Friday,
U.S. Tells Azerbaijan To Pull Back Troops
U.S. - The US State Department is seen on November 29, 2010 in Washington, DC.
The United States urged Azerbaijan on Friday to immediately withdraw its troops
from Armenia’s border areas.
“We expect Azerbaijan to pull back all forces immediately and cease further
provocation,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Jalina Porter, told reporters.
“Military movements in disputed territories are irresponsible and they're also
unnecessarily provocative,” Porter said, adding that border demarcation issues
should be resolved through negotiation and discussion.
The State Department reacted more cautiously to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
standoff on Thursday, calling on both sides to show “restraint in de-escalating
the situation peacefully.”
Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker had separate phone calls with
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.
Porter’s remarks came shortly after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
accused Azerbaijan of failing to honor a pledge to withdraw its forces from
Armenian territory occupied by them this week. He again charged that Baku is
trying to “provoke a large-scale military clash” six months after a
Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Earlier on Friday, Armenia formally appealed to Russia and the Russian-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization for military support.
Azerbaijan has denied sending troops across the border and said its forces only
took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier.
France Said To Mull Military Support For Armenia
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a summit of the
Francophonie organization in Yerevan, 11 October 2018.
France is exploring the possibility of helping Armenia protect its territorial
integrity after the latest Azerbaijani incursions, Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian said on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced on Thursday night strong support for
Armenia in its ongoing border standoff with Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijani armed forces have crossed into Armenian territory. They must
withdraw immediately,” Macron tweeted after a phone call with Pashinian.
Pashinian gave some details of their conversation during an emergency session of
the Armenian parliament.
“The French president said that he is considering taking the issue to the United
Nations Security Council and that with a UN mandate France is also prepared to
provide, if necessary, military support to international efforts to resolve this
issue,” he told lawmakers.
“I find it very important that permanent members of the Security Council
communicate with each other on this topic. We are very closely monitoring these
developments and making our positions clear,” added the prime minister.
In a statement on the phone call, the presidential Elysee Palace said Macron
reaffirmed “France's commitment to the territorial integrity of Armenia.” It
also said that Paris would like the UN Security Council to try to ease tensions
in the region and “restore stability and security” there.
Armenia maintains close military ties with Russia on a bilateral basis and as a
member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led
military bloc uniting six ex-Soviet states. It has asked both Moscow and the
CSTO as a whole to help it deal with Azerbaijani troops which it says crossed
several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border this week.
Yerevan Warns Of Escalation Of Armenian-Azeri Border Standoff (UPDATED)
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian speaks with journalists in Goris,
.
Armenian-Azerbaijani crisis talks have yielded no agreement so far, Deputy Prime
Minister Tigran Avinian said on Friday, warning of a further escalation of a
military standoff at disputed sections of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.
“Negotiations are going on, but as of now we have no final results,” Avinian
told reporters during a visit to Syunik province where Azerbaijani troops
reportedly advanced several kilometers into Armenian territory early on
Wednesday.
“I believe that we will reach a resolution in one way or another,” he said.
“It’s very clear that the Azerbaijani armed forces have crossed into Armenia’s
sovereign territory. We definitely want to resolve the situation peacefully and
are ready to hold discussions in a calm manner.”
“Having said that, we must be prepared for possible bad developments and also be
ready to defend our sovereign territory. In the event of such a bad scenario we
expect the support of our allies. But I hope that we will avoid any bad scenario
and solve all problems through negotiations,” added Avinian.
Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials met on the border on Thursday to try
to resolve the dispute. Representatives of Russian troops deployed in Syunik
also reportedly took part in the negotiations that lasted for several hours.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed later on Friday that during those talks
the Azerbaijani side agreed to withdraw from Armenian territory occupied by it
but has still not honored that pledge in full.
“Since yesterday the Azerbaijanis have left some places but their presence in
our territory continues,” Pashinian said during an emergency session of the
Armenian parliament. He did not specify those locations.
Pashinian also said Armenian, Azerbaijani as well as Russian officers held fresh
talks on Friday. The talks were “interrupted” and will resume on Saturday, he
added.
Azerbaijan insisted late on Thursday that its troops did not cross into Armenia
and simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were
not accessible in winter months. The Foreign Ministry in Baku also said that the
border between the two South Caucasus states has not been demarcated ever since
the Soviet breakup.
Echoing statements by Pashinian, Avinian said that Azerbaijani military
commanders on the ground are producing “false maps” to justify their actions.
Pashinian stated in this regard that maps brought by Russian negotiators also
show that hundreds of Azerbaijani soldiers remain within Armenia’s
internationally recognized borders. Yerevan will use this fact as further proof
of the violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity, he said.
Pashinian suggested on Thursday Baku may be intent on “provoking an armed clash”
with Armenia six months after a Russian-brokered agreement stopped the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that the Azerbaijani military is scheduled to start
large-scale exercises on Sunday and pointed to Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s recent threats to forcibly open a “corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to
its Nakhichevan exclave via Syunik.
