Author: Hambardsumian Paul

 21:10,

STEPANAKERT, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan has said that he hopes a strong international intervention will bring an end to Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy.

In a statement released Monday evening, Harutyunyan warned that the security and humanitarian situation is deteriorating day by day, while the dangers and restrictions posed by Azerbaijan are becoming stronger, with the kidnapping of the Red Cross-protected medical evacuee at the illegal checkpoint being the latest manifestation. Harutyunyan said that an intensification in the international efforts for the resolution of the situation can be noticed.

The Nagorno Karabakh President said he’ll speak about the situation, the risks and prospects in an interview to the local public television in a few days, and then “will launch consultations with all active political circles to discuss our tasks and to make the appropriate decisions.”

“We hope that the genocidal policy carried out by Azerbaijan will be halted immediately as a result of effective and strong international intervention. At the same time, we are always ready for peaceful negotiations to discuss all problems and find solutions, however this also requires proper international involvement and guarantees,” Harutyunyan added.

A 68-year-old medical evacuee from Nagorno-Karabakh, Vagif Khachatryan, was kidnapped on Saturday by Azerbaijani border guards while being transported to Armenia for treatment by the ICRC. The Armenian foreign ministry said  the Azerbaijani actions amount to a war crime.

Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with 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. Moreover, 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.

On July 26, Armenia sent a humanitarian convoy carrying emergency food and medication for Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan blocked the trucks at the entrance of Lachin Corridor.

 13:24,

YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that it’s not up to his administration to determine the fate of the people of Nagorno Karabakh and that the representatives of the latter should be a party to the negotiations and dialogue with Azerbaijan. 

“Armenia cannot decide the fate of the people of Nagorno Karabakh,” Pashinyan said at a press conference on July 25. “With the logic that representatives of Nagorno Karabakh must themselves be a party to talks and dialogue,” he added.

“This is the agenda that we’ve been advancing, taking into consideration that the rights and security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh must be discussed with participation of Nagorno Karabakh representatives in a Baku-Stepanakert dialogue format under an international mechanism. I believe that within the framework of such formula, the people and government of Nagorno Karabakh will have the chance to address issues of their concern, and not only put forward questions or generate content, but also, which is highly important, bear the political responsibility pertaining to this content,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that his administration, as stated previously, still doesn’t have a decision whether or not a possible peace treaty with Azerbaijan should include Nagorno Karabakh, or that the rights and security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh should be addressed in another logic. He did stress that although they don’t have a decision on this matter, they do have a stance.

 22:16,

YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has not been and will never be a supporter of creating a corridor and closing the historical corridors between Armenia and Iran, ARMENPRESS reports, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said after the meeting with the Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

He noted that they talked about the need to remove barriers to the existing corridors, transit capacities and communications in the region and not to create obstacles for the historical and traditional corridors between the two countries.

He said that Tehran and Yerevan have a special emphasis on the importance of transit routes.

“During today’s discussions, I presented to my colleague what I heard from Aliyev during our meeting, that he is raising the Zangezur Corridor as a step towards the elimination of obstacles. Aliyev assured that Azerbaijan has not been and will never be a supporter of creating a corridor and closing the historical corridors between Armenia and Iran. We also explained to the Azerbaijani officials that even in crisis conditions we will not close the communication route from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, and in that regard there is an agreement between the two countries,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

 14:36,

YEREVAN, 15 JULY, ARMENPRESS․ More than 470 European NGOs and associations have sent a letter to the leaders of the European Union, urging them to take immediate and effective steps to end the ongoing illegal blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan.

ARMENPRESS reports, the letter is addressed to the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, and EU High Representative, as well as the heads of the member states of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

“We, the civil society organizations and associations from Europe, are addressing to you our deepest concerns regarding the native Armenian population of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh):

 Since 12 December 2022 the native Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh – 120.000 people, including 30.000 children, have been facing existential threat by Azerbaijan, in total violation of international law, Geneva Convention and despite the ongoing negotiations. The November 2020 ceasefire statement, also signed by Azerbaijan after its devastating attack on Artsakh that left 6.000 dead, is being regularly violated by Azerbaijan. The latter continuously carries acts of aggressions against the native Armenian population of Artsakh and violates the sovereign borders of the Republic of Armenia.

On 22 February, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations ordered Azerbaijan to immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor. The goal of the blockade is obvious – the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh. In its resolution adopted in March 2023 the European Parliament calls on the EU Council to impose sanctions against Azerbaijani government officials, if the ICJ’s order of 22 February is not immediately implemented.  Despite this, and the numerous voices being raised across Europe and around the world, we regretfully observe that the European Commission continues to congratulate itself on its gas partnership with a dictatorship ranked among the worst on the planet – Azerbaijan. A government that is notorious for its deep-rooted corruption at the highest level, and which hires jihadist mercenaries as a support to its army.

