Jane Topchian – Page 38 – Armenian Directory & News

Ilham Aliyev makes desperate attempt to deny the truth – Armenia MFA spokesperson

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 Jane Topchian

16:20, 9 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan commented on the statements made by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in an interview to the BBC News Agency.

Armenpress presents the MFA spokesperson’s comment:

“In this interview Ilham Aliyev confirms the absence of any justification of deliberate targeting of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure of Stepanakert and other peaceful settlements in Artsakh, which have been documented by many eminent international media outlets and human rights watchdogs.

Realizing that sooner or later he will bear the responsibility for the war crimes he has committed, Ilham Aliyev made a desperate attempt to deny the truth, by labelling it “fake news.”

This statement by Ilham Aliyev full of hatred, voiced out amid the continuous targeting of the civilian infrastructure of Artsakh by the Azerbaijani armed forces under his command, once again proves that under no circumstances the people of Artsakh can be put within Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction”.

Aliyev blatantly defies BBC, Human Rights Watch accounts when pressed on war crimes

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia says signs deal with Azerbaijan and Russia to end conflict

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 Jane Topchian

Reuters

Nov 9 2020

By Nvard Hovhannisyan, Nailia Bagirova

YEREVAN/BAKU (Reuters) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he has signed a deal with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday morning after more than a month of bloodshed.

A Kremlin spokesman confirmed the news, Russian agencies reported on Tuesday. There was no official immediate reaction from Baku.

Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said on Facebook that he gave agreement “to end the war as soon as possible”.

The declaration has followed six weeks of heavy fighting and advancement by the Azerbaijan’s forces. Baku said on Monday it had seized dozens more settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after proclaiming victory in the battle for the enclave’s strategically positioned second-largest city.

“The decision is made basing on the deep analyses of the combat situation and in discussion with best experts of the field,” Pashinyan said on social media.

“This is not a victory but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth.”

The fighting had raised fears of a wider regional war, with Turkey supporting its ally Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base there.

Azerbaijan says it has since Sept. 27 retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a 1991-94 war which killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.

Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Jon Boyle, Nick Tattersall, Peter Graff and Sonya Hepinstall

CivilNet: In Bomb Shelters, Karabakh Families Await War’s End

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 Jane Topchian

CIVILNET.AM

4 November, 2020 23:26

By Michael Krikorian

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, three children I visited earlier this week are not war refugees. That’s because although they were forced to flee their homes because of war, they did not cross into another country. Instead, they went across town to a solid structure with a reinforced basement that can better protect them from falling bombs than their own dwelling could.

With their mother leading the way, they fled their home in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh, where war erupted the morning of September 27. For the past month they have been at this fortified school that doubles as a bomb shelter and a rest stop for soldiers. The children’s father, a baker, has stayed at his bakery making bread for the troops.

Officials estimate at least 60% of the region’s population of roughly 150,000 have left their homes because of the war, some to the homes of family in Yerevan, some to abandoned buildings, some to a building that can take the punch of an explosion better than their own home.

Compared to those squalid camps you may have seen from the war in Syria, this converted school is not miserable, but the heart still aches, especially when you see your own family in the faces of these “non-refugees.”

The first two I meet, a 6-year-old Maneh and her sister Mary, remind me a lot of my own goddaughter and my cousin’s daughter. They are sitting on a bed, staring at a hot plate warming a large pot of Tanabur (aka Spas), a traditional Armenian yogurt soup with wheat berries and herbs.

When I start asking questions, first of Maneh and then of Mary, they have that unblinking stare that seems to say ‘unless you are my mother or bringing me some food what could you possible say to interest me?” It’s not a mean look at all. It’s adorable and sweet, but it definitely says “you’ve got nothing for me.” Mary’s looks says: I am in a rough situation here, I’m dealing with suicide drones and you’re asking questions? Really?

Little does she know that although I might not have anything for her, it turns out I do have something for her little brother.

As Mary stares, with a seemingly permanent smile, Edward, 5, wearing pants and a sweater, comes up to us and starts singing. He is wearing the world’s cheapest sun glasses, worse than the type you get after your eyes are dilated. I reach into my computer bag and pull out my sunglasses and tell them all a story, which my fellow journalist Angelika translates.

