Category: 2023

Armenian officials continued to warn of a humanitarian crisis as Azerbaijan continued a blockade it intensified in mid-June on the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Since December, Azerbaijan had been limiting or blocking traffic along the Lachin corridor, only letting limited humanitarian aid through, but the blockade reportedly intensified since mid-June.

Earlier this year, Azerbaijani forces established a checkpoint along the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the region to Armenia, near the Armenian border, accusing Armenia of using the road to transfer military equipment to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On June 16, the Azerbaijani APA news site reported that Azerbaijani officials had closed the Lachin corridor completely, preventing both people and goods from crossing, in response to what they said were attacks by Armenians.

According to APA, Azerbaijan would only reopen the road when "Yerevan takes responsibility for the latest provocation."

Over a month later, the blockade continues, with supermarkets reportedly sitting nearly empty, along with shortages of medicine and fuel. Power outages are also reportedly afflicting the region.

The biggest supermarket in Stepanakert looks like this. Morning. pic.twitter.com/uM2G7cFwI7

— Marut Vanyan (@marutvanian) July 16, 2023

The blockade is the latest in a series of measures reportedly taken by Azerbaijani authorities that have disrupted or blocked the movement of goods and people along the Lachin corridor.

The most populated and busy neighborhood in Stepanakert looks like this. No power, no people. pic.twitter.com/pEftV4AoXR

— Marut Vanyan (@marutvanian) 

Local journalists and officials have reported a number of incidents of miscarriages occurring due to pregnant women being unable to access necessary food items, medicine, and healthcare.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse on Friday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that "in Nagorno-Karabakh they have created a ghetto, in the most literal meaning of the word."

"Look at the situation that we now have in Nagorno-Karabakh," added Pashinyan. "We have a humanitarian crisis there. When we say humanitarian crisis, for many people it may seem like a political term or a headline for news, but let’s delve into its substance. It means, for instance, absence of essential goods, there is no vegetable oil in Nagorno-Karabakh, no sugar, there are no hygiene supplies, there is no butter, there aren’t several types of foodstuff. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh are hard working people of course, and in this agricultural season some products are produced, but because of the absence of fuel, the delivery of the goods to the potential consumers is almost impossible."

Despite the earlier reports by Azerbaijani media, Azerbaijani officials have recently insisted that there is no blockade and accused ethnic Armenian officials of blocking traffic and smuggling weapons and contraband from Armenia.

On July 11, Azerbaijan's State Border Service accused the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of smuggling "various types of goods" along the Lachin corridor, including cell phones, fuel, and cigarettes.

"A criminal case has been opened under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan in connection with the above-mentioned facts, and passage through the "Lachin" state border checkpoint has been temporarily suspended until necessary investigative measures have been completed," said the State Border Service at the time.

On Saturday, Azerbaijani media posted a video purporting to show that ethnic Armenians are being let through a checkpoint along the Lachin corridor, although Armenian media claims the blockade is still in place.

Additionally on Saturday, the Armenian Armenpress news site reported that 13 ethnic Armenian patients had been transferred by the Red Cross from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, although dozens of other patients are reportedly waiting to be transferred.

Additionally, on Saturday at the Shusha Global Media Forum, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed that it was ethnic Armenian officials, not Azerbaijani officials, causing the roadblock and insisted that the residents of the region could get any goods they needed from Azerbaijani territory.

Armenian journalists reported on Saturday that Azerbaijani officials had insisted that Azerbaijani doctors inspect patients before letting the Red Cross transfer them.

Askeran residents blocked the Askeran-Aghdam road with concrete barriers. pic.twitter.com/vRzAg9v3ID

— Marut Vanyan (@marutvanian) July 18, 2023

Aliyev additionally insisted that Azerbaijan will protect the rights and security of ethnic Armenians in accordance with its constitution.

The Azerbaijani president additionally referred to ongoing efforts to reach a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, stating that Armenia has already verbally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory, but needs to be willing to sign a document stating that for a peace deal to be reached.

In 2020, a war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby areas, ending just over a month later with a new line of contact drawn and Russian peacekeepers deployed along the line. Sporadic clashes have been reported along the line since the war.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-752074

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, July 23 (Reuters) – The Treaty of Lausanne that formed modern Turkey is still cherished by some but remains a disappointment for others including Kurds and Armenians who hoped for autonomous regions and justice for Ottoman-era crimes.

