Category: 2020

Azerbaijan’s brazen speculation – denial of the attack against Ghazanchetsots Cathedral vs. facts

Aram Torosian

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 19:52, 8 October, 2020

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi town of Artsakh appeared under Azerbaijani strikes twice on October 8. Following the 1st strike, when the Azerbaijani military leadership understood that its crime against civilization will receive an international reaction, hurried to deny any links with it. But hours later the strikes again took place, unfortunately injuring international journalists, who were there to cover that unexplainable hate crime.

The Azerbaijani side is trying to mislead the international community, saying that they have not bombed Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral.

Of course, lies, fake news and overt manipulations of the Azerbaijani officials do not surprise anyone in the recent period.

It’s important for us to expose this lie, since it’s a crime against civilization.

Facts:

  1. Azerbaijan carried out strikes against Ghazanchetsots Cathedral of Shushi and the published materials prove it.

  1. Following the strikes the Azerbaijani defense ministry announces that it has not targeted Ghazanchetsots Cathedral , but again strikes it minutes after the announcement.

A number of journalists were injured as a result of the Azerbaijani strikes against the Cathedral. One of them, a Russian reporter, is in critical situation and is undergoing surgery.

 

Reactions:  

  1. Primate of the Artsakh Diocese, His Holiness Pargev. ‘’They are striking our spiritual values, despite the fact that we renovate Mosques. This is the handwriting of the ‘’Islamic State’’.
  2. Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. ‘’Condemning the act and assessing it as an act of extreme religious intolerance, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin addresses the Pastors of churches, the international community and organizations, inter-church and inter-religious organizations to raise a decisive voice for the sake of stopping the bloodshed, protection of the right of the people of Artsakh to free and independent life and unconditional preservation of ancient religious-cultural heritage’’.
  3. Syrian-Russian journalist Abbas Juma. ‘’It’s an extremely important church for all Armenians. Of course, I greatly regret that this conflict starts to acquire religious nature. Azerbaijanis gave it a religious nature long ago and I can see it from the rhetoric in the social media. Many in Azerbaijan perceive it as a fight for the sake of Islam’’.

 

Azerbaijan’s brazen speculation

The first announcement of the Azerbaijani side attempted to insinuate that probably it was the Armenian armed forces that struck the Cathedral. Without trying to understand the ridicule of the announcement, let’s see some facts.

Capital of Artsakh Stepanakert was being heavily bombed from Shushi in 1992. The Azerbaijanis kept their ammunition in Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral .

Bellow is the footage of the 1st Lord’s Prayer at Ghazanchetsots Cathedral following the liberation of Shushi.

The boxes full of ammunition can be seen in the footage. Their kept the ammunition in the Cathedral because they knew that Armenians would never strike their own church and that’s why this wwas the safest place for them.

Hero of Artsakh, Commander of Shushi liberation operation Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan famous as Kamandos assessed the October 8 strike of Azerbaijani army as an act of a beast, atrocity.

‘’ Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi is the symbol of Shushi, it’s our belief. When we were kept under fire from Shushi in 1990s, we were looking at that town with great love. What the adversary is doing, is an act of a beast. When peace come, we will again restore it’’, Komandos said.

 

About the Cathedral

Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral  of Shushi is an exclusive historical, cultural and spiritual heritage for South Caucasus.

This Church is the center of Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It was built in 1868-1887. After Gandzasar, it’s Artsakh’s second most important spiritual center.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

Amid Nagorno-Karabakh clashes, an Indian restaurant is helping displaced Armenians

Ani Basmajian
The Indian Express
Oct 7 2020
Written by Neha Banka
Parvez Ali Khan and his family, along with restaurant employees, have been working 12-hour shifts to prepare food packages for displaced people in Yerevan, Armenia. (Photo: Aqsa Khan)

When fresh clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus approximately two weeks ago, Parvez Ali Khan knew that he had to do something for the country that he now calls home. Khan, a 47-year-old from Patiala, India, had moved to Armenia five years ago with his wife and two daughters, in the hope of economic prospects and now runs Indian Mehak Restaurant and Bar, a two-year-old establishment located in the heart of capital Yerevan, just minutes away from Republic Square.

