Category: 2021

US Department of State condemns violence that caused death of Armenian civilian near Shushi

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 9 2021
23:22, 09.11.2021

The United States Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs has condemned the violence that caused the death of an Armenian civilian near Shushi.

“We condemn the violence that caused the death of an Armenian civilian. We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their engagement including through the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve all outstanding issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the Bureau tweeted.

On November 8, an Azerbaijani soldier, with the purpose of committing a terrorist act, left the territory under the control of the Azerbaijani side in the vicinity of Shushi and moved towards the Shushi-Berdzor road and shot workers who were repairing a water pipeline, the Investigative Committee of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) reported. Resident of the city of Stepanakert Martik Yeremyan, 23, died on the spot after receiving wounds in the head area. Gevorg Melkumyan, Gagik Ghazaryan and Armen Sargsyan received firearm injuries.

Ceasefire Declaration Between Armenia & Azerbaijan Anniversary

Boshkezenian Garik
Nov 8 2021
November 8, 2021 Maryam Shah Politics

Washington, DC (STL.News) The US Department of State released the following statement:

This week, the United States and the international community recognize the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire declaration that ended 44 days of intense fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the South Caucasus.  We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed and injured during the hostilities last year.  We call for the return of all remaining detainees, a full accounting of missing persons, the voluntary return of displaced persons to their homes, comprehensive humanitarian de-mining of conflict-affected areas, and access by international humanitarian organizations to those in need.  We also call for an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law.

The United States remains committed to promoting a secure, stable, prosperous, and peaceful future for the South Caucasus region. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Erika Olson is currently in the region to discuss bilateral issues with all three countries and to explore opportunities for regional cooperation.  We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue and intensify their engagement including under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to find comprehensive solutions to all outstanding issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia Caught In The Middle Of Energy Dispute Between Azerbaijan And Iran

Jalatian Sonya
Nov 9 2021
By Eurasianet – Nov 09, 2021, 12:30 PM 

In mid-September, Azerbaijani border guards detained two Iranian truck drivers on the road connecting the southern Armenian cities of Goris and Kapan. The arrests spiraled into a deep crisis between Baku and Tehran, including demonstrative military exercises and unprecedentedly aggressive rhetoric from both sides.

The saber-rattling also had the unintended effect of spotlighting Iran’s energy exports to Nagorno-Karabakh. The two drivers were arrested on charges of illegally crossing Azerbaijan’s border, as they were reportedly delivering bitumen to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Iranian supplies of fuel and other goods to Nagorno-Karabakh have long been a thorn in Baku’s side, as it considers entry into the Armenian-administered territory to be a violation of its border.

Ultimately, Iran’s Roads and Transportation Agency issued a ban on the country’s trucks traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh.

But officials and businesspeople in Karabakh are loath to talk about the Iranian trade.

The isolated enclave gets all of its energy supplies, in the form of natural gas, from neighboring Armenia. Channeled through a single pipeline that runs parallel to the Lachin Corridor, the road that connects Armenia with Karabakh, the latter imports over 50 million cubic meters of gas per year for commercial, industrial, and household use, according to Karabakh’s Ministry of ??Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.

The security of the pipeline – parts of which now traverse Azerbaijani-controlled territories since the transfer of some land as a result of the ceasefire that ended the war – is guaranteed by the Russian peacekeeping forces. In December 2020, a month after the war ended, the peacekeepers reported that they had helped restore over 10 kilometers of the pipeline near the village of Lisagor; they also have demined the territory around the pipeline.

Most of the gas in that pipeline comes from Russia. 

“Because a monopoly 90 percent of the gas supplied to Armenia comes from Russia, so is the gas that is transported to Karabakh,” the head of the central dispatching service of Gazprom Armenia, Artur Karakhanyan, told Eurasianet.

The rest of the gas supplied to Armenia – 365 million cubic meters of the total 2.5 billion imported in 2020 – comes from Iran, via the 194-kilometer Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. (The Armenian portion of that pipeline also is Russian-owned.) Armenia uses that gas to produce electricity that is then transferred back to Iran in the framework of a 2004 gas-for-electricity agreement between the two countries.

