Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Baku Condemns Armenian Defense Minister For Visiting Karabakh
November 09, 2021
• Tatevik Sargsian
Nagorno-Karabakh - Armenia's Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian (left) visits a
Karabakh Armenian army post, November 6, 2021.
Azerbaijan on Tuesday condemned Armenia’s Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian for
visiting Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of the first anniversary of a Russian-brokered
ceasefire that stopped last year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
The Armenian Defense Ministry revealed the two-day visit on Monday, saying that
Karapetian travelled to Karabakh on Saturday at the invitation of Kamo
Vartanian, the commander of Karabakh’s Armenia-backed army.
The ministry released a short video and photographs that showed Karapetian
meeting with the Defense Army’s top brass and inspecting some of its outposts
along the new Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact” in and around Karabakh. The
minister also handed medals to several Karabakh Armenian soldiers.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry condemned the trip as a violation of the terms of
the ceasefire which it said was aimed at “destabilizing the situation in the
region” and discrediting Russian peacekeepers deployed in Karabakh.
The ministry warned that “in case of a repeat of such illegal visits to
Azerbaijani territory necessary measures will be taken to prevent aggressive
separatism and terrorist activities in accordance with Azerbaijan’s laws.” It
did not elaborate.
Incidentally, Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Monday visited the
Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) captured by Azerbaijani forces during the
six-week war and met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev there. The visit
underscored Ankara’s decisive military support for Baku shown during the
six-week hostilities.
U.S. Calls For ‘Comprehensive’ Karabakh Settlement
November 09, 2021
U.S. – State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks on the situation in
Afghanistan at the State Department. Washington, August 18, 2021
The United States has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to do more to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue and intensify their engagement,
including under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, to find comprehensive
solutions to all outstanding issues related to or resulting from the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said
in a statement issued late on Monday.
The statement was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of a
Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the six-week Armenian-Azerbaijani war
over Karabakh.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed and injured
during the hostilities last year,” said Price. “We call for the return of all
remaining detainees, a full accounting of missing persons, the voluntary return
of displaced persons to their homes, comprehensive humanitarian de-mining of
conflict-affected areas, and access by international humanitarian organizations
to those in need.”
In an August message to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, U.S. President Joe Biden
said Washington remains committed to facilitating a “comprehensive” Karabakh
settlement together with Russia and France, the two other co-chairs of the Minsk
Group.
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, repeatedly stated afterwards that
the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved after last year’s Armenian-Azerbaijani
war.
“We do not see the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved,” Tracy
insisted on September 13.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned the envoy’s remarks. It echoed
President Ilham Aliyev’s repeated claims that Azerbaijan’s victory in the war
put an end to the conflict.
Erika Olson, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Southern Europe
and the Caucasus, met with Aliyev and Pashinian when she visited the region last
week.
Russia Vows More Karabakh Peace Efforts
November 09, 2021
Nagorno-Karabakh -- A Russian soldier of the peacekeeping force controls a
vehicle at a checkpoint on a road outside the town of Stepanakert on November
26, 2020.
One year after helping to stop the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia
pledged on Tuesday to continue maintaining the ceasefire in the conflict zone
and fostering a peace accord between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that a ceasefire deal brokered by President
Vladimir Putin late on November 9, 2020 has been “by and large” respected by the
conflicting sides. It said both Baku and Yerevan are committed to a “further
implementation and full compliance with all of its provisions.”
“We will do our best to contribute to a normalization of relations between
Azerbaijan and Armenia and support peace initiatives aimed at expanding contacts
at all levels on a wide range of issues related to ensuring stability, security
and economic development in the South Caucasus,” read a ministry statement
issued on the first anniversary of the agreement.
The statement said Moscow will specifically keep trying to find solutions to
outstanding “socioeconomic and humanitarian” problems in and around Karabakh. It
also promised continued Russian efforts to help Armenia and Azerbaijan demarcate
their border and establish transport links.
RUSSIA -- A sign outside the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Russian Federation.
The truce accord was reached after the Azerbaijani army captured four districts
south of Karabakh as well as the Armenian-populated disputed territory’s
southern Hadrut district and the town of Shushi (Shusha). It led to Armenian
withdrawal from three other districts occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in
the early 1990s.
According to the Armenian authorities, more than 3,700 Armenian soldiers and 75
civilians were killed during the war. At least 246 others remain unaccounted for.
Baku has acknowledged over 2,900 combat deaths in the Azerbaijani army ranks.
The ceasefire deal was followed by the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeeping
forces in Karabakh and the so-called Lachin corridor connecting the territory to
Armenia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the peacekeepers have made a “significant
contribution to stabilizing the situation and ensuring security in the region.”
They have demined 2,311 hectares of land and 683 kilometers of roads over the
past year, it said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry insisted, meanwhile, that Azerbaijan has failed to
comply with the Russian-brokered deal. It said that Baku is continuing to hold
dozens of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives and to periodically
violate the ceasefire regime.
RUSSIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin (left to right) attend a trilateral
meeting in Moscow, January 11, 2020
A ministry statement also dismissed Azerbaijan’s claims that it resolved the
Karabakh conflict with its victory in the war. It said Karabakh’s status can be
determined only as a result of negotiations mediated by the Russian, U.S. and
French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Senior Azerbaijani officials insisted late last week that Armenia must recognize
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over Karabakh through a
“peace treaty” proposed by Baku. They complained that Yerevan has still not
accepted the proposal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Armenian and Azerbaijani
counterpart on Monday for the second time in a week. The phone calls came the
day after the Kremlin confirmed that Putin is trying to organize fresh talks
between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the sides have still not
agreed on the date of the virtual trilateral summit.
An Armenian media outlet reported late last month that during the upcoming talks
Aliyev and Pashinian will sign two Russian-drafted documents announcing the
start of the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the opening of
transport links between the two South Caucasus states.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