 Parvez Ali Khan runs Indian Mehak Restaurant and Bar in Yerevan, Armenia. (Photo credit: Aqsa Khan)

Since fighting broke out on September 27, Armenian officials have said that the total military death toll has gone up to 244 as of October 6, according to a Reuters report, making it one of the most violent clashes in the region since the 1990s. It is unclear how many people have been forced to leave Karabakh since the fighting began, but social media posts and witness reports suggest the numbers are high.

“I must have seen approximately 30,000 refugees in Yerevan,” Khan says. On October 4, on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the family announced that they were providing freshly-cooked Indian food to people who had fled the Nagorno-Karabakh region and were seeking refuge in the capital. “We are Punjabis and we help people wherever we are. We have always done it,” Khan says.

Since the clashes have intensified, Armenians across the country have stepped in to help in whatever way they can, and Khan says he wanted to do his bit. So he turned to the resources he had easy access to—his restaurant’s kitchen.  People from the Nagorno-Karabakh region who were seeking refuge in Yerevan were being given dry ingredients, with no access to facilities where they could cook, Khan says.

Overnight, he turned his kitchen into a space where his staff could prepare hundreds of food packages to distribute in the capital. “I had some savings that I had kept aside to open a restaurant in Prague. That didn’t materialise due to the coronavirus outbreak. So I am using those funds for this.”

“We started on October 4, and it just blew up,” says 20-year-old Aqsa, Khan’s elder daughter. “We knew there were refugees, but we didn’t know there were so many.” Since then, Khan and his family, along with four employees, have been working 12-hour shifts to prepare boxes with rice and naan, chole-bhature, vegetable dishes with potatoes, brinjal etc., all cooked using less spice than what is customary in Punjabi cooking, to suit the preferences of Armenians.

But the family doesn’t think they are doing anything unusual. “There is a lot of unity in Armenia,” Aqsa explains, pointing to citizens who have come together to donate whatever was possible—from money to essentials. “We were thinking about how we could help. So we first posted on the Facebook page about donating proceeds from delivery and take-out orders. But then we saw that the refugees didn’t have access to fresh food and we thought this was more impactful.”

Aqsa says that the family found inspiration for the initiative when a local resident approached the restaurant asking for dry ingredients that she could use to prepare food for children to whom she was providing shelter. The family offered cooked Indian food instead. “We thought that we would be doing it for 25 to 30 people only,” says Khan. But the family soon realised that there were many more who needed their assistance.

Aqsa and her sister Alsa, 18, then took to Facebook and announced that the restaurant was offering Indian food to whoever was coming in from Artsakh, another name for Nagorno-Karabakh. “On the first day, some 400 people asked for help,” says Khan. “It grew from there,” Aqsa adds.

As their social media post has spread, the Khans’ phones haven’t stopped ringing. While some callers have been requesting for food packages, many others have reached out to the restaurant to offer assistance in any way they can. “Women are calling us to ask if we need help in the kitchen. People are bringing their cars to help distribute the food,” says Khan.

Recently, a volunteer delivered food from the restaurant all the way to Hrazdan, a town some 50 kms away, where some residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have sought refuge. Another volunteer has helped deliver food to Tsaghkadzor, a town a little further away. While the Khans are cooking the dishes, four Armenians have stepped in to help package the food and deliver it across Yerevan.

“Now refugees are calling us directly, as are organisations who are helping them. Some hotels who have been hosting refugees have also asked us to provide (food packages) for one meal a day,” says Aqsa. “I have never seen anything like this.”

 

Parvez Ali Khan helps load food packages into a waiting van outside his restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia. (Photo: Aqsa Khan)

Since the initiative is only a few days old, for now, Khan is making use of his restaurant’s supplies to prepare these food packages. The restaurant has found an outpouring of support from people across Armenia and even those in the diaspora. Many have left them messages of gratitude, promising to visit the restaurant when they can. “After the war, I will visit your restaurant and celebrate our victory,” says one message on their Facebook page, with hundreds of others in a similar vein.

