Thursday,
Heavy Fighting Again Reported On Armenian-Azeri Border (UPDATED)
Azerbaijani (L) and Armenian army posts by the Sotk gold mine in Armenia's
Gegharkunik province, June 18, 2021/
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of trying to derail ongoing peace talks after heavy
fighting broke out at a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border early on
Thursday.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces began shelling its
positions near the border village of Sotk at 6 a.m. local time and four Armenian
soldiers were wounded as a result. Armenian army units are taking “appropriate
defensive-preventive measures” in response, said the ministry spokesman, Aram
Torosian.
The intensity of the fighting eased after 10 a.m. and the situation at the
border section was “relatively stable” early in the afternoon, Torosian reported
afterwards.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry blamed the Armenian side for the ceasefire
violation. It said that Armenian troops seriously wounded an Azerbaijani soldier
overnight before opening mortar fire at Azerbaijani army positions in the
mountainous area. Another Azerbaijani serviceman was killed in the morning
skirmishes, according to the ministry.
Tensions in the area have run high for the past month. Armenia’s largest gold
mine located near Sotk halted production operations in mid-April due to what its
management and workers described as cross-border Azerbaijani gunfire. The
village sustained heavy damage during more large-scale clashes that broke out at
this and other border sections last September.
The latest escalation came just three days before talks between Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev which European
Council President Charles Michel is due to host in Brussels.
Pashinian claimed that Baku’s “provocative” actions are aimed at torpedoing the
upcoming summit and “nullifying progress” made by the Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers during marathon talks held outside Washington last week.
“Experience shows that Azerbaijan needs the negotiation process only to get an
escalation and an excuse for war,” he charged during a weekly cabinet meeting in
Yerevan.
At the same time, Pashinian said that he still intends to fly to Brussels for
the planned trilateral meeting with Aliyev and Michel. He went on to stress that
they are unlikely to sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
For its part, the Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Baku of trying to “exert
pressure on Armenia” through the use of force.
EU Reaffirms Follow-Up Meeting Between Aliyev, Pashinian
• Heghine Buniatian
Belgium - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev begin talks in Brussels, August 31, 2022.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to meet not only in Brussels
on Sunday but also in Moldova on June 1 in the presence of French President
Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the European Union insisted
on Thursday.
The Brussels meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will be hosted by European Council President
Charles Michel.
Michel’s office announced on Monday that Aliyev and Pashinian will also hold
follow-up talks together with Macron and Scholz on the sidelines of a European
summit in Moldova’s capital Chisinau slated for June 1.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aykhan Hajizade, said on Thursday
that there is still no “final decision” on the Chisinau summit. He said Baku
wants to make sure that the four-party talks do not replace the “Brussels
format.”
Michel’s spokesman, Barend Leyts, insisted, however, that Sunday’s summit in
Brussels “will be flanked by a meeting in Chisinau” to be attended by Macron and
Scholz.
“Following ongoing contacts with all sides, we have confirmed a political
commitment to these meetings and plan to convene them,” Leyts told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
The planned Armenian-Azerbaijani summits will follow marathon talks held by the
foreign ministers of the two South Caucasus states outside Washington last week.
The U.S.-mediated talks focused on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
According to the U.S. State Department, the ministers “made significant progress
in addressing difficult issues.”
Karabakh Patients Evacuated By Russian Peacekeepers
Azerbaijani troops are setting up a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor, April 23,
2023.
Russian peacekeeping forces on Thursday transported nine critically ill
residents of Nagorno-Karabakh to hospitals in Armenia at the request of the
authorities in Stepanakert.
Such medical evacuations were carried out until this month by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC stopped them on April 29 six days
after Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, further tightening
its blockade of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
According to Karabakh authorities, Baku wants to impose passport controls on
Karabakh patients and Red Cross staff passing through the corridor.
The authorities said that because of “the obstacles created by the Azerbaijani
side” they asked the Russian peacekeepers to “transfer patients in urgent need
to Armenian medical institutions in order to save their lives.”
Twenty-one other Karabakh patients are now awaiting evacuation, the health
ministry in Stepanakert said, adding that Karabakh doctors are “taking every
possible measure to prevent further deterioration of their health.”
Azerbaijan claims that its checkpoint was set up to stop the transfer of weapons
from Armenia to Karabakh.
The Armenian side has strongly denied any arms supplies and accused Baku of
another gross violation of a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020
Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Russia and the United States have also criticized
Baku’s move.
Saudi Airline To Launch Flights To Armenia
SAUDI ARABIA -- Saudi women roll their suitcases at the departure hall of the
Jeddah Airport, August 6, 2019
A Saudi airline will reportedly launch first-ever commercial flights to Armenia
next month in another sign of rapprochement between the two states that have no
diplomatic relations.
Senior executives of Flynas, Saudi Arabia’s first low-cost carrier headquartered
in Riyadh, visited Yerevan and met with the head of the Armenian government’s
Tourism Committee, Sisian Boghossian, on Thursday.
“Flynas will be launching direct flights from Saudi Arabia to Armenia in June
2023,” the committee announced in a statement on the meeting.
It said that the two sides discussed “opportunities for cooperation in the
tourism sectors of Armenia and Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia has for decades refused to establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia due to its conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The
oil-rich kingdom signaled a change in that policy after its relations with
Armenia’s arch-foe and Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey deteriorated significantly
several years ago.
Saudi Arabia - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talks to Armenian
President Armen Sarkissian during the Future Investment Initiative forum in
Riyadh, October 26, 2021.
The policy change was highlighted in October 2021 by then Armenian President
Armen Sarkissian’s visit to Riyadh. Sarkissian sat next to Saudi Arabia’s de
facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the opening ceremony of an
international conference held there.
Saudi Arabia signaled more overtures to Yerevan in February 2022 when its
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Armenian counterpart
Ararat Mirzoyan held talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in
Germany. It was the first-ever face-to-face meeting of the top diplomats of the
two countries.
Armenia subsequently voiced support for Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the Expo 2030
world fair. It remains unclear, however, whether Riyadh is now ready for a full
normalization of Saudi-Armenian relations.
Armenia maintains cordial relations with other Gulf Arab monarchies, notably the
United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Both nations have embassies in Yerevan.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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