15:38, 7 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces on Thursday violated the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, targeting farming equipment, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said in a statement.
The Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Ministry of Defense said the Azeri forces opened fire around 12:20, September 7, at a combine harvester working in the fields of Sarushen village.
No one was hurt in the shooting.
The incident has been reported to the Russian peacekeepers.
21:53, 7 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan on September 7 met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.
FM Mirzoyan and his Emirati counterpart commended the strong and dynamically developing cooperation during the 25 years of diplomatic relations based on the traditionally warm ties between the two friendly nations, the foreign ministry said in a readout.
Mirzoyan underscored that the UAE is one of the important partners for Armenia in the region and expressed readiness to continue the mutually-beneficial dialogue in various areas through joint efforts.
Speaking about enhancing political dialogue and sustainable progress of cooperation, the ministers attached importance to carrying out mutual high-level visits and regular consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries.
In the context of further intensifying trade-economic ties and implementing various investment projects, the importance of the effective activities of the Armenian-Emirati Intergovernmental Commission was noted.
The FMs also emphasized that the weekly 30 flights between the two countries are significantly contributing to the intensification of business ties, tourism, cultural and decentralized cooperation. In this regard, the ministers commended the upcoming Armenia-UAE Business Forum in Yerevan.
The areas of high technologies, digitization, cybersecurity and innovation were pointed out as promising directions for partnership. The inclusion of new areas of interest in the bilateral agenda was also discussed.
Issues of regional and international importance were also addressed.
FM Mirzoyan briefed the UAE Foreign Minister on the current security situation in the South Caucasus and Armenia’s vision to achieve peace and stability in the region.
Speaking about the ongoing, nine-month-long blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, FM Mirzoyan underscored that Nagorno-Karabakh’s population of 120,000 is facing grave humanitarian challenges incompatible with dignified life, which can cause irreversible consequences. FM Mirzoyan underscored the need for the implementation by Azerbaijan of the ICJ rulings.
Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the rest of the world, has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022. The Azerbaijani blockade constitutes a gross violation of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, which established that the 5km-wide Lachin Corridor shall be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Furthermore, on February 22, 2023 the United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has been ignoring the order ever since. The ICJ reaffirmed its order on 6 July 2023.
Azerbaijan then illegally installed a checkpoint on Lachin Corridor. The blockade has led to shortages of essential products such as food and medication. Azerbaijan has also cut off gas and power supply into Nagorno Karabakh, with officials warning that Baku seeks to commit ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hospitals have suspended normal operations.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo called out U.S. President Joe Biden’s complicity in Azerbaijan’s ongoing genocide against Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, in powerful remarks delivered before a congressional hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC), reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“President Biden or Secretary Blinken can officially tell Mr. Aliyev to remove tomorrow, unconditionally, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, or we consider you responsible for genocide. […] And, of course, that will trigger a lot of consequences,” stated Ocampo, speaking in a packed Rayburn House Office Building hearing room.
Ocampo pushed back against arguments that Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations may be hampered by the proper characterization of genocide to describe Azerbaijan’s over 260-day blockade of Artsakh. “The negotiation is between a genocider and his victims. You cannot ask for a negotiation between Hitler and the people in Auschwitz. It’s not a negotiation. You have to stop Auschwitz and then discuss negotiation. And that, I think, is the secret here,” stated Ocampo. The former ICC prosecutor went on to note that “knowing that President Aliyev is using genocide and trying to deny the genocide, the U.S. assistance to deny the genocide could be considered complicity.”
Former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo described Azerbaijan’s 260+ day Artsakh blockade as a “an ongoing genocide. It’s happening now,” in powerful remarks delivered at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing, titled “Nagorno Karabakh: Update”
ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian echoed Ocampo, underscoring, “Today’s hearing put President Biden on public notice that he is – according to the spirit and the letter of the Genocide Convention – complicit in Azerbaijan’s genocide against the 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians of Artsakh – citizens of an at-risk democracy blockaded by an oil-rich dictatorship.”
Rep. Chris Smith: “This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was planned, tested and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan.”
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) – a longtime champion of human rights around the world and leading voice in the decades-long effort to secure U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – was outspoken in his characterization of Azerbaijan’s genocide in Artsakh.
“There are 120,000 ethnic Armenians who have been sealed off from food and medicine and are being starved to death by the government of Azerbaijan. […] This horrible crime, this crime of genocide, was planned, tested and imposed by the government of Azerbaijan; that is to say, by President Aliyev who rules Azerbaijan with an iron fist as a dictator,” stated Chairman Smith in his opening remarks of the hearing.
