Category: 2022

WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday called for Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage in "direct dialogue" as he spoke with the Caucasus nations' leaders amid heightened tensions.

Speaking with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by phone, Blinken "called for de-escalation" and repeated the appeal for "direct dialogue" to resolve issues related to the Karabakh region, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, referring to a region largely liberated in fall 2020 from nearly 30 years of Armenian occupation.

Blinken also assured Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan “that the United States is watching the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh closely," said Price in a separate readout of the call.

"He urged direct dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve issues related to, or resulting from,” the Karabakh conflict, Price added.

Azerbaijan said it launched a retaliatory operation on Wednesday against Armenian forces in the Karabakh region after Armenia opened fire and killed an Azerbaijani soldier, according to its Defense Ministry.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of violating the fall 2020 agreement that ended the 44-day Karabakh War, with Azerbaijan dismissing the charge as "nothing but mere hypocrisy."

Azerbaijan has decried Armenia’s failure to fulfill the provisions of the agreement, particularly how Armenian armed forces have not yet fully pulled out of Azerbaijani territories.

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

After new clashes during the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

The fighting ended in November 2020 with a Russia-brokered deal.

From the ancient alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to kitchens around the world, Palestinian cuisine has started to cross the boundries of "hummus."

The trend has whipped up a growing appetite for specialised books and food tours. "It's changing for the better, I think. Many Palestinians are keen on promoting their foods," said Nassar Odeh, as oven aromas wafted over a Jerusalem street. The Palestinian entrepreneur has spent the past few months watching gourmands drift in and out of his new eatery, Taboon, named after the traditional clay oven.

Customers are tucking into dishes such as Armenian lahmajoon, a thin pizza with ground meat and spices which Odeh remembers being sold to hungry crowds in the Old City decades earlier.

"Armenian dishes are part of the Palestinian culture," said Odeh. "This is extremely important because this emphasises the Palestinian presence and the entrepreneurship," he said. "We need to be proud of our products."

Opened last year in what was once the family's souvenir store, Taboon is part of a string of new Palestinian cafes and restaurants. Beyond those within the Old City walls, they have sprung up in other areas of annexed east Jerusalem such as the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, or further afield in Ramallah in the West Bank. They range from a fine dining experience to fusion menus, blending Palestinian ingredients with European dishes, according to Izzeldin Bukhari, who runs Jerusalem food tours and cooking classes.

"It's a great start; we're really in the beginning," said Bukhari, who plans to offer consulting services to business owners wanting to revitalize their restaurants. "Everyone was doing kind of the same thing, but lately I see people stepping up and doing a new concept, new ideas," he said.

Showcasing the breadth of Palestinian dishes and produce remains central for Dalia Dabdoub, who manages Taboon and other venues in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Jericho. "We want to change the industry, in doing more food that people don't know," she said.

A variety of aubergines renowned locally, which come from Battir, a village in the Bethlehem area, will soon be hitting the Taboon menu, while some produce is imported from Gaza.

"I always try to choose the tomatoes; when they come from Gaza they're really red and they're tastier," said Dabdoub. Gazan green chillies, meanwhile, are particularly fierce. The advent of new eateries builds on the Old City's history of hole-in-the-wall spots, specializing in a single dish like falafel.

Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi grew up with home cooking, such as school packed lunches of cauliflower fritters stuffed in pita, and went out for certain foods. "I remember carrying a plate and going to the hummus guy," said Tamimi, talking avidly about beloved dishes including stuffed vine leaves and courgettes. Such traditional foods and contemporary takes were compiled in the chef's 2020 cookbook: "Falastin."

"Just 10 years ago, if you went to a publisher and said I want to publish a book about Palestinian food, they would say 'Who's going to buy it?'" said Tamimi, who moved to London more than two decades ago. A growing interest in Palestinian food abroad is tied to a shift away from presenting the Mediterranean or the Middle Eastern cuisine as one set of recipes.

"Nowadays you see more focus on the country, or the place and their food … I think it's a wonderful thing," said Tamimi, who has a series of cookbooks and runs restaurants with Israeli business partner Yotam Ottolenghi.

Israelis have proven more successful than Palestinians in branding local cuisine, noted Bukhari, including an image of an Israeli flag atop falafel at Tel Aviv airport. "They are very good at marketing it," said the SacredCuisine founder. "We are leaving a gap for the Israelis to talk about our food."

But Palestinians are catching up internationally, with Bethlehem chef Fadi Kattan set to open a London restaurant later this year. Tamimi himself is due to return briefly to Jerusalem for a residency at the historic American Colony Hotel in October.

His two-week menu follows a previous event there when the chef saw just how much has changed on the city's food scene. "It was the first time that I worked with a whole team of Palestinians," he said.

Turkey attaches importance to cooperation with Russia in the fight against terrorism, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia's coastal city of Sochi to discuss bilateral ties and international issues.

Addressing reporters together ahead of their closed-door face-to-face meeting, Putin said that the Syria issue would be the main topic while Erdoğan underlined that discussing the developments in Syria on this occasion will bring relief to the region.

