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

Turkish Press: Three dead from the Armenian side. Aggravation on the border with Azerbaijan

Emil Lazarian
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Sept 1 2023

BRUSSELS 

European Council President Charles Michel’s office said on Friday that the EU had proposed a plan to "gradually reopen" the Lachin road linking the Karabakh region to Armenia, as well as the Aghdam-Khankendi road. 

Michel’s team and the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, “have been in frequent contact with Baku, Yerevan, and representatives of Karabakh Armenians to work out a solution for unblocking access” between Karabakh and Armenia, Michel’s spokesperson, Ecaterina Casinge, said in a statement.

“Michel has proposed a step-by-step approach which would reflect a sequencing in the full-fledged operation of the Lachin corridor and the opening of the Agdam route,” Casinge further said.

According to the EU’s position, “the Lachin corridor must be unblocked” in line with the decision of the Hague-based International Court of Justice, she stressed.

The EU diplomats also noted that the use of the alternative Aghdam-Khankendi road, suggested earlier by Azerbaijan, “to provide supplies can also be part of a concrete and sustainable solution to the provision of urgent and daily basic needs.”

The EU side has also argued for addressing “legacies of the conflict to facilitate a long-term sustainable resolution” beyond the current situation, Casinge explained.

Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia rose in recent months over the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region.

In April, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint to prevent the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

According to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, the “wide-range abuse of the Lachin road by Armenia over past three years necessitated Azerbaijan’s legitimate and legal action of establishing a border check-point.”

Armenia accused Azerbaijan of causing a “humanitarian crisis” in the region that Baku denied, proposing the use of the Aghdam-Khankendi road for shipments to the region.

Michel, who presides over meetings of EU leaders and represents the bloc in international affairs, has made significant diplomatic efforts for reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan following their conflict in 2020.

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

Armenia, South Korea to sign agreement on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation

Emil Lazarian

 10:37,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and South Korea plan to sign an agreement on economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation.

The bill approving the signing is included in the agenda of the August 31 Cabinet meeting.

The agreement is expected to allow to strengthen economic relations, enhance cooperation between companies, including SMEs, by creating favorable conditions for investments.

It will serve as a platform to strengthen and expand the economic, industrial, tourism, agricultural and scientific-technical cooperation, boost trade turnover and promote partnership.

The agreement envisages the creation of an Armenian-Korean Intergovernmental Commission for scientific-technical, economic and industrial affairs.

EU foreign ministers to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

Emil Lazarian

 12:40,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh during their meeting on August 31 in Spain, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said.

She said that Nagorno-Karabakh has been included in the agenda by herself and the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

She described the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as “disastrous” and emphasized the importance of opening the Lachin Corridor, according to TASS news agency.

“We are resolutely calling upon Azerbaijan and Russia, that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh must eventually get what’s necessary for life. The Lachin Corridor must be open for humanitarian aid,” Baerbock said.

Baerbock added that discussions have been ongoing for several days with United States to guarantee that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh will receive humanitarian aid.

Yerevan “confused and disappointed” over Russian Foreign Ministry blaming Armenia for situation in Lachin Corridor

Emil Lazarian

 12:27,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova who claimed that the situation in the Lachin corridor is a consequence of the fact that referring to the Alma-Ata Declaration, in Prague, October 2022 Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian foreign ministry said that Zakharova’s comments cause “confusion and disappointment.”

Below is the full statement by Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan.

“Another comment by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia of similar content claiming that the situation unfolded in the Lachin corridor is a consequence of the fact that referring to the Alma-Ata Declaration, in Prague, October 2022 Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and after that, the task of the Russian peacekeepers became the possible influence on the issues of rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, causes confusion and disappointment.

We are compelled to recall the following, already well-known chronology and important circumstances.

  • The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has never been a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In essence, it has always been and remains an issue of the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • In August 2022, Armenia agreed to Russia’s draft proposal on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to which the discussion of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was supposed to be postponed for an indefinite period. Azerbaijan rejected the proposal, simultaneously announcing (as it did on August 31 in Brussels) that it is not going to discuss anything related to Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, and days later, on September 13, it launched military aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia.
  • Russia not only did not pursue its proposal after Azerbaijan's refusal, but also showed absolute indifference to the aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, leaving Armenia's official letter to support the Republic of Armenia on the basis of the bilateral legal framework unanswered. Moreover, Russia conditioned the lack of stating the fact of the attack on Armenia and the resulting inaction under the false excuse that the interstate border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not delimited. By this approach it either intentionally or not supports the obviously false and extremely dangerous thesis which claims that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, therefore, attacking the border and the invasion into the territory of Armenia are difficult to verify. With the same mindset, Armenia's similar application in the framework of the CSTO did not receive a proper response either.

