Friday, October 6, 2023
EU Official Visits Armenia, Discusses Aid To Karabakh Refugees
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic talks to refugees
from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 6, 2023.
A senior European Union official visited Armenia on Friday to discuss details of
the EU’s humanitarian assistance to the more than 100,000 residents of
Nagorno-Karabakh who have fled to the country since last month’s Azerbaijani
military offensive.
“I came to Armenia to show the full solidarity of the European Union to Armenia,
the Armenian people and, in particular, the people displaced from Karabakh,” EU
Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said after meeting with
Armenian officials and some refugees. He said they “can count on the EU’s full
support in this difficult situation.”
“We very quickly mobilized more than 5 million euros in humanitarian aid,
doubled it a few days later, and as of today have provided more than 10 million
euros ($11 million) in humanitarian aid … In addition, we have mobilized the
European Union's stock of humanitarian aid supplies, which will be sent to
Armenia in the next few hours,” Lenarcic told a joint news conference with
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian.
On top of that, he said, the refugees will receive separate aid from 13 EU
member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
ARMENIA - Five Armenian families, who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azeri
offensive, are seen settled in a house given to them by a neighbor in Goris
until they find a new home, October 4, 2023
The head of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed this
assistance with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday during a meeting held
on the sidelines of an EU summit in the Spanish city of Granada. The Commission
confirmed after the talks that it will also allocate 15 million euros to help
the Armenian government buy food and fuel and address other “socio-economic
needs.”
“The EU stands with Armenia,” tweeted von der Leyen. “We condemn Azerbaijan’s
military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
It is not clear whether some of the EU aid will be used for providing the
refugees with adequate housing, their most urgent need. The Armenian government
claims to have accommodated half of them in hotels, disused public buildings and
empty village houses. It says the others have told government officials that
they will stay with their relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.
Armenia - Elmira Nersisian, a refugee from Nagorno Karabakh, visits an aid
center in Parakar, October 6, 2023
However, there have been multiple reports of refugees remaining homeless days
after their evacuation from Karabakh. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service spoke to several
such persons outside a government aid center in Parakar, a village just outside
Yerevan. They as well as other refugees went there to inquire about a one-off
cash payment of 100,000 drams ($245) promised by the government to every
displaced Karabakh Armenian.
“We are living in a church courtyard, we have no relatives here,” said Elmira
Nersisian, a 74-year-old woman from Stepanakert who fled to Armenia with her
disabled daughter. “We didn’t know what to do, who to apply to.”
“If they give us this [financial] aid, we will get by until I find a job,” she
said, adding that government officials have pledged to provide them with
temporary housing.
The government has also pledged to provide every refugee renting an apartment or
house up to 50,000 drams per month for at least six months. The money can only
be spent on housing rent and utility fees.
Russia Reaffirms Plans For Consulate In Key Armenian Region
Armenian - Russian border guards stationed in Syunik province are inspected by
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin, May 24, 2022.
Amid the increasingly uncertain future of Russian-Armenian relations, Russia has
reaffirmed plans to open a consulate in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province
bordering Iran and Azerbaijan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry first announced those plans in late May, saying
that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed and welcomed them during talks
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A delegation of ministry officials
visited Syunik’s capital for that purpose in June.
The Russian Embassy in Yerevan reported on Friday that another “advance team” of
Russian diplomats visited Syunik and met with the mayor of another provincial
town, Meghri, on Thursday. It said they discussed “prospects for the quick
opening” of the consulate.
The Russian mission in Kapan “will contribute to the strengthening of
Russian-Armenian relations and the stabilization of the situation in the
region,” the embassy added in a statement. It will provide consular services to
about a thousand Russian nationals currently based in Syunik.
The bulk of them are soldiers and border guards who were deployed by Moscow
during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The deployment was aimed at
helping the Armenian military defend the strategic region against possible
Azerbaijani attacks.
Syunik is Armenia’s sole region bordering Iran. Azerbaijani leaders have been
demanding that Yerevan open a special corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its
Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik. The Armenian side says it can only agree to
conventional transport links between the two states.
Iran, which opened a consulate in Kapan a year ago, is also strongly opposed to
an extraterritorial corridor for Nakhichevan. It has repeatedly warned Baku
against attempting to strip the Islamic Republic of the common border and
transport links with Armenia.
While voicing support for Armenian sovereignty over any road or railway link
passing through Syunik, Russia has stopped short publicly issuing similar
warnings to Azerbaijan. Its relationship with Armenia has steadily deteriorated
since 2020 due to what Pashinian’s government sees as a lack of Russian support
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The rift between the two longtime allies deepened further last month after
Moscow decried “a series of unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan. Those include
Pashinian’s declaration that Armenia’s heavy reliance on Russia for defense and
security has proved a “strategic mistake.” The statement raised more questions
about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in Russian-led blocs.
Russia Signals Peacekeepers’ Withdrawal From Karabakh
• Nane Sahakian
A view through a car window shows a board displaying a Russian state flag and an
image of President Vladimir Putin in Stepanakert after exodus of ethnic
Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023.
