Category: 2023

There are 33 Armenian prisoners of war currently held in Azerbaijan that have been confirmed and identified, Hsmik Samvelyan, press secretary of Armenian Representative for International Legal Affairs, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, presented to the Zhokhovurd newspaper.

The number presented by Samvelyan is also confirmed by the representative of Armenian prisoners of war at the European Court of Human Rights, human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan.

Sahakyan noted that besides the 33 prisoners of war, who are in the focus of the Red Cross, there are 80 “unconfirmed”, according to Azerbaijan, but actually proven cases.

“Our fact-finding was able to substantiate at least 80 additional cases of captivity, and we do not exclude that there were other cases of captivity, just by our activities we were able to substantiate it,” she noted, adding, “unfortunately, there were about 40 cases where they were killed or shot after captivity.”

“We have evidence to support that. As for the 80 mentioned, their fate is not clear.

“They may be alive, but this will be taken out of the legal field and become forcibly disappeared or killed as Azerbaijan does not confirm their captivity and does not return their bodies so as not to acknowledge the crimes committed.”

Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that he had complained to President Vladimir Putin about “problems” with Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, warning of an escalation.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars for control of the ethnically and historically Armenian region and the latest conflict in 2020, with many war crimes by Azerbaijani troops recorded, ended with the deployment of Moscow’s forces.

“In a phone conversation with Putin yesterday, I spoke of a possible escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh and said that there are problems in the zone where Russian peacekeepers are responsible,” Pashinyan said during a press conference.

“Azerbaijan’s rhetoric is becoming more and more aggressive every day,” he said, denouncing a blockade of the Lachin corridor, which is Karabakh’s sole land link with the Republic of Armenia.

Since mid-December, a group of self-styled Azerbaijani environmental activists, often comprising of military personnel, has barred traffic in the Lachin corridor to protest what they say is illegal mining.

However, as Pashinyan highlighted on Tuesday, the disruptions along the route are a “preparation for ethnic cleansing of Armenians.”

Yerevan says that the blockade has led to a humanitarian crisis and was aimed at driving Armenians from Karabakh, something that Baku denies despite finding by human rights groups and international courts.

Armenia, which hosts a permanent Russian military base on its territory, is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that includes several pro-Moscow ex-Soviet republics — but not Azerbaijan.

Last week Yerevan refused to assume the rotating top post in the security bloc — partly in a show of frustration over the peacekeepers’ failure to prevent Karabakh’s blockade.

“It is not that Armenia is leaving the CSTO, the CSTO is leaving Armenia, which is of a great concern to us,” Pashinyan said.

At least three Armenians died in the latest border clashes instigated by Azerbaijan at the beginning of March.

“I want to underline that this happened in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeeping forces. This worries us,” Pashinyan said Tuesday.

Pashinyan also said that Armenia recently received Baku’s response to proposals for a full peace treaty, which Yerevan submitted in mid-February.

He noted some progress in the peace process, but said “fundamental problems” remain because “Azerbaijan is trying to put forward territorial claims, which is a red line to Armenia.”

Azerbaijanii soldiers currently occupy some 150 square kilometres of territory part of the Republic of Armenia, along the countries’ shared border.

On February 20, the European Union deployed an expanded monitoring mission to Armenia’s volatile border area as Western engagement grows in the region seen by the Kremlin as its geopolitical backyard.

Armenia says Azerbaijan is preparing an escalation against Yeravan via the use of an “aggressive rhetoric” aimed at undermining existing agreements between the two countries, claiming that Baku is preparing for genocide of Armenians in the Karabakh region.

In a statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned that Baku is doing everything to make regional peace establishment impossible.

“Having violated basically all the points of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, the president of Azerbaijan is obstructing the process of opening of regional communications,” the statement said.