Private trade with Karabakh, however, is another matter.

Oil by-products like petrol, diesel, and asphalt for road construction are imported to Karabakh through private companies in Armenia that ship their products with privately operated trucks, de facto Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Levon Gabrielyan told Eurasianet.

So far in 2021, the region has sourced over 7 billion Armenian drams ($15.5 million) in petroleum from Armenia, though it is unclear how much is of Iranian origin. Overall, in 2020 Armenia satisfied just under a quarter of all its needs for petrol, diesel, and the like through Iran, according to data published by the Armenian State Revenue Committee.

In a recent interview with the Russian news website REGNUM, Karabakh’s de facto Minister of State Artak Beglaryan boasted that the new ban on Iranian trucks entering Karabakh “doesn’t mean that Iranian-made goods cannot be imported by our trading companies.” The minister did not specify what products these businesses were bringing into the region. 

Related: The Energy Crunch Is Adding Billions To Oil Tycoons’ Net Worth

None of the Armenian companies that deal in Iranian petroleum in Karabakh agreed to answer questions about trade volumes to the region and the impact of the recent developments on that trade. Echoing the private businesses, a source with the local police who requested anonymity for security purposes told Eurasianet that they hadn’t registered any Iranian oil tankers entering the enclave.

Azerbaijanis claim otherwise. In a September 12 letter to the Russian Defense Ministry and the peacekeeping contingent stationed in Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry complained about the entry of “legal entities and individuals of other countries and their vehicles” into the territory, which it called “a violation of the laws of our country.” The ministry also claimed that the transit violated the trilateral agreement signed with Russia and Armenia to stop the fighting in November 2020.

President Ilham Aliyev later claimed in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency that in a one-month period in August and September, Azerbaijanis had detected 60 Iranian trucks that had “illegally entered Karabakh.”

In an interview with Armenian media, Karabakh’s de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Babayan said Azerbaijan’s attempts to cut off Iranian trade with Karabakh were motivated by Baku’s policy of “isolation and ethnic cleansing” and intimidating the territory’s Armenian population into leaving.

Azerbaijan released the two Iranian truckers on October 21, citing “the principles of humanism, mutual respect and good neighborliness,” the country’s State Customs Committee announced.

Meanwhile, Iran has promised to support Armenia’s construction of a new road through southern Armenia, via Tatev and Kapan. The new road will avoid crossing into Azerbaijani territory; the current road now crisscrosses the boundary with Armenia several times, and following the transfer of territories after last year’s war Azerbaijan regained control over some sections of the road. In August it set up checkpoints on the road and started charging border entry fees to Iranian vehicles. 

By Eurasianet.org


Israeli MKs submit bill to recognize Armenian Genocide

Emil Lazarian

Nov 9 2021


By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

 

Published: NOVEMBER 9, 2021 12:49

Updated: NOVEMBER 9, 2021 13:41
     
Members of the Armenian community in Israel attend a demonstration against Israel’s stance on the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks outside the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem; the sign on the left reads: ‘Judaism is for acknowledgement of Armenian Genocide, the State of Israel against?’
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)

Several opposition MKs have submitted a bill Tuesday to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide and hold a memorial day for it every April 24.
The bill was submitted by Shas MKs Ya’acov Margi, Haim Biton and Moshe Arbel alongside Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein, Israel Katz and Yoav Kish.
This is not the fist time an attempt has been made in the Knesset for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In 2018, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg proposed a bill to recognize the massacre as genocide, but the bill was canceled due to government resistance.
In 2019, a number of high-profile members of Knesset like Yair Lapid and Gideon Sa’ar voiced support for the move, but again it did not proceed due to little government support.

This is a developing story.