He went to slam Biden administration officials for not responding to repeated invitations to participate in today’s hearing. “This hearing has two empty chairs. Two. Those of the U.S. Department of State and USAID. I requested that they both provide a witness for this hearing. Despite repeated requests by phone and email, neither responded. Not even a response. Since 1995, I have chaired hundreds of hearings with State Department or USAID witnesses. This is a unique case of absolute nonresponse,” stated Chairman Smith.
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chair Chris Smith (R-NJ) called Artsakh’s integration into Azerbaijan a “death sentence” during the September 6 emergency hearing
“It speaks volumes about the bankruptcy of the Biden-Harris administration’s genocide-aligned policies on Artsakh that they refused Chairman Smith’s repeated requests to send even a single U.S. State Department or USAID witness to today’s hearing,” noted the ANCA’s Hamparian.
Chairman Smith highlighted the Biden administration’s failure to adequately respond to Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression and blockade against Artsakh. “Requests in bland bureaucratic language do not count, not when people are being subjected to genocide,” stated Rep. Smith. “Today, the State Department issued a readout of Secretary Blinken’s September 1 call with President Aliyev, where [they expressed] ‘concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, reiterated our call to reopen, underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise.’ This is completely inadequate, and I believe it is insulting. One side is committing genocide against the other, and the State Department expresses concern urging the victim to dialogue and to compromise.”
David Phillips: “By being silent, by not acting, the Biden administration is making a statement that it values Azeri oil and gas more than it does the lives of Armenians in Artsakh”
David L. Phillips, the director of Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities Project and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, offered powerful testimony citing atrocities committed by Azerbaijani government officials against Armenians in the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia and calling for concrete U.S. sanctions against both Azerbaijan and its top leadership.
“Azerbaijan does not have a diversified economy. It relies on oil and gas resources. The levels of corruption by the Aliyev family are well documented. Freezing accounts and financial resources of officials and corrupt leadership responsible would be more effective in Azerbaijan than it would be elsewhere,” argued Phillips. “If the situation is not dramatically reversed soon, the U.S. and its allies should give the Armenians the means to defend themselves and exercise of the duty to prevent genocide, lest history repeat itself.”
Phillips went on to criticize the international community for not imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan sooner. “The international community failed to sanction individuals who committed crimes after the wars in 2016 and 2020. Its message of failure sent a communication to the government of Azerbaijan that it can act with impunity and escape repercussions for its crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide,” stated Phillips. “This signals Azerbaijan, as well as other regimes around the world, that they can escape consequences for violating international humanitarian law and committing crimes against humanity.”
Columbia University director of the Artsakh Atrocities Project David L. Phillips argued that the international community’s failure to sanction Azerbaijan sent the clear message that they can act with impunity
The September 6 emergency hearing on Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) followed the June 22 hearing hosted by TLHRC co-chairs Chris Smith (R-NJ) and James McGovern (D-MA), which included remarks by Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also submitted a written statement for the record. Titled “Safeguarding the people of Nagorno Karabakh,” the hearing included testimony by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michael Rubin and Columbia University’s Phillips.
The ANCA streamed the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing live on its social media channels. The complete video is available on the Commission’s website.
The ANCA has launched a national call-in campaign asking Senators to place a hold on all of President Biden’s State Department nominees until he takes decisive action to stop Azerbaijan’s genocide against Artsakh. To learn more and take action, visit www.anca.org/hold.
YEREVAN, September 7. /TASS/. Azerbaijan has amassed its troops on the border with Armenia and the demarcation line with Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a Cabinet meeting as he described the situation as explosive.
“In the past week, the military-political situation in our region has deteriorated. This is because, in the past few days, Azerbaijan has been amassing troops along the line of engagement in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Anti-Armenian rhetoric and hate speech have intensified in the Azerbaijani press and on propaganda platforms,” the Armenian premier said.
Pashinyan urged the international community and UN Security Council member countries to take serious steps to prevent another explosion of tensions in the region. “Armenia is ready and willing to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and we reiterate our commitment to the global agenda on the basis of agreements [signed] in Brussels and Prague as well as the tripartite agreement (between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia – TASS),” he added.
YEREVAN, September 7. /TASS/. The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia arrested pro-Russian blogger Mika Badalyan and Sputnik Armenia journalist Ashot Gevorkyan, Armenian Investigative Committee Spokesman Gor Abramyan said.
