✓Hostilities continue despite a US-brokered ceasefire.
✓The Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers will meet on October 29.
✓The Russian FM states that Moscow disapproves of a military solution.
✓The town of Martuni in Karabakh has been shelled by Azerbaijani forces.
22:42,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side has proofs of Turkish F-16 warplanes firing missiles against Artsakh solving concrete military mission in the war unleashed by Azerbaijan, ARMENPRESS reports representative of the MoD Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference.
”We have many proofs and have information of how F-16 warplanes were used, firing high precision missiles, missiles solving concrete military tasks”, Hovhannisyan said.
By Michael Krikorian
“What ‘cease’? says Gevorg Haroyan, a CIVILNET photojournalist, with a very rudimentary knowledge of English, allowed to go to one of the fronts of the war here. “Only fire.”
As he stood Monday afternoon on a ridge overlooking a valley a few kilometers from the embattled town of Martuni, Haroyan and a team of journalists from seven countries, accompanied by several soldiers, watched and sensed / experienced as explosions of varying significance detonated, some outgoing, some incoming.
Another ceasefire had ceased.
At 8:00 am, local time, Monday, October 26, a ceasefire between Armenians and the attacking Azerbaijani forces was to go into effect throughout Karabakh, which has been a war zone for a month. The ceasefire had been announced the day before with much fanfare. Even the heretofore-silent American President Donald Trump publicly referred to it in a campaign rally.
But, this ceasefire hadn’t even officially begun when, inexplicably, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan accused the Armenian forces of “grossly” violating the agreement. How does one violate an agreement before it starts, social media asked. The Azeris quickly deleted this statement, but it did not help their credibility and supported skepticism about their commitment to a ceasefire.
Shortly after the 8:00 am start time, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh announced that the Army was strictly adhering to the agreement.
By early afternoon, this was all a moot point as the artillery shells were heard throughout the region.
The van carrying the journalists was forced to continue traveling by soldiers and came to a stop near an abandoned store. From near a 20-foot wide crater in the adjoining field. A single German shepherd appeared and curled up against a twisted metal fence. Whenever an explosion was heard, the solders went quiet, the journalists worried and the dog yelped loudly, then put his head back down.
A crusty, silver-haired man about 65 years old with a Kalashnikov slung across his back walked by the group. He smiled at one journalist and said something unrepeatable about the other side in this war, and walked down the road.
Another Kalashnikov carrying man, this one 34, overhears the older guy’s comments and laughs. He is a history teacher in peacetime, but since September 27, he has been in battle. He looks forward to the day he can return to the classroom and teach his students about this particular bit of history. He says he will teach this chapter “with a lot of pride.”
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”.
22:59,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Army of Artsakh has destroyed two more Azerbaijani UAVs, ARMENPRESS reports spokesperson of Artsakh’s President Vahram Poghosyan wrote on his Facebook page.
”Two hostile unlucky UAVs fell down a while ago due to the skillfulness of our soldiers”, Poghosyan wrote.
Since September 27 the Armenian side has downed at least 222 UAVs.
Explosion occurs in Turkey’s İskenderun, one of the terrorists killed
23:08,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. An explosion occured in Turkey’s İskenderun city, when the special units were chasing two terrorists, ARMENPRESS reports, citing ”TRT World Now”, head of Turkey’s Hatay Province Rahmi Dogan said.
”One of the terrorists was killed, there are no casualties among civilians”, he said.
Police and ambulances have been sent to the scene.
00:52,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that civilians have been killed and injured as a result of Azerbaijan’s non compliance with the ceasefire, ARMENPRESS reports PM Pashinyan wrote in his Twitter micro blog, tagging the U.S. President Doanld Trump by whose efforts Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed for a ceasefire.
‘’I would like to state that the efforts of the international community, this time brokered by the United States, to establish a ceasefire, have failed. As a result of continuous shelling by Azerbaijan, civilians were killed and wounded in Artsakh today’’, he wrote.
Despite the new ceasefire that was supposed to take effect 08:00 October 26, the Azerbaijani forces launched renewed attacks. The Azeri military also bombarded cities and villages of Artsakh.
On October 26, following the breakdown of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan wrote the following statement.
“Dear compatriots,
In defiance of the efforts exerted by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at establishing a humanitarian ceasefire in the region, the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan continues ignoring and violating the agreements reached in this respect.
As in the previous two attempts, Azerbaijan has again grossly violated the agreement reached through the mediation of the United States of America and with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries’ participation, which reaffirmed the commitment of the respective parties to implement and abide by the humanitarian ceasefire agreed in Moscow on 10 October and in Paris on 17 October at the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation and President of the French Republic correspondingly.
Especially in the afternoon, Azerbaijan has resumed offensive military operations along the entire frontline using missiles and artillery.
All of this confirms that the Azerbaijani authorities, having the unreserved patronage of Turkey and supported by mercenary terrorists, have no intention to resume peaceful dialogue and send an explicit message that they will continue their military efforts towards final ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh.
