Category: 2021

By Trend

Russia hopes that the commitment to the implementation of the previously reached trilateral agreements will be reaffirmed following the meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which will be held on December 15 in Brussels, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing, Trend reports on Dec. 9.

By Trend

Russia expects the rapid formation of the delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia as part of the commission on border delimitation, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said during a weekly briefing, Trend reports.

By Ayya Lmahamad

Armenian bloggers have revealed horrible truths about the crimes committed against Azerbaijanis and Armenians during the first and second Karabakh wars. 

Blogger Nairi Akhverdi posted a tweet about Armenia's occupation policy and the cruelty of Armenian field commanders and soldiers during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s.

The blogger wrote that Armenia’s leaders strongly failed the Armenian society.

“Our leaders let us down badly. This shocked many young Armenians who were raised on ignorance, who did not know that the seven [Azerbaijani] regions were ethnically cleansed and that this story was conveniently covered with patriotic slogans of liberation,” Akhverdi tweeted.

She added that the Armenians who fought during the first Karabakh war often speak candidly about their experience.

“One veteran told me how his commander ordered his unit to dig up Azerbaijani graves and search for gold teeth. He said he watched in horror at the greed of the commander and his fellow soldiers,” the blogger wrote.

Moreover, in an address posted on social networking platforms, another Armenian blogger Roman Baghdasaryan voiced facts about the enormous scale of corruption and lies in Armenia during Serzh Sargsyan's presidency.

He recounted how the former government had lied to its people about the scale of their defeat in the hostilities of April 2016, how many Armenian diaspora leaders around the world shamefully behaved, how millions of dollars collected by Armenians living around the world to help the Armenian army during the 44-day war in 2020 had disappeared, etc.

Recently, Baghdasaryan spoke about the Gurgen Martirosyan, known as “Archbishop Pargev”, who claimed to be the leader of the self-proclaimed “Artsakh” Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

"Talk about Father Pargev, who ran away from Karabakh as soon as the war ended. Aren't you a holy father? Where did you run away to? Think about it: the holy father ran away from Karabakh, abandoned the 'Artsakh people'. And when they took Shusha in 1992, Father Pargev was making a decision about who to give the apartments in Shusha to. Who are you? How can you, the holy father, get into Azerbaijani apartments and give them away? Give away Azerbaijani apartments at your behest,” he said.

“We are not going to go to war with Azerbaijan just to make Karabakh's generals rich. I just want to remind you that when the Azerbaijanis were going to Hadrut, the Armenian military, and this is what [former Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman] Artsrun Hovhannisyan himself said Armenians were looting and plundering their own homes. Do you understand that?" he added.

Baghdasaryan also accused the separatist regime in Karabakh of shooting Armenian soldiers during the 44-days war. In particular, he said that 250 Armenian servicemen were killed by separatists' criminal actions in the direction of Sugovushan alone.

Meanwhile, the Baku-based news website Day.az said the appalling truth about the crimes committed before and during the 44-day war will be heard in Armenia for a long time to come.

By Trend

It is dangerous to fully trust the accuracy of the minefield maps provided to Azerbaijan by Armenia, Emin Huseynov, the special representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories [which were liberated from Armenian occupation during the 2020 second Karabakh war] within the Karabakh economic region, said in an interview with Xalq gazeti newspaper, Trend reports on Dec. 9.

“Only a year passed after the liberation of the city of Aghdam from occupation, but we managed to build a power line to the city. The territory along which the contact line passed was literally stuffed with unexploded ordnance, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. It was very difficult to clear the territory," he said.

"There are many defensive fortifications and ramparts. Therefore, it is difficult to use special vehicles for mine clearance. These territories are mostly cleared of mines manually. Finally, a 20-meter-wide corridor was recently opened on the former contact line, thanks to which Azerenerji OJSC was able to build a power line from the village of Khindyrystan to Aghdam-1 substation. Power supply to Aghdam is provided, but the danger still remains," he said.

By Laman Ismayilova

The destruction of Azerbaijan's material and spiritual heritage, historical monuments and religious temples over Armenia's three-decade occupation of Karabakh have been discussed at an ICESCO session in Cairo.

In an address to the 14th session of the General Conference of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Azerbaijani Culture Minister Anar Karimov spoke in detail about the destroyed museums and the exhibits looted by the Armenian occupiers over 30 years. 

