Category: 2020

At least three die in latest shelling of Nagorno-Karabakh cities

Antranik Varosian
Stripes
Nov 6 2020

Ethnic Armenian soldiers on Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, walk past the rubble of a house in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, destroyed by shelling by Azerbaijani forces.

AP

By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 6, 2020

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh — At least three civilians were killed in the latest shelling of Nagorno-Karabakh cities Friday as Azerbaijan pushed its offensive to reclaim control over the separatist territory for a sixth straight week, territorial authorities said..

Azerbaijani rockets and artillery shells hit residential areas in Nagorno-Karabakh’s regional capital, Stepanakert, and the city of Shushi in the hills just south, according to Nagorno-Karabakh authorities. They said at least three people died, including a woman and her two grandchildren in Stepanakert.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied targeting civilian areas, as it has on previous days of fighting, and accused Armenia of targeting the city of Terter and nearby villages in Azerbaijan.

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 outbreak of fighting started on Sept. 27 and has left hundreds — if not thousands — dead, marking the worst escalation of the decades-old conflict between the two ex-Soviet nations in over a quarter-century.

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According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 1,177 of their troops and 50 civilians have been killed. Azerbaijani authorities haven’t disclosed their military losses, but say the fighting has killed at least 92 civilians and wounded over 400. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 22 that the actual death toll was nearing 5,000, according to the information Moscow had at the time.

Over 130,000 residents have been displaced since the fighting flared up, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF has reported.

The fighting has continued to rage despite international attempts to end hostilities, with two Russia-brokered cease-fires and a U.S.-negotiated truce failing instantly after they took effect.

In the most recent mediation attempt a week ago, Russia, the United States and France persuaded Armenia and Azerbaijan to make a mutual pledge not to target residential areas, but that agreement also collapsed within hours.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that for hostilities to end Armenian forces must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh. He repeatedly criticized the international mediators for failing to offer a settlement after three decades of talks and insisted that Azerbaijan has the right to reclaim its territory by force.

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 pressed their offensive into the separatist territory from the south.

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Associated Press writers Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.

Unity is the guarantee of our victory, Armenia’s President says

Chmshkian Vicken
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 6 2020

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian believes our unity is the guarantee of our victory.

“I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago,” the President said in an address.

“Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons. However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity,” the President noted.

Address by Armen Sarkissian, President of the Republic of Armenia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.


Dear compatriots,

For more than a month, Artsakh, Armenia, and the entire Armenian people have been fighting in a patriotic war, a war unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, and a war against international terrorism.

Our brave military units and volunteers fight selflessly, without sparing their lives.

They are fighting for freedom and dignity, for their Homeland.

We bow to our fallen heroes and their families.

My condolences to all mothers and fathers who lost their sons, wives who lost their husbands,
sisters who lost their brothers, grandparents who lost their grandchildren…

For us victory in this war means defending our home, our culture, our values, and our faith,

it means doing everything to prevent a second genocide,

It means a war for the memory of our heroes, the memory of our martyred heroes …

The patriotic war that started about 30 years ago continues.

I have often been asked how we managed to win with our unhealed wounds, a devastated economy and almost unarmed after the earthquake thirty years ago.

Our victory may have seemed impossible to some people, but not to us.
Thirty years ago, we did not have a strong economy, roads, fuel, we did not have enough weapons.

However, we won because we had the most powerful weapon, ourselves and our unity.
Even today, some people ask me: what is the guarantee of our victory today?

My answer has not changed: our unity.

I want to urge our political forces, politicians and public figures:

Be united and consolidated as people,

follow the example of the people …

Dear compatriots,

Besides the enemy attacking Artsakh, we have another enemy, the coronavirus epidemic, which takes lives every day.

My condolences to the families and relatives of our compatriots who fell victim to the epidemic.

In the fight against coronavirus, too, victory depends on us, on how united, consolidated, organized and disciplined we will be …

I would like to express my special thanks to the vanguard of this struggle, to all health care workers, from doctors to nurses and male nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and technical staff, who selflessly fight the coronavirus day and night. They are on the fore of another front …

Dear compatriots in Artsakh, Armenia and in the Diaspora,

Thank you for all your efforts and aspirations, for your compassion and warmth, for your unity and organization, for your support that you provide in various ways and means.