Thus, our task is to struggle so that the Armenians of Artsakh could have an existence in freedom and dignity in their homeland.
The security and rights of our people are not subject to tradeoff, and our determination with this regard is beyond any circumstances and interests.”
Transfer of Weapons to Armenia
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated that he was ready to resume negotiations with the Prime Minister of Armenia, but with the precondition that Armenia return the territories of Karabakh to Azerbaijan. The statement was made during an interview with Russian TASS news agency on October 19, in which he also mentioned that he is convinced that there are illegal transfers of weapons from Russia to Armenia. Although President Aliyev was mainly accusing Armenian businessmen living in Russia, it was apparent that he was inadvertently also addressing Russian officials.
In Azerbaijani press, allegations of illegal arms transfers are not limited to Russia. According to the pro-government Modern.az news site, under the guise of humanitarian aid, weapons have been sent to Armenia from Los Angeles on a Qatar Airways flight. Days ago, Turkey had forbidden the flight from passing through its airspace, effectively banning the shipment of humanitarian aid from the United States to Armenia. The Azerbaijani press had turned the issue of humanitarian aid to Karabakh into source for rumors and disinformation, further provoking its public.
Fallen Soldiers
Ali Karimli, a radical opposition figure, said that Azerbaijani society is fundamentally opposed to the authorities’ efforts to establish a ceasefire because Azerbaijanis want to take over more territories. Karimli said with respect to all the fallen soldiers, the people demand to move war forward.
Although the Azerbaijani press hardly reports on the number of fallen soldiers, certain videos of funerals have surfaced on social media. The death of Shaykh Kalbiyev has resonated throughout the masses, and has received varying responses from the Azerbaijani public since Kalbiyev was a sexual minority. The video shows a large attendance at Kalbiyev’s funeral with the crowd chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). It is worth noting that the national flags of Turkey and Pakistan were seen in the video during his funeral. The presence of the Pakistani flag is not a coincidence, as there is a close partnership between Baku and Islamabad. The Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister stated this week that Pakistan fully supports Azerbaijan in the conflict.
Access to Information
The Azerbaijani authorities are strengthening their control over communication lines in the country by blocking public access to the internet through different tactics. This became clear from the article published in Modern.az on October 20, which notes that the State Communication and Information Service has once again warned Azerbaijan’s citizens to refrain from accessing the Internet through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Authorities justify their message by arguing that the application is vulnerable and could result in the enemy gathering information. But the populations attempt to access the internet through a VPN hint to the fact that they are seeking information.
Despite this, pro-government media outlets in Azerbaijan persistently deny that there is a lack of public information, and they insist on the public’s unconditional support for the authorities. Azerbaycan24 says that the level of trust in President Aliyev is so high that a large number of Azeris send letters of support to him daily.
In recent days, Azerbaijani media has also been circulating the idea that Armenians can and should live in harmony inside Azerbaijan.
Monday,
Most Karabakh Residents Displaced By Fighting
• Marine Khachatrian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A medical worker talks to a sick woman in a bomb shelter in
Stepanakert, October 22, 2020
Nearly 60 percent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has been forced to flee homes
since the start of the war with Azerbaijan one month ago, an official in
Stepanakert said on Monday.
Artak Beglarian, Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, said an estimated 90,000
ethnic Armenian civilians have been relocated to other parts of Karabakh or have
taken refuge in Armenia due to Azerbaijan’s shelling of their towns and
villages. They are enduring serious hardship despite food and other relief aid
delivered to them by the Armenian and Karabakh governments as well as private
charities, Beglarian told reporters.
The shelling has targeted Stepanakert and most other Karabakh communities,
causing extensive damage to local homes and public infrastructure. Most of
Stepanakert’s remaining residents now live in basements and other bomb shelters.
The vast majority of the displaced people are women, children and elderly
persons. Those who have fled to Armenia are typically staying with their
relatives or in temporary shelters made available by the government.
Among them are Nanar Karapetian and her two young sons. They lived in the town
of Shushi until the outbreak of the war on September 27.
Like many other Karabakh men, Karapetian’s husband is a military officer who is
now fighting against Azerbaijani forces on the battlefield. “My brothers,
cousins, husband’s brothers are also on the frontline,” the young woman told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service in Yerevan.
“All I want is peace so we can return to our homes,” she added.
“I miss my town, I miss my dad, and I want us to go back home soon,” said
Karapetian’s 7-year-old son, Manvel.
According to Beglarian’s office, the fighting has left nearly 40 Karabakh
civilians dead so far. One of them lived in a village near Stepanakert that was
reportedly shelled on Monday despite an Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement
brokered by the United States.
The hostilities have also affected many residents of Azerbaijani cities and
villages north and east of Karabakh. The Azerbaijani authorities have reported
more than 60 deaths among them.
Armenia Expects U.S. Reaction To Another Collapse Of Karabakh Ceasefire
ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian gives an interview to TASS
Russian news agency, in Yerevan, October 19, 2020
Armenia urged the United States on Monday to react strongly to what it called
Azerbaijan’s failure to respect yet another agreement to stop the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh which was brokered by Washington.
