Friday, October 6, 2023
EU Official Visits Armenia, Discusses Aid To Karabakh Refugees
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic talks to refugees
from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 6, 2023.
A senior European Union official visited Armenia on Friday to discuss details of
the EU’s humanitarian assistance to the more than 100,000 residents of
Nagorno-Karabakh who have fled to the country since last month’s Azerbaijani
military offensive.
“I came to Armenia to show the full solidarity of the European Union to Armenia,
the Armenian people and, in particular, the people displaced from Karabakh,” EU
Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said after meeting with
Armenian officials and some refugees. He said they “can count on the EU’s full
support in this difficult situation.”
“We very quickly mobilized more than 5 million euros in humanitarian aid,
doubled it a few days later, and as of today have provided more than 10 million
euros ($11 million) in humanitarian aid … In addition, we have mobilized the
European Union's stock of humanitarian aid supplies, which will be sent to
Armenia in the next few hours,” Lenarcic told a joint news conference with
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian.
On top of that, he said, the refugees will receive separate aid from 13 EU
member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
ARMENIA - Five Armenian families, who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azeri
offensive, are seen settled in a house given to them by a neighbor in Goris
until they find a new home, October 4, 2023
The head of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed this
assistance with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday during a meeting held
on the sidelines of an EU summit in the Spanish city of Granada. The Commission
confirmed after the talks that it will also allocate 15 million euros to help
the Armenian government buy food and fuel and address other “socio-economic
needs.”
“The EU stands with Armenia,” tweeted von der Leyen. “We condemn Azerbaijan’s
military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
It is not clear whether some of the EU aid will be used for providing the
refugees with adequate housing, their most urgent need. The Armenian government
claims to have accommodated half of them in hotels, disused public buildings and
empty village houses. It says the others have told government officials that
they will stay with their relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.
Armenia - Elmira Nersisian, a refugee from Nagorno Karabakh, visits an aid
center in Parakar, October 6, 2023
However, there have been multiple reports of refugees remaining homeless days
after their evacuation from Karabakh. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service spoke to several
such persons outside a government aid center in Parakar, a village just outside
Yerevan. They as well as other refugees went there to inquire about a one-off
cash payment of 100,000 drams ($245) promised by the government to every
displaced Karabakh Armenian.
“We are living in a church courtyard, we have no relatives here,” said Elmira
Nersisian, a 74-year-old woman from Stepanakert who fled to Armenia with her
disabled daughter. “We didn’t know what to do, who to apply to.”
“If they give us this [financial] aid, we will get by until I find a job,” she
said, adding that government officials have pledged to provide them with
temporary housing.
The government has also pledged to provide every refugee renting an apartment or
house up to 50,000 drams per month for at least six months. The money can only
be spent on housing rent and utility fees.
Russia Reaffirms Plans For Consulate In Key Armenian Region
Armenian - Russian border guards stationed in Syunik province are inspected by
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin, May 24, 2022.
Amid the increasingly uncertain future of Russian-Armenian relations, Russia has
reaffirmed plans to open a consulate in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province
bordering Iran and Azerbaijan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry first announced those plans in late May, saying
that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed and welcomed them during talks
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A delegation of ministry officials
visited Syunik’s capital for that purpose in June.
The Russian Embassy in Yerevan reported on Friday that another “advance team” of
Russian diplomats visited Syunik and met with the mayor of another provincial
town, Meghri, on Thursday. It said they discussed “prospects for the quick
opening” of the consulate.
The Russian mission in Kapan “will contribute to the strengthening of
Russian-Armenian relations and the stabilization of the situation in the
region,” the embassy added in a statement. It will provide consular services to
about a thousand Russian nationals currently based in Syunik.
The bulk of them are soldiers and border guards who were deployed by Moscow
during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The deployment was aimed at
helping the Armenian military defend the strategic region against possible
Azerbaijani attacks.
Syunik is Armenia’s sole region bordering Iran. Azerbaijani leaders have been
demanding that Yerevan open a special corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its
Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik. The Armenian side says it can only agree to
conventional transport links between the two states.
Iran, which opened a consulate in Kapan a year ago, is also strongly opposed to
an extraterritorial corridor for Nakhichevan. It has repeatedly warned Baku
against attempting to strip the Islamic Republic of the common border and
transport links with Armenia.