  • Under these conditions, on October 6, 2022, in Prague, Armenia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed their loyalty to the Alma-Ata Declaration, which was signed back in 1991 by the former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, who recognized each other's territorial integrity along the former administrative borders of the Soviet states. Therefore, nothing new was decided in Prague: as of October 2022, the Alma-Ata Declaration had been in force for about 31 years. The agreements in Prague did not change anything in the text of the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, either. The only novelty was that, based on the results of the Prague meeting, the EU decided to deploy a monitoring mission on the Armenian side of the interstate border between Armenia and Azerbaijan to contribute to the stability at the border.

  • The Russian Federation recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan multiple times, including after the signing of the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the most recent and perhaps most significant one: it stated that it recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the document on establishing strategic relations with Azerbaijan.

  • On December 12, 2022, the Lachin corridor was blocked, under the false pretext of protests organized by the authorities of Azerbaijan in the area of the control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. Already in April 2023, in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan installed an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor. Although these actions were a clear and gross violation of the Trilateral statement, the Russian Federation took no counteractions. Instead, Russian peacekeepers on June 15, 2023, actively supported the attempt to raise the Azerbaijani flag on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is outside the scope of their mission and geographical area of responsibility. This was immediately followed by the total blockade of the Lachin corridor, bringing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh closer to a true humanitarian catastrophe.

  • In the conditions of such arbitrariness in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, the Azerbaijani side resorts to steps such as the abduction of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh at the illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor: the case of abduction of Vagif Khachatryan on July 29, followed by the case of three students on August 28.

  • Unfortunately, such practices of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh are nothing new. On December 11, 2020, the violation of the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, the illegal occupation of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages, the capture and transfer of 60 Armenian servicemen to Baku took place in Nagorno-Karabakh with the presence and permission of representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. At that time, the agreements of October 6, 2022, were not reached. The same applies to the events of Parukh on March 24, 2022, and Saribab on August 1, 2022, when Azerbaijan again violated the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh. The logical continuation of this are the shootings by Azerbaijani armed forces in the presence of Russian peacekeepers towards people carrying out agricultural works, one of which ended with the killing of a tractor driver from Martakert; the intimidation of the Nagorno-Karabakh population with night lights and loudspeakers again in the presence of Russian peacekeepers; the thousands of violations of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijani armed forces again in the presence of Russian peacekeepers.

We advise the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry to refrain from maneuvering the circumstances of the situation and thereby further complicating it in the absence of actions from Russian peacekeepers towards the prevention of the blockade of the Lachin corridor or its opening afterwards.

We also reiterate that the Republic of Armenia is faithful to its commitment towards establishing stability in the region on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and borders. At the same time, we consider imperative for lasting peace the reopening of the Lachin corridor in accordance with the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and in line with the Orders of the International Court of Justice, the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh and addressing of all existing problems through the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue under international auspices.”

ANCA calls on Senate to block all Biden nominations to the State Department

Emil Lazarian
 ANCA ANCA News 0

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) chairman Raffi Hamparian has called upon U.S. Senators to place a hold on all nominations to the State Department, blocking any new confirmations until President Biden takes decisive action to break Azerbaijan’s 260+ day blockade of Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians.

The ANCA’s call is backed up by a nationwide advocacy campaign, empowering Armenians and allied Americans from all fifty states to send letters urging their Senators to take this principled stand – in accord with U.S. interests and American values. The action portal is www.anca.org/hold.

The ANCA is asking that a hold on U.S. diplomatic nominees remain in place until the Biden administration has undertaken demonstrable steps to:

− Lead a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh, sanctioning the Aliyev regime and putting in place mechanisms to open land transit via the Lachin (Berdzor) Corridor and to airlift supplies to Artsakh.

− Stop any new, current or pending U.S. military or security assistance to Azerbaijan and fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

− Deliver emergency U.S. humanitarian assistance and longer-term development aid to the Armenian victims of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), including by means of a humanitarian airlift.

− Enforce statutory sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.

The full text of the ANCA letter to senators is provided below.

#####

ANCA Letter to U.S. Senators Urging them to Hold Biden’s State Department Nominees

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and our activists and coalition allies, I am writing to ask you to immediately place a hold on all State Department nominees until the Biden Administration takes decisive action to break Azerbaijan’s 260+ day genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh’s (Artsakh) indigenous Christian population. To date, the State Department has manifestly failed to meaningfully confront Azerbaijan, and our Department of Defense continues aiding and abetting the military of a country starving Armenians to death. This is immoral and inconsistent with both U.S. interests and American values.