This comes after Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada laid the responsibility on Armenia’s door on Wednesday and said that Yerevan “is not interested” in peace and stability in the region as it rejected a peace proposal that would include provisions ruling out Armenia’s territorial claims in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“Azerbaijan not only keeps under occupation the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia which it illegally occupied on May 12 and November 17, 2021 and in September 2022, but also introduced the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” discourse and declares practically the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia as Azerbaijani land,” the statement said.

The speech of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, delivered on March 16 during the summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), was a clear manifestation of territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia and preparation of another aggression.

“The assessment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia is clear: with its aggressive discourse and actions Azerbaijan makes preparations for subjecting the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to genocide and for a new aggression against Armenia,” the statement said.

In the end, the Armenian foreign ministry suggested launching international mechanisms for the prevention of genocides, sending an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as directly condemning Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions and policies.

On February 18, 2023, Azerbaijani President and Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, held peace talks in Munich and following the negotiations, Aliyev said that the main issue was that the peace treaty between the two countries should be drawn up on the basis of international norms and principles, but the negotiations have been stalled so far.

The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh on the border between the two countries flared up again in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s.

Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has a primarily Armenian population that has resisted Azerbaijani rule since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

In 2020, the second Karabakh broke out, killing more than 6,500 people during a six-week conflict. The war ended with a Russian-brokered deal that saw Yerevan cede swathes of the Azerbaijani territory that it had been occupying for several decades.

Since December 2022, the Lachin Corridor — a road that runs through Azerbaijani territory and serves as the only link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh — has been blocked by a group of people from Azerbaijan described by Baku as environmental activists protesting alleged illegal Armenian mining around the area.

Nagorno Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, has responded to Azerbaijan’s proposal for a meeting in Baku. In a statement released on March 13, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh stated that meetings between the representatives of Artsakh and Azerbaijan should take place with mediation of Russian peacekeepers, and should be held at the same location as the March 1 meetings.

They emphasized that the discussions should focus on humanitarian, infrastructure, and technical issues but without unnecessary politicization.

Nagorno-Karabakh has international recognition as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 population is formed mostly of ethnic Armenians. The province broke away from Baku in the early 1990s.

• March 14, 2023

 

• 0 Comments

 

• BY Nikola Mikovic

On March 11, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry released footage of military vehicles allegedly carrying personnel of Armenian Armed Forces units and “illegal Armenian armed groups accompanied by the Russian peacekeeping contingent” in Nagorno-Karabakh. In other words, Baku accused Yerevan and Moscow of smuggling weapons to the Karabakh Armenians. Although Armenia denied such claims, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said that the country’s military should “take suppressive measures against the possible threats of Armenia, which is trying to create fake tension in the region”. According to Azerbaijani military officials, Baku should “respond adequately if necessary”.

Such rhetoric came a day after Kristina Kvien, the United States Ambassador to Armenia, stressed that the Lachin corridor – the only transportation route connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh – “should be opened immediately”. Indeed, the Lachin corridor has been blocked since December 12, when Azerbaijani protesters claiming to be environmental activists stopped traffic by setting up tents. Azerbaijan seems to be using the Lachin Corridor blockade as a method of pressure on Armenia, aiming to force Yerevan to fully implement the 2020 ceasefire deal the two countries’ leaders signed in Moscow.

According to the Russian-brokered agreement, all economic and transport links in the region must be unblocked. Azerbaijan, as the clear winner of the 44-day war the two archenemies fought over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, insists on a construction of the Nakhchivan Corridor, also known as the Zangezur Corridor – a road and a railway that should connect mainland Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia’s territory. If built under the Azeri terms, such a transportation network would limit Yerevan’s sovereignty over parts of Armenia’s Syunik province bordering Iran, since Baku is interested in the creation of a land passage without any passport or customs controls.