The Armenian prime minister went on to announce that Yerevan will ask the
Collective Security Treaty Organization to invoke Article 2 of its founding
treaty which requires the Russian-led military bloc to discuss a collective
response to grave security threats facing its member states.
Pashinian told lawmakers on Friday that he has also written to Russian President
Vladimir Putin to formally request Russian military assistance in line with
bilateral Russian-Armenian defense treaties.
The two men spoke by phone on Thursday night. According to Pashinian, Putin too
thinks that the Azerbaijani forces crossed into Armenia and must be withdrawn.
Putin, Pashinian Discuss Armenian-Azeri Border Crisis
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
meet at the Kremlin in Moscow, April 7, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin late
on Thursday to discuss mounting tensions on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan.
Pashinian’s office said he briefed Putin on the situation at volatile sections
of the border, again accusing Azerbaijani troops of advancing several kilometers
into in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province earlier this week.
A statement by the office said Putin “found further escalation unacceptable” and
expressed hope that the border standoff will be resolved soon. It added that he
backed Armenian demands for the immediate withdrawal of the Azerbaijani forces.
The Kremlin did not confirm this in its readout of the late-night phone call.
It said Putin stressed the need for “strict compliance” with all terms of a
Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in
Nagorno-Karabakh last November. He also assured Pashinian that Moscow will
continue its “active mediation efforts.”
The phone conversation came hours after the Armenian government decided to ask
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to take action against what
it regards as Azerbaijani incursions into Armenia’s internationally recognized
territory.
Pashinian informed Putin that it wants the CSTO to invoke Article 2 of its
founding treaty which commits the Russian-led military bloc to discussing a
collective response to grave security threats facing its member states.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Armenian
premier did not ask for Russian military aid during the phone call.
Russia deployed soldiers and border guards in Syunik during and after the
Karabakh war to help the Armenian military defend the region against possible
Azerbaijani attacks. Representatives of Russian troops stationed there are
reportedly involved in ongoing crisis talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani
military officials.
Armenia - General Alexander Dvornikov (C), commander of Russia's Southern
Military District, meets with Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian,
Yerevan, .
Most of those troops are part of the Russian military base headquartered in the
Armenian city of Gyumri. The base is in turn subordinate to Russia’s Southern
Military District.
The district commander, General Alexander Dvornikov, visited Armenia on Friday,
meeting with Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian. The Armenian Defense
Ministry said they discussed the situation in Syunik and ways of ending the
continuing standoff between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
Harutiunian also spoke with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in what was
their second phone conversation in as many days. A ministry statement said he
briefed Shoigu on the Armenian military’s actions taken in the contested border
areas. Both the areas and Azerbaijani military personnel deployed there are
under close Armenian surveillance, said Harutiunian.
The secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, and his Armenian
opposite number, Armen Grigorian, also discussed the border standoff by phone.
According to Grigorian’s office, Patrushev said “the Russian side is working
intensively at all levels to quickly resolve the problem.”
Baku says its troops did not cross into Armenia and simply took up positions on
the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were not accessible in winter months.
France Demands ‘Azeri Troop Withdrawal From Armenia’
PORTUGAL -- French President Emmanuel Macron attends a press conference at the
end of an Informal Meeting of EU Heads of State and Government held in Porto,
May 8, 2021.
French President Emmanuel Macron demanded on Thursday night that Azerbaijan
immediately withdraw its troops from Armenia’s border areas which he said were
occupied by them.
“Azerbaijan’s armed forces have invaded Armenian territory. They must be
immediately withdrawn,” Macron wrote on his Facebook page shortly before
midnight.
“To the Armenian people, I once again say: France stands in solidarity and will
remain so,” he added in an Armenian-language post.
Macron commented on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border standoff after speaking with
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian by phone.
“The President of the Republic recalled France's commitment to the territorial
integrity of Armenia and stressed the need for an immediate withdrawal of
Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory,” Macron’s office said in a statement.
It said he also expressed hope that the UN Security Council could help to
“restore stability and security in this region.”
According to an official Armenian readout of the phone call, Pashinian thanked
Macron for his “friendly attitude” towards Armenia. It said the two men
discussed ongoing efforts to end the standoff sparked by Azerbaijani troop
movements along some sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Azerbaijani forces reportedly advanced several kilometers into Armenia’s Syunik
province early on Wednesday. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry, they
also breached two other sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Thursday.
Azerbaijan insisted later in the day that its troops did not cross into Armenia
and simply took up positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier which were
not accessible in winter months. The Foreign Ministry in Baku also said that the
border between the two South Caucasus states has not been demarcated ever since
the Soviet breakup.
The conflicting statements came as Armenian and Azerbaijani military officials
met on the border to try to resolve the dispute. Representatives of Russian
troops deployed in Syunik also reportedly took part in the negotiations that
lasted for several hours. No concrete agreements were announced afterwards.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the rising tensions with his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in separate phone calls.
Meanwhile, the United States urged both sides to show “restraint in
de-escalating the situation peacefully.”
“We are closely following reports of increased tensions along a non-demarcated
portion of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” tweeted Ned Price, a U.S. State
Department spokesman.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian and acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State Philip Reeker discussed the situation by phone.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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