Category: 2020

Armenian youth rally in Paris, demand recognition of Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 10 2020

Several hundred young Armenians from Paris and surrounding areas blocked traffic in the famous Place de l’Etoile at around 8 p.m. Friday, October 9, freelance journalist Jean Eckian reports.

They waved the flags of Armenian and Artsakh, shouting “Turkey assassin!,” “Aliyev assassin”  and asking for the recognition of Artsakh.

The security forces intervened shortly before 9 p.m. to unblock traffic.

on Thursday, October 8, about 2,000 demonstrators blasted Turkey in front of its Embassy in Paris.

New demonstration is expected Tuesday, October 13 in front of the National Assembly of France.


Ottawa: Canada tells Turkey to stay out of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Hunanian Jack
CBC, Canada
Oct 10 2020
 
 
Canada tells Turkey to stay out of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
 
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said today he told his Turkish counterpart that Ankara should “stay out” of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
 
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Levon Sevunts · Radio Canada International · Posted: Oct 09, 2020 6:22 PM ET | Last Updated: October 10
 
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said today he told his Turkish counterpart that Ankara should “stay out” of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
 
Speaking to reporters on Friday prior to embarking on a week-long European tour to discuss the ongoing bloodshed in Nagorno-Karabakh and tensions between Greece and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, Champagne said he had a “firm conversation” with Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
 
“The message was very clear that external parties should stay out because it’s already a very complex situation,” Champagne said.
 
“We deplore the loss of life and we need to make sure that no one is fuelling the conflict. Quite the opposite, the international community needs to be united in calling the parties back to the negotiating table, [to] respect the ceasefire and protect civilians.”
 
The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and marked the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a Russian-backed ceasefire in 1994.
 
In this image taken from a video provided by ArmNews TV, people carry out an injured man from the Holy Savior Cathedral after the church was shelled by Azerbaijan’s artillery outside Stepanakert in the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on Oct. 8, 2020. (ArmNews TV via AP)
 
Armenia said it’s open to holding a ceasefire. Azerbaijan has made a potential truce conditional on the Armenian forces’ withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, arguing that the failure of international efforts to negotiate a settlement left it with no choice but to try to reclaim its lands by force.
 
Champagne said he asked his Turkish counterpart to use his influence to convince Azerbaijan to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions.
 
Champagne said Cavusoglu agreed with him “that there is no military solution to this conflict.”
 
But in a televised address to the nation on Friday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev dismissed such statements, saying that nearly three decades of international talks “haven’t yielded an inch of progress, we haven’t been given back an inch of the occupied lands.”
 
“Mediators and leaders of some international organizations have stated that there is no military solution to the conflict,” Aliyev said. “I have disagreed with the thesis, and I have been right. The conflict is now being settled by military means and political means will come next.”
 
Champagne said he “deplores” any suggestion that force is the best way to resolve the conflict.
 
 
“We’re calling on the parties to respect the ceasefire, to protect civilians, to cease the hostilities,” Champagne said. “Conflicts are resolved around the negotiating table, not on the battlefield.”
 
Last week, Champagne suspended the export of sophisticated Canadian drone technology to Turkey in response to allegations that it is being used by the Azerbaijani military against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
Turkey has denied transferring arms or military personnel or jihadist mercenaries to Azerbaijan, though Cavusoglu has pledged to be at Azerbaijan’s side both “on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”
 
 Disarmament group Project Ploughshares has argued that Canadian exports of drone technology to Turkey breach not only Canadian legislation but also its international commitments under the UN Arms Trade Treaty.
 
“We will continue to have a very thorough investigation because Canada has one of the most robust export regimes in the world,” Champagne said. “And I intend to respect not only the letter of the law but the spirit.”
 
A packed itinerary
 
Champagne said he will travel to Greece, Austria, Belgium and Lithuania for a series of meetings with the political leadership of these countries, as well as top European Union and NATO officials.
 
Champagne said the first stop on his whirlwind tour of Europe will be Greece, where he will meet with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias.
 
“This is going to be a very important bilateral visit,” Champagne said. “I’m told that the last one occurred some 20 years ago.”
 