Contacts between Putin, Aliyev, Pashinyan not planned on Karabakh, says Kremlin

Kanayan Tamar
TASS, Russia
Nov 9 2021
Regarding communication with Baku and Yerevan, Moscow does it at various levels and exclusively on a regular basis, Dmitry Peskov noted

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are not planned on the anniversary of the signing of the trilateral statement on Karabakh, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported on Tuesday.

“Today no contacts on this matter are planned. Regarding communication with Baku and Yerevan, Moscow does it at various levels and exclusively on a regular basis,” he said. “Regarding any further trilateral dialogue, if and when such an arrangement is made, we will inform you. Currently, there are no any specific arrangements,” the Kremlin spokesman added.

On Monday, Peskov told journalists that the exact date for negotiations of Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan via a videoconference is not arranged, but preparations have been underway. Earlier, the information appeared in the media over a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia allegedly scheduled for November 9.

Clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities in Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had maintained, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor. The situation stabilized after the deployment of Russian peacekeepers and tens of thousands of Karabakh residents have returned to their homes.

Kremlin hails ‘highly important’ 2020 trilateral statement on Nagorno-Karabakh

Arsine Chaltikian
TASS, Russia
Nov 9 2021
Dmitry Peskov stressed the significance of the Russian peacekeepers’ and Russian troops’ presence in the region in order to guarantee security while monitoring the ceasefire and the return of refugees

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. The trilateral statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue that Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan adopted on November 9, 2020, is highly important, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

“We view the documents adopted a year ago as highly important both for Azerbaijan and Armenia, they made it possible to end the war and adopt a path of peacefully developing the regional economy and infrastructure,” he pointed out in response to a question.

“Russian peacekeepers and Russian troops continue to perform their functions [in the region], guaranteeing security while monitoring the ceasefire and the return of refugees. It is highly important. This is why the significance of these documents cannot be overestimated,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the document, Azerbaijan and Armenia maintained the positions that they had held, while a number of districts were handed over to Baku, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin Corridor. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stabilized following the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, and tens of thousands of local residents returned to the homes that they had left during the hostilities.

Why Armenia is ultimate litmus test for future of US foreign policy By Ambassador Grigor Hovhannissian

Karakhanian Suren
Nov 9 2021
By Ambassador Grigor Hovhannissian 

–

November 9, 2021

There’s little Americans dislike more than getting mired in complicated conflicts halfway across the world. Yet as we mark today, Nov. 9, 2021—the one-year anniversary of the ceasefire that ended the latest round of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan—we ought to stop and ponder one profound question: Does doing the right thing matter anymore?

It’s not merely a philosophical conundrum, or a bit of empty rhetoric. As anyone who has paid even a bit of attention to the recent news from Afghanistan, say, or Taiwan, or Idlib knows, ours is an increasingly interconnected world. Isolationism, even when desired, rarely works. So a central challenge of foreign policy in the 21st century is being able to distinguish friend from foe.

As a former Armenian ambassador to the United States, I am well aware that diplomacy is often a game of weighing imperfect realities against each other and making sometimes difficult compromises in service of national interests. But sometimes it’s simpler than that. Sometimes all you have to do to figure things out is listen to what people are saying and watch what they’re doing.

Here’s one easy example. Suppose you had two nations trying to establish rapprochement after a bloody conflict. And suppose you heard the president of one side refer to the other as “dogs,” a “wild tribe” of “barbarians” who “cling to other countries like a leech” and “have no moral values.” And suppose, also, that this president also held POWs and civilians captive—long after the war had ended—in a clear and blatant violation of international law. Would you assume that president’s protestations of peace were sincere?

A statue of Heydar Aliyev — father of the current president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev — graces the departures hall at Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

You hardly have to be an expert in international relations to answer this question. The quotes and actions above come courtesy of Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani despot who, since seizing power in 2003, has turned his country into a benighted kleptocracy while reportedly amassing a personal fortune estimated at upwards of $900 million, including at least half a billion dollars worth of real estate holdings in Great Britain (according to the recently released Pandora Papers). Had he just been a petty Caucasus despot, Americans might have been forgiven for ignoring him. But Aliyev has now aligned himself with a much more consequential and menacing patron, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Having failed to gain membership in the European Union—its dismal human rights record and increasingly shaky democracy being key factors in scuttling its bid—Turkey has now turned eastward. It seeks to reestablish a caliphate of sorts, a zone of influence and trade stretching from the Balkans in the west to the areas populated by Turkic peoples in Central Asia.

