Thursday,
Russia, Turkey Hold More Talks On Karabakh De-Escalation
TURKEY -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meet in Antalya, March 29, 2019
The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey again spoke by phone on Thursday as
the two countries continued high-level consultations on ways of stopping
hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The phone call came one day after a conversation between Russian President
Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that also
focused on the Karabakh conflict. The Kremlin said the two leaders “confirmed
the importance” of the conflicting parties’ compliance with the
Armenian-Azerbaijani humanitarian ceasefire agreement brokered by Moscow on
October 10.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement on Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov’s talks with Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu. It said Lavrov and
Cavusoglu agreed on the need for an immediate halt to the ongoing hostilities
and the launch of a “ceasefire verification mechanism.”
“We hope that such a mechanism will be launched soon,” Maria Zakharova, the
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters in Moscow. She said
military officials should meet and discuss it “without delay.”
Lavrov’s talks with Cavusoglu came amid continued heavy fighting along the
Karabakh “line of contact.” Armenia has accused Turkey of encouraging Azerbaijan
to continue its military offensive.
For its part, the Turkish Foreign Ministry claimed on Thursday that Armenia
“continues to disregard the humanitarian ceasefire declared on October 10.”
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry statement, Lavrov and Cavusoglu also
stressed the importance of coordinating “efforts to resume the negotiating
process” which would aim to achieve “real results.”
In his phone call with Erdogan, Putin also reiterated Russian concerns about the
reported deployment of Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries in the Karabakh
conflict zone. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu likewise raised the matter
with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar when they spoke by phone on Monday.
Speaking in Ankara earlier on Wednesday, Erdogan denied reports that Turkey has
recruited and sent allied Syrian fighters to fight in Karabakh on the
Azerbaijani side.
Armenian Schools Again Closed Amid Coronavirus Spike
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- A teacher measures a first grader's temperature at the entrance to a
school in Yerevan, September 14, 2020.
Schools and universities across Armenia were again temporarily shut down on
Thursday due to a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the country.
A resurgence in officially registered COVID-19 cases began in mid-September and
accelerated after the outbreak on September 27 of a war in Nagorno-Karabakh
which led the Armenian government to declare martial law.
The Armenian Ministry of Health has reported record-high higher numbers of new
cases in recent days. It said on Thursday morning that as many as 1,371 people
have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past day alone, up from about 850
single-day cases recorded during the previous peak of the epidemic in late June.
Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the ministry’s National Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, said the health authorities now have to again
increase Armenia’s hospital capacity to cope with the growing number of COVID-19
patients.
Sahakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that around 1,600 infected people are
currently treated in hospitals. The total number of active coronavirus cases in
the country of about 3 million surpassed 11,500 on Thursday.
The number of new cases averaged roughly 150 in early September. The government
reopened schools, universities and other educational establishments on September
15.
Commenting on the reasons for the drastic increase in cases, Sahakian singled
out the war in Karabakh which she said has completely overshadowed the
coronavirus pandemic. She said that many Armenians have stopped wearing masks
and following other safety rules set by the government.
Education Minister Arayik Harutiunian said on Wednesday that the country’s
secondary and high schools as well as kindergartens will be closed for what he
described as a two-week autumn holiday. As for the universities and vocational
training colleges, he said they will switch back to online courses on Thursday.
Sahakian said that over the past month there have been major outbreaks of
COVID-19 in many schools. The official revealed that 72 of them were shut down
and ordered to revert to distance learning even before the government’s decision
announced by Harutiunian.
France Again Criticizes Turkey Over Karabakh Fighting
• Armen Koloyan
France - French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (L) and German
Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas adress a press conference at the Elysee
presidential palace on June 19, 2019..
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian criticized Turkey’s role in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on Thursday, saying that Ankara is not trying to stop
the ongoing fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
“There will not be a military victory on this issue so the ceasefire must be
implemented,” he said, according to Reuters. “What we can see today is the only
country which isn’t calling for respect of the ceasefire is Turkey and that’s
damaging.”
