soon,” said
Karapetian’s 7-year-old son, Manvel.
According to Beglarian’s office, the fighting has left nearly 40 Karabakh
civilians dead so far. One of them lived in a village near Stepanakert that was
reportedly shelled on Monday despite an Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement
brokered by the United States.
The hostilities have also affected many residents of Azerbaijani cities and
villages north and east of Karabakh. The Azerbaijani authorities have reported
more than 60 deaths among them.
Armenia Expects U.S. Reaction To Another Collapse Of Karabakh Ceasefire
ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gives an interview to TASS
Russian news agency, in Yerevan, October 19, 2020
Armenia urged the United States on Monday to react strongly to what it called
Azerbaijan’s failure to respect yet another agreement to stop the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh which was brokered by Washington.
“It’s now clear that once again it has not proved possible to implement a
ceasefire [agreement,]” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a video address
to the nation aired in the evening. “I cannot say at this point what the
reaction of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries [the U.S., Russia and
France] and their presidents will be. But you must know that the Armenian side
has done everything to adhere to the ceasefire.”
“I hope that official representatives of the U.S. will answer these questions.
Have they clarified as a result of whose actions the ceasefire has been
violated? If so, what consequences will there be for the party that has violated
it?” he said.
Pashinian charged that Azerbaijan is continuing its offensive military
operations in the conflict zone because it wants to force Armenia and Karabakh
to capitulate. The Armenian side has been “maximally flexible” in negotiations
mediated by the U.S., Russia and France and prepared to agree to a “painful”
compromise-based solution to the Karabakh conflict, he said, adding that it now
has no choice but to continue fighting against the “Azerbaijani aggression.”
The conflicting parties began accusing each other of ceasefire violations
shortly after the U.S.-brokered agreement went into force at 8 a.m. local time.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said early in the afternoon that Azerbaijani
forces have launched an assault on frontline positions of Karabakh’s
Armenian-backed army in southeastern Karabakh. It reported heavy fighting there
in the following hours.
“Starting from 5 p.m. the intensity of fire along the border of Artsakh
(Karabakh) has sharply increased,” a ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanian,
wrote on Facebook. She said the Azerbaijani army is using heavy artillery and
tanks against Karabakh positions and civilian areas.
Speaking in the morning, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he has ordered
his troops to show “restraint” despite what he described as Armenian
“provocations” on the frontlines.
Aliyev also hit out at the U.S., Russian and French mediators, saying that they
are now trying to “save Armenia.” “If they want a ceasefire then let them tell
Armenia to leave our lands,” he said in televised remarks. “If that doesn’t
happen we will go till the end.”
Russia Hails U.S. Mediation On Karabakh
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIA -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir
Putin's annual life-broadcasted news conference with Russian and foreign media
at the World Trade Center in Moscow, Russia, 19 December 2019
Russia welcomed on Monday U.S. efforts to stop hostilities in and around
Nagorno-Karabakh which have resulted in yet another Armenian-Azerbaijani
ceasefire agreement.
Commenting on the U.S.-brokered agreement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“The process of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, which is in an
acute phase, must not and cannot be a scene of any rivalry or competition
[between world powers.]”
“Certainly, Russia, as a co-chair of the [OSCE Minsk] group, is ready to welcome
any steps that will help to stop the war,” Peskov told journalists.
The latest truce agreement was announced late on Sunday after talks held by the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington with top U.S.
administration officials and the American, Russian and French diplomats
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
Speaking ahead of the Washington talks, Russian President Vladimir Putting Putin
expressed hope that the United States will contribute to Russian efforts to get
the conflicting parties to respect a ceasefire agreement that was brokered by
Moscow on October 10.
A similar “humanitarian” truce agreement brokered by France on October 17 has
also not been observed.
Peskov said that Moscow is continuing to closely monitor the situation in the
Karabakh conflict zone. “We still believe that there can only be a peaceful
solution to this problem,” said Putin’s spokesman.
