2023 – Page 407 – Armenian Directory & News

Dixon explains why Ocampo’s report is politically biased by Armenian separatists

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Emil Lazarian

Bulgaria – Aug 15 2023

Perspectives

August 15, 2023 Igor Chalenko

By order of the “president” of the Armenian pro-Russian separatists in Karabakh, Arayik Aratyunyan, the ex-prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, published a report with a loud headline: “The Armenian Genocide in 2023.”

Ocampo stepped down as ICC prosecutor in 2012, and since then the world media have only mentioned his name in the context of corruption scandals and protecting the interests of criminals.

Nevertheless, the “expert opinion”, prepared in just nine days, attracted the attention of the press – The Washington Post, CNN, Forbes, ABC News, Associated Press and a number of other publications wrote about it.

Not only the media, but also active lawyers and human rights activists reacted to Ocampo’s report. The most reasoned comment was given by Rodney Dixon, a current expert in international law, with experience in conducting cases in Afghanistan, Kenya, Britain, Georgia, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, among others.

Dixon’s opinion is of particular interest, since he specializes in accusations related to alleged genocides. However, the only case that Ocampo brought to an end in his nine years as a prosecutor – the indictment against Thomas Lubanga, the leader of a paramilitary group in the Congo – had to do with anything BUT genocide.

Dixon’s commentary consists of five points with impartial and strict legal reasoning. The most important is the thesis in which the expert convincingly proves that from the point of view of international norms, “genocide” is out of the question:

The definition of “genocide” implies the presence of two components: “physical” (committing specific actions) and “mental” (intention to destroy a group of people). Ocampo’s report, but more importantly, the judgments of the International Court of Justice to which he refers, lack both of these elements. “The charge of genocide is unsubstantiated,” Dixon concludes.

Another important emphasis noted by Dixon is the “clear selectivity in relation to the ‘facts’ in the report.” Ocampo talks about a fictitious “genocide” due to the blocking of the main route of humanitarian supplies to Karabakh – the Lachin road. But at the same time, the ex-prosecutor deliberately does not mention the existence of another road for humanitarian supplies Agdam-Khankedi, which runs through Azerbaijani territory.

Such bias and incompetence of Ocampo can be easily explained by his engagement in the interests of the Armenian separatists. On July 29, Harutyunyan turned to Ocampo with a request to comment on the situation in Karabakh – this is a public fact. Within nine days, the ex-prosecutor handed over the “order” of the separatists supported by the Kremlin. It is worth noting that the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, who with pain and misery only closed a single case in nine years, was able to sort out the situation in Karabakh in just nine days.

“The sharpness of the report cannot be allowed to drive an unjustified wedge between the peace-seeking governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Dixon writes at the end of his conclusion.

However, Armenia did not heed the words of the leading expert in the field of international law and on August 11 turned to the UN Security Council with a request to convene an emergency meeting on this topic. The sole reason was the Ocampo report, which the leading lawyer qualifies as false.

Apparently, neither Harutyunyan nor Pashinyan will benefit from the tension of the political situation in the South Caucasus. Paradoxically, the only beneficiary of the custom report and the subsequent farce with the “emergency meeting” of the UN Security Council is Russia. The world media have been warning about this since the beginning of the year.

“Russia’s regime is manipulating the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh to stir ethnic conflicts in the South Caucasus and to replace the Armenian government with a Moscow proxy. The scenario is reminiscent of other disputes that the Kremlin has manufactured, whether in Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine, to maintain its sphere of imperial influence,” the American newspaper The Washington Times reported.

According to Ukrainian media, “Putin is using Armenian separatist puppets in Karabakh for his own purposes, just as he did with Ossetians and Abkhazians in Georgia and supporters of the Russian World in Crimea and Donbas.”

According to the Romanian version of Newsweek, playing on separatist sentiment in Karabakh “allows Moscow to maintain a military presence in the South Caucasus, as well as in the breakaway region of Georgia, South Ossetia or in the Russian-controlled eastern regions of Moldova.”