“It’s now clear that once again it has not proved possible to implement a
ceasefire [agreement,]” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a video address
to the nation aired in the evening. “I cannot say at this point what the
reaction of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries [the U.S., Russia and
France] and their presidents will be. But you must know that the Armenian side
has done everything to adhere to the ceasefire.”
“I hope that official representatives of the U.S. will answer these questions.
Have they clarified as a result of whose actions the ceasefire has been
violated? If so, what consequences will there be for the party that has violated
it?” he said.
Pashinian charged that Azerbaijan is continuing its offensive military
operations in the conflict zone because it wants to force Armenia and Karabakh
to capitulate. The Armenian side has been “maximally flexible” in negotiations
mediated by the U.S., Russia and France and prepared to agree to a “painful”
compromise-based solution to the Karabakh conflict, he said, adding that it now
has no choice but to continue fighting against the “Azerbaijani aggression.”
The conflicting parties began accusing each other of ceasefire violations
shortly after the U.S.-brokered agreement went into force at 8 a.m. local time.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said early in the afternoon that Azerbaijani
forces have launched an assault on frontline positions of Karabakh’s
Armenian-backed army in southeastern Karabakh. It reported heavy fighting there
in the following hours.
“Starting from 5 p.m. the intensity of fire along the border of Artsakh
(Karabakh) has sharply increased,” a ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanian,
wrote on Facebook. She said the Azerbaijani army is using heavy artillery and
tanks against Karabakh positions and civilian areas.
Speaking in the morning, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he has ordered
his troops to show “restraint” despite what he described as Armenian
“provocations” on the frontlines.
Aliyev also hit out at the U.S., Russian and French mediators, saying that they
are now trying to “save Armenia.” “If they want a ceasefire then let them tell
Armenia to leave our lands,” he said in televised remarks. “If that doesn’t
happen we will go till the end.”
Russia Hails U.S. Mediation On Karabakh
• Aza Babayan
RUSSIA -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir
Putin's annual life-broadcasted news conference with Russian and foreign media
at the World Trade Center in Moscow, Russia, 19 December 2019
Russia welcomed on Monday U.S. efforts to stop hostilities in and around
Nagorno-Karabakh which have resulted in yet another Armenian-Azerbaijani
ceasefire agreement.
Commenting on the U.S.-brokered agreement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“The process of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, which is in an
acute phase, must not and cannot be a scene of any rivalry or competition
[between world powers.]”
“Certainly, Russia, as a co-chair of the [OSCE Minsk] group, is ready to welcome
any steps that will help to stop the war,” Peskov told journalists.
The latest truce agreement was announced late on Sunday after talks held by the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington with top U.S.
administration officials and the American, Russian and French diplomats
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
Speaking ahead of the Washington talks, Russian President Vladimir Putting Putin
expressed hope that the United States will contribute to Russian efforts to get
the conflicting parties to respect a ceasefire agreement that was brokered by
Moscow on October 10.
A similar “humanitarian” truce agreement brokered by France on October 17 has
also not been observed.
Peskov said that Moscow is continuing to closely monitor the situation in the
Karabakh conflict zone. “We still believe that there can only be a peaceful
solution to this problem,” said Putin’s spokesman.
Fighting Reported In Karabakh Conflict Zone After Another Truce Accord
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Members of the Karabakh Ministry of Emergency Situations
search for unexploded cluster bombs on the outskirts of Stepanakert, October 20,
2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each of violating a U.S.-brokered ceasefire
agreement following its entry into force on Monday morning.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces shelled frontline
positions of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army in northeastern and southeastern
Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, for its part, that its troops came under
Armenian artillery fire at several sections of the “line of contact” around
Karabakh.” It claimed that Armenian forces also shelled Azerbaijani residential
areas northeast of Karabakh.
“The Azerbaijani side is demonstrating restraint,” a senior aide to Azerbaijan's
President Ilham Aliyev told the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Karabakh Armenian army strongly denied violating the truce, saying that Baku
is “preparing ground for further provocations” with claims to the contrary.
“The Armenian side continues to strictly adhere to the ceasefire regime,”
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian wrote on Facebook about two hours after
the truce agreement took effect at 8 a.m. local time.
“Despite some provocations, the ceasefire is largely holding,” Pashinian wrote
at midday.
Two hours later, the Karabakh Defense Army said that Azerbaijani troops have
launched an attack on its frontline positions in southeastern Karabakh. It said
its forces are now trying to repel the attack.
The truce agreement was announced late on Sunday following a series of talks
held by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington with top
U.S. officials and American, Russian and French diplomats co-heading the OSCE
Minsk Group.
In a late-night tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Pashinian and
Aliyev on the deal.
Russia and France already brokered similar Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire
agreements on October 10 and October 17 respectively. They did not stop
hostilities in and around Karabakh, with the warring sides accusing each other
of not respecting it.
Armenia, Azerbaijan Again Agree To Ceasefire
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A fragment of an artillery shell at the fighting positions
of ethnic Armenian soldiers on the front line during a military conflict against
Azerbaijan's armed forces, October 20, 2020.
