Category: 2023

Power supply restored only in Martakert so far

Elizabeth Jabejian

 17:47,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Power supply in Martakert has been restored, reporter Lusine Zakaryan told ARMENPRESS by phone from the town in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile, the town of Askeran still has no power supply, the local regional administration’s spokesperson Anahit Petrosyan said.

Power supply in Stepanakert hasn’t been restored either.

Gayane Gevorgyan, a woman living in Stepanakert, said that the residents have set up stoves in the streets to cook food.  “We’ve been managing to somehow charge our phones using car batteries to be able to maintain contact with one another. We are waiting with hope,” Gevorgyan said.

Armenpress: Chancellor of Germany emphasizes importance of respecting Armenia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty

Emil Karabekian

 18:06,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, during their September 22 phone call, spoke about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the issue of supplying urgent humanitarian aid for the locals, including through Lachin Corridor, the German government said in its readout.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the use of military force and emphasized that the German federal government is resolutely committed to a negotiated solution and sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also expressed full support to the efforts of President of the European Council Charles Michel.

The German Chancellor said that the rights and security of the population of Karabakh must be guaranteed for a sustainable resolution to the conflict.

“Transparent humanitarian supplies and security for the people in Karabakh is now Azerbaijan’s responsibility,” the German government said in the readout.

The German Chancellor also emphasized the importance of respecting Armenia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Prime Minister Pashinyan and Chancellor Scholz agreed to maintain close contacts.

Asbarez: Artsakh Defense Army Withdraws from Positions

Emil Karabekian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

A cache of weapons collected by Russian peacekeepers from Artsakh defense army


The Artsakh Defense Army on Friday withdrew from its positions as part of a deal reached on Thursday when representatives from Stepanakert and Baku met in Yevlakh.

The disarming of the armed forces was also part of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement, backed by the Artsakh authorities, which ended Azerbaijan’s latest large-scale attack on Artsakh that left 200 people dead and hundreds injured, homeless and displaced.

“In fulfilling of the agreements on the cessation of hostilities reached through the mediation of the command of the Russian peacekeeping troops, the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the units of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army has begun, under the supervision of Russian servicemen,” the Russian peacekeeping mission announced in a post off the Telegram social media site.

“The armed formations of Karabakh are withdrawing from their positions as part of the agreements reached during the meeting in Yevlakh. As of today, more than 800 firearms, grenades, mortars, guided anti-tank missiles and MANPADS have been surrendered,” the Russia peacekeeping mission added.

Based on the agreement, Russian peacekeeping forces will replace the Artsakh Defense Army at those positions.

[SEE VIDEO]

Artsakh authorities said on Friday that there were no concrete results yet from talks with Azerbaijan on possible security guarantees or an amnesty that Baku is supposedly proposing.

“These questions must still be resolved,” David Babayan, the advisor of ArtsakhPresident Samvel Shahramanyan told Reuters. “There are no concrete results yet.”

Russian peacekeeping armored vehicles in Artsakh

“The situation is difficult – humanitarian questions need to be resolved. Agreement has been reached for a humanitarian convoy to come from Armenia via the Lachin corridor,” Babayan said.

Asked whether or not the Armenians of Artsakh were on the move, Babayan said there was no large-scale movement of people as the region was effectively under siege.

“The Lachin corridor does not work as it should,” he said. “At the present time, other questions need to be resolved.”

“The situation is very difficult: the people are hungry, there is no electricity, no fuel – we have many refugees.”

Reuters also reported that Baku may be considering amnesty for Artsakh soldiers who lay down their arms.

Azerbaijani presidential foreign policy adviser Hikmet  Hajiyev told Reuters that Baku is envisioning an amnesty for those Nagorno-Karabakh fighters who gave up their weapons.

“Even with regard to former militaries and combatants, if they can be classified in such a way, and even for them we are envisioning an amnesty or alluding to an amnesty as well,” Hajiyev said.
Karabakh Armenian rights would be respected as part of their integration into Azerbaijan, he said, adding that they had requested humanitarian support as well as oil and gasoline supplies. Three cargos of humanitarian help would be delivered to the region on Friday, he said.

“Currently we are seeing that some individual army groups and officers that made the public statements that they won’t come to our terms and will continue resistance,” Hajiyev said. “But we do not see that to be the biggest challenge, and big security challenge. Of course this will cause certain challenges and difficulties but not on a such a big scale.”