Russia gave on Friday more indications that it will withdraw its peacekeeping
forces from Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azerbaijani takeover of the territory
and the mass exodus of its ethnic Armenian population.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday night that the peacekeepers have
dismantled most of their observation posts along the Karabakh “line of contact”
that existed until Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive.
Citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the official TASS news agency reported the
following morning that a Russian military delegation will visit Yerevan later on
Friday to discuss with Armenian officials time frames for the Russian withdrawal
from Karabakh.
The spokesman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Aram Torosian, said, however, that
he has “no information” about the visit. No Russian-Armenian talks on the issue
have been scheduled so far, he said.
Russia deployed the 2,000-strong peacekeeping contingent to Karabakh in line
with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020
Armenian-Azerbaijani war. The Russian troops were due to stay there at least
until November 2025.
A truck carrying ethnic Armenians fleeing Karabakh drives past a Russian armored
vehicle in the Lachin corridor, September 26, 2023.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, indicated earlier
this week that Moscow has no plans to pull them out of the region soon but will
discuss the matter with Baku. Konstantin Zatulin, a pro-Armenian Russian
lawmaker, pointed out, meanwhile, that the Russian peacekeepers “have nobody to
protect anymore” because Karabakh’s practically entire population has fled to
Armenia. Zatulin said the exodus, accompanied by the restoration of Azerbaijani
control over Karabakh, is a “blow to Russia’s positions in the region.”
The Karabakh Armenians regarded the Russian military presence as their main
security guarantee and expected the peacekeepers to defend their homeland in
case of a large-scale Azerbaijani attack. However, Russian officials ruled out
such intervention hours after the Azerbaijani army launched the offensive on
September 19.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the peacekeepers could
not have thwarted the assault because Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
downgraded their mandate with his decision to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty
over Karabakh. Putin acknowledged that there are virtually no Armenians left in
Karabakh.
EU Parliament Calls For Sanctions Against Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh - A satellite image shows empty streets of the city of
Stepanakert, September 29, 2023.
The European Parliament has strongly condemned Azerbaijan’s military offensive
in Nagorno-Karabakh, accused Baku of committing “ethnic cleaning” against the
region’s Armenian population and called on the European Union to impose
sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders.
In a non-binding resolution overwhelmingly passed late on Thursday, it also
reiterated its earlier demands for the “withdrawal of Azerbaijan’s troops from
the entirety of the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
The resolution says that the EU’s legislative body “condemns in the strongest
terms the pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.” The September 19-20 offensive, which paved the
way for the restoration of Azerbaijani control over the region, represents a
“gross violation of international law,” it says.
The ensuing mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians to Armenia “amounts to ethnic
cleansing,” added the European Parliament. It went on to urge the EU’s executive
bodies and member states to “adopt targeted sanctions against the individuals in
the Azerbaijani Government responsible for multiple ceasefire violations and
violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states. None of
them -- including France, the main EU backer of Armenia -- has backed the idea
so far. French President Emmanuel Macron said later on Thursday that punitive
measures against Baku would be counterproductive at this point.
EU leaders also resisted calls to sanction Azerbaijan during its nine-month
blockade of the Lachin corridor that preceded the offensive in Karabakh.
Analysts linked their stance to a 2022 agreement to significantly increase the
EU’s import of Azerbaijani natural gas. The head of the European Commission,
Ursula von der Leyen, described Azerbaijan as a “key partner in our efforts to
move away from Russian fossil fuels” when she signed the deal in Baku.
The European Parliament resolution “regrets” von der Leyen’s statement. It says
that the EU must suspend oil and gas imports from Azerbaijan “in the event of
military aggression against Armenian territorial integrity or significant hybrid
attacks against Armenia’s constitutional order and democratic institutions.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Emil Lazarian
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS
How did Israeli tech affect Azerbaijan’s victory in Nagorno-Karabakh? – analysis
Jerusalem Post
Oct 5 2023
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Israel and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and have close relations. Over the last decades, these ties have increased.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen made an important visit to Azerbaijan in April and stressed the strategic relations between Israel and Azerbaijan which are multi-layered and involve security, energy, trade, and tourism.
Now those ties are in the spotlight because of the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh where most of the Armenian population has now fled after a brief day of fighting between Armenian forces and Baku’s far superior military. While Israel’s defense technology played a key role in Baku’s overall victory in several rounds of fighting in the last years, the larger story is how Russia and the West let this conflict take place.
There are questions about whether Israel’s defense ties and arms sales to Baku were linked to the conflict or somehow fueled it and increased Baku’s capabilities. It’s important here to take a step back and understand the broader context and history. The Soviet Union created the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh by creating a patchwork of borders and areas in the Caucasus where a mosaic of groups live, including many minorities that live within the borders of other countries.
In the 1990s, when the Soviet Union fell apart, this unleashed wars in many places and left simmering conflicts, whether in Chechnya, Georgia, or between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Armenia had the upper hand in the 1990s when it was backed by Russia. It had inherited a traditional Soviet military infrastructure, with lots of tanks, artillery and heavy conventional weapons.
