The U.S. imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey on Monday over its purchase of a Russian air defense system, in a striking move against a longtime partner that sets the stage for further confrontation between the two nations.
The US says Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system is incompatible with Nato technology and a threat to the Euro-Atlantic alliance.
The move is the first time that law, known as CAATSA, has been used to penalize a U.S. ally.
Washington and Ankara have been at odds for years now over Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, along with Turkish actions in Syria, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the eastern Mediterranean.
In the Karabakh War, Turkey provided Azerbaijan with weapons including its Bayraktar drones, as well as with hired mercenaries sent from war-torn Syria.
“The United States made clear to Turkey at the highest levels and on numerous occasions that its purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of US military technology and personnel and provide substantial funds to Russia’s defense sector, as well as Russian access to the Turkish armed forces and defense industry,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“Turkey nevertheless decided to move ahead with the procurement and testing of the S-400, despite the availability of alternative, Nato-interoperable systems to meet its defense requirements,” he continued.
“I urge Turkey to resolve the S-400 problem immediately in co-ordination with the United States,” he said.
Turkey’s foreign ministry urged the US “to reconsider this unfair decision as announced today”, adding that Turkey “stands ready to address this issue through dialogue and diplomacy in conformity with the spirit of alliance”.
The ministry warned that US sanctions “will inevitably negatively impact our relations, and (Turkey) will retaliate in a manner and time it sees appropriate”.
Coming just weeks before Joe Biden assumes office, the sanctions pose a potential dilemma for the incoming administration, although the president-elect’s team has signaled it is opposed to Turkey’s use of the S-400 and the disunity within NATO it may cause.
Schools in Nagorno-Karabakh have been closed since the start of the Karabakh War on September 27. For over a month, constant Azerbaijani shelling in civilian areas led to mass evacuations and destruction of public facilities, including schools and hospitals.
On December 1, following the signing of the “end of war” agreement, some schools reopened. The CIVILNET team visited Stepanakert School Number 8, where students who were originally studying at the school are also joined by students who have arrived from different areas. There are roughly 750 students studying at the school at the moment; they have come from all parts of Artsakh.
Columbus Crew midfielder Lucas Zelarayan was named the 2020 MLS Cup’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) after scoring twice and providing an assist as his side thumped defending champions Seattle Sounders 3-0 on Saturday, Massis Post reports.
The Argentine-Armenian playmaker, who arrived from Tigres in the offseason in a deal worth a reported $7 million, opened the scoring in the 25th minute when he fired a low-volley past Seattle keeper Stefan Frei.
The 28-year-old turned provider for the second goal, finding Derrick Etienne Jr. in space, with the Haitian winger unleashing a curling effort past Frei into the far corner.
Zelarayan netted his second in the 82nd minute after neat wing play from Luis Diaz to become the second player in MLS Cup history to be involved in three goals in a final after the Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto in 2008.
Crew coach Caleb Porter described Zelarayan as “unbelievably special”.
“I’ve coached good players before but this guy is unbelievable.
“We shared a great moment after the game. He told me I changed his life. And I told him he changed my life.
“I brought him here to win championships. He seemed to be looking for something new to stimulate him. A lot of time I’ve seen guys are cutthroat, they sell their souls a little and lose their way. But he came here and I think he looks like a new man.” Porter said of Zelarayan.
Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Zelarayán is of Armenian descent. He received an invitation to represent the Armenia national team in June 2018.
It is impossible to demarcate or delimit the state borders of Armenia on the basis of Google Maps or Google Global Positioning System (Google GPS), Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says.
“It is not clear which version of Google Maps is the basis when Google itself mentions that there are many versions of online maps of the world. Or have we found out what algorithmic systems or positioning mechanisms underlie a particular version of an online map?” the Ombudsman says.
“The researches and observations of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia in the border settlements confirm that this approach seriously endangers the constitutional rights of life, physical and mental immunity, property of the residents of the border settlements,” Tatoyan adds.