Asbarez: Armenia Urges UN Security Council to Prevent Ethnic Cleansing in Artsakh, Deploy Peacekeepers

Vanyan Gary
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan addresses the UN Security Council on Sep. 21


Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Thursday urged the United Nations Security Council to act and prevent ethnic cleansing in Artsakh and send UN-mandated peacekeepers there to maintain the security and stability.

Mirzoyan was speaking at a special session of the UN Security Council, which was called at the initiative of France, to address the large-scale military attack on Artsakh on Tuesday.

The majority of diplomats representing member states, including the United States, France, Germany and others, condemned Baku for its brazen attacks against the population of Artsakh and called on Baku to immediately reopen the Lachin Corridor and unlock access of humanitarian assistance to the people of Artsakh.

Also speaking that special Security Council session was the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, who warned Baku against the forced displacement of the Armenian population in Artsakh.

In his address, Mirzoyan said that the intensity and cruelty of the Azerbaijani attack against Nagorno-Karabakh makes it clear that Azerbaijan’s intention is to complete the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Below is the complete text of Mirzoyan’s statement.

[SEE VIDEO]

Mr. President,
Distinguished colleagues,

I thank the Security Council for convening this urgent meeting to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stemming from unprovoked and well-planned military attack by Azerbaijan.

While the UN General Assembly’s session is underway and all the members of international community are gathered here to look for ways to maintain peace and security worldwide, while we all speak about the imperative to condemn use of force, prevent further loss of human lives caused by man-made disasters, while each of us comes here to contribute to peace, in our region in South Caucasus on 19th September Azerbaijan unleashed yet another large-scale offensive against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, in blatant violation of the international law and Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020. Literally the whole territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert and other cities and settlements came under intense and indiscriminate shelling with use of missiles, heavy artillery, combat UAVs and aviation, including prohibited cluster munition. The intensity and cruelty of the offensive makes it clear that the intention is to finalize ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Outcomes of this large-scale military operation clearly reveal their atrocious nature. Yet they are very preliminary as due to the targeted attacks against critical infrastructure, such as electricity stations, telephone cables and  stations and internet equipment, the population is completely cut-off from each other and is deprived of the possibility to present the real-time situation on the ground. Also, Azerbaijani troops control main roads in Nagorno-Karabakh which makes it impossible to visit and get information on the ground. 

For the time being there are confirmed cases of more than 200 killed and 400 wounded, including among civilian population, women and children, also accepted today by the
Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than ten thousand persons became forcibly displaced, including women, children, and elderly, who stay in the open air, without food and other means for subsistence. Thousands of families have been separated. Add to this around twenty thousand displaced persons from the 2020 war to see that there are enormous humanitarian needs on the ground.

People are still starving due to the severe shortages of food imposed by the ongoing 10-month blockade.

The healthcare system has been paralyzed. Hospitals have no electricity and are in a critical shortage of medicine. People are deprived of the opportunity to receive even first aid. Without fuel, ambulances cannot operate to take the wounded to hospitals.

The images coming from Nagorno-Karabakh are truly shocking: women, children, elderly people left without shelter and food, moms desperately trying to find their lost children, wives crying from fear that Azerbaijan may imprison their husbands. It’s hard to believe that all this is happening not a hundred years ago but today in front of the international community in the 21st century. The social media is full of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh searching for their children or relatives. The children that suddenly appeared to stay in shelters or even streets continue crying and asking their parents to take them home, refusing to recognize that they do not have a home anymore. During the shelling an eight-year boy has gone missing in one of the settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh, his brother ten years old was killed and his body has not been even possible to take out from the village. The other brother was injured. These are only examples of numerous cases. In the eyes of Azerbaijan these children are terrorists, and Azerbaijan’s actions, missiles, armored vehicles, artillery and UAVs were directed against those children, their parents and grandparents. 

The Azerbaijani social media segment is full of calls to find the missing children and women, to rape them, dismember and feed them to dogs. Azerbaijani users are sharing the profiles of Armenian women from Nagorno-Karabakh on social media making biddings on who will get those women to rape, when they are taken under Azerbaijani custody.

Colleagues, 
This was feasible, the clear signs were there. We have been alarming for a long time now. The international community refused to take it seriously enough. 