Armenia and Azerbaijan reached late on Sunday another agreement to halt
hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone after holding talks in
Washington mediated by the United States.
“The humanitarian ceasefire will take effect at 08:00 a.m. local time (12:00
a.m. EDT) on ,” the U.S., Armenian and Azerbaijani governments
said in a joint statement.
“The United States facilitated intensive negotiations among the [Armenian and
Azerbaijani] Foreign Ministers and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to move Armenia and
Azerbaijan closer to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
added the statement.
The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs said separately that they and U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State Stephen E. Biegun held a joint meeting with the two ministers
in Washington on Saturday. They said they discussed “possible parameters for
monitoring the ceasefire and initiating discussion of core substantive elements
of a comprehensive solution” to the Karabakh conflict.
“The Co-Chairs and Foreign Ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on October
29 to discuss, reach agreement on, and begin implementation, in accordance with
a timeline to be agreed upon, of all steps necessary to achieve a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the basic
principles accepted by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” read a statement
released by the mediators.
On Friday Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov also separate talks with U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
"Under the president’s direction, we have spent the entire weekend trying to
broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia has accepted a ceasefire.
Azerbaijan has not yet,” O’Brien told CBS earlier on Sunday.
“We are pushing them [Azerbaijan] to do so,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump also commented on the Karabakh war as he spoke at an
election campaign rally in New Hampshire. “Armenia, they are incredible people,
they are fighting like hell and … we’re going to get something done,” he said.
“We’ll get that sorted out … I call that an easy one,” Trumped added, referring
to the fighting. He did not elaborate.
Russia and France already brokered similar Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire
agreements on October 10 and October 17 respectively. The agreements did not
stop hostilities in and around Karabakh, with the warring sides accusing each
other of not respecting it.
Speaking before the announcement of the fresh truce accord on Sunday,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the mediating powers should put pressure
on Armenia if they want to stop the war.
“We have one condition: if the countries that have supported Armenia and created
for almost 30 years conditions for its occupation of our lands want a ceasefire
they must put pressure on Armenia,” Aliyev said, according to TASS. “The
Armenian prime minister must state that his country will leave the occupied
territories. We haven’t heard such a statement.”
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.
1 – Azeri Soldiers Wearing Armenian Uniforms
May Be Shot by Their Own Troops
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenia’s Fight Against Azerbaijan, COVID-19 Intensifies
3 – Azerbaijan Violates U.S.-Mediated Ceasefire Agreement
4- Bound by duty and love, LA Armenians join battle lines in homeland
5- Angelenos Are Working in Armenia on Humanitarian Relief for Artsakh
6- Arin Sarkissian Awarded 2020 Edward Hosharian Foundation
$5,000 Music Scholarship
*****************************************
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1 – Azeri Soldiers Wearing Armenian Uniforms
May Be Shot by Their Own Troops
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The U.S. Department of State announced on Oct.25, 2020 with great
fanfare the third attempted ceasefire in the Artsakh war in as many
weeks. The first two ceasefires were violated by Azerbaijan and Turkey
within minutes of going into effect. The new ceasefire announcement
was made after the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan flew to
Washington, D.C. and separately met with Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo on Oct. 23, 2020.
This latest “humanitarian ceasefire” went into effect on Monday, Oct.
26, at 8 a.m., local time. Unfortunately, the third ceasefire was also
violated within minutes by Azerbaijan and Turkey. This indicates that
Azerbaijan, Turkey and the Jihadist mercenaries from Syria have no
intention to stop the war until they cleanse Artsakh of its Armenian
population which is exactly what President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly
announced. Armenia and Artsakh, with a population of a little over
three million, are fighting against the combined forces of Azerbaijan
and Turkey with a total population of over 90 million. This is a
battle of David versus Goliath. It also means that the powerful
Azerbaijani military, armed to its teeth with billions of dollars of
modern weaponry from Israel and Russia, is unable to fight its battles
without relying on the Turkish military and Islamist mercenaries. Even
with their combined forces, Azerbaijan and Turkey have been unable to
overrun Artsakh after a month-long battle!
In recent weeks, Pres. Trump has mentioned Armenians three times in
his speeches during campaign rallies in Nevada, Ohio and New
Hampshire. He made complimentary statements about Armenians, but words
are meaningless unless they are followed up with action. All Trump has
to do is pick up the phone and call his buddy Erdogan and tell him to
stop supporting Azerbaijan and withdraw the terrorists it recruited
and transferred to Azerbaijan. Instead, Trump has done what is in his
personal interest which primarily includes getting reelected on Nov. 3
by appealing to Armenian-American voters.
Besides military action, there are other fronts in which Armenians and
Azeris are battling each other. In the United States, several
resolutions have been submitted to the House of Representatives and
the Senate to recognize the independence of Artsakh and ban the sale
of weapons to Azerbaijan and Turkey. Similar steps have been taken by
Armenian communities in Canada, France and Australia, among others.