Rodney Dixon summed up his paper with an eloquent appeal: “The (Ocampo’s) publication should encourage the international community to redouble its efforts to promote a lasting peace in accordance with international law.”

https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/08/15/dixon-explains-why-ocampos-report-is-politically-biased-by-armenian-separatists/

Emotive Ocampo ‘genocide’ report is fundamentally flawed

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Emil Lazarian

eureporter

Aug 15 2023

In an opinion dated Monday, 7 August 2023, a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, has claimed that a genocide is unfolding in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan (‘the Moreno Ocampo Opinion’ or ‘the Opinion’) - writes Rodney Dixon KC of Temple Garden Chambers, London and The Hague.

This is an extremely serious accusation to make. It is one with potentially far-reaching consequences, especially at this time. I have therefore been asked by Azerbaijan to provide a legal assessment of the Moreno Ocampo Opinion as an independent expert. My full assessment will be published soon. However, it is vitally important that provocative allegations, without any firm basis in international law, are not allowed to hinder the peace negotiations presently underway between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and to stir tensions on the ground.

As has been widely supported by the international community, the governments of both Armenia and Azerbaijan are committed to a settlement on the basis of the two nation’s internationally recognised borders, bringing to an end the more than 30-year running dispute over the Karabakh region.

For these reasons, it necessary to emphasise the following key observations about the Moreno Ocampo Opinion right away. I do so as the allegations made in the Moreno Ocampo Opinion are on their face unsubstantiated and manifestly lacking any credibility. The Opinion does not meet the exacting hallmarks of an impartial and rigorous expert analysis, which is essential for reporting of this kind, particularly when the circumstances are complex and sensitive. There is no basis for claiming that a genocide is currently being perpetrated in Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a groundless and very dangerous allegation which should not be taken seriously by any of the parties involved and the international community more generally. There are certain fundamental shortcomings in the Opinion which I highlight below.

First, as Mr Moreno Ocampo made clear on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) on 30 July 2023, his Opinion was produced at the request of an individual to whom he refers as the ‘President of Artsakh’. He is the purported head of the ethnic Armenian breakaway entity in Nagorno-Karabakh. The unlawful establishment of that entity by military force in the 1990s, with the support of Armenia, entailed the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azeris. In the decades since, the entity has survived, despite its isolation by the international community, due to the support of the Armenian government. But in 2020, Azerbaijan regained a portion of the territory concerned after a 44-day conflict. Since then, the Armenian government has expressly recognised that Nagorno-Karabakh is indeed Azerbaijan, consistently with international law. The illegal ‘Artsakh’ entity has therefore lost its patron. It is disappointing that a champion of international law such as Mr Moreno Ocampo has contributed to what appears to be an effort by this weakened administration to regain lost ground in Armenian politics. It is questionable that, in his eagerness to do so, Mr Moreno Ocampo was content to produce his Opinion in just a week and to pre-empt his analysis by posting hashtags: ‘#StopArmenianGenocideinArtsakh’ and ‘StopArmenianGenocide2023’.

This is not the methodology of an independent and fair-minded expert. Rather it serves to politicise the legal and factual issues, and use them for political ends, which is to be regretted.

Second, the Moreno Ocampo Opinion is strikingly unsubstantiated. There is no evidence identified in support of the key elements of genocide. It is all very well to set out the definition of genocide in the Opinion, but that takes the matter no further in the absence of any evidential foundation.

As the International Court of Justice (ICJ) explained in Croatia v Serbia, ‘genocide contains two constituent elements: the physical element, namely the act perpetrated or actus reus, and the mental element, or mens rea’.