The current aggression came as a culmination of a 10-months-long blockade of the Lachin corridor and forced starvation imposed on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Severe shortage of food, medicine, fuel, natural gas, electricity and other essential goods had already brought the vulnerable people of Nagorno-Karabakh to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. One should be naive to think that this was not precisely thought through ever since or even before the institutionalization of the inhumane blockade with the aim of bringing down the will and ability of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to resist and maintain their lives and livelihood in their ancestral homeland. The Azerbaijani aggression that unfolded with explicit barbarity and deliberate targeting of civilian populations and infrastructure was the final act of this tragedy aimed at the forced exodus of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • When the International Court of Justice on February 22 and July 6, 2023, adopted legally binding orders and they were disrespected by Azerbaijan- this Council as an august body meant to ensure the implementation of ICJ orders failed to react adequately,
  • When Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin cCorridor and we called for urgent meeting of the UNSC in December 2022 – this Council failed to react adequately, 
  • When in April Azerbaijan installed illegal check-point in the Lachin cCorridor and later started to kidnap people, including ones under the protection of international humanitarian law,- international community failed to undertake adequate measures,
  • When Armenia called again for another UNSC urgent session in August 2023 – warning about the fragile security and humanitarian situation and calling the Council to use its toolbox to address all the issues and not let people of Nagorno-Karabakh behind, this Council failed to react adequately,

During the days prior to September 19’s Azerbaijani aggression when Armenia was raising alarm about feasible use of force by Azerbaijan and seeking for concrete measures and actions to prevent this scenario – international community reacted to our warning with skepticism.

Now when Azerbaijan has already restarted to use force against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, when these this people are forcefully deported from their houses and are at danger to be forcefully deported from their homeland, when many who have been defending their families and their right to live in freedom and dignity in their homeland for the last 30 years are at danger of mass arrests and prosecution, when we have a situation where there is not an intent any more, but clear and irrefutable evidences of policy of ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities – the Security Council of the United Nations must act.

Despite accepting all demands of the Azerbaijani side in order to stop the bloodshed and ongoing talks today, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were again subjected to attacks using different caliber weapons and mortars, thus forcing the civilians once again to seek shelter in the basements. We believe such attacks and further persecutions will continue unless there is a clear international action. 

By the way, regarding the mentioned demands, I would like to state very clearly and unequivocally that the Republic of Armenia was not part of those discussions and we resolutely reiterate that the claims and references to the presence of any military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh do not correspond to reality. 
In this attempt we clearly see the intention of some actors to involve the Republic of Armenia in military actions thus transferring the hostilities into our sovereign territories. The position of Armenia firmly remains the same: we should establish peaceful relations based on mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity, which certainly cannot be anyhow misinterpreted and used as a license for mass atrocities, including ethnic cleansings in Nagorno-Karabakh. The rights and security of the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh must be properly addressed and internationally guaranteed.

There is also another very important aspect regarding the parties involved. As I noted some of you in your statements still make general calls to the sides of conflict. This approach and this terminology are not relevant any more. There are no more sides of the conflict but perpetrators and victims. There is no more conflict but a real danger of atrocity crime. Is it still possible to prevent it now? We are here because we believe so. Because we still believe in humanity, in international law and in the ability of the Security Council to act decisively when lives of thousands are at stake.

Mr. President, 
Against this backdrop, time and again, I appeal to the Security Council to demonstrate its credibility and reputation by undertaking the following urgent measures:

  • To condemn the resumption of hostilities and targeting of civilian settlements and infrastructure,
  • To demand full compliance with obligations under the international humanitarian law, including those related to the protection of civilians, in particular women and children, and critical civilian infrastructure;
  • To immediately deploy an interagency mission by the UN to Nagorno-Karabakh with the aim to monitor and assess the human rights, humanitarian and security situation.
  • To ensure unimpeded access of the UN agencies and other international organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh in line with the humanitarian principles.
  • To ensure full cooperation of the parties in good faith with the International Committee of the Red Cross to address the consequences of the military actions, including the removal and identification of the bodies, search and rescue of personnel missing in action, release of POWs, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance, in strict compliance with the international humanitarian law. 
  • To ensure the return of persons displaced in the course of the recent aggression, as well as persons and refugees displaced as a result of 2020 war, to their homes in the territory of Nagorno- Karabakh and adjacent regions under the monitoring and control of the UN relevant agencies, as it was foreseen in the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020.
  • To ensure immediate restoration of vital supplies, including food, medicine, fuel, gas and electricity.
  • To demand the immediate restoration of freedom and security of movement of persons, vehicles and cargo, along the Lachin corridor, in line with the ICJ orders.
  • To ensure a sustainable international mechanism of dialogue between representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and official Baku to address the issues related to rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
  • To demand exit of any Azerbaijani military and law-enforcement bodies from all civilian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh NK to exclude panic, provocations and escalation, endangering civilian population until the results of the negotiations.
  • To exclude punitive action against Nagorno-Karabakh NK political and military representatives and personnel.
  • Create a possibility for a United Nations-mandated Peacekeeping Force to keep stability and security in Nagorno- Karabakh.