Azerbaijan, by contrast, sought to improve its military with modern weapons acquired through procurement that was fueled by its booming economy, based partly on energy trade and other resources. Baku has a close alliance with Ankara and Turkey under the AKP party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to strengthen Baku’s hand.
Israeli defense companies have a played a role in Azerbaijan’s modernization of its armed forces. This has caused controversy in the past. In 2018 Radio Free Europe had a report saying “Israel accuses drone maker of bombing Armenian soldiers, at Baku’s request.” It was widely known that Azerbaijan acquired a large number of different types of drones from Israel, including loitering munitions.
Loitering munitions are a type of drone where the drone itself is the warhead, similar to a cruise missile. The difference is the munition can “loiter” and look for targets. In the past these were expensive pieces of equipment used to hunt down high value targets or destroy radars.
Over the years Azerbaijan clashed with Armenia over the area of Nagorno-Karabakh. This area, inhabited by Armenians, is part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by Armenia since the 1990s.
In 2016, there were clashes and the Jamestown Foundation noted Baku’s success using drones, particularly those acquired from Israel. Reports over the years also noted the large number of defense deals that Baku had with Israeli companies, more than a billion dollars in one deal, according to Haaretz.
The conflict in 2016 continued for several days and enabled Baku to unveil its new technology on the battlefront. This was a dry run for 2020 when Azerbaijan defeated Armenian forces and ended up controlling a swath of territory around Nagorno-Karabkah, territory that Baku noted it was merely reconquering after the conflict in the 1990s. Reports in the fall of 2020 noted that Baku had praised the role of Israeli drones and technology in this conflict. It also praised the role Turkey had played and Turkey’s Bayraktar drones.
However, drones don’t win wars. Drones can help a country like Azerbaijan achieve a lot of results using precision strikes. This, in a sense, gave Baku an instant air force. Countries like Azerbaijan that may not have access to modern 5th generation warplanes sold by the US, such as the F-35, have access to the next level of modern technology via drones. Israeli-made systems like the Harop, Haropy, Orbiter or SkyStrikes and others are at the forefront of technology in the new battlefields of the future.
However, precision strikes only give a country a certain amount of capabilities to overmatch an adversary. They can degrade radars and take out headquarters, communication nodes and armored vehicles. They can strike long range missiles and strategic targets. This is how the US destroyed Iraq’s army in 1991, it pounded it from the air for weeks and then eviscerated it in several days of ground warfare.
The Iraqi army in 1991 was also heavily reliant on Soviet era armored vehicles and systems, like the Armenian army of 2016-2020. Therefore Azerbaijan defeated Armenia through the use of modern technology, but in the end Baku had to send in ground forces to win the war at the end. Azerbaijan’s armored vehicles and ground forces equipment is still linked to the country’s past and thus relies on Russian equipment. Therefore Baku delivered a one-two punch, using modern technology from countries like Israel, with Russian and older equipment that Baku had on hand.
The conflict in 2023 in Nagorno-Karabakh that has caused 120,000 Armenians to flee was not a military conflict. It only took Baku one day to defeat the 10,000 Armenian fighters who had been blockaded in Nagorno-Karabkah for months and who had access to old munitions and old conventional weapons. In essence the conflict in Nagorno-Karabkah was decided years ago. Armenia had abandoned the Armenians there and they had been blockaded by Baku via the Lachin corridor road to Armenia.
Baku also was able to get Russia on its side before the conflict. The West also appears to have signed off. This is clear because the West warned Serbia against a military build up on Kosovo’s border in late September and early October, but the West didn’t warn about Baku’s military build-up. The West views Azerbaijan’s operation as enforcing territorial integrity under the rules-based international order, which means the Armenians were viewed as “separatists” and Baku had a right to take back the area.
Therefore the story of the brief fighting in Nagorno-Karabkah that led to Armenians fleeing was not about Israeli military technology. This was an old style strategic victory for Baku. They cut the area off, they blockaded it and then they asserted their rights to it via a quick military victory at a few key points.
Azerbaijan’s operations took place with Russian peacekeepers looking on, this was not a huge battle in which Baku had to hammer away at Armenian fighters in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. This was a stratagem, presenting the Armenians with a fait accompli, and the Armenians were abandoned by the international community which had quietly accepted that this would be the outcome.
Reports suggesting Israeli arms fueled this conflict exaggerate the role of Israel’s role. Israeli defense technology has turned Azerbaijan into a modern military power that can project strength and also defend its skies. It has transformed it into a powerhouse in the South Caucasus. However, that is only part of the story of what defeated the Armenians.
They were defeated because Russia abandoned them, unlike in the 1990s, and because they were cut off in Nagorno-Karabakh, a result of the international community not demanding observers and an international presence and some kind of agreement giving them autonomy. They didn’t benefit, for instance, from the support the Kosovars had in the 1990s. Baku understood this and acted accordingly.