Taking the physical element first, Mr Moreno Ocampo’s view is apparently that this is present because Azerbaijan is ‘blockading’ the Lachin Corridor – a mountain road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia – and thereby depriving the ethnic Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh of the necessities of life. The Opinion suggests that this ‘fact’ has been found by the International Court of Justice in the proceedings between Armenia and Azerbaijan concerning the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Even putting to one side that these cases (one brought by Azerbaijan against Armenia and the other brought by Armenia against Azerbaijan) are not about genocide at all, it is misleading to suggest that the Court has found as a fact that there is any such blockade by Azerbaijan.

The Court’s most recent pronouncements can be found in its order of 6 July 2023 in the case brought by Armenia. That order was given in response to an allegation by Armenia that Azerbaijan was significantly impeding traffic along the Lachin corridor by establishing military checkpoints. The order noted the factual inconsistencies in Armenia’s case and concluded that the Court could not find that anything had changed on the ground to justify a modification to the order that it had already made about the Lachin corridor.

In that earlier order, what the Court said about the circumstances on the ground as of February 2023 was simply that ‘since 12 December 2022, the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia via the Lachin Corridor ha[d] been disrupted’ and it was therefore for Azerbaijan to ‘take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions’. The Court has not made specific findings as to either the protests to which the Moreno Ocampo Opinion refers (which Armenia has explained to the Court are no longer taking place) or the checkpoint that it discusses. The Court has not pronounced on whether either Armenia or Azerbaijan has complied with the orders that it has made in the proceedings between them.

The Moreno Ocampo Opinion thus completely misrepresents the ICJ proceedings.

Turning to the mental element, the Moreno Ocampo Opinion seeks to ‘deduc[e]’ – that is, infer – its existence on the basis of the very matters on which the ICJ has not definitively pronounced. That is plainly an inappropriate way in which to seek to establish whether there is the specific intent required for genocide, namely the ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such’ (as the Court explained in Croatia v Serbia). And even if the Court had made the sort of findings that the Opinion assumes, the existence of the specific intent is not the only ‘reasonable inference’ that could be drawn from them and so the Opinion’s conclusion in this regard would be unsupportable in light of the judgment in Croatia v Serbia.

There is no evidence to substantiate a defining element of genocide, which has a high threshold as a matter of international law – the specific intent to physically destroy the group in whole or in part. The references in the Opinion do not address this cornerstone requirement. It is reckless for an expert to make accusations of genocide without any proof.

Third, the Moreno Ocampo Opinion makes inflammatory statements about the alleged individual criminal responsibility of the President of Azerbaijan without any proper consideration of his relationship with the alleged facts on the ground (which, as set out above, remain entirely uncertain and have not been addressed in the Opinion). This is highly irresponsible. There is no basis at all to impugn the Head of State, and instead it intimates the true intention behind the release of this Opinion.

In any event, Azerbaijan is not party to the Rome Statute and has not accepted the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court as to its territory – which includes Nagorno-Karabakh, as the Opinion implicitly accepts.

Fourth, the Opinion is patently selective in the ‘facts’ to which is refers. It does not, for example, address Azerbaijan’s offer of an alternative route (the ‘Aghdam-Khankandi route’) to supply the ethnic Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, although this is plainly relevant to whether ‘conditions of life calculated to bring about [the] physical destruction’ of those inhabitants are being ‘[d]eliberately inflicted’ by Azerbaijan, as the Opinion suggests.

Relevant factual circumstances that plainly undermine the Opinion’s conclusions are conveniently glossed over and not mentioned. The Opinion thus falls far short of being a balanced and comprehensive expert report.

Fifth, the Moreno Ocampo Opinion is incomplete and inaccurate in its analysis. It is accordingly essential that it is closely and carefully scrutinised. Its stridency cannot be permitted to drive an unjustified wedge between the peace-seeking governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Instead, its publication should spur all parties and the international community to redouble their efforts to promote a lasting peace in accordance with international law.

For all these reasons, the parties in the region and the international community should guard against the purported findings and recommendations of the Moreno Ocampo Opinion. My full assessment will be published shortly.