Finally, 
Mr. President,
Dear colleagues,

Let me mention that today we celebrate the Day of Independence of the Republic of Armenia and let me congratulate my compatriots on this very important and symbolic occasion. 

And I thank you.”

AW: ARS of Eastern USA launches urgent appeal to help families from Artsakh

Parkev Tvankchian
 Armenian Relief Society Eastern U.S. Nonprofit News, Diaspora 0

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On September 21, the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) of Eastern USA announced its urgent fundraising appeal to support families from Artsakh.

“Our hearts are heavy as we reflect upon the painful reality of what our brothers and sisters are enduring in Artsakh,” said ARS of Eastern USA chairwoman Caroline Chamavonian. “The painful developments of the last few days stand as a stark reminder of the world’s inaction in the face of immense suffering endured by Armenians in the region, and we call on the community to donate to help our compatriots,” she continued.

The announcement also highlighted the inaction of the international community and the poignant phrase, ‘Never Again,’ that has echoed from stages and platforms across the world in reference to past atrocities, like the Armenian Genocide. Yet, the harsh reality is that when Armenians in Artsakh faced the threat of ethnic cleansing, the world remained largely silent and no action was taken to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Donations to help the families of Artsakh can be made online or by check to: ARS of Eastern USA, 80 Bigelow Ave. Suite 200, Watertown, MA 02472.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Armenian Relief Society of Eastern USA has provided humanitarian assistance and supported the homeland development initiatives of the Republic of Artsakh since the 1988 War.

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The ARS Eastern USA has 35 chapters located throughout the New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern and Southeastern regions of the United States.


Armenian medics take training to the next level as part of Saber Junction 23

Emil Lazarian
U.S. Army
Sept 22 2023

By James Cahill

HOHENFELS, GERMANY – Doctors and other medical personnel participated in the training exercise Saber Junction 23, which started Sept. 6 and ended Sept. 16, in Hohenfels, Germany, testing their capability to provide NATO-equivalent Role II medical services in a simulated combat environment. The hospital provided medical coverage to the U.S. Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and other participating units, along with 14 Allied and Partner nations.

In a highly-specialized training event, Armenian military medics trained on loading and offloading simulated casualties with a U.S. medical evacuation helicopter.

“The participation of Armenian military medics in Saber Junction fortifies medical interoperability among our allies and partners. Moreover, this exercise is one avenue of building a stronger relationship between the U.S. and Armenia and sharing medical best practices and lessons learned to prepare for future operations,” said U.S. Air Force Col. James Chambers, U.S. European Command Surgeon.

The U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) surgeon team, which conducted some of the training, also praised the efforts of the Armenians.

"USAFE surgeon team, in cooperation with Kansas National Guard, has been working closely with Armenia in supporting their Role II development,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Nisha Baur, an International Health Specialist with the USAFE team. “The Kansas-USAFE team has participated in multiple engagements to enhance Armenia’s Role II capability. The Armenian team is motivated and interested in building the personnel and materials to support the Role II. They continually update their Standard Operating Procedures as they participate internally and externally in exercises."

Saber Junction is an annual exercise designed to prepare a U.S. Army Brigade Combat Team in support of NATO’s collective deterrence and defense initiatives. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment stationed at Rose Barracks, Germany, led Saber Junction 23.

More than 4,000 soldiers from 14 NATO Allies and partners participated in the exercise. Participating countries, along with the United States, were Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Georgia, Italy, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

Armenia’s participation was an important step in a multi-year global health engagement “glide path” carefully facilitated by the U.S. EUCOM Surgeon’s office, the National Guard State Partnership Program, and U.S. service component international health experts.

 

Fresno medical mission leaves to Armenia

Nyrie Kalashian
Your Central Valley, CA
Sept 22 2023

by: Stefani Booroojian



FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE) – A medical mission including doctors from Fresno will make an annual trip to the country of Armenia to offer humanitarian care to people in need.  

The mission comes at a time of crisis as violence has escalated between Armenia and its neighbor to the east Azerbaijan.

The pictures tell the story of a region in crisis, the aftermath of this week’s deadly military assault on Nagorno Karabakh – a small region between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

While the land is internationally considered part of Azerbaijan, it’s home to 120,000 Armenians. Azerbaijan shelling military and civilian targets killing dozens in violation of a 2020 peace agreement.