The real story of Israel’s success in a strategic partnership with Baku goes much further and has implications for the future. Israel makes the technology that is transforming warfare, making it more precise and more technology-driven. This isn’t the heavy weapons of warfare of old, like giant 60-ton tanks, this is the nimble technology that makes conflicts faster and less deadly. Baku’s success and the tragedy that befell the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh is more a story of larger countries such as the US and Russia, rather than a story of defense tech that helped Azerbaijan achieve overmatch on the tactical level.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-761855
Armenia: As of Oct. 5, continued demonstrations denouncing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan likely in Yerevan in coming days /update 3
Crisis 24
Oct 5 2023
As of Oct. 5, protests will likely continue in Yerevan in the coming days as residents continue to denounce Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Residents are demanding his resignation over his administration’s perceived weak response to the recent conflict between ethnic Armenian forces and the Azerbaijani military in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Demonstrators plan to gather in Freedom Square from 19:00 Oct. 6; additional protests are possible.
Further protests are likely throughout downtown Yerevan as activist groups, including Mother Armenia, continue to call for protests. Other protest hotspots include the National Assembly, the Government of Armenia building, Freedom Square, and Republic Square.
Heightened security and transport disruptions are likely throughout Yerevan, particularly near government buildings. Clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officers are possible.
Armenian nationalist and opposition groups regularly protest in Yerevan to denounce the government’s actions in relation to the ongoing dispute regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. Protests typically flare up in response to military and political developments that may affect the ethnic Armenian control of the disputed region.
Avoid all protests. Allow additional time if traveling in central Yerevan. Immediately depart the area at the first sign that any violent confrontation may occur. Heed instructions from authorities.
https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2023/10/armenia-as-of-oct-5-continued-demonstrations-denouncing-prime-minister-nikol-pashinyan-likely-in-yerevan-in-coming-days-update-3
Shocked refugee children in Armenia miss the things they left behind: UNICEF
UN News
Oct 6 2023
6 October 2023Humanitarian Aid
Following the mass exodus from Karabakh, UN agencies in Armenia have been mobilizing resources to support the refugees and the national authorities. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is focused on ensuring the safety and well-being of boys and girls, who account for about one third of the roughly 100,000 refugees.
UNICEF’s Representative in Armenia, Christine Weigand, said prepositioning of supplies, including medicines and food, allowed the agency to swiftly respond to the crisis.
Arrangements made in establishing relations with the authorities, civil society and academia after the tensions of 2020 were very instrumental, she explained.
Ms. Weigand spoke to UN News about her team’s work to help the young refugees overcome the immediate shock of displacement, ensuring that they have access to food, winter clothes, toys, and safe spaces to play.
The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Tweet URL
Christine Weigand: In less than a week, about 100,000 people arrived in Armenia, and among them, around 30,000 children. They’ve all come through this little town that I’ve visited twice now in the South of Armenia, Goris, which is a little town of only 20,000 people in normal circumstances, that had to deal with this huge inflow.
By now, many families have moved on to different parts of the country, either because they have relatives or friends there or because the Government also has allocated different shelters in different regions of the country to be able to host all those people.
UN News: You said that you went to Goris. Did you have a chance to talk to the children to understand what they have gone through and what are their needs?
Christine Weigand: In the initial days of families arriving in Armenia, I visited the registration centres that the Armenian Government had set up. Those registration centres had “health points” where nurses and doctors were working, and I was speaking to them asking them in what physical state and mental state are children arriving. And they all said the same thing: the children arrive hungry, showing signs of malnutrition, they arrive very tired, a lot of them have a fever or other kinds of disease. The psychologists that were working in these centres also were saying that children arrived in a state of shock and trauma and were struggling also to comprehend what had been happening to them.
From the very early days we set up a children’s corner in Goris, which is basically a safe space where children can go, can access services, can get psychological support, but also medical support. I spent a bit of time there on the two occasions that I went down to Goris to talk to the children. I have to say many children were not very much willing to engage. That’s a sign of what they’ve been through.
There was one group of boys – three brothers and their mom – who were telling us that they had very little time to just grab the most essential things. Each boy was able to take one little backpack in which he could choose what to put in: basically, fundamentals like underwear and so on, and one or two little toys that they could fit in. They had that sense of longing for the things that they had left behind. And they were excited when they were in the children’s corner to see that there were a lot of toys that they could play with. They were jumping around, running around, playing with balls. It was a joy to see them reclaim some moments of the joy of childhood.
In the long term, of course, education remains the big question, because that many children to be accommodated in the education system also is a major effort to undertake, a major challenge. We have seen that some of the teachers have been trying to find their students again and trying to organize that they can meet each other again just to create some sense of normalcy. But this is obviously a very, very difficult proposition. And this happens after many months already where they’ve been living through a difficult situation.
The Ministry of Education from the very early days already said that they would integrate these children into the school system. I think there are more than 6,000 children that have been integrated and registered, but clearly those are very big numbers for a small country like Armenia.
UN News: What does UNICEF offer in this situation? What kind of support do you provide to the people in the first instance and to the Government?
Christine Weigand: We’re looking at the different types of support. We had already prepositioned some supplies for the last few months already. We had been working on preparing, given our humanitarian mandate to make sure that we are ready for the kind of crisis that we now unfortunately see unfolding.