There have also been mass protests by Armenian communities in cities
throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, the Middle East and Europe.
Armenian-Americans and elected officials pressured various lobbying
firms hired by Azerbaijan and Turkey to stop their propaganda efforts.
Last week, Mercury Public Affairs announced that it terminated its
lobbying contract with Turkey. Mercury has represented Turkey since
2013. In February of this year, Mercury signed a contract for $1
million to represent the Turkish Embassy. The Los Angeles City Council
had urged Mercury to end its contract with Turkey or it will no longer
do any business with the firm. A similar announcement was made by the
Los Angeles Community College District.
DLA Piper, another major lobbying firm, informed the U.S. Justice
Department that it no longer represents Azerbaijan Railways. The
Livingston Group also ended its lobbying for Azerbaijan on Oct. 13.
The BGR lobbying firm withdrew from representing Azerbaijan’s state
oil company SOCAR, according to AHVAL News.
Armenia on the other hand has never hired lobbying or public relations
firms. The rare example was the Armenian government signing a lobbying
contract with the law firm of Alston & Bird (associated with former
Senator Bob Dole) for $10,000 from Sept. 15 to Oct. 14, 2020. It is
not known whether that contract was extended. While hiring lobbying or
public relations firms is always helpful, the Armenian community is
not as dependent on them since they are politically active and rely on
their own organizations in Washington, such as the Armenian Assembly
of America and the Armenian National Committee of America. On the
other hand, Azerbaijan and Turkey are obligated to spend millions of
dollars for lobbying to try and misrepresent their dirty laundry as
clean.
Another aspect of the misinformation war is the one waged in the pages
of newspapers and social media in various countries. The Azeri
government pays a fortune each year to hired pens to besmirch Armenia
and glorify the dictatorship of Azerbaijan. The other front is the
social media. Whenever, a prominent American or European announces its
public stand in favor of Armenia, a horde of Azeris and their paid
agents hound those individuals and pressure them to retract their
statements.
There have been several reports in recent days that Azeri troops are
wearing the uniforms of Armenian soldiers apparently to create
confusion in the battlefield. In one such battle, it was discovered
that 40 Azeri soldiers’ bodies were found in Armenian uniform. In my
opinion, this practice, rather than confusing Armenians, will result
in Azeris shooting their own soldiers by mistaking them for Armenians.
The Armenian government should file a complaint with the International
Criminal Court (ICC) about the barbaric behavior of Azeri soldiers. In
one video, two Armenian prisoners of war are shot dead by Azeri
soldiers. In another, the head of a dead Armenian soldier is cut off
by Azeri soldiers. In a third gruesome video, Azeri soldiers are seen
skinning an Armenian soldier while he is still alive. These are clear
cases of war crimes. Azerbaijan should be condemned by the ICC and
bear responsibility for these inhuman actions. In addition, Azerbaijan
uses cluster bombs which are prohibited by international humanitarian
law. Moreover, Azerbaijan has fired on a daily basis thousands of
missiles on civilians throughout Artsakh cities and villages.
Azerbaijan has also destroyed hundreds of Armenian houses, schools and
churches. These are blatant war crimes. Azerbaijan should pay a heavy
price for its barbaric behavior.
On the positive side, 10 million Armenians worldwide have been united
as never before. Every Armenian realizes that this is an existential
struggle. Turkey and Azerbaijan intend to commit a second genocide
against Armenians. So far, Armenians have raised the unprecedented sum
of $150 million and millions more in humanitarian aid. The only thing
missing is for an Armenian billionaire to make a billion dollar
donation to support the survival of Armenia and Artsakh. After all, it
costs Armenia $30 million a day to meet its security needs.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- Armenia’s Fight Against Azerbaijan, COVID-19 Intensifies
By Lillian Avedian
(The Armenian Weekly)—Armenia continues to fight for life and freedom
in Artsakh amid the coronavirus pandemic, which is reaching staggering
heights in the embattled region. According to the Ministry of Health,
there were 26,452 active coronavirus cases in Armenia as of Monday,
October 26. The Ministry has recorded 78,810 coronavirus cases and
1,196 deaths; 51,162 have recovered.
Amid diplomatic efforts, the battle rages at the frontline, on October
25 Artsakh military officials released the names of 11 more fallen
soldiers, bringing the total number of Armenian casualties to 974.
During an evening press briefing on October 22, Lusine Paronyan,
doctor-epidemiologist of the National Center for Disease Control and
Prevention of the Armenian Ministry of Health, warned that the
healthcare system may soon collapse due to the combined needs of
wounded soldiers and infected patients. “Our healthcare workers are
indispensable to our soldiers and to the battlefront,” Paronyan
asserted. “We need to do everything possible to stop this
unprecedented rise and lessen the cases.” Armenian health officials
say 2,036 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on October 21 alone.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has commented on the developing
crisis, stating that the dramatic escalation in COVID-19 transmission
precipitated by the war burdens the healthcare systems already
stretched thin by the pandemic and undermines the human right to
access vital health services. “Continued cycles of violence and
subsequent population displacement will exacerbate the precariousness
of the health situation,” the statement by the WHO Regional Director
for Europe read. “WHO calls for no time lost nor efforts unspent in
protecting lives and livelihoods from a public health threat
unprecedented in our lifetimes.”