To achieve this, it seeks a “land bridge” whose shortest path goes through Armenia. Armenia would be glad to offer trade routes and partnership but this is not the Azerbaijani-Turkish design. Seizing this land somehow is their goal.

And even though Azerbaijan made significant territorial gains at the expense of the Republic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, it now threatens Armenia itself. This, on top of continuing intimidation of ethnic Armenians along the borders of besieged Artsakh, encroachment on sovereign Armenian territory, desecration and arbitrary alteration, and outright destruction of Armenia’s early Christian heritage in the captured territories.

Grigor Hovhannissian was Armenia’s ambassador to the United States from 2016 to 2018.

All this puts Armenia—a small but scrappy Christian nation of just under three million trying to carve out a democratic space for itself on the edges of the Muslim-dominated Middle East—in direct conflict with not one but two dictatorships.

It’s a conflict we neither provoked nor desire. Consider the astonishing fact that the ruling party, on whose watch Armenia suffered a devastating war and territorial losses, won reelection in June. The government remains committed to seeing through the controversial ceasefire deal, and argues for a new era of peaceful coexistence of nations in the region.

That’s what the people of Armenia want: to continue to build their democracy and to arrive at a fair and sustainable solution to the thorny situation in Artsakh. It is a message that aligns with the perspective of young people in Armenia, in the large Armenian diaspora in the US and elsewhere, and all around the world; it is a vision for tomorrow.

What do the people of Azerbaijan want? It is rather hard to say, because no one is asking them. The Aliyevs have no plans of letting go of the resource-rich country they are busily plundering.

Which brings me back to the United States. Unless Washington stands firmly with the people of Armenia, the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance will prevail, which will mean a less secure, more corrupt, more volatile region. We don’t ask for military intervention. What we ask for is help in putting these threats to democracy and peace back in their place, a kind of realpolitik predicated, improbably perhaps, on just doing the right thing.

Veteran diplomat Grigor Hovhannissian, Armenia’s ambassador to the United States from January 2016 to October 2018, has also served as consul-general in Los Angeles, ambassador to Mexico and deputy foreign minister. Hovhannissian, 50, has a master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is currently chairman of the board of Armenia’s Ararat Bank.


https://washdiplomat.com/why-armenia-is-ultimate-litmus-test-for-future-of-us-foreign-policy/

One Armenian Christian Killed, Three Wounded, by Azeri Gunfire

Emil Lazarian
Nov 9 2021

Turkish-Backed Azerbaijan Targets Armenian Civilians Near Captured Shushi

11/09/2021 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that November 8, 2021, Azerbaijani troops opened gunfire on a group of Armenian utility workers repairing water pipes near the city of Shushi, which was captured during the Turkish-Azeri war last year against Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh). The incident occurred on the same day that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev was in Shushi alongside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to mark the one-year anniversary of the invasion’s ceasefire.

It occurred near the Lachin-Stepanakert Road, the only transit option connecting Karabakh’s Armenian Christian community with the outside world. The road was temporarily closed following the incident. Most of Nagorno-Karabakh’s land was lost during the war, and now residents are surrounded by Turkish-Azeri forces. This is the second citizen killed since last year’s ceasefire, with the first being murdered in front of Russian peacekeepers this past October.

“The recorded incident is another proof of the anti-Armenian, genocidal and fascist behavior of the Azerbaijani side towards the Armenian people, about which we have stated many times since the signing of the trilateral statement,” said Gegham Stepanyan, Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman.

“Today, at around 3:00 p.m., near the city of Shushi, the Azerbaijani side fired at Armenian civilians working on water pipes in the area. One civilian killed, three wounded,” said local journalist Anush Ghavalyan. “This is how Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev brings peace to the region—by killing civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh. No people, no conflict.”