"Turkey attaches importance to cooperation with Russia in the fight against terrorism," Erdoğan added.

He underlined that the meeting would be "very important" in terms of putting forward the role played by Turkey and Russia in the region.

According to the Turkish presidency, the leaders would hold a one-on-one meeting and chair the talks between delegations during Erdoğan's one-day working visit.

The Syria crisis and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its sixth month, were to be addressed during the Sochi meeting.

The leaders also evaluated bilateral ties between the two countries, mainly focusing on the economy, trade, and energy that constitute the driving force behind Turkey-Russia relations. They exchanged views on the potential steps to enhance bilateral cooperation as well.

Erdoğan was riding high from the diplomatic success of helping orchestrate the resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments across the Black Sea when he visited Sochi for his second face-to-face meeting with Putin in just over two weeks.

Erdoğan and Putin meet in person for the second time in 17 days after the meeting in Iran's capital Tehran, where the leaders had a trilateral gathering with their Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for the Seventh summit in the Astana format to discuss recent developments in Syria, the fight against terrorist groups, as well as the humanitarian situation and the voluntarily return of Syrians.

During their meeting on July 19, the leaders condemned the increased presence and activities of terrorist groups and their affiliates under different names in various parts of Syria.

Turkey constantly emphasizes its determination to root out terrorist organizations, including Daesh and the PKK, along with its Syrian branch, the YPG, in Syria that threaten its security.

The country also reiterates the possibility of another Turkish counterterrorism operation across its southern border into northern Syria, following other operations in recent years, as long as Ankara’s longstanding concerns have not been met.

But there are tensions. The Turkish leader was told by Putin in Tehran last month that Russia remains opposed to any new operation that Turkey might be planning against YPG militants in northern Syria.

The Kremlin also said on Friday that Turkey has legitimate security concerns over Syria and that it will take them into account.

However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was important to avoid actions that could "jeopardize Syria's territorial and political integrity."

Ankara has carried out multiple operations in northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometers of land and targeting the YPG, despite opposition from Moscow.

Russia and Turkey are two major international players in Syria, a country torn apart by war since 2011, in which Moscow backed Damascus and Ankara the opposition groups.

Russia's army helped Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad survive a decade-long rebellion by opposition groups backed by Turkey.

Erdoğan is warning to launch an operation into northern Syria to establish a buffer zone that pushes out the YPG terrorists threatening the national security of the Turkish state.

Putin told Russian media in Tehran he still has "certain disagreements, obviously" with Erdoğan about Syria.

Analysts believe these strains form part of the "competitive cooperation" that has defined the two leaders' relationship over the past 20 years.

Moreover, attempts by NATO member Turkey to remain neutral in the face of Moscow's historic standoff with the West over Ukraine are starting to pay off.

Months of Turkish efforts saw Moscow and Kyiv sign an U.N.-backed agreement in Istanbul last month to resume grain deliveries from Ukrainian ports.

Turkey wants to translate this success into truce talks in Istanbul between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We discussed if the grain agreement could be an occasion for a sustainable cease-fire," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said after talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Asia on Wednesday.

A top aide to Erdoğan also said on Friday that the international community cannot end the war in Ukraine by ignoring Moscow. Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said the agreement attested to the success of NATO member Turkey's efforts and the direct diplomacy between the two leaders while criticizing the role played by other countries.

"The truth is that some of our friends do not want the war to end. They are shedding crocodile tears," Altun told Reuters, saying some were actively trying to undermine Turkey's efforts without specifying who.

"The international community cannot end the war in Ukraine by ignoring Russia. Diplomacy and peace must prevail," he said.

Turkey has relatively good relations with both Ukraine and Russia. But while it has criticized the invasion and provided Ukraine with arms, it has broken with Western allies by not imposing sanctions on Russia. That careful balance reflects the complexity of its ties with Russia, ranging from close cooperation on energy supplies to military competition in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.

"We are looking to harness Turkey's relationships with Russia and Ukraine to work toward a mutually acceptable solution," Altun said.

Turkey is one of the most active countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing through them.

In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29 as the war entered its second month, with casualties piling up on both sides. Turkey also hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya in March and recently hosted four-way meetings in Istanbul between Moscow, Ankara, Kyiv and the United Nations to solve the grain crisis.

The Kremlin on Thursday also said it is concerned about the recent situation in the Karabakh region, calling on Armenia and Azerbaijan to exercise restraint and implement the tripartite agreements.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Peskov said Putin and Erdoğan may exchange views on the situation around Karabakh during the meeting in Sochi.

While there is close cooperation with Russia on energy supplies, there has also been military competition between them in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.

In Libya, Turkey's military support turned back an assault on the internationally recognized government in Tripoli by eastern-based forces who were supported by fighters from the Russian Wagner Group.

In Azerbaijan, Turkey supported a military operation to drive ethnic Armenian forces out of much of the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in the south Caucasus, a region that Russia considers part of its sphere of influence.