There aren’t too many Indians in Armenia, says Khan, and his establishment is among the few prominent Indian restaurants in the country. In Yerevan alone, he believes, there must be around 100 Indian families, with approximately 4,000 Indian students studying medicine, scattered in universities across the country. Following the Indian government’s operation of Vande Bharat flights to help citizens overseas return home during the coronavirus pandemic, many have temporarily left.

 

The Khan family and their employees pose with the Indian and Armenian national flags in their restaurant’s kitchen in Yerevan, Armenia. (Photo credit: Indian Mehak Restaurant and Bar)

Over the past five years, Khan says his daughters have developed a fondness for Armenia. During their years at school and college in the country, they have made friends, learnt the language and the culture and have adapted well here, while holding on to their Indian citizenship. “They like the country.” The family has been working non-stop to prepare the food packages and they don’t have too much time for more questions. For Aqsa, Nagorno-Karabakh is as much a cause as it is for her Armenian friends and she is doing whatever she and her family can to assist the country that is now home.


Perspectives | The Armenia-Azerbaijan war: What is peace and why compromise?

Badalian Vardan
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 7 2020
Marina Nagai and Sophia Pugsley Oct 7, 2020

A commentary

In the reams of analysis emerging on the renewed Nagorny-Karabakh conflict, little is being said about “hearts and minds,” or how Armenians and Azerbaijanis can use their own will and imagination toward a peaceful resolution.

There is a common acknowledgement that the war is about identities, sacred values, and conflicting histories, but there has been staggeringly little understanding of how big a role public attitudes and sentiment play in political decision-making. Indeed, decisions in Baku and Yerevan are more often explained using hard security and geopolitical terms. An example of this, which came as a surprise for many, was the mass discontent and spontaneous mobilization in Baku following clashes with Armenia in July, when thousands of people took to the streets to call for an armed resolution to the conflict and signed up to volunteer on the front line.

At the end of 2018, the peacebuilding NGO International Alert conducted a qualitative study of public attitudes in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh. This study was, in many ways, eye-opening and deeply worrying as, despite its purpose to envision peace, it found overwhelming acceptance of violence and human sacrifice as the only way to solve this conflict; many felt war was inevitable.

For example, when respondents stated a preference for “peace,” definitions differed radically, underscoring why it has proven so elusive: an absence of violence, a ceasefire, and stability for Armenians; restoration of what they see as historical justice through the return of IDPs and lands, dignity and international order for Azerbaijanis. These mutually exclusive interpretations of the word “peace” keep the sides in parallel universes and block any capacity to imagine a peace together.

Political leaders benefit from an ambiguous, rhetorical use of “peace,” mostly for external audiences. Over decades of working on and in the Nagorny-Karabakh context, we have seen the ebbs and flows of the mediation process with phases of “creating more favorable conditions for preparing public opinion for peace” in 2007, “facilitating people-to-people contact for peace” in 2014 and, most recently, “preparing the populations for peace” in 2019.

Similarly, compromise – a contentious, even taboo notion which arouses strong reactions on all sides of the conflict – is understood differently. Each side accepts compromise, but only from the opposite party; there is little reflection on what concessions societies and individuals are prepared to make themselves. The essential reciprocity, in which both parties give up something that they want in order to get something else they want more, is perceived as loss and an outright humiliation. Of course, some things cannot be compromised on because they cut to the core of an individual’s or group’s identity or survival. That said, unrealistic expectations delegitimize the opponent’s fears, hopes and aspirations, removing the other side from the equation altogether.

In recent days, while we are all grasping at any sign of hope for the region, it is remarkable to see that there have been desperate calls for peace from Armenians and Azerbaijanis around the world. But beyond the undisputedly symbolic and signaling value of such calls lies a challenge for peacebuilding work, as “peace” is neither ceasefire, appeasement, nor absence of war.

Peace is when people manage disagreements without violence and engage in inclusive social change processes that improve the quality of life for everyone. This is the idea of interdependent, “positive” peace that drives painstaking efforts to transform this conflict. However dry and academic they may appear, these concepts and definitions are important in the meanings they carry. Unpacking these meanings is the basis for what societies do to achieve peace, depending on how they – ordinary citizens, not political and intellectual elites – imagine and conceptualize it.