Continue your support, material and moral, through donation and charity, connections and knowledge, your direct participation or remote presence.

Realizing the seriousness of the moment and the urgency of uniting around the homeland, all the Armenians immediately joined in the work of the All-Armenian Fund, which turned into a nationwide movement.

I would like to thank all the donors from the Diaspora and Armenia.

Making donations to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, you are helping to address the plight of Artsakh families and refugees in Armenia, and to rebuild destroyed schools and homes.

I call on all Armenian businessmen, benefactors, unions, organizations, individuals living in Armenia, throughout the Diaspora, to do their utmost for the security of the Armenian people.

Our hope is ourselves and our true friends.

We will build our victory together.

God bless Artsakh, Armenia and all our people.



Nagorno-Karabakh Says Its Two Largest Cities Under Fierce Attack

Hambardsumian Paul
U.S. News
Nov 6 2020
By Reuters, Wire Service Content Nov. 6, 2020


By Margarita Antidze

TBILISI (Reuters) – Three residents of Nagorno-Karabakh’s largest city were killed during overnight shelling by Azeri forces, the enclave’s ethnic Armenian-controlled Emergency and Rescue Service said on Friday, as the battle for control of its major settlements intensified.

Azerbaijan denied the reports of shelling in Stepanakert. Two independent observers said fighting appeared to be moving deeper into the enclave, with Azeri troops stepping up attacks on its biggest two cities.

At least 1,000 people – and possibly many more – have died in nearly six weeks of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.

The conflict has underlined the influence of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, in a former Soviet region long dominated by Moscow, which has a defence pact with Armenia. It also threatens the security of Azeri oil and gas pipelines.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency and Rescue Service said residential buildings and public infrastructure in Stepanakert had been targeted. It said that the three people killed had been inside the same house.

Reuters was unable independently to verify these reports. Three sources working in Stepanakert said that the city – known in Azerbaijan as Khankendi – had come under heavy shelling late on Thursday.

Shushi, 15 km (9 miles) to the south and the enclave’s second-largest city, had also come under bombardment overnight and several houses were on fire, the Emergency and Rescue Service said. The city is of strategic importance to both sides.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said allegations that it had shelled civilian areas were “misinformation”.

It has previously accused Armenian-controlled forces of shelling cities under its control, including Terter and Barda, as well as Ganja, the second-largest city in Azerbaijan. Dozens were killed in those attacks.

Thomas de Waal, analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of a book on the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war, said the conflict appeared to be moving toward a potentially bloody battle for Shushi, known to Azeris as Shusha.

“Shusha has great importance for Azerbaijanis, as a cultural and historical centre and the town where they had a majority population before the war,” de Waal told Reuters.

“That is almost certainly why their military operation was diverted from Lachin towards the city,” he said. “It has great importance for Armenians too: it sits above Stepanakert and is the site of Karabakh’s cathedral.”

BROKEN CEASEFIRES

Three ceasefires have failed to halt the bloodiest fighting in the South Caucasus for more than 25 years. Both sides accused each other of launching attacks within hours of an agreement on Oct. 30 to avoid deliberately targeting civilians.

The Nagorno-Karabakh defence ministry said combat operations continued overnight along all major sections of the front line. It said that “multiple attempts” to attack Shushi were repelled.

Olesya Vartanyan, Crisis Group’s Tbilisi-based senior analyst for the South Caucasus, told Reuters that fighting near Shushi had “been intensifying during the last week, with more face-to-face clashes closer to the town”.

“The side that controls Shushi automatically gains control over Stepanakert,” she said. “Even if Baku decides to stop the war after taking Shushi, this will still significantly decrease the chance of ethnic Armenians returning to their homes in Stepanakert.”

The Nagorno-Karabakh defence ministry says 1,177 of its troops have been killed. Azerbaijan does not disclose its military casualties, while Russia has estimated 5,000 deaths on both sides.

