Category: 2023

Whereabouts of kidnapped Red Cross evacuee unknown

Manouk Vasilian

 15:45,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan itself is abandoning on a daily basis its fake narratives claiming to be willing to live in coexistence with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan said on Saturday after a Nagorno-Karabakh patient was detained and taken to an unknown location by Azerbaijani border guards while being evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross to Armenia for treatment. Marukyan said the patient has been kidnapped by the Azeri authorities.

“On a daily basis, Azerbaijan is resigning from the fake narratives it has created regarding their willingness to live in coexistence with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Today, 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, who was being transported from Nagorno Karabagh to Armenia for a medical treatment, accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross, was abducted by the representatives of the border guard service of Azerbaijan and taken to an unknown direction. Neither the relatives of Khachatryan, nor the ICRC representatives or Russian peacekeepers are aware about the whereabouts of Vagif Khachatryan. His fate is unknown as of this writing,” Marukyan tweeted.

ICRC says ‘taking relevant measures’ after Nagorno-Karabakh patient gets kidnapped by Azerbaijani border guards

Garo Vardanian

 16:13,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is taking relevant measures through dialogue within the framework of its capacity concerning the detention of a 68-year-old citizen who was being transported by the ICRC from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for treatment, ICRC Armenia communications manager Zara Amatuni told ARMENPRESS.

She said that until today the Red Cross was able to transport people – patients or those who had expressed desire to reunite with their families – through procedures arranged previously.

“Regarding this specific situation, I have to say that we are addressing all problems to the corresponding authorities, but we will do so through dialogue and it will be confidential, as of this moment I can’t convey any other details on the incident,” Amatuni added.

On July 29, a Nagorno-Karabakh patient was detained and taken to an unknown location by Azerbaijani border guards while being evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross to Armenia for treatment.

Kidnapping of patient by Azerbaijan constitutes flagrant violation of international humanitarian law – Armenian MFA

Shushan Frangulian

 17:18,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian foreign ministry has described the kidnapping of a Nagorno-Karabakh patient by Azerbaijani border guards as a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

“Troubled by news that 68-year-old patient, being transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for medical treatment, accompanied by ICRC, was abducted at illegally installed checkpoint by border guard service of Azerbaijan. Abduction of person under international humanitarian protection is flagrant violation of IHL,” Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan tweeted.

A senior Armenian diplomat earlier that the whereabouts of the kidnapped patient remain unknown.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1116447.html?fbclid=IwAR2LkqTGgAMzUewFjV9QJN1j46iG-5HhCx9RnUHnPBJCvMsiWyxd98-oa6M

Human Rights Defender of Armenia to contact international organizations over kidnapping of NK patient by Azerbaijan

Talar Tumanian

 17:51,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Anahit Manasyan has contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the detention of the 68-year-old Nagorno-Karabakh patient who was being transported to Armenia for treatment, her office said in a statement.

“Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan has contacted partners at the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the issue, she continues to carry out fact-finding work. After clarifying details on the incident, the Human Rights Defender will also apply to international human rights organizations,” Manasyan’s office said.

On July 29, a Nagorno-Karabakh patient was detained and taken to an unknown location by Azerbaijani border guards while being evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross to Armenia for treatment.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the kidnapping of the patient by Azerbaijan constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

Azeri arrest of Red Cross-protected patient from Nagorno-Karabakh amounts to war crime – Foreign Ministry

Emil Lazarian

 20:17,

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. The arrest of the 68-year-old patient who was being evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from Nagorno-Karabakh is a war crime, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Below is the full statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.  

“On July 29, 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, who, having serious health issues, was being transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for medical treatment, accompanied by the International Committee of Red Cross, was abducted by the representatives of the border guard service of Azerbaijan at the illegal checkpoint installed on the Lachin corridor and taken in an unknown direction without any reliable explanation.

“It should be emphasized that the ICRC provides the parties with the lists of patients to be transported in advance and carries out their transportation only after the consent of the parties. The release of the statement full of false narratives and accusations by the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan right after the abduction shows that this operation was thoroughly planned in advance. Moreover, the statement contains an open threat to apply the same approach to other residents of Nagorno-Karabakh as well.

“This mode of operation by Azerbaijan is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law: the arrest of a person under the protection of international humanitarian law and the ICRC is nothing short of a war crime. It also aimed at completely blocking the ICRC activities in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan continues the blockade of the Lachin corridor and hinders in general the access of other humanitarian organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“It is noteworthy that this action of the Azerbaijani authorities is a direct implementation of the statement made by the country's president on May 28 that “the installation of a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor would be a lesson for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, … they should show up with bent necks", and the continuous threats, about which the Armenian side has repeatedly signalled to international partners, calling on them to condemn these and other similar statements. This action of Azerbaijan directly demonstrates that the alarms, voiced by Armenia for already a long time, reflect the seriousness and urgency of the existing sinister risks of ethnic cleansing.

“Moreover, this pattern of behaviour time and again demonstrates the bankruptcy of the arguments of the Azerbaijani side with regard to the Armenian prisoners of war, civilian captives, as well as the servicemen abducted from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia on May 26, who went through sham trials and are still illegally kept in Baku.