Some of those voices are included in an exhibit called "Borders" – put on by the Swiss city's history museum to look at the significance of the post-World War One deal 100 years after it was signed between Turkey and allied powers like Britain and France on July 24, 1923.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan commemorated the anniversary in a statement last year, praising elements of it and saying that Turkey had meticulously monitored its implementation.

Sevgi Koyuncu, who was born in a Kurdish village and now works in Lausanne, said her people had been "negated by a convention" in an interview filmed in the palace where it was signed.

Some 6,000 Kurdish protesters joined a march through the city on Saturday, waving flags and forming human chains.

For Manuschak Karnusian, a Swiss resident whose Armenian grandparents fled what is now Turkey in the early 20th century with the help of missionaries and French war ships, the treaty is like a "second genocide".

She was referring to 1915 massacres and the forced deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire – an event now labelled genocide by dozens of countries but denied by Turkey, which says thousands of both Turks and Armenians died in inter-ethnic violence.

"You cannot forget. You must show what this (treaty) means," Karnusian told Reuters, saying that it stood for the "origin of the denial of what happened" to the Armenians.

While the agreement was hailed at the time as a chance for lasting peace, some of its outcomes, like the exchange of more than 1.5 million ethnic Greeks and Turks, are now seen as a "terrible mistake", said Jonathan Conlin, a historian at a project that looks at the legacy of the treaty.

"I think it (the treaty) has endured because everyone's equally unhappy about it," he said.

The sixth meeting within the framework of the ongoing peace talks series between Azerbaijan and Armenia was held in Brussels between President of the European Council (EC) Charles Michel, President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Both President Ilham Aliyev and the EC president declared the Brussel process productive. Few days after the meeting Pashinyan said that parties couldn’t agree all issues.

Meeting ended without signing any agreement, but at the same time, the statement made by Michel actually reflected the content of the meeting between the two leaders. From his statement, it was seen that the meeting between the two leaders consisted of seven sub-topics: (1) sovereignty and territorial integrity; (2) border delimitation; (3) connectivity; (4) humanitarian supplies; (5) rights and security; (6) detainees; and (7) Next meeting.

It is important for both states that the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty are in first place in Michel’s statement. This is a red line for Azerbaijan in the peace negotiations. Nikol Pashinyan has several times declared in his statements that he recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and later, upon the demand of President Ilham Aliyev, he recognized the territorial integrity of 86,600 km² of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh. These statements of Pashinyan were later confirmed in the fifth and sixth Brussels meetings.

One of the agenda items of the meeting is the opening of regional transportation links. According to Michel’s statement, the parties agreed that transportation and connections should be opened in accordance with the principles of soveregnity, jurisdiction, and reciprocity of the states. This statement shows that, if Armenia renounces its corridor claims regarding the Lachin road, Azerbaijan may also give up its corridor claims against Armenia. However, after the announcement, it turned out that the parties agree on opening the railways forthwith. At this point, it is planned to complete the Azerbaijan part of the Zangezur Corridor by the end of this year. It is necessary to construct a railway within the borders of Armenia to a distance of 44 km.

In the previous meeting held in Brussels on May 14, it was stated that the rules of the International Customs Organization would be valid in this regard, but this was not repeated by Michel on this occasion. However, it was stated that the EU was ready to provide financial support for the construction of the Armenian part of the railway. Considering that the railways in Armenia are under the control of the Russian State Railways, the construction of the Zangezur Corridor with the financial support of the EU is an important development.

One of the most remarkable subtopics was humanitarian supplies. As we know, in the post-war period, the Lachin road between Armenia and the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan remained temporarily open in order to meet humanitarian needs. However, it was revealed that this road, which was under the supervision of Russian peacekeepers according to the November 10 Trilateral Declaration, was used for arms transportation and that foreign citizens were allowed to cross into Azerbaijan illegally. As a result, Azerbaijan established a border post on the Lachin road. Armenia then applied to the International Court of Justice for the removal of this customs point, but this application was rejected. Humanitarian aid was transported from this customs point through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), but after a period of time it was revealed that there were undeclared goods among the cargoes brought from Armenia by the ICRC. In its statement of July 11, the ICRC noted that it does not support the activity of transporting undeclared goods and had terminated employment contracts with the drivers of vehicles carrying such goods, and this is commendable.