Absent urgent and immediate American leadership, Azerbaijan will complete its genocide of Nagorno Karabakh, a crime already underway according to a landmark report issued recently by Luis Moreno Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. As you know, Azerbaijan has failed to abide by the binding provisional order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that requires Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor.

A hold on U.S. diplomatic nominees should remain in place until the Biden Administration has undertaken demonstrable steps to:

− Lead a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh, sanctioning the Aliyev regime, and putting in place mechanisms to open land transit via the Lachin Corridor and to airlift supplies to Artsakh.

− Stop any new, current, or pending U.S. military or security assistance to Azerbaijan and fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

− Deliver emergency U.S. humanitarian assistance and longer term development aid to the Armenian victims of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno Karabakh, including by means of a humanitarian airlift.

− Enforce statutory sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.

Thank you, in advance, for your thoughtful consideration of the ANCA’s request that you immediately place a hold on all State Department nominees up and until that time when the Biden Administration has taken definitive and demonstrable steps to have Azerbaijan open the Lachin Corridor and avert a second Armenian Genocide.

For additional information regarding this urgent humanitarian crisis – please have your professional staff contact the ANCA’s Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan at [email protected] or by phone at 323-807-4960.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Raffi Haig Hamparian
Chairman
Armenian National Committee of America

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


RFE/RL Armenian Service – 08/31/2023

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
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Turkish Press: Azerbaijan says embassy in Lebanon attacked by people of Armenian origin

Emil Lazarian
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Aug 31 2023
Burc Eruygur 

ISTANBUL

Azerbaijan on Thursday said its embassy in Lebanon's capital Beirut was attacked by people of Armenian origin, but there were no injuries.

“About 50 people of Armenian origin … struck the fence around the administrative building of the embassy and threw bottles containing paint and explosives,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that the Lebanese agency responsible for protecting diplomatic missions was informed of the incident, but the attackers managed to escape before the arrival of law enforcement personnel.

The ministry urged the Lebanese authorities to arrest those involved in the attack, adding that security of the mission was strengthened.

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

In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes. The war ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire, and the two sides are discussing a peace deal since then.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/azerbaijan-says-embassy-in-lebanon-attacked-by-people-of-armenian-origin/2980007

How should we view the latest stand-off in the South Caucasus?

Emil Lazarian
The National, UAE
Aug 31 2023

The binding issue for Armenians around the globe for the better part of a century has been genocide – gathering evidence to prove they suffered humanity’s greatest horror and leveraging their resulting campaign into a potent voice on the international stage. So it should now come as little surprise that as a sizable chunk of its people may face starvation, they have been quick to tell the world of the looming catastrophe.

Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, with Azerbaijan gaining control of the territory in late 2020. Now recognised as part of Azerbaijan but patrolled by Russian troops, Nagorno-Karabakh and some nearby areas have since the 1990s been governed by a separatist ethnic Armenian entity, the Republic of Artsakh.

In the latest South Caucasus tussle, Azerbaijan has blocked the main road into the disputed region from the Armenian capital Yerevan, leaving the 120,000 overwhelmingly ethnic Armenians who live in Artsakh under siege. The trouble started last December when Azerbaijan enacted a soft blockade, allowing food, supplies and aid to pass through the Lachin Corridor, as the link is known.

Soon after a mid-June scuffle with Armenian troops, Baku completely closed the corridor, in violation of their 2020 arrangement. More than two months later, reports from the region are grim. Cafes and restaurants have closed. Supermarket shelves are empty.

Clinics are low on essential medicines, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ambulances and public buses no longer run due to fuel shortages. Neighbours barter fruit and vegetables as children stand in bread lines for hours and mothers trudge arduous mountain paths for cooking oil. Many districts of the regional capital, Stepanakert, are without water and electricity.


Facing a potential impasse, Azerbaijan may have sought to tip the scales in its favour by putting in place a blockade

Baku says that it acted to prevent an “ecocide” by the Artsakh government and that the Lachin blockade aims to halt Armenian smuggling into Nagorno-Karabakh. Azeri officials also blame the region’s Armenian leadership for locals suffering, pointing out that the Republic of Artsakh refused their offer to deliver goods via the Azeri town of Aghdam.

“An administration of occupation is blocking the Azerbaijani government’s provision of food and medicine to an Azerbaijani region,” Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign affairs adviser to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, wrote in National Interest this month.