We have immediately also handed over to the Ministry of Health medicines and medical supplies, specifically for children. We’ve also been procuring additional medicines and also therapeutic food for the children that show signs of malnutrition. We’ve been setting up the children’s corners. We now have two in Goris. We’re setting up more across the country, given that now children are all over the country in different communities.
We’re working closely with the Ministry of Education to look into setting up temporary learning spaces, additional capacities to accommodate children and also to train teachers on how to best work with these children and to integrate them into existing classes and in the school system.
Obviously, the big question is also livelihood, how families are going to be able to make ends meet. The Government has already announced cash transfer schemes, one of which will cover the first six months, that is an equivalents of a rental subsidy. And we’re working with the Ministry of Labour now to see what else will be needed specifically for families with children, for example, vouchers to purchase clothes for the winter. And also to estimate what other expenses will need to be covered, for example, for education, when they go into the schools.
UN News: What message would you like to leave with our audience?
Christine Weigand: The scale and speed of this displacement of population, leaving everything behind and coming into Armenia, is certainly a very unique and a very big challenge for all of us as a humanitarian community. But also, beyond that, we really want to see how we can support the Government, the civil society, to really ensure that children especially are getting everything that they need to grow up safe and healthy in this completely changed environment, so that they don’t take with them from these experiences a very long-standing trauma. I think this needs to be our common aim.
Ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh long for home, decry Azerbaijan
Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Oct 6 2023
Having fled the long-troubled mountainous enclave, many say they will not return as they bank on more support from Yerevan.
Published On 6 Oct 2023
Yerevan, Armenia – Alisa Ghazaryan was full of excitement and nerves as she started her first year at university in Stepanakert, having moved from her village home in Nagorno-Karabakh.
But just as term began, Azerbaijani forces began shelling the city, which Baku knows as Khankendi, on September 19.
As they carried out what they cast as an “anti-terrorist operation”, the 18-year-old took shelter in the university’s basement.
“I was born there, I grew up there,” she said of her home. “When I was there, I felt completely free.”
Until recently, Nagorno-Karabakh, a long-troubled mountainous enclave, was home to about 120,000 ethnic Armenians who dominated the region. Since Baku’s lightning offensive, more than 100,000, including Alisa, have fled to Armenia.
Despite assurances by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to protect their civil rights, many say they feared persecution after years of mutual distrust and open hatred between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Several displaced people Al Jazeera spoke to in Armenia said they were expecting a massacre.
According to ethnic Armenian officials, at least 200 people were killed in Baku’s assault, including 10 civilians, and more than 400 were wounded.
Baku played down the claims of civilian casualties but acknowledged “collateral damage” was possible.
Azerbaijan, which announced that 192 of its soldiers were killed in the operation, said its blitz was aimed at disarming ethnic Armenian separatists in the region, parts of which now resemble a ghost town.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify either side’s toll.
The assault came after a 10-month blockade, effectively imposed by Azerbaijan after it closed the Lachin corridor to Armenia, preventing the flow of food, fuel and medicine. Baku had accused Armenia of funnelling weapons to separatists through the winding, mountain road, a claim denied by both parties.
The local unrecognised government surrendered after 24 hours of fighting. Aliyev said his “iron fist” restored Azerbaijan’s sovereignty. Late last month, Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian officials said the region will cease to exist as a self-styled breakaway republic on January 1 next year.
Alisa and her family fled through the Lachin corridor, which has since been reopened.
They are staying at a friend’s house outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Fourteen people currently live in the cramped space, sharing two rooms.
At night, they sleep side by side on the living room floor.
“We are only here to not be on the streets,” said Alisa.
It’s a far cry from their house in Karabakh, which they had just finished renovating.
The journey to Armenia, which usually takes several hours, took days for some, as people poured out of the region.
The European Parliament this week said the “current situation amounts to ethnic cleansing”.
Those who left are scattered across Armenia, facing an uncertain future and mourning the loss of their homeland.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as Azerbaijan’s territory, including by Armenia. The ex-Soviet rivals have fought two wars over the enclave, in the nineties and in 2020. The first conflict saw ethnic Armenians seize swaths of land, resulting in the displacement of Azerbaijanis, while Baku triumphed in the 2020 war. Since then, Russian peacekeepers have operated in the region, but Armenians blame them for allowing Azerbaijan’s latest attack, which was widely condemned in the West.
Now, there are only a few hundred left in Karabakh, mainly elderly or disabled people.
“The nature was so beautiful. There are mountains and forests. Our home was right on the edge of a forest, we used to walk there a lot,” said Alisa, as she looked at a photo on her phone of a verdant hillside.
Ina, her mother, wanted to throw away the key to their house, but Alisa begged her not to.
“Maybe one day we will go back, maybe when I am an old woman,” Alisa said hopefully.
“Aliyev describes us and our heroes as terrorists, but in reality, he is the terrorist. I want the world to know that Artsakh is our motherland and not [Azerbaijan’s],” she added, using the self-styled name for the region.
Many of those displaced had already fled, in previous wars.
Angela Sazkisjan-Yan, a glamorous 65-year-old, left Baku in 1995.
“Nobody would stay [in Karabakh] because everybody clearly knows the handwriting of Azerbaijan,” she said.
