Author: Dabaghian Diana

Turkish Press: Azerbaijan criticizes Armenian minister’s ‘illegal’ visit to Karabakh

Dabaghian Diana
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 6 2021
Azerbaijan criticizes Armenian minister’s ‘illegal’ visit to Karabakh
zerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Armenian foreign minister’s visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh region violates the conditions of November’s trilateral agreement that put an end to the conflict between the two countries.

“The illegal visit of the Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, where he met with representatives of the puppet regime and signed the ‘documents,’ contradicts the trilateral statement of Nov. 10 and does not comply at all with the framework of peace, security and cooperation in the region after the cessation of hostilities,” said Leyla Abdullayeva, head of the Press Service Department of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement.

Abdullayeva added that the violation of the commitments by an Armenian official is a “provocation” and such actions catering to a domestic audience do not serve the normalization of the situation in the region.

“We would like to remind that the Armenian Prime Minister signed the statement on Nov. 10 and the government has taken commitments in this regard,” the statement said.

Fresh clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in late September, rekindling the Caucasus neighbors’ decadeslong conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. During the conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several towns and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation. Fierce fighting persisted for six weeks before Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Moscow-brokered peace deal on Nov. 9.

The agreement came after Baku’s military overwhelmed the separatist forces and threatened to advance on Karabakh’s main city of Stepanakert (Khankendi).

Abdullayeva noted that Armenian officials should accept the new reality that emerged in the region with the agreement.

“Ensuring the implementation of the joint statement of Nov. 10 and taking steps based on the new security format, as well as cooperation opportunities (that) emerged in the region can contribute to peaceful and secure coexistence. The opposite is nothing else but an attempt to inflame the tension,” she said.


Turkish Press: Turkish soldiers in Azerbaijan for joint truce monitoring center

Dabaghian Diana
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 29 2020
Turkish soldiers in Azerbaijan for joint truce monitoring center

Sarp Ozer  

ANKARA 

The Turkish personnel assigned to work in the joint monitoring center in Karabakh arrived in Azerbaijan, the Turkish defense minister announced on Tuesday.

“Our staff went to Azerbaijan and stands by there. After the construction of the joint center is completed and it goes operational, our one general and 35 military officers will start their duty immediately,” Hulusi Akar said in a virtual year-end evaluation meeting.

Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Guler, other military commanders, and senior authorities were in attendance of the meeting.

Addressing defense and security issues, Akar recalled that Azerbaijan liberated its lands from Armenia’s occupation after nearly 30 years.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

Turkey and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint center to monitor the peace deal. It will be established on Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia’s occupation.

Earlier in December, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the center will be established in the Aghdam city.

Akar underlined that as part of the efforts to clear the region of mines and improvised explosives, the activities of the elements of the Turkish Armed Forces continue in the region.

Two Special Mine Detection and Clearance Teams, consisting of 135 mine clearance specialists of the Turkish Armed Forces, have been supporting the Azerbaijani troops in regions liberated from Armenia’s occupation.

The Turkish troops are also training Azerbaijani soldiers in mine detection and clearance techniques and tactics.

“As part of the humanitarian aid activities, we did our best to support our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters, and we will continue to do so. We have supported them in their rightful and honorable struggle, and we will continue to do so,” he added.

Liberation of Karabakh

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as an Azerbaijani territory, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade-long occupation.

Despite the deal ending the conflict, the Armenian army several times violated the agreement and martyred several Azerbaijani soldiers and a civilian, as well as wounded few people, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The truce is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have been withdrawing in line with the agreement.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev.

Russian FSB prevents terror act in Makhachkala

Dabaghian Diana

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 12:11,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Federal Security, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, prevented a terror actin Makhachkala, ARMENPRESS was informed from Ria Novosti.

‘’The members of the group planed to use an explosive near one of the administrative buildings of the police and carry out an armed attack against the personnel of the Ministry of Interior of Dagestan”, the FSB informed.

It’s mentioned that on December 25 the low enforcement bodies arrested 4 members of the ”Islamic State” terrorist organization. Weapons were found in their settlement.

Azerbaijanis give owners of home in Armenia’s Vorotan 1 hour to leave premises

Dabaghian Diana
News.am, Armenia
Dec 22 2020
 
 
Azerbaijanis give owners of home in Armenia’s Vorotan 1 hour to leave premises
17:57, 22.12.2020
 
 
Head of the administrative district of the Vorotan village of Syunik Province of Armenia Surik Ohanjanyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that Azerbaijanis have given the owners of one of the homes in the administrative district an hour to leave the territory, adding that the Azerbaijanis decided that one of the homes also has to be transferred to Azerbaijan after demarcating the territory with the GPS system.
 
“The Azerbaijanis say it’s their territory, and we say it’s ours. We had gone to negotiate with the Russian border guards and the Azerbaijanis and came to the conclusion that both sides need to leave the territory until the head of the Russian border guards consider the issue with their superiors,” Ohanjanyan said.
 
Asked about the moods of people in the village, Ohanjanyan said the following: “When the Azerbaijanis come closer and give people an hour to leave, people automatically start panicking.”
 