Does Armenia Want to Derail Peace in the South Caucasus? [Azeri opinion]

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Jhanna Virabian

Aug 15 2023

Instead of engaging in campaigns and diplomatic games, Armenia should commit herself to peace negotiations and the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan.

by Hikmet Hajiyev

For more than thirty years Armenia occupied some 20 percent of the internationally recognized sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. Close to a million Azerbaijanis who were living there were forced to flee their homes, becoming internally displaced persons within their own country.

The land won back after a 44-day war in 2020 was one wrought with the unprecedented destruction of the public, private, cultural, and religious heritage of Azerbaijan. Aghdam alone—once one of the largest cities in the region—was obliterated to such an extent it is now known as the “Hiroshima of the Caucasus.” It was as if the occupiers had sought to remove any trace of Azerbaijan whatsoever.

Even though international law, every country in the world, and four separate UN Security Council resolutions recognize Karabakh—the lands in question—as Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory, for three decades Armenian politicians fantasized over the creation of either an independent ethnic Armenian territory or unification with Armenia by annexing those seized lands.

When the current prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, came to power in 2018, Azerbaijan expected he might pursue a different path for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. But his statement only a year later that “[Karabakh] is Armenia, and that’s it” ended hopes for the negotiation process. After the 2020 conflict, that statement met with hard reality, and the obligation to admit earlier this year that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan.

If only peace was so simple. But when it comes to the Armenian leadership talking about peace while playing for time through campaigns of obfuscation is all too familiar. So when this week Armenia, together with the subordinated leadership of the separatist regime in Karabakh, launched the latest international campaign to scupper peace negotiations, it was unsurprising. The raison d’être of this separatist entity is contingent upon prolonging fantasies while avoiding the hard, geopolitical facts.

But the reality on the ground has changed, and Azerbaijan invites representatives of the Armenian residents of her Karabakh region for open and genuine dialogue about reintegration. On multiple occasions Azerbaijan has stated that their rights, security, but also obligations as an ethnic minority in Karabakh will be provided under the Constitution of Azerbaijan. This includes their religious, linguistic, and municipal rights, which are respected.

What is critical now is that any reintegration process must include the demobilization and disarmament of all illegal military groups and the complete withdrawal of elements of the armed forces of Armenia that remain. To halt the flow of arms to such groups—which has continued even as peace talks have proceeded—the Lachin Road which connects Armenia to Khankendi was recently, briefly, closed. Now it is reopened.

Azerbaijan has also offered to supply the region with food and medicine itself, through another additional, shorter road with a much greater daily capacity of over 17,000 vehicles. Both the European Union and the International Committee of the Red Cross have acknowledged this route can be used.

Yet this four-lane rebuilt Aghdam-Khankendi Road has, incomprehensively, been repeatedly refused by the Karabakh separatists, the road was even barricaded with concrete on the order of their leaders. A proposal by Baku to have supplies convoyed by the Red Cross—not Azerbaijan—using the Aghdam-Khankendi Road was rejected. Even proposals just to have a dialogue about it were rejected. The same leadership has, theatrically, even moved trucks to the Azerbaijani border on the Lachin Road checkpoint. Yet they say Armenians in Karabakh are facing ethnic cleansing at the hand of Azerbaijan.

To bolster this false claim their leadership has hired the former, controversial prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, to write a reckless report that alleges Karabakh is under “blockade,” its residents are starving, and claiming “genocide is being committed.”

In Azerbaijan, we are used to hearing such disinformation, but for the international community and particularly the media it is important to see that the use of such emotive, shocking terms is intended to obscure what is really happening from their view.

Claiming they are under threat while engineering a crisis to galvanize the international community’s support is intended to convince the world that Azerbaijanis and Armenians cannot live together, as we once did.