The two sides will be discussing the dispute between Turkey and Greece over maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, he said.
 
“Canada has been engaged since the beginning, engaging with other partners through NATO in particular to try to see how we can de-escalate,” Champagne said.
 
Then it’s off to Vienna for a series of meetings at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), headquartered in the Austrian capital.
 
The OSCE plays an important role in the search for a negotiated solution to the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through its Minsk Group mechanism, Champagne said.
 
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference in Brussels Jan. 6, 2020. (Virginia Mayo/The Associated Press)
 
In Vienna, Champagne will also meet with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg. Then, Canada’s top diplomat will be flying to Brussels for a series of meetings with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
 
Discussions with Stoltenberg will focus on the security situation in Europe and around the world, Champagne said.
 
While in Brussels, Champagne will meet with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
 
Champagne is also planning to meet Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes before moving on to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where he will hold a “mini-summit” with his counterparts from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
 
Canada has refused to recognize Alexander Lukashenko’s claim that he won Belarus’s election. (Maxim Guchek, BelTA/Pool Photo via The Associated Press)
 
While in Vilnius, Minister Champagne will also be meeting with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the disputed Aug. 9 presidential election in Belarus and the violent crackdown by President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed a landslide win in the polls.
 
Canada has refused to recognize Lukashenko’s victory and his subsequent inauguration and has slapped sanctions on him, his eldest son and 12 other Belarusian officials Canada accuses of being involved in rigging the election results and ordering the violent crackdown on tens of thousands of protesters.
 
Champagne will leave for Europe on Sunday and return back to Canada on Saturday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Without Russian Aid to Armenia, Azerbaijan Has the Upper Hand in Nagorno-Karabakh

Frangulian Shushan
Foreign Policy
Oct 9 2020
 
 
 
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has overplayed his hand by spouting belligerent nationalist rhetoric and refusing to negotiate—and Putin isn’t coming to his rescue.
 
By Robert M. Cutler | October 9, 2020, 5:02 AM
 
he renewal of fighting in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenian forces could have been foretold. A four-day outbreak of hostilities in mid-July occurred in northwest Azerbaijan, 60 miles away from Nagorno-Karabakh, but that is not even the proximate cause of today’s fighting.
 
The current conflict broke out in the late 1980s, when Armenians in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) began organizing to take the territory out of Azerbaijan. When the NKAO Regional Council voted to unite with the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in February 1988, central Soviet authorities abolished the local government and instituted direct rule from Moscow.
 
In 1992, a year after the two countries became independent, Armenian forces seized control of the “Lachin corridor,” a winding mountain road since improved with funds from the Armenian diaspora, connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Turning northward, they then seized and held the Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan. They continued, until early last month, to hold not only the former NKAO but seven additional Azerbaijani districts outside the former NKAO, forming a bloc having a long common border with Armenia.
 
For a quarter century, Azerbaijan has had to support a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons representing 10 percent of its total population.
 
That was the situation when the war ended in 1994. Despite periodic skirmishes, the worst of which were in 2016, the status quo remained—until last month. The whole area under occupation represents 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory. No fewer than four U.N. Security Council Resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884) adopted in 1993 called for Armenian troops to leave all these occupied territories without delay.
 
Approximately 800,000 Azerbaijanis were ethnically cleansed from those areas. Another 200,000 were driven out of Armenia proper, finding shelter as refugees in Azerbaijan. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set up its “Minsk Group”—co-chaired by the United States, France, and Russia—to promote negotiations for settlement of the conflict. For a quarter century, Azerbaijan has had to support a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons representing 10 percent of its total population.
 
________________________________
 
Azerbaijan was patient for over a generation. With Armenia, it subscribed to the Madrid Principles for a settlement, proposed by the Minsk Group more than a decade ago. These called for returning the seven districts around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; giving Nagorno-Karabakh an interim status that would provide “guarantees for security and self-governance”; linking it with Armenia by a corridor; determining its final legal status “through a legally binding _expression_ of will”; returning all refugees and displaced people to their former places of residence; and putting in place a peacekeeping operation.
 
These negotiations languished. Azerbaijan warned over the years that the use of force would be a last resort if the peace process were exhausted. This resort to force finally occurred after Armenia overtly and unilaterally rejected the Madrid Principles.
 
