21:45,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Artsakh has published a new list of servicemen killed in action. ARMENPRESS reports 23 names are included in the list.
In total, the Armenian side has reported 555 military casualties. Azerbaijan keeps number of casualties secret, but according to the estimates of the Armenian side, they have nearly 5500 casualties, including regular army servicemen and terrorists.
Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
Nagorno-Karabakh is a place name few in the West will recognise. But this small, unrecognised mountainous state with a population of about 150,000, is now the site of deadly ongoing clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh, known in Armenian as Artsakh, has been the object of a protracted conflict between two peoples of the South Caucasus since before the fall of the Soviet Union. The territory’s mostly Armenian inhabitants declared independence from Azerbaijan in late 1991, with Armenia’s support. Attempts by Azerbaijan to reimpose its authority led to a fight for ownership which turned into the bloodiest of the many conflicts that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.
Between 1991 and 1994, both sides sacrificed over 30,000 people, and ethnically cleansed each other from areas under their control.
A ceasefire was finally signed in 1994, leaving the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and a swathe of land surrounding it in Armenian hands. Tortuous negotiations continued over several decades, led by Russia, France and the US. But there was very little progress towards a final resolution.
Since September 27, the two adversaries appear to have relapsed into war, with heavy battles reported along the sections of the front line near the territory. These most serious clashes since 1994 have left at least 65 dead at the time of writing. Both sides are using a wide range of military equipment, including heavy tanks, long-range artillery and drones.
As both countries declared martial law and decreed mobilisations, the rhetoric in the Armenian capital Yerevan and Azerbaijani capital Baku has been uncompromising.
In Armenia, this is seen as nothing less than a struggle for survival. A recurring theme in both official circles and the country’s media has been the possible extermination of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Links are made with the 1915 Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, especially in light of Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan.
In Azerbaijan, on the other hand, the war has been presented as an opportunity to right the wrongs of 1991-94 by bringing the territory back under Azerbaijani control, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return home.
The territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh under Armenian control. Wikimedia Commons
This latest fighting has a number of drivers. In the short term, Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president, Ilham Aliyev, was under pressure to correct setbacks suffered by the Azerbaijani forces during earlier clashes on the border with Armenia in July. The setbacks led to spontaneous demonstrations in Baku by citizens calling for the resignation of the armed forces’ chief of staff, and an all-out war against the Armenian side.
As a result, Azerbaijan’s longtime foreign minister was replaced. Azerbaijan has also upgraded its already close relationship with its traditional ally, Turkey, which has made public assertions of unconditional support. Along with its stated readiness to engage in intensified military co-operation, this has probably bolstered Aliyev’s confidence.
Seen over the longer term, this escalation must be viewed in terms of the intractable nature of the negotiations surrounding the conflict. Azerbaijan has shown increased frustration with the ongoing negotiations in recent years, especially after unmet expectations for a breakthrough following Armenia’s 2018 Velvet Revolution.
The absence of a definitive solution has also allowed Armenia to present its control of the unrecognised Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh as the new normal. It has also gradually hardened its public position that the lands surrounding the territory are also Armenian.
Azerbaijan has invested billions of petro-dollars in state-of-the art military hardware, and sunk plenty of social capital into the promise of regaining control over Nagorno-Karabakh. This puts Aliyev under increasing pressure to force some movement on the matter.
An Armenian Foreign Ministry handout allegedly showing the destruction of a building in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian Foreign Ministry Press/EPA
This is undoubtedly a highly dangerous phase in the conflict. The unequivocal support by Turkey for Azerbaijan could draw it into the confrontation, especially if Azerbaijan were seen to be losing ground. Reports of Turkey hiring Syrian rebel fighters to serve in Azerbaijan would, if confirmed, also be perceived as highly provocative by Moscow in light of the proximity of the restless North Caucasus, inviting a potential response.
Hostilities could also spill into Nakhichevan, a part of Azerbaijan separated by a band of Armenian territory, whose status is subject to a Turkish guarantee under a Soviet-era treaty. Unlike a confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh, a direct attack on Armenia proper – from Nakhichevan or elsewhere – could trigger Russia’s defence commitments under the Collective Security Treaty Organization, with potentially very serious repercussions beyond the region itself.
With the stakes high, the UN is holding an emergency meeting on the issue. Separate diplomatic contacts between the belligerents and Russia, Turkey and others are already underway. But even if that were successful in achieving a ceasefire, this would still leave the more important, longer-term problem: how to resolve an issue which strikes at the core of the identities of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Over the past decades, these two peoples have developed views of history that are exclusive and exclusionary in the extreme. Anyone striving for peace will have to change history before being able to write the future. And that would be quite a circle to square.