“These sunglasses have been with me in my darkest hours. In the worst times they have brought me comfort. When I cry, I put them on and no one can see my tears. And when I sing I put them on and I look cool. I want you to have them.”

I hand them to Edward who slowly takes them after looking at his sisters, then puts them on with much enthusiasm, Maneh has to straighten them. Edward beams and swings from side to side. He looks like a 6-year old Armenian Ray Charles. And then he starts to sing. Lika translates.

I was a violet in a garden.

And you were a dream

You were born on a dark night

But now you are a violet only for me.

As Lika translates for me, I wish I had those sunglasses back.

Edward hands them back to me, but I let him know they are for him to keep. I look over at his sister Mary. She’s still staring, but I think I catch her nod ever so slightly. I think I showed her something.

As we leave, without my sunglasses, I hug them all goodbye. I stick my hand out to Edward and he slaps it hard. Kid got cool fast.

And to come clean, those sunglasses never hid my tears. I bought them last week in Yerevan.

And don’t let the United Nations fool you. These kids and the tens of thousands of others, around the world, are all refugees. Seek out an organization you trust and help them out.

Michael Krikorian is a writer from Los Angeles. He was previously a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and for the Fresno Bee. He writes under the pseudonym "Jimmy Dolan" for the Mozza Tribune. His website is www.KrikorianWrites.com and his first novel is called "Southside".

‘In a sense Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are fighting for security of Europeans’ – Sarkissian

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 Jane Topchian

13:44, 4 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met with Armenian and foreign politicians and public figures, also representatives of authoritative international media from the Diaspora and various countries. They are in Armenia on the initiative of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), they will also visit Artsakh, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

At the meeting, the President was asked in particular about the military aggression against Artsakh which was unleashed by Azerbaijan assisted by Turkey, the role of the international community in the settlement of this conflict, and the support of the Diaspora.

Answering the question of a European journalist about starting a war, President Sarkissian emphasized that Azerbaijan waged war. "Armenians did not start this war, they did not start shelling civilian settlements. And there is no need to prove this, as the Armenians have no reason to start a war. How can you build schools, hospitals, roads and churches and then start a war? This is not logical. It is obvious that Azerbaijan and Turkey started this war."

The President stressed that Azerbaijan's claims that they were liberating their territories has, in fact, another internationally accepted formulation and is called "ethnic cleansing," as they seek to take over a territory by annihilating the ethnic Armenians who have lived there for thousands of years. "They are now destroying schools, hospitals, committing inhumane acts, taking away human lives: of the elderly, children and young people."

Touching upon Turkey's involvement, President Sarkissian noted that Turkey provides full military-political support to Azerbaijan, citing a number of factors, among them their ethnic brotherhood and the protection of international infrastructures. Whereas, in reality, Turkey's goal is to establish itself in the region, and to rule over the same international infrastructures. "By getting so close to Turkey, Azerbaijan is losing some of its sovereignty." There are more and more facts that decisions in Baku are taken on the advice of Turkey."

At the same time, the President of Armenia stressed that the people of Turkey and the Turkish government should be separated. "In 2007, when this government was not so strong, and Turkey was a different country, the famous Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in front of his editorial office in Istanbul. I remember very well how on the day of his funeral hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets and declared that they were Hrant Dink. "I am talking about the current Turkish government and its policies."

President Sarkissian stressed the need to stop the war. "Now this is a war not only for our heritage, culture, survival, the people of Nagorno Karabakh, - said Armen Sarkissian, -In a sense, the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are fighting for the security of Europeas well. If we do not stop Turkey's ambitions in Azerbaijan today, if Turkey rules in Azerbaijan, we will have a situation when Europe suffers as well.

I think that if it were not for the factor of Turkey's involvement, Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan would have had a ceasefire. Each time the ceasefire was violated not by the Armenians, but by the enemy. "As President of the Republic, I think there is no military solution."