Azerbaijan warned over the years that the use of force would be a last resort if the peace process were exhausted. This resort to force finally occurred after Armenia overtly and unilaterally rejected the Madrid Principles.
 
That rejection of the agreed basis for talks brought negotiations to an impasse. Baku still attempted to revive the defunct peace talks. By doing so, it probably sent Yerevan the wrong signal.
 
Azerbaijan warned over the years that the use of force would be a last resort if the peace process were exhausted. This resort to force finally occurred after Armenia overtly and unilaterally rejected the Madrid Principles.
 
Instead, Armenia completely discarded the Madrid Principles. The country’s current prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power in what resembled a “color revolution” in May 2018, was initially conciliatory toward Azerbaijan. Early on, he gave the impression that he was an open interlocutor ready to discuss thorny issues. Unfortunately, he was unable to make good on the many promises he made to the Armenian public—promises that, if realized, would have improved Armenia’s isolated socioeconomic situation and heavy dependence on Russia. After failing to deliver on these preelection promises, Pashinyan became a victim of the irredentist nationalism seemingly required to survive in Armenian domestic politics.
 
Trapped there, he seems then to have fallen hostage to his own nationalist rhetoric, which has in turn strengthened domestic Armenian populism and militarism. This irredentist nationalism finally touched not just the Nagorno-Karabakh issue—which Pashinyan, like his predecessors, politically manipulated—but extended to other neighbors beyond Azerbaijan.
 
 
 
 

Aliyev’s statement on capturing Hadrut is “total lie”, says Artsakh

Maral Takmazian

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 17:38, 9 October, 2020

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev’s statement on his military having captured the town of Hadrut in Artsakh is a “total lie”, Artsakh presidential spokesperson Vahram Poghosyan told ARMENPRESS.

He said Aliyev’s statements are “from the genre of non-science fantasy.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Meeting of Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani FMs kicks off in Mosco

Emil Lazarian
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 17:36, 9 October, 2020

MOSCOW, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The consultations of foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan – Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Sergey Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov, have kicked off in Moscow, Armenpress correspondent reports.

The meeting agenda will focus exclusively on cessations of hostilities in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, humanitarian issues of exchanging bodies and prisoners of war.

On October 8 President of Russia Vladimir Putin urged to cease the military operations in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, citing humanitarian reasons. The Kremlin reported that the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been invited to Moscow for holding consultations on this issue on October 9.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Photos by Hayk Manukyan


Russian WarGonzo publishes footage from Hadrut

Torgomian Varazdat

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 18:04, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Reporters of the Russian WarGonzo have published a photo from Artsakh’s Hadrut town in their Telegram channel, saying ‘’Someone has taken Hadrut’’.

Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has announced about capturing Hadrut. WarGonzo’s team has just returned from there. ’’The town is under the control of the Defense Army’’, says the Telegram channel of WarGonzo.

Representative of the Defense Ministry of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan also informed that he is in Hadrut. ‘’I am in Hadrut right now and ‘’for some reasons’’ I see only Armenians here’’, Hovhannisyan said.

Earlier Vahram Poghosyan, spokesperson of Artsakh’s President’ said that Aliyev’s claims of occupying Hadrut is a total lie.

[see video]

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Russian reporter injured by Azerbaijani bombing if Shushi church to be taken to Russia

Vanyan Gary

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 20:00, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The two Russian journalists injured by Azerbaijani bombing of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of Artsakh’s Shushi town will taken to Russia with the governmental delegation, ARMENPRESS reports, citing Ria Novosti, the reporters covering Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin’s working visit to Yerevan will return to Moscow with the same plane.

On October 8 the Azerbaijani forces bombed Shushi’s Ghazanchetsots Cathedral twice. One of the Russian reporters has been critically injured. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has announced that the regular targeting of international reporters in Artsakh by Azerbaijan is aimed at preventing them from covering the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan. Earlier two French reporters had been injured. Azerbaijan has banned international reporters to cover the developments from the territory of Azerbaijan.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Clashes on Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line continue

Emma Nadirian

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 21:09, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Clashes continue on Artsakh –Azerbaijan contact line, ARMENPRESS reports representative of MoD Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a press conference.