While voicing support for Armenian sovereignty over any road or railway link
passing through Syunik, Russia has stopped short publicly issuing similar
warnings to Azerbaijan. Its relationship with Armenia has steadily deteriorated
since 2020 due to what Pashinian’s government sees as a lack of Russian support
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The rift between the two longtime allies deepened further last month after
Moscow decried “a series of unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan. Those include
Pashinian’s declaration that Armenia’s heavy reliance on Russia for defense and
security has proved a “strategic mistake.” The statement raised more questions
about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in Russian-led blocs.
Russia Signals Peacekeepers’ Withdrawal From Karabakh
• Nane Sahakian
A view through a car window shows a board displaying a Russian state flag and an
image of President Vladimir Putin in Stepanakert after exodus of ethnic
Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023.
Russia gave on Friday more indications that it will withdraw its peacekeeping
forces from Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azerbaijani takeover of the territory
and the mass exodus of its ethnic Armenian population.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday night that the peacekeepers have
dismantled most of their observation posts along the Karabakh “line of contact”
that existed until Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive.
Citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the official TASS news agency reported the
following morning that a Russian military delegation will visit Yerevan later on
Friday to discuss with Armenian officials time frames for the Russian withdrawal
from Karabakh.
The spokesman for Armenia’s Defense Ministry, Aram Torosian, said, however, that
he has “no information” about the visit. No Russian-Armenian talks on the issue
have been scheduled so far, he said.
Russia deployed the 2,000-strong peacekeeping contingent to Karabakh in line
with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020
Armenian-Azerbaijani war. The Russian troops were due to stay there at least
until November 2025.
A truck carrying ethnic Armenians fleeing Karabakh drives past a Russian armored
vehicle in the Lachin corridor, September 26, 2023.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, indicated earlier
this week that Moscow has no plans to pull them out of the region soon but will
discuss the matter with Baku. Konstantin Zatulin, a pro-Armenian Russian
lawmaker, pointed out, meanwhile, that the Russian peacekeepers “have nobody to
protect anymore” because Karabakh’s practically entire population has fled to
Armenia. Zatulin said the exodus, accompanied by the restoration of Azerbaijani
control over Karabakh, is a “blow to Russia’s positions in the region.”
The Karabakh Armenians regarded the Russian military presence as their main
security guarantee and expected the peacekeepers to defend their homeland in
case of a large-scale Azerbaijani attack. However, Russian officials ruled out
such intervention hours after the Azerbaijani army launched the offensive on
September 19.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the peacekeepers could
not have thwarted the assault because Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
downgraded their mandate with his decision to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty
over Karabakh. Putin acknowledged that there are virtually no Armenians left in
Karabakh.
EU Parliament Calls For Sanctions Against Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh - A satellite image shows empty streets of the city of
Stepanakert, September 29, 2023.
The European Parliament has strongly condemned Azerbaijan’s military offensive
in Nagorno-Karabakh, accused Baku of committing “ethnic cleaning” against the
region’s Armenian population and called on the European Union to impose
sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders.
In a non-binding resolution overwhelmingly passed late on Thursday, it also
reiterated its earlier demands for the “withdrawal of Azerbaijan’s troops from
the entirety of the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
The resolution says that the EU’s legislative body “condemns in the strongest
terms the pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.” The September 19-20 offensive, which paved the
way for the restoration of Azerbaijani control over the region, represents a
“gross violation of international law,” it says.
The ensuing mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians to Armenia “amounts to ethnic
cleansing,” added the European Parliament. It went on to urge the EU’s executive
bodies and member states to “adopt targeted sanctions against the individuals in
the Azerbaijani Government responsible for multiple ceasefire violations and
violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states. None of
them -- including France, the main EU backer of Armenia -- has backed the idea
so far. French President Emmanuel Macron said later on Thursday that punitive
measures against Baku would be counterproductive at this point.
EU leaders also resisted calls to sanction Azerbaijan during its nine-month
blockade of the Lachin corridor that preceded the offensive in Karabakh.
Analysts linked their stance to a 2022 agreement to significantly increase the
EU’s import of Azerbaijani natural gas. The head of the European Commission,
Ursula von der Leyen, described Azerbaijan as a “key partner in our efforts to
move away from Russian fossil fuels” when she signed the deal in Baku.