As Armenia and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministers prepared for a meeting
on Friday, October 23 with United States Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his hope that the
U.S. act in coordination with Russia and help reach a settlement of
the conflict. During a discussion on October 22 at the Valdai Club, he
noted that the conflict did not begin as a territorial dispute, but
rather as an interethnic confrontation, with crimes against humanity
committed against Armenians. “Sadly, this is a fact, when first in
Sumgait and then in Nagorno-Karabakh brutal crimes were committed
against the Armenian people,” he said. “We must certainly never forget
what happened in the fate of the Armenian people during World War I,
the tragedy of the Armenian people.” Nonetheless, he upheld that
Armenia and Azerbaijan are considered equal partners to Russia, and
that a resolution must involve a compromise.
As Russia continues to take diplomatic steps toward a peaceful
settlement, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the
participation of third parties in mediation can only take place with
the consent of the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan. While Russia
has offered to send peacekeepers to Artsakh several times since it
brokered a failed ceasefire agreement on October 10, Armenia and
Azerbaijan disagree on the presence of a peacekeeping force. Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the entry of Russian peacekeepers
is acceptable to Armenia, since Russia has healthy relations with both
parties to the conflict. In contrast, President Ilham Aliyev declared
on Wednesday, October 22 that while Azerbaijan accepts the
introduction of peacekeepers “in principle,” it cannot take place if
Azerbaijan’s preconditions are not accepted “when the time will come.”
According to Ministry of Defense (MoD) representative Artsrun
Hovhannisyan, the Azerbaijani military launched offensives along the
entire Line of Contact (LoC) throughout the day on Thursday, October
22. Some of these attacks proceeded in the direction of civilian
settlements as Azeri diversionary groups penetrated towns and roads,
including near the villages of Shekher and Jivani in the Martuni
region. In the southern direction of the LoC, the Artsakh Defense Army
halted or pushed back various incursion attempts. The Artsakh Defense
Army also shot down another Turkish-manufactured Bayraktar TB2
unmanned combat aerial vehicle today.
In his update, Hovhannisyan responded to President Aliyev’s claim that
Azerbaijan has secured total control of the state border with Iran and
asserted that intense fighting continues along the entirety of this
border. “If in some sections [Azeri] forces can see the Arax River,
that does not indicate total control,” he remarked.
Hovhannisyan also advised viewers not to be distressed by photos taken
by members of the Azeri armed forces in towns along the LoC for the
purpose of inciting alarm. It is common practice for small Azerbaijani
diversionary groups to infiltrate settlements, he said, to create an
atmosphere of panic and quickly flee without returning, as evidenced
by Hadrut and Fizuli.
Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, for his part, appeared in a
rather uplifting video message from the frontlines. “Our faith is
strong,” he said. “I believe that we will win, and I want you all to
believe that too,” he continued in his call to all Armenians to pray
for a victorious conclusion and the safety and security of Armenia’s
Armed Forces.
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3 – Azerbaijan Violates U.S.-Mediated Ceasefire Agreement
An agreement for a ceasefire in Artsakh, announced in Washington
Sunday, October 25, went into effect at 8 a.m. local time on Monday,
October 26 but was quickly violated by Azerbaijan, when its forces
began shelling Artsakh’s northern areas at 8:45 a.m.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported another attack on the Artsakh’s
southeastern front at 9:10 a.m. Azerbaijan deployed Smerch multiple
rocket launchers firing at the Zardarashen village in the Martuni
region at 1:50 p.m. Another Smerch attack on the Artsakh’s Askeran
district killed a civilian and injured two others. The Artsakh Human
Rights Defender’s office reported that during an attack on the village
of Avetaranots in the Askeran region, civilian, Gevorg Hambardzumyan,
was killed, while two other civilians, Henrikh Adamyan and Andrey
Hambardzumyan, were injured.
On October 25, the State Department in a statement announced that
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and
Jeyhum Bayramov, had agreed to the ceasefire. The latest agreement—the
third—was reached after two days of intensive negotiations in
Washington where the two foreign ministers met with Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor
Robert O’Brien.
Trump also took to social media to congratulate Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, hailing his
administration’s effort to negotiating the ceasefire agreement.
As early as Sunday morning, Armenia had agreed to a ceasefire, while
Azerbaijan had not, according to O’Brien, who told the CBS Sunday
morning program Face the Nation, that the U.S. was working hard to
convince Baku to agree to the proposed ceasefire.
