Author: Emil Lazarian

                                        Thursday, 
U.S. ‘Deeply Concerned’ About Worsening Conditions In Karabakh
U.S. - State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller answers questions during a 
news briefing at the State Department, Washington, July 18, 2023.
The United States on Thursday again expressed serious concern over the dire 
humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and renewed its calls for the 
immediate reopening of the only road connecting the region to Armenia.
“We are deeply concerned about deteriorating humanitarian conditions in 
Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from the continued blockage of food, medicine, and 
other goods essential to a dignified existence,” Matthew Miller, the U.S. State 
Department spokesman, said in a statement.
“The United States has worked continuously with the sides over the past several 
weeks to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the population of 
Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said. “We reiterate our call to immediately re-open the 
Lachin corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic.
“Further, officials from Baku and representatives from Stepanakert should 
convene without delay to agree on the means of transporting critical provisions 
to the men, women, and children of Nagorno-Karabakh – including additional 
supply routes – and resume discussions on all outstanding issues. Basic 
humanitarian assistance should never be held hostage to political disagreements.”
Miller’s statement came as Karabakh residents struggled with worsening shortages 
of food, medicine and other basic necessities nearly nine months after 
Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin corridor. The Armenian-populated region was 
reportedly running out of bread, which became its main staple food after Baku 
tightened the blockade in mid-June. Nevertheless, the Karabakh Armenians remain 
strongly opposed an alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled supply line for Karabakh 
demanded by Baku.
Dozens of them continued to block on Thursday a road leading to the Azerbaijani 
town of Aghdam to prevent two Azerbaijani trucks loaded with 40 tons of flour 
from entering Karabakh. They as well as the authorities in Stepanakert believe 
that the proposed aid is a publicity stunt aimed at legitimizing the blockade 
and helping Azerbaijan regain full control over Karabakh.
Washington has repeatedly called for an end to the blockade. Baku has dismissed 
such appeals. Azerbaijani officials say that renewed relief supplies through the 
Lachin corridor are conditional on the Karabakh Armenians agreeing to the Aghdam 
route.
Armenia, Greece Plan Joint Weapons Production
Armenia - Armenian and Greek military officials meet in Yerevan, June 2, 2022.
Armenia announced on Thursday plans to jointly develop and produce weapons with 
Greece, one of its closest Western partners.
The Armenian government approved a draft Greek-Armenian agreement on bilateral 
“military-technical cooperation” which is due to be signed soon.
A government statement said the agreement calls for mutual research on and 
transfer of defense technology as well as the creation of Greek-Armenian joint 
ventures that will manufacture military equipment and ammunition. It did not 
specify what type of weapons will be produced and where.
According to the statement, the two sides will also train military personnel and 
repair military hardware imported from “third countries.” These joint activities 
will be coordinated by a commission to be set up by the Greek and Armenian 
militaries.
Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of weapons and ammunition. But 
with Russian-Armenian relations worsening since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh 
and Russia embroiled in a large-scale war with Ukraine, Yerevan has been looking 
for other arms suppliers. It reportedly signed last year major contracts for the 
purchase of Indian multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank rockets and 
ammunition.
Greece has trained hundreds of Armenian officers at its military academies since 
the 1990s but is not known to have supplied any heavy weaponry to the South 
Caucasus country so far. Athens and Yerevan appear to have explored the 
possibility of closer military ties in recent years.
A Greek delegation headed by Deputy Defense Minister Nikolaos Chardalias visited 
Armenia in June 2022 for talks with Armenian military officials. The Armenian 
Defense Ministry reported at the time that they discussed “developing 
cooperation in the military-technical sphere” in line with the “warm, friendly 
relations between the two countries.” It said regional security was also on the 
agenda of the talks.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias visited Yerevan in September 2022 in the 
wake of Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations at the border with Armenia. 
“I am here to express our solidarity with the Armenian government and the 
Armenian people,” Dendias said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat 
Mirzoyan.
Greece and Armenia have also been seeking closer cooperation in a trilateral 
format involving Cyprus. Armenian, Cypriot and Greek officials held “defense 
consultations” in Cyprus in July this year.
Yerevan Hits Back At Moscow
Armenia - The building of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan.
Armenia criticized Russia on Thursday for linking Azerbaijan’s blockade of the 
Lachin corridor to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s decision to recognize 
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the Russian claims are “causing bewilderment 
and disappointment” in Yerevan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday 
that the blockade and the resulting humanitarian crisis in the 
Armenian-populated region are a “consequence of Armenia’s recognition of 
Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the territory of Azerbaijan.” She pointed to joint 
statements to that effect that were adopted by Pashinian and Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev at their talks organized by the European Union in October 
2022 and May 2023.