The European Parliament resolution “regrets” von der Leyen’s statement. It says
that the EU must suspend oil and gas imports from Azerbaijan “in the event of
military aggression against Armenian territorial integrity or significant hybrid
attacks against Armenia’s constitutional order and democratic institutions.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Category: 2023
At an Oakland church, Armenians have been keeping their culture alive for 100 years
Oakland Side
Oct 5 2023
Parishioners at St. Vartan Apostolic Church will host the 68th annual Armenian Food Festival this weekend.
EU seeks new talks on Nagorno-Karabakh, boosts aid to Armenia
Al Jazeera, Qatar
Oct 5 2023
European Council President Charles Michel says dialogue and diplomacy needed to resolve crisis.
The European Union has invited the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to resume peace talks following Azerbaijan’s lightning military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month, which triggered the flight of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians.
In a meeting of European leaders in the Spanish city of Granada on Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel said he invited Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to meet in Brussels this month.
“We believe in diplomacy. We believe in political dialogue,” Michel told reporters at the summit of the European Political Community, a forum including more than 40 countries.
Aliyev declined to attend the summit in Granada, where European leaders had hoped that Armenia and Azerbaijan could work to resolve tensions and reach an agreement over Nagorno-Karabakh.
At the summit, leaders also pledged support for Armenia as it grapples with the fallout of the Azerbaijani military operation last month to seize control of the enclave, mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
Many EU leaders have condemned the Azerbaijani operation and some governments have called for the bloc to consider tough measures against Baku, which has insisted it took legitimate action to regain control of a part of its sovereign territory.
Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenian residents have fled Nagorno-Karabakh to neighbouring Armenia since Armenian separatists were forced into a ceasefire on September 20 after a 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday accusing Baku of “ethnic cleansing”.
Many European leaders have expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared their “unwavering support” for Armenia’s territorial integrity on Thursday after meeting with Pashinyan.
However, there does not appear to be consensus among European leaders over potential sanctions for Azerbaijan, an important source of oil and natural gas for the EU and an ally of the United States. France’s Macron said that while Azerbaijan seemed to have “a problem with international law”, steps such as sanctions would not be productive.
Leaders at the summit agreed to step up aid to Armenia, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying that the EU will provide $5.53m in emergency aid on top of a similar amount previously announced.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Karabakh crisis: UN response continues
UN News
Oct 5 2023
5 October 2023Humanitarian Aid
UN teams on the ground in Armenia are providing vital support to help address the needs of over 100,000 refugees who recently fled the Karabakh region.
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has continued its aid efforts by distributing essential relief items.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said a shipment of 180 foldable beds, hundreds of foam mattresses, beds, pillows, blankets, and more, transported by some 16 UNHCR-backed trucks, arrived on Thursday.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has also been actively distributing dignity kits to assist women and girls in maintaining proper hygiene after their displacement.
So far, approximately 13,000 kits have been distributed.
Additionally, the agency is actively supporting local service providers in preventing gender-based violence and providing training to partners on survivor-centred support.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has conducted training for social workers specializing in child protection within emergency settings.
It has established the first of two planned support centres in the primary municipality receiving refugees, Goris.
UNICEF is also working to improve psychological support services and child protection case management.
Likewise, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is investing in green energy solutions to meet the needs of vulnerable refugees and their host communities.
These solutions include the implementation of solar panels, water heaters, and bio-toilets.
Opinion: Why no one should believe reports of Armenians’ ‘voluntary’ exodus from Artsakh
Los Angeles Times
Oct 5 2023
Over the last two weeks, thousands of vehicles have lined a serpentine road stretching for three miles in the South Caucuses Mountains near the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. At times, the multitude of cars was so dense that it could be seen from space. The travelers — refugees — survived extreme deprivation for nine months and a harrowing military assault against their homeland.
The road, known as the Lachin Corridor, is the sole escape route out of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh, also called Nagorno-Karabakh, situated on territory Azerbaijan claims is its own. As of Monday, more than 100,000 Artsakh Armenians, the Indigenous people of the region, had fled from the land their ancestors lived on for millennia. They face an uncertain future.