Le Drian referred to an Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement that was
brokered by Russia on October 10. Hostilities in the conflict zone have
continued since then, with the warring sides accusing each other of violating
the agreement.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian charged on Tuesday that Azerbaijan is
continuing military operations along the Karabakh “line of contact” under
Turkish pressure. He again accused Turkey of instigating the war and deploying
Turkish military personnel and Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan for that purpose.
The Turkish government has strongly backed Azerbaijan’s military operations in
Karabakh. But both Ankara and Baku deny Turkish involvement in them.
In a phone call on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “make a constructive contribution to the
de-escalation of the conflict.”
Russia has long led international efforts to end the Karabakh conflict together
with France and the United States. The three countries co-chair the OSCE Minsk
Group.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Karabakh war on September 27 President
Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters in Syria and
sending them to Azerbaijan.
"A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable," Macron said on October 1.
"I urge all NATO partners to face up to the behavior of a NATO member.”
The Turkish and Azerbaijani governments rejected the French accusations backed
by Armenia. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Macron of
pro-Armenian bias.
Le Drian criticized the Turkish role in the Karabakh conflict after talks held
in Paris with the German and Polish foreign ministers. Speaking at a joint news
conference, Le Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas accused Ankara of
continuing to provoke the European Union with its actions in the eastern
Mediterranean and gave it a week to clarify its positions.
Karabakh Truce Still Not Holding, Says Yerevan
Nagorno-Karabakh - An ethnic Armenian soldier fires an artillery piece, October
5, 2020.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of continuing offensive military
operations in Nagorno-Karabakh in breach of a Russian-mediated ceasefire
agreement reached by the two countries on October 10.
“Five days into the Moscow Joint Statement of October 10 on cessation of fire,
and Azerbaijan continues to torpedo its implementation,” tweeted Foreign
Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian. “With the support and direct involvement of Turkey
and terrorist fighters they continue large-scale war against
Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces resumed in the morning
“intense artillery fire” at sections of the “line of contact” in northeastern
and southeastern Karabakh. “Heavy fighting is now underway at the same
sections,” a ministry spokesman wrote on Facebook at 11 a.m. local time.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Paramedics and volunteers work in the basement of a medical
center outside the city of Stepanakert,
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Armenian forces “attempted to attack
Azerbaijani army positions at some sections of the frontline” overnight. It
accused them of again shelling Azerbaijani districts north and east of Karabakh
in the following hours.
The ministry insisted that the Azerbaijani side is observing the “humanitarian
ceasefire” agreed by the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian foreign ministers on
October 10.
In an interview with the Turkish NTV channel aired later in the day, Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev acknowledged that his army is continuing its offensive
but blamed the Armenian side for it.
“We will keep advancing,” Aliyev said in remarks cited by the TASS news agency.
They [the Armenians] must observe the ceasefire because they violated it.”
“We are now in the process of a military resolution of the problem,” he said.
“We want to finish this process as soon as possible so that it is followed by a
diplomatic process.”
Russia and the two other mediating powers, the United States and France, have
repeatedly urged the conflicting parties to honor the agreement.
Russia has also called on Turkey, Azerbaijan’s staunch ally, to help stop the
hostilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan discussed the issue by phone on Wednesday.
AZERBAIJAN --- People stand in front of a house destroyed by shellings in the
village of Bakharly, near Agdam, .
Ankara continues to strongly support Azerbaijani military operations in and
around Karabakh. Yerevan claims that the Turks are encouraging Baku to continue
the hostilities.
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army says that 604 of its soldiers have been killed
since the start of the war on September 27. Authorities in Stepanakert have also
reported the deaths of 32 civilian residents of Karabakh caused by shelling and
drone attacks.
RFE/RL correspondent Susan Badalian reported from Stepanakert on Thursday
morning that the Karabakh capital was not shelled for a third consecutive night.
Baku has so far refused to disclose the number of Azerbaijani soldiers killed in
action. It has only reported 43 civilian deaths.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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