Local Armenians dismiss this as propaganda and say the plan is to starve them into leaving. The western world, which tends to favour mostly Christian Armenia, has pricked up its ears. Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, argued in early August that the starvation inflicted on Armenians represented genocide.

Of course, no people should be deprived of food and medicines, or forced to face starvation. But considering the circumstances, this seems more like siege as a negotiating tactic rather than anything else.

Back in June, Baku and Yerevan were chest-deep in negotiations on a long-term settlement and had recently made significant progress. The main sticking point, after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially recognised Azerbaijan’s territorial control of the region, was the fate of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan insists they be granted special rights and security guarantees, while Baku is unwilling to resume talks on the enclave’s status and seeks mainly to secure complete control over the territory.

Facing a potential impasse, Azerbaijan may have sought to tip the scales in its favour by putting in place a blockade, which would probably end in one of two ways: either Yerevan would be forced to capitulate to avoid mass starvation; or so many Armenians would flee that the region’s demography would change, and the issue would cease to be a sticking point. On the weekend, Azerbaijani media reported that hundreds of Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have been allowed to pass through Lachin into Armenia in recent days.

What Baku appears to have failed to account for is that the world tends to frown on even the suggestion of genocide. The outpouring of western support for Armenians and condemnation of Azerbaijan’s ploy both seem to grow by the day, as another major institution or top official highlights the harrowing humanitarian catastrophe.

The UN Security Council held an emergency session on the issue, the EU warned of “dire consequences” for locals, and the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urged Baku to “restore free movement through the corridor”.

Any agreement reached now between the two countries will have been clearly coerced, and its approval by the international community might greenlight the future use of blockades and other strong-arm tactics. At this point, the likeliest outcome may be Azerbaijan lifting the blockade to enable renewed talks, with reduced leverage.

More than a century ago, amid the chaos of the First World War, Ottoman forces drove hundreds of thousands of Armenians from their homes. Many ended up in the Syrian desert and died of starvation. As another mass starvation event looms, Yerevan has been gaining global sympathy.

Even in Turkey, the staunchest ally of Azerbaijan, public figures are speaking out in support of Armenians. “Just as the Berlin blockade was broken,” dozens of well-known Turkish writers and journalists urged in an open letter this week, “we call for breaking the blockade of Karabakh through airlift and thus putting an end to this human tragedy.”

Sieges are relatively common in war. But during peace talks, publicly starving a sizable population – particularly one that has effectively highlighted its suffering for decades – seems unwise.

School starts up again this week in Stepanakert. Expect the buses to return to the roads soon.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/08/31/how-should-we-view-the-latest-stand-off-in-the-south-caucasus/

Bergen Community College: Bergen Awards Scholarships, Hosts Production On Armenian Genocide

Emil Lazarian
New Jersey – Aug 31 2023
Caren Lissner,Patch Staff

Press release from Bergen Community College:

PARAMUS, N.J. – Founded through the Bergen Community College Foundation to foster awareness on the mechanisms of social conflict, political and ethnic violence and genocide, the Bergen Community College Center for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation has tapped its grant funds to award students with scholarships and sponsor a faculty-led theatrical production on the Armenian Genocide this fall.

“It is a tremendous honor to provide scholarship awards to such exceptional students each year and a true inspiration to see them take a stand on the conflicts of our world and express their hope for peaceful resolution,” Bergen history professor and CPJR team member Sarah Shurts, Ph.D., said.

Four students earned $2,750 in scholarships for their submissions in an essay contest on the theme of conflict and conflict resolution. The 2023 Peace Scholarship Essay Challenge annual writing contest featured academic essays, personal essays or poetry with topics ranging from global crises and historical violence to interpersonal and family conflict to conflict within oneself. The student winners are:

  • First Place ($1,000): Yeyson Lopez, of Cliffside Park;
  • Second Place ($750): Andrea Huerta, of Fair Lawn; and
  • Third Place ($500): Yaroslav Pasichnyk, of Maywood, and Rod Gonzalez, of Ridgewood (tie).