WORLD & NATION
For Armenians around the globe, satellite imagery of the Lachin Corridor exodus raises a historical specter. It echoes photography documenting death marches across the Syrian desert during the 1915 Armenian genocide, proof of forcible expulsion and ethnic cleansing.
For media outlets and global actors who take their cues from Azerbaijan’s officialdom, the images tell a markedly different story. They depict not expulsion but the voluntary departure of separatists from a breakaway region who have chosen to flee, after the restoration of Azerbaijani territorial sovereignty.
How do we account for these divergent narratives and the consequences they pose for Artsakh’s Armenians? To do that requires disentangling the role that disinformation and Armenophobia play in Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime.
OPINION
For decades, Azerbaijan’s state officials have openly espoused pan-Turkism, an ethnoterritorial ideology that aims to unite all Turkic-speaking peoples and that undergirds the catastrophe in Artsakh today.
In 2005, the mayor of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, summarized his country’s position succinctly: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians.” During a 2020 military offensive in the region, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev famously announced, “This is the end. … We are chasing them like dogs.”
In December 2022, according to news reports, Azerbaijanis posed as environmental protesters to initiate an illegal blockade of Artsakh, closing the Lachin Corridor. Critical shortages of food, fuel and medical resources followed. With the population on the brink of famine by August, a former International Criminal Court prosecutor warned that a “genocide by starvation” was unfolding.
The international community — including, not insignificantly, nations that have recently doubled gas imports from Azerbaijan — remained silent, and Aliyev acted with impunity. He launched a lightning offensive on Sept. 19, against malnourished civilians and civilian infrastructure under the guise of “anti-terror” measures. At least 200 died in Artsakh, with many more wounded.
OPINION
Forced to surrender, Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree stating that the republic would “cease to exist” on Jan. 1, 2024. In a matter of days, nearly the entire population had been forcibly displaced. For the first time in thousands of years, Artsakh is effectively absent Armenians.
Sidestepping ethnic cleansing and the humanitarian catastrophe, some news media have announced that Azerbaijan has “reclaimed” its territory and that a “smooth reintegration process” awaits Artsakh’s Armenians. What these accounts leave out is Azerbaijan’s history of disinformation, explicit expressions of genocidal intent and systematic silencing of those who oppose Aliyev’s authoritarian government.
From 2018 to 2021, reports published by the Palo Alto-based think tank Institute for the Future and the Guardian revealed a sprawling, state-sponsored digital repression campaign to obstruct political participation and block online dissent in Azerbaijan, overlapping with the country’s 2020 military offensive in Artsakh.
A major investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project exposed a multibillion-dollar laundering scheme connected to the Azerbaijani state that funneled funding to public relations efforts that promote government views. Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan at 151 out of 180 countries in its 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
OPINION
As Azerbaijan took Artsakh captive in September, NetBlocks cited “major disruptions to internet connectivity” in the region, obstructing the flow of information. A week later, Amnesty International reported that five Azerbaijani activists had been arrested and detained in connection with their advocacy for Artsakh’s Armenians.
The republic’s leaders, including former Artsakh state minister Ruben Vardanyan and three former presidents of the republic, have been arrested by Azerbaijani forces, in some cases as they tried to cross the border to Armenia.
Over the weekend, footage circulated of the deserted central square of Stepanakert, the Artsakh capital — strewn with abandoned chairs and possessions, a “ghost town,” in the words of one correspondent. A U.N. mission arrived Sunday, but as one refugee told the Guardian, “What is there left for the U.N. to monitor? … It is too late now.”
Despite all this, the international community remains keen to euphemize the “voluntary” exodus from Artsakh.
As scholars of media and of language, we are acutely aware of the geopolitical consequences of disinformation. The consequences will be all too grave for Artsakh’s Armenians. What looms is permanent displacement, dispossession and the erasure of their presence in the region.
There are mechanisms that might yet yield meaningful interventions. Ethnic cleansing and even genocide charges against Aliyev and his government could be brought in the International Criminal Court. Sanctions could be imposed against officials in Azerbaijan, as nearly 100 House and Senate lawmakers have urged. U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan could be cut, and substantial international funding could be allocated to aid the refugee population streaming into Armenia.