The paradoxical claim Azerbaijan is starving a population that is refusing its food was captured by the so-called leader of separatists, Arayik Harutyunian, who stated “It (Azerbaijan) is using one hand to strangle us and the other hand to feed us.” It should instead be put in the correct legal framing: an administration of occupation is blocking the Azerbaijani government’s provision of food and medicine to an Azerbaijani region. Tellingly, nowhere in the Ocampo report is this mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Armenian residents of Karabakh continue to suffer. Having been reduced to living off handouts from Armenia (itself one of the poorest post-Soviet countries). Economically, the region has been left behind the rest of Azerbaijan, whose GDP is today over 100 times its size at independence from the Soviet Union.

Instead of engaging in campaigns and diplomatic games, Armenia should commit herself to peace negotiations and the normalization of relations between our two countries. Instead, this week’s cynical and ultimately counter-productive attempt to make an appeal to the UN Security Council is another example that runs counter to such a commitment in every way.

Territorial integrity and sovereignty of every and each country is sacrosanct. A selective approach to separatism cannot be acceptable. Verbal statements from the Armenian leadership on supporting Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity should be inked within a peace treaty. Armenia should also finally cease all its territorial claims against Azerbaijan and pull out all elements of its armed forces from Azerbaijan’s territory. There is no other way forward. Azerbaijan has taken the first steps to map out the road to peace. The ball is now in Armenia’s court, with its political leadership.

Hikmet Hajiyev serves as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Azerbaijan. He also serves as the Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/does-armenia-want-derail-peace-south-caucasus-206714

Iran to Increase Gas Export to Armenia

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Hovik Karapetian

TASNIM News Agency

Iran – Aug 15 2023

August, 15, 2023 – 16:46
Economy news

This contract was inked in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan on Tuesday in the presence of Deputy Oil Minister and CEO of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Majid Chegeni, Director of Yerevan Thermal Electricity Power Plant Aram Ghazarian and Iranian Ambassador to Yerevan Mehdi Sobhani, IRNA reported.

An initial agreement on the new contract had been struck in November 2022 following a visit by Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Tehran.

After technical talks, the final document of the contract was finalized on August 10.

According to this report, Iran’s export of gas to Armenia is done within the framework of a bartering contract of energy between the two countries.

Under the new contract, Iran’s gas export volume to Armenia increases and the ratio of bartering gas with electricity is amended in favor of the NIGC.

Iran’s gas export pipeline to Armenia has an annual transmission capacity of more than one billion cubic meters.

Armenpress: Pregnant woman suffers miscarriage in blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh because ambulance was unavailable due to fuel shortages

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Emil Lazarian

09:51,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Anahit Manasyan has issued a statement strongly condemning the gross violations of the fundamental rights of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan.

Below is the full statement released by Manasyan.

“The humanitarian crisis is worsening daily in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Human Rights Defender strongly condemns the gross violations of the fundamental rights of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan.

“It is the 247th day that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are under blockade, and two months (as of June 15) that the latter have been deprived of any kind of humanitarian aid, including basic necessities and food. The Human Rights Defender records that the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan has resulted in the gross violation of the fundamental rights of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the rights to life, dignity, physical and mental health and healthcare, freedom of movement, food and an adequate standard of living, housing, and other socioeconomic and cultural rights.

“The blockade has a particular adverse impact on the rights of representatives of vulnerable groups, such as children, women, persons with disabilities, etc. In particular, 9000 persons with disabilities, 20,000 older persons, and 60,000 women are under the blockade. The humanitarian disaster caused by the blockade is manifested in all spheres of the normal life of residents, in particular:

“The standard of living of the people is in a deteriorated state. Since June 15, the complete disruption of humanitarian aid supplies has created a crisis situation, including the risk of hunger and starvation. The residents of Yeghtsahogh, Hin Shen, Mets Shen and Lisagor communities of Shushi region of Nagorno-Karabakh are in a particularly terrible situation since they are under complete blockade as a result of the establishment of the Azerbaijani checkpoint. Locally produced seasonal agricultural products from different regions and communities of Nagorno-Karabakh are no longer delivered to densely populated places – Stepanakert, Martuni and Martakert. In all grocery stores, the total absence or scarcity of food, basic necessities, and hygiene items was recorded, and the acquisition of the latter is carried out through huge queues.