“Armenia and Armenians lived in that region for thousands of years,” said Fresno’s Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Fresno, Berj Apkarian.

As Apkarian prepares to lead his eleventh medical mission of local doctors to Armenia, he watches with concern as the violence near Armenia’s border ramps up again.

Little can be done, as the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh has been blocked for months by Azeri troops.

“The situation is very grave right now and unfortunately we are once again being subjected to a second genocide,” Apkarian said.

The international community is taking notice. The United Nations Security Council held a hearing on the crisis calling for a peace, and a bi-partisan as a U.S. congressional delegation may soon travel to Armenia.

“A delegation to Armenia would shed greater light on why this is important and so critical 1034 that Azerbaijan keep their word,” said Congressman Jim Costa.

Congressman Costa, a member of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, is calling for hearings on the crisis and is urging President Biden and the UN to establish a peacekeeping mission to Armenia.

“This behavior of the Azerbaijani stops period, this is about good and evil,” said Congressman Costa.

There was a meeting between Azerbaijan and the Armenian lead government in Nagorno Karabakh, but no specific results have been reported.

The medical mission from Fresno leaves this week.

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/armenia/fresno-medical-mission-leaves-to-armenia/ 

Opinion Call what is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh by its proper name

Karapet Navasardian
Washington Post
Sept 22 2023

By Luis Moreno Ocampo



Luis Moreno Ocampo was the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He was also a national prosecutor in Argentina in the 1985 case against the military junta.


In 2021, President Biden recognized the 1915 removal of Armenians from their lands in Anatolia, in today’s Turkey, as genocide. The United States had been silent on the issue for more than a century, and its silence had grievous consequences.

Today, Armenians need global leaders, including Biden, to stop a new genocide — one that started this past winter and is now evolving into a more brutal phase.

On Tuesday, after a months-long blockade and military buildup along the border of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s military launched an attack. Within a day, Azerbaijani forces quickly overwhelmed local defenses, killing more than 200 people, including civilians. In short order, a shaky cease-fire was announced.


In return for stopping the bombing, Azerbaijan demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh’s top leaders and the disarmament of all the armed forces of the Karabakh authorities.

As Azerbaijan’s victory became more apparent, scores of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian civilians gathered around the airport in Stepanakert (the enclave’s biggest city) looking to flee their ancestral lands.

They have every right to fear the next steps Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev might take. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On Feb. 22, the International Court of Justice, after hearing arguments from both sides, ruled that the blockade produced a “real and imminent risk” to the “health and life” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.


Rather than comply with the court’s binding order to end the blockade, Azerbaijan security forces doubled down in June, sealing off the enclave entirely, preventing even the transfer of food, medical supplies and other essentials. Since then, Aliyev has repeatedly ignored calls from the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. secretary of state to comply with the court’s ruling. He correctly understood that Azerbaijan would bear no serious costs from the international community for its actions.

Azerbaijan’s defiance is ominous. In international law, the Genocide Convention of 1948 makes it clear that one way to commit the crime is by “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II c). By blocking the Lachin Corridor, Aliyev turned Nagorno-Karabakh into a vast concentration camp for 120,000 Armenians. This week’s military intervention added killing (Article II a) and causing serious bodily and mental harm (Article II b) to the ledger.

What happens next? Because Nagorno-Karabakh authorities surrendered, the international community has urged Aliyev to guarantee the full rights of his Armenian citizens in the enclave. Aliyev’s government has said it is not committing ethnic cleansing and assured the world that “reintegration” will bring prosperity to the region.

But this rhetoric rings hollow given what has already been done. And Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 2010, Aliyev has regularly talked about Armenia itself as “Western Azerbaijan,” echoing long-standing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia as a whole is an illegitimate state. As recently as December, he said that “present-day Armenia is our land.”

The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance to using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international affairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the mass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in 30 years.

The last time the U.N. Security Council discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev’s blockade was repeatedly called a “humanitarian situation,” and continued negotiations were proposed. One is reminded of the heroic intervention by the Czech ambassador, Karel Kovanda, during the U.N. debates on Rwanda: When most leaders backed negotiating a truce, he likened the idea to “persuading Hitler to reach a ceasefire with the Jews.”


Today, as always, geopolitics explain the world’s reticence. Azerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe and it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies must not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

Biden did the right thing in 2021. Today, he needs to help prevent history from repeating itself.