“It is about the protection of the borders of our state, the physical security and safety of our people and each person,” the Human Rights Defender says, adding that “the issue of demarcations or delimitations requires professional approaches, results of scientific research, detailed on-site work, proper legal bases, etc.”
He stresses that the issue should be one of the exclusive priorities of our country, in the focus of everyone’s atttention.
ARMENIA and Azerbaijan have continued armed clashes in the disputed Nargorno-Karabakh region just weeks after signing a ceasefire agreement.
Both former USSR states agreed to a ceasefire tabled by Russia, after a brief and bloody war that began in September and has claimed the lives of 143 civilians and thousands of soldiers. Analysts believe the agreement was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, who have bitterly disputed the Nagorno-Karabakh region for decades.
Most recently Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry announced that 4 of their troops had been killed, while Armenia said 6 of their soldiers had been wounded by an Azeri offensive. This recent spark of violence has led many observers to fear a full return to fighting that has already displaced thousands of civilians in the Caucasus region, a mountainous area bridging Europe and western Asia.
Since the end of a brutal war in the early 1990s neither country has ever managed to fully make peace with one another, as ethnic Armenians rule the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Since signing the recent peace agreement, Armenia has promised to withdraw troops from 3 key areas while Azerbaijan managed to secure the region’s second city of Shusha. Over 2000 Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed to the conflict zone.
Armenia’s President Nikol Pashinyan said the deal was “incredibly painful” to sign “both for me and for our people”. Global security analysts will be watching the coming days and weeks closely to see if a return to brutal warfare is imminent in the tinderbox region.
Azerbaijan announced on Sunday that four of its troops had been killed in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region since a peace deal with Armenian separatists was agreed in early November.
The defence ministry said a group of Armenian fighters remained in the mountainous province — breaking the terms of the Russian-brokered truce — and had recently launched fatal attacks on Azerbaijan’s forces.
The ministry said three servicemen were killed in a separatist ambush on November 26 and another sustained fatal injuries during an attack near the village of Hadrut on Tuesday last week.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other breaching the truce that ended six weeks of fighting between the longstanding foes for control of the breakaway region.
Armenia said on Sunday that six separatist fighters were injured in clashes with Azerbaijan troops after skirmishes broke out on Friday evening.
The Armenian defence ministry reported hours of fighting near Hadrut on Saturday, including with heavy artillery, claiming Azerbaijan had bolstered its military presence in the area.
“The Armenian side has six wounded,” the ministry said, describing the incident as an Azerbaijani “provocation”.
The defence ministry said the new fighting was discussed during a meeting in Moscow between Russian and Armenian defence ministers, while the foreign ministry said clashes continued into Sunday.
Azerbaijan said Sunday it had been forced to respond to recent fatal attacks on its servicemen by conducting anti-terror operations.
The six-week conflict that erupted in September between the separatists backed by Armenia and Azerbaijan over the mountainous region ended November 10 with a Moscow-brokered peace deal that saw the Armenians cede swathes of territory.
More than 5,000 people including civilians were killed during the fighting between the ex-Soviet rivals, who fought a war in the 1990s over the mountainous region.
Russia has deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the peace deal and the Russian defence ministry Saturday reported that the truce had been violated.
It was Russia’s first report of a violation since the peace deal was introduced.
The French and US heads of the Minsk Group, which led talks on the conflict for decades but failed to achieve a lasting agreement, met Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Saturday.
Aliyev described reports of new fighting as “troubling” and vowed to use an “iron fist” to “crush” Armenian forces completely if fighting erupts again.
Minsk Group envoys Stephane Visconti and Andrew Schofer were expected in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Sunday.
On a visit to Baku this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed what he called his close ally’s “glorious victory” in the conflict.
The Turkish leader, who attended celebrations marking Azerbaijan’s success, has overtly supported Baku, helping to train and arm its military.
Source : 112 Ukraine
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a peace deal that ended six weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. This was reported by the Defense Ministries of the two countries.
The Armenian Defense Ministry reported that the Azerbaijani army mounted an attack in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reacted by blaming Armenia for the new clashes and threatened to “break its head with an iron fist.”