Around 30,000 people were killed in the 1991-94 war.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan and Nailia Bagirova in Baku; Writing by Robin Paxton; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Junior Eurovision: Armenia: Maléna Fox would have been the country’s representative for Junior Eurovision 2020

Jalatian Sonya
WiWi Blogs
Nov 6 2020
  • Posted on November 5, 2020
  • by Jonathan Vautrey


Earlier today, Armenia withdrew from Junior Eurovision 2020 due to the introduction of martial law in the region. The head of the Armenian delegation, David Tserunyan, has since revealed that national broadcaster ARMTV had intended to send Maléna Fox as their representative to the contest this year.

A song had also been selected and recorded by Maléna. However, the 13-year-old singer will no longer get the chance to perform the song at the contest.

Until now, the Armenian delegation had not publicly revealed anything about their planned participation at Junior Eurovision 2020. However, in a post on Instagram, Tserunyan disclosed that many things had been happening behind the scenes over the last few months:

“Dear friends and Eurovision fans, it is with great sadness that we announce our withdrawal from JESC 2020. Our team has been working tirelessly for months, to make our participation possible even during Covid19 and this unprecedented aggression in our region. But the war in Artsakh enters into a severe stage. […]

Back in July, we have internally chosen Maléna to represent our country. A 13 year old girl, who is immensely talented, kind and passionate for music and her country. I’m proud to say that she was a big part of this decision and we all feel grateful to have such an incredible generation of young Armenians.

Make no mistake, we will come back, stronger than ever.”

Tserunyan’s post indicates that the Armenian team had been putting together plans to participate at Junior Eurovision 2020 since at least July this year, which is when they internally selected Maléna.

As with all other countries taking part, precautions around Covid-19 were being put in place so that Maléna could perform at the contest remotely. However, the introduction of martial law during the current conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) was a step that the delegation were seemingly unable to overcome.

Posting on her own Instagram page, Maléna confirmed that she had a song ready to perform at Junior Eurovision. Although she won’t be able to sing it at the contest this year, Maléna and her team still plan on releasing the track for people to listen to in the near future:

“Considering the message of the song, our team and me have decided to release the song in the nearest future. Stay tuned, subscribe to my youtube channel for upcoming news.”

Maléna Fox is a 13-year-old singer from Armenia. Since the start of 2020, she has been working with the small Yerevan-based record label TKN.

TKN was founded by record producer tokionine. He previously produced “Walking Out”, Armenia’s Eurovision 2019 entry performed by Srbuk.

On her YouTube channel, Maléna has so far released two cover videos. One is of “Broken Clocks”, originally sung by American singer SZA. The other is a stripped-back mashup of a number of hit R’n’B songs, including Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and The Weeknd’s “Heartless”.

These cover videos show that Maléna appears to favour R’n’B songs as an artist. This gives us a small insight into what her Junior Eurovision 2020 entry may have been like.

Nevertheless, since Maléna has stated her intention to release her selected entry at some point, we should find out in the near future exactly what style of song she was planning to perform at the contest.

Are you sad that Maléna Fox won’t be able to represent Armenia at Junior Eurovision 2020? Are you excited to hear what her selected entry would have been? Let us know in the comments below!

War between Armenia and Azerbaijan faces decisive moment

Emil Karabekian
EurActiv
Nov 6 2020

DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this column reflect the views of the author(s), not of EURACTIV Media network.

By Neil Hauer

The fortress city of Shusha that sits in the very heart of Karabakh has been the primary Azeri objective since the start of the war and the battle expected in the period around mid-November is going to decide the Karabakh war, writes Neil Hauer.

Neil Hauer is a security analyst currently in Yerevan, Armenia, where he is observing the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He was recently in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. Usually based in Tbilisi, Georgia, he focuses on, among other things, politics, minorities and violence in the Caucasus.

No one said the conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh would be quick. Bit by bit, and despite heavy losses, however, Azerbaijan’s forces have continued to advance against Armenia’s troops. Azeri troops now find themselves on the edge of their greatest prize: the city of Shusha. It is at this point that the war will find its decisive moment of victory or loss.

The war opened on 27 September with initial difficulties for Azerbaijan, which faced entrenched positions built up over more than two decades. After more than a week of heavy bombardment and dozens of precise drone strikes, Baku’s forces succeeded in breaking through the initial Armenian defensive line in southeast Karabakh.