Fighting Reported In Karabakh Conflict Zone After Another Truce Accord
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Members of the Karabakh Ministry of Emergency Situations
search for unexploded cluster bombs on the outskirts of Stepanakert, October 20,
2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire
agreement following its entry into force on Monday morning.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces shelled frontline
positions of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army in northeastern and southeastern
Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, for its part, that its troops came under
Armenian artillery fire at several sections of the “line of contact” around
Karabakh.” It claimed that Armenian forces also shelled Azerbaijani residential
areas northeast of Karabakh.
“The Azerbaijani side is demonstrating restraint,” a senior aide to Azerbaijan's
President Ilham Aliyev told the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Karabakh Armenian army strongly denied violating the truce, saying that Baku
is “preparing ground for further provocations” with claims to the contrary.
“The Armenian side continues to strictly adhere to the ceasefire regime,”
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wrote on Facebook about two hours after
the truce agreement took effect at 8 a.m. local time.
“Despite some provocations, the ceasefire is largely holding,” Pashinian wrote
at midday.
Two hours later, the Karabakh Defense Army said that Azerbaijani troops have
launched an attack on its frontline positions in southeastern Karabakh. It said
its forces are now trying to repel the attack.
The truce agreement was announced late on Sunday following a series of talks
held by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington with top
U.S. officials and American, Russian and French diplomats co-heading the OSCE
Minsk Group.
In a late-night tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Pashinian and
Aliyev on the deal.
Russia and France already brokered similar Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire
agreements on October 10 and October 17 respectively. They did not stop
hostilities in and around Karabakh, with the warring sides accusing each other
of not respecting it.
Armenia, Azerbaijan Again Agree To Ceasefire
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A fragment of an artillery shell at the fighting positions
of ethnic Armenian soldiers on the front line during a military conflict against
Azerbaijan's armed forces, October 20, 2020.
Armenia and Azerbaijan reached late on Sunday another agreement to halt
hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone after holding talks in
Washington mediated by the United States.
“The humanitarian ceasefire will take effect at 08:00 a.m. local time (12:00
a.m. EDT) on ,” the U.S., Armenian and Azerbaijani governments
said in a joint statement.
“The United States facilitated intensive negotiations among the [Armenian and
Azerbaijani] Foreign Ministers and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to move Armenia and
Azerbaijan closer to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
added the statement.
The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs said separately that they and U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State Stephen E. Biegun held a joint meeting with the two ministers
in Washington on Saturday. They said they discussed “possible parameters for
monitoring the ceasefire and initiating discussion of core substantive elements
of a comprehensive solution” to the Karabakh conflict.
“The Co-Chairs and Foreign Ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on October
29 to discuss, reach agreement on, and begin implementation, in accordance with
a timeline to be agreed upon, of all steps necessary to achieve a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the basic
principles accepted by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” read a statement
released by the mediators.
On Friday Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov also separate talks with U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
"Under the president’s direction, we have spent the entire weekend trying to
broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia has accepted a ceasefire.
Azerbaijan has not yet,” O’Brien told CBS earlier on Sunday.
“We are pushing them [Azerbaijan] to do so,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump also commented on the Karabakh war as he spoke at an
election campaign rally in New Hampshire. “Armenia, they are incredible people,
they are fighting like hell and … we’re going to get something done,” he said.
“We’ll get that sorted out … I call that an easy one,” Trumped added, referring
to the fighting. He did not elaborate.
Russia and France already brokered similar Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire
agreements on October 10 and October 17 respectively. The agreements did not
stop hostilities in and around Karabakh, with the warring sides accusing each
other of not respecting it.
Speaking before the announcement of the fresh truce accord on Sunday,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the mediating powers should put pressure
on Armenia if they want to stop the war.
“We have one condition: if the countries that have supported Armenia and created
for almost 30 years conditions for its occupation of our lands want a ceasefire
they must put pressure on Armenia,” Aliyev said, according to TASS. “The
Armenian prime minister must state that his country will leave the occupied
territories. We haven’t heard such a statement.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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