“In this context, it is also necessary to address the impossibility of providing humanitarian aid from the Republic of Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. Since June 15 as a result of blocking the possibility of providing humanitarian aid by Azerbaijani authorities, the humanitarian aid has remained standing as of today, arriving at Kornidzor village from Yerevan on July 26. On July 28, the representatives of the Defender's office together with the representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Armenia and international organizations arrived in Kornidzor, the humanitarian convoy sector, and got acquainted with the situation on the spot.

“Due to the daily deterioration of people's health and malnutrition, cases of fainting also continue to increase. According to the information registered by the Human Rights Defender’s office a person died from starvation in NK. A resident of Stepanakert, K. Hovhannisyan, died as a result of chronic malnutrition, protein and energy deficiency.

“The blocking of the Lachin corridor has a negative impact on the realization of the right to health care of the people, taking into consideration the prohibitions on the transfer of patients in need of medical care to Armenia. The transportation of patients and transportation of medical supplies is carried out with the intervention of the ICRC and Russian peacekeepers. At the same time, since June 15, the Azerbaijani side has completely blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid by Russian peacekeepers and the ICRC, leading to the worsening of the humanitarian situation. There have been cases of shortage of medicines, and in some cases, the complete absence of medicines.

“At the same time, in the absence of sufficient food, there has been an increase in the number of premature births in NK. A case of death of an unborn child was also registered in Haterk village of Martakert region. The pregnant woman could not reach the hospital on time because of fuel shortage for emergency vehicles.

“Since July 25 due to an acute shortage of fuel public transport has not been functioning at all. · On July 29, fundamental violations by the Azerbaijani authorities were recorded during the process of transferring patients to Armenia through ICRC. In particular, Azerbaijan abducted 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan from the checkpoint located in the vicinity of the Hakari bridge, who was being transported to Armenia for medical treatment accompanied by the ICRC. The results of the Defender's study prove that the unlawful interference with the fundamental rights of a person is being carried out in a violation of international legal guarantees and standards.

“Issues related to the provision of drinking water as a result of electricity supply failures were also recorded, affecting both the quantity and quality of water provided to the residents of NK. The Defender considers it necessary to emphasize again that the current humanitarian catastrophe is a direct manifestation of the ethnic cleansing and genocidal policy by the Azerbaijani authorities incited and adduced by Armenophobia, the ultimate goal of which is to empty Nagorno-Karabakh of its indigenous Armenian population, through terrorizing them, subjecting them to constant physical and psychological attacks and pressures, depriving them of their normal life and creating desperate conditions for life. The Human Rights Defender especially emphasizes the urgency to stop the irreversible and intensifying developments of the humanitarian disaster, as well as the extreme necessity to provide real opportunities for the implementation of humanitarian missions. At the same time, the Defender’s office continues to collect and analyze facts on a daily basis regarding the Armenophobic policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, as well as the continuous gross violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blocking of the Lachin corridor, and comprehensively present them to international organizations with a human rights mandate. I attach great importance to the appropriate response of international organizations with a mandate to protect human rights and to take effective steps as a matter of urgency.”

Senators call for US-backed UNSC resolution demanding end of blockade,unfettered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Christine Harutyunian

10:05,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Senators have called on the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the current President of the U.N. Security Council, to exert pressure on Azerbaijan and ‘take a strong stance’ at the forthcoming U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We write to urge you to take a strong stance at today’s U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh to address the humanitarian crisis,” Senator Robert Menendez, the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Senator Alex Padilla said in a letter addressed to Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Describing the ongoing situation resulting from the Azeri blockade, the Senators added that “Azerbaijan’s actions are nothing short of an attempt of ethnic cleansing of the Armenian community that has lived there for centuries.”

