Author: Jagharian Tania

                                        Wednesday, 
Karabakh Leaders Urge Armenia To Halt Talks With Azerbaijan
        • Artak Khulian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership and main political factions urged Armenia to stop 
ongoing peace talks with Azerbaijan on Wednesday after four Karabakh Armenian 
soldiers were killed overnight in what Stepanakert described as an Azerbaijani 
ceasefire violation.
In a statement unanimously adopted by its members, the Karabakh parliament 
linked the bloodshed to a new round of U.S.-mediated negotiations which the 
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers began outside Washington on Tuesday.
It said that Yerevan must refuse to negotiate until Baku ends truce violations 
along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and 
provides “documentary guarantees” of its commitment to the ceasefire regime.
“Otherwise, the continuation of the negotiations would mean the encouragement of 
the Azerbaijani side’s aggressive behavior and a privilege [granted] at the 
international level,” it warned.
The statement also called for international sanctions against Baku and said 
Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh should take “tougher measures to 
counter Azerbaijan’s inhuman, genocidal actions.”
The Armenian government did not immediately respond to the appeal. Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian tweeted instead that the international community should 
take “practical steps to ensure rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh 
people.”
Pashinian pointed to the deaths of the four Karabakh soldiers and the continuing 
Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor. “High risk of destabilization in 
the South Caucasus,” he added.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded by accusing Pashinian of misleading 
the international community. The ministry spokesman, Aykhan Hajizada, claimed 
that the Azerbaijani army took “retaliatory measures” after one of its soldiers 
was wounded by “illegal” Armenian forces.
“Armenia, instead of interfering in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs, must … 
respect Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in both words and 
deeds,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Russia expressed serious concern at the overnight incident but 
stopped short of publicly blaming the Azerbaijani side for it. The Russian 
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, also renewed Moscow’s calls for 
Baku to fully unblock traffic through the only road connecting Karabakh to 
Armenia.
“We believe that taking quick measures to fully unblock the Lachin corridor and 
creating conditions for the normal life of the civilian population would 
contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Zakharova told reporters.
Pashinian drew strong condemnation from the Karabakh leaders and the Armenian 
opposition after he pledged in May to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over 
Karabakh through an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. His critics say the 
far-reaching move only emboldened Baku to step up the pressure on the Karabakh 
Armenians.
The peace treaty is the main focus of the ongoing meeting of the Armenian and 
Azerbaijani foreign ministers which began in the presence of U.S. Secretary of 
State Antony Blinken. The latter also held separate talks with the two ministers.
“We support Armenia and Azerbaijan working together toward a durable and 
dignified agreement,” Blinken tweeted late on Tuesday.
Four Karabakh Soldiers Killed In ‘Azeri Shelling’
Nagorno-Karabakh - A road sign at the entrance to the town of Martakert.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s military said on Wednesday morning that four Karabakh 
Armenian soldiers were killed when Azerbaijani forces shelled its positions 
overnight.
It said that the positions located in Karabakh’s Martakert and Martuni districts 
were struck by artillery systems as well as combat drones. The situation in 
these and other sections of the “line of contact” was “relatively stable” as of 
7 a.m. local time, according to the Karabakh Defense Army.
On Tuesday evening, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Karabakh Armenian 
forces of wounding an Azerbaijani soldier and said it is taking retaliatory 
measures. The authorities in Stepanakert were quick to deny that. They said Baku 
used the “false” claims as an “information basis” for the overnight shelling, 
which was one of the deadliest ceasefire violations reported from Karabakh since 
the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Tensions along the Karabakh “line of contact” and the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
border have increased significantly over the past month, with the conflicting 
sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire on a virtually daily basis. 
The Armenian government said earlier this month that Baku may be gearing up for 
another attack on Karabakh.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov threatened the Karabakh Armenians 
with fresh military action in televised remarks aired on Monday. Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev said in late May that they must dissolve their government 
bodies and unconditionally accept Azerbaijani rule.
Erdogan, Pashinian Discuss Normalization Efforts
Czech Republic- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Turkish President 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Prague, October 6, 2022.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian discussed efforts to normalize relations between their countries in a 
phone call on Wednesday.
Pashinian was reported to congratulate Erdogan on the Eid al-Adha Muslim 
holiday. His press office said the two leaders discussed the implementation of 
an agreement to open the Turkish-Armenian border to citizens of third countries. 
It did not elaborate.
Ankara and Yerevan reached the agreement last July after several rounds of 
negotiations held by their special envoys. They have still not said when it will 
be put into practice.
According to a Turkish readout of the phone call cited by the Anatolia news 
agency, Erdogan told Pashinian that the two neighboring states should continue 
to take “confidence-building measures.” No other details were reported.
Erdogan also spoke with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by phone. The Turkish 
leader visited Baku earlier this month. Following that trip, he praised 
Pashinian for attending his recent inauguration ceremony in Ankara.
Armenian opposition leaders condemned Pashinian’s presence at the ceremony held 
after Erdogan’s reelection. They argue that Ankara continues to fully support 
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and make the normalization of 
Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on Yerevan meeting Baku’s key demands.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan visited Turkey and met with his then Turkish 
counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in February in the wake of a powerful earthquake in 
the country’s southeast. Mirzoyan said afterwards that Yerevan and Ankara agreed 
speed up the normalization efforts.
Ankara banned Armenian airlines from flying over Turkey to third countries after 
municipal authorities in Yerevan unveiled in late April a monument dedicated to 
Armenians who had assassinated masterminds and perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian 
genocide in the Ottoman Empire. It threatened “new measures” against Armenia if 
the monument is not removed soon. Pashinian described the erection of the 
monument as a “wrong decision” when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in May.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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