Some people destroyed their furniture or dishes before they left, but Angela cleaned her flat in Stepanakert, and even left the refrigerator on and filled with food, perhaps a symbolic gesture of her hope to one day return.
“Everybody left their property but that’s a small part of it – the worst part is that we left our homeland, our roots. Even my grandparents are buried there,” she told Al Jazeera in Abovyan, northeast of Yerevan.
She is staying with her sister’s family, whom she had not seen in two years.
“I am very happy to rejoin with them because we are an inseparable part of each other, but I have a big soul ache for everything that’s happened,” she said.
Many Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh say they were split up from relatives during the blockade.
Lilit Shahverdyan, a 20-year-old freelance journalist, was in Yerevan with her sister during the tensions, while the rest of her family was at their home in Stepanakert.
“We just hugged each other and started to cry,” she said, describing the moment when she finally saw her family, in the border town of Goris, after almost a year apart.
She said the blockade made her family closer and stronger than ever.
“All we have now is just our family and just one apartment in Yerevan. Everything else – not just the property, but all our memories, life goals, and the future was in our homeland – now it’s all gone.”
As her mother locked their front door for the last time in Stepanakert, tears streamed down her face.
“It was the most beautiful house. My father built it 10 years ago. I really enjoyed waking up there every day just going to the garden, hugging my cats or talking to my neighbours. In my childhood, everything was connected to that house.”
Lilit had hoped to return to Stepanakert to work after she finishes her university course in Yerevan. Now, she wants to leave Armenia altogether.
“I’m just afraid that some sh** will happen again. And I don’t want my kids to suffer as much as I did. Armenia is not a safe place as long as we have a neighbouring dictator and we have this government. I don’t want to have another traumatised generation,” she said.
Hopes of a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan seem to be fading after a crucial meeting planned for this week, between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, was cancelled by Azerbaijan at the last minute.
“It’s not only unrealistic, it’s also a crime to believe that now is the time to collaborate on a peaceful relationship,” said Angela, who said she knows 10 people who were killed in the recent fighting.
“They killed us, how can we live with them in peace?”
Ara Papian, an Armenian lawyer and former diplomat, thinks further aggression by Azerbaijan is possible in the future, particularly in the Syunik region where Azerbaijan wants to build a corridor through Armenian territory to connect with its exclave, Nakhchivan.
Even if a peace treaty is signed, Azerbaijan will “find an excuse and attack”, he predicted.
Papian accused the West of refusing to condemn and sanction Azerbaijan because some nations do not want to get on the wrong side of NATO member Turkey – Azerbaijan’s closest ally.
The European Union’s gas deal with Azerbaijan exposes the bloc’s hypocrisy, he added.
“The EU and the West do not buy oil and gas from dictator [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to not fuel the war in Ukraine, but they buy the same from Azerbaijan knowing that the money will go not to prosperity of people in Azerbaijan, it will become new weapons, which means a new war – which has happened.”
Housing is now the main priority for displaced people, said Margarit Piliposyan, deputy country director for the NGO Fund for Armenia Relief (FAR), which has been distributing food and humanitarian supplies in Vayk, a town south of Yerevan.
The Armenian government recently announced financial support for displaced people with 100,000 dram per person ($239) and then 40,000 dram per month ($96) for six months for housing costs.
However, several people told Al Jazeera they were yet to see any government assistance, such as Lira Arzangulyan, 33, and Alina Khachatryan, 31, two sisters, who fled after the latest escalation.
They moved with their four children and mothers-in-law, to Mrgavan village, in Artashat, a province in the shadow of Mount Ararat, where more than 100 displaced families now live.
They were previously displaced from their home in Martuni after the 2020 war.
The house is small with peeling wallpaper and one gas stove. It is cold inside – even on a mild September day. The owner is letting them stay there for free, for now.
“We don’t have any other place to go so we’re going to stay here. The houses for rent are too expensive, we can’t afford it. We are still uncertain and in shock,” said Alina.
The children play in the other room as their mothers cry softly. Lira’s mascara runs across her cheek as she says how much she misses visiting her mother’s grave in Karabakh.
They both lament the Russian peacekeepers, who Lira described as being “indifferent and doing nothing” to protect or help them.
The first United Nations monitoring mission visited Karabakh on Sunday.
“Why didn’t they come when we had nothing to eat? It is empty now, there is no one living there. If they came before this escalation started and they gave us hope and a guarantee that there is someone to support us, then we would have stayed there,” said Lira.
Their children run in and hug them close.
“I hope this next generation will change and maybe when our kids grow up they will be able to go back there, maybe as a tourist, to see where they’re from,” Alina added.
MSF offers mental health support to people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh
MSF.org – Doctors Without Borders
Oct 6 2023
On Tuesday 19 September, Azerbaijan launched an attack on various areas in Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is a self-proclaimed republic internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan, but which has traditionally been home to many ethnic Armenians.
After a ceasefire agreement was reached 24 hours later, more than 100,000 residents from the region made their way to neighbouring Armenia through the Lachin corridor, located between the region and the border, which had been closed for 10 months.