Answering the question what gives him hope in these difficult days, President Sarkissian said: "When you talk about hope, it seems like you do not know what you do, you just have hope. I work hard every day, I know what I do, I am sure that in the end Artsakh will win, because in our case the victory is to defend our own home, values and heritage. Thirty years ago, during the first war, many of our international partners said that the Armenians of Artsakh should stop fighting because Azerbaijan is large and has a great support from Turkey. But in 1994, the same people told me that Armenia has the most powerful army in the Caucasus. Therefore, I do not live with hope, but I work hard for that victory. "

In response to the question about the role of the Diaspora and its support, President Sarkissian emphasized that the strength of Armenia is the whole Armenian people. "Years ago and today, I am asked the same question: what was it that brought the Armenians to victory in the early 1990s, what did they have?" They did not have a large amount of weapons and energy resources, but what did they have? My answer is the following: we had each other. And that's the most powerful thing you can have. It is the human value that is always essential. You can have the biggest army, and a lot of money, but if you do not have people who believe in something together, you will never win. Thirty years ago we had each other, today it is so as well. "Now we have each other: the Armenians of Artsakh, the Armenians here, the Armenians of the Diaspora, and it doesn't matter if they are 8, 10 or 12 million."

President Sarkissian thanked all those who did their best in the Diaspora to support Armenia and Artsakh. "If you want to provide financial support to the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh for construction and not for war, do it through the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. The potential of the Diaspora is much greater. We need organization, discipline and dedication, because all the other components are there. I hope that by winning this war, defending our homeland, and not allowing another genocide to be carried out, we will finally understand the power of the Diaspora, which includes the friends of Armenia and the Armenians as well. "We have the support of our true friends who are not Armenians, but share human values with us,- said the President of Armenia. - In our case, our victory in this war is not aggression, not occupying the land of others, it is the defence of our and your home.

Help us to defend our history, our culture, our faith and our heritage.”

Azerbaijan’s land forces seriously damaged, mercenaries last hope of Azerbaijan

November 2, 2020November 2, 2020 Jane Topchian

22:27, 1 November, 2020

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The potential of Azerbaijan’s land forces has been seriously damaged and now the mercenaries are Azerbaijan’s main hope, ARMENPRESS reports representative of MoD Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference.

‘’Today we showed the second mercenary-terrorist who confessed how he was recruited, paid and how he was used by Azerbaijan against us. In this regard I can say that there are still many surprises, irrespective of the attempts of Turkey and Azerbaijan to deny the presence and usage of mercenary-terrorists’’, Hovhannisyan said.

He added that the Armenian side possesses information about where, in which directions and how the mercenary-terrorists are used and what tasks they are trying to solve.

‘’It should be noted that the attempts to carry out some tasks using mercenaries show that the land forces of the armed forces of Azerbaijan are seriously damaged and the mercenaries are Azerbaijan’s main hope’’, Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 11/01/2020

November 2, 2020November 2, 2020 Jane Topchian

                                        Sunday, November 1, 2020

Baku Warns Of Fighting ‘To The End’ Amid Claims More Civilians Shelled In 
Karabakh Conflict


A fire truck damaged by shelling in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 1.


(RFE/RL) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued more dire warnings over the 
ongoing fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh on November 1 as he and other senior 
officials met with a senior visiting delegation from staunch ally Turkey.

The tough talk out of Baku also came as Azerbaijan and Armenia each accused the 
other of launching new attacks as the worst flare-up between the sides since 
1994 entered its sixth week.

The ethnic Armenian side has reported more than 1,200 troop and civilian deaths 
since the escalation began on September 27 in and around the territory of 
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Azerbaijani side does not report military casualties, but has said 91 
civilians have been killed and around 400 more injured.

But international groups have warned of the suspected use of banned cluster 
munitions -- whose toll on civilian populations is especially heavy -- in the 
fighting.

The ethnic Armenian leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh on November 1 accused 
Azerbaijani forces of targeting the town of Martuni and other areas with missile 
strikes overnight.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Armenian forces were shelling its 
positions on the two countries’ internationally recognized border as well as 
civilian settlements in Tartar and Aghjabedi.

The de facto ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have claimed during 
the weekend that Azerbaijan’s armed forces have been using white phosphorus 
munitions in their operations. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense, however, has 
denied the claim, saying that Baku has no such munitions in its arsenal.

Many of the claims and counterclaims around the fighting are difficult to 
confirm independently.