‘’Clashes started today morning with new intensity, they still go on. As usual, clashes take place also at night, but they intensify in the morning. Our Armed Forces continue to adequately retaliate, repelling  them to their initial positions’’, Hovhannisyan said, adding that Azerbaijan has suffered serious losses during the day.

Azerbaijan unleashed war against Artsakh on September 27. Turkey explicitly support Azerbaijan both politically and militarily, particularly the Turkish air forces are directly involved in the military operations. On September 29 a Turkish F-16 fighter jet downed an Armenian SU-25 jet in the Armenian air force. The pilot did not survive. Turkey has also deployed thousands of terrorists and jihadists from northern Syria in Azerbaijan to fight against Artsakh.

Azerbaijan has targeted civilian population and infrastructures from the first days of the war, but in the last days they do it more intensively. 22 civilians have died so far, 2 of them in the Republic of Armenia, Vardenis region. International reporters are being deliberately targeted. 2 French reporters were injured in Martuni town on October 1 as a result of Azerbaijani bombing of the municipality of the town. 1 of them was in critical situation but was able to survive. On October 8 Russian reporters were injured as a result of the Azerbaijani high precision strikes against Shushi’s Ghazanchetsots Cathedral. One of the reporters is in critical situation.

Azerbaijan has banned international reporter from covering the developments from the frontline.  

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Pashinyan says recognition of Nagorno Karabakh’s independence only way to prevent genocide threat

Liana Toganian

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 18:20, 9 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh are under the threat of genocide, therefore, the recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh by the international community and the European countries is the way to prevent it, ARMENPRESS reports Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced in an interview with Italian La Republica.

‘’Turkey’s return to South Caucasus means the resumption of the Armenian Genocide when the Ottoman Empire massacred 1.5 million Armenians’’, Pashinyan said.

To the question about the situation in the frontline, PM Pashinyan answered, ‘’Azerbaijanis bomb cities and villages indiscriminately, targeting particularly the civilian population, making them abandon their homes and hide in shelters. But in the frontline intensive clashes take place, the Armenian side successfully resists, and I can say that the Azerbaijani army has recorded no strategic success.

La Republica – Do you confirm Ankara’s direct involvement?

PM Pashinyan – I think it’s already proved and for substantiating this it’s just necessary to pay attention to public statements. I don’t speak about the publication of New York Times , where Turkish F-16 fighter jets were in Ganja airport. We were alarming during this period that Turkish F-16 jets are involved in the military operations, but they were denying it. Finally, it has been proved. Also it’s very important to pay attention to the public announcements made by high ranking Turkish officials. I will bring an example. When the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair countries issue a statement that it’s necessary to cease hostilities as soon as possible, Turkey announces that it hopes that Azerbaijan will not cease military operations. It also announces that it supports Azerbaijan both in the diplomatic arena and in the battlefield.

La Republica  – What can you say about the Syrian terrorists in the frontline?

PM Pashinyan – It has been internationally confirmed that Turkey has deployed jihadists in Azerbaijan for helping Azerbaijanis. This is the reason that fights take place also against terrorism in a frontline where civilization counters barbarism. Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are the last obstacle for Ankara’s expansionism and if the international community does hurry to intervene, they will soon see the Turks near the doors of Vienna, like it happened in the 17th century.

La Republica – What do you expect from the international community?

PM Pashinyan – First of all, to recognize the fact that Nagorno Karabakh has been attacked by Azerbaijan, the troops of which carried out military exercises with the Turkish troops for a month. It’s necessary to understand the danger that the jihadists pose in the conflict zone. And it’s necessary to record that the Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh are under the threat of genocide. Therefore, the recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh by the international community and the European countries is the way to prevent this threat.