 
 
 
 

Pashinyan pays tribute to memory of fallen soldiers in Sisian pantheon

Dabaghian Diana

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 12:22,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan paid tribute to the memory of the soldiers fallen at the recent Artsakh war in the Sisian city pantheon during the visit to Syunik province.

The PM laid flowers at the tombs of the victims, extended his condolences to their families.

Pashinyan arrived in Syunik province today. He has already toured the town of Sisian, had a talk with the locals.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Mikayel Minasyan condemns attempts to pressure and intimidate Sisian church priest

Dabaghian Diana
Panorama, Armenia

Dec 21 2020

Armenia’s former Ambassador to the Vatican Mikayel Minasyan took to Facebook on Monday to denounce the attempts to pressure and intimidate the priest of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in the town of Sisian in Syunik Province, Father Pargev Zeynalyan after he snubbed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s offered handshake at the church and instead showed the exit door.

“I appeal to all those who are carrying out Nikol’s hysterical order, trying to pressure and intimidate the pastor of the Sisian church, Father Pargev Zeynalyan.

“Without any ambiguity and subtext, I warn the wealthy thief hiding under the fake account of “Maestro” (soon the accused) and the vermins from the Civil Contract party who have been sent from Yerevan [to Sisian]: don’t you dare to come any closer to Fr. Pargev or the Sisian church, don’t even dare to think that you can make a tart remark about him or give him a dirty look, blasphemers!” he wrote.

“The father may even forgive you, after all, he is a priest, but many, including me, won’t. I will punish you as an Armenian, as a man, as a follower of the Apostolic Church, and only after that I will let you to be judged with the full force of the law,” Minasyan added.



Russian officer killed in explosion in Nagorno-Karabakh as troops help de-mine post-war landscape

Dabaghian Diana
RT – Russia Today
Dec 18 2020

18 Dec, 2020 19:26 
A Russian sapper has been killed in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after an explosive device went off during the de-mining efforts that have been ongoing since the Moscow-brokered truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The incident happened on Thursday on the road outside of the village of Shusha, with the blast delivering heavy wounds to the officer, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The serviceman received emergency treatment on site, but succumbed to his injures while being transported to hospital, the ministry stated.

Russian sappers have been working in Nagorno-Karabakh for more than a month, after Moscow brokered an armistice between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The decades-long feud over the disputed region escalated into a war in early September.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the area to separate the sides and prevent any provocations.

Russian sappers working in Nagorno-Karabakh have already defused some 7,800 explosive devices, clearing 218 hectares of land, 92 kilometers of roads and 423 buildings, according to Friday’s briefing by the military.

Over 40,000 people have safely made it back to their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, guarded by the Russian peacekeepers, it said.

Asbarez: Kapan Military Posts to be Surrendered to Azerbaijan by 5 p.m. Friday

Dabaghian Diana

December 17,  2020



City of Kapan in Armenia’s Syunik Province

Kapan Mayor Gevorg Parsyan was informed on Thursday that all military positions in the city, which is in Armenia’s Syunik Province, must be surrendered to Azerbaijani forces by 5 p.m. Friday, news.am reported.

“The Defense Ministry has issued an order to surrender to the enemy, by 5 p.m. [local time] tomorrow, all the positions we held for the defense of Kapan,” Parsyan said, adding that this will make the entire city defenseless.

Parsyan explained that with this retreat or surrender the security zone around the city of Kapan will disappear and that “the enemy will be one kilometer from our residential zone, and 200 to 300 meters from the airport. Our rural roads will be blocked. This is an ugly situation.”

The Kapan mayor 10 village will be impacted by the new mandate, among them the Akarag, Yeghvart, Khndrants, Oujanis, Jakaten, Shikahogh, Srashen, Nerkin Hand, Tzav, Shikert villages, the latter six of which will have no other transportation routes.

He said that he had been raising the alarm about this since the November 9 agreement, which ended the war, but has called into question Armenia’s territorial integrity and saw the surrender of Artsakh territories to Azerbaijan.

“I have been saying that if such a situation occurs where we are returning to Soviet era boundaries, Kapan will be rendered defenseless,” explained Parsyan, who said that if there were any discussions about this, he was not included in them.

He said that he was informed of the possibility of Russian guards being stationed along the border, whose main task would have been to ensure the safety of the roads leading to the city.

Armenia’s Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan was visiting the Syunik Province, but had not visited Kapan at the time of Parsyan’s statements.

Local residents blocked Kapan roads in protest of the imminent handover of positions.

Parsyan and the residents are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Armenia’s NSS arrests Azerbaijani in Armenia’s Berdavan community

Dabaghian Diana
Aysor, Armenia
Dec 11 2020

Armenia’s National Security Service arrested an Azerbaijani in bordering Berdavan community of Tavush province.

“He illegally crossed the Armenian state border. We have received operative data about it. After search works the person was discovered,” NSS representative told Aysor.am, adding that a criminal case has been filed.

“The person has status of a suspect. No other information may be reported agreed with secrecy of preliminary investigation,” NSS official said.