“This arbitrariness of Azerbaijan, carried out in parallel with the complete blockade of the Lachin corridor and refusal to address the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, is aimed at terrorizing the Nagorno-Karabakh population and in case of absence of international engagement once again casts serious doubt on the possibility of not only ensuring the minimal rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, but also on the possibility of realizing the right to life.”

We consider the criminal act committed by Azerbaijan today and the ongoing blockade of the Lachin corridor unacceptable and reprehensible. We expect united and clear-cut steps by the international community, including using existing tools aimed at restoring unimpeded movement through the Lachin corridor, ensuring the activities of international humanitarian organizations in Nagorno-Karabakh as well as humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenpress: Demonstrators in Nagorno-Karabakh rally outside ICRC office in Stepanakert after Azerbaijan kidnaps patient

Emma Jilavian

 21:01,

STEPANAKERT, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Demonstrators in Nagorno-Karabakh’s Stepanakert city gathered outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission’s office to protest against what they described as the ICRC’s "inability to guarantee the safety" of Nagorno-Karabakh residents while carrying out its functions because of Azerbaijan’s actions.

State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Gurgen Nersisyan, Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan, and the family of the man who was kidnapped on Saturday by the Azeri border guards while being evacuated by the ICRC for healthcare reasons were among the participants of the rally.

Nersisyan met with an ICRC representative and said that the organization ought to publicly state that because of Azerbaijan’s actions it is unable to guarantee the safety of the residents of Artsakh while carrying out its functions. “We want you to note that you are unable to ensure the safety of any of the residents of Artsakh. You ought to announce in all European platforms that this is how the safety of the Artsakh people is ensured, when even an organization trusted by all countries across the world is unable to keep our citizen in its vehicle bearing the Red Cross emblem. You are even unable to guarantee our citizen’s life in their [Azeri] prisons,” Nersisyan said, adding that the ICRC ought to also publicly state the impossibility of coexistence of the Artsakh people with Azerbaijanis, because Azerbaijan could make false accusations against anyone who was born in Artsakh, like it did in case of 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, the man who was kidnapped by Azeri border guards while being taken to a hospital by the Red Cross.

ICRC Stepanakert staff told the demonstrators that they realize the difficult situation and diligently continue their work in this direction.

The demonstrators said they’ll wait for the ICRC to issue the statement.

Van Novikov




RFE/RL Armenian Service – 07/29/2023

Meline Chalian 
                                        Saturday, 


Karabakh Man Arrested By Azerbaijan During Medical Evacuation

        • Artak Khulian

Vagif Khachatrian and other patients from Nagorno-Karabakh pass through an 
Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, .


Azerbaijani security forces arrested a seriously ill resident of 
Nagorno-Karabakh as he was being evacuated by the International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC) to Armenia on Saturday.

Vagif Khachatrian, a 68-year-old resident of the Karabakh village of Patara, was 
among patients escorted by the ICRC to Armenian hospitals for urgent treatment. 
He was detained at an Azerbaijani checkpoint in the Lachin corridor in what 
Karabakh’s leadership and the Armenian government condemned as a gross violation 
of international law.

Azerbaijani authorities said later in the day that Khachatrian was taken to Baku 
to stand trial on charges of killing and deporting Karabakh’s ethnic Azerbaijani 
residents in December 1991, at the start of the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war. 
They claimed that he was indicted on these charges in 2013.

A senior Karabakh official, Artak Beglarian, rejected the “false” accusations. 
He insisted that like many other Karabakh Armenian men, Khachatrian “defended 
his homeland” during the 1991-1994 and did not commit war crimes.

“He was neither a commander nor a deputy commander. He was a driver,” 
Khachatrian’s daughter Tsovinar, who accompanied him during his aborted trip to 
Armenia, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. She said her father was due to undergo 
a heart surgery in Yerevan.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry condemned Khachatrian’s arrest as a “blatant 
violation of international humanitarian law” and “war crime.” “It is aimed at 
completely disrupting the ICRC’s activities in Nagorno-Karabakh at a time when 
Azerbaijan is keeping the Lachin corridor closed and impeding the entry of other 
international organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh,” it said in a statement.

Nagorno Karabakh - A Red Cross vehicle leaves a hospital in Stepanakert in 
December 2022.

Khachatrian is the first Karabakh patient arrested by the Azerbaijani 
authorities during the medical evacuations organized by the ICRC after Baku 
halted last December commercial traffic through the only road connecting 
Karabakh to Armenia. The Red Cross did not immediately react to his detention.

There was also no immediate reaction from Russian peacekeeping forces stationed 
in Karabakh. It is not clear whether they tried to prevent the man’s arrest.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly suspended the medical evacuations. On June 15, it also 
banned the ICRC and the Russian peacekeepers from sending limited amounts of 
humanitarian aid to Karabakh, aggravating the shortages of food, medicine, fuel 
and other essential items in the Armenian-populated region.