“On September 6 and 7, seven people, including Mika Badalyan and Ashot Gevorkyan, were arrested and handed over to the Investigative Committee under justified suspicion of [illegal possession of firearms], initiated by the NSS. And investigative group has been established. Investigative actions are underway. The Investigative Committee of Armenia will make an additional statement later,” Abramyan said on social media.
11:39, 6 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has published a new report on the risk of genocide by Azerbaijan in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).
In a statement, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said it has released an emergency draft of the report due to the dire circumstances of the blockade and Azerbaijan’s military buildup along the borders of Artsakh and Armenia.
“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention hopes that this report will contribute to global resolve to protect the lives and the identity of the Armenians of Artsakh, prevent a Second Armenian Genocide, pressure Azerbaijan to accept self-determination for the people of Artsakh, and initiate a long-overdue process of transformative justice in the region that allows Armenians and Azeris to voice their historical grievances and find common ground around accountability, peace-building, and human security. The Report uses the United Nations’s Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes to outline and analyze (in detail) the risk factors and indicators for atrocity crimes, with a special focus on the crime of genocide. We have chosen to focus on the crime of genocide because the evidence in this report points to the existence of several serious red flags for genocide, typical genocidal patterns, and evidence of the special intent to commit that crime,” an excerpt from the executive summary of the report reads.
The institute said that the evidence presented in the report suggests that the crime of genocide may already be taking place in the form of the blockade.
“In fact, the evidence presented here suggests that the crime of genocide may already be taking place in the form of the blockade, which is both “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” and “[d]eliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (paragraphs II.b. and II.c. of the 1948 Genocide Convention). Azerbaijan’s crimes conform to Patterns 5 (Gross human rights violations + mass cultural destruction), 6 (Man-made famine/”Genocide by Attrition”), 7 (Environmental despoliation /”Ecocide” and land alienation), and 9 (Denial and/or prevention of identity) of the Lemkin Institute’s Ten Patterns of Genocide and seem to be headed towards patterns 1 (Gender-neutral mass murder characterized by gendered atrocity) and/or 2 (Mass murder of ‘battle-aged men’ + atrocities against women and children).”
“The deep imbrication of eliminationist anti-Armenian hate within the Aliyev regime and Azerbaijani institutions of government leads us to conclude that Azerbaijan is a genocidal state. This fact must be addressed before there can be any peace in the region,” it added.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention warned that “there is alarming evidence that President Aliyev may be planning a military assault on Artsakh in the very near future.”
“A military assault on Artsakh could lead to the mass murder stage of genocide. It would almost assuredly result in the forced displacement of Armenians from Artsakh and the widespread commission of genocidal atrocities, reflecting those committed in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 and subsequent hostilities,” it said.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention recommends that members of the international community, including United Nations member states with influence over Azerbaijan, undertake the following actions to prevent the starvation and forced population displacement of Armenians in Artsakh as well as any possible future genocidal assaults on the Armenians of the Republic of Armenia:
12:55, 6 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Foreign military attachés and representatives accredited in Armenia on Wednesday were briefed by the Armenian Ministry of Defense on the operational situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The briefing was held by Levon Ayvazyan, Director of the Defense Policy and International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Defense.
Ayvazyan said that the Armenian Armed Forces, within their duties, are taking all necessary measures to not allow a further escalation of the situation.
19:25, 6 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will travel to the United Arab Emirates on September 7-8 on an official visit, the foreign ministry announced Wednesday.
“On September 7-8, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. Meetings with UAE colleagues are planned,” foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said in a statement.
20:20, 6 September 2023
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has again called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to reopen the Lachin Corridor, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday in a readout of the call which took place on September 1.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on September 1 to express the United States’ concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. He reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic, while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan. The Secretary underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise and the importance of building confidence between the parties. He pledged continued U.S. support to the peace process,” the U.S. State Department said in the readout.
EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell
“The European Union will continue to influence Azerbaijan regarding the need for an urgent solution to the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, as failure to do so properly may have a practical impact on relations with the EU,” the bloc foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
At the same time, Borrell emphasized that the suspension of a memorandum of understanding signed with Azerbaijan on July 18, 2022 on energy exports to the EU “is not currently being considered.”
Borrell’s statement added that the EU continues to closely monitor developments in and around the Lachin corridor and their humanitarian consequences.
Borrell also added that the “EU has repeatedly called to reopen the corridor, and now it continues to actively participate at the highest level in providing assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan in the work toward mutually acceptable normalization of their relations.”