We are dealing with people who have lost everything.NARINE DANIELYAN, MSF MEDICAL TEAM LEADER IN GORIS
The displaced people have an urgent need for mental health support, alongside their other social and medical requirements. On Thursday 28 September, a medical team from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began receiving patients at the registration centre in Goris, in Syunik province, southern Armenia.
Two psychologists have provided mental health consultations and psychological first aid to over 200 people in just a few days.
“We are dealing with people who have lost everything,” says Narine Danielyan, MSF’s medical team leader in Goris.
“Our approach involves several steps, including building trust, ensuring well-being, stabilising those in acute distress, providing practical assistance, rebuilding social connections, offering coping strategies, and connecting them to additional resources and care.”
The people our teams meet are often exhausted from carrying multiple bags; they are often looking for specific support or just someone to listen to their stories and concerns.
Most suffer from mental health issues. Our medical staff have observed stress, uncertainty about the future, shock, denial, fear, anger, grief, sleep disturbances and physical symptoms, such as stomach aches and headaches, among the patients we see. But this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the long-term suffering that people can endure.
“A woman came to us, repeatedly expressing her desire to return home immediately and asking for our help,” says Danielyan.
“Almost everyone we talk to tells us they have lost a loved one or a distant family member. Most of them are devastated and severely psychologically affected.”
Our mental health teams continue to follow up with patients who have been accommodated in some of the hotels or centres near the reception point in Goris by providing mental health sessions.
Meanwhile, we remain actively engaged in assessing evolving needs, with a specific focus on general healthcare, continuity of care for patients with non-communicable diseases, and addressing respiratory infections, among other illnesses.
https://www.msf.org/armenia-msf-offers-mental-health-support-people-displaced-nagorno-karabakh
As U.S. Calls for Monitoring Mission in Artsakh Senate Committee Urges Biden to Cut Military Aid to Baku
A center in Goris is registering 1,000 displaced Artsakh residents every hour
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Warns Against Aliyev’s Scheme to Establish ‘Corridor’
The State Department called for the deployment of a long-term independent international monitoring mission to Nagorno-Karabakh “to provide transparency and reassurances that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians will be protected.”
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a press briefing that such a team would be beneficial particularly for displaced Artsakh residents who wish to return “and for the protection of cultural heritage sites, which all of course is in line with Azerbaijan’s public statements and their international obligations as well.”
“The United States is going to continue to play a role in engaging with Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership at the highest levels to pursue a dignified and durable peace,” Patel added.
The State Department spokesperson was also asked to comment on a statement made by a United Nations mission to Artsakh this week, which painted a rather rosy picture of Stepanakert after the near complete depopulation of Artsakh.
The UN mission said that they did not receive complaints about ill-treatment or violence by Azerbaijanis, while at the same time admitting that there are close to “50-1,000” Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We certainly appreciate those comments from the UN spokesperson. But that does not change the United States’ point of view on this,” Patel said. “We continue to believe, even in the light of the UN visit, that there is a strong desire and a need for a longer-term, independent international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. We think that that will provide transparency; we think that it will provide the appropriate reassurances for the various rights and securities that we continue to be deeply concerned about.”
Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the chairman the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement on Wednesday calling for the need to support Armenia and reevaluate military assistance and security cooperation with Azerbaijan.
“Following nearly a year of a horrific blockade, President Aliyev finally used military power to exert control over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, effectively erasing its Armenian population and rich history. As the world continues to grapple with Azerbaijan’s coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing, we must both prioritize support for the Armenians who have been expelled as well as holding Azerbaijan accountable,” the Senate committee statement said.
“As we look forward we must take steps to ensure that Azerbaijan does not advance militarily in pursuit for further territorial gains, including forcefully condemning inflammatory rhetoric. The United States should halt security assistance to Azerbaijan until it has stopped this brutal campaign. The United States and the international community must also reaffirm our commitment to documenting war crimes and atrocities, as well as continue to support efforts to repatriate prisoners of war, many of whom Azerbaijan continues to detain,” the statement added.
“Finally, we must stand in solidarity with the Armenian people, particularly as Azerbaijan and Turkey eye the potential Zangezur corridor. We should increase humanitarian support for those ethnic Armenians who have left Nagorno-Karabakh. The U.S. should also continue to support democratic reforms that Armenia’s leadership has taken in recent years, including efforts to promote transparency, good governance, and economic cooperation with the United States and Western Europe more broadly,” Cardin said in his statement.