To the question if Moscow will intervene if Armenia requests it, Pashinyan said that Russia has some obligations based on a security treaty that refer to concrete cases and circumstances and in case those circumstances occur, Russia will definitely fulfill its treaty obligations.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Newsweek: The war on Armenia threatens American interests |

Emma Nadirian
Newsweek
Oct 9 2020
Gavin Wax , President, New York Young Republican Club and associate fellow, London Center for Policy Research
On 10/9/20 at 6:30 AM EDT               
slamist aggression and expansion into the lands of a Christian people shouldn’t be a 21st century reality, but it is. Making matters worse, the aggressors in today’s conflict receive U.S. foreign aid. It’s time for the U.S. to respond to Azerbaijan and Turkey’s assault on Armenians.

Hundreds of people, including civilians, have been killed as the second week of heavy clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan potentially turns into a third. The war is over disputed territory widely called the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but known as the Republic of Artsakh to its Armenian defenders.

The Republic of Artsakh is almost totally Armenian, about 99 percent. Part of the oldest Christian state in the world, it remains a front line against encroaching Islamism. A war over the land has been officially ongoing since the fall of the Soviet Union, but a 1994 ceasefire deal maintained a relative standstill until major escalations from Azerbaijan on September 27. Thomas de Waal, an expert on the region, has identified Azerbaijan as the aggressor in this most recent flare up.

Armenia has also called out Turkey, a strategic NATO partner for the U.S., for leading much of the onslaught. Turkey’s reported actions are consistent with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s effort to build a neo-Ottoman empire, leading offenses against Kurds in their territories as well as Greeks in the Aegean and Cyprus.

Turkey is reportedly aiding Azerbaijan’s assault with armed drones and by recruiting the same Syrian “moderate rebels” that former president Barack Obama employed to take down the Syrian government. As those hired fighters failed their mission to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, they are in desperate need for a paid opportunity to prove themselves.

Think of it. Those “moderate rebel” Islamists who received U.S. weaponry just a few short years ago are now involved in the violent takeover of a Christian community of more than 150,000 people.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean the U.S. government or military should be called upon to clean up the mess. There’s a good chance direct intervention would only make things worse.

However, an America First geopolitical outlook must never underestimate the United States’ immense economic power, including the ability to impose trade sanctions, to punish or ward off bad behavior in the South Caucasus as well as from Turkey.

After all, how could Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s actions against Armenia serve any strategic benefit to the U.S.? The war is an unnecessary foreign adventure that apparently the U.S. is expected to support or at least smooth out in the fiery end.

In addition to the indirect assistance and lobbying the U.S. does on behalf of Turkey at the international level, that country receives about $153 million from the American taxpayer in the form of foreign aid. Azerbaijan gets around $14 million. Keeping those dollars home would be the easiest thing to do first.

Beyond that, Turkey’s membership in NATO should be up for removal. It’s already been talked about in Congress for over a year.

If the U.S. doesn’t bring enough pressure to bear on Turkey and Azerbaijan to end their hostilities, there is clearly no reason to continue aiding them or even keeping a strategic partnership. There is no current U.S. interest worth risking the destruction of an ancient Christian civilization, and it’s difficult to fathom how there ever could be one.

There is a U.S. interest in preserving Christian peoples in the Middle East. The establishment foreign policy that unfortunately still lingers in the background of the Trump administration disregarded that national interest in favor of endless wars in the region.

In Iraq, Islamism grew at the expense of some 1.5 million Iraqi Christians, many of whom are no longer there. The subsequent destruction of Christian churches and sites in Iraq and Syria was painful to watch. The threats to U.S. national security only grew as a result.

Armenians have already lost much of their Christian cultural heritage to the Soviet Union, and before that to the Turks during the Armenian genocide. In the Republic of Artsakh, a few sites remain, including a monastery dating back to the 4th century. To protect what’s left, the U.S. should officially recognize Artsakh, as the Armenians have no ambition or desire to conquer beyond its borders.

The U.S. shouldn’t be expected to police the world, but it must do right by the American taxpayers who are footing the bill for billions of dollars in foreign aid, not to mention generating the nation’s economic power. An America First foreign policy must continue to eclipse the status quo foreign policy, and a great first step would be to stop all indirect assistance of those destroying Armenia’s Christian civilization.

Gavin Wax is president of the New York Young Republican Club, chair of the Association of Young Republican Clubs, digital director for the Young Republican National Federation, an associate fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and a frequent guest on Fox News. You can follow him on Twitter at @GavinWax.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.