In order to prevent the Lachin road from being used for illegal purposes, the Azerbaijani side proposes that the ICRC provide supplies to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan via Aghdam. For this purpose, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ceyhun Bayramov, met the Head of the ICRC Office in Azerbaijan, Dragana Kojic, and highlighted Azerbaijan’s position. In his statement Michel underlined both the use of the Lachin road and providing humanitarian supplies via Aghdam. This step will lead to more effective results for the integration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is also insistent on transporting supplies to the Russian peacekeeping troops in Karabakh via Aghdam.

One of the most important talking points between the parties is the issue of rights and security. Regarding this subtopic, Michel expressed the EU’s encouragement for direct dialogue between Baku and representatives of Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. This statement supports direct talks between Baku and Karabakh Armenian representatives without any mediation. This means that those Armenians who want mediation by the Russian peacekeepers have been given a red light by Brussels.

Continuing to explain that this dialogue should provide much-needed confidence for all those involved, Michel also gave a red light to Armenia’s demand for an “international mechanism” for Karabakh Armenians’ security and rights.

According to reports in regional media, the issue of the return to Armenia of Azerbaijanis who were expelled between 1987 and 1990 was also on the agenda between the parties. Before this meeting, this issue was also discussed at the meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Arlington, Virginia, US, on May 1–4. This is one of the issues that Azerbaijan keeps on the agenda, and at the beginning of this year, Azerbaijanis deported from Armenia in 1987 to 1990 created an NGO and applied to international organizations to return to their homeland.

The last two sub-topics are important in terms of normalizing relations between the two countries and ensuring mutual trust. First, According to Michel, the leaders reconfirmed their commitment to the “gentlemen’s understanding” that the release of soldiers who inadvertently crossed to the other side would be facilitated. A few months ago, two Azerbaijani soldiers accidentally crossed into Armenia and were arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. This statement is a reminder that the gentlemen’s agreement should be implemented for the return of these two soldiers. The importance of ensuring increased cooperation in addressing the fate of missing persons and on demining was also discussed. During his statement Michel called on the sides to exchange as much information as possible. Around 4,000 Azerbaijanis disappeared during the First Karabakh War, and Armenia has not yet provided the necessary information to find these missing persons.

In summary, the fact that six meetings have been held in Brussels for the normalization of relations and the signing of a peace agreement shows that the parties attach importance to the Brussels process. However, it cannot be said that all the commitments made in these meetings have been implemented. For example, although Michel’s declared the intention to do so in the May 14 meeting, no steps were taken regarding the Zangezur corridor or the release of the arrested Azerbaijani soldiers. Moreover, it is apparent that there are some issues that were not agreed upon in the last meeting. In particular, illegal Armenian military groups still remain in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and withdrawing these groups was not included in Michel’s statement. Michel has expressed his opinion on some issues and it is unclear whether the parties will abide by the agreements. But at the same time, although it can be said that the two countries differ on fundamental issues, it seems that they are willing to move towards peace, step by step.

https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/07/23/outcomes-of-the-brussels-process-between-azerbaijan-and-armenia/

Western thinking of Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev has been very wrong. Both countries are Ukraine’s strongest allies in the Greater Middle East, where Arab countries and Israel are sitting on the fence and trying to play both sides or hiding their heads in the sand. This is not the case with Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Turkiye and Azerbaijan have a close military and political alliance drawn up after the 2020 Second Karabakh War. Both countries are critically disposed toward Russia and align with the pro-Western camp: Turkiye as a NATO member and Azerbaijan as a non-aligned country that has stayed away from Russian-led Eurasian integration projects.

Turkiye is home to millions of Crimean Tatars who moved to the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Their Crimean homeland was occupied by the Russian Empire in 1783 which changed its ethnic balance. Crimean Tatars, who closely follow developments in Russian-occupied Crimea, where racism, Islamophobia, and political repression is endemic, are a powerful anti-Russian lobby in Turkiye.