To activate these mechanisms, the claims of Azerbaijan’s disinformation apparatus must be recognized and denied — chief among them that 100,000 Armenians have “chosen to flee” their ancestral lands. One hundred and six years lapsed before the U.S. formally acknowledged the Armenian genocide of 1915. It’s vital to recognize the genocide that’s currently underway while it is still possible to resist it.
Mashinka Firunts Hakopian is an associate professor of technology and social justice at ArtCenter College of Design. Shushan Karapetian is the director of the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies.
Armenian Artists Contemplate Notions of Home and Belonging
Oct 5 2023
Much of Remain in Light jumps back and forth between Los Angeles and Armenia, underscoring the blurriness of living in diaspora.
LOS ANGELES — Some mountains are places and some are symbols. Mt. Ararat is both, a national and cultural symbol of Armenia and popularly considered the Biblical resting place of Noah’s Ark. Which is why it’s striking to see mounds of earth from the mountain — little piles of soil, obsidian tools, and even animal remains — in a gallery alongside “The Light Under Dark Clouds,” a myth-making image of Ararat by photographer Sossi Madzounian that shows the mountain cast under dark and light clouds. These mounds of earth come from an 8,000-year-old farming community at Ararat, reminding us that it’s a place and a symbol, an ancient home since the dawn of agriculture.
The mounds, and Madzounian’s photo, meet visitors at the entry to Remain in Light: Visions of Homeland and Diaspora, an exhibition of Armenian photographers currently on view at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Alongside Madzounian are photographers Ara Mgrdichian and Ara Oshagan, all diaspora-born Armenian artists who live in Los Angeles, a city and county that is home to the second-largest Armenian population in the world outside Armenia itself.
“Quo Vadis?” by Mgrdichian, a photo of signs pointing to LA’s “sister cities,” highlights the importance of Los Angeles as a diasporic home. A small sign points to the right to indicate the direction of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, 7200 miles (~11,500 km) away. Next to this work is “Hand in Hand,” a photograph of children from the Orran Center for socially vulnerable children and families in Yerevan. They hold pieces of paper with their handprints on them.
Much of the show jumps back and forth between Los Angeles and Armenia, underscoring the blurriness of living in diaspora. Part of what makes the exhibition successful is curator Gassia Armenian’s arrangements, which draw connections between themes and regions. In “Mother and Child,” Madzounian depicts the christening of a first-born son in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province. The photo is composed to look like a Virgin Mother and child, an important religious symbol in many Armenian churches.
A few walls down, Mgrdichian’s “Mgrdoutioune” depicts a baptism in Glendale, the heart of the Armenian diaspora in Los Angeles County, where a man, presumably a father, holds a crying child. In the nearby “Christening,” Ara Oshagan shows Der Hovaness, a priest at Gantzasar monastery in Vank Village, Armenia, administering a blessing. Like pictures traded on a family WhatsApp chat, the photos speak to each other across time and space, suggesting the glue that religion and ritual play for cultures in diaspora.
Other important connections include photos addressing the 1915 Armenian genocide — in Oshagan’s “April 24” (the date commemorating the genocide victims), a man wearing a t-shirt saying “Genocide Never Again” appears to be crying on the street, while in Mgrdichian’s “Fight the Power,” people march in solidarity as they wave the US and Armenian flags. “Lachin,” a photo Oshagan took in Artsakh, shows a young boy on wooden stairs in the Lachin corridor of Artsakh, which connects the region to Armenia. Azerbaijan launched an attack on the region in 2020 and, as of press time, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians have fled the area following a military offensive from Azerbaijan that started on September 19.
Gassia Armenian’s decision to include the artists’ own words brings to life their stories, making them as much a part of the show as the people and landmarks they photograph. Oshagan offers his identity as “a neural network made up of American/Armenian/Arabic/French parts that are in constant flux, in harmony and contention.” It’s a useful way to describe the exhibition — like Ararat, the photos speak to home as both a place and a symbol. In the face of diaspora and resistance, dispossession and defiance, home is always in flux.
Remain in Light: Visions of Homeland and Diaspora continues at the Fowler Museum at UCLA (308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Westwood, Los Angeles) through October 15. The show was curated by Gassia Armenian, Fowler curatorial and research associate.