By Ilham Karimli
The working visit of the speaker of Azerbaijan's parliament, Sahiba Gafarova to Russia this week brought several issues of mutual interest under the spotlight, including the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, speaker Gafarova said the ongoing conflict continues to create serious obstacles to the development and security of the region.
"Azerbaijan is committed to a peaceful political settlement of the conflict. The settlement of the conflict should be carried out within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and the Helsinki Final Act," she said, according to the parliament's website.
"The recent absurd statements of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that a compromise solution to the conflict can be discussed only if Azerbaijan recognizes the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination, thwart all the efforts of the world community to resolve the conflict peacefully," she said, adding Baku will never allow the creation of a second Armenian state in Azerbaijani soils.
Gafarova's remarks hinted at seven "conditions" drafted by Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in July. He called for strengthening the "joint security system" of Armenia and the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, recognizing separatists as a party to talks, acknowledging the "self-determination right" of separatists. Authorities of Azerbaijan assessed it as an effort to stop, change, and distort the format of negotiations.
Minister Lavrov, in his turn, said that Russia, as the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, is supporting the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Moscow, according to the Russian minister, supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
Following the meeting between Lavrov and Gafarova, Director of the Information and Press Department at Russia's Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova commented on its outcomes. During the meeting, the basic principles for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, implying including the solution of the status issues of Nagorno-Karabakh, the liberation of the territories around it, were discussed, according to her.
Minister Lavrov has earlier said that there is a project for a phased resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The first phase, according to him, addresses the liberation of some occupied districts around Nagorno-Karabakh and lifting the transport, economic and other communication blockades.
Meanwhile, PM Pashinyan instructed his foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to spare no effort for securing a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Pashinyan is said to have tasked the Armenian embassy in Washington, the Armenian lobby, and communities in the US for this purpose. The embassy has reportedly allocated funds from the state budget for hiring American lobbyists, including former senator Bob Dole, as well.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the world's and region's oldest conflicts. It has been jeopardizing regional security since the hostilities broke out in the early 1990s after Armenia launched a full-fledged military campaign against Azerbaijan. The rising anti-Azerbaijan sentiments in Armenia grew into armed intervention in Azerbaijan's internationally recognized borders following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
The bloody war in 1991-1994 resulted in Armenia occupying Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, including Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli, and Zangilan. Azerbaijan faced a humanitarian crisis during the war, in which 30,000 of its citizens were killed, while one million others were displaced. Armenia has intensively been settling the occupied lands with ethnic Armenians. Today, there is no single ethnic Azerbaijani living in those occupied territories.
The UN Security Council's four resolutions demanding the immediate withdrawal of the occupying forces from the Azerbaijani lands go unfulfilled to date. The conflict remains to be at the risk of renewed war given the failure of political negotiations and regular ceasefire breaches by Armenia's troops. Over the past decade, major armed skirmishes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, including in April 2016 and in July 2020, have claimed dozens of lives on both sides.
ArmInfo. The threat of a rocket attack by Azerbaijan at the Armenian nuclear power plant is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Italy Tsovinar Hambardzumyan stated about this in the interview to the Italian "La Verita" newspaper.
According to her, such threats best demonstrate the true face of this state. "We consider this statement as a sign of state nuclear terrorism. This statement poses a threat to all the peoples of the region, including the people of Azerbaijan. One observation: for many years, Azerbaijan has constantly raised the issue of the safety of a nuclear power plant in various international organizations, noting that it is in a seismic zone, allegedly outdated, and so on. And now Azerbaijan is threatening to destroy it. We think that this clearly shows that all the so-called fears of Azerbaijan are anti-Armenian, "the diplomat said. She stated with regret that human life in Azerbaijan is not a value, not to mention the life of the people of Nagorno- Karabakh.
Speaking about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Ambassador, first of all, thanked the Italian authorities, and personally the Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio, for a balanced approach to the settlement of the conflict. "I highly appreciate the approach taken by the Italian side during the July events. We expect that the Italian authorities will continue to show a balanced, impartial approach and support the peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairmanship, "the ambassador said.
Answering the question who was the first to start hostilities during the July events, Tsovinar Hambardzumyan recalled Armenia's proposals to introduce mechanisms of investigations on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan and on the Line of Contact of the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, which were rejected by official Baku. <A party that is not going to attack should not object to these mechanisms. Have you ever heard hostile calls from Armenia to the people of Azerbaijan? Azerbaijan does it every day. Who calls the Armenians enemy number one, organizing demonstrations in the streets of Baku under the slogan "Death to Armenians"?>
The current escalation of hostilities has highlighted the need for enhanced security and confidence-building measures, such as establishing direct communication between commanders and introducing monitoring and investigation mechanisms. However, it is not Armenia and Artsakh, but Azerbaijan that consistently opposes to the introduction of these measures, "the Armenian diplomat noted.