Karimov expressed satisfaction with the participation in the prestigious event held in the ancient Egyptian capital Cairo.

In his speech, Karimov also touched on the Baku Process, initiated in 2008 to establish an effective and efficient dialogue between cultures and civilizations as well as the Peace4Culture campaign aimed at preserving cultural heritage and creating peaceful and sustainable societies. 

He pointed out that Azerbaijan had signed a number of important projects to maintain peace and stability in the region.

Karimov noted that Azerbaijan is a multicultural country with great respect for the culture, language and religion of a number of nations living on its territory.

The culture minister stressed the importance of ensuring regional peace from this standpoint.

The speech aroused great interest among the conference participants.

The Culture Ministry also opened an exhibition dedicated to Azerbaijani culture and history. The exhibition featured books highlighting the country's culture and history as well as the poetic legacy of Azerbaijan's great poet and thinker Nizami Ganjavi. 

A series of videos about Shusha, known as Azerbaijan's cultural capital, Karabakh region were screened as part of the exhibition. 

Notably, ICESCO's session brought together 49 delegations out of the 51 ICESCO member states.

As part of its new vision, ICESCO follows a new approach in holding the 14th Session of the General Conference, which is completely different from the previous sessions and aims to yield practical outcomes with field impact.

The agenda of ICESCO's 14th Session of General Conference in Cairo included an opening ceremony, in conjunction with the organization of the Global Forum on Higher Education and Scientific Research. 

Afterward, the General Conference hosted its opening session, followed by a procedural session to examine the credentials and the list of delegations, the Conference Draft Agenda and Draft Programme, and compose the General Conference Bureau.

The General Conference concluded its proceedings with a plenary session, followed by a closing session to approve Members of ICESCO's 43rd Executive Council, announce the date and venue of the 15th Session of the General Conference and adopt the Conference resolutions.

Over the past years, Azerbaijan and ICESCO have built strong ties, based on common values.

The visit of the ICESCO delegation to Azerbaijan early in January was an important step in this direction. Moreover, ICESCO has proposed to declare Shusha as the capital of the Islamic world.

Azerbaijan implemented numerous international projects with ICESCO. Baku (2009) and Nakhchivan (2018) were named the Capital of Islamic Culture.

Azerbaijan's capital hosted the meeting of the ICESCO culture ministers in 2009. The 12th General Conference and the 36th meeting of the ICESCO Executive Board were held as well.

ICESCO is also one of the main partners of the Baku Process initiated by President Ilham Aliyev and adopted by the United Nations. The organization has been an official partner in the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held in 2011.

By Ayya Lmahamad

Two civilians have been killed in a mine blast in the liberated Shusha region, the Prosecutor-General's Office reported on December 9.

"On December 9, during the preliminary investigation of the incident, the prosecution structures revealed that an employee of the Voltac contracting company Orkhan Khanatov (born in 1999) and an employee of Cengiz Insaat LLC Vusal Gandaliyev (born in 1992) died as a result of a mine explosion during repair and construction work in Shusha region," the report said.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's Mine Action Agency said that the mine explosion occurred in the territory, located 1,300 meters from Dashalti village in Shusha city, which was not cleared of mines.

“The group of the agency evacuated the bodies from the mined area and handed them over to the representatives of the corresponding structures,” the agency said.

It added that an anti-tank mine was placed under an anti-personnel mine, which caused a bigger explosion and death of people. 

The Investigative Department of the Prosecutor-General's Office initiated criminal proceedings under Criminal Code Article 120.2.4 (murder with particular cruelty or general danger) and other articles. An intensive investigation is underway.

Additionally, on December 9, the Prosecutor-General's Office has reported that 29 civilians and seven military servicemen were killed, as well as 109 servicemen and 44 civilians received injuries of varying severity as a result of mine explosions in the country’s lands since November 10, 2020.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.

The Mine Action Agency reported that 10,456 anti-personnel and 4,683 anti-tank mines, as well as 12,659 unexploded ordnances, were found and defused in Tartar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan regions from November 10, 2020, to November 30, 2021. 

On June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in Aghdam.

On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation of Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.

Yerevan submitted to Baku all mine maps of Azerbaijan's liberated territories as a result of talks through Russia's mediation on December 4, 2021. The accuracy of the maps is still to be checked.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.