View photos at https://hyperallergic.com/847677/armenian-artists-contemplate-notions-of-home-and-belonging-remain-in-light-fowler-museum-los-angeles/
The Politics and Disinformation Behind Armenian Exodus From Karabakh
Jamestown Foundation
Oct 5 2023
The talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, scheduled for October 5 in Granada, Spain, were abruptly canceled when Aliyev refused to take part. According to Baku, the main reason for this was the European Union changing the previous tripartite mediation format—EU, Armenia, and Azerbaijan—to include France and Germany (Aze.media, October 4). At the same time, Azerbaijan’s request to allow Turkish participation in the negotiations was declined.
France, home to a sizeable Armenian diaspora, has long been seen in Azerbaijan as a staunch supporter of Armenia. Recent official statements from French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and Paris’ pledge to deliver military equipment to Armenia put a potential peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan at risk (Euronews, October 4). This agreement is critical for opening the way for economic development in the region and creating an environment to encourage the return of Karabakh’s Armenians.
To accelerate the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, US and EU officials need to take into account the widespread disinformation regarding the events in Karabakh. Failure to do so may serve to harm their objective mediation of peace negotiations, which are critical for stabilizing the region. A peace treaty would create conditions for the return of both Armenian and Azerbaijani refugees to Karabakh and go a long way to ensuring long-term security in the South Caucasus.
On September 19, Baku conducted a brief military operation in Karabakh that defeated the armed formations of the separatist regime there and led to its dissolution (see EDM, September 20, 28). The “anti-terrorist” operation was reportedly triggered by two separate incidents of mine explosions on Azerbaijan-controlled territory in Karabakh that killed two civilians and four police officers (Mod.gov.az, September 19). Since the separatist authorities surrendered, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians are believed to have left the region for Armenia, leading to a local humanitarian emergency and international concerns about alleged ethnic cleansing (see EDM, October 4).
The European Union and the United States now have a historic opportunity to close the page on one of the longest regional conflicts in post-Soviet space. Both, nevertheless, need to recognize three changing realities in the South Caucasus. First, Azerbaijan has effectively won the 35-year war with Armenia over Karabakh, a war that was launched by Karabakh Armenians and backed by Yerevan in 1988 (Crisisgroup.org, September 16).
Second, Turkey has emerged as the most powerful regional state due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Iran’s complicity in the war through supplying weapons to Moscow. While Turkey is a strategic ally of Azerbaijan, it is also a driving force for regional economic growth and the development of transit routes that connect the South Caucasus to Central Asia and Europe (see EDM, September 5; October 2).
Third, the mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians, while driven by fear of retribution and heated political rhetoric, far from qualifies as “ethnic cleansing.” A refugee crisis is always a humanitarian tragedy for thousands of people, but it can often be remedied if there is no systematic expulsion of ethnic populations through violence and intimidation. Thus far, Baku has given repeated assurances that the Armenians in Karabakh will be protected and that they can become citizens of Azerbaijan. The government has opened an online portal for those Armenians who want to register to obtain Azerbaijani citizenship (Press.un.org, September 21; News.az, September 28).
Pashinyan has continually claimed that “ethnic cleansing is underway” in the region (TASS, September 28). He took these assertions a step further in telling Colonna that Azerbaijan had carried out “a pre-announced ethnic cleansing” (Arka.am, October 4). The findings of a recent United Nations mission to Karabakh, however, stand in stark contrast to Pashinyan’s and Yerevan’s claims (see EDM, September 20; Panarmenian.net, September 28). Although the mission found that very few Armenians still remain in Karabakh, presumably no more than 1,000, it did not discover any reports of incidents of violence against civilians after the latest ceasefire (Azerbaijan.un.org, October 2).
The UN representatives said they were “struck by the sudden manner in which the local population left their homes and the suffering the experience must have caused.” The mass exodus has created a humanitarian crisis, but many Armenian refugees are reporting that they have not been forced to leave their homes by Azerbaijani representatives (YouTube, October 2). The majority followed the call from the separatist leaders in Karabakh to flee to Armenia for safety. This underscores the fact that local politics and disinformation have more to do with the sudden departure of thousands of Armenians than alleged forcible deportations conducted by Azerbaijani officials (BBC, September 26).
The UN delegation also observed no damage to civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and housing. The report also noted that no cultural and religious structures in the regional capital of Khankendi had been destroyed, though the city now looks like a ghost town without its population. International media reports contributed to these findings, displaying an abandoned city but no visible signs of infrastructure damage or destruction (Al Jazeera, October 1).
