Category: 2021

A torchlight procession in memory of all those, who were martyred in the 44-day war, was held in Stepanakert, Artsakh’s capital, on Sunday, September 26, Artsakhpress reported.

The march, entitled “Living Artsakh”, started from the yard of St. Hakob Church. Before the procession, a requiem service was held by Father Minas Movsisyan.

Then the participants marched with torches to the Stepanakert Memorial, taking a 100-meter-long Artsakh flag. “Hayastan”, “Diaspora”, “Hadrut”, “Shushi”, “Kashatagh”, “Shahumyan”, “Karvachar” wings joined the march.

The procession ended at the Stepanakert Memorial, where the participants were greeted by a priest, a soldier, a pregnant woman, who symbolizes faith, strength and life.

Photos by Artsakhpress

The servicemen of the Russian peacekeeping contingent ensured the safe collection of more than 500 tons of grapes on 5 plantations from an area of 27 hectares located near the demarcation line in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

Harvesting in the presence of Russian peacekeepers has taken place for more than a month on plantations near the settlements of Chartar, Machkalashen, Amaras of the Martuni district and in the village of Khramort of the Askeran district.

Earlier, the winemakers of Nagorno-Karabakh handed over part of their first harvest to the children at the boarding school in Stepanakert, where the peacekeepers also ensured the safety of workers on the plantations during the grape harvest.

In the spring of this year, Russian sappers cleared the area of explosive objects, ensuring safe care of the vineyards, as well as picking berries on time.

Since November 23, 2020, 2,298 hectares of territory, 683 km of roads, 1,937 buildings have been cleared of unexploded ordnance, 26,032 explosive objects have been detected and neutralized.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, issued a message on the first anniversary of the 44-day war marked on September 27. The message reads:

“Dearly beloved  faithful,

Today, the pain in our souls, we remember the alarming days of the 44-day catastrophic war, the brave resistance of our army to the conspiratorial attack of the enemy. We remember the heroic deeds of our soldiers and military officers, who did not knee before the Turkish-Azerbaijani dominant forces.

The war was a great ordeal, and the calamity that it caused and the serious challenges facing our people, cannot be resolved in conditions of internal tension and division. Our path to awakening requires a high sense of responsibility and the spirit of patriotism from each of us, consolidation and joint efforts to protect the right of our people of Artsakh to live freely, the borders of Armenia, to overcome the social problems intensified due to the war.

With this vision, let us make efforts to unite the nation, to overcome intolerance and solidarity.

By being faithful to our Christian values, let us strengthen our statehood, our national-social life, holding the paths of hope, faith, love and justice strong.

We wish our people always be heard to the message of defending the homeland, of being united, left by our heroes who fell for the sake of Artsakh’s independent life, for the sake of our bright future.

From the bottom of our hearts we pray for our fallen heroes, the homeland defenders, ask for consolation to their relatives, wish healing to the wounded, return to the captives and the missing.

It is our request to God that the Lord’s constant blessing keep the children of our people in Armenia, Artsakh, the Diaspora, in peace, safe and secure life, always today. Amen!”

The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) starts in Strasbourg on Monday, 27 September to run through 30 September in a hybrid format. The PACE is set to debate Paul Gavan’s report on “The humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan” on the first day of the session.

In the draft resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly regrets the tragic humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is a conflict which has seen two major outbreaks of war, the first from the end of 1991 to 1994, and a 6-week war in 2020.

In his report, Paul Gavan has shared information he gathered during his visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The draft resolution says during the recent 6-week war, over 3 900 Armenian and 2 900 Azerbaijani military were killed or went missing, and there were many civilian casualties. Over 91,000 Armenians and 84,000 Azerbaijanis were initially displaced.

The main issues covered include, the dead, missing and wounded; prisoners of war/alleged captives; allegations of crimes, war crimes and other wrongful acts; landmines and unexploded ordnance; displaced persons; border tensions; cultural heritage; hate speech.

Recommendations are directed to Armenia and Azerbaijan on steps to help solve the humanitarian consequences in the short and long term and move towards a process of peace and reconciliation. The international community, including the Council of Europe, is encouraged to help both countries.

The Assembly recalls that both Armenia and Azerbaijan committed themselves, upon their accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, to use only peaceful means for settling the conflict. Therefore, the 6-week war in 2020 constitutes a breach of these commitments and should be duly addressed by the Council of Europe.