She also pointed to the role of Turkey in exacerbating the situation. According to Tsovinar Hambardzumyan, the role of Turkey, to put it mildly, as always, is destructive. "Unfortunately, Turkey is becoming more and more dangerous as it has become an exporter of instability to various regions, be it the Mediterranean, Africa or the Asian region. Turkey is currently trying to export this policy to the South Caucasus. Their unconditional support for Azerbaijan and their destructive role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is only part of Turkey's neo-Ottoman policy, "the Armenian diplomat said.
Armenian PM holding meeting with ministers, provincial governors and MPs
19:36,
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. A meeting has kicked off in the headquarters of the Civil Contract Party led by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The meeting is attended by ministers, provincial governors and the ruling My Step faction MPs.
Before the start of the meeting Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan told reporters that it’s a regular meeting.
No other details are available about the meeting agenda.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
An all-star concert at Lithuania’s Opera and Ballet Theater will mark the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 29th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Armenia and celebrate Armenian-Lithuanian friendship, Armenia’s Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan informs.
The concert organized jointly with the Armenian Embassy to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will also pay tribute to the memory of opera soloist Gegham Grigorian (1951–2016).
The great maestro’s children – the best of the best Asmik Grigorian and Vardan Grigorian, his friend, legendary bass Barsegh Tumanyan and one of the best young tenors Hovhannes Ayvazyan will share the stage with the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet orchestra.
The concert to be held on September 18 will also mark the opening of the 101st season of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater, which makes the event even more special.
17:28,
STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan attended today the re-opening ceremony of a school building in Jivani community of Martuni region, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
The old school building has been fully renovated.
The President of the Artsakh Republic got acquainted with the works conducted at this period and was interested in the launch of the study process.
The ceremony was attended by philanthropist, State advisor of Artsakh Grigory Gabrielyants, Cabinet members, MPs and other officials.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
The Kremlin’s website reported, on August 12, that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had initiated a phone call to congratulate Vladimir Putin on the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 and to discuss bilateral issues. The next day, however, in a wholly unprecedented move, Aliyev’s press service sharply refuted the Russian version: “[T]he main purpose of the phone call was to clarify this issue” concerning “the intensity of delivery of military cargo from Russia to Armenia” since July 17, amidst the border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The volume of the military cargo exceeded 400 tons and was transported via the airspaces of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. Neither government offered any indication as to what Putin’s response to Aliyev’s expressed concerns may have been (Kremlin.ru, August 12; President.az, August 13).
On August 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Baku, where he claimed that the flights had been airlifting “construction materials used in large-scale construction work carried out at the 102nd Russian military base in this country [Armenia],” as well as rotating military personnel. Shoigu’s response was met with derision in Azerbaijan (Mod.gov.az, August 25; Turan.az, August 27; Trend.az, August 29).
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointedly declared that the catalyst for the July escalation was “the Armenian side’s decision to reanimate an old border checkpoint located 15 kilometers from Azerbaijani [oil and natural gas] export pipelines,” thus essentially echoing Azerbaijan’s narrative that Armenia had provoked the clash. Nonetheless, for Baku, Shoigu’s and Lavrov’s statements represented another Russian attempt to appease Azerbaijan with words but without matching deeds. Indeed, the observed military deliveries to Armenia continued, exceeding 510 tons even after Baku raised its objections with Moscow (Mid.ru, August 21; Musavat.az, August 24).
Azerbaijani media outlets, parliamentarians, experts and state officials jumped on the bandwagon to denounce Russia’s behavior in relation to the Karabakh conflict in unusually explicit terms. Some expressed appreciation for Tbilisi’s refusal to allow for the transit, hence compelling Moscow to take a more circuitous, 2,000-kilometer-long route, rather than a more direct, 500-kilometer route flying over Georgian territory. But the countries that allowed the Russian overflights were largely ignored. The military aircraft also made trips between Yerevan and Kuwait/Syria. The Syrian flights sparked particular uproar in Baku, leading to claims they were being conducted to engage in illegal arms sales and the resettlement of Middle Eastern Armenians in Karabakh. Other Azerbaijani commentators, however, argued that the ethnic-Armenian refugees would not have been interested in relocation from one conflict zone to another. Therefore, some suggested that Syria’s and Lebanon’s Armenians were being transferred to join the Armenian Armed Forces as the country suffers from demographic decline and a related shortage of soldiers. This claim drew inspiration from Yerevan’s recent draft law to form a 100,000-strong voluntary army as well as the Armenian government’s actual policy to resettle Lebanese-based and other Armenians in the country (Aztv.az, Kommersant, Jam-news.net, September 1; Trend.az, September 2 EurasiaNet, September 3; Day.az, August 7; Baku.ws, Qafqazinfo.az, August 14; Tert.am, August 25).