The American lawmakers recalled that former chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has warned that “there is a reasonable basis to believe that a Genocide is being committed."

“We are encouraged that the United States supported the call for convening the meeting. In your capacity as the President of the U.N. Security Council for August 2023, we ask that you work with all UNSC members to pressure the Azerbaijani government to lift the blockade and prevent what the evidence suggests is a coordinated effort to ethnically cleanse the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Specifically, we urge you to introduce a resolution calling for an immediate end of the blockade and unfettered humanitarian access to the region,” the Senators added.

Nagorno-Karabakh residents say ‘disastrous’ blockade choking supplies

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Vardan Badalian

The Print

Aug 16 2023

REUTERS

03:45 pm IST

By Felix Light

TBILISI (Reuters) – Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh say it is getting harder to access food, medicines and other essential supplies as an Azerbaijani blockade of the breakaway region drags into its ninth month.

The United Nations Security Council will discuss the blockade on Wednesday, after a former International Criminal Court prosecutor this month said the blockade may amount to a “genocide” of the local Armenian population – an assertion that Azerbaijan’s lawyers said was unsubstantiated and inaccurate.

Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but its population of 120,000 is overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian and the enclave’s one remaining land link to Armenia, the Lachin corridor policed by Russian peacekeepers, was first disrupted in December.

Three residents of Karabakh said basic foodstuffs, fuel and medicine were almost exhausted.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve eaten any dairy produce, or eggs,” Nina Shahverdyan, a 23-year-old English teacher, said in a video call with Reuters from the region’s capital, which local Armenians call Stepanakert.

“It’s been disastrous because we don’t have gas. We have electricity blackouts.”

Karabakh’s population has tightened its belt since the blockade, eating only what can be produced locally.

The residents said even food produced within Karabakh itself is delivered only sporadically to Stepanakert, as farmers lack fuel to bring their products to market.

Ani Balayan, a recent high school graduate and photographer, said she had last eaten meat around two weeks ago. She said her family was surviving on bread, alongside the tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon still available in Stepanakert’s markets.

For some weeks, footage has shown Stepanakert’s supermarket shelves bare, with little or nothing on sale.

“I went to bed hungry for several days because I could not find bread to bring home,” said Balayan.

BREAKAWAY REGION

The crisis has highlighted how Russia, which is pre-occupied with the war in Ukraine, is struggling to project its influence in neighbouring post-Soviet states.

Karabakh was claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia after the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917, and broke away from Azerbaijan in a war in the early 1990s.

In 2020, Azerbaijan retook territory in and around the enclave after a second war that ended in a Russian-brokered ceasefire. The agreement required Russia to ensure that road transport between Armenia and Karabakh remained open.

Since the ceasefire, road links between Armenia and Karabakh hinged on the Lachin corridor, which was blockaded in December by Azerbaijani civilians identifying themselves as ecological activists, while Russian peacekeepers did not intervene.

In April, Azerbaijani border guards installed a checkpoint on the route, tightening the blockade.

‘GENOCIDE’?

This month, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo described the blockade as potentially constituting a “genocide” of Karabakh Armenians and intending “to starve” them.

Rodney Dixon, a lawyer appointed by Azerbaijan to give an assessment on Ocampo’s opinion, called the view “strikingly” unsubstantiated, inflammatory and inaccurate.

Farhad Mammadov, the head of Baku’s Centre for Strategic Studies think tank, said the blockade was imposed to prevent the transit of “arms and Armenian soldiers” to and from Karabakh.

Azerbaijan has said it is ready to open supplies to Karabakh via territory under its control, but that the separatist authorities must dissolve and integrate the region into Azerbaijan. The Armenian side has said that the blockade is aimed at forcing Karabakh into unconditional surrender to Baku.

English teacher Shahverdyan said: “They are doing so that the people become… so desperate that they just simply leave”.

However, like other Karabakh Armenians who spoke to Reuters, Shahverdyan said it had only bolstered their determination to stay in their ancestral homeland.