    • In addition, CPJR has recognized the recipient of this year’s faculty mini-grant, adjunct professor of performing arts Lynn Needle, with $1,500 to produce “Off the Grid: Passionate Abstractions – Gorky’s Dream Garden,” a musical and theatrical event alongside Bergen adjunct professor of performing arts Janette Dishuk and guest composer Michelle Ekizian, D.M.A. Ekizian’s work has previously appeared at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

    Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

    This press release was produced by Bergen Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

    https://patch.com/new-jersey/wyckoff/bergen-community-college-bergen-awards-scholarships-hosts-production-armenian

    Armenia slams Russia for ‘absolute indifference’

    Emil Lazarian
    Aug 31 2023
     

    ByAni Avetisyan
    A Russian peacekeeper base inside the Lachin Corridor in 2022. Photo: Ani Avetisyan/OC Media

    Armenia has condemned Russia’s ‘absolute indifference’ towards Azerbaijani attacks on Armenian territory, after Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that Armenia was to blame for the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

    In a scathing statement on Thursday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry accused Russia of ‘absolute indifference' to Azerbaijan’s attacks on Armenia’s territory in September 2022. It added that Russia had then ‘[left] unanswered’ an official request from Armenia for military assistance as per agreements with both Russia and the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). 

    The statement also accused Russia and the CSTO of maintaining the ‘obviously false and highly dangerous thesis’ that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan was not demarcated, and that attacks on and incursions into Armenian territory were consequently difficult to verify. 

    The Foreign Ministry statement additionally accused Russian peacekeepers of acting ‘outside the scope of their mission and geographical area of responsibility’ during a conflict near the Lachin checkpoint on 15 June, and of providing support to Azerbaijani soldiers attempting to plant an Azerbaijani flag on Armenian territory. 

     

    After the incident, in which one Azerbaijani and one Armenian soldier were wounded, Azerbaijani border forces implemented a total blockade of the Lachin Corridor, depriving the region’s population of any supplies or humanitarian assistance.

    ‘In the presence of Russian peacekeepers, the Azerbaijani side resorted to such steps as the kidnapping of Nagorno-Karabakh residents in the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the Lachin Corridor’, the statement asserted, referring to recent arrests of civilians attempting to cross the Lachin checkpoint. 

    [Read more: Azerbaijan arrests three Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians for ‘insulting’ Azerbaijani flag]

    The ministry’s statement came in response to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova’s claim on Wednesday that Armenia was responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

    ‘I would like to remind you that the current situation in the Lachin corridor is a consequence of Armenia’s recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the territory of Azerbaijan’, said Zakharova. 

    Zakharova also dismissed criticism of perceived inaction by the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, claiming that given the context, criticising the peacekeeping forces was ‘inappropriate, wrong, and unjustified’. 

    Armenia’s Foreign Ministry directly responded to Zakharova early on Thursday, with the ministry’s spokesperson Ani Badalyan saying that Zakharova’s statement ‘causes confusion and disappointment’. 

    Armenia’s Foreign Ministry also claimed that while Armenia had agreed to a Russian proposition within Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations that discussion of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh be postponed indefinitely, Russia did not further pursue that approach after it was rejected by Azerbaijan. 

    Zakharova’s assertions echoed a 15 July statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which claimed that Pashinyan’s decision to recognise Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity ‘radically changed the fundamental conditions’ relating to both the peace agreement signed in November 2020, which ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the status of Russian peacekeeping forces in the region.  

    A Russian peacekeeping mission was deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh immediately following the war, with a mandate to both ensure the security of the region’s Armenian population and oversee free passage of vehicles along the Lachin Corridor. 

    Since Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor began in December 2022, both officials and broader society in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have accused Russia’s peacekeeping contingent and political leaders of being inactive, deepening existing concerns and criticism regarding the mission and Russia’s involvement in the region. 

    As the blockade worsened, Russian peacekeepers were accused of taking money from people in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to import basic necessities from Armenia, or even allow people to travel out of the region. After the peacekeeping forces were barred by Azerbaijan from using the Lachin Corridor to deliver aid, there have been widespread reports in Nagorno-Karabakh that they have used helicopters to deliver supplies for themselves. 

    The obstruction of the Lachin Corridor, the main road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, has resulted in severe shortages of food and basic necessities, compounded by a lack of fuel and electricity. The region’s government and humanitarian organisations have warned that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding, with the region’s population increasingly at risk of starvation. 

    [Read more: First death from starvation reported in blockade-struck Nagorno-Karabakh]

    Aid convoys sent from Armenia by the Armenian and French governments in July and August have been refused entry to the region, remaining stationed in Syunik Province, south Armenia, which borders the Lachin corridor. 

    While Azerbaijan has pushed for Nagorno-Karabakh to accept aid sent via the Aghdam road through Azerbaijan-controlled territory, a convoy of 40 tonnes of flour sent by Azerbaijan’s Red Crescent on Tuesday was refused entry by both Nagorno-Karabakh officials and civilians. 

     For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.