The Azerbaijani misinformation campaign was in full gear on Sunday,
when before the 8 a.m. the government, through social media posts,
said that Artsakh forces were violating the ceasefire. That post was
soon removed and was followed by another, this time after 8 a.m.,
claiming that Artsakh forces were attacking the southern border. Soon
after, Azerbaijani forces began attacking the northern front, once
again breaking the ceasefire. Armenia’s Defense Ministry said the
Azerbaijani claims against Artsakh were aimed to provoke. The defense
ministry called for the immediate introduction of clear parameters for
maintaining the ceasefire and the starting the process of exchanging
bodies, detainees and other captives, mediated by the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
The violation of a third ceasefire agreement was described as “the
Aliyev regime’s overt brazen attitude toward the entire civilized
humanity” by Artsakh presidential spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan, who
said that Artsakh had no alternative but to protect the country.
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4- Bound by duty and love, LA Armenians join battle lines in homeland
By Lila Seidman
David Koroghlyan and his two boys were visiting family in Armenia when
fighting broke out on Sept. 27 with neighboring Azerbaijan over a tiny
separatist region on the border of the ex-Soviet republics. Within
days, Koroghlyan put his 10- and 11-year-old sons on a plane back home
to Los Angeles. He was staying behind to join the fight.
Now training 12 hours a day with a volunteer group of soldiers,
Koroghlyan could be called to the front lines any day.
“I’m not sure if they know that they might not see their dad again,”
said his wife Susan.
Koroghlyan is one of a number of Armenian Americans living in Los
Angeles who have uprooted their lives — leaving loved ones and careers
behind — to help their home country as it fights a reignited war for
its claim to the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is
internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Armenians refer to
it as Artsakh.
The region has long been at the center of efforts to commemorate the
Armenian genocide, and many believe the stakes are now very high for
the future of their homeland. The fighting in the contested region
touches many Armenian Americans on a personal level.
Hostilities are now at their fiercest since an uneasy truce in 1994
ended a war over the region that claimed about 30,000 lives in the
late 1980s and the early 1990s. Since that cease-fire,
Nagorno-Karabakh has been self-ruled by ethnic Armenians, who make up
the majority of the population of about 150,000. Many local Armenians
see echoes of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the current war.
Turkey, whose ancestors Armenians blame for the genocide, has strong
ethnic ties with Azerbaijan and has announced its support for its ally
in the revived war.
Susan, the wife of David Koroghlyan, was born and raised in Glendale —
home to the largest Armenian community in Southern California. She
said she would make the same trip her husband did if she didn’t have
her small boys to worry about. She said she isn’t sleeping much. Every
30 minutes, she checks online for updates about the fighting. Now,
with her husband overseas, she is about to say goodbye to her brother,
George Avakian, too.
Avakian, a real estate agent living in Monrovia, is frantically
gathering supplies to bring over to Armenia to help soldiers and
civilians alike. He plans to leave in a few days.
Avakian, 34, said his family has been in the U.S. since the late
1960s. They were one of the first Armenian families in Glendale and
watched the city transform, he said. But no matter how many miles they
put between their homeland and themselves, the conflict with
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has never seemed far away. “Everybody
my age, and after, grew up with this. This has been looming over our
heads,” Avakian said. “So, here it is, a resolution. Here’s a chance.”
There is anxiety and worry. Avakian is leaving a fiancee. He’s in the
middle of closing house sales and a mountain of paperwork that he
needs to wrap up and hand off. But there’s also relief, Avakian said.
“Have you ever had a moment where you figured out exactly what you
were supposed to do?” he said. “That’s it.”
This article appeared in Los Angeles Times on October 9, 2020.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
5- Angelenos Are Working in Armenia on Humanitarian Relief for Artsakh
By Liz Ohanesian
Three weeks into his trip to Armenia, Suren Magakian woke up to
messages from Los Angeles asking if he was OK. The enclave known to
Armenians as Artsakh and to the international community as
Nagorno-Karabakh had been attacked, an event that threatened to
reignite the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that had come to a
ceasefire in 1994.
“To be honest, it freaked me out from the beginning,” Magakian says on
a video call. But, his fear quickly turned to motivation. A day after
the September 27 attack, he turned to his friends back home, asking if
they could send money that he could use to purchase humanitarian
supplies for those in need. Magakian thought he might receive $1,000.
He reached that goal in an hour and, in the subsequent weeks, far
surpassed it as the conflict has escalated, the death toll climbed,
and tens of thousands of people were displaced. With the donations,
Magakian and a team of friends have secured much-needed items like
generators and food and have traveled hours to deliver them.
Two days after the attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, Harout Papyan left for
a previously planned trip to Armenia. Given the current situation, he
and his fiancée decided that they would fundraise amongst family and
friends. People sent contributions to Papyan’s fiancée, who
transferred the money to him. With help from his relatives in Armenia
and their friends, Papayan purchased hygiene products, non-perishable
food, and other items to deliver to displaced families.
In Yerevan, Papyan would check Instagram and see posts from protests
in Los Angeles. “I did want to be a part of it, but I was happy that I
was back home, back in Yerevan, doing what I was doing,” he says. Now
back in Los Angeles, he continues to work remotely with the team in
Armenia.
Since the onset of the current conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
diasporan Armenians have mobilized through fundraisers, social media
campaigns, and protests. For some Angelenos, though, the best ways to
help have involved physically being in Armenia.