Aliyev on November 1 repeated Baku’s demand that Armenia withdraw from 
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas and warned that Azerbaijani troops would 
“go to the end” if negotiations cannot achieve that goal.

He was speaking during a meeting with the delegation led by Turkish Foreign 
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baku.

Aliyev, whose country also has extensive ties to Russia but has appeared to lean 
heavily on Turkish and Israeli military equipment recently, said Yerevan had “no 
basis” for a request for assistance from Moscow.

Armenia has a security guarantee from Russia through a bilateral treaty and via 
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Armenian Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian on October 31 formally asked Moscow to start consultations on 
the “type and amount” of assistance that Moscow can provide to Armenia.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the same day that it would provide “all 
assistance required” under the treaty if the conflict spilled onto the territory 
of Armenia proper.

The United States, France, and Russia – co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- have failed to 
find a route to a cease-fire or a longer-term resolution of the dispute.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 27 spoke separately by phone with 
Pashinian and Aliyev, urging both sides to pursue a diplomatic solution, but a 
U.S.-mediated cease-fire has given way just like several Russian- and 
French-mediated efforts before it.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to defuse Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

October 31, 2020October 31, 2020 Jane Topchian

Reuters

Oct 31 2020

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Friday to refrain from deliberately targeting civilians in a conflict over the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where hundreds have been killed in more than a month of fighting.

The agreement, which falls short of what would have been a fourth ceasefire, was reached during talks in Geneva between the countries’ foreign ministers and envoys from France, Russia and the United States, co-chairs of the group created to mediate.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group said in a statement that Armenia and Azerbaijan had also agreed to exchange the bodies of fighters and to provide within a week lists of detained prisoners of war, with the aim of an eventual exchange.

Human rights groups called earlier for an immediate halt to the use of banned weapons by both sides after confirming the use of cluster munitions either fired or supplied by Armenian forces in an attack this week on the Azeri city of Barda.

The worst fighting in the South Caucasus for more than 25 years has brought into sharp focus the increased influence of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, in a former Soviet region considered by Russia to be within its sphere of influence.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians. About 30,000 people were killed in a 1991-94 war in the region.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Twitter the country’s troops had taken under their control nine more settlements. The regions to which he referred are in the southern part of the conflict zone, close to the border with Iran.

Azerbaijan’s military gains since fighting began on Sept. 27 make a negotiated settlement more difficult. Aliyev has rejected any solution that would leave Armenians in control of territory claimed by both countries as part of their historic homeland.

In comments published on the prime ministerial website, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, responding to questions from foreign media, said he believed “the principle of ‘remedial secession’ should be applied to Nagorno-Karabakh”.

Remedial secession refers to the secession of a sub-group from its parent state as a remedy of last resort.

Three ceasefires have failed to halt the latest fighting, the most recent brokered in Washington last Sunday by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Armenia, Azerbaijan vow to avoid targeting residential areas

October 31, 2020October 31, 2020 Jane Topchian

Associated Press

Oct 31 2020

Armenia, Azerbaijan vow to avoid targeting residential areas

By AVET DEMOURIAN GMT

Explosions are seen behind the mountains during a military conflict outside Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. The Azerbaijani army has closed in on a key town in the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh following more than a month of intense fighting. (AP Photo)

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan promised Friday to avoid shelling residential areas amid the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, a pledge that follows a day of talks in Geneva even as Azerbaijani troops pushed deeper into the separatist territory.

The two sides agreed they “will not deliberately target civilian populations or non-military objects in accordance with international humanitarian law.” They also promised to help recover and exchange the remains of soldiers left on the battlefield and in a week’s time submit lists of prisoners of war for the purpose of “providing access and eventual exchange.”

The talks between foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were sponsored by the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France. The co-chairs said in a statement issued after the talks that Armenia and Azerbaijan also promised to offer their proposals regarding possible cease-fire verification mechanisms.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. The latest outburst of hostilities began Sept. 27 and left hundreds and perhaps thousands dead, marking the worst escalation of fighting since the war’s end.

A U.S.-brokered truce frayed immediately after it took effect Monday, just like two previous cease-fires negotiated by Russia. The warring sides have repeatedly blamed each other for violations.