The statement issued as a result of the 2022 summit in Prague upheld a December 
1991 declaration in which Armenia, Azerbaijan and other newly independent Soviet 
republics recognized each other’s Soviet-era borders.
In an extensive written response to Moscow, Zakharova’s Armenian opposite 
number, Ani Badalian, insisted that “nothing new was decided at Prague” as 
Aliyev and Pashinian simply reaffirmed their countries’ compliance with the 
Almaty Declaration.
Pashinian has repeatedly made a similar point. His political opponents and other 
critics argue, however, that the Armenian parliament ratified the declaration in 
February 1992 with serious reservations relating to Karabakh.
Badalian said Russia itself has “repeatedly recognized Karabakh as part of 
Azerbaijan.” She also repeated Yerevan’s complains about the Russian 
peacekeepers’ failure to stop Azerbaijan from blocking traffic through the 
Lachin corridor
Pashinian likewise hit out at the peacekeepers as he opened a weekly session of 
his cabinet in Yerevan on Thursday. He said that Azerbaijan is continuing its 
“genocidal policy” against Karabakh’s population “in the presence of the Russian 
peacekeeping contingent.”
The bitter recriminations underscore Russia’s deepening rift with Armenia 
resulting in large measure from what Yerevan sees as a lack of Russian support 
in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Badalian pointed out that Moscow ignored an Armenian request for military 
assistance made when Azerbaijan launched offensive military operations along 
Armenia’s borders last September. The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said 
the Azerbaijani “aggression” began just days after Baku rejected a Russian peace 
plan that would indefinitely delay agreement on Karabakh’s status. Yerevan 
backed that plan in August 2022, according to her.
Karabakh Leader To Resign
        • Astghik Bedevian
Nagorno-Karabakh - President Arayik Harutiunian is puctured during an interview, 
August 6, 2023.
Ending months of speculation, Arayik Harutiunian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, 
announced on Thursday his decision to resign amid a deepening humanitarian 
crisis in Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan’s eight-month blockade of the Lachin 
corridor.
In a written statement, Harutiunian said the Armenian-populated region needs a 
new leadership in order to better cope with grave challenges facing it almost 
three years after the disastrous war with Azerbaijan.
“My background and Azerbaijan’s attitude towards it are artificially creating a 
number of conditions generating significant problems with regard to our further 
steps and flexible policy,” he said. “Besides, the defeat in the war and the 
resulting difficulties that emerged in the country reduced trust in the 
authorities and especially the president, which represents a very serious 
obstacle to further good governance.”
Harutiunian said that he made a final decision to step down two days ago after 
analyzing his “contacts with all internal and external actors and the public.” 
He added that he will formally submit his resignation to the Karabakh parliament 
on Friday.
Harutiunian has periodically fueled speculation about his impending resignation 
since Azerbaijan blocked last December traffic through the sole road connecting 
Karabakh to Armenia. In March, he helped to enact a constitutional amendment 
that empowered the local parliament to elect an interim president in case of his 
resignation. The latter would serve for the rest of Harutiunian’s five-year term 
in office which was due to expire in May 2025.
The Karabakh leader did not reveal the name of his preferred successor. Some 
Armenian media outlets reported that the secretary of his security council, 
Samvel Shahramanian, is the favorite for the job.
Shahramanian was appointed by Harutiunian as state minister on Thursday. He was 
among Karabakh representatives who negotiated with Azerbaijani officials at the 
headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh early this year.
Harutiunian’s party controls the largest number of parliament seats but does not 
have an overall majority in the legislature. It helped to install an opposition 
figure, Davit Ishkhanian, as parliament speaker earlier in August. Ishkhanian 
will perform the presidential duties pending the election of Harutiunian’s 
successor.
Harutiunian’s resignation appears to have been precipitated by the tightening in 
mid-June of the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor which further 
aggravated the shortages of food, medicine and other essential times in Karabakh.
The authorities in Stepanakert admitted on Tuesday that the region is running 
out of flour. They said that from now on each family in Karabakh’s capital and 
other towns will be allowed to buy only one loaf of bread a day.
Despite the severe crisis, the Karabakh Armenian continue to resist Baku’s 
attempts to put in place an alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled supply route for 
Karabakh in place of the Lachin corridor. They remain strongly opposed to the 
restoration of Azerbaijani rule in Karabakh.
Karabakh’s main political factions, including Harutiunian’s party, have 
repeatedly denounced Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s readiness to 
recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the region.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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