“Armenia shouldn’t try to start it all over again,” Aliyev said during a meeting with top diplomats from the United States and France.
“It must be very cautious and not plan any military action. This time, we will fully destroy them. It mustn’t be a secret to anyone.”
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces thwarted Armenian “provocations” and restored the ceasefire.
Armenian officials said the fighting raged near the villages of Hin Tager and Khtsaberd, the only settlements in the Gadrut region that are still controlled by Armenian forces. They noted that the two villages have been fully encircled by the Azerbaijani army, which controls the only road leading to them.
As we reported earlier, Armenian Defense Ministry announced the offensive of Azerbaijani troops in the area of Old Tagar and Khtsarberd.
“On December 12, the Azerbaijani side resumed violations in the direction of the Old Tagar and Khtsaberd communities of the Artsakh Republic,” the message says.
Earlier, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic announced an attempt by the Azerbaijani military to attack one of the military positions.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a reminder to the Chinese military that they need to carefully consider counter-strategy as wars of the 21st century will be different from the battles of the past. While citing an article published by a firm that supplies military equipment to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that an alarming lesson from the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, which concerns drones’ transformation of battlefields, shows that China needs a better counter-strategy. It is worth noting that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the first in which drones deployed by one side turned the tide in the Azerbaijan-Armenia war.
According to reports, the ‘Naval and Merchant Ships’ article reviewed how the Armenian army was overwhelmed by enemy drones. Even though Armenia is superior to Azerbaijan in terms of conventional ground forces, the article noted that the Armenian army was easy prey for armed drones, especially Bayraktar TB2 drones that mounted precise attacks against targets in trenches and moving vehicles. The drones were also used for reconnaissance operations, which helped Azerbaijan to force an Armenian surrender within six weeks.
READ: Flamethrower Drone Incinerates Wasp Nests In China
The article read, “In case of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ‘shield’ to counter drones was not used effectively. Although each side hit large numbers of enemy drones, neither had the capabilities to stop incoming drones from inflicting damage”.
It added, “Our military has a large number of drones of various types and is also facing the threat of advanced enemy drones.. compare with the drones we saw in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the drone threat confronting us is more technologically advanced, harder to detect and defend”.
READ: Indian Navy Finalises Procurement Of Anti-drone Systems
Further, the article went on to suggest PLA that they should increase its awareness of the threat from drones and incorporate it into its training and strategy. It also suggested the Chinese army of building a multilayer detection network with anti-drone radars, blind compensation radars, radio detection stations and other infrared or acoustic measures in a bid to seamlessly monitor incoming drones in multiple locations in a wide range. Apart from detection, the article also recommended tactics such as electronic jamming, using LD2000 ground-based anti-aircraft defence weapons and scattering fake objects.
According to ANI, China is known for its use of drones in the military as well as in surveillance over Uyghurs. They are reportedly developing new drones with greater capabilities in terms of speed, altitude, endurance and autonomy. Moreover, China has also developed a new low-cost “suicide drone” that can be launched from a light tactical vehicle or helicopter in a swarm to attack a target.
Four soldiers from Azerbaijan have been killed in clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry says.
The reports come only weeks after a six-week war over the territory which ended when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire.
Armenia meanwhile said six of its own troops were wounded in what it called an Azerbaijani military offensive.
Nagorno-Karabakh has long been a trigger for violence between the two.
The region is recognised as part of Azerbaijan but has been run by ethnic Armenians since 1994 after the two countries fought a war over the territory which left thousands dead.
A Russian-brokered truce failed to bring about lasting peace and the area, claimed by both sides, has been prone to intermittent clashes.
What does the peace deal say?
The latest conflict began at the end of September, killing around 5,000 soldiers on both sides.
At least 143 civilians died and thousands were displaced when their homes were damaged or soldiers entered their communities.
Both countries have accused the other of violating the terms of the November peace deal and the latest hostilities flout the ceasefire.
The agreement was described by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as “incredibly painful both for me and both for our people”.