Over the past few days, Azerbaijan has been trying to artificially escalate the situation in the region, and this is taking place as high-level meeting are being held, Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Azerbaijan aims to achieve the exodus of Armenians from Artsakh through aggressive actions and intimidation. This policy is also a blow to Russia and the Russian peacekeeping mission,” the Ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh describes Azerbaijan’s policy as terrorism and manifestation of a destructive stance.
“We once again reiterate that Artsakh will not be threatened by such steps. The Armenians of Artsakh are determined to live in their historical Homeland and defend their sovereignty and dignity,” the Foreign Ministry noted.
Iran ‘concerned’ by Israeli ‘presence’ in the Caucasus
Iran’s new FM, in Moscow for talks, said Tehran ‘will not tolerate geopolitical change and map change in the Caucasus’.
6 Oct 2021
Iran has “serious concerns” about Israel’s presence in the Caucasus, as tensions mount between Iran and Azerbaijan over Baku’s ties with Israel, a major arms supplier.
Iran’s new Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, said on Wednesday that Iran “certainly will not tolerate geopolitical change and map change in the Caucasus”.
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“We have serious concerns about the presence of terrorists and Zionists in this region,” Amirabdollahian told reporters in Moscow.
Tension has been high between Iran and Azerbaijan, which share a 700km (430 mile) border, since mid-September.
Iran’s army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have recently mobilised forces and held military drills close to its northwestern borders with Azerbaijan amid lingering tensions following Azerbaijan’s 44-day war with Armenia last year.
Azerbaijan and Turkey, in response, launched a joint military drill starting on Wednesday.
‘Baseless accusations’
The day before the drills were launched, Amirabdollahian told his Azerbaijani counterpart that Iran would not tolerate Israel’s presence or activity “next to our borders” and vowed to take any necessary action.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday that Baku “will not leave unanswered” Tehran’s “baseless” accusations of an Israeli military presence on its soil.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, said on Tuesday that the representative office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baku was closed by Azeri officials.
Iranian state-run news outlets later denied the report, saying only a religious gathering centre was closed due to COVID-19 protocols.
Before his meeting with Lavrov, Amirabdollahian said Iran expects Russia “to be sensitive about any potential changes in borders across the region, and be sensitive about the presence of terrorists and the movements of the Zionist regime that threatens regional peace and stability”.
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Iran-Russia relations
Before the talks with Lavrov, Amirabdollahian said Iran was after a “big jump in relations” with Russia as the government of President Ebrahim Raisi sought to quickly expand ties across the region.
Amirabdollahian added that he expects negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal to restart in Austria soon.
“I emphasised that we are now finalising consultations on this matter and will soon restore our negotiations in Vienna,” he said.
Interfax news agency reported quoting Amirabdollahian Tehran had received “signals” that Washington – which abandoned the 2015 nuclear pact under the previous administration – was once again interested in implementing it.
Amirabdollahian has said the new Iranian administration is still reviewing the records of six rounds of talks in Vienna that concluded on July 20.
Additional reporting by Maziar Motamedi in Tehran
18:26, 8 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The Basque Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on October 8, demanding Azerbaijan to release the Armenian war prisoners, ARMENPRESS reports, the Embassy of Armenia in Spain informs.
The resolution makes the following clear demands: immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war, respect for the ceasefire regime, cessation of military incursions into the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
BAKU, Azerbaijan
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office has been shut down in the Azerbaijani capital, the Azerbaijani officials announced on Tuesday.
The office of Ali Akber Ocaqnejat, the representative of Khamenei, and the Huseyniye Mosque were closed in Baku, said Ehsan Zahidov, a spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry.
The office and mosque were closed as part of measures to battle the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Zahidov noted that there were also other venues closed due to increasing COVID-19 cases in the country.
“One of the places where the coronavirus infection has spread recently is the Huseyniye Mosque. Like other places, Huseyniye Mosque was also closed. At the moment, the epidemiological service is taking appropriate measures there,” he added.
Tensions recently increased between Baku and Tehran following the liberation of Karabakh — illegally occupied by the Armenian forces for nearly three decades — by the Azerbaijani forces.
Tense relations
Last month, in an interview with Anadolu Agency, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had criticized the “illegal entrance and presence” of Iranian trailer trucks in Karabakh, a development termed as “surprising” by Tehran.
Noting that Iran continues such “illegal” actions despite warnings, Aliyev described the situation as “a disrespect” to the Azerbaijani government.
Around 60 Iranian trucks entered Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region without permission between Aug. 11 and Sept. 11 this year after Azerbaijan called on Iran to put an end to the practice, he said.
Aliyev also questioned the recent military exercises launched by Iran near the Azerbaijani border.
“This is a very surprising event. Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?” he questioned.
“Why weren’t the drills held when the Armenians were in the Jabrayil, Fizuli, and Zangilan regions? Why is this being done after we liberated these lands, after 30 years of occupation?”
Liberation of Karabakh
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27 last year, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade occupation.
On Nov. 10, 2020, the two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
On Jan. 11, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region. It included the establishment of a trilateral working group on Karabakh.
The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.
Prior to this victory, about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory had been under illegal occupation for nearly 30 years.
* Writing and contributions by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara
At 11am today a moment of silence was observed across the Republic of Artsakh.
Everyone in educational establishments, workplaces, streets was standing still for a moment in remembrance of those killed in the 2020 Artsakh War.
The Artsakh Public TV presents separate episodes without interpretation.
Watch the video at
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu attends a joint news conference with Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. (AA Photo)
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Turkey would coordinate all steps that would be taken in terms of reestablishing relations with Armenia amid positive statements in that regard, but no meeting has been scheduled with his Armenian counterpart.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey wants peace and stability to prevail in the region after the war. He noted that Azerbaijan has proposed a comprehensive peace agreement with Armenia, but the latter has not responded positively to the request.
Ankara has pledged its full support to Baku in its efforts to liberate its lands from Armenian occupation.
Çavuşoğlu noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Ilham Aliyev hold talks on the phone as “two presidents and two brothers” on a regular basis but no special instructions have been given for a meeting soon.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics over Nagorno-Karabakh have remained tense since 1991, but fresh clashes broke out on Sept. 27. Since then, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
About 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades. Azerbaijan says that since Sept. 27, it has retaken much of the land in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave that it lost in a 1991-1994 war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes.
Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.
Turkey believes that permanent peace is possible through mutual security-based cooperation among the states and people of the South Caucasus region. Turkey had called for a six-nation platform comprising Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for permanent peace, stability and cooperation in the region.
Last week, Pashinian’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan said his country is ready to engage in high-level dialogue with Turkey. She noted that Yerevan was ready to establish the highest-level dialogue with Ankara and eliminate obstacles on the transit corridor that would have to go through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan enclave that borders Turkey and Iran.
Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, addresses the general debate of the 76th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, date).
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is the main policy-making organ of the Organization. Comprising all Member States, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote.
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.
The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.
General debate website: https://gadebate.un.org/
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Watch this video in English: https://youtu.be/KCbabD8ohC8
A past celebration of Artsakh’s independence
Armenia insisted on Friday that a final status for Karabakh has not been determined as Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, once again, threatened Armenia with unspecified consequences if it continued to press for OSCE Minsk Group-mediated talks on the matter, urging Yerevan to not “anger or annoy us.”
“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a thing of the past,” Aliyev declared late Thursday, in a video address to the United Nations General Assembly. “Azerbaijan no longer has an administrative-territorial unit called Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said, adding that the international community should stop using the Artsakh’s name.
“They [Armenia] should not forget the lessons of the Second Karabakh War,” warned Aliyev in an interview with the Russian “National Defense” magazine, reported the Turan news agency.
“In general, why does Armenia, a loser of the war, having signed the act of surrender, consider itself entitled to talk about some kind of status for Karabakh? It is impossible to talk about the status of something that is no longer there,” added Aliyev.
“There is no Nagorno-Karabakh. There is the Karabakh economic region, there is the East-Zangezur economic region. This is our territory, and only we can determine what administrative units we can have. Only to us, no one else, no other country, especially Armenia,” Aliyev told the Russian “National Interest.”
He threatened that if Armenia continues to pursue the Karabakh status agenda, Azerbaijan will “respond in the same manner” by claiming Zangezur and other parts of Armenia as historic Azerbaijani territory, reiterating his claim that Armenia and Azerbaijan must sign a peace treaty that acknowledges Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan on Friday said that the status of Karabakh must be determinate by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, calling Aliyev’s statements “perplexing.”
“The Nagorno Karabakh issue isn’t resolved, and this issue still awaits its resolution,” said Grigoryan. “We believe that we are going to discuss the status within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.”
The United States Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy has also been vocal in emphasizing that the status of the Karabakh has not been resolved. She was rebuked by Baku earlier this month, when the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said that Tracy was destabilizing the peace process.
The status of the Karabakh was a topic of discussion between Armenian and French foreign ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Jean-Yves Le Drian who met in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. Le Drian also discussed the matter, including the co-chairs’ role, with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in New York.