Category: 2023

 08:45,

YEREVAN, 17 JULY, ARMENPRESS: The situation in Lachin Corridor has long been beyond any legal framework․ Two prominent courts, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have delivered judgments and rulings ordering Azerbaijan to unblock the corridor, simultaneously rejecting Azerbaijan's counterclaims, however Azerbaijan is disregarding the decisions and the situation remains the same, jurist Artak Asatryan told ARMENPRESS.

On July 12, ECHR, after examining the request of the Armenian government to apply interim measures against Azerbaijan regarding the unblocking of the Lachin Corridor, decided to reaffirm the decision made on December 21, 2022. The December 21 ruling ordered Azerbaijan to ‘take all measures’ to ensure safe passage through the Lachin Corridor of seriously ill persons in need of medical treatment in Armenia and others who were stranded on the road without shelter or means of subsistence. The European Court of Human Rights reaffirmed the need of implementing the decision made of December 21, 2022 in the current situation, and emphasized it must be implemented by Azerbaijan.

“The decision of the ECHR is already within the scope of the powers of the EU Committee of Ministers, because the control over the judgments or decisions of that court is carried out by the given structure. In January, the committee of ministers, referring to the implementation of the decision made on December 21, noted problems and called on Azerbaijan to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Shortly after that, the UN International Court of Justice in February made a decision on an interim measure referring to the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, after the complaints raised by Armenia, and ordered Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin Corridor," Asatryan, an Associate Professor and Acting Head of the European and International Law Chair of YSU Faculty of Law, told ARMENPRESS. 

In June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also addressed this issue by adopting a corresponding resolution. But factually even the International Committee of the Red Cross has had problems due to the actions of the Azerbaijani authorities.

Asatryan isn’t too optimistic regarding the resolution of the situation in the Lachin Corridor. The decision of ECHR was another instrument which didn’t change the situation.

Referring to the legal consequences the decision may have in the case of further destructive behavior by Azerbaijan, Asatryan noted that although Article 46 of the statute of the court includes a mechanism for initiating proceedings or procedures for breach of obligations, which refers to the execution of final judgments, it may not be possible to link it with the final judgment on the Lachin Corridor situation. The issue we are discussing was about applying an interim measure, therefore, it is difficult to say whether it is possible that the EU Committee of Ministers will apply to the court to discuss the issue of Azerbaijan's obligations implementation.

"Armenia showed that it took all legal action, applied to all the international institutes and courts to legally resolve the issue of the unblocking of Lachin Corridor, but Azerbaijan was simply not ready and is still not ready to settle the issue. However, Armenia taking all these actions, avoided criticism for not applying to international courts in advance. On the other hand, the decisions of the ECHR and the UN may serve as opportunities to be used against Azerbaijan in politics. The decisions can serve as a basis for negotiations or for preparation of documents made during them, stressing that Azerbaijan has not shown good will, so it is not excluded that there will be some political intervention to achieve the desired result, but this is a future matter," the expert of international law added. 

Manvel Margaryan

 09:19,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has again falsely accused Armenia of opening cross-border gunfire at its military positions.

In a statement released on July 18, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia denied opening fire at Azerbaijani military positions overnight July 17-18 and said that the allegation is a disinformation.

The statement released by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan alleging that the units of the Armed Forces of Armenia opened gunfire overnight July 17-18 at Azerbaijani positions deployed in the eastern and south-western parts of the border line ‘does not correspond to reality’, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in the statement.

 10:27,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday accused Russia of “weaponizing food” after Moscow halted its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has kept food supplies flowing out of Ukraine despite the war.

The deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.

“So the result of Russia’s action today – weaponizing food, using it as a tool, as a weapon in its war against Ukraine – will be to make food harder to come by in places that desperately need it, and have prices rise.  We’re already seeing the market react to this as prices are going up,” Blinken said at a press conference.

He said that the deal had a “tremendously positive benefit”.

The U.S. Secretary of State added that Washington and Kiev ‘will look at whether there are any other options’.

“….the Ukrainians and we, others will look at whether there are any other options, but the challenge is this:  If Russia is ending this initiative and sending a message that grain cannot and other food products cannot leave Ukraine unimpeded, even if there are other options, I think it will likely have a profound chilling effect on the ability to pursue them as other countries, companies, shippers, et cetera will be very concerned about what happens to their ships and to their personnel if Russia is opposing the – any export of food products from Ukraine.  The whole point of this was to have a voluntary agreement that involved all of the relevant parties that was endorsed by the United Nations to make sure that there was safety, security, predictability in moving food out of Ukraine and to places that were desperately in need of it. So in the absence of that, I think, yes, we’ll look at – to see what else can be done to find other ways to get Ukrainian food products on the world market, including, again, as we’ve, as Ukraine has already been doing, moving things out through rail and by road.  But in terms of the volumes necessary, it’s really hard to replace what’s now being lost as a result of Russia weaponizing food,” he said.