It is for a good reason that monitoring and influencing public opinion has been a key part of peace processes in other contexts, such as Northern Ireland. One place to start in the Karabakh conflict is to listen, understand, and engage with what ordinary people feel and think. This engagement means supporting them in their own search for peace; this search will likely be the hardest thing they will have ever faced, requiring considerable courage, long-term commitment, and tenacity to overcome difficulties and failures along the way.

 

Marina Nagai and Sophia Pugsley work on peace-building initiatives in the South Caucasus with International Alert.


Rising Armenia-Azerbaijan tensions pose big questions of EU

Hunanian Jack
The Irish Times
Oct 8 2020
  
               

Naomi O’Leary Europe Correspondent


s a group of office workers in the Brussels bubble prepared to wind down for the weekend last Friday, an email appeared in their inboxes that made them sit up. It was a note from a colleague announcing he was taking a leave of absence to go to war. 

His native Armenia had declared martial law and universal military mobilisation of able citizens aged over 18. He had been summoned to serve his nation, he wrote, “and I proudly take it as an honour”.

This jolt to the heart of Brussels sums up how the burgeoning conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has implications that reach across Europe.

This is because the dispute – though it centres on a remote region with the unfamiliar name of Nagorno-Karabakh – involves the interests of a knot of large military powers that are already set against each other in theatres of conflict elsewhere.

The conflict has its roots in the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when the ethnic Armenian majority in Nagorno-Karabakh began agitating to become part of Armenia or be independent, despite the territory coming to be internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

The ensuing war killed tens of thousands. Sporadic clashes between the two neighbours have continued since a peace deal was reached in 1994, with Moscow maintaining regional dominance and selling weapons to both sides.

Nato member Turkey has an interest too, sharing close ethnic ties with Azerbaijan, as well as mutual antipathy towards Armenia. This week Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu travelled to the capital, Baku, to express solidarity with Azerbaijan as it sounded a martial note. 

The policy reflects the increased assertiveness of the regime of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Cyprus to Libya to Syria, as it seeks leverage over rivals and increased influence across a region where it historically held sway. Its involvement in the latest conflict opens up yet another area in the EU’s neighbourhood in which Turkey and Russia are on opposite sides of a proxy fight.

“There is a coming collision course between Turkey and Russia in this region. Turkey has been forced out as a player in the region years ago by Russia … Turkey sees an opportunity geopolitically to regain its lost role,” says Richard Giragosian, director of the Armenia-based Regional Studies Center.

“Erdogan is very much the same kind of authoritarian risk-taker as Vladimir Putin. Clash of the titans, or clash of the titanic egos,” he adds. “This is the inherent threat to Europe, which is already unprepared to deal with Victor Orban in Hungary, and these authoritarian strongman policies.”

Meanwhile, there is the matter of Armenia and Azerbaijan’s other neighbour: Iran, which is home to communities with origins in both. 

Tehran has complained of rocket fire and bullets spilling into its territory from the fighting. On Wednesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani issued a warning that it would not tolerate “terrorists” on its borders following reports that Turkey had moved Syrian mercenary fighters into Azerbaijan.

“We must be careful that this war does not turn into a regional war and those who pour gasoline on this war should pay attention that its continuation is not in the interest of any country,” Rouhani said in a statement issued by the government.

Each power involved may feel compelled to intervene to protect their interests, a combination that has drawn comparisons to the domino effect that caused the assassination of an archduke to lead to the first World War.

With the United States distracted and in a phase of withdrawal from overseas concerns, attention has turned to Brussels to see if the European Union is willing – or able – to bear an influence to prevent deepening instability in what it refers to as its “eastern neighbourhood”.

The bloc quickly called for peaceful dialogue and released €500,000 in humanitarian aid for the civilian populations affected by the fighting on both sides.

But on Wednesday, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell faced calls to do more as he was summoned to give an account of the European Commission’s response by the European Parliament.

