Category: 2023

Nagorno-Karabakh, which is of great importance for the Turkish world, was liberated from the bondage of Armenia for many years with the contributions of Türkiye, about 2 and a half years ago. However, under the influence of Armenian lobbies, some Western countries, especially France, reveal their discomfort at every opportunity that Nagorno-Karabakh fell into the hands of Azerbaijan, which is the real owner.

While Azerbaijan gave the necessary answer to these indigestion that occurs from time to time, President Aliyev warned the countries in question very harshly this time.

Aliyev received Masim Mammadov, whom he appointed as the representative of the president to Lachin, which was liberated from the occupation of Armenia in the 2nd Karabakh War.

In his speech at the reception, Aliyev reminded that the infrastructure and environment were damaged by Armenia in Lachin during the occupation period, and stated that illegal resettlement was implemented in some parts of the province.

Aliyev noted that they have also started extensive reconstruction and revival works in Lachin, and that the citizens who had to leave their lands will return to the region in a short time, and that the Azerbaijani state will provide them with comfortable living conditions.

Ilham Aliyev reminded that the mediators have taken a different approach to Lachin during the negotiations that have been going on for years, and that Armenia never wanted to give Lachin back to Azerbaijan. "France's unfair and negative attitude towards Azerbaijan is not a coincidence. During the occupation period, they wanted to conceal their attitude and mislead us," he said.

Stating that an ugly campaign has been carried out against Azerbaijan in the 2.5 years since the 2nd Karabakh War, Aliyev said, "All this is in sight. Some decisions adopted by the European Parliament against Azerbaijan are the product of a pro-Armenian, corrupt and anti-Azerbaijani group. And here French deputies play the leading role."

Expressing that they felt the attitude of some Western countries towards Azerbaijan during the occupation period, although not as much as today, Aliyev said, "We could not imagine that countries could be so hypocritical and liar. They can say one thing to one's face and do something else behind their back." 

Noting that the whole world saw everything in the 2.5 years after the 2nd Karabakh War, Aliyev said, "Anti-Azerbaijani forces also saw our strong will. No one can affect our will. No one can speak to us with an ultimatum. This is the 2nd Karabakh War. We proved it to Armenia in the war, and to the protectors of Armenia in the 2.5 years after the war."

(AA)

This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement. 

Ever since the second Karabakh war in 2020, one question keeps getting repeated: will there be another war, considering the on-going tensions and the lack of progress in signing the final, peace agreement. Most recently, on March 26, Azerbaijani forces, as per an announcement by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense crossed the line of contact, under the control of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the move was a breach and violation of the agreement signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020. It urged Azerbaijan to comply with the agreement, which placed areas of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast that Azerbaijan had not taken control of at the time of the ceasefire under the control of a Russian peacekeeping force.

Earlier that month, on March 5, three Nagorno-Karabakh police officers and two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed as a result of clashes. On March 16, two civilians died in a landmine explosion in Aghdam, a region that was formerly under the control of Armenia but which came under Azerbaijan's control following the second Karabakh war. On March 22, the Armenian Defense Ministry said a soldier was killed on the border with Nakhchivan, just south of Yerevan. Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense was quick to deny any involvement in the death of the soldier. It did however hold Armenia accountable for wounding one of its own soldiers on March 20.

The mutual accusations of ceasefire violations are all too common. The hostile narrative by leaders throws any prospects of further constructive dialogue out of the window. What is different this time, however, is not just the hostile rhetoric from Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and other government officials who echo Aliyev's remarks, but an attempt to “create a pretext for military action by portraying the ‘other’ as unwilling to negotiate,” wrote Azerbaijani writer, activist, Samad Shikhi. President Ilham Aliyev said during Novruz celebrations that “if Armenians wish to live comfortably, they must recognize Azerbaijan's borers and sign a peace deal according to our conditions.”

Following Aliyev's remarks, several Azerbaijani officials posted similar statements online, stating that Armenia must “reciprocate Azerbaijan’s peace proposals” to be allowed to live in its internationally recognised borders. Some, resorted to using “Hayastan,” the Armenian name for Armenia in an apparent attempt to insult Armenia. “Hayasız” means “shameless” in Azerbaijani.