The PACE believes that the Council of Europe has an important role to help both Armenia and Azerbaijan tackle the humanitarian consequences of the conflict between the two countries.

The Assembly therefore invites the Committee of Ministers to take into account the humanitarian consequences of the conflict, when preparing new Action Plans for Armenia (2023-2026) and Azerbaijan (2022-2025) and show flexibility in on-going action plans and adapt them to the consequences of the conflict.

The Committee of Ministers is invited to pay particular attention to the needs and rights of displaced persons and issues surrounding their return, confidence building measures for all affected communities, and measures necessary to build tolerant societies and tackle hate speech.

Incidentally, 29 amendments to the draft resolution have been submitted, most of them by Azerbaijan, which are to be discussed and put to a vote in the PACE.

Azerbaijan carried out a genocidal and ethnic cleansing policy in Artsakh during the 44-day war and its policy of Armenophobia has received new extremist and fascist manifestations, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said in a statement on the first anniversary of the war on Monday.

He reminded that the large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia on September 27, 2020 was accompanied by unprecedented war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“On the first day, 9-year-old Viktoria Gevorgyan was killed at the yard of her own house as a result of shelling of the town of Martuni. Civilians, 69-year-old Genadi Petrosyan from Madatashen and 82-year-old Yuri Asryan from Azokh were brutally beheaded. The whole process was filmed by the Azerbaijani troops,” Tatoyan wrote.

Civilians as well as Armenian soldiers were tortured and ill-treated both during and after the war, targeted attacks and the use of prohibited weapons destroyed civilian settlements and Armenian churches were desecrated, the ombudsman said.

Tatoyan underlined that Azerbaijan’s attack in the light of the coronavirus pandemic was directed against humanity. As a result, it led to an increase in the number of deaths due to the paralysis of the health system of Artsakh and Armenia.

“All this was accompanied by propaganda of hatred and hostility, which the Azerbaijani authorities only encouraged. What happened allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion: a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide has been carried out.

“We must not forget that Azerbaijan’s state-sponsored policy of Armenophobia and hostility has not only not diminished, but has also received new extremist and fascist manifestations,” he noted.

The ombudsman recalled that to date, not a single perpetrator of the war crime has been held to account.

“As long as the perpetrators are not brought to justice, the policy of hatred and enmity towards Armenians will continue, the danger of atrocities will remain and peaceful and safe life of people will be disrupted,” Tatoyan concluded. 

A total of 3,781 Armenian troops and civilians were killed in the 44-day war unleashed against Artsakh by Azerbaijan in 2020, according to the data released by the Investigative Committee of Armenia on Monday.

As of 27 September 2021, 231 servicemen and 22 civilians are still missing.

To date, the Azerbaijani side has handed over 108 captured servicemen and civilian captives to the Republic of Armenia, the Investigative Committee said.

The law enforcement agency said the preliminary investigation of the criminal case into the large-scale war unleashed by the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan, as well as its involvement of mercenaries and deliberate and intentional attacks, particularly targeting the Artsakh civilians deep in the rear and civilian infrastructures, is underway.

The State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh’s Interior Ministry has prepared a lengthy reportage about the work of its servicemen addressing the consequences of the 44-day war in 2020. The video is titled “The war that started a year ago and still continues” and reflects on the heroic work of the search and rescue officers who have been engaged in demining activities, search operations of those missing in action and retrieving bodies of the killed in the war since the ceasefire agreement last year. 

Watch the video at 

“We offer mediation to our brotherly states, the Azerbaijani and Armenian brothers,” said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday, noting  a dialogue platform is planned to be established in Tbilisi.

“We set a really rare precedent in June when our country successfully conducted a peacekeeping operation through mediation, the release of 15 detained Armenian soldiers through negotiations and mediation, as well as handing over maps of the mined territories by Armenia to Azerbaijan. There has not been a similar precedent for 30 years when Georgia mediated between two countries, our neighbors, and we were able to do it successfully,” said Garibashvili, as quoted by Georgia Today.

The Prime Minister noted that his initiative is connected with the continuation of this process at a higher level, adding that he is offering this mediation platform to the Azerbaijani and Armenian, which is planned to be established in Tbilisi.