The debate began with an intervention by Cypriot MEP Lefteris Christoforou, who appealed for an immediate response to a new incursion into a disputed area of the divided island by the Turkish side. One after another MEPs called for the EU to do more. But Borrell responded with characteristic frankness about the hard power limitations of the bloc.

“All of you have been asking to act, but I have heard very few concrete versions of the verb ‘act’. What do you mean by ‘act’?” Borrell asked the MEPs. The bloc’s response to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he explained, would be what had been agreed by the national leaders of the EU: to support the OSCE Minsk Group, the mediating body that has sought to broker peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia since 1992.

This means “a negotiated solution, pushing both sides to stop the fighting, and especially putting pressure on Turkey to not continue to intervene”, Borrell summarised. “But to ‘act’ – if you mean by ‘act’ taking military action – is completely out of the question.”

Links to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Clashes – Day 10-11 – Oct 6-7, 2020

Emil Lazarian
To Armenian News Readers:
 
In order to minimize the number of individual posts on Armenian News Website,
the links to some repetitive items from major sources are listed
below.
 
Thank you
 
———-
 
 
The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Why Armenia and Azerbaijan Are Fighting Again
 
‘This Is A Fight For Survival’: Thousands March In Glendale To Bring Awareness To Azerbaijan-Armenian Conflict
 https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/10/05/los-angeles-glendale-armenia-azerbaijan-conflict-protests/amp/?fbclid=IwAR1kTcco9qEq3WtvndDQO6ElbcESCv5JCtsT2zCn3_XH8VX9UU0n9U86Zgg
 
Hopes of a ceasefire fading in Nagorno-Karabakh as fighting continues
 https://www.euronews.com/2020/10/06/hopes-of-a-ceasefire-fading-in-nagorno-karabakh-amid-flare-up-of-violence
 
Hundreds gather in Glendale as protests supporting Armenia continue
 
Live updates: Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh enters tenth day
 
Armenia may make concessions over Karabakh if Azerbaijan is ready to do the same
 
 Syria’s Assad blames Turkey for fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh as clashes continue
 
 Assad blames Turkey for Karabakh clashes
 
Armenians Fight to Hold Ancient Homeland Within Azerbaijan
 
UEFA has changed the venue of Armenia vs Georgia match
 
Fighting Intensifies in Nagorno-Karabakh; Turkey Testing Both Russia, US
 
Armenian PM Blames Turkey for Deadly Karabakh Escalation
 
 Turkey wants to carry out another genocide, Armenian President says
 
 Armenia and Azerbaijan clash as Iran works on peace plan
 https://news.yahoo.com/armenia-azerbaijan-clashes-resume-over-090756719.html
 
Armenia says Turkey seeks to continue genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh
 
France, U.S. and Russia to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh amid fears of regional war
 
 
Armenian protesters in L.A. decry ‘false equivalence’ in media coverage of conflict
 
Foreign powers step up push for Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire: Live
 
 European Union calls for an end to fighting between Armenian & Azerbaijani forces
 https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-07/european-union-calls-for-an-end-to-fighting-between-armenian-and-azerbaijani-forces
 
France, U.S. and Russia to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh amid fears of regional war
 
 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is spiraling out of control
 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/07/opinion/armenia-azerbaijan-conflict-is-spiraling-out-control/
 
Turkey’s involvement in the Karabakh conflict could harm Azerbaijan, warns journalist Rovshan Aliyev
 
 Half Karabakh population displaced as Putin says tragedy must end
 
Assad blames Turkey for Karabakh clashes
 
France, Russia Call Azerbaijan, Armenia to Talks to End Fighting
 
Cardi B apologises for supporting Armenia fundraiser after backlash
 
Bizarre! Azerbaijan Releases Heavy Metal Song Video Amid Violent Clashes With Armenia
 
Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict: The human cost of war in pictures
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia

Andranik Taslakhchian
Greek City Times
Oct 7 2020
by Paul Antonopoulos

The Azerbaijani government and media have repeatedly been caught making fake news about progress in its invasion of the Armenian-majority region of Artsakh.