Speaking about the recent escalation of Turkish-Azeri aggression towards Artsakh’s Armenian Christian residents, a Stepanakert local shared simply, “This is hell… we don’t know what will happen.”

The deceased is 22-years old. The wounded civilians are 43, 41, and 31 years old.

The incident comes just days after the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a factsheet reiterating its recommendations for State Department CPC and SWL designations. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan were named on the factsheet as recommendations for the Special Watch List (SWL).

Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “The escalation of violence toward Armenian civilians living in Nagorno-Karabakh is very alarming. These incidents give further evidence of how Azerbaijan has embraced Turkey in such a way that both countries are emboldened and empowered to commit genocidal atrocities towards Armenian Christians. They intend to intimidate those who remain living in Karabakh, suffocating them with forced isolation from the outside world. Turkey and Azerbaijan have made it clear in their rhetoric that their actions are viewed as a continuation of the 1915 genocide against Christians. The ceasefire may have been established a year ago, but the cleansing activities of the invasion continue to this very day.”



‘Bad military adventurism’: Azerbaijan slams Armenian minister’s ‘unauthorised’ visit

Maral Chavushian
Middle East Monitor
Nov 9 2021
November 9, 2021 at 4:09 pm | Published in: Armenia, Asia & Americas, Azerbaijan, Middle East, News
Azerbaijani military forces in Zangilan, Azerbaijan on 8 November 2020 [Arif Hüdaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency]
November 9, 2021 at 4:09 pm

Azerbaijan, on Tuesday, strongly condemned the Armenian Defence Minister’s “unauthorised” visit to Azerbaijani territory, terming it a “military-political provocation.”

“Armenian Defence Minister, Arshak Karapetyan, illegally visited the territory of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed,” the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Karapetyan’s visit was “deliberately held” ahead of the anniversary of the trilateral agreement signed by Azerbaijan, Russia, and Armenia on 10 November last year, the ministry said.

His “unauthorised entry … into the territory of Azerbaijan, holding meetings with illegal Armenian formations, and expressing views on their combat readiness is a military-political provocation,” it added.

“The political and military leadership of Armenia, grossly violating the provisions of the trilateral statement, attempts to destabilise the situation in the region and overshadow the activities of Russian peacekeepers,” read the statement.

READ: Turkish president presents Azerbaijani counterpart with Anadolu Agency book on Karabakh victory

“Instead of drawing conclusions from the complete defeat in the 44-day war in Karabakh, adapting to the new geopolitical situation in the region and strengthening peace and security, the military leadership of Armenia tries bad military adventurism.”

The ministry said Karapetyan’s visit “once again demonstrates that Armenia continues to directly support irregular Armenian military units, aggressive separatism and terrorist acts on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

It warned that Azerbaijan will take “necessary measures … to prevent aggressive separatism and terrorist acts” if Armenia fails to cease such actions.

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on 27 September last year, with the Armenian army attacking civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day military conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and some 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

READ: Azerbaijan clears over 48,000 mines laid by Armenia

Prior to this, about 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory was under illegal occupation.

The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on 10 November to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

The cease-fire was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose forces withdrew in line with the agreement.

On 11 January this year, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region. The deal also included the establishment of a trilateral working group on Karabakh.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211109-bad-military-adventurism-azerbaijan-slams-armenian-ministers-unauthorised-visit/

Foreign Minister: Armenia is ready to overcome the atmosphere of enmity

Ani Basmajian

Nov 9 2021



    Yerevan

The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued an extensive statement on the anniversary of the signing of the trilateral agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Karabakh. It concerns the implementation of the provisions of the agreement signed by the leaders of Armenia. Azerbaijan and Russia, and contains Armenia’s assessment of the current situation.

Main theses of the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

  • One year since the signing of armistice with Azerbaijan: Pashinyan on the post-war realities
  • ECHR ruling: Azerbaijan violated the right to life of Armenian prisoners
  • Why is Azerbaijani language taught in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Armenian in Azerbaijan?