In the name of respect for human rights, the values that European democracies claim to stand for, in the name of the sovereign right of peoples to self-determination and as citizens contributing to the prosperity and influence of the European Union who are concerned about its future, we solemnly ask you to act without delay and

• demand once again that Azerbaijan immediately stops violating the November 9 ceasefire statement and remove the checkpoint on the Hakari-bridge installed in blatant violation of the binding order of the ICJ and international commitments, unblock the Lachin Corridor, secure the free and safe movement of people and goods to and from Artsakh;
• impose economic and political sanctions on Azerbaijan and its leaders for non-compliance with international provisions, for the occupation of part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia, for Azerbaijan’s war crimes and for the blockade vis-à-vis Artsakh;
• use all your leverage to prevent any control of Baku over Artsakh since this inevitably means the ethnic cleansing of the native Armenian population of Artsakh; 
• recognize the right to self-determination of the native Armenian population of Artsakh as indispensable and use the leverage at your disposal to ensure that the status of Artsakh reflects the democratic _expression_ of will of its native Armenian population and enables sustainable peace as well as security;
• set up an air corridor in order to provide emergency economic and humanitarian aid to Artsakh and to guarantee the safety of air links from Stepanakert airport;
• put pressure on Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally withdraw all its troops from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and stop its aggressive stance towards Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia as a prerequisite for peace talks. 

The native Armenian people of Artsakh demand nothing less and nothing more than the protection of their fundamental and inalienable right to live as a free people in safety and with dignity in their own homeland. We sincerely hope that their voices as well as ours will be heard!

 10:10, 6 July 2023

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan held a meeting on July 5 with Dereck J. Hogan, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department during his visit to the United States.

Grigoryan and Hogan discussed “the Armenia-US bilateral relations agenda, including prospects of economic cooperation,” Grigoryan’s office said in a readout.

The Armenian and American officials attached importance to preserving regional security, the continuity of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, as well as the creation of an international mechanism for Stepanakert-Baku dialogue and ensuring the rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh, according to the readout.

 14:48,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has always resorted to escalating the situation ahead of negotiations with Armenia, but the June 28 attack on Nagorno Karabakh amid ongoing foreign ministerial talks in Washington D.C. was truly unprecedented, according to political analyst Tigran Grigoryan.

“The negotiations were taking place amid Azerbaijani gunshots in the past as well, but it’s difficult to recall a single high-level meeting in the past decade ahead of which Azerbaijan had resorted to such kind of an escalation. This time Azerbaijan used artillery and UAVs in Artsakh, killing four Defense Army soldiers. Baku’s goals are clear in this case. Azerbaijan was relaying messages to Armenia and mediators that if Armenia doesn’t accept Azerbaijan’s demands at the negotiations table it would force these demands on the ground,” Grigoryan warned.

Grigoryan believes that Azerbaijan’s second message pertains to its desire of achieving a disarming of the Defense Army of Artsakh and that seemingly Baku has made it a precondition in the talks. Thus, by initiating the escalation, it tried to bring this issue to everyone’s attention, having pre-planned the attack with a disinformation campaign falsely accusing the Artsakh Defense Army of opening fire.

“With its actions Azerbaijan is willingly or unwillingly delegitimizing the Washington mediation itself, which is clear for everyone. The State Department issued a statement, but it was rather weak with its content because it was once again calling on both sides to refrain from provocations, although it’s clear that Azerbaijan was the one violating the ceasefire. Azerbaijan is skillfully using the American-mediated ongoing process. Baku well realizes that the American side doesn’t want the peace process to fail but that it’s not going to take unilateral actions against Azerbaijan either,” Grigoryan said.

He warned that the mediators ought to understand that it’s senseless to speak about comprehensive peace in such an atmosphere, and if mediators don’t take preventive actions Azerbaijan will present its demands to Armenia with force.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov held bilateral negotiations on June 27-29 at the George Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia.

While in Washington they met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The Ministers and their teams continued progress on the draft bilateral “Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations”. They reached an agreement on additional articles and advanced mutual understanding of the draft agreement, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions on some key issues require further work.  Both Ministers expressed their appreciation to the US side for hosting negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and their commitment to continue their negotiations.

Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told reporters on June 30 that the issues that still require work are the delimitation issues and the withdrawal of forces from the border, as well as the rights and security of the Nagorno Karabakh people.

“One of the issues pertains to the delimitation issues, which implies commitment around the 1975 map. The other relates to the withdrawal of forces from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. And one of the issues pertains to duly addressing the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh under an international mechanism,” Badalyan said.

Manvel Margaryan

 13:29, 21 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan continues to propagate racist stereotypes and perpetuate animosities, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) said in its 6th report on Azerbaijan.

It said that public discourse in Azerbaijan has been marked by the use of inflammatory rhetoric in public statements by politicians, including at the highest political level, and other public figures, as well as by the wide dissemination of hateful and dehumanising content against Armenia.

The report stated that discriminatory language in Azerbaijani school textbooks against Armenians exists.

“In this context, ECRI is deeply concerned that the use of hate speech linked to the long-lasting conflict and confrontations with neighbouring country Armenia, has been observed among young people in and outside schools and could eventually provide a breeding ground for further hostilities,” the ECRI said in the report.

The commission also addressed the infamous “Trophy Park” in Baku.

“The opening of the Baku Trophy Park in April 2021, where Armenian military equipment and personnel were portrayed very negatively, also raised a lot of criticism. ECRI shares the grave concerns expressed by other international bodies, including the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and the CERD about the language of “aggression” and regular resort to adversarial narratives that propagates racist stereotypes and perpetuates animosities.”

“ECRI has received numerous reports with graphic accounts of violence against Armenians, including wilful killings or the extensive destruction of their property during and after the 2020 armed conflict and confrontations in and around Nagorno-Karabakh,” it added.