Although Turks and Azeris are linguistic and cultural kin, often saying that they constitute “one nation in two states,” it appears that this shared affinity also extends into their authoritarian and dictatorial style of governance with a heavy-handed control of the media.

Turkey is one of the lowest ranked countries for media freedoms in the world, is the second most susceptible country surveyed on the European continent to fake news, has the most journalists jailed in the whole world, and 90% of media is government controlled.

However, topping Turkey, Azerbaijan has an even lower media freedom ranking then, Turkey, placing 168 out of 180 countries, and this has only becoming increasingly evident with the spread of fake news during its invasion attempt of Artsakh.

There are many examples to highlight, but we will point out two of the most glaring obvious.

Azerbaijani media released footage where an Azerbaijani cannot decide whether he is a soldier speaking to an alleged Armenian woman that is being treated courteously by the Azerbaijani army, or a journalist hiding in fear from Armenian bombardment.

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-78870″ src=””//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35.webp” alt=”Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia 2″ width=”673″ height=”755″ srcset=”//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35.webp 673w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-267×300.jpg 267w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-450×505.jpg 450w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-225×252.jpg 225w,//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-35-20×22.jpg 20w” sizes=”(max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px” title=”Azerbaijani media & government repeatedly caught making fake news about war against Armenia 2″>

The Armenian Defense Ministry notes that the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is so poor that it is incapable of even finding different actors for different roles, Armen Press reported.

The pitiful fake of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine

The pitiful fakeness of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine Video by ZINUZH MEDIA

Posted by Armenpress on Wednesday, 7 October 2020

In fact, the fake news was so obvious that Armenian social media users started mocking the Azerbaijani reporter/soldier/actor.

On October 4, Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant of the Azerbaijani Dictator, Ilhem Aliyev, and Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Aliyev’s Administration, was blatantly caught out lying on Twitter.

“Proof of Armenia’s delibarate and targeted attack against critical civilian infrastructure of Azerbaijan. Missile landed in close proximity of energy block in Mingachevir. But did not explode. Peace enforcement must continue to bring Armenia to its senses and responsibility,” he said on Twitter.

One Twitter user asked Mike Mihajlovic, an engineer, defense technologies specialist, and former army officer, to analyze the claims made by Hajiyev.

Mihajlovic highlighted “Fake impact. Staged for the photo ops:

Facts:
– no debris around impact;
– asphalt drilled, not broken during the “high velocity” impact;
– piece of wood to support the missile;
rocket motor without combustion marks;
– brand new looking sign above the door.”

He then highlighted “At a first glance, the ‘impact”‘ angle is [approximately] 55 [degrees]. Unguided rocket flight trajectory is different than for artillery shells because it is propelled flight.”

He then highlighted that weapon that the Armenians allegedly used does not even have the range to reach where it landed even if shot at from the closest point in Armenia.




Turkish Press: Azerbaijan to meet OSCE Minsk Group over Karabakh row

Torgomian Varazdat
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Oct 7 2020
Azerbaijan to meet OSCE Minsk Group over Karabakh row

Ali Cura   | 07.10.2020

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said Wednesday he will visit Switzerland to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.

Ceyhun Bayramov will pay a working visit Thursday as relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, have soured.

Relations have been strained since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory in Azerbaijan.

New clashes erupted Sept. 27 but international calls to halt fighting have gone unanswered. Armenia has continued attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, who are the rightful owners of the occupied region.

The OSCE Minsk Group — co-chaired by France, Russia and the US — was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire was agreed to in 1994.

Turkey has condemned Armenian occupation, and vowed support for Azerbaijan.

*Writing by Handan Kazanci



LAUSD to observe April 24 in recognition of the Armenian Genocide

Chmshkian Vicken
Fox 11 Los Angeles
Oct 8 2020
By Alexi Chidbachian

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Unified School District has voted to observe April 24 as an official school holiday in recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

The board says the Los Angeles Unified community will now have the day off to honor those lost in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. 

Los Angeles is home to the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia and every year on April 24th thousands of people take to the streets of LA and march in commemoration of the genocide.  