Some public figures in Armenia took exception with the UN report. Edmon Marukyan, an Armenian ambassador-at-large, subsequently criticized the UN mission in Karabakh for legitimizing “the ethnic cleansing, arbitrary detentions, destructions of civilian infrastructure, and other crimes committed by Azerbaijan.” He called on the United Nations to investigate the activities of “these representatives” (Armepress.am, October 3).
Such public statements serve to further disrupt potential talks between Baku and Yerevan. In this case, Marykyan’s words sparked another round of arguments on social media between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. These sentiments, in turn, hurt the chances for establishing a lasting peace in the South Caucasus. The mediation efforts of the United States and European Union could be an effective way to tamp down these tensions.
https://jamestown.org/program/the-politics-and-disinformation-behind-the-armenian-exodus-from-karabakh/
UNICEF in Armenia creates safe spaces for children from Karabakh
UN News
Oct 5 2023
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In one week, more than 100,000 people arrived in Armenia from Karabakh, including around 30,000 children. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is among humanitarian agencies mobilized to help the refugees.
UNICEF Representative in Armenia Christine Weigand said children arrive there very tired, hungry and in a state of shock. Their immediate needs are very much linked to health issues.
Speaking to UN News’s Anton Uspensky, she explained that in the long run, assistance will be provided to support children’s integration into the educational system. They will also receive psychological support to help them overcome the shock and trauma.
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Anton Uspensky, UN News
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6’29”
Azerbaijan Writes the Last Chapter in Karabakh
Politics today
Oct 5 2023
Armenia had taken no steps regarding its military assistance and presence in the four regions or the Nagorno-Karabakh corridor.
T
hree years and four days ago, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War began with Azerbaijan’s counterattack in response to Armenian aggression. The war ended 44 days later, on November 9, with the Trilateral Declaration of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia. This agreement not only ended the war between the two countries, but Azerbaijan liberated 10,000 sq km of its occupied territory that covered an area of 13,000 sq km in total; it did not, however establish state authority in the remaining 3,000 sq km of Khankendi, Khojaly, Khojavend, and Agdere.
In Karabakh, the so-called Artsakh Republic, a government created by Armenians in 1991 and not even recognized by Armenia itself, was established and a continuous link with Armenia was maintained through the occupied territories. According to Article 4 of the Trilateral Declaration, Armenia was to withdraw its armed forces from the region, while Russian peacekeepers were to be stationed there. In addition, according to Article 9 of the declaration, the so-called Zangezur corridor was to be established to ensure uninterrupted safe transport between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and Azerbaijani territories.
Although Armenia and Azerbaijan were negotiating a lasting peace, and Pashinyan occasionally reaffirmed his recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, no peace treaty had been signed. In addition, Armenia had taken no steps regarding its military assistance and presence in the four regions or the Nagorno-Karabakh corridor.
During the second track diplomacy meetings with civil society organizations and third parties on both sides, utopian ideas such as “delaying the process as long as possible, reoccupying Karabakh when the conditions are ripe, and ensuring an uninterrupted territorial connection with Armenia” were sometimes expressed. At worst, Armenia sought a different status (autonomy or greater privileges under international supervision) for the Armenians living in Karabakh.
Read: The Coup That Never Happened and the “Karabakh Clan” in the Armenian Army
Azerbaijan’s inability to establish its authority fully in Khankendi, Khojaly, Khojavend, and Agdere was not the only problem after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Attacks and sabotage by Armenia and Armenian-backed armed groups against Azerbaijani military posts and construction activities in the liberated areas posed a significant problem.
In fact, after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, more than 300 Azerbaijani civilians and security personnel were killed by mines and sabotage. This situation posed significant risks not only for the reconstruction of the region, but also for the return of forcibly displaced Azerbaijanis. It, therefore, became untenable.
Finally, following recent attacks on civilians and police officers, Azerbaijan launched a counterterrorism operation on September 19. The operation was highly professional in its planning and execution. In less than 24 hours, the Armenian armed groups announced their surrender. As a result of the negotiations following the operation, the Armenian armed groups agreed to lay down their arms and to dissolve the so-called state. In this manner, it was confirmed once again that the status quo imposed on Karabakh for the last 30 years has come to an end and the curtain has closed.