During Friday’s talks, co-chairs of the Minsk Group urged the sides to honor their cease-fire commitments. “The Co-Chairs will continue working with the sides intensively to find a peaceful settlement of the conflict,” they said in a statement.

While the top diplomats held tense talks in Geneva, Azerbaijani forces continued pressing their offensive into Nagorno-Karabakh after more than a month of heavy fighting.

Intense clashes were going on in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s Defense Ministry said. The Azerbaijani military reported that areas in the Terter and Gubadli regions of Azerbaijan came under Armenian shelling.

On Thursday, Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist leader said Azerbaijani troops had advanced to within 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) of a strategically located town just south of the region’s capital, Stepanakert.

In a somber acknowledgment of Azerbaijani gains, Arayik Harutyunyan urged residents to mobilize all their resources to fend off the attack on Shushi, a town that sits on the main road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

“The one who controls Shushi controls Nagorno-Karabakh,” Harutyunyan said, standing next to the Shushi cathedral that was badly damaged by Azerbaijani shelling earlier this month.

In Stepanakert, a group of people boarded a bus bound for Armenia to escape the fighting.

“I don’t want to leave. I want to stay home in the village but they told us that we should leave,” said Valya Sogomonyan, who fled her village in the Askeran region. “Azerbaijanis are shelling our village. We are leaving our house and all our things behind.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has insisted that Azerbaijan has the right to reclaim its territory by force after three decades of international mediation have produced no result. He said that Armenia must pledge to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh as a condition for a lasting truce.

Azerbaijani troops, which have relied on strike drones and long-range rocket systems supplied by Turkey, have reclaimed control of several regions on the fringes of Nagorno-Karabakh and forged into the separatist territory from the south.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 1,166 of their troops and 39 civilians have been killed. Azerbaijani authorities haven’t disclosed their military losses, but say the fighting has killed at least 91 civilians and wounded 400.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that, according to Moscow’s information, the actual death toll was significantly higher and nearing 5,000.

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.

Former Presidents of Armenia to leave for Moscow – PM’s spokesperson

October 31, 2020October 31, 2020 Jane Topchian

17:55,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. First and second Presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan want to leave for Moscow to discuss with the Russian elites the situation over Nagorno Karabakh and offer concrete solutions to the Armenian Government based on the discussions, ARMENPRESS reports Mane Gevorgyan, the spokesperson of the Prime Minister, wrote on her Facebook page.

‘’In response to media inquiries, I inform that the second and third Presidents of Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan informed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during their October 20 meeting that first and second Presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan want to leave for Moscow to discuss with the Russian elites the situation over Nagorno Karabakh and offer concrete solutions to the Armenian Government based on the discussions’’, Gevorgyan wrote.

The ex-Presidents of Nagorno Karabakh Republic suggested that the results of the possible visit should be discussed during a meeting of former and incumbent presidents of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

‘’Stressing that he cannot hinder any measure for the benefit of Armenia and Artsakh, PM Pashinyan agreed with the proposal. According to our information, the ex-Presidents have not left Armenia yet. Anyway, the Prime Minister and the Government are open for proposals aimed at the solution of the situation and have never refused to discuss such proposals’’, the PM’s spokesperson wrote.

Tensions on front line remain with mainly local clashes

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 Jane Topchian

22:12,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS. The tensions on the contact line of Artsakh and Azerbaijan remain, mainly local clashes occur, ARMENPRESS reports representative of the MoD Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference.

‘’Starting from the morning the Azerbaijani armed forces continued attacks in different directions of the front line. In addition to the military operations of the front line, different civilians settlements of Artsakh were bombed, including Martakert city with nearby settlements, and Berdzor town and nearby settlements’’, Hovhannisyan said.

He added that particularly heavy clashes took place during the neutralization of the subversive groups and criminals that had penetrated near Shekher and Jivani villages in the central direction.

‘’In this direction there are clear achievements. Shekher settlement has nearly totally been cleaned, in some places the works of neutralization are still going on. In the southern direction during the entire day the Azerbaijani units tried to attack in the direction of Vorotan, failing a number of attempts. They have been repelled, suffering serious losses. Some entire units have been dismantled, and loosing armored vehicles have fled. The tensions remain, the clashes are mainly local, near different roads, rivers’’, Hovhannisyan said.