“Each year, Armenian families across Los Angeles remember those lost in the first genocide in modern history, and many of them have a direct connection to the tragedy,” Board Member Kelly Gonez said. “This change in our calendar shows Los Angeles Unified’s commitment and solidarity to our Armenian community.” 

The resolution was authored by Board Member Kelly Gonez.

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Due to the large scale commemorative activities held each year, the school board says student absences on April 24th are more than double of those on a typical school day.

Observing April 24th as an official school holiday will now allow students, staff, and faculty to freely participate in events and honor the 1.5 million Armenian who died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

“[The] vote is truly a monumental moment for our community and the legacy of our ancestors. This calendar change will allow our Los Angeles Unified Armenian community to participate and pass on the truth of our history to the younger generations,” the Education Commission of the Armenian National Committee of America – West Region (ANCA-WR) said.

RELATED: Heavy fighting continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan despite ceasefire talks

This decision by the board comes amid rising conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan. As intense shelling continues in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh.

Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began on Sept. 27, since then hundreds have been killed. It is the worst escalation of hostilities since 1994 when a truce ended a war that raged for years.




Wagner-Affiliated Telegram Channel Trolls Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Analysts

Emil Lazarian
Bellingcat
Oct 7 2020

October 7, 2020

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan

With a number of credible reports of foreign fighters engaged in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh on behalf of Azerbaijan, a number of journalists and analysts have looked to one of the world’s most infamous private mercenary companies (PMC), Russia’s Wagner PMC, as a potential actor in the conflict. However, there has not been any firm evidence showing their arrival or involvement in the war which has rocked the South Caucasus since late September. In the search for potential evidence of Wagner’s involvement into the conflict, many have looked to Reverse Side of the Medal (RSOTM), one of the most public channels of communication used by fighters from Russia’s private military companies fighters, especially Wagner and those close to them.

This group operates a Telegram channel, along with pages on Instagram, YouTube, and VKontakte (VK). The group’s most prominent administrator is Mikhail Fomin, writing under the pseudonym “Vladlen Tatarsky” (taken from a novel by popular Russian writer Viktor Pelevin). Fomin previously fought in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). Over the past week, this channel has shared a number of photographs alluding to the arrival of Russian mercenaries — with the Wagner group being the obvious candidate — to Nagorno-Karabakh to assist Armenian forces in their ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan.

Since clashes broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27, they have escalated into a fully-fledged war. Azerbaijani forces have attempted to advance into the region, which is governed by Karabakh Armenians as an unrecognised state with the support of neighbouring Armenia. Turkey has staunchly sided with Azerbaijan. Although Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Moscow is widely understood to have kept some distance from its ally.

In that context, it is understandable that some might have suspicions of Russian boots on the ground. RSOTM has kept them guessing: the channel published a song featuring the name of Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital city Stepanakert and two images: one with a plane, another with a mountainous landscape. The obvious implication was that Wagner fighters (or another Russian private military company) were arriving in Armenia in order to travel to the front lines in Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, further analysis of the images reveal that these posts are nothing but an elaborate troll by the RSOTM admins.

On October 6, RSOTM published a photo of men in camouflage and a plane, captioned “Boarding continues once more”.


The channel also published an old song about the first Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994) by Alexander Korenyugin, a Russian military singer:

“Boarding continues once more,
We know no rest at work.
Stepanakert is burning in the fire of war again,
And once more we fly on a plane”.

With an explicit hint provided, Twitter users assumed that the photo may actually show Russian government-owned IL-96-300 which landed in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on October 5, the day before these posts were made. It was unclear who was on board, and the Armenian Prime Minister’s Spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan told Hetq, an independent investigative publication, that she didn’t know anything about the plane. 

The photo published by RSOTM did not, however, show the IL-96-300 that had arrived in Armenia. A glance at the post actually reveals that this was an old photo forwarded from the same channel on January 14, 2020.  

Russian media soon reported that officials of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) had been on board the IL-96-300. A summit of this economic union, which includes Armenia and several other post-Soviet states, is scheduled in Yerevan on October 9.  On October 6, the RSOTM admins revelled in the fact that a number of analysts, including “the Turkish Ministry of Defence and California University,  wrote about how this recycled photograph of a plane signaled the arrival of Wagner in Armenia.”