Besides Armenia, Iran also seems to oppose the construction of the Nakhchivan corridor, quite aware that it would help Azerbaijan to establish a direct link with its ally Turkey. Moreover, the Islamic Republic is worried about the growing military ties between the energy-rich Caucasus nation and Israel. Tehran fears that Baku could allow the Jewish State to use Azerbaijani territory for potential attacks on Iran. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, continues arresting Shia figures, fearing that the Islamic Republic could use them as an instrument to destabilize the Caucasus nation. Both, Azerbaijan and Iran are Shia-majority countries, although besides religion they have very few things in common. Baku and Tehran have different allies, different priorities and different geopolitical goals.

It is, therefore, not surprising that some Azerbaijani media have reportedly accused Iran of blocking Nakhichivan. If true, Armenia could, at least to a certain extent, benefit from such a move. However, given that Baku and Yerevan have recently resumed Western-brokered talks that should lead to a peace agreement between the two nations, it is rather questionable if the Armenian political leadership is interested in additional tensions in the region.

Still, the situation in the South Caucasus remains rather strained. The International Crisis Group warned on January 1 that “the danger is that the talks go nowhere or another flare-up sinks both the Moscow-led and West-backed tracks, and Azerbaijan takes what it can by force.” Although Russia aims to preserve the region in its geopolitical orbit, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan seem to be satisfied with the role the Kremlin is playing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku is waiting for 2025, which is when the Russian peacekeeping troops’ mandate expires, to establish full control over the region. The Karabakh Armenians, for their part, frequently protest against the Russian peacekeepers, accusing them of not being able to ensure security in the region.

Since Yerevan does not have capacity to protect the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, their leaders have started holding direct talks with Azerbaijan, even though Baku’s goal is to reintegrate them into Azerbaijani society, which is something most of them strongly oppose.

“We aren’t going to give Azerbaijan a mandate to commit ethnic cleansing or genocide in Nagorno Karabakh”, said Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on March 14.

Although Armenia’s room for political maneuver is rather limited, it is expected to attempt to ensure the Karabakh Armenians’ rights, namely through negotiations with Baku, as well as with other regional and global actors. That is why Yerevan insists on international presence in Nagorno Karabakh, which should continue after the expiration of the Russian peacekeepers’ initial mandate in November 2025. But will Azerbaijan, strongly backed by Tukey and Israel, accept any international troops in the region?

One thing is for sure: under the current circumstances, the United States, rather than Russia, remains the only actor that can preserve the status quo in the South Caucasus. But in the long-term, unless Washington pressures Baku and Yerevan to reach a lasting peace agreement, another round of escalation in the region seems to be inevitable.

https://globalcomment.com/karabakh-armenians-between-ethnic-cleansing-and-reintegration-into-azerbaijan/

The other banned propagandist is Life tabloid founder Aram Gabrelyanov.

“Armenia is a sovereign state and has the right to expect respect for itself,” said Pashinyan.

“Armenia has also the right to use its sovereign mechanisms in case of intentions against its interests.”

The Armenian prime minister said that the banned persons should respect Armenia and the government elected by its people.

“Also, I want to draw your attention to one fact: if these people had committed even one percent of the actions against their countries that they committed against Armenia, they would not have been able to get into their own home. That’s the bottom line.”

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Pashinyan also did not specify who else, apart from Simonyan and Gabrelyanov, was banned from entering Armenia, saying that the relevant structures are dealing with this issue.

Read also: From the archives: Kremlin’s mouthpiece RIA publishes Russian fascist manifesto

Simonyan commented on her ban almost immediately, calling the Armenian Prime Minister a “bastard” and declaring that she, a “pure-blooded Armenian,” had no plans to travel to Armenia under the current prime minister.

“I have never said anything about any corridors, but I have said and will continue to say personally about Pashinyan that he is a bastard and a traitor to the Armenian people, that he sold and betrayed all the Armenian interests that he could betray and sell, and will sell and betray those that he could not yet, that he hates Russia and deceives (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin, that he is a CIA mole without honor and conscience, like all CIA moles,” Simonyan wrote on her channel on the Telegram messenger.