Iran meanwhile has become Russia’s staunchest ally in the Kremlin’s fight against the US-dominated unipolar world and its replacement by an allegedly more ‘democratic’ multipolar world. Iran is constructing a facility to build Shaheed drones in Russia, while Turkiye is building a plant to build Bayraktar drones in Ukraine.

Western governments have wrongly portrayed President Erdogan as being in bed with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and were therefore wrong-footed by his recent steps. In the space of a week, Erdogan released Ukrainian POWs from the Spring 2022 battle for the port of Mariupol, infuriating the Kremlin because they had been released from Russian captivity on the basis that they would spend the entirety of the war in Turkiye.

But Erdogan went even further. On the eve of the recent NATO summit, Erdogan extended strong support to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO. Turkiye’s support infuriated the Kremlin who has expressed strong opposition to Ukraine joining NATO and the EU because this would definitively end any possibility of bringing the country into the Russian World.

In addition to 35 Bayraktar TB2 and 24 Mini-Bayraktar reconnaissance drones, Turkiye is sending other types of military equipment to Ukraine. Before the US announcement, Turkiye said it would supply Ukraine with cluster munitions. Turkiye sent up to 200 TRLG-230 Rokestan missiles to Ukraine that can be fired from multiple rocket launchers and have a range of 20 to 70 kilometers. Turkiye also sent 200 Kirpi mine-resistant armoured personnel carriers and 20 COBRA II 4×4 Tactical Wheeled Armoured Vehicles.

During the same week of NATO’s summit in Vilnius, Turkiye said it’s navy would escort Ukrainian grain ships through the Black Sea. Turkiye’s offer will be tested later this month after Russia refused to extend the UN-Turkish brokered grain deal beyond July 17. Turkiye’s battle of wills with Russia will impact the Kremlin’s arrogant view of the Black Sea constituting a ‘Russian lake.’

Azerbaijan’s strategic importance to Ukraine is six-fold. Firstly, Azerbaijan is the only south Caucasian state that has successfully resisted Russian control over its affairs. With three Russian military bases, Armenia is a long-time ally of Russia since the early 1990s and is a member of all Russian-led integration projects in Eurasia. Georgia has been captured by Georgian-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili who has put former President Mikhail Saakashvili, a long-time opponent of Putin, in jail on trumped up charges.

Secondly, Azerbaijan is alone in the south Caucasus in not breaking Western sanctions against Russia. Armenia and Georgia are actively involved in sanctions busting both due to high-level corruption and because the Kremlin has influence over the ruling elites of both countries.

Thirdly, Armenia and Georgia, but not Azerbaijan, are disseminating the Kremlin’s talking points justifying Russia’s so-called ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine. Georgian leaders have parroted the Kremlin’s disinformation by blaming the West for the war in Ukraine. Speaking at the GLOBSEC Bratislava security forum in May, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said ‘one of the main reasons’ behind the war in Ukraine ‘was NATO expansion … the desire of Ukraine to become a member of NATO.’ The Georgian Orthodox Church has taken the side of the Russian Orthodox Church over Ukraine receiving Orthodox autocephaly (independence). The Georgian Orthodox Church joined the Kremlin in protesting against Ukraine’s clamp down on subversion and Russian Orthodox clergy collaboration with Russian occupying forces.

Fourthly, Azerbaijan and Ukraine uphold the territorial integrity of states, which is not true of irridentist powers such as Russia and Armenia. Ukraine has given unqualified support to Karabakh constituting Azerbaijani sovereign territory. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has not supported Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory during votes on critical resolutions at the United Nations.

Fifthly, Azerbaijan’s supply of energy to the European Union, together with other countries such as the US and Norway, removes Russia’s stranglehold over energy supplies. Azerbaijan is one of the strategically important countries assisting Europe to become energy independent of revanchist Russia.

Finally, Azerbaijan provides free energy to Ukraine for humanitarian work. Since Russia’s invasion, the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR has been providing free gas and petrol to vehicles used for humanitarian missions, such as delivering aid to internally displaced people, ambulances and fire trucks. In June Azerbaijan supplied twenty tons of fuel to Ukraine free of charge as humanitarian aid, as well as water pipes, water pumps, and life jackets, in response to Russia’s terrorist destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted how Turkiye and Azerbaijan are close allies of Ukraine over a wide range of areas. As the second biggest military power in NATO, Russia is forced to take Turkiye seriously when it supplies military equipment to Ukraine and protects grain convoys sailing through the Black Sea.

