Category: News

NKR Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Levon Mnatsakanyan had a meeting with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs James Warlick, Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk was present at the meeting.

The Defense Minister referred to the recent developments along the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and presented undeniable proofs of Azerbaijani military aggression, particularly the inhumane crimes committed against the civilian population.

The Co-Chairs, in turn, reiterated the importance of solving the issue through peaceful negotiations and discussed the future steps to be implemented in that direction.

Thirty-six Armenian soldiers have been killed since the start of large-scale military actions launched by Azerbaijan the night of April 2, Colonel Victor Arustamyan, Head of the operative department of the NKR Defense Army, told a press conference today.

The rival continue violating the ceasefire today, as a result of which a Defense Army soldier was wounded.

A drone of the Azerbaijani armed forces was shot down, Col. Arustamyan said.

As for the missing, he said search works continue. The Defense Army has provided completed data to the International Committee of the Red Cross..

Almost all the agreements on the settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh are “on the table,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday after talks with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts Elmar Mammadyarov and Javad Zarif, TASS reports.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin pays personal attention to this issue, we regularly meet at the level of ministers with counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Lavrov said.

“I agree that almost all the components of agreements are already on the table,” he said, adding that “in fact, we are very close (to reaching them).”

Lavrov said the talks in Baku with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his meeting with Armenia’s Eduard Nalbandyan on Friday focus on these efforts.

He stressed that Russia is interested more than any other foreign partner that the conflict is resolved as soon as possible. “It is in our common interest to reach settlement.”

Russia’s top diplomat also urged measures to prevent new outbreaks of violence and called for stepping up efforts for political settlement.

Thirty- two Armenian soldiers have been killed, 121 wounded during the four days of military calshes along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact, Colonel Victor Arustamyan, Head of the operative department of the NKR Defense Army, told a press conference today. He said that another 25 servicemen are missing.

He informed that the ceasefire violations continued all along the line of contact even after the parties agreed to cease all hostilities at midnight Tuesday. Col. Arustamyan said the rival used mortars in the northern direction of the frontline. He added that an Azerbaijani tank hit an ambulance in the northern direction.

This morning separate groups tried to attack and conquer military positions in the north, but failed to succeed.

Colonel Arustamyan gave clarifications about an Armenian military position left under Azerbaijani control. According to him, it’s of no strategic significance, as the area of its peak is 5 meters, and the height is 20 meters as compared to the overall landscape.

As for the reports that Azerbaijan is bringing its reserve troops to the frontline and preparing for a new attack, Victor Arustamyan said “the reserves are stationed not far from the frontline and it’s hard to assess the plans of a new attack.”

“The recognition of Artsakh’s independence by Armenia is not in process, but the agreement on mutual military assistance is being developed,” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reports today.

He said Armenia’s number one objective is to reach Nagorno Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table as a party to talks.

“The recent developments showed that there is no alternative to Karabakh’s involvement in the talks. It’s important for preventing such provocations in the future and for achieving progress in the negotiation process,” he said.

Referring to the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Shavarsh Kocharyan clarified that they’re coming to study the situation connected with the recent events.

“The utmost objective of the Armenian side and the international community is to prevent the reoccurrence of the developments of the past days, to ensure the maintenance of the ceasefire, which will, in turn, allow to return to talks,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

He added that the Madrid Principles are the only basis for negotiations.

The military actions of the past days showed that Azerbaijan is unable to solve the Karabakh conflict in  military way, President of the Public Council of Armenia, first Prime Minister Vazgen Manukyan told a press conference in Stepanakert today.

He denounced the “symmetric” statement of the international community, their calls to both sides. “The Western countries are well aware who’s the aggressor. the United States and Russia can see from through satellites who’s shooting,” he said.

Vazgen Manukyan presented three ways out of the situation. First, he said, the parties should return to their initial positions.

Second, the OSCE should conduct monotony of the line of contact, including through satellites and stop pretending it’s unaware of who’s shooting.

Third, the international community must recognize the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, with future talks continuing on territories and refugees.

Why did Azerbaijan decided to incite clashes at this point? Vazgen Manukyan says it’s connected with the drop in oil prices, the problems inside the country, and this was an option for Aliyev to divert the attention of the public from domestic issues.

Is there a mechanism to neutralize the Turkish factor in the Nagorno Karabakh issue? Vazgen Manukyan said he sees no way to do that. “Even Europe has become a captive of Turkey. Ankara thinks it has been given a “carte blanche” because of the issue of migrants and is allowed to do anything in the region and beyond.”

Manukyan said the issue is not only about Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. “It’s a regional problem, where NATO’s interests collide with that of its rivals. Escalation will be an evil for the whole world. Let’s not forget that countries such Iraq, Syria and Afganistan are not far away,” he said.

The Armenian community of Argentina massively demonstrated outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the country to denounce the Azeri aggression against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of Tuesday, April 5, reports.

After an intense awareness campaign in the Argentine society, all institutions of the community called for peace and recognition of self-determination of the people of Artsakh. The rally was attended by several community representatives and Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church for Argentina and Chile.

“Azerbaijan has embarked in recent years in the process of expanding its military arsenal and the externalization of their convictions to achieve their goals through weapons. The continued aggressive attitude of Azerbaijan against the civilian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh confirms that a peaceful resolution of the conflict will only be possible respecting the right of self-determination of its people,” reads the statement signed by all community organizations.

“The Armenian community of Argentina expresses its solidarity with the authorities of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, supports its self-defense forces and reaffirms its commitment to the struggle begun by its people in 1988 that culminated in the declaration of independence in 1991.”

“Given the serious situation in question, we ask the authorities of Argentina to urge the parties to circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences,” ends the statement.