“As the war began happening, it became really hard for me to not be
here, or to be so far away,” says Natalie Kamajian on a video call
from Yerevan. When she arrived in Armenia in early October, she
brought items like warm clothing and gear for journalists that had
been collected by people in the diaspora. “We came with about seven
suitcases in addition to our own things,” she says.
Kamajian has been thinking about the DIY relief efforts that have come
as a response to the war. The Armenian diaspora, she says, has been
“really practicing mutual aid, really practicing real, grassroots
organizing without state control or any sort of upper organization.”
And that kind of action is important given the growing humanitarian
crisis.
“The humanitarian needs are pretty much all-encompassing,” says
Ambassador Armen Baibourtian, Consul General of Armenia in Los
Angeles. “Everything is needed in this circumstance because
villages—towns and villages—are ruined.” Armenia itself doesn’t have
official numbers on how many people from Nagorno-Karabakh have
relocated to the country, he says. Previously, it’s been reported that
about half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population has been displaced. The
needs are great but, Baibourtian says, the priority right now is on
medical assistance in a time when war is compounded by the global
COVID-19 pandemic.
For medical professionals, relief efforts have included procuring
medical supplies, taking part in telehealth projects and, in some
cases, traveling to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. “There is already a
long list of volunteers that is growing day by day,” says Dr. Shant
Shekherdimian, an associate professor of surgery at UCLA who is
involved with Armenian American Medical Society and other groups
working on healthcare assistance.
“As health care providers, this is instinctual for us to rise any such
challenge, whether there is a humanitarian crisis in our home country
or anywhere else,” he says. “That’s just what we do all day, every
day.”
Some are also preparing for the long-term effects of the war. HALO
Trust, the global land mine clearance organization, has done
significant work in Nagorno-Karabakh for years following the 1990s
wars. Amasia Zargarian, who grew up in Glendale, spent two years
working in the region before moving to the nonprofit’s Washington D.C.
office.
“What we are seeing now, of course, is a new kind of threat,” he says
by phone from Yerevan. “We’re seeing lots of contamination from
explosive items inside of cities and other major population centers of
Karabakh. We’re seeing cluster munitions and rockets and artillery
shells and different kinds of explosive items that are actually in the
cities, in residential areas.”
Right now, they’re educating people about this threat, but,
ultimately, there will be a need to clear neighborhoods of weapons
that have yet to explode. Zargarian says that they’re seeing an uptick
in interest in their work not just from diasporan Armenians, but from
the general international community. Should people maintain this
interest, that can benefit the relief work that’s to come as well. “As
soon as it is safe to do so, there’s going to be a lot of work to do
and I think a lot of people are going to be able to put their skills
to use when the time comes, I’m not just talking about our work,” says
Zargarian.
Magakian says that he doesn’t know when he’ll be returning to Los Angeles.
“Even when the war is done, our work is still not going to be done,”
he says. That’s part of the message he wants to share with people in
his hometown: “This energy needs to stay up, even after the war,
because there’s a lot of damage done.”
Before that can happen, there’s a more pressing need. “All of us are
very ready, very eager, very willing to contribute to these efforts
and will do so for as long as necessary, but the main thing that all
of us want is for this to stop, for there to not be a need for anyone
to be in this situation,” says Shekherdimian of the diasporan medical
community’s sentiments. “I think that the first thing that all of us
would ask for is for everybody from the highest of diplomatic
officials to all of us as ordinary citizens to do our part to try to
put an end to this.”
This article appeared in Los Angeles Magazine on October 21, 2020.
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6- Arin Sarkissian Awarded 2020 Edward Hosharian Foundation
$5,000 Music Scholarship
The Edward Hosharian Foundation is proud to announce that its 2020
Music Scholarship in the amount of $5,000 has been awarded to
classical Flute Performance student Arin Sarkissian.
Born in Toronto, Canada, to Armen and Alenoosh Sarkissian of La
Crescenta, California, Arin is a fourth-year student at Rice
University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas. This highly
specialized program prepares students for a career in the orchestral
world of classical music.
Adding to his numerous awards and honors, last year Arin was the 1st
Prize Winner of the nationally recognized Mika Hasler Competition for
instrumentalists under 23 years of age.
Over the past few years Arin participated in solo and orchestral
performances and summer programs—touring in faraway destinations such
as Canada, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Columbia
and Ecuador—with the Shepherd School Symphony, Colburn Youth
Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of USA and National Youth
Orchestra of Canada.
Arin is described as an “extraordinary talent and a young artist of
exceptional depth.” With his “brilliant technique, vibrant and
colorful sound, wide dynamic range and sparkling articulation,” he is
surely destined for a major music performance career.
The Edward Hosharian Foundation congratulates Arin on his many
achievements and wishes him the utmost success in his musical studies
and career.
The Foundation was established in honor of composer/conductor Edward
Hosharian’s memory to preserve, promote and enhance Armenian classical
and ethnic music by awarding scholarships to assist deserving
college-level music students of Armenian descent in pursuit of their
educational goals.
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