“How can you live under a government or people who starve you for eight months?”

(Reporting by Felix Light; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Devika Syamnath)

Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.

Bucharest Botanical Garden to host Armenian Street Festival August 26-27

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Emil Lazarian

Romania Insider

Aug 16 2023

The 8th edition of the Armenian Street Festival will take place for the first time at the Bucharest Botanical Garden between August 26 and 27.

The festival brings Armenian culture and traditions into the heart of nature. The Bucharest Botanical Garden will host ten live music concerts by artists from Armenia and Romania, two DJ sets, and a craft fair, according to Buletin de Bucuresti.

Participants will also enjoy international cuisines, sand coffee, two exhibitions, a library in nature organized by Ararat Publishing, and Armenian dance and traditional stone sculpture workshops. Children will have a dedicated area where they can play, and between 12:00-14:00 they can listen to Armenian stories and participate in workshops.

Dancing to the music of Mădălina Pavăl and her orchestra will take place on August 27 at the Armenian Street Festival.

Entry is free of charge.

[email protected]

Chaarat inks deal to sell Armenia’s Kapan mine

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 Manouk Vasilian

SHARE CAST

Aug 16 2023

Chaarat Gold announced a binding agreement to sell its 100%-owned Armenian subsidiary Chaarat Kapan on Wednesday, which is responsible for the Kapan mining operation in southern Armenia.

The AIM-traded firm said the deal, worth $55.4m, is between Chaarat and Gold Mining Company – a known entity in the Armenian mining space.

It said the Kapan Mine had been functional since the 1960s, and was known for its polymetallic ore body, producing copper and zinc concentrates as well as by-products including gold and silver.

Chaarat took ownership of the Kapan Mine in 2019, and since then, there had been significant improvements in the mine's operational performance.

It consistently met production guidance for between 50,000 and 65,000 gold equivalent ounces annually under Chaarat's administration.

The mine – Chaarat’s sole operating asset – brought in EBITDA of $22.7m in 2021 and $12.6m in 2022.

However, its financial performance in the first half of 2023 was impacted by a persistently high Armenian dram against the dollar, as well as reduced production.

The company said the sale's consideration consisted of $55.4m, including $5m in cash and the remaining being offset by intra-group payables due to Chaarat Kapan.

No adjustments would be made for debt, working capital, or other obligations.

The board said completion remained contingent on a number of conditions, including approvals from Chaarat shareholders, Ameriabank, the Armenian Competition Protection Commission, and the buyer's shareholders.

Chaarat Gold justified the sale by highlighting its commitment to enhancing the Kapan Mine's value over the years.

Despite geopolitical challenges, including hostilities with neighbouring countries and the indirect effects of the Ukraine conflict, the firm said it managed to uphold its operational performance.

However, the appreciation of the Armenian dram significantly affected its financial performance, with the sale set to allow Chaarat to concentrate on developing assets in Kyrgyzstan, and consider other external merger and acquisition opportunities.

Post-sale, the proceeds would bolster Chaarat's balance sheet, reducing its liabilities by $39m and offering a cash influx of $5m to support its ongoing projects, especially the Tulkubash project.

With the sale, Chaarat would transition from a producer to a developer, as it planned to invest resources in its larger, low-cost development assets while simultaneously seeking funding for the ventures.

Chaarat's said its focus post-sale would be on its gold development assets, which had a combined book value of $82.5m and a potential production capacity of more than 350,000 ounces of gold annually.

“The proposed sale allows Chaarat to focus on its growth pipeline in the gold sector with the aim of developing lower cost and higher value options within its portfolio,” said chief executive officer Mike Fraser.

“It accelerates our strategic objective of developing the Tulkubash project and evaluating opportunities for inorganic growth options.”

At 0908 BST, shares in Chaarat Gold Holdings were up 10.22% at 7.44p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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Aug 16 2023

Letter from the Permanent Representative of Armenia – Security Council, 9397th meeting