The mutual accusations go beyond Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia's presence on the ground via its peace keepers has been a point of contestation as well. Since March 5, they stand officially accused by official Baku of “escorting Armenian convoys and arms to the region,” reported OC Media, a claim official Yerevan denied. The road in question was used to connect four villages cut off from the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh following the closure of the Lachin Corridor.

The most recent advancement on March 26, with no casualties, concerns the official allegation that Baku claims the move was part of an “urgent measure” to prevent the supply of arms and Armenian troops through what it describes as an alternative unpaved road to the Lachin Corridor.

The 2020 ceasefire agreement stipulated that a new section of the Lachin Corridor be constructed to bypass the entrance to Shusha, though a final agreed route has not been made public. There have been unconfirmed media reports that an alternative route was being used to bring in supplies from Armenia, though no evidence of arms transfers has emerged.

Following the second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan made several military advances, breaching the line of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh.

In December 2020, in the immediate aftermath of the ceasefire, two villages in the Hadrut region of Nagorno-Karabakh, stipulated to be under the control of the Russian peacekeeping force, were captured by Azerbaijani troops, who took dozens of soldiers captive.

Russian peacekeepers remained silent at the time.

In March 2022, Azerbaijani troops advanced in the direction of the village of Parukh (Farukh), forcing villagers to evacuate and positioning themselves in the mountains surrounding the village. Despite the peacekeeping mission deploying troops and armored vehicles to the area, residents have not been allowed to return due to security concerns.

These and other incidents in Nagorno-Karabakh have led officials in Yerevan and Stepanakert (Khankendi in Azerbaijani) to question the effectiveness of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. There have also been growing calls for an international peacekeeping mission or UN mandate for the Russian mission.

Following deadly March 5 clashes, Baku officially repeated earlier demands that Russia set up checkpoints on the Lachin Corridor. Both Yerevan and Stepanakert reject the demand, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated checkpoints were not envisaged according to the November 9 agreement signed in 2020 during his visit to Baku in late February.

Lachin Corridor is supposedly under the protection of Russian peacekeepers who have been deployed in the territory since November 2020, following the Russia-brokered agreement signed between Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. They are also in charge of providing security for entry and exit points of the corridor. In a broader context, however, the role of some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers remains vague. The lack of clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and activities in the 2020 agreement is now becoming an issue. The blockade is a testament to that.

There have been continuous international calls for de-escalation with the on-going blockade of Lachin Corridor. Most recently, on March 22, the White House called on both parties to de-escalate. “We do not want to see any violence, and we want to see all sides take appropriate steps to deescalate the tension and to stop the violence,” said John Kirby, the White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications. Meanwhile, Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, said she would travel to Yerevan and Baku in early April, in an attempt to “restore free movement along the Lachin corridor and improve the supply of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

In February, the European Union deployed a two-year monitoring mission, consisting of 100 unarmed monitors, to Armenia's border with Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, on March 23, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan tweeted:

The tweet was seen by some as a public attempt by the prime minister to avoid a new war.

Pashinyan's tweet was made days before Azerbaijan's advancement on March 26. Since then, there have been no further measures or steps to stall escalations, leaving the prospects for the peace deal looming just as the possibility for yet another war.

The decision from Armenia, which is part of a Russian-led defense organization, stands in stark contrast to other Russian allies not deviating from loyalty to Moscow.

The ruling party of has Armenia warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Armenia, the country will have no choice but to arrest him.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest earlier this month over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, particularly his alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine. But the ICC doesn’t have power to enforce its warrants, and since Russia doesn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction, much of its enforcement will depend on other countries’ willingness to step in if Putin travels.

“If Putin comes to Armenia, he should be arrested… It is better for Putin to stay in his country,” Gagik Melkonyan, deputy of the Armenian National Assembly, said this week, according to a Moscow Times translation of an interview with Factor.am. “If we enter into these agreements, then we must fulfill our obligations. Let Russia solve its problems with Ukraine.”

The decision from the ruling party of Armenia, which is part of a Russian-led collective defense organization, stands in stark contrast to other Kremlin allies that are not deviating from loyalty to Moscow. Hungary, which has close ties with Russia, announced it will not enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin last week.