Turkiye, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine oppose Russian irridentism in Eurasia and Russian-led Eurasian integration projects; uphold the territorial integrity of states and Karabakh as Azerbaijani sovereign territory; and recognize the importance of European energy independence from Russia. Turkiye and Azerbaijan stand with Ukraine during votes at the UN condemning Russia’s invasion and occupation. Unlike Georgia and Armenia, Turkiye and Azerbaijan do not fan Russian disinformation about the causes of the Russian invasion.

 

Taras Kuzio is a professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. His latest book is Fascism and Genocide. Russia’s War Against Ukrainians

The views expressed in this article belong to the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com.

https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/erdogans-flip-how-turkiye-and-azerbaijan-became-ukraine-allies/ 

Armenia –

Azerbaijan is 'strangling' the conflict-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region with blockade, they alleged

The existence of Christians in a disputed border region is under threat due to ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, rights activists say.

Muslim-majority Azerbaijan’s invasion of Armenia and its ongoing blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh region is the latest attempt at “religious cleansing” of the Christian nation, said Sam Brownback, a U.S. politician and former ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

Brownback issued his statements to air concerns about Armenian Christians on July 18, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.

His responses were delivered days after he visited Armenia on a fact-finding trip with the Christian human rights group, Philos Project, the report stated.

Brownback, a Catholic, said that Islamic Azerbaijan is “strangling” the conflict-torn region.

“Azerbaijan, with Turkey’s backing, is really slowly strangling Nagorno-Karabakh,” Brownback said. “They’re working to make it unlivable so that the region’s Armenian-Christian population is forced to leave, that’s what’s happening on the ground.”

He warned that if the United States does not intervene, “we will see again another ancient Christian population forced out of its homeland.”

Brownback called for Congress to pass a “Nagorno-Karabakh Human Rights Act” to establish basic security guarantees for the Nagorno-Karabakh population.

He also called on the U.S. to reinstate previously used sanctions on Azerbaijan should it continue its blockade.

While persecution of Christians in the near east is common, the latest one has a new dimension.

This time the religious cleansing is being “perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry and backed by Turkey, a member of NATO,” he said.

Bordered by Muslim-majority Turkey and Azerbaijan, Christian roots of Armenia date to ancient times.

About 90 percent of Armenia’s estimated 2.8 million people are Christians, the U.S. State Department reported in 2019.

Conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since 1990s after both nations gained impendence after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Both former Soviet states laid claims on the region, leading to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. Armenia gained primary control of the territory following the war. 

Tensions sparked again in September 2020 when the two nations engaged in military conflict after Azerbaijani troops moved in to gain control of the disputed region.

The armed conflict lasted for about two months, ending with a peace deal brokered by Russia in November that year.

A study published in the Population Research and Policy Review estimates that 3,822 Armenians and at least 2,906 Azerbaijanis were killed during the 2020 conflict. 

Following the conflict, Azerbaijan gained control of large swathes of the region and imposed blockade.  A thin strip of land called the “Lachin corridor” is now Armenia’s only access point to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Now, an Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor, in place since December, is crippling Armenian infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh, rights activists say, CNA reported.

“The situation is extremely urgent and existential,” Philos Project President Robert Nicholson said. “This is the oldest Christian nation facing again for the second time in only about a century the possibility of a genocide.”

He was referring to the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians more than a century ago in waning years of the Ottoman Empire. The U.S. has recognized the killings as genocide, but Turkey has repeatedly denounced the characterization.

Nicholson said there are 500 tons of humanitarian equipment “unable to get into Nagorno-Karabakh because of the blockade that Azerbaijan has placed upon that region.”

“There has been no natural gas flowing since March and other energy supplies, [such as] electricity, are spotty at best,” Nicholson added. “Families have been separated. Surgeries have been canceled. The 120,000 people inside [Nagorno-Karabakh] are really desperate for help.”  

https://www.ucanews.com/news/armenian-christians-face-religious-cleansing-say-rights-activists/102048