Category: 2023

BRUSSELS 

European Council President Charles Michel’s office said on Friday that the EU had proposed a plan to "gradually reopen" the Lachin road linking the Karabakh region to Armenia, as well as the Aghdam-Khankendi road. 

Michel’s team and the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, “have been in frequent contact with Baku, Yerevan, and representatives of Karabakh Armenians to work out a solution for unblocking access” between Karabakh and Armenia, Michel’s spokesperson, Ecaterina Casinge, said in a statement.

“Michel has proposed a step-by-step approach which would reflect a sequencing in the full-fledged operation of the Lachin corridor and the opening of the Agdam route,” Casinge further said.

According to the EU’s position, “the Lachin corridor must be unblocked” in line with the decision of the Hague-based International Court of Justice, she stressed.

The EU diplomats also noted that the use of the alternative Aghdam-Khankendi road, suggested earlier by Azerbaijan, “to provide supplies can also be part of a concrete and sustainable solution to the provision of urgent and daily basic needs.”

The EU side has also argued for addressing “legacies of the conflict to facilitate a long-term sustainable resolution” beyond the current situation, Casinge explained.

Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia rose in recent months over the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region.

In April, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint to prevent the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

According to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, the “wide-range abuse of the Lachin road by Armenia over past three years necessitated Azerbaijan’s legitimate and legal action of establishing a border check-point.”

Armenia accused Azerbaijan of causing a “humanitarian crisis” in the region that Baku denied, proposing the use of the Aghdam-Khankendi road for shipments to the region.

Michel, who presides over meetings of EU leaders and represents the bloc in international affairs, has made significant diplomatic efforts for reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan following their conflict in 2020.

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

AFP , Friday 1 Sep 2023

Armenia said that two of its servicemen were killed and one wounded on Friday after Azerbaijan fired at its positions near the town of Sotk, close to the border.

Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have escalated sharply in recent months, as both sides accuse the other of violating agreements and cross-border gunfire.

"As a result of firing by the Azerbaijani army in the direction of Armenian positions located in the Sotk area, there are two dead and one wounded on the Armenian side," Armenia's defence ministry said.

The incident marks another setback to the tenuous peace process between the two ex-Soviet republics, which have for decades been locked in a bitter dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yerevan and Baku have fought two wars for control over the region, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians.

The two sides have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of building up troops along the two countries' volatile borders in August, while Armenia accused Azerbaijan's military of opening fire on European Union observers.

Separatist authorities in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh said in June that four Armenian soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani fire in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan summoned France's ambassador Thursday and condemned its "direct interference" in Nagorno-Karabakh after several French councils sent a humanitarian aid convoy to blockaded Armenians in the enclave.

Baku has been accused of blocking the Lachin corridor – the only road link between the enclave and Armenia – since December, cutting off Armenian-populated settlements in the disputed breakaway region.

Azerbaijan said it had set up checkpoints on the short mountainous road for "security reasons", while Yerevan has demanded that the UN intervene to prevent a "humanitarian catastrophe".

On Wednesday, several French politicians, including Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, joined a 10-lorry humanitarian convoy financed by French local councils, which was stopped from entering the enclave.

Hidalgo wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "no humanitarian aid can get into" Nagorno-Karabakh "in total violation of human rights".

"This is a humanitarian crisis."

The stand-off has riled Azerbaijan, which summoned the French ambassador Thursday.

"The ambassador received a note of protest over vehicles being sent to the Lachin border post… under the cover of 'a humanitarian convoy'," Baku said in a statement.

It also condemned the "provocative declarations (of French politicians) against Azerbaijan", which they said were stirred up by a "campaign of lies and manipulation by Armenia", a historic French ally.

• Azerbaijan rebukes France for 'failure and inaction' over Armenia
• France sends emergency aid to Armenian community in Nagorno-Karabakh

"This constitutes direct French interference in Azerbaijan's internal affairs," it added.

The Caucasus neighbours have been locked in a deadly dispute over the enclave – internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan – since the 1980s and fought two wars over the territory.

The second, in 2020, saw the defeat of Armenian forces and significant territorial gains for Azerbaijan.