What followed was a combination of fighting retreat and disorderly rout for Armenian and Karabakhti troops, as Azeri ground forces snapped up swaths of territory and well-stocked abandoned bases.

By late October, they already controlled four of the seven “occupied regions” around Karabakh proper (the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast). But Baku, and Azerbaijani society writ large, wanted more.

The driving force of this war has been Azerbaijan’s drones. While there are a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles in Baku’s inventory – at least eight – it has been the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 that has been decisive.

Others such as the Israeli IAI Harop – a loitering munition, rather than a proper drone – have had an impact, but nowhere near the Bayraktar’s. Independent analysis shows the Bayraktar destroying nearly 100 Armenian tanks.

After roughly a week of consolidation and reinforcement, while drones focused on entrenched Armenian artillery and infantry positions, Azeri forces began a major drive toward Shusha on 2 November.

The fortress town that sits in the very heart of Karabakh has been the primary Azeri objective since the start of the war. Its resonance in Azeri society runs deep – the cultural and symbolic importance of the town has led to some describing it as “Azerbaijan’s St. Petersburg.”

The slogan “To Shusha” is a common refrain in Azerbaijan, and President Ilham Aliyev himself has repeatedly stated that “without the liberation of Shusha, our victory is incomplete.”

Videos have emerged of fierce fighting. While Armenian forces inflicted casualties and destroyed vehicles, they were unable to stop the Azeris from reaching all the way to the village of Karintak (Dashalti in Azerbaijani) by 3 November.

This village lies at the base of the cliff upon which Shusha is located. While there is no evidence indicating Azeri forces have established control over the town, the fact that they have reached this far is a grim omen for the Armenian defenders.

The news gets worse. The next day, Azeri forces reached a huge milestone – the road between Stepanakert and Lachin/Berdzor, and further into Armenia proper. As the main supply artery connecting the territory with Armenia, the so-called Lachin corridor is perhaps the most crucial strategic location in Karabakh.

Nevertheless, Armenian drone footage showed artillery strikes on Azeri commandos on the Lachin highway itself, a mere two kilometers from Shusha. However, those were advance forces – Azerbaijan’s presidential spokesman indeed later confirmed that Armenia still controlled the road.

Crucially, the pattern of this war has been that where Baku’s special forces appear, a major Azeri force is not far behind.

Shusha has been under near-constant heavy bombardment. An Armenian attempt to dislodge Azeri forces from their recently captured forward positions failed, leaving the Azeris on the edge of the city.

A video report from Russia’s ANNA News captures the shelling on the city, as well as the frontline positions just outside. One soldier says that the Azeris are “three or four kilometres away” – matching the picture painted by social media.

What does this all mean? Quite simply, the period around mid-November is going to decide the Karabakh war. If the Armenians can somehow push the Azeris back and hold their high-ground positions, they stand a chance of stabilizing and forcing this war into a stalemate. They have the high ground, and Shusha constitutes a near-perfect natural fortress, surrounded by high cliffs on three sides.

But if Azeri forces push up to Shusha and seize it, they will have a commanding position over the remainder of Karabakh – not least of which, over Stepanakert, the capital that lies neatly below the mountain, some ten kilometres distant.

For the Armenians then to retake a position like Shusha would be near-impossible, something the Azeris discovered the hard way after they lost it in the first war in 1992. There will still be hard fighting ahead, street to street, but their gains will be all but cemented.

One way or another, mid-November will mark a decisive moment in the war.


Beverly Hills Cops Investigate Armenia-Related Hate Crime

Emil Lazarian
Patch.com
Nov 5 2020
By Michael Wittner, Patch Staff
BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Police Thursday are seeking public help to identify six to eight hate crime suspects who made pro-Armenia comments and attacked employees inside a Beverly Hills restaurant.

The incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at a restaurant in the 300 block of South Beverly Drive, near Gregory Way, according to Lt. Max Subin of the Beverly Hills Police Department. The type of restaurant was not stated.