Big leaps to escape Russia’s orbit
o-escape-Russia-s-orbit Armenia joins the International Criminal Court, the latest move among former Soviet states to affirm civic principles different from the Kremlin's. By the Monitor's Editorial Board October 4, 2023 The Soviet Union, with its 15 states, collapsed more than three decades ago. Yet for 14 of those states, the struggle to escape Russia's orbit and autocratic ways continues. The latest example is Armenia. Its parliament voted Tuesday to join the International Criminal Court, joining 123 other nations and obligating Armenia to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin on war crime charges if he sets foot in the country. Like most former Soviet states, Armenia was shocked at last year's invasion of Ukraine. It also saw how Russia, a treaty ally, failed last month to prevent Azerbaijan from taking by force an ethnic Armenian enclave within the recognized Azerbaijani border. Joining the International Criminal Court is Armenia's way to deal with both events. "Large parts of Armenian society, particularly young people, feel betrayed by Moscow and will probably drift out of Russia's sphere of influence," writes Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, in the Financial Times. As former Soviet states keep making moves to distance themselves from Moscow, Mr. Putin is becoming more isolated. In September, he was forced to visit the pariah state of North Korea to ask for military aid. "The world is getting smaller for the autocrat in the Kremlin," said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Since the Ukraine invasion, Moldova has beefed up its defenses against Russian disinformation. In the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, many parents worry that Russian-language schools will teach Kremlin propaganda. Other countries in that region have sought to broaden ties with the West. In New York last month, Joe Biden became the first American president to meet the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Last year, many of those states welcomed tens of thousands of young Russian men fleeing the military draft. In Kazakhstan, Russia's war in Ukraine "has been jarring for many Kazakhs, including those whose first language is Russian," sociologist Azamat Junisbai told The Beet news site. As a result, many Russian speakers in Kazakhstan are learning the Kazakh language in a sign of civil loyalty. "The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine showed how values of democracy and civic engagement can unite people of different backgrounds and overcome heavy colonial legacies," Botakoz Kassymbekova, a historian at the University of Basel, told The Beet. "Kazakh Russians play a pivotal role in post-colonial healing and a decolonized future, just as those who identify themselves as Kazakhs do." The responses to Russia's aggression vary in its borderland states. Yet almost all are affirming an independence within even as they cope with a threat without.
Armenian fashion designer launches first collection at Philadelphia Fashion Show
PHILADELPHIA — Rosemary, the designer behind the brand Edaalia, grew up knowing that she would work in the fashion industry, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine starting her own brand. Adventurer at heart, she decided to go back to school for fashion design. She stumbled upon Made Institute in Philadelphia and knew it was the right school to launch her career. Her graduation show came at both the right and wrong time, in February of 2020.
All of her hard work was presented at Philly Fashion Week, with hopes that it would propel her career, but shortly after the show, the world shut down due to the pandemic. The aspiring designer thought this was the end of her journey, until she got the opportunity to volunteer in her heritage country through Birthright Armenia.
She eagerly took this opportunity; however, circumstances beyond her control redirected her plans once again. Just as she was about to leave for Armenia, a full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out. She went fully aware of the dangers but eager to help her country in any way that she could. She split her time between doing humanitarian work and working for a fashion company in Armenia.
Fast forward to the present, and the west coast native now splits her time between Philadelphia and Armenia. The designer has rebranded her company to be a ready-to-travel brand manufactured in Armenia. She coined the term ready-to-travel for attire that has the aesthetics of a ready-to-wear brand, but the comfort and practicality needed for traveling.
Interest in travel has significantly increased due to the pandemic and added connectivity through social media. People are traveling and posting about their travels like never before. As an avid traveler herself, Rosemary understands the importance of the perfect travel wardrobe. The designer wants to contribute to the interest of global exploration and self-_expression_ through fashion. Edaalia is meant to be an _expression_ of beauty, wonder and boldness. The designer wants her brand to help women explore the world with confidence. By working with local women artisans in Armenia to produce her brand, she hopes that she can inspire travelers from all over the world to visit this tiny country of wonder.
October 14 will be the first official relaunch of Edaalia at the 10th anniversary show for Made Institute. At the show, Rosemary will be selling her first mini collection of travel sets, which were inspired by her many trips back and forth to Armenia. She wanted to create something comfortable, breathable and effortlessly cool. She will also be showing three looks from her larger spring collection, which will be available for pre-order. To watch her journey leading up to the show, you can follow her on Instagram. Tickets to the show are available at https://made-institute.com/.
About the show:
Date: Saturday, October 14, 2023, at 6 p.m.
Location: Cherry Street Pier, 121 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19106
As a testament to 10 years of transformative fashion education, Made Institute is thrilled to announce its 10th Anniversary Fashion Show fundraiser. This milestone event will celebrate the remarkable journey of Made Institute and its commitment to fostering creativity, innovation and inclusivity in the world of fashion.
About Made Institute
In the fall of 2012, Made Institute CEO Rachel Ford started teaching sewing classes in Old City. She wanted to share techniques she had learned working 10 years at the Philadelphia Opera to the city’s growing number of makers and designers. Now, Made Institute offers courses for sewing enthusiasts and teens, but also a full curriculum of professional fashion design courses that help students to realize their entrepreneurial goals.
In Granada, Prime Minister of Armenia and President of European Commission discuss the current situation
18:02, 5 October 2023
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. In Granada, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The Prime Minister’s office stated in a press release,that issues related to the situation created by the forced displacement of the Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, the regional situation and the Armenia-European Union cooperation agenda were discussed.
Ursula Von der Leyen emphasized that the EU is ready to provide the necessary support to Armenia to help to solve the humanitarian issues of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. It was said that the European Commissioner for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid will arrive in Armenia to assess further needs.
At the same time, the parties referred to the process of democratic reforms carried out in Armenia and further cooperation in that direction.