The worsening humanitarian crisis there led the United States, the European 
Union and Russia to renew their calls for the lifting of the Azerbaijani 
blockade. Baku continued to reject such appeals this week.

Gurgen Nersisian, the Karabakh premier, on Saturday also blamed Armenia for the 
crisis and Khachatrian’s “kidnapping” in particular, saying that this was made 
possible by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s May 2023 pledge to recognize 
Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.

Armenian opposition leaders have likewise claimed that the far-reaching 
concession made by Pashinian only emboldened Baku to tighten the screws on the 
Karabakh Armenians.


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.

Malta Philharmonic suspends its principal conductor Sergey Smbatyan

Lara Antonian

He has reportedly been arrested in Armenia on fraud allegations

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has suspended its principal conductor,  Mro Sergey Smbatyan following international media reports that he has been arrested in Armenia on fraud allegations.

Christopher Muscat, acting CEO of the Malta Philharmonic said that without entering into the merits of the case, and without any prejudice to anything or anyone, the MPO was suspending its working relationship with Maestro Smbatyan with immediate effect.

"The MPO is following the case very closely to ascertain the facts. A final decision in respect of this case will be taken once the relevant facts and circumstances are ascertained," Muscat said in a statement.

Smbatyan was appointed principal conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) on 1 January 2022.  

According to media reports, Smbatyan, who is artistic director and chief conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, is being held with his father Armen, in connection with an alleged real-estate fraud involving land belonging to the Tchaikovsky Music School in the capital, Yerevan.

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-philharmonic-suspends-principal-conductor.1046692

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Turkish Press: Azerbaijan urges countries fooled by ‘Armenia’s manipulation’ to respect its sovereignty

Arsine Chaltikian
Turkey –

Azerbaijan is calling on countries and international organizations that have made anti-Azerbaijani statements to respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, especially concerning developments in Karabakh and the Lachin road.

“We demand that countries and international organizations that are deceived by Armenia’s manipulations and which make biased statements (instead) respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, not interfere in the internal affairs of our country, and to put an end to the policy of double standards,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The ministry said Azerbaijan has made proposals to meet the needs of Armenians in the region but the Armenian side has “opposed” these efforts and blocked “access to the territory by placing concrete barriers on alternative roads.”

“Armenian claims about the humanitarian situation are nothing than political blackmail and manipulation,” the Ministry said.

“The aim of Armenia is to bring third parties to the region, expand the geography of tensions, as well as to lead the peace process to a failure point,” it added.

“Azerbaijan will ensure the rights of Armenian residents living in its Karabagh region based on the country’s Constitution, and will resolutely prevent any step against its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said.

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

In 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia, and the fighting ended with a deal brokered by Russia.

Despite ongoing talks on a peace agreement, tensions between the neighboring countries rose in recent months concerning the Lachin road, a land route giving Armenia access to Karabakh, as well as Azerbaijan’s establishment of a border checkpoint on the road.


https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/azerbaijan-urges-countries-fooled-by-armenias-manipulation-to-respect-its-sovereignty-3667879





Blinken condemns blocking of Red Cross workers providing aid to Armenians in Azerbaijan

Lena Karagyozian
UPI
By Adam Schrader

July 30 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev after Armenia accused the country of blocking humanitarian aid to the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Blinken expressed "deep concern" for the situation as well as the urgent need for free transit of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin corridor, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"[Blinken] emphasized the need for compromise on alternative routes so humanitarian supplies can reach the population of Nagorno-Karabakh," Miller said. "The Secretary stressed the need for all parties to keep up positive momentum on peace negotiations."

Azerbaijan and Armenia have a fraught history, having been in conflict after the two nations became independent in 1918 upon the fall of the Russian Empire. The dispute went on hiatus when both nations became republics within the Soviet Union.

The two nations have fought two wars since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Nagorno-Karabakh region had significant autonomy under Soviet rule and came under the control of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan in 1994 as the Armenian military claimed land around the region itself.

In 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas in fighting which ended when Russia brokered an armistice and established the Lachin corridor for safe transit protected by Russian peacekeepers.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of blocking aid along the Lachin corridor for several days.

Meanwhile, the Nagorno-Karabakh region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has established a breakaway government, the Republic of Artasakh.

Gurgen Nersisyan, the state minister of the breakaway region's unrecognized government, said Saturday in a statement that a 68-year-old man who was being transported by Red Cross aid workers to Armenia for medical treatment was taken into custody by Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan always tried in every possible way to hinder the process of transferring patients to Armenia even through the ICRC and every time presented new conditions to the ICRC, and this was another step to create fear among people even to pass through the Lachin Corridor for treatment," Nersisyan said.

"This is the day-by-day consequences of recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and calling Artsakh 'Azerbaijan.'"

Nersisyan said the international community has been "inactive" in its condemnation of the "months-long crimes against the people of Artsakh."

Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office identified the man taken into custody as Vagif Khachatryan, a citizen of the country, and accused him of committing "genocide" against Azerbaijani people in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.

The claims of genocide come as Azerbaijan itself has faced growing concerns of genocidal statements and actions.