Moscow announced on Monday it wouldn't extend the Ukraine grain deal over alleged non-compliance by other parties. In a statement reported by RT, the Russian Foreign Ministry added that Russia will no longer provide security guarantees for civilian vessels traversing the formerly exempted corridor in the Black Sea.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that this latest decision “means the recall of maritime navigation security guarantees, the discontinuation of the maritime humanitarian corridor [and] the reinstatement of the ‘temporarily dangerous area’ regime in the north-western Black Sea.” Russian diplomats went on to accuse Ukraine of using the humanitarian corridor to carry out attacks on Russian targets.  

As for the Ukrainian grain shipments that were facilitated by the deal, the ministry claimed that the vast majority of those ended up in Europe, with several countries there allegedly lining their pockets.  

The statement pointed out that the whole mechanism, which was launched last summer, had ostensibly been designed to help avert famine in poorer nations.

 10:36,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS.  Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will visit Vienna on July 18 where he will meet his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg, the foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said in a statement.

“On July 18, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to Vienna. A meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Austria will take place, followed by a press conference. Meetings with representatives of international organisations are also planned,” Badalyan said on social media.

 11:14,

YEREVAN, 18 JULY, ARMENPRESS։ The Human Rights Defender of Armenia (Ombudsperson) has published an extraordinary report on human right violations as a result of shelling by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the direction of Yeraskh village in Armenia’s Ararat Province.  

In a statement, the Office of the Human Rights Defender said that the document presents human rights violations as a result of the shelling in the direction of Yeraskh from Azerbaijani military positions in June 2023, as well as a set of recommendations is presented to solve the problems related to the protection of human rights.

On July 13-14, 2023 Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire in the vicinity of Yeraskh, specifically targeting the factory under construction with foreign investments. As a result of the shelling, two Indian citizens (workers at the construction site) were injured and hospitalized. 

As a result of the actions by Azerbaijani armed forces, the civilian population's life, mental and physical integrity, property, education, work, entrepreneurship and a number of other fundamental rights were violated.

The report will be sent to organizations and actors with an international mandate, as well as competent state authorities, for the protection of human rights.

 11:22,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has met the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloghlu to discuss the situation in South Caucasus, as well as the reconciliation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Russian side reaffirmed the need for the complete and immediate unblocking of Lachin Corridor and restoration of transport connection in two directions, in accordance with the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, as well as the need for creating conditions for the normal livelihood of Nagorno Karabakh,” reads the statement.

The parties also discussed the Azerbaijani strong reaction to a recent statement by the Russian foreign ministry. Azerbaijan criticized Russia for what it described as associating the Azeri territorial integrity with the statements made by the Armenian Prime Minister on recognizing the Azerbaijani territorial integrity, which, according to Baku, contradicts the Moscow-Baku partnership agreement.

“Regarding the inappropriate comments by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on July 15, it was emphasized that the Russian Federation has always respected the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is fully committed to the spirit and letter of the bilateral statement on allied cooperation. At the same time, this doesn’t eliminate the issue of comprehensively promoting the Armenian-Azerbaijan normalization process and resolving all issues on the agenda, including the issues of ensuring the rights and security of the population of Nagorno Karabakh, with exclusively peaceful political-diplomatic methods,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Moscow also expressed readiness to organize a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting to discuss the implementation of high-level agreements, the draft peace treaty, which will then be followed by “a summit of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan for signing the abovementioned document.”

 12:34,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno Karabakh authorities have denied Azerbaijani reports claiming that representatives of the Red Cross, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, are transporting humanitarian aid from Akna (Aghdam) through Askeran.

“Fresh disinformation is generated on Facebook claiming that the employees of the Red Cross, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, are transporting humanitarian aid from Akna (Aghdam) through the town of Askeran. We call on everyone to not trust unverified information and refrain from divisive and slanderous actions,” the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement. The ministry said that not a single vehicle has passed through the Askeran police checkpoint.

It added that police officers of the Askeran police department are on 24/7 patrol at the mentioned checkpoint and the traffic of Aserkan and nearby settlements is under surveillance.

 12:36,

YEREVAN, 18 JULY, ARMENPRESS: Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Edward Asryan is visiting the United States July 17-18, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. 

Lieutenant General Edward Asryan participated in the conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the U.S. National Guard's State Partnership Program in Washington.

During the event, Lt Gen Asryan met with the Chief of the US National Guard Bureau, General Daniel R. Hokanson, Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy of the US European Command, Major General Daniel Lasica, and the Adjutant General of Kansas, the National Guard Commander, Brigadier General Michael Venerdi.

During the meetings, the current level and development prospects of Armenia-Kansas cooperation within the framework of state partnership and a number of issues related to bilateral cooperation with the United States were discussed.

On the same day, Lieutenant General Edward Asryan had a meeting with the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus Michalis Giorgallas and the Cypriot Chief of the General Staff of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Dimokritos Zervakis. A number of issues related to bilateral cooperation were discussed.

 14:08,

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. The meeting between Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan and Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg is underway in Vienna, foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said on social media.

She said that the tête-à-tête meeting will be followed by an enlarged-format meeting and statements for the press.

“The Armenian Foreign Minister’s visit to Vienna has started with a tête-à-tête meeting with the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, which will be followed by an enlarged-format meeting and statements for the press,” Badalyan said in a statement.