Russia to blame for Azerbaijan attack, EU says

Diana Dabaghian
EU Observer
Sept 22 2023
By ANDREW RETTMAN

Russia is to blame for Azerbaijan's blitzkrieg against Armenians, a senior EU official has said. And Moscow is hoping to topple Armenia's Western-leaning prime minister, the official added.

Luc Devigne, the head of the Russia department in the EU foreign service, shared his views at a snap meeting with MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday (20 September).

Speaking of Russia's 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the South Caucasus conflict zone, Devigne said: "Did any of these peacekeepers do anything? Nothing. They didn't even put their armoured vehicles in the road … passively to block the military operation," he said.

"There's only Russian troops [there]. Who is to be blamed? Russia," he added.

He spoke one day after Azerbaijan rolled through the Russian lines to force the surrender of the ethnic Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Civilian EU monitors on the Armenian side of the border heard "numerous explosions, 15 here, five there … it was a military operation of an important scale," Devigne said.

And one "cynical" reason for Russia's green light was that a humiliating defeat by Azerbaijan for Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan could see him fall from power to be replaced by a pro-Russian figure, the EU official said.

The war could also push up to 200,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia, a country of just 2.8 million people, placing a huge burden on Pashinyan's government.

Devigne highlighted a tweet by former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, who said the Azeri attack showed what happened if you "flirt with Nato", referring to a recent small-scale Armenia-US military exercise.

"I know from some experience how the Russians hate that, so I think this is a factor," Devigne said.

"[Russian president Vladimir] Putin never accepted that Pashinyan rose to power the way he did, in what you might call a Colour Revolution," Devigne also said, referring to the Armenian revolution in 2018 and to other non-violent regime changes in the former Soviet region.

Several MEPs called for sanctions against Azerbaijan and accused it of seeking "ethnic cleansing" of Armenians from conquered lands.

"We should get rid of this [EU] need to get gas from there [Azerbaijan] — that would weaken their stance," said German centre-right MEP Michael Mahler.

And not a single EU deputy had a good word to say about Baku, even though Azerbaijan had been bending over backwards to make friends in the EU parliament in recent times.

The EU bought 11.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan last year — a jump from 8 bcm the year before, but still just 3 percent of its total annual imports.

EU ambassadors also held behind-closed-doors talks in Brussels on Wednesday which likely discussed potential sanctions, Devigne said.

But there was no consensus for sanctions in earlier talks in August, Devigne added, when Azerbaijan was already blockading Nagorno-Karabakh in preparation for its onslaught.

For his part, Devigne's boss, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, also met the Armenian foreign minister in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday to voice solidarity.

France called a meeting of the UN Security Council amid uncertainty if an Azeri-Armenian ceasefire agreed on Wednesday will hold.

Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh campaign began with a first attack in 2020 and a second one in 2021.

It has been stockpiling Israeli and Turkish weapons and pumping out ever more belligerent anti-Armenian propaganda.

And it has belittled Europe, with its EU ambassador tweeting death threats against MEPs and its armed forces opening fire in the vicinity of EU monitors in Armenia earlier this year.

But if Russia facilitated the latest warfare and previous attacks, the EU also did little to put pressure on Baku in the build-up to the new hostilities, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen instead going there last summer to shake hands on gas deals with Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, who she called a "trusted partner".

Asked by press in Brussels on Wednesday if von der Leyen now regretted cozying up to Aliyev, her spokeswoman declined to answer.

"It's a fact Azerbaijan is a supplier of gas to the EU. There's cooperation on energy, which is very sectoral, and reflects the need to diversify supply," the commission said.

Meanwhile, French liberal MEP Nathalie Loiseau gave an idea of how top EU diplomats ought to be feeling.

She had watched the events unfold with a "mixture of sadness, anger, and shame", she told Devigne in the EU parliament hearing.

"For months, Azerbaijan has been circling, starving, and bringing Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to their knees. Now it bombs Stepanakert [the Nagorno-Karabakh capital]. What have we done? Mediation? Total failure," she said.

"We ignored all the signs from the Armenian prime minister, who was telling us that Russia had abandoned Armenia. He called for help," she added.

"We just closed our eyes to this," she said.

Armenpress: Armenia’s Malkhas Amoyan takes Paris 2024 quota after winning bronze at World Wrestling Championships

Maral Chavushian

 21:41,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenian wrestler Malkhas Amoyan won bronze in the Men's Greco-Roman 77 kg division at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia by defeating 9:7 Kazakhstan’s Demeu Zhadrayev.

With this victory, Amoyan qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Amoyan won gold at the 2021 world championships and is a two-time European champion.