Even though Armenia is technically a Russian ally—as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)—Armenia’s decision is just the latest indication that the country is willing to take matters into its own hands and hold Putin accountable. Just last week, Armenia took steps that will pave the way for it to ratify the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.

“If we enter into these agreements, then we must fulfill our obligations,” Melkonyan said.

The Kremlin rebuked Armenia for entertaining the idea of joining the Rome Statute, according to a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable the plans of official Yerevan to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court against the backdrop of the recent illegal and legally void ‘warrants’ of the ICC against the Russian leadership,” the source said early this week, according to TASS.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned there would be “extremely negative” consequences for Armenia moving forward.

But Armenia is not alone, and other countries are banding together with plans to arrest Putin. Ireland, Croatia, Austria, and Germany have each said they will enforce the warrant.

The decision in Armenia suggest that Russia’s allies are growing more willing by the day to question Moscow’s judgment in the war in Ukraine over one year in to the conflict.

Indian officials have expressed concern over Putin’s war in Ukraine, urging against conflict and the use of nuclear weapons in the war. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also been caught off guard by Putin’s invasion, and has been dismayed at the way he is carrying it out, according to the U.S. intelligence community.

Armenia is close to losing its statehood in the fight against Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, it is possible to preserve the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Union State of the Russian Federation and Belarus.

On March 24, the Constitutional Court of Armenia recognised the country's obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as consistent with the country's Constitution.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Yerevan that Moscow found its plans to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC against the backdrop of the recent illegal and legally void ICC "warrants" in relation to the Russian leadership to be absolutely unacceptable.

Moscow warned the Armenian side that Yerevan's steps in this direction could lead to "extremely negative" consequences for Armenia's relations with Russia.

Indeed, Moscow's reaction deems justifiable as Yerevan has not ratified the statute for 19 years and suddenly decided to do it now.

Armenian officials said that the ICC would help to uncover "crimes committed by Azerbaijan." However, most of them had taken place outside Armenia — in Hadrut and Shushi, which (in the perception of Yerevan) are already the territory of Azerbaijan. This excludes the application of the Rome Statute there.

As a matter of fact, there are different reasons that explain Armenia's behaviour.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan believes that the November 2020 trilateral agreement (with the mediation of Russia) do not work. In particular, he claims that the Russian Federation does not prevent the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, although this is part of Russia's responsibility.

Armenia suggests leaving this format to conduct direct negotiations with Azerbaijan either through Georgia or a European platform.

However, those platforms set one condition — Armenia will have to break ties with the Russian Federation. This explains inadequate statements from Armenia's National Assembly deputy Gagik Melkonyan, who said that Putin would be arrested in Armenia due to the recognition of the Rome Statute.

The West is using its leverage. The EU said it was not considering sanctions against Azerbaijan and suggested focusing on dialogue between the parties instead.

In fact, there are no sanctions coming, and the European Union has no intention to aggravate relations with Baku, because it gets Azerbaijani oil and gas as a replacement for the Russian fuel. Therefore, no one is going to bite the feeding hand of Azerbaijan.

In Azerbaijan, they believe that there is no such thing as the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. Instead, Azerbaijan tries to prevent arms supplies to Karabakh. President Ilham Aliyev warned that one should not negotiate with Azerbaijan from the position of force.

If Aliyev had been bolder, Yerevan would have lost any prospect of returning to Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian lobby is strong in the West, but it will not fight for the Armenians directly. Moreover, Armenia does not want to recognize the independence of the region. There is only meanness instead of courage, and it will pay off handsomely.

Armenia has already decided how it is going to continue to fight with Azerbaijan — it has taken Iran as an ally. Iran will not allow the formation of the Zangezur corridor along the border with Armenia to Nakhichevan. It will enter the war on the side of Armenia too.

It looks doubtful that Tehran will do that as it has a much bigger conflict brewing with Israel.

Instead of negotiating with Azerbaijan and Russia on Karabakh and preparing to win back morally and militarily, Armenia assumed that the West would come for help here and now.

As experience shows, such hopes do not lead to anything positive. The West may only care less about the people of Karabakh, and Armenia's ambitions do not matter here either. The goal of the West is to defeat Russia. The Armenians are doomed to slaughter at this point — it goes about common residents of Karabakh and Armenia rather than the diaspora, including in Russia.