The statement of the Foreign Ministry says that “the aggression against Artsakh and its people” was unleashed on September 27, 2020, by Azerbaijan “with the direct participation of Turkey and with the involvement of foreign terrorist fighters”.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry claims that the 44-day war was accompanied by “large-scale violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by Azerbaijan, a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure and cultural monuments, with the use of prohibited weapons and other war crimes”.

The statement says that as a result of the second Karabakh war, a number of areas of the unrecognized NKR were subjected to ethnic cleansing, and the population became a victim of war crimes:

“40,000 people were deprived of their homes and property, more than 17,000 civilian objects and infrastructure were destroyed, hundreds of civilians were killed or injured, and the fate of many is still unknown”.

The Armenian side claims that it has complied with all the provisions of the trilateral statement and accuses Azerbaijan of violating its obligations:

“Just a month after the signing of the trilateral statement, contrary to the commitments to remain in the positions held at the time of signing, the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the villages of Khtsaberd and Khin Tager in the Hadrut region of Artsakh, killing and capturing Armenian soldiers.

Moreover, after the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the regions indicated in the document, the Azerbaijani side responded by penetrating and continuing illegal deployment of its armed forces in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia”.

The statement says that Azerbaijan has not yet complied with the 8th paragraph of the November 9 statement, “holding numerous Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, which is a gross violation of not only the trilateral statement but also the international humanitarian law”.

Another accusation concerns “the violation of the ceasefire by the Azerbaijani armed forces”. According to the document, they are of regular nature and are accompanied not only by strikes against Armenian military positions but also against peaceful settlements and civilians.

The Armenian side believes that Azerbaijan deliberately distorts and arbitrarily interprets “the provisions of the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020. and January 11, 2021. on the unblocking of infrastructures in the region, Azerbaijan exaggerates the idea of the so-called “corridor” and threatens to use force”.

This refers to the Zangezur corridor – the road connecting Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhichevan through the Syunik region of Armenia.

The Armenian authorities insist that they are ready to unblock the roads, but they must remain under the sovereign control of the country. And this meets the requirements of the statement, which does not mention “corridors”, it only talks about unblocking communications.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry believes that the Azerbaijani side is pursuing “a policy of Armenophobia, the Armenian historical and cultural heritage is being destroyed and desecrated”. At the same time, Azerbaijan hinders the access of international humanitarian organizations to the territory of the unrecognized NKR.

All this, as the statement says, “testifies to the fact that guaranteeing the right of the Armenians of Artsakh to a safe and dignified life in their native land is impossible under the jurisdiction or control of Azerbaijan”.

The document emphasizes that “the realities formed as a result of the use of force by Azerbaijan”, that is, military actions in Karabakh, cannot become the basis for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict:

“Azerbaijan’s statements that as a result of the war, not only the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but also Nagorno-Karabakh no longer exist in the international arena, are also a violation of the trilateral statement of November 9, since, in it, Nagorno-Karabakh is presented as a territorial unit”.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry states that in order to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region, the following is necessary:

  • urgent settlement of humanitarian problems, first of all, the return of all prisoners of war, hostages, and other detainees, the disclosure of the fate of the missing and the investigation of cases of enforced disappearances,
  • protection of the Armenian cultural and religious heritage,
  • full restoration of the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian side believes that a long-term settlement of the conflict is possible only through peaceful negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. This would encompass the following:

  • clarification of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
  • ensuring the safe return of displaced Armenians to their settlements throughout NK,
  • realization of the right of the people of NK “to live freely and with dignity in their homeland on the basis of equality and the right of peoples to self-determination

At the end of the statement, it is said that Armenia is ready to make efforts

  • to defuse the situation in the region,
  • overcome the atmosphere of enmity step by step,
  • begin an era of stability and peaceful development in the region.

“At the same time, for the effectiveness of the process, it is necessary for Azerbaijan to also take a constructive position, abandonmits policy of Armenophobia, aggressive rhetoric and actions”.