Faced with international criticism, Baku insists that the Lachin corridor is not blocked to civilians, and said earlier this week that it was itself sending an aid convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh.

(AFP)

A Brentwood intersection was dedicated Thursday as Republic of Artsakh Square in an effort to raise awareness of the Azerbaijan blockade of Artsakh and its impacts.

The City Council voted in May to designate the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Granville Avenue as Republic of Artsakh Square in honor of the embattled region that has great meaning for Southern California’s vast Armenian community.

Azerbaijan’s Los Angeles consulate is located at the intersection..

“Azerbaijan’s dictator has explicitly threatened genocide and called for the expulsion of all Armenians from territories he claims, once again threatening the annihilation of the Armenian people in their ancient homeland,” City Council President Paul Krekorian said in a statement when the council approved the designation of the intersection.

A Brentwood intersection was dedicated Thursday as Republic of Artsakh Square in an effort to raise awareness of the Azerbaijan blockade of Artsakh and its impacts.

The City Council voted in May to designate the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Granville Avenue as Republic of Artsakh Square in honor of the embattled region that has great meaning for Southern California’s vast Armenian community.

Azerbaijan’s Los Angeles consulate is located at the intersection..

“Azerbaijan’s dictator has explicitly threatened genocide and called for the expulsion of all Armenians from territories he claims, once again threatening the annihilation of the Armenian people in their ancient homeland,” City Council President Paul Krekorian said in a statement when the council approved the designation of the intersection.

Azerbaijan Consul General Ramil Gurbanov issued a statement Thursday expressing his “deep concern regarding the decision of the Los Angeles City Council to name the intersection of Wilshire and Granville streets as “republic of artsakh square” and unveiling of street signs. This provocative act goes against international law, the spirit of peace, and confidence-building in the region and undermines the efforts of international diplomacy.”

https://mynewsla.com/life/2023/09/01/brentwood-intersection-dedicated-as-republic-of-artsakh-square-2/

Armenian state news agency Armenpress reported Friday that the country’s parliament will consider ratifying the Rome Statute.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the treaty that established the ICC. Armenia signed the Rome Statute in October 1999 but has not ratified it. In 2004, Armenia’s Constitutional Court found that the Rome Statute did not comply with the country’s 1995 constitution. However, in December 2022, Armenia took steps to ratify the Rome Statute anyway. The following month, the Constitutional Court took up the case for consideration, and in March 2023, the court found the Rome Statute was in compliance with the newly amended Armenian Constitution.

Armenian Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan said it was necessary to ratify the Rome Statute due to what he calls military aggression by neighboring country Azerbaijan.

Minasyan stated that the Rome Statute must be ratified because “the risk of new Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia remains high” and “the Azeri crimes, including war crimes committed in Armenia” being subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC would be a “preventative and restraining measure against Azerbaijan.” Azerbaijan has not signed or ratified the Rome Statute.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in a violent dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh (also called Artsakh), an ethnically Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan internationally recognized as being Azerbaijan’s territory. The border between Armenia and Azerbaijan was established during the dissolution of the USSR. Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence from Azerbaijan as the Republic of Artsakh in September 1991 due to what it called “apartheid and discrimination” by the Azerbaijani government. Artsakh is recognized by some US states as an independent country even though it is not recognized by the US federal government.

A letter by Azerbaijan’s representative to the UN described Armenia as unleashing “full-scale war” against Azerbaijan in 1992. The UN Security Council condemned the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh but resolved to remain “actively seized” of the matter. Following the conflict in the 1990s, Azerbaijan exercised its “inherent right to self-defense” in September 2020, taking more than 300 settlements from Artsakh, which claimed the lives of at least 7,272 soldiers.

While both nations had agreed to a ceasefire after the 2020 conflict, Azerbaijan invaded Armenia in September 2022. Reuters reported that the September 2022 conflict ended in a ceasefire, but on Friday, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Azerbaijan opened fire on Armenian armed forces, killing three.

The move to ratify the Rome Statute means Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be allowed into the country as Armenian forces would be required to detain him. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin, who helped broker the 2020 ceasefire between the two formerly-Soviet nations, in March.