Another image published by RSOTM shortly after that of the plane showed a mountainous terrain and was captioned “Good morning, freelancers”.


These RSOTM posts came on the same day that the Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin expressed his concerns over alleged mercenaries in Nagorno-Karabakh.

An initial attempt at geolocation using military outposts near Stepanakert as vantage points revealed a mountainous terrain that actually looked quite similar to the RSOTM photograph. As seen in a Google Earth comparison of a view of a mountain from a missile base near the village of Shosh (coordinates: 39.754396, 46.793617), the general terrain and some features of the vegetation almost match up — if you squint a little.

Further investigation by open-source analyst, @obretix, however, led to a hill in the West of Syria (coordinates: 35.690092, 36.204369), where Wagner mercenaries have previously operated. While the mountain east of Stepanakert did vaguely resemble the RSOTM photograph, this landscape in Syria actually matched with more numerous details, such as the amount of visible vegetation.


Therefore, it can safely be said that neither of the two photos posted by RSOTM on October 6 were taken in Nagorno-Karabakh, or even the South Caucasus. 

As mentioned earlier, it is important to bear in mind that Russia has remained somewhat detached from the ongoing war in Karabakh — at least for the time being. Moscow has traditionally been the main mediator between the two countries, as it also maintains friendly relations with Azerbaijan.

While there could well be military assistance on its way from Russia to Armenia, either in an explicit or covert (via Wagner) form, the Reverse Side of the Medal Telegram channel is not the breaking news source that has revealed it.


Greece recalls its Ambassador in Azerbaijan, denies claims it is training Armenian and Kurdish militias

George Mamian
Greek City Times
Oct 7 2020
by Paul Antonopoulos

Greece has categorically denied allegations made by Azerbaijan and on orders of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has recalled the ambassador to Azerbaijan to return to Greece for consultations.

“Following the non-existent and offensive allegations against Greece, a strict protest was made to the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Greece, while by my decision the Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan was summoned for consultations,” Dendias said on Twitter accompanied with a link to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement.

In the statement, the Foreign Ministry said “Following the completely unsubstantiated and insulting allegations made by the government of Azerbaijan regarding supposed tolerance on the part of the Greek state for preparation of terrorist actions, efforts to recruit terrorist fighters, and cyberattacks from Greek territory on Azerbaijan, in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a stern demarche was made to the Azeri Ambassador yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“Following the demarche, the Greek Ambassador to Azerbaijan, [Nikolaos] Piperigos, was summoned to Athens for consultations, by decision of Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias,” the statement concluded.

Hikmet Hajiyev, aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, told reporters on Friday that Greeks were fighting in Artsakh, describing them as “mercenaries.”

This comes as diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan is tense. While accepting the credentials on September 4 from Greece’s newly appointed ambassador to Baku, Nikolaos Piperigos, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev directly told the diplomat:

“I can tell you, and it is no secret, that Turkey is not only our friend and partner, but also a brotherly country for us. Without any hesitation whatsoever, we support Turkey and will support it under any circumstances. We support them [Turkey] in all issues, including the issue in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

The comments by Aliyev are unprecedented when considering the usual formalities of a head of state accepting the credentials of a new ambassador.

Greek media also reported that Athens filed a complaint with the Azerbaijan Ambassador to Greece following allegations made by Turkish and Azerbaijani media that Greek officers were involved in training militants who were later sent to Armenia.

According to Hurriyet, Lieutenant Apostolos Pervolakis was training an Armenian militia and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for about a month.

<img class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-78831″ src=””//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6.jpg” alt=” 2″ width=”923″ height=”787″ srcset=”//greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6.jpg 923w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-300×256.jpg 300w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-768×655.jpg 768w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-450×384.jpg 450w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-225×192.jpg 225w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-900×767.jpg 900w, //greekcitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1-2-6-20×17.jpg 20w” sizes=”(max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px” title=” 2″>

Athens also rejected this allegation that Turkish media made without providing any evidence.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/10/07/greece-denies-claims-it-is-training-armenian-and-kurdish-militias/