It appears that Yerevan intends to drain the cup of the death of its nation to the dregs. Armenia will pull out from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which is already happening de facto. Afterwards, Armenia will exit the Eurasian Economic Union and then leave the friendship agreement with the Russian Federation (Russian peacemakers will be withdrawn from Karabakh and the Gyumri base).

The economy of Armenia will suffer in the first place, as it is largely dependent on cheap Russian fuel and Russian tourists. Prices for gas, oil, gasoline, diesel, etc will soar, and the inflation rate will surge to 20-30 percent.

Western "peacekeepers" will be deployed as well. As long as Europe needs Azerbaijan, the bargaining will continue and Yerevan will be eventually forced to accept the position of Baku to decide the fate of the people of Karabakh.

If Armenia were part of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, no Azerbaijani "environmentalists" would dare to block the Lachin corridor. The people of Karabakh would be granted autonomy as part of the Union State.

https://english.pravda.ru/world/156202-armenia_azerbaijan/

Azerbaijani officials have used Greek Independence Day celebrations in Baku as an opportunity to propagate against Armenians.

According to APA , Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov said this during his speech at the event dedicated to the National Day of Greece in Baku, that Armenia "cannot draw conclusions from the realities."

"Unfortunately, the ruling regime in Armenia today does not realise the essence and historical significance of the peace process, lives with revanchist feelings, and cannot draw conclusions from the realities," the deputy foreign minister said.

"They are still not giving up their disruptive activities, such as creating tension, causing provocation, inciting separatism among Armenians living in Karabakh, illegally transporting weapons and ammunitions to these areas, and strengthening illegal military units that should be removed from these areas," he continued.

The Deputy Minister also attempted to propagate that the Greek churches in Mehmana were destroyed by Armenians, a baseless claim that Greek City Times has confirmed to be false by a resident of the village.

In essence they show disrespect to Greeks by putting aside diplomatic etiquette and attacking a country which is very close to Greece. In the meantime, the Azeris feel that Greece will not punish them, even if Greeks feel insulted (as the Independence Day celebration was spoilt), they care very little.

Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has reiterated the call for Azerbaijan to reopen the Lachin corridor, the only lifeline to the historically and demographically Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Speaking at the House of Commons on Monday, the Minister said “we continue to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to reopen the Lachin corridor.”

“We need to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis. Canada supports the 2020 ceasefire agreement, including the return of the Armenian prisoners of war. It is important that the cease fire, which is supported by the EU monitoring group, be respected,” Minister Joly said.

Joly's comments come as Russia on Saturday, the same day as Greek Independence Day, accused Azerbaijan of violating the Moscow-brokered ceasefire that ended the 2020 war with Armenia, by letting its troops cross over the demarcation line.

"On March 25… a unit of the armed forces of Azerbaijan crossed a line of contact in the district of Shusha, in violation" of the agreement of November 9, 2020, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

It said Russian peacekeepers "are taking measures aimed at preventing escalation… and mutual provocations."

Earlier on Saturday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said it has taken control of some auxiliary roads in its Armenian-majority breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh over which it had engaged in two invasions of.

The ministry said "necessary control measures were implemented by the units of the Azerbaijan Army in order to prevent the use of the dirt roads north of Lachin" for arms supplies from Armenia.

The sole road linking Karabakh to Armenia, the Lachin corridor, has been for months under Azerbaijani blockade, which Yerevan says has led to a humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned against a "very high risk of escalation" in Karabakh.

Armenia has also accused Russian peacekeepers of failing to protect ethnic Armenians living in the restive region.

The Armenian authorities have been warning for a long time that a humanitarian catastrophe is brewing in Nagorno-Karabakh. To restore unhindered movement along the Lachin corridor in Armenia, effective steps are expected from Russia, whose peacekeeping troops are stationed there.

Azerbaijan is still ignoring both the appeals of various countries and international organizations, as well as the decision of the Hague Court, which has obliged Azerbaijan to ensure unhindered movement along the corridor.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2023/03/30/azeri-official-propagates-armenia/