Read: Is War at the Door? Iran and the Azerbaijan-Armenia Tensions
At this point, it would be an oversimplification to characterize the Armenian armed groups or the hardliners in Karabakh simply as separatist armed groups or terrorists. There are many reasons for this, but I will mention just three. First, these groups were very influential in Armenian politics and worked closely with the hardline diaspora, in a sense holding the fate of the Armenian people hostage.
Second, these groups, reportedly numbering between 10,000 and 12,000, had armored vehicles, tanks, and even air defense systems that almost no terrorist organization has in its inventory. In addition, combat-ready individuals were recruited and deployed from various countries, including the PKK/YPG and, most importantly, officers from the Armenian army.
Third, these groups received all kinds of military support from Armenia through the Lachin corridor. In fact, as part of Azerbaijan’s measures against mines and sabotage, mines produced after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War have been detected in the region.
Therefore, with its recent anti-terrorist operation, Azerbaijan has not only consolidated state authority in these regions, but has also dealt a significant blow to the influence of the Khankendi clan, which is the “sword of Damocles” in Armenian politics and that had a significant influence over Armenia’s policies on Karabakh.
Read: Mercenaries in Karabakh: Who They Are and How They Got There
Since the beginning of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Azerbaijani state has repeatedly declared that Karabakh Armenians are citizens of Azerbaijan and have the same rights and duties as other Azerbaijanis on the basis of citizenship. Nevertheless, after the surrender of the so-called administration in Karabakh following the military operation, tens of thousands of people of Armenian origin were seen leaving Karabakh for Armenia.
Utilizing the convoys formed by these civilians, the Armenian lobby, especially those living in the U.S., France, and Russia, as well as those who are categorically anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani, (it would be more accurate to say Turkophobic), have launched a new campaign: they are lamenting and shouting slogans with tears in their eyes, and collecting signatures about a “genocide” that is being committed again, referring to 1915.
Those who are trying to manipulate this humanitarian tragedy did not see any evil when nearly one million Azerbaijani Turks were forcibly displaced in 1988-1994, nor when hundreds of people, including women, children, and elderly, were massacred in Khojaly in 1992. Nor did they raise a peep of protest when Armenia shelled Azerbaijani civilian settlements during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
The initial reaction of the Armenians in the region, who were alarmed when the so-called Artsakh administration capitulated and announced that it would disband, is understandable. For decades, they had been convinced that the occupation of Karabakh would last forever and had been indoctrinated with an ideology of hatred against Azerbaijan.
However, no one massacred them, no one told them to leave the lands where authority had been established, and no one gave them a deadline and told them that they would be forcibly expelled. On the contrary, new channels of communication were opened for the Armenians of the region and their process of reintegration into Azerbaijan began the same week.
As the reintegration process of the Armenians who stayed despite the separatists’ instructions progresses, it is likely that a significant number of those who left for Armenia will return and live their lives with the rights and responsibilities granted by Azerbaijani law. Indeed, in its meetings with U.S. officials and the UN, Azerbaijan stated that the process can be monitored on the ground —an important sign of its confidence in this regard. The healthy progress of the reintegration of Azerbaijani Armenians into the country is an important opportunity to put an end to the seeds of hatred and vengeful politics that are being sown in the region.
The last point that needs to be mentioned is that we need to eliminate altogether concepts such as the “Karabakh problem” or the “status of Karabakh.” The Karabakh conflict largely ended with the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and with the anti-terrorist operation carried out by Azerbaijan on September 19, the final chapter has been written.
From now on, the focus should be on the reconstruction of the region, the return of displaced Azerbaijanis to their lands, the reintegration of Azerbaijani Armenians into Azerbaijan, the accountability of those who committed war crimes in the past under international and Azerbaijani law, and the creation of a peaceful and prosperous stable space in the South Caucasus as a whole.
Armenia not taking part in CSTO military exercises in Kyrgyzstan
19:55, 6 October 2023
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is not taking part in the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Indestructible Brotherhood military exercises that kicked off near the Kyrgyz town of Balykchy on October 6.
The host country’s defense ministry said troops from all other CSTO members are participating in the drills.