Six to eight men between 20 and 30 years old entered the restaurant, made pro-Armenia statements to the employees, destroyed property inside the establishment and attacked employees both inside and in an alley outside, Subin said.

Detectives were investigating the incident as a hate crime, but Subin did not give further information about the victims, who sustained minor injuries and refused medical treatment at the scene.

Surveillance footage is being reviewed to identify the suspects, Subin said.

“The BHPD is investigating this unacceptable act of hate and violence,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman. “There is no place in our city for this behavior, and we ask members of the public to please come forward with any information on the suspects in this case.”

Tensions in the 1.5-million strong Armenian diaspora in LA have been high since July, when Armenia’s neighbor Azerbaijan threatened to blow up a nuclear power plant in Armenia. In October, an estimated 200,000 protesters marched through Beverly Hills in support of Armenia over its conflict with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan. Large crowds also formed outside CBS Studios to protest, where demonstrators formed a human blockade across the entrance to disrupt traffic.

Armenians locals have protested a decades-long ongoing conflict between former Soviet Republics Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabkh, a disputed mountain area that is known as culturally Armenian.

Turkey and Russia have been drawn into the conflict, with ethnic Armenian people fleeing the area. Many are the family members of people killed in the genocide.

The conflict came to a brief pause on Saturday, after both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Russia. But it did not last. Soon after, however, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling a town in southeastern Armenia, while Azerbaijan claimed Armenian forces did the same in Azeri territory.

— City News Service and Patch staffers Nicole Charky, Kenan Draughorne, and Michael Wittner contributed to this report.

Russia says Turkey’s intelligence involved in events in Nagorno Karabakh

Arbi Tashjian
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 6 2020
Russia says Turkey’s intelligence involved in events in Nagorno Karabakh
Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, has spokesn about the sources of information on the presence of militants from Syria in the hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, RIA Novosti reports.

“We receive this data from a number of countries, from various sources and from our various partners, partner services in the Middle East,” Naryshkin said in an interview with Dmitry Kiselev, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

He stressed that the Intelligence Service “has accurate information about the participation of militants from Syria in Karabakh.”

He further noted that Turkey’s intelligence is involved in the events in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Foreign Intelligence Service fells and sees separate elements of this work,” Naryshkin stated.


Report: Abkhazia Armenians Go to War in Karabakh

Babken Chilingarian
Civil Georgia
Nov 6 2020
06/11/2020 – 16:09

 

Akhra Avidzba, former Donbas militant turned aide to Abkhaz leader Aslan Bzhania, wrote on November 6 that ethnic Armenian volunteers from Russian-occupied Abkhazia are heading to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Photos posted by Avidzba shows the volunteers departing from Russia’s Sochi International Airport, located some 10 kilometers away from Abkhazia section of Russo-Georgian border.

Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians, resumed on September 27. The ongoing war, deadliest since the end of original Karabakh war in 1994, claimed thousands of lives, including those of civilians on both sides.

Three Syrian nationals wanted in Armenia for terrorism, mercenarism

Tatoyan Vazgen
TASS, Russia
Nov 6 2020
Armenia’s investigative agencies established that those three Syrians were fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh

YEREVAN, November 6. /TASS/. Three Syrian nationals have been placed on the wanted list in Armenia on charges of involvement in international terrorism and mercenarism, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said on Friday.

“The Investigative Committee has submitted a motion to the court asking to select arrest as a restraint measure for three Syrian citizens. Abu Stef al-Hindawi, Ahmad al-Taebi and Abu Diab Halabi are accused of international terrorism and mercenarism. All the three are placed on the wanted list,” the statement says.

Armenia’s investigative agencies established that those three Syrians were fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians. Three ceasefire agreements have been negotiated so far, but almost immediately both sides begin blaming each other for violating the truce.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

Corsican Assembly adopts resolution on recognition of Artsakh

Chalian Meline
Public Radio of Armenia
Nov 6 2020

The Corsican Assembly has adopted a resolution on the recognition of the Artsakh Republic, the Armenian Embassy in France reports.

The Assembly has also denounced the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Artsakh and expressed support for the Armenian people’s struggle for freedom and peace.

The resolution also calls on the UN member states and the European Union to recognize the independence of Artsakh.