In response, the popular Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta published an article titled “Syrian Fighters in Azerbaijan Prepare for Blitzkrieg Against Armenia,” full of allegations against Baku (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, September 1). Such mutual accusations symptomize the seriousness of the current tensions between Baku and Moscow, which also reverberated in exchanged remarks between the Azerbaijani and Russian foreign ministers in Moscow on August 26.
Namely, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov called on Russia to press Armenia to live up to its obligations under the United Nations Security Council resolutions and de-occupy Azerbaijani territories. But Lavrov deflected by asserting that the “immediate task” of those UN resolutions had been “to stop the war then.” He also stated that the Minsk Group co-chairs will not write a scenario for the conflict settlement but only facilitate a positive atmosphere for the negotiations, leaving it to Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle their differences on mutually agreed terms (Mid.ru, August 26). Russian expert Stanislav Tarasov termed Lavrov’s remarks a “diplomatic attack” against Baku. Though, Russian scholar Sergey Markedonov clarifies that the Kremlin is not interested in actively “push[ing] Baku” unless Azerbaijan chooses “Euro-Atlantic solidarity” or “escape from Russia” (Regnum, September 1; Carnegie.ru, July 21).
Several possible contributing factors explain the present diplomatic downturn along the Moscow-Baku axis. These factors are interrelated and not mutually exclusive. First and foremost, Turkey and Azerbaijan held massive military exercises in response to Russian-Armenian drills following the July clashes (see EDM, August 14). And those exercises were followed by pronouncements and rallies in Baku urging the Turkish military to create permanent bases in the country, worrying Moscow. Second, Russia’s arms sales to the South Caucasus’s largest importer, Azerbaijan, have decreased in recent years, in favor of purchases from Israel and Turkey. Ankara’s share is set to continue to rise due to the Russian-made equipment’s reported ineffectiveness, in Syria and Libya, against “game-changing” Turkish drones and electronic warfare technology. Third, Azerbaijan has overtaken Russia as the top gas supplier to the Turkish market (see EDM, July 6). This competition with Gazprom will soon be extended to Southeastern Europe with the looming inauguration of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the final segment of the Southern Gas Corridor (see EDM, January 30, 2017 and July 22, 2020; Wilsoncenter.org, September 3; Pressklub.az, August 28; Sipri.org, March 9). Fourth, Baku is frustrated with Moscow’s de facto lack of neutrality regarding the Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan had, perhaps naively, expected a more even-handed Russian approach because of the perception that the Kremlin holds antipathy toward Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Velvet Revolution. And fifth, recent Azerbaijani cabinet reshuffles dismissed the head of the presidential administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, widely depicted as “the leader of pro-Russian forces” in Baku, along with other figures in his circle (see EDM, September 18, 2018 and December 11, 2019; Qafqazinfo.az, September 2; Science.gov.az, August 25).
Moscow is well aware that the newly appointed Azerbaijani minister of foreign affairs and presidential aide on foreign policy were tasked by Aliyev with more forcefully communicating the country’s positions (APA, July 15; TASS, August 25; Kommersant, August 27). And as such, the Russian side considers these top Azerbaijani diplomats to be acting more as high-level messengers than foreign policy chiefs in their own right. It remains to be seen whether Baku’s hardened rhetoric vis-à-vis the Kremlin foreshadows a qualitative change in Azerbaijani foreign policy or if it epitomizes another episodic, reactive and tactical shift in its dealings with Moscow. For now, the latter scenario looks more likely, if for no other reason than that the former would require the adoption of an entirely new long-term strategy.
13:12, 26 August, 2020
YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. Rescuers found the body of a man under the rubbles of the apartment building in Yerevan which was partially destroyed by a gas explosion Wednesday morning.
The victim is a 58-year-old man.
The explosion was caused by a gas leak.
Two others are hospitalized. One of them is critically injured.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said on social media that personally visited the scene early morning.
The incident took place at 3 Raynis Street in the Kanaker-Zeytun district.
The Mayor of Yerevan said the residents of the building will be provided with temporary accommodation until experts will evaluate the possibility of restoring the building.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan